Daily Links May 22

From: Maelor Himbury <maelor@melbpc.org.au>
Date: 22 May 2021 at 8:12:25 am ACST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links May 22

Post of the Day

Mining lobby exaggerates taxes and royalties paid by $45 billion

Callum Foote

The mining industry has exaggerated its contribution in taxes and royalties to Australian governments by an estimated $45 billion over the last 10 years. Callum Foote reports the findings of an independent research project by Michael West Media.

 

On This Day

May 22

 

Ecological Observance

Arbor Day – Guatemala and Ecuador

International Day for Biological Diversity

 

Climate Change

Doctors put a price tag on the annual health impacts of climate change in the US. It’s $820 billion.

By aggregating past climate-related public health costs, a new report shows that myriad medical issues brought on by climate change are already taking a financial toll on taxpayers.

 

Richest nations agree to end support for coal production overseas

G7 countries reaffirm commitment to limit global heating to 1.5C after nearly two days of wrangling

 

Combating carbon emissions with soil microbes

Climate change is projected to drive down seasonal extremes, which would decrease soil microbe productivity, impact plant and forest growth, and reduce carbon emissions from soil, according to a new study published in Global Change Biology.

 

Green activists are courting a humanitarian catastrophe [$]

Bjorn Lomborg

The vast majority of climate cases are based in the rich world, where cutting emissions will have little impact.

 

National

Explainer: Solar inverters have a new, important role to play – are you affected?

Changes to inverter standards will require new solar inverters to play a much more active role in the broader grid. So what does this mean for consumers?

AEMC says rooftop solar export charge “optional” in bid to calm fears

AEMC seeks to calm fears over proposed solar export charges, but not everyone is convinced it will leave solar owners better off.

Australia’s “father of PV” says your next rooftop solar system might be tens of kilowatts

UNSW’s Martin Green says the average Australian solar household will soon be installing “tens of kilowatts” on their rooftops, as costs continue to fall.

Telstra gets ready to challenge big utilities with low carbon energy offer

Telstra gets ready to challenge big utilities with new low carbon energy offer to its 13 million telco and internet customers.

 

Thousands of students have walked out of the classroom. Here’s what they’re demanding

There are loud cries for change, stories of grief and witty signs in abundance as young people around the country rally for a fossil fuel-free future.

 

Photos: School Strike 4 Climate demand ‘fund our future not gas’

Kerry Smith reports that thousands of school students and supporters took to the streets around Australia on May 21 to demand: “Fund our future not gas”.

 

‘Dingoes were here first’: the landowners who say letting ‘wild dogs’ live pays dividends

Some farmers see a vicious pest that should be shot on sight, others a native species that plays a vital role in Australia’s ecosystem

 

New threatened species strategy won’t overcome Australia’s appalling record, campaigners say

Conservation groups say lack of funding and inadequate environmental laws undermine government’s strategy

 

Trillions of litres of water released into Murray-Darling fails to help threatened species, research finds

A ‘just add water’ approach is unlikely to be successful, with better monitoring of species needed to target environmental watering

 

We’re badly underprepared for the electric vehicle revolution [$]

Electric vehicles will inevitably become mainstream, but there’s a skills crisis in the wings and a policy vacuum, the Motor Trade Association says.

 

‘No coherent plan’: experts reject Coalition’s rationale for taxpayer-funded gas power plant

The Morrison government seized on a recent electricity shortage as a ‘dress rehearsal’ for life without Liddell, but market experts insist there’s more than enough power

 

Why is the Morrison government building a $600m gas power plant? – Australian politics podcast

The federal government this week confirmed it would spend up to $600m on a new gas-fired power plant in NSW’s Hunter region, despite the International Energy Agency saying there should be no new investments in coal, oil or gas. Katharine Murphy sits down with environment editor Adam Morton to investigate why.

 

Banks acting like zealots against fossil fuels, say coal, gas and oil

Coal, oil and gas companies have accused the nation’s banks of “zealot-like enthusiasm” for withdrawing support from the sector and engaging in policies that are deliberately increasing the cost of business and driving jobs out of Australia.

 

PM sets tax and energy traps for Labor [$]

Phillip Coorey

Once upon a time, Liberal governments sold power stations, now they’re building them.

How Australia’s government is trying to create fossil funding agencies

Ketan Joshi

Why is Australia’s government trying to transform clean energy agencies into fossil funding bodies? It marks a major global power shift.

 

Morrison’s ‘unconstitutional’ crackdown on charities [$]

Mike Seccombe

Sweeping new laws that could strip charities of their non-profit status for minor offences are intended to stifle protest, the sector warns.

 

Government subsidises oil refineries [$]

Max Opray

A week after the federal budget, the government has revealed it will spend more than $3 billion to bolster Australia’s oil refining capacity, and a further $600 million to build a gas plant in the Hunter Valley.

 

When what we ‘know’ turns out to be wrong

Nicholas Stuart

Since the borders have closed, two facts have become evident. The first is that immigration has collapsed, and the second is (directly contradicting all predictions) that overall employment has risen.

 

Mining lobby exaggerates taxes and royalties paid by $45 billion

Callum Foote

The mining industry has exaggerated its contribution in taxes and royalties to Australian governments by an estimated $45 billion over the last 10 years. Callum Foote reports the findings of an independent research project by Michael West Media.

 

Fossil fuels defined my father’s life. What would he make of the government’s gas plant announcement?

Virginia Trioli

I often wonder what my father would make of the debate now about our need to transition away from the fossil fuels that defined his life.

 

Trip back in time – cartoon

Jon Kudelka

 

Scomo’s minor problem – cartoon

Peter Broelman

 

Victoria

Thousands of students join climate rally in Melbourne [$]

Thousands of students have rallied in Melbourne as part of nationwide protests demanding climate action from the federal government.

 

New South Wales

Hope for scientists ‘working against time’ to save endangered mountain pygmy possum

An endangered species of marsupial believed to have been around for 25 million years has been thrown an unlikely lifeline from the other side of the globe.

 

In vital Upper Hunter byelection, Nationals remain ‘comfortable’ – and big fans of coal

Despite a dozen challengers and a razor-thin margin in the polls, NSW Nationals confident they can hang on to a traditional stronghold

 

NSW Upper Hunter by-election: Candidates’ final pitch at the coalface [$]

A sexual assault scandal would not normally give a government much hope of winning a by-election in a marginal seat, especially in a region like the NSW Upper Hunter, where voters have been abandoning the major parties for the past two state elections.

 

Saturday traffic jams return: Weekend congestion worse than pre-pandemic levels

Saturday traffic in Sydney is as bad as it’s ever been, with recent weekend volumes returning to, or even exceeding, pre-coronavirus levels across the city.

 

School climate strikes resume around Australia with more to come

NSW students have vowed to continue regular strikes for climate action, defying inclement weather and a demand by the NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell to stay in school.

 

A ‘risky operation’, a group of dead quolls and a plan for the future of Aussie predators

Eastern quolls became extinct on the Australian mainland in the 1960s. A bold program to “rewild” a small number of them in pristine bushland on the NSW coast saw all of them die, raising questions about their future.

 

ACT

Curtin dad captures fascinating wildlife footage in Canberra’s reserves

There are inquisitive kangaroos, circling foxes, snuffling wombats, a hare encountering a magpie and even a wild pig blithely trotting by – all captured in fascinating footage from the Canberra suburbs.

 

Mouse plague plan for Canberra developed by ACT government

The worsening NSW mouse plague has prompted the ACT government to make preparations in case the infestation makes it way into the territory’s borders.

 

Queensland

Queensland steps in to back wind and battery plant vetoed by Keith Pitt

Queensland government partly funds grid upgrade it says will support Kaban wind and battery hub snubbed at last minute by federal Coalition.

 

Carbon copy: How Qld scheme planted the seed for money to grow on trees

The Federal Government wants to reward farmers with cash payments for improving their environmental performance, cultivating an idea that germinated in Queensland.

 

Truth about SEQ growth plan: Vision aplenty but no money to achieve it

South-east Queensland’s civic and business leaders are increasingly vocal in their criticism of the major blueprint meant to guide the region’s growth over the next 20 years, saying it is worthless without firm commitments to build the roads, railways and other infrastructure needed to make it a reality.

 

South Australia

Bid for SA ‘Walking and Cycling Commissioner’

Newly-appointed Greens MLC Robert Simms says South Australia would become the first state in the country to appoint a Walking and Cycling Commissioner, under proposed legislation he plans to introduce next week.

 

Adelaide public transport complaints up amid changes to train system

Public transport complaints spike in the first three months of the year as commuters returned to trains, trams and buses in much lower numbers than before the coronavirus pandemic.

 

We sliced open radioactive particles from soil in South Australia and found they may be leaking plutonium

Barbara Etschmann et al

Almost 60 years after British nuclear tests ended, radioactive particles containing plutonium and uranium still contaminate the landscape around Maralinga in outback South Australia.

 

Tasmania

Fortescue in talks to export green ammonia from Tasmania to Japan

Green energy arm of Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals signs MOU with Japanese engineering firm for green ammonia project in Tasmania.

 

Secret report could call into question approvals given to existing wilderness tourism projects

Tasmania’s government has been sitting on a report that could call into question the approval of some tourism projects in protected wilderness.

 

Extreme weather may drive flying foxes to seek ‘climate refuge’ as far south as Tasmania

Scientists predict migration of the megabats, mostly found in eastern and northern Australia, could have significant effects on Tasmania’s ecosystems

 

Launceston School Strike 4 Climate success, despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s absence

Launceston’s youth have turned out in force to make their voices heard on climate change at Friday’s School Strike 4 Climate rally at Riverbend Park.

 

NRM North welcomes new ten-year national strategy for threatened species

Frogs, insects and fish under serious threat of extinction are able to become major priorities under the latest Threatened Species Action Plan put forward by the Federal Government, a document that is welcomed by environmental groups in Tasmania.

 

Thousands rally at school strike for climate, nipaluna /Hobart

Audio and transcript from the School Strike for Climate rally, Parliament Lawns, nipaluna / Hobart

 

BBF invites PM Morrison to Visit takayna

Protests continue this morning as Bob Brown Foundation invites Prime Minister Scott Morrison to visit the rainforests of takayna/Tarkine threatened by Chinese state owned mining company’s plans to build a massive tailings dam.

 

Northern Territory

Trucks from one of Australia’s largest zinc mines keep spilling their contents

Hundreds of kilograms of potentially environmentally damaging substances are being spilled by road trains carrying concentrate from the McArthur River Mine in the Northern Territory — despite the introduction of preventative measures.

 

Top End students strike for action on climate change [$]

Scores of students in Darwin joined thousands of others throughout Australia on Friday in striking for more action from politicians on climate change.

 

Western Australia

Explainer: It’s been a year since Juukan. Have we made sure it can’t happen again?

It’s been a year since Australia was blindsided by the news that its most significant sites were open to mining destruction despite a mess of laws claiming to protect them. The powers that be swore they’d never let it happen again – but what, in fact, have they done?

 

‘Devastating’: Can Rio’s local boss rebuild trust after Juukan disaster?

Burchell Hayes was driving from Port Hedland to Karratha in Western Australia on a long road where the sky looks boundless and the red earth, anchoring it to the landscape, stretches far beyond where the eye can see.

 

Sustainability

Exposing the world’s biggest crime syndicate: Chevron

Human rights lawyer Steven Donzinger beat Chevron in court and then their good squad came after him.

 

Used car exports threaten climate goals

The U.S. ships hundreds of thousands of its oldest and dirtiest cars overseas to poorer countries each year.

 

EPA to review Roundup weedkiller to assess potential ‘ecological risks’

Biden administration environmental officials say they will consider restrictions on the world’s most widely used herbicide because of concerns about potential harm to monarch butterflies and other species.

Alcoa to trial new alumina process that uses renewables instead of fossil fuels

Aluminium producer gets funding to trial new technology that uses solar power rather than fossil fuels to turn bauxite into alumina.

 

Slaves to speed, we’d all benefit from ‘slow cities’

Paul Tranter and Rodney Tolley

Cities around the world are reducing traffic speeds and improving access to local services and activities by public transport, cycling and walking. They are now reaping the many ‘slow city’ benefits.

 

Nature Conservation

Trees fell faster in the years since companies and governments promised to stop cutting them down

In the seven years since governments and corporations promised to stop deforestation, the clear cutting of critically important tropical forests has instead increased by more than 50 percent, a new report shows, with commercial agriculture driving most of the increase.

 

Amid climate pressures, a call for a plan to move endangered species

The conservation community has fiercely debated whether to help species move as climate change and habitat loss threaten more extinctions. Now, scientists are calling on an upcoming international conference to set guidelines for this complex challenge.

 

Global satellite network now monitoring the health of coral reefs

The Atlas Coral Project uses a network of small satellites to maintain a real-time watch on the health of coral reefs around the world, keeping a digital eye out for bleaching events.

 



Maelor Himbury
6 Florence St Niddrie 3042
0432406862 or 0393741902
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