Daily Links Oct 28

I think there was more substance to Baldrick’s cunning plans than there is to the brochure brandished by the Pentecostal PM. What is galling is the seeming-acceptance by the Australian population that it is ok that the modelling on which the ‘plan’ is based can remain secret. Add to this secrecy “I don’t accept the premise/characterisation of your question” and “With respect, you are wrong”, now stock responses that go unchallenged by much of the MSM, and you see how shallow is our political conversation.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/27/scott-morrison-refuses-to-release-net-zero-2050-modelling-amid-condemnation-of-climate-policy

Post of the Day

Soils can’t hold enough carbon to offset Australian emissions, experts say

Australia’s plan for net zero includes “dangerous” soil carbon assumptions, relies on farmers to “bail out the fossil fuel industry”, and could be too expensive, experts say.

 

On This Day

October 28

 

Climate Change

UN warns world set for 2.7C rise on today’s emissions pledges

The UN’s Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged world leaders to commit to stronger climate targets at this year’s COP26 summit following a landmark study into the efficacy of current climate goals.

 

Climate Change Could Further Impact Africas Recovery, Pushing 86 Million Africans to Migrate Within Their Own Countries by 2050

The World Bank’s new Groundswell Africa reports, released today ahead of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26), find that the continent will be hit the hardest by climate change, with up to 86 million Africans migrating within their own countries by 2050.

 

OECD Development Assistance Committee commits to align development co-operation with goals of Paris Agreement

Members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) today issued a joint Declaration ahead of COP26 committing to align official development assistance (ODA), which totalled USD 161 billion in 2020, with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

 

Bold plan to turn ocean into carbon sinkhole [$]

Island nations under threat from rising sea levels have been offered more than $1 million to take part in a bold new experiment.

 

Russia in no rush on climate [$]

Russia has set a net zero target for 2060, but it could prove to be the biggest block to progress at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Here’s why.

 

Atmospheric river storms can drive costly flooding – and climate change is making them stronger

Climate change is making the soaking wet weather systems more damaging.

 

China will honour its climate pledges – look at the changes we have already made

Zheng Zeguang

Cop26 is a chance for developed countries to take the lead in cutting emissions and making good on financial promises

 

Promises, consequences and watchdogs: readers’ climate summit questions answered

Laura Chung

There’s a lot on the table at the Glasgow climate summit, and we’ll be working through reader questions throughout the two weeks.

 

National

Soils can’t hold enough carbon to offset Australian emissions, experts say

Australia’s plan for net zero includes “dangerous” soil carbon assumptions, relies on farmers to “bail out the fossil fuel industry”, and could be too expensive, experts say.

 

Treasury officials had little input on the economic modelling behind the government’s net zero by 2050 plan

Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy says his department had very little input into the modelling underpinning the federal government’s plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

 

Morrison rebuffs international climate critics

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused critics of his 2050 net-zero plan of not understanding Australia as pressure grows over climate change action.

 

Clean Energy Regulator 2020-21 annual report is now available

The Clean Energy Regulator’s 2020-21 Annual Report was tabled on 27 October 2021 in the Australian Parliament by Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor.

 

Solutions for sustainable aquaculture sector

The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organisation with an interest in sustainable aquaculture, will appear before the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee this week as part of the current inquiry into Australia’s aquaculture sector.

 

Plan on hand to combat feral pigs

A national and coordinated approach to feral pig management has just been released following the endorsement of the National Feral Pig Action Plan.

 

Climate change expert’s blunt warning about Australia’s temperature rise

A leading scientific expert today outlined just how high and unbearable temperatures could become in capital cities around Australia.

 

Health, medical groups say more action needed to mitigate health risks of climate change

More than 50 health and medical groups are calling for drastic action to prevent a ‘health catastrophe’, but the government won’t change its plan.

 

Scott Morrison refuses to release net zero 2050 modelling amid condemnation of climate policy

Labor derides government’s proclaimed technology-driven plan as a ‘steaming pile of nothingness’

 

Businesses back emissions caps as IMF says the world needs a carbon price

Australian businesses are backing caps on emissions to drive investment decisions as the IMF tells global leaders they need a price on carbon.

 

‘Hollow’: how the Australian government’s 2050 net zero pledge was reported around the world

Some of the harshest criticism came from CNN, which labelled Australia ‘the rich world’s weakest link at Cop26’

 

Australia’s net zero plan includes ‘small, modular nuclear reactors’

Australia will closely watch the development of small modular nuclear reactors as the government seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

 

Fight over jobs, economy with net zero now in focus [$]

The climate battle is shift into an economic debate, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying regional Australia would be “stronger” and the economy bigger under a net zero plan.

 

Seniors want ‘green bonds’ so they can put money in emissions reduction

The National Seniors organisation is proposing the creation of green bonds, enabling people to invest in emissions reductions while making a financial return.

 

Is your favourite business going carbon neutral? [$]

More than 800 Aussie businesses have made a vow to be carbon neutral by 2050 or sooner.

 

LNP grassroots to have say on net-zero emissions target [$]

The grassroots of the Liberal Nat­ional Party will next weekend vote on a motion against a net-zero target in a potentially embarrassing rebuke of Scott Morrison’s new policy while he is at the Glasgow climate change conference.

 

MPs turn heat on climate critic Mike Cannon-Brookes [$]

Government MPs have slammed tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ attack on the Coalition’s net-zero by 2050 climate plan.

 

Union leader Michael O’Connor warns Anthony Albanese faces voter backlash over timber workers [$]

Veteran national union leader Michael O’Connor has warned that Anthony Albanese and the federal ALP face a blue-collar voter backlash at the federal election over the Andrews Labor government’s “disgraceful” treatment of timber workers.


Renewables to supply 69 pct of Australia’s main grid by 2030, government projections show

Morrison government projections show Australia’s main grid on track for 51 per cent renewables by 2025, and 69 per cent by 2030.

 

Tree plantation scheme lagging woefully behind [$]

An ambitious goal to plant one billion trees by 2030 – spruiked during the last federal election campaign – has delivered just over 1 per cent of the required plantations since the target was unveiled three years ago.

 

Hydrogen a huge export opportunity for Australia, Alan Finkel says [$]

Former chief scientist Alan Finkel says the export opportunity that clean hydrogen presents Australia is “almost beyond imagining” as he backed Scott Morrison’s technology-driven approach to securing the 2050 net-zero emissions target.

 

Scott Morrison to reject pledge on methane emissions cut [$]

Australia will refuse a US and European-backed pledge for a 30 per cent cut in methane emissions by the end of the decade at next week’s Glasgow summit, fearing it would lead to the culling of herds and force shutdowns in parts of the agriculture, coal and gas industries.

 

Why companies will continue to look to the courts on climate [$]

Courts are increasingly being asked questions related to climate change due to a lack of government direction providing a clear pathway for Australia’s emission reduction journey.

 

Australia v the climate part four: fossil fuelsFull Story podcast

Year after year, parts of our country are destroyed by floods and bushfires made worse by global heating. And yet multiple prime ministers have lost their jobs when they tried to do something about it. What’s behind Australia’s weak climate targets and its lack of ambition?

 

Not so long ago the PM was skewering Labor’s carbon credits for Kazakhstan. Now, he has a net zero ‘plan’

David Speers 

This week’s long-anticipated net zero “plan” may be slender on new policy ideas, but still represents a significant departure from the Coalition’s pre-election posture

 

The Coalition’s net zero policy is merely a plan to freeload off the rest of the world

Tristan Edis

Scott Morrison’s government is counting on businesses and households to reduce emissions almost entirely as a result of their own voluntary initiative

 

Trust and the Australian Way, major parties line up ahead of Glasgow COP26

Karen Barlow

When John Howard asked voters the core election question “who do you trust” it seemed a simpler age.

 

Net zero target needs credible plan to cut climate pollution [$]

Kelly O’Shannassy

The PM may have thought his 2050 vow would help. But failing to do what’s necessary now will make climate change worse.

 

Time to re-Joyce on net zero status quo [$]

Tom Minear

If hindsight is 20-20, then here’s why Scott Morrison’s 2050 commitment might have collapsed without a Nationals leadership coup.

 

For Albanese, climate has changed to put up or shut up [$]

Dennis Shanahan

Suddenly, Labor is under pressure on climate change.

 

ScoMo’s global warming ‘plan’ a clear con [$]

Andrew Bolt

Both Scott Morrison and Labor claim they can cut Australia’s emissions to net zero by 2050 and without hurting us, but both are lying.

 

Coalition’s plan is to cut emissions the Australian way [$]

Angus Taylor

Protecting regional Australia, our industries and the jobs of hardworking Australians is at the heart of the Coalition government’s emission reduction policies.

 

Guesstimating the world in 2050 is truly model politics [$]

Australian editorial

Results will always trump models, no matter what they might predict.

By Editorial

 

Nationals policies on climate change ‘don’t reflect key farming organisations’

Peter Whish-Wilson

Australia is now run by an accountant in a cowboy hat.

 

Scott Morrison will be the pauper at Glasgow’s COP26 feast

Canberra Times editorial

When Scott Morrison lands in Glasgow he will be in the unfortunate position of somebody who turns up to a pot luck dinner with a packet of corn chips in the hope someone has brought salsa.

 

Team Australia needs an all-in net zero plan [$]

AFR editorial

The decarbonisation challenge is so great that the political taboo needs to be axed from the carbon tax.

 

Labor ponders whether to go big or small on climate policy [$]

Phillip Coorey

A recent proposal by the Business Council of Australia for an ambitious climate change policy has emboldened some in Labor to recommend the party re-prosecute the similarly comprehensive policy it took to the last election.

 

Australia can reach net zero with tech, not taxes [$]

Danny Price

Will reliance on technological change lead to the required emission reductions? This former believer in a carbon tax says yes.

 

What the hell is going on with Barnaby’s backflip? [$]

Samantha Maiden

A two-faced climate policy with different messages for the city and the bush did not work out for Rudd or Gillard.

 

‘Bare bones’: Emissions plan heavy on promises but light on detail

Miki Perkins

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has released a plan that he says will guide Australia towards a low-carbon future. How does it stack up?

 

Australia’s regional communities will embrace energy evolution

Kyle Beale

As a small child growing up in Calliope in Queensland’s Gladstone Region, I can clearly remember life on our farms, where dams were built to last one season, rainfall was dependable and came every wet season.

 

PM’s net zero plan driven by slogans and seats, not conversion or conviction

Niki Savva

Morrison has artfully switched the debate from the environment to the economy, branding his “plan” as the uniquely “Australian Way”.

 

Coalition’s new climate policy offers only a thin veneer of credibility

Age editorial

For a political party whose right-wing faction wore as a badge of honour its willingness to bludgeon past leaders who showed any sign of enthusiasm for reducing carbon emissions, changing course was never going to be easy. But with the winds of change turning gale force, Prime Minister Scott Morrison knew he had to act.

 

The emperor has no modelling

Rachel Withers

There is simply no way the government has a sound economic structure behind its half-baked climate plan

 

Net omissions: Morrison delivers a climate plan looking for a policy [$]

Kishor Napier-Raman

Scott Morrison’s plan for net zero emissions by 2050 is heavy on spin and light on detail, and leaves us none the wiser about the billion-dollar deals struck with the Nationals.

 

The case for an Australian climate accord

Ella Plumanns Pouton et al

Australia lacks national leadership on climate policy, but an Australian Climate Accord could foster agreement on reducing emissions while improving Australia’s living standards

 

The Plan: Winking, blinding and eye-watering Coalition negligence

Michelle Pini

The Morrison Government is fobbing us off with a tissue of lies, a wink, a nudge and a glossy pamphlet.

 

Australia’s net-zero plan fails to tackle our biggest contribution to climate change: fossil fuel exports

Jeremy Moss

The Morrison government’s eleventh hour commitment to net zero by 2050 is a monumental failure.

 

Scott Morrison’s deal with the Nationals must not ignore land stewardship – an attractive, low-hanging fruit

Paul Martin

The Nationals this week finally agreed to a plan of net-zero emissions by 2050. Farmers say they’ve done much of the heavy lifting on Australia’s emissions reduction and had been calling for a deal that addressed purported inequities of the past.

 

Thumbs up: Turning over a new leaf as your workplace goes 50 shades of green

Rebecca Levingston

Flower power is taking over our offices and bringing with it a soothing breath of fresh air

 

Why PM must go nuclear to save his government [$]

James Morrow

Scott Morrison cannot let the energy debate slip away from him and allow Labor and the Greens to define it right before an election.

 

The lies and manipulations used for Australia’s new 2030 emissions projection

Ketan Joshi

The Australian government has been enormously deceptive with the upgraded emissions forecasts it will take to Glasgow. Here’s why.

 

Everyone was very excited to see the government’s new climate change plan!

First Dog on the Moon

Then the most remarkable thing happened

 

She’ll be right, Glasgow – cartoon

David Pope

 

Victoria

Victorian households to sort rubbish into four bins after new purple addition

One state will be forced to sort their household rubbish into four bins under a new disposal plan.

 

Extinction Rebellion activists glue themselves to Princes Bridge in Melbourne

Protesters have glued themselves to a major bridge in Melbourne’s CBD, causing peak-hour traffic chaos.

 

Truckloads of asbestos-ridden soil being dumped across Melbourne

Truckloads of asbestos-ridden soil and building material are being dumped at an increasing rate on roadsides, private property and parks in Melbourne’s outer suburbs, forcing one council in the north to remove almost five shipping containers’ worth of waste over the past two months.

 

Meet Victoria’s young climate warriors [$]

They might be young but that won’t stop our climate change heroes of tomorrow from fighting to improve our communities today.

 

New South Wales

Maguire ‘had the ear’ of Berejiklian when she was NSW premier, corruption inquiry told

A corruption inquiry hears that Gladys Berejiklian’s office took a “particular interest” in an application for a $5.5 million grant for a clay target shooting club in Daryl Maguire’s electorate of  Wagga Wagga. 

 

Ivanhoe Park to become green community hub

Following extensive consultation, Northern Beaches Council has approved the Ivanhoe Park Masterplan and Plan of Management, celebrating the natural and heritage value of the popular Manly park.

 

Soft plastics trial to solve hard problem

A partnership between AlburyCity and the private sector is adding another important piece to the recycling puzzle by finding a solution to the challenge of re-using soft plastics waste.

 

Council backs targets set out by UN Climate Conference

Byron Shire Council is on track to achieve net zero emissions for Council operations by 2025, aligned with the goals set out by the UN Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow (31 October to 12 November).

 

Vaile says energy crunch shows risk of shunning coal in net-zero push

Whitehaven chairman Mark Vaile says the global energy crisis is a reminder that investment in fossil fuels needs to continue for decades.

 

‘Taking sustainability up a notch’: New developments to be rated on construction emissions

New major developments will be scored on how carbon-intensive they were to build under a planning framework being developed by the NSW government to bolster the drive towards net-zero.

 

Government staff feared dangers of Warragamba dam project were downgraded

NSW government staff raised concerns internally last year that WaterNSW was pushing its ecological consultants to downgrade the dangers to threatened species from raising the Warragamba Dam wall.

 

ACT

Extinction Rebellion threaten to blockade Canberra streets in Parliament House protest

Controversial protest group Extinction Rebellion have threatened to blockade Canberra streets at a protest on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Queensland

‘World’s greenest residential building’ cut down to size

A planned 32-storey apartment tower with impeccable green credentials is significantly scaled back after Brisbane City Council expressed concerns about its size.

 

How renewables will help ease bill shock [$]

Queenslanders’ power bills are likely to remain stagnant over the next decade despite the push to lower emissions.

 

South Australia

Councillors vote to reject State Gov’s Park Lands grab

With a majority vote, Adelaide City councillors formally supported the position of “no net loss of Park Lands”, while a former councillor will bring the Riverbank Precinct Code Amendment fight to parliament.

 

Port River probe grows after another dolphin put down [$]

The death of a fourth dolphin in as many months has been added to an official investigation amid claims the animal did not need to be euthanised.

 

Freeway overgrowth gets slashed [$]

Overgrown vegetation along the South Eastern Freeway will be given the chop in a major clean-up blitz.

 

Tasmania

Tasmanian Government progress legal dispute with Keppel Infrastructure Trust

The state government will pursue legal action against the owners of Basslink to recover $70 million it says is owed to them for the cable’s failure in 2015 and 2016.

 

Boag’s picks fight with government over container recycling scheme, but expert issues a warning [$]

A recycling advocacy organisation has urged the Tasmanian Government to stay the course on its container deposit plans in the face of ongoing pressure from James Boag’s Brewery and beverage giants.

 

Elders march for climate action

At lunchtime Thursday 28th October older generation Tasmanians will gather in Salamanca Square, Hobart, and march to Parliament Lawn in support of younger generations who will face the greater consequences of the climate crisis. Their cry is ‘Climate Distress – Elders for Kids’ and they call on parliamentary leaders to meet and develop a common ground statement for climate action.

 

On Waste Bill, Container Refund Scheme …

Roger Jaensch

Today I tabled the Waste and Resource Recovery Bill 2021 in the Tasmanian Parliament.

 

Basslink ‘standstill agreement’ ends

Guy Barnett

Yesterday I wrote to the owner of Basslink, Keppel Infrastructure Trust, to advise the Tasmanian Government and Hydro Tasmania will not be extending the Standstill Agreement.

 

Call for krill ban

Media release – Bob Brown Foundation

Bob Brown Foundation is urging a ban on krill fishing in Antarctica with a demonstration outside the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) headquarters today, during its 40th annual meeting.

 

Sustainability

Global Wealth has grown, but at expense of future prosperity: World Bank

World Bank report provides data for a more comprehensive view of economic growth and sustainability; finds share of total global wealth in renewable natural capital is decreasing and threatened by climate change

 

Grattan Plan: Practical policies for cleaner transport & better cities

It may sound too good to be true, but there’s a proven way to reduce carbon emissions and unhealthy pollutants, without dictating to anybody what car they can drive.

 

What the world can learn from Rachel Carson as we fight for our planet

Kim Heacox

With her brave book Silent Spring, Carson changed the course of US environmental history. We would do well to study her example

 

Nature Conservation

What are the Chesapeake Bay’s marshes worth? New study suggests billions

Climate experts have long warned that rising seas could add more destructive power to hurricane-whipped storm surges. But a new study centered on the Chesapeake Bay region suggests that another

 



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