Victorian homes need mains gas before end of winter says Victorian MP

Although mains gas supply had been extended to a number of towns in her electorate, it was critical that households not connected before the end of winter continue to receive the rebate for bottled LPG and/or non-mains-metered power, said Joanne Duncan in the Victorian Legislative Assembly on 22 August 2007.

Snoop-troops: Wide police “terrorist” powers used to snoop on ordinary folks who question Federal Govt policies

Before the APEC meeting began, police and politicians repeatedly talked up the prospect of protests turning violent and boasted about how they would crack down hard, according to Brian Toohey reported The Australian Financial review (8/9/2007, p. 62).

APEC’s outcome: police and government demonstrate how far they can go to squash dissent in a free country

APEC was disrupting the lives of four million people for a week in the interests, we are told, of a greater good, according to Adele Horin,  in The Australian (7/9/2007, p. 29).

Australians stripped of right to march through city: “But a protest march that may dis­rupt the city for a few hours – for the legitimate purpose of expressing dissent – is deemed unacceptable,” wrote Horin. “Welcome, George Bush, to Australia, your steadfast ally in the mission to spread freedom to the darkest corners of the globe. In his style of genial naivety Bush at his first media conference mentioned one such dark corner, Burma, where demon­strators were recently detained by the military regime. It was ‘inexcusable’, he said, ‘that people who march for freedom’ are threatened by a repressive state. In NSW the police have succeeded in strip­ping people of their right to march through the city to protest against the policies of Bush, which are conservatively estimated to have led to the deaths of more than 77,000 Iraqi civilians (or 650,000 if The Lancet medical journal is right) and 3700 American soldiers.”

Protestors consistently get it right: “It is in the interests of liberal democracies to give people the widest possible opportunity to express dissent, and to protest against a government,” wrote Horin. “Australian protesters have a dis­tinguished history of getting it right. The anti-Vietnam moratoriums, the anti-Springbok rallies, and the early anti-Iraq war marches are instances where the people were right and the government wrong. Protest marches disrupt the traffic, and some people get out of hand. But the right of citizens to demonstrate their anger with government policy is a feature that distinguishes Australia from Burma, or from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.”

Greens defeat intimidation: “Police told the judge they intended to put a fence – another one – near Mar­tin Place as permitted under the new APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007, and it would present a danger to public safety if the march ended at this new fence. The judge had to agree,” Horin wrote. “Not content with targeting the Stop Bush Coalition, the police also wrote to the Greens, threatening to take them to court if they persisted in holding an event with speeches and street theatre at Martin Place. If people can eat their lunch there (it is in the designated ‘security’, but not the ‘restricted’ zone), people should have the right to make a political statement in a public place. The Greens held their line, and this time the intimidation didn’t work; the police backed down.”

Outcome predicted: “What will we get for the $330 million APEC bill?” asked Horin. “No significant progress on cli­mate change, fair trade or the elimination of poverty. But the police and government will have demonstrated just how far they can go in a free country to squash the legitimate expression of dissent.”

The Australian, 7/9/2007, p. 29

New APEC security pact grants Australia top-secret US weaponry: but 75pc think APEC, was overkill

US president George Bush will unveil a new security pact in Sydney this week, granting Australia preferential access to top-secret US military technology and enhancing co-operation on defence and counter-terrorism. With polling showing almost three-quarters of NSW residents believe the $300 million APEC bill is a waste of money.

Federal Government’s IR department broke its own laws in November 2005, says judge

The Federal Government’s industrial relations department broke its own laws when it ordered public servants not to go to an ACTU protest rally in November 2005, reported The Age (7/9/2007, p. 2).

Shell to supply one million tonnes of LNG annually to PetroChina over a 20-year period from WA Gorgon project

Shell executed a binding heads of agreement for the supply of one million tonnes of LNG annually to PetroChina over a 20-year period, reported The Canberra Times (5/9/2007, p. 13).

CO2 dump approved: Chevron Australia puts cost for storage scheme and first 10 years of operations at $850 million

Chevron Australia general manager Colin Beckett said his company’s Barrow island project, to put carbon dioxide underground to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, would be larger than any other geosequestration scheme currently contemplated or in production, reported The Mercury (8/9/2007, p. 15).

$3 billion Queensland, Cape York ACCA bauxite and alumina project formally declared a significant project

The $3 billion Aluminium Corporation of China Aurukun bauxite and alumina project was formally declared a significant project by the State Government, reported The Courier Mail(8/8/2007, p. 40).

NSW 640MW Uranquinty OCGT project: estimated gas cost $4.13/GJ; plans to start late-2008

The Uranquinty project achieved State Government approval and was being developed by Wambo Power Ventures Pty Ltd, jointly owned by Babcock & Brown and ERM Group, according to ‘Fuel resource, new entry and generation costs in the NEM’, a report by ACIL Tasman for NEMMCO (27/3/2007).

15,000GWh of new NEM generation by 2016/17, giving potential gas-fired output of 35,000GWh, says NEMMCO report

ACIL Tasman considered it reasonable to assume that some 15,000GWh of new generation could be supported by 2016/17 giving a potential gas-fired output for that year of around 35,000GWh, according to ‘Fuel resource, new entry and generation costs in the NEM’, a report to NEMMCO by ACIL Tasman (27/3/2007).

Oil accounts for only 0.02pc of primary energy use in NEM generation in 2005/06, says NEMMCO report

Oil accounted for only 0.02 per cent of primary energy used in generation in the NEM in 2005/06, according to ‘Fuel resource, new entry and generation costs in the NEM’, a report by ACIL Tasman to NEMMCO (27/3/2007).

APEC was where a “a lame duck president met a dead duck prime minister”: news stories and images, largely negative

According to Mark Day, APEC news stories and images were largely negative . He said last week’s reports from the Northern Territory featured some very angry voters, shouting at the PM as he toured a shopping mall demanding that he get his hands off territory affairs. Placards unsubtly suggested he was not welcome. As a backdrop to the news report, these images convey their own message, in the PM’s case an unwelcome one, he wrote in The Australian, (6/9/2007), p. 40.

Abandoned Queensland mining sites: remediation deposit collected by EPA grossly inadequate: left for landholder to clean up

According to Peter Kenny, president of land holder lobby-group AgForce, mining operations have abandoned a site and the remediation deposit collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been grossly inadequate, which means the site is effectively left for landholder to clean up. This situation must be rectified and the EPA given the powers and resources to properly manage this situation, he wrote in Queensland Country Life, (6/9/2007), p. 35.

The good the bad and the ugly: “While a number of the larger mining operations act as good corporate citizens, this is not always the case, and it is all too common with some of the smaller operations and newer companies. AgForce will continue to raise these issues with the State Government, and we’ve also included these concerns in our recent submission to the Mining Legislation Review”.
Peter Kenny, AgForce president (07) 3236 3100

Totally stacked with miners: “The current situations is almost totally stacked in favour of the resources sector. While AgForce understands the important role which this sector plays, it should not come at the expense of agriculture, which is a renewable and sustainable resource. We also see farmers treated differently to some mining operations when it comes to environmental issues – particularly on vegetation issues and site remediation”.

Queensland Country Life, 6/9/2007, p. 35

Canberra airport signifi­cantly increased fuel storage facilities to prepare for APEC forum summit

Canberra airport has signifi­cantly increased its fuel storage facilities to prepare for the week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit, reported The Canberra Times (5/9/2007, p. 4).

Consumers should not underwrite GasNet’s commercial credit risks; lack of planning report for Carisbrook Loop augmentation equals lack of GasNet support

TRUenergy had asked the Australian Energy Regulator’s (AER)  to get Victorian transmission provider, GasNet’s capital expenditure forecast justified and supported by expansion studies completed by VENCorp. TRUenergy  objected to a GasNet  plan to pass through any debts incurred by defaulting shippers, and other clauses.

Resource deals announced during APEC not the fruit of APEC deliberations, says newspaper

APEC had nothing to do with the numerous resource deals announced during the conference, according to The Age (8/9/2007, p. B3).

Taiwan President, Chen Shui-bian, not allowed to attend the APEC leaders’ meeting because of Chinese objections, sends head of ACER, instead

Taiwan was deeply unhappy that its President, Chen Shui-bian, has not been allowed to attend the APEC leaders’ meeting because of Chinese objections.

CO2 dump rules in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland: none appear to deal with earthquake, water quality or leak risks, or, long-term liability

South Australia had amended the Petroleum Act 2000 to include CO2 as a regulated substance which can be transported by pipeline. This Act also provides for the granting of a licence to store CO2 in natural reservoirs.