New Australian Resources Minister Matthew Canavan thinks mine approvals are just a matter of ticking boxes?

After sitting in the Senate for barely two years, Queensland Liberal National Party Senator Matthew Canavan is now Australian Minister for Resources.

No academic training directly relevant to this portfolio, an economist for hire flitting from job to job - Productivity Commission 2003-08, KPMG 2008, Productivity Commission 2009-10 and, then Chief of Staff to Senator Barnaby Joyce 2010-13 (now Deputy Prime Minister) until he also stood for the Senate in September of that last year.

A member of the Coalition ‘Catholic mafia’, an acknowledged supporter of coal, coal seam gas and uranium mining as well as someone perilously flirting with coming out as a climate change denier.

Since entering the Senate he has voted against granting landowners the right to say “No” to coal seam gas exploration on their land; against an audit of the human impacts of coal seam gas mining; against properly funding the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA); said no to increasing investment in renewable energy; didn’t support ending fossil fuel industry donations to political parties; was strongly against treating government action on climate change as a matter of urgency; and, put a motion to the Senate asking the Labor Party to support Coalition legislative amendments stopping environmental groups from challenging government decisions.

In his maiden speech he made his position abundantly clear:

I want to put on record my admiration and support for our fossil fuel industry and the thousands of jobs it supports – including my brother’s. 

The resources lobby return the compliment this month.

My Sunshine Coast, 18 July 2016:

Statement by Queensland Resources Council (QRC) Chief Executive Michael Roche.

I wish to congratulate Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his ministerial choices today.

The sector has won the trifecta with the appointment of new Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan, the new Industry, Science and Innovation Minister Greg Hunt and the new portfolio of Environment and Energy, going to former resources minister Josh Frydenberg.

The resources sector requires steady safe hands to ride through the commodities downturn and in the face of a relentless green activist campaign.

Senator Canavan has already proven to be a champion for the sector in Queensland, in his role as Minister for Northern Australia, and I am confident he will be a strong voice for resources around the cabinet table.

I hope that the three ministers will work together to ensure that barriers to investment in the sector be removed wherever possible to ensure that the significant revenue and jobs from the sector continue to flow.

The resources sector should be an integral part of rolling out the Turnbull Government’s jobs and growth election platform. In Queensland alone, the resources sector indirectly and directly accounts for one in every five dollars in the economy and one in every six jobs.

Regional Queensland families who are relying on resources projects to keep shirts on the backs of their families will be very happy indeed that Senator Canavan will continue the federal government’s support of the sector.

The Guardian took a more measured approach to the new minister on 19 July 2016:

The new resources minister, Matthew Canavan, has warned there is still a level of uncertainty about the impact of carbon emissions on global warming and described the Adani Carmichael coalmine as an “incredibly exciting project” for Australia.

Canavan, who has previously called for funding for climate change sceptic scientists, is also responsible for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, which will decide whether to recommend the Queensland government’s application for a federal loan for the Adani railway link.

He said while he had the final decision on projects recommended by the NAIF, the body had only come into being on 1 July and had yet to make any recommendations to him as minister.

Canavan is the biggest winner of the ministry reshuffle, elevated to cabinet and given the resources portfolio to add to his northern Australia outer ministry position. He said he accepted the warming impact of carbon dioxide, notwithstanding a level of uncertainty. He accused “certain interest groups” of exaggerating the effects of carbon emissions.

“There is a level of uncertainty about the impact of carbon emissions,” Canavan told Sky News. “Indeed, in the last IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report, the level of confidence reduced in the forcing effect of carbon emissions.

“There is a lot about the climate system we don’t understand, a lot of assumptions we have to make with projections of course. I just feel we should all be a little more humble about our climate and our system.

“To think that we know it all and exactly how to fine tune the temperature, to talk of half a degree of temperature that we could somehow manage that and hit that target, we don’t understand all the impacts.”

Canavan said climate policy changes impacted “real people’s lives” and moving to 100% renewables was naive.

“We do understand that making some policy changes have real world impacts on real people’s lives, it would cause people to be very poor if we completely cut fossil fuels out of the world economy,” Canavan said.

“There is still more than a billion people without access to electricity in our world and these are real world issues we need to be adult about.”

Canavan said there were “great advances” in the coal industry, including ultra-critical and supercritical power plants, which produce less emissions but are more expensive.

“Talk of moving to 100% renewables is not only quite naive at the moment – maybe that is something that can happen but we can’t bank on it,” Canavan said. “It is also something that will imperil our prosperity and welfare.”

He described the Adani project, which has been delayed by financing issues, a global coal slump and legal challenges by traditional owners and environmental groups, as “an incredibly exciting project for our country”.

He said as minister he saw his primary job as facilitating the project to “make it easy as possible” while ticking the boxes on environmental, health and safety and community impacts.

Canavan, who lives within a few hundred kilometres of the mine, said the project was an opportunity for Australia to improve its relationship with India.

Domestic Violence - it can happen to anyone

Destroy the Joint, 4 July 2016

Excerpt from NSW Government booklet D O M E S T I C  V I O L E N C E – IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE:

Domestic violence takes many forms. It involves violent, abusive or intimidating behaviour carried out by a partner, carer, friend or family member, boyfriend or girlfriend, to control, dominate, humiliate or instil fear.

A person does not need to be married for it to be considered ‘domestic and family violence’.

A person does not need to experience all of these types of abuse for it to be considered domestic or family violence.

Domestic and family violence can include (but is not limited to) the following types of abuse:

Psychological

» driving dangerously » destruction of property

» abuse of pets in front of family members

» making threats regarding custody of any children » asserting that the police and justice system will not assist, support or believe the victim

» threatening to ‘out’ the person. Emotional

» blaming the victim for all problems in the relationship

» constantly comparing the victim with others to undermine self-esteem and self-worth

» sporadic sulking

» withdrawing all interest and engagement (for example weeks of silence)

» emotional blackmail and suicidal threats.

Social

» systematic isolation from family and friends through techniques such as ongoing rudeness to family and friends to alienate them

» instigating and controlling the move to a location where the victim has no established social circle or employment opportunities

» restricting use of the car or telephone

» forbidding or physically preventing the victim from going out and meeting people.

Financial

» forbidding access to bank accounts

» providing only an inadequate ‘allowance’

» not allowing the victim to seek or hold employment

» coercing to sign documents or make false declarations

» using all wages earned by the victim for household expenses

» controlling the victim’s pension

» denying that the victim has an entitlement to joint property.

Physical

» direct assault on the body (strangulation or choking, shaking, eye injuries, biting, slapping, pushing, spitting, punching, or kicking)

» use of weapons including objects

» assault of children

» locking the victim in or out of the house

» forcing the victim to take drugs, withholding medication, food or medical care

» sleep deprivation.

Verbal

» swearing and continual humiliation, either in private or in public

» attacks following clear themes that focus on intelligence, sexuality, body image and capacity as a parent and spouse.

Sexual

» any form of pressured/unwanted sex or sexual degradation by an intimate partner or ex-partner, such as sexual activity without consent

» causing pain during sex

» assaulting genitals

» coercive sex without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease

» making the victim perform sexual acts unwillingly (including taking or distributing explicit photos without their consent)

» criticising or using sexually degrading insults.

Harassment and stalking

» following and watching

» telephone and online harassment

» tracking with Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

» being intimidating.

Read the full booklet here.

New Politics in the Pub, Court House Hotel in Mullumbimby, Wednesday 27 July 2016 from 6.30pm

Echo NetDaily, 20 July 2016:

NSW Council for Civil Liberties (CCL) president will be guest speaker at New Politics in the Pub on Wednesday July 27 from 6.30pm at the Court House Hotel in Mullumbimby.

The topic of discussion by president Stephen Blanks will be the recently introduced anti-protest laws by the Baird Liberal/Nationals government that radically extends police powers against opponents of mining projects and heavily fines those who ‘lock on’ to mining equipment.

It’s called Inclosed Lands, Crimes and Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Interference) Act 2016 and only passed with votes from two crossbench parties: the Shooters and Fishers Party and Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party.

The law immediately sparked protests in front of parliament house, and has reverberated throughout the state.

It is also considered the result of the close relationship that exists between Liberal and National Party politicians, their staff and the mining industry.

If this law existed at the Bentley Blockade near Lismore in 2014, neighbouring farmers and residents could have been arrested as they ‘locked on’ to the equipment.

This was owing to the government’s inaction to intervene over the known toxicity that accompanies CSG mining, and its potential to poison aquifers. Land values are also known to plummet.

The laws have been described by lawyers and as an assault on democracy and a civil society.

According to The Law Society, the law would, ‘seriously interfere with the liberties of NSW residents.’…..

See:  INCLOSED LANDS, CRIMES AND LAW ENFORCEMENT LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (INTERFERENCE) ACT 2016 at 

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ilcalelaa2016658/

Online Petitions of the Month

Let’s swap Andrew Bolt for 50,000 refugees

We want Pauline Hanson to eat a HSP with Sam Dastyari

There's no excuse for unprofessional venting on Facebook - someone should tell A.I.D. Australia Pty Ltd.'s Des Euen

There’s no excuse for unprofessional venting on Facebook writes Eve Ash in Smart Company on 18 July 2016.

Something the CEO of Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd should perhaps bear in mind when he comments on the company’s Facebook page and elsewhere.

In response to one of the company’s shareholders, bagging the very political party and federal MP he needs on his side…..

In response to the community whose goodwill he needs to progress his grand plan……

NSW households with feed-in tariffs on their rooftop solar power can expect no help with bill shock from the Baird or Turnbull governments

State of Play for NSW domestic solar power…….

REneweconomy, 1 September 2015:

The New South Wales pricing regulator has slashed the value of solar feed-in tariffs in the state in what appears to be a deliberate move to push consumers to adopt battery storage, and to lock in long-term deals with major retailers.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) on Monday announced in a draft determination that the recommended average tariff – which is voluntary anyway for electricity retailers  in NSW – had been cut by 14 per cent to an average 4.8c/kWh, the lowest in Australia.

The move will affect the more than 3,000 homes that add rooftop solar in NSW each month, and gives some indication of the tariffs awaiting the 160,000 homes on premium feed-in tariffs when those tariffs come to an end at the end of 2016.

IPART justified the cut – from an average 5.6c/kWh in the past year – on the basis that wholesale electricity prices had fallen because of a decline in expensive peak pricing events.

One of the principal reasons for this fall in wholesale prices is the proliferation of rooftop solar PV. IPART says solar PV has helped reduce the number of daytime peak pricing events in NSW and helped lower the average level of peak demand by 8 per cent….

But while solar households are having their tariffs cut because of falling wholesale prices, there is no sign that lower wholesale prices have been passed on to the general consumer. Retailers simply increase their margins on the “retail” component of the business to offset the lower revenue they get from their coal plant and other generators. All major retailers have increased their margins significantly in the past year.

ABC News, 19 July 2016:

Thousands of Australians will be hit by electricity bill shock of about $1,500 when generous solar feed-in tariffs are rolled back in coming months, consumer advocates have warned.

The tariffs were introduced for a set period to kickstart Australia's uptake of rooftop solar by offering money to solar users who fed energy back into the grid.

More than 275,000 households will be affected when the tariffs are unwound from September to January in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria.

A new report that crunches the numbers on the financial impact shows 146,000 NSW customers will be the hardest hit…..

In NSW, the tariff will be wound back from 60 cents for all solar generation to 5.5-7.2 cents per kilowatt hour.

In Victoria, consumers who were paid 25 cents per kilowatt hour for excess solar fed into the grid will have that reduced to five cents and in South Australia the 16 cent tariff will fall to 6.8 cents.

The current NSW 60 cents tariff for all solar generation - 20 cents feed-in tariff (FiT) - gives a discount of est. 7 per cent on domestic electricity costs.

Current solar FiTs are ending for 275,902 households in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria.

The change occurs for households with FiT contracts which commenced in :

2011 (standard tariff) South Australia the change occurs on 30 September 2016 – new minimum tariff 6.8 cents per kWh;

2010 (“Solar Scheme Tariff”) New South Wales the change occurs on 31 December 2016 – up to retailer to decide the offer which is unlikely to exceed 5 cents kWh ; and

2011 (transitional tariff) & 2012 (standard tariff) Victoria the change occurs on 31 December 2016  - new tariff 5 cents per kWh. “Premium FiT” contracts do not expire until 2024.

According to the Independent Pricing And Regulatory Tribunal an average two-person household in NSW uses approximately 1,400 kWh of electricity per quarter (90 days) or 15.55kWh per day.

If a North Coast residence is lucky enough to receive a full 6 hours of sunlight daily on its rooftop solar panel and has installed a 3.0kw or 4.0 kw model it could produce between 11.7 to 16.8kWh of electricity per day.

Even the most basic maths indicates that from 1 January 2017 for many of these coastal households the dollar margin between output and consumption will fall and at the end of each billing period there will be less income to compensate for their actual energy use plus the usual energy retailer’s service fees and charges.

As both the Baird and Turnbull governments appear to be captives of the coal and gas industries, 2017 is going to be a year of unexpected adjustment for many of those older residents in the Northern Rivers who fondly imagined that they were future proofing their retirement by entering solar feed-in tariff schemes in 2010.

The Total Environment Centre explains Life after FiTs.

Remedial Maintenance of Yamba Breakwater Wall from end July to Christmas 2016

NSW Dept. of Industry - Lands, fact sheet, July 2016:

Remedial Maintenance: Yamba Breakwater

NSW Department of Industry- Lands

The NSW Department of Industry - Lands (DoI Lands) is responsible for maritime assets along the NSW coast including 21 river entrance breakwaters.

The Yamba (Clarence South) Breakwater

The Yamba Breakwater situated on the Southern side of the Clarence River entrance was constructed between 1950 and 1971.The structure was built to protect the Clarence river entrance (largest river entrance in NSW) from the effects of waves and sand transport to allow safe navigability of the Clarence River channel extensively used for commercial fishing and recreational boating.

Purpose of the Works

The Yamba Breakwater undergoes routine condition assessments to identify the state of the asset. DoI Lands have identified the Breakwater as an at-risk structure due to the dilapidated state of the head section, a result of significant storm damage. In its current state, the structure is at risk of failure during a major coastal storm and poses threat to the public.

The proposed repair work will ensure the integrity of the structure remains, maintaining the navigability of the Clarence River channel. The work will also improve access along the crest for the general public after completion.

Description of the Works

The upgrade works are being undertaken by Haslin Constructions, who specialise in construction projects of all manners and size. The specifics of the works are:

1. Total estimated quantity of rock armour used for the repair is in excess of 50,000 tonnes.

2. Repair works cover the eastern most 750m of the Breakwater, addressing in particular the damaged areas of eastern most 100m of the Breakwater including the head.

3. All works will be undertaken from land, with the rock delivered by truck and placed by an excavator.

Timing of Works and Access

The offsite manufacturing of rock armour began in mid-July. Establishment on site is set to begin at the end of July.

The works on site including the preparation of breakwater access and laying of rock armour are proposed to begin in August with a completion date before Christmas 2016, weather permitting.

During construction works, various parts of the breakwater will be closed to public access. Outside of construction hours some sections of the breakwater may be open to the public unless there is safety or other issues requiring closure.

More Information

For more information contact Andy Hartley, DoI Lands Coastal Engineer, on 0417 639 305 or visit: www.crownland.nsw.gov.au