Oi, Bazza! What you gonna do about this bluidy mess?

Well Bazza, you told everyone who would listen during the NSW election campaign that you'll fight putting a price on carbon and so many wanted K-K-Keneally & Labor gone that they deliberately ignored your blind ignorance. But it's time to get serious - so what are you going to do about the fact that New South Wales continues to live above its income when it comes to energy consumption? Last week the state continued to tread water at 22% above the only credible baseline when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power generation, gas and petroleum. You reckon you’re not a climate change denier – prove it! Remember if all you do as Premier is flannel former Labor voters they will walk straight back to the ALP in four years time, because they firmly believe in climate change and most are still right behind carbon pricing. So the party may turn into a fizzer. Oh, and Bazza - don't think that here on the NSW North Coast we haven't noticed that your Contract With NSW is so-o-o metrocentric.

The Climate Group NSW report card for 18^th to 24^th March:

• Total emissions grew by 0.2% or about 4,000 tonnes.
• Emissions from coal-fired generation, which accounted for 91% of electricity generation, grew by 0.4% or about 5,000.
• Emissions from gas grew by 2.6% or about 4,000 tonnes.
• Emissions from petroleum fell by 0.6% or about 4,000 tonnes.
• Electricity demand fell by 1.7%.


• NSW imported 5.9% of its electricity demand from other states, compared to 7.3% the previous week.

Last year:

• This week’s indicator is 1.7% higher than the same week in 2010


• Total emissions to this stage of 2011 were 0.7% lower than the similar stage last year

Baselines:

• 1990: 22% above
• 2000: 4.3% above

'Yes! To A Price On Pollution' rally in Sydney this Saturday, 2 April 2011

 

……… the election results are in -- let's show the new Government that the people of Sydney want a price tag on pollution.

You might have seen the anti-climate action rally in Canberra last week. This Saturday, the same naysayers and radio shock-jocks will rally in Sydney to say "No!" to climate action.

But around the nation, a bigger group of people are stepping up to say "YES!" In Melbourne, Perth and Port Macquarie, the sceptics and polluters rallies have been massively outnumbered by pro-pollution price people. Now it's Sydney's turn.

Let's stand together this Saturday the 2nd of April. While they're waving their angry placards and saying it can't be done, across town we'll hold a positive, family-friendly gathering to stand up for a clean energy future -- a future where strong action to cut pollution creates 200,000 extra jobs for NSW.

Can you come?

What: Family-friendly rally for a price on pollution (with music and face-painting for kids)
Where: Belmore Park (next to Central Station, behind the Eddy Avenue bus stops)
When: Saturday, April 2, 11am-12noon
RSVP: Click here to register your attendance

Two weeks ago, 300 sceptics protested outside Prime Minister Julia Gillard's electorate office in suburban Melbourne. But that rally was no match for the 8000 people who turned out in the city to support a price on pollution.

When I arrived at the Melbourne rally on my bike, I had the happy problem of getting stuck in the crowd, unable to get through to meet up with Don Henry and ACF staff and volunteers near the stage. Treasury Place was jam-packed. The atmosphere was so positive, with smiling families, inspiring speakers and some great music.

I felt that showing up made a real difference. Instead of the No Brigade owning the news that night, the mainstream media reported that support for a price on pollution was bigger and stronger.

Our movement for change is rising again. We refuse to be fearful of change. We refuse to keep living under the dirty cloud of a pollution-dependent economy. Together, we can step up to hope, action, and shine the light on a cleaner future.

Every day our campaigners are on conference calls with their colleagues in other organisations from the environment, civil society, youth and union movements to make Saturday's event a success -- but ultimately it comes down to you. Will we mobilise more people than the rally against climate action? ACF Climate Campaigner Phil Freeman will be off the phone and on his feet heading to Belmore Park, and he'd love you to join him on Saturday.

Sydney, it's your turn to show up and say "YES!" to a price on pollution.

Denise Boyd
Campaigns Director
Australian Conservation Foundation

P.S. Bring your own positive message on a sign or banner, and please, invite your family and friends!

Echoes of the past

The Internet's seemingly bottomless well means that nothing fades from memory......

The civil suit for alleged rape against then Governor-General Peter Hollingworth in the Supreme Court of Victoria collapsed when the plaintiff died and her personal representative withdrew the suit. Before the withdrawal of the suit and during the proceedings before the Court, Peter Hollingworth did not assert the claim that he should not be sued while he was Governor-General There are no explicit provisions in the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia to provide immunity to the Governor-General. There is also a dearth of case law in Australia on this matter.

Carbon Tax: Abbott causes a spontaneous outbreak of Godwinism here

What appears to have been an Abbott classic misquote concerning underdevelopment in early 20^th Century Russia Коммунизм это соввласть + электрификация (Communism is Soviet power + electrification), and his recent flirtation with the very right-wing of the political spectrum at the No Carbon Tax rally which happily coupled Gillard and Hitler on the same placard, had me looking back on some of the Oz Opposition Leader’s recent speeches - I was strongly reminded of that same nightmarish, hysterical, purple prosed lying orator:

“But ladies and gentlemen, this is an economy changing tax. This is designed to change the way all of us live and work. The whole point of a carbon tax is to make the cost of energy more expensive. It’s to make the cost of transport more expensive. The whole point of getting us to use less energy intensive substances in our economy, that’s the whole point of this carbon tax. At $26 a tonne – and don’t forget that $26 a tonne was too low for the Greens when the emissions trading scheme was promoted before the election; it’s probably too low to actually change people’s behaviour – but at $26 a tonne a carbon tax will add $300 to the price of your power bill. It’ll add six and a half cents to the price of your petrol. It will cost126,000 jobs in regional Australia according to Access Economics. It will cost 10,000 jobs and close down 16 coal mines according to the Acil economic consultancy. It will cost 24,000 jobs in other parts of mining according to Concept Economics, and it will cost 45,000 jobs in other energy intensive industries, and that is just for starters. This is what happens with a $26 a tonne carbon price, and yet to actually make a difference, to actually make us less enthusiastic about our cars, less enthusiastic about our air conditioners the price may well have to be much, much higher than this.“

“Not for nothing was the old Soviet Union emblazoned with slogans such as “communism equals worker control plus electrification”. It’s odd that Julia Gillard seems to have forgotten her history. You can’t have a modern economy or rising standards of living without rising power consumption.“

“The very purpose of this tax is to make every single Australian’s life more expensive when he or she turns on the light or when he or she gets into a motor car. That is the whole point of this tax. What has happened here is that the Greens have kick-started this great big new tax. They hijacked the Prime Minister’s courtyard on Thursday of last week. They took over the Prime Minister’s press conference on Thursday of last week. They have commandeered the government’s climate change policy, as they have commandeered the policies on so much else. Whether it is climate change or gay marriage, the Greens are in charge and Bob Brown is the real Prime Minister of this country. Labor is in office but the Greens are in power. Julia Gillard might be in the Lodge but Bob Brown is calling the shots and he now seems to be running the government.”

“Thanks very much indeed. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you everyone for coming. Democracy is at the heart of our country and democracy means giving everyone the chance to be heard with respect. I am so pleased to have had the chance to meet with some of you, to talk to all of you,”