Australian Government to Split Renewable Energy from Emissions Bill

By Rich Bowden

Img: Wind turbines. Credit: Moe/flickr

The Australian Government has moved to ensure the passing of renewable energy legislation in the Senate by decoupling a 20 percent renewables target by 2020 from its more controversial carbon emissions trading bill. The contentious legislation was rejected in the country's Senate earlier in the week where the government has insufficient numbers to ensure the bill's passage.

The Liberal/National Opposition and third parties had indicated their willingness to pass the renewable energy target but refused to do so due to it being linked to the government's Emissions Trading Scheme. In an interview with Channel Nine's Laurie Oakes this morning, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard referred to the move as "safeguarding our renewable Energy Target Legislation."

Clearly blaming the Opposition for leading the obtruction over both the Renewable Energy Targets and Carbon Emission legislation, Gillard said: "Obviously the best thing here for tackling climate change is that the Liberal Party stops getting in the way and allows both the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and our Renewable Energy Target Legislation through."

"But we're in a world of Liberal obstruction, because of their divisions, so we are safeguarding our renewable Energy Target Legislation so it can come into effect, even if the Liberal Party continues to block the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme."

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Assisting Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet, was quoted by Channel Ten as saying the design by the government to yield to environmental groups' calls to split the legislation was made to ensure the passage of the renewable energy component of the bill in the Senate.

Mr Combet said it would promote much-needed investment in Australia's renewable energy sector.

"What we're concerned to do is to ensure that the renewable energy legislation can get through Parliament, because that's going to unlock a lot of investment in renewable energy sources like solar power, or wind power or geothermal energy," he said.

However the federal Opposition has accused the government of "playing politics" on the issue, saying it had only linked the renewable energy scheme to the carbon emission reduction legislation to pass the entire bill.

Speaking to the ABC's Insiders, Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne said:

"What the Government wanted last Thursday was the beginning of a trigger for an election - it was purely politics," he said.

"That's why the Renewable Energy Target bill never needed to be part of that emissions trading scheme bill, and it's of no surprise to me at all that they will decouple that bill."

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Australian Government Pledges $9 Million for Indigenous Languages

By Rich Bowden

Img: Aboriginal dance. Credit: Damian Baker.

The Federal Government has pledged to spend $A9.3 million on programs designed to save over 100 of the country's threatened Indigenous languages.

Arts and Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin told reporters at the announcement of the program yesterday that the money would go on services for translation of Indigenous languages, the promotion of languages in Aboriginal schools and a study to look at the the possibility of establishing a national Indigenous languages centre.

"These languages are... a significant part of Australia's heritage and we must ensure they are protected for the benefit of future generations," Garrett said at the ceremony.

"A focused and coordinated national approach is critical to safeguard indigenous culture and save these unique languages," he added.

Today Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma welcomed the initiative saying preserving the Indigenous languages was a necessary action as they were a an important part of the country's heritage.

“Protecting Indigenous languages is about protecting our futures, our cultures and our lives for future generations,” he said. “I applaud Ministers Garrett and Macklin for this initiative and the clear message it sends about the need to protect this vital connection between Indigenous languages, culture and country."

One hundred and ten of Australia's 145 dialects are at risk of dying out according to a 2005 government report and the focus of the program is on the education of young people who very often have little or no knowledge of their own language.

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Australia: Sale of Carbon Permits Should Contribute to Rural Health and Environment

By Rich Bowden

Img: Country-style ute, Adelaide. Credit: BeauGiles/flickr

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) have joined forces to call on the government to spend at least a fifth of the revenue raised by the sale of carbon permits on rural health and environment.

The two organisations have proposed the establishment of two funds - the National Biodiversity and Climate Change Fund and a National Rural Public Health Fund - to ensure country communities have access to funding to help them weather expected change through climate change.

“Some of our great natural areas, like the Great Barrier Reef, the wet tropical rainforests and Kakadu, are at high risk from climate change,” said ACF executive director Don Henry in a news release.

“Investing in better protection and management of Australia’s natural areas will also help protect the hundreds of thousands of jobs and the billions of dollars they generate through tourism.”

NRHA Chair, Jenny May said such funding would help provide necessary resources for remote rural communities.

“It would provide resources for training, infrastructure, services and programs that promote healthy activities and illness prevention. The combination of environmental and health benefits that would flow from these efforts is what has brought our two organisations together on this critical current issue,” Dr May said.

The two organisations have said the twin funds could be set up along similar lines to that of the Clean Energy and Security Act 2009 recently passed by the US House of Representatives.

The submission comes as Pacific leaders used the annual Pacific Islands Forum meeting held in Cairns, northern Queensland this week, to call on the world's rich nations to cut carbon emissions by at least 50 percent as part of the vital climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

"We call upon world leaders to urgently increase their level of ambition and to give their negotiators fresh mandates to secure a truly effective global agreement," the group said.

World leaders will meet in Copenhagen to agree to a replacement for the Kyoto Treaty.

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Pacific Islands Forum: Rudd Plays Down Calls For Fiji Coup

By Rich Bowden

Img: Pacific Islands Forum logo.


Speaking in Cairns at the annual Pacific Islands Forum, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has rejected calls for an uprising against the recalcitrant military rule of Commodore Frank Bainimarama in Fiji saying he was in favour of a "peaceful" settlement to the problem.

Mr Rudd, taking over as host of this year's Forum, was reacting to comments made by outgoing chairman Nuie Premier Toke Talagi, who appeared to support an armed takeover by the Fijian people to restore democracy.

Describing the military regime's promise of elections in 2014 as "unacceptable" Talagi spoke directly to the people of Fiji.

"Perhaps citizens of Fiji must now rise... to challenge their undemocratic rule of the military regime and restore democracy," Mr Talagi said.

"Their self-imposed road map for elections to be held in 2014 is unacceptable."

However Prime Minister Rudd used his acceptance speech in north Queensland to back away from the premier's comments saying Pacific nations must work together to form a "peaceful solution" to the Fiji crisis.

"I would emphasise in absolutely clear-cut terms the importance of a peaceful solution to the problems which exist within Fiji," he was quoted as saying by Radio Australia. "They are real problems and that is one of the reasons why the countries of the Pacific Islands Forum agreed on a mechanism for the suspension of Fiji."

"...I believe what the Premier of Niue was referring to was that the people of Fiji themselves ought also to be seized of the challenges which their democracy now faces."

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key also backed the Australian PM saying dialogue, not confrontation, was the best course of action.

“You can’t have a good coup and a bad coup, we have encouraged Frank Bainimarama to engage in dialogue with the Forum leaders in Fiji, both with Qarase and with Chaudhry, we think that’s the right course of action, not some sort of uprising by the people against the military coup,” Mr Key told Radio New Zealand International.

Military forces led by Commodore Bainimarama seized power in Fiji in a December 2006 coup. The interim Fijian government suspended the country's constitution earlier this year after a court found the coup illegal and reneged on promises for elections delaying them until 2014.

Fiji has been suspended from this year's Pacific Islands Forum.

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Utegate: PM, Treasurer Cleared; Treasury Official Admits Faking Email

By Rich Bowden

Img: Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull. Credit: Adam Carr.

Godwin Gretch, the under-fire Treasury Official at the centre of the now-notorious "Utegate" affair, pre-empted an Auditor-General's report early today by admitting he concocted a vital email used to attack the Rudd government. The "evidence" was used by the Opposition to call for the Prime Minister and Treasurer's resignation over alleged special financial favours for a friend. The report, released after the official's statement, exonerated Mr Rudd and his Treasurer Wayne Swan of any wrongdoing in the affair.

Mr Gretch was reported by The Australian this morning as saying he fabricated an email alleging special favours for Ipswich car dealer John Grant under the OzCar scheme after Grant, a friend of the prime minister, had loaned the PM a car for his election campaign.

The Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull led the accusations against the PM and Treasurer after a Senate enquiry in June heard from Mr Gretch that an email existed from the PM's office that showed special treatment for Mr Grant. The special favours was alleged to have occurred under a government car financing scheme designed to improve Australia's car dealers access to funding. This email was later found by police to be a fake after investigations of Mr Gretch's home computer.

Speaking to The Australian Mr Gretch said he had fabricated the evidence under pressure from the Opposition in the hope that they would pass the OzCar bill in the closely-divided Senate.

"My concern was that the issue of Grant could be used to frustrate the passage of the bill," he said.

He described his actions in fabricating the email as an "error of judgement."

However the "utegate" affair, rather than damage the government, has instead rebounded on the Opposition Leader, throwing doubt on his future as the country's alternative leader. Mr Turnbull has mortified members of his own party after he led the attack on the Prime Minister and Treasurer in June based solely on the fabricated evidence.

Mr Turnbull and Senator Eric Abetz, who was behind the questioning of Gretch in the Senate enquiry, are alleged to have met with Gretch at Mr Turnbull's wife's office in Sydney to discuss the email and testimony one week before Mr Gretch was to give evidence before the Senate committee.

Mr Gretch, though working for the government as a senior Treasury official, has been accused of passing information to the Opposition, acting as a Coalition "mole" within Treasury.

The allegations against Turnbull go further than criticism of his political judgement, political commentators have noted. According to Gretch, pressure was placed on Gretch to release the email designed to bring down the Prime Minister. Turnbull is alleged to have "intimate involvement" in the coaching of Gretch and the handling of confidential Treasury information.

The government has said Mr Turnbull's position is now untenable and he should apologise and resign.


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China, Australia Diplomatic Wrangle Widens

By Rich Bowden


Img: Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith. Credit: US Dept of Defence



The diplomatic fallout between China and Australia continues to grow with Australian authorities denied access to detained Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu and questions being raised as to whether the dramatic arrest is a "payback" by Chinese authorities over a failed state-owned mining company's bid for the mining giant.

Mr Hu and three of his associates were detained in Shanghai on Sunday and charged with attempting to steal Chinese state secrets. Consular officials have been denied access to the Australian Mr Hu until today and Foreign Minister Steven Smith expressed clear signs of frustration when he told the media of his department's attempts to glean information from Chinese authorities.

"I would have of course much preferred that this information would have been given to us much earlier, through official diplomatic channels," he said, claiming he was made aware of the charges through the Chinese media.

The ABC quoted Mr Smith as saying an official Chinese statement posted on a government website claims that during iron ore negotiations this year Mr Hu, "gathered and stole state secrets from China via illegal means, including bribing internal staff of Chinese steel companies."

Mr Smith explained that "The Chinese state and the Chinese authorities take a much broader view of what state secrets or national security might be than, for example, Australia or other nations might."

"It's very hard for the Australian Government to frankly see the connection between what might be daily commercial negotiations or matters and national security issues," reported the ABC.

"But when you look and reflect upon the statements as I have this morning it's quite clear they are proceeding on the basis of possible criminal charges... arising as a result of commercial or economic negotiations."

The affair has touched off claims that the detention of Mr Hu is a "payback" from the recent failure of Chinese-owned Chinalco mining company to purchase an 18 percent claim in Rio Tinto.

Rio executives turned down the $US19.5 billion ($A24.89 billion) Chinalco bid in favour of an extension of a deal with rival BHP Billiton.

The Australian Nationals leader in the Senate, Barnaby Joyce gave voice to this theory earlier this week.

"We know that we're failing to get proper diplomatic access to them, to Mr Stern Hu, and what we can deduct is that there'd have to be a relationship between Chinalco's failure in its purchase of Rio and the ramifications that go beyond a state-owned enterprise all the way to the Chinese Government," he told the PM program on July 8.

"All investments overseas go through a central organising authority to where they're going to purchase overseas and that the disappearance of the four people - one of whom is an Australian citizen - if it's nothing to do with Rio, then why can't we get diplomatic access to them and find out exactly what's going on?" he asked.

However a statement by Chinalco today denied the arrests had anything to do with the failed bid, saying it was sympathetic to the executives' plight. The company also denied earlier media reports that it had been critical of Rio Tinto.

“Chinalco has been in contact with Rio Tinto expressing our mutual concern for the current situation with their staff,” a statement released today said, adding that earlier statements attributed tovice-president Lu Youqing criticising Rio Tinto executives were misquoted.

“These comments were incorrectly reported and do not reflect the company’s view,” the release added.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said he will consider making personal representations on behalf of the executives.

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