Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
A Sydney astronomer says Tuesday night’s "blood moon" lunar eclipse should be visible to most people across the country. Lunar eclipses occur at least twice a year, somewhere in the world, but the last time a total eclipse was visible from Australia’s eastern states was in July 2000. "It’s a pretty spectacular sight tonight. It’s Continue Reading →
The pricing regulatory body (IPART Tribunal) proposed to conduct further research on alternative approaches for setting water prices including the use of scarcity pricing, according to a recent report.
Price rises when water becomes more scarce: Scarcity pricing had been advocated by a number of commentators as a better means of bringing the demand for water into line with the available supply. Under such an approach the price of water would increase during droughts when rainfall decreases and water storage levels decrease. Conversely, lower prices would apply where water was in relative abundance such as when water storages were at a near full storage level.
Restricting demand less costly than increasing supply: Where the supply/demand imbalance appeared to be short term or intermittent in nature, a pricing mechanism that allocated existing supply of water (for instance, through a combination of scarcity pricing and other demand management measures, such as water restrictions) was likely to be efficient because restricting demand would generally be less costly than increasing supply.
Fed taskforce sees strong water-pricing and GM crops as key to land, water use in Top End The Federal Government’s Northern Development Taskforce will soon call for expressions of interest and ideas for developing land and water in the Top End, reported <>Queensland Country Life (5/7/2007, p.114). Water-efficiency element: Meeting for the first time in Continue Reading →
When the University of Western Australian posted this Media Statement on its website, it exposed the Federal Governments long term agenda to introducte genetically modified crops into Australia. It seems that government funding has been channeled into the development of GE or GM crops for 15 years, although these crops were banned. The Howard Government Continue Reading →
Posted Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:23pm AEST ABC News Online Federal Labor’s primary industry spokesman Kerry O’Brien is accusing Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran of promoting one side of the genetically modified (GM) canola argument. Mr McGauran released a report on GM crops this month and is pushing state governments to drop their bans on GM Continue Reading →
Posted Tue May 29, 2007 12:39pm AEST ABC Online The Organic Agriculture Association is urging dairy farmers to oppose the lifting of a moratorium on genetically modified canola. The State Government is conducting a review on the moratorium due to be lifted early next year. The Organic Association’s Robin Grant says once the ban Continue Reading →