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  • Bitter pay dispute looms in Australian Prime Minister’s department/

     

    If the agreement is approved by the commission, the it will then be put to the prime minister of the day before it faces a vote of EL and APS staff.

    Related Coverage

    A source familiar with the negotiations described senior management’s approach as effectively a “declaration of war” on mid-level and junior staff.

    The source said they had written to Julia Gillard’s chief of staff Amanda Lampe nine days ago, calling for her to intervene in the dispute, but to no avail.

    Documents obtained by Capital Circle highlight staff concerns about pay and conditions, which include:

    That the 3 per cent pay rise on the table is being delivered by an “erosion in conditions”;

    Senior executive staff (SES) numbers have been increased since July 2008 at the expense of APS and EL staff;

    Management has ignored guidelines on time off in lieu, refused to turn departmental guidelines into policy and refused to bring lieu entitlements into line with Department of Treasury and Finance practice;

    That management commenced pay negotiations late and has tried to force through a deal, allowing only seven weeks for negotiations and;

    That new pay structures were proposed halfway through negotiations that would see existing staff paid less than staff hired after October 1, when the new agreement would come into effect.

    The departmental source told Capital Circle that “PM&C staff have toiled relentlessly for the Rudd/Gillard government, often with little thanks; the EL staff bearing the brunt of the long and arduous hours of policy coordination and development”.

    “Management have treated the hardest-working non-SES staff with the utmost contempt; their bargaining tactics are neither fair nor honest.”

    The source suggested that departmental staff are particularly concerned about the proposed new pay grades, which could foreshadow new service-wide pay grades being introduced from July 1 next year.

    However, other sources familiar with the negotiations have hosed down this this speculation.

    Somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of all public service employment agreements expire mid-2011.

    The blueprint for reform of the public service, led by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet boss Terry Moran and released in March this year, is also due to come into effect in the middle of next year.

    Comment has been sought from the department. Ms Lampe declined to comment.
     

  • Outline of a Greens Australia: Bob Brown

    Outline of a Greens Australia: Bob Brown

    Boost public education with mining tax
    Conserve land for food and environment
    Accountability and insurance against big party domination

    Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown has used his Leaders’ Address to the
    National Press Club today to outline why the Greens are needed in the
    Senate to guard against big party domination and ensure outcomes for the
    community.

    “The Greens are the smaller party with big ideas giving a good option
    for voters fed up with the bigger parties with small ideas,” said
    Senator Brown.

    “Our approach to the mining tax is a key example of the dividend we will
    work to deliver to the community.

    “The Opposition has pledged to wipe out the mining tax and all the
    benefits it would bring for society, just as it tried to block the
    economic stimulus package.

    “In contrast, as a first step in the new parliament if the Greens are
    re-elected, I propose that we adjust the mining tax to raise an
    additional $2 billion per year, to be invested in the public schools
    system.”

    Senator Brown outlined other key Greens election commitments including:
    – Measures to preserve food producing land against coal companies and
    other incursions
    – A national dental healthcare scheme: Denticare
    – Equal marriage laws, and

    Two further new policy initiatives:
    – A Parliamentary Budget Office to provide economic and budgetary advice
    Parliament
    – An international ban on the mining and manufacture of Asbestos

    “The Greens are the party that cares about people, thinks about the
    future and are the champions for the environment,” said Senator Brown.

    Noting record-high polling for the Greens, Senator Brown said the Greens
    would  give Australians the accountability they deserve in the Senate.

    “We will be the people’s watchdog, whichever party wins office next
    Saturday.

    “That is my commitment to all Australians.”

    Media contact: Peter Stahel 0459 133 597

    _______________________________________________
    GreensMPs Media mailing list
    Media@greensmps.org.au
    To unsubscribe, change your details or change delivery options for this email, visit: http://lists.greensmps.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/media

  • Scientists map out wave energy hotspots.

     

    “It’s a small fraction… we figure out that if we could harness just 10 per cent of the wave energy along a 1,000km strip of the southern coast, then that would be enough to meet the Australian Government’s renewable energy targets of 20 per cent renewable energy before 2020.”

    Dr Hemer says wave energy is not a quick fix and it is still a decade or two away from being a real force as an alternative energy.

    “Wave energy really is a baby at the moment – there’s currently only about four megawatts of wave energy generating capacity installed globally,” he said.

    “If you compare that to wind energy, there’s about 200,000 megawatts of installed capacity, or 50,000 times more, so wave energy is a long way behind on the cost learning curve.”

    The research has been published in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

    Chief technology officer at wave energy company Oceanlinx, Tom Denniss, says the research validates the most suitable locations for commercialising wave energy.

    “What has happened in the past with wave energy developers is that they’ve had to go down and put their own wave logging devices and leave them there for quite a period of time,” he said.

    “Even when I say ‘quite a period of time’, that might be a year or so and that’s still not enough to really get the level of detail that’s desired.

    “What this does, the latest report, is to provide a continuum rather than occasional points in the ocean here and there, so it’s incredibly useful.”

    He says there’s still technological hurdles to overcome, including proving to investors the durability of equipment to last decades in the ocean.

    Tags: environment, alternative-energy, climate-change, tidal-energy, australia, tas, king-island-7256, wa, geraldton-6530

    First posted 1 hour 54 minutes ago

  • Southern Wave power a great untapped resource::CSIRO

    Southern wave power a great untapped resource: CSIRO

    ABC August 17, 2010, 8:50 pm

     

    Australia’s southern coastline has been identified as one of the world’s most promising sites for the generation of wave energy.

    CSIRO researchers in Tasmania have been studying how much low-carbon energy can be produced in waves close to the shore along the southern Australian coastline.

    They have found there is great potential: 10 per cent of the energy produced in waves near the shore along the southern coast would be enough to meet half of the country’s present-day electricity needs.

    Researcher Dr Mark Hemer says it is an exciting discovery.

    “Australia has a massive resource in wave energy compared to other nations in the world, and we have a really good opportunity to make the most of that.”

    Dr Hemer says the best sites were between Geraldton in Western Australia and the southern tip of Tasmania.

    “And there were a number of sites I guess that come out as being possible locations,” he said.

    “Portland in western Victoria and Port McDonald in south-east South Australia, the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, Albany in Western Australia, or Geraldton, they’re all good locations with high energy.”

    Dr Hemer says a number of wave energy extraction devices are being developed to tap the power source.

    An economic and engineering study is yet to be completed.

     

  • Ecological sustainability is one of the Greens’ core beliefs.

     

     

    The Greens have also recently released a policy initiative to protect Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and details of the initiative can be read here. When launching the initiative, Senator Brown said without fast action to tackle climate change and acidification of the oceans, as well as dangers from oil spills and water pollution, the Great Barrier Reef would die. Climate change will likewise have a big impact on our fresh water systems, which Sarah Hanson-Young and Rachel Siewert have been strongly campaigning on, to read about their initiatives for the Murray-Darling basin please click here.

     

    Protecting Australia’s forests is another key concern for the Australian Greens and one such example of this was the release of the Western Tasmania: A Place of Outstanding Universal Value report, a proposal to extend the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area in September 2009. The Australian Greens recognise that our native forests and woodlands are more valuable for their rich biodiversity than being cut down for woodchips.

    In terms of developing indigenous conservation opportunities, Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has challenged the Government to commit to implementing the vision outlined in the Sustainable Development in Northern Australia report which was released in February 2010, saying the report provided a vision for sustainable development of northern Australia based on mutual respect, respect for indigenous peoples of the north and the environment.

     

    Senator Scott Ludlam is a passionate anti-nuclear campaigner and the Greens are committed to ending the exploration for, and the mining and export of, uranium. Our Nuclear policy can be read here and you can read more about Senator Ludlam’s work by clicking here.

     

    The Safe Climate Bill is a collection of linked bills based around the five pillars of renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transport, forest protection and green jobs, supported by a real carbon pricing scheme. Some of the Bills have already been introduced to the Senate by Senator Christine Milne. The Greens’ Safe Climate Bill is the first legislative attempt to transform Australia as swiftly as possible into a flourishing carbon neutral powerhouse and is aimed at securing existing stores of carbon in standing forests.

     

    The Australian Greens recognise that levels of pollution in our atmosphere mean that business-as-usual will no longer work if we want to avoid dangerous climate change. The future for Australia can still be a prosperous one if we build our economy on green principles rather than short-term self-interest. The Australian Greens believe that ensuing clean air, clean water and clean soil for future generations is part of government’s job, and therefore part of our bedrock commitment to protecting Australia.

    More information about the Australia Greens’ work to protect Australia’s environment, as well as all of our policies, please visit the the Australian Greens’ website at greens.org.au.

     

     


    Office of Bob Brown | Australian Greens Senator for Tasmania
    GPO Box 404 Hobart TAS 7001|     P: 03 6224 3222 | F: 03 6224 2999

    senator.bob.brown@aph.gov.au |www.bobbrown.org.au | www.GreensMPs.org

  • The future is Green (Crikey)

    Tony Abbott maintains that his own views don’t matter because his policy is to reduce Australia’s emissions. Putting aside that therefore Abbott appears to want to accelerate global cooling, his policy – that relies on the supernatural powers of “soil carbon”, which at this point is little more than the climate change equivalent of biodynamic farming — will oversee a substantial increase in our emissions and, better yet, spend billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to achieve it.
    Then again, at least Abbott is being honest – he is open about his willful refusal to accept basic scientific fact and prefer global conspiracy theories and rigid ideology. What is Julia Gillard’s excuse? The Prime Minister occupies an even worse position – she claims to believe in human-caused global warming, and accepts the need to address it, but proposes delay and half-baked measures drawn up to protect the interests of those responsible for pollution. Like Abbott, Gillard’s policies will oversee a rise in Australia’s emissions. Like Abbott, she’ll waste taxpayers’ money to achieve it.
    The parties insist there are vast differences between them on climate change. The Liberals charge that Labor wants to introduce a big new tax. Labor charges that the Liberals don’t believe in climate change. The rhetoric hides a bipartisan policy of protecting the economic interests of polluters, which is why climate change has been almost entirely absent from the major parties’ campaigns.
    Perhaps we should take the parties at their word and demand that the next debate should be held on climate change and the reform process of ending our addiction to carbon, not a debate about the economy that will merely provide the forum for repetition of the mantras of “risk to our $1.3 triliion economy” and “waste and mismanagement”.
    When our kids and our grandkids demand to know why we did nothing while their planet cooked, even when we knew a relatively minor economic reform could have started the process of decarbonising our own economy and encouraged other, bigger polluters to do likewise, we can point to the 2010 election and say “because we let people like Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard run the country.”