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The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
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  • Insulation industry worried by ‘sloppy inspections’

     

    National Electrical Contractors Association CEO James Tinslay says tight restrictions are now in place to make sure there is not a repeat of the workplace deaths that happened under the original free program.

    “NECA has been working closely with the department to develop safe work procedures to ensure the safety of both workers and the householders,” he said.

    “It could be that there might be a couple of months added to that. NECA wouldn’t see that as a major issue because we know the program will be carried out correctly and we’re very happy with the procedures that have been put in place.”

    But he is not quite as confident about the inspections for bulk insulation. Mr Tinslay says his organisation has reported a number of inspectors for what appeared to be sloppy work.

    “I have heard of a couple of instances where the people who were inspecting the bulk insulation didn’t meet the expectations that we would have of somebody competent to undertake the inspection,” he said.

    “That is a worry; it was a few months ago and these have been passed on to the department.”

    Cellulose insulation businesses in particular have concerns about the quality of the inspections.

    The Australian Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association says many inspectors have little experience with their product and often report problems when there are none.

    Queensland installer Geoff Hourigan says he is concerned that there is a conflict of interest because the Government has appointed CSR-Bradford for a large part of the inspection program.

    “The inspection work that we tried to get, now they’ve given it to CSR and UGL, who have no industry experience whatsoever in the cellulose industry to inspect our work,” he said.

    “These people, CSR in particular are in direct competition with us for the last 15 years and these guys are going to inspect our jobs?”

     

    Combet optimistic

     

    The Assisting Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, says CSR is not the only company involved in the inspections.

    “CSR Bradford is obviously a large player in the industry but we also have now entered into a heads of agreement with a company called United Group Services, which will have the responsibility of engaging small and medium-sized insulation firms in the inspection program as well,” he said.

    And he says it will be difficult for anyone to rig an inspection, because inspectors are only be given an address and will not be told who installed the product.

    Overall he is optimistic the inspections will but carried out professionally.

    “We’ve done, to the best of our capacity, the work to consult with the industry using an expert advisory panel to devise the training program for inspectors to carry out the inspection work that’s been going on for some period of time now,” he said.

    “I haven’t seen a shred of evidence to suggest that inappropriate results are being recorded.”

    The Federal Opposition has concerns about the inspections because the Government is refusing to release the program’s results.

    Environment spokesman Greg Hunt says the figures for defects and dangerous roofs have been withheld from the Australian public.

    “That is rightly something to which they should have access,” he said.

    “The program on its current rate would take seven years to inspect every home done in seven months under the home insulation program.”

    That is 1.2 million roofs. At present, the Government has only committed to inspecting 50,000 homes with thermal insulation and 150,000 with foil insulation.

    But Mr Combet expects that number to rise.

    Tags: government-and-politics, federal-government, occupational-health-and-safety, australia

    First posted 1 hour 31 minutes ago

  • Governments refuse to act to save builders as ‘junk’ insurance schemes collapse

    Governments refuse to act to save builders as ‘junk’ insurance schemes
    collapse

    Canberra, Wednesday 23 June 2010

    Many builders across Australia will be forced to operate illegally or
    close their doors after June 30 if governments fail to remove the
    mandatory requirement for Last Resort Home Builders’ Warranty Insurance.

    Today in the Senate, the Rudd government refused to even acknowledge the
    problem.

    Most state governments still require builders to have the insurance in
    order to operate, even though it has been described as ‘junk’ insurance
    and has been the subject of numerous inquiries, including a Senate
    Inquiry established by Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator
    Christine Milne, last year.

    “With one of the last remaining companies offering this ‘junk’ insurance
    withdrawing on June 30, many builders will be unable to get cover and
    others will likely be subject to price gouging from the virtual monopoly
    that will be left,” said Senator Milne.

    “It’s not good enough for the government to say this is a State issue
    while hundreds of jobs are on the line. The Commonwealth can and must
    step in to save jobs and small businesses.

    “These people are the backbone of the Rudd government’s economic
    stimulus, but they won’t lift a finger to make the changes builders need
    to keep operating legally.”

    The government and opposition voted against a motion from Senator Milne
    noting the problem and calling on the government to step in.

    “It’s well past time the Rudd government took some responsibility and
    worked with the states to ensure they implement reasonable and effective
    home builders warranty schemes, along the lines of the Queensland model.

    “In the meantime, the Rudd government must urgently work with state
    governments to remove the mandatory requirement for this ‘junk’
    insurance before builders are forced to close their doors or operate
    illegally as soon as next week.”

    The Senate notes that:
    1. A crisis is looming in the building industry with Vero exiting
    the Last Resort Builders Home Warranty Insurance market in NSW by
    September 30th and in all other states by June 30th leaving only two
    providers in the market, QBE insurance and Calliden;
    2. This insurance product is mandatory by law in all states except
    Tasmania and Queensland;
    3. Thousands of Australian builders will be left without this
    insurance product on June 30th requiring them to build illegally or to
    stop building immediately unless QBE provides insurance or there is
    government intervention within the next eight days;
    4. Small building firms will be disproportionately affected as they
    will not be as attractive to a virtual monopoly provider as large
    building firms; and

    Calls on the Federal government to act immediately with their state
    government counterparts to remove the mandatory requirement for this
    product before this impending crisis in the building industry occurs.

    Tim Hollo
    Media Adviser
    Senator Christine Milne | Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Climate
    Change Spokesperson
    Suite SG-112 Parliament House, Canberra ACT | P: 02 6277 3588 | M: 0437
    587 562
    http://www.christinemilne.org.au/| www.GreensMPs.org.au
    <http://www.greensmps.org.au/>

  • Greens call for immediate increase to aged care funding

    Greens call for immediate increase to aged care funding

    Wednesday 23 June, 2010

    The Federal Government has again demonstrated its lack of understanding
    of Australia’s aged care needs, failing to commit to the immediate
    funding increase called for by the aged care sector and supported by the
    Australian Greens.

    Senator Rachel Siewert, Greens spokesperson for Health and Ageing used
    today’s Question Time to ask the Government if they planned to restore
    the Conditional Adjustment Payment supplement of 1.75% from July 1 in
    order to correct the nation’s alarming aged care funding shortfall.

    “Yet again, Government has failed to provide leadership on the issue of
    aged care,” Senator Siewert said today.

    “Over the last decade, successive Federal Governments have presided over
    a widening gap between the costs of providing care to Australia’s ageing
    population and the level of funding being invested in the sector,”
    Senator Siewert said.

    A Government letter, responding to concerns raised today by the Aged
    Care Industry Council claims a significant increase in spending on aged
    care over it’s term in office.

    “This increase does not represent a real increase in the level of
    subsidy being provided across-the-board to meet recent significant rises
    in the cost of providing care,” Senator Siewert said.

     “What is needed is the immediate restoration of the 1.75% Conditional
    Adjustment Payment supplement for residential care, and for it to be
    extended it to community care from July.

    “The Greens understand that aged care providers are not at all happy
    with today’s response from the Government and we will continue to
    support the campaign for sustainable aged care funding,” Senator Siewert
    concluded.

    _______________________________________________
    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

  • Obama’s oil drilling ban overturned

     

    White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says president Barack Obama strongly believes that drilling at such depths does not make any sense and puts the safety of workers at risk.

    The court order was a big victory for offshore energy producers including BP, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell, whose operations have been hamstrung by the ban.

    The companies have been considering relocating their giant drilling rigs to other basins, like Brazil.

    The Obama administration says it will appeal against the judge’s decision, and offshore oil operators say they will wait until the outcome of that appeal before they restart drilling operations.

    The April 20 explosion of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 people and has since caused the worst oil spill in US history.

    The well is majority-owned by BP.

    – ABC/AFP

    Tags: business-economics-and-finance, industry, oil-and-gas, disasters-and-accidents, accidents, maritime-accidents, world-politics, united-states

  • 100pc green energy possible by 2020: report,

     

    Currently, wind and solar power provide less than 1 per cent of Australia’s total energy needs.

    The most commonly cited obstacle to renewable energy is base load power – the need to provide electricity 24 hours a day, during the day and night when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing.

    But the Beyond Zero Emissions report insists Australia could achieve the 100 per cent renewable energy goal.

    Beyond Zero Emissions executive director Matthew Wright says the 10-year road map focuses on technologies that are already commercially available such as wind and large-scale solar thermal.

    “The inherent design of a solar thermal plant is that it stores its heat away for night time,” he said.

    “We’ve modelled that from our 12 solar regions across the country and our 23 wind sites that we get 100 per cent of our power needs, 365 days a year, 24-7.”

    The report says the goal would also depend on a $92 billion upgrade to create one national electricity grid that would link the renewable projects to the city and urban areas.

    University of Melbourne Energy Institute professor Mike Sandiford says cost should not impede the switch to renewable energy.

    “To do it in 10 years is in many ways akin to a infrastructure roll out of a wartime-like operation in many senses,” he said.

    “But the important point of the plan is that costs are not a real impediment. The total costs of our business as usual comes down to about a cup of coffee per person per day.”

    But the modelling for the report assumes that by 2020 energy use will drop by half through energy efficiency savings.

    Professor Sandiford says the plan is also based on a shift towards public transport and electric cars, which he says would offset any projected increases in electricity use.

    “In many ways the plan is looking across the total energy domain,” he said.

    Senator Troeth says it is a worthy goal to aim for 100 per cent renewable energy but remains to be convinced about the path to get there.

    “The ambitions of this report are commendable … [but] I may not agree with all of the recommendations put forward in this report,” she said.

    “It’s important that we continue to have a robust debate on the most effective and efficient ways to reduce carbon emissions.”

    Tags: environment, alternative-energy, science-and-technology, energy, solar-energy, wind-energy, geothermal-energy, australia

    First posted 1 hour 37 minutes ago

  • Big swings against Kevin Rudd in key marginals

     

    In Labor-held seats where the Greens’ vote is low, support is dramatically shifting from sitting Labor MPs to the Coalition, removing hopes of Labor surviving on preferences and boosting Tony Abbott as the prospective prime minister.

    Most voters are dissatisfied with Mr Rudd as Prime Minister in the five seats polled by The Australian, with a high of 61 per cent in western Sydney seat of Lindsay where the Opposition Leader is ahead as the preferred prime minister.

    Related Coverage

    Julia Gillard is the preferred Labor leader in Lindsay, although Mr Rudd is ahead as preferred prime minister and Labor leader in the three marginal seats polled in his home state of Queensland.

    As the NSW state Labor government reels from the weekend loss of the western Sydney seat of Penrith after a swing of 25 per cent, the key federal seat of Lindsay, which the Liberals won from Labor in 1996 and lost in 2007 and which incorporates much of Penrith, has suffered a 12 per cent swing against it on a two-party-preferred basis.

    According to a special Newspoll survey of three marginal Labor-held seats in Queensland and two Labor-held marginals in NSW, Labor could lose 10 Queensland seats held by margins of less than 6 per cent and at least four or five seats in NSW. Senior Labor MPs fear the dispute with the mining industry over the resources super-profits tax, community concerns about illegal boat arrivals and disenchantment with Mr Rudd as Prime Minister mean the ALP will lose the election.

    The Newspoll survey, covering the Labor seats of Dawson, Flynn and Longman in Queensland and the NSW seats of Lindsay, in Sydney’s west, and Page, on the north coast, shows Labor’s primary vote is even lower in some marginals than the 35 per cent it was in the national Newspoll survey taken last weekend. The NSW seat of Page is Labor’s only bright spot in the marginal seat survey because the ALP primary vote is level with the Coalition on 38 per cent but is pushed to a two-party-preferred figure of 55 per cent to the Coalition’s 45 per cent because of Greens’ preferences.

    In the three Queensland marginal seats, the ALP’s primary vote is 34 per cent compared with the Coalition’s 45 per cent, giving the Coalition an election-winning two-party-preferred lead of eight points there, 54 to 46 per cent.

    At the 2007 election, Labor’s two-party-preferred vote in the three Queensland marginal seats was 52.1 per cent compared with the Coalition’s 47.9 per cent.

    In Lindsay, which includes the state seat of Penrith, Labor’s primary vote is 34 per cent, compared with 51.4 per cent at the 2007 election. Labor’s two-party-preferred vote is down from 56 per cent at the election to 44 per cent.

    The Coalition’s support has reversed, going from a primary vote of 38 per cent and a two-party-preferred vote of 43.6 per cent at the 2007 election to 44 per cent and 56 per cent respectively.

    In Page, where the Greens’ primary vote has jumped from 8 per cent at the election to 14 per cent last weekend, the Labor Party is even with the Coalition’s primary vote of 38 per cent and ahead on the two-party preferred vote 55 to 45 per cent.

    There is more dissatisfaction with Mr Rudd than satisfaction in every marginal seat surveyed, with dissatisfaction at 61 per cent in Lindsay compared with satisfaction of 33 per cent.

    In the Queensland marginals, satisfaction is just 30 per cent and dissatisfaction is 59 per cent. In Page, satisfaction with Mr Rudd is at 36 per cent and dissatisfaction is at 55 per cent.

    In Lindsay Mr Abbott is preferred Prime Minister at 44 per cent to Mr Rudd’s 40 per cent and the Deputy Prime Minister is preferred Labor leader by 45 per cent to Mr Rudd’s 36 per cent.

    In Queensland Mr Rudd is six points ahead of Mr Abbott as preferred Prime Minister, 45 to 39 per cent, and in front of Ms Gillard as preferred Labor leader 48 to 34 per cent. In Page, Mr Rudd is up six points on Ms Gillard and 16 points over Mr Abbott.

    Compared with the national Newspoll survey taken last weekend, in which Labor had a two-party-preferred lead over the Coalition of 52 to 48 per cent because of the 15 per cent primary vote for the Greens, the marginal polling in Queensland and western Sydney is much worse for Labor.

    Yesterday, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young indicated it would be a mistake for the government to assume Greens preferences would flow to Labor with the same generosity as at the last election, when 80 per cent of Greens preferences went to Labor.

    She said some recent polling put the ratio at 60:40. “Who (voters) put as their second preference, that’s totally up to them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the distribution changes at this next poll.”