On Wednesday, The Australia Institute’s Chief Economist, Richard Denniss, addressed the London School of Economics. The lecture was hosted by the Grantham School, home of world renowned economist, Nicolas Stern. Richard outlined the case for a global moratorium on new coal mines, which is gaining high profile support from academics, politicians and activists across the world, including from author Naomi Klein. The Australia Institute has sponsored Naomi’s appearance this week at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Meanwhile, Tony Abbott has attacked the law itself, arguing that courts upholding the law is bad for humanity – when it comes to coal mine approvals. Quoting erroneous job numbers and unsubstantiated humanitarian and anti-poverty claims, the Prime Minister has so far failed to convince the Senate or the Australian public of the need for changes to environmental protections.

• Adani fought the law… and the law won
• Ridesharing Report
• South Australia Nuclear Submission
• Naomi Klein adds her support No New Coal Mines
• The Australia Institute in the Media

Adani fought the law… and the law won

After 22 months in office, having overseen an increase in the number of unemployed Australians of 101,900, Tony Abbott needed someone else to blame. The Environmental Protection of Biodiversity and Conservation Act (EPBC), in effect since 1999, suddenly became the great enemy of growth and jobs. The Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, tabled legislation to change the EPBC, citing a number of progressive organizations (including The Australia Institute) as the reason that the government had to intervene with how courts heard approvals for mines. Clearly it was a big problem. As usual, we looked at the numbers.

The court decision which saw the Adani Carmichael coal mine delayed was identified as the ‘trigger’ for the move. Previously The Australia Institute, in providing expert testimony to the court case, had established, from the mouth of Adani’s own hired economist, that the mine would create 1464 jobs over 60 years, rather than the 10,000 often publically touted and repeated by Abbott through the week.

Secondly, The Australia Institute released data from an upcoming report which showed that only 0.4% of projects – or 22 of 5,500 had been affected by 3^rd Party Appeals through the EPBC act. Only 2 of those appeals blocked developments.

We headed to Parliament with the facts. Labor and a number of crossbenchers ruled out supporting changes to the EPBC, and the media started busting Adani myths.

“What it will mean is that already weak environmental law won’t be able to be upheld in a proper way. Remember we’re talking about appeal rights to uphold the law; not some new law, but just to uphold the law… whether you care about the environment or whether you just care about due process or whether you care about corruption, you should want the law upheld” – Ben Oquist on 7.30, 19 August 2015

Ridesharing Report

There’s been a lot of talk about ridesharing, in particular Uber – a US company which has rolled out a ridesharing app across the globe. Many cities across Australia are seeing Uber operating unregulated and in legal limbo.

The ACT government is looking into regulation of ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft. Uber commissioned The Australia Institute to research the likely impact of ridesharing in Canberra. Here’s what our research found:

Canberra, with its low population density, has what’s called a ‘first-and-last-mile’ problem. How do you get passengers from their homes to the public transport hubs and well trafficked routes between town centres, without relying on slow, infrequent suburban buses? Perhaps this is why the number of Canberrans using public transport has not significantly increased since the mid ‘80s, and why they are so reliant on their cars. By 2040, a business as usual approach will see enough new cars on Canberra’s roads to fill a car park the size of the Parliamentary Triangle.

Canberra needs something new. The Government is making an investment in public transport – light rail, but again, this will not solve the ‘first-and-last-mile’ issue. Ridesharing can work to supplement sparse and infrequent public transport and in provide surge capacity to make up for scarce taxis at peak times.

Properly regulated ridesharing may help achieve better public transport patronage, fewer cars on the road, less traffic and more parking. We hope that this report will add to the discussion of how best to respond to the emergence of this new transport technology. Full Report Here.

South Australia Nuclear Submission

South Australia is holding a Royal Commission into expanding the nuclear industry in the state. With the support of Mothers for a Sustainable South Australia (MOSSA), The Australia Institute made a submission analysing the economic case for nuclear power and waste storage.

The economic case does not stack up for South Australia. In some ways, this is the year that killed nuclear power. Renewables have become cheaper at a rate that few would have believed ten years ago, while nuclear power has only gotten more expensive. With countries with nuclear power industries struggling to find a long term solution for high level waste, Australia finds itself in an enviable position: it is not a problem we need to solve.

By importing waste, we would be giving ourselves a problem in the hopes of solving it. No one else has worked out how to manage their nuclear waste. We should ask ourselves: what technical skill or innovation do we have that countries with decades of nuclear experience do not? If we go ahead with nuclear power or waste, the answer would be clear: a tremendous appetite for risk. We would be spending billions of dollars and twenty years to build an industry that would very likely be redundant before completion. Full Submission Here.

Naomi Klein gets behind No New Coal Mines

The Australia Institute’s goal is to inform debate and change minds. That’s why we’re sponsoring Naomi Klein at the Melbourne Writers Festival. Naomi has joined a growing list of supporters of calls for a global moratorium on new coal mines.

On the 13^th of August, The Australia Institute launched the No New Coal Mines initiative. Our research suggests that if coal companies extraction ambitions for Australia succeed, the worlds carbon reduction targets will fail. It’s been a busy and exciting first week, with more high profile supporters getting on board, and over 3000 people already joining President Tong of Kiribati’s call for a global moratorium on new coal mines.

Read the latest at No New Coal Mines here. Some highlights:

• Naomi Klein brands Tony Abbott a climate villain.

• Greenpeace’s Kumi Naidoo, Bill McKibben and even former World Bank Chief Economist Lord Nicholas Stern has issued a statement in support. And from the Sierra Club:

TAI in the media

News.com.au: The Australia Institute Chief Economist calls for moratorium on new coal mines

Cairns Post: Is the Abbott Government trying to silence opposing voices?

New Matilda: Green Court Ban: George Brandis Picks Another Fight His Government Won’t Win

SMH: Adani mine a $20b project creating 10,000 jobs? The Abbott government’s myths busted

Pro Bono: Australia Institute Launches Coal Mine Campaign

The Guardian: An expanded nuclear industry in South Australia makes no economic sense

WA Today: Mines minister blasts LNP for ‘ripping rights away’ over mining objections