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July 1, 2013 – 1:49PM

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Tom Arup

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The Greens have launched a pitch to increase Australia’s renewable energy target to 90 per cent by 2030 and tip an extra $20 billion into Australia’s clean energy finance corporation, but have rejected an earlier move to an emissions trading scheme being considered by cabinet.

Speaking on Monday morning, Greens leader Christine Milne said the minor party wanted to see all of Australia’s electricity come from renewable energy sources as soon as possible.

She said the first step should be to increase Australia’s renewable energy target to 90 per cent by the end of the next decade. The target is currently set to ensure 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity comes from renewables by 2020.

A study by the Australian Energy Market Operator released in April found moving to 100 per cent renewable energy was technically feasible, but would come with costs and significant challenges.

It found moving to an 100 per cent renewable energy system would cost $219 billion to $338 billion and require wholesale electricity prices to double from current rates. The operator did not compare these costs with other future scenarios including business as usual.

Asked whether a move to 90 per cent renewables in effectively 15 years was realistic, Ms Milne said: ”When the the 20 per cent renewable energy target was set for 2020, people said it was way ambitious, it wouldn’t be able to be achieved.

”But once you put in place a roadmap then the technology development and business got behind it and you have seen the roll out very fast.”

The Greens also want the Clean Energy Finance Corporation – which was set up as part of a deal between Labor and the Greens on carbon pricing – to received an extra $20 billion over ten years.

That would lift its overall funding to the finance corporation to $30 billion. Senator Milne said the Greens proposed the extra money would come from borrowing – which would sit off the government’s budget – and would detail how to pay for the interest on the extra money in its yet to be released election policy costings.

The finance corporation on Monday announced its second deal, investing $50 million to help New Zealand government-owned Meridian Energy to refinance its debt in the MacArthur wind farm in south-west Victoria. The debt refinancing came ahead of Meridian selling its share in Macarthur to Malaysian energy company Malakoff Corp.

The Coalition has vowed to scrap the finance corporation alongside the carbon price, and says it will not honour any contracts its signs between now and the election.

Speaking in Melbourne, Senator Milne also criticised considerations by Labor on ending the carbon price’s three-year fixed tax period early and moving quicker to an emissions trading scheme with a floating price and international linkages.

The move has been largely backed by industry, who says the current carbon tax price of $24.15 a tonne is out of kilter with lower international prices at around $6 and resulting in higher the necessary costs.

But new Climate Change Minister Mark Butler conceded to Fairfax Media on Sunday that moving earlier to an emissions trading would also have budget implications that need to be considered, with revenue expected to fall by billions of dollars.

Senator Milne said in considering the move Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was making a populist pitch to business groups such as the Australian Industry Group by making it cheaper for companies to pollute.

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July 1, 2013

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EXCLUSIVE

In the spotlight: Best friends Joe Tripodi (left) and David Tanevski, far right. Photo: Brendan Esposito

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson says he has no idea who was behind the mysterious British Virgin Islands entity which bankrolled a private company in which he was a director.

Hoping to make a motza out of the dotcom boom, Getonboard was established in 2000 as a joint venture between the Labor Party, Unions NSW and David Tanevski, a former ALP branch stacker and best friend of controversial Labor powerbroker Joe Tripodi.

Mr Robertson said he had no duty … to alert a probity auditor.

Also involved in the deal to tap into the unions’ database to sell computer and internet packages to the members was the property developer Allen Linz.

Under scrutiny: The sale of Currawong. Photo: Paul Miller

A further spotlight on commercial dealings involving NSW Labor is an unwelcome distraction for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. NSW Labor is already on the nose with voters after the explosive revelations surrounding the millions of dollars the family of powerbroker Eddie Obeid received from a government coal tender presided over by then resources minister Ian Macdonald.

This week Mr Robertson said he had no duty when head of Unions NSW to alert a probity auditor about the Getonboard business associations between himself, Mr Linz and Mr Tanevski. A conflict of interest was raised over Mr Robertson’s later sale of the union-owned cottages Currawong to Mr Linz, in a deal brokered by Mr Tanevski.

”It would be highly inappropriate to alter a report of an independent probity auditor,” Mr Robertson said in an emailed response about whether he had alerted the probity auditor of the trio’s previous involvement in Getonboard.

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson.

Getonboard was the brainchild of Mr Tanevski, then Labor Council boss Michael Costa and then party chieftain Eric Roozendaal. Mr Robertson was a director for four years from 2001.

Getonboard, run from Mr Tanevski’s Martin Place office, was a private company with only five shareholders: the Australian Labor Party (NSW) Branch Gifts, the Labor Council, two companies associated with Mr Tanevski, Mr Linz and businessman Michael Braham and, finally, the mysterious Good Century Assets Ltd, which lists its address as PO Box 957, Tortola, British Virgin Islands (BVI).

New details about BVI companies have surfaced in the leaked cache of secret tax haven data that have rocked the world of private banking in the past few months.

But none of the Getonboard’s directors contacted by Fairfax Media, including Mr Roozendaal, his alternate director Mark Arbib, Mr Costa or Mr Robertson claimed to have any idea of the identity of the secret company bankrolling their business.

“Company directors are rightly expected to fulfil their duties with the utmost care and due diligence, but this does not – and in many instances – simply cannot extend to the undertaking of extensive inquiries into whoever has purchased shares in their company,” Mr Robertson said in an emailed response to Fairfax Media.

He suggested that questions about Good Century ”should be directed to the company itself.” This is impossible due to the secrecy provisions of companies domiciled in offshore tax havens.

This year, the veil of secrecy was partially lifted from offshore banking after a massive leak of data to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which exposed politicians, celebrities and even suburban accountants who were benefiting from offshore companies registered in zero tax rate jurisdictions.

Other directors of Getonboard included Mr Tanevski’s business partners Mr Braham, who was later appointed by Mr Costa to the Sydney Ports Authority, and Mr Linz, who later bought Currawong from Unions NSW.

Mr Braham said he had no idea who was behind Good Century but suggested that because of its name ”it sounds like [the] Labor Party.”

Mr Tanevski also claimed no knowledge of the matter. ”I do not know who the shareholders or officers of the Great Century Assets were,” he said in an email. He suggested the capital invested in Getonboard came from Hong Kong.

Despite the millions of dollars in capital, some of which came from Good Century, Getonboard was a failure.

While Mr Tanevski claimed to have no idea about who was behind Good Century, he did not reply to further questions about another of his companies, KWC Capital Partners, which was also half-owned by a BVI company, Shine Gate Investments, which shares the same post box in the offshore tax haven as Good Century. The other half of KWC was owned by Mr Linz, who did not return Fairfax Media’s calls.

KWC Capital Partners and its sole director Mr Tanevski were at the centre of a furore in early 2007 when it emerged that Mr Robertson, then head of Unions NSW, had engaged Mr Tanevski’s firm KWC Capital Partners to handle the sale of Currawong. And the buyer was Mr Tanveski’s business partner Allen Linz.

Election Funding Authority records reveal KWC Capital Partners donated $45,000 to NSW Labor between 2003 and 2007.

In the wake of critical stories including that Mr Linz’s offer of $15 million for Currawong was half that of other offers, Mr Robertson appointed Rory O’Connor to do a probity report on the sale.

Mr O’Connor was routinely called upon to sprinkle holy water over some of the most contentious decisions of the NSW Labor government including the sale of Doyles Creek training mine by Mr Macdonald to his friend the union-boss John Maitland.

The report, which has been obtained by Fairfax Media, shows that Mr Robertson specifically asked Mr O’Connor to review the relationship between KWC Capital Partners, Mr Tanevski and Mr Linz.

Mr O’Connor’s report failed to ascertain that Mr Linz owned 50 per cent of the very company engaged to broker the sale – a fact easily unearthed by an ASIC company search.

No attempt was made to find who was behind the mysterious BVI company Shine Gate Investments and the probity auditor also failed to note that Mr Linz, Mr Tanevski and Mr Robertson had been in business together with Getonboard.

Mr O’Connor has previously defended this report as having been conducted in ”good faith”.

The Currawong deal came under further scrutiny in late 2011 when the Independent Commission against Corruption found that in the dying days of the Labor government in March 2011, the Land department chief, Warwick Watkins, and planning minister Tony Kelly had acted corruptly in backdating a letter to allow Mr Linz to sell Currawong to the government.

Although Mr Robertson defended the 2007 sale to Mr Linz as being unconditional, the ICAC inquiry revealed that apart from an initial deposit of $1.5 million, Unions NSW never received the claimed $15 million.

Title deeds show that Mr Linz’s company paid $9.5 million for Currawong in early 2011 and, less than two months later, the government – through Watkins – bought it for $12.2 million.

Do you know more?

investigations@smh.com.au

Business ticks carbon trading option

Date

July 1, 2013

Tom Arup

Environment editor, The Age

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Revealing: A new survey shows a strong preference by businesses for an emissions trading scheme. Photo: Wayne Taylor

A significant section of business prefers an emissions trading scheme to a fixed carbon tax to cut Australia’s greenhouse gases, a survey has found, as federal cabinet considers on Monday an earlier move to carbon trading.

The survey was commissioned by Businesses for a Clean Economy – a pro-carbon pricing industry group – with 570 companies approached from among its own members, the ASX 100, and those paying the carbon tax. All up, 180 responses were received.

Asked to consider their support for a carbon price to reduce Australia’s emissions, 64.7 per cent of respondents said they favoured a trading scheme with a floating price, while only 28.8 per cent favoured a fixed tax.

The survey, conducted by consultants AECOM, suggested little support for the Coalition’s direct action climate policy. Only 3.3 per cent said they did not want any form of carbon price, and another 3.3 per cent said they were unsure.

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Monday will mark the one year anniversary of the carbon price taking effect, which was negotiated between Labor, the Greens and independent MPs by former prime minister Julia Gillard. The price for emitting a tonne of greenhouse gas will also rise on Monday from $23 to $24.15.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the scheme’s future would be a significant issue when his new cabinet met. Mr Rudd had previously indicated his support for ending a three-year fixed-tax period early, bringing forward an emissions trading scheme with a floating price.

If implemented, the price would likely fall from $24.15 a tonne to a mark close to the European carbon price of about $6. But it would have major budget implications, as it would slash billions of dollars from government revenue.

A number of lobby groups, such as the Australian Industry Group, called for the move, saying it would reduce business costs.

But former climate change minister Greg Combet said on Sunday that, while possible, moving to a floating price sooner would present significant administrative challenges.

Business for a Clean Economy spokeswoman Jennifer Lauber Patterson said the results showed a strong preference by business for a market-based carbon price.

”These results appear to be consistent with the Australian Industry Group’s support for a move to a market-based trading scheme as the most effective way of achieving outcomes,” she said.

Members of Business for a Clean Economy include Westpac, AGL, Ikea and multinationals

“Let me see.   NSWGR- PTC-SRA-Countrylink Citylink and yet another name change. All these have been at high cost in altered administration and stationery and achieved no improvement in services.”

All change as RailCorp is disbanded

All change: Newly appointed head of Sydney Trains Howard Collins with State Transport Mnister Gladys Berejiklian. Photo: James Alcock

It is the day everything changes on Sydney’s train system – or, depending on how you look at things, the day very little changes.

RailCorp is disbanded. In its place are two new organisations, with some new executives, new uniforms, and according to the minister, new approaches to moving people about and telling people how they are doing it.

”It’s really two years of work that has got us to this point and we still have a lot to do,” Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said of the operating companies, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains that, from July 1, take the place of RailCorp and its brand CityRail.

Sydney Trains will run most trains that move through Sydney and its suburbs. NSW Trains will run Countrylink and outer services to the central coast, Blue Mountains and Illawarra.

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Behind the scenes, the creation of the two new agencies has been a wrenching overhaul for RailCorp’s formerly 15,000-strong workforce.

About 750 middle managers have already taken redundancy, hundreds more have applied for jobs that they are still not certain of getting, and many positions remain unfilled, except by those on temporary contracts.

For people using the trains, however, the changes might be less apparent. Ms Berejiklian says there will be better use of information screens, a higher ratio of staff helping customers as back office work is rationalised and, as the Opal card spreads across the system, a new approach to ticketing.

Commuters on the Western and North Shore lines might also notice different seats. Two carriages in one Tangara have had their seats re-aligned, allowing more standing room but fewer spots to sit down.

The new chief executive of Sydney Trains, Howard Collins, who until recently had been running the London Underground, said he was keen to see the results of the seating trial, which mirrored a change he made on London’s Metropolitan Line.

”We had a lot of people saying ‘save our seats’ … but since the trains have come in actually people have changed their minds and said, ‘Actually I can get in, I can get out, it is much quicker’,” Mr Collins said.

Ms Berejiklian said customers had complained about the middle seat in the current three-seat pattern. In the refashioned Tangara, the three-seater is replaced by benches and two-seaters.

To date, Ms Berejiklian has faced minimal overt union resistance to her train overhaul, in part because redundancies have been mostly voluntary.

But passenger organiser in the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, Bob Newham, said one concern was that many staff appointed to new area management positions had little rail experience but tended to have human resource backgrounds. This could lead to problems when train operations went wrong, he said.

Mr Collins, who arrived in Australia on Thursday night, will have plenty of opportunity to get abreast of problems. Now ensconced in the Sutherland Shire, he will be on the Illawarra line to and from work.

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Flooding in Thailand in 2011. Photograph: Narong Sangnak/EPA

Climate change poses as grave a threat to the UK’s security and economic resilience as terrorism and cyber-attacks, according to a senior military commander who was appointed as William Hague’s climate envoy this year.

In his first interview since taking up the post, Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti said climate change was “one of the greatest risks we face in the 21st century”, particularly because it presented a global threat. “By virtue of our interdependencies around the world, it will affect all of us,” he said.

He argued that climate change was a potent threat multiplier at choke points in the global trade network, such as the Straits of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s traded oil and gas is shipped.

Morisetti left a 37-year naval career to become the foreign secretary’s special representative for climate change, and represents the growing influence of hard-headed military thinking in the global warming debate.

The link between climate change and global security risks is on the agenda of the UK’s presidency of the G8, including a meeting to be chaired by Morissetti in July that will include assessment of hotspots where climate stress is driving migration.

Morisetti’s central message was simple and stark: “The areas of greatest global stress and greatest impacts of climate change are broadly coincidental.”

He said governments could not afford to wait until they had all the information they might like. “If you wait for 100% certainty on the battlefield, you’ll be in a pretty sticky state,” he said.

The increased threat posed by climate change arises because droughts, storms and floods are exacerbating water, food, population and security tensions in conflict-prone regions.

“Just because it is happening 2,000 miles away does not mean it is not going to affect the UK in a globalised world, whether it is because food prices go up, or because increased instability in an area – perhaps around the Middle East or elsewhere – causes instability in fuel prices,” Morisetti said.

“In fact it is already doing so,” he added, noting that Toyota’s UK car plants had been forced to switch to a three-day week after extreme floods in Thailand cut the supply chain. Computer firms in California and Poland were left short of microchips by the same floods.

Morisetti is far from the only military figure emphasising the climate threat to security. America’s top officer tackling the threat from North Korea and China has said the biggest long-term security issue in the region is climate change.

In a recent interview, Admiral Samuel J Locklear III, who led the US naval action in Libya that helped topple Muammar Gaddafi, said a significant event related to the warming planet was “the most likely thing that is going to happen that will cripple the security environment, probably more likely than the other scenarios we all often talk about”.

There is a reason why the military are so clear-headed about the climate threat, according to Professor John Schellnhuber, a scientist who briefed the UN security council on the issue in February and formerly advised the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

“The military do not deal with ideology. They cannot afford to: they are responsible for the lives of people and billions of pounds of investment in equipment,” he said. “When the climate change deniers took their stance after the Copenhagen summit in 2009, it is very interesting that the military people were never shaken from the idea that we are about to enter a very difficult period.”

He added: “This danger of the creation of violent conflicts is the strongest argument why we should keep climate change under control, because the international system is not stable, and the slightest thing, like the food riots in the Middle East, could make the whole system explode.”

The military has been quietly making known its concern about the climate threat to security for some time. General Wesley Clark, who commanded the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war, said in 2005: “Stopping global warming is not just about saving the environment, it’s about securing America for our children and our children’s children, as well.”

In the same year Chuck Hagel, now Obama’s defence secretary, said: “I don’t think you can separate environmental policy from economic policy or energy policy.”

Morisetti said there was also a direct link between climate change and the military because of the latter’s huge reliance on fossil fuels. “In Afghanistan, where we have had to import all our energy into the country along a single route that has been disrupted, the US military have calculated that for every 24 convoys there has been a casualty. There is a cost associated in bringing in that energy in both blood and treasure.

“So to drive up efficiency and to use alternative fuels, wind, solar, makes eminent sense to the military,” he said, noting that the use of solar blankets in Afghanistan meant fewer fuel resupply missions. “The principles of delivering your outputs more effectively, reducing your risks and reducing your costs reads across far more widely than just the military: most businesses would be looking for that too.”

Morisetti’s former employer, the Ministry of Defence, agrees that the climate threat is a serious one. The last edition of the Global Strategic Trends analysis published by the MoD’s Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre concludes: “Climate change will amplify existing social, political and resource stresses, shifting the tipping point at which conflict ignites … Out to 2040, there are few convincing reasons to suggest that the world will become more peaceful.”

Schellnhuber was also clear about the consequences of failing to curb global warming. “The last 11,000 years – the Holocene – was characterised by the extreme stability of global climate. It is the only period when human civilisation could have developed at all,” he said. “But I don’t think a global, interconnected world can be managed in peace if climate change means we are leaving the Holocene. Let’s pray we will have a Lincoln or a Gorbachev to lead us.”

Date

July 1, 2013 – 9:53AM

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Switched to Rudd: Bill Shorten. Photo: Andrew Meares

• Rudd names his team
• Labor voters swing support to Rudd

Last-minute Rudd backer Bill Shorten has been rewarded in the new look ministry, adding school education to his existing workplace relations portfolio.

Kevin Rudd unveiled his ministry in Newcastle on Monday as former trade and regional Australia minister Simon Crean – who was tipped to secure a spot in Mr Rudd’s new frontbench – announced he was quitting politics at the upcoming election.

Former Labor leader Simon Crean to quit politics. Photo: Andrew Meares

Mr Shorten, who dramatically changed his support from Julia Gillard to Mr Rudd before the leadership ballot last week, will now have responsibility for the school funding reforms.

While Brendan O’Connor, a Gillard supporter, loses the immigration portfolio to Tony Burke, he will take an element of Mr Shorten’s old responsibilities – employment – along with skills and training.

Other Rudd backers have also been rewarded in the new-look ministry.

New Climate Change Minister Mark Butler. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Joel Fitzgibbon has been made Minister for Agriculture, while Ed Husic and Alan Griffin have been made parliamentary secretaries to the Prime Minister, with Mr Griffin also taking on the role of Cabinet Secretary.

The reshuffle comes after a raft a ministers – including Greg Combet, Stephen Conroy, Peter Garrett, Craig Emerson and Joe Ludwig – quit their positions in the wake of the Labor leadership ballot last Wednesday.

Chris Bowen has already been sworn in as Treasurer and Anthony Albanese as Deputy Prime Minister following the resignation of Wayne Swan.

Mr Albanese will take on responsibility for the NBN as Minister for Communications and Broadband. He retains his infrastructure and transport portfolio.

“This is a large set of responsibilities for a man with a prodigious work ethic and a heart for all Australia,” Mr Rudd said.

Mr Rudd told reporters in Newcastle on Monday that the core task of government was to “keep the economy strong”.

“I have assembled today a strong economic team, one with vastly more experience and vastly more competence than those we face opposite,” he said.

Along with Mr Bowen as Treasurer, Penny Wong keeps her position has Finance Minister.

Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury picks up financial services and superannuation from Mr Shorten.

Another key Rudd backer, Kim Carr, rejoins cabinet with responsibility for innovation, industry, science, research and higher education.

In another significant change, with Mr Burke, the former environment minister, taking on immigration, Mark Butler swaps mental health for climate change, environment, heritage and water. Mr Burke will, however, keep the arts portfolio.

Another key Rudd supporter, Richard Marles will enter cabinet as the Minister for Trade – taking over from Mr Emerson, who is also quitting politics.

Mr Marles had earlier quit his role as Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs after the March leadership ballot.

On Sunday, Fairfax Media reported that the announcement of the new cabinet and outer ministry was delayed as Mr Rudd was not able to fill some crucial roles as quickly as he hoped. Labor sources said a number of ministerial offers were refused and efforts were poured into coaxing some key Gillard ministers back into cabinet.

On Monday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Mr Rudd’s new look team “is not even the B team, it’s the C team”.

In a surprise move, Home Affairs and Justice Minister Jason Clare has been moved to the outer ministry and loses the Cabinet Secretary role.

Mr Clare, who has been touted as a future Labor leader, was only recently promoted to cabinet.

Kate Lundy – a strong support of Ms Gillard – loses the prized sports portfolio to Senator Don Farrell. Ms Lundy keeps multicultural affairs and will be minister assisting for the digital economy (a new role) as well as minister assisting for innovation and industry.

The new ministry will be sworn-in at Government House at 2pm Monday.

Crean quits politics

When announcing the line-up, Mr Rudd acknowledged Mr Crean’s departure and his contribution to politics.

The former Labor leader joined Stephen Smith, Ms Gillard, Mr Garrett, Mr Emerson and Mr Combet in deciding not to contest the upcoming election.

Mr Crean has been on the backbench since March this year, when he unsuccessfully called on Mr Rudd to challenge then prime minister Ms Gillard.

Mr Crean, who served as opposition leader between 2001 and 2003, stood in last week’s ballot for the deputy leadership, but lost to Mr Albanese.

Mr Rudd said he had spoken to Mr Crean on Sunday.

“He has been an extraordinary leader in our movement for a long time,” Mr Rudd said.

Mr Crean said he had turned down an offer to serve in Mr Rudd’s new cabinet.

“I welcomed that, but I indicated to him I had come to the decision not to contest the next election and he should take that into account,” he told Fairfax Radio on Monday.

“I left him essentially the option to use the position to regenerate or if he needed me to plug a gap until the election I was happy to.”

Six women in cabinet

Three women have been promoted to cabinet in Mr Rudd’s reshuffle.

Julie Collins joins cabinet as Minister for Housing and Homelessness, and Catherine King will retain the regional portfolio.

Jacinta Collins also joins cabinet as Minister for Mental Health and Ageing.

The promotion of Ms King, Ms Collins and Senator Collins bring the total number of women in cabinet to six, with Senator Wong, Jenny Macklin and Tanya Plibersek.

”This will the largest number of women in the Australian cabinet in history, and the same for the ministry at large,” Mr Rudd told Channel Seven on Monday morning.

Asked if he made the appointments because he feared a backlash after he deposed Australia’s first female prime minister last week, Mr Rudd replied: ”These are women who are strong, professional, highly experienced and they are there exclusively on their merit.”

Ms Macklin keeps families, disability reform and indigenous affairs and Ms Plibersek adds medical research to her responsibility for health.

with AAP