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  • Opposition wants Greens Loans inquiry

     

    “They’ve lacked control, they’ve had poor management, faulty design, significant overpayment and this is the same scheme.”

    But Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says her Department is already investigating the claims.

    “Peter Garrett did what he should have done, which was to act on concerns,” she said.

    Under the original scheme householders were offered free energy efficiency audits by registered assessors, $50 vouchers to spend on green products and access to interest-free loans to make improvements on their homes.

    The critical reports found widespread lack of compliance with government regulations on procurement, absence of effective program supervision and poor financial controls for the program, among other things.

    The reports blame the department’s focus on speed rather than on quality.

    Instead of loans, the Government will now give grants to accredited assessors and to community groups who provide practical help to low income Australians to improve their energy efficiency.

    Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the new plan is lacking in detail.

    “The main thing that we’ll be looking for is that it’s credible, that it’s not being done in a rush and that the necessary audit processes are in place, that it actually rolls out as it’s intended,” he said.

    “We simply can’t afford to waste another two years with these headline grabbing announcements such as the home insulation and issue and the Green Loans issue.”

    Tags: business-economics-and-finance, environment, climate-change, government-and-politics, federal-government, programs-and-initiatives, australia

  • GREENS REFUGEE POLICY, THE PRACTICAL HUMANE ALTERNATIVE

    9th July, 2010
                                              
        GREENS REFUGEE POLICY THE PRACTICAL HUMANE ALTERNATIVE 

    The Australian Greens refugee policy is a compassionate, commonsense
    alternative to the way the old parties want to treat vulnerable
    asylum-seekers, according to Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

    Senator Hanson-Young, Greens Spokesperson on Immigration and Human
    Rights, says the Federal Government’s ill-prepared East Timor processing
    centre idea coupled with the Coalition’s return to the days of the
    notorious Temporary Protection Visas and the Pacific Solution, shows
    both parties are devoid of real leadership on this issue.

    “Australia needs to take a genuine leadership role on helping to manage
    asylum seekers in our region,” Senator Hanson-Young said. “That means
    assessing people on our soil, increasing the number of refugees we
    resettle here and convincing Indonesia and Malaysia to sign the UN
    Refugee Convention.  

    “That’s why the Greens would close the failed Christmas Island detention
    centre in favour of community reception centres based in mainland
    cities.

    “By ending Australia’s reliance on offshore processing, the Greens would
    no longer allow the Federal Government to put vulnerable asylum-seekers
    out of sight, out of mind.

    “By increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake, the Greens would move
    Australia to take greater responsibility for dealing with the growing
    numbers of people already approved as genuine refugees by the UNHCR, who
    are languishing in detention overseas awaiting a new home.

    “By moving to mainland processing in metropolitan centres, the Greens
    would ensure greater access to much-needed support and services for
    those fleeing persecution, rather than maintaining a regime of punitive
    detention on remote islands or “desert prisons”.

    The Greens would:

    * Close Christmas Island and use a portion of the money already
    earmarked for use on the island – $973 million over four years – to set
    up Community Reception Centres in mainland cities.
    * Set up a grants-based Asylum-Seeker Support Fund of $8 million over
    four years to assist community organisations to provide essential
    services for refugees and asylum-seekers. Organisations would apply for
    a grant of up to $100,000 to assist in the delivery of case management,
    health care, emergency relief, social support and housing support. The
    fund would be administered by the Department of Immigration and
    Citizenship.
    * Push Australia to take a leading role in the region by hosting any
    regional processing centre.
    * Increase Australia’s humanitarian intake to 20,000 refugees – focusing
    on those already waiting in detention camps in the region.
    * Move to end the detention of children in Australia.
    * Champion the Greens’ bill to establish a Commonwealth Commissioner for
    Children and Young People to protect young non-citizens who have arrived
    in Australia without support.
    * Move to introduce judicial review for detention decisions.

    “Recent polling shows the Australian public understand the realities
    better than some of their leaders – 83 per cent believe those fleeing
    persecution deserve protection in another country and 94 per cent would
    use every asset at their disposal to flee to another country if their
    own lives and their families’ lives were under threat,” Senator
    Hanson-Young said.

    “It’s time to get past the idea of punishing people who are fleeing
    persecution and instead focus on faster processing to work out who the
    genuine refugees are. Australia can do better, and the Greens have a
    plan to make it happen.”

                      MEDIA CONTACT: ANDREW McGARRY – 0427 604 760

    _______________________________________________
    GreensMPs Media mailing list
    Media@greensmps.org.au

  • Preferential Voting in Australia.

    I am republishing this for the benefit of those who may not understand Preferential
    Voting in Australia.

    This will fuilly explain what Joe Ebono is saying in one of his campaign speeches.

    Neville Gillmore

    May 12, 2010

    Preferential Voting in Australia

    At the request of political science colleagues, I have updated an article I wrote for the ABC’s 2004 federal election site that dealt with the history of preferential voting in Australia. In the article I tabulated how preferences have changed results at elections since 1949.

    As politicians and political scientists in the UK scramble for information on the ‘alternative vote’, it turns out my article is the only attempt in decades to analyse the operation of the alternative vote at Australian elections. So I have updated the article with data from the 2004 and 2007 elections.

    There is a remarkable conclusion to the artcle. In the high period of the DLP between 1955 and 1972, the Coalition won a total of 34 seats at seven elections after trailing Labor on the first preference vote. In the same period, Labor came from behind to win in just one seat.

    Since 1980, the operation of preferential voting has had the reverse political impact. At the 11 elections since 1980, the Coalition has won only five seats where the combined Coalition vote trailed Labor on the first preference count. In the same period, Labor has won a total of 61 seats having trailed the combined Coalition vote on first prefernces.

    Indeed, Labor won 11 seats from behind the combined Coalition vote at the 2007 election, nine after finishing second on the first preference vote. The Labor Party would not have won a majority of seats at the 2007 election had the election been decided on first past the post rules.

    Given this record, it is a wonder that hard-heads in the Coalition haven’t realised they are being beaten by compulsory preferential voting, and perhaps optional preferential voting might be worth a try.

    Continue reading “Preferential Voting in Australia” »

    Posted by Antony Green on May 12, 2010 at 02:56 PM in Federal Politics and Governments, Psephology | | Comments (10)

    May 07, 2010

  • Back me on climate, says PM as emission trading stays on ice

     

    The government allocated $652.5 million in the budget to new renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs.

    ”I have consistently said … climate change is real, it’s caused by human activity. We will as a nation need a price on carbon; to get there we need community consensus,” Ms Gillard said.

    Mr Abbott told Brisbane radio yesterday he would like to see emissions reduced but the economy should not be turned upside down to do it. ”The problem with some of the more zealous emission reducers is that they would do enormous damage to our economy without necessarily improving the environment. In the end we’ve got to be pragmatic and we’ve got to be scientific about this, and the scientific consensus is not nearly as solid as the climate-change zealots would have us believe.”

    Early next week cabinet will consider energy-efficiency program options proposed by department heads in a report handed to the government last Friday. Several options are said to be in the mix, including targets or obligations for business and the community to increase their energy efficiency over time.

    A proposal to impose pollution standards on electricity generators was considered at one point. The United States, China and Japan are all considering similar standards. Modelling seen by the Herald shows a low pollution standard for electricity generators would increase prices by 14¢ a week in Victoria and 1¢ a week in NSW.

    It also shows pollution standards on power plants would halt the growth in greenhouse emissions from energy production until 2040, but would not decrease emissions as much as a carbon price would.

    The opposition is also preparing policies on top of its $3.2 billion climate plan, with announcements on power generators and community involvement in reducing emissions expected.

    The Greens leader, Bob Brown, said yesterday he was disappointed with Ms Gillard’s time frame for reviewing a decision on a carbon price, saying the Greens would ensure that better climate policies are developed no matter which party was in power.

    An Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman, Tony Mohr, said: ”The decision to leave the emissions trading scheme on ice … will bring about an abrupt end to her honeymoon.”

    The head of AGL Energy, Michael Fraser, will argue today for a price on carbon to address uncertainty facing investors in the energy sector.

    with Clancy Yeates and AAP

     

  • Researchers win grant to use algae to make fuel

     

    “It’ll take us ’til the first quarter of next year to put all the equipment in place,” he said.

    “What we’re trying to do there is grow algae at the power station, modify the system and run it through a trial period through next year to understand exactly how the algae grows and how it responds to the flu gas emissions.”

    Mr Lawson says the project is the first of its kind in the world.

    “It’s really the first anywhere and the other project in Spain is connected to a cement kiln and there’s a similar sort of approach in Israel, so this is the first one of its scale at a power station,” he said.

    Tags: alternative-energy, energy, research, research-organisations, maroochydore-4558, tarong-4615, toowoomba-4350

  • Double the power of your vote

    If you vote for me, but more poor deluded fools vote for one of these characters, your vote gets moved straight across to the number two person on your ballot paper.

     

    It does not go across at half strength, it is not diluted in any way. The full vote gets passed on.

    By voting Green you double the power of your vote. You send a message to the establishment parties that you think they should keep copying the Greens policies and you get to determine which one of those lack lustre, economic rationalists ends up running the country.

     

    Even better, if you convince enough of your friends, colleagues and relatives to do the same, I might get in. I only need ten thousand people to vote Greens for the first time and the seat of Richmond will be decided on preferences.

    On November 24, vote for the party that will manage the economy for the future. Vote One the Greens.