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  • Casual relationship with the facts

     

    The Queensland Liberal National party alone accepted $622,500 in donations from Mr Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy company during the lead up period.

    Following the 2007 federal election, in the 2008/09 financial year, the Coalition took $824,405 from resource companies compared to Labor’s $194,500.

    The fact is, over the past decade, the Coalition has received more than double the donations from the resources industry than Labor.

    For the decade from 1998 to 2008 the Federal Coalition received $1.8 million from the resources industry. Federal Labor received just over $800,000.

    Mr Hockey’s casual relationship with facts reveals a sloppiness that reflects poorly on the shadow treasurer.

    It is widely known that, as well as making donations, resource companies made generous payments to the Howard government to sit on energy and mining advisory boards.

    Has the Liberal Caucus now formally adopted Tony Abbott’s ‘the truth is on paper, say whatever the hell you want’ mantra?

    If the Coalition wants to hold the hand of the mining industry and start spinning heat on the Rudd government over the Resources Super Profits Tax, Mr Hockey should do a bit more research into the reality of political donations.

    Over the past decade, comparison of overall political donations shows the Coalition leading Labor. The Liberals and Nationals over the last decade have received $77.9 million while Labor has pocketed $68.7 million.

    In the Lateline interview Mr Hockey expressed ‘complete outrage’ over the suggestion that we politicians are ‘political representatives for hire’.

    If Mr Hockey had the conviction to turn that public blustering into reality, he would be advocating for electoral funding reform.

    Since Mr Abbott became opposition leader, the Liberals have clearly backed off from working with the Greens to end the distasteful political donations regime.

    Lee Rhiannon is a NSW Greens MP and spokesperson on science and health.

     

  • Poll shows 77pc against native forest logging

     

    Greens leader Bob Brown says the poll also shows most Australians believe the Government should help the industry move to plantation-based logging.

    “It’s a great opportunity for the Rudd Government and the governments of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania to help the industry to achieve that goal,” he said.

    “There will be a lot of Australians applauding from the grandstand if they do achieve that goal.”

     

  • Asia’s silent victoms of pollution and emissions.

     

    Ironically, road fatalities and the noxious clouds of industrial and hydrocarbon emissions from vehicles could be thought of as a success in development terms, indicating increased wealth. The problem is that we seem to be in perpetual catching-up mode to fix the ailments that go with success. The World Bank admitted that:

    Road crashes cost approximately 1 to 3% of a country’s annual GNP … developing countries currently lose in the region of $100bn every year … almost twice as much as … total development assistance received worldwide.

    Despite Harvard and the World Health Organisation (WHO) both insisting that road and occupational accidents look to outstrip infectious disease as the major causes of death and disability in the south, there is little evidence that donor agencies have shifted their priorities accordingly. Trauma medicine and rehabilitation centres remain rarities. Road and occupational deaths remain like wallpaper on the modernisation agenda: striking when first noticed, then increasingly invisible.

    But figures can only be indicative. Lao colleagues told me that for cultural and financial reasons, corpses are often taken away by families and cremated, the death not reported. When I arrived in 2004, the number of motorcycles was beginning to exceed China-made Hare bicycles immortalised by Dervla Murphy. Hares may have been better value than Chinese motorbikes, which street talk asserts have unreliable lights and brakes, but are affordable. An acquaintance’s $600 motorbike had her repeatedly borrowing my tools as various parts failed, and her collection of scars increased. In many parts of Asia, vehicle-testing standards are non-existent. The Chinese-built Chery cars, found by the Russians to be “unsafe at any speed” (a claim the manufacturer denied) is the colourful choice among Vientiane’s successful women before they upgrade to something with more élan.

    Visiting experts advocate rational and linear solutions. But in Asia, the cause and effect relationship is often non-rational. A Thai or Lao surviving a crash is more likely to erect a spirit house than reflect on the use of wing mirrors, or make merit at the temple rather than look before entering a stream of traffic. Passers-by may be reluctant to help a bleeding victim in case they “catch the lousy luck”. These are factors that cannot be changed simply with asphalted roads or traffic lights. And infrastructure solutions, such as the new poorly designed major arterial through Vientiane, may actually raise accident rates by enabling greater speed. Systematic corruption, such as enabling a proxy to buy a driving licence, undermines progress. New wealth also enables new drivers to drive powerful cars such as a Maserati (along with Humvees, and Mercedes sports, which are increasingly popular) they are ill-equipped to handle.

    Posh cars driving under the Asian Brown Cloud, a toxic haze that can be easily seen dozing over most of south and south-east Asia, may be how people will come to think of Asia in the future. This murky mix of combustion products, vehicle and industrial emissions, can easily be seen from an aircraft, and is responsible for spiralling respiratory deaths in most Asian countries. It drove me out of Jakarta. Valleys like that of Chiang Mai and Katmandu fill with diesel fumes and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and held in by seasonal temperature inversion layers. Some cities such as Manila are trying their best to tackle the problem with emissions testing and new electric jeepneys. But China’s spectacular addiction to cars is corroding any headway made by other nations.

    The Asian Brown Cloud also contributes to localised climate changes by reducing photosynthesis, drastically effecting food production for Asia’s expanding populations. Recent studies indicate that stormwater run off from roads carries toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from truck and car exhausts, as well as heavy metals such as lead and zinc into waterways. Up to 4kg of zinc can be found in large truck tyres – and released when friction hits the road. Runoff finds it way into water courses and contaminates fish. In Asia, the poor are dependent on fish as the primary source of dietary protein. The implications should be apparent.

    I used to regularly encounter a handsome but severely brain-damaged young man on my morning Mekong walks. The victim of a crash, he was severely disabled. I have not seen him for months. He’s only one of the growing mass of victims who are silent statistics.

    • This article was commissioned via the You tell us page. If you have your own suggestions for subjects you would like to see covered by Cif, please visit the page and tell us

  • Cornered by his own trap

     

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    Labor optimists think the tax issue may be splitting about 50-50 outside Western Australia and Queensland. Yet a double secession is not envisaged, so the west and Queensland will still be voting at the coming election and Labor will lose both states on an unamended resource super-profits tax.

    Rudd seems to be trapped. He cannot sustain the war yet he cannot tolerate being seen to lose his nerve and admit he has blundered. With each day this becomes a greater test of Rudd’s authority and judgment. The intensity of the conflict penetrates to the heart of the Prime Minister’s standing.

    Rudd’s tactic this week was to split the industry and to appear consultative in his dealings with the miners. The PM has moved into talks with individual companies. The message is that some of these talks are proceeding better than others. In Perth on Thursday, Rudd met Fortescue Metals Group chief Andrew Forrest, with whom he has enjoyed strong personal ties in the past.

    The aim of this meeting is now clear: it signalled a powerful effort by Rudd to persuade Forrest to break ranks and to enter into his own negotiation with the government. Rudd is desperate to shatter the industry’s unity.

    After the meeting Forrest sounded conciliatory, saying he was “grateful” to Rudd for the exchange, that he had no “axe to grind” with the PM and that he felt Rudd understood the industry’s issues.

    But when Forrest realised the spin being placed on the meeting and his words, he issued a clarification that night: “To be very clear, the Prime Minister and I have nothing to discuss, nor anything to negotiate while this tax stands”. This form of words is critical. It is Forrest rejecting Rudd’s tactic and standing firm.

    Earlier Forrest had told this newspaper: “Everyone’s superannuation, projects and plans are being hurt on a daily basis until this issue is resolved.

    “There comes a crossing point where investors overseas will ask: “Can I do without Australia?’ We are near to that point.”

    This followed Rudd’s meeting on Tuesday with BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers, who was invited to Sydney for talks with the Prime Minister. This “secret” meeting was leaked to the media by Labor. It created the impression of a PM keen to consult.

    However, BHP Billiton concluded it was not a meaningful dialogue. The company got nothing from this process.

    A rational person would reach only one conclusion: the meeting was a public relations stunt. This is the conclusion many people have drawn.

    By week’s end Kloppers had told the Fairfax media he could see no end to the dispute. Indeed, the company thinks Rudd Labor is in full denial of its objections: that changing tax rules on income from existing investments creates sovereign risk and the tax regime will compromise future projects.

    BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser has told shareholders “there has been no acknowledgment by the government of the major flaws of the proposed tax”. For Kloppers and Nasser, the real point is that Rudd refuses to concede the problems with his policy.

    Forget any deal; it is not on any horizon. The signals from BHP Billiton permit only one conclusion: that in five weeks since the tax was announced, real progress towards bridging the divisions amounts to zero.

    A spokesman for Rio Tinto said yesterday: “Prior to the government’s announcement there were no negotiations on the proposed mining tax. There have been no negotiations since the announcement. There are no negotiations being undertaken now. We want to work with the government on this to ensure we get it right.”

    Get the picture? For Rudd Labor, how smart is this? Comments from Forrest, Kloppers and Rio Tinto confirm that so-called progress is cosmetic. The newspaper advertisement BHP ran yesterday said: “We are still waiting for genuine consultation.” Rudd’s bottom line remains to avoid any substantial concession. This is a Prime Minister playing tough. But does he have a strategy? Rudd’s intentions this week were to sell his policy, hold firm, engage in talks and seek to divide and rule.

    However, it is only a matter of time before Labor’s internal divisions become more apparent. Resources Minister Martin Ferguson is trying to find the basis for a compromise. But Rudd will not utter the word. His line has not changed in five weeks: the government wants to consult, its 40 per cent rate is “about right” and the talks are about detail, implementation and transition.

    The PM’s underlying theme is that the government will prevail.

    “Can I say this is a tough, hard negotiation with some of the hardest, toughest mining companies in the world,” he said yesterday. Yet the companies deny any negotiations. Their frustration with Rudd only mounts.

    Ultimately, political cosmetics will not prevail. Rudd will be judged by policy substance and any concessions he makes.

    The industry objects to various floated solutions: adopting the petroleum resource rent tax model, dumping the 40 per cent underwriting of losses, and lifting the threshold at which the profits tax applies. At week’s end the miners seemed more united. Having been shocked at the way the government announced the tax, they are now shocked at the way the government is conducting its so-called dialogue.

    Visiting Perth, Rudd was keen to knock the west’s notion that “we’re not getting our fair share”. He said the $5.6 billion infrastructure fund unveiled at the time of the RSPT would be increased by $400 million and that Western Australia would win more than $2bn in investment from the fund. “That means more rail, roads, ports and other critical infrastructure,” he said. Before leaving Perth, Rudd was attacking Barnett and Tony Abbott. How would they fund the west’s needs, Rudd asked, adding: “I’m very serious about that challenge.”

    With his support collapsing in the west, Rudd has belatedly given himself an argument. Yet this is about the distribution of the tax, not the merit of the tax.

    He made the same case in Queensland, announcing yesterday it would also win more than $2bn from the infrastructure fund.

    Yet the polls in these states suggest the horse has bolted.

    Rudd’s problems in the west are compounded by the Canberra-Perth deadlock over the hospitals agreement in April. Premier Barnett will not agree to hand over his GST revenue to the national government.

    The Rudd government’s message is that an extra $350m for the west depends on agreement being reached. The politics are clear: any financial penalty Labor imposes on the West Australian health system will rebound massively on Rudd.

    Meanwhile there is no denying the lessons from the mining tax debacle. Until this is settled, Rudd cannot control the political agenda; he cannot make Abbott the issue; he cannot highlight Labor’s strengths.

    And until it is settled, the doubts will intensify about Rudd’s judgment and strategy.

  • 70.000 litres of petroi spilt at mine

     

    The tank farm’s infrastructure dates back to the 1960s and it is believed the leak occured due to equipment failure.

    Department spokesman Alistair Trier says the spill is significant, and the department is investigating.

    “That’s a serious concern to us, because fuel entering the environment is a serious environmental risk,” he said.

    “We directed them to take immediate action to primarily to clean it up to get it out of the environment.

    “From there we will move into an investigation into the underlying causes.”

    He says Rio Tinto Alcan has been instructed to dig recovery pits around the area for the fuel to leak into, and remove the fuel from the environment.

    The company has also been asked to investigate the integrity of other containers at the site.

    “As far as we are aware the others are OK at this stage,” he said.

    Tags: business-economics-and-finance, industry, mining, environment, mining, pollution, land-pollution, australia, nt, nhulunbuy-0880

    First posted 2 hours 18 minutes ago

  • Counting the cost of drilling down deep

     

    The BP-operated well continues to leak up to 4.5 million litres a day. The World Conservation Union and WWF are also calling for a global halt on deep-sea operations.

    The latest federal government exploration releases confirm a trend towards deep-sea drilling, offering explorers blocks largely around the 1000-metre mark.

    This means that just to reach the point on the sea floor where drilling starts, a floating rig must drop its steel drill string through ocean three times deeper than the Centrepoint Tower is high.

    Industry insiders say drilling at such depths is far more costly, technically challenging and harder to fix in an accident, such as Deepwater Horizon. But with the Montara oil spill inquiry due to report next week, the government plans changes to offshore rig work, moving to untangle red tape and establish a single national regulator.

    Deepwater Horizon was drilling down past 1500 metres of water when gas raced unchecked to the surface and ignited a firestorm that killed 11 crew and sank the rig. Repeated attempts by the charterer BP to halt the worst oil spill in US history have failed.

    Up to eight rigs of the same semi-submersible type as Deepwater Horizon are exploring for oil and gas in Australian waters, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

    Among them is the Chevron-chartered Atwood Eagle, working in 1387 metre-deep waters off North-West Cape – short of what Geoscience Australia says is the nation’s record working water depth of 1501 metres. The sophisticated rigs operate by dynamic-positioning. Despite their massive size, they use engines to ”hover” over a well site, the way a helicopter hovers over a landing pad.

    Mark Randolph, of the University of Western Australia’s Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems, finds such feats of engineering ”mind-boggling”.

    But Professor Randolph cautions: ”The world is hungry for oil, the challenge is to go deeper, and every so often technology needs to catch up. There is no doubt Deepwater Horizon is going to make the world pause.”

    A former BP deep water explorer, Greg Bourne, now chief executive of WWF Australia, said the cost pressures of this type of drilling meant the locations had to be highly prospective.

    ”The problem is if you screw up in a highly productive rock formation, the consequential flow is automatically very large.” Mr Bourne said the remoteness of Australian offshore fields from any oil industry centre made an accident likely to be even more damaging. ”A dynamically-positioned rig would take several months even to get it to Australia before it could begin drilling a relief well. An immediate moratorium on deep water drilling now would be straight logic.”

    Last August, when the West Atlas rig blew out in only 77 metres of water in the Timor Sea off Western Australia’s Kimberley Coast, it still took 75 days to plug the Montara oil well.

    Evidence to the Montara inquiry has revealed some breakdowns in regulation, and the Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, said he was already predisposed to setting up a new national offshore petroleum regulatory authority. ”I think there are potential existing weaknesses at the moment through the designated authorities, and some of the powers that rest with the states,” Mr Ferguson said.

    But he rejected a call for a ban on drilling at depth in the newly released acreages. He said the government already required comprehensive environmental assessments of all offshore drilling work.