Public Notice: The Senate Standing Committee on Economics – Energy efficiency trading scheme, NAT: The Senate Standing Committee on Economics is inquiring into the National Marker Driven Energy Efficiency Target Bill 2007. This is a private Senator’s bill that proposes to amend the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 to introduce an energy efficiency trading scheme. The committee is to report on 22 October. The closing date for submission is 21 September and they can be emailed to economics.sen@aph.gov.au For further information visit: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senatr/committee/economics-ctte/inquiries.htm or phone 02 6277 3540
Author: admin
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Why it’s harder to enrol to vot
Gary Nairn gets the facts on electoral reform
Posted on the campaign blog , April 13th, 2007
It’s hard to see who wins from the changes to the Electoral Act, which effectively make it harder to vote. Surely a democracy is strengthened by the removal of obstacles that bar access to the ballot box. That’s why the key aim of the Electoral Act is to make it as convenient as possible for people to get on the electoral roll.And in the absence of any evidence of widespread voter fraud, it is obvious both convenience of enrolment and the integrity of the electoral roll can be achieved at the same time. That’s why, around the world, many developed nations don’t close the rolls until right before the election. In that case, then who benefits from amendments that make it harder to get on the roll, especially for first-time voters? Well, according to the statistics indicating young people are more likely to vote progressive, the Coalition does.
Perhaps that explains Liberal MP Gary Nairn‘s vehement opposition to GetUp’s campaign. He has issued a press release accusing GetUp of "misinformation and lies" and stating that GetUp has "a strange habit of distorting the truth". Here are his claims:
That GetUp asserts that the roll will close as soon as an election is called.
GetUp has never made this assertion. The roll will close for new voters at 8pm on the very night the election is officially called – it is officially called when the writ is issued by the Governor General.
That GetUp claims that proof of identity will be needed when voting.
GetUp has never made this claim. Perhaps Mr Nairn is referring to the proof of identity that will now be needed to enrol to vote.
That GetUp asserts asking young people to provide ID when enrolling is too onerous a burden, and will serve to disenfranchise young first time voters.
People who have turned 18 since the last election and are not yet on the roll will have to enrol before 8pm on the day the writ is issued for the election. Last election, 78,816 new voters enrolled in the week after the writ was issued. Those who enrol before then will now have to either have an Australian Driver’s licence or, if using another form of ID, find an ‘authorised person’ (ie. a Justice of the Peace or other listed person) to verify their ID. If they have no form of ID they need two people who are on the electoral roll and have known them for more than a month to sign their form. This is more onerous than the current system.
That GetUp claims that the government moved by stealth to rush these laws through the parliament.
GetUp has not made this claim. The Government did not need to move by stealth to pass these laws because their Senate majority could, despite widespread opposition by experts and the other parties, rubber stamp it.
Mr Nairn’s claims against GetUp are not supported by any evidence. He argues that "[T]hese laws will protect the fundamental right to vote," but any inspection of them reveals the opposite to be true. -
WA outlines plan to surrender wood heaters
Ongoing community education, incentives for heating replacement or wood heater surrender, and legislation to require the removal of non-compliant wood heaters when a house was sold were some measures to mitigate adverse health impacts from wood heater smoke, said Sally Talbot, Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for the Environment, in the Western Australian Legislative Council on 14 August 2007.
Policy paper details proposed solutions: Answering a series of questions, Talbot said: "The wood heater policy options paper was released on 23 May. This document includes details of the names and types of particles in the air from wood heaters. This information is detailed in Appendix A: Chemical properties of wood heater emissions. The wood heater policy options paper details the costs of adverse health impacts from the use of wood heaters attributed to wood smoke emissions in the Perth metropolitan region. It also details recommended actions to reduce these health impacts. These actions are ongoing community education, incentives for heating replacement or wood heater surrender, and legislation to include a requirement that at time of sale of a house, non-compliant wood heaters must be removed. The policy paper is still open for comment until 3 September 2007."
Health costs calculated in policy options paper: "The wood heater policy options paper includes details of calculations of health costs attributed to wood smoke emissions in the Perth metropolitan region," Talbot said. "The rationale and factors considered to calculate this figure are outlined in Section 2.3 of the paper. In addition to this, further information is available in a supplementary document titled Cost-Benefit Analysis of Wood-Smoke Reduction in Perth, which is available on DEC’s website."
Reference: Hon Giz Watson, Member for North Metropolitan, AG, Hon Sally Talbot, Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for the Environment, Member for South West, ALP, Legislative Council of Western Australia, Hansard, 14 August 2007. A copy of these proceedings can be accessed at
http://www.parliament.wa.gov.auErisk Net, 22/8/2007
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Iceland calls of whale hunt
Reporting by Roddy Scheer
The minke whale is one species that will be spared as Iceland has suspended its whale hunt. Responding more to economic realities than to political pressure, the government of Iceland last week announced that it is calling off its controversial whale hunt due to lack of demand for the product. Environmentalists are cheering the decision, hoping that it signals an end to commercial whaling in the region.
Last year, the Icelandic government faced cries of consternation from around the world when it issued permits for the commercial hunting of nine endangered fin whales and 30 minke whales.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which campaigns globally to protect the world’s whales, welcomes the decision by Iceland’s fisheries ministry. Economic studies commissioned by the group there revealed very little demand for the meat. In contrast, the country’s successful whale-watching industry generates more than $20 million in revenue each year.
"This is fantastic news for whales and for Iceland,” says IFAW’s Robbie Marsland. “Whaling is cruel and unnecessary, and all of our studies have also shown there is little appetite for whale meat in Iceland or internationally. We hope that Iceland’s successful whale-watching industry will continue to grow without the country’s image being further tarnished by whaling.
Source: IFAW
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Feds gut state emission controls
States would lose their legal powers to make companies disclose data on greenhouse gas emissions and energy under a proposed Federal Government takeover that a constitutional expert said would undermine state-based climate change initiatives, reported The Age (30/8/2007, p. 5).
Federal legislation overrides state and territory laws: In the first big step towards creating a national emissions trading scheme, the Government had introducted legislation setting out how big industrial polluters would publically report their emissions from October 2009. The law would override the states’ and territories’ ability to compel companies to reveal data about greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse-savings projects, energy consumption and production.
The Age, 30/8/2007, p. 5
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New approach provides flexible emission reductions
"The nations at this summit generate more than half of the world’s man-made green house gases but are also home to over a billion people who live on less than $1 a day, where greater economic development and poverty reduction must continue," said Mr Oxley, the study’s author.
"They are looking for real progress without self harm for the region’s people and that is what the multi-track process offers."
The multi-track strategy allows for each nation to develop a strategy to tackle climate change that best suits it, giving nations more flexibility to reach emission reduction through a variety of means.
Mr Oxley says that pushing for hard targets when there is no consensus on the process for reaching them is "a recipe for failure".
Tying some of the leading APEC economies, such as Australia, China, Japan, Korea and the US, closer together on climate change could yield better progress globally.
"An APEC regional consensus would be a very good start towards real progress," Mr Oxley said.
"It could mean a greater chance at achieving results."