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170,000 new homes for Sydney

AAPUpdated March 16, 2013, 4:23 pm

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Up to 171,000 homes will be built across Sydney and almost 90,000 jobs created under a plan to rezone and develop new and existing suburbs, the NSW government says.

Announcing the plan in the northwest suburb of Box Hill on Saturday, Premier Barry O’Farrell said the government had identified areas where new suburbs could be built and existing suburbs redeveloped to accommodate 111,700 new homes.

Landowners were being consulted to secure space for another 60,000 homes, Planning Minister Brad Hazzard said.

Mr O’Farrell said the developments would resolve several major concerns of Sydneysiders, and help the city cope with an expected population increase of 1.3 million people over the next 20 years.

“This is about ensuring that people have jobs closer to their homes. It’s about better balancing the needs of this city,” he said.

“We want to make home ownership, particularly the ownership of a backyard, a reality again.”

Much of the development will be around the North West Rail Link project, with eight new train stations, business and industrial parks and tens of thousands of homes to be built between Cherrybrook and Cudgegong Road, northwest of Rouse Hill.

This would bring about 49,500 jobs to the area, Mr O’Farrell said.

The plan also includes major developments around Leppington and Austral in Sydney’s southwest.

Mr Hazzard said 20,000 jobs and 13,000 homes would be created in these areas.

Almost half a billion dollars would be spent on road, water and sewerage infrastructure in northwest and southwest Sydney.

Two types of areas would be developed, greenfield sites where homes would be built on paddocks in outer Sydney, and urban activation areas, where the government hoped to work with local councils to increase living density in existing suburbs.

To sweeten the deal for councils, each would be able to access part of a $50 million funding pool to upgrade local parks and community facilities, Mr Hazzard said.

Epping, North Ryde, Macquarie Park, Wentworth Point, Homebush, Randwick, Mascot and Anzac Parade between Maroubra and Phillip Bay have been earmarked as urban activation areas.
Mr O’Farrell said construction of infrastructure and housing would take place over 20 years, but he expected the first houses to be built by 2014.

Capstone Turbine installs methane-fueled C200 at CONSOL Energy gas plant

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CONSOL Energy Inc. estimates that the clean-and-green 200kW microturbine will eliminate 6,486 tons of carbon dioxide produced from coal bed methane from the atmosphere each year. Anticipated annual energy cost savings is $80,000. Capstone distributor E-Finity secured the C200 order, which is installed at CONSOL’s Fallowfield Gas Processing Plant in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The micro turbine produces 200kW of low-emission power that the plant uses to recover 18.5 million-cubic-feet (524,456-cubic-meters) of methane gas each year and generate 1.3 million net kW hours of clean electrical power, the company said. “The C200 is expected to have much lower maintenance costs and emissions than those from reciprocating engines,” said Jim Grech, CONSOL Energy’s Chief Commercial Officer. “As government regulations for methane emissions become stricter, we anticipate more companies will turn to microturbines because they can easily operate on methane gas, produce extremely low emissions, and are exceptionally reliable,” said Jim Crouse, Capstone’s Executive vice president of Sales and Marketing. “It’s clear why Fortune Magazine selected CONSOL as one of America’s most admired companies,” Crouse said. “They made a commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas footprint, and their selection of a Capstone C200 is evidence of this pledge. The C200 will significantly reduce methane gas emissions at Fallowfield and will provide the company substantial cost savings.” The micro turbine power system could qualify the plant to sell CO2 credits and could qualify for Tier 2 incentives under the Pennsylvania Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard. Unlike traditional generation technologies, microturbines are well suited to using gas with low methane content. The Fallowfield micro turbine continuously operates with methane concentrations around 33%.

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Lanai Scarr
The Daily Telegraph
March 16, 201312:00AM

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Stephen Conroy
‘Gun to the head’
Conroy’s consultation claim ‘b…
‘Rise up to defend free speech…

Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy / Pic: Ray Strange Source: The Australian

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‘Gun to the head’

News Limited CEO Kim Williams criticises Senator Stephen Conroy’s proposed media law reforms

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Conroy’s consultation claim ‘bollocks’

News Limited CEO Kim Williams says Senator Conroy’s one week deadline for media law reform is insulting

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‘Rise up to defend free speech’

News Limited CEO Kim Williams says free speech isn’t a gift from government, it’s a gift from democracy

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THE Human Rights Commission is examining if the Gillard government’s new media laws breach UN freedom of speech rules.

As Australian of The Year Ita Buttrose slammed the controversial reforms, the commission was raking over them with a fine-tooth comb to see if they impinged on any international treaties.

It is understood the investigation centres on whether an article of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which concerns freedom of expression, is breached by the laws.

A commission spokesman said the review was part of normal processes for high-profile legislation in parliament and would be finalised early next week.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s reforms propose a government-appointed enforcer and sanctions which, if utilised, would remove exemptions from the Privacy Act for media organisations – which would have the effect of gagging reporting.

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UK press talks collapse, editor arrested»

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Chances of the reforms passing the lower house looked increasingly unlikely last night, with Senator Conroy staying firm on comments that he would not “barter” on the legislation.

Labor wants the reforms passed next week and needs to secure the support of at least five of the seven crossbenchers, all of whom have significant concerns about aspects of the bill. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said last night that Senator Conroy had maintained his stance on no bartering during private discussions.

Former Labor MP turned independent Craig Thomson has said he won’t support the bill and independent Rob Oakeshott said the legislation was unlikely to get his support.

The Punch: Media reform may run out of puff

Maverick north Queensland independent Bob Katter said he wanted to see the planned Public Interest Media Advocate be appointed by a board of journalists and community advocates before he supported the bill.

The Greens remain undecided.

On Monday two committees will kick off inquiries into several aspects of the legislation.

Meanwhile, Ms Buttrose said there were already enough regulatory authorities.

“The public should be the ultimate arbiter,” she said. “If they feel we’ve done the wrong thing they switch us off or don’t buy us.”

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said yesterday Labor wanted to use its media reforms to create a government “advertising agency”.

Mr Abbott said the government was trying to “bully the papers” out of criticising it.

“A government which wakes up in the morning, reads the press and is universally satisfied is a government that doesn’t understand the duty of the press,” he said.

“The duty of the press is to be a critic, not to be a cheer squad.”

CFMEU braces for next chapter in ICAC probe

By Nonee Walsh, ABCUpdated March 16, 2013, 8:12 am

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The coal miners’ union is bracing itself for a damaging series of revelations from an anti-corruption inquiry involving a well-respected former leader.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (ICAC) probe into the granting of mining licences to entities connected to the family of New South Wales Labor Party powerbroker Eddie Obeid has already damaged the ALP.

Now the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is bracing itself for a reputational hit in the next part of the inquiry, which is due to begin on Monday.

The CFMEU’s former national secretary, John Maitland, is staying out of the public eye at the moment and has cancelled today’s public auction of a $1.6 million farm near Kempsey on the NSW north coast.

However the former union veteran still has $5-million-worth of property on the market, including a $3 million property in Victoria owned through his family company, Jonca.

Mr Maitland bought the farms after he became a multi-millionaire just four years after retiring as CFMEU head.

That wealth came on the back of an investment of less than $200,000 and a mining licence issued by his friend, the then state mining minister, Ian Macdonald.

It was the same year Mr Maitland became a Member of the Order of Australia, in recognition of his services to international and Australian industrial relations.

Now, the unravelling of the story of the rise from union man to rich mining investor threatens to drag in his former union colleagues.

Doyles Creek licence

The ABC understands a number of mining union officials have been called to give evidence to the ICAC about the Doyles Creek coal exploration licence, and the associated $10 million share price windfall to Mr Maitland.

Just two months after he left the union Mr Maitland began buying shares in a company called Nucoal. A $1 shelf company was also established, which became Doyles Creek Mining.

Among Mr Maitland’s plans was for an operation to train people to work in underground mines.

Some time after his first approach to Mr Macdonald about his training mine, Mr Maitland became a director and later chairman of Doyles Creek Mining.

The training mine idea had been proposed a decade before, when Mr Obeid was minerals minister, and it had been a strong interest of Mr Maitland in his time at the CFMEU.

A plan for a large coal mine to fund it between the town of Jerrys Plains and the Wollemi National Park was rejected between 1999 and 2000 by the state government because the area was environmentally sensitive.

But the licence for a training mine and exploration licence was issued by Mr Macdonald in late 2008, against departmental advice, to Doyles Creek Mining.

Doyles Creek was then taken over by Nucoal and, when the company was publicly floated in 2010, Mr Maitland sold almost $6-million-worth of shares. After that, he began buying up the farms he is now selling.

The veracity of letters of support for the Doyles Creek licence sent to government is likely to be examined by the ICAC.

The apparent authors are Labor politicians including Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, along with a who’s who of union officials and entities associated with the mining union.

When Mr Maitland retired in 2006, the union’s then national president, Tony Maher, lauded “the Maitland effect” on the reputation of the union and the Labor movement.

“Wherever he goes he is hailed as a long-lost brother and treated as a king. And rightly so,” he said at a farewell in 2006.

Now Mr Maitland’s name cannot be found on the CFMEU website. According to sources in the union, the reaction he now prompts is shock and disappointment as the union nervously awaits the latest ICAC revelations.
A union spokesperson said officials are unable to comment based on legal advice.

Life Deep Within Oceanic Crust Sustained by Energy from Interior of Earth

Mar. 14, 2013 — The core drill slides through a drill pipe, extending from the drill ship at the sea surface, through a water depth of 2.5 km and hundreds of metres of sediment, into the oceanic crust off the west coast of North America. Microbiologist Mark Lever is on board the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s research vessel JOIDES Resolution to examine rock samples from the depths.

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The results of the studies he and his colleagues carried out are published today in the journal Science.

“We’re providing the first direct evidence of life in the deeply buried oceanic crust. Our findings suggest that this spatially vast ecosystem is largely supported by chemosynthesis,” says Dr Lever, at the time a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, and now a scientist at the Center for Geomicrobiology at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Energy from reduced iron

We have learned that sunlight is a prerequisite for life on Earth. Photosynthetic organisms use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into organic material that makes up the foundation of Earth’s food chains. Life in the porous rock material in the oceanic crust is fundamentally different. Energy — and therefore life’s driving force — derives from geochemical processes.

“There are small veins in the basaltic oceanic crust and water runs through them. The water probably reacts with reduced iron compounds, such as olivine, in the basalt and releases hydrogen. Microorganisms use the hydrogen as a source of energy to convert carbon dioxide into organic material,” explains Dr Lever. “So far, evidence for life deep within oceanic crust was based on chemical and textural signatures in rocks, but direct proof was lacking,” adds Dr Olivier Rouxel of the French IFREMER institute.

Our biosphere is extended

The oceanic crust covers 60 per cent of Earth’s surface. Taking the volume into consideration, this makes it the largest ecosystem on Earth. Since the 1970s, researchers have found local ecosystems, such as hot springs, which are sustained by chemical energy.

“The hot springs are mainly found along the edges of the continental plates, where the newly formed oceanic crust meets seawater. However, the bulk of oceanic crust is deeply buried under layers of mud and hundreds to thousands of kilometres away from the geologically active areas on the edges of continental plates. Until now, we’ve had no proof that there is life down there,” says Dr Lever.

Even though this enormous ecosystem is probably mainly based on hydrogen, several different forms of life are found here. The hydrogen-oxidising microorganisms create organic material that forms the basis for other microorganisms in the basalt. Some organisms get their energy by producing methane or by reducing sulphate, while others get energy by breaking down organic carbon by means of fermentation.

Basalt is their home

Mark Lever is a specialist in sulphur-reducing and methane-producing organisms, and these were the organisms he also chose to examine among the samples taken from the oceanic crust. These organisms are able to use hydrogen as a source of energy, and are typically not found in seawater. Dr Lever had to make sure that no microorganisms had been introduced as contaminants during the drilling process, or transported from bottom seawater entering the basaltic veins.

“We collected rock samples 55 kilometres from the nearest outcrop where seawater is entering the basalt. Here the water in the basaltic veins has a chemical composition that differs fundamentally from seawater, for instance, it is devoid of oxygen produced by photosynthesis. The microorganisms we found are native to basalt,” explains Dr Lever.

Active life or dead relics?

Dr Lever’s basalt is 3.5 million years old, but laboratory cultures show that the DNA belonging to these organisms is not fossil. “It all began when I extracted DNA from the rock samples we had brought up. To my great surprise, I identified genes that are found in methane-producing microorganisms. We subsequently analysed the chemical signatures in the rock material, and our work with carbon isotopes provided clear evidence that the organic material did not derive from dead plankton introduced by seawater, but was formed within the oceanic crust. In addition, sulphur isotopes showed us that microbial cycling of sulphur had taken place in the same rocks. These could all have been fossil signatures of life, but we cultured microorganisms from basalt rocks in the laboratory and were able to measure microbial methane production,” explains Dr Lever. Dr Jeff Alt of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor adds that “Our work proves that microbes play an important role in basalt chemistry, and thereby influence ocean chemistry.”

Chemosynthetic life plays a role

Mark Lever and his colleagues developed new sampling methods to avoid sampling microbial contaminants from seawater, which is often a major problem in explorations of the oceanic crust. The researchers work in an area of the world that is extremely hard to reach. As Dr Andreas Teske of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill expresses “this study would not have been possible without the close collaboration of microbiologists, geochemists and geologists from the US, Denmark, France, Germany, the UK and Japan — each team member going to the limits of what was technically possible. Such strong proof for life in the deep ocean crust has eluded scientists for a long time.”

Exploring the oceanic crust is still a young science. However, the prospects are great.

“Life in the deeply buried oceanic crust is supported by energy-sources that are fundamentally different from the ones that support life in both the mud layers in the sea bed and the oceanic water column. It is possible that life based on chemosynthesis is found on other planets, where the chemical environment permits. Our continued studies will hopefully reveal whether this is the case, and also what role life in the oceanic crust plays in the overall carbon cycle on our own planet,” says Dr Lever.

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Public will get time to scrutinise NBN policy: Turnbull

Date March 15, 2013 – 10:07AM 15 reading now

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Tim Lester

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Turnbull defies policy silence

Malcolm Turnbull promises to release the Coalition’s alternative NBN plan “months” before the election, bucking the opposition trend of staying mum on pre-election policy detail.
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Malcolm Turnbull has promised to release the Coalition’s plans for a national broadband network ”months” before the September 14 election to allow for scrutiny of the policy and its costings.

The undertaking from the communications spokesman goes further than the usual opposition response to questions on when key election policies will be made public this year – which is to simply say ”in good time”.

”You can never criticise me for not providing a lot of detail,” Mr Turnbull said in an interview with Fairfax Media’s Breaking Politics.

”Australians will have more than adequate time to consider our policy and debate it.”

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When asked whether this meant it would be released ”months” before the poll, he replied, ”definitely”.

Broadband and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has previously accused Mr Turnbull of having ”half-baked broadband thought bubbles” rather than a plan.

Renewed debate over the NBN comes as the Gillard government wrestles with the challenge of passing its planned changes to media laws by its deadline of next week.

Senator Conroy said on Friday that it was too early to say whether the bills would pass, despite concerns by key cross-bench MPs.

In an interview on ABC’s Radio National program, Senator Conroy said he was not surprised by the barrage of ”hysterical” attacks from media companies.

”The public interest test, for instance, which has been heavily attacked and criticised, akin to Stalinist Russia, akin to Fiji today, these are concepts that the United States have had for 80 years and the UK has had for many many years. These are not new concepts,” he said.
To view an extended version of the interview with Malcolm Turnbull, click here

In a Senate estimates hearing recently, NBN Co confirmed that they expected their broadband rollout to have passed 286,000 homes by June this year.

”The cost of this NBN, in reality, will shock people. If this NBN were to proceed with its construction on the basis of the government’s plan, it would be likely in my view, and it’s not an uninformed view, to take over 20 years to complete, and a hundred billion dollars,” Mr Turnbull said.

”This is the most reckless exercise in commonwealth investment . . . in our history. To embark on a project like this with no budget, no cost benefit analysis. They have never said there is a limit to what you can spend.”

Mr Turnbull also said he doubted anything in the Coalition plan would surprise people.

”We will speed up the roll out. We will deliver the completion of the NBN sooner and at less cost to the Commonwealth and therefore of course, it will be more affordable to users,” he said.

with Daniel Hurst

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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/public-will-get-time-to-scrutinise-nbn-policy-turnbull-20130315-2g4dj.html#ixzz2NaP7yiHW