The Australia Institute welcomes the ALP Campaign Review recommendation for “truth in political advertising legislation based on the South Australian model be investigated and pursued in the Australian Parliament" (pp 64).
E&OE Transcript
BEN OQUIST: My name is Ben Oquist, I’m the Executive Director at the Australia Institute and I'm delighted to be with such an eminent group of people. David Morris, CEO of EDO NSW, Janet Reynolds, bushfire survivor from the 2015 Tathra fires, Ken Thompson, former deputy commissioner of NSW Fire and Emergency Services and member of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, and of course Paul Stein who you know, AM and QC, former Land and Environment Court and a former judge here in NSW.
The fight to protect NSW climate laws has stepped up, with experts launching a statewide television commercial today to send Premier Gladys Berejikilian a clear message – don’t put coal over climate.
Under unprecedented pressure from the coal industry, the Berejiklian Government is moving to amend the NSW laws that require the full climate change impacts to be considered in the assessment of new coal mines.
Any changes to these laws would be a dangerous step of political interference and undermine the independent process used to assess the overall impact of new coal mines.
New research shows that an increase in diesel combustion emissions during FY11 to FY18 almost completely cancels out the decrease in emissions from electricity generation in the National Electricity Market (NEM) over the same period.
The Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program has released their latest National Energy Emissions Audit, analysing the electricity sector over the previous month.
Key Findings:
A Ucomms poll commissioned by the Australia Institute of 1,136 residents across Tasmania on the evening of 22nd October, found almost two thirds of Tasmanians want to see takayna/Tarkine protected rather than logged.
Despite state government plans to log old growth and rainforest in takanya/Tarkine, support for preserving the forests in a national park remains strong at just under 66%
“We wanted to test community attitudes, given the governments strong advocacy for logging over the past 12 months and see if it had had an effect” Said Leanne Minshull, Director The Australia Institute – Tasmania
47 scientists and experts have signed an open letter urging the NSW Government not to overrule NSW laws that require climate change impacts to be considered in the assessment of new coal mines.
The NSW Government is reportedly set to legislate restrictions on its own Independent Planning Commission preventing it from considering downstream greenhouse gas pollution (Scope 3 emissions) in major development decisions. Scope 3 emissions from burning coal are by far the largest source of greenhouse gases from coal mined in NSW.
New research shows active strategies to directly link university degrees to a job are needed, to better support university graduates as they negotiate a rapidly changing labour market.
The report, by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, shows that employment outcomes for university graduates have deteriorated significantly since the Global Financial Crisis, with only 73% of recent university graduates finding full-time employment within 4 months of graduating – down from 85% in 2008.
Key Findings:
The claim that Australia ranks first globally per capita on renewable energy investment is both misleading and incorrect, according to new research from the Australia Institute.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Morrison claimed Australia has the highest per capita investment in clean energy in the world. This claim was repeated in Parliament in Question Time this week, and is set to be interrogated during Senate Estimates.
Key Findings
New research has revealed that financial services in Australia will not insure against nuclear accidents, and if developers of nuclear power stations were forced to insure against nuclear accidents, nuclear power would be completely uneconomic.
The Australia Institute’s submission to the Inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia, shows that establishing a nuclear power industry in Australia is economically unfeasible, particularly given the uninsurable nature of the technology means the risks of a nuclear incident are borne substantially by Australian taxpayers.
Submission key findings include:
The state government’s bid to allow multi-year contracts for reserve power in Victoria would help improve reliability, lower the cost of electricity and encourage innovation in demand response.
“Longer-term contracts give the right price signal to large industrial users such as gas producers, smelters, cement pulp and paper to offer demand response and other types of reserve power into the market,” says Dan Cass, Energy and Policy Lead at The Australia Institute.
