Author Archive: roman

A New Threat to Charities and Environmental Organisations

roman December 15, 2017

December 7th: the Turnbull Government announced a new threat to Environmental organisations and Australia’s charity sector.

After a long-running campaign waged by the Minerals Council and the hard right to strip environmental organisations of their charitable status, the Turnbull government has appointed a known ideological warrior as head of the charities commission.

The Turnbull government has appointed Gary Johns to lead the federal charities regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-For- Profits Commission (ACNC).

TAKE ACTION to Defend Enviro Orgs: Call on PM Turnbull to stare down the hard right on charities

The ACNC monitors the compliance of charities and maintains a list of registered organisations. It also ensures charities abide by the laws in the Charities Act. Assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar announced the appointment at Parliament House on Thursday morning.

Over 100 Australian charities wrote an open letter in June to the Prime Minister after Assistant Minister Sukkar failed to re-appoint Susan Pascoe as Commissioner, despite very strong positive recommendations for her reappointment. The Assistant Minister had refused to meet with anyone from the ACNC for over six months even though he is responsible for the agency, and did not even meet with Susan Pascoe prior to not renewing her contract.

Gary Johns’ track record on charities

The former Labor MP has expressed controversial views about charities in the past. He previously argued that advocacy should not count as a charitable purpose and backed an unrealised Abbott government promise to remove it.

Such a reform would be devastating for environmental charities. He was Senior Fellow at the conservative Australian think tank the Institute of Public Affairs (the IPA), and the head of its Non-Government Organisation Unit. He joined the IPA in 1997 and left in 2006. The IPA has had a long term interest is seeing green groups lose government funding (background here).

Describing environmental groups opposing the Adani coal mine in a 2014 newspaper column, Mr Johns stated: “Why should we be forced to subsidise the views of a minority who are anti-progress?”

He said the government should deny “charity status to the enemies of progress”.

Gary Johns has criticised the entire rationale for tax-deductible status on the basis that it contradicts the “voluntary nature of charity”.

Johns also argued that governments “should be reticent” about supporting organisations that “promote viewpoints on issues where there is reasonable disagreement in the electorate”.

Reaction to the appointment

A range of charities and environmental organisations stated: The appointment of Dr Gary Johns to lead the Australian Charities and Not-for- profits Commission indicates that the government is intent on silencing Australians by destabilising Australian charities.

Add your voice to the call – Email PM Turnbull today to #DefendEnviroOrgs and send a clear message to say #HandsOffOurCharities.

The groups signed onto this statement included:

Australian Council for International Development
Australian Conservation Foundation
Australian Council of Social Service
Campaign for Australian Aid
Community Council for Australia
Friends of the Earth Australia
Human Rights Law Centre
Lock the Gate
RESULTS Australia
Pew Charitable Trusts
World Vision Australia
WWF Australia
350.org

David Crosbie, CEO of the Community Council for Australia; “this is a bizarre appointment. Gary Johns has made numerous public statements that clearly indicate he is opposed to many charities and their work. Only a government committed to attacking the charities sector would put someone like Gary Johns in as head of the ACNC.

Cassandra Goldie, the chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service, said the appointment undermined the regulator’s independence. “We see the appointment through the lens about what it says to the government’s approach to the regulation of the charitable sector,” she said.

Marc Purcell, the chief executive of the Australian Council For International Development, said the move “displays a contempt by the government for Australia’s charities”.

“We’re concerned that this appointment couples with the upcoming review of the legislation for the charity regulator could combine into a perfect storm that may destroy charitable advocacy and tax deductions for advocacy.”

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Friends of the Earth Australia to help us continue to fight these attacks on Australia’s not-for-profit sector.

This article in The Conversation from earlier this year, gives a good explanation of attacks on charities, you can also read more on the history of attacks on Friends of the Earth and other green groups HERE.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures

Trade deals must not be negotiated in secret

roman December 15, 2017

Trade deals affect people’s everyday lives from the food we eat to the energy we use, and should not be discussed in secret, behind closed doors. Yet sadly, this is exactly what is happening at this year’s upcoming World Trade Organization meeting in Buenos Aires from 10-13 December.

Friends of the Earth International has been advocating for a fair and sustainable trade agenda for over two decades, yet this is the first time we have been banned from participating in the WTO.

In an unprecedented move, the Argentine government revoked our accreditation, together with 60 individuals from a diverse range of trade unions, farmers’ and consumer rights organisations.

The official reason for our ban is that we have “been making explicate calls for violent protests on social media, desiring to create scenes of chaos and intimidation.” Yet this information can be disproved simply by checking our Twitter account, which has never made incitements to violence.
“Locking people out of the WTO will only further undermine its legitimacy.”

At the same time, we do not shy away disagreeing with many of the pro-corporate policies and deals being pushed by the WTO and the Argentine government, which are often stumbling blocks for action on climate change.

When India’s National Solar Mission, which aims to bring energy to millions of people by building 100 GW of solar energy, was found “guilty” by the WTO of creating local jobs, we spoke up.

We have also protested WTO policies that penalise and prohibit developing countries from undertaking public stockholding programmes. This blocks food sovereignty for the world’s poorest, and livelihoods for peasant, indigenous and small-scale farmers, yet allows the EU and USA to provide massive global market distorting subsidies that beef up agribusiness interests while ruining farmers abroad.

A crackdown on our rights to debate and oppose such trade policies is an attack on our ability to decide what kind of world we want to live in. The backlash against civil society by President Mauricio Macri’s government in Argentina is worrying, and reveals the true face of his government: neoliberal, corporate and serving one-per-cent of the population.

Read the full article: “I was banned from the WTO for defending People’s Rights” by Alberto Villarreal, spokesperson for trade at Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Sustainability, trade

Zombie TPP trade deal threatens climate

roman November 24, 2017

Australia/ Kuala Lumpur, 14 November 2017: This weekend trade ministers from the 11 remaining Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries have attempted to salvage the trade deal by suspending a number of controversial provisions. Leaders could not reach a final agreement as predicted yet endorsed the deal in a statement and made a commitment to continue negotiations.

Friends of the Earth International warns that the rebranded Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership would still threaten people and planet, if approved.

Sam Cossar-Gilbert, Friends of the Earth International Economic Justice Resisting Neo-Liberalism Coordinator, said:

“The zombie TPP deal continues to stagger on terrorizing people across the Asia Pacific. Now is the time to put this deeply unpopular and environmentally destructive deal to rest. Trade can not trump climate action any longer.”

“Over 160 countries are currently taking part in international climate negotiations in Bonn to reduce greenhouse emissions, yet the zombie TPP trade deal would undermine climate action by protecting ‘free trade’ in dirty energy products and lead to an increase in coal, oil and gas exports, fuelling global warming.”

(more…)

Adelaide FoE Notes, Climate

Little storage needed for 35-50% renewables: new Finkel report

roman November 24, 2017

A new report commissioned by chief scientist Alan Finkel, The role of Energy Storage in Australia’s Future Energy Supply Mix, says the required investment in energy security and reliability over the next five-10 years will be minimal, even if wind and solar deployment moves far beyond levels contemplated by the Energy Security Board.

“At an aggregated national level, Australia can reach penetrations of 50 per cent renewable energy without a significant requirement for storage to support energy reliability”

The contrast with ESB modelling – and the attempts by Coalition parties at state and federal level to dismiss high levels of renewable energy as “reckless” – could not be more pronounced.

While the ESB, in arguing for a National Energy Guarantee, speaks of the system threats and urgency to act with a level of “variable” renewables accounting for between 18 and 24 per cent of total generation, this new report says surprisingly little storage may be needed with 35 per cent to 50 per cent wind and solar.

Even in the 50 per cent variable renewable energy scenario – more than double that contemplated at the high end by the ESB – the new report suggests enough battery storage may be available “behind the meter,” households and businesses, to meet the storage needs.

Pointedly, the study models levels of “variable”renewable energy – wind and solar” that are far higher than that contemplated by the ESB in its argument for an “urgent” reliability option.

The new study’s “low renewable” share – 35 per cent – is twice the amount of wind and solar modeled by the ESB for 2030, at just 18-24 per cent, and yet it sees little need for a lot of added storage.

The study’s medium renewables scenario aims at 50 per cent share of variable renewbles by 2030, while its “high” share models 75 per cent wind and solar penetration.

It even contemplates what is needed for a 100 per cent renewable energy in South Australia – a scenario that looks increasingly possible given the huge range of projects in the pipeline, many with storage of some sort, including pumped hydro, solar thermal, and batteries.

See the summary from reneweconomy: http://reneweconomy.com.au/new-finkel-report-finds-no-need-to-panic-about-energy-storage-42755/

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Renewables

Doctors for the Environment call for NEG to be rejected

roman November 24, 2017

A letter on Nov 19th from Doctors for the Environment Australia addressed to State Premiers, Energy and Environment ministers points out the problems with the Government’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG):

The States must continue their strong leadership at the approaching COAG Energy Meeting, totally rejecting the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) because of its egregious denial of action on pollution and global warming and its deleterious effect on Health.

Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) represents hundreds of medical experts across Australia. We are supported by a Nobel laureate, recipients of the Australian of the Year award and many other distinguished health professionals.

DEA is deeply disturbed by the health implications of the Government’s proposed (NEG) plan. As more analysis accumulates it is increasingly evident that the NEG is designed to encourage continued burning of fossil fuels. It is also clear that the NEG will lead to much less investment in decarbonisation of the energy market, leading to more pollution and rising CO2 levels. It is extraordinary that the design proposes no further reduction in CO2 emissions between 2020 and 2030. It thus fails Australia’s commitment to COP 21 in Paris.
— read the full letter at the DEA website

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Renewables