Adelaide FoE Notes

These posts are to appear in the fortnightly newsletter

NEG needs more work

roman November 24, 2017

COAG energy ministers agreed today (Fri 24 Nov) to commission more design work on the Turnbull government’s proposed National Energy Guarantee, forcing the renewable energy industries in Australia into a new era of policy uncertainty.

The decision was expected, given that Queensland could not vote due to its state election tomorrow, the Liberal governments in NSW and Tasmania would always support it, and Victoria earlier this week declared itself open to finding out more about the plan.

This left South Australia and the ACT in the minority in their opposition to the NEG – or, as federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg put it in a press conference in Hobart this afternoon, they “they had their say today, and they lost.”

The federal government was forced to abandon its original tactic of asking the states to actually approve of the NEG, instead merely seeking consensus on doing further work.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Renewables

GM Moratorium

roman November 23, 2017

Bob Phelps writes:

A big win this week with SA’s GM Moratorium extended till 2025. The Greens Mark Parnell shepherded his Bill through the SA Upper House. http://www.farmonline.com.au/story/5064557/sa-set-to-extend-gm-moratorium/

Our media release is here.

But passage through the SA lower house isn’t a formality. The SA Government must pass it in the last sitting week (27-29 Nov) before Parliament rises for the March 18, 2018 election.

To ensure the Genetically Modified Crops Management Regulations (Postponement of Expiry) Bill 2017 passes into law, please email:

“Health Minister Peter Malinauskas MLC ” <Healthministerforhealth@sa.gov.au>
“Premier Jay Weatherill” <cheltenham@parliament.sa.gov.au> and
“Leon Bignell – Minister for Agriculture” <ministerleonbignell@sa.gov.au>

— from the Gene Ethics newsleter

Adelaide FoE Notes

Stop the Government shredding the rules on GMOs

roman November 10, 2017

The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) plans to deregulate a range of new dangerous new genetic modification techniques such as CRISPR.

Late last week, while the entire media was consumed with the High Court ruling on dual citizenship, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) quietly emailed stakeholders with its proposed changes to Australia’s Gene Technology Regulations. These would deregulate new genetic modification (GM) techniques such as CRISPR, classified as “weapons of mass destruction and proliferation” in the annual worldwide threat assessment report of the U.S. intelligence community. They would also make Australia the first country in the world to deregulate genetically modified animals.

If the OGTR deregulates these new GM techniques anyone would be free to use them to genetically modify plants, animals and microbes. They could enter our food chain and our environment with no safety testing and no labelling. The results could be catastrophic.

TAKE ACTION: STOP THE GOVERNMENT SHREDDING THE RULES ON GMOS

More info: FoE’s Emerging technology website

Adelaide FoE Notes

Why you should come to the Anti-Dump Rally dec 2nd

roman November 10, 2017

On 7th June 2017 Premier Weatherill announced that he now considers the international high level nuclear waste dump is dead.

One down, one to go!

Our state still faces a low and intermediate nuclear waste dump proposal. In the lead up to the SA state election in March, we need to send a strong message to politicians to make it clear that SA will not be the radioactive dump state.

The Federal Government has three sites currently under consideration in South Australia – one at Barndioota in the Flinders Ranges and two in Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula.

Radioactive Nuclear waste dumps for non-SA wastes are illegal in SA. In response to earlier moves to dump waste in SA, Parliament passed a law to say No: the Nuclear Waste Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000. The objects of this Act are “to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia and to protect the environment in which they live by prohibiting the establishment of certain nuclear waste storage facilities in this state.”

The federal government’s proposal is for permanent disposal of low level waste and for long term interim storage of intermediate level waste, with no plan for its permanent disposal.

The waste can and should remain secured and monitored at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights reactor, where most of it is produced, until a dedicated public review of the full range of options for waste management is carried out. The focus needs to shift from targeting SA to establishing a fair, open and responsible process for the management of Australia’s most hazardous waste.

We need your support. Come along, and bring your friends!

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE, Nuclear

Meet the U.S. People’s Delegation at COP23

roman November 10, 2017

ECO is the environmental NGO newsletter produced daily at international negotiations. While The US president has found a reason not to attend, there is certainly a US presence. This excerpt from ECO 4 describes the US People’s delegation

ECO welcomes a new delegation at the COP this year.

The delegation represents a country whose people are deeply committed to climate action. A country with universities, businesses, cities, and states that are pushing forward with plans to achieve bold climate targets like 100% renewable energy. A country that believes in science, respect, and the importance of the global community. A country that currently has a President and Administration who believes in none of these things.

Meet the U.S. People’s Delegation, a delegation of climate activists and community leaders from across the United States who have come to COP23 to represent the true spirit of the nation and to push for bold climate action that goes above and beyond the Paris Agreement.

The U.S. People’s Delegation is stepping in to fill the void left by the Trump Administration, which announced its intention to exit the Paris Agreement. This administration is here at the climate talks not on behalf of the American people, it seems, but on behalf of their friends in the fossil fuel industry (the main side event hosted by the “official” U.S. delegation this year is an infomercial for “clean” coal).

Instead of speaking for this fossil fuel driven and dirty past, the U.S. People’s Delegation will be at COP23 to represent the clean energy future. Members of the delegation include youth leaders who have successfully pressured their universities to divest from fossil fuels. It includes Indigenous leaders who have fought against major fossil fuel projects (e.g. Dakota Access Pipeline) and are building their own renewable energy solutions on tribal lands.

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE