Regrow Qld 18 May 2022 Issue 18 Vol 3
Vote on Saturday (or before), Coal mine proposal near Bundaberg going to Court, Good News, Voting guides, Renewable energy Precincts webinar and Greg heads to the beach.
Editorial
It’s almost over folks - the federal election that is. I’m already planning a night in with a six pack and Antony Green (that’s how we roll in our 40’s).
I haven’t voted yet, mainly because I have plans for a democracy sausage or two and need to research where the best cake stalls will be. You too can check this out at https://democracysausage.org/search/federal_election_2022
Up to 25% of voters are apparently still undecided for this one so the results will be … interesting. Some might say the results will be a great pile of [REDACTED] no matter who wins, but the advent of the ‘Teal Independents’ makes this actually a really interesting election.
A ‘Teal Independent’ is a candidate who would normally be an LNP candidate, but for the party’s antediluvian Climate Change lack-of-policy. They want bipartisan action on this issue (and on a federal ICAC) and they are prepared to defy the LNP and run against candidates who follow the party line.
There’s a lot of them this election - around 22 at last count, and many in the Senate as well. It’s quite possible they will end up with the balance of power - and wouldn’t that be interesting?
Perhaps bipartisan action on Climate Change is possible in Australia after all.
Anna
Project Update
We let you know previously that the Minister for Resources knocked back Fox Resources’ coal mine proposal near Bundaberg - twice. The grounds were basically that there was too much community opposition.
Fox Resources then vowed to take the matter to Court, and as a first step they have made a Right to Information application to Bundaberg Regional Council.
We understand that the grounds for taking the matter to Court would be that the Minister’s decision wasn’t properly made.
We’ll keep you posted, obviously once it goes to Court we won’t be able to say too much, but that won’t be for a while yet.
Good News
Our Good news section comes from https://futurecrunch.com/ - Subscribe and get good news delivered direct to your inbox. There’s so much in there, we struggle to pick out what to put in this newsletter!
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
Allianz, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas insurers, just committed to stop insuring and investing in new oil and gas fields, new oil power plants, projects in the Arctic, and new midstream oil infrastructure as of January 2023, and will not renew existing contracts as of July 1, 2023. In case it wasn't obvious, this is a really big one. Insure Our Future
The pipeline of solar, wind, and storage projects in interconnection queues across the United States has soared to a record 1,300GW. “The sheer volume of clean energy capacity in the queues is remarkable.” By contrast, there's only 75GW of fossil gas in the queue, and less than 1GW of coal. Berkeley Lab
Hello energy transition!
We've been saying this for a while - wait until the Germans get going on electric vehicles. Mercedes is now taking the fight to Tesla with their EQXX prototype, which has a 1,000 km range, well above the range of any petrol or diesel-powered vehicle, and 40% more energy efficient than a Tesla Model 3.
Editor’s note: that’s a sexy looking vehicle! If only I had the money…
EW! ELECTION STUFF!
If you’re a free subscriber the newsletter goes out on Saturday so this is your friendly reminder to vote today! Yes, my friends, by tonight it will all be over. If you’re still not sure where you are putting your pencil mark, here’s a guide from our friends at HOPE.
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HOPE on the Federal Election 2022 - notification of some more objective forms of Australian based political evaluation
(Prepared by Andrew Nicholson, HOPE senior researcher Qld, 1 May 2022)
HOPE has always been a non-political organisation and remains so given its neutrality on any specific political platform or position in this country. Nonetheless, we believe that the forthcoming federal election result will be of more than usual importance to the future environmental, ecological and social wellbeing of this country for many years to come. Given the welter of partisan and trivial information surrounding the election later this month, we felt it might be useful to point our members in the direction of some more objective forms of Australian based political evaluation – which may be of use to them in their voting intention decisions.
Vote Compass run in conjunction with the ABC’s Australia Votes initiative.
Vote Compass is described as ‘a tool developed by political scientists to help you explore how your views align with the major parties.’ It has been offered in a number of countries around the world since about 2011.
As described online a ‘Vote Compass questionnaire is typically 30 questions and takes about 10 minutes to complete. Once you finish, Vote Compass will analyse your responses and compare them with the policies of the candidates.
https://votecompass.abc.net.au/
Vote Earth Now (VEN) claims that it is ‘an unbiased, non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation to fight climate change in the most powerful way we can as citizens of a democracy. We educate and empower you to use your future vote to encourage political action now.
We are all volunteers and from all walks of life - we try to be completely politically independent. We are fiercely committed to fighting climate change and to saving all forms of life on this planet. Even politicians! ‘
The VEN organisation has produced an online evaluation of candidates standing in the 2022 federal election - assessing their stance on a list of environmentally supportive policy objectives - and if they are standing for major parties – the voting record of those parties in recent times judged against similar criteria. See https://voteearthnow.com/about-us/
Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) a long-established Australian NFP organisation seeking to promote the need for better integration of health and climate policy for over 10 years. It has produced a 2022 election scorecard for the major parties
‘CAHA conducted an independent analysis of federal parties' policies to tackle climate change and its health impacts. The results are shown in their 2022 federal election scorecard. These scores are the result of a rigorous independent assessment, which can be found in the CAHA scorecard report.
Parties were scored on 17 different policy questions around climate change and health, based on CAHA’s Healthy, Regenerative and Just framework. This framework, endorsed by 70 health organisations, is a policy roadmap for the federal government to meet its international climate obligations and protect the health and wellbeing of Australian communities from climate change.’
What We’re Watching:
Securing a strong future for Australian industries, fuelled by renewables
In April this year, Beyond Zero Emissions published briefing papers that set out more clearly than ever the pathway to establishing a Renewable Energy Industrial Precinct (REIP) in two of Australia’s key manufacturing regions: Gladstone, Queensland and New South Wales’ Hunter Valley.
In this webinar, you’ll meet BZE’s Project Manager for Queensland, Dr Heidi Edmonds, and Project Manager & Engagement Lead for the Hunter, Sam Mella, as they present their respective REIP roadmaps in detail.
They are joined by Rod Henderson, CEO of Ampcontrol – a Hunter-based company providing electrical and equipment solutions to heavy industry around Australia and the globe. Hosted by BZE CEO Heidi Lee, this is an insightful, practical discussion on how we can unlock the enormous jobs & investment potential of these regions.
Watch the webinar at this website:
https://bze.org.au/events/webinar-renewable-energy-industrial-precincts-briefing-papers/
Opinion
Greg Bray
The Beach Vote
Folks, we’re at the pointy end of the election now!
Or, if you prefer, the blunt end of the stick is getting closer to our eyeballs…
Anyway, regardless of who wins this Saturdays’ election, life will go on; particularly the life in our lawns, dams, forests and fields which have enjoyed a thorough unseasonable soaking and a spell of warm weather.
So, on the weekend, after the rain bombs had slid southward to wreak havoc, I followed the sun and hit the beach.
Or what was left of it.
The combination of big rain, huge tides and massive waves had removed most of the beach offshore; to the delight of the surfers skilled, brave, crazy or dumb enough to risk life, limb and board riding the huge swells over the newly created sandbar.
After what could laughingly be called our swim (more of a frantic doggy paddle against the strong sweep and crunching surf) I spotted a broken surfboard, but couldn’t see a broken surfer in the murky chop. I’m sure they’re fine… probably.
The Lifeguards on duty didn’t seem too concerned; on the few occasions they glanced up from their phones.
Anyway, speaking of phoning things in while on duty, I noted while I was fighting for my life in the ‘Not So’ Pacific Ocean, our Dear Leader was telling the nation that he was ‘Just warming up’ after three years of barely turning up to work and that he might be a bastard, but he’s the only one who can protect us; or words to that effect.
I idly wondered if our PM realised many of us think he’s the gaslighting, lazy, rorting, lying, aggressive, bullying bastard we need protecting from?
Not that I cared much either way because, you see, I’ve already voted.
So for the next few days I’ll be doing ‘a Scotty’, i.e.: basically, idly scrolling on my phone while keeping half an ear open to the blathering’s around me.
Thinking I was being devilishly clever, I’d decided to get in early to beat this Saturday’s democracy sausage rush, but was stunned to discover half my town had had the same idea!
The one pre-polling booth open within cooee, was swamped with eager voters.
A volunteer handing out ‘How to Vote’ cards admitted they’d been stunned by the turnout last week. They were clearly not used to this level of enthusiasm for the democratic process.
Traditionally this is not a good sign for incumbent governments, as it usually means quite a lot of us have clearly made up our minds and want to put this mob out of their misery. So this weeks’ dirty tricks campaign (if unveiled and let loose on an unsuspecting electorate) will be completely wasted on us.
Maybe I’m wrong (I often am).
Anyway, the deed is done, and I won’t tell you who I voted for (although, I’ll happily hint who I placed at the bottom of the pile: [REDACTED]
But for those of you who haven’t cast your vote yet, I want to tell you who you should vote for.
(NOTE: I wrote that last line in order to give Anna, our Editor, a slight heart attack! 😊 )
Editor’s Note: He succeeded!
To put her mind at rest, I’m not going to promote one party over another, that would be unethical; apparently.
It would also mean a certain nasty party won’t take offence and mete out their special brand of payback, i.e.: possibly suing our small, independent, media empire into oblivion and beyond, or sending the AFP and the Anti-Terror Black Ops Squads crashing through our ceilings in the dead of night.
So, with that in mind, who should you vote for?
Think of the most vulnerable person, or people, you know and vote for the mob who have policies in place for their best interests.
Because a strong economy which benefits the top end of town is one thing, but deliberately cutting holes in the safety net and watching impassively as the broken and vulnerable members of our communities (and environmental processes and protections) fall through the gaps, is quite another.
Of course, this election, like all the others, is not the end of our involvement in the political process for a few more years. Regardless of who gets the big chair and who is sent to the naughty corner, it’s up to all of us to maintain the struggle to keep the bastards accountable.
But it would be nice to have a breather from constantly battling through the swamping, political ‘spin cycle’, surf and enjoy a little rest on what’s left of a once great beach, before we get back to work fixing up the mess.
“Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer.” ― W.C. Fields