Barely three months after winning permission to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, Norwegian oil firm Equinor announced on February 25 it had scrapped plans for an exploratory well in the environmentally sensitive region. But the fight is not over, argues Renfrey Clarke.
Adelaide
Fossil Free SA and supporters called for a ban on new fossil fuel projects in South Australia, at a protest held outside Parliament House on October 18. The action was called in response to a recent decision by the state Liberal government to invite new applications for oil and gas licences.
For the first time in Australia, a house of state parliament has voted to declare a climate emergency.
What are the strengths of the “Green New Deal” campaign launched by progressives in the United States and now being taken up by environmental and labour activists in Britain, Australia and other countries? Is it something socialists should support?
Close to 1000 people gathered outside Parliament House in Adelaide on November 3 to protest against federal government plans to build a national radioactive waste dump in South Australia.
South Australia’s Liberal government gave final approval for Leigh Creek Energy to begin a three-month trial of an underground coal gasification (UCG) process, despite UCG technology being banned in other states due to its devastating impacts on the environment.
Daniel Gasparri, the Charge d’affaires at the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, was welcomed here at a 60-strong dinner on August 26, hosted by the Communist Party of Australia.
South Australians headed to the polls on March 17 to decide whether they would return the incumbent Labor Party to power after 16 years or hand government to Steve Marshall’s Liberals, with Nick Xenophon’s SA Best as a significant political force.
The results saw the Liberals win, overcoming their recent history of factionalism and disunity marked by ongoing leadership battles. Optional above the line preferential voting was introduced this election, but a redistribution of seats proved more detrimental to Labor.
The consequences of South Australia’s election result on March 17 will be felt far beyond the state’s borders.
It was barely minutes after the SA Liberals, led by Steven Marshall, were declared winners that the federal Coalition began crowing that this was good news for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s signature policy, the National Energy Guarantee (NEG).
Who would you rather vote for in a state election?
A candidate from a leafy-suburbs party that has not been able to quell its factional squabbling for long enough to win office since before the turn of the century? Or a know-nothing roped in a few weeks earlier to stand on behalf of a political opportunist, who bases his appeal on childish stunts?
More than 1500 people, including some who travelled hundreds of kilometres from the Eyre Peninsula and the Flinders Ranges, gathered outside Parliament House in Adelaide on December 2 for the Don’t Dump on SA rally.
Pas Forgione is state coordinator of Anti-Poverty Network South Australia (APNSA), a non-government organisation with a difference.
APNSA is made up of welfare recipients and other low-income people who organise and campaign in defence of society’s marginalised people.
Green Left Weekly’s Renfrey Clarke spoke to Forgione.
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Across South Australia, local governments are sticking up for residents who are out of work and living in poverty. This is part of a grassroots campaign being led by the Anti-Poverty Network SA with support from SA Council of Social Service and Uniting Communities.
The City of Port Adelaide Enfield, in Adelaide's northern suburbs, made history on August 8 when it became the first local government in Australia to publicly advocate for the Newstart Allowance to be raised.
The motion, calling on Port Adelaide Enfield Council to lobby the federal government to raise Newstart, as well as produce a report into how council can assist local unemployed residents who are struggling, was sponsored by Councillor Michelle Hogan, and seconded by Councillor Peter Jamieson. It was passed by 11 votes to 2.
Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil has taken over two exploration permits from BP and plans to begin drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight by late next year.
Statoil and BP have signed a swap agreement covering four offshore petroleum titles. Under the deal Statoil transferred its 30% equity in two of its permits to BP and exited the licences. In return, BP has given its 70% equity in two other permits to Statoil and relinquished those licences.
Last November, two-thirds of the 350 members of a South Australian-government initiated Citizens' Jury rejected "under any circumstances" the plan to import high-level nuclear waste from around the world as a money-making venture.
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