Environment

  • Opposition to Shenhua open-cut coal mine grows, splits Coalition

    Opposition to Shenhua Watermark’s unpopular $1.2 billion open-cut coal mine, proposed for the Liverpool Plains in the north-west of NSW, is growing. The Coalition cabinet is split, as are NSW and federal National Party MPs. Federal agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce, who is fighting to hold his New England seat, opposes the mine. His cabinet colleague, federal environment minister Greg Hunt, signed the mine’s approval on July 4.

  • Obituary: Vale Felicity Wishart — a true hero for the environment

    The Australian Marine Conservation Society released this statement on July 21. * * * The Australian Marine Conservation Society and the Australian environmental movement is in mourning over the sudden and unexpected loss of Felicity “Flic” Wishart who passed away in her sleep on July 19 aged 49. Flic was one of Australia’s leading conservationists and was a great and inspiring champion for the planet, the cause she dedicated her life to.

  • Hazelwood power station testing use of ‘biomass’ instead of brown coal

    Clearfelling old growth forest in Tasmania. Previously destroyed for woodchips, native forests are now in danger of being burned to create electricity. Reports that the owner of Victoria’s Hazelwood coal power station, GDF Suez, has been considering plans to convert it into a co-firing facility, allowing it to burn native forest waste as well as brown coal, have been slammed by environmentalists.

  • In Brief

    Melbourne woman sacked in pay dispute takes Grill'd to court A Melbourne woman has launched Federal Court action against fast-food company Grill'd, alleging she lost her job after complaining about being underpaid. Kahlani Pyrah, a member of United Voice, said she received a flat rate that was less than the award wage and did not receive the shift loadings she was entitled to, while working at the Camberwell outlet.

  • What’s wrong with emissions trading

    Australia’s climate policies are a mess, and we cannot just blame Tony Abbott. We are facing a climate emergency and Australia is a significant culprit. The country has very high per capita emissions and is a major coal exporter.

  • Fighting uranium mining in WA Aboriginal communities

    The Martu people oppose the building of the Kintyre uranium mine in Western Australia. The WA State Governments proposed uranium mine, and its inevitable environmental damage, is causing extreme social disharmony in remote communities. Martu country extends over 15 million hectares of the Western Desert encompassing the Gibson, Great Sandy and the Little Sandy Deserts. The traditional owners have lived here for up to 60,000 years.

  • Tony Abbott’s attacks on renewables benefit big coal

    In the same week that it approved the huge $1.2 billion Shenhua Watermark coalmine in prime agricultural land on the Liverpool Plains, the Abbott government has directed the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to end all investment in wind farms and small-scale solar projects. These are just the latest salvos in a series of attacks on the renewable energy sector that seek to protect their friends in the coal industry.