Mine mistake leads to concrete river
A botched attempt to fix up subsidance from a coal mine has left a river of concrete running through what was a pristine conservation area in Newcastle.
Photo Damian Kelly
ACTION OF THE DAY
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A score of ANZ Banking Group machines sprawled across six capital cities were plastered with "out of order" signs on Sunday after campaigners launched their latest bid to draw attention to the bank's funding of the coal industry.
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How come we haven't seen any of this?
ReplyDeleteA tale of two very different booms.
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Coalition will 'reboot' mining boom: Robb
The Abbott government will "reboot" the mining boom and boost jobs "massively", incoming finance minister Andrew Robb has declared.
Mr Robb says the coalition will not only reduce Australia's debt, it will also work towards increasing revenue by kick-starting mining investment.
"As of today, the mining boom will be rebooted," he told ABC television on Sunday.
"Under Labor, it was finished because of the cost (and) uncompetitiveness that we've now got. We will change that."
Tony Abbott has promised to introduce legislation in parliament to scrap the mining and carbon taxes within 100 days of being elected.
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Barnett expecting Abbott to help WA
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett is expecting a better deal for his state and a better reception for himself as the Tony Abbott-led Liberal government is installed into Canberra.
Celebrating with federal deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop in the leafy Perth suburb of Cottesloe, Mr Barnett said Mr Abbott's ascension would also be great news for Australia's international trading partners.
And Mr Barnett also dismissed the argument that dissatisfaction with his government may be why federal Liberal candidates failed to claim any of the Labor seats in the state.
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So for all our massive boom - here in WA we are on the bones of our arse and with massive debt piling up.
Meanwhile look at the situation in Norway...
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Norway faces problem of too much oil money ahead of elections
Norway, which goes to the polls tomorrow, faces a strange problem: too much money.
The Nordic country, an island of prosperity in ailing Europe, faces an embarrassment of riches as it tries to figure out how to spend its huge pile of oil money without damaging the economy in the long run.
"All countries around us are forced to reduce their spending," Oeystein Doerum, chief economist at Norway's largest bank DNB, said.
"Our biggest challenge is that our oil wealth is so huge we run the risk of wasting it on substandard projects that are not profitable enough."
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Since the late 1990s, the Scandinavian country has conscientiously placed its oil revenues in a fund meant to finance the generous welfare state over the long run.
The fund invests mainly in stocks, bonds and real estate, placing the money outside Norway to avoid overheating.
In the process, it has become the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, weighing in at $816 billion, or an average 1.25 per cent of the market capitalisation of each company listed in the world.
Oil money pushing wages too high
In a country where there is almost full employment, the booming oil sector is pulling wages higher than they otherwise would be.
This even goes for traditional industries, which are in competition to attract skilled workers.
The result is that Norwegian industrial wages are about 70 per cent above those of other European countries, severely undermining the competitiveness of the nation's exporters.
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Labour prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, who looks set to lose the election, has warned that the draft 2014 budget to be presented in October - probably his last act in government - will limit the drain on the oil windfall to a level not much higher than three per cent, compared to 3.3 per cent this year.
This measure not only meets the economic recommendations of the International Monetary Fund, but will also have the political advantage of complicating the task of the likely future government, which has vowed to cut taxes while increasing spending on health and infrastructure.
What will this mean for shale gas in WA?
ReplyDeleteIt has been said Canning Basin shale gas will not be profitable until the gas price is above $10 a gig.
Will this put Alcoa off the plan to supply their operations with CB shale gas?
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Doubt over contract price for WA gas
WA will be awash with domestic gas within 10 years, according to projections that raise questions about whether the State paid too much for landmark contracts with the Gorgon joint venture.
The Independent Market Operator, the body responsible for running WA's wholesale electricity market, forecasts that WA's domestic gas supply will outstrip demand by 74 per cent by 2022.
The assertion, though disputed by WA's Energy Minister and some industry observers, indicates domestic gas prices will come under downward pressure from surging supplies after years of sharp rises.
It also comes after the Government in 2011 sanctioned State-owned utilities Synergy and Verve paying historically high prices for long-term gas contracts with Gorgon, led by US giant Chevron.
Under the contracts, which are set to begin in 2015 when supplies from the North West Shelf wind back, the utilities are understood to have agreed to pay between $6 and $8 a gigajoule for gas.
This compares with the previous $2.50 a gigajoule the utilities paid to the North West Shelf owners and the prevailing price on benchmark international spot markets.
Those markets, which include the Henry Hub in the US, have gas trading at about $3.50 a gigajoule, though there are claims this is unusually low.
In its snapshot of the WA gas market, the IMO said domestic gas supplies would be bolstered as new projects such as Macedon, Gorgon and Wheatstone came online, eclipsing growth in demand.
But Energy Minister Mike Nahan rebuffed the IMO, insisting supplies and therefore prices would remain tight.
Dr Nahan said concern over the availability of gas was a big reason for merging Verve and Synergy because the two combined would be able to negotiate better deals for the Government entities.
He said buying collectively made sense when gas largely came from big operations that collectively sold to the domestic market.
Shadow energy minister Bill Johnston said the Government should focus on ensuring the North West Shelf remained a provider.
Well if there is one positive for the protectors it would have to be that after being called all the names under the sun by the federal Labour government - the new federal Liberal government will be hard pressed to find anything new to call them.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's face it as far as the two major parties are concerned - both state and federal - there is very little else that could be thrown at them that hasn't already been deployed!
This includes the Woodside private armies made up of ex SAS types whose idea of fun is to sit around after work comparing charnel houses they have been involved in while stringing the cut off ears of the slain (and other body parts) onto necklaces and belts.
The slimy spies taking photos of children playing on the beach,following cars and photographing every number plate,bugging and tapping and making the KGB and the CIA look relatively benign.
The corruption of the state and federal police,the deployments of the riot squad - flying wedges and all - bashing beating and dragging them all over the place.Innocent people being charged and locked up for upholding the law!Their greatest sin being they were right and the mob pushing the gas plant were wrong.
The absolute corruption of state and federal government departments who are supposed to oversee these type of projects.
The deceit and corruption of the Broome shire,the KLC and the Broome Chamber of Commerce. - the list is endless.
Nope it would seem there is nothing new here.
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So what now?
For the future that has to be faced here there are some obvious signs.
Dams and the food bowl.
The opening up of remote areas like the Kimberley for miners and drillers.
But a very obvious one is shale gas because Abbott's main campaign advisor is the pro tobacco and APPEA spin doctors Crosby Textor.
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A collection of stories on this can be found under comments at : http://handsoffcountry.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/help-stop-kimberley-from-becoming.html
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George Osborne unveils 'most generous tax breaks in world' for fracking
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David Cameron under attack over fracking firm links to Lynton Crosby
....David Cameron was accused on Friday of giving evasive answers about the Tories' chief election strategist as the Labour party highlighted Lynton Crosby's role in promoting shale gas companies in his native Australia.
As a cross-party committee of MPs accused the government of "utterly unacceptable" behaviour over the preparation of a new bill on lobbyists, Labour warned of a "lobbying scandal" in Downing Street after George Osborne unveiled tax breaks for the fracking industry championed by Crosby.
Jon Trickett, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, pointed out that the lobbyist's firm Crosby Textor represents the Australian Petroleum Exploration Association. One of its members, Dart Energy, has a UK subsidiary, Dart Europe Limited, which has an interest in the Bowland Shale site in Lancashire and Yorkshire, which contains 1,300tn cubic feet of gas....
....The fracking industry association in Australia, which has been advised by Crosby's firm, has been highly critical of environmentalists. Stedman Ellis, the chief operating officer for the Western Region of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, told the Australian newspaper last month: "The opportunity provided by shale gas is too important to be jeopardised by political scare campaigns run by activist groups."
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APPEA and Buru - connections.
Delete"Streitberg to continue on as APPEA chairman
Friday, 15 October 2010
BURU Energy executive director Eric Streitberg has been re-elected for a second year as chairman of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
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Streitberg wins APPEA award
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
ARC Energy managing director Eric Streitberg was awarded APPEA’s prestigious Reg Sprigg Medal for outstanding service to the industry, at the APPEA 2008 Conference in Perth today.
In presenting the award, APPEA chairman Colin Beckett paid tribute to Streitberg’s long-standing commitment to conservation and his engagement with traditional owners.
“Mr Streitberg is a figure of great stature in our industry, both figuratively and literally, and he is truly an example of how one person can energise and lead positive change,” Beckett said.
“With over 36 years of experience in the industry, Mr Streitberg is highly regarded by his peers for his manner, his values and for his passion for exploration in far-flung areas such as Canada, Bolivia, Libya, PNG and more recently in the Perth and Canning Basins of Western Australia.”
Beckett noted that Streitberg had built strong partnerships with the indigenous communities in areas in which Arc operates.
“He has built companies that have outwardly expressed in their actions and activities, some of his own core values of respecting and valuing the people around him. Eric has extended that human touch in building strong partnerships with the indigenous communities in which Arc operates, prominent among those being the Noonkanbah people in northern WA,” Beckett said.
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“Similarly, his interest in conservation through his Chairmanship of the Western Australian Marine Parks and Reserves Authority has seen a system of marine reserves put in place that have adhered to the multiple-use principle but have also taken major steps to ensuring we have a marine environment we and future generations can enjoy in a sustainable way.”
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Streitberg is a current APPEA councillor and has previously served as APPEA’s vice-chairman and chairman of its exploration committee.
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APPEA elected its 2010-11 board, chairman, and vice-chairman at its annual general meeting in Perth mid- October.
Eric Streitberg, Executive Director of Buru Energy, was re-elected for a second year as APPEA Chairman and John Dashwood, Chairman of ExxonMobil Australia, was re-elected as APPEA Vice-Chairman.
"APPEA has a long and proud history of ably representing the interests of its members and it is with great pleasure that I again take on the role of chairman", Streitberg said.
"Future investment in Australian oil and gas production and exploration is contingent upon us working with government to deliver improved regulatory efficiency, an internationally competitive tax regime, and a thoughtfully designed climate change policy.
"It is also very much dependent upon our industry learning from the events at Montara and Macondo to ensure we deliver a safe and sustainable industry. I am very pleased to see the way the industry has already responded and as APPEA Chairman, I look forward to helping ensure our industry's regulation and operations are of the highest order."
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From an Aboriginal perspective it would not be right not to thank Bergman,Parriman,Hunter,Barker,Tarran,Augustine & co. for causing a whole lot of trouble,dropping everyone in it and then bailing out and leaving everyone else to clean it up - typical of a cowards breed - starting fights they cant finish and always leaving it to others to finish off their business.
DeleteAs predicted once their "bodyguards" had left country they would crawl back under the rocks they came out from leaving the community up to their necks in the sh*t they caused.
What now? ....cont....
ReplyDelete....Trickett said that Crosby's role in advising the fracking industry raised further questions about the man who will run the Tories' 2015 general election campaign. Cameron is already facing pressure after refusing to say on at least 12 occasions, according to Trickett, whether he discussed government plans to abandon plain cigarette packaging with Crosby, whose firm has advised the tobacco giant Philip Morris.
Trickett said: "David Cameron's failure to come clean over his relationship with Lynton Crosby has created a situation where his decisions are open to question. Whether it's tobacco, alcohol, lobbying and now fracking, we need to know what role lobbying has played in deciding what our prime minister does.
"David Cameron must make clear exactly what sort of conversations he has had with Lynton Crosby on government policy. He must force Lynton Crosby to name his clients and the prime minister must be clear about them and their influence...."
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THE same should be said of Abbott before he launches into his highly destructive campaign against wild Australia.
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David Cameron's Aussie aid Lynton Crosby under fire over tobacco link
BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron is standing by his Australian election strategist Lynton Crosby despite mounting criticism over the lobbyist's links to big tobacco.
The conservative government last week shelved plans to follow Canberra's lead by introducing plain packaging for cigarettes.
Labour says that's because Mr Crosby has ties with Philip Morris.
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Tobacco giant hid details of meeting
A TOBACCO company linked to David Cameron's Australian political adviser Lynton Crosby blocked the release of details of a meeting where plans to impose plain packaging on cigarette manufacturers were discussed.
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LINKS TO ABBOTT....
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Lynton Crosby's lobby firm linked to Australian fossil fuels
Crosby Textor co-founder Mark Textor helps Australian Opposition leader Tony Abbott to shape his messages
UK prime minister David Cameron's key political strategist Lynton Crosby now finds himself in the place where few lobbyists really want to be – in the public eye.
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Lynton Crosby's international lobbying firm, Australia-founded Crosby Textor, lists tobacco as being among the industries it represents.
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....You might be wondering why this is all relevant for a blog on environment issues in Australia.
But Crosby Textor is just one example of a lobbying company with influences in the highest offices that also work for clients with a direct interest in environmental regulation and policy, climate change and campaigns to shape public perceptions.
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His company profile lists campaigns for former Australian Prime Minister John Howard. There have been two campaigns for London Mayor Boris Johnson – the first won Johnson his mayoral robes and the second kept them on his back.
Crosby Textor also says it works with the mining industry, oil and gas, retailers and renewable energy companies. Its website declares it has run "700 research projects, 250 campaigns, in 57 countries."
The other founder of the Crosby Textor empire is Mark Textor and his company profile says:
Mark's direct clients have included governments, premiers and opposition leaders in six countries and the CEOs and Boards of major Australian and multi-national companies in a broad range of industries, including; mining, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), pharmaceutical, retail, financial services, banking ("Big Four"), tobacco, renewable energies, oil, gas and farming sectors.
Just as Lynton Crosby is part of Prime Minister Cameron's inner circle, Textor is a key figure in the office of the Australian conservative Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott.
Mark Textor is Tony Abbott's "pollster" and a recent profile for Australia's Power Index acknowledged his skill with the focus group....
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What now? ....cont....
ReplyDelete....Abbott also has the services of … pollster Mark Textor. Textor's role can't be overstated – based, as it is, on relentless qualitative analysis of polling trends.
While writing this blog, I came across Mark Textor as he took to Twitter to defend his business partner Lynton Crosby in the wake of the tobacco lobbying controversy.
Textor Tweeted quotes from an article by UK Daily Telegraph blogger, anti-wind farm activist and climate science denier James Delingpole.
...BBC – or its print equivalents.. They're so in thrall to the leftist lobby groups, so instinctively against business, that it simply wouldn't occur to them (BBC / UK print equivalents) to ask whether less regulation might sometimes be a good thing....
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....Crosby Textor declares it is paid to lobby on behalf of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
APPEA is the peak industry group for the oil and gas industry and among other things, speaks on behalf of Australia's booming coal seam gas industry.
Crosby Textor also carries out research for industry groups such as the Queensland Resources Council – the peak body for mining in the state.....
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Australia's lobby registers are in fact opaque.
These registers do not detail which individuals lobby for which company, who they have met, how much they are paid or what pieces of legislation they are working on.
The lobby registers and the offices of major resources and energy companies, and industry groups representing them, are riddled with the names of former politicians from both sides of the spectrum. High-ranking civil servants are also popular recruits into lobbying posts.
In at least one state (Queensland) new rules have been introduced where lobbyists do have to enter details about who they have met, but this information is not openly published.
Neither do the registers account for the activities of in-house lobbyists – people who lobby for the interests of the company that employs them.
If companies in Australia decide they want to influence the public by sending money to a think-tank, then the public knows even less.
Think tanks in Australia don't have to disclose their funders or provide details in financial statements, even though some are actively trying to influence policy decisions and public opinion.
In the climate change space, the issue of lobbying and the lack of transparency has frustrated leading climate scientist James Hansen, the former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. I'll leave you with his words.
Public doubt about the science is not an accident. People profiting from business-as-usual fossil fuel use are waging a campaign to discredit the science. Their campaign is effective because the profiteers have learned how to manipulate democracies for their advantage.
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What now ....cont....
ReplyDelete....She described Crosby, former federal director of the Australian Liberal Party, as a huckster, a person who can be defined as using questionable methods to promote or sell products....
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SO TO TODAY and what now?
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Looking at todays headlines I think I have the theme the protectors will have to deal with.
It is quite a simple one - they are the children and Abbott and his government are the grown ups.
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'Grown-up' tactics trump negativity for Coalition
by: Dennis Shanahan and Sid Maher
From: The Australian
JUST after Tony Abbott's frustratingly fruitless victory in the 2010 election campaign, Liberal pollster and strategist Mark Textor presented party director Brian Loughnane with a paper entitled "A campaign for grown-ups by grown-ups".
Being grown-up became the central theme of a three-year strategy in which four principals with their own distinct roles and talents worked towards Saturday night's "overnight success" of the election of the "unpopular" and "unelectable" Liberal leader as prime minister.
"The campaign has been going for two years and 11 months and the last few weeks of the election campaign have been the culmination of that strategy," a senior Liberal said yesterday.
That three-year campaign was based on a series of assumptions that: challenged the accepted view of the opposition leader, turning several orthodox notions on their heads; worked on fundamental issues, not tactics; and, paradoxically, emphasised the positive over the negative.
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After 20 years in public life, Abbott may not have been "popular" but, according to the Liberal research, he was a "known commodity" whose beliefs were well known and consistent.
The language of the need to be "adult" and "grown-up" was littered through the Liberal rhetoric while Labor was accused of behaving like children as often as Abbott appeared in a fluoro vest or climbed into a truck cabin.
It was ubiquitous, repetitive and, most of all, effective.
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The negative, aggressive, divisive leader who lacked "people skills" - and was only good to "jump through tyres" - turned the tables on Labor by growing into an "adult", even if his first act on his first day as PM-elect was to jump on to a bicycle clad in lycra.
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At last, the grown-ups are back in charge
Amanda Vanstone
Former Howard government minister
....Expecting any group of us to all agree on the same things is childishly unrealistic. Do any 10 people order coffee the same way? Adults expect differences of opinion. Democracy is predicated on these differences existing.
Thank heavens the political children who wanted us all to be in their image have been voted out of office. At last some adults are running the show again.
Amanda Vanstone is a columnist for The Age and was a minister in the Howard government.
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What now ....cont....
ReplyDeleteSO who is Dick Chaney...?
Tony Abbott likened to George W Bush as world considers Australia's new PM
A "compassionate conservative" in the tradition of George W Bush, a "bigoted air-head" and a leader with a markedly different view on a strike on Syria were among the international assessments of Australia's prime minister elect Tony Abbott.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron called to congratulate Mr Abbott following the election before taking to Twitter announce his delight at working with "another centre right leader".
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British Tory MP Douglas Carswell said Mr Abbott's victory should inspire his UK counterparts.
"Abbott's views are throughly (sic) modern. He seems to have seen through global warming fad, wants less government and is pro Anglosphere," he wrote on Twitter.
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The Times' columnist Nicholas Kristof revealed he had been a classmate of Mr Abbott's at Oxford.
"When we were students, we liked Tony but thought him way too conservative to succeed in Australian politics. I guess Oz changed," tweeted Mr Kristof.
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Australian born media mogul Rupert Murdoch also took to Twitter on Saturday night to offer his analysis of why the Labor party had been tossed from power.
"Aust election public sick of public sector workers and phony (sic) welfare scroungers sucking life out of economy. Others nations to follow in time," he wrote.
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Business urges workplace reform
The business community has demanded Tony Abbott use his ascension to power to make sweeping changes to the industrial relations system and to slash corporate taxes.
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Carbon tax fight takes shape
Battlelines have already been drawn for the next Parliament, with Labor's most influential figures vowing to oppose Tony Abbott's core pledge to abolish the carbon tax.
As business groups swung behind the Prime Minister-elect to demand Labor respect Mr Abbott's "clear mandate", outgoing deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese and senior Labor MPs said they had their own mandate to protect.
Mr Abbott emphasised his carbon mandate claim when he met the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ian Watt, in Sydney yesterday to receive the incoming Government brief, or Blue Book.
"Obviously, a very early item of business is scrapping the carbon tax," Mr Abbott told Dr Watt before television cameras.
"There's border security. There's economic security and the people expect, quite rightly, that the incoming Government will build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia."
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Howard players set to return
The business landscape will change dramatically over this term of the Coalition Government, with a range of new policies and a restructured economics team in Cabinet.
The new-look Cabinet will be revealed next week but there is already strong speculation that the portfolios that directly relate to the business sector will be laden with key players from the former Howard Government.
There is speculation that eight of these 10 business-related portfolios will be given to former Howard Government ministers or advisers, in a bid to emulate the economic success of the decade to 2007.
The cabinet could include Arthur Sinodinos, Mr Howard's closest economic adviser who is in line to become finance minister if he beats anti-immigration campaigner Pauline Hanson in a fight for NSW's last Senate seat.
Andrew Robb, who is likely to become minister for trade and investment, promised yesterday the party would bring back the mining boom, which would be expected to have flow-on effects to other sectors. "As of today, the mining boom will be rebooted," he said on television yesterday.
The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes the change in Government and the vast array of new policies, could provide the circuit breaker needed to restore confidence among business and consumers.
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SO LOOK OUT KIDS THEY KEEP IT ALL HID!
AND GOOD LUCK.
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Business urges workplace reform
ReplyDeleteThe business community has demanded Tony Abbott use his ascension to power to make sweeping changes to the industrial relations system and to slash corporate taxes.
In a sign the business sector wants the Prime Minister-elect to vary some of his pre-election commitments, most business groups said Mr Abbott had to go further to boost the economy.
Minerals Council chief executive Mitch Hooke said the council expected the Abbott Government to help "re-fire" the engines of economic reform.
Industrial relations reform was high on the council's agenda.
"There is scope for significant change to the Fair Work Act to boost Australia's productivity and cost competitiveness," he said. "The current industrial laws have increased the power of trade unions and tribunals at the expense of direct relationships between employers and employees in the workplace.
"Limits imposed on choice and flexibility have increased project costs and undercut the industry's capacity to sustain and create more high-wage jobs."
The WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy said the incoming Government could play a vital role in boosting the WA sector.
"A focus on reducing the cost of doing business and increasing exploration activity need to be a priority for the Coalition Government to enable the continued growth of the resources sector in Western Australia," chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said.
The Coalition has pledged to repeal the carbon and mining taxes but it has been careful not to promise more than minor changes in industrial relations.
But Business Council president Tony Shepherd said not only should the Coalition go further on IR but it should use its planned Commission of Audit to re-cast Federal spending.
"The incoming Government must take decisive action to repair the Budget, make our economy more flexible, reduce the cost of doing business, continue to invest in skills and capabilities for a modern workforce and address our infrastructure backlog," he said.
Mr Shepherd said the incoming Senate had a responsibility to act in the national interest and respect Mr Abbott's mandate.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox was another to back workplace reform while admitting the economy was stronger than most.
"There are many areas where we need to do better. These include: workplace relations; education and training; tax; the high regulatory burden on business; infrastructure; secure, affordable, sustainable energy; and business innovation," he said. "There is much work to be done."
Howard players set to return
ReplyDeleteThe business landscape will change dramatically over this term of the Coalition Government, with a range of new policies and a restructured economics team in Cabinet.
The new-look Cabinet will be revealed next week but there is already strong speculation that the portfolios that directly relate to the business sector will be laden with key players from the former Howard Government.
There is speculation that eight of these 10 business-related portfolios will be given to former Howard Government ministers or advisers, in a bid to emulate the economic success of the decade to 2007.
The cabinet could include Arthur Sinodinos, Mr Howard's closest economic adviser who is in line to become finance minister if he beats anti-immigration campaigner Pauline Hanson in a fight for NSW's last Senate seat.
Andrew Robb, who is likely to become minister for trade and investment, promised yesterday the party would bring back the mining boom, which would be expected to have flow-on effects to other sectors. "As of today, the mining boom will be rebooted," he said on television yesterday.
The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes the change in Government and the vast array of new policies, could provide the circuit breaker needed to restore confidence among business and consumers.
Chief executive James Pearson has nominated the reduction in the company tax rate, by 1.5 per cent, and the pledge to reduce red tape by $1 billion a year as the most important changes for business.
The other key changes that will affect business are:
·Abolishing the carbon tax, saving $1 billion a year. The change is expected to reduce power bills for business and their suppliers.
·Eliminating the mining tax within 100 days.
·Introducing paid parental leave, to a woman's full wage for 26 weeks, capped at $75,000. This is not means tested.
·Imposing a 1.5 per cent levy on the nation's 3000 biggest companies (to pay for the parental leave policy).
·Delaying increases to mandatory employer superannuation contributions by two years, so that compulsory super guarantee contributions will not hit 12 per cent until July 2021.
·Abolishing the instant asset write-off for small businesses; discontinuation of the loss carry-back; discontinuation of the phase-down of interest withholding tax.
·To conduct a tax White Paper on the Ken Henry tax proposals.
·Building a $29.5 billion NBN system using fibre to nodes on street corners and then relying on copper between nodes and homes.
·Ensuring Commonwealth departments and agencies meet obligations to small businesses and contractors by adopting a "pay on time or pay interest" policy.
·A root and branch review of competition laws in a bid to create more competitive markets.
·Creating a Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman.
·Restoring the building industry watchdog in a bid to curb union power.
The Association of Mines and Metals Australia welcomed the Coalition win but said the mining boom was not over.
"The industry has never adopted a simplistic boom versus bust dichotomy. We have never accepted that resources growth is 'over'," chief Steve Knott said.
We withstood the conservative tide, despite swing, says Greens leader
ReplyDeleteGreens Leader Christine Milne says some of the Labor leadership ''shenanigans'' of the past three years have rubbed off on the Greens, as her party assesses a nationwide swing against it of more than 3 per cent.
In Senator Milne's first election since taking over the leadership from Bob Brown, the Greens have recorded an ambiguous result, picking up a new senator in Victoria with Janet Rice but seeing a drop in its primary vote from 11.8 per cent in the 2010 election to about 8.4 per cent.
The party was able to celebrate the re-election of deputy leader Adam Bandt in the lower house seat of Melbourne and the expected re-election of South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
''This is a great victory for people in Melbourne and right across the country who want politics to be about reaching for new heights, not racing to the bottom,'' Mr Bandt said on Sunday.
Advertisement
Senator Milne said her party had been running against a ''tide'' of support for the ''conservatives'' during the campaign.
''We recognise that there are some people who are disappointed by all of the shenanigans in the Labor Party and that some of that has rubbed off on the Greens, there's no doubt about that.''
Senator Milne also explained the Greens lower vote by noting that it did not have the same ''major'' political donation it had in 2010, which hampered the party's ability to run TV advertising. But she said the party had an ''incredible story'' to tell about this election.
''This is quite an extraordinary thing in terms of the number of people who will be sitting on benches in Canberra [for the] Greens. We'll have more than we had before,'' she said.
As it sits, the Greens will have one lower house MP and at least nine senators in the Parliament.
The Greens are still in the hunt for senate seats in Western Australia - where Scott Ludlam is fighting to hang on to his spot - and in the ACT, where Simon Sheikh was locked in a close battle with Liberal Party candidate Zed Seselja as of Sunday night.
NSW senate candidate Cate Faehrmann indicated she was also still hopeful, posting on Twitter that she was ''trailing Lib for 6th spot. Weeks till we know''.
Amid questions about the Greens performance, Senator Milne and Mr Bandt laughed off suggestions that he might contest the Greens leadership.
The Greens automatically spill its parliamentary leadership positions following an election, but there is no serious suggestion that the existing leadership arrangement will change.
Senator Hanson-Young said on Sunday that she did not intend to put her hand up for a position - despite previously nominating for a spot.
''I'm really happy to be supporting Christine and Adam as the leadership team,'' she said.
Ticky Fullerton is in Darwin this week to see the huge gas conference that is on up there.
ReplyDeleteTonight on The Business she interviewed the NT chief minister Adam Giles.
He couldn't get the smile off his face when answering questions about the Browse Basin.
It is obvious that Conoco are looking at another gas train at their Darwin LNG plant to process gas that will be piped to the existing pipeline at Bayu Undan and then on to Darwin from their Browse leases they share with Karoon.
But he was also full on - and still smiling from ear to ear - when asked about Browse and other FLNG projects.
Of course Darwin wants to be THE supply base for these projects.
So if Broome misses out on a supply base for the FLNG vessels ironically Barnett and the Broome community that have pursued JPP at all costs - the indecent obsession - will only have themselves to blame.
If they had seen the writing on the wall which was plain even a couple of years ago they could have had 100 years of year round work for the Broome Port.
All the oil and gas industry wanted was cheaper commercially viable alternatives and trying to force them into decisions that were plainly NOT will have cost Broome the "other industry" it really needed for year round work.
No labour government to blame this time - Barnett can blame himself.
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HERE we go...
DeleteThere will be lots of action all across the north of Oz with multiple FLNG vessels pipelines and more gas trains at Darwin.
Broome may be shorter sailing times from Browse than Darwin BUT with many developments coming up Darwin will be a lot closer to most of them than Broome.
In other words - for the best world class facilities Darwin beats Broome every time.
If Barnett and his followers could just forget all about Prices Point and open their eyes and ears to what is really going on THEN Broome could get itself a slice of the action.
Until then WA is a very unfriendly place to do business.
Top Enders have been saying for many years that no one to the West knows how to make money - "Sandgropers are dickheads" - and this Browse/JPP fiasco just proves it.
Tie-ups key to unlocking Browse potential: Santos
Deleteby: PAUL GARVEY
From: The Australian
OIL and gas producer Santos will call today for widespread consolidation of undeveloped gas resources throughout the Browse Basin off northern Western Australia, with the company set to publicly push for stronger ties between its joint ventures in an effort to drive development in the region.
Santos vice-president John Anderson, who oversees the company's operations in WA and the Northern Territory, will tell the Southeast Asia Australia Offshore Conference in Darwin that collaboration is necessary if the potential of the Browse Basin is to be realised.
Although the vast gas resources of the Browse Basin were first identified decades ago, the remoteness of the fields has stifled their development.
Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the Browse gas project -- which comprises those original gas discoveries from 40 years ago -- recently abandoned plans for a huge $40 billion-plus onshore liquefied natural gas plant in favour of what they believe will be a cheaper floating LNG proposal.
In the past year Santos has made two gas discoveries in the Browse Basin, namely Crown and Bassett West.
The company is drilling a third prospect, dubbed Dufresne, with results from the well likely to be known soon.
According to a copy of Mr Anderson's speech obtained by The Australian, Mr Anderson will say that Santos has a "particular interest" in seeing the Browse Basin developed because of its recent discoveries.
"Further work will be done to evaluate these resources, but at the end of the day we think the Browse Basin is going to require collaboration to be developed, and we are well placed with good relationships with most of the key players in the region," Mr Anderson will say.
Santos' existing licences in the Browse Basin include joint ventures with some of the world's biggest oil and gas companies.
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"Total, Inpex, Conoco and Chevron are partners of ours in the WA and NT business, which I run, and I believe it is through collaboration that Browse gas will be unlocked," Mr Anderson will say in his speech. "Whether that be through floating LNG or the expansion of existing infrastructure, it's too hard and too early to be definitive on the path forward, but Santos will explore all commercialisation options to unlock our resources in the region."
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Santos holds an 11.5 per cent interest in the Darwin LNG plant, operated by ConocoPhillips.
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The 3.7 million tonne-a-year plant has approvals to lift its capacity to 10 million tonnes, but that would require fresh sources of gas to be fed into the project.
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Mr Anderson will make it clear that collaboration is the key to extending the life of, and possibly expanding, the Darwin LNG plant. "The proximity of Darwin to Asia, and THE ABILITY TO USE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE, should be considered by industry as a real, economic and cost-competitive option for the development of nearby fields," he will say.
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While the benefits of collaboration between large-scale energy projects have been acknowledged by the oil and gas industry, collaboration between Australia's LNG projects to date has been modest. Most notably, three separate LNG plants are being built next to each other simultaneously on Curtis Island on Queensland's central coast with only minor co-operation between the various projects.
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Adam Giles the NT chief minister offers Woodside option of piping it's Browse Basin gas to Darwin "...the Woodside fields are just a few kilometres west of the Inpex fields....we have a 5 kilometre wide pipeline corridor....there is land available in Darwin ready for them...."
DeleteJust on ABC radio...!
Standby for the Emperors reply....LOL....
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LOOKS like the spotlight will fall on Queensland projects first - a sh*tload of coal, CSG and shale fracking for starters.
ReplyDelete.
Get Galilee moving, Newman tells Abbott
The Queensland premier has asked prime minister-elect Tony Abbott to push through approvals for massive new coal mining projects in the Galilee basin.
Campbell Newman said Mr Abbott called him on Monday to find out what the "blockers" were for the Queensland government.
"I said without any hesitation the need to see the massive Galilee Basin coal projects approved as soon as possible," Mr Newman told ABC radio.
"Because they will see thousands of jobs created over the next few years and billions of dollars' investment in the state."
He said he'd kept the message about what Queensland wanted from Mr Abbott very simple.
"And it's really just to get out of the way and let this government get on with taking the state forward economically," Mr Newman said.
He said Mr Abbott had also raised his desire to get on with jointly funded major road projects, including the Bruce Highway upgrade.
Queensland $7b coal project on hold
ReplyDeleteCommodities giant Glencore Xstrata has promised to achieve $US2 billion worth of synergies across its newly merged, global portfolio, in a move that is set to prevent at least one new Australian coalmine from going ahead.
The newly merged Swiss company unveiled the dramatically increased $US2 billion target during an investor day in Europe late on Tuesday, and promised to achieve the goal by 2014.
Glencore mines coal, zinc, lead, nickel and copper in Australia. Its most bearish sentiments on Tuesday were reserved for thermal coal, which has been struggling under low prices and high costs.
''Current price levels are unsustainable in the medium term, with close to 30 per cent of seaborne thermal production being cash-cost negative,'' the company said.
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The pessimism will result in the Wandoan project, a greenfield thermal coal development in Queensland, being frozen or divested, after it was listed on Wednesday as one of seven Australian coal prospects that were now ''on hold''.
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The $7 billion project had been going through feasibility studies and government approval processes, but its future has been clouded ever since an coal export terminal was axed in May.
Glencore said it had reduced workforce numbers by 11 per cent and improved productivity by 21 per cent at its Australian coalmines over the past year. Cutbacks have also hit the Australian copper division, with the company's Brisbane office shut down recently.
Glencore also has exposure to Australian agriculture through its subsidiary Viterra, and expressed optimism that next month's grain harvests in South Australia could achieve records.
While there was little optimism for Australia out of the presentation, Glencore expressed firm optimism about its presence in South Africa, where it intends to set up a second listing within months.
Fears Mount Isa residents denied true picture of lead levels with monitor offline
ReplyDeleteA professor of environmental science says Mount Isa residents in north-west Queensland are being left in the dark on current lead levels in the air, while a monitoring station is offline.
The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) says the station has not been working since January due to staff shortages and their inability to find a local contractor to service the machine.
Environment Minister Andrew Powell say the community is not at risk because one Government and 10 Mount Isa Mines monitors are still recording hourly lead levels.
However, Professor Mark Taylor says that information is not validated.
"The public don't get a window into what's going on with the air quality during those critical periods of time," he said.
"To be honest it would seem to me that this is the job of the environment and health protection authority [Department of Environment and Heritage Protection] to do this - to collect air quality data, to provide that information to the public.
"It's not being done and it's a bit disappointing.
"The Government should be obliged to go and do the monitoring that it promised to."
Opposition environment spokesman Jackie Trad says Mount Isa residents should have been made aware that the lead air monitoring station was offline.
She says it should not have taken more than nine months.
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"The fact that the Minister has kept this information from locals for some nine months I think gives locals some sort of insight into his commitment to Mount Isa and to working with the local community to mitigate the effects of pollutants in the atmosphere," she said.
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The State Government says it is working to fix the situation and to recruit local contractors to maintain the station.
Australia: Arrow LNG Project Gets Environmental Approval
ReplyDeleteArrow Energy has welcomed today’s Queensland Government approval of its planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Curtis Island off Gladstone, in central Queensland.
“Today’s announcement by Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney marks an important milestone in our journey towards our Arrow LNG project,” Arrow CEO Andrew Faulkner said.
“Coordinator-General Barry Broe has assessed and approved the Arrow LNG Plant’s environmental impact statement.
“It means we now have state-level approval for three of the five components of the overall Arrow CSG-LNG project, namely the LNG plant and our pipelines from the Surat and Bowen basins.
“Today’s announcement is welcome news for our overall project and demonstrates we’re meeting the rigorous government approvals process.”
The LNG plant project includes a sub-harbour gas pipeline tunnel from Gladstone to Port Curtis, jetties and loading facilities.
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ExxonMobil Shuts Down Corbia Platform in Bass Strait
Exxon Mobil Corporation reported that it has shut down the Corbia platform in Bass Strait, off Australia after observing a sheen on the water close to the platform.
"Esso staff responded immediately in accordance with our Oil Spill Response Plan. Following an initial investigation, the Cobia platform was shut down and it will remain shut down while the matter is investigated. An aerial inspection of the area this morning indicated that the sheen has dispersed naturally," the company said in a press release Monday.
"An investigation is underway as to the cause of the incident and we regret that this incident has occurred," it added.
ExxonMobil was not available for further comments on the oil spill when contacted by Rigzone Tuesday.
The incident has resulted in a spill of 750 liters or 5 barrels of oil at the Cobia platform, The Australian reported Tuesday.
The Cobia platform, which belongs to an equal joint venture between ExxonMobil and BHP Billiton and operated by the former, is located about 43.4 miles (70 kilometers) offshore from Longford.
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Russian Gas Reform Proposal Would Open Up LNG Exports – Source
ReplyDeleteMOSCOW, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Russia's Energy Ministry has drafted a proposal that would liberalise exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and allow companies other than Gazprom to sell abroad.
With the global LNG trade expected to grow by a third in the next five years as the United States and Australia boost production, Russia is under pressure to complete new projects.
Both Rosneft and Novatek have secured buyers of LNG from yet-to-be-built plants, but need the ministry's reforms to be adopted so they can secure project financing.
The ministry's proposals, which have been circulated for discussion, are essential for Novatek's Yamal LNG project and for state-controlled Rosneft's own Sakhalin LNG project with ExxonMobil.
Russia has only one LNG plant in the Far East, now controlled by Gazprom, which liquefies gas from the Sakhalin-2 project and has an annual capacity of around 10 million tonnes.
A source familiar with the document said on Tuesday that the proposal would allow LNG exports by companies that hold licences to build LNG plants, or to send the gas for liquefaction to a plant determined by the government.
The source also told Reuters that the draft proposed allowing LNG exports by companies with state holdings of at least 50 percent – if they send LNG abroad from offshore fields or from production-sharing agreements.
The Russian authorities previously planned to open up LNG exports from 2014, with a requirement that Novatek's and Rosneft's projects would ship gas to Asia only and not challenge Gazprom's exports to Europe.
Gazprom, despite having agreed on cooperation with the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) in 2004, has yet to finalise terms on piping gas to China.
The $20 billion Yamal LNG project being developed by Novatek, France's Total and China's CNPC is scheduled to start producing LNG in 2016 with a view to supplying 16.5 million tonnes of the tanker-shipped fuel by 2018.
Rosneft's planned LNG plant in Russia's Far East involves Exxon, has an estimated cost of $15 billion and a production target of 2018.
The Energy Ministry declined immediate comment. Under an existing 2006 law, Gazprom, the world's top gas producer, is the only company allowed to ship gas out of Russia.
Gazprom had earlier said it had discussed the possibility of supplying LNG to China from a planned plant near the Pacific port of Vladivostok.
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NOVATEK, CNPC and Chinese Banks Conclude Memorandum on Yamal LNG Financing
NOVATEK, China National Petroleum Corporation and a consortium of Chinese financial institutions concluded a memorandum on project financing for the Yamal LNG project.
According to the memorandum, the Chinese commercial banks – China Development Bank Corporation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank, – will consider actively participating in the external project financing transaction of Yamal LNG project.
Final documentation with the Chinese commercial banks will be executed simultaneously with all of the other lenders participating in project financing of Yamal LNG, including, but not limited to, foreign export credit agencies, international and Russian commercial banks and other financial institutions.
Yamal LNG project envisages the construction of an LNG plant with annual capacity of 16.5 million tons per annum based on the feedstock resources of the South-Tambeyskoye field.
According to the PRMS reserve standards the proven and probable reserves of the South-Tambeyskoye field as of 31 December 2012 were appraised at 907 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Japan, India Seek Better Price for LNG Imports
ReplyDeleteJapan and India are teaming up to negotiate a better price for LNG imports.
Japan’s trade minister Toshimitsu Motegi met India’s minister for petroleum and natural gas Veerappa Moily on Monday in Tokyo.
“The LNG prices in Asia are substantially higher than those of other major consuming regions such as Europe and North America (the Asian premium),” the two ministers said in a joint statement.
“Even as the position of natural gas as an alternative fuel for oil is fading and the rationality for such price formation is less clear compared to past, the majority of LNG contracts in the Asia Pacific market are long term with a pricing formula that is linked to the oil price. Since the prices of individual contracts signed on a bilateral basis are confidential, there are no reliable price indices that accurately reflect the LNG supply and demand balance in the region at this point,” the ministers said.
The ministers agreed to set up a multilateral group of buyers for LNG to push for lower prices, and they also plan to ask other importers, such as South Korea and Singapore, to join them.
“For both LNG producers and consumers, the LNG price should be at mutually acceptable level, considering the sustainability of the LNG market.”
“Procuring LNG from more diversified suppliers and/or regions will lead to the increase of market connectivity and price convergence among regions, which should result in more competitive pricing of LNG,” the statement added.
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Japan Planning LNG Consumer Group to Help Cut Price of Imports
Japan, the world’s biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, plans to form a group of like-minded consumers to examine ways of lowering the cost of imports.
Japan’s Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will announce the plan today at a conference for LNG producing and consuming countries in Tokyo, according to the summary of his speech obtained by Bloomberg News. The International Joint Study Group will be led by the government-affiliated Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, according to the draft.
Japan boosted imports of LNG and other fossil fuels for power generation after the Fukushima disaster in March 2011 forced utilities to shut reactors to carry out safety checks. With the country’s last operating reactor set to be closed in mid-September, Japan is seeking ways to lower the costs, including boosting imports of LNG from North America where a shale gas boom has increased production.
Japan’s nine power utilities will face 3.8 trillion yen ($38 billion) more in combined fuel costs this fiscal year compared with fiscal 2010 because of the shutdowns, the government estimated in April. LNG will account for 1.6 trillion yen of that.
The country paid an average price of $15.11 per million British thermal units for LNG in June, according to data from LNG Japan Corp. That compares with an average price for U.S. natural gas futures of about $3.80 per million Btu.
The U.S. has approved exports of LNG from three projects to countries with which it doesn’t have free trade agreements, including Japan. The Asian nation expects the U.S. to give approvals to two more, allowing exports of about 15 million metric tons a year to Japan after 2017, or about 20 percent of its needs, the draft said.
‘Attractive Prices’
“There will come a time when suppliers will compete with each other with attractive prices and terms,” as the global LNG supply capacity will increase by 30 percent by 2018, the draft said.
Motegi and India’s Oil Minister Veerappa Moily yesterday agreed to work together to cut costs for importing LNG. The two governments also supported the launch of the LNG group, they said in a joint statement. Motegi is scheduled to give the speech at an opening of the LNG conference in Tokyo today. About 1,000 delegates are expected to attend the conference, the trade and industry ministry said in a Sept. 6 statement.
BP gas near Egypt LNG plant
ReplyDeleteSept 10 (LNGJ) - BP has made a significant natural gas discovery in the East Nile Delta. The deepwater exploration well, named Salamat, is the deepest well ever drilled in the Delta. It is the first well in the North Damietta Offshore concession operated by BP. The Salamat discovery is located 75 kilometres north of Damietta city, where one of Egypt's two LNG plants are suffering feed-gas shortages because of high domestic demand.