Just Transition: An Idea Whose Time has Finally Come?
Following the recent federal election, which suggested that the electorate is becoming more polarised about coal, everybody seems to be talking about “just transition”. Colin Long, the Just Transition Officer at Trades Hall, told us he has been inundated with calls. The National Union of Workers kicked off with a statement. The ABC is talking about it. Environment Victoria has released a blogpost, and has made it a focus of their Beyond Coal campaign. And some in Labor are talking about a Green New Deal.
Photo by Marc Kjerland / Flickr
Climate Action Moreland has long argued for just transition to be a key demand of the climate movement. But we need to do more. We can start by fleshing out what this means and how we should incorporate it into our campaigns.
LaTrobe Valley Coal Power pollution poses health threat – World Environment Day
Mercury pollution emissions from Australian coal power stations compared. Source: The Age
June 5 is world environment day and here we publish a question on pollutants from the coal fired power stations in the La Trobe Valley, asked by Brunswick Greens MP Tim Read in March.
Why aren’t these toxic pollutants such as mercury and Sulphur Dioxide more highly regulated and restricted? The technology exists to capture these and other pollutants, but the state government so far hasn’t ensured that the companies responsible fit the filtering technologies which are widely used overseas.
The EPA is currently drafting licence amendments and the licence review process report for the coal power stations. Increased limits, real time monitoring and regulation of pollution needs to be an important part of new licenses for the three energy companies: AGL Energy, Energy Australia, and Alinta.
Call to action: Global #Climatestrike on September 20 – Melbourne
A call for a global climate strike has been made for 20 September by the international student strike for climate and Fridays for Future campaigns. The call has been endorsed by global NGO leaders, celebrities and scientists, including Jennifer Morgan from Greenpeace International, Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein from 350.org, Professors Michael Mann, Will Steffen Tim Flannery and Lesley Hughes. You can pledge your support to join the global climatestrike.
Watch this space for details for the associated event in Melbourne. – Facebook Event
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Liberals win razor thin majority despite surge in voter support for climate action
Here at Climate Action Moreland we were expecting a Shorten Labor government to be elected on May 18. Even though Labor climate policy was very problematic in many areas, the targets were more ambitious (though not nearly enough). We were as shocked by the result of the re-election of a Morrison Government with a slim majority, which was out of step with public opinion polls.
Climate change was one of the big issues of the campaign, with wide concern expressed. This can be seen in The Australia Institute polling which showed that action for climate change was a strong concern, including support for climate emergency action. Read David Spratt’s blog: Support for action surges, majority say we face climate emergency.
The Votecompass survey, encompassing well over half a million citizens found that support had grown to 81 per cent for greater climate action.
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Will Bill Shorten step up ’emergency’ climate action or is it just more gas?
Mark Butler and Peter Khalil
Bob Hawke’s death on the eve of the climate election will likely boost Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and the Labor Party success. Labor must not squander the opportunity to address the climate crisis by taking climate emergency action or engage in expanding fossil fuel coal and gas extraction.
At Blacktown today, in the same hall that Gough Whitlam launched Labor’s 1972 campaign, Bill Shorten stated that a Labor government would “take this emergency seriously”. It needs to be not empty words. The time for developing new coal or gas is over. It’s time to Stop Adani. It’s time to go 100 percent renewables by 2030.
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Vale Bob Hawke, Former Prime Minister and MP for Wills, an early champion of climate action
Bob Hawke. Photo by Eva Rinaldi (CC BY-SA 2.0)
There will be many highlighting his role as a union leader and Secretary of the ACTU, as Prime Minister in restructuring the Australian Economy, but he was also important for environmental action through the term of his Prime Ministership. This started with his pre-election commitment to stop the construction of the Franklin Dam, for the Franklin River to flow free.
It also included initial moves in assessing the problem of Australian greenhouse gas emissions and setting targets on climate action.
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VoteClimate in the Victorian Senate for 2019
The power in the Senate is likely to be held by crossbenchers. The order of your preferences could be important for determining who is elected. Make sure you preference based on climate policy from strong candidates to weak. Preference at least 6. Voteclimate recommends to mark at least 16 boxes above the line to minimise your preferences being exhausted.
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