Australian Politics
A Greenie who puts his trust in hysteria
He's certainly drunk the Kool-Aid. He really seems to think that one degree of warming over the last century is dangerous change
A Greens senator unleashed on a climate sceptic Liberal National Party rival with a no-holds-barred attack in the Senate on Tuesday night.
In a wild night in Canberra, Nick McKim told Matt Canavan: 'Shut your mouth - people are dying because of... sociopaths like you.'
The angry exchange of views came during a speech where Mr McKim noted: 'This planet has just experienced the three hottest days on record.'
The Tasmanian senator said: 'I'm usually an optimistic person but I just want to say...' - prompting Queenslander Mr Canavan to interject, quipping: 'You hide it well'.
That outraged Mr McKim, who lashed out with an extraordinary verbal assault, erupting: 'Mate, you can shut your mouth.'
That earned Senator McKim a rebuke from Senator Jess Walsh, the acting deputy president of the Senate.
'Senator McKim,' she shouted, as Mr Canavan also interjected using words not clearly picked up by microphones in the chamber.
But Mr McKim was not deterred, and repeated his call for his rival to keep quiet.
'You can shut your mouth... People are dying because of you and sociopaths like you.'
At this point, the chamber exploded into a cacophony of sound, with Dr Walsh struggling to keep control.
'Senator McKim! Order. I have a number of senators on their feet. I don't really need you to be on your feet for me to say that you,' she said, before the ruckus drowned her out.
Moments later, she tried again, saying: 'Senator Canavan! Senator McKim! Order! This is disgraceful behaviour in the chamber. It is disgraceful.
'Now, Senator McKim, I ask you to withdraw your comments about Senator Canavan and resume your speech and, Senator Canavan, I ask that you cease interjecting across the chamber.'
The Greens senator withdrew his initial comments - but then doubled down.
He said: 'I withdraw, and I'm not going to cop interjections from sociopaths like Senator Canavan. I will not cop it and I won't...'
His halfhearted withdrawal earned him another slapdown from Dr Walsh, who told him 'resume your seat' and then asked him again to withdraw his comments.
'I will withdraw, and I will say... that the sociopaths who run fossil fuel corporations on this planet who are literally destroying the lives and the futures of billions of people,' Mr McKim said.
He added that people on both houses of parliament 'have got a lot to answer for (including) death, disease, displacement, starvation, people dying of thirst'.
'Arable farming lands turning into desert and, most likely, billions of people dead by the end of this century and the collapse of the ecosystems that actually support all human life on this planet,' he said.
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The ABC is under pressure to explain why one of its camera crews was outside the home of Woodside Energy boss Meg O’Neill just as a group of extremist climate protesters invaded her property in the early hours of the morning
Ms O’Neill on Wednesday called the protest a deliberate attempt to threaten her and her family, as her company said the protesters came with camera crews ready to film the attack on her Perth home.
Police attended Ms O’Neill’s home in the City Beach at 6.45am on Tuesday, with reports indicating two men aged 34 and 31 and a 19-year-old woman had been arrested.
Labor moved swiftly to condemn the protests, with Resources Minister Madeleine King calling the invasion of the energy chief’s home an “extreme act” and not a legitimate protest.
A source has told The Australian that the camera crew was not one of the usual ABC news crews, and there were suspicions it was a team shooting footage for investigative program Four Corners.
A spokeswoman for the public broadcaster did not say why the crew was at the property so early and what prior knowledge it had of the climate extremists' intentions.
The ABC denied any “collusion” with the people who targeted Ms O’Neill and her family.
“A TV crew filmed the protest for a story,’’ the ABC said in a statement. “Any notion that the TV crew was colluding with the protesters is false.’’
The Australian has asked a follow-up question as to whether the crew was collecting footage for Four Corners.
Woodside on Tuesday pointed to the camera crew’s presence to show the home invasion was “an organised and deliberate act designed to intimidate Ms O’Neill and her family’’.
“This is an unacceptable escalation in activity designed to threaten and intimidate by an extremist group which has no interest in engaging in respectful and constructive debate about Woodside’s role in the transition towards a lower-carbon world,’’ a Woodside spokesman said.
“Illegal activity like this only serves to distract from the real work being undertaken to achieve decarbonisation,’’ he added.
Ms O’Neill thanked West Australian police for their swift response in acting to ensure the safety of her family members.
“This was not a ‘harmless protest’,’’ she said. “It was designed to threaten me, my partner and our daughter in our home.
“Such acts by extremists should be condemned by anyone who respects the law and believes people should be safe to go about their business at home and at work.’’
In a statement, the federal Resources Minister said “seeking to intimidate someone in their home or workplace is intolerable”.
“Extreme acts like this are not legitimate protest activity,” Ms King said. “Such acts are violent and intimidating and I condemn it entirely.
“It would be a loss for all of us if Australia were to become the kind of place where public figures needed to surround themselves with security at all times.’’
WA police have not publicly identified those arrested.
Woodside has been targeted in recent times by the Disrupt Burrup Hub group. A member of the group was arrested in June for allegedly setting off a “stench gas” bomb at the company’s Perth headquarters, necessitating evacuation of the building.
The group is protesting the expansion of energy projects on the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s Pilbara region, with Woodside’s Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 projects targeting eight million tonnes a year of new gas from offshore wells starting in 2026.
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Farmers battle prospect of high-voltage electricity lines on properties as expert's alternative plan rejected
A prominent energy expert has joined landholders in calling for the Australian Energy Market Operator and the Victorian government to scrap plans to build the controversial VNI West transmission line and Western Renewables Link (WRL).
Across the country, landholders are battling the prospect of new above-ground high-voltage transmission lines that authorities say are critical to transporting the influx of renewable energy coming online around the nation.
The Victoria Energy Policy Centre's (VEPC) Professor Bruce Mountain and retired transmission expert Simon Bartlett's report 'No Longer in Transmission' puts forward an alternative plan for transmission in the state.
"I think if VNI West goes ahead, it will be a giant public policy failure," Professor Mountain told 7.30.
"This will be a very grave mistake."
VNI West and WRL are critical parts of the Australian Energy Market Operator's plan to rewire the nation to help transport energy between states as more renewables come online.
The projects would see 500-kilovolt high-voltage transmission lines cut through mostly farmland over a total of 400 kilometres from outer-suburban Melbourne to the New South Wales border with towers as high as 85 metres dotted along the route.
Professor Mountain recently resigned from an advisory role with the Victorian government's rebooted State Electricity Commission.
He told 7.30 the VEPC's alternative to AEMO's transmission plan for Victoria could deliver more renewables cheaper with less impact on landowners.
Professor Mountain's report estimates the total price tag for AEMO's Extended VNI West Plan (which includes the WRL and smaller related projects) could blow out to $11 billion.
According to official figures, the total price for VNI West and WRL is expected to be about $7 billion in total.
The VEPC's report also estimates transmission charge costs in electricity bills could increase by 15 per cent for households and 35 per cent for industrial energy users under AEMO's transmission plan for Victoria.
A map outlining a transmission project in Victoria.
The current transmission line's proposed route.(Supplied)
Under Professor Mountain's proposal, the increase could be limited to 5 per cent for households and 15 per cent for industrial users.
"Essentially, our plan uses the existing Victorian grid upgrades rather than building a whole new trunk line through new territory at a much higher voltage than is commonly used in the state," Professor Mountain said.
"We will have a decentralised electricity supply, we'll have wind and solar production around the state, not just concentrated in one part of the state."
The report also states AEMO's VNI West project would require 1,600 kilometres of new power lines compared to Plan B which is using mostly existing lines.
Professor Mountain said AEMO's transmission plan for the state impacts more than four times as much new land as the alternative solution.
"The only big winner is the developer and owner of the transmission infrastructure, who gets a regulated charge for the assets that they'll build. Everyone else is paying a price. And that is surely not acceptable."
The Victoria Energy Policy Centre's report also argues AEMO's Extended VNI West Plan won't do enough to help Victoria reach its target of 95 per cent renewable energy generation by 2035.
It states its Plan B would carry more renewables.
"If we do not get the new wind and solar capacity to displace coal, we will not be able to close the coal-fired power stations down. It's as simple as that."
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) rejects the criticisms and alternatives provided by the Victoria Energy Policy Centre's report.
In a statement, AEMO said it maintains the proposed Western Renewables Link and VNI West projects are required to deliver renewable energy to Victorian electricity consumers and across the National Electricity Market at the lowest cost.
"Compared to our proposed projects, Plan B would have detrimental outcomes for more landholders, regional and rural communities and renewable generation investment required to provide reliable and affordable power for all Victorians."
AEMO said VNI West was linked to several transmission projects already underway which included input from 1,500 stakeholders and energy professionals.
"AEMO's initial review of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre report confirms that many of the claims were already addressed using detailed engineering and economic analysis with the authors last year and again more recently remain. This creates ongoing confusion and concern for landholders and communities," the statement said.
AMEO also said Plan B won't sufficiently support renewable generation development in north-west Victoria and would require the demolition of people's home to widen the 1,040km of existing easements and threaten power supply to major regional and rural towns during construction.
AEMO did not reveal how many homes would need to be demolished and in which locations.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-02/calls-to-scrap-vni-west-transmission-line-730/102675146
*************************************************Qld schools’ ban on religious knives deemed by Supreme Court to be racial discrimination and invalid
An old controversy.
Queensland’s weapons legislation barring Sikhs from carrying religious knives on school grounds is racial discrimination and is therefore invalid, the state’s highest court has found.
Sikh man Kamaljit Kaur Athwal has won a fight against the State of Queensland over a provision in the weapons act prohibiting the possession of a knife on school grounds for genuine religious purposes.
Initiated Sikhs are required to wear or possess five articles of faith at all times, including a ceremonial sword known as a kirpan, typically worn sheathed and concealed beneath clothing.
Under Queensland law, there is a reasonable excuse to possess a knife for genuine religious purposes, such as the Sikh faith.
But that does not extend to schools, with the legislation stating: “however, it is not a reasonable excuse to physically possess a knife in a school for genuine religious purposes”.
In 2021, Mr Athwal made an application to the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the Weapons Act was inconsistent with the Racial Discrimination Act and was therefore invalid.
In September last year, Justice Sue Brown dismissed his application.
But the Court of Appeal has this week overturned the decision, finding the provision directed at Sikhs affected “their exercise of freedom of movement and freedom of religion in a significant way”.
“An initiated Sikh, who may be a student, a parent of a student or a teacher, is given the choice of committing an offence against (the weapons act), never entering a school or contravening the tenets of their religious belief by entering a school without physical possession of their kirpan,” the appeal judges wrote.
“By making provision that is directed at their religion, s 51(5) in its substantive operation provides for Sikhs to enjoy the rights to freedom of movement and freedom of religion to a more limited extent than persons of other ethnic groups.
“No other group finds their freedom of religion or freedom of movement limited in that way, by a law directed to a unique feature of the ethnic group’s religious beliefs.”
The appeal judges set aside the earlier order dismissing Mr Athwal’s application.
A declaration was made that section 51(5) of the Weapons Act 1990 is inconsistent with the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and was therefore invalid under the Commonwealth Constitution.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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