Thank you for signing AND sharing this petition. It has been VERY slow going - but every time someone SHARES with a friend, family member and on social media - it helps to build momentum - which is what we REALLY need.
We CAN change opinion - one person at a time - if we are respectful and can show our friends/family articles that support our views.
These updates can sometimes take hours to write - FINDING the articles, reading them and then sharing links - so petition supporters can find out more if they are interested - and have actual articles they can share - IF something resonates or fits in with a conversation they are having with someone.
I work shift work as well - so I often spend my whole day off just writing an update! Which is why sometimes it can take a few goes to finish one of these. Change logs you out on a regular basis if you spend too long - and you can accidentally lose everything you wrote!
Some may ask how these updates fit in with the goal of a PETITION supporting a STRONG, retrospective #FederalIntegrityCommission or #FederalICAC?
But when you think about it - doesn't the ABSENCE of such a anti-corruption body and a Code of Conduct - ENSURE that we NEVER know just HOW much MONEY/assistance our Politicians get from Corporations and their lobby groups (helping them to MARKET themselves TO us and resulting in them KEEPING their jobs EVERY 3 years) which means that they're NOT accountable (BECAUSE we don't know) for the WAY they VOTE on decisions that AFFECT us, our children and THEIR children's children?
I was going to post information about Coal and Gas Lobbying that is directly affecting the decisions Politicians make about a crisis that SHOULD be NON-PARTISAN but when I started noticing the articles about the obviously PLANNED corrupt transformation of Snowy Hydro 2.0 - I got caught up and wanted to share this with you!
Australians may have been alarmed, horrified and even shocked to learn that our Government is PUBLICLY FUNDING the establishment of a fossil-fuel gas power station when all over the world - countries are heading in the opposite direction.
Especially a CONSERVATIVE Government which PROMOTES a small government mentality, its Ministers say they believe in 'The Market' deciding if industries are viable e.g. such as overseeing the DEMISE of much of our manufacturing industry and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs - and during its THREE terms in Government have JUSTIFIED privatising huge swathes of front-line Public Service roles!
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/privatisation-of-the-public-service/
Even those programs that in MOST countries are run by the Public Sector - such as parts of the Taxation Office and social security - this Government is outsourcing to Labour Hire companies to run advice lines that really should be administered by skilled, empathetic public servants - not someone being REWARDED to reduce people's rights and keep them FROM claiming payments that previous generations expected was their RIGHT to claim.
The Government says it's only about saving PUBLIC MONEY yet it seems MORE money is spent subsidising the PRIVATE sector while disadvantaging and REDUCING services for vulnerable Australians
Yet NOW it is throwing MORE of OUR MONEY into subsidising and supporting the fossil fuel industry - that is according to world-wide Financial Institutions - actively HARMING our world and so therefore is no longer viable!
But this is NOT new. This 'Free market' Government has CONSISTENTLY supported and subsidised the Fossil Fuel Industry for its WHOLE time in Government - this is just them finally ADMITTING to it.
Of course, it denies it by blurring the lines between what is a subsidy and what is not. If we can say one thing with certainty about Australia's Politicians is that they are brilliant at deflecting by arguing semantics!
But if we look at this Government's three terms in office - the support for the Fossil Fuel Industry has been very consistent.
One could even say since Scott Morrison became leader of the LNP - it has been an 'all roads lead to Rome approach'!
The history of Snowy Hydro 2.0 tells the tale!
In 2017 Malcolm Turnbull announced the idea of Snowy Hydro being expanded - the talk was all about renewable and clean energy - ARENA being tasked with finding sites for expansion. It was an idea flagged by the Board of Snowy Hydro itself
https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/News/massive-expansion-snowy-hydro
Concerns were raised about its viability and impact on the environment
In early 2018 the Federal Govt bought NSW and Victoria's shares in the scheme - making the Federal Govt (the Australian PEOPLE actually!) 100% owners of Hydro Snowy.
On the 28th August 2018 Malcolm Turnbull was removed as PM and Scott Morrison became PM.
In Dec 2018 Snowy Hydro was approved by the Board and the Energy Minister appointed by Morrison - Angus Taylor a known opponent to wind farms and unexcited by renewable energy - who stated in 2018 that Australia's Renewable Energy Target would not be renewed leaving a policy vacuum. He quietly brought gas and coal into the narrative.
In 2019 there was continued discussion about Snowy Hydro 2.0 not being a viable project and being catastrophic for the Kosciuszko National Park - so Morrison COULD have reasonably canned the project.
In December 2019 the Morrison Govt appointed David Knox former Santos Executive as CHAIR of Snowy Hydro 2.0
Also on the Snowy board is former federal director of the National Party of Australia, Scott Mitchell, who is registered as a lobbyist for major corporations including Rio Tinto. A CORPORATION which has been campaigning the government about energy prices.
https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/6551914/ex-oil-and-gas-exec-to-chair-snowy-hydro/
In May 2020 the criticism was escalating about the damage to the environment by the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project
Yet in June 2020 Morrison announced the project was fully approved by the NSW Government AND his Government
In Sept 2020 the Government ANNOUNCED its 'New Energy Roadmap' and a new Advisory Council. It had also a week before introduced a Bill to Parliament to change the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act 2012 to enable it to FUND a broad range of technologies
While the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Amendment (Grid Reliability Fund) Bill 2020
"will allow for the CEFC to make investments in a broad range of technologies, much of the discussion around the Bill has focused on the potential for the changes to enable further CEFC investment in gas powered generation."
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2021a/21bd041
In March 2021 The Greens and Cross-Bench seeing for themselves the path down which Snowy HYDRO 2.0 was heading introduced a Bill which
"Amends the ]Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act 1997 to prohibit the Snowy Hydro Company and Snowy hydro-group companies from being involved in creating or investing in new fossil fuel-based electricity generation capacity."
https://www.miragenews.com/greens-legislate-to-keep-snowy-clean-534951/
https://greens.org.au/news/snowy-hydro
It remains in Parliament..
On 13/5/2021 the Senate with the support of Labor passed the
https://350.org.au/press-release/naif-changes-mean-more-money-for-gas/
In late April this year the Government had already THREATENED that if Electricity Retailers DIDN'T 'get with the program' the Government would use OUR money to build an LNP(?) gas-fired power station
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/government-gas-fired-power-plant-nsw/100102888
On the 18/5/2021 Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister (a title dripping in irony) Angus Taylor announces the Government has CHANGED the Regulations governing ARENA
"...Angus Taylor, has moved to expand the mandate of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) to allow it to fund carbon capture and storage projects and “clean” hydrogen that can be produced from fossil fuels."
Then on the SAME day the Government ANNOUNCES Snowy HYDRO 2.0 WILL be building a Gas-Fired Power Station in the Hunter Valley!
And SURPRISE, surprise - Liberal Donors, Lobbyists and Mates own and will DEVELOP the land
"Has there ever been a project that so neatly fits the government’s political agenda as well as the commercial interests of its mates?
The $600 million subsidy announced for a gas plant in Kurri Kurri makes no commercial sense for the taxpayer, but there are windfalls everywhere you look for Liberal donors.
From the owners of the proposed site through to the Hunter Gas Pipeline and on to the Santos’ Narrabri gas project, there are vested interests as far as the eye can see."
Jeff “walking ATM” McCloy stands to be one of the biggest potential beneficiaries of the plant. The former Newcastle mayor purchased the prospective site, an old aluminium smelter, with John Stevens in 2020.
....According to The Centre for Public Integrity, pipeline developers Hilton Grugeon and Graham Burns have both been major donors to the NSW Liberals, donating substantial sums over previous years via Hunter Land Pty Ltd, a company they cofounded and still operate"
So Malcolm Turnbull's idealistic dream - definitely ill-founded - that Snowy Hydro 2.0 would be a catalyst for an Australian FEDERAL Government boost to RENEWABLE Energy Projects - has been CORRUPTED to become a CONDUIT for the delivery of PUBLIC FUNDS to promote and establish Climate-threatening FOSSIL-FUEL Projects!
So SINCE he was ELECTED in May 2019 - Scott Morrison the PM who brought a lump of coal into Parliament (to demonstrate to his mates and donors that he was on their side?) was not ONLY once 'ambitious' FOR Malcolm Turnbull but is 'ambitious' for OUR children as well!
When such a man says he is FOR you - watch your back Australia!
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. People know themselves much better than you do. That's why it's important to stop expecting them to be something other than who they are" ~ Maya Angelou
SO NOW you perhaps understand HOW MUCH we really need a strong and retrospective FEDERAL INTEGRITY COMMISSION?
ADDENDUM: I'm sorry - I got so caught up with the complete corruption of a naive but very idealistic idea from a past PM who despite his flaws I believe really CARES about Climate Change AND the future of our next generation - that I didn't get time to follow up on the Fossil Fuel Lobbying and how it is corrupting our Politicians. I will do that in my next update