Tag Archives: environment

An ignoramus’s guide to nuclear energy

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I know as much as the average Arts graduate who studied Latin…

But the High Priest of NO — sorry, the esteemed Leader of the Opposition — has gone in boots and all and banged his bald pate against the whole idea of Labor and its renewable energy preference. Because he sees votes in it of course, his knowledge being hardly superior to mine, I dare say. Everyone has an ideological kite to fly or drum to bang, and I speak there not only of Dutton, Littleproud, Uncle Tom Cobley and all, but also of the no-nukes-never-never-no-more mob as well..

I grew up in the only part of Australia that already has a nuclear reactor, The Shire, and we were bloody proud of it. Through my Dad and his Progress Association connections I even met the big boss in my youth, Watson-Munro I believe. And visited it.

I reflected on that in another context last year: Today’s adventure and an odd but interesting by-product on FB.

In Wollongong Hospital

Thanks, ANSTO and The Shire for the necessary radioactive isotopes. Oh, there is another minefield here:

I happen to have very strong views on such matters as the Settlement Policy in Israel and I have no great love for the current Israeli government’s policies in that area and quite a few others. You may search this blog to see what I have said about such things.

I also am amazed by this life-saving machine.

I am very glad that Wollongong Hospital has one.

This would still be true if the machine was Chinese or Russian.

See? A minefield if ever there was one — and please don’t bother! You are welcome to your thoughts on the matter.

Not that you would know from that, but the marvellous machine was made in Israel….

Now we have a ding-dong political battle on the future of energy.

My cousin Ray Christison lives in Lithgow and has for around four decades made his money one way or another from the coal industry his town is famous for, in latter years as an eminent industrial archaeologist and heritage consultant. Commenting on the news that Lithgow Council has said NO to nuclear power, Ray said:

“The Federal Coalition seems intent on pulling Australia back into the 1950s. No ideas, no sense.”

The water issue definitely concerns me…

And Dutton and the Seven Sites has already brought forth memes referencing —

And we do have the interesting conundrum of a government pushing like crazy the need for nuclear submarines and an industry to support them while steadfastly opposing nuclear energy as part of the energy generation mix in Australia. On one aspect of that I posted last year Of course war is bad and of course there are better things to spend money on… On the other hand I have never been dogmatically opposed in theory to the idea of nuclear energy being used to generate power without adding to the sum of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It is used after all in very many countries, mostly without bad consequences in the short term. But when something does go wrong…. Not to mention the issue of what to do with spent fuel. Even our little reactor in The Shire has a problem there.

See Why has the Coalition gone nuclear? The facts you need to navigate the energy debate

That is on our ABC. It is as good as anything I have seen so far. I commented on Facebook:

Honestly I think it a great shame that this very serious matter has become political and polarised in the very worst way. But Dutton very early on announced he intended to play tackle, not touch. Let’s just say he is not the greatest thinker in the world, but does enjoy a bit of biff and always has.

Sad for us all though, especially if the ideal outcome is not a matter of all versus none!

I stand by that, but forced to choose I will definitely throw my support behind the renewables path. Search my blog for “climate change” and you will see why.

Two speeches — cool and heated — and I love them both…

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First cool, and only just noted thanks to YouTube, on a subject where there has been a lot of heat in quite a few senses: COP26. Simon Clark. “Simon finished his PhD in theoretical atmospheric physics at the University of Exeter, researching dynamical stratosphere-troposphere coupling over the Arctic with Professor Mark Baldwin. Prior to this, he studied physics at St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, obtaining his masters degree and specializing in theoretical and atmospheric physics.”

The other speech occurred yesterday in the Australian Senate. As summarised by Australian political site Crikey.com (which I do find a touch overheated at times!) this is what happened:

Queensland MP George Christensen is the latest to abscond to a rebellious cohort opposing the state vaccine mandates, The Australian ($) reports. Plus, the paper claims crossbenchers Craig Kelly and Bob Katter told it they were considering holding their votes hostage too. Coalition seats make up 76 of 151 MPs — that means, without Christensen’s vote, the government needs a crossbencher or Labor MP to side with them to pass anything.

Five senators crossed the floor yesterday voting for One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s anti-vaccine mandate bill, but it was defeated 44-5 anyway (they were Gerard Rennick, Alex Antic, Matt Canavan, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, and Sam McMahon, as Guardian Australia lists). So what do they want? The fivesome are demanding the Commonwealth override state laws requiring workers to be vaccinated, and they strike at a critical time as the federal election countdown ticks on, as ABC says.

In a fiery rebuke, outspoken senator Jacqui Lambie went for Hanson’s proverbial jugular over proposed state sanctions, saying the bill was not about discrimination, but rather cash, power, and One Nation seats, SBS reports. “Being held accountable for your own actions isn’t called discrimination — it is called being a bloody adult,” Lambie fired to a smirking Hanson, watching on via video link.

And here is Jacqui Lambie’s speech in full, passionate and some might think a bit “unparliamentary” at times — but that’s Jacqui!

My comment on Facebook yesterday:

There are matters where I quite strongly disagree with her, but I grant she is what she appears to be –and that is a rare quality in a politician perhaps! And she is far from stupid. I can even forgive her for getting into Canberra in the first place thanks to Clive Palmer- – but she has long since become her own person.I saw a bit of her speech today. Excellent work. Shame about our local Senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells.

You may also like to see something about one of the other “rebel” government Senators, Gerard Rennick: Liberal MP Gerard Rennick floods Facebook with vaccine posts he admits may not be ‘100% accurate’.

Jacqui Lambie has had a checkered political career, and life. I find Wikipedia covers the various sides of her quite well. I find her painful on the subject of China, for example. But I like the feature you see on her website — and she uses that advice too!

Finally, relating to both items so far one way or another, is this splendid graphic that also popped up on Facebook today.

Source.

Update — a sequel to the Jacqui Lambie story

On SBS News

Senator Jacqui Lambie has accused One Nation of endangering her and her family, after a candidate for the far-right party’s Tasmanian campaign leaked her phone number in a Facebook post. 

It comes just a day after the independent senator excoriated One Nation for their proposed bill against vaccine mandates. 

Lambie said the breach by candidate Steve Mav was particularly egregious given the febrile political environment.

“I have received many nasty, abusive and threatening phone calls and messages,” she told parliament.

“You have the (federal police) briefing politicians about our safety, you have gallows on the steps of Victoria’s parliament and senators in this very chamber should not be facilitating any abuse.

“One Nation have crossed a line here that should never be crossed.”

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts told the chamber that Mav posted the number after being sent it by a voter who got it from a Facebook post from Senator Lambie urging veterans in need of help to contact her.

Appearing via videolink, Senator Roberts accused Senator Lambie of playing the victim and misrepresenting the circumstances – which was met by her shaking her head in the chamber.

God Save The Queen — from our conservative opinion-mongers…

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Look, I am a fossil. In my old age I am rather fond of being in a parliamentary monarchy, and feel not even slightly offended by the woman in Windsor as our (shared) Head of State. Heaps of my friends will moan, but a few will cheer…

Our resident reactionaries on Sky have lately been roundly pissed off with Her Maj and family for being BLOODY GREENIES!

Utter bollocks of course. As the Lady herself says, despite a rather unfortunate past propensity for blowing little birds out of the sky, the Royals have been rather keen on environmental issues, not least the late Duke of Edinburgh.

And birds of a feather and all that…

So I say three cheers for the Prince of Wales!

And it runs in the family…

Meanwhile we watch and wait… It will happen.