Saturday, 29 August 2015

World of Labour June 1, 1895.

*THE WORKER*

BRISBANE, JUNE 1, 1895.

The World of Labour.

MANUKA station has commenced shearing.

A SHOP Assistant's Union has been established recently on Charters Towers.

COOMEEMARTIN, Evesham, and Bowen Downs stations all start shearing about June 1.

ONLY one boot scab has arrived in Brisbane since the commencement of the strike, and he has received due attention.

THE Hughenden Branch A.W.U. Is asking members to deposit £300 as capital with which to extend the co-operative store.

Boot operatives in the South are warned that the strike in the boot trade still continues owing to the employers refusing a conference.

A MOVEMENT is on foot amongst the boot employe's to establish a co-operative boot factory. Such a factory should be very successful.

SINCE the establishment of the drapery department the Hughenden Amalgamated Workers Union Co-operative Store has done a much larger business.

THE appointment of T. B. Clegg as clerk in charge of the new Department of Industry and labour, New South Wales, is hailed with a good deal of satisfaction.

THE Adelaide Trades Council and the Eight-Hours Committee have purchased an allotment of land for £1200 and intend to erect a Trades hall on the site.

THE object of a Woman's Trade Union recently formed at Hawick, Scotland, is “to prevent them from working at an unsatisfactory wage for the benefit of their men folk.”

PASSMORE Edwards, an admirer of John Burns, offered some time ago to make the Labour agitator independent by settling £10,000 on him. Burns refused the offer.

THE first meeting of the Intercolonial General Council of the Australasian Federation of Labour will be opened in Sydney on the 11^th June. All the colonies have been invited to co-operate.

A DISPUTE has occurred in the boot trade in Adelaide owing to the introduction of improved machinery. The disputing parties, both employers and employed, have agreed to submit the matter to a board of conciliation.

THERE is no freedom of contract between a fasting man and a full man. The full man can wait; the hungry man cannot wait, - JUSTIN M'CARTHY, For “fasting man” read employer.

LORD Salisbury in a recent speech said, “ A black and impassable stream of distrust divides the ranks of half-starved workers from the benefits of capital.” His Lordship, as a slum landlord, might have added, “and such fellows as I swell the stream.”

THE police of Melbourne have arrested thirty children found selling matches in the streets between 10 o'clock and midnight. The state of society which compels fathers and mothers to sweat their offspring by making them sell matches after 10 o'clock at night must be rotten to the very core.

A STOREKEEPER in Hughenden wants to know if Neddy Neighbour is a “scab” bootmaker. The secretary of the Boot Trade Union has been asked to supply the information, The Boot employe's strike would soon be at an end if all storekeepers would ask for the names of the union boot manufacturers.

THE Maryborough Butchers' Employes, their families and friends, to the number of 150 or so, celebrated their annual holiday on Queen's Birthday at Cooloolah paddock, Saltwater Creek road. Mr. Wisemann, the secretary of the union, and others worked very hard and successful to make everybody completely happy.

AN unpleasant idea of the present distress was given at a meeting of the Strand Board of Guardians. Mrs. Evans said that to her knowledge no fewer than four University men, each one with an M. A. degree, had been obliged to turn out and try to earn a living by selling newspapers in the Strand and adjoining streets. - Tit-bits.

THE Victorian Government went in for cutting down the pay of the Naval Brigade. The consequence is that Victoria now has no Naval Brigade, as every man downed tools. The officers are not included amongst the men. There is some talk of the Government going in for cheap labour to man the guns which only protect the interest of the fat man.

THE boot manufacturers have refused to confer with their employe's on matters in dispute. The municipal councils of South Brisbane and North Brisbane should therefore at once empower their officials to arrange for municipal boot factories in which the men employed would receive a fair rate of wages. The public would then receive the best of boots – on brown-paper leather – at low rates and there need be no sweating.

HALF-A-CROWN an hour is the ordinary pay for a driver actually at work under water in the Thames, and 1s.an hour while he is above, tending a comrade working below. The men work in turns, four hours above and four hours below in the course of the day, and they can make about four guineas a week. Six pounds a week is not an unusual sum for one of them to earn; indeed, that seems to be the general rate for good men when things are brisk. - Answers

THE Victorian Protection League is to be complimented on being the first to move along the right track. At a recent meeting of the League the following resolution was unanimously carried:

That this conference of the council of the Protectionists' Association and representatives of various industries heartily affirms the principal of the minimum wage, in order to ensure to the full the benefits of protection; and that this conference affirms the urgent necessity for an amendment of the factories Act embodying this principle.

In Queensland the gentry who the Protection show are all firm believers in freedom of contract so far as Labour is concerned, and wage earners are often “used” by them without any benefit to themselves. Now here is a golden opportunity. Let the toilers ask the Queensland Protection League to show its sincerity by not only passing such a resolution as that adopted by the Victorians, but also assist Labour to carry it out by abolishing sweating, sub-contracting, and establishing such a minimum wage as the unions agree is a fair one. In other words, do away with freedom of contract in labour in order that wage earners may have a decent living.

Fact Check: Have electricity prices dropped $550 since the carbon tax was abolished?

Extract from ABC News

Posted 17 Aug 2015, 10:09am

Photo: Joe Hockey says scrapping the carbon tax has reduced electricity prices by $550 (AAP: Carol Cho)

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has repeatedly claimed scrapping Labor's carbon pricing legislation would save the average household $550 a year.

The claim: Treasurer Joe Hockey says that Treasury documents show "that electricity prices have come down $550 per household as a result of us abolishing the carbon tax".
The verdict: The documents, dated up to February 2015, contain predictions that household savings - not electricity savings - will be $550 over 2014-15. The ACCC's most recent estimates for annual savings on electricity bills - which are based on the actual savings passed on by companies to consumers - range between $100 and $200 depending on which state or territory the household is located. Mr Hockey's claim is wrong.

He also said the Government estimated electricity prices would fall by 9 per cent and gas prices would go down by 7 per cent, making the average electricity bill $200 a year lower and the average gas bill $70 a year lower.
It's been over a year since the Government abolished Labor's carbon price, and on July 27, Treasurer Joe Hockey said: "Under Freedom of Information the Treasury released documents last week that showed that electricity prices have come down $550 per household as a result of us abolishing the carbon tax."
ABC Fact Check investigates.

Where does the $550 figure come from?

Before the Gillard government introduced its emissions trading scheme, which became commonly known as the carbon tax, Treasury modelled the impact of the legislation (based on a carbon price of $23 per tonne) and estimated the annual average cost to a household in 2012-13 would be $515.
The $515 included the following modelled costs:

$172 for electricity
$53 for gas
$42 for food

Treasury also listed increases to nearly all consumable products including petrol, pharmaceuticals, furniture, holidays and sporting equipment.

Freedom of Information documents: Electricity down $550?

A series of documents, released under Freedom of Information, were published by Treasury on July 17, 10 days before Mr Hockey made his claim.
They include briefs and emails from late 2014 and early 2015 which make claims and assertions about the impact of the carbon tax removal.
They state that average household savings from abolishing the carbon tax will be $550 over the financial year 2014-15.
One of the documents says this estimate was generated using the same methodology Treasury used in 2011 to estimate the costs of the carbon tax.
A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey told Fact Check the Treasurer was "speaking broadly about electricity costs, because they would have fed into all household costs".
Some of the documents provide "snapshots" of gas, electricity and CPI figures over the September quarter and December quarter in 2014.
A briefing note dated October 2014 refers to ABS statistics for the September quarter 2014 showing electricity prices around the country fell by an average 5.1 per cent over the period.
The document states this was the largest single fall in electricity prices since ABS electronic records began.
It also says the ABS attributes the fall largely to the removal of the carbon tax.
The same document shows gas prices rose 1.2 per over the September quarter 2014, saying: "This would have been higher had it not been for the removal of the carbon price."
Another briefing note, written in January 2015, points to gas prices falling by 1.3 per cent in the December quarter and slightly reduced fares for public transport.
The documents say Treasury estimates that electricity prices will drop by $200 over the year, and gas prices will drop $70.
However because all the documents were written before June 30, they do not show estimates based on actual electricity or gas prices from July 2014 to June 2015.
Such figures were published by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) the day after Mr Hockey made his claim.

The ACCC's figures

The legislation repealing the carbon tax gave the ACCC new enforcement powers to ensure companies passed on savings to customers.
The ACCC's website says: "Businesses that supply regulated goods will be required to pass through all of the cost savings, direct and indirect, that are attributable to the carbon tax repeal. The ACCC will enforce the law so that consumers benefit from expected price reductions following the removal of the carbon tax".
In July 2015, the ACCC published its final calculations from its monitoring of the repeal of the carbon tax from March 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.
The report says annual savings on electricity bills range from $198 in Tasmania to $103 in Northern Territory.
Residents in NSW and Victoria were estimated to receive savings of $129 and $112 for their electricity bills over a year.

Estimated average annual carbon tax repeal cost savings for electricity
State	NSW	VIC	SA	QLD	ACT	TAS	WA	NT
Average electricity cost savings ($)	129	112	140	150	185	198	135	103

The report also says: "The ACCC believes that, given all the available information, the Commonwealth Treasury's estimated $550 cost savings to households is reasonable."

What the experts say

Lynne Chester, an expert in political economy and energy from the University of Sydney, told Fact Check the FOI documents do not support the Treasurer's claim.
She said it appeared Mr Hockey had confused falls in electricity costs - estimated to fall by $200 a year in 2014-15 - with savings to whole household costs, which include electricity, gas, food, transport and other costs.
While there were significant drops in electricity prices in some states in Australia, Dr Chester contends that in 2012 and 2013 electricity network costs, including major cost for upgrading the poles and wires were the real drivers in the price increases in household electricity at this time.
She said from July 1, 2014 there was significantly less pressure on prices because network charges dropped, so it's hard to isolate the impact of the removal of the carbon tax which occurred at the same time.
She provided Fact Check with a table showing average increases in household electricity prices from 2007 through to 2014.

Average increases in household electricity prices (per cent)
	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2007-08 to 2013-14	Electricity Price Index 2007-08 to 2013-14
NSW	7.5	7.5	20.2	10.0	17.3	15.7	1.6	114.5	105.5
Vic	7.3	7.4	13.5	6.0	12.0	18.0	7.1	103.1	80.4
QLD	11.4	9.1	15.5	13.3	6.6	10.4	20.4	125.8	101.8
SA	12.3	2.5	3.1	18.3	17.4	12.7	2.8	91.0	75.4
WA	0.0	1.0.	23.6	10.0	5.0	12.5	4.5	84.6	74.6
Tas	15.7	3.9	6.2	15.3	11.0	10.6	1.8	99.7	50.4
NT	4.4	3.4	18.0	5.0	2.8	23.4	5.0	78.1	84.9
ACT	16.7	7.1	6.4	2.3	6.5	17.7	3.5	76.7	49.9
Source: Lynne Chester and Australian Energy Regulator (AER, 2013)

Tony Wood, director of the energy program at the Grattan Institute, told Fact Check that drops in electricity prices "vary widely across Australia due to variations in both consumption and carbon intensity of supply".
He estimated the average household's electricity bill was reduced by $120 in 2014-15.
"I struggle to get anywhere close to the $200 on average," he said.
Mr Wood agreed that the Government's claim on the impact of the removal of the carbon tax on household savings is "of the right order of magnitude".
But he said it's difficult to place an exact figure on it, and that "the removal of the carbon price in 2014 has saved most consumers a few hundred dollars per year, not less than $10 and not more than $1,000".
Dr Chester said it's impossible to know the exact savings made from the abolition of the carbon tax because "we didn't keep one group with the tax to compare them to another group who had the tax removed".
She says this is the only way the cost could really be established.

The verdict

The documents released by Treasury under freedom of information do not show that electricity prices have come down $550 per household as a result of the Coalition abolishing the carbon tax.
Instead the documents, dated up to February 2015, contain predictions that household savings - not electricity savings - will be $550 over 2014-15.
The $550 household savings estimate has long been used by members of the Coalition in its campaign to abolish the carbon tax. The documents say this number was generated by Treasury based on modelling it undertook in 2011.
The ACCC's most recent estimates for annual savings on electricity bills - which are based on the actual savings passed on by companies to consumers - range between $100 and $200 depending on which state or territory the household is located.

Mr Hockey's claim is wrong.

Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin joins Florida university

Extract from Reuters

Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:45pm BST

MELBOURNE, Fla. | By Irene Klotz

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, one of the first Americans to land on the moon, will spearhead a new research institute in Florida aimed at paving a path toward Mars exploration and settlement, officials said on Thursday.The Buzz Aldrin Space Institute will be based at the Florida Institute of Technology, also known as Florida Tech, located about 40 miles (64 km) south of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Melbourne.
Aldrin, 85, wants to expand his long-term space exploration program that includes human spaceflight, robotics and science initiatives. His long-term goal is establishing permanent settlements on Mars around 2040.
He hopes "to become much more involved in the operations and the guidance of our space program, mostly NASA, but strongly encouraging international involvement," Aldrin told reporters at a news conference announcing the initiative.
His approach could include sending people to the moon, which was last visited by astronauts in 1972, and creating an outpost on one of Mars' moons.
Aldrin will serve as the research organization's senior advisor. He also joins Florida Tech's faculty as a research professor of aeronautics, but will not be teaching in the role, university president Anthony Catanese said.
In 1969, Aldrin and Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong became the first people to land on the moon. Armstrong died in 2012.
Aldrin and his partner relocated from California to Satellite Beach, Florida, earlier this year.

(Editing by Letitia Stein and Sandra Maler)

F is for farce: how Australian Border Force united the nation against it

Extract from The Guardian

Contact author

@lenoretaylor

Operation Fortitude seems to have been named using the wrong f-word. Many would work, but let’s go with Operation Farce.
Not since Tony Abbott gave Prince Philip a knighthood has the nation appeared so immediately united in calling out a truly stupid and offensive notion.
It began with a morning press release, announcing proudly that our new “border force” – a revamped and armed version of the frontline activities of immigration and the customs service that began operations in July – would be part of a big “crime crackdown” in Melbourne on the weekend.
“ABF officers will be positioned at various locations around the CBD speaking with any individual we cross paths with,” said the border force regional commander in Victoria and Tasmania, Don Smith.
“You need to be aware of the conditions of your visa; if you commit visa fraud you should know it’s only a matter of time before you’re caught out.”
Immediately apparent to pretty much everyone except Smith, or whoever writes his press releases, was that this would require border force to “profile” who they questioned, or else uselessly question an awful lot of people out having fun on a Saturday night, that it would mean they were asking for documentation without any real reason to think the person had committed an offence and that – given all the pre-warning – anyone who really had a problem with their visa would probably be elsewhere.
It was also pretty obvious this was border force establishing its paramilitary credentials as a law enforcer (it can now carry arms, detain people and gather intelligence) with a remit far beyond our borders.
Turns out there is a good reason to follow proper process when it comes to paramilitary and law enforcement type things – the kind of processes the actual military and police force often have.
As public fury grew, border force issued another statement claiming the “media” had got the first statement wrong, and they had no intention of stopping people on the street to check their papers. Pity about those quotes.
By mid-afternoon protesters were blocking the streets of central Melbourne and Operation Fortitude had been cancelled.
Australian Border Force was left looking like Dad’s Army. The most obvious conclusion is that if customs is to become a “core national security agency” it has to act like one. The bigger message is that militarising customs and immigration was a bad idea in the first place.

Postscript: Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg later emerged to say the original press release had been issued at “low level” (later clarifying it was seen by the bloke quoted, who is the head of Victorian and Tasmanian operations in his organisation, so not exactly “low”), that border force had never intended to “pro-actively engage with people” and that it was all very “embarrassing” but not “fatal”. None of which changes these conclusions.

Friday, 28 August 2015

Tanya Plibersek, Subjects: Syria, China FTA

THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO NATIONAL BREAKFAST
FRIDAY, 28 AUGUST 2015

FRAN KELLY, PRESENTER: Tanya Plibersek is Labor’s Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Labor Leader. Tanya Plibersek, welcome to breakfast.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, DEPUTY OPPOSITION LEADER: Good morning, Fran.
KELLY: Labor’s support for the Iraq mission when we spoke about this some time ago was conditional on having the invitation from the Iraqi government, on it not being open ended or subject to mission creep, that it didn’t involve Australian soldiers on the front line, and that it was primarily a humanitarian and training mission. Does extending the RAAF fighter jets into missions over the border into Syria fit within those red lines?
PLIBERSEK: I think, Fran, the first thing we need to do is pause and find out from the Government, first of all, exactly what it is that Australia’s being asked to do, and secondly, what exactly the Australian Government is proposing in response to that request. So far, the national security committee of the Cabinet has not met to discuss this, they’re talking about meeting next week. From that meeting, we would make expect the Government to make clear what’s being asked of Australia and what their proposed response is. When we have that critical information, we’ll make a decision about our response to it.
KELLY: But it’s clear what we’re being asked, we’re being asked to join in the coalition missions into- across the border, into Syria.
PLIBERSEK: Well, Fran, I don’t think it’s as clear as that. There’s many different ways that we could participate in that sort of request. It could be just to try and secure the border between Iraq and Syria or it could much wider operations that are being asked of us, we don’t know that. The Government has not shared the content of the letter that we’ve received from the United States and it’s not made clear exactly what it’s proposing Australia should do in response to any request that’s been made.
KELLY: There’s plenty of advice coming in. Former Labor Foreign Minister Bob Carr says Australia has a moral obligation to join in with the rest of the coalition campaign across the border in Syria. Gareth Evans too thought that there was a moral justification there under the responsibility to protect principle adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2005. Do you accept there is sufficient moral justification for extending the mission into Syria to prevent mass atrocities?
PLIBERSEK: I certainly accept that we have a humanitarian obligation to the people of Syria. There’s 11.5 million of them that have fled their homes, victims of IS and a range of other brutal terrorist organisations and the Assad government itself. And I certainly have been supportive; the Opposition has been supportive of the Government’s approach in Iraq. But it is important if we’re talking about broadening that approach, that we’re very clear about what our objective is, what the legal basis is and what specifically we’re being asked to do. At the moment, the Government hasn’t made that information public.
KELLY: Have you sought legal advice on this? Gareth Evans, as I mentioned, said that legally it’s a grey area but probably defensible under the notion of collective self-defence, under article 51 of the UN Charter. Have you sought advice on that?
PLIBERSEK: We’ve asked the Government to share its legal advice. The Prime Minister in the past has said that while the moral case is the same, the legal case is different. If he thinks that position has changed, I think it’s very important that he take not just the Opposition but the Australian public into his confidence and share what’s changed in his view.
KELLY: If the mission in Syria is limited to assisting Iraq to defend its own people from attacks coming from across the border in Syria, and if our military targets in Syria is solely the ISIS fighters responsible for those cross border attacks, would Labor support it?
PLIBERSEK: Well, Fran, I’m not going to make a position or a statement based on supposition of what’s being asked of us, and supposition of what our response might be. We are absolutely willing to listen to the Government to make its case for expanding Australian operations but they should say exactly what it is that they’re proposing to do and we’ll make a decision based on the information at the time. As I say, we do have a responsibility as good international citizens to help in Syria. It’s one of the most hellish places on earth. IS is obviously an organisation- one of the most evil on earth, everything the Government says about the hundreds of thousands of people who have died, civilians who have been displaced, the treatment of prisoners, slaves, captives, all of that is true and it is important for us to play a role as an international citizen in protecting civilians from those crimes. But we also, you know, Fran, we have spent- or set aside about $650 million for a military response here and we’ve contributed in the last couple of years about $55 million to the victims of this organisation that are living in camps and caves coming in now into the third or fourth of fifth winter displaced from their homes. So yes, we have an obligation but we need to consider what specifically is being asked of us militarily, and what more we can do.
KELLY: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is seeking advice from other countries on this, the legal basis and some legal advice, she’s going to be talking to Iran too. That’s smart, isn’t it, for Australia to be keeping Iran in on the loop on this given the support Iranian forces are giving to the Iraqi government, in terms of training and support for the Shiite militia and the fight against ISIS.
PLIBERSEK: Well, I think it’s for the Foreign Minister to explain why she’s singled out Iran for consultation. Iran is one of several countries in the region that are supporting different sides of this conflict. Iran obviously is the country that has backed Assad, the brutal dictator of Syria, and I think it’s really up to the Foreign Minister to explain why she’s singled out Iran for consultation. Of course, anybody who has been watching the situation in Syria understands that it is important for IS to be confronted militarily, but it’s also important for there to be political resolution to the conflict in Syria. There’ll be no lasting peace there until there’s a political resolution that involves consultation with the international community because so far, big players in the international community have been backing their dog in the fight and unwilling to work on a compromise that would benefit the people of Syria. And then thirdly, of course, as well as a military and political solution, we need to deal with the humanitarian crisis that sees millions of people displaced from their homes.
KELLY: It’s 16 to 8. Our guest is Labor’s Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tanya Plibersek. Can I ask you on another issue? Andrew Robb is headed to Beijing to reassure the Chinese that the Australian Government is committed to the free trade agreement. At the same time, Labor MP Kelvin Thompson says Labor should oppose the FTA with China. Is the Opposition committed to the free trade agreement? Will you pass it when it comes to Parliament?
PLIBERSEK: We’ve always been committed to free trade, or better trading relationships with our neighbours. It’s one of the reasons that we worked in government on this very free trade agreement. What we say about the agreement with China is that it has to be a good quality agreement that enhances Australia’s job prospects.
KELLY: But if the Government says it can’t make changes without threatening the whole agreement, will Labor pass it as it is?
PLIBERSEK: Well, we’re looking to work closely and cooperatively with the Government to see what we can do to improve the agreement to make sure that it has good job outcomes for Australians.
KELLY: Okay, Tanya Plibersek, thank you very much for joining us.
PLIBERSEK: Thanks, Fran.
ENDS

Bill Shorten, Subjects: Labor’s plan for the jobs of the future; Marriage equality; Tony Abbott’s Royal Commission; Australian Republic; Syria; Workplace relations.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
MELBOURNE
THURSDAY, 27 AUGUST 2015

TIM WATTS, MEMBER FOR GELLIBRAND: It’s a pleasure to welcome you all and Bill Shorten, the Leader of the Opposition, to Scienceworks right here in my electorate in Melbourne’s west. Scienceworks is a big part of my family life. I bring my kids here probably every other weekend and like half a million other Victorians, they get to see the wonder and potential of science here every weekend. Scienceworks really is the shopfront of science in Australia. It’s where we can kindle that passion for science and the importance of it in not only individuals’ lives but in our nation’s future. It was only around a month ago that I was here with my daughter at the new exhibit here at Scienceworks – Tyrannosaurs Meets the Family – where she dressed up as a little palaeontologist, saw a dig for dinosaur bones unfolding before in one of the video displays and she ran up to this particular video display from about 50 yards away and pointed at it and jumped up and down and said ‘dad, dad, dad, there’s a woman palaeontologist just like me’. And I thought that’s the value of Scienceworks – it’s showing kids that there’s a future career for them in science, it lets them imagine a future for themselves in science, and it’s something that we really need to be making available to all Australian kids. That’s why I’m really proud that Bill Shorten is here today to talk about Labor’s passion for science and putting science really at the forefront of the national political debate so that all Australian kids can have a future and be a part of these jobs of the future that are coming over the next decade. So on that note I’ll hand over to Bill Shorten.
BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thanks Tim, good morning everyone. There can be no doubt that Scienceworks is Australia’s premier museum for young people, for children of school age, but in fact it’s not really a museum is it, when you walk around, it’s a window into the future. Scienceworks allows children to discover and fall in love with the passion of science and being here this morning again to me reinforces why the next election should be in part a science election. Not about whether or not the science of climate change is real, or whether or not a particular science discovery is right or wrong, but that we need to have science at the centre of national political debate. I think this is my 36th visit to a science-based facility, a research facility, a jobs of the future facility. Ever since the Budget, I’ve been determined to move the national debate towards putting science and research at the centre of Australia’s economic future. See what we see here today is young children falling in the love with the jobs of the future. That is why Labor and only Labor has a policy to teach children coding in schools, computational thinking. Labor and only Labor wants to provide an extra 100,000 places for school leavers and school graduates to study science, mathematics, engineering and technology at university. Labor and only Labor wants to see 25,000 teachers upskilled and another 25,000 teaching scholarships for science graduates so the future generations of young Australians can complete with the rest of the world. There is a science race on across the world and it’s most important that Australia’s political leaders start giving our young people the best start in the future for the future and also making sure we can keep and attract jobs in this country.
Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Should Julia Gillard have signalled earlier her support for gay marriage in Australia?
SHORTEN: I welcome Julia Gillard joining the ranks of now probably 70 per cent of Australians saying enough is enough: the time for marriage equality is here. I voted for it when it came before the Parliament in 2011/12 and I have been a strong supporter of it. I do not believe that Mr Abbott’s delaying tactics are worthy of this nation. We don’t need $120 million taxpayer funded opinion poll to tell us what Australians already think. I think that Mr Abbott should stop living in the past and just allow a free vote of Parliament. If he can’t do it before the next election I can promise Australians that if elected within the first 100 days of being elected I will present a Bill to the Parliament for marriage equality and MPs can have a free vote. But I also think it’s important that Mr Abbott stop delaying this debate because frankly there are other issues as well that this nation needs to get on with. I just don’t get it at the end of the day why Mr Abbott is so hung up about who marries who, it really is none of our business.
JOURNALIST: Mr Shorten, the PM appears to be backing away from his support for Dyson Heydon, saying that the commission must continue but not mentioning Heydon specifically. Do you think that Mr Heydon will go?
SHORTEN: I don’t know what Mr Heydon will decide tomorrow but clearly the royal commission is now in a shambolic and politicised state. I and Labor have said that ever since Mr Abbott set up a royal commission to investigate his political opponents that it would end in tears. Now I think Mr Abbott has put Mr Heydon in a very, very unenviable position. Mr Abbott should have acted to resolved this matter before now. But furthermore, I think today’s reports in The Australian newspaper are most concerning. They do reveal the possibility that evidence by the royal commission and the Royal Commissioner and Counsel Assisting has not been disclosed or has not been disclosed until today’s report. I think it is now time – on top of all the other issues – that Counsel Assisting and the Commissioner explain and answer these very serious questions about whether or not further evidence which has now been revealed in The Australian should have been disclosed earlier.
JOURNALIST: What are the implications do you think of whether this was, you know whether this should have been disclosed earlier? What’s the possible implications?
SHORTEN: I think there are questions to answer here by the Commissioner and indeed Counsel Assisting now who is embroiled in this matter: did Mr Stoljar tip off Mr Heydon? These are questions which the commission is going to have to answer. I think today’s report is quite a new and dramatic development. But furthermore, this royal commission really has turned out to be a political shambles and a mess of some amazing proportions. Labor has never believed that the royal commission was necessary if you want to stamp down on crime in workplaces. Labor believes that the police and agencies who investigate these matters should be given greater support to do it but we haven’t needed a two year multi-million dollar exercise to do this. I think that the power’s already there for actions to be chased down and in the meantime this royal commission I think, it doesn’t matter how you vote, is increasingly looking like a shambles.
JOURNALIST: Mr Shorten are you formally going to push for a Republic vote by 2020?
SHORTEN: I do believe – and I’ve spoken about this on a number of times this year – that Australia is now ready to become a Republic. I welcome the new revitalisation of the Australian Republican Movement and I welcome Joe Hockey and Katy Gallagher setting up a Parliamentary friends group to help put added impetus. By 2020, it will be the 250th anniversary of when Captain Cook came to Australia. I think after 250 years, we are ready to have an Australian-born Head of State.
Having said all of that, and being open to a bipartisan process, it’s not me or many Australians that Mr Hockey needs to convince: it’s his own leader, Mr Abbott. But I also have to say that, whilst we have a discussion about the Republic, which I welcome, what I also think is that we have other highly pressing problems on the national agenda. I think it’s time for Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey’s Liberals to start tackling the scourge of unemployment. There is real anxiety in the community, which wasn’t there when Mr Abbott was elected, about people’s job security. We now have over 800,000 Australians of our fellow Australians who can’t find work who are looking for work. There is now over 1 million Australians who are doing insecure or part-time work, not getting enough hours, casual work, who regularly record they want more work and we have another 800,000 plus Australians on the disability support pension. Just because you have an impairment doesn’t mean you should be written off and I think we need to be doing a lot more to encourage the participation of people with impairment and disabilities and give them the opportunities to work. So whilst Mr Hockey and Mr Abbott are having disagreements about the Republic, what we see is that there are literally millions of Australians not employed or under-employed.
JOURNALIST: Just on Syria, have you had another briefing on Syria yet and are you comfortable with Australia joining US airstrikes there?
SHORTEN: We haven’t announced our response on Syria so I probably won’t pick Scienceworks to do that. I’m talking with my colleagues – I’ve had one briefing from the Government, we’ve requested further information. Let me also state very clearly, I am not going to – I can’t sort out did Mr Abbott ring the Americans to be engaged in Syria or did the Americans ask Mr Abbott? I’d appreciate, like most Australians, clarity about the sequence of events. But there is also for me I think an even bigger issue which is what is in our national security interests? I was privileged earlier this year to travel to Baghdad, to see some of the work of Australia’s remarkable Defence Forces, part of our commitment to helping make Iraq again a safer country than it is with these terrorists threatening the integrity of Iraq. So I am very, very supportive of the professionalism and the efforts of the Australian Defence Force, and the RAAF and the Army. But what I’d also say is we just want to be clear about what is the legal basis for further actions in terms of extending our air force into Syria.
JOURNALIST: What about personally, then? Are you personally comfortable with Australia joining air strikes in Syria?
SHORTEN: I want to make sure that – would it be effective? Will it help defeat or degrade the dreadful scourge of Daesh and terrorist organisations and are our people safe and is it legal? You know, these are some of the tests which I think principled Parliamentarians will weigh up in the mix. But I just want to say to all Australians that, Liberal or Labor, we understand that when it comes to fighting terrorism we have to be in this together and it’s also important we do it in a considered manner which achieves the outcomes which we’re seeking, which is greater security for Australians and an improvement in the situation in Iraq.
JOURNALIST: Just on the Victorian Liberal Party, do you think they should be doing more to investigate potential misappropriation of taxpayer funds?
SHORTEN: Yes, I do. You know, we’ve seen the dreadful news that a senior office bearer of the Liberal Party has allegedly taken $1.5 million or more of money. Now, if some of this is taxpayer funded money then the Liberal Party has an obligation to explain to Australians about the use of taxpayer money, if some of this has been defrauded. I also think these people need to explain within the senior ranks of the Liberal Party what they knew; were they aware and could they have prevented this; and what steps they put in place; were there early warning signs of this problem and what did they do about it?
JOURNALIST: Mr Shorten are you going to take some form of IR reform in regards to construction sites to the election? You alluded to it yesterday in a speech but we’re just looking for some specifics.
SHORTEN: Certainly Labor will have a policy – sensible policy on industrial relations before the next election. What I said yesterday at the national summit organised by The Australian Financial Review and The Australian is that we need to be – there needs to be a national focus, a united national effort to lift productivity and to lift growth in this country. A Labor administration that I lead, if we were privileged to be elected, will look at several areas which a Labor Government would work on to improve productivity, to improve growth, to improve the output of goods and services and jobs to make sure that we are a fairer country and to make sure that the quality of our life as it goes along is improving.
Now we would do that by improving universities, not making it more expensive for kids to go to university. We would tackle climate change which is going to provide us opportunities in the future; I cannot believe the Government and Mr Abbott keep refusing to talk about renewable energy. They treat it as if it’s the enemy not the solution, and of course workplace relations along with education and health, taxation and infrastructure are important areas.
When it comes to workplace relations, I’ve got over 20 years of experience in the real world, and I understand that workplaces work best when you have cooperation and harmony. Now, periodically, you’ve got a Government and we have one at the moment in power, which is very ideological, they’re very extreme people in this Government. They get hung up when workers get wage rises, they seem to think somehow that’s not the way to go. They want to swing the pendulum of workplace relations where employees have very little security and very little say over their work. Now I happen to think that in construction and major projects there is opportunity with this – that’s contrasted with this current government who always wants to fight with unions – to build cooperation and I think there are measures which we can talk about for the next election. I think there is a greater role to encourage women into construction. There’s a greater role to make sure that our apprenticeship is working so that apprentices aren’t dropping out and that they’re getting quality training. I think there is an opportunity to improve the access to apprenticeship and training for adult apprentices. Safety and construction is always a constant battle so we’ve got to make sure that we have safer worksites. We’ve also got to make sure that when there are industrial arrangements in place that they’re respected. Now that’s the way you do things, it’s not – this country, we’re only 24 million people. we can’t constantly be fighting each other. Mr Abbott wakes up in the morning and you get a sense that he’s looking for someone new to have a fight with. That is not the future of workplace relations. Thanks, everyone.

ENDS

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

NBN COST BLOWOUT: TURNBULL’S SECOND RATE NBN TO COST ALMOST DOUBLE WHAT HE PROMISED

Media Release

Jason Clare MP

Shadow Minister for Communications

Portfolio Media Releases: 24 August 2015

After doubling the size of the deficit, the Abbott Government has now nearly doubled the cost of their second rate NBN.

The cost of the Coalition’s second rate NBN started out at $29.5 billion in April 2013, it blew out to $41 billion in December 2013, increased again to $42 billion in August 2014 and today it was announced that it will now cost up to $56 billion.

The financial return to taxpayers from the Coalition’s second rate NBN has also crashed. In December 2013, we were assured the rate of return would be up to 5.3 per cent. Today we learn it will be 3.5 per cent at best.
The NBN is rolling out slower than Malcolm Turnbull promised, and it is more expensive than he promised.
Malcolm Turnbull has no-one else to blame for this cost blowout. It has happened because he has made poor decisions and made the wrong assumptions. For example:

In less than two years under Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and Malcolm Turnbull, the deficit has gone up, debt has gone up, unemployment has gone up and now the cost of the NBN has gone up for the third time.
They have doubled the deficit and almost doubled the cost of the NBN.
Australians are now paying the price for Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull’s mistakes.
Australians will now pay much, much more for much, much less.

[i] Transcript, Press Conference: Tony Abbott (Leader of the Opposition) and Malcolm Turnbull (Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband) Discuss the Release of the Coalition’s Plan for Fast Broadband and an Affordable NBN (9 April 2013); Malcolm Turnbull, cited in Ben Grubb, “Malcolm Turnbull expects new Telstra NBN deal in a 'few months,” The Age (21 February 2014), at: http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/government-it/malcolm-turnbull-expects-new-telstra-nbn-deal-in-a-few-months-20140220-hvdaw.html
[ii] “Telstra’s revised NBN Definitive Agreements come into effect,” Media Release (26 June 2015), available at: email///www.telstra.com.au/uberprod/groups/webcontent/)(corporate/@about/documents/document/uberstaging_295164.pdf">http://www.telstra.com.au/uberprod/groups/webcontent/@corporate/@about/documents/document/uberstaging_295164.pdf
[iii] Coalition Broadband Policy - Frequently Asked Questions (9 August 2013), at: http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/policy-faqs/coalition-broadband-policy-frequently-asked-questions
[iv] NBN Co Strategic Review (December 2013), Exhibit 4-2, page 97.
[v] NBN Co Corporate Plan 2016, page 60.
[vi] NBN Co Strategic Review (December 2013), page 83: “for NBN Co to extend its current OSS/BSS to support FTTN, the additional one-off cost is estimated to be $110-180 million. For HFC, this one-off cost is estimated to be an additional $70-110 million.”
[vii] “[NBN Co] will spent [sic] approximately $2.5 billion on IT capex by the 2021-22 financial year” (Malcolm Turnbull, Lessons from the NBN,” 11 June 2015, at: http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/lessons-from-the-nbn). Compare this to Turnbull’s $1.6 billion forecast for IT capex [to FY2024] under the previous model (NBN Co Strategic Review, page 66).
[viii] Transcript, Press Conference: Tony Abbott (Leader of the Opposition) and Malcolm Turnbull (Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband) Discuss the Release of the Coalition’s Plan for Fast Broadband and an Affordable NBN (9 April 2013); Joint Press Release, The Hon. Tony Abbott MHR, Leader of the Opposition The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MHR, Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband (9 April 2013), copy available here: http://www.afr.com/rw/2009-2014/AFR/2013/04/09/Photos/057f48c4-a0c6-11e2-ba96-3567734839cb_13-04-09%20Joint%20Press%20Release%20with%20Turnbull.pdf
[ix] NBN Co Corporate Plan 2016, page 60.

Penny Wong, 'Abbott misleads Public on China FTA'

SENATOR THE HON PENNY WONG

LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INVESTMENT

LABOR SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

MEDIA RELEASE

19 August 2015

TOPIC: CHINA FTA

Tony Abbott has made a series of misleading statements about the impact of his Free Trade Agreement with China (ChAFTA) on job opportunities for Australian workers.
Mr Abbott’s comments on ChAFTA today reveal he has either not read his own agreement or is deliberately misleading the public.
ABBOTT CLAIM: “There is no change to investment facilitation agreements required by the free trade agreement.”
FACT: ChAFTA does make changes to temporary migration arrangements by introducing new “Investment Facilitation Arrangements”. These new Investment Facilitation Arrangements allow the use of temporary migrant workers on Chinese-funded infrastructure projects with no requirement for labour market testing.
ABBOTT CLAIM: “Labor’s workplace laws stay, Labor’s investment facilitation agreements stay.”
FACT: Labor did not introduce Investment Facilitation Arrangements. They are a new arrangement being introduced by the Abbott Government under ChAFTA for Chinese-funded projects worth $150 million or more.
ABBOTT CLAIM: “It is an absolutely dishonest campaign by the CFMEU and the CFMEU, as always, are being egged on by Bill Shorten.”
FACT: Tony Abbott is the one who is being dishonest about his own agreement. ChAFTA’s provisions on Investment Facilitation Arrangements are here. They show that Mr Abbott has misled the public.
If Mr Abbott was serious about ensuring that ChAFTA will support local jobs, instead of spending $25 million of taxpayer funds advertising the deal he would address community concerns and fix the agreement.
Labor will fight to ensure there are safeguards around ChAFTA’s temporary migration provisions because we believe trade should enhance local job opportunities, not put them at risk.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, SUBJECT: Syria; Liberal leaks; Canning by-election; China FTA; Kathy Jackson

THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
THE TODAY SHOW
FRIDAY, 21 AUGUST 2015

KARL STEFANOVIC, PRESENTER: It's been a long week for the Prime Minister and it could get longer. The head of the inquest into union corruption Dyson Heydon possibly deciding his future today, but more than likely next week. Either way it's a mess. Education Minister Christopher Pyne and the Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek join us now. Good morning to you guys. Nice to see you all bright and early this morning.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE, EDUCATION MINISTER: Good morning, Karl. Good morning, Tanya.
STEFANOVIC: Chris, with what we learned this morning out of The Australian, the US wants more involvement from our RAAF in Syria. When do we start? When does that happen?
PYNE: Obviously I can't confirm that story on the front page of The Australian today but it's clear that the ISIL threat in Syria and Iraq is a very serious one. We've already in Australia twice interdicted attempts to have terrorist acts here in Australia since last September. There are people trying to go and join ISIL in Syria and Iraq very regularly and Tanya of course will be kept well informed by the Government about movements and we will respond of course to any requests by the US or our allies. Already airborne refuelling aircraft are refuelling coalition fighter jets that are bombing in Syria, and we would do everything on a very strong legal basis if we were to take that further action.
STEFANOVIC: Okay, when does it start though? Because The Australian's got that answer, when does it actually start?
PYNE: I don’t believe any decision has been made by the Government and obviously we would be briefing the Opposition and I understand a briefing has been organised for early next week about any developments that might occur there-
STEFANOVIC: We can possibly say then that's going to happen if there's a briefing organised for next week. Tanya, you said in the past you'd be more inclined to drop aid into Syria-
PLIBERSEK: Well, actually no, that's what the Government said I said.
STEFANOVIC: What did you say?
PLIBERSEK: This is an extremely serious situation. It is a terrible organisation doing terrible things in Iraq and Syria. We've been very supportive of action in Iraq. We don't have any details so far of the story that Greg Sheridan has on the front page of The Australian today. There was a briefing scheduled for this week that was cancelled so we don't know what is being asked of us at the moment. Once we know what's being asked of us then we can make a decision about our response to that.
STEFANOVIC: Should we be should dropping aid rather than bombs?
PLIBERSEK: We should be doing more for the 11.5 million people who are displaced from their homes in Syria, the victims of Daesh. These are the people that are being chased, raped, murdered, sold into slavery, chased from their homes, of course we should be doing more.
STEFANOVIC: You're not saying we shouldn't be dropping bombs.
PLIBERSEK: It's not either or. We do need to have a strong military response to this organisation that doesn't exempt us from also helping the victims of the organisation.
STEFANOVIC: Let’s go domestically. Chris, three leaks in a week, the PM's clearly lost Malcolm Turnbull's confidence.
PYNE: They're pretty minor stories. I mean, the media are really beating them up, quite frankly. The leaks that occurred in the Gillard/Rudd Government was a deluge in comparison to these minor stories-
STEFANOVIC: So you concede it’s Malcolm Turnbull then?
PYNE: Certainly not. I wouldn’t have the faintest clue where these stories
STEFANOVIC: Well, you just rolled along with it. I just said then three leaks in a week, the PM’s clearly lost Malcolm Turnbull's confidence.
PYNE: I wasn't rising to your bait. I’ve seen you in action before.
STEFANOVIC: Well, who is it then? It's got to be Malcolm.
PYNE: Who would know? They’re very minor stories.
STEFANOVIC: Well, you should know!
PYNE: They’re minor stories and they're certainly not earth shattering at all. I mean, the agenda of cabinet, seriously, under the Gillard/Rudd Government there was a deluge of leaks-
PLIBERSEK: Well, the fact that there is no agenda is pretty significant.
PYNE: I think what's happened this week- the most spectacular own goal I've seen in two years is that Labor's put their Trade Union Royal Commission and their links to the CFMEU and the AWU right back in the middle of the spotlight.
STEFANOVIC: Okay, we’ll get onto that in just a second. The ACTU is going to devote upwards of $30 million to take down Tony Abbott. If he doesn't win Canning, is he finished?
PYNE: The ACTU is using its members’ money, that’s true, $30 million with a staff of 25 full time staff to dislodge the Abbott Government. Why wouldn't they? The problem-
STEFANOVIC: If he doesn't win Canning, is he finished?
PYNE: Well, Canning’s on September the 19^th, I'm very confident we will win Canning. It's a great tragedy of course that we have the by-election there following the death of Don Randall. But I wouldn't be putting too much store by the result in Canning but I do believe we will win it.
STEFANOVIC: Have you got a problem with the free trade agreement with China? It’s causing a bit of ruckus in parliament yesterday. Is it giving Australian jobs to the Chinese, do you believe?
PLIBERSEK: No, we're very supportive of a China-Australia free trade agreement. It just has to be-
STEFANOVIC: So where is the union getting off then?
PLIBERSEK: It just has to be a good quality agreement that makes sure that particularly on these large project - that projects can't bring in a wholly foreign workforce, that jobs are offered to Australians first. We've been negotiating the Australia-China free trade agreement for several years, we just didn't take the first agreement that was offered because we want good quality jobs for Australian workers.
STEFANOVIC: So you disagree with union ads saying they are taking Australian jobs?
PLIBERSEK: No, I think we need to be very careful. These are the issues that we're concerned about in the China free trade agreement. Large projects- will the jobs have to be offered to Australians first? That's very important. And then if trades are being brought in, will they have skills that are commensurate with the sort of skills that you'd need if you were doing that work in Australia.
STEFANOVIC: Bob Carr says there will be more jobs and higher wages. Has he got it a wrong?
PLIBERSEK: Look, I think there is a potential for this agreement to grow a number of our sectors, including the agricultural sector. We just need to make sure that it’s-
STEFANOVIC: So are you talking to the unions about this, because they have a different opinion?
PLIBERSEK: You're not listening to what I'm saying.
STEFANOVIC: No, I am listening to what you’re saying.
PLIBERSEK: It’s a good thing to have an agreement, it has to be a good quality agreement that has more jobs for Australians.
STEFANOVIC: Okay, so you will say to the unions- to pick up the phone and say listen, those ads, they are misdirecting the Australian people.
PLIBERSEK: The concerns about large projects having fully imported workforces, that's a legitimate concern. We need to have a look at the enabling legislation when it’s introduced to Parliament to make sure this is an agreement that’s good for Aussie jobs.
STEFANOVIC: Okay, let’s move on. In terms of the Commission into the unions, do you think Justice Heydon will survive today, Chris? Do you think he'll stay on?
PYNE: I certainly hope he does because I think Justice Heydon is doing important and good work and he’s exposing, through the Royal Commission the very tawdry criminal activities of some unions and some union leaders which I would have thought nobody supported. Labor is desperately trying to close down this Royal Commission because of their links to the union movement and unfortunately I think they're highlighting why they're not yet fit for Government-
PLIBERSEK: Well, Karl-
PYNE: If they were to be re-elected, nothing would have changed since they were last in government.
PLIBERSEK: I'd be interested to know, as Chris has raised criminal behaviour, whether he still thinks Kathy Jackson is a lion of the union movement and a hero and a revolutionary as he said in the past.
PYNE: I would like to know whether Tanya Plibersek supports the CFMEU's racist campaign against the China free trade agreement, because she certainly didn’t back away from it in your answers to the previous questions, Karl.
STEFANOVIC: On Kathy Jackson that's the sort of behaviour this guy is trying to weed out. That’s what we want to happen, isn’t it?
PLIBERSEK: She wasn't actually convicted this week in the Royal Commission. This was her union taking action against her. No-one supports criminal behaviour.
STEFANOVIC: She rorted her union for $1.4 million.
PLIBERSEK: Absolutely and Christopher Pyne said that she was a hero of the labour movement.
PYNE: Whatever Kathy Jackson’s done that’s been wrong, and obviously-
PLIBERSEK: You’re her greatest defender, Chris.
PYNE: She’s been found guilty of crimes. The reality is she also exposed Michael Williamson and Craig Thomson who were also ripping off the HSU-
PLIBERSEK: And should be-
PYNE: The story of the HSU has been a sorry one, and all three of them have ended up in suits.
STEFANOVIC: Tanya, let me ask you this, do you think Justice Heydon has shown any legal bias in his role in the Commission. Any legal bias?
PLIBERSEK: Well, Dyson Heydon himself has said that there's the issue of bias and then there’s the issue of apprehended bias-
STEFANOVIC: Or both.
PLIBERSEK: Or the impression someone might be biased.
STEFANOVIC: Has he been found guilty in your opinion of apprehended bias?
PLIBERSEK: I think signing up to speak at a Liberal Party fundraiser certainly gives the impression that you might support a political party.
STEFANOVIC: And that's enough for him to go?
PLIBERSEK: Well, I think-
PYNE: When Mary Gaudron, Michael Kirby and Michael McHugh all addressed Labor lawyers when they were judges of the High Court-
PLIBERSEK: That’s not a branch of the Labor Party, Chris.
PYNE: Or the court of criminal appeal in NSW.
PLIBERSEK: It’s not a branch of the Labor Party.
PYNE: I don’t remember Labor calling on any of them to resign.
PLIBERSEK: The Liberal lawyers were a branch of the Liberal Party.
STEFANOVIC: We’re finishing the week with how we started, in a complete and utter stoush. Good to have you with us.
PLIBERSEK: Great to see you.
STEFANOVIC: Hopefully we can talk about some light affair next week but I fear that that won’t be the case.
PYNE: Thanks, Karl. Thanks, Tanya.
PLIBERSEK: Thanks, Karl. See you, Chris.
STEFANOVIC: Thanks, Chris. Thanks, Tanya.
ENDS

South African team may have solved solar puzzle even Google couldn't crack

Extract from The Guardian

Pioneering technology to deliver the cheapest, small-scale concentrated solar power plants in the world could revolutionise the renewable energy market

These heliostats, or mirrors to concentrate the sun, in a field near Stellenbosch in South Africa could become the most affordable, small, plug-and play solar solutions in the world. Photograph: Jeffrey Barbee/jeffbarbee.com

Jeffrey Barbee in Stellenbosch

It is a problem that has so far stumped even Google’s brainy engineers – how to generate cheap solar electricity using a small-scale array of mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy.
Now a team at a South African university – led by a former Intel strategic planner – believes they have cracked it. Once they have completed a prototype system in October they have big plans for rolling out the technology.
The idea behind the design – so-called Concentrated Solar Power or CSP – is simple. A field of mirrors on the ground tracks the sun and concentrates its rays on to a central point which heats up. That heat is converted into electricity.
There are a handful of large-scale examples of such solar plants around the world generating electricity, and there are predictions that the technology could generate a quarter of the world’s energy by 2050. But the plants are expensive and it has proved difficult to make them work at smaller scale. Called heliostats, the shaped mirrors are usually large with a huge central base set in concrete. With current technology they are expensive to produce, have to be connected through pricey wiring and need to be installed by highly skilled and large construction crews. This is the main factor that makes CSP more expensive than traditional photovoltaic panels, which have fallen in price by 75% since 2009.
Paul Gauché is the South African founding director of the Solar Thermal Research Group at Stellenbosch University that is testing a new approach.
“I have managed technology teams from around the world and this is the best team I have managed,” he says proudly, looking around the busy workshop floor.

His team’s aim is to produce CSP technology that will be cheap and quick to install. “We are developing plonkable heliostats. Plonkable means that from factory to installation you can just drop them down on to the ground and they work.” So no costly cement, no highly-trained workforce, no wires, just two workers to lay out the steel frames on the ground and a streetlight-style central tower.
Their work has already attracted the interest of well-known foreign companies, including a German consortium and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology solar company.
Sitting in a control room made from stacked shipping containers, Gauché looks out over the heliostats sprouting like flowers in the field. “Every part in it is manufacturable and installable by two sets of hands, or one rugby player as we found out,” he laughs.
Helio100 is a pilot project with over 100 heliostats of 2.2 sq meters each, generating 150 Kilowatts (kW) of power in total – enough to power about 10 households. According to Gauché, the array is already cheaper than using diesel, the go-to fuel for most companies and businesses during regular power outages in the country. Google’s RE<C initiative, which developed pioneering new renewable energy technology, attempted to build systems like this but they abandoned their research after reporting that they could not do it cheaply enough.
What Gauché’s team has done differently is to reduce the cost of creating heliostats. Around the world CSP is in decline after an initial growth spurt because it currently costs about three times more than using a hybrid system of PV panels together with wind power to generate electricity, explains Prof Tobias Bischoff-Neimz, manager for energy at South Africa’s Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research. “The future for CSP rests with creating power at changing rates, not like a base load power station that runs at full power all the time, but a system that makes the grid more flexible.” He says Gauché’s work to reduce the cost of the technology is vital if CSP is to reach its potential.
Gauché’s team uses smaller mirrors that focus the sun’s rays on to a small surface at the top of the tower. The mirrors track the sun all day – like people watching a tennis ball during a match – and then reset for morning. They focus the sun’s rays into a beam so intense it that can melt the collector in less than five seconds if its cooling water stops flowing. The heating element is like a car’s radiator in reverse; the heat is transferred to moving water that can either create electricity or be used for other work.
Athi Ntisana is a technologist from South Africa’s Eastern Cape province who has been working since the start of the project conceptualising, prototyping and building the finished systems. He is convinced the technology is right for the country.
“It requires labour, components can be manufactured here in the country and we have land here where sunlight is abundant – and that’s also where there is not much employment. It solves all these problems.”
The team wants their system fully functional by the end of October 2015 but Gauché predicts that once they refine the technology, then economies of scale will follow. Referring to Henry Ford’s famous mass-market breakthrough he says: “We are not yet at the model T in CSP. The moment you start to get high volumes, industrialisation, get more scientists, more of everything, then the costs will come down radically.”