Eucalypt plantations in NSW, Vic have important role in habitat for endangered bird species, finds DPI study

Species of woodland-dependent birds whose numbers have been declining were finding new homes in plantings of eucalypts and shrubs, reported Agriculture Today (27/10/2007, p.7).

This year’s La Nina unlikely to produce hoped-for substantial rain: grim news for Vic farmers

This year’s La Nina was not likely to produce the substantial rain that Australians hoped for, reported The Age (13/9/2007, p.5).

Murray Darling Dust Bowl Report: failure of winter and spring rainfall: no water for Sunraysia, near Euston (NSW) and Robinvale (Victoria)

Water flowing to Adelaide was so sparse and salted that is was technically unusable. “Very high salinities of around 13 000 EC continue to be recorded in the Goolwa channel upstream of the Goolwa Barrage”.

Vox pop: Basic physics ignored in Vic desal idea; needs 300MW base-load power plant to get water to Melbourne

To desalinate 150 gigalitres of salt water and pump 150 million tonnes of fresh water from Wonthaggi to the Cardinia Reservoir was going to require a 300-megawatt base-load power plant, wrote Geoff Croker of Ashwood in a letter to The Age (26/9/2007, p.B4).

Vic Premier Bracks supports introduction of national emissions trading scheme, Victoria also the only state to mandate energy retailers required to purchase minimum of 10pc renewable energy by 2016

During the Victorian Legislative Assembly (23/5/07), Steve Bracks, the Premier of Victoria moved that the house support the introduction of a national emissions trading scheme to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global warming and climate change, and in particular support an effective national emissions trading scheme which:

Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources seeks suggestions for fair feed in tariff for small green generation

Peter Batchelor Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources said In Victoria’s Legislative Assembly on 19 July 2007 that small-scale generators of electricity should get a fair and reasonable price for any excess electricity they generate beyond their own needs and feed back into the grid.

Russia has its own uranium; 700 tonnes of highly enriched uranium which was extracted from the nuclear weapons that it dismantled in the 1990s

The Democrats supported the terms of reference put forward to examine Australia’s deal with Russia, Democrats Senator Lynn Allison told the Federal Senate on 17 September 2007. But she said she did not think that the parliamentary oversight which Senator Payne had suggested will be provided through the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was adequate.

Desalination plant at Wonthaggi; Taxpayer’s $200m a year for the purpose of buying environmentally dirty water that it doesn’t need

Some small attention has been paid to the political expediency of locating the proposed facility in a non-government electorate far from the consciousness and prying eyes of city environmentalists, reported The Age (16/8/2007, p. 10).

Cash incentives on offer to Victorian commercial building owners to upgrade properties and have them assessed for energy and water use ratings

Cash incentives were to be offered to Victorian commercial building owners to upgrade their properties and have them assessed for energy and water use ratings, reported The Age (1/9/2007, p.5).

Victoria high-efficiency washing machine water rebate has no mechanisms to enable people to claim the rebate

Although former Premier Steve Bracks announced a rebate for high efficiency washing machines in April, nobody knows anything about the scheme said Peter Hall, Member for Eastern Victoria Region in the Victorian Legislative Council on 8 August 2007. Former Premier announced rebate scheme: Hall challenged the Minister for Water to resolve a problem for a constituent, explaining that the previous Minister had indicated that there was a water rebate available for high-efficiency washing machines, and that the Premier had announced that on 17 April this year. “He advised that the rebate was for $100 and that the organisation administering that scheme was Sustainability Victoria. The minister also referred to two other sources of information, a website and my local water authority, Gippsland Water, and gave a contact number for Gippsland Water.”

Scheme unknown: Hall proceeded to relate how he “dutifully then advised my constituent that he was in luck and that that was the case. He then made inquiries on the website and found no mention whatsoever of any such rebate on that site. He also rang Gippsland Water and Sustainability Victoria without any success. They had no knowledge of any such scheme. My constituent came back and reported this to me. I said, ‘This can’t be the case. I will do it myself’.”

Minister challenged to throw light on scheme’s operation: After recounting how he had gone through the same process without success, Hall said: “I then rang Sustainability Victoria, and the phone call was returned the following day by somebody who had some knowledge of the matter. Their knowledge extended to the fact that they knew that the then Premier had made an announcement on 17 April about this matter, but they had no knowledge of and had received no direction from government about how and when this scheme would operate. We are left in the dark. Despite the advice from the then water minister on 18 July to me that a scheme exists, nobody knows about it. My challenge to the new Minister for Water is, first of all, for him to put in place as a matter of urgency the mechanisms to enable people to claim the rebate promised by the then Premier on 17 April this year, and then perhaps he will have the courtesy to advise me how my constituent can go about actually applying for and getting his $100 rebate.”

Reference: Peter Hall, Member for Eastern Victoria Region ,National Party Spokesman for Education, Skills and Employment, Members Statements Legislative Council Proof, Victoria, 8 August 2007