You might remember that the government recently gave Gareth Evans a new job - to lead a commission on nuclear disarmament. In that context, I happened to pick up (for the trans-Pacific plane ride) little Quarterly Essay-style book on nuclear disarmament by Hans Blix, the man who spent 2002-3 being conspicuously and inconveniently correct on the topic of Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction. Read more »
Nuclear energy is off the public agenda in Australia for now, and likely won’t reappear for a little while at least. But there are reasons to think it might come back at some time in the medium-term future. The key question as to whether we see it appear back on the public agenda is the shape of the emissions trading scheme. How steep will the cuts required be - or, alternatively, how high will the carbon price go? Read more »
Kim mentioned the PM’s new nuclear disarmament commission yesterday. I figured some context might be in order. Read more »
It didn't take long for the nuclear power lobby to restart up their campaign that sells nuclear as the green solution to greenhouse gas emisions. This time round their voice is Paul Kelly in The Australian, who says that the pro-green Bob Carr and Paul Howes, from the Australian Workers Union, are far more strident about the need for nuclear power than Howard was before last year’s election. He adds: Read more »
The Rudd Government needs to take a careful look at Martin Ferguson’s handling of the latest tragic chapter of Australia’s 50-year nuclear waste story. A cursory review of the history of Government attempts to force nuclear waste dumps on unwilling communities shows an unbroken record of Government failure. It’s time for new thinking.
Former Science Minister [...]
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