Article by Amanda Jasi
AS PART of its 2021–22 Budget, the Australian Government is investing up to A$600m (US$464.3m) to allow energy generation company Snowy Hydro to construct a 660 MW gas power turbine in Kurri Kurri, Hunter Valley, New South Wales (NSW).
Though the Government has touted benefits such as job creation, reducing energy prices, and emissions reductions, opposition has cast doubt on the purported economic benefits, and has commented on the lack of need for additional gas power and its detriments to a lower-carbon future.
The planned gas power plant would help Australia to deliver its target of 1,000 MW of new dispatchable energy set in September, created in response to the coming closure of the 2,000 MW Liddell power station in 2023. Together, energy company EnergyAustralia’s 316 MW Tallawarra B open cycle gas plant and the Kurri Kurri plant are expected to shore up affordability, security, and reliability of electricity. Tallawarra B is expected by summer 2023
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FORMER workers at the Bradken foundry have lamented the loss of the longstanding Ipswich factory and the state of the wider Australian manufacturing industry after it closed last week.
But some hold on to hope it will be bought by another company and operations will be restarted.
About 180 workers at the Karrabin site have lost their jobs with the facility closing in stages until it completely shuts down at the end of July. Former Bradken workers had a drink at the Walloon Saloon Hotel after the company shut down its Ipswich foundry on Friday, April 23.
At its peak there were about 400 people working across three shifts a day and pouring about 35 tonnes of metal around the clock.
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Government accused of pressuring experts who questioned its gas-fired recovery plan
updated 4
AprApril 2021 at 8:55pm
Energy Minister Angus Taylor rejects claims he pressured a top bureaucrat to change report conclusions on gas pricing.
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The government has been accused of pressuring experts who questioned its gas-fired recovery plan, Four Corners can reveal.
Key points:
The government has pushed ahead with a gas-fired recovery despite international pressure to lower emissions
Energy Minister Angus Taylor rejected claims he pressured a top bureaucrat to change report conclusions on gas pricing
Mr Taylor denies his department chief urged another top energy expert to resign
Australian Labor Party prepares for war and social unrest
The most notable feature of this week’s two-day online Labor Party “Special Platform Conference” was the frequency of the references to crisis and war.
With the current Liberal-National Coalition government visibly unravelling, the event amounted to a rather anxious pitch to the corporate elite by the Labor leaders and their trade union partners presenting themselves as uniquely qualified to prosecute its agenda in the face of unprecedented geo-strategic and social tensions.
Anthony Albanese addresses ALP conference (Source: YouTube)
In his opening speech, party leader Anthony Albanese claimed the mantle of the Labor governments of prime ministers Curtin and Chifley from 1941 to 1949. “In Australia’s moment of greatest crisis at the height of the Second World War, John Curtin, led the nation out of military danger then Ben Chifley led into reconstruction,” Albanese declared. “Their motto victory in war and vi