The Australian government yesterday walked away from talks to close down some of the nation’s highest-polluting, coal-fired power stations, in a move condemned by its key coalition partner the Greens.
Australian Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said Canberra had ended its negotiations with the power sector — a major producer of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia — because the electricity firms wanted too much compensation.
The talks centered on the closure of five coal-fired plants with 2,000 megawatts of capacity from 2016 as part of the government’s plan to cut carbon emissions by 5 percent of 2000 levels by 2020.
Ferguson said the government had a set amount of compensation above which it was not prepared to go, and there was a “significant difference” between what the companies wanted and how much was on offer.
“I think the Australian community expects us to pursue those negotiations on the basis of what is fair value, because in the end we’re dealing with taxpayers’ money,” he told reporters.
Ferguson said that it was just one component of the Labor government’s pollution reduction policy, which includes renewable energy targets and a carbon tax paid by major industrial polluters, which will transition to a EU-linked carbon emissions trading scheme in 2015.
The conservative opposition accused center-left Labor of abandoning the power station plan in a bid to save money and achieve a budget surplus next year as promised. The environment-focused Greens party, a key partner in Labor’s coalition government, condemned it as “short-sighted” and called for Ferguson to scale back industry compensation offered as part of the carbon tax plan.
“This is a breach of the commitment made to the public and to the planet to close down our dirtiest coal-fired power stations,” Greens party leader Christine Milne said.
Australia is among the world’s worst per capita polluters due to its reliance on coal-fired power and mining exports.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number