LIFTING THE BAN on nuclear power generation in NSW using unproven small-scale reactors will only push up power bills, damage the environment and compromise safety, according to the Electrical Trades Union (ETU).

ETU National and NSW Secretary, Allen Hicks, said nuclear power would be hugely expensive compared to renewable energy, and that small nuclear reactors were still a pipe dream.

The recommendation around small scale reactors is one of 60 contained in the NSW Productivity Commission’s White Paper, which is supposedly designed to reboot the state’s economy, according to Mr Hicks.

“The Productivity Commission has lost the plot if it thinks small modular reactors, a technology that has been ‘just around the corner’ since the 1970’s but still doesn’t exist, is the answer to NSW’s productivity growth,” Mr Hicks said.

“Even if someone finally manages to build one that works, the electricity price forecast for their output is six times more expensive than renewables.

“Why does the Productivity Commission want NSW residents paying six times more for their electricity?

"There are massive offshore wind projects waiting for federal approval off the NSW coast near Newcastle, Wollongong and Eden. Rather than pie-in-the sky nuclear nonsense we should get on with approving this clean energy and getting it into out grid," he said.

"The commission said lifting the ban would provide another source of firming capacity in the grid. But its own report admits “a wide degree of uncertainty” about small-scale nuclear reactors, mainly due to cost," Mr Hicks said.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the government “will consider everything” in the report.

But Mr Hicks said the State Government must hit the stop button on nuclear power, as the business model for a dirty and dangerous technology did not stack up.

“Even if they improve the technology, a small modular reactor would take far too long to build, and we don’t have time to waste in the fight against climate change,” Mr Hicks said.

“Globally, most countries are moving away from nuclear power. Few new reactors are being built and nuclear companies are going bankrupt or facing financial distress. 

“Nuclear power also has the potential to contribute to weapons proliferation.”

Mr Hicks said the government should instead continue to focus on renewable energy. 

“With a bit of foresight, some investment and some big thinkers, Australia is uniquely positioned in the world to become a renewable energy leader," he said.

"Boosting the economy, providing more jobs, and dealing with climate change are big problems, but nuclear power is not the answer.”

ends

THE Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to grow the value of Australian aquaculture to $2 billion by 2027 will be discussed at an upcoming public hearing by the ​House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee. 

The Committee will speak to the Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment this Thursday as part of its inquiry into the Australian aquaculture sector. Witnesses will appear in person.

Committee Chair, Rick Wilson MP, noted that, while the day-to-day operations of aquaculture enterprises are regulated by state and territory governments, the Commonwealth holds several key functions which directly affect the sector. These include biosecurity and environmental management, aquatic animal health, food safety, national research programs, and market access and trade.  ​​​

"The Government is currently implementing a National Aquaculture Strategy which recognises the increasingly important role of the sector to the Australian economy and aims to grow its value to $2 billion by 2027. The Committee looks forward to discussing the progress of this strategy with the Department," Mr Wilson said. 

For further information, visit the inquiry website.

ends

THE Glen Drug and Rehabilitation Centre will give evidence to the House Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs this Thursday and talk about the success and challenges it has faced helping both Indigenous and non-Indigenous men move into employment.

The hearing is part of the Committee’s inquiry into pathways and participation opportunities for First Nations peoples in employment and business. Witnesses will be appearing via videoconference.

Committee Chair, Julian Leeser MP, said the Committee visited ‘The Glen’ during its public hearings on the Central Coast in April and was very impressed with its work.

"The Glen has operated since 1994 and has helped both Indigenous and non-Indigenous men with a history of addiction and contact with the criminal justice system to overcome significant hurdles and move into employment," Mr Lesseer said. "The Committee noted, however, that these men still faced immense structural barriers which can make it very difficult to find work.

"The Committee looks forward to speaking with The Glen about their successes as well as the ongoing challenges for participants in their program," Mr Leeser said.

Public hearing details

Date: Thursday, 3 June 2021
Time: 11.40am to 12.25pm AEDT

A live audio stream of the hearing will be accessible at https://www.aph.gov.au/Watch_Read_Listen.

A full program will be available at the inquiry website.

ends

THE Expert Mentoring Program, created by Women and Leadership Australia (WLA) to support the Royal Australian Navy in their gender equity work, is now available for all people in Australia who wish to contribute to gender equity in their industry and organisation.

The program was created in partnership with the Royal Australian Navy, as part of the service's initiatives to support more women to take on entry level, middle and senior leadership roles within the organisation.

Lieutenant Kim Green, from the Directorate of Navy Culture, said of the program, “The Navy Women’s Mentoring Program links Navy personnel of all ranks, categories, primary qualifications and experience, from across the country through a virtual mentoring framework where the support and development of all Navy people is a priority.

"Navy views mentorship as a key enabler to retention and capability and as Navy continues to grow our female participation rate, the mentoring program is seen as a key enabler for gender equality and future gender parity.

“The inaugural first round of the Navy Women’s Mentoring Program was well received with over 200 personnel registering for mentorship. As the mentoring program matures we are seeing an increased demand for future participation which is a fantastic outcome for Navy and our people,” Lt Green said.

The program has now been adapted to assist current and aspiring mentors in all industries to maximise their approach, in order to provide meaningful professional and personal growth to their mentees.

Suzi Finkelstein, CEO of WLA, said of the initiative, “We have done so much meaningful work with the Navy. The impact of this program inspired us to adapt this program for all industries. We want to ensure women across all industries and sectors can benefit from this best-practice mentoring program.

“Mentoring is a powerful tool for enabling gender equity and breaking down stereotypes. Good mentors have no agenda other than assisting their mentees in reaching their own goals. They aim to provide a safe, confidential space for their mentees to explore new ideas, and an unbiased sounding board to test their assumptions.

“And for the mentor, the relationship can build confidence, provide opportunities for self-reflection, and generate a sense of satisfaction in supporting emerging women leaders.​

“The Expert Mentoring Program imbues mentors with the skills required to facilitate learning, connection and advancement for the mentee.”

Chief Petty Officer Zoe Mack, who participated in the Navy Women’s Mentoring Program said, “Throughout working with my mentor I have gained insight into different opportunities available to me that I hadn’t previously considered. My mentor encouraged and supported me to tread my own path and facilitated a space for me to be unapologetic with my ambitions. Discussions with my mentor have propelled me, shaping my career into something that fulfils me and helped me find strength in non-traditional paths.

“The Navy Women’s Mentoring Program has not only assisted me in having clarity of my own professional career path, but has also given me the confidence and the skills to support the younger generation of Navy personnel to develop theirs.”

The Expert Mentor Program is a one day, online, immersive program. Facilitated by Women and Leadership Australia, participants will spend the day learning from WLA’s expert leadership facilitators and subject matter experts.

https://www.wla.edu.au/emp.html

ends

EXPLORATION expenditure in Queensland have risen by 24 percent over the past 12 months to reach $708 million since March 2020, the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said today. 

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the latest ABS exploration data released today shows that in spite of the global pandemic, Queensland’s resources sector has continued to surge ahead, particularly in petroleum and minerals. 

“The latest data is the first time we’ve been able to look at how the exploration industry has performed over a 12-month period since the onset of COVID, and the news is very good for the Queensland economy and for regional jobs,” he said. 

“Annual expenditure on petroleum exploration in Queensland has risen by almost 60 percent since March 2020 to reach $297 million, compared to $188 million for the previous 12-month period. 

“Queensland minerals exploration expenditure has also kept increasing throughout COVID, rising by seven percent over the past 12 months to reach $411 million.” 

Looking at the performance of individual commodities over the 12 months, copper exploration expenditure is up 13 percent since March last year, gold is up 33 percent and selected base metals and coal are steady. 

Mr Macfarlane said while coal exploration expenditure was flat over the period, the good news is that demand for Australian coal is still very strong. 

“Queensland Treasury analysis highlights Queensland’s future coal demand will continue to be linked to key economies in North-East and South-East Asia, and demand for our metallurgical coal in particular hinges on the world’s two largest coal consumers, China and India,” he said.

“In Queensland, our coal industry enjoys some key advantages such as our strategic geographic location in the region and the superior quality of our coal compared with global competitors. 

“We are well placed to meet this projected increase in demand as long as we have the right policy settings in place.”

The QRC’s exploration arm the Queensland Exploration Council (QEC) Chair Kim Wainwright said Queensland’s exploration industry has shown resilience through what has been a tough year for explorers. 

“A year on from the pandemic, this informative expenditure data has proven our explorers are confident Queensland’s prospectivity is strong.

“It’s welcome news to know that the exploration industry is recovering from the challenges of COVID-19,” Ms Wainwright said.

www.qrc.org.au

ends

FUND MANAGERS should be subject to more rigorous standards to ensure their disclosures about environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing are accurate.

Stoic Venture Capital partner Geoff Waring said Australia should take the lead of the United States, European Union and United Kingdom by ramping up its scrutiny of ESG disclosure and compliance.

Investors are becoming increasingly ESG-aware and correspondingly more distrustful of greenwashing funds that claim to comply with ESG investing principles but in reality do not.

“Many investors are concerned about the hazy reporting of fund managers when it comes to their ESG investments,” Dr Waring said.

“There is a lack of consistency and regulation in how funds report ESG investments and how ESG principles are integrated into their investment decisions and strategy and the impact this has on their returns.”

Dr Waring said it was time the investor industry associations such as the Institutional Limited Partners Association stepped in to address the growing concerns of investors about the problem of greenwashing.

Rather than just educating participants about ESG standardised processes they should act as a centralised platform for independent ratings and benchmarks of fund managers’ ESG compliance. Cambridge Associates calculate benchmarks for financial returns so could do it for social impact too, he said.

It was also important given the ongoing growth in responsible investing which represents around 37 percent of total $3.135 billion assets under management according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The responsible investment market grew 17 percent in 2019 to $1.149 billion.

“Stronger, more consistent guidelines and more information sharing would reduce the risk of misleading marketing claims about ESG investing,” Dr Waring said.

“It would also push investor ESG preferences more effectively through fund managers down to the individual investee companies where many key decisions are being made.”

Dr Waring said investors were turning to venture capital as an alternative to invest more responsibly as they wake up to the unsubstantiated claims of some public and private equity funds about ESG investing. 

“Early stage venture capital is by nature socially responsible and can generate attractive returns. But it is important that investors select high performing venture capital managers,” he said.

“The higher performing firms are those that concentrate on innovative solutions to environmental and societal challenges such as addressing climate change by transforming carbon intensive industrial practices or treating large chronic public health concerns such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

“Higher performing venture capital managers will also be more proactive in encouraging better ESG outcomes from their investee companies.

“Investors can take comfort that both attractive returns and the greater good are possible.”

Stoic Venture Capital’s investments include Cardihab (digital cardiac rehab); Ena Therapeutics (enhancing immunity to fight respiratory diseases); Certa Therapeutics (drug for treating kidney disease); Wildlife Drones (aerial drones tracking animals); Agerris (agricultural robots); Kinoxis (addiction rehabilitation); Occurx (drug to treat eye damage from diabetes); Que Oncology (breast cancer side effects treatment); Ferronova (magnetic nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis); Q-Sera (blood collection); and PERKii (probiotic drink).

About Stoic Venture Capital

Stoic Venture Capital provides financing for early-stage companies, particularly those arising from university research. Stoic is unconditionally registered as an Early-Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) and takes a collaborative approach to investing in the highest potential companies. Atlas Advisors Australia AFOF is the major limited partner for the Fund. www.stoicvc.com.au

ends

AUSTRALIAN AUTHORITIES have issued a record ban to the owners of Panama-flagged bulk carrier MV Maryam, preventing the vessel from entering any Australian port for three years in response to major safety and maintenance issues, along with crew welfare abuses.

The ban comes a month after a second bulk carrier owned by the same company, Aswan Shipping, was issued an 18-month ban for similar deficiencies after being detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority at Weipa, in far north Queensland.

The MV Maryam was detained in Port Kembla in February after an inspection identified dozens of serious safety, maintenance, and crew welfare breaches. In recent weeks it sailed to Brisbane.

The 23 seafarers onboard were owed tens of thousands of dollars in outstanding wages, while a lack of fuel had left the vessel without lighting, air-conditioning, or power for refrigerators. Urgent supplies of fuel, food and drinking water were delivered to the desperate crew.

The International Transport Workers' Federation said the MV Maryam was now sailing to Vietnam to undertake urgent repairs following the replacement of the remaining crew members.

“After more than three months in detention, with much of that time spent floating off Port Kembla and Brisbane, the remaining seafarers have finally been able to leave the vessel and fly home, with a replacement crew taking the bulk carrier for urgent repairs,” ITF Australia coordinator Ian Bray said.

“The situation facing seafarers onboard was absolutely appalling, with the 23 crew members critically short of food, water, and fuel.

“The ITF found that many of the seafarers were working well past the expiry of their contracts, desperate to go home, and owed thousands of dollars in unpaid income.

“The extremely poor state of maintenance was also highlighted when the vessel’s one remaining anchor broke free, resulting in Australian authorities having the crew sail 50 nautical miles offshore to reduce the risk of an engine failure causing the vessel to run aground.

“Throughout the crew’s ordeal, ITF inspectors and local branch officials from the Maritime Union of Australia remained steadfast in their support, providing practical welfare assistance and holding the company to account over their breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention.

“The repatriated crew members have now confirmed that they are safely home and have offered their sincere thanks to everyone in Australia who was involved in assisting them.”

Mr Bray said the ITF welcomed the record ban imposed against Aswan Shipping, but warned that the significant abuses were becoming increasingly common in Australia’s maritime supply chains.

“Australia is one of the most significant users of shipping on earth, with thousands of vessels delivering Australia’s imports and exports, including containerised freight, resources, agricultural products, fuel, and manufactured goods,” Mr Bray said.

“Unfortunately, the situation on these Aswan Shipping vessels is becoming increasingly common, with Australia’s maritime supply chains increasingly reliant on flag-of-convenience vessels, registered in notorious tax havens and crewed by exploited workers paid as little as $2 per hour.

“While the situation onboard the Maryam was particularly shocking — resulting in the crew resigning and seeking support from Australian authorities to be repatriated home — we are seeing a constant stream of similar cases in Australian ports.

“Vessels with similarly appalling labour conditions continue to be used to transport goods to and from Australian ports, forming part of the supply chains of major Australian businesses.

“The Australian Government needs to do more to crack down on these abuses, with more resources for inspections, tougher enforcement of Australian laws and the Maritime Labour Convention, and a tightening of the temporary license system for coastal shipping.

“The situation with these two vessels from Aswan Shipping isn’t a one-off, it’s a systemic feature of the deregulated global shipping industry which is seeing a race to the bottom when it comes to safety, maintenance, and the treatment of seafarers.

“Australia’s economy is built on shipping — with 98 per cent of the nation’s imports and exports moved by sea — which is why the country has an obligation to take stronger action to stamp out the abuses happening in its maritime supply chains.”

About the ITF and ITF Inspectorate

The International Transport Workers' Federation is a democratic global union federation of 670 transport workers trade unions representing over 20 million workers in 140 countries. The ITF works to improve the lives of transport workers globally, encouraging and organising international solidarity among its network of affiliates. The ITF represents the interests of transport workers' unions in bodies that take decisions affecting jobs, employment conditions or safety in the transport industry. The ITF Inspectorate is a network of 147 inspectors and contacts, based in ports all over the world, whose job is to inspect ships calling in their ports to ensure the seafarers have decent pay, working conditions and living conditions on board. They conduct routine inspections and also visit ships on request of the crew. If necessary they assist with actions to protect seafarers' rights as permitted by law.

ends

INTERNATIONAL FINANCE FORUM (IFF) started its two-day 2021 Spring Meetings yesterday.

Entitled Global Governance and Development in the Post-Pandemic Era, the meeting aims to provide a platform for in-depth discussions on international cooperation and global governance, while promoting development and collaborations in low-carbon initiatives, sustainable finance, climate change, public health issues, as well as Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI).

Global audiences can attend the virtual meetings.

"We have seen progress with our fight against the pandemic, however, we still face a lost decade for development and grave setbacks to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during his opening remarks.

"Reversing this trajectory requires a more concerted global and multilateral response on several fronts, which includes urgent actions to close the global vaccine gap, more support for developing countries that are on the brink of a debt crisis, and resilient recovery from the pandemic and climate change crisis," Mr Guterres said.

IMF President Kristalina Georgievain said in her speech, "The global recovery is underway-but the paths and pace are diverging dangerously. We face high uncertainty until this pandemic truly ends.

"Policymakers must take the right actions now by giving everyone a fair shot at the vaccine, recovery, and future."

Ms Georgievain said China has played an important role in the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Common Framework for orderly debt restructuring. The country has also proved the action by supporting the IMF's concessional lending facilities. China is showing efforts on a scale not seen before to accelerate vaccination, while delivering fair vaccine supply to other countries.

"Public health is a global public good," said Jose Manuel Barroso, IFF Co-chairman and Chair of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization in his speech. "We have to face it also at global level and if possible, with the true sincere spirit of cooperation and solidarity."

Nearly 500 leaders from the worlds of governance, finance, business and academia participate in the meeting.

About International Finance Forum (IFF)

Established in 2003, the International Financial Forum is a non-profit and non-governmental unofficial international forum organization. Headquartered in Beijing, it is a high-level dialogue and academic exchange mechanism co-sponsored by business leaders and scholars in the global financial community and academic circles. www.iff.org.cn

ends