Federal Budget 2019: Environment Restoration Fund Secures $100 Million To Cut Waste, Protect Threatened Species

Fairfax - Nicole Hasham

Communities will be encouraged to act locally to halt plant and animal extinction, protect coastlines and recycle waste through a $100 million fund announced by the Morrison government on Tuesday.
The Coalition is seeking to boost its environmental record ahead of the May election where climate change is expected to be a headline issue.
The budget confirmed a $3.5 billion climate solutions package announced earlier this year which the government says will help Australia meet its Paris target.
However, there were no major new measures addressing climate change in the budget.

A coalition government would establish a $25 million national centre for coasts, environment, climate research and education at Point Nepean. Credit: Ken Irwin

The $100 million Environment Restoration Fund will grant money to community groups for large projects such as managing erosion around waterways and protecting threatened species habitat. It would also support practical action on waste recovery and recycling.
Australia has one of the world's worst extinction records and critics say a lack of funding for threatened species programs is contributing to the crisis. Erosion is caused by extreme weather and other climate change effects, as well as land clearing.
In NSW, a re-elected Coalition government would spend $21.4 million improving infrastructure at defence heritage sites on Sydney Harbour, opening them for community, educational and recreational use.
In Victoria, the government would establish a $25 million national centre for coasts, environment, climate research and education. Located at Point Nepean, it would research marine and coastal ecosystems, climate and environmental management.
A $25 million Harry Butler Environmental Education Centre would be established through Western Australia's Murdoch University, to develop "sustainable environment outcomes from economic development".
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said all Australians have a responsibility to "protect our environment and address climate change ... Australians have been gifted a precious inheritance".
He emphasised the climate solutions package, which includes $2 billion for emissions reduction activities plus funding for a national electric vehicle strategy and energy efficiency strategies.
"Through our measures, as we have done in the past, we will beat our international emission reduction targets," Mr Frydenberg said. Several authoritative international bodies have previously disputed this claim.
The government announced most environment and energy measures ahead of the budget, such as $1.38 billion for the Snowy Hydro expansion.

Links

• Federal budget 2019: $3.9b fund to deal with the fallout from climate change
• NRMA dismisses claim Labor's electric vehicle target will leave tradies stranded
• Budget blind to dual crises of inequality and climate change
• Australia government proposes new fund to meet emission reduction targets

March Was Australia's Hottest On Record, With Temperatures 2c Above Average

The Guardian - Michael McGowan

Hot weather came after sweltering summer and unusually dry season in Western Australia and the Northern Territory

Temperatures across Australia were 2.13C above the average throughout March, according to Bureau of Meteorology data. Photograph: Steven Saphore/AAP

An abnormally hot summer in Australia ended with the warmest March on record, new data from the Bureau of Meteorology shows.
The latest monthly climate breakdown shows that despite two severe tropical cyclones in the northern states, temperatures across Australia were 2.13C above the average throughout last month in part due to an unusually dry summer in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
“One of the standout features of March was there was above-average temperatures just about everywhere; more than 99% of the country,” Blair Trewin, a senior climatologist at the bureau told Guardian Australia.
“Really a few things came together: the overall, long-term background trend [of rising temperatures] means you’re starting from a higher base, which increases the probability of records.
“Another major factor has been that the summer monsoon season in the tropics has been quite weak. Normally in the tropics in the summer you see fairly regular incursions of rainfall and moisture into the continent. That has been happening in Queensland but not really in Western Australia or the Northern Territory.”

The record temperatures in March follow records in January, while February was in the top five on record. Last year was Australia’s third-warmest year on record. It beat out the previous third-place holder, 2017.
The 2018 state of the climate report from the bureau and CSIRO found Australia was experiencing more extreme heat, longer fire seasons, rising oceans and more marine heatwaves consistent with a changing climate.
So, is this the new normal?
“It’s not as if we’re going to see records every month, even in the warmer overall climate we have now,” Trewin said.
“This is still a very abnormal summer, when you break the record for the warmest first quarter by 0.9 of a degree, that’s not a small number. It’s been an unusually hot few months, the background warming trend we see in Australia is in the order of 0.1 to 0.2 of a degree per decade.
“Even in the climate of 2019 this is unusual, but is not as unusual as it would have been in say 1980 or 1950.”
According to the bureau’s report, two severe tropical cyclones – Trevor and Veronica - contributed to very much above-average rainfall in parts of north Queensland, the east of the Northern Territory, north-east South Australia and parts of the Pilbara coast.
A wet end to the month brought totals to above average for eastern New South Wales, far-eastern Victoria and south-east Queensland.
However the report noted that “unfortunately, the rain needed to reduce significant rainfall deficiencies in drought-affected areas is substantial and will require above-average rainfall over a prolonged period to completely remove deficits at longer timescales”.
Trewin said that without those downpours, the overall average would have been higher.
“It had a bit of a cooling effect particularly in Queensland, though they still came in with their fifth warmest March on record,” he said.
The outlook is not particularly promising either. Trewin said most areas had a “neutral” outlook for rainfall, with the expectation of above-average temperatures to continue.

Links

• Australia's extreme heat is sign of things to come, scientists warn
• 'Falling out of trees': dozens of dead possums blamed on extreme heat stress
• Australia breaks weather records with hottest ever summer
• Australia heatwave: temperatures to soar in every state and territory
• Heatwave sweeps across Australia with temperatures 10C above average
• Australia heatwave to break Christmas weather records with temperatures up to 47C forecast
• Weather warnings as parts of Australia bake in record autumn temperatures
• Australia's east and south faces bad bushfire season after warm, dry winter
• Australian weather: extreme heat sends bushfires raging across south-east
• Eastern Australia swelters under heatwave as hottest January on record looms

Four Corners Report Shows Climate Change Concerns Heating Up Ahead Of Federal Election

Energy Matters

Pre-election climate and energy battles are reaching a critical stage ahead of May’s federal poll.
This week’s ABC Four Corners documentary showed experts weighing in over the best way to tackle climate change and spiralling energy prices.
The point was made that Australia is well-positioned to take advantage of renewable energy.
However, Franck Woitiez, managing director of renewable energy company Neoen, highlighted the uncertainty caused by the lack of a national policy on renewable energy promotion.

Energy battles over rising carbon emissions
Global temperatures may reach three times more than pre-industrial levels the documentary reported.

Damaging greenhouse gases will transform the Australian continent if  we can’t peg our damaging greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result, climate change will transform the Australian continent. That’s the verdict of leading scientist and policy analyst Dr Bill Hare. He says summers will be a time to fear, particularly around the southern coastline.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison insists Australia will meet its Paris obligations “at a canter”. This means reducing emissions by 26 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030.
Yet Shadow Climate Change Minister Mark Butler says carbon emissions have risen steadily since the Coalition came to office. Government figures from December 2018 show Australia’s emissions in 2030 will be only 7 per cent below 2005 levels. The political energy battles look ready to continue past the next election and into the 2020s.

Electric car and energy battleground set for May election
Most of Australia’s emissions come from four areas – transport, industry, agriculture and electricity. Transport makes up close to 20 per cent with nearly half of this coming from cars.
Despite this, Stephen Lester of Nissan Australia says the company has delayed rolling out the latest and much-anticipated new LEAF EV because of poor demand.
Lack of government direction and support means Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world in the EV transition.
Behyad Jafari of the Electric Vehicle Council told the program Australia has only 7,000 EVs on the roads. There are also fewer than 800 EV charging stations across the country.
In February the Coalition released a general EV policy which pushed policy detail back to 2020. This week, Labor Leader Bill Shorten also proposed tax breaks to ensure 50 per cent of Australia’s cars will be electric by 2030.

Managing new wave of renewable energy 
Professor Frank Jotzo of the Australian National University told Four Corners the cost of  renewables like wind and solar panels has consistently fallen.
As a result, home solar battery systems can also be used to charge electric cars and support the growing EV industry.
However, wind and solar farms are not always close to existing transmission lines. Because of this, Australia needs new transmission infrastructure, according to Jotzo, although few agree on where this should go and who pays for it.
Paul Italiano, CEO of Transgrid, says the shift to renewables has happened very quickly. The demand to hook new clean energy sources to the grid is therefore exceeding grid capacity.
Both major parties should commit to upgrading the grid, he says. This will help manage growing renewable supply.

Links

• Four Corners: Climate of Change
• Solar power systems – clean, cheap electricity
• Solar + home battery energy storage
• Federal Election: Bill Shorten says 50% of cars sold in Australia will be electric by 2030 under Labor
• Renewable energy – media and research resources