New Australia

News Archive

Green Tax Shift  +  No Population Growth  +  More Public Transport   +  Cost Effective Defence

The latest news is on the right of the home page.

Liberals Attack Environment

1^st Sep 2011: After banning wind farms earlier in the week the Victorian Liberals slash the solar feed in tariff. more...

Torpedo Fiasco

26^th Aug 2011: The anti-submarine MU90 torpedo project has taken 13 years and will cost $655 million - and the manuals are only in French and Italian. more...

HSR Study Excludes Maglev

5^th Aug 2011: The Federal study into High Speed Rail excludes Maglev entirely without explanation preferring older, slower and more expensive technologies. Our submission is here.

Navy crisis

19^th July 2011: Navy in perilous state, report finds. more

A carbon price at last!

11^th July 2011: Labor finally announces a carbon tax. This is a first step in the right direction which should be extended with more cuts to personal and business taxation funded by a higher carbon tax rate. more...

4.3 times more on roads

27^th Apr 2011: ACF analysis shows all levels of governments spent 4.3 times more on construction of public roads and bridges than on public railway construction. more...

Penalising Work

30^th Mar 2011: Imagine a tax system that penalised work - the adverse effects of negative gearing. more...

Pushing up Prices

16^st Mar 2011: Clear evidence that the so-called "First Home Buyer's Grant" has made housing less affordable. more...

Encouraging pollution

1^st Mar 2011: Australia spends $11 billion more encouraging pollution than cleaning it up! more...

Climate cash up in smoke

15^th Feb 2011: More than $5.5 billion has been spent by federal governments during the past decade on climate change programs that are delivering only small reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. more...

JSF Review a sham

9^st Feb 2011: Wikileaks: The review by federal Labor to justify its commitment to the JSF was just a public relations exercise, according to comments by former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon. more....

Cut fossil fuel subsidies!

28^th Jan 2011: The federal government should fund flood recovery by cutting subsidies and tax breaks that promote fossil fuel use and greenhouse pollution, not by slashing funding to climate action programs. (ACF) more...

China's J-20 Stealth Fighter

9^th Jan 2011: How China's new long range stealth fighter will outclass all Australian and US fighter aircraft and naval air defence systems. The final nail in the coffin for Australia's proposed Joint Strike 'Fighters'? more...

Commodity prices up

28^th Dec 2010: Rising commodity prices are a sign that we're living in a finite world that will require that we adapt our economy and lifestyles to the reality of more expensive resources. (Paul Krugman) more...

Carbon Tax Cheaper

15^th Dec 2010: Another study confirms carbon tax is the best option. more...

Julian Assange

13^th Dec 2010: "Julian Assange will no doubt pay a heavy price for his role in this inevitable development, but in the long sweep of history he will be seen more as hero than as villain" (Paul Barratt). more...

Climate deal turns up heat

12^th Dec 2010: A late agreement at the Cancun talks has increased pressure on the Gillard government to lift its ambition in tackling climate change. more...

Call for Congestion Tax

14^th Oct 2010: Instead of the current system in which car owners pay a broadly flat rate of tax through registration and other fees, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia wants motorists to be taxed according to how much they drive. more...

Secret Freeway Plan

11^th Oct 2010: HUNDREDS of kilometres of new freeways and expanded roads would be built across Melbourne over the next 30 years, under plans revealed in a highly detailed government map obtained by The Age. more...

Elite schools rake in profits

12^th Sep 2010: VICTORIA's richest private schools made profits of up to $14 million last year, with financial reports showing taxpayers contributed more than half of some schools' gains. more...

Libs Pledge Rowville Line

25^th Aug 2010: Liberals promise to build Rowville Rail line, Labor says they will not. Previous estimate was $413 million more...

Global warming undeniable

30^th July 2010: The 2009 State of the Climate report, published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found the past decade was the world's warmest since the advent of modern temperature records. more...

Pokies cause crime

22^nd July 2010: Explosive report links pokies to jump in crime. Conclusion that only drug offences had a stronger link to crime than poker machines. more...

Climate action postponed

9^th July 2010: Julia Gillard has confirmed she will not reconsider shelving the emissions trading scheme until late 2012. more...

Censorship postponed

9^th July 2010: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has capitulated to widespread concerns over his internet censorship policy and delayed any mandatory filters until at least next year. more...

The Tony & Julia Show

24^th June 2010: With Julia Gillard taking over the Labor Party there is even less difference between the parties. Perhaps they should merge?

A step to the right

6^th June 2010: Article saying Julia Gillard wanted Rudd's ETS dumped altogether. Coupled with her relentless support for school league tables and private schools suggests she would take the Labor party even further to the right. more...

Cut Carbon, create jobs

17^th May 2010: Tackling climate change to create 3.7 million jobs according to ACF and ACTU. more...

Labor fails to tackle junk

13^th May 2010: Obesity triggers more diseases than tobacco, but "no" to controls on junk-food advertising. more...

Mining Tax Breaks

11^th May 2010: "Miners strangely silent on the billions they reap in tax credits." more...

Stripping climate money

27^th Apr 2010: A reported government decision to strip $2.5 billion of climate spending and shelve emissions trading until 2013 is "totally unacceptable", the ACF said today. more...

China unveils new Maglev

15^th Apr 2010: Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Co. completed the world's first Maglev train designed to travel at speeds up to 500 kilometers per hour in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. more...

Water savings mirage

5^th Apr 2010: "The Brumby government's $2 billion dollar Food Bowl Modernisation Project...was based on a premise so absurd it amounted to a lie." more...

Fixing Education

31^st Mar 2010: A new approach to education funding proposed by Jim McMorrow and Lyndsay Connors of the faculty of education at Sydney University. more...

Unaffordable Housing

23^rd Mar 2010: "Average buyers can't compete with rich, tax-subsidised investors. If you are an aspiring first home buyer, rising house prices raise the bar and put home ownership out of reach." more...

ASC subs poor value

19^th Feb 2010: "Australia's insistence on maintaining a strong defence industry means it pays vastly more than other nations for its equipment, a study has found." more...

Spending questioned

10^th Mar 2010: "Australia's former army chief has said we should consider cutting funding from the defence budget - currently $27 billion - and redirecting it towards diplomacy and aid programs." more...

Believe it and we can do it

28^th Feb 2010: Renewables could power the world. more...

Myki Madness

24^th Feb 2010: Rome's transport smartcard system: $53m, Singapore's: $90m, London Oyster Card: $290m, Victoria's Myki system: $850m so far - and it STILL doesn't work! more...

New Sukhoi PAK-FA

16^th Feb 2010: "The emergence of the Russian Sukhoi PAK-FA marks the end of the United States' quarter century long monopoly on the design of ... stealth aircraft" more...

The Fossil Handicap

3^rd Feb 2010: "No wonder Australia is lagging behind Spain and China with renewable energy, writes Matthew Wright." more...

Nobel winner: Tax carbon

13^th Jan 2010: "Perhaps it is time to try another approach: a commitment by each country to raise the price of emissions (whether through a carbon tax or emissions caps) to an agreed level, say, $US80 a tonne..." more...

Hottest decade

6^th Jan 2010: 2000-2010 hottest decade ever. Highest max and min temps in Victoria ever. more. Meanwhile cold snap in Europe - how is the Gulf Stream?

Fastest train - in China

30^th Dec 2009: China unveiled the fastest rail link in the world -- a train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometres an hour. Cost ~$A 20m/km. photos...

Copenhagen fails

20^th Dec 2009: The 'Global ETS' approach at Copenhagen has predictably failed... more...

Copenhagen on the brink

12^th Dec 2009: As expected China and India are refusing to sign up to an ETS or specific targets. more...

Population & Warming

4^th Dec 2009: "Population control best way to cut emissions." more...

Hansen on Copenhagen

3^rd Dec 2009: "Outspoken US climate scientist James Hansen has announced that climate talks next week in Copenhagen must collapse if the world is to tackle global warming effectively" more...

Eco-Tax Only Option

26^th Nov 2009: A Green Tax Shift as proposed by NewAustralia is now the only option to tackle climate change given the Lib/Lab ETS cannot be strengthened without providing even more compensation.

King Coal?

8^th Nov 2009: "The 10 industries, including coal, that are responsible for 37 per cent of our emissions accounted for only 4 per cent of national production and 3 per cent of employment." more...

ASC subs to cost $36 billion

30^th Oct 2009: Twelve missile-carrying submarines to be built for the navy will cost more than $36 billion, or more than $3 billion each, an expert report has found. more...

More Lib/Lab madness

23^rd Oct 2009: PM wants to increase population by 60% & premier Brumby wants billions more for polluters. Meanwhile the Libs want to give away even more free permits and lock in doing nothing for decades!

Nuclear Delusions

16^th Oct 2009: "The goal of the nuclear industry is to grow to 730 reactors worldwide by 2030. This would require one to be completed every 24 days, every year for the next 20 years." more...

Reforming the ETS

8^th Oct 2009: ACF: "Under the current design of the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme, individuals' voluntary efforts - like buying GreenPower, putting solar panels on roofs and installing insulation - are not being counted." more...

Serving the polluters

28^th Sep 2009: "Rudd Government an obedient servant of the big polluters". Ken Davidson article that says it all. more...

French Carbon Tax

11^nd Sep 2009: Nicolas Sarkozy has launched plans for a carbon tax to encourage industry and households to cut energy consumption. This will be a revenue-neutral tax shift as proposed by us for Australia. more...

PNG Carbon Scam

4^nd Sep 2009: An Australian company has been swept up in a $100 million carbon trading scandal in Papua New Guinea. more...

Freeways clog up

4^nd Sep 2009: More freeways fail to cut travel time. more...

No Cuts, No Glory

3^nd Sep 2009: George Monbiot on the need to slash emissions. more...

Oceans warming up

22^nd Aug 2009: July was the hottest month for the world's oceans in 130 years according to the US National Climatic Data Center.

20% 'renewable' target

19^th Aug 2009: Although some brown energy is now re-branded as renewable this is a small step in the right direction. However, the issuing of bogus REC's for domestic solar power units makes it environmentally pointless installing such a system.

CPRS Rejected

13^th Aug 2009: Senate rejects "Carbon Polluters Reward Scam" legislation, mostly because the coalition thinks it should be even more generous to Big Carbon.

The Lib Plan

11^th Aug 2009: Malcolm Turnbull releases a carbon trading plan with even more free permits than Kevin Rudd's Carbon Polluters Reward Scam more...

Coal Shortage Looms

8^th Aug 2009: 'Australia is gradually becoming the ultimate global supplier of coal...This country will not for much longer be able to hide ... in a world that will soon start looking for someone to blame.' more...

F-35 2 years late

25^th July 2009: 'An internal Pentagon board has found that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program - the cornerstone of Australia's future air defence - is two years behind the publicly announced schedule.' more...

Carbon Credits Scam

2^nd July 2009: How Goldman Sachs has created and exploited successive bubbles to enrich itself and how it plans to exploit the next bubble: Carbon Credits. more...

Symbolic climate pledge

9^th Jul 2009: "G8 agreement overshadowed by major developing nations rejecting even an aspirational goal for 2050. " more...

Water folly continues

3^rd Jul 2009: Ken Davidson's analysis on the water minister's claim that recycling would be more expensive than the desal plant. more....

Fire refuges for all

3^rd Jul 2009: The Bushfires Royal Commission is expected to recommend community refuges, but unfortunately not a refuge for each house. more....

Labor trashes solar

23^rd Jun 2009: Labor shuts down off-grid solar assistance after closing down grid-connected systems last week. more...

New-gen N plant in trouble

18^th Jun 2009: "Governments would do well to consider this cautionary tale of a new-generation nuclear reactor site.". more...

Rich profit from sick system

18^th Jun 2009: "It's time to end the wasteful private health rebate, which has not eased the burden on public hospitals.". more...

Targets way too low

13^th Jun 2009: Wealthy countries' targets to cut greenhouse emissions fall well short of what is needed to avoid catastrophic climate change, according to a confidential United Nations analysis. more...

Polluters Rewarded

10^th Jun 2009: Under Labor's Carbon Polluter Reward Scheme corporate welfare for Australia's biggest polluting companies has blown out to $16.4 billion under the revamped emissions trading legislation. more...

Less Logging, More Water

10^th Jun 2009: An ACF investigation has found that ending logging in the Goulburn's wet mountain forests alone could deliver an additional 3,800 gigalitres into the Goulburn River. more...

India Rejects Cap

27^th May 2009: India states again that it wants the same cap per head as Australia...which is why a global ETS will not work. more...

Rudds ETS Delayed

4^th May 2009: Scheme now to start in mid-2011. more...

Scrap health rebate (cont)

30^th Apr 2009: Latest analysis from Ken Davidson on this subject. more...

Call to Cancel Destroyers

22^nd Apr 2009: Hugh White calls to build more submarines and stop building "highly vulnerable and extremely expensive surface ships for which there is no clear strategic purpose".  more...

Emission Impossible

20^th Apr 2009: Ken Davidson on 'CPRS':  more...
ACF on 'CPRS':  more...

Politicians Won't Act

15^th Apr 2009: Almost nine out of 10 climate scientists do not believe political efforts to restrict global warming to 2 degrees will succeed.  more...

Wilkins ice shelf breaks up

7^th Apr 2009: Accelerating warming in the Antarctic causes the Wilkins ice shelf to break up.  more...

F-22 'Raptor' Cancelled

6^th Apr 2009: The F-22 program has been terminated by the US government. This leaves the far cheaper Russian Sukhoi Flanker (which we recomend for the RAAF) as the worlds best production fighter plane. more...

G20 Failure

6^th Apr 2009: Nothing of real substance emerged from the G20 leaders meeting in London last week...The Australian Government should be preparing for 10 per cent unemployment. more...

Call for road - rail switch

2^nd Apr 2009: The Federal Government is being urged by the ACF to allocate two thirds of its transport budget to public transport. At present the Federal Government spends 12 times as much on roads as it does on rail. more...

Polluters' blank cheque

30^th Mar 2009: Real cuts in emissions are impossible under the Federal Government's scheme. more...

Why tax the jobs?

25^th Mar 2009: Everyone - employer groups, unions and governments - agrees that the mantra should be "jobs, jobs, jobs", but why do we tax the jobs we are seeking to create? Australia is a country with a $14 billion tax on jobs. more...

Emission cuts futile

23^rd Mar 2009: Labor's plan to reduce Australia's carbon pollution by between 5 and 15 per cent by 2020 means that any voluntary efforts to cut emissions will only reduce the price of permits to pollute, not actually achieve additional cuts. more...

Carbon tax the way

19^th Mar 2009: The Rudd Government's environmental credentials are in tatters: the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme has been exposed as sham. more...

Population disaster

6^th Mar 2009: The world is overpopulating itself to a catastrophic future of terrorism and climatic disaster, according to a Melbourne University professor of reproductive biology. more...

Scrap health rebate

24^th Feb 2009: "The private health insurance rebate paid to millions of Australians is "very poor policy" and should be dumped, according to a confidential briefing to Treasurer Wayne Swan." more...

Scrap emissions trading

23^rd Feb 2009: Economists on the left and the right who are concerned about global warming are now openly opposed to carbon trading as proposed by the Government and in favour of a carbon tax. more...

A day we knew would come

21^st Feb 2009:For those of us who know the history, the most haunting aspect of this tragedy is its familiarity. The 2009 bushfires were 1939 all over again, laced with 1983. more....

Don't mention the debt

19^th Feb 2009: "Each and every Australian then, including babies, accounts for foreign borrowings of nearly $110,500 dollars." more...

$15 Billion for Subs?

20^th Feb 2009: Rudd government announces it wants to spend $15 billion on new submarines - a staggering $2 billion each. (China bought eight state-of-the-art Rubin submarines that NewAustralia recommends for $2 billion.) more...

Livestock methane issue

17^th Feb 2009: 'Livestock reform is just a greenhouse whisper'. An Age article looking suggesting carbon labelling of food. (NewAustralia thinks appropriate tax shifts will send a clearer message.) more...

US flags carbon tax

14^th Feb 2009: US Energy Secretary Steven Chu has floated the idea of a carbon emissions tax to fight global warming. more...

Track Buckle Solution

28^th Jan 2009: Tracks buckle in Melbourne due to lack of breather switches. more...

Energy Priorities

Detailed study ranking 11 types of non-fossil fuels according to their total ecological footprint and their benefit to human health. more...

Pokie Windfall

14^th Jan 2009: Pokies billionaire Bruce Mathieson is among a small number of gaming industry chiefs set to share in a $750 million annual bonanza generated by a makeover of the Victorian gaming industry. more...

Transport Failure

12^th Jan 2009: Study finds Melbourne one of world's most car- dependent cities and only North American cities have worse access to public transport. more...

$101 billion on Defence?

16^th Dec 2008: Australia could become a strong regional power with a large fleet of advanced jet fighters, submarines, warships and even aircraft carriers if it's willing to spend an extra $101 billion over the next 15 years. - ASPI. more.... (Or we could save billions on defence and spend the cash on health & education.)

5% Target Announced

Rudd government announces pathetically weak greenhouse target + vast subsidies for coal miners and polluters. Suprise, suprise!  more...

Chongqing Monorail

12^th Dec 2008: Added link to stunning Chongqing monorail. This is a 'large' Hitachi system. Speeds up to 80 km/h and passenger loading up to 1,000 per six-car train. All for ~$A72 Million / km!

Click here for photos.

Greenhouse gas record

Levels of climate-warming greenhouses gases rose to record highs in 2007, leading to a 1 per cent increase in the overall warming effect, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) says. - Greenhouse gas 'at record highs' - Carbon dioxide up 0.5%: WMO - Warming effect up 24.2% since 1990.  more...

Geothermal Power

Beneath a large area between Geelong and Anglesea lies enough stored heat energy to provide 150 times Victoria's energy requirements. more...