91��̳ - Ben Courtice

Vic Labor must protect grasslands from developers

Ben Courtice — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 09:30:00 +1100

What was supposed to be the Western Grassland Reserves, to secure the conservation of some critically endangered ecosystems, is being illegally bulldozed. Ben Courtice argues it makes no sense.

Vale Phil Sutton (1951–2022): a unique radical

Ben Courtice — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 12:00:00 +1000

Phil Sutton liked to define the big picture goals and “backcast”, instead of forecast, what would be needed to get there from here. Ben Courtice reflects on his contribution to the climate change movement.

Can we stop the insect apocalypse?

Ben Courtice — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 10:15:00 +1100

Silent Earth describes the crisis of declining insect populations, but Ben Courtice writes that it falls short on the solutions required to turn this around.

Renewables advocates slam National Energy Guarantee

Ben Courtice — Thu, 24 May 2018 17:30:00 +1000

The federal government's National Energy Guarantee (NEG) policy, which was announced last year, was given provisional approval by state governments at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in April, subject to further negotiation on details, including the emissions targets. What does this mean for renewable energy and climate action, key issues affected by Australia's coal-dominated electricity grid?

Crucial reading for grasping the Indigenous economy

Ben Courtice — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 13:45:00 +1100

As a kid, the way I was taught about Indigenous people was terrible. For one thing, the understanding of the Indigenous economy and technology was non-existent.

I had this picture of people living in homes basically made of a bit of bark and maybe grass and sticks leaned up against a tree trunk. The impression was they spent their time wandering around and occasionally spearing a kangaroo or goanna for dinner.

Over the years I picked up bits and pieces of a more realistic and less insulting picture of Indigenous life, but it wasn’t really until I read Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe that it all fell into place such that I can maybe imagine in some detail how people lived.

Turnbull to run electricity grid on NBN model

Ben Courtice — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 11:00:00 +1100

Seven years after he launched a ground-breaking study showing how Australia could re-power with 100% renewable energy by 2020, Malcolm Turnbull, now Prime Minister, has announced a “National Energy Guarantee” (NEG) policy that will have no renewable energy target.

Petrol fuels Australia's record greenhouse emissions growth

Ben Courtice — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 11:00:00 +1100

In the three months to June, Australia's greenhouse gas emissions reached a record level, with the annual emissions on track to surpass the previous peak in 2009, according to the latest National Energy Emissions Audit published by The Australia Institute.

What’s behind the Finkel Review on energy security?

Ben Courtice — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Many environmentalists were disappointed, if not outraged, at Chief Scientist Alan Finkel’s Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market, released on June 9, which sought to stabilise the existing electricity market.

At the same time, the failure of the privatised and deregulated electricity grid led NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham to call for its nationalisation as the only way to solve its intractable problems.

Labor votes down ‘#MetreMatters’ cyclist law

Ben Courtice — Fri, 12 May 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Victoria’s Labor government voted down the “#MetreMatters” bill on May 10 which would have required motorists to give cyclists at least 1 metre of space when passing. Earlier in the day, Greens MPs had moved the bill in the upper house, where it passed with the support of Coalition MPs.

Australia’s ‘gas shortage’ is a fiction

Ben Courtice — Sat, 25 Mar 2017 11:00:00 +1100

According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), electricity supply will be threatened as early as next year by “shortfalls in gas”, or failing that, households may face cuts to their gas supply.

Victorian climate law shows limits of Paris targets

Ben Courtice — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 11:00:00 +1100

With the passage of the Climate Change Act (CCA) that mandates a target of zero net emissions by 2050, Victoria is formally in the leadership among state and federal governments.

Meet the ‘Minister against renewables’

Ben Courtice — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 11:00:00 +1100

“How can Shadow Minister for Renewables David Southwick continue to hold his title while opposing investment in wind and solar?” asked Friends of the Earth renewables campaigner Pat Simons after the Victorian Liberals declared they would abolish the state renewable energy target if elected.

Protesters gathered outside his Caulfield offices on February 14 with a banner reading “Shadow Minister against renewables” and also outside state Opposition leader Matthew Guy's office in Bulleen.

Victoria's koala population needs protection

Ben Courtice — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 11:00:00 +1100

Conservationists say the Strzelecki Ranges hold “one of the most important koala populations in Australia”, after completing surveys that may suggest a population of several thousand koalas across the region.

Hazelwood: Coal mine to hydro dam?

Ben Courtice — Sat, 26 Nov 2016 11:00:00 +1100

One outcome of last year's inquiry into the Morwell Mine fire in Victoria's Latrobe Valley was the discovery that the default plan for “rehabilitating” the mine would be to let it fill with water naturally, perhaps to become a recreational lake. The hitch: it would take more than a hundred years to fill naturally and the water quality would be terrible due to pollution from coal seams.

Hazelwood closure: no just transition without a plan

Ben Courtice — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 11:00:00 +1100

ENGIE, the French company that owns two of Victoria's coal power stations, announced on November 2 it will close the oldest, Hazelwood, by March, and is selling the other, Loy Yang B. The power stations are in the Latrobe Valley, east of Melbourne.

After COP22, let’s not follow the Kyoto road again

Ben Courtice — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 11:00:00 +1100

Proceedings in the latest in the United Nations’ ongoing conferences on Climate Change — the November 7–18 COP22 that just concluded in Marrakech, Morocco — were disturbed by the news of the US election result.

A belligerently anti-environmental president is set to take office in the world’s greatest greenhouse polluting nation at the same time a shaky international climate treaty is being pieced together that will need US involvement to be effective.

'Citizen scientists' force VicForests to halt logging

Ben Courtice — Thu, 05 May 2016 10:00:00 +1000

Volunteer conservationists forced a last minute stay of execution for a section of forest near Toolangi that they had shown was home to the critically endangered Leadbeater's possum, which VicForests contractors were due to clearfell within days.

Will Senate reform crash the micro party?

Ben Courtice — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 11:00:00 +1100

Why is the government so keen to reform Senate voting with the threat of a double dissolution election hanging in the air? The government and the Greens are supporting legislation to enact some recommendations of a parliamentary committee into the 2013 election while Labor and most small parties and independents are opposing them.

Capital strike brings renewable energy to its knees

Ben Courtice — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 11:00:00 +1100

Australia's large energy companies appear to prefer to accept fines for not building renewable energy rather than build it and weaken their investments in coal and gas generation. When the Tony Abbott government passed legislation to reduce the Renewable Energy Target (RET) by about 20% in June 2015, some supporters of renewables hoped that an end to policy uncertainty would free up finance for investment and get planned projects into the construction phase.

What are native grasslands?

Ben Courtice — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 11:00:00 +1100

The geologically recent volcanic activity across western Victoria created a landscape with rich, but often shallow, soils, that supported a unique grassland ecosystem. Climate, soil, herbivory and fire history, among other factors, have combined to maintain tussock grasses, such as kangaroo grass, as a dominant species, with small herbs including diverse orchids, daisies and lilies growing in the spaces between tussocks and few or no trees over large areas.

Melbourne's western grasslands: going, going…

Ben Courtice — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 11:00:00 +1100

Although about 99% of Victoria's volcanic plains grasslands have been destroyed by development, some outstanding remnants of this unique ecosystem persist, especially on the western fringes of Melbourne. The grasslands ecosystem was listed by the federal government as critically endangered in 2008. But at the same time, the then-Labor government of Victoria was initiating an expansion of Melbourne's Urban Growth Boundary that would severely impact some of its best remaining areas.

Ecosocialist takes a look at economic paths away from capitalism

Ben Courtice — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 11:00:00 +1100

Economics After Capitalism: A Guide to the Ruins & a Road to the Future By Derek Wall Pluto Press, 2015 Derek Wall, ecosocialist activist and international coordinator of the Green Party of England and Wales, has written a primer on the main strands of economic critique of globalised capitalism. It is a short and easily readable book, well suited to someone looking for a starting place. For those already embedded in one of these strands, it provides a welcome introduction to some of the others.

Where to after the successful climate marches?

Ben Courtice — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 11:00:00 +1100

More than 2000 People's Climate Marches were held over the weekend of November 27 to 29. In Australia more than 140,000 people took to the streets to show they care, passionately, about climate change. They are also angry at government inaction, as illustrated by the many homemade placards and props. These marches were the biggest national anti-government mobilisations for many years. The Melbourne march — a huge 60,000 people — was the biggest street march there since the anti-Work Choices protests of 2005.

Restoring a safe climate: Impossible dream or dangerous distraction?

Ben Courtice — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 11:00:00 +1100

Should the climate movement call for the restoration of a safe climate, rather than just zero emissions? According to a recent paper, Striking Targets, by climate writer Philip Sutton, greenhouse gas concentrations are already too high to avoid dangerous global warming, so the zero emissions goal is inadequate.

South Australia renewables frame-up covers for fossil fuels electricity prices heist

Ben Courtice — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 10:00:00 +1000

Hysterical anti-renewable headlines aren't necessarily a surprise from the Australian and other News Ltd publications. But the cynicism of the attack on South Australia's renewable energy industry in their pages is still astonishing. On July 25, the Australian published Matthew Warren of the Australian Energy Council — a peak body for “major electricity and downstream natural gas businesses” — blaming renewables for “higher costs and increased risks around reliability” in South Australia.

Greed is also behind Tasmanian power crisis

Ben Courtice — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 10:00:00 +1000

The fault in the out-of-service Basslink power cable connecting Tasmania to mainland Australia has reportedly been found, and repairs are expected to be completed by June. Meanwhile, a battery of diesel generators has been deployed and a mothballed gas power station re-opened to supplement the state's dwindling hydro-electric dams which are below 14% capacity.

Environmentalists demand end to government attacks

Ben Courtice — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:00:00 +1000

Australian governments have always encouraged extractivist industries, particularly coal mining. These industries now face a well-organised environment movement, which is challenging environmentally damaging projects and calling for an end to coal mining. The federal government under PM Tony Abbott took attacks on the environment movement to a new level, by introducing legislation to restrict environmentalists’ influence.

Victoria's Strzelecki koalas need protection

Ben Courtice — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 10:00:00 +1000

A new report from Friends of the Earth suggests combined pressure from habitat loss, inbreeding and disease may pose significant threats to the survival of the koala in Victoria and South Australia. The group is calling for federal protection for key populations of the species.

Vic gov’t on ‘naptime’ as mine fire poisons Morwell

Ben Courtice — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 11:00:00 +1100

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine is living up to his new nickname, “Naptime”, as the Hazelwood coalmine fire continues its terrible impact on the town of Morwell in the Latrobe Valley.

Coalmine fire poisons Morwell's air

Ben Courtice — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 11:00:00 +1100

A fire burning in a coal seam at the Hazelwood coalmine in Victoria's Latrobe Valley caused the local Air Quality Index to reach nearly five times the amount considered “very poor” on February 19.

91������̳ - Ben Courtice