Past Programs
Environment - 2008
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Parched: the politics of water Read Transcript
21/11/2008
Efficient shower heads are not enough to solve our water problems. As the world warms, weather patterns are changing, and rain falls in all the wrong places. We need to find new ways to save and share water or it could become a primary cause of global conflict. This public forum on the politics of water was recorded at Melbourne's Capital Theatre on Saturday 30th of August as part of the 2008 Melbourne Writers Festival.
Greens ready for ACT balance of power
17/10/2008
If recent polls are to believed, the Australian Capital Territory's Labor government can kiss its Assembly majority goodbye. Whoever wins tomorrow's poll in the Territory will almost certainly have to reach some kind of an agreement with the Greens, who are expected to win up to four of the Assembly's 17 members. So, if the Greens are to be the king-makers in the new Assembly, what will be their demands? And would their left-leaning members ever countenance a political alliance with the Territory's resurgent Liberal Party? The National Interest's ACT election campaign coverage continues with one of the Greens' power-players - candidate Amanda Bresnan.
Loss of gas project riles WA's new premier
26/09/2008
It's all over: Japanese company Inpex says it will build its 12-billion dollar liquid natural gas plant on Darwin Harbour. This week's announcement is a blow for the new premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, who had hoped to swing the project back to his own state. Now the premier is laying the blame squarely at the feet of the previous state government, and has pledged to do a better job of nurturing the mining and natural resources industry than his Labor predecessor, Alan Carpenter. And he'll need all of the mining tax revenue he can get his hands on, if he's to live up to his promise to up spending in regional WA - a non-negotiable commitment in his bid to keep his minority government in office.
Queensland rebranded: Bligh's vision for Q2
12/09/2008
Twelve months after he left office, the sunshine smile of Peter Beattie is but a fading memory as Premier Anna Bligh stamps her authority on Queensland. In the lead-up to her first anniversary in office, Premier Bligh delivered a major policy speech in which she set out ten ambitious targets to be achieved by 2020. She also sought to re-brand Queensland, replacing Peter Beattie's smart state tag with the slogan Q2 or 'tomorrow's Queensland'. It's a slogan which has the Labor Party setting sail to the next election, which must be held within a year. But there are challenges ahead: for example, is it possible to nurture Australia's strongest economy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by one third?
You look sweet, upon a seat... of an e-bike
18/07/2008
If you're serious about reducing your carbon emissions and your fuel bill, look no further than the e-bike. It combines pedal-power with a small, efficient electric motor and a battery that can be recharged at the end of the day. They're a must for people who would be unable to undertake long trips on a run-of-the-mill bicycle. The problem is that our legislators can't work how electric bikes should be classified. And so if you use one on the road you risk getting slapped with a traffic fine for riding an unregistered motor vehicle.
On ya bike!
06/06/2008
Worried about high petrol prices? Weekly fuel bill burning a hole in your pocket? Well, perhaps it's time to consider pedal-power. Of course, cycling isn't an option for everyone, but a number of councils in Australia think the time is right to throw some infrastructure at potential cyclists, to see if they'll take the bait. Take Brisbane City Council: it has some interesting ideas and says it's ready to put $100 million into bicycle facilities over four years. Of course, there's much more to it than that: no matter how many bike-paths, no matter what the health benefits, no matter how high petrol prices, some people either don't feel safe on two wheels or consider it downright daggy. So, what can - or should - Australian governments do to encourage cycling?
Solar - So Near And Yet So Far
16/05/2008
Just as three Australian states get a guaranteed high price for selling domestic solar power back to the grid, the Federal Government means tests the rebate for solar panel installation so that households earning more than $100 000 miss out. So is it a case of one step forwards two steps back for residential solar power?
Drought-proof or in water denial?
28/03/2008
Queensland's Water Commission has released a drought-proofing strategy, which it says guarantees that residents will never again have to bucket water on to their gardens. It's a 50-year strategy which holds open the possibility of building more desalination plants beyond the one already under construction on the Gold Coast. It also includes provision for the use of purified recycled water. Isn't strange, then, that the Queensland city of Toowoomba voted overwhelmingly against recycled water in a 2006 plebiscite? So, water will flow again, but to mention the e-word (effluent) may still be too politically unpalatable.
Don't refund my drink: the case against container deposits
29/02/2008
National Interest listeners have spoken: South Australia's container deposit legislation should go national. But the idea has some recyclers rolling their eyes in despair. They argue that a 10-cent refund on your bottle may work as an anti-litter campaign in Adelaide, but it doesn't add much to broader recycling strategies. And why favour bottles and milk containers over, say, wine bottles? The recyclers also argue that those who think scouting groups and community organisations will start raking in the dosh if container refunds are introduced nationwide may not be the full-bottle. It's the revenge of the recyclers in the National Interest's ongoing battle for the suburban bottle.
Science, nurture and nature: the great forestry debate Read Transcript
22/02/2008
During the 2007 election campaign, federal Labor promised not to fiddle with forests. But do current policies balance economy and ecology? A special edition of the National Interest taps into the international conference 'Old Forests, New Management', underway in Hobart, which brings together scientists, logging companies and environmentalists. It's an attempt to fight the hype and tease out the science that underpins one of the most acrimonious political debates around. Our panel of researchers and industry representatives will shed light rather than heat on trees and timber, pulp and protection, wilderness and woodchips. However, there will be no escape from the probing questions of a live audience in Hobart's historic Bond Store. It's the forestry briefing we had to have.
Download the complete panel discussion and Q&A session recorded at the Bond Store, Hobart, on Sunday 17 February 2008.
Download mp3 [81 min - 38.2MB]
Refund my drink: SA boosts container deposits
15/02/2008
South Australia's rubbish is the envy of the country, with fewer bottles, cans and cartons ending up as landfill or litter on the side of the road. And it's all thanks to the humble five-cent piece. In the mid 1970s, visionary Premier Don Dunstan introduced container deposit legislation. What that meant is that you'd pay five cents extra when buying a drink in a bottle or a can, but you could get your money back by taking your empty receptacle to a recycler. The original purpose of the law was KESAB: Keep South Australia Beautiful. In other words, it was a litter-busting measure. But nowadays it has a more important outcome in reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. And the refund is about to double.
Whither Australia's ports? Read Transcript
01/02/2008
Melbourne's usually tranquil Port Phillip Bay has become the unlikely backdrop to an environmental battle. A huge Dutch vessel called the Queen of the Netherlands is ready to start dredging to deepen shipping channels into the Port of Melbourne. But the ship is sitting idle as activists opposed to dredging take their concerns to court. But just how important is deepening the shipping channels to the port's future? And how much planning has gone into preparing Australia's ports for the rapidly growing number of containers moving across the docks?
The phoney forest war
13/01/2008
You've seen how the forestry debate is framed: militant green protestors chained to trees on one side, angry loggers with chainsaws on the other. But there's a lot more to the story. In fact, the real choice is now between logging native forests and fully utilising Australia's considerable stands of plantation timber. If we frame the debate in this way we might be one step closer to reaching a ceasefire in Australia's forest wars. This debate with two forestry experts was first broadcast in July, 2007.
