Victoria Bill to amend the Electricity Industry Act 2000, the Gas Industry Act 2001, the Gas Pipelines Access (Victoria) Act 1998, the Gas and Fuel Corporation (Heatane Gas) Act 1993

The Bill would amend the Electricity Industry Act 2000, the Gas Industry Act 2001, the Gas Pipelines Access (Victoria) Act 1998, the Gas and Fuel Corporation (Heatane Gas) Act 1993 and would meet some other purposes. “The main thrust of it, however, is to make amendments as a consequence of the review of the Victorian Energy Networks Corporation, more commonly known as VENCorp,” Batchelor said. “A review was undertaken of that and this is implementing some of the responses. Secondly, the bill will extend the sunset of the energy customer safety net provisions by another 12 months, and a number of other matters.” Reference: Parliament of Victoria, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), Legislative Assembly, Fifty-Sixth parliament, First session, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 – Energy Legislation Further Amendment Bill Introduction and first reading

Erisk Net, 15/10/2007

Burma, August 15: military increased price of fuel 500pc; CNG up 500pc, diesel doubled, petrol up 67pc

Soaring fuel prices trigger for Burmese protests: unfair quota system in place A surgeon in a public hospital in Burma earned $US15($17) a month and ran private clinics after hours to make ends meet, wrote Connie Levett in The Sydney Morning Herald (9/10/2007, p. 9).  Burma Heads of government departments earned $US14 a month until late 2005, when the Government increased salaries tenfold to stem dissent about the move to a new capital, Naypyidaw, in central Burma.

Burma military energy economics: bought fuel in US dollars; sold in the local currency, the kyat.

While the military reaped rich profits from selling quotas on the black market, the Ministry of Energy subsidised the price of petrol. It lost money on each transaction because the ministry bought fuel internationally in US dollars but sold in the local currency, the kyat.

Energy price riot backlash: Military rent-a-crowd pays 90c per rioter; 1000 people remain in custody at unknown locations in Burma

About 1000 people remained in custody at unknown locations in Burma since last month’s rallies, and concern for their safety had grown, reported The Australian (15/10/2007, p. 10).

How new NSW gas-fired peakers changed price spikes in 2001 and 200

How new NSW gas-fired peakers changed price spikes in 2001 and 2002 A chart showing standard deviation in the electricity pool price per quarter contained in a report “Securing Private Investment in New Generation in New South Wales” prepared by Morgan Stanley for the Owen Inquiry also demonstrated the commissioning of gas-fired peakers during 2001 and 2002.

Reference: Morgan Stanley, Report to the Owen Inquiry: Securing Private Investment in New Generation in New South Wales, 31 August, 2007.

Fed Govt uncertainty over climate-change policy blocking investment in new power gen; combined-cycle gas turbines cheaper than coal for NSW, Owen inquiry finds

The Owen Inquiry was a blunt rebuke for the Federal Government’s 10-year delay in agreeing to a national emissions trading scheme, wrote Marian Wilkinson in The Sydney Morning Herald (12/9/2007, p.4).

Aus Federal Police confirm its officers trained 20 Burmese police in in­telligence gathering; Aidwatch seeks halt to co-operation

The Australian Federal Police confirmed three of its officers trained 20 Burmese police in in­telligence gathering, as the inter­national group Aidwatch warned that such co-operation should be curtailed amid the brutal sup­pression of democracy activists, wrote Craig Skehan in The Sydney Morning Herald (5/10/2007, p.6).

New ‘Meretec’ recycling-process recovers 100pc of zinc coating from galvanised steel: cuts pollution, water use, mining waste

The vast majority of steel used in the automotive, building and manufacturing industries was zinc coated (galvanised), to protect against corrosion, according to a statement by Southern Rocycling (28/9/2007).

Iron ore prices forecast to rise by between 20 per cent and 50 per cent after BHP abandons contract and goes for spot price, for new sales

Analysts predict iron ore prices to rise by between 20 per cent and 50 per cent — consensus estimates fall at about the 30 per cent mark. According to Michael Vaughan, in The Australian Financial Review, (4/10/2007), p. 15, BHP Billiton would be able to add more than $US500 million ($563 million) to its pretax profit by selling its additional iron ore production in 2007-08 on the spot market should it not convince customers to compensate it for the reduced freight costs of its iron ore.

SP AusNet’s subsidiaries remain on CreditWatch with negative implications

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that its ratings on SP AusNet Group (SP AusNet; A/Watch Neg/–) and SP AusNet’s subsidiaries remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were initially placed on March 30, 2007.

State and Fed Govt financial-reporting harmonised; AASB looks at more onerous standards for private companies, non-profits

The accounting standards-setter has agreed to harmonise Federal and State Government financial reporting and progressed talks with New Zealand to ensure the two countries’ standards were “as similar as possible”, wrote Patrick Durkin in The Australian Financial Review (8/10/2007, p.8).

Indicators suggest a move in the spot price of uranium to $US90 a pound by early 2008; up to $US120 a pound by late 2008

John Wilson, managing director, Resource Capital Research, Warwick Grigor, managing director, Far East Capital, a Sydney-based private investment bank specialising in the resources sector, and Michael Angwin, executive director, Australian Uranium Association, answered questions about the price of uranium, reported The Australian Financial Review (10/10/2007, p. 34).

Spot iron ore $US110 a tonne compared with the Australian contract price of $US52 a tonne; crude oil continues to trade above $US80 a barrel: analysts predict contract price rises up to 40pc for iron ore in 2008-09

Spot iron ore [Indian spot at port India, free on board] was trading at more than $US110 a tonne, compared with the Australian contract price of $US52 a tonne, according to Stephen Wyatt in Shanghai, writing in The Australian Financial Review, (8/10/2007, p. 23).

Why Brisbane gas prices are low: Wood Mackenzie explains

A report prepared for the Owen Inquiry by Wood Mackenzie Wood explained why gas prices in NSW and South Australia were higher than the gas prices in Melbourne and Brisbane. Mackenzie’s gas price outlook was based on an assumption that rational economic investment decisions would be made based on cost and price.

Almost 25 per cent of spying related to commercial secrets; spies pose as business people or academics; shared secrets and trade negotiations targeted

A former top Australian spy said there had been no let-up in global espionage despite the cessation of the Cold War, and technological advances and globalisation made the country’s military and business secrets more vulnerable, according to John Kerin reported in The Australian Financial Review (5/10/2007, p. 27).

Leading edge data centre concept used to build business case for ACT gas generator: ActewAGL, Galileo Connect and Technical Real estate consortium examines $200m idea

According to John Thistleton, the latest data centres were known as data pods, and could be dovetailed into other data pods and scaled up as institutions grow, reported The Canberra Times (6/10/07, p. B23).Race for market share: One pod was worth about $70 million, Thistleton reported. Galileo Connect, a data centre designer leading the market in Brit­ain and Europe, was partnering Act­ewAGL’s foray into the Asia Pacific data centre market. In a race with Singapore and Hong Kong to capture market share, they were proposing 20 pods in Hume and 10 in Belconnen, powered by a $200 million gas generator that would bring a host of other benefits to Canberra.

Cashing in on reliance on computers: The notion of using data centres to build a business case for a gas generator was explored by Act­ewAGL’s commercial development team, which began looking at the market — dividing it into successes and failures and talking to chief executives in Britain and the United States, as well as independent consultants. Galileo Connect, ActewAGL and investor Technical Real Estate had formed Canberra Technology City and had been pitching their plans to large institutions in Melbourne and Sydney this week. Next week they travel to Singapore and Hong Kong to test the new data centre model with multi­nationals and governments whose reliance on computer back-up is growing every week. Technical Real Estate’s financial backer is the listed real estate inves­tor and developer Thakral Holdings.

One way to keep the lights on: Most data centres in the world were capable of achieving 800 watts per square metre (w/sm), the better ones 1000w/sm. Galileo was planned to deliver 1500w/sm scaleable up to 4500w/sm. Asked how ActewAGL could spawn such a venture when it could not get a return from services pro­vider TransACT, which had cost Canberrans $100 million in capital investment, ActewAGL’s chief executive John Mackay said that was absolute rub­bish. The Government’s investment in TransACT was less than 20 per cent of the overall investment, the rest coming from private investors, he said. “Our primary aim is to get a gas-fired power station in Canberra which will provide security of supply, so that is highly legitimate for a government to support — it’s keeping the lights on,” said McKay. A briefing on the data centre project would be held in Canberra on October 15.

The Canberra Times, 6/10/2007, p. B23

New South Australian plan: developer who wants to convert an old industrial site into residential housing deemed to have caused site or water contamination

A change to the law on contaminated land clean-up was a person who brings about a land use that is a rezone that results in site contamination becoming relevant (for instance, a developer who wants to convert an old industrial site into residential housing) will be deemed to have caused site contamination.

Multinational mercenaries: Iraq private-security contractors still immune from Iraqi law

Their helicopters buzzed through the Baghdad sky, their patrols bristled with the latest weaponry and their armoured vehicles carried the latest high-tech gadgets, wrote Paul Tait in The Canberra Times (22/9/2007, p.B2).

WA’s Northern Goldfields BHP Billiton wants to dominate the region the same way as WMC did for more than 30 years

BHP Billiton wants to dominate the region the same way as WMC did for more than 30 years as the partner of choice for the smaller miners around Kambalda and further north, according to Michael Vaughan, in The Australian Financial Review, (24/9/2007, p. 15).

Echoes of Eisenhower in new ’security-industrial complex’: weak Western leaders fuelling paranoia

Commentators have ascribed the chaotically belligerent aftermath of 11 Sep­tember to weak Western leaders crav­ing popularity in the glamour of war, wrote Simon Jenkins in The Sydney Morning Herald (20/9/2007, p.13).

Innocent man killed as “terrorist”; police operation goes wrong, London jury hears

In an unprecedented health and safety pros­ecution that was launched yesterday, the Metropolitan Police were accused of overseeing a “catastrophic” operation that led to the death of the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician who had been mistaken for one of the bombers involved in failed suicide attacks on London’s subway trains on 21 July 2005, wrote Charlotte Gill in The Courier Mail (3/10/2007, p.36).

Goldman Sachs JBWere predict a multi-year, three-phase, forecast “super-spike” band from $US 105 a barrel to $US 135 a barrel

Goldman Sachs JBWere said that recent rises in the oil price were the second phase of a multi-year, three-phase “super-spike” era, underpinned by the struggle of oil suppliers to catch up with growth in demand, reported The Australian Financial Review, (24/9/2007, p. 25).

LNG plans may raises SE grid gas-price: Santos requires 4,000-5,500PJ; Arrow at least 1,000PJ, three times current level of CSG production

Santos and Arrow Energy had recently announced proposals for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects in Gladstone, noted the Owen Inquiry into Electricity Supply in NSW, Availabiltiy and Cost of Gas for NSW Baseload Generation (31/7/2007).

Nuclear power the only form of electricity production that in itself poses a threat to international peace, domestic security and individual liberties

Nuclear power was the only form of electricity production that in itself posed a threat to international peace and domestic security, and consequence of its dangers and of the secrecy that inevitably surrounds it because of its connections with nuclear weapons, the only form of electricity production that in itself poses a threat to individual liberties argued the Oxford Research Group report: “Too Hot to Handle?; The Future of Civil Nuclear Power but Frank Barnaby and James Kemp, with a Foreword by David Howarth MP, UK Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy Spokesperson.

Israel and US at war with Syria and Iran: mystery explosion at Syrian military installation near Aleppo followed by 6 September F-15Is bomber attack

The Syria installation where the July 26 explosion occurred is in the same general area as the alSafir site where the Israeli air attack was carried out on September 6 but there has thus far not been any indication of a connection between the two events.

US suspends all land travel by diplomats and civilian officials in Iraq after law-immune US-paid mercenaries kill 20 Iraqis: Iraq’s Ministry of Defence confirms deaths

The US has suspended all land travel by diplomats and civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, amid mounting outrage over the alleged killing of civilians by the US Embassy’s security provider, Blackwater USA, reported The Mercury (20/9/2007, p. 20).

“The Iraq war is largely about oil”, says ex-US Fed Reserve chair, Alan Greenspan

Former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan created another Iraq-related crisis for the Bush Administration, alleging in his new memoir that “the Iraq war is largely about oil”, reported The Canberra Times (18/9/2007, p.7).

Iran unveils new home-grown fighter jet: “Our forces like a thunderbolt will blind the eyes of the enemies of our land”

Iran has unveiled a new home-grown fighter jet amid growing tensions with the United States, and said the plane could “blind the eyes” of its enemies, reported The Canberra Times (22/9/2007, p.15).

Israel declares Gaza an “enemy entity” and said it would cut off power and fuel supplies to the coastal strip of Gaza

In Jerusalem, Israel’s Security Cabinet declared the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity” last night and said it would cut off power and fuel supplies to the coastal strip. The move threatens to cloud U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to the region on a peacemaking mission. The group of top Israeli political and defence ministers did not set a date for a cut-off. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said Israel did not intend to provoke a humanitarian crisis.The Advertiser, 20/9/2007, p. 31

Queensland energy prices in Mount Isa 2 to 3 times higher than coastal regions connected to the NEM

Because North West Queensland was not connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM), energy prices in Mount Isa are routinely 2 to 3 times higher than coastal regions connected to the NEM, said the Queensland Resource Council.