Motions

Motion on Solar Flagships and the collapse of Solar Systems

Motion | Spokesperson Christine Milne
Thursday 10th September 2009, 12:00am
in

Senator MILNE (Tasmania) (9:45 AM) -I move:

That the Senate-

(a)
notes:

(i)
that United States of America company, First Solar, has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a 2GW solar power station in China and that this single plant will be eight times larger than projects called for by the Solar Flagship Program (the program),
(ii)
that the program depends for success on significant levels of private sector capital,
(iii)
that the global financial crisis is exacerbating difficulties Australian companies are experiencing in accessing private sector capital for innovative renewable technologies,
(iv)
that, in Australia, Solar Systems has gone into voluntary administration because of a lack of investment capital, and
(v)
the lack of a comprehensive or coherent policy framework to encourage private sector investment in renewable energy; and

(b)
calls on the Government to underpin the success of the program by:

(i)
providing loan guarantees for commercial-scale demonstration projects,
(ii)
implementing a gross national feed-in tariff for small to utility scale renewable energy projects, and
(iii)
planning and funding electricity grid extensions to connect remote utility scale projects.

* (iii)planning and funding electricity grid extensions to connect remote utility scale projects.

Question put.

DIVISION:NOES 37 (31 majority) AYES 6 (Greens plus Sen Xenophon)

Motion of Support to reduce HFCs

Motion | Spokesperson Christine Milne
Thursday 25th June 2009, 12:00am
in

I move:

That the Senate-

(a)
acknowledges proposals submitted by the Federated States of Micronesia and Mauritius to amend the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to regulate and phase-down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) with a high global warming potential, and promote the destruction of banks of ozone-depleting substances at the Montreal Protocol Open Ended Working Group meeting to be held in Geneva from 13 July to 18 July 2009;
(b)
notes that these proposals will strengthen the protocol to provide fast-action climate change mitigation several times greater than the emission reductions sought during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);
(c)
recognises the importance of these and other fast-action mitigation strategies to reduce the threat of crossing tipping points for abrupt, irreversible and catastrophic climate changes - tipping points many leading scientists now warn may be only a few years away; and
(d)
calls on the Government to support the proposals from the Federated States of Micronesia and Mauritius, and to recognise the need to work towards an HFC phase-out coordinated between the UNFCCC and the protocol, and to seek amendments that will enable the UNFCCC and the protocol to both play important collaborative roles in the phase-out of HFCs.