Mark’s news digest March 3, 2021 

Today’s digest of national and international news by Mark O’Brien. Click on the links to go to the original publisher’s page

My comments appear in red italics!

 

Canberra’s rape story that keeps on giving

Former PM Malcolm Turnbull says Minister involved in historical rape allegation should ‘front up’ amid calls for independent inquiry

Absolutely, unless of course he thinks he might be guilty, or was too out of it at the time to remember the encounter and if he really heard her say NO!

Rape allegations have shaken Canberra to its core – and may now be hitting the PM in the polls

We can only hope that this obfuscating causes a collapse in Scomo’s approval and gets these ….. out of government

 

Environment news

10 facts you may not know about energy in Australia

Very good article, very informative, a few things that I was not aware of

H2 Green Steel Initiative Aims to Produce 5 Million Tons of CO2-Free Steel – in Sweden.

The green steel revolution is happening whether Australia buys into it or not – already Saudi Arabia is exporting H2, made using oil, not renewables, to Japan to replace burning coal in hitherto coal-fired power stations. Currently it is cheaper to make H2 from fossil fuels than renewables, but that is changing fast

Two Victorian towns could go off grid under new network proposal

Excellent news, remove dependency on the larger grid, local communities in charge of their own power production.

Gippsland town volunteers for micro-grid trial to reduce dependence on main grid.

This article is a little odd/incorrect, as Portland is not in Gippsland, so neither is the huge Portland smelter referred to. But the meaning is the same! Proofreaders have all been retrenched it seems

What the frack? Australia overtakes Qatar as largest gas exporter

While making roughly 25% as much as Qatar due to Howard’s cosy deal with Japan (an enquiry into the money involved may expose serious corruption re donations etc) its production of carbon and methane dwarves the savings of renewables industry!

Latest emissions data – the Federal Government can claim zero credit – ‘Australia’s climate inaction is a major economic risk

 

As the recent Facebook drama around news went nuclear and Facebook shut off news feeds amidst collective discomfort about Facebook’s ‘algorithms’ and data mining and Facebook ‘knowing’ whatever you are interested in before you do, Mark’s news digest March 3, 2021 was created to provide a local independent news service.

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