The Australian - BHP to resume operations at Hay Point Coal terminal

BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance will resume normal operations at Hay Point coal export terminal in northeast Queensland after they were disrupted by Greenpeace protesters.

The Australian - $50m for Pacific climate

AUSTRALIA is to spend $4.3 million upgrading stations which monitor sea levels across the Pacific.

Climate change has been the hot topic at the annual Pacific Islands Forum, held this week in Cairns.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has released more details of how $50 million in previously-announced climate funding for Pacific nations is to be spent.

As well as money for the sea level stations, $6 million will go towards adapting fisheries and crops to climate change.

TV NZ - Auckland public transport use hits a high

The figures come shortly after the planned regional fuel tax to fund further public transport development was canned by the government.

It has also prioritised new road projects such as the Newmarket Viaduct upgrade and Victoria Park Tunnel and the Western Ring Route.

NZ Herald - Kiwi takes climate hotseat for Deloitte

The irony of criss-crossing the world in carbon-emitting aircraft as he advises clients on how to move to a low-carbon economy is not lost on Nick Main.

NZ Herald - Editorial: Seize chance to lead way on climate change

Over the years, there has been much debate over where this country should position itself in its response to climate change. Should it place itself in the vanguard of countries by setting ambitious greenhouse gas emissions targets? Should it play it safe and become what the New Zealand Institute once described as a fast follower? Or should we be timid in the belief that self-sacrifice would be futile, especially when our economic base provides grounds for special pleading? The question is again relevant as the Government prepares to name the emissions target for 2020 that it will take later this year to Copenhagen, where a climate treaty to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol is set to be negotiated.

ABC - Govt 'playing politics' with climate bill

Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong is resisting pressure to separate the renewable energy target from the Government's emissions trading scheme legislation.

Ourier Mail - Transport use booms but reliability of buses queried

PUBLIC satisfaction with buses has fallen, with reliability and efficiency dropping to their lowest level in a year, says a new survey.

The latest customer satisfaction survey released publicly today, the TransLink Tracker, shows buses are considered the southeast's most unreliable and inefficient form of public transport

ABC - Cougar seeks coal seam gasification nod

Cougar Energy says it will ask for Queensland Government approval to go ahead with full-scale underground coal seam gasification in the South Burnett, in the state's south-east.

WA Today - Rural people need climate help: alliance

Rural communities need more help to cope with climate change, the federal government has been told.

The Australian - Why not trade our way out of the climate crisis?

It has been conventional wisdom among experienced trade negotiators not to link concessions on trade policy to changes in other policy areas, such as national security. But we are talking here about issues that are economic in nature. The linkage is heightened by attempts to use environmental issues to justify the erection of green barriers to trade with environmentally recalcitrant nations or industry sectors. We need to head off firmly once and for all such growth-reducing practices.

Mackay Daily Mercury - Talbot predicts strong coal future

The economic downturn that has been on the quills of every pen for the past six months is showing signs of abating and even while experts are still unsure about what the future holds, all signs point to good news.

Former head of Macarthur Coal and mining magnate Ken Talbot is reported as telling a mining conference this week that the global economy would almost certainly exceed “pre-crash levels”, adding that “the next boom would be even stronger than the last one”.

Radio NZ - Climate change may trigger conflict, says UN diplomat

Ajay Chhibber, the head of the United Nations Development Programme for Asia and the Pacific, says climate change represents a significant threat to human security.

NZ National Business Review - Electric cars to be exempt from road user charges

Electric cars will be exempt from road user charges for four years under legislation passed by Parliament last night.

Gizmag - World’s first commercial fuel cell Unmanned Aerial System

Hydrogen-electric powered UAS will bring important new capabilities - reduced acoustic signature, smaller size, as well as increased effectiveness in increasingly important persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Where battery performance limits the effective use of these promising systems, Horizon’s next-generation fuel cell power systems will improve versatility and open new mission possibilities for small aircraft such as BlueBird’s Boomerang UAS. In addition to increasing flight endurance, Horizon’s new fuel cell system also makes it possible to increase the capability of smaller and lower cost aircraft by integrating more power draining electronic devices, such as electro-optical sensors, infrared cameras and laser designators.