The Goulburn Group (TGG) MEDIA RELEASE “Beware of another asset fiasco” Goulburn, 24. September 2014 - The Goulburn Group (TGG) has called on Goulburn Mulwaree Council (GMC) to ensure it doesn’t have any investments tied up in assets which could become stranded as the rest of the world moves away from destructive fossil fuels. “If it does, we are looking at another asset fiasco”, Urs Walterlin, President of TGG, warned. “Last year, at the Goulburn Connects business breakfast, ex Liberal Leader Dr John Hewson, warned that many financial institutions, superannuation funds, and government institutions were significantly exposed to large losses if they continued to invest in assets that could drop dramatically in value. He was right on the money”, Mr Walterlin said. Now China tightened its regulations on using dirty coal for energy generation. China will prohibit burning any coal that has high ash content. This will have a major impact on Australian coal producers: much of the coal shipped from Australia to China exceeds this standard. “TGG is now asking the new General Manager, Warwick Bennett, if GMC has money tied up in fossil fuel companies, because they may well lose significant value as China decouples from the carbon economy because of the grave danger climate change poses to their economy,” said Mr Walterlin. “We don’t want another fiasco that occurred during the Global Financial Crisis when this council’s investment in dodgy financial instruments copped a big write-down after the collapse of Lehman Brothers,” he warned. “A question of being human” “A few years ago the talk from business leaders and conservative politicians was that we should only start cutting our greenhouse gasses when China and the USA started to do so. Well, that is now happening in both countries, as it does in most other major industrial economies around the world”, said Mr Walterlin. “Only Australia is marching in exactly the opposite direction – curtesy of a government dominated by virulent climate change deniers and supporters of the fossil fuel industry”. “The people of Australia will eventually pay for this failure of their leaders, who by then will probably be dead or retired on a generous pension curtesy of us, the Australian taxpayers”. Now was the time for each and every Australian to demand from their politicians at all levels of government to put all their energy into the development of sustainable forms of electricity generation. “The continuous direct and indirect support with our money of mortally wounded industries by the government to benefit a few large investors that are close to certain politicians has to stop”. “Go out there, get the facts and then go to see Angus Taylor and Pru Goward and demand action”, Mr Walterlin said. “It is not good enough to just sit back and think things will be ok. It will not. This is not a matter of being Green, or Conservative, or Labor. It is a question of being human. Climate change directly endangers the future of our children, our economy, our farmers, our way of living – it endangers the future of our country”, Mr Walterlin warned. Anyone looking for facts about how to create a prosperous but sustainable future should attend the upcoming Goulburn Connects Sustainability Festival. TGG is again running this highly successful event, commencing on October 26th through to November 9th. More information at goulburngroup.au. ENDS.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 00:46:06 +0000
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