With two thirds of the state experiencing flooding and the cities of Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Maryborough flooded, today things have worsened in Queensland with flooding in Gympie, Chinchilla, Dalby and other regional towns and the likelihood of a three metre rise in the Brisbane river overnight.
Have you noticed that no-one in the media is discussing Climate Change and the devastating Queensland floods? Floods that are directly affecting over 200,000 people, closing down three quarters of the coal mining industry in the state, plus major highways, rail links and public airports. Estimates of the damage are now running into the billions of dollars with at least 10 people killed so far.
Related: FoE: Heavy metals released into flood waters
Brisbane flood warnings, Great Barrier Reef lasting impact
Following the Global Action for Tasmania's forests on 15 December 2010, with the help of emails and actions in 52 cities in 21 countries around the world, the Tasmanian Government has announced a moratorium on the logging of High Conservation Value forests in Tasmania!
This is a tremendous victory for the conservation of nature BUT the devil is in the detail.
Queensland Friends of the Earth Press Release 29th December 2010: Queensland's environmental regulator the Department of Resource Management (DERM) is powerless to stop flood waters creating massive pollution from mine sites across the state. Mines will be releasing huge amounts of heavy metals into the flood waters and much of this will pile up behind weirs in catchments like the Fitzroy and be a pollution problem for many years. Pollutants include dangerous levels of copper, uranium, zinc, aluminium, lead, arsenic, cobalt and nickel.
Related: Wiradjuri elder warns of risk of groundwater poisoning from gold mine at Lake Cowal
Friends of the Earth Brisbane have released our response on the AECOM Public Environment Report for Excercise Talisman Sabre 2011, the U.S.-Australian joint war games. TS11 is the biggest military operation outside of war and takes place in several places in Australia, including the Shoalwater Bay area in QLD, the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. The PER has no legal standing and is not an EIS. It is an elaborate greenwashing excercise for a toxic, dangerous and murderous industry: militarism.
Is the Qld Government Corrupt ? in my opinion the corruption starts at the bottom of the ladder and goes all the way to the top, but if you want to find out for yourself then click on this link: www.queensland-government.webs.com with actual Government Documents,and then you can make your own opinion about Queensland Corruption ?
In another outrageous move by the Queensland Police Force, the Deputy Police Commissioner Kathy Rydners has been given the task of whether to discipline six police officers for their role in sabotaging any investigation of Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island in 2004. The problem is that she has previously awarded bravery awards to two of the police officers involved in combating the protest on Palm Island which saw the Police station and Court House destroyed after locals heard that the results of Doomadgee's autopsy.
For all of those who are interested in what is happening at present with regards to justice for Luke Borusiewicz. (Born: 22/09/06 - Died 18/01/2009)
There is no more unsustainable activity than war. War causes the breakdown of the social and ecological community to the extent that it may be a risk to the survival of human beings and all life on our planet in the extreme event of nuclear war. Indeed, even the preparation for war (maintainence of the military through economic, political and social support and the provision of locations for bases and training) is toxic to human relations and the environment alike.
We are asking for you to join with us at a Peoples Assembly in Canberra at the opening of Parliament on Tuesday 28 September (2010).
We will assemble on the lawns outside Parliament House to call on the new Parliament to introduce humane refugee policies and stop using refugees as political footballs. Refugee groups are asked to bring banners with the key messages of the gathering as well as their own messages.
