On 13 March 2010 five women aged from 37 to 69 began walking from Brisbane to Canberra to take a message to the prime minister. The message conveys the hopes and dreams of the Australian people, asking that we take steps towards a nuclear free future.
While Kevin Rudd announced a crackdown on tobacco advertising and increased sales tax on cigarettes, attention was diverted from the elephant in the livingroom: climate change and addiction to coal. At the same time Friends of the Earth Australia denounced the development of two new coal export terminals near Bowen in North Queensland, insisting the expansion of Queensland's biggest contributor to climate change must come to an end. Adding an extra $2 sales tax a pack to cigarettes is a diversion from the real problem: Australia's multi-billion dollar addiction to coal. What Kevin Rudd needs to do is put a $35 per tonne carbon levy on coal to send a significant message to business and the public on climate change and public health.
Related: Punishing the people who stand up for the common good | Conservationists and scientists angry at Rudd retreat on climate | Crikey: Pity the coal lobbyists are more powerful than the tobacco lobbyists
"It's a tragedy that the people who are responsible for the climate catastrophe get rewarded, while the people standing up for the common good get punished." said Greenpeace activist Kristen McDonald after leaving a Mackay courtroom this week. She was one of fifteen Greenpeace activists convicted and fined on charges of Unregulated High Risk Activity and other charges during a three day occupation in August 2009 of the Abbot and Hay Point coal terminals near Bowen, Queensland.
This week we saw hefty fines of $70,000 handed out to three foreign sailors from a bulk carrier, the MV Mimosa, which was caught travelling through restricted waters of the Great Barrier Reef off north Queensland. Also in the news was the arrest and charging of the master and the chief officer on watch of the Shen Neng 1, which ran aground on the Douglas shoal causing damage in a restricted area of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
WGAR website: http://wgar.info/
Contents:
National Day of Action against Muckaty Nuclear Waste Dump: 12th April!
Nuclear Waste Dump: Possible Legal Challenge; Tennant Creek Protests
NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST MUCKATY NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP: 12th APRIL!
[Please note, WGAR is not the organiser for the National Day of Action. See ASEN link below for details of contacts.]
- Background of Muckaty Nuclear Waste Dump
Beyond Nuclear Initiative’s weblog:
http://beyondnuclearinitiative.wordpress.com/
Conservationists have criticised the Queensland State Government and Federal Government for the expansion of LNG and coal for export without acknowledging the environmental harm that will be caused both on land and sea by these industries. Chinese bulk coal carrier the Shen Neng 1 grounded on a reef, is leaking oil and in danger of breakup in a restricted zone about 70km east of Great Keppel Island. It grounded just after 5pm Saturday April 3, 15km from the nearest shipping channel in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, a World Heritage listed area.
Posted by: "Ray Jackson" isja01@internode.on.net
Mon Mar 8, 2010 11:46 pm (PST)
more on the not so unexpected racism involved in the secrecy and suppression involving the history of thuggery by hurley towards aboriginal people.
the qld. police tried every trick in the book in an attempt to stop the assault record of hurley being made public but had only half a victory. it was used in the inquest but was not made public.
Friends of the Earth have described the proposed Waratah Coal Galilee mine, the world's largest coal mine, as another nail into the coffin of our climate. Waratah Coal's Clive Palmer and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh jointly announced on February 7, 2010 the progression of what would be the world's largest coal mine, having struck a multi-billion dollar deal which would see a twenty year supply of coal to Chinese power-stations.
In December Kate Jones, the Queensland Climate Change Minister, stated "Queenslanders are by per capita the highest emitters of carbon in the world." and said the Queensland Government was "committed to world action on climate change." Spoken at the Copenhagen climate talks on December 15, they illuminate the greenwashing, spin and hypocrisy that our politicians are engaging in.
COPENHAGEN. Dec 9, 2009. Extinction of Coral reefs and 10-20% of marine species is likely if greehouse gases aren't brought down to 350ppm, warned Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg from the University of Queensland. He gave a presentation (audio 14mins 19s) at the US Pavilion at the COP15 climate negotiations in Copenhagen about the threat of climate change to the world's coral reefs. Over 500 million people living in approximately 90 nations are dependant in some way on coral reefs.
