Victoria

Brown coal export deal met with protest

A snap protest of about 40 demonstrators on 25th June, greeted Trade Minister Simon Crean as he met at a Melbourne Hotel to approve a deal to export up to 20 million tonnes of polluting La Trobe Valley brown coal to Vietnam. Mr Crean was jostled as he tried to enter the Langham Hotel. The company exporting the coal is ludicrously called “Environment Clean Technologies” whose big claim to fame is that they can brown coal as “clean” as black coal!

Geography: 

New study estimates economic value of wetlands conservation

What value our wetlands? How do you value a wetlands environment? How do you value the indirect ecosystem and biodiversity benefits of having healthy wetland environments? An economic study of the Hattah wetlands within the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park in northern Victoria attempts to answer these questions putting a direct economic value of $14.5 million dollars per year for maintaining the Hattah Lakes in a healthy state with adequate water levels.

Related: Protection of Murray River redgum wetlands 'sold down the river' by NSW government

Promotion: 

Wonthaggi Desalination Plant Forum

Date and Time: 
Sat, 22/05/2010 -
7:30pm to 9:30pm
Location: 
Wonthaggi Town Hall Baillieu St East, Wonthaggi.
Contact Phone: 
0438 646 677
Website: 
www.watershedvictoria.org.au

WONTHAGGI DESALINATION FORUM

Speakers :

KENNETH DAVIDSON - Editor of Dissent Magazine & Senior Columnist The Age

MARY CROOKS - Victorian Women’s Trust

GERALDINE GONSALVEZ, THELMA WAKELAM - Residents Against Toxic Waste in the South East (RATWISE)

Aquasure has been invited but unfortunately have declined to appear.

Bass Coast Shire Council has been invited to speak & we await a final reply..

Chaired by Gareth Barlow - Bass Coast Shire Councillor

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Geography: 

Bushfire testimony on tragic cost of electricity privatisation

Testimony presented to the Victorian royal commission into the Black Saturday fires indicating that powerlines sparked several major bushfires has been virtually ignored by the media. The silence is in marked contrast to the frenzied reportage immediately following the February 7, 2009 fires of allegations that many blazes had been lit by arsonists.

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Promotion: 

Hit the 'emergency stop' button on the Afghanistan war!

In the week before Easter 2010 the Bonhoeffer Peace Collective went to the Swan Island Military base to press the emergency stop button on the war in Afghanistan. They face Geelong Magistrates Court in the last week of May/first week of June and would love you to join them in a celebration of active, vibrant resistance to war on that day. Join them in either an arrestable or non-arrestable action back at the base straight after their court appearance. Now it's your turn to hit the emergency stop button!

Geography: 

Teachers union NAPLAN back down under ALP anti-worker attack

On Thursday 6th May the AEU the public school teacher union backed down on a NAPLAN boycott in the face of an anti-worker attack from the Federal ALP led by Julia Guillard. The AEU responding to grassroots teacher anger had called a boycott of the NAPLAN to prevent the publication of “League Tables” of schools based on the new Federal “MySchools” Website. Teachers across the country had been threatened with disciplinary action and individual fines of up to $6600 as Guillard gleefully used anti-worker laws to bully teachers into submission.

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Pilgramage to Cooranderk - The History of Aboriginal People in Victoria

Date and Time: 
Fri, 14/05/2010 - 6:30pm to Sun, 16/05/2010 - 12:00pm
Location: 
Worawa Aboriginal College
Contact Email: 
cfar@passiton.org.au

Join Joy Murphy, Wurundjeri Elder on a Pilgrimage to Coranderrk, Healesville. The weekend will be a sustained reflection on the story of Aboriginal people since European settlement using Freedom for Our Lifetime – First Australians: The Untold Story of Australia (SBS)* and William Barak as a focus. We will be led by Wurundjeri elders (descendents of the original Coranderrk community and Custodians of the land), members of the Worawa Aboriginal College community, and others.

Geography: 

The worst drug-criminals are legislators

An Australian court finds that the existing drug laws, by reversing the onus of proof, violate the presumption of innocence. But all convictions stand. To any legislator who willingly allows the reverse onus of proof to continue, I say: May it please God that you become a victim of it. [From OpEdNews, USA.]

WGAR News: National day of action against Muckaty nuclear waste dump: 12th April!

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/