Over 250 people gathered on Thursday May 6, 2010 for a protest on the steps of the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne, called for Victorian Premier John Brumby to take strong climate change action and negotiate the closure of the Hazelwood brown coal fired Power Station in the La Trobe valley by 2012.
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.
Conservationists and scientists have reacted angrily to the breathtaking act by the Rudd Government in taking the emissions trading scheme - the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme - of the legliative agenda for two to three years, delaying central action on climate change - the setting of a carbon price.
The Getup organisation have launched a public No confidence vote saying that Kevin Rudd has lost the courage of his convictions. He needs to hear loud and clear that he just lost our confidence as a result.
In April Conservation groups on the South Coast of New South Wales called on the Keneally Government to immediately reject a proposal for a Wood Fired biomass Power Station, nick named by them as 'Dead Koala Power', at the infamous Eden Woodchip Mill. South East Fibre Exports, a Japanese owned company, plans to use chipmill timber waste to generate electricity in a 5.5 megawatt $20million plant. The power station would be an environmental disaster for native forests and a climate disaster with greater CO2 pollution than coal fired power. Public submissions online on the assessment for the biomass power station can be made until April 22.
Related: Traditional owners, Conservationists Protest far South Coast Logging |
SEFE BioEnergy Project | Chipstop: Forests in the Furnace | Online Petition
A new Greenpeace report uncovers the multimillion dollar funding and intense lobbying against climate science and climate action by Koch Industries, that eclipses the traditional funding for climate deniers from ExxonMobil and other fossil fuel companies.
Greenpeace Reports: Koch Industries: secretly funding the climate denial machine | Dealing in Doubt: A Brief History of Attacks on Climate Science, Climate Scientists and the IPCC
Two climate activists have been arrested after disputing the 2010 Victorian Coal and Energy Conference held in Traralgon in the La Trobe Valley and charged with trespass. The activists proceeded to the stage and interrupted the conference presentation given by Peter Bachelor, Minister for Energy and Resources. | Photos | Video | More on Coal Conference Protest
Related: Climate activists picket Peter Batchelor calling for climate jobs not new coal | Coal power up: Victoria fails to diversify electricty generation
Climate activists held a picket outside the ministerial offices of Peter Batchelor, Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, at 1 Spring Street, highlighting his attendance at a $3000 a head Victorian Coal and Energy Conference meeting at Taralgon in the La Trobe Valley and the Brumby Government's continued in-action on climate change and support for the coal and fossil fuel industry at the expense of developing the renewable energy industry. See Photos and speech transcripts
Related: Protest to meet brown coal Industry heavyweights in Latrobe Valley | Coal power up: Victoria fails to diversify electricty generation | Climate activists Disrupt Coal Conference
Youtube Videos of speakers: Brian Walters, Chris Breen, Damien Lawson, Madeline Hudson, Peter Marshal
Two members of Newcastle climate protest group Rising Tide are challenging in the NSW Land and Environment Court the amount of carbon pollution emissions allowed by the coal fired Bayswater Power Station owned by Macquarie Generation. Macquarie Generation produces 12 to 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution every year.
Newcastle, Sun Mar 28, 2010: Climate activists from Rising Tide blocked entry to the world's largest coal port on Newcastle Harbour, north of Sydney. The 'People's Blockade of the World's Biggest Coal Port' put together a motley protest fleet of 60 rafts, kayaks and boats including a 70 foot yacht. Over 350 people attended the protest according to Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon. Carbon dioxide emissions from coal is a major contributor of climate change. Photos on Flickr | More photos
