Goodooga, northwest NSW, 22 March 12 -- All Aboriginal nations are being called on to send two delegates to the inaugural assembly of the interim national unity government in Wollongong in May.
Sometimes they really do act like they own the entire country.
The mining industry, under billionaire magnate Clive Palmer, is trying to establish an open-cut coal mine called China First in the Bimblebox Nature Refuge – a privately-owned area of Central-West Queensland. Not only is it private land, but as the name suggests, Bimblebox is already a protected nature reserve under state and federal law. Only it turns out, the law protects Bimblebox and other areas like it from everything except mining.
By John Paul Janke
Registrations for the 2012 National Native Title Conference in Townsville in early June are now open.
The Conference - which is expected to attract some 700 delegates - provides a unique opportunity for a diverse range of native title stakeholders from across the country to come together to review current native title practice, policy and law.
Newsletter date: 22 March 2012
Contents:
* ANTaR: 33,000 Australians Oppose Stronger Futures Bills
* Our Generation: New Study Guide launched
* ABC Sunday Nights Audio Interviews: Extending the NT intervention
* Tracker: Stronger Futures would not beat a legal challenge: judge
* Jeff McMullen: The Way Ahead: The new land grab
* More on Senate Committee's 'Stronger Futures' report
* More 'Stronger Futures' Legislation related articles
* Background to 'Stronger Futures' new NT Intervention laws
* SBS Living Black: Barbara Shaw speaks out about Australia Day protests
By Ray Wills
A new report released 21 March by the Energy Users Association of Australia (EUAA) suggests Australian household electricity prices are amongst the highest in the world.
The report Australian Electricity Prices: an International Comparison does not document pricing for business customers
The report states clearly that it was not possible to document a case for “commercial and industrial end-users because price data … is not available in Australia”.
What constitutes "saving a language?" To scholars it may mean making sure it is well-documented. But to the people whose languages are disappearing, a language isn't saved unless people are speaking it again.
A leading American expert in language revitalisation programs around the world, Leanne Hinton, will be giving a talk about that in Canberra on 28 March. All are welcome to attend. Please register your attendance on http://reclaimingindigenouslanguages.eventbrite.com/.
Gerry Georgatos
Forest Rescue Australia (FRA) has heightened its protest actions halting Warrup logging on an almost daily basis - however at the price of arrests. A Forest Products Commission (FPC) spokeswoman confirmed that protestors had entered work areas on three separate days in the last ten days and on two occasions had locked themselves on to two logging machines while work continued in other parts of the operation.
On Monday 19, FRA protestors entered the Warrup logging area and one protestor managed to lock himself on to a logging machine for 15 hours.
Fighting Ferguson's Dump
Natalie Wasley
In February 2010, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson introduced the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill into the House of Representatives, saying it represented "a responsible and long overdue approach for an issue that impacts on all Australian communities".
The legislation names Muckaty, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, as the only site to remain under active consideration for a national nuclear waste dump.
There must be something in the water this week as politicians, billionaires and religious zealots converge on Queensland in the days before this weekend's state election, sparking national controversy and protests.
Nyoongar Tent Embassy has sent a call out for supporters to assist at Heirisson Island (Mattagarup).
Apparently 100 police have arrived at the Embassy and with news media piling in.
Talkback radio is piling heaps of pressure for government, council and police action to close it down. However just as many people have been calling into the talkback programs supporting and arguing on behalf of the right of the Embassy.
Premier Colin Barnett has publicly said that action 'will be taken' and that the Embassy has gone off 'for long enough'. He wants not tents, and campers sleeping over.
When security forces of a Canadian mining company brutally evicted Mayan families from their villages in Guatemala, eleven women were raped, a community leader was killed, and a young man paralyzed. Now villagers are standing up and suing HudBay Minerals for these horrific crimes -- but they need our help to match the corporate legal firepower and win their case!
SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE - March 20, 2012
Bushmen make a splash on World Water Day
The Government is facing an unprecedented level of litigation from miners and big business in response to the Mining Resources Rent Tax and the Carbon Tax. Meanwhile Clive Palmer is agitating that the CIA is in cahoots with the Australian Greens to stifle coal mining in Queensland.
Gerry Georgatos
The Doreen Mackman motion upheld by the Bridgetown-Greenbushes council asking the Forest Products Commission (FPC) to preserve forest settings around the tramway through the Warrup has been considered by the FPC.
Gerry Georgatos
Forest Rescue Australia (FRA) has heightened its protest actions halting Warrup logging on an almost daily basis - however at the price of arrests. A Forest Products Commission (FPC) spokeswoman confirmed that protestors had entered work areas on three separate days in the last ten days and on two occasions had locked themselves on to two logging machines while work continued in other parts of the operation.
On Monday 19, FRA protestors entered the Warrup logging area and one protestor managed to lock himself on to a logging machine for 15 hours.
Congratulations! Minutes ago Parliament voted down a native forest industry proposal to classify the burning of native forests for power as renewable energy. As Rob Oakeshott said in Parliament today, GetUp ran "a pretty stinging campaign". This is an important victory for native forests and genuine renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal.
This comes on the back of a massive few weeks for GetUp members who have been creating national headlines. The year is still young but here's just three ways, best enjoyed alongside a cuppa, that you've already made an impact.
Forest Rescue Activists have kept up with their commitment to defend Warrup State Forest near Bridgetown in our South West.
Activists are prepared to be charged during the campaign as personal sacrifice for the conservation of native forests and the endangered species which inhabit it such as the Numbat. However, police have stepped over the line this morning arresting activists unlawfully for Trespass on private land without prior knowledge and consent from the landowner. Police have forcibly taken cameras, video equipment and personal items from the Activists home and persons.
In the manufactured 'reality' of the mass media the problems of the Greek "debt" crisis are an endless flurry of context-less images; of riots, strikes and unrest embellished with quotes by the talking heads of capital. The IMF and capitalist economists all nod furiously in agreement that “There is No Alternative ™.” The guardians of capital insist that the loans and austerity program imposed on the Greek people by the EU/IMF are necessary to help Greece meet its debt obligations and reform their 'overly generous' pension and welfare system.
"It’s a terrible nightmare for my daughter and me -- our son and brother arrested and locked up on the other side of the world, no resolution in sight and we’re utterly powerless to help him." -- Roger Mackell, father of journalist Austin Mackell
