Premiere Barnett dispatches police to support Woodside, Shell, Chevron, BP, BHP-Billiton, Mitsubishi and Matsui on the road to James Price Point. (Photo: Damian Kelly)

The State Government dispatched a strong 140-200 police to James Price Point this week alerting  Green activists nationwide to join forces with Broome residents in opposing the $40 billion gas deal. Local residents say the sight of police presence has become too scary. Others call it a State Government’s “bullying”.

Whether there is a government-business collusion in return for a huge kickback, it is yet to be known. One thing is evident though– West Australian Premier Colin Barnett denied he ordered the police dispatch. He said it was the “operational decision” made by Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan.

Protest camp spokeswoman Vivienne O’Shea describes it as “unnecessary” adding that it the State Government is “spending such a colossal amount of taxpayer money to basically frighten the Broome community.”

Broome residents are against gas on Mothers' Day (Photo:Glen Klatovsky)

Wilderness Society Kimberley campaign manager Glen Klatovsky said it was a waste of police resources and taxpayer money to send police “to crush the Broome community” which had already been traumatised by last year’s heavy-handed use of police and Woodside’s own private security force.

Today, Tasmania has also joined the action. Led by the Huon Valley Environmental Center and The Last Stand, a vigil at Pier 1 of Macquarie Wharf, Salamanca from 5 pm was held as a gesture of support to Broome residents. Video on Kimberly is likewise featured.

In a press release, Jenny Weber, a spokesperson of the HVEC said Tasmania is joining other citizens from other cities across the nation including Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, to support the people of Broome in their fight to protect one of the most spectacular places in the world.

Ula Majewski of The Last Stand also said, “Tonight, the people of southern Tasmania will be standing strong in spirit with this inspiring community in the far north west of the country. We are demonstrating our absolute support for these outstanding citizens who are taking a stand for the Kimberley, one of our most ecologically and spiritually significant landscapes.”

One of the idyllic beaches of Kimberly (Photo:ACF)

The Australian Conservation Foundation said the Kimberley is too precious to lose with its rich mineral deposits along with its historical and cultural value.

ACF believes the proposed location of the Browse Basin gas hub at James Price Point on the Dampier Peninsula will have a significant environmental impact. The peninsula’s western intertidal zone has been included under National Heritage in recognition of its extensive dinosaur trackways, but it remains in threat by the development of the gas hub.

Australian Homestay Network (AHN) CEO David Bycroft told ABC  at noon that more than a hundred applications have been lodged. Eligible refugees, mostly males of 18-25 years of age, will have the opportunity to stay at accredited Aussie homes.  AHN is privately-run homestay accommodation network intended for international students costing $300 per week. Bycrfot said this scheme is the “best model”  for processing eligible asylum seekers while waiting for their bridging visas and to eventually transition into community life.

Detainees stage a protest on a rooftop of the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney in March. (Photo: AP)

Australian media, including News Corp, reported that the Australian Government has offered AHN-member home owners $250-$300 a week to accommodate a refugee guest. It will also pay a weekly stipend of between $220 and $300 to families to cover food and board for detainees. Almost 1000 detainees have been released into the community over the past two months, the paper added.

However, the Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group website clarified media reports on the costs. Quoting Pamela Carr, campaign coordinator of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne, the guest by the Name of G Winston says, asylum seekers will pay$120- $140 per week for board in an Australian home under the CPN for the first six weeks and they will pay extra for food. “They will pay this out of their CAS payment which is around $215 per week. Asylum seekers get a CAS payment for the first 6 weeks when they leave detention. The CAS payment is the equivalent of 89% of Sickness Benefit (the lowest Centrelink Payment).”

The website also said, costs in detention centres range from $160 – $ 850 per person per night depending on the detention centre’s location.

Over 90% of asylum seekers coming by boat are found to be refugees, get visas and will settle in Australia, Carr was also quoted as saying while the Amnesty International confirmed, “we have to remember that ultimately 90% of asylum seekers will be found to be genuine refugees.”

Detainees stage a riot at a Christmas Island detention centre last month. (Photo: Seven News)

Praise for homestay

AI welcomes the CPN initiative as a positive shift to more community-based processing of asylum seekers in Australia.

Dr Graham Thom, AI’s refugee spokesperson said the scheme will provide refugees with an opportunity to be introduced to the Australian community.

 “We are pleased to see these positive steps relating to the processing of asylum seekers in the Australian community…Community processing initiatives like the CPN are much cheaper than detention, and much more humane, giving asylum seekers the chance to start contributing to Australian society while they wait for their refugee status to be assessed,” says Dr Thom.

The AI has done a research trip to some of the most remote detention facilities across the country and  found that the detention centres “incredibly difficult for asylum seekers to understand and engage with the system.” Dr. Thom said once the asylum seekers are released from detention, they often feel isolated and disconnected within the community.

“This is a step forward and it honours Australia’s obligations under the Refugee Convention, but the Government must now continue to work towards increasing the number of bridging visa releases.” 

While the CPN is fully supported by human rights organisations, the Federal Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison slammed the plan, claiming it shows the Government’s desperation, recklessness of policy and out of control. He said Australians have been complaining about the rising costs of living and Julia Gillard offered to supplement household incomes by offering rent to asylum seekers.

“Labor’s decision to house adult male asylum seekers released on bridging visas in the spare rooms of Australian families is a desperate, reckless policy from a government that has lost control….The fact Australian families are now being asked to house asylum seekers who have arrived illegally by boat, including those whose claims have been rejected, shows just how desperate Labor have become over their failed border protection policies which have seen almost 17,000 people now arrive on 301 boats.”

However, a spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, said: “This is yet another cheap shot from the Coalition, who like to demonise asylum seeker issues.”

The Refugee Advocacy Network is convinced the CPN will not offer accommodation but also a helping hand to get the refugees start learning the Australian way of life. It said this is a great initiative to complement the Australian Red Cross in its search for short-term accommodation support to eligible asylum seekers coming out of detention

The CPN is an initiative of the AHN to offer short-term homestay accommodation to eligible asylum seekers leaving detention centres on a Bridging visa.

The AHN has been commended by both the Senate Inquiry into the Welfare of International Students (2009) and the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into International Student Accommodation (2011). It is the only operating homestay organisation with benchmarked national standards, and is the leading homestay provider within Australia. The CPN operates under these national standards.

The Friends of the Earth and the Gippsland Bush have slammed the Federal Government for its failure to enlist the koala in the Gippsland region of Victoria under the nationwide endangered species list.

Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Tony Burke said on Monday koalas in Victoria and South Australia should not be listed due to their abundant numbers in the said regions.

Oprah Winfrey cuddles a koala during her visit to Australia in 2010. (Photo: AP)

He admitted though that the marsupial is facing possible extinction in three states s- Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Real estate developments in recent years are said to have primarily displaced them from their natural habitat.

More than 40 percent of the species is reported to have disappeared in Queensland while it dropped by third in NSW over the past 20 years. In the ACT region, koalas have completely disappeared, the SMH also reported.

Koala advocates led by the Australia Koala Foundation have been pushing for the enlistment of the species under endangered category since 1996, but the federal government has been ignoring the issue.

Last year, Greens Senator Larissa Waters had pushed for the marsupials to be listed as a nationally threatened species. She said that with fewer than 5000 koalas left in southeast Queensland, for example, they may become extinct during the next 10 years.

However, until now, the Environment Minister is not convinced that the species should be listed under the national endangered list, saying the animals abound in Victoria and South Australia.

Sam the koala became famous around the world after this photo was taken during the Victorian bushfires. (Photo:Reuters)

He therefore announced that koala has been listed under endangered species category covering the three states, but not a national listing following a three year scientific assessment by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee. He said a species is usually not considered endangered if it is bountiful in some locations.

Following the announcement, the FOE and the Gippsland Bush blasted Burke for not listing the Gippsland’s Strzelecki Ranges koala as endangered or vulnerable.

In a media statement, the Green activists said the future of the Strzelecki Koala is “bleak”, adding that the species has lost 50 percent of its habitat in the past decade due to logging and fire.

FOE spokesperson Anthony Amis said almost the entire habitat of the Strzelecki koala is in private hands. He said the Hancock Victorian Plantations has converted close to 10,000 hectares of koala habitat over the past 14 years. Add to this was the 2009 Churchill and Boolarra bushfires which burnt out approximately 20,000ha of koala habitat.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Strzelecki koalas were killed during those fires. After 14 years of logging key koala habitat, Hancock Victorian Plantations still do not have a koala management plan, and 75% of logs from the Strzelecki Ranges end up at Maryvale Pulp Mill owned by Nippon Paper.

The activists groups claim that most of Victoria’s koalas are translocated from the South Gippsland to the French Island in the 1880s. These koalas are said to have a low genetic diversity compared to the only native koala population which is based in the Strzelecki Ranges.

Amis is convinced that the “genetically superior Strzelecki koala” holds the key to the preservation of the species in Victoria, because translocated koalas suffer from a range of problems, many of which are the result of inbreeding.

The Strzelecki koala does not suffer from the problems of inbreeding which makes it more robust than its translocated cousins. “Its population is clearly unique in the context of Victorian and South Australian koalas. This simple fact appears to have eluded the Minister.”

Environment Minister Tony Burke's deliberation at the Parliament House in Canberra. (Photo: The Australian)

In a related development, the Envronment Minister lashed out at the new Queensland Priemere Campbell Newman who released a statement claiming the koala protection law as a “needless duplication” and a “mindless red tape.” Newman claims that the environmental law will only serve as a red tape to potentially slow down the construction industry.

The Australian confirmed the letter to be genuine. Tom Cregan, legal counsel of Xstrata, wrote Mumbrella Editor Tim Burrows:

We therefore require that the video…..(and on any other website hosted by Mumbrella or YouTube) be removed immediately and remind you that all persons involved in the publication of defamatory material are equally liable for defamation. We also observe that the reproduction of the whole of the video taken from www.thisisourstory.com.au appears to constitute a breach of copyright.

The video has been deleted due to the  defamation allegation.  It is purportedly produced and posted as a union campaign by former Chaser member Charles Firth. It was deleted from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union’s YouTube account in early December after a complaint from Xstrata.

As early as December, however, activist groups have put up a new site featuring a collection of parodies on Australia’s mining industry, This is the Real Story. Similar videos to ridicule mining business are also posted on YouTube, including this one:

The site comes with a Facebook page which is nearing a thousand fans.

This is the Real Story claims to be a site put up by a group of concerned satirists comprising of the Australian Satire Institute of Australia, the Chamber of Satire Studies (NSW), Queensland Satirical University, the Royal College of Japery (WA), Federal Council of Satirical Councils (Federal Branch).

“Together our member organisations comprise over 85% of all satirical output in Australia. These are the real stories about what Australian mining is doing to the economy. …These are the real stories about what Australian mining is doing to the economy,” the site claims

The main video voices over the claim of how good to do business in mining — to dig up the wealth of the earth and export it overseas. It also voices over a parody of where to get mining workers – from overseas labor or indigenous communities which are much “cheaper.”

The site is sponsored by the AMWU and is supported by activist groups,  GetUp! and Fair Go for Billionnaires.

The site compiles of video parodies about “the real stories in Mining” including that of Clive Palmer claiming the CIA is involved in Australia’s mining conspiracy.

While mining export boom should be a good news, local workers, indigenous communities, and Green activists have been on the rise to oppose mining.

Al-Jazeera also has produced a film on the mining ventures currently being undertaken in Australia. The video claims that while natural resources are powering Australia’s economy to record highs, there is a dark side to the mining boom.

… as demand from China for more resources grows, new mines continue to open across the country. But critics say there is a dark side to this success story. Mining regions attract transient workers keen to make a quick buck, creating social and environmental problems and a rising crime rate. Mines are also draining Australia’s pool of skilled labour from other industries and driving up wages. 101 East asks: What is the cost of Australia’s mining boom?

To get updates on this issue, you can sign-up or subscribe from the organisers.

The Daily Telegraph said Brown quit before the storm on carbon tax which will take effect in July this year. The paper said this is where the broader public may react badly to Brown’s departure, and where Gillard will become vulnerable.

Many will simply view this as Brown, a figure a majority of people believe is the quasi-deputy leader in a Labor-Greens alliance, leaving the sinking ship before it runs aground. Tony Abbott will make easy work of a perception that the man responsible for forcing the government to introduce the carbon tax doesn’t even want to stick around to see it start.

Resigned Bob Brown walks away with the party's new leader, Christine Milne (Photo: Andrew Meares)

PM Julia Gillard accepted Brown’s resignation last week as Deputy Christine Milne took the helm, with Lower House MP Adam Bandt later voted in as her replacement. Brown will also quit as a Tasmanian Senator when his term expires in June. He will not seek re-election.

Brown said he is happy to go after 16 years in public service taking active role at the forefront of Australia’s environmental campaigns. He turned his party an icon of “innovation.”

With Brown, the Greens became Australia’s third political party and used its heft to bargain with a minority Labor Government and gain the balance of power in the Senate, The Punch commented. The Greens have also been instrumental in the implementation of the carbon tax. Brown leaves the Greens with historically high numbers in the parliament, with a total if 10 members in the House of Representatives and Senate. Brown said:

I am 67. I am aware that one should always make room for renewal in politics. A democracy is the healthier for the turnover of the depth of talent there is in its community.

He added he will leave public office to enjoy his private life, but he will remain Green as long as he lives. He said one of his upcoming plans is to visit Miranda Gibson who has been living in a tree to keep vigil on Tasmania’s forests.

Bob Brown is one among the ardent fans of tree observer, Miranda Gibson, who has been on a vigil for Tasmanian forests. This photo was taken by Brown himself.

However, Brown could not elude critics on his “untimely” resignation amid crumbling pubic support for Australia’s green projects. Those opposed to the carbon tax claim Brown is playing safe before the storm. The carbon tax passed in the Senate in November 2011 and will take effect in July this year. Prices of goods and services across the nation are predicted to rise as a result.

As a warning for the Labor-Greens coalition, the Labor Party was already beaten in the recent Queensland state election. The new Australian Liberal Party’s State Government is now dumping green schemes initiated by the former Labor premiere.

In Canberra, federal government offices are cutting budgets that may result in mass layoffs, reducing the number of employees and projects in areas related to environment.

National secretary Nadine Flood said that some work in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and industry assistance programs would ”simply not be done”, the Canberra Times reported.

The same paper added, “The Community and Public Sector Union, while unable to confirm the latest job cut figures, said reducing numbers to 470 would be a massive blow for staff and would seriously damage Australia’s ability to deal with the impacts of climate change.”

At the party’s Third Annual Green Oration delivered on March 23 this year, Brown addressed the “Earthians” to get involved in finding solutions to the shrinking resources of the planet in the face of rising populations.

He proposed that for the Earth to be able to survive in the next millennium, a “comprehensive Earth action, an all-of-the-Earth representative democracy is required. That is, a global parliament.” He added, “So democracy – ensuring that everyone is involved in deciding Earth’s future – is the key to success.”

The Punch’s editor-in-chief reacted to the speech as out-of-this-world political ramblings.

…the phrase “Fellow Earthians” was a deep ecologist ramble across a range of themes, including the possible existence of aliens, the disappearance of the dinosaurs, the fact that Bob saw a shooting star the other night and believed it was a portent heralding a new form of participatory democracy. It has been covered at length elsewhere and should you be up for a laugh, please read it in its entirety…

Australian Greens rally at the Parliament House in Canberra in 2008 (Photo: Australian Greens)

Greens Reactions

Green organizations commended Brown’s advocacy to environment, gay marriages, refugee and asylum seekers, and other issues related to social and economic equality.

SBS noted the Wilderness Society described, “Brown as an inspiring leader for the Australian environment movement and a champion of wilderness protection during the past 30 years.”

Greenpeace also said Senator Brown would be remembered by future generations for his efforts to protect Australia’s natural heritage.

“He has been a steady voice of reason in a parliament dogged by vested interests and shortsightedness,” program director Ben Pearson said in a statement.

Gay advocates have called Bob Brown one of Australia’s great gay heroes.

While Milne and Brandt take the helm of the party, the Greens are also looking for possible candidate for the June election.

A potential candidate to replace Brown would be Peter Whish-Wilson, a Tamar Valley winemaker who grew up in Karratha who claimed to have worked for BHP Billiton. He said he has experience in small business, markets and global finance which will make him a different sort of Green.

“This is the biggest opportunity for us to create jobs growth and we have to incentivise companies to do the right thing. I don’t see Tasmania just through tourism: there have to be other directions and opportunities…“I am more for opportunity than opposition,” the Financial Review quoted Whish-Wilson as saying.

The Australian said Milne will seek to establish a new political support base among rural Australians and “progressive” businesses as part of an intensified campaign against the “vested interests” of the resource-based economy.

Senator Milne has also attacked the major political parties as captives of the resources sector, and savaged the “rapaciousness” of mining companies, vowing to dedicate her leadership to hastening a transition to a low-carbon economy.

With the political massacre of the Labor Party in the recent Queensland state election, the new leader from the Liberal National Party Campbell Newman ordered the demolition of environmental projects.

Newman has already directed to scrap the $1.2bn Solar Dawn solar thermal project near Chinchilla, west of Brisbane. This will stop the $75 million in state funding pledged for the scheme which the Anna Bligh government signed last February, the SMH reported.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson noted the Solar Dawn project was initially thought to bring $60m in research funding to the University of Queensland, and provide an average of 300 jobs during the three-year construction phase, due to start in 2015. He also suggested the federal government to withdraw its own $464m contribution pledge last month.

Solar Dawn solar research and power plant at Chinchilla (Photo: SMH)

Newman is now working  to axe seven other green schemes saying the carbon tax would make them redundant. The Australian reported. These include the following:

• $430m Queensland Climate Change Fund which provides $30m a year for climate change initiatives
• $50m Renewable Energy Fund which supports the Geothermal Centre of Excellence
• $50m Smart Energy Savings Program which helps businesses improve energy efficiency
• Waste Avoidance and Resource Efficiency Fund
• Local Government Sustainable Future Fund
• Solar Initiatives Package
• The Future Growth Fund set up in 2006 with the net proceeds from the sale of state-owned energy corporations

Newman assigned the demolition job to bureaucrat Greg Withers, the husband of the now defunct Queensland leader, Anna Bligh. Withers led in setting up the green energy schemes.

Coal-fired power stations in Victoria are among of Australia's dirtiest. (Photo: Paul Jones/SMH)

Meanwhile, in Victoria, gas emitters are welcome to do business. The Ted Baillieu Government removed the cap on greenhouse gas emissions from new coal-fired power plants, the SMH reported.

Energy Minister Michael O’Brien announced this development contradicting earlier government’s decision to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by the end of the decade. It also came as the state government released a report on future impacts of climate change in Victoria, finding average temperatures could increase by 1 to 4.2 degrees by 2070 relative to 1990.

The Coalition – Labor and Greens -  had proposed a new coal power standards that would cap emissions from new coal-fired power plants at 0.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every megawatt hour of electricity generated. They also suggested the installation of new power plants that would use clean coal technology.

Environment Victoria’s Mark Wakeham said ”polluters are welcome in Ted Baillieu’s Victoria while the government is going out of its way to make it harder to build clean energy projects”.

Baillieu is reported to have released an independent review of Victoria’s Climate Change Act that “recommends repealing the state’s 20 per cent emissions target – which the state government has agreed to – because it would have no extra environmental benefit and would only lighten the load for other states in meeting a national 5 per cent emissions target.”

The Senate passed the mining tax on Monday imposing a 30 percent tax on super profits generated by mining companies from coal and iron ore. The tax revenue will be used to elevate income and pension funds of the less well-off Australians and to cut tax on small businesses.

This sent shockwaves to the mining industry which could have been rejoicing over mining boom worldwide.

Mining magnate Clive Palmer hits CIA of mining conspiracy (Photo: Andrew Mearse)

Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer lashed out at the federal government and claimed the CIA is behind the mining tax as part of America’s conspiracy to kill Australia’s coal industry.

Palmer also accused the Greens as “tools” of the US government and the environmental activists group, Greenpeace, is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

He said he will lodge a double High Court challenge on both carbon and mining taxes.

But his accusation hits back like a boomerang.

The CIA via ABC email denied his claim prompting him to back away from inflammatory comments, Fairfax reports via SBS.

Crikey, an alternative online media source, said,

Now Clive Palmer again has demonstrated the eccentricity that comes from having so much money you don’t have to care what anyone thinks of you.

Palmer is doing no more than continuing Queensland’s rich tradition of conspiracy theorists, which has produced the Citizen’s Electoral Council and Pauline Hanson, to name only the most prominent of recent years. Nor is it the first time he’s accused people of being a CIA front — back in November, it was American Express who were doing the bidding of the spooks.

Palmer could probably find consolation in knowing another mining group, Fortescue Metals, confirmed it has sought legal advice ahead of plans to mount a High Court challenge against the Federal Government’s mining tax, News Corp said.

Chairman Andrew Forrest of Fortescue Metals leads a protest against mining tax during Kevin Rudd's time (Photo: Marie Nirme)

Fortescue claimed the MRRT is a poorly designed tax, drafted by the big miners behind closed doors to minimise their tax exposure at the expense of the rest of the industry,” the company said in a statement.

The Government is also facing a revolt from Liberal-led mining states.

Western Australia’s Premier Colin Barnett, for one, says he will support any legal action against the tax.

Not Amused

He said the “recklessly irresponsible” claim that the CIA is sponsoring a campaign against the coal industry will trigger concern from the United States government and business community.

Carr said the comments should also make many Australians question  Palmer’s links to the Opposition. He noted Palmer is very close to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Palmer is considered the largest donor to the Liberal Party.

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr (Photo: AAP/Alan Porritt)

Treasurer Wayne Swan has also denounced Palmer’s theory. He supported Carr noting that the mining businessman “is in cahoots with Mr Abbott.”

Federal Greens leader Bob Brown has echoed the remarks of Carr and Swan saying Palmer is a life member and a major donor to the Queensland Liberal National Party.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace senior campaigner John Hepburn rejected Mr Palmer’s comments as “ludicrous”. He said Greenpeace would not accept money from any government, corporation or secret service.

The mining tax was initiated almost two years ago, floated by former Treasury boss Ken Henry. It originally proposed a 40 percent tax on super profits — a proposal that stirred an industry-wide opposition rocking the Labor Party’s leadership. It was the same tax proposal that ousted Kevin Rudd from prime ministership in 2010.

Rising to power, Prime Minister Julia Gillard negotiated a modified tax rate with BHP, Rio and Xstrata although smaller miners remain unhappy with the deal.

The Mineral Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) Bill 2011 and related bills are now ready for the governor-general’s royal assent. The mining tax will start from July 1 this year, Australian media reported.

The federal government estimated the new tax will generate $11 billion in three years which will be used to elevate income of the less well-off Australians. It will boost compulsory superannuation contributions, infrastructure payment and a one per cent tax cut for business.

The Australian, however, is pessimistic over the tax. Its editorial page said:

While this newspaper recognises the benefit in ensuring that some of the revenue generated by the once-in-a-generation mining boom is secured for future generations, this tax will do little to drive reform in the slower sectors of the economy while the fastest-growing sector is slugged with a tax that could damage our competitiveness.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott supports Palmer (Photo: Fairfax Media)

In defence of Palmer, Abbott said he was a “larger than life” character.

“I think when he says that the Greens want to stop the coal industry he’s absolutely right – of course the Greens want to stop the coal industry,” Abbott told Channel 10.

Abbott is vowing to repeal the tax if he wins the next election.

Environment watchers are rejoicing over the Parliament’s vote against subsidies intended for loggers to burn native growth forests to generate power.

A campaign against forest burning. (Design by Paul Kimbrell www.eastgippsland.net.au)

Tasmania’s Huon Valley Environment Centre, for one, praised the Federal MPs who voted against Lynn MP Robert Oakeshott’s motion to allow Renewable Energy Certificates to be generated by burning wood from the logging of native forest.

The Green Left described the motion as a narrow escape – a vote of 72-72 with Speaker Peter Slipper casting the final ‘no’ vote to Rob Oakeshott’s motion.

A spokeswoman for the Western Australia Forest Alliance, Jess Beckerling, says it is a win for forests around the country. “It’s a really strong indication that common sense has prevailed,” she told the ABC.

In a press statement, the Huon Valley Environment Centre biomass campaigner Will Mooney also said this rejection must encourage government and businesses to search for truly renewable energy options. He said communities across Australia will be relieved that plans for polluting native forest fuelled power stations will not be eligible to draw on incentives.

He added the vote scrapped the plan to build power station near Lonnavale in Tasmania. A 30MW power station is estimated to consume over 300,000 tonnes of timber a year.

Huon Valley Environment Centre spokesperson Jenny Weber also said the vote “backs up the concerns of conservation organisations, health advocates, scientists and community groups who have voiced a range of concerns about logging industry plans to prop up native forest logging with large scale wood-fired power stations…”

Prior to the vote, letters have been sent to the Members Of Parliament rejecting Oakeshott’s Disallowance Motion.

A Tasmanian tourist spotted this sign and posted it in a travel blog.

The Australian Forest and Climate Alliance urged the MPs to act at this critical time for the future of not only Australia’s forests, but also the climate.

The native forest logging industry is currently experiencing market driven changes that provide the opportunity to shift Australia’s wood and paper production industry onto a sustainable path, based on plantations. The opportunity to transition the forest industry at this critical time will be lost if new incentives are created that will drive ongoing native forest logging.

The disallowance motion put forward by Mr Oakeshott that would allow native forest wood ‘waste’ burnt for electricity to be eligible for Renewable Energy Certificates under the government’s Renewable Energy Target. The climate alliance cited reasons to reject disallowance motion which summarise the unfeasibility of the plan.

 This motion, if passed, will create a new incentive to log Australia’s last remaining native forests, prevent the rapid transition into a viable plantation based industry.  Australia’s public native forests are much more valuable as carbon sinks, biodiversity habitats, water providers and purifiers, and as tourist destinations.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet told Nine News the government was determined to provide support for bio-energy investment while also ensuring that native forests are afforded appropriate protection.

“While biomass derived from native forests though is no longer recognised under this regulation as an eligible renewable energy source … those changes do not … prohibit the use of this biomass for bio-energy.”

The vote against Oakeshott put to rest the controversial “endorsement of scientists” who argued burning forest can lead to renewable energy.

A poster purportedly designed in favour of clearfelling (Photo:Anonymous blog)

Earlier this month, the Port Macquarie News reported a controversial move to classify burning of native wood waste as renewable energy has received support from scientists.

It said 49 forestry scientists and practitioners signed a letter of support for a motion put forward by Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott and seconded by New England independent Tony Windsor that would see logging companies granted Renewable Energy Certificates for burning native forest residues.

Professor Rod Keenan, the director of the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research Centre at The University of Melbourne, was among the signatories, the paper reported. Keenan is said to have argued that wood waste, now burnt either in the forests or at the sawmill, was an appropriate substitute for fossil fuels.

However, the Green Left published ” Scientists’ open letter to Oakeshott: Burning forests for energy will make climate change worse.”

At Styx Forest, TAS, the diameter of an old tree can hold a number of people. (Photo: Flickr)

The green publication noted the scientists saying the ”decision to support incentives for native forest-burning power stations has alarming ramifications for communities and natural ecosystems across Australia.”

If you have any question about this article, please leave a Reply or email The Green Journo.

Mining billionaire Clive Palmer of Queensland Nickel

Palmer said his legal advisers who are “all senior counsels with experience in the High Court” advised him to take legal action against the federal government on the ground of discriminating agianst his company Queensland Nickel.  The Age  said his legal advice would be finalised next week and his company would probably lodge documents with the High Court by April.

Palmer said his lawyers advised him there were several grounds under which the carbon tax is unconstitutional. For one, he said his company was getting less compensation under the carbon tax than rivals BHP Billiton and Glencore.

A spokesman for Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, however, denied the claim saying the government was still awaiting audited data from nickel producers that would then be included in the compensation regulations.

The Age also noted Roland Burt, a principal at Macpherson and Kelley Lawyers, who singled out three potential avenues for a challenge. These include “Commonwealth external powers, the federal government’s power to impose taxes on the states, and the issue of whether tax law could be bundled up with other legislation.”

However, Burt doubts the success of the challenge:

”Clive Palmer will have some of the best legal minds in the country at his disposal and they will certainly put a powerful case….’But my guess is the government has thought about it all carefully enough to design it in a way that will probably – but by no means certainly – survive the challenge.

PM Gillard and her camp insisted that the carbon tax was strictly reviewed during its legislative development and has ”taken careful constitutional advice and legal advice at every stage.”

Greg Craven, a law professor and vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, believes the carbon tax was ”inherently complicated” and ”was always going to end up in the High Court”.

It raised questions about the scope of taxation power, the rights of the states, the Commonwealth’s power to make laws binding the states, and the compulsory acquisition of property.

If you were looking for a law that was born to be challenged, this is it, because there are billions of dollars at stake.

Columnist Andrew Bolt

Andrew Bolt, one of Australia’s most influential columnists said, “Palmer might be right and the carbon tax wrong.”

The Great Barreir Reef in Queensland covers an area of 348,000 square kilometres and more than 2300 kilometres long

Greenpeace has nearly completed a signup campaign of 15,000 people while GetUp! intensifies it drive to gather a 75,000-strong petition to stop developmental aggressions.

“Imagine if the Pyramids were being bulldozed or the Grand Canyon mined – the global community would be furious,” GetUp!, a major group of environmental activists, said  in an email loop accessed by the Asian Correspondent.

Last week, the UN team warned the Great Barrier Reef could “die from a thousand cuts” with various threats including growing population, the mining boom, and gas exploration. The team also intended to re-assess the overall outstanding value of the reefs.

Greenpeace Australia conducts an on-site protest against the ongoing gas exploration

The Australian committee of the IUCN has warned of a tenfold increase in shipping on the World Heritage Site associated with existing and proposed port development projects. Much of it will be going through channels within a marine park far narrower than the English Channel, the Crikey claimed.

The Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) approved the project in 2011 allowing  private contractors “to dredge 46 million cubic metres from within the harbour boundaries,  inside the World Heritage area, over the next 20 years…a volume equivalent to 27 Melbourne Cricket Grounds,” GetUp! argued.

News reports claimed the Federal Government and the Queensland State Government approved the project amid strong protests from local residents. Further, they said the United Nations which holds custody to the Heritage Park was not consulted on the project which is a breach of World Heritage guidelines.

Greenpeace welcomes underwater UN investigation

A private law firm for Gladstone commercial fishing businesses warned that the Western Basin Dredging and Disposal Project has significant long-term environmental impacts on a national scale.

Ridiculous as it may sound, the lawyer’s group said the massive dredging activities occur 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, for about 18 months.  It is estimated that 42,300,000 cubic metres of material is to be dredged over the construction phase which cause turbidity plumes in the Port area. Contaminants are also speculated to spread in the Port area which can destroy the Port’s ecosystems.

The lawyers estimated that dredging will cause the direct loss of around 902 ha of benthic habitat (including 258.8 ha of seagrasses).  An additional 5416 ha of benthic habitat (including 1406 ha of seagrasses) may be indirectly lost in the short to medium term. In summary, the group said close to 1,700 hectares of seagrass will likely be lost and 6,300 hectares of benthic habitat likely to be lost.

There are additional obstructions of the northern Western Basin due to construction and increased vessel traffic, including massive dredges may impede the migratory pathways of marine fauna using The Narrows and the entire Port Curtis region, the lawyers claimed.

In 2011, a three-week fishing ban was imposed around the Gladstone area after sightings of fishes infected by unknown disease. Barramundi, for instance, were reported to have suffered from ‘sore’ and ‘cloudy’ eyes, while other fish appeared deformed and had bruises.

Fishes around the Gladstone port are found sick or dead.

The project is a partnership venture between Santos, Petronas, Total, and KOGAS. Santos is Australia’s largest domestic gas producer while PETRONAS is Malaysia’s national oil and gas company and the second largest LNG producer in the world. French energy major, Total, on the other hand, is the world’s fifth largest publicly traded integrated international oil and gas company; and South Korea’s KOGAS is the world’s largest buyer of LNG.

The partners announced the Gladstone Liquified Natural Gas (GLNG) project creates more than 5000 jobs during construction and about 1000 ongoing positions in the operational phase. They added that the project stimulates businesses and employment opportunities in the Gladstone and Roma regions through increased demand for goods and services.

Santos builds a LNG export facility in Gladstone for commercialised QLD seam gas resources. The facility is expected to  produce 3-4 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of LNG with future potential expansion to nominal 10 Mpta. The project is consists of CSG field development; gas transmission pipeline construction; and LNG liquefaction and export facility development.

Marine lives under threat

The facility – built on Curtis Island (Hamilton Point area) – is close to the industrial deepwater port of Gladstone. The Project sources gas from Santos CSG fields around the Comet Ridge and Roma project areas, with gas being transported to the Gladstone LNG facility via subsurface 425 km gas transmission pipeline. Santos is planned to drill and complete the development wells to supply 53000 petajoules (PJ) (140 billion3) of CSG to the proposed LNG facility. There are about 600 wells to be dug prior to 2015 and 1400 or more wells after 2015 (excluding exploration wells). Installation of related infrastructures are constructed including access roads, accommodation camps, water gathering networks, water management facilities, in-field gas gathering networks (to transport gas from the wells to the field compression stations, gas compression stations and pipeline compressor stations).

The gas transmission corridor is 425 km long underground gas transmission pipeline corridor will accommodate one or more pipelines for the delivery of fas from the CSG resouces to the facilty. Transmission pipelines nominal diametere 650-800 mm.

Comparative size of the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area covers an area of 348,000 square kilometres — the equivalent size of Italy or Japan, more than 2300 kilometres long. It extends to the low water mark on the mainland coast along northern Australia. It Includes more than 3000 separate coral reefs, some 900 islands and all the waters within the outer boundaries of the Marine Park.

It is designated as national park in 1975 and listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List for its invaluable historical and cultural assets in 1981.

The UN report will be presented to the World Heritage Committee in June, which will then decide whether to list the reef as a World Heritage Site in Danger.

No job vacancy posted at a sawmill in Tasmania

For a small state such as Tasmania, many people’s livelihoods depend on forestry, agriculture and mining. Tasmania is the sixth and smallest state in Australia, an archipelago of more than 300 islands, 240 kilometres (150 miles) south-east of the mainland.

Green activism has intensified in the region over the last few years in the wake of alleged forest destruction made by Malaysia-owned Ta Ann Group. Civic groups have accused the contractor of exploiting the state’s old-growth forests. The same contractor, they claim, has ravaged the jungle of Borneo in Sarawak.

Penan man standing next to a Shin Yang Timber passing truck loaded with logs (Photo: Greenpeace)

Ta Ann won an award as an emerging exporter in the Tasmanian Export Exports Awards in 2008 only to alert environmentalists of the impending catastrophe wrought on the state’s old growth forests.

Last year, the Huon Valley Environment Centre (HVEC) accused Ta Ann of receiving wood from old growth forests as defined by the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement on at least 35 occasions during 2009-2011. HVEC claimed the contractor is processing wood acquired from the logging of old growth forests, high conservation value forests, and forests with recognised world heritage values in Tasmania.

“Ta Ann’s demand for native forest wood and its large wood supply contract is driving logging in some of Tasmania’s most important and contentious forest areas….  Ta Ann’s operations here in Tasmania are far from eco-friendly and must rank amongst the worst logging practices globally…” HVEC claimed.

Activists have campaigned the government to prevent further logging in the disputed conservation area. The Observer Tree launched a vigil early this year to press Prime Minister Julia Gillard to stop the Ta Ann Group from further logging in the last remaining old-growth forests.

An intensified campaign against Ta Ann in Tasmania (Photo:HVEC)

The Observer Tree is one among the guardians of Tasmanian forests along with The Last Stand which have been involved in direct action and campaigns related to nukes, forests, refugees, human rights, whaling and climate change, among other causes. These groups support similar causes advocated by Friends of the Earth, Kanuguba, Rising Tide, Huon Valley Environment Centre, Still Wild Still Threatened, the Greens and the Wilderness Society, GetUp!, Market Watch, and other civic groups.

In 2011, the Gillard Government came up with a plan to protect Tasmania’s forest by signing a pact that covers the protection 570,00 hectares of forest lands. About 430,000 hectares belong to the high degree of conservation while the remaining 143, 000 hectares was allotted to help the state honour its logging contracts. Gillard also signed a $172 package to fund the transition from native forest to plantation forest.

This historic deal, however, did not stop tensions already disrupting the forestry business. Green activists are apprehensive that Ta Ann’s contract will continue to destroy old growth forests.

Tasmanian forests in ruins

Activists have also directly lobbied consumers and clients of Ta Ann to stop buying logs from the company.

While jobs have to go, however, it becomes clearer that the Government has no option but to kowtow importers to buy Tasmania’s logging industry.

Tasmania’s Deputy Premiere Bryan Green has embarked on a $24,000 trade mission to Singapore, China, and Japan over the past week to promote the state as open for business.

Green said the trade mission was not solely focus on the wood industry but an opportunity to forge stronger trade relations with East Asia.

“We have a robust economy which we need to continue to grow and diversify to attract investment and jobs… The Government has faith in the Tasmanian brand and the opportunities that it can provide in sectors like agriculture, renewable energy, mining and forestry, “ the vice premiere’s website noted.

The Last Stand crew, along with the HVEC and Code Green, welcomed the vice premiere back upon his arrival at the airport. They, however ridiculed the trade mission and created a new name for Ta Ann as the huge walking, talking Pinocchio. The crew said the wood products are far from “eco-friendly” contrary to the advertising claims of Ta Ann.

A Green activist is sending a message to Ta Ann's Japanese buyers

In an email loop accessed by Asian Correspondent, the crew said:

“Ta Ann, one of Malaysia’s biggest wood cartels is ripping through the Tasmanian wilderness, sourcing wood that comes from the destruction of high conservation value forests and selling it in Japan as ‘eco-friendly’ plywood.”

The group solidifies its resolve to recruit more supporters to write letters to existing and prospective clients of Ta Ann urging them to stop buying wood sourced out from Tasmania’s old growth forests.

Over the weekend, Aussies claimed to have beaten Britain’s Guinness Book of Records on “The Most Jammed Underpant” when it crammed 80 people into oversized underwear. The event was one of the fun highlights of the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne which runs February 11-26. The British Pants for Poverty won the world record when 58 people were squeezed into an oversized underwear in West India Quay, London in November last year.

Etiko's oversized underpant crammed in about 80 people in Melbourne to beat UK's Guinness Book of Records?

Etiko, a Melbourne-based outlet of Pants to Poverty, sponsored the event. Its founder, Nick Savaidis, said in a press release the oversized underpant event showcases an Australian culture of ‘fair go’.

Etiko’s underpants and other merchandise products are strictly made by workers who are protected by the Fair Trade Act. Further, its underpants are made of organic cotton free from chemicals and pesticides and are grown from plantations owned by farmer cooperatives in Central India. Etiko is now supporting over 5,000 farmers in the region.

About 58 people were squeezed into an oversized underwear in West India Quay, London in November last year

Pants to Poverty was launched in 2005 in the UK and has since expanded operations to Asia and the Pacific. Now, it boasts its wholesale and retail business in 20 countries around the world. Etiko also sources out is products from workers from Argentina who are protected by fair trade act.

Savaidis added: “We want to show the Poms that Aussies care about social justice too. Our culture has a rich history of supporting the underdog and giving everyone a fair go. It’s time we extended that to attitudes towards how we do business. ”

Meanwhile, the festival aims to draw more visitors and participating organisations that will support in raising awareness on sustainable living in Melbourne and across Australia. It will continue to showcase projects that are ecological and socially sustainable. The events feature interactive workshops, talks, demonstrations, artworks, exhibits, films and live performances. Participating organisations include protectors of old growth forests, marine animals and wildlife; supporters of renewable energy-sources; and defenders of human and animal rights.

Labor MP Stephen Jones signalled he would introduce a private bill at the ALP’s conference in December. This will be the second bill following last week’s indication that Greens MP Adam Bandt and Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie would put forward a separate bill.

Same-sex supporters take the streets of Australia

This is a groundbreaking development on marriage equality in Australia following opposition from conservative religious and political groups. Edward Santow, chief executive of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, also expressed apprehension about any proposed same-sex legislation saying it ”is bound to fail” if not thoroughly discussed in a forum or parliamentary inquiry, the Sydney Morning Herald in its Opinion page said.

However, few days before Valentine’s, same-sex activist group GetUp! urged supporters to mobilise a campaign to soften the hearts of the nation’s federal politicians.

Employing a romantic attempt to win the hearts of parliament members, GetUp! in partnership with the Australian Marriage Equality, asked followers to send roses to their favourite MPs to remind them to review same-sex marriage. “What better way to remind our political representatives of where we stand on Valentine’s Day than to spread some love, and show them that in matters of the heart, we’re united for equality?”

The group has intended to ”flood” the offices of political representatives with roses as a “reminder that Australians believe that two people who want to make a lifelong commitment deserve full and equal recognition before their family, friends and the law,” the group said.

Earlier today, 3000 roses arrived in the Parliament House in Canberra. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abott received 500 each, Nine News reported.

Supporter can continue to send flowers through the group’s Chip In To Send a Rose page.

Gay rights protest in Australia

The roses on Valentine’s are only a prelude to a more intimate petition. In the coming few days, GetUp! also plans to send “three wonderful same-sex couples” to dinner with the prime minister.

Optimistic  for the passage of a bill on marriage equality, GetUp! said Valentine’s Day is the most auspicious day to send love and to be united in love. “We’re closer than ever before to real marriage equality in Australia. So this Valentine’s Day, we’re not giving up on love, and we’re not letting our politicians give up either – not until marriage equality becomes the law of the land, “the group said in an email.

GetUp! claims it was able to gather more than 150,000 petition signatures last year and rallied alongside more than 10,000 other supporters at the ALP National Conference. It also takes pride in the video production of “It’s Time” which has viewed by more than 5 million viewers and still counting.

The group has reasons to be optimistic. The group said the ban on same-sex marriage has been lifted in California. In time of the Valentine’s Day around the world, the Hufftington Post also reported that the state of  New Jersey has already passed a bill to recognise same-sex marriage– a move move that supporters called a “civil rights milestone” and Washington became the seventh state in the US to enact a law reconising same-sex marriage on Monday.

PM Minister Julia Gillard is bundled up her bodyguard against the mob

The prime minister and the opposition leader were in The Lobby restaurant to present the national emergency service medals  as part of the Australia Day celebrations.

The drama unfolds as the celebration began. A man in black T-shirt emblazoned with Aboriginal flag watched the proceedings through the restaurant’s glass façade. Then  a woman barged in to scatter petals of roses before she shouted when Gillard was presenting 26 service medals.

About half of the 200 protesters circled the restaurant, banged the glass windows, and chanted “shame” and “racist” while calling for Abbott to come out.

About 200 protesters from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy nearby have gathered to mark its 40^th founding year today. A series of cultural performances and entertainment has been planned through the weekend to celebrate its founding but marred by such an “extraordinary” incident.

A series of events is scheduled to celebrate the 40th year of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy

The protesters rounded up and stormed The Lobby to confront Abbott following the opposition leader’s comment earlier during the day. The SBS said Abbott has called for the disbandment of the tent embassy noting time has changed and therefore it is no longer relevant. The SBS quoted Abbott as saying, “I can understand why the tent embassy was established all those years ago,…  think a lot has changed since then, and I think it probably is time to move on from that.”

Riot police came to rescue Gillard and Abbott while trying to pacify protesters. But protesters said they stormed in to confront Abbott without knowing he was with Gillard. They insisted Abbott incited the riot, not the Aboriginal people of the tent embassy. Towards the end of the day, the protesters are demanding for Abbott’s apology.

Source: SBS

These issues, however, cannot be solely discussed through political means but through the arts.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard poses with Geoffrey Rush

Academy-award winning actor Geoffrey Rush was named the 2012 Australian of the Year in a ceremony at the Parliament House, Canberra. In his acceptance speech, he urged Australians to consider the importance of arts to nurture and uplift the spirit of the nation. Rush spoke of urgent issues that affect the nation which can find solutions in the arts.

Rush says Australia is one of the oldest nations on earth where inspiration abounds. He noted that going back to the root of the nation through aboriginal history, culture and performing arts, Australians will be able to find “our dreaming” which leads to the heart of the nation’s being, the ABC quoted him in his speech.

The ABC added, “In the past, Australians of the year have used the spotlight to focus on social, political or environmental issues, but Rush does not see it as a automatic megaphone.” As a performing artist, the event is an opportunity to spotlight current issues through the arts.

SBS, a multicultural public broadcaster, also noted Rush of his support to local writers to write stories about people who come to Australia by boat.

“I put a call out to the writers of Australia, we’ve had a bumper year in television drama, people are starting to watch it in great numbers..I  would love a writer to write a fabulous great miniseries,” the SBS quoted him in his speech before reporters.

Six Australians are featured in an SBS documentary "Go Back to Where You Come From"

SBS has produced a documentary last year entitled “Go Back to Where You Come From” which featured six Australian volunteers who were challenged to take part in an adventure to experience life as a refugee. The script took them to the local communities where refugees have settled down, then flash backward to the horrific journeys by sea, asylum-seeker camps, and to the tricky and dangerous places on earth. Featured places include refugee camps in Malaysia, war-torn Jordan, Iraq, and Congo. The mini-series has elicited various reactions from televiewers while Fairfax media lambasted the series claiming it as a story for the manipulated and gullible participants.

Rush is a stage and film actor. His first film Hoodwink was featured in 1981. He rose to global fame in 1996 with the film Shine for which he won an Oscar. More recently, he appeared on Munich, Pirates Of The Caribbean and The King’s Speech, for which he earned a BAFTA. Rush is an ambassador for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and UNICEF Australia, as well as patron of the Melbourne International Film Festival.

One of the images on Black Saturday's bushfire in Victoria (Photo: News Ltd)

Melbourne and Adelaide started the year with a daytime high of 40 degrees Celsius, AAP reported.  Sydney and Brisbane, meawhile, are reported to have a more tolerable levels at around 26-28 degrees Celsius, while Perth experiences around 31 degrees.

Holiday-makers who are heading to the bush in the southern states are warned not to put up campfires. Fire and safety authorities have already issued bushfire alert warnings to caution residents and tourists to be bushfire-ready.

A total fire ban has been issued in many regions in Victoria including tourist destinations such as the Southern Grampians, Apollo Bay, Warnambool, and other southwestern areas. The fire ban strictly disallows campers to build a campfire during the night while frolickers are also not allowed to light up a barbecue grill.

Sam the koala became famous around the world after this photo was taken during the Victorian bushfires. (Photo:Reuters)

In 2009, the bush fire famously called the Black Saturday razed 450,000 ha (1,100,000 acres) in Victoria sending residential, agricultural, and touristic areas into ashes. Affected areas included Kinglake and Whittlesea, Marysville, Central Gippsland, Beechworth, and to as far as the old gold town of Bendigo bringing to a total of 170 districts in ruins.

In 2006, the Grampians National Park was engulfed by another massive bushfire which burnt 130,000 hectares — or 47 per cent of the park.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals estimated that over a million of animals have perished in these bushfires. Other wildlife species have suffered from severe burns. Koalas and kangaroos which inhabit most of the bush habitat are most affected while the Leadbeater’s Possum, Victoria’s faunal emblem, is under further threat to extinction.

South Australia is reported to have issued total fire ban on 13 districts out of 15.

This koala was left homeless after the bushfire (Photo: News Ltd)

Victorian Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley urged people—especially campers— to take extra care amid extreme heat conditions. He said most of the earlier fires started with campfires.

A survivor wails after rescue. (Photo by ABC)

Depending on which media you are reading, each person paid $500 each to Indonesian airport authorities and $6,000 each to board an Australian-bound boat. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Editorial wonders if the Indonesian authorities did not notice these Arab-looking people entering Jakarta without valid visas. Then all these desperate people queued at the port where they took a boat with a capacity of 100 people – there were more than 200 passengers.

The boat captain and crew members are said to be safe. Before the boat sank, they grabbed their life vests and swam away.

Australian media say this exemplifies another well-organised people smuggling operation, stirring further debate on Australia’s immigration policies.

This latest tragedy also coincides with the first anniversary of about 50 asylum seekers who were shipwrecked on the stormy waters off Australia’s Christmas Island. Two weeks ago, another boat tragedy took place nearby. It is a peak season for people smuggling and water currents are wild and treacherous to navigate.

A statistics from the Australian Parliament House shows that this year, 28 boats carrying 1,675 people have been intercepted on Australian waters (as of June). This is a significant decrease from 124 boats loading 6,879 people in 2010.

Earlier this year, the Julia Gillard Government approved the so-called Malaysian Solution, a policy to process asylum seekers offshore in exchange for the intake of genuine refugees. Gillard pinned hopes that this solution will stop people smuggling. The latest tragedy, however, proves she is wrong.

Time and again, boat tragedies tell stories of lost lives and broken dreams. News Limited reports an account from a survivor:

Esmat Adine, 24, a Hazara refugee from Afghanistan said he “tried to find a suitable and legal way” but after being told he wouldn’t be eligible for a student visa to Deakin University until 2013 – and fearing for his life – he fled to Jakarta.

“I was arrested by the Taliban last year and imprisoned for 16 days where they beat me and made me sleep on a dead body,” he said.

“I registered with UNHCR in Jakarta who said it could take one year but I have a wife and three-month-old daughter at home and this is the quickest way.

“We had to go so we decided to go the quickest way. There are many, many people. They are waiting in Jakarta, waiting for the boat. Most of them, they are sure they will get to Australia.

Survivors are treated at a temporary shelter in Watulim, Indonesia. (Photo by AFP Getty)

Refugees and asylum seekers have nothing to lose and nowhere to go to. Adine was quoted further by News Ltd as saying, “If Australia does not accept our request now, we will do (it) again because we have nothing.”

If the inter-governmental solutions are not workable, can’t government bodies arrest and prosecute people’s smugglers?

A protest against live cattle exports in Australia

Australian beef exports to Indonesia will be cut off by half in 2012 to stop animal cruelty in exchange for bucks.

The Indonesian agriculture ministry has confirmed its plans to reduce cattle import quota from around 520,000 heads to 280,00 next year, Sky News reported.

The reduction will hurt the cattle industry of the Northern Territory, but Animal Australia, an animal advocacy group, said that the decision by the Indonesian authority should teach cattle exporters a lesson.  The group said Aussie animals should not be transported overseas only to be consciously slaughtered.

Sky News reported a statement by executive director Glenys Oogjes stating that the Indonesian market is not an isolated case. She explained that an increasing number of animals were exported to overseas markets such as the Middle East, Egypt and Turkey “where, like Indonesia, animals are permitted to be brutally slaughtered while fully conscious.”

A campaign ad to ban live cattle exports

The ABC in May-June showed a series of cattle being slaughtered in Indonesian abattoirs which alerted the Julia Gillard Government to intervene against the brutal treatment of exported animals.

A temporary ban on cattle exports followed and was resumed after a new bilateral agreement was reached between Australia and Indonesia.

However, the Indonesian Government was not encouraged by the interruption. Instead, it engineered a way to elude Aussie beef imports by declaring that it is implementing a policy towards self-sufficiency. Liberal National Party Leader Warren Truss admitted: “The Indonesian government has retaliated by accelerating moves towards self-sufficiency.”

An Indonesian spokesperson diplomatically responded by saying that the reduction of live cattle imports “is based on the latest census of domestic cattle available for slaughter in Indonesia.”

The spokesperson noted that Indonesia has increased its stocks to about 14.4 million – well in excess of the 14.2 million making Indonesia on the way to beef self-sufficiency.

A caricature of cattle caucus

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott blamed Julia Gillard to have bungled the live cattle exports in which livelihood of many Northern Territory farmers are dependent on. After visiting the Northern Territory, he said Gillard sent the wrong person to the cattle exports negotiation table. He said it was wrong for Gillard to have sent the “incompetent” Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig. Abbott is convinced the job should have been given to Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

Source: Sky News

The Canberra Hospital sign post

The Canberra Times reported over the weekend that AECOM, a professional infrastructure consultant, has advised the government-run Canberra Hospital to use gas or waste generator to power its facilities.

A gas generating plant will cost $48 million to service three buildings. This option will help the hospital to save $28.1 million over 20 years, the report said. Gas is the cheapest power source while a pollution-to-energy generator fetches up to $209 million.

Gas can emit up to 24,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, slashing a significant amount of emission from traditional power sources of 72 million tonnes a year.

The hospital needs basic power to produce hot and cold water while a more advanced facility will provide onsite electricity.

Other eco-friendly energy sources are also being explored like solar and wind. However, the hospital compound does not have enough space for the infrastructure. The gas or waste power generator, if approved, will likely be constructed underground connected with cables. The onsite generator will be constructed north of the hospital wing to ensure its flues will not intervene with rescue helicopters.

Wind power generators are considered for TCH but viability is under study

The paper also reported that Act Chief Minister and Health Minister Katy Gallagher will continue to consult with the community to ensure the viability and sustainability of the project. The minister is vouching for the proposed alternative energy sources noting that the money saved will be used instead to finance health care for Canberra’s growing population.

The Canberra Hospital prides itself as the region’s major public hospital, providing specialised care to more than 500,000 people. TCH is a tertiary level health facility, and a teaching hospital of the Australian National University (ANU) Medical School.

Source: The Canberra Times

The carbon tax debate has been one of this year’s political highlights. It had pushed Julia Gillard’s Government to the brink of collapse – but thanks to left wing and pro-environment coalition, backed primarily by the Australian Greens, the carbon tax has triumphed against all odds in both legislative houses.

The climate change conference 2011 in Durban, South Africa

The timing is perfect. Following passage of Australia’s Clean Energy Future in early November, the Climate Change Conference kicked off in Durban, November 28-December 9.

Monitoring the conference, the Climate Action Tracker has given Australia a high mark for creating the framework for strong action. The tracker has assessed Australia across all sectors, including industry, electricity, buildings, transport, forestry and agriculture.

Australia got an A on the renewable energy sector due mainly to the Government’s goal of 20% renewable energy by 2020.

However, the report also indicates that while Australia has a good grade on overall strategy there is more that needs to be done. One area to be addressed is the transport industry where emission standards for light and heavy vehicles have yet to be implemented. Another area is the industry sector where policies related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions were virtually non-existent in the past.

The carbon tax covers non-CO₂ industry emissions, such as the fugitive emissions from the mining sector. In Australia’s case, this is key, given the country’s massive mining boom. But while it would stabilise emissions from mining, it wouldn’t reduce them in absolute terms. Without these measures the emissions from the mining sector are due to rise 97% by 2020 from 2000 levels.

Bill Hare, a visiting scientist at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, notes that “Australia’s new climate legislation is a historic breakthrough reform for the nation “ adding that it is one of the biggest reforms over the past three decades.

Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne also takes pride in the Greens’ achievement while acknowledging there is room for improvement.

PM Julia Gillard and Minister Greg Combet visiting a mine site

He admitted that all major multilateral agreements will take time as Australia has taken many years to legislate a climate change plan.

“Durban will be one stepping-stone along the path, a place where we can make further useful progress towards this goal,” he said.

Uranium mine photographed by SBS

For the first time in 40 years, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard officially announced its uranium export to India citing an effort to boost bilateral trade between Australia and “one of the world’s largest democracies.”

Following a heated debate on Sunday, the ruling Labor party headed by Gillard voted to lift its long-standing ban on exporting uranium to India, with 206 against 185 who opposed the ban.

Four cabinet ministers, including Anthony Albanese from the Left faction and Senator Stephen Conroy from the Right, believe the ban should remain, but time has changed and the uranium export is expected to be passed.

Gillard admits it is irrational to sell uranium to China but not to India.

The SBS, a multicultural broadcasting media, citing reports from AAP, said that the Gillard’s Labor faction justifies the sale of uranium to India in an effort to strengthen bilateral trade. Besides India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty unlike China, it said.

Environmentalists were expected to oppose the lift. The Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney told AAP lifting the ban could encourage a regional arms race.

He noted: “This is a 40-year-old policy and we have not seen one piece of paper (from Labor) detailing the reason for change, making a case or outlining the safeguards.”

Sweeney added that this uranium sale would jeopardise Australia’s international credibility in its commitment to peace and reduction of dangerous industry. He also warned that this will create a backlash for Labor in next election.

“Labor is saying dollar signs are far more important to us than danger signs,” AAP quoted him saying.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard finally made it! The Australian Senate today passed the Clean Energy Future legislation otherwise known as the carbon tax bill ending the prolonged political circus between the opposition and the coalition parties.

It is a historic day for Gillard who fought for the bill against all odds, a feat which many of her male counterparts has failed to accomplished. The Greens, however, gets the credit for bringing the carbon tax to life.

Political observers note the Greens had pushed the minority Labor government to put back on the agenda what Kevin Rudd has promised during his leadership. The Greens were the ones who exploited the opportunity to back a minority government forcing Gillard to backflip on her election promise.

PM Julia Gillard and Greens Leader Bob Brown

The Greens, are therefore, celebrating what they consider a “historic day” for Australia.

“Today is the day that Australia lays the foundation for a whole economic transformation and it’s the day we start serious action to tackle the climate crisis,” Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said in a press release.

The passage of the bill means the beginning of building a clean, zero carbon economy and seizing the opportunities of creating jobs and investment and putting our economy on a 21st century track.

More importantly, the passage ushers in the beginning of the end for Tony Abbott, Milne joked.

She noted how Abbott put up a 12-month scare campaign based on “lies and exaggerations” and staked his career on destabilising the Gillard Government.

She said that all negativity about the clean energy law must end and that there will be a psychological shift in Australia as people see less tax coming out of their pay or more in their support payments and then look to see how they can positively contribute to the task of tackling the climate crisis.

Milne said, “He has failed on both counts and, instead of standing and facing the music, he has cut and run.”

Greens leader Bob Brown led the celebration but he said the package of laws was “timid and short of the mark.” He is optimistic, however, that people 50 or 500 years from now will be thankful.

The price carbon will begin on July 1, 2012 with a $23-per-tonne carbon tax on the 500 biggest polluters. The tax will then move towards a market-driven emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2015.

The carbon tax aims to cut Australia’s emissions by five percent from year 2000 levels by the year 2020, and bring emissions down 80 percent by 2050.

After the bill passed Ms Gillard commented that from today Australia would address the problems of climate change including “extreme weather” such as floods and storms.

Since John Howard launched the idea of an ETS in 2007, the carbon tax question has been fiercely debated by politicians, manufacturing and business groups. Both Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull lost the leadership of their parties over the issue with their predecessors, Gillard and Abbott, continuing the political debate over the carbon tax.

(Source: Yahoo!7 and Australian Greens website)

Greens Senator Bob Brown and Prime Minister Julia Gillard speak in Parliament.

The party is also hoping to join in the Durban Conference to be held in South Africa from November 28 to December 9, 2011. The Greens will hold their  heads up high as they represent Australia’s success in getting a vote for the carbon levy.

“Once the bills pass the Senate next month, the next step is the global climate meeting in Durban…where Australia’s decision to put a price on pollution and invest in renewable energy will make a big impact,” a statement from the Greens website reads.

There could not be prouder than Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown who is giving his Deputy Leader Christine Milne a pat on the back for the job well done. Milne spearheaded the carbon tax negotiation through a Multi-party Climate Change Committee.

Milne exudes optimism. She is quoted in the party’s website as saying, “Global climate negotiations need a shot of optimism, and what we have achieved here in Australia can deliver that and help build momentum towards an ambitious, science-based climate treaty in the years ahead.”

Senator Milne, however, is cautious and aware there are tough jobs ahead. The negotiations will continue in Australia and globally. The bills are the package that has been “designed specifically so it can be strengthened over time, with annual opportunities to lift our ambition, increase our targets and invest more in clean, renewable energy than in dirty old energy.”

Senator Bob Brown admits the vote in the lower house represents a historic day the Greens has been looking forward to. “The greening of Australia is well under way,”  he said in their website.

Meanwhile, the carbon tax vote intensifies the political drama even more and it is getting more vicious. The passage of the carbon tax represents a landmark win for the left wing coalition—Labor and Greens. The Prime Minister and her predecessor Kevin Rudd who was eased out of prime ministership in June 2010 kissed and hugged after the vote.

At the other camp, the Opposition mounted a lethal attack. Liberal Party Leader Tony Abbott pledged a “bloody” vow to get back at the coalition— more specifically at Labor and do all he can to repeal the law if it passes.

The Australian quoted Abbott as saying, “We will repeal this tax, we will dismantle the bureaucracy associated with it.”

“I am giving you the most definite commitment any politician can give that this tax will go. This is a pledge in blood – this tax will go.”

Phillip Island's 'Penguins Parade' has been attracting over 3.5 million visitors a year.

After Hollywood star Miley Cyrus joined the protest to drive away urban developers from rezoning the farming town of Ventnor into a residential area, the Ministry of Planning who spearheaded the project began to have second thoughts.

Australian media reported that Planning Minister Matthew Guy met with Bass Coast Mayor Veronica Dowman before the weekend to re-think the plan to develop 23 hectares of farm land on the island’s northern coastal region for residential development.

Earlier, Seven News reported that Cyrus tweeted her disapproval against the rezoning plan and urged her followers to petition the government to stop it. She has about 2.5 million followers worldwide.

The starlet is said to have strolled over the island with her Melbourne-based boyfriend and found the place “magical”.

“Phillip Island is such a magical place, it would be a shame to see it change,” the Australian media quoted her Twitter over the weekend.

Hannah Montana's Miley Cyrus has visited the "magical" Phillip Island.

Cyrus is reported to have visited the island with her boyfriend, actor Liam Hemsworth. The actor and his family are known for their role in Home and Away. Hemsworth and his brother Chris, from the Hollywood blockbuster Thor, spent much of their lives there. The boys’ mother, Leonie, also told 7News that Cyrus has been in the island and “knows how beautiful it is.”

About 200 Ventnor residents have prepared to roll up their sleeves to combat real estate planners and construction workers in the event that the local council approves the plan.

Planning Minister Guy, however, denies any connection with Cyrus and blamed left-wingers for the comical tactic. The reports also debilitate the role of Victoria’s Premiere Ted Baillieu who has been out of view over the issue.

Matthew denies knowing the Hollywood star. He told AAP: “I can swear on a stack of Bibles and say I actually wasn’t sure who she was, I’m of a demographic who knows her father, Billy Ray Cyrus as opposed to Miley Cyrus.”

“I could not give a stuff what Miley Cyrus thinks….I couldn’t even tell you what she looks like.”

Guy reiterated that Cyrus is a Labor’s tactic which is as comical as Cyrus’ intervention.

“Someone said to me ‘Oh, it’s Hannah Montana’ and I thought that was actually a person.”

The Bass Coast mayor admitted that Cyrus helped push the issue into the mainstream press, but added it was community efforts, not star power, that changed Guy’s mind.

Dowman celebrated Guy’s change of mind with champagne along with Phillip Island residents, AAP reported.

Opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee, meanwhile, congratulated the minister for the “common sense change of heart”. He, however, insisted that the backflip only came after some celebrity intervention.

“It is a sad state of affairs when it takes Miley Cyrus to intervene before Mr Baillieu will listen to the concerns of the local community,” the Australian media quoted the opposition spokesman as saying.

Phillip Island, situated at the southern coast off Victoria, has lured 3.5 million visitors a year. It is an island known for its penguins parading along the coast before sunset called the ‘Penguins Parade’. Other species have also inhabited the place.

1. Melbourne, Australia
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Calgary, Canada
6. Sydney, Australia
7. Helsinki, Finland
8– Perth, Australia
8– Adelaide, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand
21. Brisbane, Australia

The annual survey is based on the best and worst living conditions of about 140 locations around the world. The criteria include political and social stability, crime rates, access to quality health care, cultural events, the environment, education and the standard of infrastructure.

ABC News quoted the Economist Intelligence Unit Editor Jon Copestake as saying: “Australia, with a low population density and relatively low crime rates, continues to supply some of the world’s most liveable cities.”

Two weeks after the survey came off the press, the world remembers the September 11 terror attacks.

ASIO Chief David Irvine urges Australians to become vigilant against terror

Interestingly, terror does not exempt anyone and anywhere. “This is not the time of complacency,” Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation  (ASIO) Chief David Irvine warned.

According to an exclusive by Brendan Nicholson of The Australian, the ASIO’s security hotline has received more than 600,000 suspicious calls and has been investigating “hundreds” of terrorist-related cases. Irvine, however, noted that only a minimal number of Muslim-Australians could be involved in extremist jihadist cause and in tipping off domestic and overseas terrorists.

Irvine could even be paranoid of multiculturalism, if not of Islamic religion. The Australian noted Irvine’s paranoia: “The attacks in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, who believed Europe was threatened by multiculturalism, tolerance and Islam, showed that killers could come from either end of the spectrum.”

Scaremongering or not, Irvine remembers the sixth issue of Inspire, an online al-Qa’ida publication run by leader, Anwar al-Awlaki. The issue carried a picture of the Sydney Opera House. Irvine said the cover implies that the Australian icon could be a target.

Earlier, Melbourne-based Herald Sun reported the list of 23 suspected Australians who have been on the “no fly” order or “selectee” on the security list from the intelligence body. The report is based on a security assessment released by a Wikileaks cable sent in January last year by the US Embassy in Canberra to the US State Department.

Women are said to be the majority of the suspects, including a 58-year-old matriarch and her daughter. The newspaper claims the woman has lived in Sydney since 2003 after being brought back to Australia from Iran by ASIO.

ASIO alleged all suspects to have links with Aulaqi, one of the suspects to the attempted bombing of a US airliner in December 2009 and the alleged mastermind of al-Qa’ida offshoot AQAP, the newspaper added.

Irvine appeals to all Australians to become vigilant. He warned that Australians still face a threat from organised groups and “radicalised lone-wolf extremists.” The number of people of concern could be very small, but “we all know you don’t need a lot of people to make a big explosion,” he said.