Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called on the Federal Government to respect the will of the ACT Parliament, as it prepares for the third
time to pass legislation granting legal status to same-sex commitment ceremonies.

ACT Labor has pledged support for the ACT Greens’ bill to allow same-sex couples to hold legally binding ceremonies, guaranteeing its passage
through parliament.

“The Prime Minister must show leadership on the issue of same-sex relationships, and must not interfere in the decisions of a democratically elected parliament,” said Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for Sexuality and Gender Identity.

“To deny the will of the people three times would demonstrate utter disrespect for the people of the ACT, and in this case, the will of his own party.
(more…)

The Rudd government’s “circuit breaker” may help broker a deal, but it will be a deal to lock in failure in tackling global warming, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

“This ‘circuit breaker’ will delight polluters, but it will appall scientists,” Senator Brown said.

“Mr Rudd and Senator Wong are so determined to be seen to broker some kind of deal that they have lost sight of what the deal is supposed to achieve.

“Rudd and Wong’s 5-25% target range pulled down the level of ambition from developed countries so far below what developing countries are demanding that the only way to get a deal was to offer the latter a way out, too. (more…)

Risk assessment company Maplecroft’s CO2 Energy Emissions Index has revealed that Australia has overtaken the United States as the worst per
capita emitter of carbon pollution in the world.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said: “Australia has overtaken the US on Kevin Rudd’s watch.

“David Spratt has warned that just two infrastructure projects announced in 2008 will alone result in destination emissions equal to 117 percent
of our domestic emissions.”

“With our coal export facilities expanding, things are getting worse. The government’s emissions trading scheme will not reverse this,” Senator Brown said.

As reported in The Age newspaper today, Australia is responsible for 19.78 tonnes of carbon per head every year.

The Government and Opposition closed ranks with the polluters once again today, voting against a move by the Greens to remove exemptions to the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Act for electricity and gas generators, transmitters and distributors.Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, moved today to disallow regulations which exempt key polluters from the obligation to
identify energy efficiency opportunities until 2013. The Senate voted 6 to 39 against the motion, with only Senator Xenophon supporting the Greens.

“The Australian community is getting mightily fed up with the Rudd Government letting polluters get away with doing nothing to reduce their
impact on the climate,” Senator Milne said. (more…)

Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, has written to Energy Minister Martin Ferguson today asking him to guarantee that the
$75 million of Federal funding earmarked for the Solar Systems project in Mildura be quarantined for the solar industry.

The company behind the proposed Mildura solar power station, Solar Systems, has gone into receivership before receiving any of the promised
Federal funding. The $75 million allocated to the project would be helpfully allocated to projects such as the Solar Flagships or Remote Regional Power Generation Program.

“Too often, solar power projects are left to scrounge for scraps left behind after billion dollar polluter handouts,” Senator Milne said.

“The $75 million that had been allocated to Solar Systems must be used to bring solar power into Australian homes rather than ending up back in
Government coffers or, worse, in the pockets of polluters. (more…)

The Australian Greens today called on the Federal Government to vigorously pursue negotiations with the incoming Japanese Government over continued whaling operations in the Southern Ocean.

“Although diplomatic efforts undertaken by Minister Peter Garrett have thus far been rather unproductive, we now have a fresh opportunity with
a new Japanese Government in place,” said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

“While the Democratic Party of Japan’s policy on whaling is not dissimilar to the previous government, they have made some policy commitments to stamp out corruption and taxpayer money waste in the whaling industry. This is an opportunity to effect real change. (more…)

A Federal Bill that will apply a uniform royalty regime to all uranium mining projects in the Northern Territory will increase Aboriginal disadvantage, the Australian Greens say.

The Uranium Royalty (Northern Territory) Bill 2008, referred last year to the Senate Economics Committee, will be debated in the Senate today (Tues 8/9/2009).

“The inquiry revealed that the Rudd Government has become captured by the uranium mining industry and continues to follow the wishes of the Uranium Industry Framework, an unrepresentative and industry-dominated body created by the former Howard Government,” the Greens’ Nuclear Spokesperson, Senator Scott Ludlam said.

“It also confirmed that the current ‘for-profit’ mining royalties system in the Northern Territory - which this Bill seeks to extend to uranium and other designated substances such as thorium - is failing Aboriginal people. (more…)

The Managed Investment Scheme tax rort for plantations which has been a blight on regional Australia must be ended, not extended, the Australian
Greens said today.

Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, made this call in response to the tabling of a Joint Parliamentary Committee report
into the operation of MIS schemes. The Labor and Liberal Parties closed ranks to protect the forest industry.

“People across regional Australia will be beside themselves over this disgraceful decision to continue the MIS tax rort,” Senator Milne said.

“MIS plantations have been a blight on regional Australia, devastating rural communities by inflating land prices and putting further pressure
on scarce water resources.

“The decision by Labor and Liberals to close ranks on this issue shows once again just how much the two old parties have been captured by
resource sector, forestry as much as coal. (more…)

The Rees government’s plans to entice the private sector to build two new coal-fired power stations that are ‘carbon capture and storage’ ready have been exposed by revelations that the technology is not likely to be commercially available until 2040, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

Commenting on ABC TV’s Four Corners report ‘The Coal Nightmare’ (Monday 7 September, 8.30pm), Dr Kaye said: “Finance Minister Joe Tripodi is trying to hide a massive 57 percent increase in the state’s electricity sector greenhouse gas emissions behind the hope that the plants will some day be fitted with equipment to capture and bury the CO2.

“Clean coal technology does not exist. (more…)

The Tasmanian Greens today raised concerns that hundreds of tonnes of specialty timber logs, such as Sassafras, Myrtle, Blackwood and Celery Pine, have been consigned to be woodchipped, and called for the Bartlett government to intervene immediately.

Greens Forestry spokesperson Kim Booth MP, who previously built and operated his own sawmill, spotted a load of these logs going through Hobart on the weekend, and as a result has uncovered the chilling reality of Forestry’s flagrant waste and has called on Premier David Bartlett to demand answers from his Forestry Minister, David Llewellyn.

Mr Booth also described how he had seen a log truck travelling through Hobart recently carrying what appeared to be specialty timbers, and upon
further investigation discovered that this timber was apparently stored at Forestry Tasmania’s Island Specialty Timbers yard at Cemetery Road,
Geeveston.

“Following the sighting of a log truck full of greyed off minor species logs in Hobart on Friday I have now discovered to my horror that some hundreds of tonnes of what were highly valuable rare and exotic timbers had been consigned to the chipper by Forestry,” Mr Booth said. (more…)