Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world in addressing climate change, according to a new report by the Climate Institute and GE.

The Global Climate Leadership Review shows Australia is now third last, leading only India and Saudi Arabia in preparing for the global low carbon economy.  By contrast, China has leapt ahead and is now in third place.

“Tony Abbott has spent the last three years pushing the lie that Australia is acting before the rest of the world on climate change and is damaging our international competitiveness. The fact is we have long been behind and are failing to catch up,” Greens Leader Christine Milne said.

“Tony Abbott must now admit that he has been wrong and needs to end the uncertainty immediately and stop threatening to destroy our transformation to a clean energy future. (more…)

Letter to the editor

In the last week, an almost unidentified leaflet has been landing in letterboxes around NSW and possibly the country. Inexplicably, though perhaps coincidentally, it uses the colours of the Aboriginal flag to tell us that “illegal boat arrivals” are costing tax-payers big money – no less than $12.8 million per boat. The word illegal is used four times, and we are told that $6.6 billion has been “wasted on illegal boat arrival cost blow-outs” between 2008 and 2012. The leaflet has been authorised (see the very small print at the bottom) by one Mark Neeham, whom googling reveals to be the State Director of the Liberal Party of Australia.

A political party that has its sights set on governing the country would do well to come up with some visionary policies. A party with vision would talk about ways to process asylum seekers rapidly onshore, thus saving no small proportion of those billions. Such a party would talk about preventative health measures to save on hospital costs down the track, and adequate investment in public education and transport. Instead, the Liberal Party has opted to continue to create fear and loathing in the Australian community about people whose lives are so unbearable that they are forced to leave their homes and seek asylum in a country that is supposed to be compassionate, humane and fair. A close to anonymous scare campaign such as this one is no less than despicable.

Catherine Moore
Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro

Climate change is still the biggest issue facing the community, says Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro Catherine Moore, who has just concluded a week of attending events in the electorate.

“It’s been very inspiring to meet people concerned about some key issues important to The Greens and community groups, including the asylum seeker issue, putting a stop to hunting in National Parks, and the dominant theme of the past seven days, climate change.

“The week began with the Clean Energy for Eternity-hosted Climate Commission forum in Bega, where Professor Lesley Hughes gave a sobering presentation on global warming. She highlighted the high number of records that have been broken over summer, a dire warning of conditions that are approaching much faster than was predicted. (more…)

(letter to the editor, sent to Eden-Monaro media)

Ah how we take our opportunities to freely express our views in the newspaper for granted. Thanks to Amnesty and the newly re-formed Braidwood branch of Rural Australians for Refugees, I was lucky enough on Wednesday night to hear Robin de Crespigny read from and talk about her book “The People Smuggler”, which I am now reading.

Robin referred to the post-traumatic stress being experienced by refugees in detention in Australia and elsewhere and it occurred to me that it is no wonder this is so common. People who come here are fleeing persecution, but Australians are fortunate enough to have no concept of what persecution really means. In many cases, those who eventually make it here have been tortured for doing something as simple as speaking out against an oppressive regime, but they spoke out and continued to speak out because they knew it was the right thing. Eventually they had no choice but to escape and make the often dangerous journey (though nowhere near as dangerous as their lives at home) to a place where people live freely with endless opportunities, But instead of a rapid and efficient process to establish their refugee status when they arrive, they are put in concentration camp-like detention centres with no idea of when they will be released, and many are kept there for years on end. (more…)

The Australian Greens congratulate and pay tribute to Miranda Gibson for her tireless campaign to protect Tasmania’s magnificent forests.

Miranda has been living in the Observer Tree in the southern forests of Tasmania for a record 451 days. This is a significant milestone for conservation and is now the longest running tree sit in Australian history.

“I would like to congratulate Miranda for the outstanding contributions she has made towards protecting Tasmania’s native forests from logging and for her strong advocacy for World Heritage listing,” Senator Christine Milne said. (more…)

Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro Catherine Moore has congratulated community members who today took part in a national action to ask the federal government to intervene on mining. Judith Turley and other Lock the Gate supporters today presented Mike Kelly, ALP Member for Eden-Monaro, with a list of eight things the government could do to step in to immediately protect Australia from coal and coal seam gas mining developments.

“While State Governments seem to be on a mining rampage, eagerly approving every proposal that comes their way, locking Australia into contracts that will guarantee supply for decades, the Federal Government has been sitting on its hands saying that there is nothing it can do.

“This is clearly not so, and thanks to Lock the Gate Alliance and its investigations, there is now no longer any excuse for the Federal Government to remain silent. (more…)

For more than a decade the NSW Game Council has been licensing hundreds of children as young as 12 to illegally hunt with firearms in millions of hectares of State Forests. The children they have sent out hunting are now exposed to possible criminal prosecutions for breaches of the Firearms Act which carry a maximum five years jail sentence.

Under the Firearms Act it is unlawful for a child to use a firearm for the purpose of hunting. A minor’s permit under the Firearms Act only entitles a child to use a firearm for the purpose of instruction in its safe use or for authorised target shooting.

As reported in the Australian:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/game-council-under-fire-for-licensing-children-to-hunt/story-e6frgczx-1226590292664

Greens MP and Firearms Spokesperson David Shoebridge said “in 2012 the Game Council licensed 410 children to hunt on public land and most of them are illegally hunting with firearms. (more…)