The Rudd Government is about to ditch a key election promise as Martin Ferguson moves to foist a nuclear waste dump onto the Northern Territory.

The Labor Party promised Northern Territory electors it would repeal Howard’s nuclear waste dump legislation in the heat of their election campaign,” said Senator Rachel Siewert today.

“Now Mr Ferguson is telling the Territorians that they have to have it anyway.

“Martin Ferguson is claiming the dump will only be used to store Australian nuclear waste – but how can we now trust the ALP to break one promise yet keep another?” asked Senator Siewert.

“This decision is opening the flood-gates to this toxic industry.

“Australians have a right to feel betrayed by this kind of sneaky double-dealing,” concluded Senator Siewert.

The Rudd Government is swiftly squandering any credibility it had on climate change, Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, said today.

Senator Milne said, “How extraordinary that, on World Environment Day, with a global focus on climate change, our Environment Minister ducks, weaves and dances as if he were still on stage, while his colleague, the Minister for Coal, spruiks turning his favourite resource into a horrendously polluting transport fuel.

“At heart, the problem is that the Rudd Government is no more willing to challenge itself and ask the right questions than the Howard Government was. If this Government has not even got the courage to introduce strict mandatory labelling and minimum performance standards for all appliances, what hope is there for any rigour in the emissions trading scheme? (more…)

NSW Greens MPs are supporting a call for a parliamentary inquiry into Frank Sartor’s new planning Bill, describing the Bill as having potentially devastating consequences for the state’s environment and heritage and being an open invitation for corruption of the planning system.

“This Bill will affect billions of dollars of developments. It will affect the rights and the amenity of every citizen in this state,”
said Greens MP and planning spokesperson Sylvia Hale.

The government today refused a Greens motion to release the submissions that had been received about the planning changes.

Ms Hale referred to a report of the cross-party Legislative Review Committee that raised significant concerns with the planning Bill including that it would trespass on individual rights to have views heard and represented, procedural fairness, access to justice and may erode the rule of law and individual property rights. (more…)

NSW Treasurer Michael Costa’s budget hides underspending on the environment and education.  Forward estimates show that power privatisation will increase future taxes and slash front line services, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

Dr Kaye said: “The Treasurer’s third budget is a statement of his disdain for teachers, public transport, and climate change.

“He has clearly won the cabinet battles to keep expenditure on services down. (more…)

Gene Ethics fully supports WA Premier Alan Carpenter’s call today for labels on all Genetic Manipulated (GM) foods and for all GM food approvals to stop while these unsafe foods are fully safety tested.

“We back Premier Carpenter’s call for labels on all GM foods and for Food Standards Australia NZ (FSANZ) to stop all approvals of GM foods until conclusive safety tests are done to prove they are safe to eat,” says Gene Ethics Director Bob Phelps.

“We join the Premier in calling on all Australian governments - through the Health Ministerial Council - to swiftly meet the public’s rights to safe food and to know a food is GM.

“All governments must back the WA call for basic changes to the present GM food standard. (more…)

(joint media statement from the the WA Premier and the Minister for Agriculture and Food)

Premier Alan Carpenter has called for better labelling of foods that contain Genetically Modified ingredients and an immediate halt to the approval of all GM foods in Australia until more is known about the safety of eating them.

Mr Carpenter said Australia’s national food regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), should not approve any more foods for human consumption until it introduced independent scientific trials to determine the safety of GM foods.

“I find it unbelievable and unacceptable that the national food regulator relies principally on the say-so of the GM companies when assessing GM foods as safe to eat,” he said. (more…)

Tuesday’s state budget will leave public school classrooms $86.5 million short of the money needed to bring them up to an acceptable standard while wealthy private schools will continue to be heavily subsidised, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

Commenting on the pre-budget announcement in today’s Sunday Telegraph (p.2, “Schools falling apart at seams”), Dr Kaye said: “The Iemma government failed to increase public school maintenance funding in real terms to address the $86.5 million backlog.

“The supposed $11 million boost will only hold total spending at standstill after accounting for rising costs. (more…)