The Greens in Eden-Monaro have welcomed the announcement of the date of the 2013 election.

“Julia Gillard’s announcement well ahead of September 14 gives everyone the opportunity to plan properly and is a closer fit to the ideal of fixed term elections,” says Catherine Moore, Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro.

“In previous years, the announcement has been made at the last minute, often giving everyone but the party in government little chance to plan ahead.

“This move makes it fair for everyone, and gives the opportunity to see through some of the legislation that has passed through Parliament. (more…)

Reports that two senior Game Council executives have been suspended highlight the ongoing problems with the publicly funded pro-gun and hunting body, which was created to woo the shooters lobby in 2002.

See smh: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/game-boss-suspended-over-illegal-hunt-claim-20130122-2d5nn.html

Greens NSW MP and Firearms spokesperson David Shoebridge said:

“For more than a decade the Game Council has been run by a pro-hunting and pro-gun interest group with little if any interest in ensuring effective and humane feral animal control.

“The two previous chairmen of the Game Council are now Shooters MPs in the Parliament, where they continue to push for more guns, more hunting and more power to this sham organisation.

“The Game Council receives millions of dollars of public money each year, but provides fewer than five full time inspectors to police hunting in the more than 2 million hectares of public land open to hunting. (more…)

Extreme temperatures and unseasonal high winds resulting in increasingly dangerous fires are a wake-up call to governments to take decisive action on climate change immediately, says Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro, Catherine Moore, who this week made a submission to the Senate’s Extreme Weather Inquiry.

“It has been evident to thinking, caring Australians and global citizens in general that human-induced climate change is strongly linked to the extreme weather events that we have been seeing around the world,” says Catherine.

“We are already looking at a possible six degree warming by the end of this century, according to IPCC forecasts. Business as usual including any new coalmines will have a catastrophic effect on life on Earth. Yet governments remain in the thrall of the fossil-fuel industry, approving any new coalmine that is proposed.

“Tragically, it is most likely already too late, with climate science sceptics having dismissed and distorted the science, confusing the general public and pressuring successive governments into watering down effective action on the issue. Along with many others, I feel angered and deeply saddened about the failure of governments to act effectively to date. (more…)

The Greens have called on the Government to ensure victims of the atomic testing at Maralinga are properly compensated after a British court decision overnight shattered hopes for justice.

Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said the hopes of Australians exposed to nuclear testing in the 1950s were dealt a serious blow by another UK court ruling against compensation.

“In 2010 the British courts ruled British veterans who participated in nuclear tests in Australia could not sue the Defence Ministry because they could not prove their illnesses were caused by exposure to radiation.  Now, Aboriginal people exposed to the same toxic tests have been told their legal fight is over for the same reason. (more…)