(letter to the editor, published in The Land, January 27)

After reading Mal Peters’ anti-Green article in last week’s The Land (Eat trees you bastards), I must agree with his mother.

According to Mal’s mother, we “must always be mindful of the impacts our actions have on others”.

That philosophy is spot on and is the underlying imperative in the forming of Greens’ policies.

The farmers I know in the Braidwood region are not at odds with The Greens’ advocacy of ‘farming for the long haul’, improved soil fertility and reduced cost through reduced chemical inputs.

Elsewhere in the same paper there are impassioned pleas for common sense to prevail where coal mining threatens to wreck agricultural land. This has been The Greens’ position for a decade or more, long before the other parties woke up to the threat.

Please Mal, don’t try to drive a wedge between farmers and environmentalists. If we talk constructively and listen to each other it will become obvious that we are all on the same side.

Paul Cockram, Greens candidate for Monaro

The Greens candidate for Monaro Paul Cockram has said that it is unacceptable to develop a major regional processing facility and gold mine next to the village of Majors Creek.

The Dargues Reef Gold Project proposed by Cortona will have serious impacts on the community of Majors Creek through industrial noise, increased traffic, dust pollution and high risk to drinking and stock water from the creek and bores. Also at risk are regionally significant vegetation communities, threatened species and conservation reserves as well as the surface and ground waters of Majors Creek, Araluen Valley and the Deua River Catchment.

An independent report commissioned by Eurobodalla Shire Council has also slammed the project, identifying high risks to the Deua Catchment including pollution by sewage, hydrocarbons and chemicals. (more…)

The dramatic closure of the newly privatised Parklea minimum security prison, in the wake of the escape of three prisoners this week, is evidence of the failure of the “privatise at any cost” model of government now being adopted by both the ALP and Coalition.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said:

“Parklea prison was only privatised a little over twelve months ago and we have now seen one of the largest prison breakouts in recent history. The Commissioner for Corrective Services Mr Ron Woodham has taken days to respond to the problems at the facility. It appears he has little day-to-day knowledge of what goes on in this now private institution.

“A breakout of this scale is clear evidence of a failing private operator.

“We need to know what contractual penalties the operator will have to pay for failing in its task of operating Parklea prison. Surely there must be some penalty for letting prisoners escape? (more…)

After the hottest and wettest year in recorded history, the seas off northern Australia are also currently warmer than ever before. This heat has led to increased evaporation and so, rainfall.

Sceptics and defenders of the coal industry may dispute this scientific data, but they don’t. Instead, they are arguing that there should be no debate - not, at least, until some undefined time in the future when the cataclysm has passed and its injuries are behind us. 

A week after the “inland tsunami” struck the Toowoomba region, with the flood crest having passed in Brisbane, and Rockhampton beginning to recover, Australia’s newspapers are now carrying letters expressing frustration at the absence of debate on the causes of the floods across the nation and, indeed, in Brazil, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Like the drought, heatwaves and bushfires these floods are predictable calamities and worse is in store as the planet is heated by human actions.

We may collectively choose to do nothing about the rapidly increasing of burning of coal, here and overseas, from coal being mined in Australia by wealthy corporations largely owned overseas. However, that choice should not be made without informed debate. If there is a later time better for this crucial debate to begin, let the critics name it.

Bob Brown
Australian Greens Leader 

Dams can increase the risk of flooding and impose irreversible changes that damage forests, wetlands, fisheries and farmland, nor should the devastating Queensland floods cause any delay to Murray-Darling reforms, Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.
 
“Dams may prevent smaller floods but can increase damage during exceptionally large floods when severe weather events cause a sudden release of water,” Senator Brown said.
 
“Tony Abbott’s plan is ill-conceived.” (more…)