Next in the Conversations series being run by The Greens as part of their Eden-Monaro campaign is “Water is gold”, to be held on Saturday, July 27 in Moruya.

Starting at 3pm, Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro Catherine Moore will talk to Dr Su Wild River about mining and forestry threats to the Eurobodalla water supply, the new “water trigger” amendment to federal legislation and local impacts of climate change. There have been a number of challenges identified with the Dargues Reef gold mine and Su will give an update as we approach two years since the mine’s approval.

“I am really pleased to have the opportunity to talk to Su about these important issues. I had the pleasure of working with her during my time as councillor when we served together on the Palerang Council Climate Change Committee, and she brings a wealth of information, energy and enthusiasm to any task she undertakes,” said Catherine.

“If time permits, Su will also give a rundown on lessons from Palerang Council’s research into water futures - including local impacts of climate change and connections between local development and the protection of environmental flows.”

Everyone is welcome, and there will be an opportunity for questions and contributions from those attending. Afternoon tea will be provided.

The event is free. (more…)

Without the efforts of community groups and sustainable industry groups, there would be nothing to celebrate today, World Environment Day, according to  Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro, Catherine Moore.

“Politicians are failing the community when it comes to looking after the environment, but people working in their communities – in environment groups and industries committed to sustainability – are another story altogether,” says Catherine.

“Right now in this country, we have a number of state governments including in NSW looking at opening up National Parks to logging, mining, grazing and shooting.

“To his credit, Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke is at least recognising that the Federal Government may need to step in to protect National Parks from inappropriate activities like these. He needs all the encouragement we can give him.

“But the Federal Government still has on the table plans to hand over environmental powers to the states, and plans by Tony Abbott go even further. (more…)

Merging Palerang and Queanbeyan councils is not the solution to long-term financial viability for their communities and would come at a heavy cost to local democracy, the Braidwood and Queanbeyan-Monaro Greens said.

In a joint statement responding to the NSW Local Government Review Panel’s latest report, the Greens groups said “a merger does not address the real problems facing local government, particularly smaller, regional and rural councils trying to serve dispersed communities on limited budgets.

“State governments expect councils to deliver more services but councils are constrained in how they raise revenue. Major investment is needed in critical infrastructure but councils are faced with hefty loan costs and/or passing on significant rate rises and fee increases to residents and ratepayers, because State and Commonwealth funding has not kept up with need.

“If this core problem is ignored, Palerang and Queanbeyan communities could be forced through a merger only to find in another 10 years that we are confronting the same problem again.” (more…)

Happening somewhere in the world near you.

Earth Day dates back to 1970 when the first one was held in the U.S.A., but this year’s in particular is a day for sober reflection, says Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro Catherine Moore.

“Every day there are email notifications calling for action on multiple environmental disasters. Unlike the finance reports however, which appear without fail in news bulletins and newspapers, many of these issues receive no coverage at all.

“You name it, it’s happening – the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest and the habitat of indigenous peoples for gold-mining; farmland and forest being turned into palm oil plantations;  attempts by corporations to patent a plant that has been used for thousands of years or to introduce genetically manipulated organisms into land or water when they have not been proven to be safe for human health or the environment. And of course the biggest potential environmental catastrophe of our time, climate change with its more frequent extreme weather and fire events, melting ice and glaciers, and rising sea levels. (more…)

Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro Catherine Moore will continue the Conversations series during the 2013 federal election campaign, starting in Bermagui on Tuesday May 7 with “The People Smuggler” author, Robin de Crespigny.

The series began in 2010 when Catherine talked to a variety of people on a number of topics including climate change, nuclear issues, forestry and economics, at events that took place around the Eden-Monaro electorate.

“With a relatively long lead-up time to an election whose date we know, it is a great opportunity to expand the program,” says Catherine. (more…)

It’s Earth Day! (more…)

To find out more about this rally, taking place in Sydney on April 18 with speakers Bob Brown and Bob Debus, visit the website.

Currently known candidates for Eden-Monaro will meet for the first time in a political forum to be held on Saturday April 13 as part of the Two Fires Festival of Arts and Activism. The Festival, to honour the legacy of writer and activist Judith Wright and named after one of her poems, has been held in Braidwood every two years since 2005. This is the first time there has been a specifically political event at the Festival.

“It’s about time,” says Catherine Moore, Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro.

“There is often a disconnect between activists working for change in their communities, and the politicians who are making the decisions which affect us all. Take the example of the Iraq War, where hundreds of thousands of Australians joined millions around the world protesting against it. But it made not a scrap of difference to the governments of the time.” (more…)

The first candidates forum for the 2013 Eden-Monaro campaign will take place this Saturday April 13 at 1pm in the National Theatre.

View the poster for the event by clicking on the link below. (more…)