ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey introduced into the Assembly today a Bill to establish a container deposit scheme in the ACT.

“Governments around Australia have resisted the reintroduction of container deposit schemes for many years,” Dr Foskey said today.

“But the increase in the waste we produce and the generally inadequate level of recycling show that it’s time to change course.

“Reducing the production of single-use containers minimises land fill space as well as energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from mainly fossil fuel generated power stations, mining activities, metal smelters, canneries, pulp and paper and bottle production facilities. (more…)

“Australia is experiencing a water emergency, and nowhere are the problems as complex and as urgent then in the Murray Darling Basin.”

Speaking today at the launch of the Australian Greens Murray Darling initiative in Adelaide, Senator Rachel Siewert said: “What is needed is nothing less than a change in the way we think about water, the way we coexist with the river, and the way we share this limited, precious resource.

“Inflows to the Murray Darling are at their lowest in 116 years, irrigation allocations are at an all time low, and we have even less water in storage this summer than last year,” said Senator Siewert. (more…)

(councillor contribution for October 25 edition of Bungendore Bulletin)

The pre-election, highly predictable vote-buying announcement of tax cuts is old news now, and many including myself will be hoping that it will not be enough to seduce people on November 24.  The announcement was accompanied by the Government’s campaign slogan, “Go for Growth” which, in a climate of climate change caused by over-consumption and an obsession with growth as the answer to all our problems, I find quite repugnant.  (more…)

To the aspiring Minister for the Environment, after your backing for Gunns polluting pulp mill:

1.         Do the 200,000 hectares of wild forests to be destroyed no longer matter?

2.         Does the Australian Medical Association’s opposition to the mill because of fears for human health in the Tamar Valley not matter either?

3.         Will the 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gases which this mill will pump into the atmosphere not make climate change worse?

4.         Do scientists’ studies showing logging proposals raise the risk of Tasmania’s endangered giant Wedgetail Eagle going to extinction from 65% to 99% in northeast Tasmania not worry you?

5.         Should Mr Turnbull not have used his powers under the EPBC Act to assess the impact on forests, the Tamar Valley, and the atmosphere?

6.         Do you worry that the legal requirement for the Minister to KNOW the impact on marine ecosystems BEFORE giving the go-ahead (under the EPBC) does not figure?

7.         What of the impact of the mill pollution on vineyards, organic farmlands, tourist operations and natural fisheries and the thousands of jobs they support?

8.         Are you not concerned that the pulp mill will use 40 billion litres of water per year?

Kerrie Tucker, Greens Senate candidate for the ACT, has called for real action on climate change and an end to empty rhetoric, following the release of the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology report yesterday.

“We have to make two degrees our limit for global warming to give ourselves a chance of preventing runaway climate change” Ms Tucker said today.

“Sadly the policies of both Labor and Liberal would take us past that limit. (more…)

Australian Greens Climate Change Spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today warned that the Howard Government is attempting to restrict State powers to establish or maintain key climate change policies.

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007, introduced in the last sitting week and referred to a Senate Inquiry to report next week, purports to over-ride State and Territory greenhouse and energy reporting schemes. (more…)

(letter to the West Australian)

It is hard to see how Professor Michael Jones, director of the WA Agricultural Biotechnology Centre at Murdoch University, could have reached the conclusion that “allowing WA farmers to grow genetically modified canola could unlock a crop worth an extra $200 million a year” (The W.A., Saturday August 18).  (more…)

(Councillor column for the August 1 edition of the Bungendore Bulletin)

In the last edition I talked about the sometimes contentious issue of concessional allotments, which may be granted under the Tallaganda LEP.  One of the factors determining consent is the LEP objective of “protecting, enhancing and preserving prime crop and pasture land”, often resulting in debate about what actually constitutes prime crop and pasture land.

Anyone listening to Bush Telegraph last Tuesday would have heard about the “Future Foods for Future Health Conference” at the Melbourne Museum, presented by the Victorian Government and VicHealth. The ABC intro to the program (http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2006/s1986630.htm ) says that “Victorian statistics that show a quarter of a million people in that state could not access enough food to put on the table - a number that doubles when dependants are factored in.  The president of the Victorian Local Governance Association, Cr Beth Davidson, delivered the keynote address saying ‘all levels of government, citizens, food producers and growers and community health providers need to come together to form partnerships to remove systemic barriers to local food security.’” (more…)

Dr JOHN KAYE [5.36 p.m.] (Inaugural Speech): As a matter of protocol, and also as a mark of respect, I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land on which this Parliament sits. I pay my respects to the elders, past and present. I also pay my respects to those who, 40 years ago, struggled for and achieved constitutional recognition for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their rights to at least be counted as part of the census. Their success sits proudly in the great Australian history of struggle—a history of social justice activists, unionists, environmentalists and a stirrers, people who created a powerful tradition of taking the notion that it does not have to be this way and translating it into action. That tradition even to this day says that working people deserve a fair share of this nation’s wealth, that corporations should not be allowed to ravage our environment, and that economic disadvantage should neither be punished by impoverishment nor allowed to become an inherited condition. (more…)

The Iemma government’s plan to privatise retailers in order to finance the building of another coal-fired power station is a double blow to the community’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to Greens NSW MP and energy spokesperson John Kaye.

Dr Kaye said: “Pressure from the stock market and investors will inevitably push the managers of privatised retailers to increase profits by driving up demand. Time consuming and expensive activities like working with households to reduce consumption will always run second best to the pressure to build bottom line profits.

“The private sector can never deliver the energy efficiency services and trusted advice that need to be a key component of this state’s greenhouse gas reduction strategy.

“With a bit of imagination, publicly owned retailers can be freed from the need to maximise profit. They can work with the community to reduce consumption and climate-destroying emissions. (more…)