Australia Day. What does it mean?

For the First Australians, it represents the take-over of their land with the arrival of the first governor and the subsequent events which led to dispossession, disease, genocide and prejudice, not to mention mismanagement and destruction of the land and water systems that had provided for them for so long.

It re-emphasises the failure to acknowledge that Indigenous people were here for tens of thousands of years before the British flag was planted on the soil of what was conveniently called “Terra Nullius” - land belonging to no-one.

This in turn is further emphasised by the flying, draping, parading and wearing of the Australian flag, featuring the colonisers’ Union Jack in the left hand corner. And if that wasn’t enough, the notion of Terra Nullius is rammed home even more by the singing of the National Anthem with its first lines - “Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free.”

What’s to celebrate? (more…)

(letter to the editor, published in the CT January 28)

Let’s be honest. Every day more light is shed on why there is no hope for humanity and all those species whose survival depends on our making the right decisions, and your report “Koalas face big logging threat” (January 26) is yet another example. We ought to be doing everything we can to protect biodiversity by retaining habitat, in this case for the last known koala colony on the far south coast. Forest protection has many benefits. As well as providing habitat, forests help to soak up the massive amounts of CO2 we are pumping out, improve catchment and regulate the water table. But no, we prefer to turn our forests into woodchips to meet the demands of insatiable overseas markets, not just in Japan but also China, whose demand for woodchips currently and frighteningly outweighs the huge amounts we already are producing. As with climate change, it is easier to pretend the problem does not exist, or at least, that humans have nothing to do with it, because recognising that our voracious consumption is jeopardising our very existence would mean that we had to do something about it. Australians all let us rejoice? I don’t think so.

Catherine Moore, Charleys Forest

(letter to the editor, Sydney Morning Herald, not published)

Let’s be honest. Every day more light is shed on why there is no hope for humanity and all those species whose survival depends on our making the right decisions. SMH, January 25 – p. 2: “Snowy in dire state ‘on life support’ “ demonstrates that our inaction is ensuring that the Snowy River is “dying through neglect”. Page 5: “Logging plan poses threat to precious koala colony” warns that the last known koala habitat on the far south coast of NSW is at risk of annihilation because we prefer to turn our forests into woodchips to meet the demands of insatiable overseas markets than do everything we can to protect biodiversity (and maximise our contribution to soaking up the CO2 we are putting out). Page 2: “Storm brews over glacier blunder” highlights yet again the desperate attempts of climate change sceptics who will do anything to try to prove that climate change science is flawed. All this is on a backdrop of the underlying problem – our inability to come to grips with our voracious consumption, because if we did, we would have to do something about it. Australians all let us rejoice? I don’t think so.

Catherine Moore

The Greens are calling on the Rees government to address growing house sizes to avoid massive investments in the electricity network and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Commenting on a story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald (’Houses too big, say Greens’ 1 December 2009 page 4), Greens NSW MP John Kaye said: “Developers are currently reaping in huge profits by building big houses on relatively small lots.

“Larger houses use more energy, put more stress on electricity infrastructure and drive up greenhouse gas emissions.

“Household electricity bills across the state are going up to pay for the developer’s windfall gains as the Rees government commits NSW to $17 billion of new distribution and transmission wires and poles. More than 30 percent of the new investment is driven by the growing demand for electricity. (more…)

The Australian Greens today called on the Federal Government to vigorously pursue negotiations with the incoming Japanese Government over continued whaling operations in the Southern Ocean.

“Although diplomatic efforts undertaken by Minister Peter Garrett have thus far been rather unproductive, we now have a fresh opportunity with
a new Japanese Government in place,” said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

“While the Democratic Party of Japan’s policy on whaling is not dissimilar to the previous government, they have made some policy commitments to stamp out corruption and taxpayer money waste in the whaling industry. This is an opportunity to effect real change. (more…)

The Senate today passed an Australian Greens motion condemning the decision by Environment Minister Peter Garrett to give approval to the Sugarloaf Pipeline under the provisions of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

“Peter Garrett’s decision is a serious error which has major consequences for the water security of the threatened communities and environments of the Murray Darling Basin,” said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

“The combined pressures of climate change, extended drought and over-allocation of our limited shared water resources pose a very real threat to the viability and sustainability of the basin. With governments and communities across the basin working to reduce their dependency on the system, Minister Garrett’s decision has the potential to wipe out that hard work.” (more…)

Scott Ludlam, Western Australia’s most recently elected Greens Senator, will put forth his parliamentary agenda on Tuesday in an inaugural speech that will both inspire and confront.

“It is time for determined, intelligent, coordinated action,” Senator Ludlam said.

“An energy-efficient Australia can be renewably powered within a generation.

“With determination and foresight, we can step past the desperate handful of fossil advocates who are scaremongering about the end of the economy as they know it and demanding that Australia not get too far in front of the rest of the world. The most damaging myth of all is the one which says this can’t be done.

“People who say it can’t be done need to get out of the way of those who are doing it.” (more…)

A new report into Adelaide’s water security, launched today by Greens MLC Mark Parnell, argues Adelaide can be supplied with enough water for a population of up to 2 million without relying on the River Murray or desalination.

The Report, “Sustainable Water Options for Adelaide”, prepared by environmental consultants Jake Bugden and Richard Clark, calls for a major overhaul of State Government water priorities, with much greater investment in stormwater works and demand management.  The report argues these options could supply more water, faster and cheaper than a new
desalination plant and the proposed Mount Bold reservoir expansion.

“The Rann Government is making some very poor water choices.  Instead of grabbing water from elsewhere, or using crazy amounts of electricity artificially manufacturing it, we should be doing much, much better with the clean water that falls onto the Adelaide plains from the sky,” said Mr Parnell. (more…)

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…)