Releasing a list of the Abbott government’s top failures, the Australian Greens say the first 100 days have been a secretive, cruel and chaotic preview of what is to come.

“During the election campaign the Abbott government’s true agenda was hidden behind cheap rhetoric, but you can’t run a country with a slogan,” said Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne.

“The Abbott government has tried to claim a so-called mandate to take Australia back to the last century, but he doesn’t have one. The longer Prime Minister Abbott and his big business mates run the show, the less the public knows about what’s going on behind the scenes. The Abbott government is a secretive, cruel and chaotic government.

“The Australian people didn’t sign up to this, and the Greens will stand against it. (more…)

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…)

Robin Chapple, the Greens WA spokesperson on Mining and Nuclear issues, today expressed his sadness after hearing the news of federal environment minister Burke’s decision to approve the Toro Energy Wiluna uranium mine.

“I am sad for the men and women who will be asked to work at close quarters with this most toxic of mineral ores,” Mr Chapple said.

“They will have been reassured by the imprimatur given to this mine by the various levels of government.

“Who can blame them for assuming that if it is permitted by the authorities, in a modern industry like Australia’s mining sector, then it must be OK?

“The truth, sadly, is that prolonged, repeated exposure to uranium ore, such as that experienced by Toro’s future mine workforce, is a proven health risk.

“We are laying the groundwork for a repeat of the tragic asbestos diseases scenario currently being played out across Australia, a particularly poignant thought as we this week mourn the passing of one of my electorate’s former Parliamentary representatives Mr Ernie Bridge. (more…)

As the O’Farrell government enters the second half of its term, the Greens NSW MPs have put together a report card on the government’s worst failures, and the Greens’ top achievements for a more sustainable and caring NSW.

The O’Farrell government:

• launched attacks on wages and conditions of teachers, nurses and other public sector workers, and drastic cuts to our workers compensation laws
• overturned the 26-year ban on uranium exploration in NSW, prompting widespread community concern and condemnation
• savaged schools and TAFE, stripping a staggering $1.6 billion of funding from public education
• opened up national parks to recreational hunters for the sake of a political deal with the extreme Shooters Party to enable electricity privatisation
• broke an election promise to oppose mining in drinking water catchments with approval of massive coal mine in the Sydney catchment
• gave tunnel vision priority to more tollways with $1.8 billion committed to the WestConnex without traffic modelling or cost-benefit analysis
• launched a “dob-in a rorter” program that demonised public housing tenants, while failing to clear the maintenance backlog and left tens of thousands on social housing waiting lists.
• watered down coal seam gas policy, failing to protect our farming lands and water with a weak strategic land use policy
• proposed child protection reforms that focus on punitive approaches to parents in at-risk families and prioritising adoption under short time-frames
• eroded civil liberties and failed to deal with police accountability - from the expansion of the sniffer dogs program, the removal of the right to silence and the failure to ensure that police do not investigate police
• squandered opportunity to transition to low carbon clean energy economy throwing $11 billion of wind industry investment into doubt with unrealistic and unreasonable wind farm guidelines.
• trashed marine science with the closure of The Cronulla Fisheries Research Centre of Excellence and continuing the deal with the Shooters Party for a moratorium on new marine parks
• replaced one pro-developer planning system with another, failing to put planning decisions back in the hands of local communities

(more…)

The Australian Greens welcome the establishment of a Senate Inquiry into the mining tax.

“I am pleased that our motion to set up an inquiry into the design of the mining tax won the support of the Coalition and passed the Senate today.” Australian Greens leader Senator Christine Milne said today.

“This is a win for transparency, and a win for the community.  It’s about time Australians found out why the Gillard Government agreed to a dud mining tax, why the mining tax has failed to raise the billions that were promised, and how to fix it. (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…)

The Australian Greens today welcomed comments from a leading nuclear radiologist shattering the myth that a waste dump is needed in outback Australia to house low-level radioactive medical waste.

Greens spokesperson for nuclear affairs Senator Scott Ludlam said the comments from Dr Peter Karamoskos, ahead of the Senate debate on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, exposed the dishonest campaign to impose a waste dump on Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory.

“Dr Karamoskos said the most radioactive isotopes generated from nuclear medicine are designated as ‘very low level’ waste, and he described claims that the dump is needed to support nuclear medicine as ‘mischievous scare-mongering’. (more…)

The Australian Greens today welcomed comments from a leading nuclear radiologist shattering the myth that a waste dump is needed in outback Australia to house low-level radioactive medical waste.

Greens spokesperson for nuclear affairs Senator Scott Ludlam said the comments from Dr Peter Karamoskos, ahead of the Senate debate on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, exposed the dishonest campaign to impose a waste dump on Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory.

“Dr Karamoskos said the most radioactive isotopes generated from nuclear medicine are designated as ‘very low level’ waste, and he described claims that the dump is needed to support nuclear medicine as ‘mischievous scare-mongering’. (more…)

The Australian Greens today welcomed comments from a leading nuclear radiologist shattering the myth that a waste dump is needed in outback Australia to house low-level radioactive medical waste.

Greens spokesperson for nuclear affairs Senator Scott Ludlam said the comments from Dr Peter Karamoskos, ahead of the Senate debate on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, exposed the dishonest campaign to impose a waste dump on Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory.

“Dr Karamoskos said the most radioactive isotopes generated from nuclear medicine are designated as ‘very low level’ waste, and he described claims that the dump is needed to support nuclear medicine as ‘mischievous scare-mongering’. (more…)

The New South Wales Government appears poised to commit a random act of colossal stupidity, following reports that the NSW Cabinet will move to overturn the state’s 26-year uranium ban.

Greens spokesperson on nuclear affairs Senator Scott Ludlam said Premier Barry O’Farrell should stick to the position he held before being lobbied by the uranium industry and Federal ALP minister Martin Ferguson.

“In August 2011 it was revealed that resources minister and nuclear fanatic Martin Ferguson had urged Premier O’Farrell to lift the ban and the Australian Uranium Association had lobbied state resources and energy minister Chris Hartcher to do their dirty work. Asked in parliament if the government was considering lifting the ban, the Premier said no.” (more…)