Posted by admin on December 30, 2010
Greens Leader Bob Brown said today his aim is to give Australia progressive and prosperous governance in 2011, beginning with work towards a Gillard government carbon price to tackle global warming, stimulate the economy and generate new business opportunities.
“Amid more extreme weather events, which are occurring more frequently, the new year gives Australians a chance to think beyond ‘sides’ and embrace effective, innovative and green ways of building a future for the developed economy that is most at risk from global warming,” Senator Brown said.
Building on the Greens’ ongoing work, the Greens in 2011 in both houses of Parliament, will also be working towards:
- A mining tax to fund free tertiary eduction for every young Australian at $2.5 billion per annum and a sovereign wealth fund to safeguard a low-carbon future
- High Speed Rail to link Australia’s biggest cities and better light rail within those cities
- Giving the Gillard government essential support for its national broadband network
- A national marine park system to protect fish nurseries and the nation’s marine biodiversity for all time
- Achieving auditory (hearing) testing and support for all indigenous children
- Protection of Australia’s remaining native forests, woodlands and wildlife
- Australia taking a lead in a global effort to divert some of the more than $1 trillion annual weapons budget, so that every child on Earth has access to food, clean water and schooling.
Senator Brown said he looked forward to the four new Australian Greens Senators taking their seats on the 1st of July.
“While assuring the Gillard government of stability, we will also be looking for good ideas from the Coalition and Independents which the Greens could assist through Parliament.”
“I spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi over the Christmas break and I look forward to visiting her and Burmese government members in 2011.”
Senator Brown said he has never felt happier in his 35 years in politics and, along with his talented team of Greens MPs in Canberra, welcomes 2011 and the new opportunities it opens up for Australia.
“I also see the NSW election in March as an early opportunity for voters dissatisfied with both the bigger parties to back the Greens in record numbers and elect more Greens into both houses in Macquarie Street.”
Posted by admin on December 10, 2010
Australian Bureau of Statistics employment figures for Queensland which were released yesterday and show that more jobs were lost in Queensland than created are no surprise, according to the Queensland Greens.
‘Each time the Premier or Treasurer announce some new mining or gas drilling development in regional Queensland, it increases uncertainty for existing agricultural and tourism sectors,’ Queensland Greens spokesperson, Libby Connors pointed out.
‘Why would anyone invest in agriculture or related agrifood businesses when the Premier publicly states that she intends to protect only ‘the best of the best’ of Queensland’s cropping lands?
‘We’re in the midst of a good rainfall season but these major sectors of the Queensland economy are being hemmed in by new coal mines and gas wells in the state’s richest agricultural lands.
‘The outlook is not much better for tourism. The Australian dollar is one factor but so is the expansion of coal ports north and south of Queensland’s finest coastal resorts in the Whitsundays and proposals for coal mines and coal seam gas near Wide Bay.
‘No tourists want to view the beautiful Queensland coast through coal heaps, coal dust and gas infrastructure.’
‘Reckless expansion by one sector of the economy is endangering and narrowing the state’s economic base but both major parties have no vision about how to develop a diverse economy in a post-carbon world.’
Posted by admin on October 23, 2010
In a world facing climate crisis, worsening food security and increasingly little clean water, the coal seam gas industry is a step in the wrong direction, the Australian Greens said today.
The Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke’s approval of two major projects in Queensland yesterday has been celebrated by Premier Anna Bligh as ‘the first day of a new industry’ but mourned by farmers and environmentalists.
“The first day of a new industry which stands to destroy farming jobs, prime agricultural land and farming communities, risks poisoning aquifers and will contribute to worsening climate change is no cause for celebration,” Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said.
“Nobody in Australia, least of all Minister Burke, can be unaware that we face a huge challenge to shift to a sustainable use of water in this country.
“Surely this is no time to be opening up a new industry that presents a very high risk of poisoning aquifers. We need to do everything we can to protect our precious water resources, not risk making them unusable to tap another source of climate-changing fossil fuel.
“Farmers and environmentalists have been working closely together in Queensland and NSW because we both understand that a future where we can feed ourselves is a future where we protect farming lands and protect water resources.
“Many farmers coming face to face with fossil fuel developments encroaching on their land also recognise the very real threat climate change poses to their livelihood.
“Professor Will Steffen, the scientific adviser to the multi-party climate committee, has warned that we are running out of time to prevent the climate crisis tipping out of control.
“This is no time to be opening up another polluting fossil fuel industry. It is time to be putting all our resources into the new, zero emissions renewable energy industries that are ready and able to start powering our country.
“I and my Greens colleagues will continue to work inside and outside the climate committee for ambitious policies that will transform Australia’s economy from one focussed on polluting industries to one that protects the clean air, land and water that we need to survive.
“Coal seam gas represents short term corporate and government greed at the expense of future generations. It is a dead end industry.”
Posted by admin on October 6, 2010
The Senate has acknowledged the essential role of carers in our community and recognised that more needs to be done to provide them with support, passing a motion proposed by Australian Greens Community Services spokesperson, Senator Rachel Siewert.
The Senate noted that 17-23 October is National Carer’s Week with the theme, Anyone, Anytime can become a carer, which reflects the indiscriminate nature of the caring role and particularly how it can impact upon people at any life stage.
“There are over 2.6 millions unpaid carers in Australia, who provide essential support to those they care for and who take pressure off our overwhelmed public health system,” Senator Siewert said.
“Carers come from all walks of life, with different needs and experiences. As this year’s theme reflects, anybody can find themselves in this position.
“Without their work, the quality of life of many people would suffer. More should be done to provide carers with the support and assistance they deserve.
“Regardless of their age or life situation, people fill the role of carer out of compassion and love, and the personal impact upon them and their families can not be underestimated,” said Senator Siewert.
“I’m pleased the Senate support this motion acknowledging the work of our carers and importantly understanding that more needs to be done to support the work of carers in our community” concluded Senator Siewert.
National Carers Week will be held from 17-23 October 2010 and this year’s theme is ‘Anyone, Anytime can become a carer’.
Posted by admin on October 4, 2010
North Stradbroke Island
North Stradbroke Island is unique in having a naturally occurring, genetically distinct population of koalas. Land clearing for the mines is destroying the koala’s old growth forest habitat.
The ancient layered sand dunes are permanently destroyed by the mining process, with implications for the Island’s aquifers from Enterprise mine’s 100 metre deep dredge pond.
Mine rehabilitation can never replace the complexity of the original ancient landscape, which is why the traditional owners are opposing continued mining. Ecologists are also saying that the remaining pristine areas are essential to nurture recovery of the mine sites.
Fifty years of mining is taking its toll on the fragile sand island.
The Queensland Greens want North Stradbroke Island protected from the ravages of mineral sand mining and this popular destination and its wildlife and pristine environment safeguarded for future generations to enjoy.
The Queensland Greens believe that sand mining should urgently be stopped and the workers re-deployed to decommission and revegetate the Island’s three mine sites, which would generate employment for at least another 5 years.
The Queensland Greens want a ban on mining on North Stradbroke Island to protect the old growth forest, ancient sand dunes and koalas of the second largest sand island in the world.
The state government’s extension of mining until 2027 on already expired mining leases at the Island’s largest mine, Enterprise, is precisely the date the former owners of that mine told the ASX that the mine would run out of minerals. The state government has given the miners exactly what they want and will even change state laws to enable renewal of Joh-era mining leases that expired nearly three years ago.
To renew expired mining leases on land earmarked to become national park, to a company being sued for breaching other mining lease conditions, is totally unacceptable and calls into question the environmental credibility of the state government and its relationship with the mining sector and the royalties and donations it provides.
The state government should not renew any expired mining leases and should facilitate urgent transition to eco-tourism as the predominant industry on the island to ensure continued employment of the island’s residents.
Larissa Waters
Spokesperson and Senator-elect
Queensland Greens
Posted by admin on October 2, 2010
The Queensland Greens strongly support legislative protection for Queensland’s small proportion of lands suitable for cultivation and look forward to seeing it enacted as soon as possible following public consultation processes.
Background
This section attempts to summarise the respective contributions of the mining and agricultural sectors to the Queensland economy. It rightly acknowledges the latter’s need for access to lands to enable adaptation to changing domestic and international demands and the high level of employment that it generates. It should also acknowledge the long-term sustainability of this sector compared with the short-term nature of all mining ventures which usually have a limited life of 20 to 25 years.
The mining sector’s gross state-wide income should also includes its liabilities (such as permanently polluted and contaminated land and water sources) many of which the state government has not enforced against closed and failed mining companies but which in the 1990s were estimated in the billions of dollars. Current estimates of the rehabilitation liabilities for all mines in Queensland are over $3billion. Certainly the price the public has had to bear for state compensation of residents of Ipswich suburbs for land subsidence and cracking of foundations caused by past mining activity is easily quantifiable although relatively small and should be acknowledged. The state government still spends large amounts of money doing rehabilitation and remedial work on abandoned mines such as Mount Morgan.
Definition and mapping
Of great concern is the comment that the maps in Appendix A are expected to over-estimate the area of land matching the criteria for strategic cropping land. The maps indicate how patchy areas of SCL are and mining in the unmarked sections adjacent to SCL could still cause immense harm of cropping areas. See S1 S2 and C2, for examples of small patches of white are surrounded by the green of SCL. The definition needs to include buffer zones of reasonable distance to protect re-charge areas adjacent to CL and to prevent coal, noise and traffic destroying the viability of farming operations.
Decision making process
The Greens cannot support the response to Questions 4 & 5 in the 3rd text box. The notion that the impact of a development can be mitigated through conditions on the operation has in our experience failed in everyday life situations across Queensland. Day in and day out, planning officials and local councils approve developments subject to stringent conditions but residents frequently find that both state and local government lack the resources to investigate and enforce breaches of conditions. Harm has to be done on a significant scale before these everyday enforcement problems become large enough for the media to take interest and the level of government embarrassed into responding. The present government cannot guarantee the employment levels and funding to regulatory bodies in the future yet this legislation is designed to put in place the framework for protecting agricultural lands in the long-term. There is also the concern of approving with a condition of restoring at the end of the life of the mine or gas well. The result is uncertainty and repeated conflict for communities affected by the development. Where there are negative impacts it is clearer for the community and less expensive and taxing on the government to simply refuse the application.
Process for determining exceptional circumstances
Exceptional circumstances have not been defined. It would be so disappointing for this provision to over-ride all that the rest of the framework sets out to achieve. We would like to see some specific criteria for exceptional circumstances by which the minister is obliged to abide.
Libby Connors
Spokesperson
Queensland Greens
Posted by admin on August 19, 2010
Since witnessing the effects of mining leases on rural communities and food producing land during my campaign last year as the Greens Candidate for Nanango, I resolved to make protecting the prime agricultural land and water resources of the Darling Downs the centrepiece of my campaign in Groom. Considering that the Liberal National Party claim to share the Greens desire to protect prime farm land, I am surprised that they should be so alarmed by our campaign.
Mining companies are often part of giant multi-national corporations and can have massive political clout, which is why the Greens take protecting landholders, water resources and the productive capacity of the land very seriously. We believe that neither the Coalition nor the Labor Party have strong enough policies or the political will to effectively put the reins on what is quickly becoming a runaway industry in regional Australia.
The Greens are happy to work with the Coalition or any other party who show commitment to protecting our water and food security, and while we welcome their “no ifs, no buts” declaration on protecting prime agricultural land, the Greens do however, still have concerns that the Federal Opposition:
- Have not called for a ban on the underground coal gasification (UCG) technology that was responsible for contaminating the groundwater of the Kingaroy farmlands in March this year.
- Will not support a moratorium on coal seam gas (CSG) to allow its effects on the Great Artesian Basin and farmland to be properly understood before proceeding with projects.
- Use buck-passing to state parliament to justify complete inaction on this issue.
- Continue to talk about making mining and agriculture “compatible” despite increasing objections from landholders.
- Use the argument that land can be “rehabilitated” as justification for allowing environmental harm.
- Are unable to mention protecting prime agricultural land without singing the praises of mining royalties in the same breath.
- Promise to use mining profits to fund services and infrastructure for rural communities while fiercely opposing any kind of mining levy that would make this possible.
- Promote the idea that the definition of prime agricultural land is elusive, despite all the agricultural land in Australia being clearly defined and mapped out in existing legislation and amenable to protection under the federal EPBC Act.
- Accept more donations from mining and gas companies than the Labor party.
The idea of heritage listing of the Great Artesian Basin is an idea that has come from the communities fighting to protect the region. It will not and cannot proceed without their support. I personally think it is an excellent idea and have publicly given it my endorsement. As I pointed out to Mr. Ian McFarlane at the forum in Felton, Heritage listing will not stop communities from using the water from the Great Artesian Basin or end irrigated agriculture. It would however stop Coal Seam Gas drilling.
The Federal Coalition’s suggestion that the recent demonstrations at Cecil Plains, Roma, Dalby, parliament house and the blockades at Tara are a result of rural landholders being “duped” by environmental groups is an insult to regional Queensland. Many landholders stand to lose everything they have in this fight and if the Coalition really was committed to protecting Queensland’s farmland they would be out at the blockades with the landholders instead of pandering to their own wealthy donors in the mining industry.
Sincerely,
Frida Forsberg
Greens Candidate for Groom
fridaf@bigpond.net.au
Mob: 0427 637 679
Dr. Libby Connors
Greens Second Senate Candiate for Queensland
Ph: 0429 487 110
Posted by admin on July 28, 2010
Greens candidate for Groom Frida Forsberg has stated that Red River Resources’ announcement that it hoped to undertake a underground coal gasification (UCG) operation near Kingaroy was a “dangerous escalation of this unproven industry and defies common sense”.
Ms Forsberg has called for a total ban on all mining of productive farmlands.
Read more about this issue in The Chronicle
Posted by admin on July 19, 2010
Senator Bob Brown and Greens Candidate for Groom, Frida Forsberg at Felton
Greens Candidate for Groom, Frida Forsberg declared today that there is no issue more important at this Federal election than saving prime agricultural land and the Great Artesian Basin from the accelerating onslaught of under-regulated coal and coal seam gas mining.
‘The recent discovery of carcinogenic poisons, benzene and toluene in bore water on the Kingaroy farmlands after Cougar Energy’s failed underground coal gasification project starkly outlines the urgency of the fight to protect the Great Artesian Basin from the reckless expansion of the mining industry on productive farmland,’ Ms.Forsberg said.
‘All the big parties are hearing are the voices of the coal lobby and people in rural communities are being treated like lab rats for the mining industry,’ she said.
“As the Greens candidate for Groom in this election I will take the fight to Labor and the Coalition on this issue and will demand answers for the people of the Darling Downs all the way to election day”
‘At least 40,000 gas wells are planned for the Darling Downs which will poison the Condamine and turn our food bowl into a desert.’
‘It’s a disgrace that Labor and the Coalition are not addressing this issue which is such a fundamental one for the Darling Downs. The Greens will be taking this fight to the big parties and demanding clear policy statements.’
Australian Greens Candidate for Groom: Frida Forsberg 0427 637 679
toowoomba.greens@yahoo.com.au
Posted by admin on July 17, 2010
“I offer the electorate experienced and stable leadership, and the progressive policies and clear vision for Australia’s future which the big parties are ignoring,” Australian Greens Leader Senator Brown said in Canberra today.
“Moving forward will mean a carbon tax on polluters; bringing home safely Australia’s troops from Afghanistan; a universal dental care scheme; humane treatment of asylum seekers in Australia; protecting our forests and wildlife.”
“This election is also about the Senate and a strong cross-bench delivering better outcomes for Australians. The Greens are the responsible alternative to a deadlocked Abbott controlled Senate.”
“The Greens will campaign strongly on environmental issues including climate change action, the creation of marine national parks, protecting native forests and wildlife and saving the Darling Downs farmlands from 40,000 coal seam gas drill holes and open cut coal mines,” Senator Brown said.
We acknowledge and respect the traditional owners of this country and the land on which we stand