FoE Australia News
Get off the coal train
FoE Melbourne's Quit Coal collective unfurled a giant banner at Flinders Street train station on May 6, urging the Victorian government to 'Get off the coal train and on track with renewables'. The action was reported in The Age, The Australian, ABC News, 3AW, Channel Ten and even by Australian Mining! Descending after over two hours, three Quit Coal activists were arrested and charged with trespass. They are likely to face large fines.
Quit Coal is urging the Victorian government to repeal the restrictive wind-farm policy; institute a moratorium on all new coal and unconventional gas projects; cancel plans to allocate for export an extra 13 billion tonnes of brown coal in the Latrobe Valley; and invest in and support renewables. quitcoal.org.au
No open cut for Big Hill
Canadian gold miner Crocodile Gold is pressing ahead with the development of the Big Hill open pit project at Stawell in western Victoria. The company has started the process of getting approval from the Victorian government. Crocodile Gold took over the Big Hill Project after it bought the Stawell Gold Mine in May 2012. Community opposition forced the abandonment of plans for an open cut in the same area a decade ago. Friends of the Earth is proud to have played our part in that victory.
This new open cut proposal will remove Big Hill, the main landmark for the town, with the promise of subsequent rehabilitation of the hill. This project will have a massive impact on the town, creating years worth of dust and noise, which will bring considerable public health risks.
A paper by Dr Dora Pearce and associates at Melbourne University has established a clear statistical linkage for certain types of cancer amongst residents of the Central Victorian goldfields. This new project will bring a new set of risks to residents. The proposed open cut is in close proximity to two schools and to homes. Many residents say that they feel trapped, as no-one would want to buy properties so close to a massive open cut.
There have now been a series of meetings with residents around the proposed open cut. On April 17, around 150 people attended a public forum to express concerns about the mine. FoE is working to support the local campaign. An environmental effects statement process will shortly be announced, which will allow for public input. Please keep an eye on the FoE Melbourne website for details. www.melbourne.archive.foe.org.au
To support or get active in the campaign, get in touch with the locals: bighill@fastmail.com.au
− Cam Walker
FoE's Dirt Radio
Sponsored by Friends of the Earth, Dirt Radio is the environment issues and climate justice program that digs the dirt on all eco-matters, Australian and international. On 3CR at 10:30am every Monday morning, 855 on the AM band, Dirt Radio generally features a lengthy in-depth interview with FoE campaigners who unpick and explore issues without the worry of chopping discussion down to typical mainstream media sound-bites. The show has been going full tilt since August 2012.
In the first half of this year alone, Dirt Radio reported on: forests and communities under threat in the Central Highlands of Victoria, the wind energy industry and Victorian state government policy, agriculture and the use of chemicals, lock the gate campaigning in East Gippsland, EU carbon price collapse, nano ingredients in sunscreen and lack of adequate product labelling, the depletion of bee populations globally as a result of pesticide use, environmentalism and the need for direct action protest, and the impact of dredging on fish stocks in Port Phillip Bay.
All programs can now be streamed digitally, and are available through podcast from the 3CR website:
dirtradio_crew@archive.foe.org.au
Growing opposition to onshore gas in Vic
Victoria is facing the threat of new coal mining and production of 'unconventional' gas (which includes coal seam gas (CSG), tight gas and shale gas). In 2012, FoE launched a campaign calling for a moratorium on all fossil fuel exploration and other activity until it had been proven that this would be safe for land, water and people. More than 70 organisations and seven local councils have now supported the call for a moratorium on coal and/or gas.
While the Victorian Coalition government has twice voted against the proposed inquiry into CSG impacts, public sentiment forced them to act: in August 2012, then Premier Ted Baillieu announced a ban on the use of the dangerous BTEX chemicals in gas drilling operations, and a moratorium on the process of fracking. This was the first significant environmental victory under the Coalition government.
In announcing the moratorium, the Victorian government said that once it had signed off on the National Harmonised Framework on Natural Gas from Coal Seams, the ban would be lifted. The Framework was officially adopted in late May.
The new Energy and Resources Minister, Nick Kotsiras, then announced that he would consult with the public about the future of the moratorium. But this has not happened. Until there has been meaningful consultation, FoE believes that the only reasonable action the government can take is to extend the moratorium to cover all activity around new gas operations.
Meanwhile a number of gas companies have been preparing to drill when the moratorium is lifted, and community groups are getting organised and a growing number of people are doing non-violent direct action training. If and when drilling starts, Victoria will see direct action not experienced since 2009 when farmers blockaded the construction of the North-South water pipeline.
Climate Frontlines campaign
The new Climate Frontlines project to establish links with communities facing the impacts of climate change in the Torres Strait Islands moved to the next stage when the project leader, Kate Morioka, accompanied by Brisbane-based elder Uncle Thomas Sebasio, travelled to Thursday Island in early July. On the return journey they consulted with relevant contacts in Cairns. The project aims to generate wide public awareness of the situation and to enhance the advocacy efforts of Torres Strait Leaders and communities.
Claire van Herpen, based in Melbourne, has joined the Climate Frontlines campaign, and is keen to focus on research and policy. Claire's masters thesis, "A Rising Tide: the Case for a Climate Change Displacement Convention", is now available on the FoE website at archive.foe.org.au/forced-climate-migrants. The collective is establishing links internationally with other similar initiatives, as well as with specific programs to begin consideration of migration options.
Effective support for FoE Australia affiliate Tulele Peisa, formed for the resettlement of the Carteret Islands people on Bougainville PNG, was the focus of a visit towards the end of June by Climate Frontlines convenor Wendy Flannery. Two key areas for which Tulele Peisa's director, Ursula Rakova, is seeking support are the financial management system and a full scale review of the program since it's inception in 2005. For further information email Wendy Flannery wendy.flannery@archive.foe.org.au.
Banks urged to stop fossil fuel investments
More than 60 community leaders have signed an open letter to the big four banks, telling them − for the sake of avoiding runaway climate change − to end investments in fossil fuels. Among the signatories are musicians including Claire Bowditch, Urthboy and Mark Seymour, award-winning writers including Peter Carey and John Coetzee, religious leaders, artists, academics, scientists, health professionals, environmentalists and a two-time Olympian. Join them by signing and sharing the letter at openletter.marketforces.org.au. This campaign is being driven by FoE affiliate Market Forces.
Market Forces and 350.org Australia have released 'Financing Reef Destruction: how banks are using our money to destroy a natural icon'. The report identifies the banks that are doing the most to fund dirty coal and gas projects inside the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. To read the report and take action, please visit marketforces.org.au/banks.html
NSW logging plan
A NSW Upper House Committee's call to open National Parks for logging demonstrates that Australians cannot trust Coalition governments to care for our unique protected areas.
Fairfax media has reported that the draft report of a NSW Upper House Committee has recommended that National Parks be opened for commercial logging and that a freeze be placed on the declaration of new protected areas. The recommendations follow a raft of proposals to open National Parks to logging, cattle grazing, shooting and inappropriate development across Eastern Australia.
Friends of the Earth has been working to halt a perverse 'scientific logging' trial in NSW and Victorian Red Gum National Parks. The proposal was recently referred for Federal Government approval, despite the fact that logging had already been completed in parts of the forest.
http://archive.foe.org.au/category/forests
Protest at AusAID's mining conference
FoE Sydney held a protest outside AusAID's latest 'Mining for Development Conference' in Sydney on May 20.
The Mining for Development conference was funded by AusAID as part of its $127 million program to promote mining in developing nations. Much of the funding under the 'Australian Mining for Development Initiative' has been used either directly or indirectly to promote Australian mining and business interests overseas. The focus on social development initiatives merely provides a veneer of credibility. Independent studies commissioned by AusAID itself have recommended that development outcomes would be better served by a spending focus on food security, water and sanitation and maternal and child health rather than mining.
If the Australian government is serious about reducing the negative impacts of mining it would do better to regulate the behaviour of Australian mining companies overseas. In 2012 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child criticised Australian mining companies for their "participation and complicity in serious violations of human rights" in Africa, Asia and the Pacific that included instances of children becoming victims of evictions, land dispossession and killings.
Uranium mining in Queensland
High Risk – Low Returns: the case against uranium mining in Queensland is the NGO and civil society response to the state government's undemocratic decision to go ahead with uranium mining in Queensland. In October 2012 the government broke its clear commitment not to allow uranium mining. This commitment was the position of the Liberal National Party at the March 2012 state election and was reaffirmed after they took office. The NGO report is posted at: tinyurl.com/uran-qld
Reef Walk 2013
FootPrints for Peace are walking from Cairns to Gladstone to highlight the impact that coal exports will have on the Great Barrier Reef. The walk is supported by Friends of the Earth and Lock the Gate. It began on June 1 and will arrive in Gladstone in mid-August. Follow their adventures at http://reefwalk2013.com
Cultural Flows launch a success
Over 200 people packed the Bella Union Theatre in Melbourne on June 27 for the premiere of the Cultural Flows films: two new documentaries produced in collaboration between Traditional Owners and Friends of the Earth. There was standing room only as Traditional Owners from the Mutthi Mutthi and Wadi Wadi Nations introduced the films and conveyed their own profound and moving stories. The two films explore Indigenous people’s deep connections to the rivers and waterways in their country. They also present a powerful argument for Indigenous water rights in the context of the current national debate over the future of the Murray Darling Basin. For more information about the films and upcoming screenings visit the Cultural Flows films facebook page. facebook.com/CulturalFlowsFilms