Carbon tax unconstitutional, goes to high court

Posted on March 17, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

Mining billionaire Clive Palmer of Queensland Nickel

The carbon tax circus is not yet over.

Mining magnate Clive Palmer announced he will challenge Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s carbon tax to High Court saying it is unconstitutional.

Palmer said his legal advisers who are “all senior counsels with experience in the High Court” advised him to take legal action against the federal government on the ground of discriminating his company Queensland Nickel. The Age said his legal advice would be finalised next week and his company would probably lodge documents with the High Court by April.

Palmer said his lawyers advised him there were several grounds under which the carbon tax is unconstitutional. For one, he said his company was getting less compensation under the carbon tax than rivals BHP Billiton and Glencore.

A spokesman for Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, however, denied the claim saying the government was still awaiting audited data from nickel producers that would then be included in the compensation regulations.

The Age also noted Roland Burt, a principal at Macpherson and Kelley Lawyers, who singled out three potential avenues for a challenge. These include “Commonwealth external powers, the federal government’s power to impose taxes on the states, and the issue of whether tax law could be bundled up with other legislation.”

However, Burt doubts the success of the challenge:

”Clive Palmer will have some of the best legal minds in the country at his disposal and they will certainly put a powerful case….’But my guess is the government has thought about it all carefully enough to design it in a way that will probably – but by no means certainly – survive the challenge.

PM Gillard and her camp insisted that the carbon tax was strictly reviewed during its legislative development and has ”taken careful constitutional advice and legal advice at every stage.”

Greg Craven, a law professor and vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, believes the carbon tax was ”inherently complicated” and ”was always going to end up in the High Court”.

It raised questions about the scope of taxation power, the rights of the states, the Commonwealth’s power to make laws binding the states, and the compulsory acquisition of property.

”If you were looking for a law that was born to be challenged, this is it, because there are billions of dollars at stake.

Andrew Bolt, one of Australia’s most influential columnists said, “ Palmer might be right and the carbon tax wrong.”

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

Sustainable living in small ways

Posted on March 15, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

Being Green does not necessary ask you to do big things. You do not need to go on a hunger strike to get your message across to stop Tasmanian old growth forests from being logged or to strip bare in mid-winter to protest animal cruelty. Supporting sustainability can be done in your own kitchen. You probably shop everyday and what comes with your shopping are heaps of shopping bags. What do you do with your plastic bags? Most of the time, these bags are to be re-used as the same bags. But if you want to be more creative, here’s from the Melbourne’s Sustainability Festival 2012.

There are various ways how to re-use plastic bags. You can think much more.

Now, think of the many ways how can you re-create things and imagine what you have created.

So what's yours?

Great Barrier Reef awaits UN verdict

Posted on March 14, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area covers an area of 348,000 square kilometres and more than 2300 kilometres long

Green activists are expecting to hear the results of investigation on the Great Barrier Reef conducted by the joint mission of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The experts visited Australia from March 4-14 to probe into the current park’s environmental conditions, including alleged man-made threats posed by seam gas exploration projects.

The Greenpeace is nearly completing a signup campaign of 15,000 people while GetUp! intensifies it drive to gather a strong 75,000 strong petition to stop developmental aggressions.

“Imagine if the Pyramids were being bulldozed or the Grand Canyon mined – the global community would be furious,” GetUp!, a major environmental activists, said in an email loop.

GetUp! is trying to construct a simile to compare these World Heritage sites to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Beautiful marine lives under threat (Photo: National Geographic)

Earlier, the UN team has already warned the Great Barrier Reef is posed “to die a thousand cuts” with various threats including growing population, mining boom, and gas explorations. The team also intended to re-assess the overall outstanding value of the reefs.

The Australian committee of the IUCN has warned of a tenfold increase in shipping on the World Heritage Site associated with existing and proposed port development projects. Much of it will be going through channels within a marine park far narrower than the English Channel, the Crickey claimed.

The Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) approved the project in 2011 allowing private contractors “to dredge 46 million cubic metres from within the harbour boundaries, inside the World Heritage area, over the next 20 years…a volume equivalent to 27 Melbourne Cricket Grounds,” GetUp! argued.

Greenpeace welcomes underwater investigation

News reports claimed the Federal Government and the Queensland State Government approved the project amid strong protests from local residents. Further, they said the United Nations which holds custody to the Heritage Park was not consulted on the project which is a breach of World Heritage guidelines.

A private law firm for Gladstone commercial fishing businesses warned that the Western Basin Dredging and Disposal Project has significant long term environmental impacts on a national scale.

Ridiculous as it may sound, but the lawyer’s group said the massive dredging activities occurs 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, for about 18 months. It is estimated that 42,300,000 cubic metres of material is to be dredged over the construction phase which cause turbidity plumes in the Port area. Contaminants are also speculated to spread in the Port area which can destroy the Port’s ecosystems.

The lawyers estimated that dredging will cause the direct loss of around 902 ha of benthic habitat (including 258.8 ha of seagrasses). An additional 5416 ha of benthic habitat (including 1406 ha of seagrasses) may be indirectly lost in the short to medium term. In summary, the group said close to 1,700 hectares of seagrass will likely be lost and 6,300 hectares of benthic habitat likely to be lost. There are additional obstructions of the northern Western Basin due to construction and increased vessel traffic, including massive dredges may impede the migratory pathways of marine fauna using The Narrows and the entire Port Curtis region, the lawyers claimed.

Greenpeace intensifies on-site campaign

In 2011, a three-week fishing ban was imposed around the Gladstone area after sightings of fishes infected by unknown disease. Barramundi, for instance, were reported to have suffered from ‘sore’ and ‘cloudy’ eyes, while other fish appeared deformed and had bruises

The project is a partnership venture between Santos, Petronas, Total, and KOGAS. Santos is Australia’s largest domestic gas producer while PETRONAS is Malaysia’s national oil and gas company and the second largest LNG producer in the world. French energy major, Total, on the other hand, is the world’s fifth largest publicly traded integrated international oil and gas company; and South Korea’s KOGAS is the world’s largest buyer of LNG.

The partners announced the Gladstone Liquified Natural Gas (GLNG) project creates more than 5000 jobs during construction and about 1000 ongoing positions in the operational phase. They added that the project stimulates businesses and employment opportunities in the Gladstone and Roma regions through increased demand for goods and services.

Santos builds a LNG export facility in Gladstone for commercialised QLD seam gas resources. The facility is expected to produce 3-4 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of LNG with future potential expansion to nominal 10 Mpta. The project is consists of CSG field development; gas transmission pipeline construction; and LNG liquefaction and export facility development.

The facility – built on Curtis Island (Hamilton Point area) – is close to the industrial deepwater port of Gladstone. The Project sources gas from Santos CSG fields around the Comet Ridge and Roma project areas, with gas being transported to the Gladstone LNG facility via subsurface 425 km gas transmission pipeline. Santos is planned to drill and complete the development wells to supply 53000 petajoules (PJ) (140 billion3) of CSG to the proposed LNG facility. There are about 600 wells to be dug prior to 2015 and 1400 or more wells after 2015 (excluding exploration wells). Installation of related infrastructures are constructed including access roads, accommodation camps, water gathering networks, water management facilities, in-field gas gathering networks (to transport gas from the wells to the field compression stations, gas compression stations and pipeline compressor stations).

A comparative size on the Great Barrier Reef

The gas transmission corridor is 425 km long underground gas transmission pipeline corridor will accommodate one or more pipelines for the delivery of fas from the CSG resouces to the facilty. Transmission pipelines nominal diametere 650-800 mm.

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area covers an area of 348,000 square kilometres — the equivalent size of Italy or Japan, more than 2300 kilometres long. It extends to the low water mark on the mainland coast along northern Australia. It Includes more than 3000 separate coral reefs, some 900 islands and all the waters within the outer boundaries of the Marine Park.

It is designated as national park in 1975 and listed in the UNESCO world heritage list for its invaluable in 1981

The UN report will be presented to the World Heritage Committee in June, which will then decide whether to list the reef as a World Heritage Site in Danger.

News Link: Asian Correspondent

Australia’s largest living treasure at risk

Posted on March 9, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

Forgive the few seconds of ad. This is the most spectacular video shot I have ever found on Australia’s largest living structure– the Great Barrier Reef– which spans more than 1,200 miles (2,000 km) of islands and submerged reefs.

It is a massive water kingdom containing thousands of marine species. It became a national park in 1975 and after six years, it was named as UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. About 33 percent of the area is banned from fishing.

But this heritage site has been at risk — not with natural causes such as climate change but threatened by man-made disaster. Gas exploration and dedging on the sea floor has been going on.

A team from the UNESCO has embarked on a mission to Australia this week to re-assess the outstanding value of the Great Barrier Reef.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Top Five Eco-Movies

Posted on March 8, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

Here’s a lighter side of life. I added a page on Eco-Movies and I want to repost it as a blog entry.

The following movies are my Top Five personal choices. The selection is based on genre, cinematic production, direction, plot, and theme. A film, to be considered excellent, must contain a core message that inspires a viewer to re-think of man’s (or woman’s) relationship to the planet and, if necessary, commands action.

No. 1 – AVATAR 2010 – Directed by James Cameron, it is a landmark sci-fi and futuristic 3D movie in all of its splendour. As excellent as its technical production, its theme has taken viewers to a new dimension of men’s unquenchable greed and conquest beyond the planet Earth. When Earth’s resources are all gone, another planet would be the target for another rampage all in the name of money.

No. 2 – POCAHONTAS 1995 – Walt Disney Productions brings the wisdom of the American Indians in regard to man’s relation to the earth– the mother where all life wells up, nurtured and eventually go back to. The trees and leaves of the grass have their own lives and spirits. Men who chop down the trees for greed show an outright ignorance to the balance and harmony of life.

NO. 3 – LION KING 1994 – The movie shows the beauty and freedom that lies in the wilderness where lions, fowls, zebra and all other animals roam. The most unforgettable quote: “We are all connected in the great circle of life.” It poses a more profound interpretation on the interconnected of all living things in the larger fabric of life.

From the day we arrive on the planet/ And blinking, step into the sun/ There’s more to see than can ever be seen/ More to do than can ever be done/ There’s far too much to take in here/ More to find than can ever be found/ But the sun rolling high/ Through the sapphire sky/ Keeps great and small on the endless round

NO. 4 – WATERWORLD 1995 – “There is no dry land!” laments Mariner (Kevin Costner) after the Earth has been inundated by water caused by the risen sea level. Those who survived the great flood live on boats. Only an orphaned girl who carries the map to Dry Land offers a blink of hope in finding a New Earth.

NO. 5 – AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH 2006 – A documentary which accorded Al Gore a Nobel Peace Prize. Ridiculed by climate sceptics, it became one of the most controversial documentary films of the Energy-Climate Era. Gore warns of global warming caused by excessive man-made carbon emissions.

There are other films seen but they probably occupy the next rankings in the list. Among them are Happy Feet, Soylent Green, and Gorilla in the Mist. Happy Feet is an award-winning animation in 2008 while the two other films were viewed several years earlier. Others are hardly remembered.

If you want to enrich these movie entries, please feel free to leave a reply. Thanks.

Tasmania grapples with forest destruction and job losses

Posted on March 7, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

Tasmania is grappling with the paradox of saving its environment in the face of massive job losses. While Green activists are fighting for the protection of old growth forests, thousands of forestry-related jobs have to go. The ABC reported the state is projected to lose about $1.4 billion dollar from its wood industry while thousands of people have been thrown out of job.

No job vacancy sign posted at a sawmill in Tasmania

For a small state such as Tasmania, livelihood depends on forestry, agriculture and mining. Tasmania is the sixth and smallest state in Australia, an archipelago of more than 300 islands, 240 kilometres (150 miles) south-east of the mainland.

Green activism has intensified in the region over the last few years in the wake of alleged forest destruction made by Malaysia-owned Ta Ann Group. Left-wing Greens have accused the contractor as an exploiter of the state’s old-growth forests. The same contractor, they claim, has ravaged the jungle of Borneo in Sarawak.

Penan man standing next to a Shin Yang Timber passing truck loaded with logs. (Photo: Sarawak Report)

It is an irony. Ta Ann won an award as an emerging exporter in the Tasmanian Export Exports Awards in 2008 only to alert environmentalists of the impending catastrophe wrought on the state’s old growth forests.

Last year, the Huon Valley Environment Centre (HVEC) accused Ta Ann of receiving wood from old growth forests as defined by the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement on at least 35 occasions during 2009-2011. HVEC claimed the contractor is processing wood acquired from the logging of old growth forests, high conservation value forests, and forests with recognised world heritage values in Tasmania. “Ta Ann’s demand for native forest wood and its large wood supply contract is driving logging in some of Tasmania’s most important and contentious forest areas…. Ta Ann’s operations here in Tasmania are far from eco-friendly and must rank amongst the worst logging practices globally…” HVEC claimed.

Activists have campaigned the government to prevent further logging in the disputed conservation area. The Observer Tree launched a vigil early this year to press Prime Minister Julia Gillard to stop the Ta Ann Group from further logging in the last remaining old-growth forests.

An intesified campaign against Ta Ann in Tasmania (Photo: HVEC)

The Observer Tree is one among the guardians of Tasmanian forests along with the Last Stand which has been involved in direct action and campaigns related to nukes, forests, refugees, human rights, whaling and climate change, among other causes. These groups support similar causes advocated by Friends of the Earth, Kanuguba, Rising Tide, Huon Valley Environment Centre, Still Wild Still Threatened, the Greens and the Wilderness Society, GetUp!, Market Watch, and other civic groups.

In 2011, the Gillard Government came up with a plan to protect Tasmania’s forest by signing a pact that covers the protection 570,00 hectares of forest lands. About 430,000 hectares belong to the high degree of conservation while the remaining 143, 000 hectares was allotted to help the state honour its logging contracts. Gillard also signed a $172 package to fund the transition from native forest to plantation forest.

This historic deal, however, did not stop tensions already disrupting the forestry business. Green activists are apprehensive that Ta Ann’s contract will continue to destroy old growth forests.

Tasmanian forest in ruins

Activists have also directly lobbied consumers and clients of Ta Ann to stop buying logs from the company.

While jobs have to go, however, it becomes clearer that the Government has no option but to kowtow importers to buy Tasmania’s logging industry.

Tasmania’s Deputy Premiere Bryan Green has embarked on a $24,000 trade mission to Singapore, China, and Japan over the past week to promote the state as open for business.

Green said the trade mission was not solely focus on the wood industry but an opportunity to forge stronger trade relations with East Asia.

“We have a robust economy which we need to continue to grow and diversify to attract investment and jobs… The Government has faith in the Tasmanian brand and the opportunities that it can provide in sectors like agriculture, renewable energy, mining and forestry, “ the vice premiere’s website noted.

The Last Stand crew, along with the HVEC and Code Green, welcomed the vice premiere back upon his arrival at the airport. They, however ridiculed the trade mission and created a new name for Ta Ann as the huge walking, talking Pinocchio. The crew said the wood products are far from “eco-friendly” contrary to the advertising claims of Ta Ann.

In an email loop accessed by Asian Correspondent, the crew said:

“Ta Ann, one of Malaysia’s biggest wood cartels is ripping through the Tasmanian wilderness, sourcing wood that comes from the destruction of high conservation value forests and selling it in Japan as ‘eco-friendly’ plywood.”

The group solidifies its resolve to recruit more supporters to write letters to existing and prospective clients of Ta Ann urging them to stop buying wood sourced out from Tasmania’s old growth forests.

News Link: Asian Correspondent

Darwin’s pessimism and Flannery’s hope

Posted on March 6, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

Published in 2010, the year when the author reaped the distinguished award as Australian of the Year, Tim Flannery’s book, Here on Earth: an Argument for Hope, offers a ray of hope in salvaging the last remaining species of the planet and in regaining the lost functioning of the Earth’s life-support systems.

Published by The Text Publishing Company, Vic 2010

The battle to avert an impending apocalype is to resuscitate Gaia– derived from John Lovelock’s theory that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. This self-support system, however, has been imperiled by men’s greed. Flannery argues that men have waged war against nature. Men have turned Gaia-killers. Among the notable examples is detailed in Rachel Garlson’s book, Silent Spring. The book inllustrates the entent of how capitalists have murdered birds and other species when DDT was used as pesticide in the US in the 1950’s. Certainly, there are other human follies that destroyed the life support systems of the earth such as through massive carbon emissions and wanton logging. Although many NGOs have convened and proposed solutions, the inactivity of many advanced nations are delaying the action that help avert an impending apocalypse.

Flannery outlines the theories of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace focussing on the origin of species, the concept of natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Species evolve through time and they differentiate through time and according to their environment; and those who adapt well survive and those who do not perish.

The survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom that has prevailed throughout history. The war is not only man against man but man against nature. Darwinian theory is devoid of morality and spirituality.

Time has changed though. There is a universal awakening that believes only love and compassion can save what is remaining on earth. Flannery is offering the wisdom of ancient past. Only love can heal humanity and can perhaps bring back the life-support system of Gaia.

Meanwhile, I picked a DVD from the video shop to see a movie related to Darwin, and lucky enough I got this: CREATION

Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin

Opened in 2009, Creation portrays Darwin as a man who suffered anguish resulting from his work and discovery. A responsible family man, he knew however, that although “there is no God’, the church and religion hold the fabric of society together. He was haunted by the death of species such as a tiny bird which could be eaten and consumed by worms so that that the food chain will continue. From decomposed species give life to plants and so on. The death of his child pushed him to see phantoms and led his body to exhaustion.

If Darwin’s remarkable contribution to science is to be reckoned with, indeed, the entire humanity is plagued into an abyss of pessimism. Flannery’s book, however, takes flight uplifting the spirit offering the world with new-found hope.

More about the movie:

Creation is a psychological, heart-wrenching love story starring Paul Bettany (A BEAUTIFUL MIND, MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD) as Charles Darwin, the film is based on “Annie’s Box,” a biography penned by Darwin’s great-great-grandson Randal Keynes using personal letters and diaries of the Darwin family. We take a unique and inside look at Darwin, his family and his love for his deeply religious wife, played by Jennifer Connelly (A BEAUTIFUL MIND, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM), as, torn between faith and science, Darwin struggles to finish his legendary book “On the Origin of Species,” which goes on to become the foundation for evolutionary biology. The film co-stars Toby Jones (FROST/NIXON, INFAMOUS) and Jeremy Northam (GOSFORD PARK, AMISTAD), and was produced by Jeremy Thomas (THE LAST EMPEROR, SEXY BEAST) at Recorded Picture Company with BBC Films and Ocean Pictures. From director Jon Amiel (“The Singing Detective,” ENTRAPMENT) and writer John Collee (MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD) comes CREATION. Source: http://creationthemovie.com/