Author Archives: rowenadelarosayoon

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About rowenadelarosayoon

Communications strategist encompassing a broad scope of print and online journalism, public relations, marketing, campaign and developmental writing, research, website planning, social media strategy, and all related areas.

Immigration minister agrees to free children from Manus?

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GetUp resumes its campaign against Pacific Solution Mark II. Now the group is pressing the Federal Government to release about 34 children detained in Manus Island.

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NewsLtd

Children asylum seekers detained in Nauru. (Photo: News Ltd)

GetUp said,

Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor finally pulled his head out of the sand, admitting that asylum seeker detention centres are “not only expensive, [they] take a toll on people’s mental health and wellbeing.” 1 Amen.

The announcement will mean newly arrived asylum seeker families would be eligible to be released into the community on bridging visas. Prompting the question GetUp members have been asking for months:

Why is Manus Island Detention Centre still open at all?

The condemnation of the Manus Island detention centre couldn’t be stronger, and it’s coming from all directions. A recent report from the Immigration Department found its own facility poses health risks. In an ABC Four Corners report, Dr John Vallentine said medical treatment in the centre was inadequate. The Coalition have called it a waste of money. The number of boat arrivals shows it doesn’t even work as a deterrent.

 Sign and share this petition so we can demonstrate widespread public support demanding the Manus Island detention centre be shut down once and for all.

SHUT DOWN MANUS!

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The public needs to hear of some breakthrough.

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Egyptian live cattle cruelty enrages Australia

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Animal Australia is distressed to see another footage of Australian cattle being slaughtered in Egyptian abattoirs.

Poster on live export over and over (Photo: ABC)

The “voice of animals” from Downunder reiterates its opposition to live exports, a major industry that generates millions of dollars in earning and employs more than 10,000 people in rural and regional Australia.

Head campaigner Lyn White said a “brave Egyptian veterinarian” has contacted her to seek the group’s help to rescue the victims of abbatoir violence in Egypt. The veterinarian is said to have witnessed horrendous abuses of Australian cattle in the country.

White said the animals are terrified “having their eyes stabbed, tendons slashed, throats brutally cut open and being butchered alive. “  The  brutality was aired on a nationwide ABC’s 7.30 program.

To the carnivores, the history of animal slaughter dates back to ancient times. It has become part of culture in many ancient civilizations. It is done as a ritual to appease the gods or simply for human consumption.

Here’s an excerpt, for example, from the Offerings of Ramses III to Amen at Medinet Habu,  Papyrus Harris, J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt; Part Four:

The animal was led by a rope in lieu of a nose ring, often the noose was fastened to the lower lip as well. The butchers tied a rope to one of its legs, passed it over the animal’s back and pulled it up. Then the cow was wrestled to the ground, its legs bound together, its head pulled back, and with a hand-long knife [1] its throat was cut. The blood was collected in shallow vessels…..

Much of the slaughtering went on in temple slaughter yards, where the animals offered by the rich were killed…

I multiplied the divine offerings presented before thee, of bread, wine, beer, and fat geese; numerous oxen bullocks, calves, cows, white oryxes, and gazelles offered in his slaughter yard.

Regardless of the purpose, animal advocates are appalled with the graphic images of animals being slaughtered.

White said the latest cruelty is systemic and Australia’s live export industry had purpose-built two supposed ‘state of the art’ abattoirs that were being used to abuse and brutally slaughter Australian animals.  She said the live export trade has been exposed for knowingly supplying animals to extreme cruelty.

The advocacy group is also pushing to stop factory farming, animal testing, and all sorts of animal “injustices”.

Can there be a solution to stop animal slaughter? While the Federal Government is working out for a solution, the group has an answer: vegetarianism– which is also one of its advocacy agenda.

Great examples of vegetarians circulating on Facebook

In a separate website, Animal Australia is in agreement to top scientists such as Albert Einstein who was quoted as saying, ” Nothing will benefit human heart and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

Of course, the livestock industry will not agree.

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

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Mining giants snub Cape York’s world heritage value

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As the Federal Government released the report qualifying Cape York for UN World Heritage listing, the Queensland state government launched its political rhetoric to encourage local indigenous communities to support mining and to oppose the planned world heritage nomination. Cape York is a peninsula located at the northern tip of Queensland.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney promised indigenous people a stake in the estimated $25 billion worth of bauxite deposits near Watson River in Aurukun, north of Cairns. He also announced that five mining companies have been shortlisted to undertake the project. Queensland is optimistic mining would transform “welfare-dependent communities” into a “booming town.” Indigenous owners will have equity and the venture will create jobs, Seeney said.

The five mining giants are Rio Tinto, Cape Alumina, Glencore International (GLEN), and Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd (CHALCO). Seeney also announced the Australian Indigenous Resources (AIR), a new venture company to take part of the project.

The Australian media speculate that AIR, represented by indigenous leader Gerhardt Pearson and aluminium smelter entrepreneur John Benson, started negotiating on the stake to develop the mine. AIR demands that traditional owners would hold equity, not just royalties. It is also reported that AIR offered the Wik people 40 percent equity and another 10 percent proposed for Cape York organsations.

The processes of bauxite illustrated. (Photo: Queensland Bauxite)

Seeney said Queensland welcomes the prospect of providing an opportunity for local indigenous people to own stake “in the operation of whatever mine is able to be developed there.” Aurukun Mayor Derek Walpo also supports the project hoping Aurukun would be the first community on Cape York to be “liberated from welfare.”

Environment Minister Tony Burke supports Cape York’s enlistment, but Seeney dismissed the federal government’s plan.

In time of the Queensland announcement, however, the Wilderness Society urge the Julia Gillard Government to nominate Cape York for world heritage listing by July with traditional owners’ consent.

The commonwealth government commissioned top scientists to assess the natural values of Cape York against World Heritage criteria. They released the report recently and found that the peninsula contains universal values of international significance and that these values are widespread all over the place.

The values are divided into seven key attributes, including tropical savanna, rainforest, bauxite ecosystems, freshwater biodiversity and dune systems– some of these are the best examples of ecosystems on the planet.

The bad news: mining and land clearing are identified as threats to its enduring values.

Wilderness Society Northern Australia Campaigner Gavan McFadzean said, “This report sends a clear message to the Queensland government not to approve and fast track destructive mining developments over areas now known to be of international conservation significance.”

Earlier, Jacaranda Resources owned by Gina Rinehart applied for a licence to mine the rock art area near the Laura Basin. Rinehart, however, backed down following pressure from conservation groups.

The Quinkan rock art galleries include works of more than 30,000 years old and are some of the most significant on earth. Embedded in the spectacular Laura escarpments, the Wilderness Society said they should be one of the highlights of a future Cape York World Heritage Area.

The Quinkan rock art is listed by UNESCO as one of the top-10 rock art sites in the world. It predates the well-known sites of Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain by up to 15,000 years. The sites are listed on the Queensland Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Database and were listed on the National Estate Register (the forerunner to the National Heritage list), which described the Quinkan rock art as constituting “some of the largest bodies of prehistoric art in the world. The paintings are generally large and well preserved, and engravings of great antiquity occur. The Quinkan art is outstanding both in variety, quantity and quality.” They have never been transferred to the National Heritage list, even though they have long been recognised as having World Heritage values.

The Laura Basin is one of Queensland’s big coal deposits and there is interest in mining for other minerals in the region.

If the enlistment pushes through, Cape York will join the ranks of Australia’s UN World Heritage Sites which include: Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park, Willandra Lakes Region, Lord Howe Island Group, Tasmanian Wilderness, Gondwana Rainforests of Australia1, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park2, Wet Tropics of Queensland, Shark Bay, Western Australia, Fraser Island, Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh / Naracoorte), Heard and McDonald Islands, Macquarie Island, Greater Blue Mountains Area, Purnululu National Park, Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, Sydney Opera House, Australian Convict Sites, Ningaloo Coast

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

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Earth Day Australia?

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The United States joins countries around the world today in commemorating Earth Day. Ever since I was involved in the first Earth Day in Massachusetts, way back in 1970, this has always been a day to reflect on our environmental challenges and our responsibility to safeguard our God-given natural resources on a fragile planet we share with the rest of humanity and which we must protect for future generations.

– John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
April 22, 2013

Hands on a globe

Earth Day (Photo: Supplied)

The day passed without notice. Even the mailboxes have not got anything in regard to an event observing Earth Day. Has Australia dropped this event from its calendar? Or  has it been easier to organise an Earth Hour (23 March) which it joined several weeks ago?

The writer of Time said,

It’s Earth Day , though you could be forgiven if you missed it. The annual event doesn’t quite have the same energy as it once did—especially not compared to the first Earth Day 23 years ago.

Yes, Green groups are caught up in dealing with more pressing issues – forestry agreement in Tasmania, saving the Great Barrier Reef from fracking and drilling, dirty coal, alternative energy source, overfishing, etc. Meanwhile, the shelving of Woodside’s LNG in Broome gives a major relief to many residents and communities in WA although businesses are quite disappointed.

WordPress and National Geographic sent the reminders just today– April 22 is Earth Day!

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Kimberley’s gas hub collapsed

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Western Australia’s fantasy of making Kimberley the next Dubai and the world’s largest gas hub suddenly came crumbling down following Woodside Petroleum’s announcement today it is dumping its $45 billion LNG investment in James Point Price.

Broom Community No Gas Campaign flashes a banner to celebrate win outside Woodside’s Office. (Photo: BCNG)

Woodside CEO Peter Coleman admitted the gas project is economically unviable saying the company has been under cost pressure. He said James Point Price does not meet the company’s commercial requirements for a positive investment decision.  A major review of the proposed LNG processing plant near Broome was found it would not deliver the returns the company needed.

While this development is a cause for elation among traditional land owners and local communities who have fought day in and day out to block the project, the WA state government is now pointing fingers amid  the “dismal failure” of the project.

Theresa Roe embraces her granddaughter after Woodside’s announcement. (Photo: BCNG)

WA Opposition Leader Mark McGowan blamed Premier Colin Barnett, saying his constant interfering and meddling caused the project to be lost. Barnett has opposed offshore processing and has intervened in the decision of the onshore site which is unviable, McGowan claimed.

Woodside also announced it will immediately engage with the Browse joint venture to recommend evaluation of other development concepts to commercialise the Browse resources. Woodside would consider floating technologies, a pipeline to existing LNG facilities in the Pilbara or a smaller onshore option at the proposed Browse LNG precinct near James Price Point, a statement said.

Coleman said the company supports floating technology, but this will need to be determined by the joint venture. Woodside’s partner like Shell Australia, for example, supports the onshore floating technology.

A photo showing an alternative technology for the project. (Photo: Golarabooloo- Lurujarri Heritage Trail)

“Floating LNG can bring significant long-term, sustainable jobs to Western Australia, Australia, and the Kimberley, as well as providing employment and business opportunities for Kimberley indigenous people,” Shell spokesperson Ann Pickard said in a statement. She added Shell would work closely with the Browse joint venture and government to keep the Browse project on track.

Premier Barnett laments the failure to develop a gas hub project at James Price Point is a “tragedy and a missed opportunity.”

Greens celebrate death of Barnett’s gas hub

The Wilderness Society said the gas fiasco should serve as a warning to governments and businesses not to go ahead with any project without a social licence forcing communities to accept unwanted and unsustainable developments. He notes Barnett’s failure also proves that WA can not be trusted with environmental assessments.

Traditional owners and local communities march in Freemantle. (Photo: Save the Kimberley)

Wilderness Society National Director Lyndon Schneiders said, “Woodside and its joint-venture partners have avoided possibly the biggest environmental battle in Australia’s history by walking away from Barnett’s folly at James Price Point.”

In January this year, Woodside started bulldozing ancestral burial sites in Walmadan, an act that enraged indigenous communities. “Hundreds if not thousands of people were prepared to stop Woodside from working in the sand dune area at Walmadan, which has great cultural significance to the Traditional Owners,” Schneiders said.

Schneiders, in a statement, also calls for Barnett to end this “appalling project” for good and asks him for a time to heal the pain of the indigenous people in WA. He said,

This development was opposed by people all around Australia and the world, but nowhere stronger than by the brave Broome community who stood up to hundreds of police alongside the Traditional Custodians who wanted to treasure their cultural heritage.

The Wilderness Society still wants answers on why a compromised Western Australian Environment Protection Authority was allowed to approve the project when there were so many flaws in the environmental and social impact assessment.

An aerial view of the LNG site/ (Photo:AAP/Mike Gray/Environs Kimberley)

Victory, but the fight is not yet over

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said the battle to save the Kimberley has come to define a new generation of Australian environmental activists, many of whom have taken the opportunity to visit the Kimberley, get the red dirt on their feet, and will now feel personally connected to it for life.

The ACF also notes how rallies and festivals brought the Kimberley to the nation’s capital cities where hundreds of thousands of exceptional Australians have collectively said: ‘No, the Kimberley is too precious to lose.’ It adds the project lost its social license long ago and with Woodside’s announcement, it has now lost its economic licence.

Former Greens Senator Bob Brown joins in a Freemantle rally to oppose the planned gas hub. (Photo: Save the Kimberley)

While Woodside is exploring other alternative options to salvage what remains in the project, the AFC warns the battle is not yet over. ”Put simply, this means that the industrialisation of James Price Point and west Kimberley remain a possibility,” it said, concluding:

We will continue to update you on what this means, but for today at least take a moment to feel proud that because of Australia’s standing strong for the Kimberley ancient songlines, dinosaur footprints, monsoon thickets, bilby colonies and the world’s largest humpback whale nursery remain protected from a gas hub.

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

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Assange’s bid for Senate gains momentum

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is still holed up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, but he has announced his absentee bid for Senate to represent the State of Victoria in the coming September 14 federal poll.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks at the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. (Photo: News Ltd)

The WikiLeaks Party announced Assange’s decision over the weekend following the party ‘s first national council meeting held in Fitzroy, Melbourne. The campaign is headed by a former Australian Republican Movement head and barrister Greg Barns, who the UK-based Telegraph describes as a “high-profile opponent of the monarchy.”

The party will field high-profile Senate candidates in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. In NSW and WA, the party is already confident that “support for WikiLeaks is strong.” WikiLeaks will announce the candidates after they have been endorsed, Barns said. National Council Member Cassey Findlay added other spokespeople on policy issues will be appointed in the coming weeks. The party will focus on winning Senate seats in all three states.

Supporters of Julian Assange gather at BMW Edge, Federation Square in Melbourne to rally for his safe return home in 2010. (Photo: R Yoon/the Green Journo)

From London, Assange said he is happy with the momentum the party has already achieved. The party also hinted that Assange is encouraged by the progress of the campaign and the support it is getting in Australia.

Topping the Party’s agenda is to promote transparency, truthfulness and the free flow of information on government and politics founded on WikiLeaks principles.

National Council Member Findlay said:

“The WikiLeaks Party is committed to practising in politics what WikiLeaks has done in the field of information, by promoting transparency, truthfulness and the free flow of information”. These, she said, are “fundamental to rational decision making and just outcomes, and they are increasingly missing from the Australian political landscape.”

The party is in the process of completing registration with the Australian Electoral Commission, needing at least 500 members. Assange has urged Australian voters to join the party. “Let us take the fight to Canberra,” he said.

Poster outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. (Photo: Will Oliver/AFP/Getty Images)

Party spokeswoman Sam Castro said:

We are getting a strong stream of applications to join the Party in recent weeks and to assist in our Federal Election campaign.  What is pleasing is that support is coming from people who have either previously not been involved in politics, or who have previously supported one of the major political parties in Australia.

The Ecuadorian government granted Assange asylum in June last year while on the run facing sexual charges involving two women in Sweden. He has been on the watch list of the US since WikiLeaks leaked cables on the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010. Speculation has it that the Sweden charges could be a ploy to extradite Assange to the US.

Prior to the granting of asylum, prominent Americans urged Ecuador to accept Assange’s asylum request. Michael Moore, Oliver Stone and Noam Chomsky were among the signatories to a letter sent to Ecuador’s embassy in London, Reuters reported.

Greens Senator Christine Milne welcomes the  WikiLeaks challenge in Victoria, although she said Assange’s prospects of winning are a long shot. The Greens have been staunch supporters of Assange’s repatriation to Australia.

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

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Sea activists celebrate win against anti-whaling

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Sea activists are celebrating the defeat, for now, of Japanese whale hunters who have ”left” the Southern Ocean.

Sea Shepherd Australia announced the success of Operation Zero Tolerance (OZT), a campaign to drive the Japanese whalers out of the seas near the Antarctic.

The conservation group welcomed the return of three ships commissioned to carry out the anti-whaling campaign. The ships, Steve Irwin, Sam Simon, and Bob Barker, with 110 international crew members, arrived at Seaworks Pier in Williamstown, Wednesday, amid a throng of anti-whaling fanatics.

The euphoric return is considered a victory for the whale conservation. Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, earlier hailed his group’s success and said the Japanese had the lowest catch in history with “no more than 75″ of the mammals culled, the Japan Times reports.

The Japanese claims whaling is for scientific research purposes to justify the trade. Pic: News Ltd.

Watson, who is wanted by InterPol, calculates “the figure is a meagre total that contrasts with the 267 caught last year — 266 minke whales and one fin whale — and is dramatically below the Institute of Cetacean Research’s target this year of 935 minke whales and up to 50 fin whales.”

The three vessels embarked on the voyage in November last year to combat the Japanese whale killers. After four months, the OZT is considered as the most successful campaign so far in sending the Japanese back home.

A Japanese ship (right) collides with Bob Barker. Pic: AP.

The sea battle was fierce. Steve Irwin and Bob Barker collisions with Japanese vessels. In February this year, the 8,000 ton Nisshin Maru rammed into the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker. Watson “accused Japanese coastguard personnel of throwing concussion grenades at their protest ships during a confrontation in the frigid waters near Antarctica and said the Bob Barker was taking on water in its engine room.”

Bob Brown, a co-chair of the OZT was alerted during the confrontation and had called on Australian government to dispatch a naval ship to the area to ease the tensions.

“It is illegal to be ramming ships in any seas anywhere on the planet. It is illegal for a tanker to be carrying heavy fuel oil into Antarctic waters under international law,” Brown said.

Three ships and 110 crews arrived in Williamstown, VIC, but not Captain Paul Watson. Pic: Sea Shepherd Australia.

Jeff Hansen, Director Sea Shepherd Australia, however, acknowledged with “heavy heart” that Captain Paul Watson has not arrived ashore.

Watson has disappeared after skipping bail in Germany amid allegations by the Costa Rican government that he endangered the lives of shark finners back in 2002. Watson strongly denied the allegation. He also faced extradition requests from both Costa Rica and Japan against whom Sea Shepherd have waged a long and bitter war over whales in the Antarctic.

A whale being hauled by a large Japanese vessel. Pic: Australian Custom Service.

While sea activists are celebrating, the Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi earlier said that whaling has been part of a long historical tradition in Japan.

Sea Sheperd may have won the battle, but the war is not over.

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

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Children suffer at immigration prisons

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……Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right to life. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold. – Brad Pitt

Hollywood actor Brad Pitt never visited Manus Island, but if he does, he will probably reiterate what he said to the children of Africa.

On Christmas and Manus islands, innocent children are not exempted from mandatory detention if they attempt to arrive in Australia by boat.

ChilOut revives a campaign to raise awareness on child asylum seeker (Photo: ChilOut Revived FB)

The Australian Human Rights Commission notes a disturbing number of children in detention centres, citing statistics from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. As of 31 December 2012, there were 1,953 children in immigration detention on the mainland and Christmas Island. Of these, 732 children were in community detention and the remainder (1,221) were in immigration detention facilities.

As of February 2013, there were around 30 asylum seeker children in detention on Manus Island. The Commission is concerned about the detention of child asylum seekers. People who arrive in Australia by boat after 13 August 2012 are to be transferred to designated regional processing countries– Nauru and Manus.

Children have limited places to play in Manus. (Photo: Supplied)

In Manus, children live with adults awaiting news of their fates. Nobody knows how long will it take before the Australian government steps up the processing of their immigration statuses.

According to a ChilOut youth who was locked up in the Pacific island as a child, children who live with adults see the chaos of the demonstrations all day. They also see older people committing self-harm and to the extreme — suicides. They lost years of their childhood waiting in prison witnessing horrendous human suffering.

The Australian Greens notes that experts have been warning that detention is an entirely unsuitable place for any child, particularly those who have already been forced to seek asylum. The mental effects of mandatory detention can be devastating for children.

Children face a significantly high risk of long term mental and physical consequences as a result of detention. Some of these children have spent their whole lives behind bars, having committed no crime other than being born in a country from which they are forced to flee.

There are stories behind bars. The immigration department tried to censor information through various means, including Internet restrictions or phone surveillance. It has also barred the media and human rights organisations from access, including AHRC.

But letters and art work from children have been able to arrive in the mail boxes of human rights supporters.

Art work by a 10 year old sent to Greens Senator Sarah Hanson- Young: “Here in our block, three people passed out and there is no doctor. …is laughing and others are crying.”

GetUp has already launched another campaign to consolidate support for children detained in Manus.

Out of Sight, a GetUp and ChilOut collaboration, aims to raise awareness of the plight of children and adult asylum seekers detained on Manus Island. ChilOut has also put up a Facebook page to provide updates on the issue.

The campaign aims to defy media bans and other forms of communication barriers that attempt to silence the stories of asylum seekers, especially children.

GetUp reiterates the need to give children a voice and put video campaigns on TV screens all around Australia.

“Let’s ensure these children can’t be tucked away out of sight, out of mind. ”

Australia has an international obligation to protect these children, being one of the signatories to the UN convention on refugees.

ChilOut Youth Ambassadors along with 4 other child detainees from around the world presented their stories to more than 25 Governments and 5 key UN agencies. (Photo: ChilOut Revived FB)

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Queensland’s Newman declares “war” on native forests

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What’s hot this week? Here’s to re-post Queensland’s new forest controversy:

The South East region of Queensland is home to a vast reserve of native forest providing a sanctuary for various kinds of flora and fauna. It is a bioregion known for its significant number of rare, threatened, and endemic species– the highest numbers of all regions assessed around Australia under the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) process.

QLD Premiere Campbell Newman (Photo: SBS)

The Queensland State Government has been highly commended for its conservation efforts marked by the historic South East Queensland (SEQ) Forestry Agreement signed  in 1999 to stop logging in protected areas. The pact protects an additional 425,000 hectares in the conservation reserve system. It also envisions that all logging activities on native forest on public land will cease by 2024. Within 25 years, the area of forest reserved in SEQ is expected to be more than one million hectares.

There has been a ceasefire from forest wars over the past 14 years. The forest remains undisturbed by commercial activities– until recently the Campbell Newman government stirred the hornet’s nest.
This week, conservationists uncovered a clandestine document (credits to Indymedia.org.au) signed by Agriculture Minister John Mc Veigh to re-open the protected areas for logging.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters warns logging will destroy koala habitat. (Photo: SMH)

Greens Senator Larissa Waters lambasted a leaked letter from Agriculture Department Director-General Jack Noye to National Parks Department Director-General John Glaister that says Agriculture Minister John McVeigh has approved the logging. The letter also notes that the proposed logging would be conducted without Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service approval for codes or harvest plans.

Green peace is under threat and if logging resumes, it will affect southeast Queensland, the western hardwoods area, cypress regions in the west, central Queensland and north Queensland—all habitats of threatened species.

The Glossy Black Cockatoo is now listed as “vulnerable” in SEQ. (Photo: Supplied)

A report from Daniel Burdon both published in the Sunshine Coast Daily and Gympie Times said McVeigh had offered new 25-year contracts to 14 licensed timber companies to log cypress forests across state forests in southern and central Queensland.

Rod McInnes, Timber Queensland CEO (sic), said the renewal of the sales permits was essentially guaranteeing a longer contract for companies which already have an allocated licence to log such areas.

“Anyone who’s already got a Crown Wood Allocation now simply has a 25-year sale guarantee for their allocation,” he said.

“That doesn’t actually change how much timber is logged in the cypress forests each year, just how long the contracts are.

“What I’d be expecting in the next few years, are that rather than each of the 14 companies keeping their contracts, they might sell them now they are long-term, and four or five bigger commercial operators will take those allocations on, through amalgamations.”

Greens Senator Larissa Waters blasted Queensland Premier Campbell Newman for orchestrating the move which she said was tantamount to initiating forest destruction. She noted the forests as an important habitat for vanishing species.

A survey of endangered species in the SEQ bioregion

Wilderness Society denounces the move

Wilderness Society National Director Lyndon Schneiders denounced the move saying, “This is a short-sighted and counterproductive decision by the Queensland Government that undermines past agreements between conservation groups and the timber industry.”

He called on the Newman Government to stop sending chainsaws into up to two million hectares of high conservation value forests throughout Queensland.

A timber industry spokesperson said the forest was used to be harvested for sustainable logging and shutting it down all these years had hurt badly the timber industry. The spokesperson added that the state needs to create more jobs.

The Wilderness Society said, “Timber imports and the high dollar are challenging enough for the industry without stoking a conflict that was resolved a decade ago.

“If logging occurs in these areas, Queensland timber will become synonymous with forest destruction. The market has little taste for wood sourced from native forest destruction, and the Queensland timber industry will lose markets.

“We understand access to existing hardwood plantations is a key issue. The Wilderness Society will work with key stakeholders, including SEQFA signatory Timber Queensland, to convince the Queensland Government to abandon this foolhardy path.”

Houn Valley Environment Centre decries forest destruction

Green activists denounces Ta Ann’s involvement in “forest destruction. (Photo: The Observer Tree)

Meanwhile, the Houn Valley Environment Centre continues to decry Tasmania’s “forest destruction.” The Centre expressed fears over the State Government’s permission to allow logging operations in a World Heritage nominated site to supply wood exports. The Centre has been contentious about the logging operation of Forestry Tasmania who supplies wood to Malaysian-based Ta Ann Group.

Centre spokesperson Jenny Weber said, “Ta Ann asserting that they won’t receive timber from the World Heritage nominated forests is one thing, but a commitment by Forestry Tasmania that they will not deliver wood from these coupes has not been officially announced. Until the guarantee that the timber from the proposed logging areas in the Huon district is given by Forestry Tasmania, the assertion by Ta Ann cannot be verified.”

Weber claimed Ta Ann had previously admitted that they have to take what Forestry Tasmania supplies them regardless where the wood products were sourced out.

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

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Anti-Muslim election campaign gone berserk

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As political campaigns for this year’s federal election kicked off, an unorthodox political party emerged to attack Muslim immigration and multiculturalism.

Sri Lankan-born Pentecostal Pastor Daniel Nalliah launched his Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP) early this week to unite and urge Australians to protect “Australian way of life” which he said is being destroyed by Muslim immigrants. The slogan: “ Keep Australia Australian.”

RUAP candidate Daniel Nalliah with Lord Christopher Monckton during the party launch. (Photo: RUAP)

RUAP already boasts about 1,500 members and plans to field 65 candidates in the upcoming federal election slated in September.

RUAP is fighting against multiculturalism, gays and lesbians, abortion, carbon tax, asylum seekers, and other left-wing issues.

Nalliah said multiculturalism is assimilating the “silent majority” to accept minority culture. This, he said, has never worked in many countries in the West. He declared “Australia for Australians” to the cheers and uproar of supporters at the National Press Club in Canberra.

Supported by UK-born climate sceptic Lord Christopher Monckton,  RUAP has also launched the Victoria State Campaign on September 16.

“It is not for me as a Brit to endorse any Australian political party, … but I’m going to anyway, ” Monckton said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QNOCWVjcRe0

Many are wondering how the two are related.

Monckton has been invited to speak about climate change before the congregation of Nalliah’s Catch the Fire Ministries in the past.

The political platform of Nalliah resonates with the political interest of Monckton – anti-carbon tax, pro-mining, and pro-small businesses, to name a few.

Official logo of RUAP

Morbid commentator Adrew Bolt can only expressed a deep sigh labelling the two as “fringe dwellers”.

Why on earth was Christopher Monckton endorsing the nationalist Rise Up Australia Party? Great chance for warmists to paint climate sceptics as fringe dwellers.

Demosblog puts it that Bolt is rather distracted:

….rather than denouncing the extremist views of Pastor Danny Nalliah, Andrew Bolt instead is most immediately concerned that Lord Monckton’s endorsement of Rise Up Australia might be bad PR for climate sceptics

Another blog commented on the party launch:

It was hard to tell what was a more pitiful spectacle at the launch of Pastor Danny’s new rabid party of zealotry and prejudice – Monckton or the aging grey-haired audience of true believing loons.

If there is Monckton and Bolt, the people’s watchdog called Getup is sure to be watching.

GetUp is mobilizing a multitude to stop what it calls “madness.” RUAP’s political platform runs counter to what GetUp has been advocating- violation to human rights.

“Rise Up” ….is waging a war against multiculturalism, marriage equality, climate action, and pretty much everything we stand for. Best of all, cringe-worthy climate denier Lord Monckton is touring our country again. Appalling? Yes. It’s time to rally the troops…. Now more than ever we need to mobilise and prove that racism, intolerance and hate isn’t the norm. Among the rising tide of intolerance, let’s show Australia that these people don’t speak for us.

Pro-Muslim, pro-diveristy candidate – Dr Ahmed Berhan (Photo: Dr Ahmed Berhan FB Page)

Pro-Muslim Candidate

Does Nalliah know a pro-Muslim Independent candidate is running for Senate? Dr Berhan Ahmed is a former refugee who came to Australia over 25 years ago.  He was awarded the Victorian of the Year in 2009 for his work as an African community leader in which he is a lead think tank.

Ahmed is neither a pro or anti-assimilation. He sees a great mix of people who need a voice in State Parliament. He said, “The political system has become clogged by the same people with the same voice.”  He wants to show the people on the margins they  can participate and get involved.

Ahmed’s political agenda calls for the improvement of housing, employment and transport infrastructure.

Born in Eritrea, Ahmed’s first jobs were a tram conductor and taxi driver. He spent 10 years in Fitzroy public housing studying for his PhD and masters degree. He now works as a Senior Research Fellow in forest and ecosystem science at the University of Melbourne.

Freedom of Speech and Truth

Candidates for the upcoming election are truly diverse.

Julian Assange on live telecast from the UK. He tells his supporters in Melbourne, “To the Internet generation, this is our moment.” (Photo: R. Yoon/The Green Journo)

WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange will also run for the Senate in Victoria. He is the lead candidate of a newly formed WikiLeaks Party.

Assange’s application for electoral enrolment in Victoria was handed to the Australian Electoral Commission in Melbourne this week by WikiLeaks supporters including his father, Sydney architect John Shipton, who has been active in the initial organisation of the party.

Shipton said Assange’s enrolment was ”a first step” in a political campaign that would focus on ”the democratic requirement of truthfulness from government”.

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

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