Australian Greens face tough times: Abbott

Posted on April 16, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

While Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown is gone, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott warned the Greens- Labor Coalition would face “turbulent times” saying Brown acted more like a prime minister.

The Daily Telegraph said Brown quitted before the storm on carbon tax which will take effect in July this year. The paper said this is where the broader public may react badly to Brown’s departure, and where Gillard will become vulnerable.

Many will simply view this as Brown, a figure a majority of people believe is the quasi-deputy leader in a Labor-Greens alliance, leaving the sinking ship before it runs aground. Tony Abbott will make easy work of a perception that the man responsible for forcing the government to introduce the carbon tax doesn’t even want to stick around to see it start.

Resigned Bob Brown walks away with the party’s new leader, Christine Milne (Photo: Andrew Meares)

PM Julia Gillard accepted Brown’s resignation last week as Deputy Christine Milne took over the helm with Lower House MP Adam Bandt later voted in as her replacement. Brown will also quit as a Tasmanian Senator when his term expires in June. He will not seek for re-election.

Brown said he is happy to go after 16 years in public service taking active role at the forefront of Australia’s environmental campaigns. He turned his party an icon of “innovation.”

With Brown, the Greens became Australia’s third political party and used its heft to bargain with a minority Labor Government and gain the balance of power in the Senate, The Punch commented. The Greens have also been instrumental in the implementation of a carbon tax. Brown leaves the Greens in historically high numbers in the parliament, with a total if 10 members in the House of Representatives and Senate. Brown said:

“I am 67. I am aware that one should always make room for renewal in politics. A democracy is the healthier for the turnover of the depth of talent there is in its community,” he told reporters at a press conference in Canberra.

He added he will leave public office to enjoy his private life, but he will remain Green as long as he lives. He said one of his upcoming plans is to visit Miranda Gibson who has been perching on a tree to keep vigil on Tasmania’s forests.

The tree observer, Miranda Gibson, has been holding vigil on a makeshift house perched on a tree. This photo is taken by Brown himself.

However, Brown could not elude critics on his “untimely” resignation amid crumbling pubic support for Australia’s green projects. Oppositions to the carbon tax claim Brown is playing safe before the storm. The carbon tax passed the Senate in November 2011 and will take effect in July this year. Prices of goods and services across the nation are predicted to spiral as a result.

As a warning for the Labor-Greens coalition, the Labor Party was already massacred in the recent Queensland state election. The new Australian Liberal Party’s State Government is now dumping green schemes initiated by the former Labor premiere.

In Canberra, federal government offices are cutting budgets that may result into mass layoffs reducing the number of employees and projects in areas related to environment.

National secretary Nadine Flood said that some work in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and industry assistance programs would ”simply not be done”, the Canberra Times reported.

The same paper added, “The Community and Public Sector Union, while unable to confirm the latest job cut figures, said reducing numbers to 470 would be a massive blow for staff and would seriously damage Australia’s ability to deal with the impacts of climate change.”

At the party’s Third Annual Green Oration delivered on March 23 this year, Brown addressed the “Earthians” to get involved in finding solutions to the shrinking resources of the planet while its citizenry is growing to an unparalleled proportion beyond what the planet can sustain.

He proposed that for the Earth to be able to survive in the next millennium, a “comprehensive Earth action, an all-of-the-Earth representative democracy is required. That is, a global parliament.” He added, “So democracy – ensuring that everyone is involved in deciding Earth’s future – is the key to success. “

The Punch’s editor-in-chief reacted to the speech as out-of-this-world political ramblings.

…the phrase “Fellow Earthians” was a deep ecologist ramble across a range of themes, including the possible existence of aliens, the disappearance of the dinosaurs, the fact that Bob saw a shooting star the other night and believed it was a portent heralding a new form of participatory democracy. It has been covered at length elsewhere and should you be up for a laugh, please read it in its entirety…

Australian Greens rally at the Parliament House in Canberra in 2008 (Photo: Australian Greens)

Greens Reactions

Green organizations commended Brown’s advocacy to environment, gay marriages, refugee and asylum seekers, and other issues related to social and economic equality.

SBS noted the Wilderness Society described “Brown as an inspiring leader for the Australian environment movement and a champion of wilderness protection during the past 30 years.”

Greenpeace also said Senator Brown would be remembered by future generations for his efforts to protect Australia’s natural heritage.

“He has been a steady voice of reason in a parliament dogged by vested interests and shortsightedness,” program director Ben Pearson said in a statement.

Gay advocates have called Bob Brown one of Australia’s great gay heroes.

While Milne and Brandt take the helm of the party, the Greens are also looking for possible candidate for the June election.

A potential candidate to replace Brown would be Peter Whish-Wilson, a Tamar Valley winemaker who grew up in Karratha who claimed to have worked for BHP Billiton. He said he has experience in small business, markets and global finance which will make him a different sort of Green.

“This is the biggest opportunity for us to create jobs growth and we have to incentivise companies to do the right thing. I don’t see Tasmania just through tourism: there have to be other directions and opportunities…“I am more for opportunity than opposition,” the Financial Review quoted Whish-Wilson as saying.

The Australian said Milne will seek to establish a new political support base among rural Australians and “progressive” businesses as part of an intensified campaign against the “vested interests” of the resource-based economy.

Senator Milne has also attacked the major political parties as captives of the resources sector, and savaged the “rapaciousness” of mining companies, vowing to dedicate her leadership to hastening a transition to a low-carbon economy.

BLOG LINK: Asian Correspondent

Australia’s mining tax and CIA conspiracy

Posted on March 23, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

The mining tax has dominated Australia’s political landscape this week.

The Senate passed the mining tax on Monday imposing a 30 percent tax on super profits generated by mining companies from coal and iron ore. The tax revenue will be used to elevate income and pension funds of the less well-off Australians and to cut tax on small businesses.

This sent shockwaves to the mining industry which could have been rejoicing over mining boom worldwide.

Mining magnate Clive Palmer hits CIA of mining conspiracy

Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer lashed out at the federal government and claimed the CIA is behind the mining tax as part of America’s conspiracy to kill Australia’s coal industry.

Palmer also accused the Greens as “tools” of the US government and the environmental activists group, Greenpeace, is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

He said he will lodge a double High Court challenge on both carbon and mining taxes.

But his accusation hits back like a boomerang.

The CIA via ABC email denied his claim prompting him to back away from inflammatory comments, Fairfax reports via SBS.

Crikey, an alternative online media said,

Now Clive Palmer again has demonstrated the eccentricity that comes from having so much money you don’t have to care what anyone thinks of you…

Palmer is doing no more than continuing Queensland’s rich tradition of conspiracy theorists, which has produced the Citizen’s Electoral Council and Pauline Hanson, to name only the most prominent of recent years. Nor is it the first time he’s accused people of being a CIA front — back in November, it was American Express who were doing the bidding of the spooks.

Palmer could probably find consolation in knowing another mining group, Fortescue Metals, confirms it has sought legal advice ahead of plans to mount a High Court challenge against the Federal Government’s mining tax, News Corp said.

Chairman Andrew Forrest of Fortescue Metals leads a protest against mining tax during Kevin Rudd’s time

Fortescue claimed the MRRT is a poorly designed tax, drafted by the big miners behind closed doors to minimise their tax exposure at the expense of the rest of the industry,” the company said in a statement.

The Government is also facing a revolt from Liberal-led mining states.

Western Australia’s Premier Colin Barnett, for one, says he will support any legal action against the tax.

Not Amused

Newly appointed Foreign Minister Bob Carr blasts Palmer’s “reckless” CIA conspiracy claims

He said the “recklessly irresponsible” claim that the CIA is sponsoring a campaign against the coal industry will trigger concern from the United States government and business community.

Carr said the comments should also make many Australians question Palmer’s links to the Opposition. He said Palmer is very close to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Palmer is considered the largest donor to the Liberal Party.

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr

Treasurer Wayne Swan has also denounced Palmer’s claims. He supported Carr’s claim the mining businessman “is in cahoots with Mr Abbott.”

Federal Greens leader Bob Brown has echoed the remarks of Carr and Swan saying Palmer is a life member and a major donor to the Queensland Liberal National Party.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace senior campaigner John Hepburn rejected Mr Palmer’s comments as “ludicrous”. He said Greenpeace would not accept money from any government, corporation or secret service.

The mining tax was initiated almost two years ago, floated by former Treasury boss Ken Henry. It originally proposed a 40 percent tax on super profits—a proposal that stirred an industry-wide opposition rocking the Labor Party’s leadership. It was the same tax proposal that ousted Kevin Rudd from prime ministership in 2010.

Rising to power, Prime Minister Julia Gillard negotiated a modified tax rate with BHP, Rio and Xstrata although smaller miners remain unhappy with the deal.

The Mineral Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) Bill 2011 and related bills are now ready for the governor-general’s royal assent. The mining tax will start from July 1 this year, Australian media report.

The federal government estimated the new tax will generate $11 billion in three years which will be used to elevate income of the less well-off Australians. It will boost compulsory superannuation contributions, infrastructure payment and a one per cent tax cut for business.

The Australian, however, is pessimistic over the tax. Its editorial page said:

While this newspaper recognises the benefit in ensuring that some of the revenue generated by the once-in-a-generation mining boom is secured for future generations, this tax will do little to drive reform in the slower sectors of the economy while the fastest-growing sector is slugged with a tax that could damage our competitiveness.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott supports Palmer

I defence of Palmer, Abbott said he was a “larger than life” character.

“I think when he says that the Greens want to stop the coal industry he’s absolutely right – of course the Greens want to stop the coal industry,” Abbott told Channel 10.

Abbott is vowing to repeal the tax if he wins the next election.

Blog Link: Asian Correspondent

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

Further research on climate debates

Posted on February 8, 2012 by rowenadelarosayoon

There’s an Interesting email forwarded by GetUp! about a video of notorious climate change skeptic Lord Christopher Monckton mapping up a conspiracy to seize Rupert Mordoch’s media as a strategic platform to advance anti-left-wing climate agenda.

The nefarious climate change skeptic, Lord Christopher Monckton

I also revisited a video of Bob Carter interviewed by Murdoch’s media puppet, Andrew Bolt. What an interesting business-media conspiracy to deny fossil-fuel-induced global warming.

Climate Change – Is it a science debate or a political debate?

Carbon pollution contributes to man-made environmental disaster, any doubt?

I attempt to gather a list of prominent scientists who are either ‘convinced’ or ‘unconvinced’ on the issue. According to a UK-based columnist Nick Collins of The Telegraph, most skeptical scientists are less prominent and authoritative than those scientists convinced on the issue of global warming. This is based on the number of research and scientific papers published.

The Conversation, a scholarly publication, said many research scholars from the Australia National University have had received death threats and abusive phone calls from the right-wingers and Murdoch’s media because of their stand on the issue.

Clive Hamilton, who wrote Scorchers: The Dirty Politics of Climate Change (2007), claims that Australian sceptics belong to the “Greenhouse Mafia” (credited to Guy Pearce) comprising of lobbyists “plucked from the senior ranks of the APS, where they wrote briefs and Cabinet submissions and advised ministers on energy policies.” They are the links between Government and fossil-fuel businessmen who finance the political machine of the Liberal Party in partnership with the Murdoch’s media. Hamilton adds that Australia’s stand on the issue (during the Howard Government) was mainly influenced by the US which champions a market-based economy.

Political powershift under the Labor Government overturned the decades-long greenhouse mafia energy policies. The right-wings fought a bloody fight to prevent the passage of a carbon tax, but overruled. It is a new era!

These denialists comprised of the bloody rich and powerful capitalists. They own big businesses including the media. If you are caught up in between the ‘convinced’ and ‘unconvinced’ groups, look beyond the politicking and explore the credentials of each scientist from both camps.

I have not done one article this month but I will do so as soon as I can get enough good stuff.