Media Release: Local Aboriginal Jobs Sacrificed in Shoddy Government Contract Deal

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

MEDIA RELEASE

Local Aboriginal Jobs Sacrificed in Shoddy Government Contract Deal

14 June 2013

Greens WA spokesperson on Aboriginal issues, Robin Chapple MLC, is outraged over the axing of aboriginal jobs in WA’s Mid West region, while Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has also expressed her concern.

“I’m very concerned that the Federal Government’s new program maybe be undermining efforts to support Aboriginal people across WA, especially in regards to training and employment,” Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

Mr Chapple continued – “In one fell swoop, the federal government has taken the axe to 31 aboriginal workers’ jobs across the Mid-West and Goldfields.

“They can dress this up however they like, but the fact remains that these people now face a very bleak future, thanks to the misguided decision to wind up the Community Development and Employment Program (CDEP).

“CDEP has delivered tremendous benefits to communities across the Mining and Pastoral Region, which I represent in state parliament”, said Mr Chapple.

“MEEDAC and Yulella are making a real difference for aboriginal people in the Mid West – Big Brother, in the guise of ‘market forces’ has now come along and pulled the rug out from under them.

“What stupidity this is – taking jobs away from aboriginal people, and giving them to whitefellas, so they can tell the aboriginals whether they can have a job or not!

“I just despair at the continuation of these patronizing attitudes that lead to perpetuating the very sort of problems that our governments repeatedly pay only lip service to fixing”, said Mr Chapple.

Senator Siewert added – “The latest COAG Reform Council report on Closing the Gap found that Western Australia has seen the nation’s largest increase in the employment gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Rather than closing, the gap has increased by 5.5%.

“Cuts such as these undermine the commitment that has been made to close the gap for Aboriginal people.”

“The Greens strongly support MEEDAC in their efforts to have this appalling mistake rectified as soon as possible”, Mr Chapple concluded.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on

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9486 8255 ​

#Perth people, please share this great project where you can win cool tech stuff as you help #mentalhealth – Healthy Men, Healthy Minds

Promote men’s wellbeing and win an iPad Mini

Capture a great photo of a man in your life and you could win an iPad Mini to share your favourite photos in the St John of God Raphael Centres Healthy Men, Healthy Minds Photo Competition.

In the lead-up to Men’s Health Week (June 10 – 16), Raphael Centres across Australia are seeking to raise awareness of postnatal depression in men, which can affect up to 15 per cent of new fathers between conception and 12 months after childbirth.

If a man’s partner is suffering postnatal depression he is much more likely to become depressed himself but men are less inclined to access help for anxiety, depression and mood disorders – support that Raphael Centres can provide free of charge or at minimal cost.

The Healthy Men, Healthy Minds competition asks men, women and families to submit a photo which has been inspired by, or is reflective of, positive relationships between children and a significant male in their lives.

Entries can be made from May 30 to June 16 and full details of the competition can be found at the Raphael Centres website www.sjog.org.au/raphael There will be a public vote to choose ten finalists in the competition before a panel of judges chooses an overall winner to receive the prize of an iPad Mini and two runners up, who will each receive a $50 WISH voucher.

“Postnatal depression affects the whole family and when one parent suffers with depression, the likelihood of the other parent also becoming symptomatic is increased substantially,” said Anna Roberts, Group Manager for Early Years at St John of God Health Care.

“Men are often expected to be strong and capable yet fathers also have to contend with the emotional changes and challenges that a new baby brings to the family. At times this balancing or juggling act can be difficult and traumatic. For some men the struggle is reflected in emotional distress or depression.”

“We hope that through the Healthy men, healthy minds photo competition we can promote positive images of men’s mental health while raising awareness of the help that is available through Raphael Centres and other support services.”

St John of God Raphael Centres provide a range of services to parents and families affected by anxiety, stress, or depression during pregnancy and following childbirth.

Men’s mental health and early parenthood – did you know?

• The gender of parents is less important in influencing child development than qualities such as warmth, kindness and love

• An estimated 1 in 10 men will experience depression in their lifetime

• Up to 15% of men are at risk of developing depressive symptoms in the first year following childbirth

• Most major depressive episodes will last from four to 12 months

• When a family is struggling to cope with the birth of a new child, fathers often receive little help from health professionals

• A significant number of fathers (up to 1 in 2) may become depressed if their partner is suffering postnatal depression

• New fathers can feel marginalised, exhausted and depressed

For more information on Raphael Centre services or the Healthy Men, Healthy Minds photo competition visit www.sjog.org.au/raphael or the St John of God Social Outreach and Advocacy Facebook page: www.facebook.com/sjogoutreach

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‘Yes Minister’ meets ‘Spooks’ in #Australia ↘ National security agency also net filtering. @senatorludlam

National security agency also net filtering

Australian Greens communications spokesperson – Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam. 30 May 2013.

In an ominous escalation of internet filtering in Australia, an unidentified agency under the remit of the Attorney-General is also using section 313 of the Telecommunications Act to block an unknown set of websites – bringing the number of government agencies filtering up to three, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said today.

“We now know that in addition to the ASIC and Australian Federal Police, a third agency has used the section 313 power to block websites, but the Government will not reveal which,” Senator Ludlam said.

The Department of Communications was also unable to identify how many state, territory and Commonwealth agencies are legally empowered to demand ISPs block websites at will.

“This morning I asked the Department of Communications which agency is blocking websites under section 313. In a manoeuvre straight out of ‘Yes Minister’, Senator Conroy advised me to ask the Attorney General, despite the fact Communications has responsibility for the issue. The AG’s department subsequently said they could not reveal the third agency.”

Minister Conroy has revealed his department convened a meeting of agencies likely to be using such powers to filter websites on May 22, and that to date three agencies have begun blocking websites. In today’s hearing Department representatives listed attendees, but neglected to mention that ASIO attended the meeting until quizzed on that specific agency.

"After I had to name them it was provided," Senator Ludlam told Minister Conroy in the hearing. “How many other agencies do I need to name to see if they were also there?”

There is virtually no oversight or transparency in how 313 notices are issued, which agencies and individuals can request one, or under what circumstances they’re permitted.

Contact: Giovanni Torre – 0417 174 302

W #Australia #environment – Mungada Ridge in Danger as Government Breaks Another Promise

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

MEDIA RELEASE

Mungada Ridge in Danger as Government Breaks Another Promise

30 May 2013

WA Greens spokesperson on Environment issues and member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, Robin Chapple MLC, today slammed the government’s cavalier disregard for keeping its promises.

“In 2009 the Barnett government, through its environment minister, gave an undertaking to set aside the Mungada Ridge, east of Geraldton, as a Class A reserve, so as to protect it from development.

“This was documented in EPA Report 1321 of April 2009 which included the claim that key environmental values would therefore be protected ‘in perpetuity’ – well, apparently, ‘in perpetuity’ means something else to this government!

“Under questioning from me, the new minister admitted in Parliament last week, a full four years after the original promise was made, that the process of reserve creation will now proceed only afterthe mining venture in the area has run its course.

“I’m flabbergasted – what in the dickens is going on? Do we just have to get used to the idea that Class A reserves now exist just in some make-believe world, where when it suits the government they can be dug up and exported?

“The Mungada Ridge is home to many valuable unique and threatened species, which the government quite rightly judged to be of high conservation value and worthy of protection from mining.

“The government’s environmental and sustainability credentials are in tatters,” Mr Chapple said today. “This is an appalling situation, and the government deserves to be pilloried for this reckless about-face.

“The WA Greens will be investigating all avenues to make sure this grave error of judgment is reversed,” Mr Chapple concluded.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

All the best

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

PO Box 94, West Perth WA 6872

41 Havelock Street, West Perth. WA 6005

Phone: Robin.Chapple | Freecall: 1800 138 610 | WEB: http://robinchapple.com/

Our office provides a facility for members of the public to ask their own Parliamentary Questions through my website at http://www.robinchapple.com/ask-question. Questions on Notice are preferred, instructions and templates are provided.

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W #Australia water for exports not food – WA Govt Slips Deeper into Sticky Ord Mess @robinchapplemlc

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

MEDIA RELEASE

Government Slips Deeper into Sticky Ord Mess

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Greens WA member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, Robin Chapple MLC, today renewed his criticism of the way the Grylls-Barnett government has handled the Kimberley’s Ord expansion project.

“When the current government first got involved with this project, I was at least prepared to give them credit for touting this as a food-bowl scheme.

“But very soon it became clear that all we were going to get was a choice between various exotic schemes, at the fringes of bona-fide agriculture, and very far removed from genuine food production.

“Now, no matter how they try to dress it up, it has come down to a taxpayer-funded biofuel for export plan.

“History shows that large-scale irrigation schemes lead to land degradation and other problems, and we will be left footing the bill to fix up the mess.

“The Kimberley needs sustainable industries, with regional community owned enterprises to increase regional employment and support local small business, not another large foreign-owned business siphoning short-term profits out of the region.

“To try to make a case for the Ord River Expansion as a project which benefits the Kimberley is a furphy. In fact the massive taxpayer investments are largely going offshore, and doing little to support regional industry or aboriginal enterprise.

“Before any more money is thrown into this mess, the government should publicly release a full cost benefit analysis of the project, with particular emphasis on the whole-of-life, long term environmental and social costs to the local community, and the impact it has on cultural industries, aboriginal tourism enterprise and other local or community projects.

“What good is this to the Western Australian people? A few jobs here and there are hardly worth the millions spent on the development of this scheme”, Mr Chapple concluded.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on

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9486 8255

All the best

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

PO Box 94, West Perth WA 6872

41 Havelock Street, West Perth. WA 6005

Phone: Robin.Chapple | Freecall: 1800 138 610 | WEB: http://robinchapple.com/

Our office provides a facility for members of the public to ask their own Parliamentary Questions through my website at http://www.robinchapple.com/ask-question. Questions on Notice are preferred, instructions and templates are provided.

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​#Australia’s FM @bobjcarr pushes trade with ​#​Burma while regime still uses child soldiers. #children

​#Australia’s @bobjcarr
pushes trade with ​#​
Burma while regime still uses child soldiers

Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam. 29 May 2013.

While the Australian Government pushes open slather trade with Burma, the country is plagued by sectarian violence and the continued use of child soldiers by the Burmese government, the Greens said today.

Greens spokesperson on Burma, Senator Scott Ludlam, said “the resource-rush which appears to be driving Australian foreign policy on Burma may perversely end up consolidating the regime’s hold on power and attendant human rights abuses. The Australian Government should urgently rethink its sanctions policy, lest ‘constructive engagement’ end up as complicity”.

“The Government pushed Europe and other countries to permanently lift trade sanctions on Burma, and has encouraged Australian companies to invest. At the same time violent anti-Muslim pogroms have plagued Burma, often with the complicity of authorities, and the Burmese military continues to use child soldiers.

“Human Rights Watch reported today that one year into the Burma-UN action plan, the Burmese military still includes children as young as ten.

"Tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya people were forced to flee Arakan/Rakhine state last year and 130,000 now live in refugee camps. Today reports have emerged that a mosque and a Muslim orphanage in Burma were burned down by extremist mobs, and police discovered a weapons cache in a Buddhist ‘monastery’.

“The use of child soldiers and violence from racist gangs are just two elements of the Burmese crisis: The army has caused widespread destruction in its attacks on the Kachin people, and a report has been sent to the International Labour Organisation claiming that Rohingya women are being forced into sexual slavery by the military.

“The rush to open Burma for business has eroded the leverage for reform, allowing the army to continue to dominate the political system and trample human rights. The Australian Government must reconsider its enthusiasm for cutting deals with a dictatorship.”

Contact: Giovanni Torre – 0417 174 302

#Australia Greens WA point to Government’s #Energy Shambles

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

MEDIA RELEASE

Greens WA point to WA Government’s Energy Shambles

24 May 2013

Greens WA spokesperson on Energy policy, Robin Chapple MLC, today again blasted the state government over the ongoing Muja power station fiasco.

“Most informed observers have said from the outset that the Muja revival was a mistake.

“Minister Nahan has now publicly foreshadowed that he will shortly put this disastrous exercise in futility to rest.

“It’s hard to know where to start in commenting on this debacle. From the outset, this proposal was an unnecessary investment in furthering outdated fossil fuel policy, and was ripe with potential for cost blowouts.

“$250 million was a huge sum of money, which would have been better spent promoting renewable energy in Western Australia. Why does this Government consistently pander to the fossil fuel industries, while barely bothering to look at renewable energy options and new technologies?” asked Mr Chapple.

“Perhaps if the government invested in the real barriers to energy reform – the inaccessible distribution network, archaic access arrangements and ‘locked-in’ coal and gas contracts which renewable generators find so prohibitive, then the future of energy generation could begin.

“I sympathise with the Minister, to the extent that he has inherited this white elephant, but his job is to look ahead, not lament the “nightmares” he says this issue gives him. Sieze the moment, Mr Nahan, and grasp this opportunituy to set WA’s energy policy on the road to a sustainable future.

“Only the Greens have a detailed plan for powering WA without throwing good money after bad on flops like Muja. Our Energy 2029 plan would be a good foundation for the Minister’s so-called sweeping review of his portfolio”, Mr Chapple concluded.

Energy 2029 plan: http://www.greenswa.net.au/energy2029

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 9486 8255

All the best

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

PO Box 94, West Perth WA 6872

41 Havelock Street, West Perth. WA 6005

Phone: Robin.Chapple | Freecall: 1800 138 610 | WEB: http://robinchapple.com/

Our office provides a facility for members of the public to ask their own Parliamentary Questions through my website at http://www.robinchapple.com/ask-question. Questions on Notice are preferred, instructions and templates are provided.

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