Important news for activists, advocates and old hippie geeks :) “Camp Obama” coming to Perth via getup.org.au

Via the team at GetUp

Image via Wikipedia

The Obama campaign was one of the most successful on-the-ground campaigns in history. Millions of volunteers took the campaign to their neighbours and friends. Their secret? ‘Camp Obama’.

At ‘Camp Obama’ volunteers around the United States learnt how to integrate powerful stories with strategy and skills. Meeting each other at a million points of hope and energy, these stories transformed a political campaign into a popular movement. Now we’re bringing this powerful training to Perth.

We’ve already seen in the lead-up to the federal election that we’re back to politics as usual: sound bites, spin doctors and media pundits ignoring real people and their stories. This is the opportunity to learn the secret weapon of the Obama campaign so we can work together to make a massive impact this election.

Yes, I’m interested in attending the Community Organising Workshop.

Where: Venue TBA – somewhere in Central Perth
When: 15th and 16th of May
Registration cut off: 10th of May
Cost: $20 (this is to cover costs and includes lunch)
Spaces are limited — don’t miss out!

Click here to read the draft agenda and apply for the Community Organising Workshop

When you arrive on Saturday morning you’ll be greeted by an enthusiastic group of highly caffeinated facilitators. You’ll mingle with members of various organisations, like the Conservation Council of WA and the Union Climate Connectors. You might even be surprised to find one of your neighbours there.

And there will be a moment that day–when the room falls silent and your breath catches in your throat, as a story captures you completely. Often it’s the quiet person in the room that manages to blow everyone away. Last year, in Adelaide it was a story about the struggle to speak out against homophobia from within the church. In Sydney, an engineer who gained the courage, and learnt the skills, to talk with his coal-mining company colleagues about new directions.

With the looming federal election just months away, the skills, strategies and stories you’ll learn to tell will give you a powerful voice on issues from climate change to refugees. Click here if you’re interested in coming along, and we’ll give you a call to talk about the workshop:

Click here to find out more and apply for the Community Organising Workshop

The spin doctors, attack ads and focus group tested sound bites are waiting in the wings. Media pundits have their eyes on the political horse race, ignoring the people affected by the policies they squabble over. In this campaign, we will tell the stories of these people. Together we will provide the passion, humanity and energy so absent in the practiced smiles and hollow lines of our politicians.

Hope to see you,

Sara, for the GetUp team

PS – Can’t make the workshop but still want to be involved in the election campaign? Click here.

Those abused in state care abandoned by the W.A. and Federal Governments as the UK apologises

The Peak Child Abuse group ASCA today tweeted the news of  British PM Gordon Brown’s apology to Australian child migrants acknoweldging it’s crucial to healing

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please click the blue link for the UK angle

“ http://bit.ly/aoM64h via @ASCAORG > urgent action needed 4 #redress 2 “

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Labor and Liberal have failed at federal and state levels to discover a modicum of compassion.

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Kevin Rudd was on twitter today congratulating the aussie girl who won olympic gold in the ski aerials, saying gee we’ll have to set up a new ski facility won’t we.

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I had the temerity to reply on twitter

” @KevinRuddPM So if I win Gold at the Olympics, you cold fund some community mental health facilities – I’m starting training now Kevin! ”

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Taxpayer’s money is used to stage boxing matches (btw I MC martial arts and support boxing ) build footy stadia, freshen up our dullsville foreshore and there’s always lots of taxcash when it comes to self promoting “government” commercials.

For WA’s Barnett/Buswell and the previous Labor wombats to halve compensation for victims of abuse in state care is disgusting.

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Meanwhile, mainstream media is so tabloid and dollar driven that these issues are skimmed over or ignored, but gee my colleagues like to have a mass debate over daylight saving or shopping hours – day and night!

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Nevertheless I am an eternal optimist ( sometimes a bit jaded ) and have high hopes for activism and advocacy on the net through media like this blog and on twitter.

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So please join in, add a comment, ask a few questions of your local “member” and raise your voice for those who’ve already died as well as those currently in dire need.

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The state government, meanwhile has announced that victims who are expected to die before christmas will get their meagre share of the halved compo package earlier than the others – really, it’s in the letter

Letter from Redress – click the image to visit the Govt website

It IS life or death – and for far too many of us.

tony

Australia NW Oil Spill, company links to Burma’s military dictatorship? Are we financing the Generals as we pick up the bill for their mess? OP/ED

Atlas West Oil Rig – we know where the oil-spill is going,

West Atlas Oil Spill 1

what about where the profits are going.

Are we helping finance repression in Burma - Myanmar?

The 2007 AP, SMH & Rigzone articles below pose some very disturbing questions about where the profits go from the badly leaking West Atlas Oil Rig.

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Is it possible that our Governments are indirectly financing the illegal Military Junta in Burma/Myanmar and it’s brutal repression.

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Aren’t we meant to be backing UN sanctions against the Generals’ brutal repression and imprisonment of elected leader Aung Saan Suu Kyi?

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Meanwhile we can only wonder at the standards of corporate governance of the operators as “their” oil covers our NW waters, threatening island, reef and mainland ecosystems.

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Excerpts and links to media exposing Burma links are below, including related interview & video from Senator Rachel Siewert.

Click the blue text to see the full story on each

A search of the website Rigzone shows these recent links between the WA Rig’s operator PTTEP and the Generals

PTTEP & CNOOC Ink Asset Swap Deal
NEWS ARTICLE: … of the Union of Myanmar. Under the agreement, the partners comprise PTTEP Myanmar
Limited, a subsidiary of PTTEP with 20% interest. CNOOC Ltd. as the operator …

PTTEP, CNOOC May Discuss Myanmar Gas Block Stake Swap
NEWS ARTICLE: … 24 hours with China National Offshore Oil Corp. about closer business ties that could
include swapping assets in Myanmar, PTTEP’s top executive said Thursday. …

PTTEP May Invest $25 Million in Myanmar Gas Fields
NEWS ARTICLE: Title: PTTEP May Invest $25 Million in Myanmar Gas Fields Date: 8/3/2004 Body: Thailand’s
PTT Exploration and Production PCL may invest $25 million to explore …

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This  2007 AP article from the Star Via AP spells out the economic and political significance of the links

RANGOON’S CORPORATE FRIENDS

TheStar.com | Business | Oil companies fuelling Burma’s junta

Oil companies fuelling Burma’s junta

Foreign firms are fighting for access to untapped energy reserves that some say fund a repressive regime Oct 02, 2007 04:30 AM Thomas Hogue ASSOCIATED PRESS

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From the Sydney Morning Herald, also in 2007 ( how has the structure changed we wonder )

While Burma’s military junta cracks down on pro-democracy protests, oil companies are busy jostling for access to the country’s largely untapped natural gas and oil fields.

Just last Sunday – as marches led by Buddhist monks drew thousands in the country’s biggest cities – Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora was in Burma’s capital Rangoon for the signing of contracts between state-controlled ONGC Videsh Ltd and Burma’s military rulers to explore three offshore blocks.

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Meanwhile, the Governments of Kevin Rudd and Colin Barnett are yet to answer key questions on the lamentable response to the oil disaster by it’s operators, let alone address the issue of profits possibly going to the Generals.

See the link below for the 6PR interview, pictures of the spill taken by the Greens and an interview with Senator Rachel Siewert

Youtube slideshow of the oil slick – also, Kevin Rudd doesn’t even use the word “environment”in his brief spin on air at 6PR with Simon Beaumont (6pr.com.au )

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• New Myanmar Clashes Leave 1 Dead, Dozens Injured (abcnews.go.com)

• CNOOC First-Half Profit Down 55% on Lower Prices (nytimes.com)

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ignores NW environment as he spins a major oil slick threatening offshore and manland ecosystems :(

Kevin Rudd escaped a grilling when interviewed on 6pr.com.au about the giant oil spill off our NW coast.

Clicke here for 3 minutes of shameful spin (what about the whales & turtles Kev, they don’t vote, but we do!)  PM Kevin Rudd

There is a major threat to our offshore and mainland ecosystems, whales, turtles, sensitive reefs, and no word on why the company involved has rejected offers of clean-up help from Woodside.  see interview with Greens (WA) Sen. Rachel Siewert who’s just back from overflying the huge slick.

call your local talkback to have your say +61 8 922 11882 is 6pr.com.au

visit Senator Siewert’s site to keep track, this oil will keep spilling for the next 2 months!

Sacred Indigenous Art still under threat in Western Australia, join FARA to help save sacred Aboriginal Rock Carvings on the Burrup Peninsula

Latest news

Hi everyone, After a very successful 3rd Heritage Tour to the Burrup in July this year, we are pleased to announce that the waiting list is now open for the 4th Tour in July 2010 (dates tbc) – so if you know of anyone who might be interested, please email Judith Hugo on tour@fara.com.au. We already have many interested! In the meantime we have these forthcoming events – Zig-Zag Walk, Gooseberry Hill – Sunday 4 October 2009 Walking the Zig Zag in the Shire of Kalamunda is a lovely community event when all the world and his wife, children, grandchildren and others are transported to the top of the zig zag by shuttle bus. They then walk down enjoying the spectacular views while being entertained by music and various community groups, sausage sizzles etc. At the bottom of the Scenic Drive, more buses will take people back up to the top again. This year FARA has been invited to attend and will have a stand to inform the public about Burrup issues. We are looking for volunteers to help us spread the word – another opportunity to wear your Burrup t-shirt and do a fun Stand Up for the Burrup! If you are interested, please contact Ginie Bristowe at 9271 7263 or 0422 487 419 or sweetginie@hotmail.com with heading Zig Zag. See website for more information. Event location: Zig Zag Scenic Drive, Gooseberry Hill, FARA AGM – Tuesday 27 October 2009. 6.30pm 41 Havelock Street, West Perth We have a great new bunch of members from our last Burrup trip, but this is a reminder that old memberships are now due for renewal… This may be done by sending a cheque or money order to Jennifer Laker at 5710 Phillips Rd, Mundaring WA 6072 or by direct deposit to our bank account – Bendigo Bank, Mundaring – BSB 633 000, A/c No. 1297 11149 > Friends of Australian Rock Art. (Don’t forget to add your own name!) Membership fees: $20 – waged, $10 – low waged, $5 – unwaged, or there’s always the option of $200 – life membership! Please attend the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 27th October 2009 at 6.30pm. Come along (to Robin Chapple’s new parliamentary offices 41 Havelock Street, West Perth) to meet old and new friends – and hear the latest low-down on the Burrup! (Robert Bednarik’s book “Australian Apocalypse’ will also be available @$25) Lynne Tinley’s exhibition closing – Sunday 8 November, 3-5 pm Kingfisher Gallery, 49 Colin Street, West Perth Lynne Tinley, well known WA artist and staunch supporter of our Burrup cause, has kindly offered part proceeds from her exhibition to FARA. Her stunning works combine images from her South African roots with those from her adopted Australian homeland. This will be a wine & cheese event @$20 – bookings to Judith Hugo at jhugo@iinet.net.au And did you know? - We are always keen to hear your ideas about possible fundraising events or Stand Ups – contact@fara.com.au - FARA meets every second Tuesday Friends of Australian Rock Art meets every second Tuesday from 5.45pm to 8pm at 41 Havelock Street, West Perth. The committee welcomes anyone to attend the meeting and bring forward their ideas and/or contributions. Here is the list of scheduled meetings for the next 2 months: Tuesday 1st September Committee meeting Tuesday 15th September Committee meeting Tuesday 29th September Committee meeting Tuesday 13th October Committee meeting Tuesday 27th October Annual General Meeting FARA would be grateful if you could circulate this email to your network. 29/08/2009 Kind regards Judith, Remi For Friends of Australian Rock Art

Friends of Australian Rock Art Inc.

Major Oil Spill off NW Australia – pics and interview with Senator Rachel Siewert on her overflight of the West Atlas disaster

The Australian Greens today released pictures taken yesterday of the West Atlas Oil Spill indicating the extent to which the oil had spread from the oil rig, and called on the Government to intervene in a situation that is clearly worse than originally reported.

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“This spill is far more serious than both the company and the Government are saying. We were not prepared for the extent of what we saw,” said Senator Rachel Siewert, marine spokesperson for the Australian Greens.

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“The Government must urgently intervene, to stand up to the oil company and start immediate action to protect these precious waters and the whale, turtle, fish and other species that call them home.”

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The ABC is reporting here that Minister Ferguson says everything’s fine!!!

Well, if you stand on one leg and face NNE it DOES look smaller, but for the marine life it’s very very big and very very close

The Senator’s site will be updated with video and pecise co-ordinates of the oveflight soon, please visit and bookmark, share

Mental Health Forum in Perth Tuesday September 29 on plans for the coming decade – be part of the change in Western Australia September

Thank you to all the West Australians who took part in recent workshops hosted by Price Waterhouse Cooper to inform the powers that be about the urgent need for change in practice and process.

Join those steering the information process on Tuesday September 29 to hear about what happens from here. Please see the brochure below this post for details of the forum and share with your contacts.

The recent confirmation of Australia‘s suicide rate as not falling in ten years clearly shows that Governments and Service Providers have failed tragically.

No group has been failed more miserably than the First Australians, city or regional, who are suffering and dying at rates that higher than many third world countries ( don’t get me started on how little impact the Government and resource industry’s meagre efforts have had on their welfare despite making Billions from sacred land )

The deadly toll of stigma, misdiagnosis, over-drugging, ignorance,vested interests and plain inertia can’t even be measured because of the failed unwritten media rule of not reporting on suicide ( except if it’s a ratings boosting celebrity suicide )

The silence is deadly, and even offensive, as the media still gives oxygen to suicide kits and tragically wrong advice from the man known as Dr Death – under the guise of “covering” the Euthenasia debate.

A Perth woman with mental illness died horribly in Mexico after following his advice on “dignified death”, leaving her young children orphaned and a hole in the hearts of her family and community, including her since departed sister who was a dear friend of mine and the 6PR Perth radio talkback family.

Click Pic for Perthnow.com.au story

Greens call for environmental repair fund in wake of West Australian oil spill

Senator Rachel Siewert

Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia

Sunday 23rd August 2009

Greens call for environmental repair fund in wake of WA oil spill

The Australian Greens today called for more information to be made available about the oil spill off the coast of Western Australia, and for the company responsible to set up an environmental fund to monitor and repair any environmental impacts the spill may have caused.

“The company needs to be more forthcoming with information,” Australian Greens marine spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

“We have limited information on what is currently occurring out there, what actually happened out there, how did it happen, or when they expect to get it under control.”

“This area has been dubbed a ‘marine superhighway’. There are populations of baby turtles this time of year, and the area also serves as a migratory route for whales and other marine life. It’s also close to Ashmore Reef, so we need to be certain the spill is contained before any further damage is done.”

“We are deeply concerned that it has taken so long for clean-up operations to begin and we don’t know what the long-term impacts are going to be. We believe a fund needs to be set up by the company to fund ongoing monitoring and any further repair needed in the future.”

“Before any further development is undertaken closer to the Kimberley coast, we need to ensure that emergency response teams are situated closer than Victoria or the WA wheatbelt, as this instance has shown that the increased response time could potentially result in further environmental damage,” said Senator Siewert.

“I am also concerned by comments from Resources Minister Martin Ferguson over this spill where he is playing down the potential environmental impacts – we do not yet know if the environment is at risk. He is clearly demonstrating that resources come before the environment.”

The Greens are calling on PTTEP Australasia to set up a fund to monitor damage and repair the environment.

“We also need better processes than this, to ensure quick response times and adequate safeguards to protect the environment,” she concluded.

For more information or media enquiries please call Tim Norton on 0418 401 180

Tim Norton
Communications and Campaigns
Office of Rachel Siewert | Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia
Suite SG-113 Parliament House, Canberra ACT | P: 02 6277 3741 | F: 02 6277 5762

Tim.Norton@aph.gov.au |
www.RachelSiewert.org.au | www.GreensMPs.org.au

	PROTECTING THE CLIMATE IS A JOB FOR EVERYONE
	Sign-up to GreensMPs	GreensBlog	Twitter

posted by tony serve in support of those working to save our environment

Skype: perthtones Google Talk: serve.tony@gmail.com
Links to my TwitterWordPressFriendfeedYoutubeDigg
tony serve blogs Big Pharma’s huge profits from human suffering features in brilliant doco and awesome new novel, listen to Producer Kevin Miller and author Pamela Glasner

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How to clean up sound recording for better quality voice audio – a great and simple App free from the Conversations Network

Tips for better results from your voice recordings

It’s not easy to get decent sound quality in a recording, especially if you have a low-end microphone or there is noise affecting the audability of the voice(s)

You can dramatically improve sound quality for dodgy voice recordings with a free app called LEVELATOR.

It works for Windows Mac and Linux and you simply drag your sound file onto the Icon and the new “cleaned” audio is saved. click here for the free download

What is The Levelator™?

Do you believe in magic? You will after using The Levelator to enhance your podcast. And you’ll be amazed that it’s free, now even for commercial use.

So what is The Levelator? It’s software that runs on Windows, OS X (universal binary), or Linux (Ubuntu) that adjusts the audio levels within your podcast or other audio file for variations from one speaker to the next, for example. It’s not a compressor, normalizer or limiter although it contains all three. It’s much more than those tools, and it’s much simpler to use. The UI is dirt-simple: Drag-and-drop any WAV or AIFF file onto The Leveler’s application window, and a few moments later you’ll find a new version which just sounds better.

Proposed BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Uranium Mine Expansion opposed on a series of logical, economic, environmental and ethical points – former Senator Jo Valentine’s letter to the”authorities”

The letter below is from the Chair of the Anti Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia, former Senaor Jo Vallentine.

There are details here that Government and the mining/uranium industry have yet to address, read on and ask your own questions of those in charge of our future.

The Manager

Assessment Branch,

Department of Planning and Local Government,

GPO Box 1815, Adelaide, SA 5001.

Re: Proposed BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Uranium Mine Expansion

Dear Manager,

On behalf of the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia, I make this submission: there should be no expansion of the uranium mining operations of BHP Billiton at Olympic Dam.

Our organization, working to challenge the nuclear industry in all its forms, has been operating since 1997. We are comprised of twelve determined community based, not-for-profit groups.

There are four parts to my argument:

1. Warming

2. Waste

3. Water

4. Weapons

1. WARMING: Since around 2003 -4 the global nuclear industry has positioned itself as part of the solution to climate change. In what has been an unprecedented attempt to fool governments and the public about its merits, and to minimise its dangers, the nuclear industry has been cavalier with the truth, to say the very least.

It claims that it is greenhouse friendly, and therefore should be a sought-after energy source for the future. The only part of the nuclear industry’s operations which is not a heavy greenhouse gas emitter is the boiling of the water in the reactor. At every other stage in the chain, from uranium mining, to milling, to transport, to enrichment, to construction of reactors, to re-processing, to storage of waste (probably requiring more transport), to making of weapons, to de-commissioning of reactors, greenhouse gases are emitted. Just take the reactor construction and deconstruction as an example of what is never referred to by the industry’s proponents. The making of cement is widely acknowledged as a huge contributor to CO2 emissions, and there is a massive amount of cement used in both operations ….. especially in de-commissioning of ageing reactors, which will become a common, but likely unacknowledged feature of the industry in the coming decade. So, concrete and steel manufacturing emissions should be included in any assessment of the carbon footprint of this industry.

Likewise, transport components are also huge …… uranium ore to ports, across the seas to clients, to enrichment, then reactor plants and so on. Going one step further back …… consider the diesel used in the gigantic trucks and other machinery required to dig the rocks out of the ground, and to mill those large pieces into powder. Most of the fuels used to generate nuclear power in all its stages, comes from the consumption of fossil fuels. Why are those greenhouse (and monetary costs) not accounted for in either the greenhouse or financial costs of nuclear power production? (Ref.: Jan Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith, “Can Nuclear Power Provide Energy for the Future? Would it solve the CO2 Emission Problem? ” , October 12, 2004.)

Another component, often overlooked in this consideration of the dirty, rather than “clean” industry is the production of CFC’s in the enrichment process. Going against the trend to limit the production of chlorofluorocarbons according to the Montreal Protocol of 1987, as the U. S Department of Energy acknowledges, the nuclear industry’s enrichment plants emit most of the 114 gas still produced in the United States, which is an ozone layer destroyer (James Bruggers, “Uranium Plants Harm Ozxone Layer, Kentucky, Ohio Facilities Top List of Polluters …. The Courier Journal, May 29, 2001).

Various studies show that CO2 emissions depend on the grade or uranium ore ….. high grade ore, requiring less energy input than low grade ore. In most cases a nuclear power station must operate for three years to generate the amount of energy it costs to install and get the reactor operating (by comparison, wind power requires only about six months of generation of energy, in order to “pay” for its installation in energy terms(Danish wind Industry Association 1997 “The Energy Balance of Wind turbines).

However, with low-grade ore, containing less than 0.01% yellowcake, at least 10 tonnes of ore has to be mined in order to obtain 1 kg. of yellowcake, entailing a huge increase in the fossil energy required for mining and milling. Consumption of fossil fuels then becomes so large that nuclear energy emits total quantities of CO2 comparable with those from an equivalent combined cycle gas-fired power station (van Leewen & Smith, 2005 “Can nuclear power provide energy for the future; would it solve the CO2 emission problem?”)

The vast majority of the world’s uranium reserves are low-grade. With the current contribution by nuclear energy of 16% of the world’s energy production, the high grade reserves would only last several decades if nuclear energy were to be expanded, as the industry hopes.

Far from being any part of the answer to global warming, I submit that the nuclear industry is a major contributor to greenhouse emissions. As Storm van Leewen argues: “The Nuclear Industry should commit itself to publish a thorough analysis of the emissions of carbon dioxide and all other greenhouses gases in all processes of the fuel chain before claiming that nuclear energy is carbon free or greenhouse gas free.” (J.W. Storm van Leewen. “Uranium and Greenhouse Gases” August 13, 2005, as quoted by Helen Caldicott in “Nuclear Power is Not the Answer to Global Warming or Anything Else” – Melbourne University Press, 2006)

Specific to the Olympic Dam expansion, it is incongruous for the government to allow a $350 million subsidy in diesel fuel rebates, and for the company to plan for an increase in greenhouse gas emissions from 1.2 million tones of CO2 per year, up to 5.9 million tonnes per year by 2020. This would increase South Australia’s current total emissions of 33 million tonnes a year by up to 14% by 2020, and severely compromise the potential for urgent action on deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions overall. There is no sense in that. It is a license for the big polluters to continue with business as usual, and is totally unacceptable when communities, small businesses and households are expected to (and in most cases are keen to) reduce their emissions.

ANAWA is clear that BHP Billeton’s plans for expansion of the Olympic Dam operation should be disallowed on the grounds that there will be a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions from the plant.

2. WASTE

The nuclear industry has had sixty four years to figure out waste disposal. It has failed, utterly and universally. This isn’t just any toxic waste disposal, which might damage waterways, or pollute the air, or contaminate the soil, although it does all of those things. This is radioactive waste with the capability of altering the gene pools of all living things on the face of the earth. It is a very serious charge: the possibility of affecting the reproductive organisms, interfering with the DNA of every facet of life on earth.

Yet this industry continues to promote itself as some sort of “saviour” when the global community is faced with the challenge of climate change. It is a big challenge, but not ne which will be assisted in any way by introducing more nuclear waste on the scene. There are already mountains of waste to be disposed of securely, safely, for the unforeseeable future. This is a shameful legacy to be leaving future generations – they will have to deal with the folly of this twentieth century failed experiment.

The problem of nuclear waste begins with the uranium mining process. Huge volumes of lower level radioactive wastes are left behind at abandoned minesites, as much as 680 parts of finely ground rock for every part uranium oxide extracted. At Ranger mine in the Northern Territory, there are constantly overflows from the tailings dams during a heavy wet season. At Olympic Dam, it’s a different problem (usually) of high winds sending the tailings blowing in the wind. The proposed expansion would add a further mountain of tailings, which could not be guaranteed against leakages, seepages, windstorms.

BHP Billiton’s proposal to spend at least five years digging the world’s largest open pit, to be 3 kms. by 3 kms. at the surface, and 350 metres deep, just to reach the ore body, will leave not only a huge hole in the ground, because there are no plans to rehabilitate, or to fill in that pit, but also, the storage proposed would cover an area of up to 44 square kms. to a height of up to 65 metres. This toxic mountain will probably leak as all tailings dams/pits do, for the duration of the open pit mine’s life, which is predicted to be until 2050. From ANAWA’s perspective, this scenario is totally unacceptable. We call on the government to reject the BHP Billiton proposal for expansion.

Because whatever happens at an Australian uranium mine is directly linked to the wider international nuclear picture, because we sell uranium to overseas clients for use in nuclear power plants, and indirectly for making bombs, and producing waste elsewhere, we make further comment on other situations regarding waste.

There have been numerous international scientific attempts to find a solution to the storage of spent fuel from reactors, like synroc, once touted as the magic answer. Still not proven. But no company, either involved in uranium mining, or nuclear power generation, or weapons production, is taking the ultimate responsibility of dealing with its contaminated waste until the radioactive e materials are no longer dangerous. This responsibility will have to be borne by governments and communities long after the companies involved now have made their profits, and cut and run.

A very serious attempt was made in the United States to establish one single waste depository for high-level waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Opponents said for years that it was not a suitable site for many reasons (earthquake zone, porous rocks included). The industry persisted against the wishes of the people and against scientific data, and after twenty years and the expenditure of more than eleven billion dollars (mostly taxpayers’ dollars), President Obama has called it quits. Yucca Mountain is not going ahead. So, the United Sates nuclear industry is back to square one in its search for a suitable site, or for new technology to deal with the waste.

There is one possibly viable project underway in Olkiluto in Finalnd, where the government is paying billions of dollars constructing a deep depository to take the spent fuel rods from its four reactors. It is way behind schedule. It remains to be seen whether the technology is deemed safe for the long term (how can that be proved with material that is radioactive for 250.ooo years?) before a license would be granted for it to continue operation.

Here in Western Australia, we experienced the push from an international consortium seeking a permanent waste depository, deep underground in the desert, which was considered expendable. The Pangea company wooed the government and offered massive financial inducements. But the people sent Pangea packing, even finally gaining the support of the conservative Court Government, which passed legislation outlawing the dumping of international nuclear waste in Western Australia. That legislation still stands, and is supported by current Liberal Premier Colin Barnett, despite his enthusiasm for uranium mining. This is neither an ethical nor a consistent policy. The rationale for excluding international waste would b e a lot stronger if no uranium mining was exported from this state. This is a position towards which ANAWA continues to work.

South Australia successfully challenged Prime Minister John Howard’s plan for a national waste depository in that state. Aboriginal people and their land had already suffered contamination from British nuclear testing in the 1950’s and sixties, and they were not going to let that kind of contamination occur again. Fortunately, they were supported by the people and Government in their strong stand.

Now the Northern Territory is experiencing the pressure to make way for a national nuclear waste dump (and Australia’s stored nuclear waste is miniscule, compared with countries which have major nuclear programmes) – Labor’s promises to reverse the Howard government’s plans remain unfulfilled. A real concern is that once a national repository is confirmed, the international nuclear industry will be lining up, again (new name, same crowd, Arius?), with huge inducements for Australia to take the waste from many countries desperately trying to get rid of the material which is mounting up exponentially in all countries with nuclear power stations.

Why on earth would we want to add to that dangerous stockpile by further increasing uranium mining operations in this country?

Most of the worlds 440 plus nuclear reactors are ageing, and due for de-commissioning. The industry keeps on trying to get them re-licensed to continue for a few more years. Finally they become too radioactive to continue. The mothballing required to segregate the large buildings, requiring massive amounts of concrete, leaves monuments dotted around the countryside as testament to this failed technology.

Then there’s the question of so-called “depleted” uranium. This is highly toxic material, used by the United States military wherever it has been fighting wars, since 1990. Depleted of U235, it is still highly radioactive as U238, which is very dense – an ideal anti-tank weapon which can penetrate heavy metals, like a hot knife cutting through butter. It ignites on impact, disintegrating into a fine powder which is blown by the wind …. this radioactive mist has half-life of 4.5 billion years. The Pentagon admitted to using 360 tons of DU in the anti-tank shells in Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the 1991 gulf War. Probably more was used in the second Gulf War , beginning in 2003. ‘Since 1991, there has been a sevenfold increase in both childhood cancers and gross congenital abnormalities in the Basra region of Iraq’ (Helen Caldicott, “Nuclear Power is Not the Answer to Global Warming or Anything Else,” op. cit., p. 52).

It is also important to recognize the international global Nuclear Energy Program devised by President Bush, and signed on to by Prime Minister John Howard, which could be interpreted as an obligation by a uranium exporting country to accept the radioactive waste generated by its primary product overseas. This is yet to be tested.

ANAWA considers the production of more nuclear waste a gross violation of the human rights of future generations, and a gross violation of the integrity of our global environment into the unforeseeable future. This is not a right of this generation, but we have a responsibility not to add to the enormous problem which already exists, and to which there is no answer on the horizon. That argument alone, our organization to strongly resists any moves by the Government of South Australia to consider expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mining operation.

3. WATER

In the driest state of the driest continent on earth, it is unwise, to put it mildly, to consider expanding the Olympic Dam operations. Already a huge water guzzler, taking 35 million litres of water daily from the great Artesian Basin, this is an industry out of control, and out of line with the thinking of most Australians who are increasingly realizing that water is our most precious resource, and that we shouldn’t be squandering it on any unnecessary projects. The Olympic Dam expansion is an unnecessary project. It is a gross waste of water, whether that water is sourced from the Great Artesian Basin, at considerable cost to the unique and fragile Mound Springs, listed as an endangered ecological community, or from a specially commissioned de-salination plant, 500 expensive kilometers away. The fact that the water currently taken from GAB is free of charge, adds insult to the injury of water wastage. BHP Billiton plans to increase that water usage to at least 42 million litres per day – this must be rejected outright. ANAWA calls on the S.A. Government to phase out all water extraction from the GAB’s Borefield A as soon as possible.

The nuclear industry generally is a heavy water user. As Tim Flannery says “Coal fired power plants have large water requirements for cooling and steam generation, but these are dwarfed by the water needs of nuclear power.” (Friends of the Earth and the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, 2008).

Water for nuclear power stations can be sourced from a river, lake, dam, or the ocean. It has two uses: it is converted to steam to drive a turbine, and cooling water then converts the steam back to water. Per megawatt, existing nuclear power stations use and consume more water than power stations using other fuel sources. Depending on the cooling technology utilised, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can vary between 20 to 83% more than for other power stations. Water outflows expel relatively warm water which can have adverse local impacts in bays and gulfs. In recent very hot summers in Europe, some French nuclear reactors had to be switched off, because the cooling water became not only too hot to be effective in the reactors, but too dangerous for the outflows.

Water pollutants, such as heavy metals and salts, build up in the water used in the nuclear power plant systems. A U.S. report ‘Licensed to Kill: How the Nuclear Power Industry Destroys Endangered Marine Wildlife and Ocean Habitat to Save Money’ (Greenpeace, 2007), details the nuclear industry’s destruction of delicate marine ecosystems and large numbers of animals, including endangered species. Water shortages, driven by climate change, drought or heat waves have caused reactors to be taken off line periodically, reducing their effectiveness in being reliable producers of baseload power.

ANAWA therefore believes that adding to the myth that nuclear energy can assist with the global warming climate crisis is grossly irresponsible because of the industry’s voracious appetite for water. Therefore the Olympic Dam’s expansion would not only add to Australia’s water usage pressures, but add to global water issues as well. ANAWA strongly recommends that the Olympic Dam expansion be rejected because of its extraordinarily high usage of our most precious and scarce resource, water.

1. WEAPONS

This is another vexed area of deep concern, and one which no doubt BHP
Billiton does not want to address. But the bald facts are undeniable: nuclear weapons cannot be produced without the raw material of uranium being mined, and secondly, that every country which has acquired nuclear weapons, has done so by association with the nuclear power programme within their country.

By exporting uranium, despite safeguards galore, Australian uranium at very least, frees up uranium from other sources to be used in bomb-making programmes, and at worst, Australian uranium could be used directly in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. There is no way to prove that Australian uranium oxide, once it leaves Australia’s shores, does not end up in other countries’ nuclear weapons programmes. A case in point is the Tricastin plant in France, which is owned and operated by the French government, which serves both the military and civilian sectors. Atom by atom, Australian uranium cannot be separated from uranium sourced from other countries once it enters the nuclear fuel chain. And what country would want to admit that its uranium has been diverted for use in the North Korean nuclear weapons programme? Every exporter claims innocence!

It was Al gore, former U.S. Vice President who said “In the eight years I served in the White House, every weapons proliferation issue we faced was linked with a civilian reactor program.” (Guardian Weekly 9-15 June, 2006)

The International Energy Agency, like a fox in charge of the chicken house, has a dual role: to promote “peaceful” application of nuclear energy, and to guard against nuclear ;weapons proliferation. Despite the attempts of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with its five yearly Review conferences, nuclear weapons have proliferated, but probably not as much as they would have without that treaty being in existence. However, as recent former head of the IAEA, Dr. Mohamed El Baradei has said: “the IAEA’s Illicit Trafficking Database has, in the past decade, recorded more than 650 cases that involve efforts to smuggle nuclear and radioactive materials” and “IAEA verification today operates on an annual budget of about $100 million – a budget comparable to that of a local police department. With these resources, we oversee approximately 900 nuclear facilities in 71 countries. When you consider our growing responsibilities – as well as the need to stay ahead of the game – we are clearly operating on a shoestring budget.” And “we are only as effective as we are allowed to be.” And “If a country with a full nuclear fuel cycle decides to break away from is non-proliferation commitments, a nuclear weapons could b e only months away.” And “the IAEA’s legal authority to investigate possible parallel weaponisation activity is limited.” (from “An Illusion of Protection” Australian Conservation Foundation and Medical Association for the Prevention of War – 2006).

Australia has in place various safeguard agreements with its client states, but ANAWA has little confidence in such measures. In June 2006, The Weapons of Terror report by the Mass Destruction Commission chaired by Dr. Hans Blix had this to say: “The Commission rejects the suggestion that nuclear weapons in the hands f some pose no threat, while in the hands of others they palace the world in mortal jeopardy. The three major challenges the world now confronts – existing weapons, further proliferation and terrorism – are interlinked politically and also practically: the larger the existing stocks, the greater the danger of leakage and misuse.” (from “An Illusion of Protection” Australian Conservation foundation and Medical Association for the Prevention of War – 2006).

Under article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, nuclear weapons states are obliged to disarm their nuclear weapons. The recognized five nuclear weapons states (at the time of the NPT’s inception in 1970) were Britain, France, the Soviet Union, China and the United States of America. It’s no accident that they are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power of veto. They have not fulfilled their obligations. Yet we still sell uranium to some of those states. Other countries have acquired nuclear weapons since that time, including Israel (undeclared, but a real threat to peace in the Middle East) and India, which previous and present Government toys with as a potential client state.

ANAWA believes that Australia has a moral responsibility not to add to the stockpiles of weapons-available material on the world market, whether such materials are available by legal or illegal means.

ANAWA calls on the Australian and South Australian Governments to reject the Olympic Downs uranium mine expansion on the ground that it adds to the availability of material for manufacture, testing, storage of nuclear weapons – a big problem from any perspective, and one to which Australia need not, and should not contribute.

CONCLUSION:

As well as the four headings above, and the recommendations to scrap plans for Olympic Dam expansion due to outstanding problems in the areas of global warming, water usage, waste disposal and weapons proliferation, ANAWA could site many more reasons for denying BHP Billeton’s request for expansion. These grounds include, but are not limited to

1. the scant regard for the rights of indigenous people in the area (people whose rights have already been trampled upon by the nuclear industry with the history going back to British nuclear testing, to despoilation of their water supplies) and

2. b) the outrageously unfair Roxby Downs Indenture Act of 1982, which allowed the then owner of the mine, Western Mining, to totally disregard any other legislation which might have bearing n that land, or their operations. ANAWA considers this extraordinary financial assistance, and exemption from Aboriginal Heritage and environmental considerations to be totally inappropriate, and calls for the abandonment of the aforesaid legislation: the Roxby Downs Indenture Act, 1982.

We believe that the grab for uranium by BHP Billiton and other uranium mining companies is a cynical grab for the grubby dollar while there is some vestige of hope for this ailing industry. It must be seen in light of the fact that this is a declining industry, with less nuclear power being generated each year (mostly due to ageing reactors being de-commissioned, or reactors with major problems being shut down “temporarily”) and the fact that more reactors are shutting down each year than opening, despite all the industry hype. The industry’s projections look rosy, but the new generation IV reactors are still only promises and the facts reveal that, on the other hand, renewable energies are growing at exponential rates, and would be proceeding even faster, if more research and development dollars were put their way, instead of propping up a filthy, failing industry.

Neither is it any argument whatsoever to claim that because coal is finally being recognized as a filthy power source (but without the radioactive legacy offered by the nuclear industry), and being mindful of the fact that there is no such thing as “clean coal”, that the world is forced to make a choice between the two. Both are bad. Both need to be phased out, as soon as possible. Why on earth would any sane nation think of jumping out of the coal-fired frying pan into the nuclear fire? It just doesn’t make sense.

What does make sense is for Australian governments both Federal and South Australian, to invest strongly in the renewable energy sector, to stop bailing out old technology industries, to stop allowing the polluters to continue polluting, and to back up the community desire for transformation into the new technologies which we have to have to prevent runaway climate change occurring.

ANAWA re-iterates its profound concern for a multiplicity of reasons, if the Olympic Dam expansion is allowed to proceed. We call for the proposal to be rejected, and for a total phase out of uranium mining at the Olympic Dam minesite.

******************************************************************

Document prepared by Jo Vallentine

Chairperson, ANAWA.

admin@anawa. org.au

www: anawa.org

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A big swag of useful info, news,updates,reports and media Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing – 30 July 2009 – please let me know if you’d like the APO or others like WACOSS blogged regularly :)

New commentary

Chewing the fat

29 July, 2009 | How many of the government’s health policies have been implemented? Angela Beaton and Lesley Russell look at the record

Preventable hospitalisation: the US initiative

28 July, 2009 | Re-admissions to hospital are a costly failure in the hospital system, here and in the US, writes Lesley Russell

Indonesia’s Australian connection

27 July, 2009 | The tragic Jakarta bombings should not distract our attention from the good news coming out of Indonesia, argues Hal Hill on our partner website, INSIDE STORY

New research

Creative Economy

A fistful of festivals

Lynden Barber | Meanjin
30 July, 2009 | It sometimes appears that not only every major capital city, but every café at the end of every street of every godforsaken one-horse town has a film festival — or soon will have.

Effective corporate tax reform in the global innovation economy

Rob Atkinson | Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
26 July, 2009 | This US report examines the issue of corporate tax reform and lays out six key principles for policymakers to consider as well as specific policy recommendations for crafting an innovation-based corporate tax code.

Disability arts sector consultation report

Andi Sebastian, Jacqueline Chant | Arts SA
23 July, 2009 | In late 2008, Arts SA funded a sector-wide consultation to determine the service needs of the disability and arts sector and to identify the most appropriate model for the delivery of these services

Should copyright of academic works be abolished?

Steven Shavell | Berkman Center for Internet and Society
27 July, 2009 | The conventional rationale for copyright of written works, that copyright is needed to foster their creation, is seemingly of limited applicability to the academic domain.

The world of e-portfolios

Allison Miller | Knowledge Tree, Australian Flexible Learning Framework
30 July, 2009 | This article argues that as we move deeper into a digital age, e-portfolios will be a key method for demonstrating existing skills.

Reconceptualising ‘time’ and ‘space’ in the era of electronic media and communications

Panayiota Tsatsou | PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication
23 July, 2009 | This paper examines to what extent electronic media and communications have contributed to currently changing concepts of time and space and how crucial their role is in experiencing temporality, spatiality and mobility.

Use of electronic media and communications: Early childhood to teenage years

Australian Communications and Media Authority
23 July, 2009 | This report provides a comprehensive snapshot of young people’s use of electronic media from early childhood through to teenage years, and parents’ views about that media use.

The impact of the crisis on ICTs and their role in the recovery

OECD Directorate of Science, Technology and Industry | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
30 July, 2009 | A sudden upturn in global sales of information and communications technology (ICT) goods in May and June suggests the ICT industry may have reached a turning point and be on the road to recovery, according to this OECD report.

An implosion of knowledge

Humphrey McQueen | Meanjin
30 July, 2009 | This articles argues that the privileging of access to data above its application means that the debate over whether libraries are in the book business or the information business is diverting us from the thought that they should be in the knowledge business

Economics

Retail trade industry profile

Jocelyn Pech, Lucy Nelms, Kelvin Yuen, Thomas Bolton | Australian Fair Pay Commission
24 July, 2009 | This report examines the structural and workforce profile of the Retail trade industry, an industry that employs a relatively large proportion of low-skilled and low-paid employees.

Power, mobility and diaspora in the global city

Dale Leorke, Saskia Sassen | PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication
23 July, 2009 | While globalisation has given rise to the global financial market, cross-border activities, digital networks with global span, and international organisations such as the UN and WTO that operate independent of nation-states, these remain materially embedded at the local, national level.

Young people with poor labour force attachment

Jocelyn Pech, Anne McNevin, Lucy Nelms | Australian Fair Pay Commission
24 July, 2009 | Drawing on labour force data and previous research findings, this report charts recent trends in a number of indicators, including the population of young people not fully engaged in employment and/or education.

IT modernisation: An exercise in alignment

Dan Briody | Economist Intelligence Unit
23 July, 2009 | This report, based on interviews and a global survey of 170 senior executives, concludes that while firms recognise the importance of modernising IT systems, they do not always implement such projects effectively.

Education

Numeracy, maths and learning difficulties

Anne Bayetto | Curriculum Leadership
25 July, 2009 | This article describes a program where postgraduate education students at Flinders University are helping to support young people who struggle with mathematics.

A new federalism in Australian education, 2009

Jack Keating | Education Foundation, Foundation for Young Australians
27 July, 2009 | This report proposes a national reform agenda for Australian schooling.

Childhood Education and Care, Australia

Australian Bureau of Statistics
30 July, 2009 | Seven out of ten young children attended a preschool or a preschool program in 2008.

Identifying and teaching children and young people with dyslexia and literacy difficulties

Jim Rose | Department for Children, Schools and Families
25 July, 2009 | This UK report focuses on the identification of dyslexia among students and the possible intervention approaches that can be made by teachers and parents.

Environment & Planning

Climate change discussions and negotiations: a calendar

Nina Markovic, Nick Fuller | Parliamentary Library
26 July, 2009 | This background note will be updated to include any new developments on the formal negotiations are taking place within the meetings and working groups that have been established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol framework.

A quiet revolution: City governments tackle global warming

Stephen Jones | Australian Review of Public Affairs
26 July, 2009 | While Australia’s federal and state leaders have been stuck discussing the introduction of the emissions trading scheme, some of our local governments have been trying to do something about the impact of human activity on global warming.

Health

Oral health impacts among children by dental visiting treatment needs

Jason Armfield | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
24 July, 2009 | This report provides information on the oral health impacts experienced by Australian children during the period 2004-06.

Why public hospitals are overcrowded: ten points for policymakers

Jeremy Sammut | Centre for Independent Studies
28 July, 2009 | The three-hundred page reform ‘blue print’ from the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission has endorsed a range of health reform measures that will not solve the hospital crisis in this country, argues Jeremy Sammut.

Indigenous

Staying strong on the outside: improving the post-release experience of Indigenous young adults

Robyn Gilbert, Anna Wilson | Indigenous justice clearinghouse
27 July, 2009 | This research brief draws on international research to identify current understandings of good practice in prisoner reentry generally as well as issues particular to Indigenous prisoner reentry.

Bridges and barriers – addressing Indigenous incarceration and health

National Indigenous Alcohol and Drug Committee | Australian National Council on Drugs
24 July, 2009 | This report argues that the strong links between substance misuse and Indigenous incarceration highlight an urgent need for government to address this disturbing problem.

International

Force 2030: China drives Australia toward its first strategic missile system

Ron Huisken | Nautilus Institute
24 July, 2009 | This essay argues that the strikingly different dimension of Australia’s recent Defence White Paper, stems from a disjointed, inconclusive but unmistakably alarmist assessment of China’s potential impact on order and stability in East Asia.

Middle East outlook and energy security in the Asia-Pacific region

Leanne Piggott | Australian Strategic Policy Institute
24 July, 2009 | This report explores the issue of energy security in the context of a growing dependence of the energy-hungry Asian economies on Middle Eastern supplies.

China: stumbling through the Pacific

Fergus Hanson | Lowy Institute for International Policy
26 July, 2009 | This paper suggests that China’s Pacific aid-giving is unpredictable, secretive and is mired in a vicious cycle of short-termism that is a legacy of its long-running diplomatic battle with Taiwan.

Beyond the nuclear issue: North Korea and non-traditional security challenges

Jeffrey Robertson | Parliamentary Library
26 July, 2009 | Since September 2008 North Korea has undertaken a series of measures to demonstrate the health of Kim Jong-Il, yet at the same time has demonstrated signs that succession plans may be underway.

New voices 2009: Networked

Angela Evans | Lowy Institute for International Policy
27 July, 2009 | This report is an overview of the Lowy institute’s recent conference on the ways in which network relationships, structures, and technologies affect different parts of our world.

Justice

Intimate partner abuse of women in a Central Queensland mining region

Heather Nancarrow, Stewart Lockie, Sanjay Sharma | Australian Institute of Criminology
25 July, 2009 | Perceptions about the mining industry and the rapid growth of mining communities in Australia has led to concerns that these communities are prone to higher rates of intimate partner violence than the general community.

Suspended sentences in Tasmania: key research findings

Australian Institute of Criminology
27 July, 2009 | While offenders given suspended sentences were less likely to be reconvicted, the imposition of these, rather than non-custodial sentences, on first time offenders may have serious repercussions if they are subsequently reconvicted.

Politics

State of denial

Richard Denniss | The Australia Institute
27 July, 2009 | While the Commonwealth will receive a windfall of more than $10 billion per year in revenue from auctioning pollution permits, state and local governments will transfer more than $2 billion a year to the Commonwealth Government.

A fair-weather friend: Australia’s relationship with a climate-changed Pacific

Louise Collett | The Australia Institute
27 July, 2009 | Climate change will bring significant challenges to the island nations of the Pacific. This paper examines Australia’s attitudes to climate change in the region under the two most recent federal governments.

Putting the politics back into Politics: Young people and democracy in Australia

James Arvanitakis, Siobhan Marren | The Whitlam Institute
27 July, 2009 | Young people are changing the way they engage with politics and Politics is going to have to change as a consequence.

Social Policy

Just scraping by? Conversations with Tasmanians living on low incomes

Social Policy and Research Team | Tasmanian Council of Social Service
24 July, 2009 | The voices of low income Tasmanians are reproduced in this report talking in their own words about the daily struggle to make ends meet on inadequate incomes and with limited access to health care and other services.

Managing in a downturn

Centre for Social Impact
24 July, 2009 | This report is the first comprehensive research to assess the effect of the economic downturn on Australian charities and nonprofit organisations.

Compendium of social inclusion indicators

Australian Social Inclusion Board
28 July, 2009 | Developed by the Board to generate discussion and debate on the question of how to measure disadvantage and social exclusion, these indicators are first steps towards comprehensive performance measurement and evaluation of social inclusion in Australia.

A healthier future for all Australians – final report

National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission | National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission
27 July, 2009 | The Federal Government’s health review has called for a major shake-up of the national health system, with the Commonwealth taking over the funding of most services.

New audio

Who stopped the music?

25 July, 2009 | The parlous state of music in public schools means not only are our children missing an important dimension in life, but they miss out on something that promotes brain function and social skills.

Video killed the video star

27 July, 2009 | If everyone is a producer, what role will video play in our lives in the future?

New video

2 live 2 deadly

23 July, 2009 | This video documents the historical struggle of Indigenous radio in Sydney.

Libraries of the future

30 July, 2009 | This UK documentary showcases interviews with leaders from JISC, Oxford University and LSE as well as students and academics who discuss what the library of the future will look like.

New jobs

Lecturer in Asian Studies

The Australian National University 26 July, 2009 | The Faculty of Asian Studies, College of Asia and the Pacific, wishes to appoint an outstanding scholar to lead in the coordination and teaching of its undergraduate and graduate foundational Asian Studies courses.

PhD Scholarship – MARCS Auditory Laboratories

University of Western Sydney 26 July, 2009 | MARCS Auditory Laboratories is undertaking a wide range of projects as part of a prestigious $3.4M ARC/NHMRC “Thinking Systems” grant to develop a ‘thinking head’. This is a breakthrough system that can learn from humans and will lead to advances in everything from hearing aids to mobile phones and video games. UWS is leading a consortium of Australian universities to develop the groundbreaking project including RMIT, Macquarie, Flinders and University of Canberra, with international input from the Technical University of Denmark,

Postgraduate scholarship in Chinese film and media studies

University of Sydney, School of Media and Communications 26 July, 2009 |

An ARC funded scholarship is available for a full-time Masters candidate who is undertaking research in a topic pertaining to Chinese Film and Media Studies (with a special focus on posters of the Cultural Revolution and /or film representations of contemporary Chinese history/memory)

Analyst, Credit team, Stakeholder Group

Australian Securities and Investments Commission 24 July, 2009 | The Credit team is building from the ground up.

Manager, Government Relations

NRMA Insurance 23 July, 2009 | A new position is now available for a strategic, Corporate Affairs professional to influence government policy in areas that impact on the business profitability, sustainability and reputation of NRMA Insurance.

New submissions

Collaborative and challenge-led innovation

01 March, 2010 |

New events

five: fashion musing & Innovation: Management, Policy and Practice launch

LOCATION:	The Glasshouse QUT, Creative Industries Precinct, Z2, Level 4, Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove
ORGANISED BY:	CCI – ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation

20 August, 2009 | Please join us for the joint launch of two new titles. five: fashion musing and Innovation: Management, Policy and Practice a special edition on Innovation in the Creative Industries.

Official Launch of the Indigenous Policy and Dialogue Research Unit and ‘So, what?’ Lecture with Professor Patrick Dodson

LOCATION:

20 August, 2009 | You are warmly invited to the Official Launch of The Indigenous Policy and Dialogue Research Unit in conjunction with the So, what? public lecture with Professor Patrick Dodson

Green Building and Design Conference 2009 – Green Materials

LOCATION:	Melbourne Convention Centre
ORGANISED BY:	Centre for Design, RMIT University

09 September, 2009 | Attendance in-person or online

Learning Technologies Conference

LOCATION:

Mooloolaba Campus of Sunshine Coast TAFE, 34 Lady Musgrave Drive, Mountain Creek Qld

19 November, 2009 | The objective of the two day 2009 Learning Technologies conference is to challenge and extend your thinking about the ways educators can use learning technologies to challenge, inspire, motivate, and encourage learners.

New books

After the crunch

30 July, 2009 | In this 100-page book, 42 artists, entrepreneurs, commentators, analysts, policy-makers, policy-sceptics, academics, financiers – and citizens – set out their hopes and fears for the future.

Beethoven or Britney : The great divide in music education

25 July, 2009 | Most children have little or no access to quality music teaching. And nothing is being done about it.

Innovation policy in the creative industries

30 July, 2009 | This special issue of Innovation: Management, Practice and Policy will explore some empirical and analytic connections between creative industries and innovation policy. Seven papers are presented. The first four are empirical, providing analysis of large and/or detailed data sets on creative industries businesses and occupations to discern their contribution to innovation. The next three papers focus on comparative and historical policy analysis, connecting creative industries policy (broadly considered, including media, arts and cultural policy) and innovation policy.

five: fashion musing

30 July, 2009 | Visually beautiful, the book explores fashion theory, practice and pedagogy through five key themes – mind, heart,hand, eyes and body.

New guide

Children and privacy complaints – a guide for parents and guardians

26 July, 2009 | This Privacy Victoria information sheet outlines the privacy rights of children under Victorian law.

New websites

Open video conference

27 July, 2009 | As internet video matures, we face a crossroads: will technology and public policy support a more participatory culture or will online video become a glorified TV-on-demand service?

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to APO emails at http://apo.org.au/user/register | To unsubscribe: http://apo.org.au/subscriptions/unsubscribe | Please feel free to share this email and any of its contents with anyone who might be interested.

West Australian Mental Health Review – vital meetings July 20, 21 for families and those from diverse backgrounds

Please ignore the WASP-only Pic THIS IS ABOUT ETHNIC DIVERSITY & MENTAL HEALTH

Mental Health Consumer advocacy group for Western Australia to be more effective because of YOUR involvement

please share, DIGG and circulate this info

click here to download the info as a PDF to share     -  CoMHWA Information

CoMHWA Information

Nearly 9 in 10 Aussies stressed out: Lifeline ABC News Article link.

It’s time we spoke up about mental health as  a PRIORITY.

The old idea that depression affects 1 in 5 is CLEARLY under-estimating the epidemic of mental illness.

We in the media are banned from covering  suicides despite the toll being greater than road trauma, and air-time being given to dangerous quacks like “DR Death” Nietschke.

see the ABC item below for a WAKE UP call

Nearly 9 in 10 Aussies stressed out: Lifeline

Monday, July 13, 2009

Almost nine in 10 Australians are stressed and many say work is to blame, according to a national poll commissioned by Lifeline Australia.

The annual survey released today reveals 41 per cent of Australians are experiencing unhealthy levels of stress, and a whopping 87 per cent of the nation is experiencing some degree of stress.

To view on a PC/Mac please use this link

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/13/2624400.htm

To view on a mobile please use this link

http://m.abc.net.au/browse?page=11144&articleid=2624400&cat=Justin
from @perthtones’ iPhone

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• The Politics of Personality Disorder (themoderatevoice.com)
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Join Greenpeace as we let the G8 Summit know that peace, social justice and the planet are more important than Governments or Corporations

I struggled to get the hyperlink here so I’ve pasted the full message below to allow you to be heard at G8 and help other bloggers do the same.

Hello bloggers! As the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations arrived at the G8 Summit today, over 100 Greenpeace activists from around the world have occupied four coal-fired power stations across Italy, demanding the G8 Heads of State take leadership on climate change. You can follow all the action here. We need your help to get the story out! 1) Please post about our actions on your blog adding a hyperlink towww.greenpeace.org/G8action 2) Add the twitter feed in your blog using this code (you can adjust the size easily to fit your blog): <iframe src='http://embed.scribblelive.com/5/6/4/2/' width='430' height='850' frameborder='0' style='border: 1px solid #000'></iframe> 3) Tweet using these tags #G8 #climateaction and this short URL http://bit.ly/zjJqL Thanks! Giona and Lisa @Greenpeace P.S Don’t forgot to tag your blog with our usual tag: greenpeacebuzz, you

Western Australia’s planned Uranium mines under scrutiny

Rockingham media pick up on the debate that Colin Barnettt doesn’t want.

So many questions on Uranium Colin Barnett has to answer

Thanks to Mark Winter  (frostyfae.wordpress.com ) for the heads-up nd his ongoing activism. Also see nouranium.wordpress.com for more info,  YouTube video and ways to have your say about the mine that will start at Wiluna next year

Please visit WA’s peak anti-uranium group  http://www.anawa.org.au/ and get involved

Twitter Maestro, VoIP guru, internet TV & Blogging Icon Jeff Pulver speaks to Tony Serve for australian talkback radio 6PR

Image via CrunchBase

click here for the 10 minute audio mp3

visit Jeff’s blog – click here

on twitter follow Jeff as @jeffpulver

my twitter is @perthtones

ANALYSIS-In big green push, Australia thinks too small on solar | Reuters

SOLEL make 300MW solar thermal plants for base load, AUSRA is close behind  -why aren’t they being used?                                    Image -  jdlasica via Flickr

* New laws promise boost for solar investment

* Complex rules limit size of installations

* Little incentive for commercial solar projects

By Leonora Walet and Bruce Hextall

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US Beats Australia To The Punch Again! Climate change, clean energy, carbon issues.

Sen. Milne Wikipedia

From; Mark Winter Speaks out

US Beats Australia To The Punch Again!.

America last week publicly announced their draft of the “American Clean Energy and Security Bill”

In response, Greens Senator Christine Milne said

“The world is moving on and leaving Australia behind. It is time the Rudd Government opened itself to the prospect of real domestic and global action to prevent climate catastrophe.”

The Draft Bill is a great leap ahead in comparison to the much debated deeply flawed schemes which the Rudd-Wong collaboration has “laboured” to produce. more from Mark by clicking the blue links above

West Australian Govt lies about cutting scrutiny of Uranium & other projects – Greens WA’s MLC elect Robin Chapple speaks out – we all need to speak out or suffer the consequences

Robin Chapple Greens MLC elect speaks on uranium & other projects by stealth

Click the above link for short interview. Phone numbers, SMS and email for talkback to follow.

Premier Colin Barnett hijacks mining approvals – now confirmed a

►

From Perth’s Sunday Times ( supporting documents to be posted soon.)

More leaked documents add to drama

Article from:
Narelle Towie, environment reporter

March 28, 2009 04:28pm

MORE leaked documents have cast doubt on statements made this week by the State Government about proposed changes to mining approvals.

Last weekend The Sunday Times reported that a government-appointed industry working group (IWG) – tasked with devising a plan to streamline and speed-up mining approvals – favoured moves to dilute the power and role of the Environment Minister among other far-reaching changes.
The next day the Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore stated that a leaked document referred to in the newspaper report was not produced by the IWG.

He said the document, marked confidential, was a submission to the IWG by industry associations.

He said it had not yet been properly considered by the IWG or the government.

The Sunday Times has ascertained that the document was the end product of a workshop involving key members of the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA).

The workshop, which also included at least one IWG member, took place in January and the document has been the focus of much attention by the IWG.

Moreover, further leaked documents show recommendations in the confidential report have been adopted by the IWG – in some parts, word-for-word – and are at odds with the Minister’s statement.

- See both group’s recommendations
- See more recommendations
- See the lead agency model submitted to the industry working group

Up until yesterday Mr Moore and his media advisor were insisting there was “no draft report or draft recommendations.”

The Sunday Times has obtained a copy of the IWG’s “working draft report” dated March 6, which includes an executive summary and eight key recommendations.

The incomplete report proposes similar sweeping changes to how mining applications are processed, though no specific mention is made about the role of the Environment Minister.

Parts of the document’s recommendations appear to be copied almost verbatim from the workshop report the Minister insisted on Friday had not yet been “properly considered or endorsed” by the IGW.

A spokesman for Mr Moore yesterday confirmed the existence of the draft – after a week of denials. He said the Minister was relying on advice from the IWG.

IWG chairman Peter Jones said there are working drafts within the group but the Minister doesn’t know anything about them.

Shadow Environment Minister Sally Talbot last night hit-out: “Last week Minister Moore denied that this report existed and now we have had it confirmed.

“We have a real fear that there is going to be a watering down of the authority for the Minister for the Environment,” she said.

Ms Talbot is calling on the government to come clean on what plans are being put together by the industry working group.

Mr Moore, who is due to receive the IWG’s recommendations in May, said there were several hurdles to be surmounted before any recommendations were implemented.

They would first be considered by him and a cabinet sub-committee before full Cabinet. And any legislative amendments would need the approval of parliament.

Mr Moore said he was aware IWG were considering transferring large parts of the Department of Environment and Conservation’s role to the independent Environment Protection Agency, which is currently an advisory body.

“I’m not sure that that is a good thing if you want the approvals process to move quickly,” Mr Moore said.

Mr Moore said he could not guarantee that the powers and the responsibilities of the Minister of Environment, when dealing with approvals processes, will not be diminished at all by the reforms being considered.

“It is not within my power to provide cast-iron guarantees about issues of this nature. The granting or relinquishing of Ministerial power is a matter for Cabinet and Parliament. That said, the aim of this exercise is not to diminish the level of scrutiny applying to the environmental conditions related to mining approvals,” he said.

MLC member for mining and pastoral region Robin Chapple said the IWG’s intentions were quite clear.

“The community at large must be very seriously concerned that the environmental controls and parameters that have been established over the years are going to done away with,” he said.

Robin Chapple Greens WA MLC elect warns on hijack of approvals

West Australian Mining Town says NO to URANIUM – go figure! Maybe it ISN’T safe!!!!!

Thanks to eco warrior Robin Chapple for the newstip.

Thanks to WIN television for covering it – this is a good yarn, and I’m not sure mainstream media will cover it or understand it’s significance

West Australian Mining Town says NO to URANIUM – go figure! Kudo

►

Please share this news as a wake up call that BigNuke is on the move, thrashing around like a dying dinosaur.

Ziggy Switkowski says you want Nuclear Power Plants – did he ask? thanks to ABC for covering it.

Aussies will accept nuclear power, conference told – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

not even Barry Obama has a plan for nuclear waste,where's Ziggy's

Is he TELLING us we will accept nuclear power?

Who is he talking to?

He admits a new Nuke plant would take 15 years – by then the cost of clean renewables will be less than dirty atom splitting.

Notice how various professors and community ” leaders” are suddenly speaking up, almost spookily singing the same words.

It’s also scary that some of my colleagues in mainstream media leave some crazy claims unchallenged and out of context. Question everything!

IF WE DON’T RAISE OUR VOICES the only ones heard will be the heavily backed and resourced Uranium and Mining complex.

contact me for info on using talkback and new media to have YOUR voice heard ( even if you disagree with me – it’s a hippie thing )

West Aussie voters please see copy and use the letter in the right column to send a message to Colin Barnett, but cc ALL MP’s – their ears are full of slick-helled lobbyist noise and they need yours for balance

Meanwhile

This article may be from 2007 but it’s so relevant for us in WA right now

The Barnett Government plans to give miners the “green” light to dig up, process and transport uranium.

Politically there is clear evidence the mighty nuclear industry is taking advantage of the fear of global warming and the global recession.

See the Greenpeace UK story & video by clicking

uranium | Greenpeace UK.

See how a Greenpeace co-founder has been drafted in to push for nuke power here, is he right, if not who’s speaking up?

http://tinyurl.com/co7k38

20+ More videos here http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=648207BCB5C42D37

How does your Blog rate for traffic and how do they measure that?

technorati rates blogs by the number of links

Great piece on Blog numbers and metrics questioning the technorati gospel and predicting greater influence of actrvity within Twitter and other social network agents.

Much kudos to  Brian SOLIS at TechCrunch

click below for the excellent article

Are Blogs Losing Their Authority To The Statusphere? .

alphapinventions – lots of “visits” from a coder, a cool thing or a crock

?

This blog got over 1,600 views overnight on the back of referreals from alphainventions. Very few stories were read, no clicks recorded and no votes on a related poll.

As a blogger of only 4 months I’m at a loss to judge the value or veracity of the referrals and there doesn’t seem to be a definitive word from WordPress.

My gut tells me Cheru is a very clever guy and probably well intended, but the volume of clicks doesn’t appear to be matched by quality of views, although the wordpress forums contain evidence of viewers going deeper than on my site.

I’ve asked Cheru for an interview, which I’ll post when and if he agrees.

Meanwhile please share your views and experiences on this traffic magnifier, especially if you are aware of any warnings or qualification that may be appropriate

.

alphainventions.com – a really useful creation by Cheru for all bloggers

alphainventions.com came rushing into my life a few minutes ago with 37 referreals in just a few minutes to my latest post & poll

below is a reply alpha’s Cheru made after this work was questioned on wordpress forums – I am totally inclined to believe him and welcome his apparent “outside the polygon” thinking and actions. What do you think?

 

alphainventions
Member
Sep 17, 2008, 6:33 AM

Hello Curious People,

First off i’m just a regular working guy with an apartment and an old car with a big imagination. I don’t think like anyone in this world, because if I did I would not have been able to create alphainventions.com I just ate a McChicken, and i’m a little sleepy.

The blogs and links appearing on my site are just the most recently updated blogs from people like yourself.

At first I was mad to see this, and frustrated to have to go through with getting an account with Word Press just to explain how my site his more helpful then harmful, but I’m now glad I have an account, and this might stimulate you check out the site more often. I’m a friggin blogger now yay!

Ever thought of this?

If you were to comment on a blog right after the webmaster published (updated) it, you would get a faster response, because most likely the webmaster is still online, and shocked to see that someone has commented so quickly. This is either very simple, or i’m an advanced human.

It’s just an experiment to help webmasters (bloggers) connect in real-time. It looks simple, but it took me 3 months of coding to build this thing. I’m bored, in my 20s, and this thing is cool.

Thanks for starting the small buzz about my site being a scam. The more exposure to the site means more traffic to your blog you from alphainventions.com when you update it.

That’s how the site is made to work.

The huge truck got stuck under the bridge, and many men tried to get it out for hours and failed until the creator of alphainventions.com told them let the air out of the tires to set it free.

If you are concerned that it’s a scam, then contact the government, or whatever it takes, because they are going to tell you how cool it is when they get done with the investigation. I may even link to this post.

Humans