Environment

Representatives of the Wangan and Jagalingou people made this announcement on March 27.

Thirty environmental, scientific and recreation groups have called on the new Victorian government to create the Great Forest National Park.

Activists dropped a banner on cliffs off Sydney’s North Head on March 22 calling for halt to coal and gas mining.

This statement was released by Benny Wenda, Spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, on March 21. *** It brings me much sadness and grief to report that 2 days ago on March 19, 4 more of my people were shot by the Indonesian police. One was killed and at least 3 more were arrested, all simply for attending a peaceful fundraiser in Yahukimo, West Papua.

Blood & Guts: Dispatches From The Whale Wars Sam Vincent Black Inc., 2014, 274 pages, $29.99 (pb) Industrial-scale whaling, writes Sam Vincent in Blood & Guts, had picked clean the world’s oceans until only the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary remained, protected by the icy remoteness of Antarctica and a worldwide ban on commercial whaling.

Indonesia is supposed to have a new liberal leadership with the election of new president Jodo Widodo, the first president since the Suharto dictatorship was overthrown in 198 to be elected from outside the Javanese military/political elite. But the Australian public, in the furore over the fate of two the Australians and others facing execution, are getting a glimpse of the stance of Widodo — and other influential Indonesian leaders — towards human rights, justice and compassion.

Victorian rally against factory trawlers A rally was held in Geelong on March 22 calling for a permanent ban on large freezer factory trawlers berthing in the town. Coordinator of the Stop the Trawler Alliance Rebecca Hubbard said: “The new factory trawler proposing to fish will be the largest freezer factory trawler to ever operate in Australia’s Small Pelagic Fishery, and poses significant threats to protected dolphins, seals and seabirds.” Richest companies avoid tax scrutiny

Good news this issue.

Once again the world's poorest people are suffering the effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions which they played no role in producing. On March 13, Cyclone Pam ripped through the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, an archipelago of 82 islands, 65 of which are inhabited.

Friends of the Earth released this statement on March 13. * * * A judge has ruled that the environmental group Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) has a right to voice concerns over potential harm to bees from a neonicotinoid pesticide, Thiacloprid. The judge in the Duesseldorf Regional Court revoked a previous injunction in favour of BAYER CropScience. Thiacloprid is used on crops such as oilseed rape and apples and is sold to the public in garden bug-killing products.

The Queensland Labor government has paved the way for the huge expansion of coalmines in the Galilee Basin. New Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on March 11 that a deal had been made with Adani and GVK-Hancock to allow the dumping of dredge spoil from the expansion of the coal port at Abbot Point in unused industrial land adjacent to the port. Palaszczuk said the deal met her election campaign commitment to ban dumping of dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park or in the Caley Valley Wetlands.

This NSW election, like the Victorian and Queensland polls before it, hinges on growing public opposition to Tony Abbott’s federal government and the neoliberal policies implemented by Labor and Coalition state governments. The sell-off of public assets and services, cuts to the public sector, unsustainable development, mining and unprecedented handouts and tax cuts to corporate interests and the super rich are now standard practice, and people have had enough.