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Barngarla have their say in court

March 16, 2023

Monday March 6th: People gather at the Federal Court hearing to support Barngarla people
3 Angas St, right next to Victoria Square / Tarntanyangga (south-east cnr of Victoria Square / Tarntanyangga)

 

Here are some things that you can do to support:

 

FoE, Old_Notes

Will we follow Belize? The UN just confirmed the Great Barrier Reef is in Danger

December 4, 2022

What just happened?

The Great Barrier Reef has been World Heritage listed since 1981. This means it’s considered an area of outstanding value to humanity. Covering an area the size of Italy, this iconic area includes some 3,000 separate reefs, over 1,000 islands and a variety of other significant habitats.

The latest UN mission has just reported back, finding the reef’s condition is worsening and recommending it be listed as “in danger”. It also offered practical solutions.

Previous governments have fought to ensure the reef is not listed as in-danger despite their own five-yearly reviews demonstrating an obvious decline. In 2009, the reef’s condition was rated poor and declining. In 2014 it was poor and declining and in 2019, very poor and declining.

So the government knows the reef is in danger. We know, and the tourism industry knows. While some tourism operators worry about their business, the opposite appears to be true: more people go, thinking it might be their last chance to see it. And already, operators are adapting by taking tourists to areas still in good condition.

Federal governments just don’t want the reef on the list because of the hit to their international reputation – and to their domestic standing.

If the reef is officially listed as “in danger” next year, it will draw a much greater focus to the reef’s plight. And that may help galvanise effective national and global action.
Take the case of the famous coral reefs of Belize in Central America. When these reefs were listed, the government banned nearby oil exploration and protected mangroves. Belize’s reefs have now been taken off the in-danger list.

— Jon C Day, the Conversation, “We all know the Great Barrier Reef is in danger – the UN has just confirmed it. Again“

Clean Futures, Climate, Old_Notes

“Galilee Basin should not go ahead”

December 4, 2022

Professor Justine Bell-James, Uni of Queensland, comments on an important court ruling

In a historic ruling [on Friday Nov 25th], a Queensland court has said the massive Clive Palmer-owned Galilee Basin coal project should not go ahead because of its contribution to climate change, its environmental impacts, and because it would erode human rights.

The case was mounted in 2020 by a First Nations-led group of young people aged 13 to 30 called Youth Verdict. It was the first time human rights arguments were used in a climate change case in Australia.

The link between human rights and climate change is being increasingly recognised overseas. In September this year, for example, a United Nations committee decided that by failing to adequately address the climate crisis, Australia’s Coalition government violated the human rights of Torres Strait Islanders.

Youth Verdict’s success  builds on this momentum. It heralds a new era for climate change cases in Australia by youth activists, who have been frustrated with the absence of meaningful federal government policy.

1.58 billion tonnes of emissions

The Waratah Coal mine operation proposes to extract up to 40 million tonnes of coal from the Galilee Basin each year, over the next 25 years. This would produce 1.58 billion tonnes of carbon emissions, and is four times more coal extraction than Adani’s operation.

While the project has already received approval at the federal government level, it also needs a state government mining lease and environmental authority to go ahead. Today, Queensland land court President Fleur Kingham has recommended to the state government that both entitlements be refused.

In making this recommendation, Kingham reflected on how the global landscape has changed since the Paris Agreement in 2015, and since the last major challenge to a mine in Queensland in 2016: Adani’s Carmichael mine.

She drew a clear link between the mining of this coal, its ultimate burning by a third party overseas, and the project’s material contribution to global emissions.

… Read more >>

Old_Notes

celebrate 50 years of FoE!

August 17, 2022

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the first Friends of the Earth group in Australia, one at Adelaide University in 1972.

Next week is Sustainability Week at Adelaide Uni, so with the help of the students there, we’re talking about the early days of FoE in the Unibar  — entry from the Cloisters, level 2 (ground level) —  from 7pm Monday, August 22nd.

We invite Friends to join us for nibbles from 6:30pm. We’ll start the programme at 7pm.

7pm: Introduction and Welcome

then Early days at Adelaide Uni — slideshow by Roman Orszanski, followed by discussion.

7:30 Paul Downton via Zoom talking about a fragment of EcoCity at Christie Walk

8pm Jim Green talking about Chain Reaction and various Anti Nuclear campaigns

8:30 Film about the Barngarla traditional owners fight against the Nuclear waste dump

FoE, Old_Notes

How a great big tax on fossil fuel profits could fix Australia’s energy crisis

August 17, 2022

Jim Regan writes (
A leading environmental and economic think tank is calling for urgent fossil fuel industry tax reforms that could add hundreds of billions of dollars to government coffers, accelerate decarbonisation on a national level, and even help to fix the current energy market crisis.

The report, by Climate Energy Finance, offers a scathing review of how everyday Australians lose out due to the favourable financial treatment of coal and gas companies.

It says that closing Australia’s tax loopholes for multinational corporations, introducing export levies and overhauling longstanding fossil fuel subsidy and rebate schemes could raise $322 billion in tax and royalty income over the coming decade.

Hyper-inflated fossil fuel commodity prices and large profits being reported by the companies that produce them has led to widespread calls in Australia for reforms to force corporations to pay billions of dollars more in annual taxes and forego hefty rebates.

“It beggars belief that companies that say they are the backbone of Australia’s budget revenue cry wolf to secure handouts,” said CEF director and senior market analyst Tim Buckley.

The report points to existing tax structures that have allowed the top 20 fossil fuel multinationals to generate $113 billion in revenue but pay only $1.3 billion in corporate tax last year, labeling them “no longer fit for purpose” and failing to deliver projected government returns.
— see full article at reneweconomy.com.au

Climate, Old_Notes