Publications

Yami Lester

Susie August 21, 2017

Yami Lester, Wallatinna Station (Jessie Boylan)

It was with great sorrow that Friends of the Earth learnt of the passing of Yami Lester in July. Yankunytjatjara Elder, atomic test survivor, Aboriginal rights activist, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Yami’s voice and support will be sorely missed.

Many Friends of the Earth anti-nuclear campaigners got to meet Yami over the decades. On occasions we would stay with him at Wallatina ? in the far north of SA ? as part of our Radioactive Exposure Tours or on our way to Australian Nuclear Free Alliance meetings in Alice Springs. The last time some of us got to visit Yami at Wallatina was in September 2016 ? we were working with Aboriginal communities to stop the SA government’s plan to dump the world’s high-level nuclear waste on Aboriginal land to improve the state’s economy.

Yami lost his sight as a result of one of the British atomic bomb tests in SA in 1953. Speaking on ABC radio in 2011, he said: “I was a kid. I got up early in the morning, about 7:00am, playing with a homemade toy. We heard the big bomb went off that morning, a loud noise and the ground shook. I don’t know how long after we seen this quiet black smoke ? oily and shiny ? coming across from the south. Next time we had sore eyes, skin rash, diarrhea and vomiting everybody, old people too.”

Along with Maralinga veteran Avon Hudson, Yami was responsible for the formation of a Royal Commission in the 1980s that shone a light on the atomic crimes of the British government, the spinelessness and culpability of state and federal governments, and the ugly racism that pervaded everything to do with the atomic bomb tests.

As a young man, Yami joined the Aboriginal Advancement League in Adelaide. He was also central to the work of the Pitjantjatjara Council that led to the grant of freehold title to traditional owners in SA.… Read more >>

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear

Increased compliance obligations for charities target environmental advocacy organisations

Susie August 21, 2017

The long campaign against the environment movement

As the environment and climate movements grow in power and influence, various conservative and anti-environmental forces have sought to damage or reduce the power of the movement.

The campaign against environmental protectors reached something of a fever pitch while Tony Abbott was the Australian Prime Minister, and has become less overt since Malcolm Turnbull became PM. But it is now clear that the agenda continues, with a new ‘review’ of tax arrangements for non-government organisations (NGOs) singling out environmental organisations for particular scrutiny.

Last Thursday evening at the Conservation Council of SA AGM we heard from Dr Peter Burdon and Dr Sylvia Villios speak about changes to the charity (DGR) status of environmental NGOs. They spoke about the recent treasury discussion paper, describing the proposed changes. Submissions have now closed, but none of the proposed changes have been passed into law. There is still an opportunity to influence this process by contacting the Federal Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt or the Assistant Minister to the Treasurer, Michael Sukkar.

For more background on this campaign, as well as additional resources, click here:

http://www.foe.org.au/here_we_go_again?utm_campaign=foe_aug17&utm_medium=email&utm_source=foe

This article appeared in The Saturday Paper is recommended:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2017/08/19/nobbling-the-charities/15030648005086

The article is behind a paywall, but the site allows non-subscribers to read one article free per week. Here are some excerpts from the article:

In 2015, the government initiated an inquiry by the House of Representatives standing committee on the environment into whether green groups should lose their Deductible Gift Recipient status if they engaged in advocacy or protest.

The current minister with responsibility for the commission is the assistant minister to the treasurer, Michael Sukkar.

“Michael Sukkar is of that right-wing part of the Victorian Liberal Party, along with Kevin Andrews, that opposed the very notion of the ACNC,” David Crosbie says.… Read more >>

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE, Mining

20 years of community resistance against nuclear waste Sat Aug 19

robyn August 6, 2017

An invitation from the No Dump Alliance

Dear nuclear-free friends,

You are invited to an event not to be missed!

‘We Say No!’ Saturday August 19, 2017 at 2pm
Waterside Workers Hall, Port Adelaide

Join us for courageous and inspiring stories of and from people on the front line, learn the history of community resistance and how together we can keep our state free from nuclear waste.

Local and interstate speakers will include:

Kylie Sambo, Muckaty campaign
Karina Lester, international waste dump campaign
The McKenzie sisters, national waste dump campaign
Nina Brown, Irati Wanti campaign

and speakers from the Kimba region.

Also on show will be some new and historical footage, highlights from the Talking Straight Out exhibition, and useful info to help us win this current fight.

Afterwards, please join us for a BBQ and some music in honour of the late Yami Lester.

Saturday, August 19, 2017 at 02:00 PM
Waterside Workers Hall in Port Adelaide, Australia

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear

*events*, anti-nuclear

Stop the gasfields action: Sunday the 30th July 2017

roman July 21, 2017

from 12 o’clock to 1pm (arrive from 11.30am)
Venue: Parliament House

Support the people in the South East of South Australia and particularly,
Penola. Beach Energy has announced state-owned forestry land, 8 kms south
of Penola, as the site of the controversial Haselgrove 3 gas well.

This well on public land must be stopped. The drilling site is near the
boundary of the Coonawarra wine district and the new $80 million Union
Dairy Company processing plant.

We are calling on the SA government to stop the gas field exploration in the
SE of South Australia and to save our state for jobs in farming, tourism and
the wine industry. No food, no future. We say no to gas fields.

To see the effects of unconventional gas mining on land and people watch
Fractured Country an unconventional invasion. It is very worth watching and
only takes 40 mins (be informed while sipping a cup of coffee or tea with
friends)

Adelaide FoE Notes

Attack on Environment groups

roman July 7, 2017

Cam Walker, FoE Australia writes:

The environment movement is under attack (again) and we need your help to see off the Federal government’s latest attempt to limit our work.

The long-running campaign kicked off by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) and enthusiastically endorsed by conservative MPs, the right-wing media, and coal industry, is seeking to strip environmental groups of their tax deductible donation status that was. (Read history of the attacks here)

Tax deductible donations make up more than 90 percent of FoE Australia’s income.

If the government finally succeeds in removing our DGR status, it will be the end of Friends of the Earth in its current form. This will be equally true for any environmental group which has staff and engages in advocacy and protest.

The Australian Treasury has announced a review of Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status organisations, with environmental groups selected for extra special attention.

Wrapped up in a fairly benign looking ‘review’ of the management of charities are some long running items from the conservative’s agenda, in particular:

To limit the advocacy of environmental groups by forcing them to spend up 50 percent of their income on tree planting etc, and,
To ‘sanction’ or remove the tax status of groups that ‘promote’ illegal activity – and by this they mean protesting. There is even a bizarre recommendation that groups be punished even if ‘people not connected formally with organisation’ are engaged with illegal action like being arrested at a protest.

The right wing has tried this several times and each time with YOUR support we have staved off these ideologically driven attacks.

Environmentalism is much more than just planting trees — especially in the age of climate change and with the widely held understanding that our economic system that is driving the ecological destruction. … Read more >>

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