Healthy Murray-Darling Rivers Roadshow Fri 22 Sept

September 4, 2017

Join FOE Adelaide members attending this not to be missed event organised by the Australian Conservation Foundation and Conservation SA:

HEALTHY RIVERS ROADSHOW

Friday 22 September

6:30-8:30 pm

Walkerville Town Hall,

66 Walkerville Terrace

Walkerville

 

It’s time for people right across the basin to come together, connect and speak out so our rivers and our communities can thrive.

Find out what you can do to make a real difference for the Murray-Darling Basin. Hear from an inspiring panel of passionate people including Dr Anne Jensen, Healthy Rivers Ambassador and Environmental Consultant; Paul Harvey, Murray Darling Basin Authority – Basin Community Committee; Kat McBride and Kate McBride, pastoralists and Healthy River Ambassadors.

Let’s make plans, have a yarn and share ideas.

This is a free event but places are limited. 

BOOK YOUR SPOT NOW!

Event host: Kathy Whitta (08) 8223 5155

RSVP online here

Adelaide FoE Notes

Don’t let Monsanto get their way!

August 21, 2017

Don’t let Monsanto get their way!

It’s been over 20 years since the introduction of the first GM crops to Australia and the majority of our food remains GM free.

However, the GM crop industry has a plan. Aided and abetted by the Federal Government they have four key objectives this year:

  • Ensure that new GM techniques such as CRISPR are not regulated as GMOs – so they can use them in our food with no safety testing and no labelling.
  • Remove the ability of states to introduce GM crop bans – so they can introduce GM wheat unobstructed.
  • Remove GM labelling so they can sneak GMOs into our food without us knowing – even more than they already do.
  • Allow GM contamination in organics – so we are really unable to avoid GMOs in food.

In the past couple of years a Government Inquiry into Agricultural Innovation and a Productivity Commission report into the Regulation of Australian Agriculture made precisely these recommendations.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Food

Yami Lester

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

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

AYCC seeks crowdfunding for billboard promoting Repower Port Augusta campaign

August 7, 2017

Australian Youth Climate Change Coalition is active in promoting renewable energy for South Australia. Now is a critical time. Can you help?

Imagine what it will feel like to finally win the campaign to repower Port Augusta with solar thermal! 

That decision could happen in just weeks. And we’re SO excited and SO nervous.

That’s why together we have to make a statement in the Adelaide CBD with this billboard, just down the road from Parliament House. Can you donate to send a message to Premier Weatherill and the SA Government that it’s time to back solar thermal in Port Augusta?

Every $4,000 raised means we can display the billboard for another fortnight so every dollar you contribute makes a big difference.

For the last 5 years, Port Augusta locals, South Australians and folks across the country have been fighting tooth and nail to make solar thermal a reality. Now, on the eve of the Premier’s decision, we have to make sure it’s the right one.

The right decision for SA’s power supply, for the people of Port Augusta, for our climate and for our national energy debate.

We are so close. We just need Jay to come through with the goods. Chip in what you can to put this billboard up right under Jay’s nose.

This is the final push of the campaign to build Australia’s first solar thermal tower with storage. We’ve thrown everything at this campaign – billboards, rallies, community votes, videos, petitions, MP visits, banners, walking 328km for solar…

This could be the public message that pushes Jay over the edge.

 

FoE, Renewables, Sustainability