The Queensland Greens say that Minister Mulherin’s release of the report on the Noosa Fish Health Investigation Taskforce (NFHIT) is not good news for residents living near farms.
The NFHIT Report states that the majority view of the taskforce was that agrichemicals were not implicated in the deaths and deformities of fish at a fish hatchery which adjoins a macadamia farm, while the government’s veterinary scientist and an independent veterinary scientist found that they were.
‘Biosecurity Queensland is basically saying that if you live near a farm that uses chemicals, it is up to you to take precautions to prevent your land and water from becoming contaminated,’ according to Queensland Greens spokesperson Libby Connors.
‘It praised the macadamia farmer’s practice with respect to his spraying but is broad to the point of being misleading about the actions that the Sunland Fish Hatchery must take.
‘Recommendation 6 states that the owner “must continue to implement biosecurity and management protocols as adopted during this investigation” (p.12).
‘These instructions were issued in 2008 but are not repeated in the report.
‘They instruct the owner to not drink any Gilson Road water; to not swim in any block tanks or dams on the property and to not do any hand or face washing from Gilson Road water.
‘They clearly recognise that spray drift of chemicals is a genuine problem even when used correctly, as all parties have acknowledged throughout the investigation.
‘Given that the residents of Gilson Road are dependent on tank water, as is the nearby village of Boreen Point, it is hardly reassuring for residents of the Noosa hinterland.
‘Biosecurity are leaving our rivers and streams and our residents in limbo.’
Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown has released polling results that show overwhelming support for redirecting the government’s $11 billion a year hand-out to fossil fuel companies to renewable energy research and development.
“Taxpayers’ money is being used to support polluters, including coal and oil companies. Building a cleaner, safer, healthier 21st century economy means we need to cut pollution and focus on developing renewable energy, rather than prop up the carbon-intensive past,” Senator Brown said.
“Also, incentives to drive business cars further to claim a tax break are absurd. Treasury costings of the Australian Greens’ overhaul of Fringe Benefits Tax concessions on company cars showed a $1 billion saving over the forward estimates – a victory for common sense.”
The Galaxy poll showed 84% of Australians would like to see fossil fuel subsidies redirected to renewable energy research and development. Only 9% believed it appropriate for fossil fuel companies to receive this hand out from the government.
Poll question: The government currently provides subsidies to fossil fuel companies worth more than $11 billion each year. In your opinion, is this appropriate or would this money be better spent on the development of clean renewable energy technologies?
Response: Subsidies are appropriate 9%; Better spent on developing clean technologies 84%; Neither/don’t know 8%.
The Galaxy poll of 1,036 people across Australia in March, in data previously released by the Greens, also showed 58% support for reducing emissions by taxing big polluters. Support for taxing polluters, instead of paying polluters, increased to 66% in favour if tax revenue is used to help householders and drive investment in clean energy.
Nuclear power has been out-performed and over-taken by the renewable energy sector and Australian governments must embrace the rise of clean power, say the Australian Greens.
Greens spokesperson for nuclear affairs, Senator Scott Ludlam, said the report published this week by major think-tank Worldwatch found that in 2010 world-wide cumulative installed capacity from wind turbines, biomass, waste-to-energy and solar power surpassed installed nuclear capacity for the first time in history.
“The Rubicon has been crossed for nuclear power – it is a dying industry and there is no turning back,” said Senator Ludlam. “Renewable capacity additions per annum have been outpacing nuclear start-ups for 15 years. In the United States of America – the world’s largest economy – the share of renewables in new capacity additions boomed from two percent in 2004 to 55 percent in 2009, with no new nuclear capacity added in that time.”
“With nuclear power in decline, ambitious projections about the future of uranium mining are either delusional or disingenuous. Uranium mining makes no environmental sense and it has become clear that it makes no economic sense, given that it already contributes just 0.3 percent of Australia’s export revenue and just 0.03 percent of Australian jobs.”
Senator Ludlam said total investment in renewable energy technologies around the world in 2010 was estimated at $243 billion.
“While investment in renewable power flourishes, the nuclear industry is on life-support. Without massive government support, funded by tax-payers, it would not survive in an open energy market. Nuclear power plants can’t even get insurance,” he said. “Looking at the human, environmental and economic bottom lines – nuclear power is a dead end.”
Greens Leader Bob Brown said today his aim is to give Australia progressive and prosperous governance in 2011, beginning with work towards a Gillard government carbon price to tackle global warming, stimulate the economy and generate new business opportunities.
“Amid more extreme weather events, which are occurring more frequently, the new year gives Australians a chance to think beyond ‘sides’ and embrace effective, innovative and green ways of building a future for the developed economy that is most at risk from global warming,” Senator Brown said.
Building on the Greens’ ongoing work, the Greens in 2011 in both houses of Parliament, will also be working towards:
A mining tax to fund free tertiary eduction for every young Australian at $2.5 billion per annum and a sovereign wealth fund to safeguard a low-carbon future
High Speed Rail to link Australia’s biggest cities and better light rail within those cities
Giving the Gillard government essential support for its national broadband network
A national marine park system to protect fish nurseries and the nation’s marine biodiversity for all time
Achieving auditory (hearing) testing and support for all indigenous children
Protection of Australia’s remaining native forests, woodlands and wildlife
Australia taking a lead in a global effort to divert some of the more than $1 trillion annual weapons budget, so that every child on Earth has access to food, clean water and schooling.
Senator Brown said he looked forward to the four new Australian Greens Senators taking their seats on the 1st of July.
“While assuring the Gillard government of stability, we will also be looking for good ideas from the Coalition and Independents which the Greens could assist through Parliament.”
“I spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi over the Christmas break and I look forward to visiting her and Burmese government members in 2011.”
Senator Brown said he has never felt happier in his 35 years in politics and, along with his talented team of Greens MPs in Canberra, welcomes 2011 and the new opportunities it opens up for Australia.
“I also see the NSW election in March as an early opportunity for voters dissatisfied with both the bigger parties to back the Greens in record numbers and elect more Greens into both houses in Macquarie Street.”
Responsible Mining and Coal Seam Gas Development for Queensland:
Draft Policy of the Regional Branches of the Queensland Greens
Summary
Since 2001Queensland has been in the midst of a massive coal and coal seam gas rush that has intensified since 2008. As stated in the Queensland Greens energy and climate change policy the Queensland Greens have opposed any new coal mines and have called for alternative renewable energy sources since 2009.
However the extent of this boom is not just damaging the global climate and Queensland’s capacity to limit its emissions, it is also radically re-structuring the Queensland economy and the lifestyles of many regional communities.
Rural and regional branches of the Queensland Greens want to restore some balance and responsible limits in the midst of the industry hype. We oppose the narrowing of the state’s economic base by supplanting sustainable industries with an unsustainable, limited-life coal and gas industry, the pollution of Queensland’s limited fresh water sources, losses to the state’s cropping lands and extensive public funding of infrastructure for coal and gas.
This policy supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, the party’s policy on energy and climate change.
Principles
The overwhelming scientific evidence of human-induced global warming demands that each state and nation substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and begin the transition to a low carbon and energy efficient economy.
The Greens recognise that Queensland, as the largest coal exporting state in the largest coal exporting country in the world, must stand committed to phasing out the coal industry and implement its replacement with a jobs-rich clean energy economy.
Coal, underground coal gasification and coal seam gas pose unacceptable threats to existing Queensland industries such as agriculture, grazing and tourism.
Queensland’s increasing reliance on the export coal industry for economic prosperity imperils our economic future as countries turn away from fossil-fuel based economies and put a price on carbon.
It is a responsibility of the state government to protect the state’s unique natural assets for present and future generations such as the Great Artesian Basin, the Great Barrier Reef, its agricultural soils and freshwater resources which are under severe threat from the direct and indirect consequences of the mining, drilling, export and burning of coal and coal seam gas.
Coal mining, underground coal gasification and coal seam gas extraction are land uses which are incompatible with farming, tourism and residential communities because they result in massive damage to:
the health, social and economic viability of communities in the vicinity of coal mines, gas wells, condensers, coal dumps and coal ports
bio-diversity and ecosystems through their impacts on rivers, aquifers and the geological integrity of landscapes.
2. Goals
The Queensland Greens want:
a robust economy built on diverse sectors and not reliant on any one sector for its prosperity.
the development of a post-carbon Queensland economy that focuses on the development of renewable energy production including universal household solar power, the encouragement of green industries and green practices in all businesses, and world standard transportation infrastructure.
a mining sector that respects Queensland’s existing industries and towns.
legislation that recognises that mining is incompatible with all other land uses and so its public benefit needs to be rigorously assessed before being approved.
protection of all cultivation and grazing lands and the aquifers which sustain them.
an end to land swaps involving national and marine parks.
long-term protection of privately owned nature reserves and nationally significant wetlands.
an EIS process that is affordable and transparent to the public, which truly assesses projects and offers a real opportunity to halt the project if criteria are not met, rather than allowing projects to proceed regardless and then simply seeking to manage environmentally disastrous outcomes.
a transition strategy to reduce coal exports significantly by 2020 and a total phase out of coal exports by 2030.
3. Measures
The Queensland Greens will:
amend the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 Mining Act so that mining activities are not exempt from the state’s existing water, vegetation management and pollution laws.
prohibit underground coal gasification which has proven to be inherently polluting.
place a moratorium on all further CSG development until it can be unequivocally demonstrated that it will not have unacceptable social and environmental impacts.
exclude all coal mines and coal seam gas extraction from residential areas, cropping lands and catchments for marine parks and world heritage sites.
only allow coal seam gas extraction when the company can satisfactorily prove that they will have minimal impact on underground aquifers.
prohibit the storage and burial of CSG salt near any cropping lands and floodplains.
require any new gas-fired power stations to be truly transitional by requiring the introduction of renewable energy options such as solar or geothermal during development and construction.
introduce transitional strategies to reduce coal exports by 2020 by:
refusing to approve any expansion of existing mines
withdrawing funding for new coal ports at Dudgeon Point and the expansion of Hay Point
withdrawing funding for any new rail lines unless they will service additional industries or residential communities
withdrawing funding for new dams such as the Nathan and Connors Dams
re-directing the $25.5 billion of public funds currently proposed under the Bligh Government’s Coal Infrastructure Program to renewable industries and urgent social services.
The boys and I have just returned from an overnight getaway to Tin Can Bay. We enjoyed some fishing and walks across the mudflats at low tide.
Exploring the mudflats at low tide has always been a highlight for us – watching the armies of soldier crabs scurrying out of our way, checking for little mudskippers and baby whiting in the tidal ponds and observing varieties of bird life we usually don’t see here in Noosa.
World Heritage Listing is rightly pending for this special and precious environment BUT it is under immanent threat from property developers who are wanting to “reclaim” this important area to build two massive marinas.
Tony Burke, the Federal Environment Minister, is currently considering approval for these gross developments. We need YOU to join with Bob Irwin and the Southern Sandy Straits Marine Environment Group to petition the Minister to stop this.
Quick and easy – just click here to sign the petition
http://www.marina.tincanbaydolphins.com.au
Please forward this email on to your friends and interested others.
Warmest regards
Steve Haines
Convenor
Noosa and Hinterland Branch
Queensland Greens
0421 00 1956
Queensland Greens spokesperson, Dr Libby Connors, said the latest deaths made the release of the Noosa Fish Health Investigation Taskforce report all the more urgent.
“We know the two veterinary scientists on the scientific sub-committee concluded agricultural chemicals were factors in the fish deaths,” Dr Connors said.
“The public has the right to be concerned about the delay in releasing the final report which was originally scheduled for April.”
Since the taskforce began its investigation:
* Sunfish Queensland has reported an increase in deformities in bream caught along the southeast coast
* The United States Environmental Protection Agency has commenced withdrawing endosulfan from the US market owing to concerns about endosulfan’s environmental harm
* The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) was revealed to have misrepresented chemical test results from the Noosa River
“In the midst of mounting local and international evidence, Australian agencies responsible for monitoring agri-chemical use appear to be in denial about the environmental harm and harm to public health caused by these chemicals,” Dr Connors said.
“We need to know what action, if any, the Queensland government is going to take in the face of this evidence of serious environmental harm.
“How many more fish deaths have to occur before the report will be released?
“The Noosa fish hatchery is clearly the canary in the southeast Queensland environment.”
With the collapse of overseas woodchip markets and the growth of plantation forests, results of a new national poll show unprecedented support for ending logging in Australian native forests.
Launching a new television advertisement calling for an end to native forest logging, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said there had never been a more opportune time for the Commonwealth Government to step in and end conflict over forests forever.
The results of a national Galaxy research poll of 1,100 people show:
* 90% of Australians are in favour of protecting remaining high conservation value forests in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales in national parks.
* 77% agree that the Rudd Government should stop the logging of native forests, which contain large amounts of carbon that would be protected by ending forest clearance
* 72% are in favour of the Federal Government assisting logging contractors to take redundancies, retrain or move permanently to a plantation based industry
“The logging industry is now asking for help to assist workers and companies to shift from unsustainable native forest logging to plantation based forestry,” said Senator Brown.
“The Commonwealth Government should step in.
“Having turned its back on putting a price on greenhouse pollution this is the easiest, simplest way for the Rudd Government to be able to say it has reduced Australia’s greenhouse emissions.
“There is overwhelming public support for the creation of new national parks to protect our precious remaining forests.
“There is no future in native forest logging. Plantation timber is the preference of the global market, and now dinosaur companies like Gunns are in trouble, it is time to end Australian native forest logging forever.”
A meeting of representatives from Australian environment groups convened by Senator Brown last week endorsed the idea that native forest logging should end and that Australia should utilise its existing plantation base for forest products.
Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown says Australia should follow the ban in New Zealand and Thailand on native forest logging and the new moratorium on logging boreal forest in Canada with an end to logging of native forests here.
“The Rudd government and Abbott opposition should join the Greens in working to transform the logging industry to a plantation-based-future,” Senator Brown said.
“It would be a real breakthrough for Australia and its wildlife, and the opportunity has never so good as now.”
“In Tasmania, Victoria and south-east New South Wales, the end of clear fell logging of high conservation value forests is at hand. The federal and state governments can help workers in the depressed logging industry re-skill or find jobs in elevating these magnificent forests rather than destroying them,” Senator Brown said.
The Australian Greens say vital clean up measures must be undertaken on the Great Barrier Reef after it was today revealed toxic anti-fouling paint continues to poison marine life in the area around Douglas Shoal destroyed by the Shen Neng 1 last month.
Australian Greens Marine Spokesperson, Senator Rachel Siewert used the Senate Estimate hearings to investigate the ongoing environmental impact of the Shen Neng 1 disaster, which gouged a three kilometre channel into the reef, stripping toxic paint from the ship’s hull.
“This toxic, anti-fouling paint continues to kill marine life on the reef, seeping chemicals into the marine environment,” Senator Siewert said today.
“Simply removing the vessel does not remove the paint from the water- a specific, targeted cleanup is absolutely essential, with preliminary estimates indicating that about 35,000 square metres of the reef may be affected,” said Senator Siewert.
“It appears likely the older layers of anti-fouling paint scraped off the Shen Neng 1′s hull contain TBT – a chemical which is leeched from the paint into the seawater and is then absorbed by marine life.
“TBT has hormone disruptive properties at even low levels of concentration and can remain in the ecosystem for long periods of time, becoming more concentrated as it moves up the food chain.
“Dr Russell Reichelt, Chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Authority told the Senate Estimates that an assessment of the impact of the damage caused by the Shen Neng 1 is likely to be released in a couple of weeks and include an assessment of the impact of the ant-fouling paint.
“Unfortunately, as put forward during Estimates, some of the paint may be in the form of fine particles, which are easily spread through the ocean, leading to a much larger impact than the 35,000 square metres currently estimated.
“This toxic paint continues to kill plant and animal life on the reef, adding to the irreparable damaged caused by the ship itself. It is critically important that cleanup efforts are immediately undertaken.
“The Australian Greens will be tabling a motion to establish a Senate Inquiry into the management of the incident and subsequent cleanup management,” Senator Siewert concluded.
Please download the Queensland Greens Membership Form here or contact the Convenor of the Noosa Greens directly
here.
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We would love to hear from you, what you consider our priorities should be to ensure our community remains special and sustainable. Please feel welcome to contact our Convenor Steve Haines directly at steve@noosagreens.org or mobile 0421 00 1956.
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