The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is being set up under the Clean Energy Future legislation (the carbon price package). It will provide $10 billion to support renewable and low-emissions energy.
That鈥檚 the message that most climate-concerned people have been hearing from the Labor government and the Greens.
Unfortunately, it now seems overly optimistic. shows it may give most of its support to gas projects.
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Federal resources minister Martin Ferguson released a report on May 14 into Australia鈥檚 gas reserves. The report signalled a huge expansion of gas mining in the NT and bad news for the environment.
Two new areas have been opened for gas exploration: shale gas exploration in the central NT, and conventional offshore gas exploration north-west of Darwin. Both of these present serious environmental problems.
The shale gas industry relies on capturing gas by pumping sand, water and chemicals into the ground 鈥 a process commonly known as fracking.
Attorney-general Nicola Roxon is planning a raft of new powers for ASIO to intercept and store any individual鈥檚 information. The move follows the adoption of new laws that allow Australia鈥檚 spy agencies to target individuals and organisations that oppose the government's interests 鈥 nicknamed the 鈥淲ikiLeaks amendment鈥.
Several proposed changes to telecommunications interception and access laws, as well as the Intelligence Services Act 2001, would expand ASIO鈥檚 powers of surveillance and reduce government oversight of ASIO activities.
A newly formed group, , has put some early runs on the board by forcing the Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi .
The rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin are dying. While average inflows decline due to climate change, extractions for irrigation remain at environmentally damaging levels.
But the plan for management of the basin鈥檚 water resources drawn up by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), due to be adopted by federal parliament later this year, ignores fundamental problems.
Unscientific and politically-driven, the plan needs to be torn up, and the tasks of saving what can be saved of the rivers, their ecosystems and their human communities addressed afresh.
The news that former Geelong Grammar School student Rose Ashton-Weir for failing to secure her a spot at Sydney University's law school has been the source of much mocking on the internet as a classic case of a spoilt brat's temper tantrum.
Freedom to protest
Congratulations to the Sydney Al-Nakba Planning Committee for successfully defying police and winning its case in the Supreme Court to be allowed to protest on Al-Nakba Day. The Supreme Court decision on May 14 sets an important precedent for future protest groups in Sydney when they come up against police opposition. The police will not be in a hurry to take a protest group to court again.
The 麻豆传媒 Weekly fighting fund has received a huge boost over the last couple of weeks, thanks to the efforts of hard working supporters and volunteers around the country. So far this month, $24,600 has been sent in to the fighting fund, largely from successful fundraising events organised by our supporters.
A huge thanks to everyone who helped organise and attend these wonderful events.
More than 100 people rallied in King George Square on May 18 to commemorate the Palestinian Al-Nakba (The Catastrophe), when Israel was established with the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their villages and homes. Protesters held placards with the names of villages that were destroyed by Zionist forces in 1948.
Speakers condemned the Apartheid policies of the Israeli state from then until now. The rally was followed by a procession through city streets in double file.
About 100 unionists packed the Unions NSW Atrium on May 14 to discuss the right to strike campaign, at a fringe event of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Congress that began the same day.
Titled 鈥淎dvance Australia Fair? Australian jobs and the right to strike鈥, the forum was sponsored by the Victorian Trades Hall Council. VTHC secretary Brian Boyd said it had not generally sponsored or organised ACTU fringe events, but this campaign warranted it.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions unanimously passed a motion supporting self-determination for the people of Western Sahara at its national congress over May 15-17.
The motion also called for the Australian government to push local companies to 鈥渆nd the importation of phosphate鈥, which is plundered from Western Sahara by Morocco.
Saharawi human rights activist Malak Amidane spoke at a public forum in Sydney on May 17 as part of a national speaking tour, organised by the Australia Western Sahara Association and the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.
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