Tasmanian Aboriginal activist Michael Mansell said he was grateful for the thoughts behind his Australia Day award nomination but that he 鈥渨ould be a hypocrite to accept it鈥.
Mansell has been outspoken about the offensiveness of Australia鈥檚 national day celebrating the invasion and dispossession of Australia鈥檚 Aboriginal people. He has participated in Invasion Day rallies held by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for many years.
nipaluna/Hobart
A public meeting held in the Tasmanian town of Oatlands on August 2 discussed the application by PetroGas, an offshoot of Petratherm, to explore for shale gas and oil in more than 3000 square kilometres of southern Tasmania.
About 80 residents attended the meeting. Tim Kirkwood, general manager of Southern Midlands council, said it was the best-attended public meeting ever held in Oatlands.
The process of 鈥渇racking鈥 for gas requires millions of litres of water and a major concern for many of the farmers present was the question of where the water would come from.
The Tasmanian Labor-Greens government and Housing Tasmania has faced criticism over its proposal to evict public housing tenants who earn above a certain income.
Originally, Consumer Affairs minister Nick McKim wanted the cap to be fixed at $66,000 a year. But a lobby campaign by the Tenants Union forced the government to remove the set limit and make it flexible instead.
The ABC said Housing Minister Cassy O'Connor said income limits would be decided by 鈥渞egulation鈥 and Housing Tasmania.
About 70 mental health clinicians and their supporters rallied outside the state government鈥檚 offices in Hobart on October 11 to call for the reversal of crippling budget cuts. The rally took place during Mental Health Week.
Unions say 42.5 frontline mental health positions have been lost or left vacant due to last year鈥檚 budget cuts. Most of these are frontline clinical positions, including case managers from the adult, child and youth and older person鈥檚 mental health community teams. Services are also compromised as clinicians are frequently not replaced when they take leave.
Max Bound grew up during the Great Depression, and his view of the world was shaped in part by such experiences as seeing classmates being sent home from school because they were too hungry to stay conscious. He left school at the age of thirteen and as a teenager he started reading socialist theory. His experience working in a coalmine, as a cleaner, a tram conductor and as a builder's labourer gave him a thorough education in how the world worked.
Forest campaigner Miranda Gibson is in the eighth month (as of August 2012) of her record breaking tree-sit, part of a campaign to have Tasmania's old growth forests protected from logging.
HOBART 鈥 To mark the end of NAIDOC week, Aboriginal people and their supporters marched through the streets and rallied at Tasmania鈥檚 parliament house lawns on July 6 to show that they always have been and always will be a sovereign people.
Speakers at the rally included the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre鈥檚 (TAC) Nala Mansell-McKenna, TAC's Legal Secretary Michael Mansell and Aboriginal activist Jim Everett.
Members of Amnesty International Australia鈥檚 Tasmania City Group dressed as bananas and collected signatures on a global petition to help launch Amnesty鈥檚 Arms Trade Treaty campaign on June 16 at the Salamanca markets in Hobart.
There is no international standard to regulate the global trade and transfers of conventional arms.
Amnesty Tasmania City Group鈥檚 Yabbo Thompson said: 鈥淭here are complicated rules on the international trade of many products, such as bananas, but no global treaty controlling weapons or bullets.
More than 150 people gathered at a public meeting in Hobart on April 3 to discuss the problems and solutions related to Forestry Tasmania, the government-owned company established to manage the state鈥檚 forest assets. The audience heard from Associate Professor Graeme Wells, Dr Frank Nicklason, Environment Tasmania鈥檚 Dr Phil Pullinger, veteran forest activist Geoff Law and Dr Andrew Lohrey.
麻豆传媒 Weekly's Susan Austin spoke to forest activist Miranda Gibson, who has lived for more than 100 days on a platform 60 metres up a Tasmanian old-growth tree. The 鈥溾 has brought international attention to the campaign to protect Tasmania's forests. Gibson has vowed to continue her tree-sit until the campaign wins.
* * *
What prompted you to climb the tree and take this courageous action? What do you hope to achieve?
On March 9, Gunns Ltd notified the Australian Stock Exchange that potential investor Richard Chandler Corporation pulled out of its bid to buy a 40% stake in the company.
The Singapore-based investment firm of New Zealand millionaire Richard Chandler had planned to invest $150 million in the company. But it dropped the plan after consulting with stakeholders and communities.
The news was welcomed by environmentalists as another big setback for Gunns鈥 plans to get its $2.3 billion Tamar Valley pulp mill started in northern Tasmania.
For more than 100 days, . Dubbed the ObserverTree, it is in Tasmania's logging coupe TN044B, whose steeply forested slopes have been earmarked for cable logging.
The tree is in an area that is being assessed for reserve status under the Tasmania forestry peace deal. From the platform, Gibson can see areas of clearfelled forest around her.
- Previous page
- Page 4
- Next page