On Tuesday March 10 the container ship, The Pacific Adventurer, lost overboard thirty-one containers holding the volatile explosive ammonium nitrate, spilling three tonnes of the chemical on deck, with the hull and two fuel tanks being punctured in the heavy seas. The ship had run straight into 9 metre swells churned up by Category 5 Cyclone Hamish off the coast of Queensland. The subsequent oil spill has contaminated pristine beaches in a large area of south east Queensland, with Moreton and Bribie Island and southern parts of the Sunshine Coast being declared disaster zones by the Premier, Anna Bligh.

The Bulahdelah by-pass on the Pacific Highway has become a very contentious
Indigenous, environmental and common sense issue with concerned people in NSW
over the RTA’s choice of route for the development. The RTA’s decision to
proceed with a six lane highway through very sacred Worimi sites and Boolah-Dillah
sacred mountain also called Alum Mountain is a disgrace. This choice known as
option E has been decided over four other options of which option A is the
preferred choice of the town because it’s cheaper with less impact on the
environment, with zero danger to the town and motorists, and no impact on
Worimi sacred sites.

Links:  pacific-highway.blogspot.com/ | bulahdelah-upgrade.blogspot.com/ | nsw-highway-upgrades.blogspot.com/

Scientists have issued a strong warning to politicians that rapid, sustained, and effective action is required to reduce greenhouse emissions and take mitigating action to avoid "dangerous climate change".

The International Scientific Congress on Climate Change, comprising 2,500 delegates from nearly 80 countries, met in Copenhagen from 10-12 March and issued a six point final summary warning that "the climate system is already moving beyond the patterns of natural variability" including changes to "global mean surface temperature, sea-level rise, ocean and ice sheet dynamics, ocean acidification, and extreme climatic events." The statement warns thar "There is a significant risk that many of the trends will accelerate, leading to an increasing risk of abrupt or irreversible climatic shifts."

Related: Waste not, want not - Australian government must lead | Activists accuse Forestry Tasmania of major carbon emissions

Scientists meeting in Copenhagen have said that sea level rise this century may exceed a metre, far beyond the estimates of the International Panel on Climate Change released two years ago which projected a sea level rise of 18 - 59 centimeters to 2100.

"Unless we undertake urgent and significant mitigation actions, the climate could cross a threshold during the 21st century committing the world to a sea level rise of metres", said Dr John Church, lead speaker in the sea level session and from the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research in Hobart.

Related: Civil Society says “No” as geo-engineers mount shock bid to hack the planet | World wind power group urges climate change congress not to downplay renewable energies

Michael Anderson, cofounder of the Aboriginal Embassy and leader of the Euahlayi nation in northwest New South Wales has called for aboriginal people and nations to lobby internationally against Australia's nomination to the UN Security Council. "To have Quentin Bryce, the Governor-General, going to African nation states to lobby them to support Australia's nomination to the UN Security Council is hypocrisy." he said, citing the centralisation of decision making, control and ownership of property and conditions under which aboriginal people still live.

"We are nations of peoples across this vast continent who are being held to ransom, because of our lack of resources and independence. No other ethnic group within this country would tolerate what is being experienced by our people," Anderson said.

Related:  Surrendering land rights for housing | And the Intervention goes on… | WGAR News media monitoring - Closing the Gap Report Card 

Leading
Australian investigative Journalist Wendy Bacon has been banned from taking part in a forum
at the Sydney Writers Festival.

The move
follows a dispute between the University
of Technology, where
Professor Bacon heads the Journalism department, and the festival over critical articles in a student
publication distribution at the Festival in 2008.

Links: Wendy Bacon at Crikey.com | Sydney Writers Festival Statement

Next
time your get an email with a dodge attachment don't laugh, under laws
introduced today by the ALP it could be the NSW Government trying to
break in to your computer.

"The NSW government of Australia has quietly introduced new police powers
for covert home searches and covert hacking of computers. The suspect
may not be notified of the covert activity for up to three years. These
new powers are similar to those given to the UK police earlier this year.
The new warrants can only be issued in the Supreme Court for suspected
serious offences punishable by at least seven years jail - which
includes computer crime offences." ....read more at Slashdot News

Related: Greens Condemn Secret Searches | NSW Council for Civil Liberties | Electronic Frontiers Australia 

Three hundred and thirty eight workers at Drivetrain Systems in Lavington (Albury) have been sacked without pay or entitlements as management proceeds to strip the factory of an estimated $17 million in assets.

Sacked: Workers and families gather at Drivetrain Systems International on Kaitlers Rd in Lavington.

The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) has published the World Wind Energy Report 2008.

The highlights of the report are:

• Worldwide capacity reaches 121,188 megawatts (MW), out of which 27,261 MW were added in 2008.

• Wind energy continued its growth in 2008 at an increased rate of 29 %.

With all the tragedy currently occupying the media and our thoughts, it’s easy to forget that the intervention into indigenous communities in the NT instigated by the Howard government goes on unimpeded. 

This intervention has been continued by the Rudd government,  the NT Racial Discrimination Act remains disabled, indigenous people have lost he right to their own land, they continue to be refused access to welfare survival money and they are suffering as a result.  On Feb 9th Marion Scrgymour, Australia’s highest-ranked Indigenous politician, resigned for health reasons, she famously called the intervention “Black Tampa”.

Related:  NT Intervention: Complaint to UN, Convergence, High Court | Amnesty: Sign appeal to Rudd for full reparation for Indigenous Australians |  Rally in Redfern on the 5th Anniversary of TJ's Death, Sat Feb 14

Scorching temperatures setting new meteorological records and wild winds up to 100 km per hour have caused hellish bushfires across the state of Victoria in south east Australia on Saturday February 7. The bushfires have caused more than 181 deaths with the death toll continuing to rise as more bodies are discovered. The final death toll may approach 300. Climate change has been identified as a contributing factor in increasing bushfire severity and intensity. The bushfire disaster eclipses the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983 toll when 75 people died in New South Wales and Victoria.

Related: Photos on Flickr  Bureau of Meteorology Statement on Heatwave (PDF) | CSIRO: Climate change impacts on fire weather (2005) | Ancient Indigenous Fire Management Practices Ignored - To Our Peril | Free Care for Injured Animals

The NSW Land and Environment Court handed down a decision in favour of Wiradjuri Traditional Owner, Neville Chappy Williams, with an injunction restraining the NSW Minister of Planning from determining the E42 Modification Request for the proposed expansion of Barrick Gold's mine in Lake Cowal.

"We are very pleased with the result", stated Mr. Williams, "We have been fighting against the world's largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold, for nearly 10 years, we will continue to fight until we get justice. Barrick Gold has ridden shot gun over our this ecologically significant and sacred land for far too long. "

Related: Wiradjuri Elder exposes mine pit collapse at Lake Cowal |Lake Cowal Campaign | Facebook site | Cyanide Watch | Engagemedia Video

Forty one residents of the Woy Woy Peninsula pursuing the return of our rehab beds attended a fourth meeting, this one at Saint Lukes Anglican Church on Blackwall Road Woy Woy on Monday the 2 of February 2009. They are part of a ground swell of resentment against the governments poor judgment in transferring a thirty bed rehabilitation ward away from a growing and needy community of elderly people. Many of whom are returned service personal all of whom can expect to need this important amenity to be close by and within easy reach of where they have chosen to live out their declining years.

Moscow: Another Fatal Attack on Left Activists

On January 19, two activists were murdered in yet another fatal attack on progressives in the Russian capital. Journalist and activist, Anastasja Baburowa and human rights lawyer, Stanislav Markelov were shot in the street by a masked gunman. Both were known for their anti-fascist and anti-militarist activity.

Aboriginal Freedom fighters Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner were remembered by about 60 people in Melbourne on the anniversay of their judical execution on January 20, 1842. Robert Doyle, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, a former Liberal Party parliamentarian, joined the commemoration, which was led by a welcome to country address and smoking ceremony by Gunnai elder Robbie Thorpe. Other speakers included Greg Platt from Australian Asia Worker Links, historian Humphrey McQueen and Melbourne City Greens Councillor Cathy Oke.

Photos | Videos: Robbie Thorpe, Robert Doyle (Lord Mayor), Humphrey McQueen (historian), Greg Platt (AAWL)