Here's how to create long-term, safer pathways to Australia for asylum seekers
Blog Post | Blog of Sarah Hanson-Young
Thursday 22nd December 2011, 6:49pm
by ParisLord in
- Human Rights & Justice
- Family & Community
- Democracy & Governance
- Access to Justice
- Alternatives to Prison
- Bill of Rights
- Children
- Community Legal Centres
- Detention Centres
- Faith & Religion
- Federal System of Governance
- Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)
- Immigration
- Justice System
- Legal Aid
- Multiculturalism
- Policing
- Refugees
- Women
The sight of the two big parties exchanging and releasing letters on Tuesday was a performance that gave little hope for a sensible, humane or long-term response to the complex humanitarian issue of asylum seekers.
What a year!
Blog Post | Blog of Bob Brown
Friday 16th December 2011, 11:54am
by in
Right from the start, 2011 has been a year of victory for the planet and for a more compassionate, equal Australia. Together we have achieved great things!
The first ever Greens bill passed into law, meaning that residents of Canberra and the Northern Territory can no longer have their laws struck down by a minister's pen. Less than a month later, Adam's bill to establish fairer access to compensation for Firefighters who get ill at work passed into law.
Thanks to your tireless support and the staggering work of Christine in the complex multi-party negotiations, from July 1 next year Australia will charge big companies for their pollution and invest more than $10 billion in clean energy, kick-starting the energy revolution we're perfectly placed to lead.
New intervention measures are based on the wrong approach
Blog Post | Blog of Rachel Siewert
Wednesday 14th December 2011, 5:29pm
by ChrisRedman in
As it introduces new intervention measures in the Northern Territory, the Government is keen to talk about the effectiveness of existing policies in tackling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage.
Coalition out of step on marriage equality
Blog Post | Blog of Sarah Hanson-Young
Tuesday 13th December 2011, 9:31am
by ParisLord in
Tony Abbott's decision to rule out a conscience vote on marriage equality again shows he is out of step with what most Australians want.
An Australian Abroad
Blog Post | Blog of Scott Ludlam
Saturday 10th December 2011, 12:00am
by ScottLudlam in
From London: 10 December 2011
No-one was celebrating when it became apparent that the dense hour of argument and counter argument in the vaulted courtroom number 4 in London had resulted in a further stay of extradition for WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange.The arguments turned on obscure but important skirmishes over the controversial use of European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) to transfer people from one country to another.
To get the technicalities out of the way, leave has been given for Mr Assange's legal team to apply to the Supreme Court to have an argument heard that a politically appointed prosecutor in Sweden doesn't qualify as a ‘Judicial Authority' under mutual assistance agreements between Sweden and the UK.
Labor lurches to the right and loses touch
Blog Post | Blog of Sarah Hanson-Young
Tuesday 6th December 2011, 9:41am
by ParisLord in
- Environment
- Human Rights & Justice
- Family & Community
- Democracy & Governance
- Agriculture
- Angela Pamela proposed uranium mine
- Anti-environmentalism
- Beverley Uranium Mine
- Biosecurity
- Detention Centres
- Elections
- Environment & Planning Issues
- Faith & Religion
- Forestry
- Gay Marriage
- Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)
- Immigration
- International Climate Negotiations
- Land Use Change & Forestry
- Land-clearing
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Intersex (LGBTI)
- Mining
- Plantations
- Ranger Uranium Mine
- Refugees
- Roxby Uranium Mine
- Sustainable Cities
- Sustainable Forestry
- Tarkine
- Tasmania's Ancient Forests
- Uranium Mining
- Uranium mining in WA
- Women
- Yeelirrie proposed uranium mine
Opening the Labor Party conference, Julia Gillard told her party faithful she wanted the ALP to be the party that says "yes to the future".
The case for keeping the Australia Network in public hands
Blog Post | Blog of Scott Ludlam
Monday 5th December 2011, 8:46pm
by GiovanniTorre in
(Blog originally published November 11, 2011.)
The phrase 'the national interest' is regularly abused, but by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase, keeping the Australia Network in public hands is in the national interest.
The first thing to get on the table is that by virtue of living here, most Australians probably have very little idea of what the Australia Network is.
This is our TV broadcast voice in the Asia Pacific region, fulfilling - on a smaller scale - an equivalent role to the BBC World Service or the Voice of America.
It's not entirely like the ABC we know - it carries ads, it is funded partly out of the Foreign Affairs budget, and it carries local programming from across the region.
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan must provide for the future
Blog Post | Blog of Sarah Hanson-Young
Thursday 1st December 2011, 6:08pm
by DavidParis in
On Monday, the Murray Darling Basin Authority released a Draft Plan to restore some of Australia’s most important rivers to full health. But the Draft Plan won't return enough water to save the system, which means it risks wasting nearly $10 billion of taxpayers’ money while Basin communities and precious ecosystems struggle to survive.
We only have a small window to change the Plan. Starting now, Australians need to tell the Authority what we think about the future of our food bowl.
One thing is clear: there are no jobs on a dead river. It is crucial that the voice of the environment is heard – and now is our best chance.
Australia's marine future
Blog Post | Blog of Rachel Siewert
Thursday 1st December 2011, 11:52am
by ChrisRedman in
I rise tonight to speak about the marine bioregional planning process that is being undertaken by this Government. We are now at the final stages of one of the most comprehensive environmental assessment projects Australia has ever attempted.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20111223230216im_/http://greensmps.org.au/files/imagecache/preview/images/iStock_000016427895Small.jpg)
Basin plan ignores the environment
Blog Post | Blog of Sarah Hanson-Young
Tuesday 29th November 2011, 9:54am
by ParisLord in
- Environment
- Agriculture
- Biodiversity
- Climate Change Adaptation
- Climate change and agriculture
- Climate Change Impacts
- Climate Change Science
- Coal Mining
- Dams
- Drought
- Environment & Planning Issues
- Fisheries
- Infrastructure
- Land Use Change & Forestry
- Land-clearing
- Lobbyists
- Local Government
- Marine
- Mining
- Murray Darling
- National Parks and related
- Natural Resource Management
- Open-cut Mining
- Planning Laws
- Recycling
- Resource Use
- Salinity
- Sarah Hanson-Young's SA Campaigns
- Senate / Senators
- Trading
- Urban Water
- Water
- Water Trading
What a disappointment. That's what I was thinking upon reading the draft plan released by the Murray Darling Basin Authority yesterday.