Mood:
a-okTopic: election Oz 2007
#1
Low Head, Tasmania, Sunday, 7 October 2007 Australian Greens Climate Change Spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today called on the growing opposition to the Gunns Pulp Mill to get behind clean, green and clever developments in Tasmania, such as the solar factory proposed this morning by Chinese-Australian solar billionaire, Dr Shi Zhengrong.
Senator Milne said "The turnout at today's rally against the Gunns pulp mill at the mouth of the Tamar River shows that attempts by both the old parties to sweep this issue under the carpet will not succeed. There is a great momentum behind this campaign now, and Tasmanians, and many other Australians, will not simply stand by and let it happen.
"Tasmania has developed a reputation in recent years for moving towards clean, green and clever development, with our food, wine and tourism recognised around the world as clean and green. Building this pulp mill in this place would massively undermine that hard work.
"After returning to Tasmania on Friday from the Solar07 Conference in Alice Springs, I was very excited to hear Chinese-Australian solar billionaire, Dr Shi Zhengrong, saying this morning that he'd like to return to Australia to set up a solar factory here. Tasmania should work hard to attract that investment, as well as investment in wind turbine manufacturing and other renewable energy developments.
"The Sun Fund policy I released in Alice Springs, to shift the $300 million of annual R&D subsidies for fossil fuels across to renewable energy would certainly help bring that kind of development to Australia.
"The Greens believe that we can boost manufacturing, boost growth, and boost jobs, while at the same time protecting the environment. I set out this plan for Tasmania in 1992 with the Greens' Business and Industry Strategy driving a transition from a resource-based to a brains-based economy. This is even more critical in the face of climate change. I set out a national agenda for this economic shift in my report, Re-Energising Australia earlier this year, and we Greens will campaign strongly on this as we head into the federal election."
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#2
Subject: [Greens-Media] Pulp Mill is "Howard's cup of poison" says Brown
Sunday 7 October 2007
Gunns pulp mill will be fought in the legal arena, at the ballot box, in
the forests and in the houses of finance which might think to fund it,
Greens leader Bob Brown told thousands of people at Low Head at the
mouth of Tasmania's Tamar River today.
"Last Thursday Prime Minister Howard sent us a cup of poison, and
tomorrow he is coming to Tasmania with a begging bowl. He wants our
votes. We, along with millions more Australians, will show him the exit
door," Senator Brown said to thunderous applause.
Senator Brown told the rally, organised by the Wilderness Society and
Tasmanians Against a Polluting Pulpmill, that Peter Garrett claimed he
is "perfectly comfortable" with the pulp mill which will wreck 200,000
hectares of wild forest, pollute the farmland, vineyards and fisheries
of the Tamar Valley and put 64,000 litres of effluent into the Bass
Strait ecosystem each day.
"Well, Peter Garrett, we're not perfectly comfortable with you," Senator
Brown retorted.
He also said that Malcolm Turnbull had become, in the words of Geoffrey
Cousins, Australia's minister against the environment.
Senator Brown said that barristers reviewing Turnbull's decision had
told him that the law does not authorise the minister to grant an
approval where the minister did not understand and was not properly
informed about he impact on the sea from the effluent. There are also
arguable constitutional issues. He said that those threatened by Gunns
pulp mill would consider their legal options very seriously.
There were support protests today in Sydney and Adelaide and a video
opposing the pulp mill was launched in Melbourne.
Senator Brown said that voters were left with the Green option: Tom
Millen in Bass, Karen Cassidy in Lyons and Paul O'Halloran in Braddon
and his senate team with Andrew Wilke second on the ticket.
Further information: Prue Cameron 0408 473 379
Prue Cameron
Advisor
Senator Bob Brown
GPO Box 404
Hobart TAS 7001
Ph: 03 6224 3222 (Hobart)
Ph: 02 6277 3170 (Canberra)
Fax 03 6224 2999 (Hobart)
Fax 02 6234 1577 (Canberra)
Mob: 0408 473 379
www.bobbrown.org.au
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# 3
Hobart, Saturday, 6 October 2007 Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne today welcomed the decision by former Liberal candidate for Lyons, Ben Quin, to quit his party over the decision to give Gunns' pulp mill the go ahead.
Senator Milne said "There are too few people in the old parties who are prepared to stand up for what they believe in. Mr Quin's actions today are in direct contrast to those of Peter Garrett and even Malcolm Turnbull.
"Mr Turnbull lectured the rest of the world at APEC about the greenhouse gas ramifications of deforestation and was proudly touting the Sydney Declaration in Washington only a matter of days ago. Now he has given the go ahead, with Mr Garrett's blessing, to the logging of primary forests in Australia and a massive injection of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
"The pulp mill campaign will continue as momentum builds against the mill in the lead up to the federal poll, and a decision by Mr Quin to contest the election as an independent would only increase the pressure.
"The increased pressure on financial institutions such as the ANZ, and the increased level of interest from the investment community, should shine a spotlight on the financial viability of the mill, and especially the wood supply agreement, which must be made public.
"Even more Australians will be outraged when they learn that Gunns can access native forests to feed the pulp mill at bargain basement prices because the Lennon Government has tied royalties to the price of pulp. If the price of chemical pulp falls on the global market, the Government will reduce the royalties they charge accordingly. This shifts all the cost and risk to the Tasmanian community, the taxpayer, and the environment, while guaranteeing Gunns' profits.
"Which other company in Australia has such a sweetheart deal with government that discounts the input price whenever the market price falls? Tasmanians will end up paying Gunns to take away their forests. It is a scandal.
"Ben Quin has demonstrated that there is no place in the old parties for those willing to stand by their principles, and the Liberal and Labor parties will increasingly find it difficult to attract candidates. Perhaps they should consider the Greens' policy to give representatives a conscience vote on all issues, a decision which would improve the quality of our democracy tremendously."
Contact: Tim Hollo 0437 587 562
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#4
October 7, 2007
Two faces, one mind: Victorian Greens YouTube ad on Gunns pulp mill
The Victorian Greens have released a YouTube clip that takes a swipe at
Peter Garrett's acquiescence on the Gunns pulp mill.
As protests mount across the nation against the polluting mill, the
Greens lead Senate candidate in Victoria, Dr Richard Di Natale, said
Labor's decision to back the mill is a disgrace.
“We had expected better of former environmentalist Peter Garrett, but
he's looking more and more like his Liberal counterpart each day,” Dr Di
Natale said.
“It's clear that only the Greens are providing the leadership the
country needs to oppose projects like this which not only pollute the
environment, but rip apart our precious native forests as well.”
The YouTube ad draws parallels between John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in
the movie Face/Off.
The two swapped faces in their struggle to outwit each other.
“To beat him, he had to become him,” says the ad, accompanied by a split
image of Turnbull and Garrett.
The clip can be viewed at: greens.org.au/greenvideos
Further information: Richard Di Natale 0425 771 246
Media inquiries: Jim Buckell 0400 465 459
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#5
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
Poll vindicates Greens' strong pulp mill stand
Today's Marketmetrics Research opinion poll showing the Greens' vote in
Bass has doubled to 18 per cent, indicates votes draining from both
Labor and the Coalition to the Greens as the unpopularity of the Gunns'
pulp mill proposal bites, Greens leader Bob Brown said today.
The poll also shows a jump in the Greens' vote to 9 per cent in Braddon.
"The pulp mill issue will bite the old parties all the way to the ballot
box. Labor and the Coalition have ignored traditional supporters to
curry favour with Gunns. The poll indicates that either party will win
Bass if they heed public opinion and reject Gunns' proposal," Senator
Brown said.
Further information: Ebony Bennett 0409 164 603
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#6
Former judge questions independence of Gunns pulp mill approval process
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FELICITY OGLIVIE [journalist, abc]: Gunns pulled out of the process earlier this year in March, saying it was simply taking too long to get approval. Do you think that they've got an approval or an answer any faster than they would have got by sticking with the RPDC?
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT [former judge]: On the timelines that we had prepared, it seems that they've saved about six weeks.
FELICITY OGLIVIE : What do you see is the benefit that Gunns has gotten by pulling out of the RPDC? Has there been any benefit to the company?
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT: Well, according to what Mr Gay is reported to have said, there's been a fortuitous financial gain, but I can't comment on that. I don't know whether it's accurate or not.
FELICITY OGLIVIE: Now, what about the conditions that the mill will run under? There's permits from state government and now there's 48 conditions from the Federal Government. Would the RPDC have done a similar thing if it had approved the pulp mill, would it have put extra conditions on the mill?
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT: Look, I think that's entirely likely, but we were cut off at the knees before I was able to get fully into the assessment process.
FELICITY OGLIVIE: The State Government came up with their permit system out of the SWECO PIC report, but Malcolm Turnbull, when he was writing to the State Government a few weeks ago, he said his assessment had such a limited scope and a lot of the people making comments to him actually had issues that were the state's responsibility like log truck traffic, effluent washing back up onto the beaches, air pollution and odour from the mill.
Do you think that the State Government has adequately dealt with those issues or would the RPDC have done a better job?
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT: I have some doubt about whether they'd been adequately covered and the process of submitting it to a parliamentary approval process, it was most unusual, in my assessment. But I can't say, I haven't followed the matter through in detail by any means.
FELICITY OGLIVIE: What has Tasmania lost by losing the RPDC process?
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT: I think a lot of people would say though, the independence of the process has been abandoned. It certainly was no longer an independent process in the way that it went forward after March of this year, and I think the lack of a process, which included public hearings, is very regrettable.......
