Greens say to new PM "take some action on climate change!"

Thanks to the Greens, climate change action has been a big issue in the

media since the new PM took office. We have plenty of opportunity for

reinforcing Greens messages of real action, right now.

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Greens slam Gillard on brown coal export deal (The Age)

http://www.theage.com.au/national/greens-slam-gillard-on-brown-coal-export-deal-20100625-z9tf.html

"THE federal government has been accused of sending a bad signal on

climate change policy after one of its first acts was to back the first

major deal to export Victorian coal. Trade Minister Simon Crean was

jostled by a group of protesters as he attended the signing of an export

deal between Melbourne-based Environmental Clean Technologies and

Vietnamese company TinCom. From 2014, the Victorian company expects to

export 2 million tonnes of dried brown coal a year to burn in Vietnamese

power stations, eventually rising to 20 million tonnes a year. Mr Crean

said the government was committed to tackling climate change and meeting

growing energy demands by backing technological advances that reduced

emissions. ''People are entitled to protest, but I don't think the vast

bulk of the Australian people think that exporting coal is bad for the

Australian economy because they know the Australian economy is heavily

reliant on coal,'' he said." Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine

Milne said the federal government could not be serious about reducing

emissions if was willing to open up a ''massive polluting'' export

industry. Environment Victoria chief executive Kelly O'Shanassy said it

was a ''disastrous first action'' by the Gillard government.

You may wish to write a Letter to the Editor and post on your favorite

blog or form. letters@couriermail.com.au;

letters@theaustralian.com.au.

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Greens warn of environmental disaster if coal seam gas approval proceeds

(Qld Greens)

"The Queensland government's approval of Queensland Gas Company's liquid

natural gas (LNG) project, which would see expansion of coal seam gas

mining in the Surat Basin, is an environmental disaster waiting to happen

said the Greens today. “The Queensland government is gambling with the

future of our groundwater and the future of our food production for the

short-term royalties from gas exports,” said Greens lead Senate candidate

for Queensland, environmental lawyer Larissa Waters. “Once again the

community and the environment come last, and the resource companies

continue to run this state. The state government's shortsightedness will

be the death knell for local farming and for our water supplies."

You may wish to write on this important issue for Queensland.

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What Greens must tell PM (Sydney Morning Herald)

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/what-greens-must-tell-pm-20100625-z9n9.html

EXTRACT: "Never mind the bollocks, it's time for Labor and the Greens to

hoick sleeves and do a deal on climate change that will put a price on

carbon and drag the Australian economy into the future. What would that

deal look like? We don't know, because Labor spent all last year talking

to the opposition and industry, sliding down a slippery slope, trying to

please the worst polluters in the country, who had a vested in doing no

deal at all … or making it so brown it was unfit for purpose. Labor is

quick to blame the Greens for the failure of the ETS last year, but that's

unfair. The Greens were sidelined during the ETS negotiations, until

Malcolm Turnbull fell to Tony Abbott and the promise of bipartisanship

evaporated. Then, it was perfunctory talks over a compromise proposal for

a carbon price, fixed and increasing, in line with the interim scheme

proposed by the Garnaut climate change review. But the government let the

talks slide, and soon after abandoned their ETS altogether. The damage to

Rudd was irreparable. Climate is a wrecking-ball swinging through

Australian politics, with increasing weight and reach. The Prime Minister,

Julia Gillard, is right: there is no consensus on the issue … any more.

Tackling climate change isn't easy - but is it that hard? Beneath

discussion of targets and trajectories, carbon trading and pollution

permits, it's fairly obvious what needs doing. Waste a lot less energy.

Burn a lot less coal. Transition to renewables. Electrify transport. Stop

native forest logging. Test soil carbon. And get cracking, because the

climate is telling us to, and the sooner we get going, the better our

chance of a competitive edge in the new, decarbonised economy of the 21st

century. Gillard has said she will talk to everyone, including the Greens,

about putting a price on carbon. Good."

***

Green groups angry at coal export plan (SMH)

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/green-groups-angry-at-coal-export-plan-20100625-z95u.html

"Environment groups are angry at a deal by a coal company to export up to

20 million tonnes of brown coal a year from Victoria and say it's not a

good look for new Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Ms Gillard is resisting

pressure from green groups to take faster action on climate change and

says she is in no hurry to start emissions trading. Ms Gillard indicated

it would be business as usual on emissions trading under her watch,

because there was not a community consensus on the need for a price on

carbon. Ms O'Shannassy said if the project in the Latrobe Valley went

ahead, millions of tonnes of greenhouse pollution would be pumped into the

atmosphere each year. "This is precisely the wrong message for Australia

to be sending ahead of this weekend's G20 meeting where fossil fuel

subsidies are on the agenda," she said. The Greens candidate for the

Melbourne seat of retiring Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said the

government's position on energy policy was "criminal". "We know that

burning and exporting coal to make energy is not sustainable and we know

that we have to rapidly transition away from coal and to renewable

energy," candidate Adam Bandt said. "To be signing deals to export and

mine more coal are the signs of a party that's living in the 20th century,

not in the 21st century. The science just says we can't do this anymore."

Mr Bandt said Australia should be leading the world in renewable energy

technology but was instead going backwards."

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Greens target Rudd's seat with climate activist (QLD Greens)

http://qld.greens.org.au/media-releases/greens-target-rudds-seat-with-climate-activist

"Greens refugee spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Queensland

lead Senate candidate Larissa Waters will launch the Greens' campaign for

Kevin Rudd’s seat this Saturday, with Griffith candidate Emma-Kate Rose.

"People of Griffith share the disappointment of many Queenslanders that

Kevin Rudd has failed to deliver a compassionate approach to refugees, and

has failed to deliver any real action on climate change. The polls are

reflecting this, with record support for the Greens, and today's poll by

WWF showing 70% of voters in Brisbane marginal seats want an emissions

trading scheme urgently,” said Greens lead Senate candidate and

environmental lawyer Larissa Waters."

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Queensland voters angry at Kevin Rudd coup (Courier Mail)

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland-voters-angry-at-kevin-rudd-coup/story-e6freon6-1225884678324

"KEVIN Rudd's brutal dumping could backfire for the Labor Party in

Queensland - a crucial battleground in the coming federal election. An

exclusive national Galaxy Research poll has given new Prime Minister Julia

Gillard a conditional vote of confidence but reveals deep dissatisfaction

with how the coup was carried out. Galaxy principal David Briggs said the

results showed Labor risked polarising voters. "There's some misgivings in

the community. People think Rudd's been shafted," he said. The feeling is

particularly strong in Queensland, Mr Rudd's home state, where 78 per cent

of respondents say he was treated harshly and 71 per cent think he should

have been given the chance to lead Labor to the next election. "If this

sentiment was to breed resentment, this could be a problem for Labor with

so many marginals to defend in Queensland," Mr Briggs said."

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Greens full of beans over election prospects as Labor giant disappears

(The Australian)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/greens-full-of-beans-over-election-prospects-as-labor-giant-disappears/story-e6frg6n6-1225884958271

"GREENS candidate for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, is like Jack in the beanstalk

story. He has watched his magic seeds grow beyond anything he could have

dreamed in the fertile fields of inner Melbourne, but just as he was

girding himself to climb skyward, the gruff giant of sitting member

Lindsay Tanner is gone. Quietly spoken and bespectacled, Bandt, 38,

doesn't look like a giant-slayer but this industrial relations barrister

has form. In 2007, he whittled Tanner's winning margin to a precipitous

4.7 per cent. "Make history in Melbourne" is his slogan. Victory would be

that significant. If Bandt were to win, he would become the second Green

to bust into the House of Representatives after Michael Organ, who won the

NSW Illawarra seat of Cunningham from Labor at by-election in 2002 only to

lose it at the 2004 election. National polling in May bounced the Greens'

primary vote to the highest recorded. Tasmanian voters forced the ALP into

a coalition with the Greens, and national leader Bob Brown likens the

groundswell he's sensing wherever he goes to the birth of the ALP."

***

Greens blamed for emissions failure (The Age)

http://www.theage.com.au/national/greens-blamed-for-emissions-failure-20100627-zc0t.html

"THE Greens are to blame for the failure of the emissions trading scheme

to pass the Senate and the party showed a ''disturbing'' lack of

willingness to compromise, departing ACTU president Sharan Burrow has

said. Ms Burrow, who was elected secretary of the International Trade

Union Confederation over the weekend, worked closely with

environmentalists to push for a price on carbon." Her comments to The Age

came as some unions said they would provide financial support for the

Greens in the federal election, or would recommend their members vote for

them in the Senate. Greens Senate candidate for Victoria Richard Di Natale

said the Rudd government had refused to negotiate with the party and that

if Labor's scheme had passed it would have stopped long-term meaningful

action."