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How to catch tuna like an Islander
I just went on my most successful fishing trip ever. There wasn’t much to compare it to. The best before that was when I caught half a fish because the tail half got eaten before I reeled it in. So you can imagine how excited I was when I was recently invited to the Pacific island of…
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Hockey exposes us as fair weather friends
With this Budget, Joe Hockey has signaled to the rest of the planet that Australia expects to free ride on the efforts of others. He has abandoned the core Australian value of being true blue, writes David Ritter. Originally published in The Drum. “Hey True Blue, don’t say you’ve gone…” As Australians, we like to…
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Coal industry gets preferential treatment from Baird government
Press release – 14 May, 2014Sydney, Thursday 15 May 2014The new Ministers for Environment and Planning in NSW – Rob Stokes and Pru Goward – are continuing the pattern of preferential treatment for the coal industry by weakening environmental protections associated with the Maules Creek coal mine to facilitate its development. State Government agencies have…
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Johnson and Johnson: the path to ‘No More Tears’ in Indonesian rainforests
It’s frustrating to think about the link between forest destruction and that bright yellow shampoo that miraculously allowed parents to wash their babies hair without igniting a burning-eyes meltdown. While human babies splashed around on their little tubs, baby orangutans cried for their lost forests and families. Well, that’s about to stop. After months of…
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Great Barrier Reef ‘facts’ TV ads ignore dredge dumping risks
The United Nations is concerned about port expansions and dredging disposal in the Great Barrier Reef – but that bigger picture is ignored in new ‘Reef Facts’ commercials. -By Jon Brodie, James Cook University Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team, CC BY New “Reef Facts” commercials are currently airing during prime-time television shows in Australia, purporting to…
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Public thirst for Cash for Containers leads governments into voter danger
Press release – 29 April, 2014The Boomerang Alliance, a coalition of 28 environment groups, says the continued lack of action at a national or state level on cash for containers after a meeting of Environment Ministers on Tuesday, is setting the scene for a ‘Fail’ come election time in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.The Boomerang Alliance,…
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NSW Premier Baird should sidestep lobbyists and commit to Cash for Containers
Press release – 28 April, 2014In advance of a meeting today of all Environment Ministers set to consider a 10 cent cash for containers scheme, a coalition of 28 environment groups, including Clean Up Australia and Greenpeace, are calling on the NSW Premier Mike Baird and his new Environment Minister Mr Rob Stokes to ignore…
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Japan to defy UN court and continue whaling
There has been disappointing and worrying news today. The Government of Japan has announced that it intends to return to the Southern Ocean to hunt whales in 2015. It has also officially announced that it will again send its factory whaling ship to hunt whales in the North Pacific, although it plans to target fewer…
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#AustraliansForCoal is the latest sign of an industry in values freefall
‘The problem for coal is that it is the single greatest driver of climate change’. Originally published in The Guardian Photograph: Tim Wimborne/Reuters During the second world war, my dad performed his war service down the coal mines in the UK. The work cost him his sense of smell, but gave him a profound sense…
