Greenwash Political Action Party and Urban Grassroots Movement for the Green Party

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Bob and the Beetle

Make sure you get along to see Bob Brown for a special evening of Jazz and fine Tasmanian food at the Bondi Pavilion, Sydney, 6pm Sunday 18 June 2006.

As you may know, Bob is taking on Forestry Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government and the Federal Government in a landmark legal case centred on the Wielangta Forests on Tasmania’s east coast. The case has huge significance for threatened species in Australia and Bob is personally underwriting the action with costs running into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Tickets for the Bondi fundraiser are $80.

Cleck here for full details and to book online.

posted by Ben Oquist # 9:47 AM 0 comments

Monday, May 29, 2006

Converted environmentalists and the nuclear debate

This post was first published by crikey.com.au

Rumour has it that Patrick Moore will be in Australia over the coming weeks. As the debate gears up about nuclear, we're sure to hear a lot more about the likes of him and James Lovelock - so often the pin up boys of the anti-green brigade.

Moore and Lovelock are often quoted as environmentalists who have 'seen the light' and now support things they used to campaign against. It is incredible how often they are quoted and each time it seems to be as if it is something new.Take this from ABC radio's World Today last week:

"Even some of the staunchest antinuclear campaigners are showing a new willingness to embrace nuclear power. Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace, says nuclear energy may just be the energy source 'that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change' "

What isn't explained is that Patrick Moore actually hasn't been in Greenpeace for 20 years. Indeed, Mr Moore is now a completely discredited environmentalist. He has said that global warming and ice caps melting is positive because it creates more arable land and the use of forest products drives up demand for wood and spurs the planting of more trees.

According to SourceWatch, after returning from the Amazon Moore was reported to have said "All these save-the-forests arguments are based on bad science. They are quite simply wrong. We found that the Amazon rainforest is more than 90 percent intact." He also backs the genetically modified food industries.

And in Canada, some of the biggest logging companies funded the organisation he fronted for.

And James Lovelock has been sprouting the nuclear cause for years. His enthusiasm is not something that started just in this most recent 18 month global round of nuclear salivating. In one of his Gaia books from 18 years ago he wrote: "I have never regarded nuclear radiation or nuclear power as anything other than a normal and inevitable part of the environment."

By all means let's have a debate about nuclear power and selling Australian uranium to China and India. But let it be a full debate about climate change that includes renewable energy, nuclear weapons proliferation and the terrorist target consequences of uranium enrichment.

Let's have all the facts on the table including those regarding nuclear enthusiasts - what they've been saying and doing over the years, and who funded them.

posted by Ben Oquist # 1:46 PM 3 comments

Friday, May 19, 2006

Beazley Budget Reply Bombs

I spent this week’s Greenwash spot on 2SER having a go at Beazley’s budget reply.

Firstly, Labor’s response was lame because the Howard Government had actually delivered what Labor had been asking for: tax cuts and bigger tax cuts for the rich. Cutting the top marginal rate was not even criticised by the ALP. How pathetic. The dye was cast when I watched opposition spokesperson Wayne Swan on the 7.30 Report on Budget night. He used his first comments on air to actually praise Costello’s 11th Budget.

Labor had been going on about the need for tax cuts all year. Some Labor figures like Bill Shorten and Lindsay Tanner had actually been calling for tax cuts for the rich. And Beazley certainly didn’t distance himself from that. The Howard delivered them.

But it got worse. Beazley’s budget reply didn’t even mention the big superannuation changes which amount to a great big future tax cut for the wealthy. Talk about stealing from future generations. Stealing from the future poor and stealing from the future public sector which will now not have the tax revenue to pay for decent services. Meanwhile pensioners miss out. Read more here from Bob Brown and the paper produced by Greens adviser Richard Denniss and listen to a good interview Bob gave to Life Matters on Radio National on the topic. Also see Ross Gittins in the SMH for some similar ideas.

Then it got worse still when Beazley entertained the worse style of dog whistle politics.

Beazley announced that Labor would ban foreign apprentices. This is reminiscent of Howard’s best efforts such as when he was went soft on Hanson. I say 'of the worse kind' because it seems there are almost no foreign apprentices in Australia anyway. Ie, Beazley is just making the dog whistle sound, knowing his policy will have no effect except to appeal to the xenophobes. While I think there might be some genuine issue in terms of foreign contractors and workers (because there is a large amount of them and they probably are under-cutting wages and conditions and union rights), there are hardly any foreign apprentices in Australia. I heard one figure of 200 but it actually may only be a few dozen that exist. Compare this to "Germany which has tens and tens of thousands.

According to a UK website, foreign apprenticeships in Australia are only granted if locals can not be found. The scheme only started on Nov 1 last year - "New Immigration laws in effect from November 1st 2005 allow Australian employers to recruit apprentices from overseas if they are unable to find them in Australia." And indeed that is what the immigration department's website says.

But I’m now worried. Andrew Bolt on Insiders on ABC TV last week and Christian Kerr on Crikey have made the same criticism of Beazley. Both accused him of dog whistle politics. Being in bed with Kerr and Bolt is not comfortable.

posted by Ben Oquist # 4:24 PM 0 comments

Thursday, May 04, 2006

WWF and the Rio Tinto connection

It is clearly absurd for WWF - a supposedly world leading environment group – to think that it can get away with the half pregnant position that opposes nuclear power but supports uranium mining.

But the pro-uranium mine posturing from WWF (formerly World Wildlife Fund for Nature) on the front page of The Australian today was no surprise to many in the environment movement.
WWF are well known for their pro-Howard government manoeuvring.

This was most infamously demonstrated by their support for the notorious Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) legislation which was passed with a deal with the Democrats (brokered by WWF), in the wake of the GST legislation.

The EPBC legislation scrapped Commonwealth environmental powers (essentially ceding them back to the states); exempted logging from the provisions of the Act and included no capacity to control greenhouse gases.

Half a decade later, not much has changed and WWF continues to do the Government’s bidding.
The Australian Institute released a report in 2004 showing how much funding WWF has received from the Howard Government over time and how it had influenced the WWF pro-Howard positions.

But what hasn’t been well understood, is that it is not just Government money that might be influencing WWF positions.

Big business mining dollars have also been flowing in and some WWF activities are actually being funded by uranium miners.

One particular 5 year deal - Frogs! A conservation partnership with Rio Tinto – was worth at least $1.2 million (according to Bob Burton writing in Mining Monitor – page 9).

So WWF has also got into bed with Australia’s big uranium exporter Rio Tinto. And, surprise, now it is softening its stance on uranium.

Also galling today were the comments from Paul Gilding who described the uranium/nuclear discussion as “highly ideological, almost religious, debate”. While The Australian described Gilding as an environmental consultant, the kind of language he used is just the same as proffered by Andrew Bolt to deride conservationists.

No matter that wanting to save the planet – our home – is a matter of manifest rationality, not religion.

posted by Ben Oquist # 12:17 PM 4 comments

Monday, May 01, 2006

Me and Mr Brown

I am just back from Melbourne where I saw Bob Brown perform at the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

Bob plays the straight man in a fabulous bit of cabaret comedy put together by the indomitable Dolly Putin (aka Naomi Edwards). ‘Me and Mr Brown’ was an hilarious show which also featured strikingly damning video footage of Gunns Ltd Chair John Gay and Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon.

But I thought Bob Brown stole the show with his wonderful soliloquy towards the end of the evening when he talked so passionately about the plight of the West Papuans, the wild forests of Wielangta and the state of the planet in general. After an hour of raucous comedy you could hear a pin drop as Bob held the audience captivated.

Regardless, it was wonderfully refreshing to see a politician willing to let himself be sent up so mercilessly. A point made brilliantly by Tracee Hutchison in her engaging column in Saturday’s Age newspaper.

“His ability to laugh at himself - and allow us to laugh with him - is a canny move because there are few human qualities that are more endearing…..

There are many in the house on the hill who would do well to take a leaf out of Bob Brown's book. The increasingly humourless and austere Australia being shaped by this Government might be great fodder for our braver laugh-makers but it's taking a heavy toll on the rest of us” – Tracee Hutchison

You can also read a preview of the show in The Age here.

posted by Ben Oquist # 2:56 PM 0 comments

Exclusive Brethren exposed – Senate inquiry move

If you didn’t hear it on Sunday make sure you don’t miss the repeat of Background Briefing on Radio National this Tuesday 2 May at 7.10 pm. You can also listen to the program online here.

Reporter Wendy Carlisle takes a closer look at the shadowy religious sect the Exclusive Brethren including its work in attacking the Greens. See the previous post from March on benoquist.com for some detail about the Brethren’s underhand activities in attempting to sabotage the Greens.

Also check out the recent exposure on JJJ’s Hack program (Wednesday April 26 broadcast).

On the back of the revelations in the Background Briefing program and Hack about secret funding of Liberal party campaigns (dating as far back to John Hewson in 1993) and more horror stories of family break ups, Greens Senator Bob Brown told me yesterday that he would be moving for Senate inquiry into the activities of the Exclusive Brethren.

posted by Ben Oquist # 2:55 PM 3 comments