Barbara Shaw speaks out against the Northern Territory Intervention
I have fought the Intervention from day one. We built a massive amount of support from people and organisations right across Australia to try and stop the government from continuing the Intervention for another 10 years through the “Stronger Futures” laws. But they refused to listen to us.
I will keep fighting. Self determination is the key to getting us out of the social problems that we face today. It is the only way to do this. It is just disgusting how much money has been wasted on bureaucrats to control us, or on ineffective non-Aboriginal services that can not engage with our people.
Northern Territory – Opinion Piece, by Barbara Shaw The Stringer June 23rd, 2013 Six years ago my family watched the TV in my living room as John Howard announced he would be sending in the military and taking control of our communities
I have never been more frightened in my life. I locked the gate of my town camp and kept the kids inside for two weeks for fear of them being taken. I worried constantly about my family out bush who didn’t understand what was coming.
They said the Intervention was about stopping children from being abused, that it was going to stop the drinking and domestic violence. But all I have seen is racism and disempowerment of our people. It’s the old assimilation policy back again, to control how we live. The government and many non-Aboriginal NGOs have taken over the assets and responsibilities of our organisations, both in the major town centres and remote communities forcing us to comply with their policies that take no account of Aboriginal culture and our obligations.
Take income management, which I have been on for five and a half years. I ran for parliament in 2010 and outpolled both Labor and Liberal candidates in Central Australian communities. I have represented my people at the United Nations. But the Government says I can’t manage my money. On their own estimations of $6000 to 8000 per person per year administrative cost for income management, the government has spent more than $30,000 dollars just to control my small income. Continue reading
Youtube: radioactive waste dumped in the sea
Radioactive waste: Dumped and Forgotten http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcaOX2rW0gc&feature=youtu.be25 May 2013 This documentary was shown on German and French TV but not in England. For obvious reasons the English don’t want anyone to see it. This is the English version which we hope you will mirror and call attention to. It discusses the effects of sea dumping of radioactive waste on the health of people living on the local coasts, like the Irish Sea and the Baltic Sea, which is the most radioactive sea in the world. The documentary focuses on the British sea dumping in the English Channel Hurd Deep about 12 miles north of the Channel Island of Alderney.
Alderney is also subject to releases to the sea from the French Nuclear Reprocessing Plant at Cap de la La Hague 12 miles East of the small island. Prof Chris Busby who was consulted on the health effects of this marine radioactive pollution visits the island with the producers and makes measurements of contamination on the beach. Busby originally visited the island in 1998 with Jersey MP Stuart Syvret and found an excess of brain tumours and also general cancer mortality which was written up as a Green Audit paper and became part of a BBC news story at the time. They were both chased off the island.
Manfred Ladwig manages to get Dr John Cooper, head of the UK radiological protection organisation, the HPA, to admit that they balance childhood cancer cases against the advantages of cheaply disposing of nuclear waste. Cooper also agrees that his position involves a conflict of interest since he is head of HPA which takes advice on radiation protection from ICRP. Cooper is on the ICRP committee. He therefore takes advice from himself. We also hear from Prof Richard Wakeford, ex head of research for Sellafield, but now an “independent” expert, also on ICRP, who tells us the coastal child leukemias were caused by “population mixing”. How long do we have to be subject to advice from these clowns?
Prof Busby asks the youtube to kindly leave this alone since he was part of the production and has the right to upload it.
Australian interactive map shows you solar power numbers in your area
and the winner in terms of saturation is the electorate of Mayo in South Australia, with 25.43% of homes in that region having rooftop solar panel systems installed.
Australia’s Top Solar Electorates Plus Interactive Map http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3805 24 June 13, If you’ve ever wondered how many solar power systems are installed in your electoral region, this interactive map will tell you that and more.
Created by The Guardian’s Nick Evershed based on details from 100% Renewable’s Solar Scorecard project (which sourced its information from Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator), the interactive map displays the number of home solar installations by electorate, estimated capacity, carbon emissions reduction, electricity bill savings and installation cost.
Northern Territory – Lingiari Continue reading
Wikileaks giving diplomatic and legal support to Edward Snowden
WikiLeaks Statement On Edward Snowden’s Exit From Hong Kong – UPDATED http://wikileaks.org/WikiLeaks-Statement-On-Edward,253.html?updated Sunday June 23 Mr Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who exposed evidence of a global surveillance regime conducted by US and UK intelligence agencies, has left Hong Kong legally. He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.
Mr Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience to secure his safety. Once Mr Snowden arrives in Ecuador his request will be formally processed.
Former Spanish Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, legal director of Wikileaks and lawyer for Julian Assange has made the following statement:
“The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden’s rights and protecting him as a person. What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange – for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest – is an assault against the people”.
Youtube: Missy Higgins calls on young Australians to enrol to vote
Be heard.
Share it with your friends if you believe we should all have a say in the future of our country, or just to have a giggle at my expense. I would. I do! Then, go to: www.aec.gov.au/enrol.
Even if you think it won’t make a difference, or you’ve lost hope in our leaders (like a lot of us have)… let me tell you that every vote you make puts a little bit more power in the hands of the good people in the Senate. In other words, it’s not just about who becomes Prime Minister, there are plenty of other people in parliament who are doing great things, they just need your vote to give them a louder voice. And if anything, it will stop just one party from having COMPLETE CONTROL over everything. That’s a scary idea.
So get involved!
Be heard!
Thanks for watching.
luv missy.
Wake Up Australia! International Energy Agency shows that renewable energy will dominate.
the IEA makes clear that renewables will dominate the world’s new capacity – even out to 2020 – with some $2 trillion likely to be invested in hydro, wind, solar, biomass and other renewables.
Wake up coal: Renewables is now the main game REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson on 23 June 2013 It is staggering to observe that even in modern sophisticated economies such as the US, Australia and UK – which are supposed to have modern, sophisticated political systems (no really, don’t laugh) – that the role of renewables in the world’s future energy systems is constantly underplayed.
This has probably got something to do with the way that mainstream media handles the issue. In its pursuit of division, fear and controversy, it’s happy to oblige the tactics of delay and misinformation from the fossil fuel industry, that is seeking to protect and prolong several trillion dollars of investments and revenue streams.
Too often, renewable energy is portrayed as an expensive and unnecessary plaything or indulgence. But the media is not solely to blame. There is a shocking lack of vision at the political level too, with the notable exception of the Greens. Conservative political parties, in Australia in particular, constantly use green energy as a scapegoat for problems elsewhere; often for superfluous and inefficient grid upgrades.
But one thing should be made clear: whichever way you cut the future energy outlook, and whichever way you attack the challenge of climate change and the goal of reducing emissions, two technology solutions dominate all others – energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Even if the pro-nuclear lobbies and those who still hold on to the dream of carbon capture and storage have their way, the investment in those technologies will pale in comparison to that needed for renewables – be it in solar PV or solar thermal with storage, wind energy (onshore and offshore), hydro, biomass, or the emerging technologies such as wave and tidal. Continue reading
New research shows that low dose radiation is more damaging than previously thought
The review examines various epidemiological studies of Radium exposures which are cited in defence of the ICRP risk model. It cites papers published in the literature decades ago showing that the Radium studies are fatally flawed because they omitted many people who had died (from both cancer and non-cancer diseases) before the “exposed” groups were assembled.
In conclusion, the review lists key experimental studies which will inform on the issues.
Shocking new study shows damage from radiation more damaging than at first thought! – Prof.Chris Busby http://nuclear-news.net/2013/06/20/shocking-new-study-shows-damage-from-radiation-more-damaging-than-at-first-thought-prof-chris-busby/
….This density of events occurring at low doses suggests a mechanism to explain experimental results that show Tritium is a greater mutagenic hazard than ICRP would expect….nuclear-news.net By Arclight2011Part220th June 2011 H/t Richard Bramhall ( http://www.llrc.org )
A new review shows the conventional radiation risk model cannot be used to predict health effects of radioactivity inside the body.
On May 22 2013 InTech (http://www.intechopen.com) published a review of evidence that DNA damage caused by inhaling and ingesting man-made radioactivity is having serious health effects. This is the first time such a wide-ranging review of the genetic mechanisms of harm from nuclear discharges has been published in the scientific literature.
The review, by Professor Chris Busby, is entitled “Aspects of DNA damage from internal radiation exposures“
[1]. It is in a book called “New Research Directions in DNA Repair”.
[2] It vindicates the belief that incorporated (internal) radioactivity is more dangerous than predicted by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Much of the information reviewed has been in the literature for decades but has been sidelined or ignored. Continue reading
Australia’s news media now toes the line for big business
The real, untarnished news is getting through to a greater number of people after decades of being deliberately distorted or discarded by the power of money. Mobile phones have worked communication miracles in many countries.
The importance of Australia’s September election is beyond any in the nation’s history. The power of money has strangled good national government before. It can also deny us the full power of the NBN at the very time when we will most need its maximum capabilities.
Big money versus good government Independent Australia, Australia’s September election is more important than any in the nation’s history, writes Rodney E. Lever, as big money tries to strangle a good government. 23 June 13 “……Now newspapers are dying. Propaganda rules our lives. Good honest journalists are losing their jobs. Editorials expressing proprietorial views are on the front page.…..In the past few decades, Australia’s newspapers have gradually been taken over by ignorant multi-millionaire proprietors with other interests, and now journalists are ordered to write stories to political requirements….
… Rupert Murdoch ‒ who claims to be a journalist ‒ is a fraud. He has never written anything, except on Twitter, reads little more than balance sheets and dictates terse letters. He shows up in the working areas of his newspapers only when cameras are around.
This is why Australian politics is in turmoil. People think they are being informed by what were once called “the mirrors of the world”. They are, in fact, reading manufactured pages of falsehoods and duplicity. On top of that, we are bombarded by mentally-deficient radio shock-jocks and screwed by much of the electronic media. Continue reading
Australians increasingly support carbon tax, despite Abbott’s claims
Abbott is out of touch on carbon tax uknowispeaksense, From the Climate Institute, June 23, 2013
A national poll from early June reveals that there is no support for the claim that the Federal election is a referendum on the carbon laws. It also shows that more Australians oppose a double dissolution on the laws than support one, said The Climate Institute today.
“The carbon laws themselves are not a dominant reason behind those supporting the Coalition, nor is there majority support for their repeal or a double dissolution, ” said John Connor, CEO of The Climate Institute.
“The claim that this election is a ‘referendum on the carbon tax’ is without foundation. Issues of economic management, trust and competence are much stronger influences behind the Coalition vote.”…..
Key findings include: Continue reading
Japan’s impractical and unrealistic plant to restart nuclear reactors
Japan nuclear safety upgrades dazzle, mask industry woes Reuters By Aaron Sheldrick and Kentaro Hamada (Additional reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Michael Urquhart) TOKYO Jun 23, 2013– Japan’s nuclear utilities face shareholders this week promising restarts of idled plants as soon as next month after costly safety upgrades, plans that look wildly optimistic given they are yet to secure either regulatory or local approval. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 