Vote Compass finds voters are split on economy and environment as most important issue [interesting graphs] ABC News
By Catherine Hanrahan 17 Apr 19, Labor and Greens voters regard the environment as their number one concern, whereas Coalition voters nominate the economy as the single most important issue to them, according to the first results from the ABC’s Vote Compass survey.
Key points
The environment and the economy are the top issues for Australian voters
Health and super are next on the list
The environment is the number one issue for those yet to decide how to vote
For One Nation voters, immigration is the most important issue.
The environment is rated as the number one issue by 29 per cent of Vote Compass respondents, a massive shift from just 9 per cent in 2016.
It is closely followed by the economy, which includes government spending and taxation, on 23 per cent.
Health care and superannuation, each on 8 per cent, are next.
Crucially, the environment is nominated as the top concern among undecided voters — 30 per cent of them say it is the most important issue, as opposed to 19 per cent who nominate the economy.
The Vote Compass survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 119,516 respondents.
Andrea Carson, a political scientist from La Trobe University and a member of the Vote Compass academic panel, said the environment was a potential “wedge issue” for the Coalition.
“Even though overall [Coalition] voters don’t tend to nominate the environment as their most important issue, the Coalition — in order to win seats — need some of those undecided voters………
Millennials are most concerned about the environment
Australia’s health system unprepared for climate change, experts warn, New Daily, 15 Apr 19, Australia is unprepared for coming health emergencies caused by global warming disasters, public health experts have warned.
From floods to heatwaves, droughts, cyclones and bushfires, the “frequency, intensity, and duration” of natural disasters in Australia is increasing, and our health systems are struggling to cope, three leading public health experts said.
While Australia is geophysically stable and protected “to some extent” from “catastrophic events” such as earthquakes and tsunamis, we are vulnerable to “climate-related disasters and emergencies”, the researchers wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday.
Titled Resilient health systems: preparing for climate disasters and other emergencies, the article was co-authored by Queensland University of Technology professor of Public Health Gerard FitzGerald, University of Sydney’s Professor Anthony Capon and Queensland Health Disaster Management Unit’s Dr Peter Aitken.
Australia must prepare its health systems for climate-related disasters and emergencies by adopting a “comprehensive whole-of-system approach” integrating “all elements of population health and health care”, from preparedness to response and recovery, they said. ……
The warning follows the release of a landmark report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate in October, which found that some of the most dire consequences of global warming will occur earlier than predicted, with time running out to avoid the most catastrophic effects…….
Across Australia, two-thirds of the population will be vulnerable to infection for eight months of the year, while the top end of the country will be vulnerable to infection 12 months a year, the study found.
Whatever you think of Julian Assange, his extradition to the US must be opposed,Owen Jones, Guardian, 12 Apr 19, States that commit crimes in foreign lands depend on at least passive acquiescence. This is achieved in a number of ways. One is the “othering” of the victims: the stripping away of their humanity, because if you imagined them to be people like your own children or your neighbours, their suffering and deaths would be intolerable. Another approach is to portray opponents of foreign aggression as traitors, or in league with hostile powers. And another strategy is to cover up the consequences of foreign wars, to ensure that the populace is kept intentionally unaware of the acts committed in their name.
It is Manning who is the true hero of this story: last month, she was arrested for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks, placed in solitary confinement for four weeks, and now remains imprisoned. We must demand her freedom.
These leaks revealed some of the horrors of the post-9/11 wars. One showed a US aircrew laughing after slaughtering a dozen innocent people, including two Iraqi employees of Reuters, after dishonestly alleging to have encountered a firefight. Other files revealed how US-led forces killedhundreds of civilians in Afghanistan, their deaths otherwise airbrushed out of existence. Another cable, which exposed corruption and scandals in the court of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the western-backed then-dictator of Tunisia, helped fuel protests, which toppled him……..
Assange must answer the allegations of sexual assault in Sweden without the threat of extradition to the US………. That Swedish case must be entirely disentangled from the US extradition attempt. And while opposing Assange’s rightwing libertarian politics is perfectly reasonable, it is utterly irrelevant to the basic issue here of justice. ………
Assange’s extradition to the US must be passionately opposed. It is notable that Obama’s administration itself concluded that to prosecute Assange for publishing documents would gravely imperil press freedom. Yes, this is a defence of journalism and media freedom. But it is also about the attempt to intimidate those who expose crimes committed by the world’s last remaining superpower. The US wishes to hide its crimes so it can continue to commit them with impunity: that’s why, last month, Trump signed an executive order to cover up civilian deaths from drones, the use of which has hugely escalated in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan.
The only thing standing between an Assange prosecution and a major threat to global media freedom is Britain The US government’s indictment of Julian Assange is about far more than a charge of conspiring to hack a Pentagon computer. Many of the acts detailed in the indictment are standard journalistic practices in the digital age. How authorities in the UK respond to the US extradition request will determine how serious a threat this prosecution poses to global media freedom.
Journalistic scrutiny is a key democratic safeguard against governmental misconduct. Strong reporting often depends on officials leaking information of public importance. That is why, although many democratic governments prohibit officials themselves from disclosing secret information, few prosecute journalists for publishing leaked information that they receive from officials. Similarly, because electronic communications are so easily traced, today’s investigative journalists often make extraordinary efforts to maintain the confidentiality of their sources, including setting up communication avenues that cannot easily be detected or intercepted.
The Assange prosecution threatens these basic elements of modern journalism and democratic accountability. Superficially, the single charge in the indictment concerns an alleged conspiracy between Assange and Chelsea Manning, at the time a US army intelligence analyst, to download Pentagon files for publication on WikiLeaks. Assange is accused of trying – ultimately unsuccessfully – to help Manning crack a password that would have enabled her to bypass security mechanisms that would identify her as the person downloading the files.
But beyond this alleged hacking attempt, the indictment details “manners and means of the conspiracy” that read like standard procedure for today’s journalists who receive information from a confidential source. It alleges that “Assange and Manning took measures to conceal Manning as the source of the disclosure of classified records to WikiLeaks, including by removing user names from the disclosed information and deleting chat logs between Assange and Manning.” It says they “used a special folder on a cloud drop box” for the leaked information. And it charges that “Assange encouraged Manning” to provide the information.
It is dangerous to suggest that these actions are somehow criminal rather than steps routinely taken by investigative journalists who communicate with confidential sources to receive classified information of public importance. It is not difficult to imagine how autocratic governments, eager to undermine media scrutiny, will use this indictment to punish such journalists.
The Trump administration also poses a threat. So far, the administration has not charged Assange for the disclosure of the information he received from Manning, but that remains a possibility.
The administration filed the hacking charges against Assange a year ago, just days before the eight-year statute of limitations was about to expire for the alleged acts in 2010, but the 10-year statute of limitations has not yet run for the Espionage Act, which has been mooted as a way to prosecute Assange despite the severe implications for journalism of applying it to a public vehicle such as WikiLeaks. The indictment lists violation of the Espionage Act as one of the purposes of the alleged hacking conspiracy.
Manning already served nearly seven years of a prison term for leaking Pentagon files to Assange, until Barack Obama pardoned her. But Manning is now back in prison as part of the Trump administration’s effort to coerce her to testify before a grand jury. Because it is unlawful for the US government to use a grand jury simply to prepare for trial, the Trump administration may well be contemplating additional charges against Assange.
British authorities have the power to prevent any US prosecution from eroding media freedom. The extradition treaty between Britain and the United States requires extradition only if “the conduct on which the offense is based” is punishable in both countries. And the treaty prevents the US government from filing additional charges after extradition unless they are based on the same set of facts or the British government consents.
These provisions empower British authorities to insist that the hacking charges are not a subterfuge for – or a first step in a frontal attack on – legitimate journalistic activity. In other words, Britain can refuse to extradite Assange unless the Trump administration gives a binding guarantee that the prosecution, now and in the future, would not extend beyond the narrow charge of conspiring to hack a government computer.
This is not a theoretical matter. Donald Trump openly and regularly rejects any form of critical media scrutiny. And he has shown little willingness to defer to the norms of democratic accountability. The only thing standing between an Assange prosecution and a major threat to global media freedom is Britain. It is urgent that it defend the principles at risk. Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch
Grey power protesters stage Adani sit in. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/grey-power-protesters-stage-adani-sit-in12 Apr 19, Older voters opposed to Adani’s Queensland coal mine have vowed to continue a protest in Brisbane until they’re arrested. Queensland grandmother Rae Sheridan has been arrested three times at protests demanding action on climate change.
If she has her way, it’ll be four by the end of the day.
The 74-year-old is among a band of “grey power” activists who are staging a small but determined protest against Adani’s proposed coal mine in outback Queensland. (I’d) probably rather die in jail than in a nursing home,” Ms Sheridan told AAP on Thursday.
“This issue is of such importance, because stopping Adani is a line in the sand for our relationship with coal. It has to stay in the ground … New Zealand has done it, Australia can do it too.”
Fellow protester Greg McLachlan says he was moved to take action after watching thousands of school students take to the streets across the globe, calling on governments to protect their futures.
“We should have done more, and we should be doing more,” he told AAP, welling up with sadness.
“The future is their’s, not ours, and we are letting them down.”
Adani’s Carmichael mine project is an issue because Queensland is one of the key states needed to win federal government.
It is popular in the state’s central and northern regions, but could cost support among voters in inner-city seats who want more action on global warming. Labor’s environment spokesman Tony Burke says the prime minister called the election on Thursday to avoid Senate estimates hearings that would have seen the CSIRO grilled about the recent groundwater approval handed to Adani.
The hearings were promptly cancelled after Scott Morrison called the poll for May 18.
Adani’s plan manage groundwater now needs state government approval so that it can start digging.
But Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government says it won’t be rushed into a decision to approve that plan, and another to manage the tiny and endangered black-throated finch.
Snowden points out that the WikiLeaks team has won many awards for its reporting. These include:
The Economist New Media Award (2008)
The Amnesty New Media Award (2009)
The Sam Adams Award for Integrity (2010)
The National Union of Journalists Journalist of the Year (Hrafnsson) (2011)
The Sydney Peace Foundation Gold Medal (2011)
The Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism (2011)
The Voltaire Award for Free Speech (2011)
The International Piero Passetti Journalism Prize of the National Union of Italian Journalists (2011)
The Privacy International Hero of Privacy (2012)
The Global Exchange Human Rights People’s Choice Award (2013)
The Brazilian Press Association Human Rights Award (2013)
The Kazakhstan Union of Journalists Top Prize (2014) https://www.facebook.com/dunrenard?__tn__=%2CdC-R-R&eid=ARDsY6zh-XW-n6LQ3xBNitIkpLlrj2d_EY3QVMtZpkpIpUitBAOcbg-Jneyv9V0sBuUmUzP8kTPjKdaJ&hc_ref=ART42xFstjUK2mNP1sgOwKX9KXHTBaFbBxJ3FqA5K4sDWZN1J_D46gCLZpRG74XZMjc&fref=nf
“We will inspire and train older Australians to take BOLD and creative nonviolent action to help change the politics of climate change for good.
Grey Nomads will become Green Nomads. We’ll organise #GreyPower blocs at the school strikes and bring the kids/grandkids with us. Politicians in marginal electorates will feel our presence day after day after day.
Our mission is to use our power to protect the climate now and for future generations and our #GreyPower uprising will demand the real change needed to address the climate emergency.
We are political but nonpartisan. We will target the political parties with the worst climate change policies the most, but will still push other parties to do better. We do not support or promote any political party.” www.climateprotectors.earth/greypower/
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last seven years. That’s after Ecuador’s president Moreno withdrew asylum.
That’s only a day after WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson claimed that an extensive spying operation was conducted against Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy. During an explosive media conference Hrafnsson alleged that the operation was designed to get Assange extradited.
Assange’s relationship with Ecuadorian officials appeared increasingly strained since the current president came to power in the Latin American country in 2017. His internet connection was cut off in March of last year, with officials saying the move was to stop Assange from “interfering in the affairs of other sovereign states.”
The whistleblower garnered massive international attention in 2010 when WikiLeaks released classified US military footage, entitled ‘Collateral Murder’, of a US Apache helicopter gunship opening fire on a number of people, killing 12 including two Reuters staff, and injuring two children.
The footage, as well as US war logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 200,000 diplomatic cables, were leaked to the site by US Army soldier Chelsea Manning. She was tried by a US tribunal and sentenced to 35 years in jail for disclosing the materials.
Manning was pardoned by outgoing President Barack Obama in 2017 after spending seven years in US custody. She is currently being held again in a US jail for refusing to testify before a secret grand jury in a case apparently related to WikiLeaks.
Julian Assange ‘won’t get any special treatment’: Scott Morrison, SMH , By Michael Koziol and Latika Bourke April 12, 2019 Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed Australia is providing consular assistance to Julian Assange following his arrest in London but the Wikileaks founder will receive “no special treatment”, even in the wake of a US extradition request.
An Australian citizen, Assange had been living in the Ecuadorian embassy for more than six years until that country ended his political asylum on Thursday for “discourteous and aggressive behaviour” and WikiLeaks’ “hostile and threatening declarations” against Ecuador.
He was charged with skipping bail by entering the embassy in 2012. Appearing in Westminster Magistrates’ Court four hours later, he pleaded not guilty, claiming he had a reasonable excuse for seeking asylum as his arrest would end in his extradition to the US.
That extradition request, on charges related to the publication of vast quantities of classified information by Wikileaks, is forthcoming but will be fought by Assange’s lawyers…..
Scott Morrison – “He won’t be getting any special treatment from Australia, he’ll be getting the same treatment that any other Australian would get.”
Asked whether Australia would fight a move to extradite Assange to the US, Mr Morrison said the Wikileaks founder was at the mercy of the British justice system. ……
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, also commencing the election campaign in Sydney, said Assange was entitled to his day in court but had no view on his extradition to the US.
This prospect prompted the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and 33 EU parliamentarians to issue strongly worded statements to both the UK and Ecuadorian governments in December last year, warning against facilitating the prosecution of a journalist, editor and publisher for “publishing the truth”. The statements demanded Assange’s “immediate release, together with his safe passage to a safe country”, and reminded the UK of its “binding” legal obligations to secure freedom for Assange.
A critical task for propagandists such as those waging a psychological war on Wilkileaks, then, is to feed audiences material that supports official narratives and exclude that which does not. Since its inception, the smear campaign against Julian Assange and Wikileaks has been remarkably concerted and consistent in that regard.
With the new year, however, news broke that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had offered Ecuador a $10 billion bailout in return for handing Julian Assange over to the United States. This bounty came on top of earlier US pressures and inducements, reportedly including increased oil exports, military co-operation and another $1.1 billion in IMF loans, with the US representative of the IMF instructing Ecuador that it must “resolve” its relationship with Julian Assange in order to receive the IMF money.
Australian Barrister Greg Barns has called it the blackmailing of a nation. News website 21st Century Wirecalled it “one of the biggest international bribery (or extortion) cases in history.”
While there is “not a single shred of evidence that any of [Wikileaks’] disclosures caused anyone harm”, writes journalist and author Nozomi Hayase, what Wikileaks did do in 2010 was expose thousands of previously unreported civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. These deaths included the nonchalant gunning down of children, journalists and their rescuers, and other “indiscriminate violence… torture, lies [and]bribery”, writes Chris Hedges. According to Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Elsberg, the leaks exposed “a massive cover-up over a number of years by the American authorities”.
Julian in ‘critical danger’, new rules ‘torture’ – Assange mother *AUDIO*
The Psychology Of Getting Julian Assange, Part 2: The Court Of Public Opinion And The Blood-Curdling Untold Story, New Matilda, By Dr Lissa JohnsonFebruary 25, 2019In her ongoing special investigation into the detention of Julian Assange, Dr Lissa Johnson turns to the art of smear, and how to corrupt a judicial system.
On Friday 14th February, the Editor in Chief of news website Consortium News, Joe Lauria, visited Sydney to host a ‘Politics in the Pub’ event: Whistleblowing, Wikileaks and the Future of Democracy. The event took place in anticipation of upcoming rallies to free Assange…….
. It is imperative that we pressure the Australian government to make sure its citizen, Julian Assange, is protected from the lawlessness of the American Empire.” Continue reading →
Now Adani has been approved, these are the nine at-risk Coalition seats most concerned about climate change, ABC By political reporter Jackson Gothe-Snape, 10 Apr 19, Liberal seats held by vacating and conservative MPs have extremely high levels of concern for climate change.
Key points:
New research shows seats where climate change concerns are most common
“Keeping day to day living costs down” is the issue most often identified by Australians as a concern
Electorate-level research released on Wednesday shows the extent of concern for climate change as the election looms.
The polling, completed by Roy Morgan during 2018 as part of the democracy non-profit Australian Futures Project, shows “keeping day-to-day living costs down” is the most pressing concern across Australia, ahead of “improving health services and hospitals” and “open and honest government”.
Climate change is the next most commonly identified issue.
At least one in three people (33 per cent) have climate change concerns in nine Liberal seats that are potentially vulnerable at the coming election.
That is significantly above the national average of approximately one in four people (26 per cent).
Traditional Owners opposed to the Carmichael mine will mount a legal challenge in the federal court next month to overturn Adani’s crucial agreement with Indigenous landholders.
The mining company’s groundwater management plan was approved this week by Federal Environment Melissa Price and before construction can begin the Queensland government needs to sign off on environmental approvals.
However, if successful, next month’s court hearing could have severe ramifications.
A handful of Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) native title claimants are seeking to invalidate Adani’s Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA), which is required for the mining company to build key infrastructure.
Some W&J native title claimants support the mine but those who oppose it say the ILUA is a “sham”.
Their claims were dismissed in a court hearing last year and the group will now appeal that verdict to the full bench of the federal court.
‘An act of war on our people’
Adrian Burragubba, one of the anti-Adani claimants, said he felt confident ahead of the hearing.
“That full bench federal court has allowed us to argue at least ten points – all we need is one of those points to get up in that argument and that ILUA will then become null and void,” he told NITV News.
“You can’t start building a mine until you get that ILUA, so nobody wants to talk about it because it’s the main thing that’s holding up the mine.”
Mr Burragubba also criticised the federal government’s decision to approve Adani’s groundwater management plan, claiming the project would destroy ancient springs.
“Water is part of our dreaming as First Nations people,” he said.
“This will fracture our ties with our ancestors and will essentially be an act of war on our people.”
Environmental approval ‘reeks of political interference’
Meanwhile, Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch said she would not be rushing the remaining approvals.
“I will not be bullied and I will not allow the regulator to be bullied,” the Labor MP said.
“The federal minister’s decision yesterday to approve Adani’s [groundwater management plan] reeks of political interference, and in many ways puts into question the integrity of her decision-making process.”
Adani Australia CEO Lucas Dow said the approval followed 18 months of environmental evaluation by CSIRO and Geoscience Australia.
“The measures outlined in the plans will ensure groundwater at the mine, and the ecosystems that depend on it, are protected,” he said in a statement.
The controversy is over the definition of wastes from the Lynas’ water leach purification (WLP) process, which contains thorium and uranium.
Lynas claims that the wastes are naturally-occurring radioactive material (called NORM), while we claim that the wastes are not naturally-occurring, but have been technologically-enhanced and should be called technologically-enhanced naturally-occurring radioactive material known as TENORM.
Citing “two eminent scientists”, Lynas states as fact that “the small amount of thorium and uranium in the WLP generated are not man-made but naturally occurring radionuclides found in soil, water and in food.”
Lynas is clearly distorting the facts.
First of all, the thorium and uranium containing wastes generated by Lynas are not found to naturally occur in the Gebeng area, where the plant is located. On the contrary, the raw material which is processed by the Lynas plant is lanthanide concentrate that contains the thorium, uranium and the rare-earth.
This raw material is processed and imported from the Mount Weld mine in Australia and is brought to Malaysia. It is then subject to further processing in Gebeng by Lynas.
Therefore, how can it be said that say that the thorium and uranium are naturally occurring in the soil, water and in food when they were not there before in the Gebeng area, if not for the Lynas operations?
Moreover, what is even more significant is that we are talking about the generation of an accumulated amount of more than 450,000 metric tonnes of radioactive wastes from the Lynas operations thus far. To call this naturally-occurring radioactive material is indeed unscientific.
Secondly, the wastes that Lynas has generated from the WLP process clearly falls within the definition of TENORM, as defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) as: “Naturally occurring radioactive materials that have been concentrated or exposed to the accessible environment as a result of human activities such as manufacturing, mineral extraction, or water processing.”
The USEPA also states that “technologically enhanced” means that the radiological, physical, and chemical properties of the radioactive material have been concentrated or further altered by having been processed, or beneficiated, or disturbed in a way that increases the potential for human and/or environmental exposures.”
Indeed, Lynas seems to have forgotten that its own Radiological Impact Assessment of 2010 refers to the residues from its operations as TENORM.
Moreover, in a study co-authored by, Dr. Sukiman Sarmani (the “eminent scientist” that Lynas refers to in its letter) and three others (published in 2014 on the Lynas plant residue), shows that the WLP residue has a high radioactivity of Thorium 232 compared to the natural background levels of Malaysian soils and therefore comes under the purview of the regulatory authorities.
These facts fortify our position.
Lynas in its letter also refers to us as “unqualified people.”
For the record, SAM and CAP have very deep and detailed knowledge of how rare-earth plants can impact public health and the environment, having had years of considerable experience from being involved in the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) case in Bukit Merah, Ipoh.
We assisted the people of Bukit Merah over many years countering the claims of ARE, the Atomic Energy Licensing Board, the International Atomic Energy Agency and others.
This we did by being engaged and involved with many scientists and public health experts both from Malaysia and abroad, who helped the community battle in the courts, that finally led to its closure. We have over the years documented the serious health impacts suffered by the Bukit Merah community, that continue till today, due to the impacts of low-level radiation.
Surely our rich experience and knowledge cannot simply be dismissed by the likes of Lynas. SM MOHAMED IDRIS is president of both environmental movement Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) and NGO Consumers Association of Penang (CAP).
SBS News , 8 Apr 19 Anti-Adani protesters have disrupted a Scott Morrison speech, as Coalition tension mount around the controversial project. Anti-Adani protesters have disrupted Scott Morrison at a Brisbane business lunch, but the prime minister appeared to take in his stride.One woman carrying a Stop Adani protest flag managed to reach Mr Morrison’s side, saying “we care about the climate. This will be a climate election … Shame”.
She was dragged away by security as a second protester stood to yell “stop Adani”………
Australian Youth Climate Coalition organiser, Melanie McAuliffe, said they wanted to highlight LNP government’s inability to react on climate change.
“We just had a summer of unprecedented heatwave, bushfires and floods and yet this government still continues to ignore what we need to do to address the climate crisis.”…….
Several teenagers said they were looking for action to save the planet.
Jo, from Cleveland, told the crowd outside the business lunch that all she wanted was a future.
“I am 17 years old and I want is for our government to do what they need to to save the planet,” she told the crowd.
“This is our home, this is what houses us, we have a responsibility to care for it.”………
“We will inspire and train older Australians to take BOLD and creative nonviolent action to help change the politics of climate change for good.
Antinuclear 