Warning on outdoor workers’ risk of melanoma
Warning for employers on melanoma, The Standard, By PETER COLLINSLost work time and extra insurance costs were also repercussions for employers, the Cancer Council of Victoria said at the start of National Skin Cancer Action Week.
The Standard sought comment after observing several outdoor workers in recent weeks without sun-protective headwear………
he cancer council said outdoor workers received five to 10 times more UV radiation exposure than indoor workers.
“In Australia it is estimated that around 200 melanomas and 34,000 non-melanoma skin cancers are caused by occupational exposures to UV every year,” a spokeswoman said. “Recent research indicated that while 95 per cent of Australian outdoor workers use some form of sun protection, just 9 per cent are considered to be fully protected from UV overexposure.”
In Victoria more than 40,000 new cases of skin cancer were diagnosed every year including 2307 cases of melanoma and 460 deaths from skin cancer……..
It is estimated two in three Australians will get some form of skin cancer before they are 70 and UV levels are strong enough in January to damage the skin in as little as 11 minutes.http://www.standard.net.au/story/2706123/warning-for-employers-on-melanoma/?cs=4162
Joe Hockey touts uranium exports as cure for the climate change that he doesn’t believe in anyway
Hockey: Australia resources will benefit from China, US climate pact THE AUSTRALIAN Jared Owens NOVEMBER 13, 2014 - Greens leader Christine Milne warned Australia risked “looking like just a quarry” while the world moved to post-carbon economic models…….
Balance between need for Vitamin D, and avoidance of skin cancer
Skin cancer fears blinding people to health benefits of sunlight, say scientists SMH, November 18, 2014 Julia Medew Skin cancer prevention campaigns may be steering people away from healthy doses of sunlight, which is now thought to protect against high blood pressure, heart disease and possibly stroke, a group of British scientists say.
In a provocative presentation to a Melbourne conference this week, Martin Feelisch, a professor of clinical and experimental sciences at the University of Southampton, questioned whether it was time for a “radical rethink” of the advice given to people about how much time they should spend in the sun.
Professor Feelisch said recent epidemiological studies suggested that the health benefits of moderate sunlight exposure outweighed the harmful effects of UV radiation on the skin.
In particular, a recent study conducted with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh found that a dose of UV equivalent to about 30 minutes of sunshine during the summer in southern Europe lowered people’s blood pressure……….
But head of the Australian Cancer Council Professor Ian Olver said current public health advice was sophisticated in Australia, balancing the pros and cons of sunlight for Vitamin D and emphasising high UV index times when people are more likely to burn.
“If the UV index is three or above, the sun is intense enough to burn you and therefore you need to take some protection measures. If it’s less than three, you can probably safely go out in the sun. So for vitamin D, early in the morning or late in the afternoon, it might be fine to go out without protection but in the middle of the day, it usually isn’t.”
Professor Olver said despite these campaigns, Australia still had high rates of skin cancer. There were still more than 12,000 melanomas and 430,000 non-melanoma skin cancers diagnosed each year and about 2000 people died from the disease annually, he said. http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/skin-cancer-fears-blinding-people-to-health-benefits-of-sunlight-say-scientists-20141118-11p8we.html#ixzz3JXjrrN1
Tony Abbott’s insensitive remarks spark Aboriginal protest at G20
‘Imagine having your whole history erased’: Indigenous rights activists burn Australian flag during G20 protests 9 News 16 Nov Indigenous rights protesters have burned Australian flags during a demonstration outside the G20 summit convention centre in Brisbane.
A man at the forefront of the protests at the Roma Street Parklands told 9NEWS the act was a direct response to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s comments on Friday that Australia pre-white colonisation was “extraordinarily basic and raw”.
“We had no choice when Abbott declared once again there was no semblance of any government [before white colonisation],” the demonstrator Woolombi said.
“This land for 67,000 years was the greatest biodiversity land management estate ever seen on the face of the world.
“We can’t afford to have that removed from our genetic memory.”………http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/11/16/14/36/indigenous-rights-activists-burn-australian-flag-during-g20-protests
Loonpond – a refreshing critique of the Australian media and the G20
loonpond November 17, 2014 In which the pond puts the G20 to rest, and begins the march to Paris … in company with the denialist dunderheads clutching at their coal for coal comfort …
Abbott confirmed yet again that he was a lightweight – a man with an introductory speech so bemusing that even the hagiographers were bemused – and then it was left to that other lightweight Joe Hockey to attempt to mop up the consequences of climate change stances presented with all the gravity, depth and nuance of three word slogans. Poor Joe. Revealed as a flake, and so early in his career. Who’d have thought anyone could make Wayne Swan seem like a treasurer of substance?
Now the rest of the week will be spent with others scurrying from their bunk holes to explain how Australia is up with the rest of the world in the matter of responding to climate change, and how we have the very best policies for this grave matter, except – nudge, nudge, wink wink – it’s not that grave, not really…
In short, it’s pretty much business as usual, with the exceptional weather the gravy on the roast, seeing as how denialists just love climate change meetings that take place in unusually heavy snow storms… even these cocooned politicians must have noticed the heat, coming as it does as a furnace blast when you step out of the air-conditioning …
So how did the morons at the Currish Snail see the proceedings this morning?……
But that’s as fair as the Murdoch crazies could go, in the tabloid-lite arena. In the world of the reptiles, faces were grim, the extent of the humiliation gravely noted – some had already been consternated by Abbott moaning and whingeing about a seven buck co-payment to a president facing a Republican congress – and then there was the shirt-fronting:……….http://loonpond.blogspot.com.au/
Tony Abbott’s negativity toward Aboriginal people blasted by Mick Dodson
Mick Dodson blasts Tony Abbott for ‘negativity’ towards Indigenous people Former Australian of the Year says the prime minister is contributing to the perception of ‘black failure’ The former Australian of the Year, Mick Dodson, has blasted Tony Abbott for his negativity towards Indigenous people, saying he’s contributing to the perception of “black failure”.
Speaking at the national press club in Canberra on Wednesday, Dodson said the prime minister’s Indigenous policy focuses on protecting children, securing communities and building jobs.
“It’s a three-trick pony and a very small pony at that. Stop the negativity. All of those three things are about our failure, supposedly. Because we’re Aboriginal,” said Dodson, who is chair of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (Aiatsis). “The reality is many, many of us are very successful.”
“We never hear about them from you guys [the media]. You’re too busy on the entertainment of black failure and that’s where the government’s mind seems to be and where the public discourse seems to be.”
Before taking office in 2013, Abbott promised to be the prime minister for Indigenous affairs, and moved the portfolio into the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Dodson warns that certain government policies, like moves to weaken the Northern Territory Land Rights Act, will be detrimental to reconciliation.
“I think the present government is picking fights on a number of fronts that don’t help reconciliation and certainly aren’t conducive to an atmosphere that would enable a successful referendum.”………http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/12/mick-dodson-blasts-tony-abbott-for-negativity-towards-indigenous-people
G20 heatwave makes it hard for Tony Abbott to sell his climate denialist policies
Abbott’s nightmare: World leaders to swelter through G20 heatwave, Climate Spectator JOHN CONROY 14 NOV, As it seeks a growth-focus at the G20, the Abbott Government has been struck by another development which will only compound the attention on climate change generated by the US-China vows in Beijing this week.The Bureau of Meteorology is expecting a heatwave across Queensland, with temperatures to be more than 10 degrees above average in parts of the state – including Brisbane.
In the state capital, the bureau is forecasting 35 and 39 degrees across the weekend, considerably higher than the city’s November average of 27.8.
Nearby Ipswich – 40km southwest of Brisbane – will touch 41 on Saturday, according to the bureau, it’s hottest November day since 1968 and well above its 30.8 November average, while further inland towns are expecting to reach the mid-40s in the first half of next week.
There will be little overnight relief at the G20, too, with temperatures to remain around the mid-20s in the evenings and only bottom out at 20 degrees early Sunday.
“We’re going to have hot days and hot nights as well,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Dean Narramore said, according to Fairfax Media……….
The heatwave comes as the world tracks for its hottest calendar year on record, having already experienced the hottest consecutive 12 months from October 2013 through to September this year.
Ahead of the G20, a group of health organisations – including the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and the National Toxics Network – have called on climate change to be on the summit’s agenda, with the chief executive of the Public Health Association of Australia pointing out the increased risk of heatwaves. ……..http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/11/14/science-environment/abbotts-nightmare-world-leaders-swelter-through-g20-heatwave?utm_source=exact
President Obama and Ban Ki-moon outspoken about climate change action
Obama’s University of Queensland speech: President throws down gauntlet to act on climate change news.com.au, 15 Nov 14 PRESIDENT Obama has used his speech at the University of Queensland to throw down the gauntlet on climate change, urging Australia’s young people to act before it’s too late.
“If China and the US can agree on this, the world can agree on this. We need to get this done,” the President told a crowd of around 2000 students and politicians at the University of Queensland on a sweltering day in the city.
“I have not had time to go to the Great Barrier Reef and I want to come back and I want my daughters to come back and I want their daughters and sons to come back and have that be there in 50 years,” he said.
The reference will no doubt put pressure on Prime Minister Tony Abbot, who has been heavily criticised this week by media for refusing to put climate change on the G20’s official agenda.
In his opening address this morning United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said climate change was the “defining issue of our times” and it’s “only natural” G20 leaders should make it a priority.
President Obama also used the speech to announce a $3 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund which aims to help developing nations deal with climate change………http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/obamas-university-of-queensland-speech-president-throws-down-gauntlet-to-act-on-climate-change/story-e6frflo9-1227124098927
Nuclear submarine part of Russia’s fleet North of Australia for the G20
G20 News Roundup: Russian Nuclear Submarine 5th In The Fleet, World Leaders Coming, Beach Protest Happening International Business Times By Athena Yenko | November 14, 2014 A Russian nuclear submarine maybe the fifth ship to the four Russian warships spotted in north of Australia. A United States submarine had reportedly followed the four Russian warships as the fleet sail across the international waters and have kept the Russian vessels under radar near Japan as the fleet head south, The Australian reported Continue reading
Western Australian Aboriginal Kardooloo fight back against removal from their land
‘This land is ours, you can’t kick us off it’ VICTORIA LAURIE THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 15, 2014 Aboriginal community Kardaloo community leader Bill Pearce and his extended family say they will not be moved.
If they are among the estimated 150 remote Aboriginal communities to close across Western Australia, they say history will repeat itself. It will bring them back to the days when they camped on the fringes of Mullewa, 30km down the road in the state’s midwest.
“They can keep their money — all we want is our land to live on,” said 84-year-old Mr Pearce.
Money has been central in the argument this week over the future of Western Australia’s 274 remote communities and about 60 in South Australia. West Australian Premier Colin Barnett argues his government cannot afford to service the communities which were, until September this year, a federal responsibility…….http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/this-land-is-ours-you-cant-kick-us-off-it-aboriginal-community/story-e6frgczx-1227123627993
G20 fetish for Growth will not bring better job outcomes
Will growth mean more jobs? Not necessarily The Drum By Anthony D’Costa 13 Nov 2014, We can expect to see the continuing fetishisation of economic growth at the G20 this weekend, but that’s not the magic potion when it comes to employment, writes Anthony D’Costa………
The G20 leaders are bent on raising the global economic growth rate to 2 per cent or more than current projections. The economic logic behind this mysterious number is an unspecified investment commitment and reforms that collectively would induce economic growth and get the world economy moving again.
The question is, will it get the economy moving again in terms of jobs? In fact, there is no explicit discussion by the G20 on the employment challenges that confront the world economy…….. Continue reading
Coal companies funding renewable energy projects in India, Pakistan, Peru
Coal giants turn to renewable energy, Sunshine Coast DailyNicky Moffat | 15th Nov 2014 SUNSHINE Coast environmentalists are calling on coal companies to come clean about how coal helps developing nations overcome energy poverty.
An Australia Institute report released last week revealed that when coal companies funded energy- poverty reduction projects, they used renewable energy sources such as hydro and solar – and not coal.
Report author Rob Campbell said Indian mining company Adani distributed solar street lighting to villages in India, BHP Billiton donated solar panels in southern Pakistan and Rio Tinto helped connect Peruvian locals to the local hydro-powered grid.
“Coal companies talk about coal being the answer to energy poverty. That’s what they say, but when you look at what they do, it’s a totally different story,” he said…..http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/coal-giants-turn-to-renewable-energy/2454075/
G20 – has it any credibility?
G20 faces crucial test of its credibility as Brisbane summit looms Ben Doherty theguardian.com, Monday 10 November 2014 Is the Group of 20 a genuine agent for change, or just another tired horse on the merry-go-round of international confabs? “…..The G20 was widely praised for stabilising the world economy during the global financial crisis of 2008, but the body has struggled for impact – critics say relevance – since those panicked days. The once-shiny crown of the “world’s premier economic body” has lost a little of its lustre.
In less critical times, its members have struggled to find consensus, descending instead into self-interested bickering, and reforms the G20 has promised have dwarfed those it has actually delivered.
This week’s Brisbane meeting of the Group of 20 will be a crucial test: can it be a genuine agent for change, or just another tired horse on the merry-go-round of international confabs?
The G20 is unquestionably powerful. Collectively, G20 economies account for two-thirds of the world’s people, 85% of its gross product, and three-quarters of global trade.
Unlike the too-exclusive G7, it includes the emerging giants of China, India and Indonesia, along with broader South American, African, and Asian representation. But with only 20 members, it’s nimble enough to make decisions, as it demonstrated during the global crisis……….
In the midst of the [2008 financial] crisis, the G20 co-ordinated the massive fiscal stimuli being pumped into the world’s economies to pull them back from the brink. It redesigned international regulatory rules (through the Basel III agreement), and reformed existing international public institutions such as the International Monetary Fund………
“….if leaders start to lose interest in it, it just becomes yet another meeting in an incredibly-crowded international program, it becomes international space junk, rolling around, sucking up resources and time,” he says. [says Mike Callaghan, program director of the Lowy Institute’s G20 Studies Centre,]………..http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/10/g20-faces-crucial-test-credibility-brisbane-summit-looms
Aboriginal protestors rally in Brisbane against priorities of G20 summit
G20: Indigenous protesters rally in Brisbane CBD ahead of leaders’ summit, ABC News 10 Nov 14 By Louisa Rebgetz About 100 people gathered in Brisbane ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit to protest against the treatment of Indigenous Australians. The group converged on Roma Street in the CBD this morning, with many draped in Aboriginal flags and holding placards.
The protesters said the world needed to know the Stolen Generations was continuing, with 14,000 Indigenous children living in out-of-home care in Australia.
Many had travelled from across Australia to take part in the protest.
About 20 unarmed, plain-clothed police officers wearing blue hats monitored the group from the streets, while a police helicopter hovered above.
The group marched through the city escorted by police, with the rally ending at Musgrave Park at South Brisbane.
………….”We’re also here in solidarity with other Indigenous groups around the world, particularly in North America, who are suffering from very, very high rates of child removal by welfare agencies, just as Aboriginal people here in Australia are suffering.
“It very much seems to go along with the neo-liberal form of government that’s been pushed by G20 – they won’t fund the social services people need to look after their families and communities, but they will fund the punitive agencies that will go in and rip children away.” – Paddy Gibson, a senior researcher with the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-10/indigenous-protesters-rally-in-brisbanes-cbd-for-g20/5879308
Australia could choose to help India with clean energy- not dirty coal and uranium
Australia, India’s dirty energy friend Instead of being India’s dirty fuel friend, Australia can build a sustainable energy relationship with India by helping boost India’s growing renewables industry. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/10/comment-australia-indias-dirty-energy-friend By Ruchira Talukdar 10 NOV 2014 As heads of state prepare to arrive in Brisbane next week for the G20 summit where climate change will be conspicuous by its serious absence on the agenda, the Australian government is finalising paperwork to start exporting uranium – a highly risky fuel – and approving giant mines like Carmichael in central Queensland to ship coal – a climate change culprit – to India.
As an Indian activist now working in Australian for a healthy environment, I have a personal interest in seeing a firm cooperation between both countries I call home based on clean technologies which combat climate change. Which is why I was very disappointed to hear Prime Minister Tony Abbott blithely say that “coal is good for humanity”. Continue reading
1 This month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
21 April Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-04-21 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-04-21 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
Event Type: Virtual
A virtual link will be communicated before the event.
Host Contact Info: australia@icanw.org
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 