Category: Archive

Greenpeace acts against GM Dairy

admin /22 December, 2007

Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory has ignored massive consumer rejection of GE foods by announcing it supports lifting the Victorian GE crop ban and is happy for it’s dairy cattle to eat GE animal feed! Keep scary GE out of your dairy – take action now!

In an unprecedented statement of support for GE crops, Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory have said they will no longer limit the use of GE animal feed for their supplying farmers, claiming that there is no GE in the final milk product.

With Murray Goulburn and the Australian Dairy Industry Council already supporting the end of the Victorian ban on commercial growing of GE crops, it looks like our dairy industry is turning GE!

Help keep scary out of Australia’s dairy! Contact Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory and urge them to stay GE-free!

Australia pressures Japan on Whalint

admin /22 December, 2007

Source: ABC Online  

The Foreign Affairs Minister says the Federal Government will continue to exert bilateral pressure on Japan in an effort to stop whaling altogether.

Stephen Smith says he has spoken with his Japanese counterpart about the country’s decision to suspend the killing of humpback whales.

Earlier this week the Government announced Australia will send the customs ship the Oceanic Viking to monitor the Japanese fleet and put in place a range of diplomatic measures to step up pressure on Japan.

Rudd gags CSIRO

admin /22 December, 2007

The CSIRO, the Australian Research Council and Cooperative Research Centres now have to have their media releases cleared by the PM’s office to make sure they reflect the new Federal Government’s key messages.

The secretary of the Department of Innovation, Industry Science and Research, Mark Paterson, is the senior bureaucrat who issued the new directive.

Mr Paterson says it is not about controlling the message, it is about consistency.

"It was something that we were asked for from those agencies so that they were certain as to how to deal with media releases," he said.

"The essence of the message was that the Government wanted to ensure a degree of consistency in message on key messages and therefore wanted to clear key messages through the Prime Minister’s office."

Slavery alive and well in USA

admin /22 December, 2007

Source from UK Independent Migrant workers chained beaten and forced into debt, exposing the human cost of producing cheap food By Leonard Doyle in Immokalee, Floride Three Florida fruit-pickers, held captive and brutalised by their employer for more than a year, finally broke free of their bonds by punching their way through the ventilator hatch Continue Reading →

Raid on Maori village opens old wounds

admin /22 December, 2007

Read the original  

Armed police stormed into this quiet village at dawn, threw up roadblocks, shot out truck tires and forced families out of their homes at gunpoint. The rare show of force, with its dark subscript of terrorism and assassination plans, stunned this placid nation where beat cops don’t even carry guns. It has since sparked charges of racism and inflamed historical resentments.

The October raid was part of a nationwide sweep in which 16 people were arrested and authorities said they shut down military-style camps on Maori ancestral lands where both Maori militants and environmental activists trained. But a bid to charge 12 of the 16 with terrorist activities unraveled on technical grounds, triggering complaints of police heavy-handedness.

While the facts remain unclear, the way police handled the case has strained relations with the 540,000-strong Maori community, which makes up 15 percent of the country’s population.

Wild storms lash outback town

admin /22 December, 2007

The Australian – December 21  

ROADS in and out of a small Balonne Shire town, in the west of Queensland, are blocked after storms and torrential rain, causing tens of thousands of dollars damage, hit the area overnight.

The tiny town of St George, 400km west of Toowoomba, faces a massive clean-up this morning after flooding, and trees and branches were torn down in a wild storm last night.

Police said the Carnarvon Highway to the north of the town is blocked after 70mm of rain overnight and this morning, while 60mm of rain closed the Moonie Highway to the east of the town.

Other roads were severely flooded after most of the rain – between 70mm and 108mm – fell in 40 minutes last night.