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  • Get it right with the RET GET UP

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    Get it right with the RET

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    Leah – GetUp!
    3:45 PM (6 minutes ago)
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    RET banner

    Dear NEVILLE,

    Let’s face it, the Government needs all the help it can get right now. And we want to lend a hand!

    Over the past year, Australia’s investment in large-scale renewable energy has taken a dramatic nose-dive thanks to the Abbott Government’s anti-renewable policies. While investment worldwide in renewable energy is up by 16%, Australia’s has dropped by a staggering 88%, leaving industry uncertain and thousands of jobs at risk.1

    Now, as the Government searches for policy options, it’s being handed a golden opportunity to correct course on renewable energy.

    For the first time in months, the Government is back at the negotiating table with Labor over the Renewable Energy Target (RET),2 an effective clean energy policy that’s supported by a cool 89% of Australians and was supported by the Coalition before the last election.3 And the pressure is working, with some small but hopeful indications the Government may keep its pre-election promise to keep the RET in its current form.4 Keeping the RET is a no brainer — but up until now, the Government’s been on a war path to slash the target, serving the interests of dirty power companies (and big political donors) like Origin, AGL and EnergyAustralia.

    So right now is the perfect time for Australians everywhere to remind our Coalition MPs that by keeping a strong RET, they will not only be doing what’s proven to be best for our country in the long term, but they will also be acting on what the vast majority of Australians are asking for.

    Click here to tell your MP or senator that Australia has got to get it right with the RET, and keep the 41,000 GWh target that has worked so well.

    The facts are indisputable: since 2001, the RET has been responsible for a massive $20 billion in investment into the Australian economy, over 24,000 new jobs, and lower power bills for consumers.5 Nearly 24,000 GetUp members made their voices heard by making a submission to the government’s review of the RET – and over 5,000 GetUp members have switched from Origin, AGL and EnergyAustralia to renewable energy backed Powershop as part of our campaign to make sure consumers voices are heard ahead of the vested interests of the “Dirty Three” power companies.

    With the RET’s future in the balance, new investment in renewables has fallen to a 13-year-low. But the negotiations happening right now between Labor and the Coalition could decide the future of renewables in Australia. In fact, the timing couldn’t be better – we know that many Liberal representatives are actually very supportive of the RET, and with loyalties up in the air this could be the best chance yet to encourage backbenchers to speak up to Tony Abbott and Environment Minister Hunt, and let them know that keeping the target is a huge deal.

    We won’t stand for Origin, AGL and EnergyAustralia putting the hard word on our politicians to wreck a policy that is creating jobs and investment and lowering our household bills. And neither should our politicians.

    Click here to tell your MP to do the right thing for a sustainable future, and support the RET in its current form: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/renewable-energy/get-right-with-the-ret-non-vic/get-right-with-the-ret

    Thanks for speaking out to protect the RET,

    Leah, James, Paul and Michael, for the GetUp team

    PS – Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham, former Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment said in July 2013: “the real driver of investment in renewable energy has been and continues to be the Renewable Energy Target. We have always supported the RET and continue to offer bi-partisan support for this scheme…The Coalition supports the current system, including the 41,000 giga-watt hours target.” 6

    We know that there are Liberal and National MPs and senators out there that think attacking the RET is crazy – this is a battle we can win, but we need your help. Click here to share this campaign on Facebook. Tell your friends and family that you’re writing to your Coalition representatives to demand that they protect the RET.

    You can always forward this email on to your friends and family so they can take action too!

    References

    [1] ‘Aust renewable investment at 13-year low’, Herald Sun, 13 January 2015.
    [2] ‘Govt, opposition reignite RET talks’, The Australian, 6 February 2015.
    [3] ‘Almost 90% of Australians support renewable energy target, says poll’, Guardian Australia, 2 December 2014.
    [4] ‘Abbott government shows signs of shifting ground on climate policy’, Guardian Australia, 10 February 2015.
    [4] ‘Why we need the Renewable Energy Target’, Clean Energy Council, 2014.
    [5] Senator Simon Birmingham, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment speaking at Clean Energy Council’s Clean Energy Week, July 2013.

  • RE: Abbott still blinkered by roads addiction Inbox x ADAM BANDT

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    RE: Abbott still blinkered by roads addiction

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    Adam Bandt
    12:39 PM (55 minutes ago)
    to me
    Hi Neville,

    In just one week, over 3,500 people have joined you in calling on Tony Abbott to ditch the East West toll road and instead invest in public transport! Can you help us reach 5,000 by Monday by sharing with your Facebook friends now?Next week, I will present the petition in Parliament and call on the Prime Minister to listen to the thousands of Australians who want to divert the $3 billion in Federal funding allocated to the East West toll road into public transport.

    Click here to share the petition with your friends on Facebook and help us reach 5,000 signatures by Monday.

    Victorians know that it’s only public transport that will ease congestion, reduce pollution and keep Melbourne liveable, and it’s time for Tony Abbott to give up his destructive roads agenda once and for all.

    Thanks,

    Adam

    PS. Don’t have Facebook and want to help us reach 5000 signatures by Monday? Can you forward this email onto 5 of your friends and ask them to join you at http://www.adambandt.com/ditcheastwest?

    —[Original Message]—

    Neville —

    Tony Abbott said this morning his government would do everything in their power to build the East West toll road. Join us now as we demand he gives up on the toll road once and for all and instead invests in public transport for Melbourne.Tony Abbott had committed $3 billion to go towards the East West toll road. But instead of persisting with the dud project, he has the opportunity to divert this money and invest into trams and trains that Melbourne desperately needs.

    Sign the petition calling on Tony Abbott to ditch his plans for the East West toll road and invest the $3 billion into public transport for Melbourne instead.

    Speaking live on TV from Melbourne this morning, Tony Abbott not only declared his government’s support for the toll road, he also claimed they had won the election on their plan for the East West toll road to be built.

    This shows just how deluded Tony Abbott has become — he himself called the Victorian election ‘a referendum on the East West Link’. [1]

    Victorians voted ‘no’ to the East West toll road — Ellen Sandell and a record number of Greens MPs were elected into the Victorian Parliament last year because we stood against this polluting and destructive project. The State Liberal government was kicked out for trying to ram the road through against the want of Victorians.

    Add your name calling for Tony Abbott and the government to divert the $3 billion into clean and efficient public transport.

    We know it’s trains, not toll roads that will ease congestion. And we know that Melbourne desperately needs investment now to create a 21st Century public transport network. It’s time that Tony Abbott listened to Victorians once and for all.

    Thanks for standing with us,

    Adam

    [1] Victoria state election 2014: Premier Denis Napthine announces $250m for Tullamarine Freeway, November 8, 2014

  • VIDEO: Global Divestment Day 350 ORG
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    The Age National Headlines – Childcare company G8’s profit soars – 5 hours ago

    VIDEO: Global Divestment Day

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    Charlie Wood – 350.org Australia <350@350.org> Unsubscribe
    5:24 PM (12 minutes ago)
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    Neville,

    There aren’t many things more powerful in life than witnessing a movement coming together behind a simple idea: it’s up to us to end the age of fossil fuels and build a brighter future.

    That’s exactly what I saw unfold this weekend as people from every continent on earth rose up to take action for Global Divestment Day — and it was beautiful!

    This is a short video but it shows exactly what I mean:

    Let’s be honest. The fossil fuel industry is cashed up and powerful — but it’s also on the wrong side of history. Every single act of divestment and every voice raised for renewable alternatives chips away at its social license and the legitimacy of its business plans.

    The global divestment campaign, now in over 60 countries, is having exactly the impact that we hoped it would. 

    By acting together, we’ve ensured that not a week goes by without a university, local government, faith group, medical association or heavyweight institution divesting from those driving the climate crisis. You’ve helped put major fossil fuel corporations on the defensive; even oil giants like Shell have been forced to look at what their business models mean for the climate, and the fossil industry is pushing out clumsy counter PR campaigns by the day.

    Consider this: across the world, almost 200 cities, universities and other institutions have committed to divest, moving US$50 billion out of fossil fuels. Here at home – over 3000 Australians have moved over $400 million of their money out of the Big Banks. And just as Global Divestment Day was kicking off worldwide last week, all major political parties in the UK — the birthplace of the coal-powered industrial revolution — signed an historic pledge to totally phase out unabated coal.

    The divestment campaign that started as recently as 2012 on a handful of US campuses went truly global this weekend. Our movement has hit its stride.

    Thank you and welcome to everyone of you who joined us for the first time this weekend. Now it’s up to us to ensure we keep pushing and make fossil fuels history (more from us on that soon)!

    Onwards,

    Charlie on behalf of the Global Divestment Day team

    PS: Check-out some of the global photo highlights here & Australian highlights here.

    350.org is building a global climate movement.You can connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and become a sustaining donor to keep this movement strong and growing.

  • Light the dark for Reza GET UP
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    Light the dark for Reza

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    Aurora – GetUp!
    3:04 PM (2 minutes ago)
    to me

    At sunset tomorrow, Australians across the country will be lighting the dark in memory of Reza Barati. Will you join them?

    Dear NEVILLE,

    Tomorrow marks exactly one year since the tragic events on Manus Island that resulted in the death of Reza Barati, a 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who was brutally killed while in our care on Manus last year.

    When Australians heard of Reza’s death, we came together in our hundreds and thousands. We stood side by side to express our sorrow and our anger for Reza’s death, and for all those who Australia failed to protect. We candles in the hope that this tragedy would mark a turning point in history and force our nation’s leaders to rethink our treatment of asylum seekers. We showed Australia, and the world, that we can – and must – be better than this. Together, we gave hope to those who continue to suffer under our government’s inhumane policies. It was an incredibly moving testament to the strength of our movement, and proved that our government’s policies were not reflective of our nation’s conscience.

    Click here to see how we lit the dark together.

    Now a year has passed, and our message is still as pertinent as it was last February. The detention centre on Manus still remains, as does the suffering it inflicts. It was only last month that we heard reports of asylum seekers on hunger strike, sewing their lips and swallowing razor blades. These claims were denied point-blank by the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton – that was, until media reports forced him to admit otherwise. Tomorrow night let’s light the dark to remind Australia and our political leaders that we have not forgotten Reza, nor have we forgotten the more than a thousand detainees who remain on the island, out of sight, but not out of our minds. For as long as there are people suffering on Manus, we will be here fighting for them.

    Tomorrow, 17 February, at sunset, people across the country will light a candle in their window in memory of Reza and in hope for a better way forward. Will you join them? With our friends as the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), we’ll be collating photos and messages from around Australia, for an online display of hope and compassion here: www.lightthedark2015.tumblr.com

    If you’re on Twitter or Instagram, you can post a photo of you and your candle using the #LightTheDark hashtag. If you’re not, you can submit your photo and message of hope here.

    Tomorrow evening, let’s light up Australia with candles in every window in memory of Reza, and for all those still in detention who need hope more than ever. Together, let’s create a visual message that is impossible to ignore – one that makes clear to our government, to asylum seekers, and to the world, that Australians don’t support the injustices being perpetrated in our name. Reza’s tragic death last year sparked a conversation our country desperately needed to have. Now it’s up to all of us to keep that conversation going and make sure the message is not lost.

    In memory of Reza and in hope for a more compassionate future,

    Aurora, Erin, Alycia, Leah and the GetUp team

  • Climate change booklet

    Climate change booklet aims to dispel confusion, misinformation via

  • We’d go to jail for this!

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    ESPN.com – Dolan regrets sending reply to unhappy fan – 7 hours ago

    We’d go to jail for this!

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    Alex Wilks – Avaaz
    6:10 PM (41 minutes ago)
    to me
    Dear friends,

    Leaks show HSBC helped thousands of the mega-rich dodge their taxes! We’d go to jail for this, but governments won’t prosecute them unless we demand it. Let’s raise a million-strong call to two key officials and deliver it via ads and legislators. No one is too big to jail:

    SIGN THE PETITION

    HSBC bank has just been caught red-handed helping some of the world’s mega-rich dodge taxes! We’d go to prison for this, but governments are treating these powerful people like they’re too big to jail. Let’s show them they’re not.

    Our governments are losing $3 trillion a year to tax dodging — enough to end extreme world poverty many times over! This leak is the biggest in banking history — if we don’t seize it now to get prosecutions, we may never get a chance like this again.

    UK finance minister Osborne faces an imminent election, while US Attorney General Lynch is yet to be confirmed in her new job. They’re both very sensitive to the public right now, so our million-strong call, delivered via ads and with legislators, could get them to investigate, prosecute, and send the tax-dodging elite a powerful signal: no one is too big to jail!

    https://secure.avaaz.org/en/hsbc_tax_dodge_loc/?bhPqncb&v=53796

    The UK is HSBC’s home country, and the UK and US have jurisdiction over thousands of the tax-dodgers. If we get them to prosecute first, it could trigger a worldwide wave of accountability.

    The mega-rich often cause damaging financial crises with wild speculation, get bailed out by taxpayers, then argue that public spending on schools and hospitals should be slashed to meet the resulting deficits — all while many of them fail to pay their legal share of taxes! This austerity-spiral is driving a rapid worldwide increase in inequality.

    Just 85 billionaires have as much wealth as the poorest half of our planet — wealth they too often use to buy politicians and capture our democracies to keep the whole system going in their favour.

    It’s time to stop this damaging downward spiral, and making the richest pay their taxes would be a massive step. Let’s make it happen:

    https://secure.avaaz.org/en/hsbc_tax_dodge_loc/?bhPqncb&v=53796

    Avaaz is all about the many gathering the power to stand up to the few. Law is a contract that links us all together, equally. Thousands of the world’s most powerful think they’re above it. For the sake of our democracies and our societies, let’s show them they’re not.

    With hope and determination,

    Alex, Bert, Laila, Ricken, Marie, Andrew, Nell and the whole Avaaz team

    MORE INFORMATION

    HSBC could yet be prosecuted over tax-dodging scheme, warns Loretta Lynch (The Guardian)
    http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/10/hsbc-tax-files-loretta-lynch-prosecution

    HSBC bank ‘helped clients dodge millions in tax’ (BBC)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31248913

    Banking Giant HSBC Sheltered Murky Cash Linked to Dictators and Arms Dealers (ICIJ)
    http://www.icij.org/project/swiss-leaks/banking-giant-hsbc-sheltered-murky-cash-linked-dictators-and-arms-dealers

    HSBC files show how Swiss bank helped clients dodge taxes and hide millions (The Guardian)
    http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/08/hsbc-files-expose-swiss-bank-clients-dodge-taxes-hide-millions

    Tax-havens: Super-rich ‘hiding’ at least $21tn (BBC)
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18944097

    Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: track it, stop it, get it (Africa Renewal)
    http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2013/illicit-financial-flows-africa-track-it-stop-it-get-it