The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
As well as Giovanni’s articles it picks up the most pertinent articles from a range of other news services. You can publish the news feed on your website using RSS, free of charge.
That’s Fresh! Bonnie Anderson at Hope Street’s South Brisbane People’s Market.
People’s market beats Coles’ supermarket in fresh food stakes with an average 27 hour transit from field to consumer, according to Food Connect’s Lakshmi Kerr.
“South Brisbane’s new Thursday market sells fruit and vegetables harvested one to two days prior to sale”, Ms Kerr said.
Councillor Helen Abrahams appreciates fresh produce in relation to harvest time.
“[B]uy your fruit and vegetables directly from the farmer or a fruit shop that can tell you when and where the produce was grown,” Councillor Abrahams said.
Public opinion in West End revealed 80% identify freshness as being one week to one month from harvest; while one local resident Bernard Cleary said, “Truth in advertising should disclose the grade of produce so we can make an informed decision”.
“If region and harvest date is acceptable for wine, then the same should be true for fruit and vegetables,” Mr Cleary said.
Close scrutiny of the fresh food section at Coles West End revealed an information sheet on each crate detailing the region, grower, packing and best before date, but no harvest date.
Anna Kelly from Coles said, “We also make product information available both in store and on our Helping Australia Grow website.”
Yet the harvest date of Coles’ West End pink lady apples was unable to be established in-store or on the Helping Australia Grow website.
Coles’ website does indicate that apples are available all year round.
According to a 2010 report by The People’s Watchdog Choice “[S]hiny red apples might have been in storage for more than a year.”
“Apples held in cold storage for three months contain lower levels of antioxidants.”
The ACCCs Food Descriptors Guideline states, “[F]ruit advertised as ‘fresh from the farm’ when it was imported, on a container ship for a month before arriving in Australia, fumigated to clear quarantine before being transported to further cold storage and then to the supermarket produce bin would be unlikely to meet the consumer understanding of a ‘fresh-from-the-farm’ claim.”
. . .
The South Brisbane Peoples Market at 15 Hope Street opens every Thursday from 10am.
Sunshine Coast artist Jandamarra Cadd is in line for Visual Artist of the Year at this year’s Deadlys. The Deadlys vision is to showcase the achievements and contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to our community and to Australian society as well as excellence in their field, and this is the second time Jandamarra has been up for the gong.
“I was a finalist in 2011 as well”, shares Mr Cadd, “and the experience of being amongst so many amazing people of our mob in the Opera House was quite humbling and awe-inspiring”.
Jandamarra (a Yorta Yorta man) with an art career spanning 25 years, began visually documenting stories from his tribal area and over time has evolved to become primarily a portrait artist. He uses a variety of styles and mediums, favouring oil on canvas, and uses his art to express messages of unity and unconditional love.
In the past 12 months, Jandamarra has toured the first ever portrait exhibition of entirely Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander role models. This exhibition was born out of a desire to bring pride to the indigenous people of their amazing role models, and also to bring deeper awareness and knowledge of the wider community about indigenous people. It was exhibited in 8 galleries throughout metropolitan and regional Victoria and Queensland and included subjects such as Jessica Mauboy, Christine Anu, William Cooper, Sir Doug Nichols and Archie Roach and the late Ruby Hunter. It was exhibited locally in Nambour, Eudlo and the Gympie Regional Gallery.
Within the Sunshine Coast community, Jandamarra is continually sought after to be involved in mentoring projects, workshops and community events. Recently, he spoke at the inaugural TEDxNoosa where he shared about how as a society we can learn much from Indigenous culture about sustainability and living in harmony as a society.
As an artist, Jandamarra continues to exhibit and paint and is now working towards his next Solo Exhibition “Ceremony” that will celebrate and highlight the importance of the passing on of customs and traditions and keeping valuable culture alive.
The 19th annual Deadlys will be held at the Sydney Opera House on 10th September, showcasing the achievements and contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the nation.
If you’d like to support Jandamarra in his contributions to the community, you can go to http://www.deadlys.com.au/vote/ to cast a vote. Voting closes on the 18th August 2013.
Biomassacre – protest highlights danger of using our native forests for biofuel
“Native Forest Biomass is bad for climate, bad for forests, and bad for your industry”
26th July 2013. Concerns that the Clean Energy Council (CEC) has been hijacked by the logging industry were today aired by concerned citizens who called on members to reject current policy that supports burning native forests biomass to produce electricity and converting logged native forests to biofuels.
Delegates entering the Clean Energy Week Conference were leafleted and greeted with posters and woodchips, in a polite protest action.
“The vast majority of members of the Clean Energy Council are wind and solar power companies who are genuinely renewable, but the commitment of their representative body to controversial native forest bioenergy sourced from industrial scale logging blights their commitment to tackle climate change and tarnishes the image of all concerned,” said CEO of Markets For Change, Peg Putt.
“Native forest biomass is the new woodchipping. It is just as bad for biodiversity, deeply unpopular, and also contributes large carbon emissions to the atmosphere contrary to the misleading assertions of logging industry advocates.”
“We are calling on members of the Clean Energy Council to insist that this unacceptable policy, of which many are unaware and which advocates overturning current government policy that native forest-derived bioenergy is ineligible for Renewable Energy Credits due to its unacceptable impacts, is abandoned,” Ms Putt concluded.
Concerned citizen and solar installer Anne Wilson participating in the leafleting of delegates said “I became a solar installer, accredited by the Clean Energy Council, because I wanted to do something real about climate change, so I was shocked when I found out the CEC supports native forest bioenergy.”
From the well-to-do apartment blocks of Kangaroo Point and the entertainment and culture hub of South Brisbane to the tin and timber Queenslanders of East Brisbane, Coorparoo and Greenslopes, Griffith is a diverse inner city electorate with a sitting member who may have the highest profile of any election candidate.
When I settled in the West End two years ago I fell in love with the vibrant culture – its street art, the wonderful Avid Reader bookshop and its great coffee and cafes. For an inner city suburb it has something of a country town appeal and a strong sense of community. Its population is a mix of young families, childless couples, students and established Greek Australian families. It is the home of the recently controversial and now disbanded Aboriginal tent embassy in Musgrave Park.
The suburbs of Griffith appeal to the young and upwardly mobile. A quick look at ABS 2011 census data for Griffith tells us that at 33 years, this electorate has a slightly younger median age compared with the Queensland and National averages. It also has a significantly higher level of attendance at University or tertiary institutions and higher median incomes. Interestingly there is a higher percentage of renters in Griffith, and fewer of its families have two cars than the national average.
Cycing on South Bank
With the Princess Alexandra, Mater and Greenslopes hospitals located within this electorate, it is unsurprising that nearly 6% of its workforce is employed within the hospital sector.
Griffith is the safest Labor seat in Queensland and has been held by Kevin Rudd since 1998, when he defeated one term Liberal member, Graeme McDougall. As the leader of the Labor Opposition in 2010 Rudd held his seat with a 4.31% swing to Labor. In 2010, by then recently ousted as Prime Minister ,he still held the seat comfortably, but with a swing against him of 9%.
The State electorate of South Brisbane takes in much of Griffith and remained staunchly Labor during the LNP rout of Labor in 2012. It was the electoral home of ousted Premier Anna Bligh and was retained for Labor by Jackie Trad in the by-election following Bligh’s resignation.
South Brisbane was one of the first regions in Australia to receive fibre services directly to the home, not as part of the Federal Government’s NBN but as part of a Bligh government deal with Telstra when it demolished its South Brisbane exchange to enable the construction of a new children’s hospital.
Kevin Rudd will be one of the few sitting Queensland Labor MPs who will hold his seat.
There’s nothing that can be said about Kevin Rudd that hasn’t already been said. Complex, undoubtedly popular in the electorate and well beyond, Kevin Rudd seems to be everywhere and capable of talking on any subject. He had been accused by his LNP rival of neglecting the electorate, and yet he seems to be as present here as he is elsewhere. After campaigning for Labor mates in Western Sydney on Friday, he was back in Griffith on the weekend to participate in the inaugural City2South fun run. He fielded media questions while sweaty and breathless from his run and a little later in the day fronted a rally in Musgrave Park protesting the proposed merger of two local high schools.
Given Newman government cuts to public services and speculation about school closures and privatisations it is likely that, in Griffith at least, Kevin Rudd will focus on local issues as much as possible.
Streets of West End
In an attempt to mitigate the Rudd factor in Griffith, the Coalition has brought in its own high profile candidate, Dr Bill Glasson.Dr Glasson has been federal president of the Australian Medical Association, and is well known for his work as an ophthalmologist in rural and remote areas of Australia. He is seen as a serious contender, and as a man with a strong record of community service he brings a degree of gravitas to the campaign circus.
In a recent interview with the TodayShow’s Karl Stefanovic, Dr Glasson claimed he can win the seat, saying that Kevin Rudd has ignored the electorate and that he senses a mood swing in Griffith.
“He’s just come back to re-find the electorate. I think he’s been using the electorate, in many respects, as a springboard for his own career and, as I said, as I move around and talk to the people of Griffith there is a significant mood for change.”
Mr Rudd has countered that the people of Griffith really don’t know what Dr Glasson stands for. He recently challenged Mr Glasson to a debate saying that, “Brisbane’s Southside has a right to know what both sides have to offer by way of action for local residents and plans for the future”.
To date Dr Glasson has refused to take up the challenge, dismissing Rudd’s talk of a debate as grandstanding.
The Courier Mail reported this response from Mr Rudd’s office on 11 June, “It is disappointing that Tony Abbott’s hand-picked candidate is too chicken to face the local community for an independent public debate…”
Greens candidate Geoff Ebbs has welcomed Kevin Rudd’s call for a debate on local issues and has indicated his wish to participate.
Ebbs stood in the NSW electorate of Richmond in 2010, gaining a small swing to the Greens. His Greens predecessor in Griffith, Emma-Kate Rose managed a +7.54% swing to the Greens in 2010 and secured a 14% of the vote in the South Brisbane booth. Geoff Ebbs hopes to do better.
Ebbs is a former editor of IT publications with Australian Consolidated Press, author, blogger, and community radio presenter.
Through this election The Greens aim to strengthen its base in Queensland and get Adam Stone elected as its second Queensland senator.
City view from West End
Clive Palmer recently announced that Karin Hunter will be the Griffith candidate for his fledgling Palmer United Party. Apart from tapping into voter disaffection with the two mainstream parties, it is difficult to determine how exactly the Palmer United Party proposes to differentiate itself from the NLP, of which Mr Palmer had until recently been a life member.
Ms Hunter has said in a recent press release that she was prompted to join the Palmer United Partyafter becoming disillusioned with the major political parties.
“Both parties continue to raise taxes, foster the culture of welfare entitlement and the weakening of our borders,” she said.
This is a common theme of the minor parties on both ends of the political spectrum.
Liam Flenady will stand for the Socialist Alliance in Griffith. He has studied musical composition at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and describes himself as a “theorist and political activist”. He writes regularly for the Green Left Weekly. In the 2012 state elections he stood as a candidate in South Brisbane
Socialist Alliance, like the Palmer and Katter parties, and indeed the Greens, claim that the major parties no longer represent voters and argues that it is time for a new kind of politics. Flenady is campaigning on nationalising the mines and banks.
Given the national focus on Kevin Rudd and the constant speculation about the Labor leadership, Griffith will be an electorate to watch over the next few months.
Since publishing this story on 19 June 2013 much has changed: Kevin Rudd is now Prime Minister of Australia, Labor is polling well in a number of Queensland seats, and candidate debates are scheduled for 6 and 22 August.
“Murray says people are looking for a viable alternative to the major parties.”Republished with permission from No Fibs
Recently endorsed Katter Australia Party (KAP) candidate for Griffith Luke Murray, says he doesn’t lay any claim to being a politician.
Clearly, he is still in the early stages of preparing for the coming campaign. He assures me it’s coming, but at this stage he has no profile on the KAP website (a photo has now been provided), nor does he have a Facebook site (that too is on the way) and he does not use Twitter. He says he is wary of social media and wants to protect his family’s privacy. Murray’s campaign team is just himself and his wife. “The amount of resources at the disposal of the Rudd public relations machine is something that as an everyday Aussie I can’t compete with.”
Murray is an aircraft engineer and member of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) and has worked in the aviation industry for many years. The Australian reported in May that the ALAEA was considering fielding candidates in key airport seats at the federal election. This has apparently now come to fruition. Murray told me that a number of his colleagues were also candidates for the KAP. He says that Bob Katter and Senator Nick Xenophon are the only politicians who have stood up for the aviation industry, and that the major parties have let the industry down.
Calls for a second runway at Brisbane Airport, airport noise, and flight delays have long been issues in Brisbane and the Griffith electorate.
Luke Murray KAP candidate for Griffith
ALAEA federal executive Steve Purvinas told The Australian in May: “As a small union, we are often overlooked by the major parties and we have learnt over the years that the smiles and handshakes in their offices mean nothing.”
It is not surprising then that the ALAEA has chosen to field candidate with the KAP. In April, Katter announced plans to create a new national workers’ union, and unions such as the ALAEA say they feel no allegiance to the Labor Party.
Murray told me that he was picking up a sense that distrust of the two major parties is common, and people were telling him they were “no longer fooled by hype and huge advertising campaigns”. People want “real substance, and believe neither of the major parties is offering genuine representation in their electorate”. This, he says, is where the KAP is able to differentiate itself from the mainstream parties.
His motivation he says lies in wanting to make “the best decisions for the good of the country – the whole country – not just the top couple of per cent of income earners, or a few of the larger trade unions, or some corporation that provides a gift or two”. Murray says this election should be about “ensuring that we are able to feed, clothe, and defend ourselves in the future, not about the popularity of a few individuals”.
Like Greens candidate Geoff Ebbs, Luke Murray is no fan of Campbell Newman and thinks the state premier will definitely be a factor is the coming election. “Many of the people that I have been speaking to, feel that arguably one of the worst things to happen to Queensland in the last decade was the election of Campbell Newman as premier.”
He cites the recent controversial pay rise for state politicians, saying it was “a debacle” and “public perception appears to be that these guys are just solely intent on lining their own pockets at the expense of Australian families.”
Murray says the Newman government is also about, “the wholesale sell-off of Australian-owned assets and the loss of countless frontline jobs in essential services which are already under enormous pressure”.
Out shopping recently, Murray says he was “saddened and angered “ that the majority of items on the shelves came from overseas. He says the KAP intends to create a level playing field for all Australian producers. “We plan to implement policies designed to protect Australian manufacturing.”
He also says that the best way ensure a strong Australian economy is to ensure job security for Australians. “I am talking about full-time jobs, not the current trend towards part-time and casual jobs being created to make the jobless figures look more flattering to the government.” Keeping jobs in Australia is a key theme for the ALAEA, who have been fighting their own battle with Australian airlines.
Murray says people are looking for a viable alternative to the major parties. “I am seeing more support every day. It’s really quite overwhelming. Many people were disgusted by the performance of the ‘faceless men’ after the last election. Their decision to remove their leader simply because they didn’t like him, and then reinstate him to take advantage of his ‘popularity’ when it looked like they may lose their own seats, is what I consider to be one of the lowest acts in Australian politics, and totally un-Australian. A vote for either of the major parties is, I believe, a vote condoning this sort of behaviour. “
Murray claims KAP membership is definitely growing in South Brisbane.”Our members comprise a cross-section of Australia including people from all age demographics and walks of life; including tradesmen, management, small business owners, young professionals, and retirees.” He says these people are disillusioned with the current state of Australian politics and are looking to force a change for the good of the nation.
I asked him about the coming debates between Brisbane candidates being staged at the Power House on 22 August. Murray responded that he had no wish to take part in “something which I consider to be just another example of political grandstanding, often used by the incumbent candidate to deflect attention from their poor performance during their time in government”.
The appeal of KAP candidates, he says, is that they can provide representation for people in parliament by elected members “who will vote, consistent with their conscience, in the interests of their electorate, not their party”.
Like other minor party candidates, Geoff Ebbs admits it can be very hard for the Greens to get any mainstream media focus, particularly at the local level. This is compounded when standing against a high-profile candidate like Kevin Rudd.
Ebbs says he has met Rudd on the hustings and considers him to be a consummate media performer. Rudd, he says, has his own media team, regularly uploading new Kevin videos on YouTube, “… and, as a small party, it’s hard to compete against that.”
Geoff Ebbs at Alberto’s Shot in West End
Geoff Ebbs
Nevertheless, he is picking up a mood for change and disillusionment with the two major parties. Griffith, he says, “is an electorate of thinking people who are looking for leadership on some long-term issues affecting the state”.
“The people of Griffith are concerned about rising energy prices, the erosion of community services and public sector employment. They have a major coal route running through their suburbs that is a threat to their health and a reminder that the economy is being skewed by huge investments in resource extraction at the expense of manufacturing, public infrastructure and investment in innovation.”
Without access to the apparatus of mainstream media, Ebbs sees himself building a grassroots campaign linked to other activists groups. He says that it is important that the Greens convince other activist groups of the party’s credibility, so it can be supported by a coalition of interest groups in the same way that in the past the ALP built its support base through a coalition of union and labour organisations.
Ebbs says political parties are drawn to appeal to the mainstream and this is the antithesis of activism. “There is a natural tension,” he says, between the need for the Greens to appeal to a broader audience while at the same time building alliances with like-minded activist groups.
He claims the Greens membership in South Brisbane has grown considerably in the last three years, with many new members coming from union and other traditionally Labor backgrounds. “If current growth rates continue, we may consider splitting the branch into two, developing a new branch centred on Wynnum or Manly.
“We need to work booth by booth, to convince voters that the Greens do have a real plan for the future.”
The Greens, he says, have specific policies that have been developed from the grass roots of the party “… to build a robust economy on innovation, renewable energy and investment in public infrastructure and education”.
He also points to longstanding Greens support for marriage equality (an issue embraced much more recently by Kevin Rudd) and for “additional funding for single parents forced onto Newstart, and federal funding of community organisations deserted by the state government”.
Geoff Ebbs in King George Square, Brisbane
Ebbs sees the major parties as having capitulated to the resources sector and this, he says, has had a negative impact on the community.
Campbell Newman, he says is like “Abbott on steroids”.
“The concerns raised by Newman’s attack on the public service, the arts sector and environmental regulation have made people aware of the ‘scorched earth’ approach the conservatives have developed and how far they have strayed from Menzies’ Liberal vision for Australia.” Ebbs says voters “desperately seek leadership that is not extreme and has some concern for the long term future of the country”.
Issues such as coal seam gas (CSG) mining have attracted some strange bedfellows in recent times, and I asked Geoff if this had in any way eroded the Greens’ base. He says Katter’s rhetoric on CSG has not been matched by action, and the Greens were picking up some disappointment with Katter among farmers in particular.
On preference, Ebbs says it is unlikely Greens preferences will flow to the more conservative parties. Nevertheless, he considers that the Katter Australia and Palmer United parties have been effective in capturing disaffected LNP voters.
Minor parties, he says “have the freedom to do some straight talking – that no-nonsense approach is their appeal, but it is also the appeal of the Greens”.
Ebbs says he is in the contest to win it, but he will be pleased to increase the Greens vote on the last election figures. The Greens, he says, “are in it for the long haul”.
