Add your news
You can add news from your networks or groups through the website by becoming an author. Simply register as a member of the Generator, and then email Giovanni asking to become an author. He will then work with you to integrate your content into the site as effectively as possible.
Listen to the Generator News online
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.
Abbott wants dole clampdown AAP July 27, 2010, 8:10 pm 36 comments Related Links Reissuing to clarify 4th par. By Cathy Alexander SYDNEY, July 27 AAP – Everyone on the dole could have half their payments quarantined for spending on essentials if the coalition wins the election. Opposition leader Tony Abbott says he would Continue Reading →
Updated
While Labor’s election campaign is firmly focused on a sustainable population policy, critics say the party has failed to come to grips with the nation’s future food security.
An investigation by ABC News Online, Background Briefing and the PM program has uncovered concerns about the creeping acquisition by foreign interests, including foreign governments, of Australia’s farms, including water rights and downstream production assets.
Greens Senator Christine Milne is calling for a national food security plan.
“I think it is essential the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has a look at this issue of what is going on in Australia in terms of who owns our land and where that food will go in the end,” she said.
“But you can’t do that until you have a national food security plan.”
Agriculture experts say the FIRB has fundamental shortcomings and many land purchases are taking place without adequate scrutiny because the transactions are too small.
The sale of agricultural land is exempt under the rules of the FIRB unless the sale exceeds $231 million.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke was not available for interview about the calls for a food security plan nor could he offer a statement to the ABC.
But assistant treasurer Nick Sherry did respond, saying foreign ownership of Australian agricultural land is low, and a steady flow of investment is vital for creating jobs.
“Australian farmers and agricultural companies are entitled to sell their assets in their best interests,” he said.
Despite having promised to restore rail services to the electorate of Richmond in the previous two federal election campaigns, Justine Elliot, has now claimed the problem has nothing to do with her and is a state issue.
In her bid to win the seat for the ALP in 2004 she claimed that a Mark Latham would provide the funding to the State Government to restore the original train service.
In her maiden speech in Parliament, she confirmed the promise and described it as being a suitable cause to apply the fire that she felt for serving the community.
This morning, starting at 5.30am, teams of Greenpeace volunteers have been shutting down BP stations across London. We aim to close dozens down this morning.
Watch the action as it happens – pictures, video and text updates from the teams.
The teams – each named after an animal threatened by BP’s reckless oil exploration – fanned out across the capital in their electric and hybrid cars, going station to station and disabling the pumps.
Why today? Because BP is expected to announce later the appointment of Bob Dudley as the company’s new head to replace the gaffe-prone Tony Hayward, who led BP during the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
We want to send a strong message to BP’s new boss to ditch the spin and actually move ‘beyond petroleum’.
No one assassinated Rudd, he simply topped himself
THERE must be two Kevin Rudds. The one being elevated to sainthood by the commentariat and the one described in The Sydney Morning Herald by former press gallery doyen Alan Ramsey, as a “prissy, precious prick”.
There is no shortage of Rudd believers, many of them prominent citizens, who have sprung to his defence to portray him as a victim “assassinated” by a duplicitous Julia Gillard, backed by Labor powerbrokers.
Nonsense. Rudd’s “assassination” was all his own work.
In my column on June 28 I described how our relations got off to a rocky start 18 years ago when I responded to an article describing K. Rudd, or Dr Death as he was affectionately known, because it was he who determined what went through cabinet.
Updated
Questioned on tax: Julia Gillard. (AAP: Alan Porritt)
Prime Minister Julia Gillard faced a barrage of questions over when the Government’s company tax rate would kick in during a feisty radio interview this morning.
Revenue from the Government’s mining tax will be used to cut the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 29 per cent.
During an interview on Macquarie Radio with Alan Jones, Ms Gillard attempted to focus on Government claims that the Opposition’s paid parental leave scheme will push up grocery prices.