Mr Combet said if the Federal Government was serious about climate change it would have done more sooner. "We’re going to stand up for coal industry jobs but we’ve got to have a progressive policy on climate change," Mr Combet said.
"Part of that is to encourage the mining companies, who are making big profits out of coal exports, to spend a lot, lot more on clean coal technology research."
Stephanie Peatling
UNSW presents a free public lecture on solar energy 
A great tide of water has rushed past Nathan Keogh’s parched Kalamurina station for 14 days, coursing inexorably towards Lake Eyre 100km to the west, says The Australian (9/3/07, p. 7).
Faster than last flood: It surged into the lake’s main inlet, the Warburton Groove, last Tuesday, branching into shallow creeks from the main river bed, the water rising and running faster than when the last flood hit the South Australian outback region in 2004.
Salt problem: William Creek charter pilot Trevor Wright says the headwaters, now about 6km into the Groove and headed towards Dalhunty Island, are dark with salt and rubbish collected along the way. "It’s funnelling through fast," said Mr Wright, who took images of Lake Eyre for The Australian.
Birds – then tourists: The great pulse of water stimulates production of micro-organisms that are the major source of food for fish. Ultimately, it is the increased aquatic production that attracts huge numbers of water birds. And the pelicans, black swans, cormorants, teal and black ducks will soon be joined by tourists, some of whom enter the lake via the Groove.
Yacht club: The Lake Eyre Yacht Club is already preparing to launch craft along the floodwater. The most extensive filling of Lake Eyre was in 1974, when it filled to capacity and reached a maximum depth of 5.7m.
The Australian, 9/3/2007, p.7
Source: Erisk Net
About 150 protesters attacked riot police with rocks and metal barriers and ripped down lampposts in Colombia’s capital today, just moments after US President George W Bush landed for a six-hour visit.
About 200 helmeted police in full body armour responded with water cannon and marched forward, banging their batons against riot shields, to reclaim the street, located about 1.6 km from the presidential palace. No injuries were immediately reported.
The rioters had broken away from about 2000 protesters, including students and members of the left-wing political opposition, who gathered about an hour before Bush’s arrival, chanting "Down with Bush" and burning American flags.
As Bush’s convoy passed about 200 metres away on the way to meet President Alvaro Uribe at the presidential palace, the protesters chanted "Bush go home."
The protesters object that $900 million annually received by Colombia in mostly military US aid only fuels the country’s half century-old conflict and encourages human rights abuses by this country’s armed forces.
At a concert on Friday night in Bogota’s main park by the former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters a big balloon of a pig was released that said "Patron Bush, Welcome to your Colombian Ranch."
Security in Bogota was extensive, with snipers taking up rooftop perches to guard Bush’s 70-vehicle convoy as it drove 20 minutes from El Dorado airport. The highest-security stop on Bush’s five-nation tour, the Colombia visit was also the shortest stopover on the trip.
About 7000 police and troops blocked off large parts of the Bogota, while 14,000 reinforcements set up roadblocks, checking IDs and searching vehicles in the capital’s outskirts.
In contrast with visits to Bogota by US Presidents Ronald Reagan in 1982 and John F Kennedy in 1961, there was no popular reception for Bush, with streets adjacent the presidential palace closed to traffic and pedestrians alike.
Bogota residents also had to do without their beloved "ciclovia", in which major avenues are shut down to traffic on Sundays so people can bike, skate and jog.
"The security measures are excessive," said 56-year-old Manuel Cifuentes, who runs a food stand on the Plaza de Bolivar in the heart of Bogota and said he hadn’t had much business in the past few days.
During Uribe’s first inauguration, in 2002, a mortar attack blamed on leftist rebels terrified visiting dignitaries killed 21 people in a slum near the presidential palace.
Every manhole cover within a five-block radius of the palace and along Bush’s motorcade route was spray-painted with orange ahead of Sunday’s visit to alert security agents to any tampering.
Among those grousing about the extraordinary security — including electronic scans of mobile phone and data traffic — was taxi driver Felipe Rodriguez, who expected to only earn about 60,000 pesos (less than $A35), half his normal take for a Sunday.
Bush arrived from Uruguay, where about 150 anti-US demonstrators marched through the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo the previous day.
Police and some protesters had clashed during a 6,000-strong march on Thursday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and activists smashed windows and burned tyres on Friday in Montevideo, the first two stops of Bush’s five-country tour.