Sixty people occupy Sharon Grierson's office

Sixty people marched into and occupied Sharon Grierson's office on Tuesday, in an immediate and angry reaction to the failure of the Rudd government to deal with climate change.



The protest, organised by Climate Action Newcastle, was organised after Ms. Grierson had repeatedly ignored requests to meet with the group in the lead-up to what spokesperson Duncan Jinks called the most important white paper in Australia's history.

Australian climate scientist, Professor Barry Brook, said in his blog on Monday that "the scientific reality of the physics, chemistry and biology of climate change and climate feedbacks [is] a process which cares nothing for these bold ambitions or how hard we might be trying."

Australia has received international condemnation for the weakest 2020 target in the developed world, which amounts to a 13% increase on 1990 levels, worse than the US 0% increase on 1990 levels, and far worse than the 25-40% on 1990 levels recommended by scientists.

Churches in the Pacific Islands, some of which nations are already looking for evacuation plans due to rising sea levels and crop salinity, immediately lashed out at the government, saying that "Australia has just outdone the minimum!"

South Africa, India and China also criticised Australia in Poznan for its expected failure to meet the 25-40% commitment generally agreed to at Bali. 49 of the world's Least Developed Countries (LDCs), called on the world to aim for greenhouse concentrations of 350ppm, which would commit developed countries to much higher reductions.

The sit-in at Sharon Grierson's office, which coincided with 10 other office occupations around the country and rallies of hundreds of people in every major Australian city, demonstrated that Australians would act on climate change even if the government did not, and even if it meant breaking the law.

A small hope for the planet.

Third power station shut down in five days

A third power station has been shut down by protesters in Victoria, one day after a similar action in Western Australia, and five days after a similar action in the Hunter Valley.

Two people have stopped and attached themselves to conveyors at the Hazelwood power station in the La Trobe Valley, and a large group of people walked onto the site early this morning.

Spokesperson for the group, Emma Russell said that the government has shown neither the will nor the ability to make the decisions necessary to prevent a climate disaster.

“We need to move on from coal, leaving no one behind. We offer our support to the workers of the Hazelwood power station. We believe it is critical that clean, renewable based industries are set up to provide new livelihoods after coal, such as renewable energy co-operatives and re-localised economies.”

In a public blog dedicated to the action, Ms. Russell linked the group's action to similar actions around the country.

“With direct action against coal infrastructure we wish to break the illusion of corporate control of our environments, creating space for community solutions for change. As this last week has shown with similar actions at Collie and Bayswater power stations, this sentiment is shared right across the country.”

Ms. Russell did not indicate whether she knew of other actions around the country but encouraged others to take similar action.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that electricity production is run by those who are interested in long-term sustainability, not those driven by short-term profits. We need to take our power back from privatised industry. This is our future, this is our responsibility; together, we should take action.”

Hunter residents have planned a vigil at Eraring power station on November 22, office occupations in December to occur simultaneously around the country, and a flotilla of kayaks to prevent coal from leaving Newcastle harbour next March.

29 arrests at Bayswater power station

Around thirty protesters from climate action group Rising Tide walked onto the site of the Bayswater power station yesterday, preventing the delivery of coal to the station for six hours.

Bayswater power station is New South Wales' equal biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, along with Eraring power station.

29 people were arrested on the coal piles while four were arrested inside the power station. The group inside had chained themselves to both conveyors with a lock-on pipe and had to be cut off.

Spokesperson for the group, Georgina Woods said that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions were continuing to increase as a result of Australia's dependence on coal-fired power, leading to the slow death of the Great Barrier Reef.

“Where is the plan to phase out facilities like these? Why are we twiddling our thumbs?” Ms Wood asked.

“The nation and the world are watching and we will not get another chance. The people that are here today are parents and grandparents, professionals and tradespeople. We are demanding a commitment from the Government today: Australia’s greenhouse emissions must start dropping from 2010, we must do whatever it takes to save the Barrier Reef from wipe-out and the world from devastating runaway climate change.”

Workers onsite reacted in an overall positive manner to the protest, with some taking photographs and thanking the activists.

The large group had offered to leave the site without fuss once they had made their point, but police insisted upon processing all of them for trespass. A recent report has suggested that the effects of climate change will lead to an increase in crimes such as carbon accounting fraud and domestic violence, tying up resources for police.

The group inside have been charged with both entering enclosed lands and refusing to leave enclosed lands.

Ms. Woods said that more and more people would take action if the Government continued to allow greenhouse gas emissions to increase.
Photos by Conor Ashleigh (top) and Damien Baker (bottom)

Hirsohima: never again

George Burchett, artist, translator, editor, author and son of famous Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett will speak on his father’s experiences in being the first westerner to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6 1945.
Also screening of Public Enemy Number One David Bradbury’s documentary of Wilfred Burchett’s life and work as a peace activist and anti war journalist.
Joy Cummings Community Centre, Scott St, Newcastle East Saturday 9 August 2pm.

Organized by Newcastle No War Collective. Ph: Niko 0406296141.

Christians for Peace Hiroshima Day Ecumenical Service, 6.45am Wed 6 August, Outside Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle
Download leaflet PDF Format
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Site announced for Camp for Climate Action

After weeks of stalling from local police and council authorities, the logistics working group of the Camp for Climate Action has announced that the camp will be held on public land on the corner of Mangrove Road and River Road, in Sandgate.

The working group had requested several different sites, and at various stages over the past month, authorities had given and withdrawn permission for all of the proposed sites.

With less than three weeks to go until the site, the working group realised that they could not wait any longer and decided to pick a site and promote it.

Up to 1000 people are expected to participate in the Camp for Climate Action. In late May, the actions working group announced that the highlight of the camp would be a mass blockade of the rail line which delivers coal to the world's biggest coal port.

According to the Gerald's sources, authorities are now tripping over themselves to find a different site for the camp.

The camp was promoted yesterday at a flash mob at Westfield Kotara, where up to 60 people who met each other via the social networking site Facebook froze for five minutes to demand a freeze in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.

It was also promoted in Parliament by NSW Treasurer Michael Costa on Wednesday and Thursday, in response to questions by Greens MLC John Kaye. The Treasurer misled Parliament into believing that the camp was organised by the NSW Greens in order to divert attention from a question asked by John Kaye. Mr. Kaye asked the Treasurer whether failure to privatise the electricity industry would lead to his resignation, as he promised in early February.

Letter from one of the "Kooragang 16"

The Newcastle Gerald has found this letter sent by Paula Morrow, one of the Kooragang 16, to a newspaper which calls itself "The Newcastle Herald". Paula is a mother and grandmother and very concerned that she is living in Australia's biggest "infrastructure bottleneck", otherwise known as the world's biggest coal export port and Australia's biggest contribution to climate change, currently undergoing a massive expansion.
The "Herald" declined to print Paula's letter despite a foreword from Paula which said she understood if the "Herald" had to cut the letter down for space reasons. The Newcastle Gerald has decided to publish Paula's letter in full.

Dear Editor,
If you want to sell more papers, can we please open up the debate on coal?
I am one of the 'Kooragang 16'. We trespassed on the construction site of the third coal loader very deliberately, to get everyone’s attention.
Newcastle is the world's biggest coal port. The state government under Iemma, Costa and Sartor is trying to greatly increase the mining and selling of coal.
We are evaporating our coal mines into our atmosphere and therefore, we believe, greatly hastening the onset of climate change.
We have been given a mix of community service directions and fines by the court, those most committed to the environment movement getting the biggest punishments. These were reasonable penalties given the laws. I know that the rule of law is extremely important.
The thing is we already give up a lot of time, of our precious lives, doing community service.
Only about fifty of us went on the original walk-in and only about an extra fifteen came to support us in a vigil outside the courthouse. This is not enough people to save the planet.
It was great to see 3 or 4 ministers and 3 or 4 quakers in a vigil outside the court, people representing god; or at least the human reach for the spiritual.
When I think of the actual activists, I think that we represent conscience, and the ability to see what's coming. Those that walked in and got arrested, are mostly young, in their twenties and thirties. There were only a couple of us older ones. Those young people are all very smart and could be focusing on career.
Our main attributes are that we can add up, that we can see humanity is destroying its nest. We don't want one more bit of our beautiful planet or its creatures destroyed.
If we put the brakes on and are proved wrong, it doesn't matter that lots of energy is saved and pollution prevented. If we don't put the brakes on and we are right about the gravity of the situation, then our children and grandchildren face a terrifying future as our eco-system is de-stabilised; climate will become more erratic, and agriculture unworkable.
Messrs Iemma, Costa and Sartor have a huge responsibility to the people of NSW to curb dramatically the use of coal and to greatly increase the use of renewable energy such as solar, wave, wind, and perhaps, geo-thermal. Or are they going to fiddle while Rome burns, as the the generals are doing in Burma? Do they have other loyalties?
We choose to spend our precious time trying to alert our fellow-citizens while there is still time, in order to try and make a big difference to what happens.
It is not enough. It needs big numbers of people to wake up and step up and make the politicians do what needs to be done, because those in charge of our state government don't, or won't, get it.

Paula Morrow, Tighes Hill

Exclusive: Kooragang 16 tried after successful vigil

Quakers, Buddhists, atheists and members of the Uniting Church were among those holding a climate change vigil in front of Newcastle Local Court this morning ahead of the trial of the Kooragang 16. Seven women and nine men were arrested at a peaceful protest on the construction site of Newcastle's third coal loader on April 19, where close to 50 people successfully stopped work for 90 minutes.
All sixteen pleaded guilty to trespass. Magistrate Michael Morahan sentenced eleven of the arrestees, who had no prior convictions, to community service to be determined at a later date. The other five were fined $200 each and ordered to pay costs of $70 each.
Outside, the group's supporters, young and old, held banners in a festive atmosphere.
Tonight's budget is expected to feature an $18 billion budget surplus, to be invested in reducing "infrastructure bottlenecks", including the massive expansion of Australia's coal export capacity. Australia is already the world's biggest coal exporter, exporting 18% of the world's coal.
In Rangoon, aid organisations are already moving in to help the victims of a recent cyclone which killed over 100,000 people. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that such natural disasters will become more and more frequent as we continue to increase our greenhouse gas emissions.
More nonviolent direct action is expected at the Camp for Climate Action, to be held in Newcastle in July.

Ploughshares activists receive bail

The three Ploughshares peace activists who entered the Waihopai spy base in New Zealand have finally been released on strict bail conditions after five days of detention.
Adrian Leason, Peter Murnane and Sam Land entered the ECHELON military base last Wednesday and deflated one of the protective domes covering the espionage satellites with sickles. Today they were ordered not to contact each other, not to go to the region where they were arrested or near any other military facility and they were given strict reporting conditions.
The New Zealand government was embarrassed by the breach by the Catholic group, including a Dominican friar, which highlighted New Zealand's collaboration in the Australia-Canada-NZ-UK-US ECHELON intelligence network.
Most international satellite data, including internet, phone, and fax transmissions are collected by these satellites, filtered through a computer system and shared between the English-speaking countries for military, diplomatic and industrial intelligence as well as monitoring domestic communication.
The Ploughshares activists declared that they were taking their action to demonstrate their total opposition to war. About 60 people held a demonstration in Wellington last Saturday to support the activists.
Earlier this year a group known as the Pine Gap 6, or Christians Against All Terrorism, were cleared of all charges for breaking into an ECHELON satellite facility at Pine Gap, in Australia's Northern Territory.

Peaceful action camp opens registrations

The organising collective of the Camp for Climate Action, to be held in Newcastle this July, has announced that online registrations have now opened. According to its website, the camp will involve "five days of inspiring workshops & direct action aimed a shutting down the world's largest coal port in Newcastle".
The camp is one of seven climate camps being organised in Europe, Australia and North America and aims to shift attention away from voluntary lifestyle changes, and "false solutions" such as clean coal, nuclear power, carbon offsets and carbon trading to the "cause of the climate crisis - fossil fuels".
The organising collective is expecting hundreds of participants and is being supported by Rising Tide, the Australian Students' Environment Network and Friends of the Earth.