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.

Vigil Support for the Kooragang 16

A reminder about the Vigil this coming Tuesday 13th, from 9.15 am - hope you can come:

Support nonviolent direct action against climate change
Support the Kooragang 16
a. A vigil to support the "Kooragang 16", who appear in court facing trespass charges following a positive community nonviolent direct action against coal exports.
b. 9:15 onwards, Tuesday 13th May.
c. Newcastle Local Court, Church Street Newcastle.

On Saturday 19th April close to 50 people walked into the construction site of the proposed new Coal Export Terminal for Newcastle. The new terminal would increase Newcastle's coal export capacity by over 60 million tonnes per year - the equivalent of doubling NSW's domestic greenhouse pollution from all sources. The protest succeeded in stopping work on the coal terminal for around 90 minutes. 16 people were arrested and charged with trespass after refusing to leave the site.

The world is in the grip of a climate crisis. The fossil fuel industries at the heart of this crisis must start being phased out as soon as possible. Instead, the coal industry is rapidly expanding with full bipartisan support. After trying all other avenues to prevent the construction of a third coal terminal in Newcastle, it is clear that civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action is needed.

If you can make it to Newcastle Local Court on 13th May, please come along and show your support for the continuing community campaign of nonviolent direction against the causes of climate change. It will be a quiet and peaceful vigil, but feel free to bring banners, placards, etc.

For further information contact:

a. huntervalleyquakers@gmail.com
b. risingtide@risingtide.org.au

Rising Sea Level and Compensation

In 2006 the Lowy Institute's report Heating Up the Planet: Climate Change and Security report predicted dire consequences across the Asia Pacific Region.

If , as one of its authors Alan Dupont stated the worst case scenario of a 4-6m increase in sea levels is predicted,then according to the risk maps published in the Herald (‘Risk mapped out’ 7/5 p.7) much of Newcastle and its western suburbs will be under water.

We would like to know whether the Australian Coal Industry and Frank Sartor’s Ministerial Office will compensate the thousands of people whose homes in the Newcastle and Hunter Region that will be affected by sea level rises due to climate change? Or will try to initially shirk their responsibilities as James Hardie Industries did over the asbestos cases?

They are responsible for exacerbating this dire future for us all every time they approve another mine.

The very least they can do is ensure that our drainage infrastructure is repaired and up to the task for the climate change collision course they have set us upon.

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.

Iemma sidelined on privatisation bid

Over 85% of the NSW Labor Party conference voted to reject a bid to privatise the state's electricity industry yesterday, in a major upset for Premier Morris Iemma and Treasurer Michael Costa.
In the lead up to the 702-107 vote against the sell-off, the Premier was heckled and booed by members of his own party.
Unions and the Greens argue that privatising the electricity industry would push up costs, lower workplace standards and make it a lot more difficult to deal with climate change.
However, the Premier maintains that rising energy consumption has forced the Government to sell-off the industry in order to build a new coal-fired power station.
Michael Costa, who has previously denied in Parliament that climate change was caused by human activities, is expected to defy the ALP resolution and introduce the legislation into Parliament regardless. Although Costa has announced that he is prepared to be sacked for his support of the sell-off, a significant minority of the ALP caucus has declared that they cannot vote against a conference resolution in Parliament. If the legislation is tabled in Parliament, it is likely to pass with the support of the Labor Right and the Liberal Party, despite opposition from Labor Left and the Greens.
Iemma and Costa won the backing of former NSW Premier Bob Carr, who has accused the ALP rank and file of being backward-looking and supporting a Soviet-style model of public ownership. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has also supported the sell-off.
Michael Costa now has to make a decision between supporting the privatisation, borrowing money to create a new coal-fired power station, and promoting a combination of renewable baseload power and energy efficiency. The Federal Liberal party, which long shared the ALP position that only coal could provide baseload power, announced last week that it now accepts that solar thermal energy can provide baseload power for Australia.

America's War on Puppies

The video Richard Neville is referring to has been posted here:
http://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentID=463231

Please be aware that it is a disturbing video. It is equally very disturbing that Coalition Forces are behaving in the way, and not being held to account by the media.

Read Gore Vidal Interview on ABC Lateline's Program Broadcast: 03/05/2008
- Gore Vidal says Bush has let loose a war machine

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.