Standing up for Nature Acfonline.Org.Au Volume 42 Number 4
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Australia Volume 42 Number 4 OctOber 2014 Fight or flight Standing up for nature acfonline.org.au VOLUME 42 NUMBER 4 habitat Australia is published by the Australian Conservation Foundation, News REGULARS authorised by Kelly O’Shanassy CEO Inc. ABN 22 007 498 482 Melbourne (Head office) 19 | Why Australia’s energy 3 | | In this issue Floor 1, 60 Leicester St companies are after our RET Carlton VIC 3053 4 | | Proofsheet Ph: 03 9345 1111 Freecall 1800 332 510 Fax: 03 9345 1166 20 | The day Gore met Palmer Sydney 5 | | Letter from the CEO Ph: 02 8270 9900 22 | ACF turns 50; what does our Canberra future look like? | | Campaign updates 30 PO Box 2699, Canberra City, ACT 2601 Ph: 02 6247 2472 23 | Muckaty radioactive waste 24 | | Ask the economist Cairns plan dumped Suite 1/Level 1, 96 – 98 Lake St Cairns QLD 4870 28 | | EcoTravel Ph: 07 4031 5760 Fax: 07 4031 3610 25 | Putting profit into value Broome | | GreenHome 26 PO Box 1868 (Lotteries House) Broome WA 6725 Ph: 08 9192 1936 Fax: 08 9192 1936 FEATURES acfonline.org.au/habitat iPad app available at 6 Who took the 12 Understating acfonline.org.au/habitatapp conservative out our environment ACF membership [email protected] of conservation? Why handing environment Chief Executive Officer On the back of Abbott’s year in office laws to state governments Kelly O’Shanassy is a very very bad idea. we list the 10 top reasons our environment Editor has slid off the bi-partisan agenda. Tabatha Fulker [email protected] Deputy editor: Jessie Borrelle Production editor: Livia Cullen Advertising Angie Leben Ph: 0407 087 040 [email protected] Design Hypergraphia | hypergraphia.com.au [email protected] T14 he Sixth Extinction Copyright What it means to be human as we face the Reproduction in whole or in part may 9 Inside the Democratic party’s reality of the most devastating mass extinc- only occur with the written permission of the editor. Views expressed in this Hogwarts for digital wizardry tion since dinosaurs walked the planet. magazine are not necessarily views of the “Tell your friends, family and even the ghoul Australian Conservation Foundation. living in your attic to get out to vote today,” 16 Walking with ISSN 0310 – 2939 Luna Lovegood’s digital directors wrote. the Wuthathi Cover artwork The story of the protection Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo of Shelburne Bay on Cape Illustration by: Marc Martin York’s northern tip. www.marcmartin.com habitat is printed on FSC® certified paper. 2 In this issue Letters and tweets Tabatha Fulker Thank you for another great issue of habitat. I just wanted to thank you optimism You, and people like Josh Byrne, are leading personally for doing so much ˈɒptɪmɪz(ə)m the drive towards sustainability. Thank you. to co-ordinate and inform noun: optimism those of us who care about Ian Freney 1. Hopefulness and confidence about the future the same things. Without peo- or the success of something. “the talks had been ple like you, willing to make amicable and there were grounds for optimism”. this your life, people like us synonyms: hopefulness, hope, confidence, buoyancy, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU would not be able to be heard cheer, good cheer, cheerfulness, sanguineness, for taking action on our behalf in these and such wonderful victories positiveness, positive attitude “such statements reflect the growing optimism important matters, fighting for things would not occur. On behalf of among members of the profession” that you simply cannot put a value on be- the trees, thank you. Thank antonyms: pessimism cause of how precious and important they you. Thank you. are. Sometimes people need reminding of Sue Lovell 2. Philosophy what’s good for them. The belief that good must ultimately prevail over evil in the universe. Gioia Fiori @LibbydeQ The word optimism is bouncing about at present. A was a brilliant essay on fu- book titled with the word is even on a national tour. tility of crisis talk in recent @ We all hear it, but do we really feel it? How can we Thank you so much for your persistence AusConservation habitat mag with the current continual attack on our environ- and perseverance [for Tasmania’s World Ian Lunt @IanLuntEcology ment and social inequality? Heritage forests]. Thank goodness there are If I take the word strictly by its definition, then no, some sane people on the planet who can see Please email letters to I cannot possibly feel optimistic. But when I look at the right way ahead. This is best news I’ve [email protected] and include how I perceive the world and my role in it, then yes, had for weeks. Thank you once again. your name and address. Letters may be I am an eternal pragmatic optimist who believes edited for length and clarity. Susan that personal and collective action can create posi- Join the habitat twitter tive change in the world. conversation @AusConservation On his book tour, Bob Brown touches on anec- or like us on Facebook dotes that fill his hope cup. He specifically high- /AustralianConservationFoundation lights the Franklin and the suffragette movement. As a woman who works, votes and fights pas- sionately for environmental and social justice these two campaigns are close to my heart, but in the cur- rent face of climate change, the breakdown of our All a twitch for this national environment laws, logging of our dimin- ished native forests and cutting a coal port through great bird app the Great Barrier Reef I require modern examples of victory to sustain me. We have five free downloads of the To be a lucky winner: With a Coalition government hell bent on feed- Pizzey and Knight Birds of Australia Digital Using the subject line ing vested interests at the expense of the natural Edition for iPhone and iPad to giveaway. ‘BIRDWATCHING’ email world, I look to my contemporaries for nourishment. Pizzey and Knight Birds of Australia us your favourite Australian Groups like the Pacific Climate Warriors, grassroots Digital Edition is a comprehensive bird you watch out for when and community actions like the Bentley Blockade, bird app with multimedia data on you go birdwatching and the successful campaign against the James Price over 900 Australian bird species. why. Include the name of Point gas hub. It includes a field guide, full bird guide your favourite Australian Mostly I look to my ACF colleagues and activist with over 2500 illustrations, 400 bird, explain in 25 words friends, who make it their day’s work, everyday, to photographs, detailed species information, or less why it’s your put environmental protection at the heart of our na- distribution maps, and 1500 bird sounds. favourite, and include your tional interest. As a pragmatic optimist my view is The app is more expensive at $49.99, name and email address quite simply this: you are what you do, and there is but is a serious must-have for any to: habitat@acfonline. nothing more hopeful than that. keen birdwatcher or professional. org.au by October 30. 3 PrOOfsheet and their allies are the ancient carpets of Ferns our continent and, with over 10,000 species (400 Australian), account for most of the Photo: Bette Devine, world’s vegetation communities. Our fronds in the forest Fern fronds in Baw Baw National Park, Victoria have sensitive ecological preferences that make them perfect barometers of habitat health — ferns are invaluable measures → Visit acfonline.org.au/habitat of soil pH and type, light and moisture levels, temperature to download proofsheet images as your screen saver. and humidity. They do much to protect the quality of water in Victoria’s alpine and sub-alpine catchments. 4 Letter frOm the ceO We Kellysee O’Shanassy the forests for the trees My first months at ACF have certainly global criticism. Making climate pollution free goes against the ad- been action-packed. vice of scientists, economists, businesses and community leaders; First, the wonderful win for Tassie forests. and was driven by vested interests that make profits from pollut- While our political leaders thought these ancient ing the air we breathe. forests unworthy of World Heritage protection, I was never more reminded of this than at the recent Climate Australians thought otherwise. UNESCO agreed, Reality Training. ACF delivered the training with Al Gore to over quickly dismissing the Abbott Government’s ir- 500 community leaders from over 30 different countries. The au- responsible request to delist 74,000 hectares of dience was brought to tears when we heard from Rodne Galicha, these forests and open them up to logging. Tas- a citizen from the Philippines who recounted how his country sie’s World Heritage forests are folk were killed from typhoons made more violent and deadly Our government is playing now safe, thanks to you. from a warming world. He reminded us all that global warming politics with our future Then came the win to stop affects real people. a radioactive waste dump Unbelievably, despite a decade of devastating typhoons, Rodne being imposed on the Indigenous community delivered climate action training to his fellow countrymen and at Muckaty in Australia’s beautiful north. This women. When hopelessness should have prevailed, Rodne decid- was followed by the Palmer United Party’s ed to lead. commitment to protect the Renewable Energy It reiterated my strong belief that we can no longer rely on our Target, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation political leaders to protect our magnificent places, our climate and the Climate Change Authority. But we’ve or our future. We tried this and it hasn’t worked.