Led by Trade Minister Craig Emerson, it included more than 100 Australian business delegates and visited five major regional Chinese cities between August 4—9.

Traveling with Dr Emerson’s party was also Richard Marles, the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Peter Grey, the CEO of Austrade, the Australian Trade Commission.

A new chapter is emerging in the commercial relationship between Australia and China, one based on a gradual shift in China’s economic model away from export-led development to domestic consumption.

The mission’s aim was to help Australian business explore the opportunities this change presents, as well as the potential of new centers of growth in China’s western regions and major regional cities, several with a population greater than ten million.

The focus was on how Australian business can benefit from growing demand in China for a range of sophisticated services in architecture, design, clean energy, education and finance.

It began in Guangzhou and continued to Changsha, Wuhan, Chengdu and Chongqing before ending in Shanghai with a program focusing on financial services.

Each city visit included a seminar for Australian delegates on doing business in China, as well as an official reception with a total of around 750 local Chinese business people and government officials.

Dr Emerson said: “They’re the sorts of cities that we visited and the reception there was very, very enthusiastic, because they just don’t see quite as many foreign businesses coming there”.

“So we had an incredibly warm welcome, not only from their business communities but from provincial governors and also the mayors of these very large cities,” he said.

“Officials and business people in all five cities were interested in what Australia’s service providers had to offer, while the Australian delegation was enthusiastic about striking deals.”

Several important outcomes resulted from the mission, including the signing of a joint venture agreement on wealth management between Australian company Gao Fu and the Bank of Weifang of Shandong Province.

And the Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has now indicated it would buy 20 per cent of the Chinese group Bohai Property Insurance.

Before the mission began, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd, led a road show around Australia with Dr Emerson to recruit business delegates.

Mr Rudd did not attend the mission for medical reasons.

Source: austrade.gov.au

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The announcement was made by the visiting Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd who made a statement at the opening of the 16th Executive Council meeting of the African Union Commission, being held in Addis Ababa.

Accordingly, Rudd said that his government has established the Australia-Africa Awards which offers 400 scholarships for study each year to students across the continent in the areas of development priority for Africa.

“And by 2013, we will offer 1,000 new scholarships each year to support the future skills needs of this continent,” said Rudd.

He also promised to increase his country’s investment in Africa.

“Our mining investment in Africa will grow beyond the $20 billion now invested. We have already doubled our level of cooperation with Africa in the last three years,” said Rudd. “We have come here to cooperate on a new level, to build new bonds of commerce, development, investment and political dialogue.”

He indicated that his country was active in mining in Africa with $20 billion of investments, in more than 200 companies, and more than 600 projects across more than 40 countries in Africa.

“The people of Africa must get a fair return for the vast mineral wealth that belongs to them,” added Rudd.

Source African Press Agency

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The basis of the sudden and largely unexpected coup was a slide in polls which many commentators attributed to Rudd’s March decision to abandon efforts to push a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) through a hostile Senate.

A poll commissioned by WWF Australia which showed collapsing government support and a soaring Green Party vote in key marginal seats may also have contributed to Rudd’s ousting. He’s been replaced by Julia Gillard – Australia’s first woman prime-minister.

Leading national daily newspaper, The Australian, made reference to “voter anger at the Prime Minister’s decision to delay the emissions trading scheme (ETS)”, reporting that nearly two thirds of voters in the marginals surveyed supported an ETS while only a quarter opposed it – and nearly two thirds said it would affect the way they vote.

“We believe the Labor Party’s backflip on the emissions trading scheme and its associated decline in the polls is a key reason we now have a new leader,” said WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne.

“It is not surprising that support for an emissions trading scheme is still a key factor in voters minds, given it was a major platform for both major parties at the last election and both have since backflipped,” said Kellie Caught, WWF-Australia’s Climate Change Policy Manager

“What this poll makes clear is that taking serious action to reduce Australia’s carbon pollution is a vote winner.”

While Australians may have acted first, indications are that they are not alone. Two weeks ago, Stanford University released research showing a large majority of US citizens supported action on climate change, reinforcing similar findings from the UK.

Said Stanford Professor of communication, political science and psychology Jon A. Krosnick, who lead the research, “a huge majority shares a common vision of climate change”.

“This creates a unique opportunity for elected representatives to satisfy a lot of voters,” he concluded.

Australia’s new Prime Minister said after her election that she would make a priority of establishing a “community consensus for action”. If re-elected at the forthcoming elections, she said “ . . . I will re-prosecute the case for a carbon price at home and abroad”.

WWF congratulated Julia Gillard on becoming the next Prime Minister of Australia and urged the new leader to recommit to an emissions trading scheme by, 2011.

“The party backflipped and now it is up to the new leader to right the wrongs and commit to an emissions trading scheme by 2011″ , Mr Bourne said.

“Any attempt to just tinker around the edges with piecemeal action will not satisfy the Australian people that real action is being taken.

Source WWF

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Answering a question on his tax reversal in March from the 7.30 Report’s presenter Kerry O’Brien, Mr Abbott appeared to damage his electoral chances in the eyes of the Australian people when he admitted his comments were, apparently, not always to be taken seriously admitting, “in the heat of discussion you go a little bit further”.

“So every time you make a major statement we have to ask you whether it’s carefully prepared and scripted or something on the fly?” asked O’Brien to a clearly exasperated Opposition Leader.

“All of us Kerry when we are in the heat of verbal combat so to speak will sometimes say things that go a little bit further,” replied Mr Abbott.

Government ministers were quick to seize on the comments.

Treasurer Wayne Swan told Adelaide Radio the comments brought into question Mr Abbott’s fitness for office.

“I think what happened last night was that Tony Abbott cracked under pressure,” he told Fairfax Radio.

“He basically said that you can’t believe a word he says and I just don’t know where that would leave Australia if Tony Abbott was prime minister in the middle of a global financial crisis.”

The admission will have definitely damaged his electoral chances, said Robert Manne, professor of politics at La Trobe University

“I think the fact that he has told us we can’t take for granted what he says in interviews, which are the vast bulk of what politicians do, as necessarily what he believes will do a lot of damage because it will keep on being used against him,” Professor Manne was quoted as saying by The Age.

“I think it will do damage, but I don’t think it will be because at first people are shocked by what he has done. I think it will work in a different way over the long-term, I think it will erode his credibility,” he added.

However Opposition frontbenchers have defended Mr Abbott’s comments saying politician’s should be judged on their actions rather than their utterances.

Liberal Opposition frontbencher Ian Macfarlane described Mr Abbott as a “straight shooter” and compared him favourably with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s failure to follow through on a number of key issues.

“What we are seeing from Tony is very much a straight shooter,” he told Sky News, “When it comes to action Prime Minister Kevin Rudd just walks away.”

National coalition partner frontbencher Senator Barnaby Joyce said he agreed with his leader’s statement saying it was true that, “What is said in the heat of battle is sometimes different to what you say in the cold and clinical moment.”

By Rich Bowden

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With the low-lying Pacific nations struggling to adapt to a changing environment brought about by climate change, the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) has released a briefing paper outlining the two factors which it considers the most important aspects of the debate as it affects the Pacific: (1) the human impact of climate change and (2) how climate adaptation measures should also cover meeting development challenges.

“In a changing climate, the development challenges remain the same,” said Mr Derek Brien, Deputy Executive Director of PiPP in a statement. “Adaptation needs to consider more than just climate-proofing infrastructure. Climate change adaptation is about development: water supply, sanitation, agricultural productivity, food security, urbanisation, economic development, health care and education.”

According to the PiPP many smaller Pacific nations, such as Kiribati (population 100,000), Marshall Islands (60,000) and Tuvalu (population 10,000), are looking to negotiate funds for relocation at the climate talks in Copenhagen as they face the prospect of becoming uninhabitable over the next fifty years. Relocation is not a straightforward matter, said the Institute, citing the example of the Carteret Islands, in Papua New Guinea, where land has become uninhabitable due to encroaching seas. Problems have arisen moving whole communities in order that they are able to provide for themselves and live harmoniously with neighbours in their new location.

“Climate change adaption also needs to facilitate choice migration”, says Derek Brien, “and that will require a shift in prevailing attitudes to the subject, as well as ensuring current and future generations of Pacific islanders have access to international standards of education to compete on the global stage.”

Calls for climate leadership

Meanwhile as the start of the COP15 summit nears, the Pacific Conference of Churches has called on Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to exercise leadership to demand a fair outcome for Pacific countries vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The Council released a statement saying Mr Rudd should use his position as chair of the Pacific Islands Forum to argue for meaningful change on the issue.

“And once that is done then all the rhetoric about ’we are committing millions and millions of dollars into our Pacific year of climate change’ and all the other initiatives that Australia appears to be leading the way, all well and good. But please we are imploring Mr Rudd to strengthen this international instrument,” said Peter Emberson, the group’s climate change campaigns officer.

He added the organisation would be sending a 15-strong conference to the climate conference.

By Rich Bowden

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Dan Hansen, CEO of Suzlon Energy Australia, said: “Our team of experienced power industry professionals valued the opportunity to work with Infigen Energy to deliver another sustainable power plant in Australia. The successful commissioning of the Capital Wind Farm demonstrates the real and important role that wind energy has to play in a low carbon economy.”

As one of Australia’s largest wind farms Capital will produce clean energy to power the Sydney Water desalination plant and avoid the emission of approximately 390,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year.

The wind farm has provided an important boost for clean energy jobs and investment in the local economy. Infigen invested more than half the total value of the project in Australian products and services, such as the steel wind turbine towers. The wind farm will continue to provide clean energy jobs for the life of the project to meet the ongoing service and maintenance requirements.

The Capital Wind Farm also plays a role in helping shape the clean energy jobs of the future. Through a ground-breaking partnership between Suzlon and RMIT, the wind farm was host to Australia’s first wind farm electrical apprentices. Through this program, ten pioneer apprentices will soon possess qualifications that will equip them to make a real contribution to the renewable energy industry.

As part of an extensive program to rehabilitate the land, up to 6,000 trees have been planted by Trees for Earth.

Commenting on the opening, Mr. Tulsi Tanti, Chairman of Suzlon Energy Limited, said: “The Capital Wind Farm is an important milestone towards Australia’s commitment to making the transition to a low carbon economy and I welcome the Australian government’s ongoing support for renewable energy. We are happy to work with Infigen to provide clean, renewable energy. The wind farm is a step towards a greener future generating significant employment opportunities and benefits to the local business and communities.”

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Sabi, a four-year-old black Labrador, went missing during a clash between Australian troops and Afghan militants in September 2008, and was since officially listed as “missing in action.” Nine soldiers, including the dog’s handler, were injured in the fighting.

“Sabi is back home in one piece and [is] a genuinely nice pooch as well,” Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said while visiting his country’s troops in Afghanistan.

The dog was found by a U.S. serviceman in the southern Afghani province of Orugzan. He said he found out that Sabi was not a common stray dog when she understood some of his commands.

She will return to Australia after a quarantine period.

Source RIA Novosti

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Environment Minister Peter Garrett told Channel Ten’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday November 8 that he would “…make a proposed decision over the next week,” adding he would, “take account not only of what the department brings forward to me, but of the expert scientific advice and of the public submissions themselves.”

The Queensland Government’s proposed $1.8 billion project to dam the Mary River at Traveston Crossing, north of Brisbane, has been met with opposition from environmentalists, residents and water experts who dispute the claims made by the Government that the dam would provide enough water to alleviate severe drought conditions and provide water security to major population centres such as Brisbane.

The proposed dam will also come under pressure as a court case concerning the Paradise Dam on the Burnett River, 35km northwest of Biggenden, southeast Queensland, resumes this week to look into the efficacy of technology to transport fish over dam walls.

Amid claims by experts that the technology wasn’t working, the case will have a bearing on the Traveston issue as the same fishway methods will be used to transport endangered fish. Working fishway technology is one of the 1200 conditions imposed on the project by Queensland’s coordinator-general.

Preliminary Finding

The Minister acknowledged the contentious nature of the project by saying he would release a preliminary finding.

“I know there are very strong feelings in Queensland and I think it’s important to know that I will make a proposed decision over the next week,” he said.

“The matters have just come to me now. And in doing that I’ll take account not only of what the department brings forward to me, but of the expert scientific advice and the public submissions themselves.”

Environmentalists remain hopeful of a positive outcome. Save The Mary River (STMR) president Glenda Pickersill told the Brisbane Times that an 30,000 email campaign targeting Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Mr Garrett, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and her Environment Minister Kate Jones had shown the extent of the discontent surrounding the dam issue.

”Our support is not only local. The large number of Brisbane addresses on these letters shows the extent to which people in Anna Bligh’s backyard disapprove of the project,” she said.

The prime minister, on a visit to Hervey Bay in Queensland last week, met with anti-dam protesters and said he understood local uproar over the dam issue.

“I understand full well local sensitivities on this,” he told people outside a health forum in Hervey Bay.

“I grew up not a long way from here, a few hours south, and as a kid I used to go swimming in the Mary River. So I know something of how this is felt in the local community.”

However he said he had faith in Mr Garrett deciding the outcome based on evidence presented before him.

“What the environment minister has before him is a matter on which he’s got to make an independent decision on its environmental merits, and Peter Garrett is a minister of great integrity,” the prime minister said.

“Under the law of Australia, it’s important for him, it’s essential for him to make an unfettered, independent environmental choice, that’s what’s required under the statutes of Australia, and that’s what will occur.”

Minister Garrett told the Ten Network he would release a statement of reasons accompanying his decision.

By Rich Bowden

Source: theAngle Australasian/Pacific News Coverage

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The country’s newly installed Chief Justice, Anthony Gates had preempted the expulsion by accusing the two countries of meddling in the operation of Fiji’s judiciary, according to a Radio Australia report.

Speaking to Fiji TV, Sir Anthony accused Australia of trying to convince Sri Lankan judges – on secondment to Fiji – not to take up their positions.

The Australian Government has denied the allegations saying the Chief Justice had misrepresented the situation.

Australia’s High Commissioner, James Batley, and New Zealand’s acting Deputy High Commissioner, Todd Cleaver were given just 24 hours to leave after a statement by Commodore Bainamarama at the Government Buildings in Suva after 6pm Fiji time. Though this is the third time New Zealand has had its envoy sent home, it is the first such time a move has been made against Australia’s diplomatic representation.

Military ruler Bainimarama told reporters Tuesday that a travel ban imposed on members of the Fijian judiciary was unfair and constituted interference in the country’s affairs.

“I cannot understand why Australia and New Zealand are engaged in dishonest and untruthful strategies to undermine our judiciary, our independent institutions and our economy,” he said at a news conference.“I can accept their ban on me and my senior officers given the personalization of matters. But why punish individuals both Fijians and non-Fijians who join the judiciary?”

‘Hardline’ policy

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd though was unmoved by the expulsion saying his Government would continue to implement its hardline policy against the country which had removed a democratically-elected Government in a 2006 military-led coup.

“We belong to a family of democracies in the South Pacific,” he told reporters.

“We, the Australian government, are engaged in active development programs with our partners in the South Pacific. We want to see stability in the South Pacific and we’re not about to simply allow a coup culture to spread.”

“That’s why we’ll maintain a hard line in relation to this regime,” he stated.

Australia’s Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith has described the expulsions as a “…substantial and serious setback” to relations with Fiji.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said his Government would consider its position regarding the expulsion of the ambassador.

“The New Zealand government will now consider the appropriate steps to take in response to today’s expulsion, and also assess the impact of this action on the already depleted resources in our Suva High Commission,”  he said in a statement Tuesday.

By Rich Bowden

Source: theAngle Australasian/Pacific News Coverage

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Calling on senators to support the changes to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), the Australian Conservation Foundation’s campaigns director Denise Boyd said  the improvements proposed by the Greens were exactly what was needed to regain the initiative on carbon emissions.

“Senators hoping to amend the Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme should look closely at these proposals,” she said in an ACF news release.

“These are exactly the kind of improvements we need if we want Australia’s emissions trading scheme to be environmentally effective and would send a message to the world that Australia is prepared to walk the talk at home.”

“As it stands the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme gets a ‘pass’.  Any further weakening would make that a ‘fail’,” Ms Boyd added.

The Campaigns Director said the amendments would strengthen the current proposed legislation (considered too weak by most environmental groups) to a level where it would be considered ideal legislation to deal effectively with carbon emissions.

“To amend the scheme along the lines proposed the Greens would lift it to an A,” Ms Boyd said.

The ACF said they were happy to accept the following amendments, which are among 22 proposed by the Greens to the bill due to be discussed in the next parliamentary sitting.

* Set a goal to stabilise concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at 350ppm (parts per million)
* Give Australian emissions trading flexibility to respond to emerging science by reviewing the scheme’s targets every two years
* Include households’ voluntary actions to reduce emissions (by installing insulation, solar panels etc) in national emission reduction goals
* Establish an ambitious program to green-up houses and commercial buildings
* Provide industry assistance to commercialise renewable energy technologies
* Remove perverse subsidies that encourage car use
* Invest heavily in public transport.

Climate change debate urgent

Greens Senator Christine Milne told the ABC’s Radio National that by introducing the amendments, her party recognised the urgency of the climate change debate.

“The Greens are with the scientists and with the community and with the global community in recognising we really have to deal with climate change and do it urgently,” she said.

However Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has all but ruled out negotiating with the Greens on the CPRS saying he was committed to working with the Opposition to hammer out an agreement, reported Sky News.

By Rich Bowden

Source: theAngle Australasian/Pacific News Coverage

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Reacting to leaks from Opposition MPs undermining his proposed policy of working with the Government on an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), Mr Turnbull told Fairfax Radio he had no time for anonymous backbenchers who challenged his strategy.

Sources quoted in the Australian media said Mr Turnbull had made his position untenable earlier in the week when he challenged the party room to back his views on the ETS or to sack him as Opposition Leader.

“I don’t place any store on anonymous smart-arses who make comments like that,” said Mr Turnbull in the Fairfax radio interview. “Who are they? If they don’t have the guts to put their name to it then I’m not going to waste my time worrying about what they’ve said.”

Mr Turnbull has said an election fought on the issues of climate change and an emissions trading scheme would be disastrous for the Coalition.

”If you want to go out there on the climate change sceptic platform, believe me, you’ll get about 15 per cent of the people  voting for you,” he warned his more conservative colleagues this week.

”There’s is no way that I could win or indeed I could conduct a campaign based on doing nothing on climate change,” he said.

Opposition to Mr Turnbull’s negotiating strategy on the issue has centred around veteran West Australian backbencher Wilson Tuckey who accused the Opposition Leader of “entrapment” tactics, arguing the party room had never agreed to negotiation on the issue with the Government.

“Malcolm says the party room agreed to it. Well it didn’t. That’s rubbish,” Mr Tuckey was quoted as saying by The Australian on September 30.

“It’s the way he does business, it’s entrapment. There’s never been a position put to our party room beyond that we should delay our decision until after Copenhagen,” he added. “You can’t go to an election opposing an emissions trading scheme if you have been in bed with the government on trying to make it better.”

Turnbull’s argument that opposing the emissions trading scheme in the Senate (where the Government doesn’t have the numbers to pass legislation) would hand the Government a trigger for a double dissolution of Parliament has met with fierce opposition from elements of the pro-business conservatives who see the Government’s emissions trading scheme as deeply flawed and damaging to Australia’s economy.

Damaging split

Mr Turnbull’s aggressive response this week to a damaging split within Liberal/National party ranks over the issue has again raised questions among conservative elements of the Coalition about his fitness to lead.

Seen as a moderate, Turnbull’s abrasive and sometimes aggressive style has made him a number of enemies within his party particularly within its conservative wing.

Influential senator and party power broker Nick Minchin, while calling on his colleagues to support Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, has told the Australian media he sympathised with these sections of the party who are adamantly opposed to dealing with the Government on what they see as a poorly-drafted emissions scheme policy.

Senator Minchin also said the Opposition must not fear an early election called on the issue.

”I certainly don’t fear an electoral contest,” Senator Minchin told Sky News this week, saying to campaign against such a flawed policy would gain the Opposition support in the electorate.

Frontbencher Tony Abbott, also considered a conservative and considered one of the few leadership alternatives to Mr Turnbull, has said Mr Turnbull deserves support on his strategy and called on the party to rally behind its leader.

“The leader has a right to expect party room support for decisions he has arrived at after careful consideration of the interest of the party,” he told the ABC’s The World Today.

The issue of climate change, considered a major factor for the election of the Kevin Rudd’s Labor Government in 1997, ending nearly a decade of conservative rule, has once again emerged as a possibly defining issue in the next election.

Already framed by the key climate talks in Copenhagen in December, the Labor Government has managed to position itself both domestically and internationally as a proactive nation on cutting emissions despite disappointing many Australians with a comparatively weak climate change policy.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd angered many environmentalists earlier in the year when he announced a target of five percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, with that target being increased to 15 percent only if there was a similar global agreement.

However as a domestic political issue, climate change has clearly driven a wedge between Opposition conservatives – many of whom admit they remain climate skeptics – and moderates such as Mr Turnbull who are looking to move the party away from the policy of the previous Howard Government, a strategy which Australian voters punished in the 2007 poll.

A recent Newspoll survey has found little change in this sentiment with 72 percent of those surveyed (including 57 percent of Coalition voters) backing a carbon emission reduction scheme.

However while these figures appear to back Mr Turnbull’s comment that his party would be “wiped out” if an election were called on the issue of climate change, Newspoll also showed only 19 percent supported an early election with 64 percent preferring an amendment to the emissions trading legislation to enable its passage.

By Rich Bowden

Source: theAngle Australasian/Pacific News Coverage

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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made the announcement at a Friends of Pakistan gathering in the United States prior to the Australian prime minister’s attendance of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Mr Rudd said his Government’s decision to bolster military training for members of Pakistan’s defence forces to 140 places makes it the second largest provider of military training to the country after the United States.

“The Australian Government has significantly increased its engagement with Pakistan over the past 20 months, including through increased defence and law enforcement cooperation,” he said in a statement.

Rudd added that, coupled with a firming of strategic defence cooperation, business links with the Australia-Pakistan Joint Trade Committee would be strengthened and development aid boosted.

The development increase would be funded through the Australia-Pakistan Development Partnership, said the release, which would focus on “…health reform, reconstruction of the disputed Malakand region, democratic governance and economic reform, as well as providing 100 agricultural scholarships,” according to the statement.

Prime Minister Rudd also said delegates had approved funding for the reconstruction of the Malakand region in the north-west frontier province.

“The Summit endorsed the establishment of a multi-donor trust fund for Pakistan’s border areas, to be administered by the World Bank,” he said.

Taliban ‘threat’ to regional security

Pakistan received the full support of Australia, the United States and over twenty other countries as its confrontation with the Taliban continues. U.S. President Barack Obama told attendees at the summit that extremist Taliban pockets in the country pose a grave threat to regional and global stability.

“The violent extremists within Pakistan pose a threat to the region, to the United States, and to the world, ” Obama told the gathering.

“Just as we will help Pakistan strengthen the capacity that it needs to root out violent extremists, we are also committed to working with all of you to help Pakistan improve the basic services that its people depend upon: schools, roads, and hospitals,” he said.

By Rich Bowden

Source: theAngle Australasian/Pacific News Coverage

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The 4-year-old koala, which received serious burns during the fires in Victoria, was taken to the Southern Ash Wildlife Centre and had been making good progress, Australian newspapers reported.

However, the animal developed urogenital chlamydiosis, which affects 50% of Australia’s koala population, and during surgery to treat cysts caused by the disease, vets discovered Sam’s condition had reached a critical stage and decided to put her down rather than let her suffer, The Herald Sun said.

“Dr. John Butler of the Morwell Vet Clinic operated on Sam shortly after 1 p.m. today and discovered that Sam had severe changes in her urinary and reproductive tract that was non-operable and unfortunately had to put Sam to sleep,” a lawyer representing Sam and the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter told the newspaper.

Peita Elkhorne of TressCox Lawyers added that everyone who been involved with Sam was devastated with this loss.

David Tree, one of the Country Fire Authority volunteers, said he cried like a baby when he learned about Sam’s death. “She meant so much – she highlighted the plight and vulnerability of Australian wildlife around the world,” he told The Herald Sun.

Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd led the national mourning for Sam, describing her as an enduring symbol of Victoria’s resilience in the face of the Black Saturday fires. “It’s tragic that Sam the koala is no longer with us,” he said.

The bush fires in Australia’s Victoria state began on February 7 and continued for several weeks, killing 170 people. The fires spread quickly due to extremely hot weather and winds.

Source RIA Novosti

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Ms Macklin said the center – which will replace an old, inadequate building – would increase the community’s capacity to produce artwork.

“Since 2001, the Tjala Arts Centre has grown by almost 100 per cent as a result of an increase in art sales,” Ms Macklin said.

“This in turn makes a huge contribution to the economy of the community.”

“Many artists working at the center have achieved national and international reputations and the center is now recognized as a provider of high quality work.”

The new center will be bigger than the existing structure, with air conditioning and dust control, outdoor working areas and disability access. It will give established artists the space and scope to work and emerging artists the chance to learn skills and build their talent.

The new center is expected to be finished by the end of 2009. Other programs for the whole community will be run from the center focusing on health and nutrition, finance and money management, the environment and social and emotional well being.

South Australian Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Minister Jay Weatherill said the center was a great example of APY Lands community enterprise.

“People living in remote communities face unique challenges and we need to do what we can to help them support themselves,” Mr Weatherill said.

“A new arts center will give the Amata community the scope and opportunity it needs to maintain and even increase the positive momentum it has gained through its production of a range of art works.”

“I am sure there will be many art enthusiasts in Australia and overseas who will also be happy to hear more APY art work will be soon on the market.”

Source: FaHCSIA

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A year ago Australia’s former conservative government embarked on a controversial plan to tackle the country’s worst social problem. Chronic disadvantage had seen Aboriginal life expectancy fall to 17 years below that of other Australians. In response to a damning report about widespread child abuse, troops, police officers and medical teams were sent to more than 70 indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. Bans on alcohol and pornography were also introduced.

The policy has the support of the new Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

12 months after the intervention began Aborigines across the country have demonstrated against what they’ve claimed are racist and draconian measures.

In protest tribal leaders from Central Australia have threatened to ban tourists from climbing Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, a giant sandstone rock in Australia’s
rugged red center and is managed by its traditional Aboriginal owners.

Community elders have insisted that Aboriginal men had been portrayed as violent alcoholics, who beat women and abuse children.

Critics of the policy have said that young Aborigines were still vulnerable to sexual assault despite the intervention.

However, some Aboriginal community leaders believe that parts of the government’s action plan are working, including the strict controls on the way that individuals could spend Centrelink, or welfare, payments to prevent family budgets being wasted on alcohol.

“We all have family members who have alcohol problems and I’ve seen the difference in my own immediate family where, with this income management now that they’re
only spending half of their money on alcohol and gambling and the other half they’ve actually got food on the table because it’s being managed by Centrelink [government
benefit department]. And for families like that I think it is a good thing,” Said Helen Kantawarra, president of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress.

Ministers have stressed that while there was still much work to be done, progress had been made. Basic health care was being provided and an increasing number of
Aboriginal children had been encouraged to go to school.

Kevin Rudd said the reforms had made a significant difference to thousands of lives.

Aborigines comprise about 2% of Australia’s population of 21 million.

Many indigenous communities are self-destructing through the abuse of alcohol and drugs, which have left a terrible legacy of poverty, high unemployment and premature
death.

By Phil Mercer

by VOA News

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