The problem with being a public relations specialist, it makes me sick to the stomach to have to read through the absolute media spin developed by these four stakeholders in the Gunns Pulp Mill.
Stringent environmental standards indeed. Has EVERYONE forgotton that trees and animals make up the environment and not just humans?
Give me a break.
Professionally, I extend my congratulations to the strategists that came up with this little gem.
EVERYONE comes out looking like a saint.
*puke*
Dear Editor,
I write in response to the The Sunday Mail article ‘Fishing Fears for Livelihood’, offering a different perspective to that which resonates throughout the piece. Mine is one inspired by that lovable penguin, Happy Feet.
I adore the recreational opportunities Moreton Bay Marine Park offers such as sailing and snorkelling and have, since a tiny tot, enjoyed recreational fishing with my father.
I am a water baby and therefore appreciate the happiness, the challenges and the calm that the Bay brings to my life.
However, as a Marine Park, it really must be protected for future generations of holidaymakers, seafood consumers and – of course – its diverse and precious native flora and fauna.
Therefore I am delighted to hear that the State Government’s rezoning review has identified that at least 10% of the park be zoned green, restricting fishing.
It takes guts, but Queenslanders must show courage and demand that our commercial fishing sector use sustainable fishing practices and demand that our government encourages and enforces such practices.
Taking any other action makes a mockery of Happy Feet’s important educational message.
Instead of doing a cute little dance, my heartsong goes out to all Queenslanders – and not just those who live by the Bay – to truly acknowledge that on our doorstep is a water wonderland worth preserving; a place that a myriad of animals and plants call home including whales, dolphins, dugongs, sea birds, fish and crabs.
Why not send your own heartsong to Queensland Environment Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr and, while you’re at it, support the leadership that a wide range of environment groups are showing on this issue – groups such as Australian Marine Conservation Society, Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, Queensland Conservation Council and Friends of the Earth.
Happy Feet is an Academy Award-winning Australian-produced animated film. It offers an easy message that even children can understand. Let’s learn from it.
Elissa Jenkins
Moorooka
0418 786 986
Today I wore RED at a rally at Queen’s Park to say STOP to Global Warming to mark World Environment Day.
An interesting step away from my usual green, but a nicely put together event with plenty of good speakers before and after a march through the City.
I staffed the Greens stall. There was an impressive number of young people taking membership forms which was good to see.
Thanks to Neil Cotter from Logan Greens for helping me out with the stall. 
And it was wonderful seeing my Japanese Global Young Green friend again who’s finally heading home to Japan in 2 weeks after studying in Brisbane for the past year. Cya mate!
Where in the hell can you go far from the things that you know
Far from the sprawl of concrete that keeps crawling its way about 1,000 miles a day?
Take one last look behind, commit this to memory and mind.
Don’t miss this wasteland, this terrible place.
When you leave keep your heart off your sleeve.
Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don’t go.
Don’t you go.
Oh, my five & dime queen tell me what have you seen?
The lust and the avarice, the bottomless, cavernous greed, is that what you see?
Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don’t go.
It’s your happiness I want most of all and for that I’d do anything at all, oh mercy me!
If you want the best of it or the most of all, if there’s anything I can do at all.
Now come on shot gun bride what makes me envy your life?
Faceless, nameless, innocent, blameless and free, what’s that like to be?
Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don’t go.
Don’t go.
- Natalie Merchant
Dear City South News Editor,
How incredibly irresponsible for leader of the Coalition Jeff Seeney to complicate this year’s referendum on recycled water by suggesting the introduction of a vote on fluoridation as highlighted in last week’s letter to the editor.
Access to plentiful, quality drinking water is a basic human right that is on the brink of not being met in Queensland. It is absurd for the state opposition to enter a debate on flouride treated water when our state government cannot even show leadership on the pressing urgency to introduce recycled water into industrial and residential systems.
History shows that even the most simple issues that go to referendum are made unnecessarily complex. Why the Coalition would want to sabotage what should be a clear vote for recyled water is self-serving powerplay and attention-seeking behaviour by a state opposition that is clutching at straws to sound relevant.
Thanks,
Elissa Jenkins
Moorooka
Today was a fabulous day. It was a great ‘Walk Against Warming’. I don’t really know how many people were there (1000-1500?), but it was definitely more than twice as many people as last year. I can’t imagine how many people would’ve attended had it not rained. Impressive result and just goes to show the marked increase in interest (and action) from Brisbane folk. Perhaps they had all seen Al Gore’s movie. I don’t really care how people get educated and passionate about Climate Change – as long as they do.
We met at Queen’s Park in the City where there were a few speeches they couldn’t be heard over the downpouring of rain. An umbrella and a waterproof jacket rather lamely tried to keep me from getting wet. I discovered that ‘I can’t jump puddles’ as I stepped into a gushing gutter of rainwater. At that point it was time to take off the shoes. We walked across the William Jolly. We stopped the traffic. We got honks. We congregated again at Musgrave Park where speeches were drowned out again. Lips were turning blue and people gradually left to find shelter and warmth.
It was great to see young kids as well as high school students. The teenagers in particular provided an added excitement and enthusiasm and FUN which warmed the cockles of my heart. It is nice to contrast this with the more millilant style of protests that are sometimes staged. Promoting it as a ‘walk’ rather than a ‘protest’ certainly offers families and individuals a very real feeling of inclusiveness and community.
It was absolutely wonderful to see so many Greens members out in action. I met at least 20 Greens members from West Brisbane, North Brisbane, Mt Coot-tha, Boonah-Beaudesert, Yeerongpilly, Bayside, Redlands. It was a tremendous presence from The Greens and certainly showed our level of solidarity with and commitment to this particular issue. Nice one!!
I – like most Australians – was in shock yesterday when hearing of Steve’s Irwin’s death.
Love him or hate him, the crocodile hunter provided a clear message of conservation to Australia and the world.
Today Steve Irwin’s father Bob said: “There’s never been anybody else that I know of that had the personality Steve had and the strength and the conviction of what he believed in and his message was conservation.”
He also said that the offer of a state funeral would be declined because Steve was “an ordinary guy, an ordinary bloke, and he wants to be remembered as an ordinary bloke”.
It’s a humbling decision to make.
But fighting for conservation isn’t humbling – it’s damn hard.
I think those who educate with passion about conservation are extraordinary. No wonder his family is proud – they have every right to be.
Steve’s strategies and tactics to educate the public about conversation were often way out of left-field and sometimes a bit ‘wacky’ but that was his charm wasn’t it?
Let’s hope his ‘green’ message lives on in the collective conscious of all Australians now that he is gone.
Steve doesn’t want taxpayers to foot the bill for his funeral so why not cough up a few bucks and donate to Wildlife Warriors Worldwide: http://www.wildlifewarriors.org.au/
All donations are applied directly to saving animals in the wild.
*Written and authorised by Elissa Jenkins, 26 Horan Street, West End, QLD 4101
I went to a rally today organised by Minnippi Against Development. They invited local candidates. I represented myself as candidate for Chatsworth and also represented Howard Nielsen as Greens candidate for Bulimba.
Independant for Bulimba, David Boehm, also came along. No sign of Labor’s Pat Purcell or Liberal’s Angela Julian-Armitage which wasn’t particularly surprising. Wouldn’t have harmed Pat too much to come along.
I gave a speech based on the following (but didn’t use it all).
Elissa’s speech:
I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we rally today and I say sorry for past and continued injustice.
My name is Elissa Jenkins and although I am currently running as the Greens candidate for Chatsworth which covers the neighbouring electorate, I’m here today representing Greens candidate for Bulimba Howard Nielsen and the Bayside branch of the Qld Greens.
The first protest against the Minnippi development that I attended was on February 13, 2005.
A coalition of community and environmental groups including my Bayside Greens branch have opposed this development from word go. Why? Because of the threat it will bring to the squirrel glider colony, other vulnerable fauna and the valuable wetlands.
I cannot forget the fundamental necessity for communities to maintain and preserve green space for the pure recreational joy and visual pleasure that it provides and for the serious importance that it plays globally in respect to climate change.
And now � to add insult to injury � we’re in the midst of a water crisis and opposing a thirsty golf course in favour of satiating thirsty people.
I ask what percentage of the population plays golf? Of that, what percentage of golfers are already content with having five golf courses within 15 minutes of this proposed development? Of them, what percentage appreciate the importance of conserving our native flora and fauna?
This is not the place to have a golf course as the water golf courses drink is enormous compared to the amount of water Australia has available. The bushland that needs to be cleared to create a fairway is enormous. The silly thing about this particular golf course is that it�s being build on a floodplain with acid sulphate soil which really shouldn�t be disturbed.
Why is it that The Greens are the only party offering real solutions for this dry continent of ours? Why is there such a black spot in Labor and the Coalition’s thinking?
The Labor and Coalition parties have only old ideas. They are even suggesting mining the water aquifers on our beautiful Stradbroke and Bribie Islands. They promote the spending of a billion dollars or more building dams, pipelines and desalination plants as a quick political fix. But their policies are neither quick nor a fix.
The Greens have been urging real solutions on water policy for years � putting a real value on water resources � and there is no doubt that changes to regional climate patterns necessitate major changes to traditional methods of urban water supply. We must learn the lesson that forcing a large population into a region and outstripping that region’s resource base can spell disaster.
For 18 months I have been asking for this development not to be approved, for no future development application to be considered and for the site to be rehabilitated and conserved for its ecological values.
It should really be put on the Council�s Natural Assets Register. It really is a wonderful spot – all 125 ha of it!
This is public land designated on the Council�s Town Plan for �Sport and Recreation�. The fact that a golf course was earmarked in 1992 doesn�t mean it has to happen – especially since all the research that has been done since then.
This area features one of the largest intact freshwater wetland systems in Brisbane. Wetlands are meant to be considered high conservation grade areas. This development makes a mockery of that.
Fauna includes a dense colony of squirrel gliders, over a dozen species of bats, it is a habitat for migratory birds, home for the grey goshawk (endangered in Queensland) and the yellow-footed antechinus (a marsupial mouse).
Where’s the local leadership? If the Brisbane City Councillors can’t get it right with the environment � the state government must step in. Where is Pat Purcell today?
I just wish Cr Campbell and Pat Purcell would realise that just because we don�t see these native creatures doesn�t mean they�re not there or not important. That�s often the difficulty in Australia with trying to save our native animals – they mostly come out at night and can be easily forgotton.
Next door to us Caltibiano�s has put environmental issues in the too-hard basket � a different basket to the one in which he keeps the developer�s money.
As the Greens candidate for Chatsworth and on behalf of the Greens candidate in Bulimba I am demanding the State Government step in to ensure Minnippi is protected from local environmental mismanagement.
I am asking the Chatsworth and Bulimba communities to consider environmental leadership when casting their vote next Saturday.
Let�s not rest on our laurels and see Bulimba and Chatsworth turn into urban wastelands under Labor’s Purcell and Liberal’s Caltabiano � these areas have way too much going for them.
And if you’re worried about the Libs getting in, but still want to send a clear Green message to Labor, remember that Chatsworth and Bulimba electors can lodge a protest vote against Labor by voting 1 Greens.
A vote for The Greens is not a wasted vote. Your second choice will still count.
*Written and authorised by Elissa Jenkins, 26 Horan Street, West End, QLD 4101
Dear Editor,
Cr Adrian Shrinner certainly opened Pandora�s Box in last week�s South East Advertiser when he said that Council had no legal means to prosecute anyone dumping in a waterway corridor.
This was an unwise admission that lacks leadership and understanding of local environmental issues, but certainly not surprising.
If there was a time for responsible political rhetoric, this was it, but now we all know that anyone wishing to dump on public land and waterways can do so.
This is an appalling fact that has been neglected for too long and clearly needs to be immediately rectified.
What has Shrinner�s Liberal colleague Michael Caltabiano been doing for the last year (and Labor before him) when he could have shown environmental leadership on this important issue and � at a state level � put an end to it?
Caltibiano�s obviously put this issue in the too-hard basket � a different basket to the one in which he keeps the developer�s money.
As the Greens candidate for Chatsworth I am demanding the State Government now step in as a matter of urgency to ensure our waterways and parklands are legally protected from local environmental mismanagement.
I am asking the Chatsworth community to consider environmental leadership when casting their vote next Saturday.
Let�s not rest on our laurels and see Chatsworth turn into an urban wasteland under Caltabiano � it has way too much going for it.
Thanks for your time,
Elissa.
*Written and authorised by Elissa Jenkins, 26 Horan Street, West End, QLD 4101
Greens candidate for Chatsworth again pushes the importance of a better housing sustainability code a year later, highlighting that Greens were leaders in pre-empting Queensland�s water crisis.
Ms Jenkins � who also ran in last year�s by-election � said that during the by-election the State Government had just released a new housing policy.
�At the time I commented that it did nothing to inspire the innovative design of new sustainable homes and failed to look at the benefits of harvesting rainwater.
�I highlighted that Environment Minister Desley Boyle had missed a great opportunity to solve any future water crisis by mandating rainwater tanks for new housing developments.
�Well now the crisis that The Greens anticipated is upon us and Queensland is no closer to finding appropriate solutions to adequate water supplies.
�As a result, the State Government announced two new dams which is not only uprooting homes and families but compromising the future of exceptionally important native flora and fauna.
�It�s essential we provide adequate water supplies to Queenslanders. What is not essential is building dams as a band-aid solution until an independent inquiry reports on the State�s urban needs.
�That�s why I am asking State Government to reconsider the development of dams and to embrace water recycling as a matter of urgency.
�The Greens were leaders in promoting strict water conservation and water solutions.
�The people of Chatsworth should vote 1 Greens and demand leadership in Queensland Parliament to ensure there�s someone advocating long-term social and environmental solutions.
�I�d really hate to see suburbs like Gumdale, Burbank and Chandler turn into big ugly residential pockets full of badly-designed homes.
Ms Jenkins said the Labor state government had a long history of non-action.
�Badly managed urban sprawl in the Chatsworth electorate is clearly a direct result of flawed state government practice.
�The South-East Queensland Regional Plan contains environmental black spots and highlight�s the State Government�s short sightedness.
Elissa Jenkins said Caltabiano, who was clearly in the pockets of the developers, was a loose canon and shouldn�t be trusted.
�Caltabiano and the Liberal party have an appalling track record of considering the environment and the community�s future wellbeing when making decisions.
�The Liberals are even more hopeless than Labor at looking to the future.
�I am asking the people of Chatsworth to demand no more dams and immediate water recycling � and to demand that from both Bombolas and Caltabiano.
�The way to do that is for Chatsworth electors vote one Greens to ensure they elect someone who is going to provide their own community and all communities throughout Queensland a healthy, safe environment in which to live, work and play,� she said.
For election and policy details visit www.qld.greens.org.au.
To view Elissa’s political web log visit www.elissa.info.
For more information, interview or photo opportunities call Elissa Jenkins on
0418 786 986 or e-mail chatsworth@qld.greens.org.au.
*Written and authorised by Elissa Jenkins, 26 Horan Street, West End, QLD 4101
A little too late, but you’ve gotta give the guy some credit this time.
Did I just say that?
Oh my god!
Thanks Mr Howard. Please also encourage Beattie NOT to build those dams. Thanks. And keep listening to The Greens. Thanks.
Interview excerpt below. I’m sorry, I do not know the source of the interview but happy to attribute should someone let me know. However, an article link is as follows: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,19994133-5005961,00.html
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard do you support the State Government�s idea of a referendum on water in 2008, or should they act now?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think the whole debate will have moved on and it should have moved on before 2008. This country has to face the need to change its attitude and its habits in relation to water. I think state governments have been too slow to build new dams and that is not only here in Queensland, but around Australia. I think we have to face the need to recycle water in big cities like Sydney and also to capture the run off when there are storms. We have to completely alter our approach to the use of water and I think younger people understand this and I think growing numbers of people understand it. If you run a referendum in a particular part of the country, it is always easy to whip up concern, but I would have thought by 2008, if governments around Australia are doing their job, the whole debate will have moved on. If we are still arguing in 2008 about the desirability of recycling, then we have a big problem.
JOURNALIST:
Do you support recycled sewerage for drinking water?
PRIME MINISTER:
I support recycling full stop.
JOURNALIST:
So, you would have supported the referendum?
PRIME MINISTER:
If I had been a resident, if I had been a resident of Toowoomba and it is a beautiful city, one of the most beautiful inland cities in Australia, I would have voted yes.
JOURNALIST:
You were also talking there about a referendum in one part of the country, yet it was your Government which insisted on that referendum being held in that place. Was that a mistake to insist on that referendum being held?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I think what it tells us though is that it is very easy to run a fear campaign, that�s what it tells us.
JOURNALIST:
But shouldn�t you have seen that when you ordered the referendum?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think we all learn by experience.
JOURNALIST:
So you�re not going to be doing it again?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the whole country needs to have a big debate on water recycling and I intend to be a big part of it and I think it is long past the time when we should understand what a big problem water is in this country and that includes recycling, it includes dams, it includes a completely new approach, but most importantly of all, a
fundamental understanding of how hard the problem is.
For pics visit www.elissa.info/nodams/
Today I attended the No Dams protest at Kanganda. The State Government is proposing to build a dam on the Mary River, resuming about 500 residents and threatening the survival of the Mary River Turtle, Mary River Cod, the lungfish and a frog. The proposal is flawed because it is aimed at helping solve the water crisis, but the dam won’t hold enough water to make a significant impact. Additionally, there’s no need to even consider damming the river as there are other alternative solutions to consider first (e.g. water tanks). For more, visit www.nodams.org.au.
I picked up Dr Jean Joss from the airport and drove her to join in the protest at Kanganda and speak at University of Sunshine Coast. Jean, who flew in from Sydney for the protest, is an expert on the threatened lungfish (or Dala as the indigenous folk call it). It’s apparently the oldest living vertibrate which means it’s really really old (therefore significant and valuable) and also helpful to study evolution.
After watching Bob Brown lead 120 canoes in a ‘Flotilla of Hope’ on the Mary River, I went to Kandanga Hall where Bob was giving a speech. I staffed the Greens stall and we sold heaps of No Dams badges, stickers and signs. Although I didn’t hear it myself, Bob’s speech worked a treat. Thanks Bob!
After that we drove to Sunshine Coast Uni where Jean, Jo Bragg from Environmental Defenders Office and Bob spoke. A local indigenous woman, Eve, introduced us to the name Dala, the Aboriginal name for ‘lungfish’. I appreciated her passion and historical information. It was so important to hear it. I hope to help Eve in her aspect of the campaign.
It was a good day. Great to see city and country folk coming together. There should be more of it.
Tonight I attended the launch of The Greens No Dams campaign. Enjoyed a bit of music, a touching and inspiring film about Tassie’s legendary Franklin River campaign and – at the end of the evening – a speech from Senator Bob Brown.
Bob is spending the weekend visiting those who would be closely affected should the Logan River and Mary River be dammed and inspiring action from all those interested in preserving the natural environment.
It’s all about water, water, water – and there are other options aside from silly dams.
This is the start of a long debate – a debate that will be won Mr Beattie. Let’s not drag it out. I’ve got better things to do on my weekends.
Dear Mr Greg Bourne and WWF Australia team,
I read with dismay the news that WWF Australia has accepted the federal government’s push to expand uranium mining and
exports.
As a Generation X Australian, I cannot believe I am going to have to be part of renewing an anti-nuclear campaign that I thought was fought and won 20 years ago.
I am absolutely dumbfounded that an environmental organisation in Australia is supporting this ludicrous idea.
I write inform you of my thoughts and let you know that I will not be donating any further money to WWF until you reverse your decision.
I understand that WWF International opposes nuclear power as a clean-energy alternative to greenhouse intensive coal-fired power
I pity the staff at WWF – some of who I am certain will not support the organisation’s decision. I hope they find another environmental organisation to work in that will fulfill the very real and rightious goals of the environmental movement in Australia.
Regards,
Elissa Jenkins, Brisbane.
elissa@race.net.au
0418 786 986
Attended a meeting tonight of the Wynnum/Manly Regional Development Partnership. I am thinking of becoming a member and also joining a steering commitee to organise the development of an eco-centre on the Manly foreshore. Requires planning, funding, creativity.
All good stuff – just wish I had more time to dedicate to the ‘good stuff’. I’m leaning towards doing it, but I’m also leaning towards saving Moreton Bay.
That said, it starts with education and valuing the bay and that’s what the eco-centre will hopefully provide to the community – rather than just tourists for the sake of tourists, progress for the sake of progress and population growth just for the sake of population growth. And more money in the back pockets of a select few.
We’ll see…