Concern about Coal: Fighting Fracking in Victoria; Lakes Oil in Western Vic; an export facility on beautiful but fragile 90 Mile Beach

From Cam Walker of Friends of the Earth

Dear Friends

Thank you to everyone who came along to the ‘farmers and friends against fracking’ rally last Sunday.

As you know, our petition was one of the ones handed in to Greens MP Greg Barber on the 18^th.

The Energy Minister is feeling the pressure (and came out in the media the next day to counter the rally  and say that ‘he is open to discussion on fracking’.)

However, he has still not organised the community consultation he keeps promising.

Please email or call his office, asking him to engage with the community as a matter of urgency. Tell him that there should be no on-shore exploration or production of gas until we know whether it will be safe for people, water supplies and farming. Ask him to initiate a public inquiry into this matter.

A phone call has the most impact: (03) 9651 1156

But an email is good too:

Hon Nicholas KotsirasMinister for Energy and Resourcesnicholas.kotsiras@parliament.vic.gov.au, 

Please remember, we have a monthly email newsletter, if you’d like to stay in the loop on what we are doing, please email cam.walker@foe.org.au with the words SUBSCRIBE CLIMATE in the subject line

Regards

Cam Walker

Friends of the Earth

CONTENTS

·  Farmers and friends against fracking rally

·  Lakes Oil in Western VIC

·  Coal export facility on 90 Mile Beach?

·  Local meetings: Yarragon, Drouin, Catani

·  Getting involved

Farmers and friends against fracking

There is a great set of photos on the Quit Coal facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/quitcoal.org.au/media_set?set=a.420077811442101.1073741832.100003196581402&type=1

Lakes Oil – western VIC

Lakes Oil have been quietly drilling for gas in western Victoria under petroleum exploration permits PEP163 andPEP169. 

These were issued under the Petroleum act for 'tight gas', not the MRSD Act which is used for Coal Seam Gas (CSG). One permit allows for 3 wells and to 'frack' one, the other permit for one well, drilling only.

These sites are near Timboon and north of Peterborough (PEP 169)and a broad area from Aireys Inlet up towards Winchelsea and across to Geelong, then down through the Bellarine Peninsula (PEP 163).

If you live in either of these areas and want to help stop Lakes Oil, please get in touch. Cam.walker@foe.org.au

We are hoping to hold an info session in Torquay shortly.

Further info here.

http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=node/1240

Coal export facility on 90 Mile Beach?

It has recently come to light that “a $3 billion rail line and port concept connecting the Latrobe Valley to the Bass Straight via a port at McGauran's Beach on the Ninety Mile Beach …is … the preferred export route by developers of alternative brown coal technologies”.

In May 2013, the Victorian government said that it wanted to see development of ‘next generation’ coal mines in the Latrobe Valley. An export industry will need new mines, new roads, new infrastructure and new ports.

So far, the Port of Hastings and Port Anthony have been suggested as possible locations for export infrastructure. A proposal for 90 Mile Beach seems particularly crazy.

We will be launching a campaign shortly, but in the meantime, check here for further details on what is proposed:http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=node/1257

Local events

Below is a list of some of the other upcoming events/meetings in Gippsland. If you have been thinking of getting more involved, WE NEED YOU, please come along to any of the gatherings below, everyone is welcome!

Meet the Candidates Coal & Gas Forum 

When: Wednesday the 28th August @ 7pm

Where: Yarragon Public Hall, Campbell St, Yarragon

All known candidates in the McMillian electorate have been invited.

For more information email: bbsn@dcsi.net.au

Friday 30th August, 7pm

Drouin CSG Information Meeting

@ The Drouin South Hall, Drouin-Korumburra road

Speakers: Dr Gavin Mudd (Groundwater Specialist), Felicity Millner (Environment Defenders Office)

and Dr Merryn Reddenbach (Doctors for the Environment)

Catani CSG Information Night

When: Wednesday 11th September @ 7pm

Where: Catani Football Club, Taplins road, Catani

Speakers Include: Ariane Wilkinson (Environment Defenders Office) &

Allison Sable (Seaspray Local)

For more info call Gillian on 0418 995 756

Getting involved

NO CSG IN VICTORIA 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/No-CSG-in-Victoria/278427315523831

Friends of the Earth facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-the-Earth-Australia/16744315982

Quit Coal: 

http://quitcoal.org.au/

FoE website: 

http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/

To support our work, please check here: 

http://www.givenow.com.au/foecsgcampaign

Campaigns co-ordinator

Friends of the Earth

Box 222, Fitzroy, 3065

Ph: 03 9419 8700 (ext 20)

M: 0419 338 047

melbourne.foe.org.au

foe.org.au

The Greens have a plan for the future of Australian food - and its production, its distribution, and bypassing The Big Two

GREENS FOOD PLAN INCREASES FARMER AND CONSUMER POWER

Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne today announced an $85 million plan to help farmers bypass the big two supermarkets and sell direct to consumers.

"People care about where their food comes from and that local farmers get paid a reasonable price for it," Senator Milne said.

"Farmers don't have many options for selling their produce outside the low prices offered by the big supermarket chains.

"The Greens want to help farmers access infrastructure and markets so they can make a decent living off the land and improve our access to reasonably priced, fresh, local food.

"The communications revolution, particularly fast broadband heralds a new era of direct connection between growers and consumers.

"The Greens will provide $85 million over four years to help set up farmers markets, food box sales, farmers' co-operatives, regional marketing and food hubs."

Greens agricultural spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert said more and more Australians want to "know their farmer" and buy food direct from local growers.

"Many people are already familiar with the taste and cost benefits of farmers' markets and buying boxes of seasonal produce and these should be expanded so more consumers can benefit," Senator Siewert said.

"Regional food hubs are where small-scale farmers can store, package, pickle, juice and bottle their produce. By sharing the equipment with other food producers they bring production costs down and improve their range of goods.

"Farmers co-operatives allow producers to band together to supply bigger contracts or start their own product lines with greater surety of supply than if they were working solo.

"Grant money could also be used to market a region for its products.

"Tasmania has a strong brand for high quality food and wine, as do WA regions like the Margaret River. Other regions and their specialities need similar opportunities, and the Greens' will help them do that."

It's all a numbers game - everyone counts - and if the numbers aren't right then nothing else is

Picture from here

It is early on a Thursday morning in late May.  As I write, it is pitch black outside but soon I will see another sunrise over the mighty Murray River.  Yesterday it was at Swan Hill.  To-day it is at Robinvale.  The drive between Swan Hill and Robinvale is a lesson in Australian geography, sociology and economics. 

I am in Mallee country. Mallee is a species of eucalypt with many bracts or trunks.  It inhabits arid and semi-arid areas of southern Australia.  In the late 19th century and early 20th century, many would-be farmers broke their hearts and their backs trying to clear mallee scrub for agriculture.  

Picture from here

See more text and photos about mallee scrubs here

Description from The Argus of 6 February 1909

of trialling a traction engine to clear mallee scrub

The drive from Swan Hill to Robinvale across the mallee country is an entree to the fruity riches of Sunraysia.  While there are many vegetable crops along the way, it is the orchards - of citrus, of olives - and the grape vines that are the attention getters.  Thousands upon thousands of hectares planted in the straightest of straight lines, undoubtedly due to the wonders of GPS.

I did come across, though, mass destruction of citrus trees. Perhaps someone can enlighten me why this destruction was taking place.  Firstly, I came across huge bonfires of cut down trees.  Further on, I saw a whole section of uniformly dead citrus trees, starkly grey compared to the usual dark green glossy leaves.  Further on, ploughed fields on which the ashes of fire were still present.  

I know there are farmers who are or will be destroying their trees in the Goulburn Valley area of Victoria because of the SPC Ardmona cutbacks - but does this impact on growers this far west?  Perhaps the destruction was of trees which were past their use-by date and no longer as productive as once they were?  Perhaps the destruction was the result of a commercial decision to destroy a section of citrus to plant other crops such as olives or grapes?

As I came closer to Robinvale, white plastic was on many of the vines. This was to keep the birds away from the grapes underneath.  In one area, I saw pickers at work and trucks loaded with boxes. Harvest was in full swing.

Which brings me to what I really want to talk about ... the people.

Particularly since World War II, both sides of the Murray River - in New South Wales and in Victoria - have developed multicultural populations.  Large Italian communities are evident but there is quite a mix.  Family farms have become agricultural corporations.  In some cases, not only is fruit produced it is also processed at an industrial level locally.  Wineries abound.  Those thousands of hectares of GPS-ploughed fields represent huge financial investments and some thick wallets have been developed in communities either side of the NSW-Vic border.  

But in the end, there is a harvest and that fruit - whether it be citrus, olives or grapes - has to be picked.  In come the pickers, the casual workers.  Who are these people? Young, old - single, married, in relationship - educated, uneducated, undereducated - male, female - Australian born - foreign born Australian citizens - illegal immigrants.  What does it matter, some might think, as long as the job is done; the fruit is picked; the fruit gets to market, to the processors.  

People have to live.  People have to have shelter; health care; schools for kids; public services such as police, fire brigades, ambulances.  In these days of ubiquitous technology, people need access to computers, phones.  Those with no English or basic English need language classes.  Sometimes strangers need people to talk to.  How can all this be managed?

Communities have a way of managing. We have governments at federal, state and local level with a mix'n'match - and, sometimes, mismatch - of responsibilities in service delivery.  Since around the 1970s, communities have found that less formal services than those provided by bureaucratic government departments are needed to plug holes, fill gaps, communicate.  To do this work, across the nation numerous NGOs have sprung up, assisted by government funding, to meet specific and even non-specific community needs.  There are Welfare Committees, Neighbourhood Houses, Community Networks, Housing Co-operatives, Hospital Auxiliaries .......

What NGOs - and even local councils - have found is that there has to be thought, organisation and planning even at volunteering levels to get done what needs to be done.  Funding comes from on high it would seem - particularly if you live far from a state capital, let alone far from Canberra.  Application for funding and succeeding on obtaining sufficient funding can be quite a skill - particularly when people operate more informally and more collaboratively at the local level and then have to learn the ways of bureaucratic operation to find a pathway through the morass of forms as well as build linkages with departmental contacts.

For Local Government and NGOs to get funding, they have to substantiate their case.  Anecdotes and reporting of experience won't do.  Proof, facts are required.  The basic turn-to for such proof, facts is the Australian Bureau of Statistics. And the basic turn-to is the regular Census statistics. The last Australian Census collection was in 2012.  However, it is a bit difficult for the ordinary citizen to find useful and detailed statistics relating to their town. In short, it is not easy to find an online breakdown of census statistics for Robinvale either as a town or as a district.

Robinvale is in the local authority area of Swan Hill which has been deemed, in somebody's wisdom, a 'rural city'.  Now from my community studies training "rural city" is a bit of a contradiction in terms.  

The long and short of this is that it is quite clear that the citizens of Robinvale have no confidence in the population statistics for their town and believe that various departments and bureaucrats have not been doing their job well.  A visit to the Information Centre in Robinvale will get you a very useful booklet called Official Visitors' Guide - Robinvale Euston - Victoria Australia.  On Page 1 of this booklet under the title of this is robinvale euston, the third paragraph down makes for interesting reading:

Our vibrant townships on the Murray River comprise over 22 different nationalities, and according to the 2011 census data, has a resident population of around 4,500.  Although as many of the locals will tell you, this is severely understated. They believe a more accurate figure is between 8,000-10,000 people, due to the seasonal employment nature of the area and many residents being missed at data collection time. None the less, Robinvale Euston is one unique multicultural melting pool.

 I went shopping at the local IGA Supermarket between 5pm and 6pm yesterday evening, and I can assure Networkers that this didn't seem like a town of 4,500 people.  I've lived in small towns, tiny towns, regional cities, and capital cities across the eastern seaboard and in the Northern Territory and I reckon the supermarket test give a reasonable feel - on all sorts of levels - of a town, its population, and its social demographics.

So, I reckon I agree with the people of Robinvale.  The true population and its needs are not currently reflected in the official figures.  It would be good to have some way for politicians and departmental bureaucrats to recognise this so that more precise information can be available to local government and NGOs as well as giving the aforesaid politicians and departmental bureaucrats the tools to better serve Robinvale.

Community gardening in Ballarat : getting going for 2013 and the celebration of the begonia

Begonia Festival Project Update for Ballarat Community Garden

January 4, 2013

This beautiful photograph comes from 

Flower Garden  by Annie who lives here in Ballarat

A message from Jane Nield

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a fantastic festive season and a brilliant New Year. Thanks to everyone who came to our first working bee last week – we made a lot of progress with cleaning up the spud boxes, hammering in all of those nails and good headway into oiling the boxes to help them last for years and years.

As we ran out of tung oil – there is still a bit of oiling / painting to do before our main working bee. If by any chance you are free on Monday night (Jan 7th) – some extra help would be much appreciated, but totally understand it’s short notice and it will also be hot. So I plan to do a couple of hours from around 6.30pm (after work). Please give me a call on 0419 816 187 if you would like to help so we can arrange to open the gate etc.

PLANTING PLANNING MEETING.

If you would like input into what we will actually be planting into the boxes – it would be great to see you at the Planting Planning Meeting next Wednesday.

Time: 6pm
Venue: Ballarat Community Garden – cnr Dyte Pde and Queen St
Date: Wednesday January 9th

Please bring along ideas and suggestions about what you would like to see in the themed boxes which include Companion Planting, budget gardening (from cuttings and seed), herbs, medicinal, espalier etc, general veggies etc. If you have any suggestions for other themes – great.

If you can’t make this meeting and have some ideas – please email them through by Tuesday to me. <jane@breaze.org.au>

MAJOR WORKING BEE

Our major working bee is still scheduled for Sunday January 13th at the Uni of Ballarat site. We’ll be kicking off at 9.30am with a short safety induction and then getting stuck into installing the wicking beds. As we will be able to use a dingo to load scoria and soil – we aim to be able to plant in the afternoon as well. Please

Time: 9.30am
Venue: Uni of Ballarat Horticultural Campus – cnr of Gillies St and Gregory St Ballarat. Please note – due to security reasons we can’t leave the gates open, so please phone Jane on 0419 816 187 to notify the gate keeper of your arrival.
Date: Sunday January 13th
Bring: Hats and sun protection, gloves, dusk masks if you have them as well be around potting soil. Hand tools, drinking water and drinks.
RSVP your attendance to jane@breaze.org.au or on 0419 816 187.

We will be providing a basic lunch – but PLEASE RSVP if you will be eating lunch with us so we have some idea of numbers for catering. Please also let me know if you have any specific dietry requirements when you RSVP. It would be much appreciated if you would like to bring along some nibbles or cakes, biscuits to share as well.

Please drop me an email or give me a buzz if you have any questions or suggestions. Look forward to seeing you soon.

Regards,

Jane Nield
BREAZE Local Food Group Co-ordinator
0419 816 187

Bees and insecticides: say no to insecticides that harm bees

Evidence is growing  that commonly used pesticides,  even when employed carefully,  are bad for bees See also Strzelecki rainforest reserve  logged, burnt and sprayed  with herbicides.

Related articles

• France bans bee-killing pesticide but it's still rife here
• Bee deaths prompt review
• A Last (Chemical) Gasp for Bees?
• Pesticide found in bees - London Free Press
• | Sowing the Seeds of Destruction: Killing the Birds and Bees!

The Duopoly Duel: a couple of monopsonists slug it out

As Coles has forged ahead under its new owners Wesfarmers and Woolworths is not quite so dominant anymore, some questions about its brand placement have been raised.  It is suggested that "Woolworths - the Fresh Food People" was good branding and still relevant; that Woolworths is on the back foot because it had let this particular branding slide to respond to Coles discounting.

I noticed at the week-end (was it as I was watching the eternal never-ending Djokovic-Nadal tennis match?) a ramp up of Woolworth's advertising on this theme.  I thought: Ahah! How will Coles now respond to this?  News from the front to-day indicates Coles is shifting its price war to fresh food, to our fruit and vegetables.  

Now I'm pretty sure this is not, in the first instance, a response to "the fresh food people".  Rather, it is more of the same price placements that Coles has been adopting for some time.  Coles claims the company had worked closely with growers to transform their fresh fruit and vegetable prices, investing in new growing techniques, quality control, store displays and now lower prices for customers.   I wait for the next exciting episode of the Duopoly Duel

Further reading:
Food prices to keep falling: Coles
Coles sales rist 6.7% latest in quarter
Growth slows at Woolworths

ACCC should examine Coles: Xenophon

Coles' price cuts are misleading: Woolies (news.smh.com.au)

Coles price cuts rattle MPs (theage.com.au)

Fears for independents as store giants go tomato to tomato over prices (smh.com.au)

Coles gets fresh on food prices (heraldsun.com.au)

Coles moves into Woolies' freshness territory (mumbrella.com.au)

Growers angry at Coles price cuts (news.theage.com.au)

Gathering #chestnuts and #friendships at Gembrook.

 

Yesterday was Chestnut Gathering Day at the Gembrook Retreat at Gembrook in the Dandenongs, east of Melbourne.  Friends - and friends of friends - descended on Steve and Jane's place; about a hundred in all as it turned out.  People spread themselves all over - in the house; out on the terrace; around a fire under the chestnut trees roasting the harvest on an open fire; and, as can be seen in the collage above, some went up a tree and some just sprawled in the sun. As for me, I made some beautiful new friends and met up again with some old friends whom I hadn't seen for quite a while.


Miss Eagle's harvest - more than enough for a single lady of great antiquity - is in the white basket.  To-day, I will score the harvest. Then I will boil it.  I will then apportion the chestnut flesh into zip-lock bags for the freezer where in the weeks and months to come it will get added to all sorts of dishes.  The 'net is full of chestnut recipes.  Yesterday, Somara cooked the speciality of the house, a chestnut and vegetable soup.  I contributed some of my home-made bread.  Yummo!


By the way, it was Sharee’s birthday – so much jollity.  Sharee was my chauffeur – and I am very appreciative of her services in this regard and her friendship.

Part 2 - Colonising Christmas with false commercial symbols #Christmas #Horticulture #Flowers

Tweet

 See pictures in more detail in yesterday's post.

You can see the Pointsettia on the right in all its tropical glory.

Further to yesterday's post, Colonising Christmas with false commercial symbols, there has been a communique from Denis of The Nature of Robertson.

Welcome to the club.

I hate poinsettias with a passion.

The way they are grown is about as natural 
as was the Chinese Women having Bound Feet.

They are mature plants, cut off and potted up as "cuttings" 

and then they flower at 9 inches high, not 20 feet high.

You are right about the "forcing. 

They grow them in cool houses.

Think of their CO2 "footprint" - 

to get them to flower in summer, they grow them in coolers, 

and control the amount of sunlight they receive, 

so they "think" it is winter, with only 6 hrs of sunlight per day. 

Imagine the Greenhouse gases involved in that production schedule.

Don't tell anyone at Woolies - the Fresh Food People - 

but the leaves and stems of Poinsettias are poisonous, 

but so are Daphne, and Daffodils.

And remember the red and green colours of Christmas 

were largely invented by Coca Cola.

Commercialism is rampant in every cell of this plant.

Cheers

Denis
www.peonyden.blogspot.com

Postscript from Miss Eagle:

If you are cutting the  'real' pointsettias 

to use in floral decoration,

you will find them sappy and,

 like hydrangeas,

you need to burn the ends. 

Handy to do if you have gas burners in the kitchen. 

Related articles

• Decorating with Poinsettias (homedesign.marthastewart.com)
• Please note the pointsettias in the picture with the story above - how pathetic and colourless these pointsettias look by comparison with the one on the right of the collage above!

Colonising Christmas with false, commercial symbols #Christmas #Horticulture #Flowers

Tweet

Did you purchase one of these Pointsettias as a Christmas symbol and decoration this year?  If you answer yes, A Very Merry UnAustralian Christmas to you.  You have allowed your Christmas to be colonised by a foreign empire, the United States of America.

You see, that blurb purporting to come from Andrew, the Fresh Food Specialist is not true - at least for Australia and other countries in the Southern Hemisphere.  So here's hoping he knows more about food than he does about flowers.

The Pointsettia you purchased has been specially bred or forced or whatever artificialities can be introduced by horticultural practices in Australia to make money out of the Christmas season for producers and on-sellers of horticultural products. In short, this is no pretty Christmas symbol but a producer-to-consumer driven product.

The Pointsettia is a symbol of Christmas - North of the Equator.  North of the Equator it is winter. The Pointsettia in Australia is a seasonal flower of late Autumn-early Winter depending on where you live.  The Pointsettia is no more seasonal to an Australian Christmas than Hot Cross Buns in January or Christmas Carols in October.

Picture from here

The above is a Pointsettia in all its glory in tropical North Queensland.  It can be a fairly tall bush and the flowers are positioned on long droopy canes.  In Australia, the Pointsettia is a a symbol of a Christian feast - but not Christmas.  They are often used to decorate churches for Pentecost because the red bracts are reminders of the tongues of fire that descended at the first Pentecost in Jerusalem. Pentecost occurs fifty days after Easter and, therefore, occurs in late May (late Autumn) or early June (early Winter).

So let's leave the Americana on the shelves 

and have an authentic Australian Christmas this year.

JOHN CORBOY, SHEPPARTON - Fruit business in receivership.

Journo Mel Fyfe has Tweeted the following to-day:

Receivers take over Shep fruit business of John Corboy, key backer of Brumby Govt's foodbowl project and north-south pipeline.

The foodbowl project or - to give it its official name - NVIRP  has been controversial since its conception/inception.  The Brumby Government proceded with its implementation in spite of vehement community protest, particularly from Plug the Pipe.  I don't know what business in particular is referenced by Mel.  Perhaps more will follow.