National News - August 2006
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31/08/06 Canberra critics bulldozed: ACF head, By Tim Colebatch, The Age
30/08/06 Minister lines the nests of orange-bellied parrots with $3m - Ben Doherty, The Age Port Phillip; South West; Gippsland; Victoria; South Australia; Tasmania;
29/08/06 Gunns, greenies and the law, Andrew Darby The Age
29/08/06 $3.2m to save orange-bellied parrot The Age , AAP Port Phillip; South West; Gippsland; Victoria; South Australia; Tasmania;
24/08/06 Court blow for Gunns, The Age , AAP Links
27/08/06 Battle for Baw Baw frog: log it and see - Peter Weekes, The Age
24/08/06 Call for migrant labour angers union Sydney Morning Herald
23/08/06 Amcor to cut hundreds of Australian jobs, The Age Business, Strezlecki's Central Highlands August 06
22/08/06 PaperlinX says global outlook improving , The Age , Business, Strezlecki's Central Highlands August 06
16/08/06 Forests under threat from global warming, The Age
11/08/06 Possum promiscuity man's fault, CATE BLAKE The Age
09/08/06 Tarkine: Senate move for World Heritage study - Greens Media
09/08/06 Bid to strip green groups' tax status - The Age
08/08/06 Gunns Ltd ordered to repay Greens MPs $69,385, - Greens Media Release
By Tim Colebatch, The Age
August 31, 2006
AUSTRALIAN Conservation Foundation president Ian Lowe has accused the Federal Government of intimidating its critics into silence, saying even universities are now increasingly expecting academics to conform to government policies.
Professor Lowe, an award-winning environmental scientist, told the National Press Club that the ACF was now being treated as persona non grata by the Government, and cut off from access to ministers. He urged the Government to "turn the ship around" and restore a balance between environmental and economic priorities, citing a range of Government decisions he said had that put the scientific community of Australia under pressure to conform, including:
■ Former Education Minister Brendan Nelson overturning research grants awarded by the independent Australian Research Council, "on advice from a shadowy group of unqualified ideologues".
■ Health Minister Tony Abbott "stacking" the ethics committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council with people likely to favour his "unusual view of the world".
■ The CSIRO instructing its scientific experts not to comment on issues that have policy implications, which led to the resignation of its top greenhouse gas specialist, Graeme Pearman. (The instruction was withdrawn after being made public.)
In an article in the September issue of Australasian Science, Professor Lowe also cited his own removal from one government advisory council, the abolition of a second council to which he belonged, and the appointment of former Telstra chief Ziggy Switkowski to chair the inquiry into nuclear power while he was a board member of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
Environment Minister Ian Campbell at the Lavinia Nature Reserve on King Island yesterday.
Photo: Wayne Taylor
Ben Doherty, The Age
August 30, 2006
ON A high point on King Island, five giant wind turbines catch the near constant, always cold, westerly blowing off the Southern Ocean.
The locals don't mind them, according to Parks and Wildlife ranger Nigel Burgess; they provide about half the island's electricity and they are quiet.
And they've never hit a bird? "Not that I'm aware of," Mr Burgess told The Age yesterday, "and I used to go and check once a week when the turbines first came. I didn't ever find any birds."
Concerns over birds are valid on this island, for as well as being home to five of Australia's 600-plus wind turbines, King Island is a habitat vital to the survival of the endangered orange-bellied parrot.
The parrots use the island as a stopover on their annual migration between their nesting grounds in southern Tasmania and their summer homes on the coasts of South Australia and Victoria.
Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell visited King Island yesterday to announce that the Federal Government would spend $3.2 million over two years to help preserve the parrot, protect its habitat and control its predators.
While new funding to help save the birds was universally welcomed, the issue of wind farms — seemingly indivisible from any discussion of parrots since the minister's decision to veto a wind farm proposal on their behalf five months ago — continued to divide.
That wind turbines and orange-bellied parrots happily co-exist on King Island is not in dispute. The turbines are about 25 kilometres from the parrots' habitat.
Where Mr Burgess, a member of the cross-border Orange-Bellied Parrot Recovery Team, does not agree with Senator Campbell is on the potential danger a proposed $220 million, 52-turbine wind farm at Bald Hills in Gippsland may pose.
In April, Senator Campbell vetoed the State Government-approved wind farm, claiming it posed too great a threat to the parrot, despite advice from his own department to the contrary. (That veto is under review. The minister is awaiting a new submission from developer Wind Power, which is likely to include money to protect bird habitats).
"But the Bald Hills proposed wind farm is about 30 kilometres from the nearest place where the (parrots) are likely to be in Gippsland," Mr Burgess said.
"It's highly unlikely that any of them go up there. There are just about no orange-bellied parrots in the area."
Senator Campbell, accused of making a politically motivated decision over Bald Hills, sees the Gippsland and King Island situations very differently.
"This particular wind farm (on King Island) … was looked at very closely … and found to be no threat whatsoever. The wind farm at Bald Hills is right next to the habitat (of the parrot). Many of the turbines in the initial proposal were between two pieces of habitat," he said.
"Safe habitat that is free of threat is the key to the survival and recovery of the orange-bellied parrot."
It is estimated that there are about 200 orange-bellied parrots in existence, and about 50 breeding pairs, making the species about as rare as China's giant panda.
29/08/06 Gunns, greenies and the law, Andrew Darby The Age
August 29, 2006 - 9:35AM, The Age , AAP -our highlighting
The investment will build on $1 million already spent to conserve the parrot and habitats vital to its successful migration and breeding.
The bird which stopped a $220 million wind farm development is now about to come into the money itself, through a $3.2 million federal government investment in its future.
One of the rarest bird species in the world, the orange-bellied parrot is barely surviving in its heartland, the margins of Bass Strait in southern Australia.
A federal government initiative will enable closer work with landholders in the parrot's Victorian and South Australian winter bases, and conserve breeding and nesting habitats in the Tasmanian world heritage area in the state's south-west.
More effort will go in to improving important migratory habitats and controlling predators in north-west Tasmania and on King Island, while conservation work will be undertaken on defence department land which forms part of the parrot's habitat in Port Phillip Bay.
"The orange-bellied parrot is considered to be one of the world's rarest and most endangered animals, with only about 50 breeding pairs known to exist," Environment Minister Ian Campbell said in a statement.
"Very substantially increased Australian government support will increase important work protecting, enhancing and expanding key habitats across the parrot's range."
Senator Campbell sparked a political controversy in May when he used his federal powers to halt a wind farm development at Bald Hills, in Victoria's Gippsland, saying the farm's rotors could kill one parrot a year, on average. He ultimately agreed to reconsider his decision.
Senator Campbell said the latest initiative would build on $1 million already spent since 1989 to conserve the parrot and habitats vital to its successful migration and breeding.
"A further $5.5 million has been spent on regional biodiversity conservation across the species range," he said.
"The orange-bellied parrot faces a number of major threats, including habitat loss and modification, predators, mortality caused by collision with structures and catastrophes such as storms."
The small parrot twice a year traverses Bass Strait between its Tasmanian breeding areas and winter habitats on the Australian mainland in coastal Victoria and South Australia.
AAP
Court blow for Gunns
August 28, 2006 - 11:18AM, The Age , AAP
The Victorian Supreme Court has rejected timber giant Gunns Ltd's latest statement of claim in its effort to sue 20 environmentalists for almost $7 million.
Judge Justice Bernard Bongiorno today ruled that the Tasmanian timber company's third statement of claim was "too general".
"Too much is sought to be alleged against too many," Justice Bongiorno said.
Gunns has until October 19 to tell the court if it will attempt to introduce another statement of claim.
Gunns is seeking $6.9 million in compensation from The Wilderness Society and 19 individuals for what it said is a conspiracy against the company which has caused it to suffer losses from anti-logging campaigns.
Gunns has submitted to the court version three of its statement of claim against the 20 defendants arising out of their campaign to protect Tasmania's forests.
Two earlier claims against the 20 defendants were struck out by the Victorian Supreme Court last year.
In July last year, Justice Bongiorno struck out Gunns' second claim, describing it as "embarrassing" and "at best ambiguous and at worst misleading."
The following month, Gunns was ordered to pay costs to the defendants, but at the same time launched its third attempt to sue the same defendants.
Those costs, determined by the Victorian Supreme Court earlier this month, included $17,500 awarded to Tasmanian environmentalist Helen Gee and $69,385 to be shared by Greens senator Bob Brown and Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt.
"The award helps pay early legal bills but does nothing to lift the stress and fear on other defendants of the Gunns case," Senator Brown said at the time.
Justice Bongiorno today said the issue of costs would be dealt with at a hearing on October 9.
The statement of claim cannot be allowed to stand in its present form, he also said.
"The defendant is entitled to know which case he, she or it has to be met with precision," he said.
He also said the defendants had argued a statement of claim was "speculative and fishing".
Senator Brown was included among those sitting in the public gallery in the court.
The statement of claim alleged that 20 individuals were involved in a coordinated campaign against Gunns Mills at Triabunna, Lucaston and Hampshire, and also at the Styx Forest Coup, all in Tasmania.
It further alleged interference with the company's business partners in Japan.
Justice Bongiorno said there were a "large number of separate conspiracies alleged including a large over-arching conspiracy".
29/08/06 Gunns, greenies and the law, Andrew Darby The Age
Peter Weekes, The Age
August 27, 2006
LARGE sections of untouched forests on the Baw Baw plateau may be logged to determine if clearfelling will threaten the critically endangered Baw Baw frog.
A leaked PaperlinX memo says VicForests has recommended the logging of the 10 Baw Baw frog environmental coupes on the plateau's southern escarpment. It expects to receive the go-ahead from the State Government within weeks.
Logging of the coupes was suspended in December 2004 after federal intervention and a spokesman for Environment Minister John Thwaites denied there were plans to resume harvesting. It is believed the suspension will be reviewed next week.
The frog, found only in Victoria, has all but disappeared, with the population falling to a few hundred from up to 15,000 in 1984. The proposal to log the 200 hectares is part of the habitat experimental harvesting program to determine if clearing would harm the frog, which is on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature red list, and is protected under state and national laws.
Environmental groups want the Federal Government to use the same powers it did to protect the orange-bellied parrot.
"To log a forest to demonstrate if it is detrimental to Baw Baw frogs is like throwing a baby into a swimming pool to demonstrate it can't swim," said Professor Jean-Marc Hero, of the IUCN.
Call for migrant labour angers union
August 24, 2006 - 4:48PM, Sydney Morning Herald
The forestry union has called on major pulp and paper companies to rule out using migrant labour.
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is outraged by an industry paper which recommends investigating using unskilled labourers from overseas.
The National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI) skill shortage audit recommended that, among a range of options, the government better inform it of migration options to assist labour shortages.
The NAFI paper said many groups in the wood and paper products industry had highlighted the need for clearer migration options for unskilled and semi-skilled workers.
"There may be existing options for the industry to exploit that it is not aware of," it said.
NAFI suggested seconding an adviser from the immigration department to the industry.
CFMEU secretary Tim Woods described the report as disgraceful.
"Calling for migrant labour when many workers in our industry are concerned about their employment security is the same as calling for existing workers to be replaced by migrant workers," he said in a statement.
"The report even says that migrant workers would be pleased to work for less (pay) than existing workers."
Mr Woods said there was no skills shortage in the pulp and paper industry.
"Every employer in the Australian pulp and paper industry must immediately and publicly renounce this half-baked report that has been produced by their association," he said.
He called on companies to reject the report.
2006 AAP
Amcor to cut hundreds of Australian jobs
Ken MacKenzie has achieved $420 million in cost benefits by selling or closing plants around the globe.
August 23, 2006 - 2:02PM, The Age Business
Global packaging company Amcor Ltd is on track to sell or close up to $1 billion worth of assets, after today announcing the shut down of three fibre plants in Australia with the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Amcor reported 43 per cent rise in annual profit and said it would close the Box Hill corrugated box site in Melbourne, a recycling plant at Spearwood in Western Australia and the West End site in Brisbane.
Since becoming chief executive 12 month ago Amcor boss Ken MacKenzie has achieved $420 million in cost benefits by selling or closing non-profitable plants around the globe.
He said a target range of $500 million to $1 billion is still on the table, with more asset sales likely in the next 12 months.
The closure of the three Australian plants, to be conducted over four years, will deliver costs savings of $60 million to $80 million annually at a net cost of $300 million.
Mr Ken MacKenzie would not say how many people will lose their jobs but said it would be in the hundreds.
Amcor reported a bottom line net profit of $351.3 million for 2005/06, up from $245.3 million in the previous year.
Including significant items, net profit was up 11.5 per cent to $405.9 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 2.7 per cent to $1.25 billion.
Revenue from continuing operations was up 3.7 per cent at $11.04 billion.
But Amcor was disappointed with its fibre packaging business in Australia and the PET division in Latin America, which provides products such as plastic bottles.
Amcor has set out to improve the PET plant in Mexico and expects a $US15 million lift in profit before interest in tax over the next two years.
Mr MacKenzie steered away from providing earnings guidance 2006/07 citing the volatility of raw material prices.
"We're not giving any guidance for the coming year because there are a number of moving parts, particularly raw material and energy costs which are outside our control," he said.
"We have continued to make improvement on our raw material cost recovery but there is a lag."
In the PET business, Amcor recovered all of its raw material costs but only 25 per cent of energy costs, such as electricity, wiping about $US10 million off its full year earnings of $US182.9 million.
Mr MacKenzie expects the loss in energy costs this financial year to be around $US15 million.
"Until some of the negative external factors improve it is hard to be confident regarding earnings growth," he said.
"As it stands the external factors are likely to continue for most of the current year, however, I am confident that over the next two to three years our improvement plan and change agenda will deliver substantial benefits of earnings."
During 2005/06, Amcor lost its biggest customer in New Zealand - dairy giant Fonterra - as well as business from Nescafe, Kraft and Colgate after those companies moved manufacturing jobs offshore.
Amcor's final dividend of 17 per cents per share resulted in a full year payout of 34 cents, the same as the previous year.
Amcor shares were up nine cents to $6.59 at 1351 AEST.
AAP
August 22, 2006 - 1:14PM
Rising input costs have continued to impact Australia's biggest paper maker, but PaperlinX Ltd says global sentiment in the industry is improving.
PaperlinX reported a 60.7 per cent drop in net profit to $65.4 million for 2005/06 but said capacity reductions and price rises in the United States, Europe and Australia are signs of improving conditions.
Excluding tax and one-off items, the company's operating earnings fell 15 per cent to $152.4 million.
PaperlinX said one-off costs associated with restructuring, closures and acquisitions had been largely funded internally from the sale of non-core assets and reductions in underlying working capital.
The global group was buoyed by its performance in North America, which included a four month contribution from acquisition Spicers Canada.
PaperlinX chief executive Tom Park said the North American markets benefited from reduced capacity and higher prices with underlying volume up five per cent.
However, rising pulp, chemical and oil costs, together with the continued strong Australian dollar, hurt PaperlinX at home.
The Australian Paper business came under significant pressure due to lower prices and the group's inability to recover escalating cost increases over the past three years.
"This dramatic cyclical downturn was magnified by the rising Australian dollar which affected earnings dramatically over the period," Mr Park said.
"While the overall environment has remained difficult and conditions haven't eased at this stage, industry sentiment is improving with capacity realisation and price rise announcements in Europe, the US and Australia."
Australian Paper recorded a $4.1 million loss in earnings before interest and tax, which included net costs of $13.6 million from a combination of asset sales and costs associated with strategic initiatives.
A $3.7 million decline in earnings to $190.4 million for the Paper Merchanting division was attributed to lower average prices and lower volumes in the United Kingdom, Netherlands and New Zealand.
Mr Park said a series of strategic initiatives, which included the integration of three Australian businesses to service the office products and stationery markets, are on track to deliver more than $100 million in net benefits in 2009.
Other initiatives include the exit from the unprofitable Portuguese market, the Maryvale pulp mill upgrade, the Spicers Canada acquisition and the closure of the Shoalhaven mill earlier this year.
Mr Park said the strategy will leverage PaperlinX's global platform, improve customer offerings and lift returns to target levels in more balanced market conditions.
"Our returns are not where we intend them to be however, so we are continuing to aggressively pursue opportunities for improvement," he said.
Expansion into higher margin categories such as industrial packaging was proceeding organically and through small acquisitions.
2006 AAP
August 16, 2006, The Age
Up to 60 per cent of the world's forests, including Australia, will be lost if global temperatures rise by an average of 3 degrees or more, research has found.
University of Bristol's Marko Scholze has found a rise of more than 3 degrees will cause the loss of forests in Amazonia, Europe, Asia, Canada and Central America. His research predicts extreme floods, forest fires and droughts will become more common in the next 200 years.
The research took 52 simulations of the world's climate over the next century based on 16 models. Dr Scholze said his work could help to define the concept of dangerous climate change.
August 11, 2006, The Age
AFTER five years of research, Dr Jenny Martin from Melbourne University's Department of Zoology has found scientific evidence to explain the phenomenon of adultery in males.
The bad news? It applies only to mountain brushtail possums.
After hundreds of hours of radio-tracking mountain possums, or bobucks, Dr Martin found that male possums living in a disturbed habitat were likely to be attached to one partner, while those living in an unlogged, undisturbed habitat were more promiscuous.
And there is a genuine excuse for this hanky-panky. In an undisturbed habitat, female possums live close together, and thus male possums have more "easy access" to them, Dr Martin said. In disturbed areas, females are more spread out and spend more time travelling.
Dr Martin's study, the first of its kind to reveal the ways in which human activity can impact upon marsupials' social behaviour, presented her research as a part of Fresh Science, a national program.
CATE BLAKE
Greens Media -Wednesday, 9 August 2006
Tarkine: Senate move for World Heritage study
Nation Greens Leader Bob Brown will move in the Senate tomorrow that:
"The Senate calls on the Government to assess Tasmania's Tarkine
wilderness with a view to nomination for listing for its World Heritage
values, including those related to its:
a) Aboriginal values
b) non-Aboriginal values
c) natural, forest and wildlife values
d) wilderness values; and
e) geological values
"The Tarkine has enormous potential to attract the world to northwest
Tasmania," Senator Brown said.
"It deserves World Heritage status but that process first warrants an
assessment of it values, in the lead up to a nomination by the state and
federal governments. My motion is to get the World Heritage ball
rolling," Senator Brown said.
Further information: Ebony Bennett 0409 164 603
--------------------------------------------------------------
Ebony Bennett
Media Adviser
Office of Greens Senator Bob Brown
Mobile: 0409 164 603
Ph: (02) 6277 3170
Fax: (02) 6277 3185
ebony.bennett@aph.gov.au
Bid to strip green groups' tax status
Greens media Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Gunns Ltd ordered to repay Greens MPs $69,385
In a ruling in the Gunns 20 case before Victoria's Supreme Court
yesterday, Gunns Ltd has been ordered to pay preliminary legal costs of
$69,385 to Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown and Tasmanian Greens
Leader Peg Putt, MHA. Feloow defendant Helen Gee was awarded costs of
$17,500. Costs for other defendants have yet to be determined.
The award follows rejection of Gunns' first two writs. Gunns is
proceeding with its case against several defendants, including Senator
Brown, Ms Putt and the Wilderness Society.
"The award helps pay early legal bills but does nothing to lift the
stress and fear on other defendants of the Gunns case. I am very
grateful to both our lawyers and the wider community, which has given us
huge backing in defending Tasmania's forests and wildlife from Gunns'
destructive behaviour," Senator Brown said.
Further information: Ebony Bennett 0409 164 603
--------------------------------------------------------------
Ebony Bennett
Media Adviser
Office of Greens Senator Bob Brown
Mobile: 0409 164 603
Ph: (02) 6277 3170
Fax: (02) 6277 3185
ebony.bennett@aph.gov.au