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Goodwill's wine list is a constantly changing selection current varieties include, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and more.  For more information on the Coalition's environment promises, Environment Victoria has put together a handy summary of where the Coalition stands on the environment available here 6) New Ministers of the Coalition Government
7) Tassie day of action 'The Clock is Ticking for Tasmania's Ancient Forests' This Wednesday, 15th December there will be actions in every state in Australia and on every continent in the world! Meet on the right hand side (facing the station) of Flinders St steps at 11:45am for a midday start. Help hold the banner under a clock (for the media shot), hand out flyers with info, talk to passers-by or hold placards. A band has been organised to play music for the 3 or 4 hours and show that “the clock is ticking for Tasmania's ancient forests'. Bring your own placard along if you want. For more info call Zinta on 0410 407 080. 8) The real forest debate If you missed out on the politicians and campaigners debate before the election and would like a snippet, the debate was filmed and an excerpt has been posted on the TWS YouTube channel here 9) Tax ruling on charities For a long time EEG has been in a situation where we aren't supposed to speak out against government policy or we could lose our status as a charitable organisation that can accept tax-deductible donations. But as you know, it hasn't stopped us! On the 1st December, the High Court told the ATO to change its tune and allow not-for-profit groups to lobby governments and not lose their status. Thanks to a small aid-monitoring group, AidWatch, and with the backing of other larger organisations, many groups which have been silenced by this Tax Office ruling can now speak out against the government and lobby politicians, as long as it's intended for public benefit. It's good timing as the ATO was about to reassess the status of around 200 groups currently listed at tax-deductible (we wonder if it included EEG). 10) Feds offer $32 million to stop Indonesian deforestation. As part of the climate negotiations, Australia has offered almost $600 million to help other countries adapt to and reduce their emissions. Part of this includes $32 million to go to Indonesia to help them slow down or stop deforestation. Though paying out a few logging contractors in Australia could gobble that up. In 2007, Howard offered SE Asian countries $200 million to stop illegal logging. All the while Gunns and oodles of sawmilling companies have been given many multiples of this as “industry assistance' money to keep logging.  11) Feds recycle last election pledge on banning illegal timber imports This is good news but the Federal Labor government has already had three years to get this happening since it first promised this action at the previous 2007 election. They say that anyone found to be “knowingly” importing illegally logged timbers will cop it with huge fines. We're not sure how they intend to enforce this new law without a strict non-corruptible system of identifying where timber originated. Many of Australia's logging interests are happy with this as it might allow then to sell more timber from Australia's “legally” destroyed forests. Though imported rainforest timbers represent a very tiny percent of our overall timber use. 12) VicForests Exposed!  We have been busy adding new articles to the website. Click on the image to the left to check out the new VicForests Exposed section. Articles include; "VicForests Spin Report - $400,000 annually to silence critics" "Wide scale salvage logging linked to log dump destruction." and "VicForests pulls facts ... out of a hat." These and other newsy bits will appear in the Summer issue of the Potoroo when Jill has a “free” two weeks floating about somewhere. 13) Brown Mountain Celebration The Mountain must have organised with the rain spirits to turn it off so that we could celebrate on a most perfect day in a freshly washed forest. An exquisite honey mead was the drink for toasting the win down under the giants. Back at camp on the Brodribb River, we were treated to a gourmet organic vegetarian smorgasbord spread that equalled the finest restaurant. More champagne and superb food was offered for dinner and everyone rolled back to their tents in the evening. Thanks so much to the "foodies" who spent weeks preparing this feast. And for all those who came up – undaunted by the thought of rain – and helped us toast, feast and celebrate.   14) Forests Forever 2011 Keep next Easter aside for (let’s hope!) the last Forests Forever Camp before the logging industry closes down in Victoria’s forests. Details later but you can book early on line here. 15) Mailing list subscriptions Did you know that you can update your email address or other EEG mailing list subscription details yourself? Click here to visit the EEG-e-bulletin Info Page.
Jill Redwood |
