Trans Pacific Partnership

While the nation argues over the treatment received by footballer Adam Goodes, the Abbott Government is overseas stitching up the secret TPP trade deal that no one wants but the major corporations. Put simply, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a deal which will agree to allow major corporations that produce chemicals, foods, medicines and …

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This is a winner! Literally!

Our intrepid East Gippy photographer Jude Deland, has won the Animal Behavior section of the 2015 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Competition – today! Congrats Jude! This was taken on the top of Mt Ellery earlier this year amongst the giant granite boulders, Alpine Ash and mist.

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TPP negotiations threaten to forcibly commercialise state-owned bodies

The ABC, SBS and Australia Post could lose special regulatory treatment under trade measures being pushed for by the US. Leaked details of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, published today by WikiLeaks, reveal that the futures of publicly owned enterprises such as Australia Post, the ABC, SBS and state power utilities may be on …

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Victorian environment department to remove ambiguity from logging definitions after VicForests cleared of logging near Bendoc State Forest

The Victorian Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning will change logging regulations after clearing VicForests of illegal logging in East Gippsland. The state-owned VicForests has been cleared of logging cool temperate mixed rainforest in the Bendoc State Forest, near the NSW border. VicForests general manager Nathan Trushell said the organisation was pleased with the …

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Biodiversity offsets may allow governments to double dip

Compensation paid by developers who damage biodiversity may do more harm than good if it is misused by governments, say researchers. The team, writing in today’s issue of the journal Nature, argue that there is nothing to stop such ‘biodiversity offset’ funding from being used to carry out conservation work governments have already agreed to …

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Australia’s ‘dirtiest’ power station considers ‘clean energy’ biomass burning option

With recent changes to the renewable energy target, the burning of native forest wood waste can once again earn credits for generating clean energy, but there’s dispute about whether burning native forest waste for energy is ‘carbon neutral’. Background Briefing reports. The owners of one of Australia’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power stations‚ÄîHazelwood in Victoria’s …

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Native forests can help hit emissions targets – if we leave them alone

The debate over native forest logging has been sparked once again, partly by the government’s successful push for wood burning to be included in the revamped Renewable Energy Target. However, the disagreement over the best way to manage Australia’s 9.4 million hectares of public native forest is thrown into sharp relief by analysis showing that …

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Coalition’s secret deal to protect AP

A secret deal by the former State Government to supply Australian Paper with timber at a discounted fixed price has shed further light on the financial vulnerability of the Maryvale Mill. A Department of Treasury briefing, seen by The Express as supplied by The Age, reveals Maryvale Mill owner Australian Paper had failed to hand over …

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Our native forest regulations need to move with the times

The rules governing our native forests, RFAs, were drawn up nearly 20 years ago. They need to be thoroughly reviewed and updated to reflect the changes in the forestry industry that have occurred in the last two decades. BIT BY BIT, Tony Abbott is dismantling everything scientists are telling us we need to do to …

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