Greens MP Milne criticises Tax Laws Amendment (2007 Measures No. 6) Bill 2007: insufficiently considered; threat to farming, biodiversity; advantageous to emitters

Christine Milne MP (Greens Party, Senator) stated she was appalled that the Selection of Bills Committee had decided not to refer the Tax Laws Amendment (2007 Measures No. 6) Bill 2007 to the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport for appropriate consideration.

Countries and companies will be paid to stop logging forests under World Bank plan; carbon credit market to help companies meet emissions targets by paying developing countries to halt logging

Countries and companies will be paid to stop logging forests under a World Bank plan to establish a fund aimed at reshaping the fight against climate change, reported Mark Forbes in Jakarta for The Sydney Morning Herald (25/9/2007, p.10).

September 2007: All water held in accounts may be traded in NSW Hunter Valley

NSW Department of Water and Energy, September 2007 said all water held in accounts may be traded, including all water made available in 2007/2008, as well as account water carried over from 2006/2007.

April 2008 Murray system disaster forecast; tree deaths, massive fish deaths, as water falls below the intake-pipes

Water-levels below Lock 1 were projected to fall from their current level of 0.25m Australian Height Datum (AHD), to negative 0.6m AHD in April 2008. Under these projected conditions, massive fish death in the Lower Lakes is more likely. For the worst case scenario, water levels will continue to fall, reaching negative 1.5m AHD in the latter half of 2008. Salinity would rise and make what small irrigation water which was available, poisonous to crops and trees.

Pulp mill but another name: Greens oppose hydrogen peroxide plant in South Australia after German terrorist plot foiled

The developers of South Australia’s controversial $1.5 billion Penola Pulp Mill said they may eventually build a hydrogen peroxide plant on site, reported The Advertiser (7/9/2007, p. 12).

Controversy surrounds Gunns Tasmania pulp mill: foresters pressure mill opponents amid suggestions of corruption and secrecy

As then Labor leader Mark Latham found out, the politics of Tasmania’s marginal seats, Bass and Braddon, are more quicksand than woodchip, reported The Australian (15/9/2007, p. 26).

Murrumbidgee Water Sharing Plan over-ruled: NSW water-trading rules changed for low flow conditions

Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water, Phil Koperberg, announced at the start of September that inflows to Snowy Hydro and the Murrumbidgee Valley had been sufficient to increase the allocation to Murrumbidgee High Security licences from 30 per cent to 60 per cent.

Not signing, but meeting, Kyoto targets: Aus takes lead in forestry GHG cuts, says Turnbull

Australia had taken practical steps to reduce carbon emissions by deforestation initiatives and international agreements, said Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Liberal member for Wentworth in NSW, in the Federal House of Representatives (11/9/2007).

“A plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel”: Howard’s support for Tamar pulp mill in Tas

The proposed pulp mill in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley was at the forefront of John Howard’s mind because it represented one part of his last-ditch plan to turn the polls around and snatch electoral victory, wrote Dennis Shanahan in The Australian (15/9/2007, p.19).

Tasmanian pulp mill debate crosses Strait to create ripples in federal politics

The best efforts of both major parties to quarantine the Tamar Valley pulp mill debate south of Bass Strait continued to fail dismally, according to Matthew Denholm reported The Australian (15/9/2007, p.31).

Details of complex history of Tasmanian pulp mill assessment laid bare in Legislative Council

The history of the hearings on the application for a permit to construct a proposed pulp mill by Gunns was detailed by T.L. Martin in the Tasmanian Legislative Council on 28 August 2007.