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.

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).

Abandoned Queensland mining sites: remediation deposit collected by EPA grossly inadequate: left for landholder to clean up

According to , Peter Kenny, president of land holder lobby-group AgForce, mining operations have abandoned a site and the remediation deposit collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been grossly inadequate, which means the site is effectively left for landholder to clean up. This situation must be rectified and the EPA given the powers and resources to properly manage this situation, he wrote in Queensland Country Life, (6/9/2007), p. 35.

Australia’s big plan: huge greenhouse credits from CO2 dumps and stopping forest-clearing in Asia

APEC economies accounted for over half of the world’s energy use, economic output and greenhouse gas emissions and over a third of the world’s population, says the report Energy Security, Clean Technology Development and Climate Change: addressing the future challenges in APEC, released by ABARE Executive Director Phillip Glyde on 10 September 2007.

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).

Global Initiative on Forests and Climate: $200m deposit as Aus’s initial contribution

The Australian Government had taken significant practical and international steps towards emissions-reduction, including at the recent APEC meeting, said Greg Hunt, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Liberal member for Flinders in Victoria, 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.