Month: June 2015

Whaddya mean it’s free?

What would you think if you were strolling through Bunnings and someone offered you a free lawn mower?   Or through Colesworths and the price on the cauliflower was $0? What would you think and what would you feel? Would you, for example, feel wary and wonder if it came with a catcher or just a catch? And what’s your first reaction when a stranger greets you in the street with a smile and the offer of a handshake? Do you smile and cut to what you think is the inevitable chase with an “I’m sorry, but I don’t...

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Plastic Pollution Getting Out Of Hand

A new report by Boomerang Alliance and its 32 allied groups, documents Queensland as the most littered state in Australia, with litter rates 40% higher than the national average with only 18% of plastic bottles recycled. The report, ‘Queensland’s Plastic Pollution Crisis, container deposit and other solutions’ examines the sources and rate of litter, micro plastics and impacts on marine life and solutions. “Discarded containers and plastic packaging represent the bulk of the litter. This is a tremendous waste of resources and is despoiling our beautiful environment,” said Toby Hutcheon of Boomerang Alliance. “Boomerang Alliance has welcomed the State...

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New laws to tackle the booze

The ALP Government has announced a package of measures to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence. According to Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath, “This government took a comprehensive plan to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence to the election. We are determined to ensure venues are safe places for everyone to enjoy. “Our plan is based on the advice of experts in the field and the clear experience of other jurisdictions who are successfully tackling this issue.” Among the measures announced are: stopping pubs and clubs serving alcohol after 3am; introducing a 1am lock-out; banning the service of high alcohol-content drinks after midnight. This includes any drink...

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“Praise be to the planet”

Papal encyclical appeals for a new dialogue about shaping the future of our planet. His Holiness Pope Francis has challenged ‘every person living on this planet’ to enter into a new dialogue toward building a better future in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’ – ‘Praise be to you’, released today in Rome. In dialogue with all people about our common home, the encyclical challenges us to ask ‘how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded’ (13). Pope Francis also drew attention to pressing environmental concerns...

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Burning forests for electricity? No way!

Abbott and his cross bench crazies are poised to burn forests for electricity- no kidding! Conservation groups have warned the Abbott Government and the cross bench Senators poised to pass laws to woodchip and burn native forests as a Clean Energy source under the Renewal Energy Target (RET) that they will be remembered as climate crazies and environmental vandals of the worst sort. “This is not Clean Energy, it’s as dirty as it gets and the politics is dirty too!” said spokespersons Noel Plumb and Frances Pike for the conservation groups. “Some of these cross bench crazies are also...

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