Green Action News: Issue 20, Spring 2013

Green Action News MOBILISING PEOPLE TO SAFEGUARD OUR ENVIRONMENT

I S S UE 20 • S PR I NG 2 0 1 3

How people power can safeguard our environment PLUS Protect Victoria from coal exports

INSIDE THIS ISSUE What a new brown coal export industry means for Victoria

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Our Rivers Our Lifeblood

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Why you care

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Green Action News

Issue 20, Spring 2013 Design 2Fish Productions Print Almar Press Contributing writers Alex Merory, Amber Sprunt, Charlie Davie, Juliet Le Feuvre, Kelly O’Shanassy, Domenica Settle, Mark Wakeham, Victoria McKenzie-McHarg, Tom Hartney Editor Alex Merory (03) 9341 8125 editor@environmentvictoria.org.au Membership enquiries (03) 9341 8100 admin@environmentvictoria.org.au Media enquiries (03) 9341 8127

What a new brown coal industry means for Victoria (cont)

Community organising

mark.wakeham@environmentvictoria.org.au

Green Action News is an Environment Victoria publication.

For more information, visit www.environmentvictoria.org.au

Federal Election 2013

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One Million Homes Alliance

Communities vs big polluters

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Our new strategy for change > Kelly O’Shanassy, Chief Executive Officer

It’s time that politicians of all parties stood up to safeguard our environment. And that’s only going to happen when the power of the people is greater than the people in power.

IN THE 1970s THE HAMER government, led by the Liberal Party, had a motto of protecting our natural environment ‘as if for a 1000 years’. They understood that our natural assets, our forests, rivers, farmland and climate, are the lifeblood of every Victorian and must be used sustainably.

Just 40 years later, the Liberal/National Coalition has certainly changed its tune.

They treat our natural assets like a resource to be exploited at any cost.

Private development in national parks, massive expansion of coal mining in productive farmland, new ports in marine protected areas... unfortunately the list goes on.

While the ALP has traditionally been stronger on the environment, no government has been particularly good at protecting threatened species like the

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Leadbeater’s Possum which is so close to being lost forever.

We’re fed up with our environment being treated like a political football.

Immediately following the 2010 state election, we developed a new strategy to make sure that whichever party forms the government of the day, they act to safeguard our environment for all Victorians.

At the heart of our strategy is people power.

Thanks to you, we’re building community power to get the environment back on the agenda and keep it there. We call it our Superforce!

We’re creating a community of activists who are willing to get out in their local neighbourhoods and hold face to face conversations on our environment and what needs to be done

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to safeguard it. Find out more about these amazing people and our strategy on page 8.

We’re banking on the power of the people (that’s you) being greater than the people in power (political leaders).

It’s a pretty good bet when you consider that every big win in history from civil rights, to a woman’s right to vote, to saving the Franklin - was driven by people willing to speak up.

Nothing is more powerful than passionate people, organised into groups, demanding change. It’s something that the pollies simply can’t ignore!

Like every great win, it will take time and hard work to protect our environment. We’re in it for the long haul and I thank you for being with us.

Let’s go…!

S A F E C L I M AT E

What a new brown coal export industry means for Victoria > Victoria McKenzie-McHarg

When then state Treasurer Kim Wells announced in 2011 that the Victorian Coalition Government would protect the competitive advantage of Victoria’s brown coal ‘come hell or high water’, we knew we had a fight on our hands…

BUT THE FULL EXTENT OF THE government’s plans to develop a new brown coal export industry for Victoria are only now starting to emerge.

If these plans go ahead, up to 13 billion tonnes of brown coal could be allocated for mining and subsequent export to be burnt in Asia. From the heart of our fertile farmland in Gippsland to protected marine zones beside Wilsons Promontory, the impact of a new brown coal export industry would reach far into the future of all Victorians, tearing away hopes of combatting climate change.

Our challenge now is to protect Victoria from this disaster before it’s too late.

Thank you so much for providing the funding so that we can do this! Read on to find out what treasures lie in the path of destruction, and how you can help Protect Victoria from Brown Coal Exports.

Latrobe Valley farmland. PHOTO: JOAN BOWKER

gas exploration licences and another massive coal giveaway for the region currently under consideration.

It’s not just Gippsland at risk. The market garden town of Bacchus Marsh on Melbourne’s western fringe is also threatened by coal mining.

By going ahead with brown coal export plans, the Napthine Government would be choosing coal over food, threatening our food security and squandering our opportunity to be a source of food for the region.

Barrelling through our major cities The plan would also see major new truck routes or coal freight trains running through towns and suburbs across Victoria. Documents seen by Environment Victoria suggest that several million tonnes of coal could be taken by truck or train to the Port of Geelong each year.

That would mean coal trucks and trains spewing pollution through the suburbs of Melbourne and Geelong, increasing dangerous particulate pollution and backing up traffic across our two biggest cities.

Putting protected marine ecosystems at risk If the Napthine Government plans to export coal to Asia, they’ll need major new port infrastructure to make it happen.

The Victorian Freight Strategy released in August 2013 lists supporting brown coal exports as one of the top five freight strategies for the state. Coal companies have expressed interest in shipping coal from Westernport, Melbourne, and even the Port of Geelong.

Even more alarmingly, we have good reason to suspect that coal exports are the major driver behind new development in a protected marine zone beside Wilsons Promontory, Corner Inlet. continued page 6 >>>

Eating away at our fertile food bowl Containing some of Victoria’s most productive farmland, Gippsland is home to 22 percent of Australia’s milk production with a dairy industry worth $2.1 billion a year1.

But this vital food bowl is at risk, with hundreds of thousands of hectares across Gippsland covered by coal and

Southern right whale

THANK YOU! A huge thank you to those who were able to donate to our recent appeal to stop these brown coal exports. Standing up to the coal industry and their polluting plans is only possible because of your help. We hope you feel very proud of the difference you are making by taking this action.

1. http://www.gippsdairy.com.au/GippslandFacts/DairyinGippsland.aspx G R E E N A C T I O N N E W S | I S S U E 2 0 | S P R I N G 2 0 1 3 | w w w. e n v i r o n m e n t v i c t o r i a . o r g . a u

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H E A LT H Y R I V E R S

Our Rivers, Our Lifeblood Our Rivers, Our Lifeblood is the first comprehensive web atlas of Victoria’s 29 river basins, designed to help people understand the plight of our lifeblood – our rivers. > Juliet Le Feuvre, Healthy Rivers Campaigner

IN THE MANY YEARS THAT Environment Victoria has been working with Victorians to help protect and restore our river systems and celebrate their value, we’ve experienced a lack of community understanding about the issues facing our rivers and the need for relevant,easily accessible and concise yet comprehensive information.

The Our Rivers Our Lifeblood project is our chance to fill that gap. With your support and help from the Helen Mcpherson Smith Trust, we’re developing an innovative web-based atlas of Victoria’s 29 river basins showing each catchment’s major features, values, condition, water users and key threats.

For the first time Victorians will be able to access all this information in the one place, in a form that is accessible and engaging. The atlas will underline the diversity of our river systems and tell some of the fascinating stories about their wildlife and history.

The spiny crayfish story Victoria has nine species of spiny crayfish, our largest freshwater crustaceans.

Five of them are listed as threatened. Some are widespread but rare, like the giant Murray spiny cray (or Murray lobster), which is found right across northern Victoria, while others like the East Gippsland spiny cray are more common but live in only a handful of rivers. The Glenelg spiny cray or Prickleback is listed as endangered and found only in the Glenelg River. This unlovely but unique creature is the only spiny cray to be fully protected from fishing in Victoria.

Southern spiny crayfish. PHOTO: NATMANDU (FLICKR)

It’s all about dams Did you know that every single river reach that is classified in good or excellent condition is upstream of a major dam? Not a single section of river that is downstream of a reservoir is in good condition anywhere in the state. Dams really do have a devastating impact on river health.

Hume Dam. PHOTO: BIDGEE

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Setting the policy agenda for the 2014 state election Equally importantly, the atlas identifies conservation priorities in each river basin and provides potential solutions to mitigate the key threats and reduce Victoria’s major consumptive uses of water for agriculture, industry and in our cities.

We’re bringing these strands together as a set of state-wide themes to help set the policy agenda for the 2014 state election: • Fairer sharing of water – current

sharing arrangements prioritise human use and rivers are left carrying less of their own water and most of the risk of drought and climate change • Restoring landscape connectivity – river corridors are key to reconnecting isolated habitats, allowing for species propagation and migration both on land and in water • Protecting water quality – by restoring riverside vegetation and protecting wetlands that play a vital role in removing pollutants

• Preserving water quantity – by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing a safe climate. A drier future is the biggest threat of all to our rivers and wetlands.

This project enables us to re-engage on wider issues of river health and we look forward to sharing them with you.

We’ll be launching the Our River Our Lifeblood atlas in October, and are planning to get out and about to celebrate our wonderful rivers and encourage action to protect and restore them.

Fish kills Fish kills have been happening in Victoria since at least the 1860s. Some of the stories are enough to make your hair stand on end – in the 1930s cyanide from mining killed thousands of cod in the Loddon and spoilt the fishing for years. Around the same time copper sulphate, used to control an algal bloom in Hume dam on the Murray, corroded the dam gates and killed truckloads of fish, birds and crayfish as far downstream as South Australia! Fish kills are still a major problem – black water events following recent flooding in northern Victoria caused widespread fish deaths. The best preventive measure?

Improved environmental watering.

Fish kill, Hattah 2012

The Murray hardyhead The Murray hardyhead is a little fish that used to be widespread across the Murray-Darling Basin. It is now nationally threatened and in Victoria it is found in only four lakes. As the fish has a lifespan of about 18 months it needs to breed every year. It is therefore essential that the lakes where it lives do not dry out. The species was thrown a lifeline by emergency watering of its habitat during the drought and a captive breeding program at Mildura.

Murray hardyhead, North-West Victoria

The Shaw galaxias The Shaw galaxias that lives in a creek in the headwaters of the Macalister River in Gippsland has only recently been recognised as a separate species, just in time to save it from extinction. Barriers have been erected to exclude trout from its habitat to give the little fish a chance to avoid being wiped out by the voracious introduced predator.

Shaw galaxias. PHOTO: RUDIE H. KUITERCOMP

Go to www.environmentvictoria.org.au/lifeblood for more details

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S A F E C L I M AT E

>>> From page 3

OVER THE NEXT SIX MONTHS WE PLAN TO GATHER 15,000 SIGNATURES CALLING ON PREMIER NAPTHINE TO PROTECT VICTORIA. Listed as an internationally significant wetland under the Ramsar Convention, Corner Inlet is home to protected seagrasses and mangroves and the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot. Southern Right Whales pass by on their annual migration path. Yet if coal exports leave from Corner Inlet it could be dredged and destroyed to make way for massive coal freighters.

Blowing the carbon budget All of this coal would be destined for burning in power stations in countries like India and China, resulting in massive greenhouse pollution.

In 2011, Carbon Tracker’s groundbreaking report ‘Unburnable Carbon’ found that to limit global warming to 2ºC, only one fifth of the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves could be used by 2050. Yet this plan to dig up and ship Victoria’s brown coal to the world would blow Australia’s carbon budget out of the water and dash chances of stopping runaway climate change.

What’s more, these plans would only be possible with the help of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, representing a bonanza for the coal barons but little value for the Victorian public.

Stage one of the government’s plan is already underway. Recent media suggests that the government is just months away from announcing the recipients of a $90 million fund set up by the state and federal governments to support new coal projects in Victoria.

We need to step up now. If we’re going to stop this disaster from going ahead, and protect Victoria for future generations we need to stop these plans before they get off the ground.

Our plan to stop brown coal exports thanks to you!

This is not the first time we’ve battled brown coal export plans. Thanks to individuals like you helping to protect our environment and climate we successfully harnessed community power in 2009 to halt these plans. In 2012 we also achieved a delay for six months, buying us some much needed time.

This time as we take on the coal

TAKE ACTION! 1.Sign the petition at environmentvictoria.org.au/ nocoalexports or incuded with this Green Action News.

2.Tick the box at the end of the petition if you want to help get more people signing on.

3.Share with your family and friends.

Orange-bellied parrot

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industry’s export plans again we’re playing to win.

We’re talking to landholders across Gippsland about the threat to their land and meeting with communities directly threatened by proposed new coal ports.

With your incredible support, our Superforce of 600 volunteers will be out and about in the coming months talking to people across Victoria about what’s at stake.

Over the next six months we plan to gather 15,000 signatures calling on Premier Napthine to protect Victoria and abandon their coal export pipedream.

With this copy of the Green Action News you received a petition form with space for your friends and family to sign and show their commitment to Protect Victoria.

Please, ask your friends and family to sign this petition and return it to Environment Victoria to kick-start this statewide campaign to Protect Victoria from coal exports.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Why you care We asked you why you’re concerned about the environment and we were overwhelmed by the flood of beautiful, heart-felt responses on our Facebook page. Here are some of our favourites.

; infinite in its Lisa: The earth is round and beautiful complexity and finite in its capacity.

Rusty: We are part of the environment and its health is integral to ours, thus environmental destruction is selfdestruction, and preservation of nature is self-preservation.

Beornn: If I knew the ans wer to why I care about the environment I’d be able to tell you why I care abo ut myself, but there’s no ready ans wer and it’s redundant wh en we have no other self or environm ent to care about.

Henry: It’s elemental my dear Watson. We ARE our environment and our environment is us. It grows us, it shows us, it makes us, it shakes us, it bakes us and consecrates and ultimately takes us!

Dean: I opened my lungs, my eyes, my ears and my heart as I grew and found that I belonged to the most incredible place we know in the Universe.

Annie: Because my ancestors’ ancestors’ ancestors have left the earth in a beautiful state, I’d like my great-great-greatgrandchildren to be able to say the same of me.

experience a number of Barb: I’ve been fortunate enough to grandchildren to have my t wan natural environments and I so r children too. thei , turn in those same opportunities, and,

to experience and feel Maureen: I want my grandchildren we are privileged to be the wonder of this beautiful world able to live in.

Shannon: She compels me to love her because she is everywhere and all around me, she is me, and I a tiny part of her.

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK! Every day we post our take on the latest news affecting Victoria’s environment.

Join the conversation. LIKE our page at facebook.com/environmentvictoria

PHOTO: ELIZABETHDONOGHUE (FLICKR)

Devanesan: For intergenerational equity, as I have 7 grandchildren.

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R E C L A I M V I C T O R I A’ S E N V I R O N M E N T

Community organisin Victoria’s future and w THERE ARE TWO SOURCES OF POWER in western democracies: organised money and organised people.

In recent times we’ve seen the growing power of organised money in Australia, from campaigns by billionaires against the mining tax, polluters against the carbon tax, and irrigator associations to weaken the national plan to save the Murray River.

Despite the extremely generous financial support we receive from people like you to run our campaigns, we can’t match the deep pockets of vested interests.

But we have something else up our collective sleeve: people power.

Environment Victoria has long understood the need to build strong, grassroots campaigns that mobilise Victorians. We still hold the equal world record for organising the largest climate change protest the world has ever seen, with 50,000 people attending the 2009 Walk Against Warming in Melbourne (matched only by the rally in Copenhagen).

The ability to mobilise people to demonstrate popular support for protecting our environment at key moments is powerful, and with the help of people like you, it’s gotten us over the line in some crucial wins for our environment. We’ll continue to mobilise our supporters against the big environmental threats we face. But looking at the current political landscape, it’s clear that we need to do more. We’re simply not powerful enough to create the lasting change we so desperately need.

And given the urgency and scale of the environmental challenges we face, we just can’t afford to take two steps forward and one step back any longer.

Albert Einstein allegedly said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. The environment movement needs a new approach.

In the wake of the 2010 Victorian election, with the Coalition Government undoing much of the progress made by

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WHAT WE’VE ALREADY DONE: • Committed to investing in community organising to build lasting power • Created a permanent Community Organiser position • Launched an incredibly successful new volunteer campainger program with our Superforce of over 600 volunteering to give at least one day per month for the next three years • Had two thousand face-toface conversations with Victorians in the areas that determine the outcome of every state and federal election • Undertaken staff training with the highly successful Sierra Club in the US • Implemented weekly community stalls across Melbourne, fortnightly phonebanks where we talk about the latest issue with target communities, and inspirational bi-monthly volunteer training meetings • Met with 33 State MPs (from all parties) to brief them on our Reclaim Victoria’s Environment campaign • Deployed our organising capacity in the federal election with volunteers having 550 conversations in the four most marginal Victorian seats asking voters to consider the environment at the ballot box

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environmentalists over the decades, we decided that a change in strategy was needed.

As an organisation we decided to develop and invest in a new skill community organising. At its heart , community organising is about building power. It’s the long-term process of building durable community power to get our issues on the agenda and keep them there.

We’re creating a community of activists who understand the threat to our environment and are committed to working with us over the long term to achieve real change. Through organising,

THANK YOU! Thank you to our amazing supporters who are helping to make our organising strategy big, bold and effective.

ng: it’s Environment we’re excited WE’RE IN GOOD COMPANY We know community organising works because it’s had big results elsewhere.

Here are some others who are kicking goals: • The Sierra Club’s community organising has fast-tracked the closure of 145 coal-fired power stations in the United States in just the past 3 years • Political campaigns like the Obama campaign, and closer to home Adam Bandt’s campaign in the seat of Melbourne, are using community organising techniques • In Australia, 100% Renewables and Lock the Gate are effectively organising and mobilising communities

and thanks to your support, we’re recruiting new volunteers to the campaign, providing training to build skills, power and leadership, and establishing lasting relationships that will keep us united as a team that is strong enough and broad enough to win. These deep relationships, combined with the right skills and actions will create the presence and power in the community we know is needed to make a difference.

With community organising at the heart of our plan, we’ll be able to build power for our movement across Victorian communities and mobilise our supporters when it matters on a scale we’ve never seen before.

One of the key tools is having one-onone conversations with Victorians about why we need environmental leadership from our governments, what our governments are currently doing, and how things could be better. Face-to-face

conversations are most likely to influence people’s opinions and be remembered - particularly if it’s a neighbour or friend approaching you rather than those professional greenies from Environment Victoria!

By using an organising model and working with hundreds of volunteers, Environment Victoria massively extend our reach. Instead of a handful of staff trying to influence community attitudes we have our very own ‘Green Army’. Talk about Direct Action!

And this organising capacity is being targeted to have maximum political impact. Rather than trying to spread our efforts right across the state we’ve focused most of our efforts on the handful of areas that determine the outcome of every state and federal election. For instance, did you know that whichever party has won the seat of Mitcham has held government since the seat was created 46 years ago? That makes the voters of Mitcham pretty powerful, and a strong ally if we can ensure that the environment is at the front of their minds when polled by political parties. That doesn’t mean we forget about everywhere else. The great thing about supporting a growing volunteer base is that we can have a presence on the ground in areas we’ve never managed before.

The commitment we’ve made to organising, thanks to your ongoing support, is reinvigorating Environment Victoria at a difficult time politically. As an occasionally battle-weary activist it really puts a spring in my step to meet with amazing volunteer activists who are working the phones into the evening as I leave the office, who are knocking on doors on a Saturday afternoon in Frankston, Prahran, Blackburn or Mordialloc, or forming a new Environment Victoria action group in the western suburbs.

This is our future, and it’s exciting to embark on a journey that is going to deliver many long-lasting and powerful environmental outcomes, not just for Environment Victoria’s campaigns, but for all environmental campaigns in this state for decades to come.

JOIN US! To get involved in our community campaigns, sign up to volunteer at environmentvictoria.org.au/volunteer G R E E N A C T I O N N E W S | I S S U E 2 0 | S P R I N G 2 0 1 3 | w w w. e n v i r o n m e n t v i c t o r i a . o r g . a u

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ONE PLANET LIVING

Community power in the community sector > Charlie Davie, One Planet Living Campaigner

With energy prices rapidly rising, reducing household energy and water use is a big step towards alleviating financial disadvantage as well as promoting environmental protection. In the One Million Homes Alliance, environment and social service groups have been working together to take that message to the Victorian government.

SINCE 2010 ENVIRONMENT Victoria has been coordinating the One Million Homes Alliance, a diverse coalition of community groups together representing hundreds of thousands of Victorians.

Campaigning for improved investment in the energy and water performance of Victoria’s existing housing stock, starting with disadvantaged households, the Alliance had an early win when the Victorian Coalition went to the election in 2010 with the promise to “support the transition of all existing housing stock to meet an average of 5 star energy rating.”

Since then however, the Baillieu/Napthine government has done little to progress that commitment. The Alliance is now working to make investment in efficient homes an election issue once again in 2014.

According to Environment Victoria Campaigns Director Mark Wakeham the advantage of working together in an alliance is that it provides a range of avenues to deliver the message effectively.

“Melbourne’s electricity prices have risen by 84% in five years, and 88% of electricity comes from burning brown coal. We know this government has shown little interest in reducing emissions, but we can have a different conversation about the cost of living benefits of improving household energy efficiency.

Bringing together diverse allies helps us make the case in a range of ways,” he said.

MEFL

CUAC

“Moreland Energy Foundation works with the community in practical ways to reduce greenhouse emissions and respond to climate change. We recognise that the impacts of climate change will be felt most by those less able to adapt. Low income and disadvantaged members of the community are less able to respond to rising energy costs or avoid adverse health impacts from a changing climate. The One Million Homes initiative is an important partnership that delivers meaningful improvements to people’s lives and sets better standards for the homes we live in in the future.”

The Consumer Utilities Advocacy Centre Ltd (CUAC) is a specialist consumer organisation representing Victorian energy and water consumers in policy and regulatory processes. The OMH Alliance’s work fits our focus on the principles of affordability, accessibility, fairness, and empowerment. Improving housing energy performance is a valuable systemic reform that particularly helps low-income, disadvantaged, rural, and regional consumers, whose interests we believe must be a primary consideration in energy policy and service provision. We support the Alliance’s evidencebased and constructive approach to working with the Victorian Government to help fulfil their election commitment of making all homes 5-star energy efficient.

The One Million Homes Alliance Victorian Council of Social Services (VCOSS), Kildonan UnitingCare, the Consumer Utilities Advisory Centre (CAUC), Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL), the Alternative Technology Association (ATA), the Victoria Local Government Association (VLGA) and the energy services company Energy for the People.

To read all about One Million Homes visit www.environmentvictoria.org.au/onemillionhomes

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FEDERAL ELECTION 2013

Federal election 2013 Election 2013 was a tough one for the environment.

This was no surprise.

WITH A LABOR PARTY RIVEN BY internal battles, Tony Abbott’s successful (and fact-free) scare campaign on the carbon price, and a media barracking for change, progressive issues didn’t get much of a look-in.

Environment Victoria was involved in the election in two major ways, thanks to our fantastic volunteers and donors. Firstly we were able to fieldtest our organising capacity in key parts of the state in preparation for next year’s state election. Secondly we got out early with the most comprehensive environment policy analysis by anyone in the country, Envirotracker, and made sure that our policy snapshot was seen by around 200,000 voters.

It’s always hard to know what’s in people’s minds as they cast their votes, but the Climate Institute conducted a fascinating exit poll of 1500 voters on election day. 40% of Coalition voters nominated a stronger economy as the most important issue in determining their vote, with just 3% nominating scrapping the ‘carbon tax.’ More voters want the Coalition to achieve emissions cuts of 5-25% (40% of voters) than to repeal the ‘carbon tax’ (28%). The polling also shows that Australians across all political parties still care about the environment and want action on climate change — even if it isn’t a top-tier voting issue.

Yet. We’ve got a plan to change that (see page eight), focused on the longterm strategy of building grassroots power in the places that matter — the seats that changed hands at the federal election and also determined the last state election. We’ll be ensuring all parties know they need a credible environment policy and vigorously defending past gains along the way, like the carbon price, efforts to save the Murray, investment in renewables, national environment laws and National Parks Protection.

We’re up for it and we know that you are too.

Making sure Victorians knew what was at stake when they cast their vote Face-to-face conversations > 700 Envirotracker flyers distributed > 15,000 Times Envirotracker was viewed online > 80,000 Voters who saw local paper ads > 100,000

THANK YOU! Thank you to those who financially supported our short and sharp federal election campaign to inform voters of the national environment disaster we were facing.

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AROUND AUSTRALIA

Communities vs big polluters > Tom Hartney, Communications Officer

Victorian communities facing the prospect of being ripped apart for coal mines and export infrastructure can take heart from the resilience of other communities around Australia taking on the fossil fuel industry – many of whom are prevailing by banding together. Here’s what we can achieve when we join forces.

James Price Point vs Woodside Petroleum

Rio Tinto coal mine, Bulga. PHOTO: YEWENYI (FLICKR)

Bulga vs Rio Tinto When fossil fuel monster Rio Tinto steamed into Bulga with the intention of extending its open-cut coal mine, they didn’t expect Bulga to put up much of a fight.

But with help from the NSW Environment Defenders Office, the residents of tiny Bulga stopped the expansion through a challenge to the Land and Environment Court, making worldwide news.

Unfortunately, the coal-addicted NSW government weren’t amused, joining Rio Tinto in a challenge in the Supreme Court, which will deliver its findings later this year. In the meantime, the NSW government has introduced a new policy to elevate the importance of proposed projects’ economic value during the approvals process. But in doing so they’ve upset a hornet’s nest of farmers, horse breeders and grape growers…

With Victorian farmers and communities facing their own fight to protect their land from international mining companies, we watch eagerly to see how this David and Goliath battle ends.

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Following an epic ten-year campaign, an alliance of environment groups, Broome community groups and Traditional Owners succeeded in its fight to protect one of the world’s last great pockets of wilderness when Woodside Petroleum announced plans to walk away from its controversial gas hub project at James Price Point in the Kimberley.

James Price Point is undeniably a magical place – a Lost World of dinosaur footprints and sacred Aboriginal sites, featuring the world’s largest humpback whale nursery.

Yet, backed by the Western Australian government, Australia’s largest oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum planned to dredge the ocean floor and build a gas hub in the middle of it all.

The Wilderness Society led an inspired campaign targeting the project’s financiers, featuring support from highprofile musicians, blockades by committed activists and several legal challenges to the state approval process.

In August the Western Australian Supreme Court ruled the WA EPA’s approvals of the project invalid due to conflict of interest.

James Price Point. PHOTO: GREENSMPS (FLICKR)

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Solar Citizens Council vs Western Australia As Australians continue to vote with their switches by embracing the solar rooftop revolution, the consequence has been a historic reduction in demand for electricity nationwide and unprecedented reduction in greenhouse emissions.

So when the Western Australian government announced an illconsidered plan to retroactively cut the solar feed-in tariff designed to provide fair reward for solar users feeding energy back into the grid, they had a fight on their hands.

And who better to lead the charge than the newly-minted Solar Citizens Council, representing Australia’s 2.5 million rooftop solar users. After receiving almost 10,000 emails from disgruntled solar users, WA Premier Colin Barnett admitted he had got it wrong and reversed his decision in one of the most welcome political backflips in recent memory.

A win for the environment and a win for people power!

These wins are a sign that community pressure is working and the tide is turning against a free ride for the fossil fuel industry. But the fight to cut polluter handouts is far from over. The alliance will keep up pressure on our politicians into 2014 when Australia will host the G20, given the G20 nations have collectively agreed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

Seaspray and Poowong vs CSG Another threat facing communities around Australia is the rapid expansion of the Coal Seam Gas (CSG) industry, with little regulation and little accountability.

While the Victorian government has declared a temporary moratorium on CSG exploration in recognition of the uncertainty surrounding the impacts on our health and environment, the industry continues its expansion unchecked interstate. And the Victorian government is under pressure from the gas industry to overturn its moratorium.

While this scourge has ripped apart many communities around Australia, pitting neighbour against neighbour, an increasing number of communities have united in defiance of the threat. Quit Coal and Friends of the Earth have been working closely with these communities, supporting them in 'locking their gates' to coal and gas companies.

This has resulted in communities taking the further step of declaring themselves 'coal and coal seam gas free'.

After surveying their entire community the tiny South Gippsland town of Poowong found that 95% of landholders were against the proposed developments, and declared itself Coal and CSG-free with a human sign. In August, Seaspray followed their lead, with an overwhelming 98% in support.

Another 12 towns are in line to do the same before the year is out.

Seaspray

The Reef vs The Coal Barons

Paid to Pollute: Australians vs Big Polluters In the months leading up to the federal budget, and thanks to the generous financial support of people like you who made it possible, Environment Victoria forged an alliance of 84 of Australia’s leading environment and community groups to strip Australia’s biggest polluters of over $10 billion dollars a year in taxpayer handouts.

Along the way, we held actions outside dozens of MPs’ offices and petrol stations nationwide, sent over 8000 messages to the Treasurer and MPs from our amazing supporters and made news everywhere from The Australian to the Port Macquarie News.

The federal budget included a cut to depreciation for mining exploration and prospecting that will save taxpayers $1.1 billion over the next four years.

And two months later, with a new PM and a new Treasurer, we had another win in the wake of changes to the carbon price package, with $770 million in handouts to Australia’s dirtiest coal generators being cancelled.

With the health of the Great Barrier Reef already at critical risk, and with several massive new coal port developments in World Heritage Areas being fast-tracked for approval by the Queensland government, Australia’s iconic natural wonder needs our help like never before.

Plans to expand ports to open up shipping channels would involve ripping up millions of tonnes of sea floor and dumping the sediment in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area, choking coral and polluting precious turtle and dugong habitat.

But with the Reef’s World Heritage status – and 60,000 tourism jobs – at stake, Australians aren’t about to lie down and allow this marine wonderland to become a lost wonder. WWF and Greenpeace have both led vocal campaigns to save the Reef from industrial ruin.

So far the campaign has succeeded in delaying approval of the world’s biggest coal port at Abbott Point, with thousands of people contacting Federal Environment Minister Mark Butler and forcing him to delay his decision until November. What happens next is up to us.

Join the fight for the Reef at wwf.org.au

Great Barrier Reef. PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF DENVER (FLICKR)

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S U S TA I N A B L E L I F E S T Y L E S

Future Powered Families > Domenica Settle, Project Manager

Future-Powered Families is helping low-income parents take charge of their energy use.

WHEN PHILL AND HIS WIFE HAD their first baby they also received an unexpected arrival - big energy bills.

It’s a common story. Having a baby can send energy use soaring, right when household income tends to be down.

But there are lots of simple things people can do to save energy and save on bills.

That’s where Environment Victoria comes in! We’re running a new project

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Project officer Phill Falcke, with his oldest daughter, Eleanor. Phill is based in Nhill, in western Victoria.

with low-income new parents across the state to help them cut down their energy use.

We’ve been heading out to Indian playgroups in Sunshine, young mums groups in the Latrobe Valley and kindergartens in Nhill in far western Victoria. Despite all the chaos of enthusiastic kids charging around the room, spilt fruit juice and smelly nappies, we’re finding that parents are really keen

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to hear what we have to say.

“As soon as you start talking about saving energy and bills, everyone’s got their story, everyone has questions,” says project officer Kat Gaita. Project officers Kat, Miranda and Phill are parents themselves, so they understand the sometimes crazy world of parenting small children.

In addition to the workshops, Kat, Phill and Miranda are also training a select group of new parents to carry out simple household sustainability assessments.

They’ll then go to the homes of other new parents to share their experiences and offer suggestions of simple ways that households can save energy.

Everything from rugging up instead of running the heater all night to putting cheap bamboo blinds on the outside of windows to dramatically cut down the amount of summer sun getting into the home.

The project is possible thanks to the Low Income Energy Efficiency Program, which is part of the federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism.

Between now and 2015 Environment Victoria will run workshops with 1,200 families, and will train 420 parents in sustainability assessments, who will then reach out to another 3,300 families.

If the project is as successful as GreenTown and other past Environment Victoria community projects, we think it will make a real difference to households’ financial, and environmental, bottom line.

S A F E C L I M AT E

URGENT: Stop plans to pillage and plunder Dear Kelly, Yes! I want to save Victoria’s environment by preventing brown coal exports.

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Environment Victoria AGM and environment celebration Join us (and Tripod!) for a night of laughs, celebration and inspiration

It’s been a tough time for people who care about the environment. So you’ll agree we could all use a good laugh and a chance to be inspired by the incredible work of communities to create change.

Come and help us celebrate Victoria’s magnificent environment as we recognise the extraordinary achievements of Victorian communities over the past year and enjoy the hilarious musical stylings of Tripod.

WHO’S WHO AT

Chief Executive Officer Kelly O’Shanassy CAMPAIGNS & PROGRAMS Campaigns Director Mark Wakeham Healthy Rivers Campaigner Juliet Le Feuvre Safe Climate Campaign Manager Victoria McKenzie-McHarg Sustainable Living Manager Michele Burton One Planet Living Campaigner Charlie Davie Sustainable Living Program Managers Nina Bailey Domenica Settle Eva Gaita

Sustainable Living Project Officers Kat Gaita Miranda Blok Phillip Falcke Community Organiser Jane Stabb Communications Manager Alex Merory Communications Officer Tom Hartney OPERATIONS Organisational Services Manager Ivan Kolker Accounts Officer Helen Vine Administration Officer Cate Hoyle Fundraising Manager Amber Sprunt Database Officer Tony Cox

WHEN Wednesday 23 October 2013 AGM 5:30pm Environment Celebration 6:50pm

WHERE RMIT Swanston Academic Building, 445 Swanston St, Melbourne (we’ll send you a map upon RSVP)

RSVP Essential by Friday 12 October by enclosed form or at environmentvictoria.org.au/rsvp

BOARD President Amanda Nuttall Vice-President Robyn Murphy Elizabeth McKinnon Sue Noy Simone Zmood Hugh Wareham Alison Rowe Dieter Schadt Joan Staples Carl Young REGULAR VOLUNTEERS Janet Gellie Eugene Crozier Les Smith Ian Hazewinkel Lance Lessels Sarah Bowe Julia Barnes Michael Alexander

Freya Scully Christy Arnott Neil Barter Nic Gordon TALK TO US Phone (03) 9341 8100 Email admin@environmentvictoria.org.au Fax (03) 9341 8199 PO Box 12575 A’Beckett Street, Victoria, 8006 www.environmentvictoria.org.au

Did you know you can donate online? www.environmentvictoria.org.au/give

PHOTO: ERWIN JACKSON

AGM