1nsw.greens.org.aunsw.greens.org.au

Summer 2010

Why we need marine parksBy Ben Birt Nature Conservation Council of NSW

Marine sanctuaries, marine national parks, green zones, no-take zones, marine re-serves. Call them what you will, but one thing is clear – they work.

Marine sanctuaries are areas that are fully protected from extractive uses such as fish-ing, dredging and mining. In NSW, they tend to exist as zones within larger, multiple-use marine parks where fish-ing is generally permitted. Out-side the state’s six marine parks, aquatic reserves and marine ex-tensions to national parks may also be zoned as no-take areas, although most are not.

Population growth and over-exploitation of natural resourc-es are not new issues and it is hardly contentious to suggest that some areas of our planet should be left free from direct human exploitation. On land, we do not farm, hunt or build everywhere. Some spaces are set aside to remain in their natural state, bringing wide-spread benefits now and into the future.

Australia has more than 500 national parks, yet still only a small percentage of the marine environment is protected.

The push by scientists and envi-ronmentalists for more marine sanctuaries flows partly from the need to redress the imbal-ance in our use of the marine environment compared with the land. It recognises the im-portance of having areas of the sea that can be considered natural.

It is increasingly apparent that natural areas with intact, or close-to-intact, ecosystems are only likely to occur in marine sanctuaries.

The science demonstrating the value of marine sanctuaries is so clear that most peer-re-viewed journal editors are un-likely to publish papers showing how sanctuaries contain more fish and bigger fish than equiv-alent fished areas, or than they did prior to becoming sanctu-ary zones. These observations are simply no longer news to scientists.

Of course, saying there are more and bigger fish oversim-plifies the many changes that are observed time and again when sanctuaries are declared. It can be difficult to predict

federal update p2 ethics trial p3

exactly what will happen once an area is protected from fish-ing, as ecosystems make the long, slow journey towards recovery. Whatever specific changes occur, they represent a move back towards a more nat-ural state. This is the essence of environmental conservation and the reason marine sanc-tuaries play such a vital role in conservation.

Opposition to marine sanctu-aries generally takes the form of efforts to undermine the sci-entific evidence and divert the focus to threats other than fish-ing. It is not uncommon to hear claims that ”radical greens” want to close down fishing al-together and marine sanctuar-ies are part of that process. Ul-timately, it comes down to right of access and a fundamental

opposition to having geograph-ical restrictions placed on fish-ing, irrespective of the merits of the conservation arguments.

One of the most persistent tactics in arguments against marine sanctuaries is to blur the lines between conservation and fisheries management.

continued on page 6

“conservation can only really be achieved in the sea if you have no-take undisturbed marine reserves” Dr Bill Ballantine

voluntary euthanasia p4

Meet new Greens Mps

Meet our newest Greens MPs Cate Faehrmann and David Shoebridge, who were sworn in to the NSW Parliament in September, during a time of renewal and great excitement in Green politics. See pp 4-5.

federal election resultsThe Greens have secured their place as the third force in Australian politics. See p 2.

The sea horse is the only species where the male gives birth to its young. Pictured here is a weedy sea dragon (Phyllopteryx Taeniolatus), taken at La Perouse, Port Botany, Sydney, NSW

political donations reform

New election funding and donations reforms will reduce the impact of big money on politics in NSW.

But the Coalition’s crude wedge tactics could sink the new laws. See p 5.

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By John Kaye

NSW Greens MP

For 130 years, students in public schools whose fam-ilies did not belong to an organised religion were forced to waste one hour a week. After a campaign by the P&C Federation, the St James Ethics Centre and the Greens, relief might be in sight, at least for some students.

The successful trial of an ethics course has for the first time broken the monopoly of the major religions over the one hour a week set aside for scrip-ture in NSW public schools. The Keneally government is making positive noises about making the option permanent after a favourable review.

Barry O’Farrell and the Coa-lition, however, are likely to try to kill off the ethics option

By Lee Rhiannon Greens NSW Senator-Elect

Equality, sustainability and compassion are the common link of many pol-icies the Greens took to the federal election campaign.

These values will continue to guide the work of the 10 Greens MPs elected to the federal parliament.

The Greens team has put before the federal parliament a com-prehensive program. Senator Bob Brown has spoken about the Greens’ deep commitment to ensure that Indigenous Aus-tralians are recognised in the constitution by the next open-ing of parliament. The Greens are working for a referendum to be held before or at the next federal election to achieve this breakthrough.

This is one plank of the Labor-Greens agreement signed by Bob Brown and Prime Minister Julia Gillard after the election.

The agreement requires the Greens to ensure supply and oppose any motion of no-confi-dence in the government from other parties or MPs. Labor has agreed to work with the Greens for greater transparency and in-tegrity in the federal parliament and to pursue policies that pro-mote the national interest and address climate change.

The parliamentary Climate Change Committee, proposed by the Greens, has been estab-lished and Senator Christine Milne is a deputy chair. She is working with Bob Brown and Adam Bandt, Greens MP for the

seat of Melbourne, on this com-mittee to achieve consensus on a price for carbon.

Greens MPs are working hard to achieve long-awaited gov-ernment action on climate change, but a strong and loud community voice remains the decisive factor. Protest ac-tions, street stalls, deputations to local MPs and lots of letters and emails are vital to keep up pressure for an outcome that delivers a price on carbon and a planned transition to a zero-carbon economy.

Under the Labor-Greens agree-ment a full parliamentary debate on the war in Afghan-istan has begun, a $20 mil-lion high-speed rail study will be completed by July 2011, there will be truth in political

advertising legislation, and a range of measures to improve the work of parliament.

The Greens’ work in parlia-ment goes far beyond the agreement. Labor and the Co-alition parties are being chal-lenged by many initiatives put forward by our MPs.

Ensuring that Australia re-spects the human rights of asylum seekers is a priority for the Greens. Senator Sarah Han-son-Young has proposed a com-munity taskforce to bring to-gether experts with knowledge and experience in areas such as children’s welfare and mental health to discuss with govern-ment and political representa-tives the alternatives to a failing detention system. The Greens support quick, compassionate

processing of refugees at com-munity reception centres in non-remote mainland locations.

Sarah used the opening of par-liament to reinforce the Greens’ call for an immediate end to detention of children and their families in immigration centres.

The Greens’ Marriage Equal-ity Bill is back before the fed-eral parliament and Sarah is working for it to be voted on in the Senate.

Senator Scott Ludlam has con-gratulated all parties for the consensus position on perma-nently protecting the Koongarra region of Kakadu National Park from uranium mining. Follow-ing this agreement Scott has called on the minority Labor government to use the current political environment to forge a consensus approach to manag-ing radioactive nuclear waste in Australia.

Senator Rachel Siewert has taken up the growing gap in income support facing single parents and the unemployed, who receive less than aged pensioners. The Greens will strongly pursue policies that ensure our social security system delivers a fair and ade-quate income to all.

It is a big task to win support for sound, decent policies that will improve environmental protection and a just and peace-ful society. Combining the en-deavours of our Greens MPs with strong community action will be the key.

I look forward to taking office in the Senate in July 2011 and working with my fellow Greens and the community.

Greens values to the fore in the new federal parliament

Every state in Australia will have a Greens voice when the new Senate is formed in July 2011.

if they get into government, unless the NSW parliament locks in the right to offer ethics courses in the one hour set aside for religious education.

Under a deal cut with the churches when the NSW public school system was set up in 1880, a self-selecting club of authorised religions was given access to students for one hour a week. Ever since, the church-es have jealously guarded their control over this time.

Children whose parents do not subscribe to one of the faiths on offer, or believe that religious instruction is not a matter for schools, were forced to sit in the library, watch videos or run around the playground.

The Greens believe this is unfair and wasteful. We are not trying to stop the one hour a week scripture for children who want it, but the other chil-dren must not be left without options.

The St James Ethics Centre and Professor Philip Cam from UNSW developed a course that

invites young people to think about challenging dilemmas they might face, without refer-ence to religion or faith. After a long campaign, Education Minister Verity Firth finally agreed to trial the course in 10 NSW primary schools during this year’s second term, involv-ing more than 500 students in Years 5 and 6.

Many religions, including the Uniting Church, the Hindu Council, the Islamic Council and the Baha’i faith welcomed the trial.

Others, including the Sydney and Wollongong Diocese of the Catholic Church and the Sydney Anglicans, re-acted irrationally, running a

misleading and dishonest cam-paign based on the claim that the ethics course would under-mine religious education and provide an unfair advantage to atheists.

Independent evaluation of the trial showed it was successful and the Keneally government is considering its permanent adoption.

The Greens are concerned that a future O’Farrell-led Coalition government will buckle under pressure from some church leaders and cancel the ethics option. We will introduce a bill to secure the rights of all chil-dren to a meaningful hour a week, regardless of their fam-ily’s belief system.

By Ian Cohen NSW Greens MP

Local communities in the Northern Rivers region are breathing a sigh of relief after the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport announced the 2011 Repco World Rally Champion-ship would be moved from the Northern Rivers region to Coffs Harbour.

After sustained controversy surrounding the event’s envi-ronmental and social impact, many in the Northern Rivers region are happy to see the rally move, but fear that Coffs Harbour may face many of the same problems that the rally in-flicted on the Northern Rivers.

Holding an international motor sport in one of Australia’s most biodiverse and iconic natural areas – the Green Cauldron – demonstrates the frightening lack of vision in state tourism and event planning.

Last year, when legislation es-tablished permanency for the event, the Greens and opposi-tion amended the bill to secure an independent review of last year’s Repco Rally.

In August the NSW Treasurer released a report prepared for the government by Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). This report lacked ob-jectivity and its accuracy was questionable. It also demon-strated the contempt of the gov-ernment and IMC for the legiti-mate concerns of local residents and business owners, repeat-edly labelling community oppo-nents as zealots.

The conclusion that the eco-nomic benefits of the 2009 Repco Rally far outweighed the costs was based on submissions from Events NSW and Rally Australia, two organisations with vested interests in the event going ahead despite a di-visive and inadequate planning process.

Moving the Repco Rally to Coffs Harbour does not address concerns about the economic costs and benefits of this event. I have called on the government to release all papers on direct government expenditure and economic assessments for this event. Instead of providing all relevant information, it claimed commercial confidentiality over a large proportion of relevant papers.

There is a real fear that the income generation figures touted by Treasurer Eric Roozendaal are grossly inflated and inaccurate.

Questions remain as to why any local area, with access to all the economic analysis, would ac-commodate this type of event. We know from the Auditor-General’s independent review of the V8 Supercars Races that we cannot rely on the government, or its close associates, to accu-rately assess the economic ben-efits to NSW of such events.

Northern Rivers Repco Rally Crashes: Big Green Win

Adam Bandt was elected as the Greens MP for the seat of Melbourne, the first Greens MP elected to a lower house seat at a general federal election.

Adam is a former indus-trial lawyer. Since making his inaugural speech on 30 September, Adam has been a powerful Greens voice for the environment and human rights issues in the federal parliament’s house of representatives.

More than 1 in 9 people voted for The Greens. If we had proportional represen-tation, there would be 16 Greens MPs sitting along side Adam in the House of Representatives. The val-ues he will represent are supported by nearly one and a half million people across the country.

You can follow Adam at adam-bandt. greensmps.org.au

The Greens are clearly the na-tion’s third political force fol-lowing our success in the 2010 federal election.

Over 1.6 million people voted for the Greens in the Senate, and over 1.45 million people voted Greens in the House of Representatives. The Greens will have 10 members of par-liament when the new Senate is formed in July 2011, with a Senator elected in every state.

federal election results

4.0%1.5%

-5.4%

Coalition

Labor

Greens

Made history,

Melbourne

We finished in the top three candidates in 137 out of 150 seats nationwide.

The Greens gained 11.7% of the primary vote in the House of Representatives, yet only gained one seat - Melbourne. If the House of Representa-tives was elected by a more democratic system of pro-portional representation, the Greens would have gained 18 lower house seats.

GreenVoice is published by The Greens NSW.The Greens NSW, GPO Box 1220, Sydney 2001 p 02 / 9045 6999f 02 / 9519 2177e office@nsw.greens.org.auw nsw.greens.org.au

All copyright remains with the authors. An opinion expressed in GreenVoice is not necessarily the opinon of The Greens NSW unless specifically stated. To enquire about writing for or contributing to Green-Voice contact The Greens.

Authorised by Susie Gemmell, 19 Eve St, Erskineville. Designed by Elisabeth Bischofer at direttissima design. Printed by Torch Publishing, 47 Allingham St, Condell Park on 100% recycled paper.

The Trials of Ethics

Adam Bandt giving his inaugural speech

Make ethics a permanent choice in schools

Correction

The 2010 Federal Election edition of Greenvoice includ-ed an advertisement from the Save Our Mountains campaign against trucks. The MVHBAG did not give approval for this usage how-ever it does recognise it was used, in good faith, to high-light the major concern of excessive truck usage on the Great Western Highway.

hands off our coastA mining company plans to begin exploratory drilling this year for natural gas off the coast of Newcastle.

Lake Macquarie Greens councillor Phillipa Parsons held a public meeting to oppose the plans, and has created a Facebook cause called Hands off Our Coast.

“The plan has huge poten-tial to inflict damage to the marine environment and tourism and commercial industries such as fishing, cruise ships and whale-watching,” Cr Parsons said.

The threat is compounded by further applications to explore for coal and oil off the NSW coastline, which the Greens oppose.

pollution failureThe Auditor-General’s au-dit report on the perform-ance of the NSW Environ-mental Protection Agency in managing pollution inci-dents across the state high-lighted the Government’s indifference to protecting our environment.

The inadequacies of man-agement range from poor data collection and re-porting to not adequately communicating their en-vironmental line phone number to the public.

“The Government is sim-ply unable to assure the citizens of NSW that they are responding to pollu-tion complaints effectively or efficiently,” said Greens MP Ian Cohen who has been scrutinizing the gov-ernment’s management of pollution incidents.

4 nsw.greens.org.au 5nsw.greens.org.au

By Cate Faehrmann NSW Greens MP

I have given notice to the NSW Parliament that I will introduce a bill ena-bling terminally ill pa-tients of sound mind and whose pain and suffer-ing cannot be alleviated, to voluntarily request and receive assistance to die with dignity.

Unfortunately, even the best palliative care does not provide relief for about 5 per cent of ter-minally ill patients, who suffer excruciating pain at the end of their lives. This bill focuses on protecting the rights of those people to choose the circum-stances of their own dying. In essence, it would enable people to take control of their dying.

Voluntary euthanasia is legal in a number of jurisdictions around the world including the Netherlands and Belgium, and

the states of Oregon, Washing-ton and Montana in the US.

If the bill becomes law it would be used by a very small number of people whose pain and suf-fering has become intolerable.

In Oregon, the Dying with Dig-nity law has been in place since 1997 and, due to a combination of the safeguards in place and the strong human desire for life, has been used by less than 1 per cent of approximately 10,000 Oregonians who die each year.

Professor Barbara Glidewell, the Oregon Ombudsman for over 33 years, who introduced that state’s Death with Digni-ty Act, says: “Many Oregonians have peace of mind that they have the law if they need it.” Many don’t use it and, in fact, more than one third of dying patients who request a lethal dose of medication from their physicians don’t take it.

I recently met a young man, Gideon, whose father passed away recently from motor neu-rone disease. His father had watched his own father die an excruciating death from the same illness over a number of

years. Gideon’s father felt very strongly that he and his family should not have to go through that same unbearable suffering with his own illness. After much searching, Gideon’s father ob-tained a lethal dose of medi-cation illegally and eventually drank it with his family around him. Once he had obtained the drug, Gideon’s father did not use if for a while, yet was “a changed man” in a “calm, serene state” having finally achieved peace of mind about his impending death.

There is overwhelming public support for voluntary euthana-sia laws in Australia, but there are understandably misgivings. Most of the bill is devoted to safeguards protecting patients and their doctors.

None of us like to think about our death. However, when the time does come, many people would like to know they can access voluntary euthanasia if they are in severe pain from a terminal illness. Most of these people will opt for palliative care and won’t use the new law if it is passed, but they will be very glad it’s there.

Q. Will relatives or other people close to the patient be able to pressure the pa-tient to request voluntary euthanasia?

A. No. In addition to the safe-guards that must be met in each case, there are harsh penalties, including incarcer-ation, if deception or improp-er influence is used to obtain a signature from the patient. Similar penalties exist for ef-forts to influence a medi-cal practitioner. The medical practitioner must be satisfied the decision has been made by the patient voluntarily after due consideration.

Q. Won’t this lead to more relaxed laws and people being euthanased without their consent?

A. No. In jurisdictions where similar laws have been passed there has been no push to widen the laws in this way. The motivation is the rights of the terminally

Rights of the Terminally Ill

ill and the safeguards ensure only adults with capacity and not suffering a mental ill-ness can access voluntary euthanasia.

Q. Doesn’t voluntary eutha-nasia conflict with palliative care options?

A. Before a patient can re-quest voluntary euthanasia they must be informed of pal-liative care options available to them. Voluntary euthana-sia would only be available for patients who feel that the palliative options are not ac-ceptable to them. In Oregon, where the law has been in place for 13 years, hospice care and end-of-life pain management has increased.

For more information on the bill and a list of the safeguards

www.catefaehrmann.org

cate.faehrmann@ parliament.nsw.gov.au

Voluntary Euthanasia

I recently replaced Lee Rhiannon as a Greens MP in the NSW Upper House, after five years as executive director of the NSW Nature Conserva-tion Council.

My new portfolio responsi-bilities include communities, including lesbian, gay, trans-gender and intersex; women; multicultural; youth, and com-munity health, as well as infra-structure, including transport, ports and waterways, roads and mining.

rail expansion in the inner-west and CBD is a good start, but can go much further. We need to plan the next stage of extensions now to restore light rail to the inner metropolitan areas by 2015.

On behalf of the Greens I will continue to campaign for a re-invigorated, expanded regional rail system throughout NSW. It is unacceptable that the NSW government has reduced serv-ices, closed rail lines and ripped up tracks. All communities have a right to affordable, reliable and safe public transport.

Ensuring communities are healthy is a top priority for the Greens. Governments need to focus much more on wellness and illness prevention, as well

Introducing … Greens MP Cate Faehrmann

as encouraging people to live healthy, happy lives. Mental health must be urgently priori-tised. Almost one in two people aged 16-85 can expect to expe-rience mental illness at some point in their lives. The Greens will campaign for more resourc-es for this critical area.

Celebrating diversity and en-couraging a tolerant society should be a top priority for all political parties. I am working to highlight the devastating im-pacts of homophobic bullying on some of our most talented young people. More resources are needed to identify causes of homophobic bullying in our education system and the wider community, and to deal with this problem.

Coal mining and coal-seam gas exploration are rapidly expanding throughout NSW, threatening some of the most productive agricultural land and water resources. Legisla-tion is urgently needed to pro-tect the state’s food and water and the health of communi-ties living near coal mines and power stations.

I, and all Greens MPs, will continue to press governments to respond to climate change.

Over the next few months I will be touching base with com-munities across NSW to hear their issues and to assist local and statewide campaigns in my communities and infrastructure portfolios. I am proud to con-tinue the excellent work of the Greens in Parliament.

I will focus on more active and healthy transport solutions to reduce congestion and air pol-lution, particularly in Sydney. Roads and commuter parking continue to consume the major-ity of state government trans-port funding.

For example, hundreds of car parks have been constructed at a cost of $25,000 per space for new rail stations on Sydney’s South West rail link. The light

Follow Cate at

catefaehrmann.com

facebook.com/pages/ Cate-Faehrmann

twitter.com/greencate

Key Portfolios • Transport • Infrastructure • Communities • Arts • Climate Change

Introducing … Greens MP David ShoebridgeI have recently taken up Sylvia Hale’s position for the Greens in the NSW Upper House.

I have practised as a barrister, mainly in industrial relations law, giving me a solid platform to be the Greens spokesperson on industrial relations in the NSW Parliament.

Another of my portfolios is ju-venile justice. For many rea-sons it upsets me that NSW incarcerates juveniles at nearly four times the rate of Victoria. Reports have shown that locking up juveniles has little, if any, positive effect on their rehabilitation and I will campaign to reduce the in-carceration rate and increase funding for community-based

measures, which have been shown to work.

Housing is another portfo-lio in which my team and I are aiming for change. Housing af-fordability in NSW, particular-ly in Sydney, has declined, with people under a great deal of pressure and spending a much higher proportion of their in-comes on accommodation.

I will be proud to continue the work of Lee Rhiannon, now our senator-elect, who has long campaigned against the weak-ening of NSW gun ownership laws, overseen by NSW Labor and the Shooters Party. I will also campaign against the use of sniffer dogs and tasers by the NSW police. Both have been shown to be ineffective policing methods.

Continuing another Greens legacy, my team and I will maintain Sylvia Hale’s strong work on planning and develop-ment laws in NSW. In the past decade community consulta-tion has been gutted and en-vironmental considerations have been marginalised in most major planning decisions in NSW.

Part 3A of the Environmen-tal Planning and Assessment Act gives the planning min-ister powers to bypass coun-cils and approve a range of developments, ignoring com-munity opinion and reducing environmental and planning standards. There is a place for developments with genuine state significance such as rail-ways, ports and hospitals to be

Any bill of rights must also guarantee the freedom of as-sembly, freedom from torture and freedom from discrimi-nation on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. We are all equal and free, and this Parlia-ment should say that proudly.

Key Portfolios • Planning & Development • Housing • Industrial Relations • Justice • Climate Change

Follow David at

DavidShoebridge.org.au

facebook.com/ DavidShoebridgeMLC

twitter.com/ShoebridgeMLC

An election funding and donations reform package negotiated between the Greens and the Keneally government will reduce the impacts of big money on politics in this state, ac-cording to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

The Greens successfully amended the laws to include bans on donations from the alcohol, gambling and tobacco industries. Dr Kaye said: “The final package is far from perfect but it is much better than the current laws. It creates a start-ing point for driving money pol-itics out of NSW.

“We spoke to the Coalition but there was little progress that could be made with par-ties that are expecting a flood of corporate donations for the March 2011 election.

“The outcome is a big step for-ward but we were unable to convince Labor on a ban on all corporate donations, small-er caps on expenditure and a more effective model for re-stricting third parties.

“We would have preferred more progress on key areas of corpo-rate donations, caps and third parties but we believe that this is the best that can be achieved at this time,” said Dr Kaye.

The Coalition is unhappy with the reform because it will reduce to flood of cor-porate donations to the Lib-eral party, and has tried to stop progress on limit-ing campaign donations. Barry O’Farrell accused the Greens of selling out because we will get increased public funding, but the Greens will

obtain the smallest percent-age increase in public fund-ing of any party represented in parliament.

The Greens will gain a 100 percent increase above the ex-isting funding arrangements, while Labor will gain 127 per cent, the Christian Democrats 180 per cent, the Liberals 200 percent and the Nationals will see a 260 percent increase.

Barry O’Farrell’s chief con-cern is that the Coalition’s access to massive corporate donations will be blocked. In

response to an amendment that would stem the flow of $600,000 of tobacco dona-tions to the Coalition, Barry O’Farrell moved for a total ban on donations. This would ef-fectively sink the new laws because Labor would block a total ban.

The Greens are supporting the new laws because the lim-ited improvements that can be won from Labor are better than what we have now. If Mr O’Farrell is elected the Greens will hold him to his promise to ban all corporate donations.

Positive outcomes of negotiations• Ban on alcohol, gambling and tobacco donations.

• Caps on donations from individuals and companies.

• Donation caps apply across groups of companies, closing a dangerous loophole.

• Fairer public funding for small parties and independents.

Expenditure caps are still too high• Candidate spending capped at $100,000.

• Party spending capped at $50,000 per seat.

• Maximum spending cap is $9.3 million per party.

• Third parties can still receive donations of $2,000.

See Greens analysis at www.democracy4sale.org

Political Donations reform

all the real figures about donations to political parties on democracy4sale.org

Who Gives What?

decided at the state level after meaningful consultation. But there is simply no justification for the minister for planning to approve marinas, hotels and apartment blocks under the guise of state significance.

One of my first acts as a member of Parliament has been to move for the adoption of a bill of rights in New South Wales. Australia is one of the few advanced democracies in the world that does not en-shrine its citizens’ rights to es-sential freedoms in a core bill of rights. Without this, we give a far freer rein to governments of all political colours to leg-islate away our rights, and bit by bit to limit our capacity to express dissent, to organise and to protest.

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Photo: Attila A Bicskos

continued from page 1

It is argued that there is no place for sanctuaries if a ben-efit to fisheries cannot be demonstrated.

This argument misrepresents the intended purpose of marine parks and their sanctuaries. In NSW, the objective is conserva-tion of biodiversity. Benefits to fisheries may be an end result of a network of sanctuaries, but this is not the outcome by which they should be tested.

Perhaps the most telling sum-mary of the merits of the ar-guments against marine pro-tection is that not one of more than 1100 peer-reviewed jour-nal papers is able to demon-strate empirically that marine sanctuaries are not important biodiversity conservation tools. This belies claims that there is no science behind marine sanctuaries.

The six multiple-use marine parks in NSW cover only 6.7 per cent of the state’s waters. Instead of creating a much-needed Sydney marine park, the only talk of marine parks in the NSW parliament recent-ly has been about a moratori-um on new ones. However, on a positive note, having previously agreed to support a moratorium

Why we need marine parks

Greens position The Greens want to establish no-take zones in 30 per cent of Australia’s marine parks. This is not 30 per cent of the whole marine environment, as some parts of the fish-ing lobby have erroneously claimed, but 30 per cent of marine reserve areas. For example, 33 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is now zoned no-take.

To save our marine biodiversity and fish stocks into the future, and ensure the long-term sustainability of our fishing and tourism industries, includ-ing recreational fishing, some sanctuary areas of the marine environment must be protected from all extractive uses.

We don’t want to end commer-cial or recreational fishing – we want to put these activities on a sustainable basis so they can

By James Diack

The choices we make in bathrooms and kitch-ens across Australia can mean life or death for Sumatran tigers.

Like many species around the world, the Sumatran tiger’s greatest threats are habitat de-struction and food shortage.

Their natural habitat in the Sumatran rainforests is being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations. In nearby Borneo, clearing of rainforest for palm oil crops also threatens the survival of orang-utans.

Experts estimate that only 400 Sumatran tigers remain in the wild. The World Wildlife Fund has named 2010 the Interna-tional Year of the Tiger to coin-cide with the Chinese calendar.

The Sumatran tiger is the smallest of the surviving tigers,

with males weighing about 120kg and females averaging 90kg. Captive breeding pro-grams are under way to build up numbers.

Palm oil is a common ingredi-ent of soaps, chocolates, proc-essed food and cosmetics. With manufacturers seeking cheap ingredients, palm oil planta-tions are expanding. It can be hard to do the right thing, as palm oil is often described as vegetable oil on product packs.

To help the tigers, orang-utans and rainforests you can look for products marked palm-oil free or those with tiger or orang-utan friendly labels. Check your soaps, shampoos, cosmetics and foods for palm oil as an ingredient. Less demand means less crops.

Many groups are campaigning for adequate product labeling.

Visit palmoilaction.org.au and get involved today.

By John Kaye Greens MP

A ban on the use of the danger-ous agricultural pesticide endo-sulfan has finally been extracted from the Australian agricultural chemicals regulator after a long campaign by environment and health groups and the Greens.

For two years the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Med-icines Authority denied there was a problem while much of the rest of the world was busy

protecting consumers, farm workers and the environment from the persistent pollutant.

Endosulfans are banned in more than 60 countries, but were still used on vegetable, fruit and nut crops in Australia. The organo-chlorine compound is persistent, travels long distances and accu-mulates in the food chain. It is known to interfere with the cen-tral nervous and reproductive systems, and is linked to birth defects and cancer.

The discovery of two-head-ed fish at Noosa, Queens-land, two years ago reignited

the campaign to ban this toxic pesticide.

The decision to phase out en-dosulfan in Australia is a recog-nition of its inevitable banning when the Stockholm Convention partners meet early next year.

The Greens are campaigning for a system of thorough re-views of the authority’s deci-sions to identify other chemi-cals that threaten the health of consumers, farm workers and the environment.

johnkaye.org.au

Greens welcome endosulfan ban

tiger-friendly labelling

continue indefinitely along-side our growing tourism industries in a healthy and resilient marine environ-ment.

The Shooters and Fishers Party and The Nationals have spread misinformation about the Greens stance on Marine Parks.

To see the facts visit nsw.greens.org.au/marine

in principle, the NSW govern-ment has withdrawn its support for what would have been a very damaging backwards step for the marine environment.

As we and our marine envi-ronment move into an uncer-tain and challenging future, we would do well to heed the advice of one of the founders of

the concept of marine sanctuar-ies Dr Bill Ballantine: “The best reason for the marine reserve is not the known things, but that it’s an insurance against the un-known things.”

For more information on the threats to NSW marine sanctuaries visit marineaction.org.au

about nsW marine parks• In NSW, marine parks are located at Bateman’s Bay, Jervis Bay, Port Stephens, the Coffs Coast, Byron Bay and Lord Howe Island.

• People can enjoy recreational fishing inside marine parks including game, reef, estuary, beach, rock and wharf fishing.

• Just 6.7 per cent of NSW coastal waters are no-take sanctuary zones to help conserve marine biodiversity for future generations.

• Less than 4 per cent of the NSW coastline is set aside in sanctuary zones.

To find out more go towww.mpa.nsw.gov.au

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By Catherine Creswell

If you’re a wage and salary earner, a minimum 9 per cent of your income is con-tributed to superannua-tion every year. Have you ever wondered where that money goes?

About $1 trillion is invested by Australians in superannuation funds. The activities of major companies are underwritten by this, along with other forms of investment.

“It may come as a surprise to find that your retirement sav-ings are being invested in environmentally and social-ly destructive practices. This might include clear-felling of high-conservation-value for-ests, or those with a major carbon footprint such as the coal industry,” says Paul Oost-ing, Corporate Campaigner for the Wilderness Society.

Fortunately, for most of us, choice is available when it

comes to our super fund. Funds that describe them-selves as ethical or sustainable might be a good place to start, but there are pitfalls, as funds differ substantially in the way they approach ethical invest-ment and may vary in the use of key terms.

Deep green and ethical funds tend to apply a negative screen and reject companies in-volved in industries that are

not making a positive environ-mental or social contribution. They also look at factors such as working conditions and may play a role in advocating posi-tive change.

The most widely used approach is best-of-sector, or sustainable investing. These funds choose those companies with the best environmental and social records in their class. The sus-tainable funds usually include

Green my superinvestment in mining compa-nies such as BHP Billiton, and may have weapons, uranium or tobacco companies in their portfolios.

Ultimately it’s up to the con-sumer to do the research and make a choice that reflects their personal values. If you’re not satisfied with the way your superannuation contribution is being invested, tell your fund you want better environmental and social investment. If you’re not satisfied with the response, go elsewhere.

The good news, according to a report in the Sydney Morn-ing Herald (Money, October 13) is that ethical funds are out-performing their mainstream counterparts.

“When people are investing through responsible invest-ment, they’re getting better re-turns on that investment in the medium to longer terms,” Paul Oosting says. That’s good for our bank account and retire-ment savings, and it’s also good for the next generation.

reconciliation referendumA new expert panel to progress recognition of In-digenous Australians in the constitution, is an exciting step towards continued rec-onciliation in Australia.

As part of the agreement with the Australian Greens to es-tablish the Gillard Govern-ment, the Labor Party has agreed to hold a referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition.

The Greens strongly believe that Indigenous Australians deserve to be recognised in the constitution as the first owners of the nation.

Senator Rachel Siewert, the Greens spokesperson for Ab-original and Torres Straight Islander Affairs, said it was essential that the vote remain as a people’s referendum, not a politicians’ debate.

See the full agreement between the Labor Party and the Greens at greensmps.org.au