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Monthly Archives: June 2009

Trends in refugee movements & Coalition politics

June 30, 2009 – 6:13 pm

I had an article published in the main Crikey e-newsletter today, outlining some of the trends, facts and government responses to the well over 40 million refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced and stateless people around the world.
It seems likely the issue of asylum seeker boat arrivals will once again be moving closer to the political [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Australian politics, immigration, refugees | Tagged , | Comments (1)

World Refugee Day: One refugee's story

June 29, 2009 – 10:41 pm

Last weekend saw a festival held in Brisbane to mark World Refugee Day.  Over the last 30 years, south-east Queensland has seen a big increase in the range of ethnic communities with a refugee background. A growing number are from our region in South-East Asia. One of the newest emerging communities in Brisbane is the [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Brisbane, Queensland, refugees | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

What matters about utegate

June 24, 2009 – 11:04 pm

I don’t dispute that there are some interesting twists and turns in the utegate/fake email saga.  But it always infuriates me that politicians and political commentators will devote endless hours to such things, thus excluding any real examination being given to issues, policies and legislation that directly effect peoples’ lives.
There has been some small attention [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Australian politics, climate change, media | Tagged , | Comments (7)

Senate stresses into final week

June 21, 2009 – 9:49 pm

The Senate is moving into its final sitting week until mid-August. As is usually the case, the government has a large pile of legislation it is insisting absolutely must be dealt by the end of the week. As is also often the case, this includes one highly contentious piece of legislation – the Carbon Pollution [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Australian politics, Senate | Comments (4)

Making the necessary carbon cuts "can't be done".

June 14, 2009 – 12:45 pm

This comment by Climate Change Minister Penny Wong is a clear and simple example of why the views of the major parties and most environment groups are so far apart on how best to respond to the threat of climate change.
Commenting on the National Climate Emergency Rallies held around Australia over the weekend, Senator Wong [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Australian politics, climate change | Tagged | Comments (21)

Anti-coal action outside Qld Minister’s offices

June 5, 2009 – 9:37 am

I’ve often felt calls to ‘stop all coal exports’ were far too unrealistic.  But it is just as unrealistic to think we can even begin to make the necessary cuts in greenhouse emissions while governments continue to invest large amounts of money into “maximising coal exports”.  So it’s no surprise that climate change campaigners like [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Brisbane, Queensland politics, climate change | Tagged , , , | Comments (4)

New Qld Govt plan to "maximise the amount of coal that Qld can export to the world."

June 3, 2009 – 2:17 pm

Any brief glimmer of satisfaction at the Queensland government announcing the environmentally and economically sensible decision to scrap the state’s eight cents a litre petrol subsidy was immediately countered by the statement that the planned sale of Queensland Rail’s coal assets “will maximise the amount of coal that Queensland can export to the world.”
If only [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Queensland, climate change | Tagged , , | Comments (5)