PW
68/08 22 May 2008 - The Rudd Government
has strengthened its international engagement
on climate change by appointing a Special
Envoy on Climate Change and an Ambassador
for Climate Change, Minister for Climate
Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, said
today.
“It is my great pleasure
to announce that Mr Howard Bamsey is being
appointed Australia’s Special Envoy
on Climate Change and Ms Jan Adams is being
appointed Australia’s Ambassador for Climate
Change,” Senator Wong said.
“The Prime Minister
made climate change a focus of his meetings
with world leaders.
“These appointments
reflect the Government’s determination to
help shape a global solution on climate
change.
“As the world works
along the Bali Roadmap towards a new long
term climate change agreement, international
climate change negotiations will become
more frequent and intense.
“These appointments
will enable Australia to ensure an appropriately
high level of representation at these
crucial negotiations.
“Mr Bamsey is the Deputy
Secretary of the Department of Climate Change
and is renowned for his skills in multilateral
climate change diplomacy.
“Ms Adams is a First
Assistant Secretary in the Department of
Climate Change and played an outstanding
role representing Australia in negotiations
for the Bali Roadmap.
“Mr Bamsey and Ms Adams
have both demonstrated enormous capacity
to navigate the complex issues of
international climate change negotations.
“The Rudd Government
recognises Australia has a responsibility,
as a developed country, to take the lead
in international action and discussions.
These appointments will help deliver on
that responsibility.”
Media Contact: Ilsa Colson
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$3.9 MILLION TO MEASURE
RIVER AND WETLAND HEALTH
21 May 2008 - Minister
for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny
Wong, today announced funding of $3.9 million
for projects to improve the monitoring of
river and wetland health.
“Supporting healthy
rivers is an important part of the Rudd
Government’s long-term Water for the Future
plan,” Senator Wong said.
“Crucial to ensuring
the health of our rivers and wetlands is
accurate and nationally consistent information
about them.
“This funding will help
broaden the use of the Framework for the
Assessment of River and Wetland Health -
a national reporting system developed to
overcome a lack of comparable data on river
and wetland health.”
Senator Wong said the
funding would support four projects under
the National Water Commission’s Raising
National Water Standards program.
The projects are:
•?$1.9 million to advance river health monitoring
in the wet and dry tropics of northern Australia
(Western Australia, Northern Territory and
Queensland).
•?$1.2 million to help apply the framework
to other existing river health monitoring
programs in Western Australia.
•?$600,000 to align the monitoring of New
South Wales wetlands with national requirements
– including significant Murray-Darling Basin
wetlands at Narran
Lakes, Macquarie Marshes and Gwydir Wetlands,
as well as the lower Murrumbidgee wetlands
and the Paroo wetland complex.
•?$210,000 to establish a high-level National
Technical Steering Committee of independent
scientific experts to guide the national
coordination of all Framework for Assessment
of River and Wetland Health projects.
Further information on these and other Raising
National Water Standards projects is available
from www.nwc.gov.au/agwf/rnws/rnws_projects.cfm
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STAKEHOLDERS TO EVALUATE
MURRAY DARLING WATER PURCHASE
PW 66/08 20 May 2008
- Minister for Climate Change and Water,
Senator Penny Wong, today announced a Stakeholder
Consultative Committee to evaluate the success
of the first ever Commonwealth Government
water purchase in the Murray Darling Basin.
Senator Wong outlined
details of the Stakeholder Consultative
Committee at a speech to an Irrigation Australia
conference in Melbourne today.
The $50 million open
tender to purchase water across the Murray
Darling Basin commenced in February this
year and closed last Friday.
Senator Wong said the
Committee would comprise 12 people from
a broad cross-section of Murray Darling
stakeholders.
“We have invited irrigators,
community members, environmentalists and
water experts onto the committee to look
at how we can make best use of water purchasing
into the future,” Senator Wong said.
“This Government is tackling a number of
major problems relating to water supply
in the Basin for the very first time.
“Water purchase by the
Government is a relatively new frontier,
so we are acutely aware of the need to learn
from our first foray into the market.”
Senator Wong said she
was aware of concerns being raised by some
Basin communities in relation to the water
purchase program.
“Basin communities are
doing it tough and this situation has been
made worse by the failure of the previous
government to face up to the realities of
climate change, drought and over-allocation.
“The group we are establishing today will
provide advice on how the Government can
best respond to community concerns as we
progress water purchase.”
The Government has allocated
$3.1 billion from the $12.9 billion Water
for the Future plan to purchase water for
rivers in the Murray Darling Basin.
A further $5.8 billion
will be invested in sustainable irrigation
infrastructure and projects to help communities
make an early adjustment to a new Basin-wide
cap on water use.
Senator Wong said further
details on the outcomes of the $50 million
tender would be announced in the near future.
A list of appointees
to the Stakeholder Consultative Committee
is attached.
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ICELAND’S RESUMPTION
OF WHALING - A RETROGRADE STEP
22 May 2008 - Reports
on 20 May 2008 indicate that the Government
of Iceland has gone back on its decision
not to resume commercial whaling and has
issued a unilateral quota for 40 minke whales
to be killed in the North Atlantic this
year.
Minister for the Environment,
Peter Garrett condemned the decision.
“The Australian Government
is extremely disappointed that Iceland will
resume whaling, in defiance of the moratorium
on commercial whaling and just one month
before the countries of the world gather
to discuss the future of whale conservation
and management,” Mr Garrett said.
“The practice of commercial
whaling is out of step with the international
community and out of touch with modern oceans
management.”
Iceland argues that
it is entitled to hunt whales because when
it resumed its membership of the International
Whaling Commission (IWC) it lodged a reservation
to the moratorium on commercial whaling.
This reservation is not recognised by many
countries.
“Whether it is under
an objection or under the pretext of scientific
research, commercial whaling only exists
today by virtue of loopholes and opt-outs,”
said Mr Garrett.
“Australia opposes all
forms of commercial whaling, and therefore
I call upon Iceland to reverse its decision.”
Iceland’s whaling quota
is not endorsed by the International Whaling
Commission or its Scientific Committee.
In August 2007, Iceland indicated it had
decided not to issue further quotas for
whaling, given the lack of demand for whale
meat.
“I will be tabling constructive
proposals at the June meeting of the IWC,
and as I have stated in response to the
whaling programs of Norway and Japan, the
capacity for countries to ‘optout’ of the
moratorium is a critical failure that needs
to be addressed.
“The global moratorium
is compromised so long as there are governments
that award themselves unilateral whaling
quotas,” Mr Garrett said.
“In Australia we stopped
whaling three decades ago. Now we have a
whale watching industry which injects over
$300 million into the national economy through
tourism every year.”
Media contact: Ben Pratt, 0419 968 734
