They’ll use #metadata against you and me while the 1% walk free

https://twitter.com/occupySYDNEY/status/563746978262044672

Feds now say they’ll use data they collect, to fight transnational crime. Will that include white collar offenders?

FBI’s “rich white man” hypocrisy: How new policy will let the 1 Percent skate free

 

Remember when banks were deemed “too big to fail?” Will they now be “too big to prosecute or to jail?

Post by OccupySydney.

It WILL happen in Australia unless WE stop it. Tony Abbott wants to Fast-Track Data Retention through parliament. He’s just not listening and neither is his party. Labor are very much sitting on the fence.

We Demand Protection of the unique Lower Macquarie River Country

Demand for the Protection of unique Lower Macquarie River Country

Sign the Petition

Fires on Glenacre December 2014 -burning just cleared native vegetation to destroy evidence

• We demand that this unique floodplain property’s development be subject to the strictest scrutiny and oversight.
• We demand that there NOT be damming of the Macquarie River.
• We demand that ecologically sustainable farming methods be employed which accommodate wildlife and address downstream stakeholders concerns.
• We demand that local labour be used in farm work.
• We demand an immediate cessation of all clearing until a proper environmental and Aboriginal cultural assessment with community consultation has been implemented.

The Lower Macquarie river area includes the confluence where the Barwon river, the Castlereagh river and Marthaguy creek  meet the Macquarie river turning into a river bed that is 30 feet deep compared to its mere 10 feet depth at Carinda (about 35kilometres away).

Previous farm methods co existing with biodiversity

This is a unique part of the Murray Darling Basin where the Macquarie river leaves the Ramsar Protected Macquarie Marshes and runs into the Barwon river. When these water systems converge the flood plain area is at least 3000 hectares. It is highly fertile soil that supports prime beef, sheep , cotton and wheat production. It is an area known for high rates of the red kangaroo, emus and bird life that comes from the Macquarie Marshes.

Currently this area is subject to being decimated by a large Agribusiness corporation that appears to be preparing it for large scale irrigation and wheat production.

The bulldozer in the middle of its gruesome handiwork Dec. 2014

Land clearing is a necessity for food and fibre production, however when the environment is not considered in future development plans it can be catastrophic to endangered wildlife species. There are reports from previous owners and local aboriginal people of potentially important indigenous historical evidence and the question of Aboriginal heritage sites should be raised. The opportunity to evaluate or remove items of heritage importance will be lost to the unseeing blade of the bulldozer as wholesale clearance for large scale monocultural cropping takes place without appropriate oversight.

A mosaic plan whereby farming and environment work together is the the future Australian agriculture should be modelled on.

The biodiversity that can co exist with farming

In the last twelve months the properties known as Brewon Station,Deenderah, Glenacre, Riverview, Larrimah and Wombullion ( about 130,000 acres) that are all owned by the same Australian agricultural conglomerate  have been cleared at a rapid rate including virgin growth such as native  Mitchell grass,  native trees such as Box and Coolabah trees.

As of December 28th 2014 Glenacre appears to be being prepared for cotton development. Green trees and dead growth that is crucial for snakes and lizards were being burnt, bulldozers were pushing trees down.

The Public must demand that our state government ministers stop all clearing immediately by this developer until he can produce a EIS, produce evidence he has not breached environmental protection laws and also produce Aboriginal heritage reviews of this unique part of the Murray Darling Basin.

Glenacre biodiversity… circa 2010

The Public must demand to know if this developer has intentions to dam the Lower Macquarie River..

The Public demand that this developer not benefit from any environmental grants until he proves he has complied with all EIS on all of his properties.

The Public call for environmental consultants such as Western Land Planning in Dubbo to support the public in ensuring this developer will work with the environment and comply with the Law.

Please sign the Petition

Redfern Tent Embassy Activist Jenny Munro Arrested bailed

At 4pm 22-12-14 the situation at the Tent Embassy was stable but tense. The anticipated eviction has not so far happened but they arrested key veteran aboriginal activist Jenny Munro. The triple threat of eviction by police , attack by rogue Aboriginal Housing Co operatives or sympathisers or the Australian Defence League is a clear and present danger. Peaceful protesters cannot expect their rights to be supported by belligerent anti-protester police and less so if they are aboriginal.

Following an incident at the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy earlier during which Ms Munro defended herself against an outsider aggressor Police applied their usual selective colour blindness to arrest and charge Jenny Munro with assault. Jenny has been released with her current bail conditions banning her from being at the Tent Embassy. There are no charges against her assailant , an outside agent provocateur , and no known orders preventing her returning to attack other protesters. 

  The bail conditions, a normal police tactic to undermine peace

photo courtesy Stringer

ful protest in the Scipione era have not stopped determined Tent Embassy protest participants from continuing their protest. 

Protesters are extremely concerned at constant harassment intimidation and threats by a group of polynesian males said to be “goons employed by people associated with Mickey Mundine’s notorious money-spinner Aboriginal Housing Ltd. There have been no police efforts to curtail their activities. 

  The Tent Embassy has issued a call for people to maintain the presence in numbers especially at night. From my experience those attending should 

• be appropriately dressed for inclement weather and sturdy comfortable shoes are advisable.
•  Take your food and water if you possibly can. 
• Take a sleeping bag
• Take phones and cameras/video 
• Call on Occupy Sydney to get word out if anything is amiss on your shift. 0410722000 or http://twitter.com/occupysydney 

Occupy Sydney send our full support and solidarity to those at Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy. 

 Please like their Facebook page for latest updates https://www.facebook.com/pages/Redfern-Aboriginal-Tent-Embassy/249063975290466

Australia Spying for favoured companies

This is how the Australian Government enable Corporate interests. This time its #BHP . But #Chevron #Securency and a host of other Corporations have benefitted from government collaboration.

 

In a post #TPP era governments (from what we see in leaks) will be bound to spy for Transnationals like #BHP ….

read how your Australian Government spied for #BHP here

Ban the “anti bikie” laws: Nationwide Capitals Protest Dec 1st

We should never consent to laws which apply only to a particular section of the community.

The Queensland
These laws, dubbed by State Parliaments as “The Anti Bikie laws” in fact apply to any group of three or more people of which only one needs be in the relevant jurisdiction. The NSW laws are exercisable ONLY AT THE DISCRETION OF THE POLICE COMMISSIONER.

These laws can be applied to anyone and any group. Except those who make or enforce the laws. Trade Unions ,Protest Groups and potentially even church group members can be affected.

Occupy Sydney support the call put forth by Mackay Queensland Biker Activists for National Protests on December 1st 2013 outside every State Parliament in Australia and calls for the immediate repeal of all such laws.

Please note Occupy Sydney are not organising these Rallies but will be participants and encourage all supporters to participate at your State Parliament.

READ HERE A MEDIA RELEASE BY TERRY O’GORMAN ,vice president of Queensland Council for Civil Liberties

What doesn’t Clover “Cruella De Ville” Moore’s City of Sydney Council want you to know??

 Since The City of Sydney began its illegal attacks on the Occupy Sydney 24-7 peaceful protest and Australia’s First and only 24-7 place to feed homeless people in Martin Place we have become aware of Council attempts to stifle Media reports which give citizens and the public a unsanitized critical view of Council actions…

City of Sydney councillors from across the political spectrum have supported the Alternative Media Group of Australia, publishers of this newspaper, after representatives of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore threatened legal action over a story published in City News on September 5.The story reported the experience of Surry Hills resident Luke Harper, whose 2011 development application (DA) for home improvements and renovations was rejected despite the City of Sydney’s own planners recommending its approval. The NSW Land and Environment Court subsequently overruled the decision. (READ MORE BY PETER HACKNEY)

Prof Jane Kelsey (Auckland University,Law) on #TPP

The TPP Forum was a public meeting about the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. It was held in Wellington on July 7th, 2011.

How You can Stop the #TPP

Abby Martin speaks with Margaret Flowers, Organizer for Popular Resistance about why fast tracking the Trans Pacific Partnership is so dangerous to the democratic process, and why everyone should care about this “free trade deal”.

Stop The Trans Pacific Partnership Petition -Australia

The Hon. Andrew Robb
Minister for Trade and Investment
Parliament House
Canberra 

Dear Mr Robb,

I am concerned about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPPA), involving 12 nations across the Pacific, which is in its final stages of negotiation.

The TPPA is not only about trade. The United States, on behalf of its major industries, wants to change Australian law in many areas of domestic policy. These policies should be decided through public and parliamentary processes, not through trade negotiations conducted behind closed doors. I ask you to reject proposals which could:

– Extend patents on medicines leading to higher medicine prices 
– Reduce the ability to keep medicines affordable through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
– Extend copyright at the expense of schools, libraries and consumers
– Remove our protections for Australian cultural industries 
– Undermine government regulation of food labelling
– Reduce our ability to regulate in the interests of public health and the environment

I am especially concerned about proposals which would enable foreign investors to sue governments for millions of dollars of damages in international tribunals if government regulation is seen to “harm” their investment. These proposals are known as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).

ISDS reduces the ability of governments to regulate the activities of foreign companies even if these activities harm our health or the environment. The Philip Morris tobacco company is currently using ISDS in an obscure Australia-Hong Kong investment agreement to sue the Australian government over its tobacco plain packaging legislation.

Canada signed on to ISDS provisions in a trade deal with the United States, and now the Quebec provincial government is being sued by a US-based energy company because it is conducting an environmental review of shale gas mining. In a similar way, farmers and community members in NSW and Victoria have influenced their state governments to review and introduce new regulation on Coal Seam Gas mining. I am concerned that if Australia agrees to this proposal in the TPPA, governments could be sued for millions of dollars because of such regulation.

The Howard Coalition Government rejected this proposal in the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, and I ask you to do the same in the TPPA and all trade agreements.

I also ask you to support enforceable workers’ rights and environmental protections, and to release the text of any agreement for public and Parliamentary discussion before it is signed by Cabinet.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE: http://aftinet.org.au/cms/node/627

BOYCOTT: These Companies Oppose your right to know whats in your food

These companies have spent over $45 Million dollars “Against our Right to Know” what’s in our food. They pay this money to law makers to make sure it’s never mandatory to label their food. The companies on this list are just a small fraction of the companies involved. Here is the full list: