Lock the Gate Alliance have launched our Call to Country. It's a call from the heart of this country, and the people who love it, to demand real action to restrict inappropriate coal and gas mining. 

Our new mapping shows that 437 million hectares of our land is covered by coal and gas licences or applications. That's more than half of Australia and an area 18 times the size of Great Britain. Even our greatest international tourist icons are not safe, with at least 11 of our 16 National Landscapes at threat.

 Today, our Call to Country will be plastered to the window or pinned to the door of almost every Federal electorate in Australia. But this is just the beginning.

 Over the next month, we're asking you to take Our Call To Country and meet with your Federal Member of Parliament. Our Federal politicians have shirked their responsibilities for too long - but they have the power to act and now they need to use it. Don't just stop with your Federal MPs. Keep on taking the Call to Country everywhere it needs to go - pin it to the doors of churches, financial institutions, chambers of commerce, and the offices of federal election candidates. Share it with your friends and families, your colleagues and your social and sporting clubs.

http://www.lockthegate.org.au/calltocountry

This morning over 25 concerned citizens have recreated a nature refuge at the entrance of Clive Palmer's office at 380 Queen St, Brisbane, recreating a nature refuge to let him know just what his China First coal project is costing Queensland.

The office building was shut down by police and security in anticipation of the protest. There was no response from Waratah Coal, which is owned by Clive Palmer.

The protest was held to support the owners of the Bimblebox Nature Refuge, near Alpha that is set to be destroyed if Clive Palmer's “China First” coal project goes ahead.

Spokesperson for the group, Eleanor Smith from Friend of the Earth said “It's crazy in this time of rapid biodiversity loss and climate change that we would put our natural heritage at risk for dirty coal mines”

“We're here to tell Clive Palmer and all the other coal bosses that mining Nature Refuges is unacceptable and the people of Queensland won't allow it”.

 Friends of the Earth successful delivery of the People's Assembly at Queensland's Parliament House on Wednesday brought together hundreds of farming families and environmentalists to Queensland Parliament - united in their opposition to coal and coal seam gas mining on prime agricultural lands and nature refuges.

The peaceful protest combined the strength and the passion of the farming and environmental movements of Queensland to put pressure on the State Government to protect farming land and nature refuges from the encroachment of all forms of coal mining and the potential poisoning of waterways.

The rally began with a a procession of children on ride-on tractors, representing the future of farming in Queensland's Darling Downs, and ended dramatically when attention turned to the roof of the Parliament, as two members of Friends of the Earth unfurled a large banner with the words: "Don't undermine our farms".

Friends of the Earth is appalled at the State Governments position to cull the dingos of Fraser Island, one of the last remaining full blood populations.

Since European colonisation dingos have been hunted and killed to allow the expansion of unsustainable cattle and range land farming across Australia's delicate ecosystems, pushing full blooded dingoes into extinction.

Friends of the Earth rejects the prioritisation of tourism and human utilisation of our national parks, particularly plans to open Queensland National Parks to private eco-tourism resorts, over wildlife and request the State to review culling practices to ensure ongoing survival of the species.

"The Department of Environment and Resource Management and Minister Kate Jones must review State position towards the dingo. Dingoes should receive the same treatment as wombats and koalas with relocation programs and plans that maintain the species".

"The current state of the dingo of Fraser Island is terrible, closed off from their hunting grounds and food sources, they are clearly suffering. Further talk of culling is appalling"

Further Friends of the Earth request the State Government to work in partnership with local Indigenous Traditional Owners to develop a long term management plan of Fraser Island that will ensure the National Park is protected from over use, protect the natural wildlife, and stop four wheel drive beach access.

Further comment:

Derec Davies
07 3846 5793

Friends of the Earth on the front foot against claims of condemning many South-East Asian populations to a life of poverty.

Measuring the value of climate-safe livelihoods against the mighty chocolate bar can be a hard line to swallow, writes Friends of the Earth's Derec Davies. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/07/2648885.htm

Time and time again opponents of environmental sustainability paint a false dichotomy between securing healthy livelihoods for the world's poor and creating sustainable environments. A recent article by Tim Wilson from the Institute of Public Affairs, accusing "armchair environmentalists" of condemning many South-East Asian populations to a life of poverty, shows a lack of comprehension of what is at stake for both people and planet.