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Aboriginals want Oz Day date changed The Age January 23, 2009The NSW Aboriginal Land Council has joined calls for the date of Australia Day to be changed, saying that for many indigenous people January 26 is considered to be “Invasion day”.January 26 marks the anniversary of the establishment of the first permanent European settlement in Australia in 1788.But many indigenous people regard Australia Day as marking the commencement of the white invasion of Aboriginal land.Settling on an alternative date would be a significant step towards truly reconciling Australia, NSW Aboriginal Land Council chairwoman Bev Manton said on Friday.

Little Red Yellow Black Book reveals Aboriginal history Courier Mail

Michael Lund

January 23, 2009 – “…………………. Bruce Pascoe’s The Little Red Yellow Black Book (Aboriginal Studies Press, $14.95)…………an introduction to indigenous Australia,…….. revised and expanded version of The Little Red, Yellow & Black (and Green and Blue and White Book) first published in 1994, originally written by Bill Jonas and Marcia Langton………………………

After more than 200 years of European involvement in Australia, Pascoe says people are now recognising they have much to learn from 60,000 years of Aboriginal history on the land.

“We are in trauma at the moment because it’s not raining in the country and we don’t understand how to react,” he says.

“We’ve probably farmed the country badly because we’ve tried to treat it like the European field and it’s not, our soils are incredibly thin and probably the least rich soil in the world.”

Pascoe says research into indigenous farming practices is now revealing that Aborigines had a far better understanding of how to cope with Australia’s harsh climate.

$1bn for clean energy: Wong THE AUSTRALIAN Matthew Franklin, Chief political correspondent | January 26, 2009

CLIMATE Change Minister Penny Wong has scoffed at Opposition claims that the Rudd Government has done nothing on developing clean energy sources, insisting it has already allocated $1 billion for development of renewable technologies and clean coal.

Senator Wong has also demanded that the Opposition back the Government’s planned carbon emissions trading system as the best way to create incentives to trigger investment in renewable energy sources.

100% renewable energy — how do we get there?

Green Left 24 January 2009The December release of the federal government’s climate policy left little room for doubt. Kevin Rudd — Mr 5% — is no friend of the climate movement………….
…………..David White: Firstly, it must recognise that the urgency of the climate crisis means we need to reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to 300-325 parts per million as quickly as possible………………………… Dick Nichols: It has to be a real policy, able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the sector by 8-10% a year.Socialist Alliance  supports the Al Gore position of 100% renewables in 10 years. That means that the federal government’s Expanded National Renewable Energy Target of 20% by 2020, which is causing much angst in corporate Australia, is completely inadequate.

Also, the energy scheme has to have the support of the vast majority of the community, most importantly working people, and it must be paid for by those who can most afford to carry the burden, the big polluters, big capital and the rich in general.