Check out this video by GetUp about the delegation of refugees who visited Parliament House last Thursday, as the legislation to abolish detention debts passed through the House of Representatives. I look forward to voting to repeal this cruel policy when the legislation reaches the Senate in the next parliamentary sitting. Thanks to GetUp for providing the opportunity for federal parliamentarians to meet with Mr and Mrs Shams and Mr Isrith, hear their stories, and see the human faces of this disgraceful element of Australia's recent immigration policy.

Sarah

Australia's Anti-Terrorism laws were rammed through Parliament in haste and need to be reviewed to determine which merit retention and modernisation. However, some of the laws don't even deserve the dignity of being subject to review by the long-awaited independent reviewer of terrorism laws. I have introduced the Anti-Terrorism Laws Reform Bill 2009 to identify those parts of the anti-terrorism laws that are irrational, unused or extreme and should be removed from Australia's statues.

A collaboration between Tangentyere Research and filmmaker Vincent Lamberti, Intervention looks at the impacts of the Federal Government's Northern Territory Emergency Response into Aboriginal Communities, otherwise known as the 'Intervention', from the perspective of the people who live under the legislation day in day out. It was the Winner of the Documentary Australia Award 2008 for Best Documentary raising awareness around an important social issue.

Intervention will screen on ABC1 this Sunday June 21st at 1.30pm

The Government and other naysayers say it can't be done. The Greens say it must be done, so it will be done.

Christine Milne spoke today at the National Press Club in Canberra, televised nationally on ABC1, setting out the Greens' vision for a safe climate and setting that against what the Government is proposing with the CPRS.

You can read the speech here and please use this as an open thread to discuss the issues it raises!

Donations from more than 1000 members of the public have poured in to help pay the $240,000 legal costs bill for Forestry Tasmania.

Most of the donations are modest but they range from $7.20 to $20,000 (for the purchase of a Wedge-tail eagle painting). Bob would like to pass on that he is extremely grateful and sends his heartfelt thanks to everyone who offered support.

It shows how strongly people feel about the fate of Tasmania's wild forests and their wildlife. There were many more offers to raise money.

On Saturday 13th June, a national rally is being held in most capital cities around Australia. All five Greens Senators will be speaking at or attending rallies across Australia tomorrow calling for the CPRS to be scrapped and replaced with swift action to reduce emissions, drive renewable energy and create green jobs.

• Bob will address the Melbourne Rally, 1pm, State Library
• Christine will address the Hobart Rally, 12 noon, Parliament Lawns
• Rachel will address the Perth Rally, with Scott also attending, 12.30 pm, Forrest Place, Perth
• Sarah will address the Adelaide Rally, 11am, Victoria Square

The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) Conference is coming up soon, and may interest some GreensBlog readers.

ARACY is a national non-profit organisation working to create better futures for all Australia's children and young people. 

We're right in the middle of Senate Estimates, and are slowly picking out the best bits to put up here on the website. For the uninitiated, twice each year, usually in May and November, the estimates of proposed annual expenditure of government departments and authorities are referred by the Senate to the relevant legislation committees for examination and report. At the estimates hearings, Senators may directly question Ministers and public officials not only about the details of proposed expenditure but also about the objectives, operations and efficiency of the programs for which they are responsible.

Sarah had a chat to Watto at ABC's Heywire about the proposed changes to Youth Allowance in the Federal Budget. You can read the story, 'Greens declare change needed', and listen to the audio of the interview here.

Sarah appeared on SBS's Insight program on Tuesday 19 May. The theme was 'Seeking asylum'. You can watch the video here. Sarah is in part three.

Congratulations go to Adele Carles and the Greens (WA) for their recent victory in the Fremantle by-election.

The ABC's 7:30 Report last night produced a feature story about the by-election - you can watch it on the ABC's website here.

Sarah talked to Kim Watkins and Steve Quartermain on 9am with David & Kim on Wednesday 13 May from Parliament House about the Federal Budget and paid parental leave.

You can watch the video here.

In his desire to cling to the past, John Howard was often accused of wanting to keep Australia behind the white picket fence of the 1950s. Kevin Rudd, not to be outdone, has taken this approach to new heights, tying Australia to a 19th century industrial economy for the foreseeable future while much of the rest of the world powers ahead into the 21st century.

We've just launched our new TV ad, pushing the Government to see sense on emissions trading. Australia needs real domestic action on climate change. Unfortunately, the Rudd government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is deeply flawed.

The Government has announced that it will delay the scheme by one year and deliver another $2.2 billion in compensation to Australia's biggest polluters-in addition to $7.4 billion the polluters are already getting.

You can now track the spread of swine flu on Google Maps.

Sarah appeared on Network Ten's 9am with David & Kim on Tuesday 28 April to announce that she would introduce a Bill to provide for 26 weeks' paid parental leave when Parliament resumes in May.

Click here to see the video of the interview.

A new meme is being pushed by people close to Labor to help force through the CPRS. Just as the failure of the Republic referendum knocked that issue off the agenda for a decade or more, the story goes, so if the CPRS fails in the Senate will we have lost our chance to do introduce an ETS for ten years.

While this might be a superficially attractive comparison, it is as far from reality as Minister Wong's statements about economic transformation are from the reality of the scheme her Government has designed.

After he embarrassed her government last week by saying the CPRS may be so bad that it should be taken out the back and shot (well, not quite),it seems that Minister Wong has excised Professor Garnaut entirely from her vocabulary.

In a speech to the Lowy Institute today (not yet on her website, but will be here), in which she bravely painted a picture of a fictional world quite unlike our own, Minister Wong set out for her audience the history of emissions trading plans in Australia. She raised the original proposal put to the Howard Government a decade ago, discussed Peter Shergold's report in the Howard Government's final year, and detailed her own Government's Green Paper and White Paper process.

But she completely failed to mention the Garnaut Report.

Excised from history. Oh dear.

Here is what Christine Milne had to say about the speech.

‘Clean coal', like a healthy cigarette, does not exist.

I recently came across this stellar little ad for ‘clean coal' by Oscar-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen and thought it was worth sharing.

A few years ago I travelled with Bob to Blackwater QLD, the coal capital of Australia, where he spoke to the local council and community on the urgent need to move from coal-fired power to clean renewable energy sources.

On the way to Blackwater, we stopped by the site of what was touted at the time as Australia's foremost ‘clean coal' project ZeroGen - it turned out to be an empty paddock.

The latest episode of Hack TV looks into the issue of teenagers struggling with addiction, and the need for targetted rehabilitation programs. They spoke to Bob for a Greens persepctive, who alongside years in politics, is a trained and once-practising GP.