Organised by the ACT Writers Centre:
Join us for a glass of wine and meet Western Australian authors Jon Doust, Chris Pash and Dianne Wolfer.
+ Dianne Wolfer is the author of 12 books for teenagers and younger readers. Her novels have been short listed for various awards and are read in schools within Australia and overseas. Her latest is Lighthouse Girl.
+ Chris Pash was a cadet journalist at the Albany Advertiser in 1977 when activists launched Greenpeace’s first direct action in Australia. It was his on-the-spot reporting of the experiences of both whalers and activists during this time that inspired his first book, The Last Whale.
+ Jon Doust’s semi-autobiographical novel, Boy on a Wire, is an account of life in a boarding school in the '60s. It is described as ‘a shapely story, with no extraneous material or diversions and with an absolutely consistent and convincing narrative voice’ (SMH).
The authors will be introduced by former WA and now ACT-based award-winning poet and head of the Cultural Council, Paul Hetherington.
Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009
Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Location: Bogong Theatre, Gorman House
Street: Ainslie Arts Centre, Ainslie Ave
City/Town: Braddon, ACT, Australia
Phone: 0262629191
Email: admin@actwriters.org.au
Thursday, July 9, 2009
East Meets West - WA Writers Night in Canberra
Thursday, June 25, 2009
IWC fails to protect Humpbacks
From MICK MCINTYRE in Madeira, Portugal
The chair of the International Whaling Commission has postponed a decision on Denmark’s request for 10 Humpbacks a year for Greenland.
Chairman Bill Hogarth from the USA took the meeting by surprise by announcing that a decision would not be made at this meeting.
Instead he has called for an inter-sessional meeting to be held by year end to resolve this agenda item.
“This is an outrageous move by the US chair of the IWC, the writing was clearly on the wall that the IWC was going to reject this proposal and the chair has tried to buy time,” Mick McIntyre says
“This is an attempt to take this decision away from the public spotlightwith many countries potentially not able the travel to an intersessional meeting.”
The species that are currently frolicking up and down the coastline of Australia as they migrate north to warmer waters the IWC looks set to give the green light to the killing of Humpbacks in the North Atlantic that would set a dangerous precedent for the future of this majestic creature
Japan currently has listed Humpback whales as part their so called scientific whaling program in the Antarctic and has for the last two years postponed the killing of humpbacks. However Japan has made it quite clear that they reserve the right to take Humpbacks in the future.
Denmark has requested a hunting quota to take humpback whales for Greenland at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This is a quota under the Aboriginal whaling scheme.
“Greenland did not kill its quota of whales last year of 200 minke whales and 19 endangered fin whales, and therefore does not demonstrate that they require additional whales so the IWC must oppose this added quota of Humpbacks."
“Australia’s anti whaling message at this IWC meeting has been loud and clear and we congratulate them for that – but it is essential that they continue to stand up against whaling and not allow these Humpbacks to die, Australia must continue to oppose this request," McIntyre said.
Whales Alive and other conservation Non Government Organisations (NGOs) do not oppose Aboriginal Subsistence whaling (ASW) proposals based on legitimate subsistence needs that have been fully considered by the IWC. The Danish proposal falls far short of the usual standards applied.
• There has been no substantive or rational needs statement presented to the IWC for review
• that arguments are based on insufficient, contradictory and unvalidated data
• the proposal would blur the distinctions between commercial and aboriginal subsistence whaling
• there is no agreed conversion factor for calculating the amount of edible products produced per whale, a key component in assigning quotas based on subsistence needs.
After last year’s vote rejecting the same proposal, the international community was expecting Denmark to come forward with a properly grounded proposal for an extension of its aboriginal subsistence whaling quota. Instead, Denmark submitted the Greenland proposal at the last minute, depriving member states and the IWC technical committee to fairly evaluate it.
Mick McIntyre is the Director of the conservation organization, Whales Alive. This will be his 15th meeting of the International Whaling Commission. (Five served on the Australian Government delegation)
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Australia must stand up for Humpbacks
From Mick McIntyre in Madeira, Portugal
Humpback whales are under threat at the 61st meeting of the international whaling commission being held in Madeira, Portugal.
With the species now frolicking up and down the coastline of Australia as they migrate north to warmer waters, the IWC (International Whaling Commission) looks set to give the green light to the killing of Humpbacks in the North Atlantic that would set a dangerous precedent for the future of this majestic creature.
Denmark has requested a hunting quota to take humpback whales for Greenland at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This is a quota under the Aboriginal whaling scheme.
The conservation group Whales Alive attending the meeting is not opposed to aboriginal whaling but disputes Greenland’s need to include Humpback whales in its annual quota.
"We are calling on Australia to oppose Denmark's Greenland proposal to start killing humpback whales this year," said Mick McIntyre, Whales Alive Director.
"Greenland did not kill its quota of whales last year of 200 minke whales and 19 endangered fin whales, and therefore does not demonstrate that they require additional whales so the IWC must oppose this added quota of Humpbacks."
Australian Environment Minster Peter Garrett is present at this meeting and Australia has been coordinating a strong well organised push to bring whaling under control.
“Australia’s anti whaling message at this IWC meeting has been loud and clear and we congratulate them for that – but it is essential that they continue to stand up against whaling and not allow these Humpbacks to die, Australia must oppose this request,” McIntyre said.
“Australians have a strong affinity with Humpback whales and allowing this kill will set a dangerous precedent in the IWC and will threaten the future of the Humpback whale,” he said.
Japan currently has listed Humpback whales as part their so called scientific whaling program in the Antarctic and has for the last two years postponed the killing of humpbacks. However Japan has made it quite clear that they reserve the right to take Humpbacks in the future.
Whales Alive and other conservation groups do not oppose Aboriginal Subsistence whaling (ASW) proposals based on legitimate subsistence needs that have been fully considered by the IWC. The Danish proposal falls far short of the usual standards applied.
• There has been no substantive or rational needs statement presented to the IWC for review
• that arguments are based on insufficient, contradictory and unvalidated data
• the proposal would blur the distinctions between commercial and aboriginal subsistence whaling
• there is no agreed conversion factor for calculating the amount of edible products produced per whale, a key component in assigning quotas based on subsistence needs.
After last year’s vote rejecting the same proposal, the international community was expecting Denmark to come forward with a properly grounded proposal for an extension of its aboriginal subsistence whaling quota. Instead, Denmark submitted the Greenland proposal at the last minute, depriving member states and the IWC technical committee to fairly evaluate.
Mick McIntyre is the Director of the conservation organization, Whales Alive. This will be his 15th meeting of the International Whaling Commission. (Five served on the Australian Government delegation)
www.whalesalive.org.au
International Whaling Commission Report - Day Three
From MICK McINTYRE in Madeira, Portugal
IWC 61 Madeira Day 3
Snap shot
- How to stop Denmark/Greenland’s additional quota request for 10 Humpbacks
- NGOs being able to speak to the plenary
- Whale watching being even further cemented into the IWC agenda.
- Having to endure presentations on Japanese crap science
- Japanese crap science being strongly criticised
- Garrett presenting to plenary the details of the Southern Ocean Research Partnership.
- Watching images of Sea Shepherd and the Japanese collide in the Southern Ocean (only one side of the story as Sea Shepherd is banned from the IWC))
NGO statements - The IWC is unique as an international convention in that NGOs don’t have speaking rights. At this meeting (following on from last year) 3 NGOs from each side were given 5 minutes to speak. It is an incredibly inadequate situation but it’s better than nothing. The presentations were by Susan Milward from Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) Sidney Holt Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) and Patti Forkan Humane Society International (HSI). The other side speakers were Maori Fisheries Trust in NZ, the Association of Traditional Marine Mammal Hunters of Chukotka, Russia and the International Transport Federation.
Sanctuaries, Brazil and the other South American countries explained that in the spirit of compromise they would not present their South Atlantic Sanctuary proposal. However they made it clear that they want the sanctuary to be part of the Future of the IWC discussions.
Whale Watching
Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett presented IFAW’s updated Hoyt report on the value of Whale watching worldwide. Australia also committed $25,000 for future whale watching work for the IWC. There were the usual interventions on whale watching, including the usual comments from the whaling nations that whale watching can co-exist with whaling!!
Keeping WW on the IWC agenda is still a priority and this year’s development certainly are keeping it firmly placed in the IWC.
Environmental threats
An intersessional workshop is being planned in Vienna Austria on the effects of climate change on small cetaceans
Scientific Permits
It’s very hard to take this seriously and it’s embarrassing to make the commission sit through this garbage particularly as this year included the Review of JARPAN II
PLUS Japan expected commissioners to sit through their lunch break (whilst eating a sandwich) looking at a PowerPoint presentation of JARPN II detailing the stomach contents of the whales killed in the North pacific (pathetic)
The findings of the Review Panel looking at JARPN II.
Strong damming words from SC, Poor job given the amount of whales killed Very little information on ecosystem modeling Lot of things they haven’t done well Scientific analysis was poor Review was not complete Weren’t any discussions on lethal vs. non lethal If whales are being killed how can you justify the number of whales years after year If you are taking that number of whales what is the effect on species
Strong words of concern about the effects on Sei whales, it was noted that almost nothing is known about the stock structure of the Sei whales, Plus they took a flogging on sperm whales research, doesn’t provide anything Japan gave silly answers about needing to take large whales!!
Australia made the great point that the review found that there was not enough information to do the evaluation of lethal and non-lethal techniques.-, which is what Japan, said JARPAN II would do.
The UK expressed their concern that Japan will continue to take sperm whales despite the Review Panel’s concern, which the UK said would undermine the new review procedure. JARPAN review is on the Agenda again next year
But basically even though the whaling nations sought out the positives of the JARPAN review process it was quite clear that a spotlight was focused on JARPAN II today and was exposed as very crap science.
It really is a disgrace that Japan gets away with this blatant lack of accountability
Article 8 was never intended to be abused like this!!
Then we still had JARPA II to talk about!!
Hogarth the Chair tried to limit discussion on scientific permits wanting the issue discussed as part of the Future of the IWC
However!! - Great interventions from:
USA - Monica Medina (the heir apparent USA commissioner) said that Japanese interpretation of Article VIII undermines the Convention, that a breakdown of the Commission is imminent unless scientific whaling is addressed.
Ireland – wants Japan to suspend JARPA II to help the workings of the SWG. Australia – did not say much on this, but did not need to because of their brilliant paper presented yesterday (proposing that scientific whaling be brought under the control of the commission)
Scientific Committee activities and work plan
Peter Garrett presented on the Southern Ocean Research Partnership.
Most of you know about this project, the development of regional non-lethal cetacean research using non-lethal methods to provide the information necessary to best conserve and manage cetacean species.
It was a privilege to watch Garrett’s presentation to the plenary. This is one of the best bodies of work I have ever seen at IWC.
I truly hope that the other so called “partners” in this research come to the party with funding to back up Australia’s incredible commitment. I.e. USA, Brazil, France, Germany etc.
Safety at Sea
Oh dear – we were presented with images of Japan and Sea Shepherd having argy bargy in the southern ocean. Australia’s intervention was given by DFAT who stated that the AFP (Australian Federal Police) have launched an investigation and therefore can’t comment with any detail, as it might have to go before an Australian court.
Other countries expressed their belief that this now rests with the International maritime organisation (IMO) -- that the IMO is the appropriate forum for incidents at sea. Of course we had to endure lengthy interventions complaining about the incident.
The Netherlands was given plenty of stick because of the ‘Steve Irwin’ (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) being flagged there. The Netherlands was wonderfully vague about their role in the registration of the Steve Irwin in the Netherlands.
Korea made an interesting intervention stating that other Animal right campaigners are arrested and jailed if they harm or destroy property. Why not apply this to the violent acts in Antarctic?
Denmark/Greenland humpbacks
Oh boy this was certainly the issue of the day for intrigue
Denmark has truly made a mess of this request and has not made any friends in requesting humpbacks to be added to Greenland’s current aboriginal quota of Minkes and Fins. Today Denmark told the commission that it had revised its proposal to be a one year request for 10 humpbacks - to be reviewed if new scientific data is presented next year.
This will be back on the agenda tomorrow
Hopefully for a vote – so it can be rejected
We certainly don’t want the possibility of consensus because it’s harder for countries to vote against
Good night – it’s late.
Mick McIntyre is the Director of the conservation organisation, Whales Alive. This will be his 15th meeting of the International Whaling Commission. (Five served on the Australian Government delegation). He is working on a documentary based on the book, The Last Whale by Chris Pash.
International Whaling Commission Report - Day Two
From MICK McINTYRE in Madeira, Portugal
Day 2 snapshot
- It did not take long for the old rhetoric to reappear, despite talk about the ‘new conciliatory way’ Countries rolled out the same old speeches; it felt just like the old IWC!
- Minister Garrett was present this morning and Australia kicked butt when speaking to their proposal about special permit whaling, drawing strong criticism from Japan and surprising full support from the US!
- IFAW released an updated Hoyt report produced by Economists at Large - whale watching is now worth billions!
- WSPA rolled out swimmer Liesel Jones to present a petition to Minster Garrett
- Japan blamed Australia for the potential collapse of the IWC!
- We had to endure PowerPoint presentations of sliced up whales from Greenland and listen to impassioned pleas from Japan and Korea for their coastal whaling requests.
- The Future of the IWC process lives for another year
Day 2 began with great anticipation, as the main agenda item today was “The Future of the IWC”
As discussed yesterday the chair had presented a resolution outlining a process to move the reform forward.
“Consensus resolution on the extension of small working group on the future of the IWC until the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Commission”
The resolution sets out how the Small Working Group (SWG) will continue as last year (under the same terms of reference)
Australia kicked the discussion off with an intervention by Minster Peter Garrett, As far as IWC interventions go this one was a ripper!
It left you no doubt on where Australia stands on the future of the IWC
He said that any reform had to include genuine engagement on Special permit whaling, that so far there has Not been any serious engagement on how to address the issue of special permit whaling,
He said that the papers that Australia is presenting is a measure Australia’s commitment. Australia stated that the reform process would not succeed if there were only a reduction of special permit whaling
Australia will join the SWG again as long as there is constructive debate.
Australia presented a paper IWC 61/9 “Addressing special permit whaling and the future of the IWC” the paper proposes that any special permit whaling would need the approval of the commission.
(This would effectively mean the end of Japans scientific whaling because close examination by the commission before approving it – would expose it as bogus.)
SO it was no surprise that Japan’s intervention accused Australia of bringing on the potential collapse of the IWC.
Japan also said that they had made several ‘major’ concessions as part of the reform process including the postponement of taking Humpbacks, a reduction of Minke whales killed and no impediment to a South Atlantic sanctuary
They finished their intervention by saying that any proposal that would create debate should be withdrawn!
The big surprise was the unequivocal support for Australia’s proposal from the USA; their response was very measured but support nonetheless
The US has allegedly been pressuring the Australian delegation to soften its stance on special permit whaling, so GREAT to hear their support today!!! Back to the resolution,
It was passed by consensus but not before some very tense moments as the EU sorted out problems with the grammar of the document.
Next agenda item was Aboriginal Subsistence whaling It was dominated by Greenland’s aboriginal quota,
We had to endure death by PowerPoint of sliced up whales.
Greenland agreed to reduce their Minke quota to 178 (after the scientific committee recommended that number) BUT in addition requested 10 humpbacks a year for five years.
This is despite the scientific committee not able to offer proper advice!!
Huge questions remain about the commerciality of the Greenland hunt, The EU is still sorting out their position and any decision was held over.
The killing of Humpbacks for a questionable aboriginal hunt is a serious issue and something that needs much more NGO attention in Australia ! If they are allowed to kill Humpbacks it will set a dangerous precedent.
The day just kept getting worse, after a PowerPoint of sliced up whales we then went to Coastal whaling where we had to endure two presentations from Japan and Korea about their “desperate” need for coastal whaling.
There was no substantial business on this agenda item as it was agreed that any discussion would be made in the SWG for the future of the IWC.
The meeting/pain continues tomorrow.
Mick McIntyre is the Director of the conservation organisation, Whales Alive. This will be his 15th meeting of the International Whaling Commission. (Five served on the Australian Government delegation). He is working on a documentary based on the book, The Last Whale by Chris Pash.
Monday, June 22, 2009
International Whaling Commission Report - Day One
From MICK McINTYRE in Madeira, Portugal
IWC 61 opened this morning in Madeira against a backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean and the local ‘world famous’ mandolin orchestra amongst confusion and/or anticipation over the future of the IWC.
- Is the future of the IWC going to be postponed? (again)
- Will Australia’s patience in the reform process run out (??)
- How many new members ? (answer three – although several have yet to turn up)
- Would Japan get its 150 coastal Minke whales as part of a reform compromise?
- Will Greenland /Denmark con the commission (and the EU) into an additional aboriginal quota of 10 Humpbacks ? (answer – surely not)
- Would any resolutions be put forward for voting? (no)
- What process will be put in place to ensure the reform process can continue?
So at the end of Day 1 all we have is discussion about the agenda, whale populations and whale killing methods, adjourning in time for the Government reception!
WHALE STOCKS
Antarctic Minke whales - there is Still NO agreed estimate for Antarctic Minke whales (so Japan continues to hunt this population with no knowledge of the affect on its abundance!)
The Scientific Committee has been working on two models.
- The OK model came up with an original population estimate of 1.3 Million declined to current estimate of 700,000
- Mark Bravington Model came up with an original estimate of 750,000 which has declined to 450,000.
Southern Hemisphere Humpbacks - New estimate for West Australia Humpbacks = 21,000
Pacific Island Humpbacks - New Zealand stated in an intervention that the IUCN has upgraded the status of the Oceania humpbacks from vulnerable to endangered. That we still know very little about humpbacks in this region. NZ asked Japan to permanently remove humpbacks from its JARPA proposal. The Scientific Committee will focus on Pacific island humpbacks next year
Australian right whales - 1993 to 2008 showing 6 % growth
Whale Killing Methods and Associated Animal Welfare Issues
We heard from the UK about their plan to review the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines – for its minimum standards for animal welfare in farm animal husbandry including slaughterhouse guidelines.
Important to see cruelty discussed at the IWC and it will be interesting to see how relevant the OIE guidelines are.
The day ended with the distribution of a document in advance of Day 2’s discussion on the future of the IWC, the document is called: “Consensus resolution on the extension of small working group on the future of the IWC until the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Commission”
The contents of this resolution are what will be discussed/debated tomorrow and it will make for an interesting day.
From where I sit it still looks like the IWC by agreeing to another 12 months of this reform process is only putting off the inevitable: That Japan wont budge on its scientific whaling and Australia quite rightly will not agree to anything that allows Japan to continue to abuse the commission through the article 8 loophole
So who will lose patience first? Interesting week ahead. Some good news is that the Commission has again agreed to let 6 NGOs speak on Day 3 of the meeting.
Mick McIntyre is the Director of the conservation organisation, Whales Alive. This will be his 15th meeting of the International Whaling Commission. (Five served on the Australian Government delegation). He is working on a documentary based on the book, The Last Whale by Chris Pash.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Diplomacy won’t stop whaling
Whales Alive Media release
Next week’s International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Madeira in Portugal will see Australian Federal Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett struggling to fulfil an election promise made by the Rudd government to stop whaling, while at home thousands of his fellow Australians will be watching these majestic creatures as the annual migration north to warmer waters gets under way.
Minister Garrett has indicated this week that the Australian government will be taking a diplomatic stance at next week's meeting.
Meanwhile Japan has also indicated that it plans to expand its so called scientific whaling as the IWC attempts to find a consensus among delegates that will stop the barbaric killing of industry.
Eighty-five natons will attend the IWC meeting among an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust.
Using explosive harpoons and high calibre rifles that inflict a cruel and prolonged death Japan continues whaling in the Southern Ocean, ignoring the IWC moratorium of 1982 which bans commercial whaling.
Over several years Japan has successfully exploited a loophole that allows whaling for scientific research.
Mick McIntyre, Director of Whales Alive, the non-profit group dedicated to the protection of whales said today, "The Japanese whaling program under the banner of scientific research is an absolute sham and a disgrace; it is in fact commercial whaling in disguise. While the world sits back and does nothing thousands of whales - minke (many of which are pregnant) Fin whales and potentially Humpbacks fall victim to Japan’s insatiable appetite for whale meat."
Japan has indicated that it will set a quota of more than 1,000 minke and whales to be killed in the name of scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean this coming year.
"Whales Alive calls on the Federal government to deliver on its election promise to stop Japan’s barbaric whaling industry," Mr McIntyre said.
"The question to Minster Garrett is what part of next weeks diplomatic efforts will stop Japan's scientific whaling. ? It is clear that Diplomacy is not going to stop whaling."
Mick McIntyre will be attending the IWC meeting in Madeira and will file a daily behind the scenes no-nonsense report on each day’s event.
He will also be available for instant comment 24/7Mick McIntyre is the Director of the conservation organization, Whales Alive. This will be his 15th meeting of the International Whaling Commission. (Five served on the Australian Government delegation)
http://www.whalesalive.org.au
