Mission & Justice

Daniel Flitton; 8/9/08

Australia’s reputation as America’s “deputy sheriff” in the region is entrenched despite the fall of the Howard government last year. But in a sign that public attitudes are shifting at home, a poll to be released today shows younger Australians are more likely to see US meddling in the neighbourhood as a problem. The survey by Melbourne University’s AsiaLink gives a snapshot of opinion across Australia and Indonesia about relations between the two countries. Indonesians rank Australia among the top four regional troublemakers, with America heading the list ahead of Malaysia and Israel. Following on from East Timor’s vote for independence in 1999 and continued unrest in Papua province, Indonesians most fear the break-up of their country and the prospect of outsiders promoting internal dissent. In turn, Australians overall are more likely to regard Indonesia with hostility, while also being wary of Iran, China and North Korea.

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3/9/08

An Australian marine scientist has dismissed Japanese research that the body mass of minke whales is declining because of increasingly scarce ocean resources. The study, based on data from two decades of lethal research, found Antarctic minke whales had lost 9 per cent of their blubber. It argues that this has been caused by a shortfall of krill, a vital component of the food chain, due to climate change and the recovery of other species such as humpback whales. An Australian Antarctic division researcher, Nick Gales, says the Japanese study’s methodology is flawed.

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Michael McKenna; 28/8/08

As Australia plans to import Pacific island fruit pickers, it has been dealt a cautionary tale that workers in a similar scheme in New Zealand were allegedly mistreated, given little work and underpaid. Dozens of workers from the tiny island nation of Kiribati were housed in overcrowded conditions and after spending most of their lives in a hot climate, struggled to cope with the cold in some parts of New Zealand. They also encountered problems such as how to use unfamiliar appliances such as toasters. The workers were then left stranded by employers, who failed to provide promised jobs offered under the New Zealand seasonal visa scheme that the Rudd Government has used as a model for a pilot guest worker program in Australia.

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25/8/08; Michael Mullins is the editor of Eureka Street;

The Federal Opposition opposes the Government’s Pacific Guest Worker scheme while it considers that a range of important questions remain unanswered. There are indeed many questions, but the opposition appears to be missing those relating to the rights of the Pacific workers themselves. The plan, which involves a three year trial, follows many requests from both Pacific nations and potential employers in Australia. Pacific leaders see such schemes as a key response to the urgent challenge posed by rising sea levels.

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22/8/08

Japanese whaling ships caught 211 whales during their three-month voyage in the northwest Pacific, the fisheries agency said. The main ship of the six-vessel fleet, 8044-ton Nisshin-maru, will arrive in Tokyo on Saturday, with the rest returning to their ports by the end of the month, the agency said. Since they left on June 6, the ships caught 100 sei whales, 59 minke whales, 50 Bryde’s whales and two sperm whales, the agency said Friday. The Japanese government, which says whaling is part of the national culture, plans to kill around 1000 whales a year using a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium that allows “lethal research” on whales.

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Gaurav Sodhi; 21/8/08

The new guest worker scheme announced by the Australian Government on Monday is being billed by many Pacific governments, aid organisations and the World Bank as a development policy to displace the demonstrable failure of aid. But will it be enough to ease the enormous employment pressures that have been building in the region? Australians have become accustomed to bad news from the Pacific Islands. Conflict in Solomon Islands, coups in Fiji, murders by raskol gangs in Papua New Guinea and the burning of Chinese businesses in Nuku’alofa in Tonga are evidence of an arc of instability on our doorstep. Unemployment and underemployment are at the core of the Pacific’s instability, and its cause. Without employment-led growth, crime, civil disruption and corruption undoubtedly will worsen. With substantial criminal interests operating in the region, the Pacific is also developing its comparative advantage as a location for international crimes such as people-smuggling, drug production and arms trafficking.

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Adam Morton; 20/8/08

A conservation group has called on the Federal Government to declare the Coral Sea a shark haven after it was revealed about 230 tonnes of shark fin had been sent overseas in little more than a year. New Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service figures show that the fins were part of more than 500 tonnes of shark sent to mostly Asian markets over the past 13 months. The World Wildlife Fund says the figures equate to more than 10,000 adult sharks killed. WWF spokeswoman Gilly Llewellyn said sharks were hard-hit by overfishing as they were late to mature and produced relatively few young. Shark products sold overseas include 46 tonnes of shark liver oil and 23 tonnes of squalene, which is used in cosmetics.

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Peter Alford; 19/8/08

Japanese police are reportedly seeking criminal warrants against three crew members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s anti-whaling vessel Steve Irwin. Two US nationals, aged 30 and 41, and a 28-year-old Briton will be sought on the warrants alleging criminal interference with the Japanese Antarctic whaling fleet, according to Kyodo news agency. The National Police Agency, which has been investigating Sea Shepherd attacks on the Japanese fleet in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons, yesterday refused to comment on a report that it was seeking the warrants in the Tokyo District Court. However, it does not appear Japanese police will pursue Sea Shepherd’s chief, 57-year-old Canadian Paul Watson, who directs the group’s anti-whaling activities from the Steve Irwin.

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Mark Dodd & Paul Maley; 19/8/08

Potential employers in the Pacific guest worker scheme will be strictly monitored to ensure short-term visa holders are not ripped off or exploited. Under the pilot program, details of which will be outlined by Kevin Rudd at the Pacific Islands Forum in Niue, 2500 short-stay visas will be issued to Pacific islanders. The first workers will start arriving before the end of the year to pick fruit and vegetables, jobs farmers claim they cannot fill. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday that the program demonstrated Australia’s new partnership with its Pacific neighbours. “Pacific island countries have been very enthusiastic about inclusion in a pilot scheme of this sort and the Prime Minister has indicated this is something he wishes to discuss at the Pacific Islands Forum,” he said.

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Susie Cameron; 13/8/08

A southern right whale and her calf frolicking off the coast delighted Sydney recently. The visit was a boon for whale watchers - and for scientists working to conserve the species. It’s 1.40pm and Rob Harcourt and his small boatload of researchers are just a stone’s throw away from a rare southern right whale and her newborn calf. They’re waiting for the perfect moment to draw even closer and fire a tiny plastic dart into the side of the 50-tonne sea mammal. The migrating new mother has halted for a rest in the calm waters of Long Bay, Malabar, while her three-week-old calf splashes around her.On a grassy knoll directly opposite the basking whales, a local mum and her own toddler are playing out a similar scene; the tiny tot buzzes among other watchers as the mother relaxes on the grass.

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