Environment and Other News

Yesterday, another baby Humpback was caught in gillnets! This time in Shelly Beach off the central coast of NSW. [1] Luckily, with the help of quick acting rescue crews from Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA), it escaped and was safely returned to its mother. This comes just weeks after NSW Premier Mike Baird announced he will launch a trial of these lethal nets along northern NSW beaches. Evidence shows that gillnets don’t make people safer. But they do indiscriminately kill whales, turtles, rays and many more harmless victims. So why is Baird pursuing this ineffective and destructive plan? Tell the Federal Environment Minister to reject Baird’s plan for nets on NSW beaches. Last year, our movement helped convince Baird not to put gillnets in northern NSW - but two weeks ago, that all changed. Baird backflipped - announcing a trial of these lethal nets, starting as soon as next month. We all love the beach. And safety alw...

Yesterday morning, I stood with dozens of GetUp members and fronted the media with a message: it's time to get Big Money out of politics. We were speaking outside the Four Seasons luxury hotel in Sydney. Inside, behind closed doors, Prime Minister Turnbull and NSW Liberal Party elites were rubbing shoulders with corporate bigwigs and fossil fuel magnates. It was a rare glimpse into the mechanics of our rigged political system, where political and business elites make decisions out of the public eye – where people like you and me are denied a voice. For too long, corporate cash has flooded our political system, drowning out the voices of everyday people. That's why, as the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Matters conducts a far-reaching inquiry into the last election, we'll work to expose the corrupting influence of big dollar pay-offs on our politics. But in order to make our voices heard over powerful vested interests, we need to join together – tens of ...

The battle to stop the TPP will be won or lost in the Senate -- and we have a chance to tell Senators that Australians don’t want a corporate-backed trade deal. Can you please make a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the TPP now? We only have a few days left. Add your voice Good news: we’ve heard that the majority of the Senate has endorsed an inquiry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) . And we have a chance to turn up the pressure and tell them what we think. Whether the TPP -- the trade deal that critics have called one of the biggest corporate power grabs of a generation -- lives or dies depends entirely on what happens in the Senate . The government is a cheerleader for the TPP. But it does not have a majority in the Senate. If we can convince Labor Senators that the TPP is bad news, we could block its passage. But to make that happen, Senators need to hear from you. We only have a few days left before submissions close, on 28th...