Media Releases

2008 Articles

16 DEC 2008

Opportunity lost at Poznan

After two weeks spent in frantic negotiations over commas and semi-colons, the climate negotiations at Poznan have taken only the barest shuffle towards Copenhagen, and on some crucial issues - like the targets for developed countries - have actually retreated from Bali. Read full release »

22 OCT 2008

Remember the forgotten victims of the financial crisis

There are some forgotten victims of the Nightmare on Wall Street. Crises like the one we're experiencing tend to hit people living in poverty the hardest and it will be the case this time around. Developing countries will be hit hard, and people living in poverty in those countries the hardest. Read full release »

28 AUG 2008

Independent charity regulator is long overdue

Andrew Hewett calls for Australian Charities Commission - Opinion piece published on ABC Online on 28/08/08 Read full release »

01 AUG 2008

Sturt and Eagles join forces to Close the Gap

This weekend in the SANFL Round 18, Sturt and the Woodville-West Torrens Football Club are joining forces in support of their Aboriginal players and promoting the Close the Gap campaign, which aims to close the 17-year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Read full release »

25 JUN 2008

Biofuels add millions to the breadline

Unlike many other developed countries, Australia has not set mandatory targets for biofuel production or use. This is encouraging. The Australian Government should not to go down that path. Read full release »

04 JUN 2008

Where Business and Human Rights intersect.

Many Australian corporations are doing great work overseas. They are investing in developing countries, providing job opportunities to local people and working closely with local community organisations. Some Australian companies, however, are also ignoring people's most basic human rights. They are forcibly removing people from their land, dumping cyanide laden waste in waterways that are integral to livelihoods, and, on the whole, facing none of the legal ramifications they would face at home. Read full release »

22 APR 2008

Three words that symbolise decades of neglect and hope for the future

Close the Gap. Three words that symbolise decades of neglect and hope and goodwill for the future. Three words that remind us that the average Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian man does not live to see his 60th birthday. Three words that now represent an agreement between more than 40 organisations, state and federal governments that an unprecedented effort is needed if we are to achieve Indigenous health equality within a generation. Read full release »

12 MAR 2008

Reality for 34 million of the world's refugees

Last week Australia's only refugee camp was dismantled. Called Refugee Realities, the camp occupied Gasworks in Albert Park for four weeks while thousands of school children and members of the public visited. In building the camp, Oxfam's aim was to help people understand that refugees are no different to the rest of us. They just happen to have lived in extraordinary circumstances. Read full release »

05 MAR 2008

On Track to do it right

Opinion article published in the Herald Sun about the conduct of Australian mining companies in Papua New Guinea. Read full release »

05 FEB 2008

Australian mining companies need to develop a conscience

JUANITA Cut-ing is just one woman but her story, reported in The Age on Saturday, says much about the way mining companies in search of enormous profits have exploited people in the developing world. Cut-ing and her family live in a stilt home in the remote village of Didipio in the north of the Philippines, but their land is destined to make way for a dam to store waste from an open-pit gold and copper mine operated by Melbourne-based OceanaGold. The company says it will provide jobs and improved infrastructure, but its plans will destroy Cut-ing's dream of passing her house and land to her children. Read full release »