More Indigenous Doctors Aim To Close Australia’s Health Gap

0 Comments read Health & Science, Indigenous
Vinka Barunga. Photo Credit: University of Western Australia

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 27.12.2016 (IDN/The Wire) – Vinka Barunga was born in the Worrara tribe of the Mowanjum Aboriginal community in the remote town of Derby in Western Australia. As a child, she witnessed disease and suicide amongst her people, which made her resolve to one day become a doctor and help break this cycle of suffering. She is one of six, the largest cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students, to graduate in Medicine/Surgery from the University of Western Australia this year.

Australia has fewer than 300 Aboriginal doctors, but things are gradually changing. Vinka is determined to be the first full time doctor in the town of her birth, situated around 2,400 kilometres north of the state capital Perth in the Kimberley region. It is the gateway to the state’s resource rich north, surrounded by mudflats on three sides, with two distinct seasons.

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Australia’s No to Prohibit-Nukes Resolution Triggers Debate

0 Comments read Nuclear Disarmament

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 15.12.2016 (IDN) – As the curtain falls on 2016, the year that marked the fifth anniversary of Fukushima and the 30th anniversary of Chernobyl nuclear disasters, sending a sombre reminder of the devastating humanitarian and environmental consequences of these weapons of mass destruction, the resolve to free the world of nuclear weapons is stronger than ever before.

The United Nations Resolution A/C.1/71/L.41, which calls for negotiations on a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading toward their total elimination”, was adopted at the 71st session of the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on October 27, 2016 with 123 members, including nuclear North Korea, voting in favour of taking forward the multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, 38 voted against and 16 abstained.

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Protests in Australia Against Adani Coal Mining Project

0 Comments read Business and Trade, Environment & Development

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 03.12.2016 (Economic and Political Weekly): While serious questions remain on the commercial viability and environmental feasibility of the Adani Mining Pty Ltd’s (AMPL) A$21.7 billion Carmichael coal mine, rail and port projects in the state of Queensland, the company is confident of commencing construction between July and September 2017. The projects’ headquarters will be based in Townsville, in north Queensland.

AMPL, a subsidiary of India-based Adani Enterprises, on 10 November 2016 crossed one of the major hurdles with the Queensland Parliament passing the Environmental Protection (Underground Water Management) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill, 2016 and the amended Water Legislation Amendment Bill, 2015 (Queensland Parliament 2016, 2015). The amended legislation means that companies that had already undergone scrutiny through an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the Land Court would still require a water licence, but that would not go through the public objection process.

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