News stories by Stephen de Tarczynski, page 2

Environmentalists here are on the verge of a significant victory in their efforts to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas pollution, as the Victorian state government negotiates with the owner of the country’s 'dirtiest power station' to shut down the coal-fired facility.

Ken Wyatt stood, draped in a traditional kangaroo-skin shroud. In a voice wavering at times with emotion, the only indigenous Australian ever elected to this nation’s lower house of Parliament presented his inaugural address.

As the Australian government steps up its efforts to establish a regional processing centre for asylum seekers in East Timor, refugee advocates remain watchful for signs that any deal could result in the involuntary removal from Australia of people seeking protection here.

Proponents of renewable energy say that a planned large-scale solar power plant in Australia’s northern Victoria state, which will produce enough output to provide electricity to 60,000 homes, is just a fraction of what could be achieved if federal and state governments were fully committed to harnessing solar energy.

Late on a hot summer morning in January 2008, 46-year-old Aboriginal elder Mr Ward climbed into the back of a prisoner transport van for the 360- kilometre, four-hour journey from the small Western Australian goldfields town of Laverton to Kalgoorlie, a larger mining centre, where he was due in court to face drink driving charges.

In early July, whales from the world’s largest population of humpbacks began arriving in the warm, subtropical waters off Australia’s north-west coast to breed and nurse their young.

The high-profile case of an accused Australian paedophile in India and the recent arrest of an Australian man on child sex charges in Thailand represent just the 'tip of the iceberg' when it comes to Australians involved in child sex tourism in the Asia-Pacific, children’s rights advocates here say.

Australia’s newly appointed prime minister, Julia Gillard, has hardly warmed her seat, yet she has already been urged to take action on climate change.

Geraldine Martin, Sara Stilianos, both 20, and Erin Murphy, 24, are like many young Australian women: bright, articulate, well presented, and have high hopes for their futures. Yet all three are homeless.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party has made much of its plans to tackle climate change even before it came to power with victory in the country’s 2007 election.