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Road transport operators with diesel trucks made before 2003 will be able to reduce particle emissions by applying for assistance through the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).

The NSW Ports Diesel Retrofit Program aims to improve the air quality of older modelled trucks at no cost to the operators who use Port Botany, the Port of Newcastle, Port Kembla and the Cooks River Rail Yard.

Since October, the RMS has fitted particle traps to the exhausts of more than 529 trucks in an effort to reduce harmful emissions around Sydney.

The RMS estimates that 60 per cent of total particle emissions are from road transport and over 1,500 tonnes of those are being emitted in the metropolitan Sydney area each year. With air quality at risk, they are asking for more operators to volunteer for the initiative.

“There is a budget available this financial year for the devices to be fitted on the exhausts of up to 25 diesel trucks which use the ports,” an RMS spokesperson said.

The program was first launched in 2008 by the RTA (Roads and Traffic Authority) and ceased in 2010 before the current government decided to resume the program.

General Manager of Johnsons Transport, Mike Moylan, said the issue is not the program but the fact that it only helps vehicles older than 1 January, 2003, preventing many operators from benefitting.

“We were part of the program several years ago. Since then we have upgraded our trucks and aren’t eligible under the scheme. We meet current emission standards for all our vehicles,” he said.

Air quality is an important environmental issue affecting many in the community. Diesel emissions contain harmful pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, which contributes to ground level ozone.

Vehicles manufactured after 2003, don’t release the amount of emissions as older vehicles do, and meet the current diesel emission standards, administrated by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

A spokesperson for the Environment Minister, Robyn Parker, said the program is one of many undertaken by the state government to reduce pollution in NSW.

“The Ports Diesel Retrofit Program compliments the NSW Government’s Clean Machine Program which aims to reduce emissions in the Greater Metro Region.

The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) developed the Clean Machine Pilot Program that is aimed at reducing exposure to diesel exhaust emissions,” he said.

By SJ Malagre.

... taken from Trapping pollution one truck at a time

Australia’s Climate Change strategy was on the minds of politicians and public figures at Sydney’s Parliament House last Friday, April 27.

‘Beyond The Carbon Price’ saw speeches including former Liberal leader John Hewson, Australian Council of Trade Unions President Ged Kearney and ALP National President Jenny McAllister.

The night opened the 2012 Climate Action Summit weekend.

Mr Hewson said “I think responding appropriately to climate change is the single most important moral issue of this century”

... taken from Climate debate heating up

The world’s second largest festival will once again be spread across Sydney.

Head On Photo Festival will see 200 photographic events held at 100 venues from the CBD to Penrith.

“We have had a great response to the call for events,’ said Head On founder Moshe Rosenzveig.

‘We have spent many months sorting through the applications and are pleased to release a complete program that offers something for everyone. We have exhibitions focusing on a number of different
countries around the world as well as exhibitions that highlight various social issues such as gender stereotyping.”

The list of things to do includes open studios, workshops and outdoor exhibitions.

‘This year we have been approached by various photographers from around the globe who are keen to take part in Head On,’ said Ms Rosenzveig.

‘We will have specialist photographic presenters from America, India and Russia alongside our very own top Australian photographers.’

Photo-media Artist Rowena Hall will bring her first solo exhibition, History Bearing, to Head On.

“The Festival offers Sydney a unique chance to experience the richness that the photographic medium brings to the arts as a whole,” Ms Hall said.

“It also showcases many experienced and emerging artists and photographers. It provides us with a platform and a network to operate from and within.”

Her series of work reveals historical stories of women from 850AD to 1960.

Ms Hall said: “The festival is layered with works that all fall into this medium of ‘photography’ yet the works made and the people that produce them can be worlds apart in vision, technique, experience and culture.”

Ms Hall has emphasised fertility in her exhibition, which readjusts the female body’s representation over time.

“I became more aware of how, throughout western art’s history, the concept of woman that had been consistently expressed excluded her pregnant body,” Ms Hall said.

“I found that where depictions of pregnant women did exist, modern art theorists further censored the pregnant body by denying that the pregnant looking subjects were indeed pregnant.”

Ms Hall worked for four years on History Bearing: “At it’s inception, I certainly felt the premise behind my work was timely”

“Some of the stories about women I came across in the process of looking for narratives to recreate,” Ms Hall said.

“I have found that the images bring a lot of intrigue, and they entertain people as much as they challenge them. We are just not use to seeing the pregnant body in this context.”

... taken from Photo Festival heads for Sydney

A Redfern student has been awarded a $500 scholarship for helping children in the community.

Eathan Philips, 16, was this year’s recipient of the Betty Makin Youth Awards and attends Alexandria Park Community School.

Eathan was nominated by his school teacher Patricia Betar, for using his passion for Indigenous traditions and teaching performing arts, as a way to inspire other students and share his culture.

Ms Betar said: “Eathan has been an excellent mentor for students.

They do look up to him a lot.

“Eathan’s shown a commitment to supporting and promoting the use of quality Aboriginal resources which raise the profile of Aboriginal knowledge, culture and heritage.”

He’s even clocked up over 50 volunteer hours under the Premier’s Volunteer Award scheme, she said.

Eathan wasn’t aware that he was nominated for the award.

“It felt really good,” he said.

His leadership qualities have been inspired by his mentor and uncle, Mr Shane Philips, who is CEO of the Tribal Warrior Association, an organisation where Eathan plays an active role.

“We teach Aboriginal dancing and help out with the cruise boat with kids from different communities,” Eathan said.

Ms Betar said his uncle Shane has been a big influence.

“Eathan has taken on a lot of that cultural awareness.”

In addition to helping others, Eathan displays an enthusiasm towards advancing his career prospects after his Higher School Certificate.

A schools based traineeship with the Department of the Attorney General in business services, will see Eathan in the courts this week to assist recording.

“He’s going to get a really good view of all the jobs and responsibilities in law and order,” Ms Betar said.

Ambitious about the opportunities open to him in the future, Eathan cites the Royal Australian Air Force as just one possible career option.

“I’d like to be a pilot probably, if I get good enough grades,” he said. When asked about his top tip for other kids, Eathan said: “Stick out school.

By Lynn Chinnock

... taken from Redfern youth wins award

Residents, businesses and schools will be out on the streets this Saturday to sell furniture, books,
clothes and vintage items as part of a massive city-wide market.

The organiser of the Garage Sale Trail has set up a website on which vendors can register their garage sale.

Shoppers can then use the website to locate the sale they are interested in.

Forest Lodge resident Floria Cameron said: “I think it is a good idea.”

She will be setting up a stall to enable others to reuse household goods.

“We have had garage sales before, but we’re hoping this is bigger because everyone is doing it.”

Local businesses are taking part and they are getting local residents to join them.

Dynn Szmulenicz, one of the owners of The Little Guy on Glebe Point Rd, attended last year’s event.

“Last year, we walked around doing the trail ourselves. This year, we thought it’d be a good idea doing it ourselves,” he said.

He is planning to provide space in his bar so that local residents can bring things to his bar to sell.

Vintage furniture store Junktique in Glebe also took part in the Garage Sale Trail last year.

Owner Paolo Gnecchi said he expects a lot more shoppers this year than last year.

He said the garage sale was a good way of keeping items in good condition out of the landfill.

“Not only older stuff is better, they’re more beautiful,” Mr Gnecchi said.

“With new furniture, they use plywood and chipboard. But with the old stuff, they use real timber.”

Andrew Valder, co-founder of the Trail, said the event added to the sense of community.

“It was an incredible way for people to meet their neighbours,” Mr Valder said.

“We did some research post-event and we found out that on average people met six neighbours they previously didn’t know.”

There were more than 1,600 garage sales in the Garage Sale Trail last year when it was first expanded to a national scale. This year, over 2,000 sales will take place around Australia; the majority will be in New South Wales and Victoria.

By Jeff Li

... taken from Selling on the streets

An annual exhibition showcasing companies that are launching a new brand or reinforcing existing brands that value sustainable living will be hosted at Moore Park this month.

EcoXpo is a forum of sustainable companies and their customers that are interested in eco living.

Event organiser, Aymeric Maudous, said there will be 7 main pavilions and a number of exhibitions to look forward to.

“The overall main is to inspire people to live a more sustainable life. There are a number of very exciting new exhibitions,” he said.

One of the most anticipated is the presentation of a new Toyota.

“We will be the first in Australia to exhibit the car which consumes much less than all the others on the market at the moment. It is the cheapest of the hybrids,” he said.

The exhibitions will be presented by both celebrities and eco-icons.

Co-founder of Take 3, Tim Silverwood believes in the reduce, reuse and recycle policy.

“Since September last year I haven’t stopped travelling around Australia giving 2-3 presentations every week,” he said.

“I give talks about the impact of plastic pollution in the ocean. The ultimate idea behind the presentations is to motivate and inspire people to take small, simple steps to help protect the environment.”

Take 3 is asking everyone to take three pieces of rubbish with them when they leave the beach.

This will reduce what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a place where rubbish from the coast of Asia and Australia swirls around the ocean current.

Mr Silverwood said EcoXpo is about a similar sort of thing, showing audiences how to be be more conscious of being sustainable.

“It’s exciting moving people to become more green,” he said.

In addition, renowned chefs from across Sydney will give live demonstrations on cooking with organic foods.

“Clara Mason is a regular, she does all the organic markets in Sydney. 6 months ago she did a big seminar on the importance of eating,” Mr Maudous said.

Previous EcoXpo exhibitions have been highly successful setting standards for the future.

Each year the number of visitors and exhibitors have increased.

Biological Farmers of Australia’s Cheryl Vaughan commends the event.

“Feedback from past industry supporters of this show has been positive and we are happy to recommend this show,” she said.

A key figure of the Auria Project, David Kennett, shares a similar response. “EcoXpo 2011 provided wonderful exposure for exhibitors, in a well organised event,” he said.

“It provided stall holders and public with the opportunity to meet up with like- minded people in a great location”.

The upcoming exhibition will be at Byron Kennedy Hall from May 12-13.

By Priyal Dadhania

... taken from Green expo for eco-friendly living

About 10,000 Australian men visit the Asia pacific each year with the purpose of sexually exploiting children, 2,000 of which are convicted sex offenders.

CEO of the Melbourne based organization, Bernadette McMenamin, set up the Child Wise twenty years ago after witnessing the extent of child sex abuse both in Australia and overseas during her time as a social worker.

“I believed that children had a right to be safe and protected because I saw so much abuse. I just felt all of what I saw could be prevented if people were more educated and vigilant.”

“I thought what sort of world are we leaving to our children when the damage of child abuse is so life long in many cases “ said Ms McMenamin.

Child Wise will hold its first-ever fundraising gala in Sydney this month.

With limited government funding Child Wise relies heavily on private donations.

Funds raised from the gala will go directly into maintaining programs like the national helpline that educates parents and carers on child sex abuse issues.

Child Wise aims to eventually raise enough funds to replicate its Cambodian program in Bali where there are 25,000 street kids.

In Cambodia, Child Wise works with vulnerable communities helping to prevent children being trafficked into child labour and prostitution.

One in five children are sexually abused in Australia.

Approximately two million children are trafficked into prostitution worldwide each year.

Ms McMenamin feels that the Australian government should be held more accountable.

“We can’t send our problems overseas and then forget about them. The Australian government can’t remain so complacent, they need to provide more funding,” she said.

Apart from a three-course meal there will be a variety of live entertainment performances at the black and white gala ball. These include Aerialize, a Sydney children’s circus group, musician Gerry Azor and magician Adam Mada. There will also be a silent auction and live auction of a range of items donated to Child Wise including etchings of works by Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso provided by Chase gallery in Sydney.

Nicola Jones-Crossley volunteers her time and efforts as an event manager for Child Wise.

She said, “They are doing some great stuff. They are still a small organization, its grassroots based so I would like to see them grow bigger because they do some amazing work.”

The gala will be held on May 12 at the Star Room at the Imax Theatre complex.

To book go to http:// childwisegalaball.eventbrite.com.au.

By Kate Horowitz

... taken from Raising funds to stop sex trafficking

EcoXpo is a forum of sustainable companies and their customers that are interested in eco living.

EcoXpo has an annual exhibition showcasing companies that are launching a new brand or reinforcing existing brands that value sustainable living.

Sydney will host the upcoming exhibition at Byron Kennedy Hall between Sat 12th and Sunday 13th May.

The organisor of the event, Aymeric Maudous, said that there will be 7 main pavilions and a number of exhibitions to look forward to.

“The overall main is to inspire people to live a more sustainable life.

There are a number of very exciting new exhibitions.

One of the most looked forward to is Toyota presenting a car which is not being sold at the moment. We will be the first in Australia to exhibit the car which consumes much less than all the others on the market at the moment. It is the cheapest of the hybrids” he said.

The exhibitions will be presented by both celebrities and eco-icons.

Co-founder of Take 3, Tim Silverwood believes in the reduce, reuse and recycle policy.

“Since September last year I havn’t stopped travelling around Australia giving 2-3 presentations every week” he said.

“I give talks about the impact of plastic pollution in the ocean.

The ultimate idea behind the presentations is to motivate and inspire people to take small, simple steps to help protect the environment.

Take 3 simply is asking everyone to take three pieces of rubbish with them when they leave the beach.

This will reduce what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a term which identifies rubbish from the coast of Asia and Australia which swirls around the ocean current.

EcoXpo is about a similar sort of thing, showing audiences how to be be more conscious of being sustainable. It’s exciting moving people to become more green”

In addition to this renowned chefs from across Sydney will give live demonstrations on cooking with organic foods.

“Clara Mason is a regular, she does all the organic markets in Sydney.

6 months ago she did a big seminar on the importance of eating” said Mr Maudous.

Previous EcoXpo exhibitions have been highly successful setting standards for the future.

Each year the number of visitors and exhibitors have increased.

On behalf of the Biological Farmers of Australia Cheryl Vaughan commends the event.

“Feedback from past industry supporters of this show has been positive and we are happy to recommend this show” she said.

A key figure of the Auria Project, David Kennett, shares a similar response.

“EcoXpo 2011 provided wonderful exposure for exhibitors, in a well organised event.

It provided stall holders and public with the opportunity to meet up with like- minded people in a great location” he said.

Tickets are $10 but children under fourteen are given free entry.

By Priyal Dadhania

... taken from Green ideas aired at forum

A road accident in Pyrmont resulting in the death of a fouryear- old girl last week has called into question the high-volume of traffic along Harris St.

On Tuesday, April 24 the toddler, who was accompanied by her mother, strayed from the footpath near Harris and Quarry Streets.

The girl was hit by a Land Rover Discovery at around 11 am then taken to Sydney Children’s Hospital where she died shortly afterwards. NSW Police are still investigating the incident which involved a 41-year-old male driver. Pyrmont resident and mother-of-two, Emma Driver said there are often lots of parents and children in the area since there is a nearby playgroup and daycare centre.

Ms Driver has a two-year-old daughter and an eight-week-old son.

She has lived on the busy artery for about 10 years and lives 200 metres from the site of the accident.

“There are definitely a lot more [parents and children] than 10 years ago,” she said.

“We’ve always been extremely careful because we live on Harris St.”

Local facilities include the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, Ultimo Community Centre and a City of Sydney Library.

“It’s a popular crossing for people coming from the swimming pool,” she said.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 541 children under the age of four in the Pyrmont-Ultimo area six years ago.

A population forecast report commissioned by the City of Sydney estimated there are 955 children under four years on Harris St today.

The Pyrmont-Ultimo area has 10 child-care facilities in operation.

One early education centre on William Henry St is attended by 59 children daily and services over 90 families.

The corner of the accident is also one city block from the M4 access point at Fig St.

Ms Driver said she has noticed people speeding to make the light and going around corners at high speeds.

“I’ve seen people get confused because there are lots of oneway streets.

Sometimes, I see people unsure of whether they can turn left or right.”

A child-care teacher who works in the area said she sympathised with the mother of the Pyrmont girl.

“The only thing you can do is just make sure to teach your children about road safety at a very young age,” she said.

“With young children and road safety, you can’t not have them right by your side, children have no concept of speed, they don’t comprehend that if they step out on the road they might be hit.”

Neighbours have since decorated the corner of Harris and Quarry Street with bouquets of flowers, teddy bears and posters to express their sympathies.

... taken from Pyrmont family mourns for toddler

Support for migrants

An open forum at the state parliament tonight will address the challenges of migrant families as they settle into Australian life.

‘Growing the Family Tree’ is a joint partnership with the City of Sydney, Relationships Australia and Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW, addressing common problems in multicultural communities.

Academics, experts, writers and people with experience in this issue, will discuss solutions for intergenerational conflict.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said: “Children grow up in a different culture to their parents, which can create a lot of tension within the family.”

“Children may aspire to less traditional careers and have different values and ways at looking at the world.

“The parents struggle with this and also grapple with how to pass on their culture and language, Cr Moore said.

Mark Franklin, Executive Officer of the Ethnic Communities’ Council NSW said: Connecting generations in multicultural families through this forum will ensure that each generation can continue to experience their familial, cultural and community supports while at the same time experiencing different journeys within our multicultural NSW.”

The forum will take place on Thursday May 3 at 5pm at Parliament House Theatrette, NSW Parliament House.

... taken from News briefs