Home  News/Media ACDJ News: Cosmopolitanism Forum, the Kamco conflicts of interest and the Lobbyocracy collective!
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ACDJ News: Cosmopolitanism Forum, the Kamco conflicts of interest and the Lobbyocracy collective! |
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Dear Friends,
Hello and welcome to another eBulletin from the Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice.
Don't forget to keep up to date with all the latest at our website: www.democracyandjustice.org. And we're always contributing to debate at our blog, Darkness at Noon: http://darknessatnoon.com. We're also working hard over at http://lobbyocracy.org.
We'll keep these brief and only send them out when we've something to tell you. If you don't want to be on this email list please simply reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject. Feel free to circulate this eBulletin as widely as you see fit and if you're not on the mailing list but would like to be please email centre@democracyandjustice.org with "subscribe" in the subject heading.
Contents:
1. Alternative Globalisations forum: Global Governance/Cosmopolitanism
2. Lobbyocracy collective: get involved with ACDJ
3. Lobbyocracy article of the week: Kamco
4. Membership
5. Other Organisation's Events
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1. Alternative Globalisations forum: Global Governance/Cosmopolitanism
Speaker: Sue Kenny (Deakin University)
In many senses globalisation has brought us closer together. However it has also enhanced the ability of the developed world to exploit everyone else. Instead of the unity we were promised we have a greater disparity in living standards and wealth. So what sort of globalisation could actually bring us together? Can global networks of NGOs help bring us together in a way our government's have failed to? Can it be the key to greater understanding between cultures and nations, were our similarities bind us together creating a cohesive world order? Can we move beyond nationalism to a single moral community?
When: Tue 20 May, 7pm.
Where: Horse Bazaar (http://www.horsebazaar.com.au/), 397 Little Lonsdale Street
Cost: Gold coin donation (free for ACDJ members)
Contact: centre@democracyandjustice.org
Alternatives to Globalisation Forums
The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice's forms often cover what is wrong with the current corporate-centric globalisation we are currently experiencing, but what are the alternatives to this? In or first series of forums for 2008 we explore a range of alternatives to economic globalisation.
Do we need to localise and turn to a slower, less transport intensive society where all our sources of food and fuel come from the local area? Does the answer lie in a single moral community? Or does it lie in a multitude of singularities all networked and interlinked with peers interacting to create an information-based society on all levels from the individual to the global?
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2. Lobbyocracy collective: Get involved with ACDJ's campaign!
Concerned about the growing corruption of our political systems? Always wanted to get involved with ACDJ but not known how?
Well now's your chance! ACDJ is getting a Lobbyocracy Collective together and we want you to get involved. You can be part of a team that puts together the campaigns to expose the dirty back room deals and large donations with strings attached.
So why not come down meet some friendly people and get involved with our campaign.
All are welcome and all you need is a healthy dose of enthusiasm!
Where: 38 Cambridge St, Collingwood
When: 6 to 7 pm Wednesday 28th May
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3. Lobbyocracy article of the week: Kamco
Kamco is a US-based company that won a tender to replace Melbourne's public transport ticketing system with the myki card.
A report tabled to Parliament in October 2007, Auditor-General Des Pearson found that the tender process for the ticket system had been conducted properly. However a draft of the report leaked to The Age found "a series of conflicts of interest, probity issues, backdating of reports and favouring of the eventual winning bidder Kamco, a consortium led by American IT firm Keane."
The Transport Ticketing Authority was set up to run the tender process and oversee the introduction of the myki card. The head of this organisation is Vivian Miners who owned a small amount of shares in the Kamco consortium when it won the tender.
Read the rest of the article here: http://lobbyocracy.org/index.php?title=Kamco
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4. Become a Member Today!
By becoming a member of the Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice you help fund one of Australia's few global justice organisations. We receive no corporate or government funding we are entirely dependent on people like yourself to keep us going.
As a member of the Centre you'll be the first to know about all our activities and be entitled to a range of privileges as they become available. You'll also be left with that warm inner glow that you get from knowing that you're supporting an organisation that fights for a better world.
Our Membership scheme is three tiered:
* Students/concessions - $20
* Full price/Waged - $40
* Solidarity/Household/Organisation - $100
OurCommunity.com.au kindly processes our memberships for us and you can sign up at their site at: http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/membership/membership_details.form?membershipId=715.
Alternatively you can print out a membership form at: http://www.democracyandjustice.org/images/Membership%20form.pdf and send it back to us.
Donations can also be made through the OurCommunity.com.au site at: http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/acdj
Every penny helps and we kindly thank you for your ongoing support.
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5. Other Organisation's Events...
Voices from Bangladesh Speaking Tour
The people and ecosystems of Bangladesh face many of the most devastating consequences of climate change and sea level rise – at the same time as international financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank continue to finance projects such as the Phulbari Coal project that directly contribute to climate change and threaten the environmental health human rights of developing communities.
This national speaking tour aims to raise awareness of the unequal impacts of climate change and to voice the urgent need for Australia to support development projects that are socially and environmentally just, rather than destructive.
Speakers:
- Prof Anu Muhammad is a Professor in the Department of Economics at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka and has been integral in leading the civil society campaign against the Phulbari mine.
- And local Phulbari residents
International development projects financed through institutions like the ADB can, and have played a significant role in exacerbating climate change and locking Majority World countries into unsustainable, fossil-fuel intensive paths of development. Urgent action is required to direct development efforts away from projects such as the Phulbari Coal project that have potentially devastating social and environmental impacts, and offer no real benefit to affected communities.
The Phulbari Coal Project is currently under consideration for funding by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), yet would require the forced relocation of between 50,000-150,000 people and further affect between 100,000 and 2 million people through increased regional pollution and dewatering of the Barind tract. The mine's current owners, Asia Energy, have already generated controversy after five protesters were killed and 200 injured when authorities opened fire on 50,000 demonstrators opposing the mine in August 2006.
The tour will visit Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Katoomba and the Hunter Valley.
The tour is hosted by AidWatch, and supported by Friends of the Earth, Oxfam Australia and Amnesty International Australia.
*MELBOURNE EVENT:*
Public meeting: friday May 23, 6.30 - 8.30pm
Northcote High School.
St Georges Road, Northcote, 3070 (just north of Merri creek). Take tram line 112 towards West Preston, stop 27 (full details on tram timetables at: http://tt.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/tt/TTB/20071216-092454/vic/03112Ettb.pdf )
For details on Melbourne event, please contact Cam Walker: cam.walker@foe.org.au
For full details on the tour, including events in other cities, please see
http://www.foe.org.au/climate-justice/media/news-items/front-page-news-feed-1/voices-from-bangladesh-speaking-tour
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Going Local & Making Great Places: a free public lecture with Judy Wicks
Inspiring founder and CEO of the White Dog Café in Philadelphia, cofounder and a director of the US-wide Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, Judy is the recipient of more than 40 local, national and international awards. In 2004, Inc.magazine named her one of America’s 25 most fascinating entrepreneurs, "because she’s put in place more progressive business practices per square foot than any other entrepreneur."
Find out how local businesses are meeting the challenge of globalisation, Climate Change and Peak Oil to create sustainable communities that sustain life, economic viability and the natural environment, and are deeply rooted in their natural and cultural place. Business people, entrepreneurs & everyone involved in the design, creation & management of our cities needs to come to this.
Fellow guest presenters include Gilbert Rochecouste, Director of Village Well and Professor Christopher Ryan of the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab.
Wednesday 21 May 2008
7.00pm - 9.00pm
Storey Hall, RMIT
342 Swanston Street Melbourne
RSVP: info@villagewell.org or 03 9650 0080 by Friday 2 May 2008
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