Kept a secret among the Bolivian tribes for thousands of years, quinoa or the ‘grain of the gods’ has recently become a highly sought-after food in the West. Jemma Nicoll reports.

Lauran and Henriette Daman in their Kindreds Organics farm. Image: Honest to Goodness

For five thousand years the key to human survival lived amongst the early tribes of Bolivia. Quinoa, known locally as the ‘grain of the gods’, nourished soldiers, strengthened communities and was worshiped as a life-preserving necessity.

But the secret’s out, and this superfood has revolutionised Australian supermarkets.

Containing the eight amino acids essential for human growth, quinoa is the new top-shelf hero of the organic and health food sector. Never before has a gluten-free, high in protein, low GI superfood entered our market at such speed. Quinoa’s superior taste and ease of adaptation to cereals, breads, pasta and snack foods has suppliers rubbing their hands together and Aussie pantries stocked with the latest health trend.

However as with most trends, quinoa’s increased popularity comes with its own quandaries.

According to the New York Times, Bolivian quinoa consumption has fallen 34 per cent in recent years. Increased western imports have tripled prices forcing the local population to bid farewell to their staple ingredient.

Richard Seymour, General Manager of Melbourne’s Mount Zero Olives launched an Australian grown quinoa into retailers and began supplying to restaurants in December 2010.

“The guiding principles for Mount Zero have always been sustainable, regional and quality.

“So I would hope that we will never sell imported products based on [these] principles,” he said.

“Reading about the impact of exporting quinoa from South America on the local population, only confirms that we have made the right decision.”

Similarly, Sydney-based suppliers Honest to Goodness opt for domestic production. The company likes  “to stock Australian grown products as much as possible, supporting our farmers and also low food miles which is all supportive of sustainable and environmental practices,” said Marketing and Communications Officer Amanda Powell.

Kindred Organics farm in Tasmania is where Australia's first organic quinoa is being grown. Image: Honest to Goodness

A supplier’s decisions to “think global, act local” is big business for Lauran and Henriette Daman, pioneers of Australia’s first and only organic quinoa crop. As the masterminds behind Kindred Organics, a family-owned and operated farm in northern Tasmania, they have successfully grown three seasons of quinoa.

Mr Daman thinks it’s strange that imports take the main focus.

“As a nation I think it is far more important to be self-sufficient for environmental reasons and for food security,” he said. “And I like a challenge.”

Australian representatives of the internationally renowned fair trade food suppliers, Alter Eco, travel to Bolivia three times a year to visit quinoa producers. They have recently assessed the impact of the higher quinoa prices on local populations. Founding Director, Ilse Keijzer said the increase has had positive results.

“What is happening in Bolivia today is a fantastic opportunity to help these communities, as long as fair trade standards are guaranteed,” she said.

“The rising profile and price of quinoa on the world market is a unique opportunity for one of the poorest regions in the world to transform itself.”

Ms Keijzer acknowledges that quinoa is expensive for local populations, however says that it is not the only reason for changing food habits in the region.

“Globalisation in general has accelerated the taste for western processed foods and diets,” She said. “The purchase of fair trade quinoa has a very positive impact on the people.”

Mixed messages about the impact of foreign grown quinoa will not stop the Damans from leading the way in supplying Australian-grown produce.

“Quinoa is a primitive plant and only grows where it likes to grow. Lucky for us, it wants to grow on our farm,” Mr Daman said.

In the midst of a debt crisis the people of Greece are still giving back. Bella Papadopolous Dobrowolska and Morgan Pettersson report.

Pimp My Kid in Thessaloniki. Image: Bella Papadopolous Dobrowolska

It was all about giving style and giving back in Greece’s second largest city Thessaloniki at the Pimp My Kid, fundraiser event (for the charity Amimoni); the local community were having fun, getting styled and giving back through children participating in creative activities.

“The kids are given an opportunity to be creative, and through this we can raise money for a good cause,” said event organiser Maria Alexiadou.

The two-day festival was held last week in the centre of Thessaloniki and the kids could participate in activities such as jewelery making, rock climbing, dance lessons and having their style ’pimped’ through face painting and crazy hair styles.

All the proceeds from the event are being donated to Amimoni, a Greek organisation which fights for equal rights and education for disabled children as well as providing psychological support.

The CEO of Amimoni, Sotiria Alexopulou said she was happy to see so many people attending the event.

“All proceeds are going to go towards building a new school,” she said.

The debt crisis has slowed the Greek economy but Councillor for Volunteers and Youth, Maria Paschalidou, believes charity events such as Pimp My Kid are most successful when times are tough.

”Times like these, when the crisis is weighing everyone down, it is the best time to volunteer so everyone wakes up and acts,” she said.

Pimp My Kid organiser Maria Alexandriou agrees.

Creativity in action at Pimp My Kid. Image: Bella Papadopolous Dobrowolska

”I personally think that in periods of crisis this is the time when we need to do this. People are disappointed and depressed, events like Pimp My Kid pimps your mood,” she said.

The volunteer coordinator for the event, Marisa Krystallakou was surprised about how many people expressed an interest in volunteering.

”I was glad to see that so many people wanted to help by volunteering; through this event people have a chance to play and spend time with their child,” she said.

Radio producer Nikolas Chatzis was happy he could give back to the community by volunteering, especially while the economic situation is bleak.

“I feel very good to be volunteering for a good cause like this. Everyone should be volunteering in the time of the debt crisis. To help someone is free,” he said.

The event chose to not print flyers or posters but instead used social media to promote the weekend. In doing so the organisers minimised the environmental impact and kick-started the community spirit during the tough economic climate.

Four Australian guys are driving across the globe attempting to ‘fill-up’ only on biofuel. Jamesina McLeod reports.

Four Australian guys are attempting to drive across the globe the green way. Image: thegreenwayup.com

Burgers and Friday afternoon fries – the next solution to our environmental energy crisis?

According to the boys from The Green Way Up, it could be a possibility. The Green Way Up team consisting of Justin, Oscar, Bob and Chuck, are recycling all the plant and animal fats they can beg, borrow or steal from restaurants and street stalls to drive, sail and moped their way from Tasmania to Belgium.

Using biofuel to make their way across multiple continents, their aim is to never have to fill up at a petrol station.

Harnessing their respective DJ-ing, marketing, engineering and welding talents, Justin, Oscar, Bob and Chuck have been planning the six-month trip for two years. Most of this time was spent designing and building the portable biofuel converter and aluminium boat they are using on their trip. When finished, they will be donated to a tsunami-affected community.

Starting with a big idea but with no money, the team was stunned by the generosity of supporters who heard about them through their Facebook and Twitter pages.

The Green Way Up interview with Justin

“Fundraising has been really good at the moment, we’ve been getting support from all over the world,” said Justin, who was surprised by the number of anonymous donations after word spread about the project online. The $20, 000 needed to microfinance their boat was raised in three weeks through online donations.

Apart from carving donators’ names onto their boat, the boys will continue to thank their supporters through an interactive googlemaps page allowing people to track their progress and comment on their journey on thegreenwayup.com.

Their trip is being made into a documentary to be released later this year.

Read the transcript below.

Jamesina: So Justin, it’s yourself, Bob, Chuck and Oscar setting off on this epic expedition. How did this all start?

Justin: You know initially when we started the idea we didn’t have an idea of what the benefit would be apart from just engaging our friends and followers as we got on the road and for us that was an attractive idea simply because it was going to inform what we saw along the road, where we went and what was cool and interesting to do.

Jamesina: And how does the Green Way Up concept campaign fit in?

Justin: The Green Way Up concept was exactly that it, it was to make the whole movement palatable, to show what was good and interesting and to not associate environmentalism with guilt and negative emotions. Not to ram a message down anyone’s throat or run a hard line with a particular sort of perspective on the environment but we just wanted to create conversation around what was happening in every aspect of sustainability.

And that’s what we’ve done with our website – greenwayup.com – it’s a commentary on what was cool and interesting, innovative and just fantastic in the world of green design, green technology, green art, all of the above.

Jamesina: How important has social media been for you guys?

Justin: We knew the best way to spread the message was through a medium that our generation was familiar with and community participation, social media participation has been critical. That’s one of our main tools for engaging as we go. No one had seemed to have done that facebook-twitter-googlemaps mashup before, enabling one to geographically find and follow our route.

Jamesina: You’re on the road for 6 months and almost as many continents – what are you looking forward to most?

Justin: Once the website really gets up and rolling, when we start getting a lot of comments on the [interactive google]map, I’m really looking forward to actually meeting the people who are engaging with us through our facebook and twitter and maps and saying “come visit us here and here and here!” I think that’s going to create a really nice organic element to the whole trip.

The four of us haven’t really contemplated what to expect once we hit the road because it’s been “go-go-go!” working on the boat, the biofuel processor, the trailer. It’s pretty intense at the moment and most of us haven’t had time to look forward to what it’s going to be like on the road. But it’s going to be a hell of an adventure.

The effects of the debt crisis in Greece are beginning to show. Not only has the economy been damaged, but Greece’s environmental future could now be at stake too. Bella Papadopoulou Dobrowolska and Morgan Pettersson report.

Rubbish on the streets of Thessaloniki. Image: Bella Papadopoulou

At a time when the world has come face-to-face with the realities of climate change, individual state policies on environmental issues are becoming more critical than ever.

On the 15th of March, the Greek Government voted in a new law protecting the country’s biodiversity. Speaking to local media, the Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Tina Birbili, said that she is confident the new law will help address issues of unlawful development and environmental degradation.

“The new legal framework will be Greece’s tool for the protection of its fauna, flora and its habitats, combined always with the sustainable development of local communities,” she said.

Before Greece became synonymous with the word ”crisis”, the country was admired for its environmental treasures. Though the crisis itself may now be the factor that signals the end of the Greece’s green paradise.

Earlier this year, the government allowed environmental planning to take a back seat to overseas investment when they failed to follow guidelines for a green area within the concrete jungle of Athens.

The original proposal was to transform the former Hellinikon International Airport of Athens into a green space that would be known as Metropolitan Green Park. The airport site is the only large-scale, open area left in Athens and turning it into a park would help address the dramatic shortage of green, public spaces in the capital.

A collaboration between the Greek Government and the Government of the State of Qatar, the project’s
 400-700 million euro budget was originally aimed at green investment and the development of the park. Changes to the plan have now given way to the possibility of the park becoming a commercial venture that includes casinos and resorts.

Dr Christos Frangonikolopoulos, professor of Political Sciences at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, sees the altered plan as a direct consequence of the financial crisis because the potential commercial centre would help boost the economy.

Dr Frangonikolopoulos finds it only natural that the Greek government’s environmental priorities have shifted in the wake of the debt crisis.

“When the crisis happened the government encouraged the people to buy new cars, not the bio fuel ones which are environmentally friendly,” he said.

The European Union (EU) imposes environmental guidelines that all member countries are expected to implement. These guidelines refer to issues ranging from air quality and waste management to biodiversity protection.

Babis Papaiouannou assistant to Kritonas Arsenis, a member for the National Council of the European Union, says that Greece has been unable to meet the high standards expected by the EU in regards to environmental policies.

“Unfortunately, Greece is one of the lower ranking countries when it comes to the instructions that the EU sets. We have not done anything,” Babis said.

For those Greeks who want to minimise their carbon footprint there is a severe shortage of adequate facilities to make living green possible.

In Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, there are only a handful of recycling stations to provide for a population of over 2 million.

Those who wish to recycle their plastic bottles are forced to carry them into the city’s central square and place them in a 4m² green box.

Recycling can’t be done from home, but rather is carried out in front of a passing parade of shoppers, workers and tourists. And a consequence of the Government’s failure to take the recycling issue seriously, is that there is little motivation to join the green movement.

Carolin Erikson, a German environmental science exchange student, was struck by how a European country can be so backwards in its almost non-existent recycling strategy.

“The Government doesn’t do anything green, and this discourages the youth to get active in problems concerning the waste problem, water consumption and recycling,” she said.

George Blionis, is concerned about the lack of interest being shown by the youth in regards to the environmental future of Greece.  As Professor of the School of Biology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and member of the Greek Green Party, Blionis does acknowledge a growing environmental awareness amongst the youth.

“Young people in Greece better understand the connection of economic crisis with the environmental and social crisis. They are not willing to see the wonderful environment of Greece being undermined and destroyed by huge unsustainable development projects,” he said.

Although Greece is suffering from what may be one of the worst economic crises in European history, there are still attempts being made to re-focus on environmental issues.

A new and innovative environmental exhibition, aimed at promoting a more sustainable future for Greece in the face of the crisis, has been brought to Thessaloniki by Non-Governmental Organisation, “Act Now”. The president of Act Now, Noredin Mokassabi, acknowledges that the economic circumstances have had a negative effect on the green movement in Greece.

“I think that they do desire to be green, but at the moment with the financial crisis the Greeks simply can’t,” he says.

Only the future will tell what is going to happen with the Greek environment, but for now it is certainly undergoing a crisis of it’s own.

In a bid to counter the anti-carbon tax rally that happened in Canberra this month, Get Up (a community activism organisation) and environmental unions turned up in force at The Climate Action Rally to support the proposed carbon tax. Sara Vincent reports.

The carbon tax debate has drawn thousands to rally sites in Sydney and Belmore Park. Image: Sara Vincent.

According to Get Up’s national director Simon Sheikh, as many as 8,000 environmentalists flocked to Belmore Park, while 2,000 anti-carbon tax campaigners gathered at Hyde Park in the Sydney CBD.

In Belmore Park, many hoped the big turn-out would send a message of support to the government and the carbon tax.

“I think we’ve got to speak strongly in favour of the environment.

“I think it’s really about global warming not climate change at all, and I don’t really think it’s a carbon tax [but] a penalty for polluters,” carbon tax supporter, David Falcon, said.

For attendees of The Climate Action Rally the carbon tax is a small price to pay to reduce pollution and environmental degradation.

Gemma Borgom-Carrati, spokesperson for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition said the rally was the beginning of a long fight against climate change skeptics.

“We know that a sustainable and clean economy is possible in this country.

“This is why we must continue to fight to show that Sydney supports a price on pollution,” Borgom-Carrati said.

In Hyde Park, anti-carbon tax campaigners gathered with a petition signed by 25,000 people opposing the carbon tax. The petition was presented by Opposition Leader in the Senate, Eric Abetz.

Senator Abetz said climate change in Australia was ‘human-induced’, and “a result of this carbon tax.”

Anti-carbon tax campaigners were generally concerned with the rise in the cost of living for Australian families.

Peter Stanton was at Hyde Park and calls himself a ‘real Greeny’ who wants to see the best done for the environment. But he said before applying a tax on citizens, the government should invest in planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide.

“Climate change has been around since the Big Bang.

“Otherwise we would be on hot lava, wouldn’t we? Climate change is a daily occurrence, it’s not something that humans can affect…” Stanton said.

Former One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson was at Hyde Park in support of the anti-carbon tax movement. Hanson said “greed” was behind the carbon tax.

“I totally disagree with the carbon tax.

“It’s a tax on people that can’t afford [it], but it’s also, I believe, a tax for the multinationals to make money out of people.”

“I think it’s going to turn into big business. So, people will make a lot of money out of it. I see greed behind it,” Hanson said.

In an address to protesters, Sheikh said the next six months will be crucial for believers of climate change.

“[In the next six months] we must achieve a price on pollution and we must achieve substantial investment in renewable energy.”

Get Up has organised a second Climate Action Rally to take place in Brisbane on April 9.

Citizens in the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati are already feeling the heat of climate change and many predict they will be the first to face the prospect of leaving their homeland.

Their lives, economies and cultures are based on coastlines that are now becoming a threat to their very existence.

Lauren Day looks at what has happened in this small island state since the Copenhagen summit and how they are preparing and adapting to life at the frontline of climate change.

Government drawback means solar is growing up, Benjamin Vozzo reports.

The solar energy industry has received little government support so far. Image: Daniel Figueroa.

A decision by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency to phase out Solar Credits a year earlier is being flagged as a win for the solar energy industry.

The decision means that average government support for a 1.5 kilowatt system in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide would be reduced from about $6,200 to about $5,000.

Mark Twidell, the executive director of the Australian Solar Institute, says that the recent announcement by Minister Greg Combet shows that the industry is beginning to support itself without government help.

“The technology costs are coming down. The industry, as it continues to expand, is able to lower prices and the result is that generally governments around the world are reducing the level of
subsidy support, which is a good thing,” he says.

“If you were to think of solar energy as you might think of a human being, we’re probably just entering our teen years. We’re yet to leave home. I think leaving home is when you can start to look after yourself.”

Twidell believes the government has an important part to play in helping the solar industry to gain independence and compete in the energy market.

“Every market around the world is in some ways the result of government policy. Those policies manifest themselves in subsidies and incentives to help build the market for solar power so
that more investment can come in, which lowers the cost,” he says.

But not everybody believes governments have helped the industry get on its feet. Recent amendments to state and territory feed in tariff systems created a level of uncertainty for businesses in the sector, and caused confusion to the consumer.

The NSW State Government recently decided to slash the household feed in tariff for solar panels from 60 cents to 20 cents per kilowatt an hour.

Not all states are following this pattern. In August, South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced that he would be increasing the feed in tariff by 10 cents to 54 cents per kilowatt an hour.

Not only do the rates vary from state to state, but so too do the duration of subsidies.

Matthew Wright, the executive director of the non-profit, volunteer organisation Beyond Zero Emissions says that the recent changes by state and federal governments have not helped the industry to achieve its full potential.

“The main issue around it is the stop-start nature of policy, which basically means that industry can’t really scale and ramp in an orderly way, or follow thorough with the quality that is needed,” Wright says.

“So perhaps [the] market was a bit more heated in ramping faster than it needed to, but that didn’t mean that you pump it and dump it.”

Wright believes that a uniform feed in tariff would reward production and ensure consumers seek out better quality panels and installations.

“What we really need is a national approach, it should all be based around a feed in tariff . . . and renewable energy certificates should be eliminated as upfront subsidies because they don’t reward production,” he says.

Max Sylvester, general manager of Innovation at renewable energy company Energy Matters, says that the recent announcement by Mr Combet does have an impact on the stability of the industry, but also shows that solar energy is on the way up.

“It’s kind of bad for the industry, but it proves that the industry actually works and that people are producing meaningful amounts of power,” he says.

“I think it will play a huge role in the future . . . once the panel is produced, there’s no emissions from the energy that’s created from the panels. So it really is an emissions-free technology.”

Sylvester also believes that the industry is being unfairly blamed for rising electricity prices.

“It’s really the ageing infrastructure. There’s billions of dollars that needs to be invested into electricity infrastructure, but it’s nothing to do with solar. Nobody has spent any money on it in the last 30 years,” he says.

Sylvester points out that solar is the cheaper long term alternative for consumers, as coal-generated electricity prices continue to rise.

“If you work it out over 25 years, you’re paying probably 10 cents per kilowatt an hour, or maybe less because of the current rebates that we have [for solar]. Whereas you’re currently paying probably 15 to 20 cents per kilowatt an hour for electricity you’re using around the house. And that’s only increasing every year.”

Like any developing sector, there are many research projects underway to increase the presence of solar energy in Australia.

The Australian Solar Institute is funding 27 projects valued at $200 million across Australia. Twidell says that one such project is looking into the benefits and development of solar thermals.

“Solar thermal technology uses mirrors to focus the sun’s light in the same way that you might do with a magnifying glass. These projects offer the advantage of being able to store heat and generate electricity after dark, and one of the challenges of solar is that we like our electricity when we’re at home at night,” says Twidell.

“I would say that the future for solar energy is absolutely bright. The industry is doubling in size almost every year around the world . . . it’s certainly the world’s fastest growing energy industry.”

The saying “take only pictures, steal only time, leave only footprints” isn’t one you would normally associate with a three-day music festival – that is, until now. Nicky Champ discovers how Peats Ridge is environmentally redefining music festivals.

A chai tent at the 2008 Peats Ridge Festival. image: Chris Fape.

“For our recyclable materials, we have a return rate of about 85-90%,” says Nic Moodie, the Festival’s sustainability manager.

That is no mean feat for a music festival, the aftermath of Woodstock took weeks to clean up, and even then the rubbish was bulldozed into a pit and the garbage burned. Fast forward 40 years and the festival folk at Peats Ridge are making sure that we can have a good time and an environmentally sustainable event.

The high recycling rates can be put down to the container deposit system the festival introduced in 2004. Which is a bit like collecting aluminum cans for a 5c coin, only a lot more lucrative.

A $1 levy is added on to all drink vessels sold at the event and when the empty containers are taken to one of the many return stations set up at the festival, the $1 is refunded.

“It not only encourages recycling, it also provides the opportunity for people to make an income,” says Moodie.

With 120 musical acts scheduled to play over the three days the Festival’s environmental consciousness extends beyond recycling programs; the Eco Living Village is dedicated to educating individuals in developing practical ways of living sustainably.

These free workshops have been met with great success over the years and go on to have a positive effect on the patrons’ behavior around the environment long after they leave.

“90% of people come away from the Festival with more knowledge about living sustainably than they had before they came,” says Moodie.

This year Peats Ridge consulted with toilet experts Splashdown, (from the movie Kenny) to develop a world first, composting flushable toilets.

Now, before you conjure up any nightmare toilet scenarios you may have experienced at festivals past, know this: there is also going to be eight full-time staff to constantly clean the amenities throughout the event.

Since the Festivals inception in 2004 it has been the aim of the founder Matt Grant to create an event that marries sustainability with art, music and a rollicking great time – not to mention great toilets.

“We want people to live the life for a few days and not only have an incredible time, but to also come away thinking that sustainability can be a bit rock’n’roll as well,” says Moodie.

Festival goers may notice the solar powered stage sets look remotely familiar, that is, if you are a seasoned theatre goer. As chances are they came straight from the sets of the Belvoir Theatre or the NIDA in Sydney. The festival teams up with these theatre companies to reuse their old sets and at the same time helping them to reduce their waste to landfill.

This mutual relationship is one that the festival creates with many of their suppliers as well the local community. A vehicle levy for all cars coming to the event is spent on site remediation and carbon credits to offset the audience’s transport emissions. It’s recommended that you carpool or train it to Hornsby station where a shuttle will take you to the event. Or if you bike, a chaperoned ‘bike bus’ ensures you can take all your camping gear on the bus escort and cycle along the F3 highway in safety.

So whether music, juggling, hula hooping or can collecting is your thing, the organisers at Peats Ridge have ensured that the only footprints you leave at the Festival will be environmentally sustainable ones.

Josh Kenworthy | Melbourne, Australia

Brian Walters speaking at a rally in Melbourne on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in March. Image: Takver

It is Federal Election day, the 13th of March 1993. Brian Walters is standing outside Kilsyth Primary School handing out how to vote cards. “The Greens,” he says politely, but no one is paying much attention.

It is the first time the newly federated Greens have stood a federal candidate, Rebecca Wigney, and they are trying for the seat of La Trobe. “The Greens,” Walters says once more. “What is this?!” Says a large, middle-aged tradie with a Mediterranean accent as he snatches the how-to-vote card from him. “We’re the Greens,” says Walters bravely. “We stand for social justice and the environment.” The man pauses a moment and looks at him pityingly. “You are wasting your time!” he says gruffly, handing the card back before walking off.

“I had no idea of what sort of success we would ever have, but I thought if we didn’t do it I would regret not doing it,” Walters says of his early involvement with the burgeoning Greens movement in Victoria.

Fast-forward to September 20, 2010. Walters, the Greens candidate for the state seat of Melbourne, stands at the bar in court room three of the La Trobe Valley Magistrates court. Dressed in a navy suit with his left hand on his hip and right hand brandishing a pair of glasses, he sternly cross-examines a witness for the plaintiff. He is the barrister defending a young protester in trouble with the law after an incident at last year’s rally against Hazelwood power station.

To Walters and apparently a growing number of Melbournians, standing for social justice and the environment is no longer a waste of time. In the 2010 federal election, Adam Bandt won the seat of Melbourne becoming the first Green ever to win a lower house seat at a general election.

The electoral boundary of the federal seat of Melbourne, a Labor stronghold for over 100 years, includes three of the four state seats earmarked by experts as potential Greens wins in the November state election: Melbourne, Brunswick, and Richmond. Northcote is the fourth and is in the federal seat of Batman.

“It’s interesting, the state electoral behaviour in those four divisions more or less tracks what happens in the federal election,” says Dr Nick Economou, a senior lecturer in politics at Monash University.

“If the federal election’s any guide then Labor’s really going to struggle to hold onto Melbourne and it will probably struggle to hold onto Brunswick, so probably two, maybe as many as… four could go.”

Even 11-year incumbent member for the seat of Melbourne, Minister for Education, Bronwyn Pike, concedes that she is facing an uphill battle to hold onto her seat after winning it by only four per cent in the 2006 state election – the smallest margin of the four seats in jeopardy.

Pike believes Labor’s loss of the federal seat of Melbourne to the Greens was because of weakness on the “three critical issues” of asylum seekers, climate change and gay marriage. She hopes that people will look at her and the Brumby government’s ‘more favourable record’ on these issues, but still concedes there is a sense of dissatisfaction with major party politics in Melbourne.

Asked by Reportage Online whether the politics and the issues in the state election will be different she laughs nervously. “I hope they are. I hope people are listening,” she says.

While minor parties in Australia have had some fleeting electoral successes in the past – the now defunct Australian Democrats famously polled strongly in the 1990 federal election – none have has ever managed to grow and maintain the degree of voter concentration required to win a lower house seat as the Greens have.

The Greens do not often raise the fact that they heavily depend on Liberal preferences to win seats, but even so a look at the polling from the last two state elections reveals that the Green primary vote is growing in inner-Melbourne.

“I think the Greens are likely to be here to stay,” says Dr Paul Strangio, senior lecturer in politics at Monash University. “The interesting thing about the Greens is… that they have a geographic concentration in terms of their vote… They do have this concentration that is allowing them either to win or threaten to win seats in those areas.”

When David Ettershank moved to Kensington 15 years ago, a suburb in the north-west of the Melbourne electorate, it was a relatively poor, blue-collar neighbourhood known for being the location of a meatworks factory. Ettershank, Chairman of the Kensington Association, observes that since that time the suburb has undergone a profound demographic transformation.

“When I came to Kensington, it was, ‘where’s Kensington?’ Or ‘Why would you want to live in Kensington?’… Now it’s like 550,000 dollars for a small single-fronted Edwardian and if you throw a brick down the road you’ve got a 50 per cent chance of hitting a professional,” he says laughing.

Ettershank also observes a growing number of middle class families and students in the area.

According to a report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), “Environmental Awareness and Action,” a higher percentage of people with a non-high school qualification, “such as a bachelor degree or diploma” and those who have jobs are more likely to be concerned about the environment.

The ABS figures also showed that Australians over the age of 65 were less likely to be concerned about climate change. This may hint at one possible reason for the Green voting demographic in the inner-city.

It would be simple to attribute inner-Melbourne’s ‘Green trend’ to a single cause like a young and upwardly mobile trend, but Ettershank thinks that the public’s political persuasion is governed by a combination of dissatisfaction with “excessively pragmatic or sometimes moronic big party politics” as well as an affinity with the Greens’ progressive politics filling the ‘vacuum on the left, vacated by Labor.’

He believes the common public perception that “inappropriate developments” take place in Melbourne because of backroom deals between the government and developers is a major reason for voter distrust in Labor.

However, Ettershank is quick to point out that Minister Pike is generally held in high regard by the community and that the greatest drawback for her, apart from the growing Green vote, is the reputation of the Brumby Government for backing big and unpopular projects.

Various public transport issues such as cancelled, late and overcrowded trains as well as the beleaguered Myki ticketing system are also expected, by candidates and experts alike, to send inner-city voters ‘Greenward’ at the polls this November.

“I think it’s actually the number one issue,” Brian Walters says. “When I speak to people, I’ve been doorknocking for a year now, that’s the issue that keeps getting raised.”

Dr Economou expects the November state election will be fought on the issues that mainly concern Victoria’s outer suburbs which may see inner city voters’ priorities largely ignored.

“There are two contests going on, one more important than the other as far as the state election is concerned,” Economou says. “The contest between Labor and the coalition – that will determine who holds government and that will go on in the outer suburban seats and in the regional city seats of which… you’re looking at probably about 15 or 20 seats all told. And there’s a second contest going on in the inner city and there are only about four seats really that look like they could change hands.”

Given the longevity of the two-party system in Australia at both levels of politics and the fact the Greens are still only collecting roughly 12 per cent of the vote in Victoria and nationally, most are not game enough to place too much emphasis on the Green voting phenomenon.

Only time will tell whether it is the Greens in their own right or a momentary lack of a viable alternative that is causing the trend, but for now, especially in Melbourne, the Greens are moving in.

The food industry will face widespread contamination and human health will be put at risk if trials for genetically engineered (GE) wheat are allowed out of laboratory conditions and into the field. Elise Dalley reports.

If GE goes ahead, your next slice might be a health risk. Image: Emily Carlin

Sydney foodies have voiced their opinion firmly against engineered food products, after Greenpeace launched their Spliced Bread report late last month about the threat of GE wheat in Australia.

Executive chef at Sydney’s three-hatted Quay restaurant, Peter Gilmore, said interfering with the genetic structure of something as basic as wheat, is “wrong on so many levels”.

The respected restaurateur and advocate of fresh food, whose often servces fresh produce grown on his Blue Mountains farm, said he was deeply concerned about the implications genetically modified wheat will have on producers and consumers who value a clean and unpolluted path from farm to fork.

“The problem I see with GE food is that it is going to contaminate all the farmers who produce their own organic food. When the genie is out of the bottle, it’s out of the bottle and that is a real worry when you want to give your customers food that hasn’t been genetically modified,” he said.

Author of the Spliced Bread report, Claire Parfitt, said the key danger in injecting foreign genes into a seed extended beyond market concerns and into the human health realm.

“Australia is the global testing ground for genetically engineered wheat,” she said.

“But human consumption tests haven’t been done. What we do know is that feeding trials with animals have shown negative results, including enlarged liver, higher levels of allergic reactions and reduced fertility.”

In July this year, the federal government approved over 1300 GE wheat trials across the country and a month later, Monsanto, the owner of 90 per cent of the world’s genetically modified wheat crop, purchased a 20 per cent share in Intergrain, Australia’s largest wheat company.

Co-author of the 2010 Foodies Guide to Sydney, John Newton, said “the most instant, basic and nurturing of foods” and an “incredibly important” part of our western culture was on the verge of containing the seed of destruction for our environment, health and industry.

“The export market will be severely damaged.”

“The Italians, Japanese, Korean and Chinese told the world they would not buy GE wheat. America rejects it, Canada rejects it and we embrace it – I just don’t get it,” he said.

Research undertaken for the Spliced Bread report said commercial cultivation of GE crops “means the unfettered release of GE organisms into the environment”, and once released, such organisms are physically impossible to contain, due to wind and particle movement among animals.

“GE seeds have the potential to have all Australian wheat genetically modified and I personally think this is what [Monsanto] want,” Newton said.

Such claims have been made because GE seeds are patentable and farmers facing contamination would legally have to pay for future seeds to allow any further development.

And even without a GE future, the market has been slammed into the dirt in recent years.

In a separate report released in late October by the Australian Food and Grocery Council and KPMG, food imports were found to have risen above exports and the last five years have seen the industry shift from a $4 billion dollar surplus to a $2 billion deficit.

Sustainable gardener and presenter of SBS’s Garden Odyssey, Costa Georgiadis, said people were not aware of the GM war that had been waged against nature and have no idea of the implications it could have not only on the economy, but also on our health.

Georgiadis said more emphasis needed to be placed on educating the general public about the best ways to consume “fresh” food.

“If you grow something yourself, you realise things you put in your mouth are living and if you put chemicals in them, those chemicals end up in you.”

“We all are owed, as a right, chemical free food,” he said.

Michael Klausen, Peter Gilmore and Maarten Stapper at the Spliced Bread report launch. Image: Elise Dalley

“Good food is what you can taste and still see where it comes from. When you can’t see where food comes from, we should leave it on the shelves.”

“The consumer has all the power in the world, because you decide who has the products and who loses,” Stapper said.

Spokesperson from the Baking Industry Association of NSW and Director of Brasserie Breads, Michael Klausen, said the industry would keep the debate alive in order to get results.

“We have got to stand up and say that we do not accept that these things can happen and we do not accept it without the proper science behind it.”