Ep 110. Resources Super Profit Tax and G20 in Toronto, Canada

Click to download: Ep 110. Resources Super Profit Tax and G20 in Toronto, Canada

First to air: 01/07/2010
Presented by James and Libby

Resources Super Profits Tax

Julia Gillard has been meeting with mining executives over the past couple of days to negotiate further about the Resources Super Profit Tax. Mining companies have said that the proposed 40 percent tax rate is unreasonable. But how this could even work is uncertain, as the resources tax was expected to contribute over $1 billion in revenue to the budgets of 2012 and 2013.

The Third Degrees Libby King caught up with John Hepburn from Greenpeace to discuss what the resources tax under Rudd might have looked like, and how may change in the future.


Toronto G20 Summit

Canada played host to a meeting of the G20. The G20 has been described as a meeting of leaders from the richest and most powerful nations, as well as leaders and elites from selected southern countries. Remarkably during the summit, this week the executives of the world’s richest corporations were also given a seat alongside prime ministers and presidents in deciding the G20’s global economic agenda.

Democracy Now have been covering the summit in depth and on the show we played an interview Amy Gooman conducted with Indigenous leader Art Manuel, former Chief of the Neskonlith Band in British Columbia and spokesperson for the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade, joins us to talk about the struggle for indigenous rights and sovereignty in the context of the G20 summit. Visit Democracynow.com for the full interview and more coverage of the G20 summit.

Ep. 36. New Year's Day Special!

Aired on 1 January 2009.

Click to Download: Ep. 36. New Year's Day Special!

10 000 Riel and a Case of Wine
Equivalent to around $2.50 - a paltry payout to displaced indigenous landholders in Cambodia, and also the name of a new documentary by a young Sydney film-maker. The documentary spolights some of the big players behind land-grabs in Cambodia; some transnational corporations fetching up to 100 million hectraes of land for aluminium smelters, logging and the like, leaving local communities without their livelihoods - but they're not going without a fight.

SCAG and Direct Action Penalties
The Chair of the Ministerial Council on Energy has asked the Standing Committee of Attourneys General, 'SCAG', to undertake a review of penalties that apply to unlawful disruption of energy facilities. The request emphasises, as a matter of urgency, the importance of protecting energy infrastructure and preserving energy security for "the Australian economy and way of life". This request comes alongside the Government's release of their 5% emissions reduction target and the expected demonstrations against what many are calling an inadequate response to climate change. NSW MP Lee Rhiannon spoke with The 3rd Degree's Libby King.

Emissions Trading Schemes
Following on from the release of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme White Paper, we take a closer look at the merits of an emissions trading scheme, and paint what international context we can expect for 2009. Is an ETS essentially 'privatising the air'? What does it mean for global trade agreements? Will it further increase international inequalities?

This Week's Guests: Tim Frewer, Sydney student and maker of '10 000 Riel' talks us through some horrifying Cambodian and international land and environment politics; Adam Wolfenden from the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) talks about discriminatory trade agreements and emissions trading schemes.

And we all battle with hangovers. Happy New Year :)

Presenters: Nick Hollins and Tessa Dowdell