The Australian Greens welcomed confirmation today that the Rudd Government will not be removing parallel importation protection for books published in Australia, in a great victory for Australia's writers, publishers, printers and book-lovers.

The push to remove the protection came from supermarket booksellers and was opposed by the great majority of Australia's publishers, booksellers and writers. The Greens were pleased to support the campaign throughout.

While a small number of politicians have made a last-minute dash to join the Flat Earth Club,  the Australian Greens have welcomed a new report that has found wave energy could employ more than 14,000 Australians by 2050.

The report by Fremantle-based, Australian company, Carnegie Corporation Ltd and WWF says building 1,500MW of wave energy power stations by 2020 would create 3,210 Australian jobs and create enough energy to power 1.2 million households. By 2050, 14,380 jobs could be created, producing 12,000MW of clean, renewable power.

Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has written to the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) asking it to recommend against a takeover bid for Western Australia's Lynas Corporation by a Chinese Government owned corporation, with significant mining investments in Burma. He plans to take up the issue in Senate Estimates hearings next week.

If approved by the Treasurer on the advice of the FIRB, the deal would make the China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining Group (CNMC) a majority shareholder in Lynas, providing $500 million for the Mount Weld project in Western Australia.

Senator Ludlam (Western Australia) asked the Minister representing the Minister for Education, upon notice, on 22 January 2009:

To ask the Minister representing the Minister for Education-For each of the years in which the Commonwealth-State Agreement for Skilling Australia's Workforce has operated, what has been the unit price per student contact hour paid to each state.

Senator Carr (Victoria) (Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) -The Minister for Education has provide the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

Australian Green Senator Scott Ludlam says Treasurer Wayne Swan should block a potential deal between WA's Fortescue Metals and China's Hunan steel, due to the Chinese Communist Party's grim human rights record.

Fortescue Metals announced the details of the proposed half billion dollar deal this morning. It is the third Australian company in the last fortnight to announce plans for a deal with a Chinese state-backed company.

A forecast 10,000 WA mining jobs to be lost in the next 18 months calls for fresh thinking on the WA economy, the Australians Green say.

“Mines by their nature are finite. It is on this basis that WA has been experiencing a boom-bust economy for the past century,” Mining Spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said.

“Now, with hardship again looming for thousands of WA workers, it is time to re-skill and re-orient the economy to develop the prosperous industries of the future.

Governments at both a Federal and State level should prioritise green collar jobs for Western Australian workers as part of their forthcoming stimulus packages and infrastructure programs, as mining companies slash more than 4500 jobs across the state, says Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.

"This is a difficult time for many families in WA, and the Government needs to move fast to ensure that workers are given the retraining that they deserve. There are many opportunities as we transition to a low-carbon economy," Senator Ludlam said.

Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam has urged the Chamber of Minerals and Energy to wake up to the imminent effects of climate change, and stop jeopardising the economic viability of their industry, as well as our future, at a Public Hearing Joint Standing Committee on Treaties into the Kyoto Protocol this morning.