Media release - 23 October
2012 - Tony Burke, Minister for the Environment,
today announced the establishment of a National
Sustainability Council for Australia.
Mr Burke said the council
would provide independent advice to the
government on sustainability issues and
produce public reports against a set of
sustainability indicators.
"It was clear from
the Sustainable Population Strategy that
we need better information about how our
economy, environment and society interact
to inform better planning and decision making,"
Mr Burke said.
"That's why the
Government announced the Measuring Sustainability
program in the 2011-12 Budget.
"This program will
allow for the collection of data guided
by a set of sustainability indicators that
will measure our progress while delivering
capacity for better planning and decision
making.
"The indicators
will help us take a longer-term view and
consider how actions and decisions today
affect the opportunities available to future
generations.
"The National Sustainability
Council will report against the sustainability
indicators every two years, highlighting
key trends and emerging issues for policy
and decision makers and communities around
Australia."
The indicators will
provide information about our economic,
natural, social and human capital. They
will cover a broad range of issues including
housing supply, broadband internet connections,
water consumption, recycling rates, ecosystem
protection, educational attainment, feelings
of safety, under- and unemployment and mental
health.
"The Council will
be chaired by Professor John Thwaites, chair
of the Monash Sustainability Institute and
ClimateWorks Australia,'' Mr Burke said.
Professor Thwaites'
wealth of experience will be supported by
members covering a breadth of disciplines
and expertise.
More information on
the National Sustainability Council and
the sustainability indicators is at www.environment.gov.au/sustainability/measuring.
National Sustainability
Council
Chair
Professor John Thwaites,
Chair of the Monash Sustainability Institute
and ClimateWorks Australia
Members
Mr Rod Glover, public
policy and innovation expert, and former
Deputy Secretary with the Victorian Department
of Premier and Cabinet
Dr Tom Hatton PSM, Group
Executive, Energy, CSIRO and Chair of the
2011 State of the Environment Committee
Professor Graeme Hugo
AO, Director of the Australian Population
and Migration Research Centre and Australian
Research Council Professorial Fellow at
the University of Adelaide
Mr Mark Joiner, Executive
Director Finance, National Australia Bank
Ms Romilly Madew, Chief
Executive of the Green Building Council
of Australia
Ms Sam Mostyn, company
director and corporate sustainability advisor
Professor Sue Richardson
AM, Principal Research Fellow, National
Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University
+ More
Eavesdropping on the
elusive blue whale
Media release - 4 October
2012 - Australian Antarctic scientists have
successfully tested new acoustic technology
to track and locate scores of blue whales
hundreds of kilometres away by eavesdropping
on the resonating song of these rare and
elusive animals.
By using sound rather
than sight to initially detect the whales,
the scientists significantly improved the
likelihood of finding and counting whales
in the vast Southern Ocean.
The research is a core
part of an Australian-led international
project to estimate the abundance, distribution
and behaviour of the species which was decimated
in the early 1900s when industrial whaling
killed approximately 250,000 animals.
To test the technology,
the team of Australian Antarctic Division
scientists deployed directional sonobouys
in northern Bass Strait in January and March
this year.
Environment Minister
Tony Burke, who was given a demonstration
of the science in Hobart today, said he
applauded the innovation and dedication
of Australian scientists towards finding
out more about this magnificent creature.
"Blue whales are
under threat of extinction and improved
scientific knowledge will help in the conservation
and recovery of the species," he said.
"This research
reinforces Australia's commitment to non-lethal
research of whales.
"This contrasts
with Japan's so-called 'scientific whaling'
where the alleged research begins with a
harpoon.
"This breakthrough
project again shows you don't have to kill
a whale to study it."
Leader of the Australian
Marine Mammals Centre Dr Mike Double said
that over 20 days on the voyage there were
103 sightings of blue whales over a 10,000
km2 area.
"While blue whales
are the largest animals on earth, growing
up to 31 metres long, they're still very
difficult to find in a vast ocean and we
know very little about them," Dr Double
said.
"The real-time
passive acoustic tracking system was highly
effective at picking up their low frequency
calls from hundreds of kilometres of away,
thus maximising our chance of locating them."
The sonobouys allowed
researchers to record more than 500 hours
of audio including more than 20,000 blue
whale vocalisations.
"During the voyages
32 vocalising blue whales were detected
via acoustic tracking and of these 29 sightings
located one or more whales. That's a 90%
success rate!" Dr Double said.
Once the whales were
located they were photographed and biopsied
for further identification.
A prototype moored acoustic
recorder was also trialled, with the equipment
deployed for three days in a fixed position.
While the results from
this recorder are still being analysed,
the fixed moorings could be used to listen
for whale song for up to 15 months.
Mr Burke said the acoustic
technology will now be used in the Antarctic
Blue Whale Project, which will estimate
their abundance and migration patterns,
in January next year.
"The Blue Whale
Project is an initiative of international
Southern Ocean Research Partnership involving
nine countries," he said.
"The Blue Whale
is the largest creature in the history of
our planet; no dinosaur was ever as large
as a Blue Whale.
"When Australia
attends the International Whaling Commission
and some countries talk about so-called
'scientific whaling' we pursue programs
like this."
