Australia’s prime minister promised yesterday to create 50,000 “green” jobs and apprenticeships to combat climate change and unemployment simultaneously.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has prioritized environmental legislation this year even as his government forecast that Australian unemployment would rise to 8.5 percent next year from the current 5.8 percent because of the global downturn.
“The government I lead will not stand idly by while thousands of young Australians have their hopes crushed by a global recession not of their own making,” Rudd told the Labor Party conference.
The “green” jobs package includes 30,000 apprentice positions that offer training in environment-friendly building practices, such as installing solar energy panels and water recycling systems, and retrofitting homes to be more energy efficient.
The program will also create 10,000 positions in a national Green Jobs Corps that will provide environmental training for unemployed people aged between 18 and 24, and employ them in public works projects, such as planting trees and restoring walking tracks. Money would also be poured into another 10,000 jobs that encourage sustainability and green building practices.
Rudd said the A$94 million (US$77 million) job creation and training program was aimed at helping youth obtain new skills “that will be highly relevant to a lower-carbon economy in the future.”
The announcement was welcomed by Sharan Burrow, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, who called it “a great step forward.”
“It’s a recognition that here is a prime minister who is determined to act on unemployment,” Burrow said.
Funding for the two-year “green” program will come out of money already budgeted for vocational education, a press release issued by Rudd’s office said.
Rudd has focused heavily on the environment this year and is pushing tough legislation to curb Australia’s emissions of carbon dioxide. Most opposition parties oppose the legislation, which goes before the Senate next month.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability