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This Government has no balls.
Bend over.....
Bend over.....
Reef safeguard sacrificed secretly for US, Singapore
Leaked US embassy cables published by WikiLeaks have revealed that the government has "weakened" the compulsory pilotage regime for large vessels, including oil tankers, chemical tankers and liquefied gas carriers, sailing through the sensitive maritime environment of the Torres Strait.
The cables reveal that the US and Singaporean governments reacted strongly against the Howard government's October 2006 announcement of a compulsory pilotage regime in the Torres Strait designed to reduce the risk of oil and chemical spills in the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef.
The Howard government was unmoved. In early 2008 the new Labor government under Kevin Rudd would not change its position either.
However, in July 2008, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's international law branch, assistant secretary Adam McCarthy, told the US embassy in Canberra that "Australia recognises that it has not handled the Torres Strait pilotage issue particularly well" and indicated Canberra was prepared "to explore ways to address US concerns".
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/c...s-singapore-20110911-1k48j.html#ixzz2F6S2Jjwz