Water

We look at the complex issue of violence as an occupational hazard for Journalists in Latin America, why the latest plan to save the Murray Darling River has been called ‘laughable’ by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, and we’ll hear how a community responds to Dart Energy beginning construction on the company’s first coal seam gas pilot production wells in the state.

This week - the UN cautions Australia on industrial development near the Great Barrier Reef, the Federal Government is looking to give away some of its environmental regulations to the states, and we look at managing e-waste in the Pacific.

The Federal Court gives the go ahead for the expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia. Kevin Buzzacott, Arabunna elder from Lake Eyre, was taking on BHP Billiton, the State of South Australia, and the Federal Environment Minister. And in Argentina the Government has renationalised one of the countries largest oil companies. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has taken back the country’s largest oil company, seizing a controlling share from Spanish Repsol.

There were delays in notifying workers of asbestos at the Barangaroo site in Inner Sydney, and hazardous chemicals found on the Pacific Highway during upgrade works. The latest draft for the Murray Darling Basin Plan is hotly contested by the South Australian Government, Environment groups and scientists saying it's not 'best science', and has attracted calls that it flouts Aboriginal Sovereignty over the water.

A look at industrial pollution, environmental regulations and communities affected by contamination. Mining companies are dumping waste tailings into oceans and rivers, the NSW EPA is overhauled, and we hear about the Newcastle community affected by the Orica spills.

Canadian miners Nautilus minerals has won approval from the PNG government to embark on a large commercial project more than a thousand metres underwater – mining mineral deposits around hydrothermal sulphur vents on the sea floor. The Solwara-1 project is the first commercial operation of its kind.