Comments

quark

Thu, 2014-10-23 17:00

I am told from a reliable source that there was a crowd of people at "Gough's house " around 1.30pm today laying down flowers and protesting the imminent demolition. I believe that the Victorian Minster for Planning has now stepped in and the house will not be destroyed.

P.W. (not verified)

Thu, 2014-10-23 15:49

Congratulations to Scott Morrison MP, Minister for Immigration, on tightening Australian border controls. Now we need a reduction in Australia's immigration to increase our participation rate and thus reduce reliance on social security payments. Also increased skills training and incentives for companies to provide their own workforce training would help. With infrastructure spending of $100,000 per additional person and at least double this in service provision, benefits should be offered to companies providing training. Companies relying on importing skills through avenues such as 457 visas should be required to pay a significant portion of the $300,000. Imported workers may pay tax while they are in Australia however they have not contributed to the infrastructure and services provided over many years by resident Australian taxpayers.

ECOENGINE (not verified)

Thu, 2014-10-23 13:51

An NRMA-commissioned report on the nation’s liquid fuel security, released in February, says that Australia’s liquid fuel stocks have slumped by 16 per cent in less than a year and that the country is now hurtling towards 100 per cent dependence on imported liquid fuel and oil for transport. Even our Defence Force will be relying on imported fuel.

Australia’s Liquid Fuel Security report is the second part of an inaugural study released last year and paints a bleak picture of a country which it says does not have a viable level of fuel security, or a government plan to improve the situation at a time when local refineries are closing.

According to the company, Australia now sources 90% of its crude and fuel imports for transport, up from just 60% in 2000. Even the Australian Navy is feeling the heat with news that the domestic supply of a special type of fuel will no longer be refined locally by mid-2014.

The NRMA-commissioned report on the nation’s liquid fuel security warns that Australia’s severely declining oil refining industry, and increasing demand for liquid fuels, could result in a scenario in 2030 where it has less than 20 days worth of fuel in reserve, and 100 per cent imported liquid fuel dependency. It's a threat to our nation's security. The report, updated by Jamison in 2010, proposed a series of steps to end Australia’s dependence on imported oil and secure its own transport energy future.

China, India, and other developing countries in Asia account for 72 per cent of the net world increase in liquid fuels consumption, with Middle East consumers accounting for another 13 per cent.

Twenty-eight per cent of the refining industry is set to close by the end of this year, according to report's author, retired Air Vice-Marshal Blackburn. The former deputy head of the RAAF also accused previous reviews of energy security of being purely economic. He urged the government to consider dropping barriers to the adoption of gas as vehicle fuel and to work with the refining industry to retain capacity in Australia. However, our LNG is being sold off at export prices for the overseas market!

The Reserve Our Gas coalition will not apologise for pointing out Australia is the only gas-exporting nation on earth allowing a free-for-all on the export of its gas. Australian gas prices are projected to triple over coming years as a result.
“Let me make this absolutely crystal clear: Australia is the only nation on earth allowing multinational gas companies to extract our gas - without restriction - and sell it back to us at the high global price,” AWU National Secretary and Reserve Our Gas spokesperson Mr McDine said.

Sign the petition!

According to the ABS, renewable energy extraction, which has been steadily increasing since 2008-09, decreased in 2011-12 by 15 PJ and remains at 2% of total domestic energy production. Solar energy extraction increased by 3 PJ, or 21% and hydro-electricity supply, which fluctuates according to water availability, decreased by 10 PJ, or 16%. Our government's belief in the cornucopia myth, and anti-science stance, could finally jeopardize the eternal "growth" paradigm!

quark

Thu, 2014-10-23 11:09

The coincidence that the home where E. Gough Whitlam was born, in Kew, Victoria, was to be demolished the day or the day after Whitlam's death has highlighted an insidious part of the Foreign Investment Review Board set of rules. An article in “the Age today says "The ticking time bomb beneath 46 Rowland Street is a restriction on foreign buyers of established Australian homes, which states they must demolish and rebuild within two years. Ngara was bought by overseas buyer Youquing Liang for $3.3 million in November 2013, and the new owner has just over a year to level the property and construct a new residence, or face potential difficulties with the Foreign Investment Review Board." The demolition of Melbourne's built heritage quite apart from any historical significance such as being the birth place of a Prime Minister is of huge annoyance and dismay to local residents. This is what the website of FIRB says "..Foreigners can normally get approval to buy vacant land as long as they start continuous construction within 12 months. Foreigners can normally get approval to buy existing residences for redevelopment- as long as this will increase the supply of housing. As well, the house must remain unoccupied during re-development." Is Gough bringing this to the public mind and having a final say?

Bandicoot

Thu, 2014-10-23 10:58

Animals Australia's chief investigator Lyn White says the evidence of Australian animals being slaughtered outside the official supply chain in the Middle East is proof that the live export system is not working. Cattle are being tied up and stabbed in the neck and live sheep are being thrown into car boots, struggling and bloodied! People are watching and cheering the atrocities. The live export supply chain assurances are NOT working and are a sham! Animals Australia's chief investigator, Lynn White, said that there has not seen a single charge laid, or a single prosecution launched against any export company despite the fact that these are ongoing, deliberate breaches of Australian regulations. The ESCAS system is a paper tiger, meant to give false assurances and quieten the concerned public. Thanks to Animals Australia, this corruption has been exposed - again! "This is criminal behaviour, ongoing, deliberate breaches of Australian regulations by large, influential companies that are showing absolute contempt for these regulations and treating the Australian Government as fools," she said. ‘Tough Australian regulations’ mean very little when animals are still being beaten, stabbed, and brutalised. They mean even less when those responsible for cruelty are permitted to reoffend without sanction". It's like having a legal system, that's ignored! Of course crime will proliferate. If live export regulations cannot stop animal welfare atrocities from continuing, the answer is simple: the live export trade must end. This is about sacrificing animals on the altar of big $$ at the loss of Australia's integrity. Animals Australia: TAKE ACTION: Live export: it’s a crime against animals

ECOENGINE (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-22 16:03

Mr Whitlam will be remembered as one of Labor’s great prime ministers, with visionary reforms that helped Australia grow up - but it wasn't through massive population growth! Whitlam removed the last vestiges of the White Australia policy, and the concept of a multicultural Australian society became government policy for the first time. He helped bring English as a second language classes to migrant schoolchildren and adults. When Gough Whitlam came into power, immigration plummeted. In 1970, the Liberal government of John Gorton had admitted 185,000 migrants. The Whitlam government shrunk that to just over 50,000. He was interested in urban development, but matched to a sustainable population size. When Bob Hawke, a "big immigration man", took government in 1983, the immigration intake dropped by more than a third, but it crept up over the next decade. When Paul Keating took over, it plummeted again. Now, the levels of we have dwarf the levels we had in the past! A policy of zero net immigration, matching the number of emigrants, plus a ban on foreign investors and predatory buying of negative gearing properties for the wealthy, would see a rise in affordable housing - but our capitalist government has been hijacked by corporate interests, at the expense of good and democratic government. With the end of the Whitlam government, and true leadership for the benefit of Australians, we lost a chance of an independent, sustainable, affordable future.

The Prognosticator (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-22 11:23

High immigration, likelihood of future economic gloom. Perfect recipe for rampant xenophobia and division. Made even worse by the fact that there is clear division with regards to where Australia should go. Add to this the propensity of Australians to accept a police state, authoritarianism and such, and you've got the perfect recipe for a quasi fascist takeover. Why the hell would young Australians pay through the nose to live here, when they can pack up and leave and have a fighting chance OS. (where overseas? - Ed) This government must hate young Aussies. The entrenched oldies must think they have capitve debt slaves.

Michael S.

Wed, 2014-10-22 10:00

All his other great social changes needed a sustainable environment to support them. John Pilger's book, The Secret Country, explains why the US was so opposed to Whitlam. I'm not sure whether John Pilger also supports the logic of stabilising population. To put the greatness of Whitlam into context as a long term thinker, the period from 1973 to 1980 represented the most extreme rate of global inflation in the history of the modern world. The $4 billion that Whitlam planned to borrow would have been the best investment by Australian Government in the history of Australia. Gough was Great.

Waioona (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-22 09:34

Thanks for the article Sheila. Gough was arguably Australia's greatest politician and leader, certainly in my lifetime. A man of vision, strength, compassion and humility. Our current crop of would bes and never will bes on tip toes only reach his ankles. Such is life!!

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-22 08:34

"The Whitlam government was a government by intellectuals at a time of heightened ecological and environmental concern". Now, the growthist in power simply use high immigration, and population growth, as a no-brainer way to increase GDP and "economic growth" -ignoring the costs! Australia’s dependence on traditional and imported liquid fuel sources and transport technologies is putting our national security – and very way of life – at risk, a new study by NRMA has found. “There is no plan to stop our dependency growing to 100% or to halt the further decline of our fuel security.” At the same time the use of transport keeps increasing, along with freeways, road, tunnels, and urban sprawl. “While we export record amounts of gas to other parts of the world for their energy use, we should also start developing it for our own transport consumption at home", says the report! However, without gas reserves for domestic use, gas prices are expected to soar and burn holes in household budgets. Multinational companies can set their own prices, and no doubt we will have manufactured "shortages" and be forced to use CSG mining. Immigration is a big industry in Australia. Policies, numbers and all the visa types are internally controlled, and they make their decisions in a vacuum. There's no relationship to existing human resources, the unemployed, grass roots concerns, existing skills, existing population pressures, or our economic landscape! They simply whip up all these multiple varieties of visas, permanent and temporary, and rake in enormous fees and charges. This industry is discriminating against Australians, and is like a self-destructive cancer, costing more to us than any benefits. They are still operating in a colonial, or post war, mentality and should be reined in, and be relevant for the 21st century. Our so-called "skills shortages" is a complete scam! Labor and Liberals have bowed down too tong to the "immigration" Department's power, of cash and outdated ideology. Australian's sovereignty is under threat, and we need a referendum on immigration! Immigration is a no-brainer, and avoids the use of intellectual capacity and real planning. We should be investing in innovative 21 st century technologies, productivity, manufacturing, high standards of education for job full employment and job retention, not just keep adding people! Unfortunately, there are few politicians of Whitlam's calibre now, with vision and patriotic love for our country. Now, it's all short-term policies for immediate cash flows, and generic "growth" devoid of long term implications!

Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 2014-10-21 10:33

People are complaining because of lack of planning - and what's happening is that Melbourne and it's suburbs are being wantonly surrendered to property developers and planners for their vested interests. Behind the "population growth" is demographic engineering, or massive increases in net overseas immigration - not organic or natural reproductive rates!

Between 2000 and 2001, net overseas immigration numbers were are about 80.000. Now the numbers have soared to 241,000 permanent immigration and set to increase again next year. (not counting humanitarian intake or New Zealanders who do not require a visa).

The public are not being given any right to query the overwhelming of Melbourne by housing growth, and suburbs being forced to accept high density housing at the detriment of living standards and traditional values.

We need some real economic activities, not just a heavy reliance on the overly easy option of housing - and the downstream costs of population growth.

Any other method of stimulating our economy, apart for amassing people, would take innovation, thought, planning and intellectual capacity. Population growth, the selling off of our housing and "lifestyle", is a no-brainer and an easy option. Real economic growth requires investment in productivity, knowledge industries, and creativity, A flow of immigrants is a short-term option, one that produces cash flows but downstream accumulates massive infrastructure debts, and actually dilutes the "lifestyle" that's being promoted!

As writer Donald Horne said, "Australia is a Lucky Country, run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck".

SMH:Melbourne going skyhigh but so are complaints about planning at http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/melbournes-going-skyhigh-but-so-are-complaints-about-planning-20141016-116vxe.html

Dennis K

Mon, 2014-10-20 19:55

http://russia-insider.com/en/politics_ukraine_opinion_media_watch_snowden/2014/10/17/02-55-08pm/ri_exclusive_oliver_stones_full Quoted from the hyperlink... "On the internet you can find good reporters who do not work for a lot of money, but it’s their mission." (He's talking about RI! - editors) Oliver Stone, one of America's most celebrated film makers, was in Moscow in September, working on his upcoming biopic of Edward Snowden and a new documentary about the Ukraine catastrophe. He gave this long interview to a major Russian newspaper. Small parts of it have been published in English elsewhere, but we got our hands on the original transcript, and are delighted to share it with you here, in full, for the first time. In the interview, Stone slams America's foreign policy, media and historical revisionism. Stone is a remarkable phenomenon on the American cultural scene. Best known for a slew of iconic films like Wall Street, Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July , he has also created many films that are harshly critical of the US - about the JFK assassination, 9/11, US funded terrrorism in Latin America, Richard Nixon, Vietnam, corruption on Wall Street, and Cuba. He is an ardent defender of Edward Snowden, which is why he's making a movie about him. He is an outspoken and relentless critic of much that is wrong with America today. His latest film, which aired in the US in 2012, is a 10-part documentary about the history of the US since WW2, which he describes as the most important thing he has ever done. In the film, he seeks to debunk what he sees as lies which are widely taught to Americans, and largely accepted as true. The series will air on Russian television in the near future. This is an extraordinary interview. We agree wholeheartedly with most of what he says. We found ourselves wondering, how is it possible, that this man, not a professional journalist or historian, understands what is going on in Ukraine and Russia and the mess the US has gotten itself into, better than the combined western media and Washington policy makers? One reason is that he gets his news from blogs, not from the mainstream media. We pulled what we thought were some of the best quotes from the article. Sorry for the long list, there were just so many of them! "We are hurting ... ourselves. Russia will find new partners in the East and Eurasia. ... Russia will go on with or without sanctions." "Today it is impossible to get the truth from [the American media]." "And now with the crisis in Ukraine stories continue to be false... (the) American people are being fed by television and other media with stories about Russian aggression. This is very dangerous." "In my opinion, Russia is a natural ally of the United States.... it’s a shame." "I think many Americans would agree with me that the United States is on the wrong path - the path of war and aggression." "America is trying to surround China and Russia. The prize in this fight is Eurasia where the biggest resources lie." "The people in Washington feel that we have a right to rule the world, and so it’s in our interest to destabilize Russia: divide Ukraine, to change the government in Moscow. It started a few years ago. Remove Putin, remove new Russia, and then go after China." "I’m working with Ukrainian producers who are making a documentary 'Ukraine on fire' about the history of the crisis in that country." "When Putin took the Snowden decision or, for example, when he made an offer to destroy chemical weapons in Syria, he really helped the world and contributed to the peace on our planet." "I'm working on a drama about Edward Snowden. ... We hope to start shooting early next year and have it out by the end of 2015...I met [Snowden] in Moscow, as well as with many other people around this situation." "Russians have a completely different point of view on the First and the Second World Wars. Americans don’t understand a lot of the history of these wars ...I care very much about teaching history to younger people." "The crisis in Ukraine in some way is as serious to me as the Cuba crisis in 1961-62 years and the Berlin situation. It's scary to me." "In my opinion, the Russian destruction of most of the German military machine saved at least a million American lives." "We had to thank the Russian for that, to be their allies and to trust them. But President Truman and business elite in Wall Street hadn’t a single moment of thanks. American bankers and the rich have always hated Russia." "In 2008...I just felt so depressed about what was happening to the United States - my country that I love. Bush distorted everything I believed in as a child and as a young man. I began to study American history..." "...the United States had misrepresented the spirit in which Gorbachev made the agreement with Bush on the reunification of Germany, the expansion of NATO and others..." "The United States is a strange country. Studying its history one can come to a conclusion that it always needs an enemy, whether it’s a communism or something else." "The United States wanted to make Russia a capitalist country, sending its experts, so-called Harvard boys, who advised and freed up economy. And the result was a gangster economy." "Taking back the state back from the hands of the gangsters was a very important move for Russia. On that basis I certainly admire Putin as a strong man." "People in Moscow ... have a deep soul, and when you spend time with them, you realize that they are warm and giving people. Certainly it’s not the picture painted of Russia or Putin. I like Russian people." "I understand why Putin could not give up Crimea. Western institutions - EU, NATO, IMF - would like to have influence, run and control Ukraine." "It is the United States that is invasive and pushing constantly the limits of patience of Russia, as it was with NATO's eastward expansion. It’s a very dangerous situation." "For a man who went to war McCain seems to have learned nothing. In my mind he was on the wrong side of every political decision the United States made since the Vietnam war. I think something is wrong with him." "The United States never experienced war, we don’t know how devastating is it. ... We go and bring harm to others, militarize countries and regions."

DennisK (not verified)

Mon, 2014-10-20 15:30

Australia has one of the highest levels of private debt. Our houses are expensive, and we go into deep debt to finance high prices. Welcome to modern "economics", where a liability is counted as an asset. It takes quite a bit of mental gymnastics to work around it, but we have. Do you owe a million? You're rich! Owe even more, you must be wealthier. Why, if I take out a 50,000 dollar loan to buy a second hand Toyota Corolla, I must therefore be richer than the guy who has the older model which is paid off. My car is worth 50K! This is insanity, one that will lead to another financial crisis. Perhaps only a collapse will end the madness. Who knows..

PostGrowthEra

Mon, 2014-10-20 10:37

The fifth annual study by the Swiss bank of global wealth trends found the median Australian adult was worth more than $US225,000 ($258,000) in June. Credit Suisse says Australians deserve their spot at number one because of the rapid accumulation of wealth, especially household property wealth, over the past 14 years. Property makes Australians the world's richest Brian White, chairman of one of Australia’s largest real estate groups Ray White, said much of our wealth could be attributed to our obsession with owning property. It's not an "obsession" but was part of being one of the world's richest countries in the past, and a naturally assumed as normal when houses and land were cheap! We were once called a "lucky country" not for nothing! Highly inflated house prices is not necessarily an indication of "wealth", or an owned asset, unless the owner is an investor. How many of these housing "assets" are actually debts? Released last month, Veda’s second Australian Credit Scorecard report showed that of the 2.1 million people at risk of mortgage default in the next year, 601,380 are at high to extreme risk. On the index measuring price-to-income ratio, Australia clocks in at 140, indicating home prices, relative to income levels, are 40 per cent higher than the historical average. Australian homes ranked fifth among the world's most ''overvalued'' housing markets. Low interests rates, high population growth, and a flush of Asian investments has caused a rush of reckless investments. All this "wealth" in Australia is balanced on a flimsy pedestal, and can easily be knocked over when the housing bubble is deflated. Australia's wealth should be based on productivity, knowledge-investment and 21 century innovation, not on the dubious nature of housing and mortgage growth. "Wealth" based on property is simply fools gold, a glossy facade to increasing poverty and struggles to afford housing. Ponzi schemes are always alluring, but the wealth gravitates to the apex, and the rest of those participating end up being drained of their earnings- or discarded!

admin

Sun, 2014-10-19 21:23

From Animal Justice Party trots, waddles and runs for Parliament (4/10/14) by Farah Tomazin from the Age:

It was a pre-election rally for creatures great and small.

Some wanted jumps racing banned. Others wanted a genuine crackdown on puppy farms. And some called for an end to ducks being killed in the name of sport.

With eights weeks until the state election, activists, politicians, pets and owners gathered on the steps of state parliament on Saturday united by a single cause: animal welfare.

The newest micro party to be registered this week - the Animal Justice Party – used the forum to put the major parties on notice, particular in the upper house, where the balance of power is up for grabs.

More than 20 candidates would contest November's poll, convener Bruce Poon declared, "and they're standing for, and on behalf of animals, who can't do it for themselves."

...

The crowd also called for jumps racing to be banned. However, Dr Napthine – who is also Victoria's racing minister – is a strong supporter of jumps racing and argues that government investment has improved safety over the years.

Editorial comment: Whilst candobetter.net fully endorses the Animal Justice Party, having a large number of 'micro-parties' like the Animal Justice Party contesting the ballot poses problems for Victorian voters. As the article above indicates, a large number of issues, apart from animal justice will be decided on 29 November. It is our hope that each Victorian voter will be given an opportunity to vote for at least one candidate, in his/her own electorate as well as in the upper house, who takes what we consider to be the correct, principled stance on all of the issues listed above including animal justice.

Were a voter to be be faced with a number of candidates each supporting only a single, if laudable cause, we recommend that that voter get around this with the preferential voting system. If she/he decides to give her/his first preference to the Animal Justice Party, then she/he should give her/his second, then third and fourth preferences to other candidates who are in favour of some or all of the other policies listed above and he/she should be sure to put preferences for those parties ahead of preferences for either of the major party candidates. It may make a difference, particularly in the upper house.

Dennis K

Sat, 2014-10-18 13:51

I take the view and modern day morality regarding movement of peoples is little more than the old colonial/imperial mentality inverted. That is, it the same mentality exists as back then, but it has been turned inwards rather than shredded. The post colonial world didn't adjust to life after colonialism and imperialism, but reinvented it. The result is something eerily similar. An acquisition of foreign resources/people, enriching us though coming at a loss to the nations these people are coming from, a desire to "collect" or otherwise consider as an "asset" peoples from around the world (as if nationalities were a comic book collection) and a seeming indifference to the problems they face (note how few people who regard incoming skills and people as a boon, give any thought to the corresponding less to a (often) less well off country). As Vicki said, this is not reciprocated. We'll take your doctors, but if you need help, oops, tough luck.

vicki (not verified)

Sat, 2014-10-18 11:17

This excellent letter was published in the Age today. It might also be said, that in addition to poaching doctors and nurses, the rest of the world is stealing Africa's land (and has been doing so now for many centuries) and atomizing all its social and ecological systems. This, in the guise of 'development' which is really exploitation and looting. "Why is Africa so short of doctors to fight Ebola? Because affluent, unethical Western countries staff their hospitals with doctors and nurses recruited, without compensation, from Africa and other developing countries to economise on training their own people. According to the British Medical Journal, the countries benefiting the most from poaching overseas-educated doctors in 2011 were the UK (by $US2.7 billion); America ($846 million), Australia ($621 million) and Canada ($384 million). Nine sub-Saharan countries lost $2 billion through the doctor brain drain. Africa has been left to battle HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and Ebola with weakened health systems. Now, unconscionably, countries like Australia baulk at reciprocating expertise, even under emergency circumstances. Meanwhile, the non-binding WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (2010) discourages ''active recruitment of health personnel from developing countries with critical shortages of health workers''. Western economic rationalism has been instrumental in undermining health resources across Africa, effectively fuelling the Ebola crisis, while also running down the public health systems that will confront Ebola in the West. ''Saving'' money this way is proving anything but smart. Barbara Chapman, Hawthorn"

Anonymous (not verified)

Sat, 2014-10-18 08:53

With massive population growth over the last decades, migration of people across the globe has increased tremendously. Moreover, flooding, desertification and other predicted impacts of climate change could force millions of others to migrate. The global stock of international migrants was around 231 million in 2013, representing 3% of the world’s population.
In today's globally connected world, one infected person can carry a disease from any place in the world to another within 24 hours.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) describes Ebola as "one of the world's most deadly diseases." "It is a highly infectious virus that can kill up to 90% of the people who catch it, causing terror among infected communities," it says.

With every connecting flight carrying passengers who have recently been in the Ebola-ravaged countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea or Liberia, the chances of another exportation of the disease increases. The World Health Organization says West Africa could see up to 10,000 new Ebola cases a week within two months, dramatically up from the 9,000 cases reported so far, about half of whom have died.

Several African nations have restricted or banned air travel from Ebola-stricken countries, and airlines including Kenya Airways, British Airways, Air Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria's Arik Air have suspended flights from the countries.

If a Western country is truly intent on keeping Ebola out, it has to go further than banning direct flights from the worst-affected places and must also target global hubs.

In all of this discussion what's been lost or ignored is that unchecked immigration from the third world brings with it third world problems. In the past 50 years, a total of 900 cases of leprosy affected the American population. Today because of massive immigration from third world countries, 7,000 Americans suffer with leprosy. It is a mystery why the United States allows any travelers at all to fly from the Ebola-infected countries of West Africa into American airports. A deeper answer is that much of the American establishment has bought into “post-America”—the concept that the border shouldn’t mean much of anything.

SARS and Swine Flu demonstrated only too well how quickly infections can spread around the world accompanying human movement and ebola threatens to follow the same route.

admin

Fri, 2014-10-17 01:38

This was posted to the article on the John Quiggin blog site referred to above

Megan @ #3,

Below I include, as an appendix, what I had mistakenly posted on 16 October to "Yesterdays' Enemies, ..." (7/10/14), instead of "Monday message Board" (6/10/14).

In Victoria, both major parties are committed to flogging of the Port of Melbourne whoever wins government on 29 November.

As the events in Queensland show, our best hope of blocking assets sales lies with good independent or small party candidates being elected to Parliament on 29 November.

In the hope of helping to bring this about, I have posted to my web-site the article linked to in the appendix.

James

Appendix: Issues that should be decided at the 29 November Victorian State elections

Victorian voters could on Saturday 29 November begin take back their state Parliament from the vested interests that are now running Victoria.

If presented with open, informed discussion there is every reason to hope that a far larger proportion of Victorians than in previous years will vote for good independent or small party candidates and not for either of the two major parties.

...

If you support these policies, and you know of a candidate in your electorate who also supports these polices, please consider offering to help him/her. Alternatively, if there is no candidate who supports these policies standing in your electorate or upper house region, the why not consider nominating yourself?

...

Dennis K

Thu, 2014-10-16 22:34

[Candobetter.net editor: I did some reparagraphing below, to emphasise the concepts. I hope the author will forgive me.] I would suggest that what is missing most of all, is the sense, or hold, of a continuous, organic society which is the product of community choices and development and individual reproductive choices, over that "society" which engineered from outside to achieve some technocratic and economic targets. Patriotism without that deep sense of community is nothing more than shallow barracking for a "Team", hence why Abbott uses "Team Australia" (I note he didn't invent the term). Its a shallow interpretation of what a nation is. Australian needs first and foremost, not so much to wave the flag, wear "Love it or leave it", demanding "assimilation" from migrants, T-Shirts or mindless support anything "Australian", but to take back ownership over their own immediate environment and social and community spheres. It is a matter of people reasserting their sovereignty over their own nation, and placing this personal ownership at a higher level and viewing institutions, technocrats, plutocrats, even intellectuals and pundits as having diminished rights to steer the nation. This kind of "enlightened nationalism" is good, leads to prosperity and freedom, but the desire to do this can be easily usurped by those seeking to channel this into some statist, rule from top down structure. As for the need to become Asianised to join the Asian Century, or be a regional player, or whatever, I've heard this before and it seems somewhat strange and morally quite hazardous. It is one thing to oppose White Australia Policy on principles of not discriminating entrants based on race (though we seem to have no issue discriminating based on skills or wealth, which for many, is also a matter of birth), it is another to suggest that a population has a "problem" and needs diversity. Note that I'm specifically referring to calls for a need of diversity, and not diversity in and of itself. The issue is that if one supposes that a nation or people can be improved by such means, then it must mean there is a corollary, that there is a problem which needs fixing, and this problem is ethnic/racial in nature (rather than say, political or cultural(cultural in the true sense, not the euphemistic sense). And when we start accepting premises, such as what Donald Horne put forward, then this leads to supposing that a people perhaps should be made less prevalent for the state to proceed, which is eerily similar to the thought processes that go behind some genocides. Not that I'm suggesting that people are going to start killing to change Australia's make up, but there are many subtle cultural and political changes which can occur with this morality as its basis and I think people need to be on guard for these.

Dennis K

Thu, 2014-10-16 22:13

Both Mr Thompson and Mr Doyle admitted that population was a problem, but as far as I heard (and I did listen intently), only Mr Thompson proposed a solution, or at the very least, means by which future problems could be significantly lessened. Doyle unfortunately only had vague notions of "Smart Growth" instead of what we've been having, which us "Dumb Growth". As there is no concrete plan at all for "Smart Growth", and Doyle was quite vague on it (choosing to give a salesman pitch about immigration and a kind of "I dare you to say you want it lowered" rhetoric), which makes me think it doesn't exist. Consider what limiting growth to transport corridors, and stopping urban sprawl will, do. Consider that this is done with the current level of immigration (and increasing!). The massive population influx will be channelled to even smaller areas, creating higher house price spikes in these corridors and higher saturation of roads and rail systems. The property lobby will somehow have to accept not developing at the urban fringes, and reducing subdivision and infill in non-corridor areas. This seems highly unlikely, and we can be pretty sure that there is more chance of liquid Helium freezing over, than Doyle doing anything to constrain developers and go against the lobby (which profits most form dumb growth). There were a few other fallacies as well. Doyle said the birthrate would still lead to population growth, but reducing immigration would also reduce the birthrate further. The reason being, that population growth through immigration involved bringing in people who are predominantly of child bearing age (and will have children). Population growth naturally occurring does not immediately raise the birthrate, as it will take about 20 years for those babies to start having children. Immigrants can, and do, have them soon after arriving, and skew the demographic towards the fertile age groups (increasing birthrates per capita). Secondly, Doyle suggested that somehow there would be a problem implementing Kelvin's solution, as if somehow you couldn't turn people back (Liberals do this all the time, and offer to tow the boats too). Australia already considers entry based on criteria. If you see here, http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/20planning.htm you can see criteria on this and associated pages. Australia discriminates based on skills and wealth (which seems to be acceptable?) The immigration policy is (supposedly) to assess immigrants based on criteria regarding their benefit to Australia. The fact that sheer numbers is not a criteria, is something that has been overlooked, rather than a game changing shift in morality and civilisation. Quite simply, the department of immigration have selection criteria, and this needs to be adjusted to also asses numbers and demographic impact (and I would recommend cultural impact). Doyle seemed to suppose Kelvin was proposing something way out there, when in reality, it is nothing more than expanding upon the already existing criteria, using already existing mechanisms, which already turn people back.

Sheila Newman

Thu, 2014-10-16 18:55

See Quiggan's article below. What a saga. In 2009 James Sinnamon stood as an independent on this issue and the ABC simply refused to publicise it and the commercial press would also hardly touch it. James Sinnamon would have stood as an independent against asset sales in 2010, had he not been put into a coma by a car accident. I remember watching in frustration as the corrupt land-speculating and asset-selling Queensland Labor Government lost government due to its constant privatisations. In the absence of any party running against privatisations (the Greens and the Socialist Alliance parties were totally suspect and limp on this), the only 'alternative' was the LNP which, predictably, just went on to flog more assets. Now, finally, some independents are taking up the issue! And, apparently, it is getting a little publicity. However, the powers that be are benefiting from privatisations, so, if there is anything left to privatise in Queensland, they will suppress these alternatives' messages as well.

Independents to block asset sales in Qld
by John Quiggin

The ABC reports that eight independent and minor party MPs in the Queensland Parliament have agreed to vote against the government's asset sales plan (spuriously called a lease). This has several implications

* Most obviously, if neither major party wins a majority at the next election, the asset sales won't go ahead
* Since most voters don't like asset sales, this increases the likelihood of existing independents holding their seats and perhaps of others winning seats, so that a minority government becomes more likely
* Polling isn't very helpful here, since the "two-party preferred" measure isn't relevant in these circumstances, and the sample size is too small too tell us about which seats will go which way
* In the event of neither party winning a majority, the chance of a Labor minority government is enhanced by the fact that asset sales will be a key issue
* Everything is further complicated by the fact that, if the LNP lose their majority, Campbell Newman will almost certainly lose his seat in the process

I don't bet on elections any more after I couldn't collect my winnings from Intrade (long story), but a bet on Annastacia Palaszczuk as the next premier looks a lot more promising than it did yesterday (of course, there's always the truly bizarre possibility that some other Labor MP could challenge here - they need to rule it this kind of nonsense ASAP)

ECOENGINE (not verified)

Thu, 2014-10-16 08:47

Lord Mayor Doyle's "smart growth" rather than "dumb growth" is a fine distinction between "planning" and ad hoc growth. It makes planning an over-all panacea that is meant to solve all the problems and challenges of growth! However, the former is about buildings, infrastructure, cash flows and built-assets, not grass roots and long term concerns. Victoria's abysmal $40 million trade deficit is outside Doyle's concern! We've become a large conglomerate of consumers, producing little but housing and short-term cash flows. Doyle's focus is local, and the City of Melbourne's boosted budget from growing towers, rents, revenues, property charges, rates etc, not the "big picture" of the broad impacts on the community. There is a conflict in layers, on the hierarchy of power, status and every day concerns of people being being displaced, and disadvantaged, and living in deprivation from the massive flow of human growth! He says nothing on housing costs, youth unemployment, costs of living, embedded debts, traffic gridlocks, overloaded public transport etc! These are what the "normal" public face every day! Doyle is a powerful elite, living in his Ivory Tower, with the masses in turmoil around enslaved to "smart growth". Doyle's callous indifference is alarming and shows his contempt for the public and complete disregard and indifference to their concerns.

vicki (not verified)

Thu, 2014-10-16 01:40

And to make matters worse, I was chatting with 3 lovely young people last weekend who came into our fruit stall to purchase some goodies and they had been camping up at the Dom Dom Saddle area behind Healesville and were are conservationists, studying the mass destruction from deforestation of the beautiful forest in that area! They 3 young people had many photos to show me. After I looked at them, I was in shock! There are so many ‘coops’ in rows up there and so many animals wandering around aimlessly they said, with no where to go! These sneaky loggers are just logging to their hearts content with no ‘watch dog’! THIS HAS TO STOP! AND TO MAKE MATTERS MUCH WORSE, they said that during their stay on both Friday and Saturday nights up there, while camping in their tent, they said the mountains around them sounded ‘like a war zone’!! They said they were scared because of all the shooting of wildlife! HOW DISTURBING AND DISGUSTING! NOW WHAT DO WE DO! One of the 3 people, the more outspoken young man, said that he wanted to take this further and is going to do something about it, but he didn’t tell me what! I gave him my business card and asked him to ‘stay in touch with me’! He said that it was a full moon on both nights and the hunters were out in full force and the poor animals only had ‘sections of forest’ to escape to! How sad! THESE LOGGING COMPANIES HAVE NOBODY WATCHING WHAT THEY ARE DOING, SO NO WONDER THERE ARE SO MANY KOALA’S BEING PUT THROUGH MINCING MACHINES!!! ... BASTARDS! What can we do????

Michael Petit (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-15 23:21

The Moonie Valley Council tonight voted 7 to 1 to file a separate action in the Supreme Court to challenge the latest cut and paste movement of the East West Link without any consultation or proper process. The Mayor and Councillors and were very outspoken in their remarks against the project and the manner in which the Planning Minister has acted. An effort by the Linking Melbourne Authority to show supplemental drawings on the latest revised EWL contained caveats on each page that these were not final and subject to further revision. This did not go down well.

ECOENGINE (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-15 18:19

The end of a controversial Italian navy operation that is rescuing thousands of asylum seekers in the Mediterranean is likely to result in many more deaths at sea, according to human rights groups. On the contrary, while ad hoc migrants are accepted by Italy, it will encourage more to come, and more people will risk their lives trying to reach their final destination - Europe! Operation Mare Nostrum will be replaced by a European border protection force that will have a third of the budget of the current operation. About 3,000 people have drowned trying to make the dangerous journey so far this year. Governments in Europe are at a loss as to how to deal with the constant stream of migrants, although at least more people are now being saved on the high seas. European Union law says refugees must seek asylum in the first country they arrive in, but in reality many of the so-called 'migranti' rescued by Italy try to leave the country as soon as they get to dry land. They will leave Italy and try to make it to more prosperous European countries like Germany, Sweden or the Netherlands. There has been a tripling in the numbers of asylum seekers coming since 2013, and critics say the Italians are encouraging people to risk their lives.

Vivienne Ortega

Wed, 2014-10-15 11:33

Recently, German Left Party parliamentarian Alexander Neu said that “Germany Has No Evidence of Who Shot Down MH17, Sanctions Russia Anyways”. He accused the Dutch Safety Board of using the German media to unanimously blame Russia, either by directly doing so or by accusing them of supporting the fighters in the east of Ukraine... and it was on this basis that sanctions were leveled against Russia – the first round of them. And now the German government has confirmed that it does not know who shot down the Boeing. This is astounding, because it means the first round of sanctions was enacted on the basis of speculation. Alexander Neu found it very interesting that two weeks after the plane went down, suddenly there was a lull, both in the Western media and by Western governments. The territory where the plane’s debris fell was hit many times by mass shelling by Ukrainian artillery. So finding any new evidence is pretty unlikely now; almost everything there has been destroyed. Also, why have the conversations between the pilots and the dispatchers still not been released? German MP has no evidence of who shot down the MH17

PostGrowthEra

Wed, 2014-10-15 11:20

Australia Published the World’s Harshest Anti-Immigration Ad: Poster tells asylum seekers they "will not make Australia home" “'NO WAY', the ad declares in bold red letters over an ominous background featuring a small rickety boat on a churning sea. “YOU WILL NOT MAKE AUSTRALIA HOME.” To a tourist in Australia, the ad seems unwelcoming. To its real target—people sailing to Australia to escape the oppression and violence in their home countries—it’s just plain cruel." The blatantly exclusionary ad is part of a campaign by the Australian government’s military-led border security plan, called “Operation Sovereign Borders,” to prevent asylum seekers from thinking they can settle in Australia. “If you get on a boat without a visa, you will not end up in Australia,” the advertisement says. “Any vessel seeking to illegally enter Australia will be intercepted and safely removed beyond Australian waters.” The ad appears in English, Urdu, Dari, Pushto and Hazargi; it also surfaced in Pakistani newspapers on Friday. Proponents of the ad might suggest that its aggressive tone could potentially save lives by scaring people from making a perilous sea journey. But the Australian government has also ramped up punishment for those who make landfall safely. Anyone who arrives to Australia on an unauthorized boat is refused residency and held in a detention camp, Pakistani publication Dawn reports. The government keeps refugees from ever settling in Australia by placing them at one of two offshore centers: one on Nauru, the other on Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea. As of September, about 3,300 people were seeking asylum in Australia’s offshore detention centers, according to Amnesty International. Australia's asylum ad The irony is that many people DO come to Australia and are making it their home - in record numbers! The only ones our government puts out the red carpet for are the skilled and wealthy! There are at least one million temporary visa holders in Australia, with permits to work. We have record post-war rates of net overseas migration, set to increase, making Australia have the highest rate of population growth of the developed countries. However, the poor and displaced are singled out - not welcome! Australia on Tuesday took steps to boost a visa scheme aimed at luring investment from wealthy Chinese, including speeding up approvals. With more than 10 million people in China wishing to live in Australia, the visas were "too strict". It announced another visa scheme on Tuesday offering residency to those who invest A$15 million for one year. The Australian government’s campaign to stop asylum seekers in their tracks has been criticized by human rights groups for its perceived bigotry and disregard for human life. It's also highly hypocritical and blatantly biased towards the world's wealthy elite, rather than compassion and human justice.

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-15 08:40

Lord Mayor Doyle's solution to creating "affordable housing" is all too convenient for the housing, mortgage and construction industries! He thinks we can solve the problem by racing to keep building more and more apartments and units! With population growth running at full throttle levels, the prices are kept high because demand is outstripping supply, and prices have flowed over any level of affordability for first home buyers! Melbourne is becoming more "vibrant" with all the homeless living in the streets. With zero net immigration, and a referendum on population growth, we could actually manage to drop prices and housing would become affordable. However, the power elite are gouging the public with record house prices, and of course would obviously say that our population growth was "inevitable" and impossible to do anything about!

Jill Quirk (not verified)

Tue, 2014-10-14 13:36

I estimate about 250 people attended this debate and from the mood displayed , about 100% were very unhappy about our high growth trajectory. The Lord Mayor took the position that nothing much could be done about population growth because, he said coyly, people will “keep on doing what they do” and he didn’t want a “one child policy” . He threw a challenge in the air that if people wanted to stop immigration then they should stop dithering and say so. Kelvin Thomson had already said that Australia should revert to immigration levels of earlier times- around 70,000 p.a. which would give the country a chance to stabilize its population in the future but the Lord Mayor seemingly ignored this subtlety. He said he was managing population growth in his own jurisdiction and that of course Melbourne with a much higher population than in the 1970s when it was boring is now a much more interesting place. Kelvin Thomson later, in summing up used attractive examples to illustrate that it was not in fact boring in the '70s. To this, the Lord Mayor responded by repeating “ We can’t go back!” It was as though the argument had now turned into futile nostalgia! I don’t think the Lord Mayor Mayor used the hackneyed term “vibrant”- but look out for it if you view the film (when available) as he may have slipped one in without my noticing. The Lord Mayor, a few times during the debate said that he didn’t understand Kelvin Thomson's position and didn’t know that his numbers added up. etc. With no countering numbers this seems just is an easy ploy to cast doubt on one’s opponent. Jenny Warfe asked a question about how the Lord Mayor saw "perpetual growth in a finite world" to which the Lord Mayor responded rather indignantly as though he had been accused of believing in Father Christmas. He protested that of course he did not believe in such a thing yet the rest of his views of population growth seemed to me to say otherwise.

HunterWebMasters (not verified)

Tue, 2014-10-14 11:03

TAFE NSW has been destroyed by the current government and the former government, making TAFE compete with private education. It will never work unless TAFE is privatised with its current business structure and constant holiday breaks TAFE cannot complete, courses need to run all year round if they are going to compete. I am former Web Design teacher at the Cessnock Campus and can say there are too many people in positions they should never be in making really bad decisions.

Editorial comment: Some corrections have been made.

In general candobetter favours more holiday times rather than fewer and shorter working hours by reducing both the legal requirement to work those hours and the economic compulsion to do so. The most common economic compulsions to work long hours are high rent and high mortgage repayments. The working conditions of TAFE college staff sound closer to what we would consider ideal. We would certainly be against the privatisation of TAFE colleges. In any case there already plenty of private training institutions.

This comment included a link to http://hunterwebmasters.com with the label "Learn Web Development free". Quite possibly there may be some site visitors who will find your services useful. We wish you well in your business, but in general candobetter is not a web-site on which to advertise commercial businesses. - Ed

Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 2014-10-14 08:05

Lord Mayor Doyle is to be applauded in facing a hostile audience, and trying to "spin" his way through the maze of logic and counter-arguments to his claims that Melbourne is more "prosperous" now than in the 1970s when we only had 2 million people! He failed to comprehend numbers, and got confused about how most of our population growth is due to net overseas migration - not natural growth! (or deliberately?) There was no concrete evidence of this "prosperity", but the facade of more towers, and people, in our city. We have a 15 year peak in youth unemployment, a growing band of homeless sleeping rough, and increasing poverty. Victoria, as someone pointed out, has a $40 billion trade deficit from imports overwhelming exports! All this was dismissed for the "prosperity" Melbourne has gained from population growth? No doubt the City of Melbourne's budget has massively increased, along with donations and revenues from property developers, and more rates, but the elusive "prosperity" is more about painting over the crack in our economy by glass towers and more consumers! It's a bit like the slave trade! The wealthy plantation owners, and shipping agents would argue that England was more "prosperous" for having the slave trade, but at what cost? Doyle would live on a high salary, no doubt with a Council car, in a leafy suburb, and be completely out of touch with the reality of unaffordable housing, traffic congestion, massive costs of living, and the crush of high density housing! Amassing "slaves" does increase "prosperity" for some, but at the costs of living standards, social justice, democracy and personal welfare.

ECOENGINE (not verified)

Mon, 2014-10-13 10:25

Mr Shorten, who celebrates one year as Labor leader today, said immigration had been a great economic driver and he expected Australia’s population to grow at a faster rate than the world average. He's ignoring democratic opinion polls, and the fact that the wealthier countries have stable and smaller populations! An "economic driver" ignores the costs of immigration and it's impact on the voters, the environment and our social/economic landscape. It's pure Neo-liberal economic ideals, that an economy must "grow" at all costs, without considering the constraints. It's economic Darwinism, of the survival of the "fittest" - or the most wealthy corporations and individuals at the costs of the majority! “I’m a fan of immigration and what it’s done for this country,” Shorten says! It's myopic, tunnel-vision thinking. Immigration built our nation, and high rates of growth benefited us in the past, when there were jobs, cheap houses, infrastructure to build and an economy of scale needed building up. Nothing grows forever, our Australia is experiencing increasing poverty and homelessness. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/bill-shorten-in-favour-of-a-big-australia/story-fn59niix-1227088221740 ("You've reached a subscriber-only article.") With same-same strangling policies coming from our major political parties, it's time to give our independents and alternative political parties opportunities. A vote for Sustainable Population Party will bring some common sense, and grass-roots democracy into politics and end the stronghold of bipartism in generic "growth" policies.

PostGrowthEra

Mon, 2014-10-13 09:26

Yes, we need a new "Australian Century" not an "Asian Century" and dependance on China's new wealth! The desperation to internationalize our land, industries, population and properties will deny us jobs, wealth and our sovereignty. Patriotism is being diluted by Multiculturalism, and mass migration. For the Gillard government’s growing army of critics, the "Asian Century" white paper was yet another example of lofty rhetoric with little of substance committed to actually implementing policy. There was little recognition of finite resources, and environmental constraints. Writing at a time when the White Australia policy remained in place, author Donald Horne believed that his compatriots needed to prepare themselves for a very different world. "My own view", he wrote, "is that the future holds dramatic possibilities for Australia which may necessarily include racial change, that this is Australia's 'destiny'." "It is going to happen one way or the other. It is a task that will be undertaken either by Australians, or by someone else." The Lucky Country is being diluted by poor leaders who happen to share its luck! It's assumed that because Australia's population was based on immigration, our land is an infinite carrying capacity, and that once started, this policy can continue forever, quite justifiably.

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2014-10-13 08:55

Since the 1980s, many developed countries have come to rely heavily on overseas-trained health workers, especially from developing countries, for both highly specialised services and aged and domestic care. As in Britain, Canada and the US, Australia’s reliance has become "convenient" and strategic. SMH: pressured health system also challenges us morally The active recruitment of health workers from developing countries to developed countries has become a major threat to global health. A shortage of doctors and nurses to care for Ebola patients is being exacerbated by the sheer number of health workers becoming infected. With risks growing that Ebola could flare on foreign shores, the U.S. is calling for nations to dispatch doctors and nurses to West Africa, where thousands of lives are on the line. Few have heeded the call, but one country has responded in strength: Cuba. The shortage of health professionals is felt not only in Africa, but also in Europe, the U.S. and other developed countries. Worldwide, an estimated 4.3 million doctors are needed, according to the WHO. Some countries like Australia actively recruit high-skilled health professionals from other countries, including sub-Saharan Africa. And legislation is pending in the U.S. Congress that would give better immigration benefits to foreign-born doctors. Due to a shortage of doctors in Africa, they resort to traditional healing, which can often be harmful when used as the only treatment. There is no known cure or vaccine for the virus and the disease kills between 25 and 90 per cent of its victims. The fatality rate of the current strain appears to be roughly 70 per cent, according to the latest WHO figures. If rich countries want to help Africa, stop poaching our doctors

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2014-10-13 08:31

AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY AUSTRALIAN PROPHET REVEALED! With Australians now awakening that the Globalising Money Changers agenda of “open for business” in an “Asian Century” means mass unemployment, poverty, and dispossession, through our resources and assets pillaged for foreigners, and our communities saturated by 457 visa scabs, swarms of alien Third World immigrants and fake refugees, - a GREAT PROPHET from our heritage foretold of these troubles, and of the path to a future free from such a traitor class. THE PROPHESY - OF 1879! "I tell you that highway robbery is only in its infancy, for the white population is been driven out of the labour market by an inundation of Mongolians, and when the white man is driven to desperation there will be desperate times". Ned Kelly, letter to Sir Henry Parkes PIC OF NED needed HERE AUSSIE PROPHET “For I need no lead or powder To revenge my cause And if words be louder, I will oppose your laws". Ned Kelly 1878. AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY stands unashamedly for Aussies in an “Australian Century”, rejecting Chinese Imperialism; and the Asian Graveyard/ Globalising pox of the Money Changers and their paid politicians; - an Australia of national self- sufficiency, where our resources, manufacturing, and productive enterprise wealth is created, owned and shared by Australians to ensure quality of life, and where Aussies own culture and identity, the essential bond of our European derived civilisation and lifestyle flourishes. JOIN OUR AUSTRALIAN PEOPLES MOVEMENT TO SECURE A “REGIME CHANGE”, AND TO TAKE BACK AN AUSTRALIAN FUTURE FOR YOUR FAMILY AND DESCENDANTS If you don’t fight NOW- you will surely lose! AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY www.australiafirstparty.net. email: [email protected] National Contact Line 02 85870014 Australia First Party - Champions of a future for the Australian People.

Sheila Newman

Mon, 2014-10-13 00:14

Denis, I find your fears plausible, but I don't see it as a product of 'we', i.e. most Australians. (As you know) I think we have been disorganised by the mainstream media and government, which claim to speak on behalf of us all, but simply purvey an alien ideology of population growth, globalism, land speculation, selling off public assets... Most Australians I meet are really worried - from every walk of life except a few assured positions of wealth who actually benefit from what is happening, and whose interests are not served by confronting the situation. So, most Australians are really worried, but they have been disorganised. There are few opportunities for Australians to communicate with each other and find out where they agree and there are no community venues anymore - like mechanics halls, community halls, local football, other sports - where people who grew up together can get together on a regular basis and talk like adults and citizens. Instead you have local councils or state governments charging for meeting space and organising 'on our behalf' events where we are expected to sit passively and watch 'the real people' tell it like they want us to believe it is. At work the old industries have been disorganised too. They have dwindled. The public service has been fragmented and privatised. The unions have difficulty entering. The laws don't make it easy for unions to do much for people. New industries have all kinds of ways of isolating people through 'competition' and secrecy. And some people are so brainwashed that they think that you are only a real person entitled to an opinion if you appear on tv or are elected to parliament. And then an awful lot of people work too hard, commute too long, have fractured family lives due to stressors, and must be obsessed by debt and insecurity. I suppose that the increasingly bad treatment of unemployed people is a way of keeping them occupied and frightened so that they are less likely to go to the library and start reading up on political systems and meeting up and evolving. And the people in charge just tighten the screws. And fabricate perpetual war. I am sure that Australians would have a revolution if they could communicate. As long as most believe that what they hear on tv or radio is what Australians really think, they will be isolated and unable to act. Meanwhile our country fills up with newcomers who have no loyalty to our situation and who are used to further divide us through 457 visas and gated enclaves in our once familiar suburbs. It is nothing short of an invasion orchestrated by members of parliament.

Dennis K

Sun, 2014-10-12 20:40

It is frightening to think that Australians, will have to pay a foreign national, and a foreign bank (and in the case of China, quite possibly a foreign government), to live in Australia. I don't understand this. This is a significant loss of sovereignty. The faith in "Globalisation" and in "International Harmony" is what makes this acceptable, as if somehow, foreign nationals are good global citizens who will care about us and place the interests of other nationals above the interests of their own... Bulldust. I don't trust the Chinese at all, not because I think China is innately evil or malicious, but because we are too starry eyed, ideologically blind and hopelessly naive, and no longer even have the capability of understanding how other cultures other than western ones think. Because of this lack of understanding, we are ripe for exploitation. The same goes for Canada, the USA, all other nations. I foresee a future where foreign security forces may have to bar Australians entry to sections of Australia, where we have essentially lost a war, because we were too damn stupid to see it being fought right in front of our face. A competition in which there were innumerable Australian traitors and turncoats. The media and mainstream politicians dismiss these ideas as rubbish, as nonsense, but it is their ignorance, and their willingness to turn against their nation and sell out which leads them to such attitudes, not reasoned thought and historical perspective.

quark

Sun, 2014-10-12 17:02

I found Oksana Boyco really irritating in this interview or debate, whichever it was. She seemed impervious to the valid point about population growth that Mr Norris made. His point being to counter her argument which seemed to go like this - Some people are born gay and others are born hetero and there are a whole lot of "swingers' (my expression)who could go either way according to the social input they receive at a particular stage of development and that since we must ensure the continuation of our societies through offspring and homosexuals don't have as many offspring ,this is some sort of threat to continuation . Oksana also says that homosexuality should not be illegal but neither should it be "out there" (my expression) I think that being "out there" is the "homonormativity" concept Oksana fears. Gay marriage is the pinnacle I suppose of social acceptance of gay relationships, but also important are simple rights like walking down the street arm in arm , kissing in public, taking a gay partner to a work social event. Oksana needs to reflect a bit in a calm frame of mind. Her emotions seemed to be getting in the way of her taking things in.

admin

Sun, 2014-10-12 15:24

Albanese breaks ranks on anti-terror laws

Sunday 12 Oct 14 adapted from SkyNews. Also reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, News.com, The Australian and the Guardian

A senior Labor frontbencher has broken ranks saying new anti-terror laws that allow journalists to be jailed for reporting on intelligence operations have overstepped the mark.

With bipartisan support form both the opposition Labor Party and the government, Parliament increased ASIO's powers, earlier this month so that journalists will face 10-years jail if they reveal details of intelligence operations. Melissa Parke was then the lone voice of dissent within the Labor Party.

The Greens and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie moved unsuccessful bids to have Australia's commitment debated by the parliament, with the government and Labor blocking their attempts.

Anthony Albanese hit back at the lack of scrutiny over the measures describing the penalties on the media as draconian.

There was public interest in exposing errors of security agencies, he said.

"You can be fully supportive of our engagement in the Middle East and still say we don't protect freedom by giving it up," Mr Albanese told Sky News.

Mr Albanese said he was "not a pacifist" and believed the world could not sit by and watch the brutality of Islamic State, but the parliament should still be consulted.

Mr Albanese concerns may be too little too late.

Labor waved the bill through parliament, citing bipartisan support for national security.

Asked if Opposition Leader Bill Shorten shared his concerns about press freedom, Mr Albanese said: 'I'm speaking for myself.'

...

'We should be arguing for more scrutiny of these issues,' Mr Albanese said.

Security agencies are trying to impose things that have been in their bottom draw for a long time, Mr Albanese said.

Mary D. (not verified)

Sun, 2014-10-12 13:01

Foreign investors buying up our houses and building towers - Is that what we want? Take a look at this article about how Chinese investors are pushing into Melbourne and Sydney and see how few countries there are where we are allowed to buy houses Yet we are selling ours to the highest bidder and the rules are ignored. Write to Kelly O’Dwyer MP as she is looking into it. Email Kelly.O'[email protected]. This has to be stopped. http://www.theage.com.au/business/chinese-investors-are-pushing-into-mel...

ZPG (not verified)

Sun, 2014-10-12 12:56

Two English girls are manning the front desk reception at my local swimming pool - the St Kilda Sea-Baths. They were pretty, caked in make-up and flirty. So as an old man I enjoyed talking to them. They told me they were on 451 working holiday visas, not 457s. How can young Australians get a start, if low-skill entry level jobs are reserved for foreign backpackers? Victoria has the highest unemployment rate of the mainland states. There are over 5-million Australians on Centrelink benefits.

Dennis K

Sun, 2014-10-12 12:28

I will submit a more details report, but the activism went ahead with about 7 or so members of the Sustainable Population Party. As I had mentioned in "The housing market and the death of Australia", it is time for Australians to take more direct action, and that one method is to undermine the market by trying to give a clear 'price signal' that the market is indeed well past overheated (the property market, due to low volume of sales, as opposed to stock, is resistant to price signals from within the market). The crowd wasn't as large as the open for inspection, but sizeable anyway. We were able to hand out flyers to the attendees, potential buyers and to the voluminous pedestrian traffic passing by. As to whether this will be mentioned elsewhere, that remains to be seen (whatever media there was, would have been inside). All in all, worthwhile, and I endeavour to continue this experiment at regular auctions and open for inspections, in particular, those where people who would be most affected by "mortgage stress" and have most to lose would be attending.

Vivienne Ortega

Sun, 2014-10-12 10:20

The International Monetary Fund expects Australia will have the worst jobless rate in the Asia-Pacific region over the next two years, bar the Philippines. Australia is experiencing Post War rates of immigration, fuelling our high population growth, but our economy isn't keep up to the demands of producing jobs. In the post war period we had a nation to build, jobs that needed filling, and houses were affordable and cheap. Times have changed. Out of all the developed nations of the world, Australia has one of the fastest rates of population growth, and there's no sign of it being adjusted in regards to global trends, economic budget constraints and increasing scarcities of natural resources. Homelessness is increasing with every capital city struggling to assist its most vulnerable. The Poverty in Australia report, to be released on Sunday by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), also shows one in six Australian children are living in poverty. The percentage of Australians and of Australian children living in poverty rose from 2010 to 2012. One in seven Australians living in poverty according to new report. During the mining boom, it was assumed that our economy would continue to grow and flourish and there would not be enough employees to fill the burgeoning number of baby-boomers leaving work to retire. Now, young people are bearing the brunt of rising unemployment as the nation's economy struggles to regain momentum. Countries around the world are still struggling following the Global Financial Crisis, and massive global population growth outpacing economic growth, with debts crippling many economies. The pillage of the Middle East’s energy resources through the guise of wars is assisting the economies of some western countries, and their continual drive for energy and economic growth. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) more than 600,000 Australian children live in poverty. According to the ABS more than 18,000 children aged less than 12 years are homeless. Australia heading to crisis to worst joblessness. Nothing is said of our population growth, of nearly 400,000 new people each year, many of them of working age! Megalomania needs to be replaced with a measure of grounded reality, and common sense. Our international spruiking of "skills shortages" needs to be trimmed in light our our rising unemployment rate. The more of us there are, the more thinly our natural and built resources must be shared. Manufacturing is disappearing, along with Holden and Ford. The fact is a country that makes nothing of its own and has to import all of its finished goods is not a first world country. If we're just going to have an economy based in farming, mining and tourism, that's not really a First-World economy. An economy based on amassing people means huge net GDP rates, but at the cost of per capita poverty.

Jill Quirk (not verified)

Sat, 2014-10-11 18:29

The egg timer is a very poignant symbol . If it were really a case of water shortages rather than people "longages", I’m sure that even without rising costs of water, Victorians would have cooperated for the common good. In fact I think they did, probably not realizing what was being done to them with socially engineered population growth. Increasingly, in Melbourne, the rich will have as much water as they like and the poor will be rationed because of cost. After all, Victoria now has a desalination plant from which one can buy water as a product. The environmental costs I guess are just "externalities" for the time being.

Sheila Newman

Sat, 2014-10-11 13:51

This fabulous article raises the absurd and dystopian push for a big population by Robert Doyle and Denis Napthine, in a long line of leaders who apparently do not give a stuff about the people of Melbourne. I would have liked us to have reproduced it in full, but I cannot get hold of the mass media outlets to ask permission, so can only post a portion. However anyone can click on the links. Please do. It makes the points brilliantly.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/does-growing-melbourne-mean-a-short-shower-20141002-10oyxe.html

"A couple of years back the Victorian government posted me a little blue egg-timer. It has Our Water stamped on one end and Our Future stamped on the other and a suction cup so I can stick it on my shower wall and watch the blue sand run for four minutes while I wash.

People I know who remembered World War II saw this as rationing and felt edgy and suspected we were facing a dark enemy. I felt the unease myself as I frantically washed while the pretty sand ran.

A few months later the same government announced they were opening up land on the urban boundaries on Melbourne's north and west for another 450,000 people. An addition the size of Canberra. Insert double-blink here. We haven't got enough water to shower longer than a U2 ballad and you're smilingly telling me what? Recently D. Napthine triumphantly announced a new suburb called Rockbank would be built. Which allowed those of us who were worried Sydney and/or Brisbane might edge ahead of us in some fatuous ranking of national and/or international importance to relax.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/does-growing-melbourne-mean-a-short-shower-20141002-10oyxe.html#ixzz3Fni2INZ8

Sheila Newman

Sat, 2014-10-11 13:21

11th October 2014 Jack Dempsey Minister for Police Member for Bundaberg Dear Mr Dempsey, I have written several emails to Environment Minister Powell to no avail, and I am hoping that as my local MLA, you may be able to assist me to retrieve my pet red kangaroos please. I am an old man, who lives on his own and my only company are my pets, whom I treat as family. Where as red kangaroos, they are only vermin to Minister Powell, so how the Judiciary and the Police can be conned into assisting the EHP to steal my pets is beyond me. I am threatened by the EHP with prosecution, for keeping so called protected wildlife alive and healthy. Well I look forward to my day in Court Mr Dempsey. Although there does seem to be two sets of rules in Queensland, double standards, you might say. “Of all the creatures that were made, man is the most detestable. Of the entire brood he is the only one--the solitary one--that possesses malice. That is the basest of all instincts, passions, vices--the most hateful. He is the only creature that has pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. Also--in all the list he is the only creature that has a nasty mind.” - Mark Twain's Autobiography http://www.twainquotes.com/Cruelty.html Time is of the essence Mr Dempsey. Yours sincerely, Colin Candy 5 Emmitt Court Apple Tree Creek Q 4660 PO Box 349 Childers Q 4655 PO Box 5408 Torquay Q 4655 [Phone: deleted from this republication]

Sheila Newman

Sat, 2014-10-11 13:14

We all use the internet if we read candobetter.net, so others among you may have been encountering a huge problem of delayed keystrokes - i.e., when you try to reply to emails, write emails, you have to wait for ages while Firefox deliberates for some reason. It slows down your work and causes stress. It makes you want to avoid looking at your inbox.

I went to my add-ons settings in Firefox and disabled the following program:
OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems Inc. 1.1

It seemed to solve my problem immediately. Let me know if you have a similar experience.

Vivienne Ortega

Sat, 2014-10-11 09:43

A recent plague of feral cats devastated Queensland's former stronghold for the endangered marsupial. There are said to be only 200 left. Astrebla Downs National Park previously was home to an estimated 700 bilbies. More than 3,000 feral cats have been shot by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service within the park over the last two years, costing the department $350,000. However, cats have a huge reproductive rate, and even these killing are not enough to control the feral predator. A plague of longhaired rats in recent years provided a food source and allowed feral cat numbers to skyrocket. ABC: Feral cats tear through last wild bilby population Our wildlife numbers are plummeting, and it's a national disaster. The bilby once inhabited approximately 70% of the Australian mainland. However, destruction of suitable habitat through land clearing, and competition and predation by introduced animal species such as rabbits, foxes and feral cats, has greatly reduced the wild bilby population. Now it lives only in grassland and acacia scrubland. In these areas it must compete for food with rabbits and livestock and it is preyed on by foxes and feral cats. In times of drought the bilby comes under severe pressure and cannot compete with the introduced species.

admin

Sat, 2014-10-11 01:51

ISIS, Turkey, and the Propaganda of Intervention (10/10/14) by Eric Draitser on both Global Research and the Land Destroyer Report explains the duplicitous role of Turkish President Erdogan that is now attempting to ethnically cleanse Kurds from the North of Syria and help overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The article explains at least as well as any other article I have read, the complex and deceitful dynamics of the purportedly anti-Western rebellion of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

However, in this otherwise excellent article, Eric Draitser, as do, unfortunately, a number of other supporters of Syria, labels President Bashar al-Assad's government "the Assad regime". Has Eric forgotten so that President Assad was overwhelmingly elected in the Presidential election of 4 June, the authenticity of which was attested to by International observers at a press conference held the United Nations on 19 June?

Such denial of the democratic legitimacy of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad can only help the enemies of Syria.

Karyn33 (not verified)

Fri, 2014-10-10 07:02

This is a decent tips particularly to those new to blogosphere, short and precise data… Thanks for imparting this one. An unquestionable requirement read article... eazaxdcj

eazaxdcj (?) - Ed

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-08 17:52

To add injury to insult, the Victorian Government has been forced to fend off concerns about foreign workers being hired to build Melbourne's East West Link road project.

Spanish company Acciona, contracted to do some of the construction, has advertised for an immigration adviser to fill a six-month contract at its Southbank office.

This means they will be using immigration services to employ 457 workers!

ACTU President Ged Kearney said it was "outrageous" for temporary workers to be brought in from overseas when unemployment was around 6.8 per cent in Victoria. Apparently we don't have the skills and specific expertise on digging tunnels, like foreigners might have!

"I am unaware of whether there is sufficient local expertise to man and operate that tunnel-boring machine," Premier Napthine said! What about some skill training, on operating the machines. The trainers are the only experts we need from overseas, not the workers!

The secret business plan for the EWL is about sustaining the road lobby, with a new port and airports in the west of Victoria to fly in and transport all the goods from China, to distribute commodities and fill our shopping centres with saleable and imported goods we are failing to produce here!

See also: 457 Visa: East West Link to have up to 35 foreign workers - Herald Sun (8/10/14), East West Link contract winners shout top public servants dinner at Vue de Monde - Age (8/10/14).
Please don't despair! There's a state election coming up on Saturday 29 November. All those who are in any way complicit in this rort can be held to account and made to regret this shameful conduct. - Ed

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-08 13:09

There is 108-hectare of land currently under planning minister Pru Goward’s determination for large-scale housing/industrial development, and sits just 2.5 kilometres west of the CBD in Byron Bay.

The Echo newspaper understands that Sydney-based developer Terry Agnew is by far the largest shareholder at around 80 per cent, along with other local investors. The matter is being referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)

Local state MP Don Page (Nationals) and members from the Byron Residents Group last week to discuss a full range of issues ie koalas, traffic, population projections, acid sulfate soils, vegetation, environment zones etc. They supplied additional information on koalas. Mr Page said some of the issues include 'traffic congestion, environmental issues including vegetation, koalas and acid sulfate soils; and potential flooding.’

West Byron development proposal referred ICAC

The Australian Koala Foundation raised concerns that koala populations were in decline across Brisbane, Redlands and Logan. During Save the Koala Month in September the AKF called for tighter legislation to protect the marsupial, which is threatened by urban development. But Environment Minister Andrew Powell assured that existing legislation was adequate, saying developers were required to offset clearing of koala habitat by planting new trees. Existing legislation was hardly "adequate" as "offsets" result in net habitat loss!

Debate over the health of koala populations continues as dogs bought in to track the marsupials

There's all sorts of reservation, protection, conservation schemes, but the housing industry is like a huge tsunami of urbanization, destroying everything in it's way. It leave a wreckage of concrete, traffic and loss of wildlife, but with little economic activities in Australia - due to the facing mining industries - housing and population keeps growing relentlessly and lethally.

Vivienne Ortega

Wed, 2014-10-08 11:47

Hundreds of international medical students will miss out on internships next year despite a doctor shortage that is predicted to occur within 12 years! Tertiary education has become a lucrative export industry, but at the cost of creating internal "shortages"! Like the NSW gas "shortage" scare last year, mining companies have unlimited LNG to export, but not enough reserved for domestic consumption. It's the same with medical training - we have a lucrative export industry of education, and then end up with "shortages" of doctors! New figures show Australia's medical workforce is growing strongly but not at a level to head-off concerns of a looming doctor shortage. Population growth, due to importing people, means that the number of doctors we are producing is being outstripped by net population growth. Australia is still losing medical graduates to other countries because there is a chronic shortage of all-important internships. These doctors should be returning home anyway to their own countries. In 2012 the ABC reported that the Australian health system had been accused of ‘poaching’ African doctors, a country that has long supplied doctors to rural Australia. The active recruitment of health workers from developing regions compounds what are acute gaps in their health care provision, while the wealthy destination countries benefit from receiving trained stocks of workers. Australia relies heavily on poaching the doctors & nurses of under-developed countries, who are even more desperately needed in their countries of origin than here. We may give aid, and then lure their best and brightest health care workers here! Effectively we are killing people in those countries in order to fix medical access problems of our own making. Obviously we should be increasing the number of places for local aspiring students who want to study medicine, rather than "waste" training resources on foreign students and find we are cutting ourselves short because of lack of allocated funds for doctor training. According to the World Health Organisation, the world will be short of 12.9 million health-care workers by 2035. While the largest shortages in numerical terms are expected to be in parts of Asia, it is in sub-Saharan Africa where the shortages will be especially acute. Are we to join third world ranks? We should be a sending-out country, not poaching doctors from developing nations!

Sheila Newman

Tue, 2014-10-07 23:44

Although there are certainly mass graves, it seems likely that the number of 400 bodies does not refer to mass graves alone. In the video below it seems thaThere is a discussion about the origins of this confusion in the video below. Following that report there is another very good comment on a rumour that IS is threatening to infiltrate Europe by sending people to masquerade as refugee applicants.

ZPG (not verified)

Tue, 2014-10-07 23:18

The Chairman of Lend Lease is quoted in The Age saying incoming governments must respect the law and honour construction contracts for the East-West-Link signed by different political parties. Respect for the law is a two-way street. Lend Lease seems to have no respect for tax laws, and has a record of only paying tax when it feels like it. Lend Lease pays unfranked dividends because it has no tax credits to distribute. It paid no tax in 2014, 2013, 2012 years. despite declared profits of $1.51, $1.02, and $0.94 per share. It paid no tax in the second half of 2011, profit of $0.48 per share. No tax in 2004-5, despite profit of $0.71. No tax in 2003-4, profit of $0.58. If I was a protester against the East-West-Tunnel, I'd pray that the ATO takes Lend Lease to court, and jails the management for tax avoidance (and hypocrisy). David Z. Hughes Disclosure: I have a small number of Lend Lease (LLC) shares in my superannuation account.

Dennis K

Tue, 2014-10-07 21:59

Some say that we need population growth to prosper and improve the quality of our lives and provide abundance. Some say that we need further subdivision, more units, more building of dwellings to provide affordable housing. The following points in my opinion, can not be made often enough. We have been DOING THIS for years, and it has NOT been working. Every suburb is witnessing houses torn down en masse for "infill", towers are going up everywhere. "Dwelling" construction is high. Immigration is high. Yet prices are higher than they've ever been, the budget is poor, retail sector struggling, GDP per capita stagnating or declining and overall belt tightening. We have been doing this, and there are no results. The last thing to do, is more of what has been failing.

Sheila Newman

Tue, 2014-10-07 16:32

Mary Drost writes: Just a bit more about the Big Population Debate next Monday, we hope to see you there. Why not come along and have a meal at Federation Square afterwards? (List of restaurants attached - It may be necessary to click on “skip to main content” to open pictures) THE BIG POPULATION DEBATE 13th October 2014 Melbourne’s population is set to double in the next 35 years because of record immigration numbers. Will Melbourne still be the most liveable city then? Think about it : • double those travelling on public transport • double the number of cars on our already congested roads • double the number of residents living in your area • double the multi storey apartments and high-rises • double the infrastructure required to support the growth etc. Ask yourself who will pay for all the infrastructure up- grades required? It will be the existing residents – not the new arrivals. We have arranged a debate on the increasing rate of our population growth Between ROBERT DOYLE, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor and KELVIN THOMSON, MP, President of Victoria First Inc. Where : Deakin Edge, Federation Square When : Monday 13th October 2014, 5.30pm until 7.pm.

James Sinnamon

Tue, 2014-10-07 00:44

On Four Corners at 8:80PM AEDT Mon 6 Oct 2014, repeated 11:35PM AEDT Tue 7 Oct or watch on-line or on IView : Privacy Lost

Monday 6th October 2014

When a contractor from America's National Security Agency (NSA) downloaded tens of thousands of top-secret documents from a highly secure Government network, it led to the largest leak of classified information in history - and sparked a fierce debate over privacy, technology and democracy in the post-9/11 world.

In leaking the files, Edward Snowden had not only exposed classified information, he also exposed how the US Government had co-opted major tech companies to help it spy on millions of people in the United States and around the world - including Australians.

That surveillance did not simply mean detailing the source and destination of communication, but the communications themselves.

...

Critical appraisal: Coming from 4 Corners, which has copped out on issues like MH17, JFK, the Boston Bombing, 9/11 and most foreign conflicts, this program is surprisingly good.

DennisK (not verified)

Mon, 2014-10-06 10:13

I ask this honestly. Do their husbands and fathers expect them to be able to get a job, have a career, be independant? Maybe not being able to get a job is not an issue, as they will be housebound anyway. Some who pushed for cultural pluralism, did it with the belief that the West was a racist, brutal patriarchy, and that culture busting would fix this. They didnt realise the rest of the world wasnt much better, it not, worse. People say assimilation will fix this, but if the immigration rate is higher and rising, then there will always be significant numbers who have not assimilated. The "they will assimilate" argument only holds water if immigration will stop and time is allowed for things to settle. With continued immigration, these issues will persist indefinately. But one thing I do object to, is people blaiming Islam, or blaming Muslims for cultural friction. If we dont like the attitudes towards women, then that is our problem, not theirs. I do believe that objectively, some cultural practices are better than others but I'm not keen on banning their practices. This is a free country, and I object to ANY loss of freedom to support "diversity". This includes broad hate speech laws and banning cultural dress. I should have the right to voice my opinions of the wearing of the burka without going to jail or losing my job for "offending" and they should have the right to believe that women are mens property and keep them covered (an attitide I disagree with). I find the curtailment of freedom disturbing. We recently have lost rights, to monitor people we invited. We are championing multiculturalism, and strenthening authoritarianism to make it work. Here is the thing. We invited people on the pretext of multiculturalism, diversity and tolerance. We preach acceptence, legitimacy of all cultures and preach against eurocentrism and the belief that our ways are better. You cant do that, then complain about the result. It is we, we alone who are responsible for protecting our nation, our human rights, our values, our dignity and the progress we have made. Some time ago, we supposedly decided that we shouldnt control our nation, that it wasnt ours, and we have no right to control how it is constituted for our benefit. As a result, we cant complain about not being able to keep what we have given away.

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2014-10-06 08:18

There is probably no single factor which has more influence over the function and health of a society than the number of people within that society. Yet the Australian government deliberately expands our population every year with no public consultation whatsoever. Through both foreign policy (immigration) and domestic policy (taxation, 'baby bonuses' etc) governments are able to deliberately manipulate population size. Pyramid schemes such as this are illegal in most countries because they inevitably collapse and usually with disastrous consequences. Population size directly affects almost every aspect of our lives from the state of the natural environment to the cost of housing. Expanding the population further has far-reaching, often irreversible consequences. Population policy is far too serious a matter to be determined by a handful of politicians who are so easily influenced by shortsighted groups with vested interests. There have never been more people living on this planet and in this country than there are at this minute. Overpopulation is a serious global problem. In the absence of any global leadership we should take responsibility at a state level and lead by example. Before we deliberately expand the population further it is imperative that the general public discuss, debate and consider its consequences. A well informed electorate and referendum on this matter is the only way to ensure genuine democratic progress. On this most serious issue we can ill afford to have it determined any other way. Let the people decide! Petition: Hold a referendum on population growth.

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 2014-10-05 13:29

Muslim women wearing burqas and niqabs can have their driving licence photographs taken after hours and are not restricted from entering public sector work. Turbans and hijabs are not a problem as they do not cover the face. Pauline Hanson said that Jacqui Lambie has made some good points and she's grateful to her for raising these issues because they’re on the minds of a lot of Australians. We can’t walk into a bank or government building with my helmet on without being stopped and told to show our face, which is fair enough. The same should apply to women wearing the burqa. 11th century costumes are not appropriate in 21st century Australia! The wearing of the burqa is not about religion, or Islam, but a muslim tradition -part of their developed culture. How stupid can Australia get! This extreme clothing is un-Australian, and not suitable for our culture, weather and doesn't belong here! How can these women get employment, or be recognized with their faces covered? It's not about "race" but about respecting the public and our laws that we must be transparent and be identifiable. We should be able to express our "religion" but it shouldn't be imposed on the rest of us, in public! Islam is more profound that simply a religion, and this dress has much more to do with culture and misogyny. It's assumed that Australia can, and should be, the great global melting-pot for all cultures and traditions, with no identifiable cultural norms ourselves. It's assumed that Australia is a blank canvas, to absorb and project religions, cultures, ethnic preferences onto! We have no history, arts, traditions or ethnicity! We are assumed to be "racist", "xenophobic" or "bigots" if we challenge multiculturalism and having to adapt to new-comers instead of visa versa. Migrants who come here must learn to adapt, and assimilate. WE shouldn't have to change to fit them! With immigration rates ramped up five-fold since the Howard government, Australia is being overwhelmed by "diversity". The burqa debate symbolizes the challenges we are facing due to to political-correctness, and being forced to adapt to foreign influences. The burqa is inappropriate in Australia, and anonymity is threatening, and anti-social. The great social experiment of Multiculturalism is showing cracks, and should be abandoned and replaced by a patriotic surge of Australianism and national unity!

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 2014-10-05 11:00

AN Apple Tree Creek man, Colin Candy, will take legal action after 10 officers from the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection and Queensland Parks and Wildlife arrived at his home to seize five of his kangaroos. Police officers, and a vet, all came unannounced with a warrant to seize the offending animals - his red kangaroos!

He didn't have a permit to keep the kangaroos, but he insists he's doing it to rescue and protect them. "Kangaroos are treated like pariahs in their own country so I don't understand why I can't keep them. They are harmless beautiful creatures who don't come out of the bush to hurt you like tigers. I applied for a permit numerous times in the past and have only been rejected".

"Only rescue permits are given out." Plenty of permits are given out for killing the "pests", but they are not meant to be protected and secured.

Under the Nature Conservation Act 1992, there is no provision for taking or keeping kangaroos or wallabies with a view to domesticating them.

Man will take legal action after rangers took pet kangaroos

If the gates are left open and the kangaroos continue to stay in the safety of their homes, it should be their choice. On the other hand, if they leave they are likely to be victims of traffic collisions, or lethally "managed" - killed!

This action by Parks and Wildlife is not about concern for animals, but the contradictory nature of keeping what they consider to be "pest" animals that must be controlled - lethally!

In 2001, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife officers raided his home and seized his Kangaroo, Mitchell and in November the same year his beloved Marcy was taken away. Both kangaroos died shortly after being taken away.

It's a threat to have these magnificent and threatened native red kangaroos seen to be safe, domesticated and safe! They are meant to be raging wild animals, causing threats to fences, grasslands, farmers, and wreckers of our country - ready to attack or kill any intruders on their land. Having kangaroos kept by the public is a threat to the myth of kangaroos are vermin and pests, and that's not in the interests of the Queensland government.

Pam H wrote: " 'the seizure was a culmination of a long standing investigation.' They make it sound like some great drug bust operation ffs! This country is going down the toilet fast. And we're paying for it"!

Other articles about Colin Candy: Kangaroo pet keeper loses High Court appeal (5/12/13), Farmers call to cull roos to prevent damage to grazing land (1/8/13), Animal rights group may come to roo man's rescue (29/7/13), Bitter battle for kangaroos changes Hervey Bay man's life (14/7/13), Court denies man right to keep roo he rescued and raised (31/5/13), Hopping mad, Colin rues long court row to keep roo (27/4/13).

Sheila Newman

Sun, 2014-10-05 01:59

This is a somewhat hopeful new report from Press TV (Sat Oct 4, 2014 1:17PM GMT) at http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/10/04/381026/iraq-army-retakes-northern-town/ The original article also contains a short video report. Below is the text:

"Iraqi army soldiers, supported by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and local tribesmen, have driven Takfiri ISIL militants out of the entire town of Zumar in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh.

An Iraqi Kurdish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday that Iraqi troops have managed to fully clear the town, situated about 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of the militant-controlled city of Mosul, of the ISIL terrorists.

The official further noted that Iraqi army forces are now heading to the town of Sanjar near the border with conflict-stricken Syria.

ISIL militants launched an offensive on Zumar between August 1 and August 4, 2014, and eventually seized the town. Since August 31, Kurdish Peshmerga troops and Iraqi army soldiers had captured several positions formerly held by ISIL.

Zumar’s liberation comes a day after Iraqi forces backed by Sunni tribesman and Shia volunteers took control of most of the riverside town of Dhuluiya, situated about 70 km (43 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, from the ISIL militants.

Over two dozen ISIL terrorists, including two British nationals, were killed in the attack.

On Friday, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi vowed that Iraqi forces will defeat ISIL terrorists in the near future in the light of more advances by the army backed by Sunni tribesman and Shia volunteer forces.

The ISIL controls large areas of Syria’s east and north. The group sent its militants into Iraq in June, seizing large parts of land straddling the border between Syria and Iraq.

The West and its regional allies, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are giving financial and military support to the militants.

MP/KA/SS"

Ecoengine (not verified)

Sat, 2014-10-04 08:55

Treasurer Mr Hockey said that the final budget deficit for the 2013-14 financial year had come in at $48.5 billion, $30 billion more than forecast. When Labor’s last budget was handed down in May last year, then treasurer Wayne Swan projected a deficit of $18 billion. “The Government inherited a shambles of a Budget, a weakening economy and rising unemployment,” Hockey said. National income is falling, owing to the slump in the terms-of-trade, which is pulling down nominal GDP – the dollar value of what’s produced and earned and also the measure that drives taxation revenue. The Federal Government will remain under heavy pressure on the revenue-side of the balance sheet. It also faces rising expenditures from both rising unemployment (increasing welfare payments) and an ageing population. It means squeezing as much from welfare and pensions as possible, yet the irony is that our "Team" size will keep increasing through extra immigration! Surely if a family is struggling with debt, and on borrowed interest payments, they shouldn't be having more "babies" they can't afford? It's assumed that Australia can grow out of our budget woes, and that more "growth" will bring us back to surplus! There is more unemployment among migrants, and the only industry "booming" is housing! Skilled migrants are being sought when there is no "shortages" of skills. Like the NSW "gas shortage" scare, it was really a case of multinational mining companies having unlimited access to Australia's LNG supplies, leaving no reserves for the domestic consumers. Similarly, we export our university courses for $$$, then claim we have a "shortage" of skilled workers! It's simply poor resource management, not any shortages or deficits.

DennisK (not verified)

Fri, 2014-10-03 10:25

I would think Hayek and Von Mises would disapprove! To much cronyism, favours, market distortions. The government is completely schizophrenic as to when it is for free markets, and when to intervene. Not that I would adopt their ideology, but like any religion, it is apllied very selectively, and seemingly in a manner which just benefits those applying it. As for solutions, I think it would require the "Left", "Progressives" and the "far right" coming to a belated realisation that their worldviews overlap much more than they would like to admit, and it is the "centrist", established power which is most contrary to their positions, NOT each other. The system will of course try to keep these potential powerful forces back in their old (current) ineffective and reactionary positions but I believe they both are seeking similar things, albeit with a divergent approach. As time goes on, they are getting closer and closer, but the system is adamant in keeping the gulf as wide as possible, as this is the biggest threat. The problem is the people within these movements struggle to think outside the neoliberal, modern western mind trap, and despite thinking they are revolutionary, they are in fact not. They remain in a bubble. People don't challenge the assumptions they were given, then think they are working against them. I quite literally believe that our society, to avoid slow death, or major conflict or social disaster has to overcome this and focus on on a problem/solution oriented model of political activism, than an ideological/moral oriented model.

Vivienne Ortega

Fri, 2014-10-03 08:10

After a year of ongoing live export breaches in Jordan, the exporter implicated continues to operate. Animals Australia have shown evidence that Australian sheep being sold outside approved supply chains in Jordan, ahead of the upcoming Festival of Sacrifice. The Department of Agriculture and industry officials have been informed of “widespread, ongoing” breaches of the Exporter supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) at the Jordan market. One of the most significant traditions in the Islamic calendar is the four day festival of Eid, involving families slaughtering animals at their homes, usually sheep or goats. Under Australian law, animals can only be slaughtered in approved abattoirs in foreign markets. Animals Australia has lodged FIVE formal complaints since June 2013 about the illegal sale of Australian sheep in Jordan, in breach of live export regulations. But, still the industry continues, "business as usual". AA investigators documented evidence of more than 600 Australian sheep being illegally sold through dozens of roadside sellers in Jordan. Exporter Livestock Shipping Services, is again implicated. And right now LSS is loading more cattle and sheep on a ship off Adelaide. Animals Australia: Take Action. Ask your MP why this exporter still has a licence

Waioona (not verified)

Thu, 2014-10-02 15:43

Well written Michael, you've done your homework. I find the current situation totally untenable. I also agree with Dennis that we've been betrayed. Notwithstanding the in invasion of this country by our European forebears and the persecution of the first nations people. Government at all levels, the major parties Coalition and Labour, multinational corporations including the media and finance industries are hell bent on imposing their will upon ordinary people. To paraphrase John Legge "democracy is government by the people for the people, neoliberalism is government for the few by the few and neoconservatism is government for the few by the few by force"!! The United States of America has been imposing its will on many countries since the cessation of World War 2. From the Korean War, Vietnam, Cuba, Libya x 2, Grenada, Iraq x 3, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria.......... the list is nigh on infinite. The upshot of most of these wars was social upheaval on a catastrophic scale, the slaughter and assault of innocent men, women and children followed by a vacuum filled by cartels and dictators of the worst kind further destabilising the affected countries. Of course the Yanks had some good teachers at this caper, the United Kingdom and some of the other European countries were pretty hard act to follow. However, they've learnt well and Australia has become its lap dog in the interim with Deputies Howard and Abbott becoming warmongers extraordinaire. Dennis is correct when he says that neoliberal principles have dominated Coalition thinking since the advent of the Howard government followed by a neoliberal lite version under the Rudd/Gillard regime. Since taking office Abbott would make the founders of neoliberalism Hayek, Popper and von Mises proud. Reinforcing neoliberalism with austerity, Abbott's policies have divided the nation, fomented discrimination, hatred, bigotry and racism and paved the way for a nation of subservients (if there's such a word) who will be beholden to the state for their livelihoods. Not a very pleasant future indeed!!

admin

Thu, 2014-10-02 13:15

twitter.com/CFMEU_National:Union bid to expand 457 visa job advertisements (1/10/14)

Unions are campaigning against a proposal to abolish the requirement for employers to advertise jobs before filling them with overseas workers on 457 visas.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has analysed government data showing the number of 457 visa nominations had almost doubled from 9.8 per cent to 19.1 per cent in the first six months of the introduction of labour market testing.

The rejection rate of 457 visas for occupations that were not subject to labour market testing fell only slightly, from 7.9 per cent to 7.3 per cent, over the same six months.

...

The former Labor Government introduced the requirement that employers advertised jobs in professions including engineering, nursing and technical trades before filling them with foreign workers.

CFMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor said the initiative reduced the number of 457 visa approvals when employers failed to demonstrate that no qualified Australian workers were available for the job.

Mr O'Connor said the labour market testing requirement covered about a third of occupations and had proved to be effective.

"Asking an employer to advertise a job vacancy before they make the claim they can't find somebody is not too much to ask," he said.

"Why are people using 457 workers for low-level clerical work and nursing when you have graduate nurses unemployed?"

Mr O'Connor said, despite a rise in unemployment, particularly for younger people, 108,870 people were employed on 457 visas as at June 30.

...

Mr O'Connor said the Fair Work Ombudsman had found rules for the employment of people on 457 visas had been breached in 40 per cent of cases. Most related to the underpayment of workers.

The National Union of Workers (NUW) is also campaigning against the underpayment of workers employed by chicken processing company Baiada.

Pedro Vannea started working as a boner at Baiada's chicken processing plant in South Australia in 2007 soon after migrating from Cambodia.

His job was terminated late last year after he slipped on chicken skin and injured his ankle.

The NUW successfully lodged an unfair dismissal claim against Baiada that was being appealed.

...

DennisK (not verified)

Thu, 2014-10-02 11:12

It could be argued that the ruling class is colonising their own nation, that is, a new country, built on neo-liberalism, stateless/cultureless people and a subjugated class is being built OVER Australia. When I see the mass destruction of habitat both human and non human, to "house" people who exist here purely for economic concerns, there is little doubt to me there is a giant social engineering project. The Australian nation must be to them, what the Aboriginal nations was to the original colonisers, a nuisance who are in the way of a new nation. An invalid entity. This is not unique to Australia, but the speed, zeal and complicity here is much higher. The "right" (but not the far right) are the biggest proponents, but the "left" are complicit in pushing for "social justice" for this transformation. That is, they approve, but just wish people would be nicer about it all and not complain or obstruct and cause issues. Opposing this change is akin to nationalism, which is considered wrong, even enlightened nationalism (as per the USAs founding fathers), not just the chauvinistic kind. But is it colonisation? I consider it the act of traitors. People in positions of authority are willingly undermining their nation, selling out to foriegn interests, and bringing about conditions which obstruct the ability of people witihin the nation to go about their lives, secure housing and sustenance. I think it is criminal, not figuratively, but literally. We accept "economic justification" for criminal acts.

Anonymous (not verified)

Thu, 2014-10-02 09:55

Australia's ecological footprint is the 13th-largest in the world - and is likely to get bigger following the repeal of the carbon tax, conservation group WWF has warned.

WWF's Living Planet Report found the demands placed on the planet are more than 50 per cent what nature can sustain. The introduction of a price on carbon was the likely cause of our country's improved ranking, but the repeal of the two-year-old carbon price scheme in July would likely see Australia go backwards in future rankings.

The new report tracks the growth or decline of more than 10,000 populations of 3038 species ranging from forest elephants to sharks, turtles and albatrosses. Humans were consuming natural resources at a rate that would require 1.5 Earths to sustain – cutting down trees faster than they mature and harvesting more fish than oceans can replace.

The report found that if the rest of the world lived like Australians, 3.6 planet's worth of natural resources would be needed to sustain the demands placed on nature. We are in serious ecological overshoot, and our growth and living standards can't be sustained, but this report simply is incomprehensible to our leaders, and general public, and business continues as usual!

Freshwater species, which have suffered a 76 per cent decline since 1970 - double that of land and marine animals. Small mammals in Australia such as bilbies, bettongs and bandicoots, which are battling predation from introduced species such as cats and foxes.

Global biodiversity suffers as humanity lives beyond its means (30/9/11) at http://www.theage.com.au/environment/global-biodiversity-suffers-as-humanity-lives-beyond-its-means-20140929-10nl6b.html

The WWF report says it expects the world’s population to exceed 9.5-billion by 2050, and half of all future population growth is expected to occur in just eight countries, six of which are in Africa.

In just 40 years as Earth's human population has nearly doubled, while there was a 39-percent drop in numbers across a representative sample of land- and sea-dwelling species. Mankind was chomping through Nature's bounty much faster than the rate of replenishment, the WWF warned.

Read more: at Startling New Evidence Confirms That Humans Are Devastating Wildlife Across The Globe http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-wildlife-numbers-halved-over-past-four-decades-wwf-2014-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-wildlife-numbers-halved-over-past-four-decades-wwf-2014-9#ixzz3EwMQraeD

Vivienne Ortega

Wed, 2014-10-01 09:46

Wildlife numbers have plunged by more than half in just 40 years as Earth's human population has nearly doubled, a survey of more than 3000 vertebrate species shows. From 1970 to 2010, there was a 39 per cent drop in numbers across a representative sample of land and sea-dwelling species. Global human overpopulation means the encroachment onto, and destruction of, native animal habitats, and is the silver bullet of deaths and extinctions. With demographers projecting that human numbers will continue to swell to 12 billion by the end of the century, there's little wilderness space for non-human species. We are a "pest" species on the planet, in plague proportions! Freshwater populations declined 76 per cent. WWF's Living Planet report, 2014, says that 'the number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish across the globe is, on average, about half the size it was 40 years ago. Humans were consuming natural resources at a rate that would require 1.5 Earths to sustain - cutting down trees faster than they mature and harvesting more fish than oceans can replace. Human population overshoot is more than what individuals consume, but the gross pressure from sheer swelling numbers! The report warned, 'with the world population projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050 and 11 billion by 2100, the amount of biocapacity available for each of us will shrink further'. Humanity's greed for natural resources will overwhelm that of animals, and force their demise. The people of Kuwait had the biggest overall footprint, followed in the top 10 by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Belgium, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore, the United States, Bahrain and Sweden. Australia has the biggest rate of mammal extinctions of the modern world. Wildlife halved over the last 40 years

Ecoengine (not verified)

Wed, 2014-10-01 09:00

To boost their own vested interests in housing construction, and increase their profit base, the Property Council of Australia will turn its focus to boosting South Australia’s population in order to drive job creation and economic growth. Clearly there's not enough planning approvals being allowed for their satisfaction, and they want the trend in South Australia that's descended on Victoria! “One of my key goals", says the Property Council's executive director, "is to help simplify South Australia’s complex and cumbersome administrative migration processes – if we can do this, we’ll go a long way to attracting more skilled migrants to our state". In gross terms, more people will increase the size if the economy, in raw terms, but what about considering other parameters other than warehousing humans for their spending ability? South Australia is the driest state in the driest continent on the planet. He says “If we fail to recognise that people are one of our core assets, then we’re allowing other jurisdictions to capitalise by taking our people, taking our innovation and taking our tax revenue." A human "core asset" means that people will buy or rent property, and the buyers will become slaves to the banks and have new victims to drain away their savings on life-long mortgages. South Australia’s population growth rate is already “really rapid” says one of the country’s leading demographers, Director of the Australian Population and Migration Research Centre at the University of Adelaide Professor Graeme Hugo. In Greater Adelaide the general unemployment rate is 6.7%, and youth unemployment is at 14.6% The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) released the data earlier this month, (Sept) which revealed outback South Australia has a staggering youth unemployment rate of 29.8 per cent. Housing is distorting and twisting our economy, and failing to produce enough jobs for their growth "projections" - or deliberate tweaking of immigration rates to match their desired number of new construction permits! Outback SA tops youth unemployment rate figures Boost population to drive job creation and economy

Ecoengine (not verified)

Tue, 2014-09-30 11:37

A bipartisan parliamentary committee has found the Abbott government's proposed "learn or earn" budget measure would breach Australia's human rights obligations if implemented. The government wants to strip people aged under 30 of the dole for six months unless they are in training or in work, and raise the eligibility age for the higher-value Newstart payment to 25 from 22. The proposals are "incompatible with the right to social security and the right to an adequate standard of living", and "incompatible with the rights to equality and non-discrimination on the basis of age". This war on our unemployed young people is based on the assumption that they are dole bludgers and too lazy to work or study! What about the funding ripped from TAFE training, and unaffordable university fees? Jobs are draining from Australia due to our manufacturing industries disappearing, or going off shore. Productivity is low, and we have record rates of skilled immigration, and there are about one million temporary migrants at any one time, with permits to work in Australia - including foreign students. The government is still perpetuating the myth that ALL people who claim a support payment are some how cheating the system or bludging off government welfare. 36 per cent of all migrants over the past 5 years have joined the long-term unemployment queues. This includes up to 90 per cent of some ethnic groups. As technology replaces labour, employment opportunities could possibly significantly recede. Those promoting mass immigration should seriously consider this situation. (one Nation report). Our government is meant to be at the helm of our economy, and while the generous entitlements of politicians remain untouched, the rest of the community is being shaved of them! Job creation is failing to keep abreast with population growth, and this megalomania is locking many people out of our economy. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/governments-lea... A free market economy might be "good" for the economy, but if it doesn't provide basic human needs of housing, food, water and employment to pay for them, then it's a flawed model.

admin

Mon, 2014-09-29 17:26

From the Sydney Morning Herald (29/9/14) and the Reserve Our Gas web-site:

Australia holds an enviable supply of natural gas. But, unlike every other gas-exporting country, it has no laws to keep a certain amount of extracted gas onshore, driving up prices and hurting consumers and manufacturers, campaigners say.

On Monday, the Reserve Our Gas campaign was launched to demand the federal government to pass laws to ensure a percentage of gas is kept for domestic use rather than being exported and linked to global prices.

Such laws could stop local gas prices from rocketing, with one projection showing prices could triple next year when LNG exports ramp up.

A BIS Shrapnel report found a rise could see one in five manufacturers shut down over the next half-decade. It also showed households gas bills could rise by 26 per cent over three years from 2015.

The Australian Workers Union, which is leading the campaign with the support of Australian Paper and resources giant Alcoa, said Australia was the only gas-exporting country in the world to not reserve gas for its own citizens and industries.

As a consequence, exporters were unfairly selling Australian gas back to consumers at global prices, it said.
While Australian gas has traditionally cost around $3-4 per gigajoule domestically, it could sell for up to $18 per gigajoule on Asian markets.

"We currently have a situation in which our abundant gas reserves are hurting Australian jobs and households instead of helping them," said AWU National Secretary Scott McDine said. "That's crazy and it's no wonder no other gas-exporting nation allows it."

Israel, Indonesia, Egypt each have laws requiring that a percentage of gas extracted must stay within their domestic markets. The United States has a public interest test for gas exports.

The union says state-owned companies dominate gas industries in Norway, Qatar, Russia, Algeria, and Malaysia, ensuring domestic advantage.

"Australians have a right to know their rapidly rising gas bills are actually completely preventable. We just need to do what every other gas-exporting nation does and bring in laws to look after the local population," he said.

BIS Shrapnel found gas extraction had a spectacularly high profit ratio of 66 per cent, compared to iron ore with 32 per cent and coal with 3.4 per cent.

"We are throwing away hundreds of thousands of jobs, and our national competitive advantage, simply so gas exporters can squeeze a little extra profit out of what is already a spectacularly profitable business," he said.

Ginty (not verified)

Mon, 2014-09-29 12:26

I was listening to the news this AM- that oil wells owned? Commandeered? by rebels ? ISIS have been targeted by US? ?missiles? I thought we were lead to believe (by mainstream news) that the fighting in Syria was supposed to be sort of good guys against the “tyrannical” Assad regime. Yet now we have another band of bad guys in there as well.? Meanwhile what are Assad forces doing re the pipelines ? oil wells i.e. to protect them ? Others must be as confused as I am surely??

Dennis K

Sun, 2014-09-28 22:40

A common refrain is that people say Abbott, or the Liberal party, want to take us back to the 1950's. If only that were the case! This is giving them way, way too much credit. The 1950's saw economic growth and an improvement in living standards, with people being able to afford homes. Society was moving towards the state providing greater social benefit. We all know the flaws, but things were looking forward. No, it's more going back to the Gilded Age, the era of Robber Barons, of unrestrained capitalism and exploitation they want to drag Australia back to.

quark

Sun, 2014-09-28 21:11

Comedian Rod Quantock's utterly exhausting and hilarious show now running at the Melbourne Fringe Festival features an excellent commentary on the era of Tony Abbott in a global (should I say universal?) and comprehensively historical (should I say prehistoric?) context.

Sheila Newman

Sun, 2014-09-28 21:05

AUSTRALIA'S rapid growth cannot keep up with the country's employment needs, a key Labor MP says.

The "disconnect" between jobs and population must be addressed, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese told The Bolt report on Sunday.

"At the moment, my concern is that the growth in jobs - there's a disconnect between growth in jobs and growth in population of where they're occurring," the party's spokesman on infrastructure, transport and tourism said.

"So, you're having drive-in/drive-out suburbs without people having access to work, or even community infrastructure.

"So, we need to make sure that we get that right."

From, Sunshine Coast Daily, Sherele Moody, 28th Sep 2014.
Read more

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 2014-09-28 14:07

In a Foreign Ministry statement, Ecuador described the air raids as a “violation of the state of Syria’s sovereignty and a threat to its territorial integrity.” South American countries say that the airstrikes against IS "go against international rights, for they have not been recognized by the UN General Assembly nor authorized by the Security Council", according Ecuador's foreign minister.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently rejected the air raids at the UN General Assembly. He said the Western countries are to blame for the current crisis in the Middle East. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff also agrees that these actions will see the escalation of violence.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has stressed the importance of uprooting terrorism in line with international principles, and the repetition of previous mistakes by the US and certain countries in pursuing double standards on terrorism and arming well-known terrorist groups in the region.

The US and its allies, including those in the Persian Gulf region, stand accused of helping the rise of ISIL in the region through the provision of arms and financial aid to the divisions, wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq.

Iran and Russia have accurately pointed out that the airstrikes were a violation of Syria’s national sovereignty and a violation of international law. Assad and the Syrian government are the ultimate target of the West to begin with.
One possibility of the purpose US airstrikes in Syria is that the aggressive presence of the U.S. military is in reality an attempt to poke and prod Assad into shooting down an American aircraft.

Dennis K

Fri, 2014-09-26 23:47

Editor: This comment has been made into an article on the front page, here: http://candobetter.net/node/4074 Australia does totalitarianism poorly. The PATRIOT act at least appeared to have some limitations. These laws don't encroach on privacy, they completely obliterate it. The Liberals are doing what the Nazi's did, minus the economic improvements, conservation and infrastructure (there's something to think about!). It essentially implements the Internet monitoring that we were worried about years ago. There is little reason to doubt that Australian spies won't have a warrant to monitor one computer or device on the internet as soon as they can (I strongly suspect these laws legitimise what has been long standing practice and that such monitoring has been in place). We can consider the internet monitored, as these laws define no boundaries. This is no different to if the government had said "we will monitor the internet however we like". I ask which "terrorist" organisation has the capability to threaten our liberties and rights to this extent? And all this from what? The media lying to the population by stating there was a beheading planned! As mentioned in the article Remember, when the power structure sees a meme is working they double and triple down on it. With the beheading videos effectively pushing the American public back into a post-9/11 fetal position, it became clear that the fear of “beheadings” is enough to send the Western public into a total panic state. Then, suddenly a plot emerges that ISIS related terrorists were planning to publicly behead an Australian citizen in the middle of Sydney. As usual, mainstream media rushed to scare the shit out of everyone. Note that the police only confirmed 'violence', NOT beheadings being planned (or merely discussed or mentioned). Colour me cynical, but this is a blatant attempt to jerk Australia back under the boot of authoritarian conservatism and give licence for military action against Syria, oops, sorry, ISIS... All the government agencies have to do, is follow anyone they want to make a target, and it is inevitable you can find something to blow up. The ISIS angle works doubly well, because objecting to the coming conflict paints one as someone against a humanitarian mission. Consider the following, if one wanted to ban the Macrame and Crochet society, or ban knitting needles. 1) You begin surveillance of members of the Macrame and Crochet society, infiltrate meetings, etc. 2) Wait. Record everything. 3) Have a record of a phone call of Mavis telling Ethel "That Tony, I tell ya, he needs a good kick in the bum". Every Australian at some point or another says something along these lines about some politician. Chaff bag anyone? 4) Say that members of the organisation have been "planning violence" against Australians (true in a very strict sense), then LATER, mention its a politician. 5) Have the media use phrases like "The Macrame and Crochet society has been under surveillance...." . It is technically true and people will assume they must have done something wrong to be under surveillance. "Known to the police", "Was under surveillance" are scary sounding phrases which imply guilt and danger, but could actually be completely meaningless. 6) Organise 800 riot goons to arrest Mavis, complete with media presence (how do they know?). Call it the biggest anti-terror operation in history (again, technically true, because you've made it true). 7) Don't make effort to correct the media of they talk of 'stabbing people with knitting needles'. The media are allowed to get things wrong. Journalists don't get fired for mistakes. You can talk of remaining calm, but neglect to mention the media whipping things up, and do nothing at all to calm people. And there you have it, you can have the population in hysteria, thinking that old grannies are going to gouge eyes out with knitting needles. The beauty of this scam is you don't have to lie! Hand on your heart, its all true! edit: The scariest thing was, as I was writing this, I had in the back of my mind that this could be a risk. That this would be monitored, put against my name. I would have never thought 20 years ago that in Australia it would be like this, but here we are... I remember as a child my grandmother telling me stories of how everyone was monitored in Nazi Germany, that people would dob on each other (often just out of spite) and that things you said could be used against you later. From what I've heard of people who lived in Communist countries, it wasn't too different there. These regimes did NOT have armed guards at every corner, STOPPING you form speaking. No, you were free to speak in Communist Russia, or Nazi Germany, but you never knew what was recorded, and you would find, sometime in the future, after exercising your 'freedom', you're in trouble.

Sheila Newman

Fri, 2014-09-26 23:07

From the same source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-25/australia-unleashes-draconian-new-anti-terror-law-orwellian-orgy-baseless-fear-monge

Australian spies will soon have the power to monitor the entire Australian internet with just one warrant, and journalists and whistleblowers will face up to 10 years’ jail for disclosing classified information.

 

The government’s first tranche of tougher anti-terrorism laws, which beef up the domestic spy agency ASIO’s powers, passed the Senate 44 votes for and 12 against on Thursday night with bipartisan support from Labor.

 

The bill, the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014, will now be sent to the House of Representatives, where passage is all but guaranteed on Tuesday at the earliest.

 

Anyone — including journalists, whistleblowers and bloggers — who “recklessly” discloses “information … [that] relates to a special intelligence operation” faces up to 10 years’ jail.

 

Any operation can be declared “special” and doing so gives ASIO criminal and civil immunity. Many, including lawyers and academics, have said they fear the agency will abuse this power.

 

Those who identify ASIO agents could also face a decade in prison under the new laws, a tenfold increase in the existing maximum penalty.

 

These changes have opposition support and would make it a criminal office to travel to a terrorist hot-spot without a reasonable excuse.

Dennis K

Fri, 2014-09-26 20:55

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-25/australia-unleashes-draconian-new-anti-terror-law-orwellian-orgy-baseless-fear-monge

Understanding how the power structure thinks, and how it intentionally manipulates the emotions of the masses, is key to overcoming and rolling back totalitarian ambitions. I have spent the last few posts talking about how instilling fear throughout the general populace is one of their primary tactics. Indeed, to borrow a term from Glenn Greenwald, “fear-manufacturing” has been in overdrive across the Five Eyes nations over the past several weeks. In the UK, we saw it used to convince elderly Scots to overwhelming vote against independence, thus swaying the result decisively to the NO side. In the USA, we have seen it used to drum up support for another pointless war in the Middle East, which will benefit nobody except for the military/intelligence-industrial complex.

read more

Sheila Newman

Fri, 2014-09-26 19:23

The Population Overshoot Factor in Ecological Economics

Posted on September 23, 2014 by lolinda

We were delighted by the clear consensus that emerged at the end of the Iceland conference, that population size and growth is one of the major factors in assessing the  sustainability of economies and societies, which should be taken into account. As an aid to doing so, we attach the current Overshoot Index. This is a simple extrapolation for population size from the data of the (Kenneth Boulding Award-winning) Global Footprint Network. No-one, of course, claims that the figures are precise. Indeed, by omitting non-renewables and biodiversity, they may overstate sustainable populations. But as a rough guide to orders of magnitude, not least of the scale of the overshoot problem, we believe they could be of use to ISEE members.

Signed:  Blake Alcott; Carter Dillard; Sigrun Maria Kristinsdottir; Karin Limburg; Roger Martin; Luke O’Brien; Maria Ibbarola Rivas.

To download a copy click here.

Ecoengine (not verified)

Fri, 2014-09-26 17:04

Australia is the driest continent, yet due to heavy population growth, many of our cities now use desalination plants. Perth has two desalination plants while Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane have desalination plants ready to use if we need. Desalination needs more energy to produce, at least 15 times more than water from a big dam. Secondly the desalination plants are quite expensive, Australia was reported to be spending $13.2 billion on desalination plants in 2011 in response to national water "shortages" - or ecological overshoot of human populations! Governments give disproportional priority to GDP, housing and economic growth, rather than on quality of life, and affordable living. Our food bowls are being concreted over by housing, and costs of living in Australia are spiralling out of control. High rates of growth were appropriate during the Colonial and post war eras, but can't be sustained forever in dated economic growth. It's tunnel-vision for short term economic benefits over the long term management of our nation. Parliamentary terms are short, and governments have no responsibility beyond their terms in office. Humans have inherited a destructive, greedy gene that ultimately will threaten our own survival. Maybe self annihilation is imprinted into our genetic makeup and our evolutionary drive? The "death cult" of overpopulation will indeed overwhelm us, and the zeal to obtain scarce natural resources will cause conflicts, displacements, land grabs, encroachments on foreign soils, "peak" everything, global diseases, and eventually mass deaths!

DennisK (not verified)

Fri, 2014-09-26 16:30

The colonialist/imperialist empire building and somewhat racist mentality the west, in this case Britain had, has not disappeared. I argue it remains, sublimated and turned inward. Today, we see councils, organisations adopting the same attitudes towards other nations as the imperialists did, as gains, jewels and assets to collect. The boast that some councils make, about having "diversity" echoes the same attitude which prided in bringing peoples into an empire. However, now that we are no longer capable of building overt empire abroad, we now do it at home. Is it just mere coincidence that those nations which most eagerly collected nations in multi continental empires, subjugating them for thier OWN cause, are the same nations most eager to push "diversity" and consider the existence of additional nationalities as some kind of currency? Do Chinese or Phillipinos feel that other ethnicities are value adding currencies, to be broguht under the one ruling system as a form of accumulation of goods? This is a strange view we have, and the idea of "collecting" people as some moral virtue, as a way of saving them from their own "different" lifestyles into correct, "mainstream" one of ours persists now as it did when white mans burden compelled nations to colonise and transform the globe. The parallels are striking. This attitude extends itself to immigration for profit, which is just another manifestation of the idea that a human being is an entity which just happens to be attached to an economic resource, rather than a human in their own right. (Imperialism, again). Especially immigration today, which is blatantly economic. How degrading to invite someone into your country, not to build a antion, but just to use their fact of existence to obtain money.

Vivienne Ortega

Fri, 2014-09-26 10:13

On Tuesday, South Australian legislators voted against the Surveillance Devices Bill, which aims to criminalise the public release of information collected through the use of surveillance devices, with a maximum penalty of $75,000 for a corporation and $15,000 or imprisonment for three years for individuals. So-called 'ag-gag laws' have already been introduced in some parts of the United States. So, the laws that protect animals has a sting in the tail - if animal cruelty is reported, not the perpetrators but the messengers will be pursued as criminals! At least the South Australian government has rejected this draconian Surveillence Devices Bill, which will make it illegal to film or spread animal abuses. Instead of prosecuting the criminals, the messengers will be hounded, charged and possibly imprisoned! Our so-called civilized society is descending downhill, ethically and morally, to ensure that farming corporations' profits are protected, and that industrial farming can continue in secret. In July this year, PETA USA revealed a shocking video filmed within Australian shearing sheds, giving the public an unprecedented view of the wool industry. The acts of senseless brutality on defenceless sheep exposed in footage from 19 Australian shearing sheds last month should have shocked the nation. What they saw was horrific abuse: sheep being violently body slammed, repeatedly punched in the face, beaten and their bloody wounds sewn roughly with needle and thread and without pain relief. Voiceless says: "Ag-gag laws operate to hide the truth about how animals are raised on factory farms by silencing advocates and stifling transparency. These laws effectively suppress the public’s right to question our present use and abuse of farmed animals while permitting the concealment of animal cruelty and neglect". Victorian Farmers Federation egg group president Brian Ahmed said farmers wanted extreme animal activists held to account. It's an admission that their intense farming practices don't hold up to scrutiny, and rely on inherent cruelty. What is "extreme" about preventing animals from cruelty? Of course, there are cases where animals must be moved, injected, separated and endure some discomforts, but we all do! Animal cruelty can't simply be wiped out because it's illegal to use surveillance cameras! That's just ignoring the messenger! Where are we going as a society if we tolerate cruelty? It's an admission that it's happening, but governments won't do anything. Will this happen with other crimes too? We will be a "crimeless" society, with all of it happening underground, in denial. Only criminals want exposure of crime criminalized!

Ecoengine (not verified)

Thu, 2014-09-25 14:25

"Mayor Robert Doyle will represent the growth lobby position by saying that growth is inevitable in urban centres and must be 'planned for'". His basic premise is false, as our population growth is driven and socially engineered mainly through immigration rates which are politically decided. He's making his debate easy to demolish, and with this basis, he will easily be pushed over by Kelvin Thomson! Surely Doyle will be better prepared for any other argument? The public expect to see robust debate, not some delusion or lie! Of course, Doyle will refer to foreign income, GDP growth, housing revenues, "diversity", superannuation funds, pensions, ageing population, and national security etc. Any of these arguments are flimsy and easily refuted. The only people making money are the wealthy elite, and the fact that we are experiencing a new generation of homeless and renters is evidence that the Great Australian Dream of home ownership is being eroded away by greed. Population growth is the no-brainer way of boosting our GDP, while ignoring the heavy costs of schools, transport, energy, water, health care and basic public services that prevent us descending into third world poverty and deprivation. People are being warehoused in apartments and towers, "farmed" by property developers and the banking corporations, as resources for capitalism and profit-making.

Daisy Uriad (not verified)

Thu, 2014-09-25 14:18

http://m.smh.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/neighbours-join-forces-to-up-sale-prices-in-same-street-20140819-105oeb.html This, to me is doing the dirty on your neighbours. One the houses involved once belonged to an acquaintance. The new owner (who bought it from my acquaintance) has now sold the house for about $200,000 more than he purchased it for. It was a very attractive house, but the most recent seller had renovated it – but it is to be demolished! I really don’t get it. I guess the vendors buy one of the 26? units each to be built on the 3 blocks and then they have some spare change out of this. They may be surprised at how little they actually get out of it. Let’s say they buy a unit for $700,000 so they have $300,000 change and then they have to pay stamp duty. Maybe they’d get an overseas trip or 2 out of it and they end up with very little space in the area where they used to have plenty. Is this a good deal? I doubt it. This is life?

Vivienne Ortega

Thu, 2014-09-25 12:38

THE BIG POPULATION DEBATE Will Melbourne still be the most liveable city by 2050? ROBERT DOYLE, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor “Population growth is inevitable in our great urban centres so we need to plan for it.” AND KELVIN THOMSON, MP, President, Victoria First “Population growth is neither inevitable nor desirable, it damages our way of life and our children’s future.” Moderator : MICHAEL SHORT The Age Editor of “The Zone” with open mike for questions DEAKIN EDGE, FEDERATION SQUARE MONDAY 13TH OCTOBER 2014 COMMENCING 5.30 pm sharp until 7 pm FREE ENTRY Brought to you by Planning Backlash, a coalition of Melbourne’s community and resident groups

James Sinnamon

Thu, 2014-09-25 09:56

An analyst on RT (I am unable to find which program) argued that the United States' 'bombing' of ISIS targets in violation of Syrian air space was only token. The United States is only pretending to fight the ISIS terrorists, funded by its Turkish, Saudi and Qatari allies, whilst flying of Syria presumably planning to attack Syria itself as soon as it judges the political cost to the United States is worth it.

Anonymous (not verified)

Thu, 2014-09-25 08:47

A Free Market economy might by great for untying economies and trade from the strings of national control, but economies can succeed and boom at our detriment! Economies are meant to be tools, to serve us, not to flourish as our expense and to the detriment of our living standards and our sovereignty. First home owners are largely locked out of home ownership, and if we reduce our massive immigration rates, governments fear the housing bubble could deflate. So, with first home owners out of the picture, Chinese and other foreign investors are being allowed to swoop and buy up! It's great to get foreign capital, and maximum windfall prices from property sales, but it sets a precedent of high prices, and short term cash flows at the expense of our nation's integrity. Foreign buyers are encouraged to build up our property stock, and add to the real estate Ponzi scheme - on the back of the Immigration Ponzi scheme. Similarly for GDP growth, which could also be a result of disasters. Population growth is being used to artificially prop up our GDP, hiding a weak economy. We assume that politicians have our interests, and that of our nation, at heart, but they're really captured by corporations and the interests of multinational powers who demand profits and "growth"!

admin

Wed, 2014-09-24 03:58

Tomorrow night's (tonight's - 3:36AM 24 sep 14, Ed) Council meeting will be a defining moment in the history of Macedon Ranges. Our "democratically-elected community representatives" will decide whether to adopt Council's rehash of the recently exhibited Localised Planning Statement - the one that gets rid of Statement of Planning Policy No. 8 in favour of promoting pet projects, motherhood statements and damaging development.

A revised draft LPS available from Council's website, www.mrsc.vic.gov.au (meetings > agendas > 24 September > item PE4 attachment 1 of 5), seems to now propose TWO policy areas. It shrinks the existing Statement of Planning Policy No. 8 - Macedon Ranges and Surrounds policy area to about a third or less of the size it has been for the past 40 years (i.e. Council's new area includes Newham to Macedon only). It also (inanely) renames this wee scrap of land "The Range and The Rock" policy area but confusingly also calls it the Macedon Ranges and Surrounds area, and the Rock and the Ranges area). Ominously, unlike SPP8, Council's Range and Rock policy area excludes the main towns of Woodend, Gisborne, Riddells Creek, Romsey and Lancefield (i.e. towns and vast rural areas are no longer the 'surrounds' in Macedon Ranges and Surrounds). That's NOT Statement of Planning Policy No. 8.

... for more, read article on the Macedon Ranges Residents Association web-site.

Ecoengine (not verified)

Tue, 2014-09-23 12:58

Environment East Gippsland launched a legal action in the Supreme Court on Monday, alleging the Department of Environment and Primary Industries and VicForests had failed to set aside areas in the Gippsland Forest to protect the powerful, sooty and masked owls. The Goongerah-Deddick fires in January and February this year burnt 170,000 hectares of forest but DEPI ignored the legal requirement that they are required to review and secure replacement forest areas considered as suitable habitat for the owls. The powerful and sooty owls are listed as vulnerable and the masked owl as endangered, according to Victoria's Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. Under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, powerful and masked owls state require at least 100 areas of 500 hectares each, while the sooty owl needs 131 areas of at least 500 hectares. The same government department responsible for wildlife is also giving permits for logging companies, and there's a glaring conflict of interests! The government ignores the environment laws with contempt, and they are more devoted to the logging industry than protecting wildlife habitats, and considering their legal rights. A spokesperson for DEPI blandly said: "The department has a comprehensive framework in place to protect native species during timber harvesting operations, including forestry management plans and a code of practice for timber harvesting operations." This "framework" does nothing unless it's implemented. Logging is due in the four coups mentioned in the writ will commence next year - so the "framework" is meant to be compatible with fires, and logging? The Age: Environmentalists sue over threat to owls It's inside corruption when the gate-keepers of our environment and wildlife must be taken to court by the caring public, at their expense, for failing to meet their own laws!

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