Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy has set out new rules for three zones into which each local council must divide their area. ''Residential growth'' zones enable the highest levels of new housing growth near train lines, shopping strips and the like. ''General residential'' zones are to be used in most residential areas to preserve urban character while enabling moderate housing growth. Finally, ''neighbourhood residential'' zones tightly restrict housing growth.
Fortunately, Glen Eira and Boroondara councils have got in early, exploiting this weakness, or loophole in the legislation, to declare that they don't want all this growth!
Glen Eira council has zoned about 80 per cent of residential land to restrict growth in housing. Similarly, Boroondara is seeking approval to restrict growth in about 80 per cent of residential land. Only 1 per cent of residential land in Boroondara is proposed for the residential growth zone, and just 19 per cent for the general residential zone, despite state government guidance that this should be used in most residential areas. Why should they have their suburbs re-engineered to lose their neighborhood character, and amentiies, and welcome more people?
The Age: Councils opt for NIMBY approach on growth
The article assumes that Melbourne's ridiculously high rate of growth is inevitable, and will continue. It assumes that the rebel councils want the growth to go elsewhere - ie are NIMBYs. If this pattern of councils locking down most of their neighbourhoods continues, along with our third-world levels of population growth, nearly all new housing will be built in Melbourne's outer suburbs and on the urban fringe.
Previous Grattan Institute research (Cities: who decides?) shows early, sustained involvement of residents in decision-making makes it possible to satisfy most people. Well, this is the result of the residents, and councils' decision - to avoid growth that's not in the interests of residents or Melbourne.
There's nothing in the article about agreements on immigration levels, or that 60% or more of our population growth is from record levels of immigration- and thus not inevitable. It assumes that growth is "good" and desirable.
Property development has become a major industry in Victoria, but the trailing costs of population growth far outweigh the economic benefits of the industry. Our economy needs to diversity, and rely more on quality, training, education, invention, innovation and skills rather than on quantity of people.
The costs of population growth are compromising our living standards, locking young people out of housing, and the industry has far too much political power and support. The more we accommodate this socially-engineered population growth, due to unrealistic levels of immigration, the more the Federal government will turn on the immigration tap!
The best athletes are the finely-tuned, well rehearsed and those not carrying too much excess baggage, such as body fat and slack muscles. What's needed for the challenges of the future is a finely-tunes, fit and educated and skilled population, not one that carrying excess "fat"- or an economy that's has population growth un-sustainably built-into it.
There must be a circuit-breaker somewhere, and at least Councils are making headway in democracy.
Comments
Australian government climate change denial
The Warsaw climate summit is the first major round of United Nations climate change negotiations since the Abbott government took office. Countries are normally represented by ministers in the second week of major climate meetings. However, our government will not be represented by any senior member.
The United Nations Framework convention on climate change will try to hammer out a new international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. It's unclear if the diplomats attending from Australia will be given a mandate for the meeting, to negotiate.
The Australian climate change ambassador Dr Justin Lee will lead the delegation.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has denied 25 years of climate change research and accused a UN executive secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change of "talking through her hat." Environment Minister Mr Hunt said he "looked up what Wikipedia" had written about bushfires and based his statements there. He said it was clear from Wikipedia that Australia's bushfires were "normal and frequent events".
Former prime minister John Howard has poured scorn on the "alarmist" scientific consensus on global warming in a speech to a gathering of British climate skeptics, comparing those calling for action on climate change to religious zealots. No lay person would question peer-reviewed advancements in medical science, paleontology, archeology, zoology, or have the grounds to be highly dismissive and skeptical of new research findings and trends, but when it comes to climate science, it's too abstract, and can be dismissed with impunity as a religious belief without foundation?
No wonder no politician will be at the UN climate change conference. Australia is locked into the economic-model of perpetual growth, and the "business as usual" drive of big population, high volume capitalistic markets, and the cornucopia myth of never-ending benefits for humanity! It's a pseudo-religion, one the defies empirical evidence. The "god" of human advancement, of benevolent Mother Nature, and human advancements technology will "save" humanity from any climatic hostility, scarcities, overpopulation and the planet's degradation, and Australia can continue to grow its population to up to 60 million people by 2050, and enjoy prosperity despite the constraints of climate change!
Speaking their language
Well, I guess this invoce will be a language that VicForestsw will understand.
Support for your efforts to stop the live animal export trade
Dear Andrew
I strongly support your efforts to stop the live animal export trade.
I have just sent an email to Sen Barnaby Joyce in support of your efforts.
Please know that thinking Australians do want this cruel trade to end. The animals have no say in what happens to them and it is up to us to ensure they are treated as live, sentient beings, deserving of respect.
Please continue, in spite of the opposition you find in parliament.
I find it hard to believe that any educated, thinking person could possibly think that sending live animals on long sea trips to slaughter houses in countries where there is no respect for animals, is an OK idea. It is obviously money that is talking. Bribery and corruption tends to be inherent in the countries of destination.
Our society in Australia needs to show the world that we act on our principles and follow through with what we believe, rather than kow-towing to others' beliefs.
Yours sincerely
Helen B Carter
Duck hunting protestors, and loggers, to get more protection
In an another attack on democracy, the Victorian Government has announced a major crackdown on opponents of duck hunting and logging. Our governments are becoming increasingly authoritian, and autocratic.
Protesters in duck shooting areas will have their fines increased to a massive $8500, instead of $1400. It used to be $100 under Labor.
If hunters are "harassed", there could be a fine of $3,500. The new highly protected species isn't the native waterbirds, but their human predators. They are highly valued Liberal voters, obviously!
Duck rescuers are to stay 25 meters from hunters, for their "safety". Wearing bright gear, they are more safe than the hunters in their camouflage clothing.
Similarly, the Government has also created new offences for breaching an exclusion order in logging zones, with similar penalties. Loggers are to be prized species, with higher protection than the native, and threatened, species they are eliminating.
These "crackdowns" are more evidence that democracy and transparency are being eroded as our economic model of perpetual growth means whittling away of natural resources, and those who do it need more and more heavy-handed and draconian protection and support. The new "criminals" are the conservationists and animal activists - those who care about the environment, and native species.
Victorian duck hunt protesters face massive penalty hike
Plan to cut Abbot Point dredging rejected by State Government
A PROPOSAL to reduce the amount of dredging at the controversial $2 billion Abbot Point coal port from 3 million cubic metres to just 500,000 cubic metres has been rejected by the State Government. A departmental briefing to Environment Minister Andrew Powell which was uncovered in a Right to Information search says the port could go ahead with less dredging if the two jetties to be built were extended from 2.8km to 4km.
Courier Mail: Plan to cut Abbot Point dredging rejected by State government
The idea would likely have meant that dredge spoil could have been dumped onshore instead of in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
An assessment of the Reef released on Friday blamed agricultural and urban run-off rather than dredging for most damage. Population growth and increased urban run-off, and the "Asian Century", will ensure the threats continue to increase. The heavy dredging will simply put the nails in the coffin of the Great Barrier Reef's integrity.
The briefing warns that dredge spoil material is moving much further and in much greater volumes than previously thought.
If Abbot Point dredging was approved this year, it would enable supporting mine and rail developments to proceed, making coal export possible by 2017.
Governments couldn't consciously be exporting coal if they accepted the science of climate change. "Science" is acceptable if it remains static and abstract, in journals and academic communities. If it impinges on our government's growth plans, and exports, then it becomes controversial and inconvenient - and must be denied!
Kangaroo testicles - a Chinese aphrodisiac?
Ivory and other body parts from African wildlife, and other parts of the world, means animals are being brutally hacked, killed and threatened by poachers. The new trend, to the delight of some graziers who resent the presence of native kangaroos, is that kangaroo testicles are considered an aphrodisiac!
Kangaroo testicles are bound for China as a sex drug branded as a new aphrodisiac. According to popular online shopping websites, China has gone nuts over the tonic which sells for between $30-$150 for a bottle of 100 capsules.
There's no scientific or rational basis for this belief, or no empirical evidence. Australian medical experts warn the drug, based on testosterone, is untested and without scientific data to support its claims of a super-sexed libido.
Like rhino horns that's simply cartilage, like human fingernails, there's no evidence of it being medicinal in value. One label says that "the male kangaroo may mate with 40 female kangaroos and produces twice as much semen as a bull. Essence of Kangaroo is extremely potent as it is rich in natural hormones, proteins, zinc and iron, which are able to increase physical strength and enhance the sexual energy.''
If true, that doesn't mean this potency can be consumed!
The myth that kangaroo breed in "plague" proportions is being propagated, when their joey death rate is very high.
The kangaroo killing commercial industry won't refute the science, or evidence to the contrary, if they are making money from the body parts of kangaroos - our nation's icon!
Kangaroo testicles a hit with Chinese as aphrodisiac
Fears of Great Barrier Reef developments
UNESCO, which oversees the world heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef, has already voiced concern that the port developments might put the area on its ''endangered'' list.
While their report has given some weight to the role dredging and port developments play in the state of the reef, it highlighted more urgent concerns from nutrient run-off, climate change and the crown of thorns starfish.
No port developments should be permitted outside the existing major port areas, it said. Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said it was important for decisions about the reef to be based on scientific facts, not "alarmist claims" by environmental groups that can't be verified.
Environmental groups remain concerned about the impact of proposed dredging projects near the reef, including the Abbot Point proposal due for a decision next month.
Environment Minister Mr Hunt said he was encouraged by ''new science'' that could prove more effective in combating the crown-of-thorns starfish infestations that were killing coral. New programs to stop run-off from farms would also make a difference, he said.
His "new science" sounds more like a denial of traditional science, based on observation, empirical evidence and obvious conclusions. This "new science" what our present day politicians are committed to and is the attitude towards climate change!
Crown-of-thorns starfish are responsible for 42 per cent of the coral damage. Storms account for 48 per cent of the degradation and bleaching accounts for the remainder.
The assessment found seagrass meadows had also been affected, hurting populations of dugongs and turtles.
SMH: Fears for reef over port development
If Abbot point goes ahead as planned it will be the largest coal export port on the planet, and if Mackay goes ahead it will be the second biggest port coal on the planet. And the Whitsundays lie in the middle.
The $6.2 billion expansion of the coal port would see four additional coal terminals built; which would provide an extra annual capacity of 120 million tonnes and would support the developments in the Bowen, Surat, and Galilee Basins of Queensland.
Tourists don't want to see destroyed coasts and bygone natural treasures, and marine wildlife will be killed or turned away. This generation shouldn't bear the guilt of having destroyed an world-heritage area, and future generations will be condemning us in retrospect. There's little compatibility between capitalistic economic growth, and long term conservation.
There's no ultimate point of having a thriving and successful coal-mining industry if we lose a world-heritage natural treasure- worth more than any billions from dirty coal extraction and export.
Miranda by-election: Liberals should take warning
The government should take a warning from the recent Miranda electorate by-election, southern Sydney, October 19th. It was a blue-ribbon Liberal electorate, but they proved that the voters can't be taken for granted.
Greens candidate Mr Murray Scott said:
"For too long, state governments have been working hand-in-hand with the big developers, saying the only way to increase Sydney's population is to build Hong Kong-style apartment towers in place of much-loved garden suburbs.
"The government is proposing aggressive new planning laws designed to take powers from local councils, increase state government intervention and [to] weaken environmental planning standards..."
"This is a direct breach of its 2011 pre-election promise to undo Labor's rotten planning changes and return planning powers to local councils."
http://www.theleader.com.au/story/1845253/miranda-voters-head-to-the-pol...
(Pity the Greens don't have a implementable population policy!).
Many people seem to be irritated about Sports and Recreation Minister Graham Annesley. But also, concerns about over-development (Libs on local council raised height restrictions on new developments and changed residential densities).
Labor was running on an over-development platform, with Barry Collier. Collier was a lawyer and former school teacher before entering parliament, and while he never rose from the back bench, he established his local popularity when the government backed down on a plan to build the Southern Freeway through the electorate.
NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson says the swing of about 27 per cent against the Liberals is believed to be the largest ever recorded at a NSW by-election - is a warning to the Liberal government.
The government had to recognise the level of concern about over-development, Sutherland Hospital needs, fire stations closures and TAFE cuts. "The people of Miranda sent a strong message by voting against the cuts to local hospitals, train services and fire stations," Opposition Leader Mr Robertson said.
Andrew Wilkie MP media release: live export
A STATEMENT ON LATEST ANIMAL CRUELTY REVELATIONS
The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, will discuss the latest revelation of cruelty in Australia’s live animal export trade, this time the live sheep trade to Jordan.
WHEN: 12.30pm 31 October
WHERE: Parliament House Lawns Hobart
“I’m beyond asking how many more episodes of animal cruelty are needed before the Australian Government shuts down the live export trade,” Mr Wilkie said.
“The Government simply doesn’t care about the trade being systemically cruel, not being in Australia’s economic self-interest and lacking popular support.
“The latest episode in Jordan shows again the cruelty routinely metered out to Australian livestock sent overseas. It joins a very long list of exposé?s by Animal Australia and others in countries as diverse as Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan and of course repeatedly in Indonesia.
“In this case the Government must identify the Australian exporter and come down on it like a ton of bricks.
“To allow the trade to continue in the full knowledge that it is systemically cruel makes the Australian Government every bit as guilty as any individual found guilty in Australia of cruelty to animals.
“I remain committed to progress a Private Member’s Bill in the new Parliament to wind up the trade.”
AT least Andrew Wilkie is very concerned about the ongoing animal cruelty and will continue to campaign to end live animal exports. To this end he will be introducing a Private Member’s Bill to the Parliament when it resumes.
Contact form for Senator Banaby Joyce
To Barnaby Joyce
Yesterday I wrote to the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce. The electronic copy has been lost but I made the following points to him.
Whilst the government allows the live animal export trade, knowing that the result can well be very inhumane treatment, in fact bloodthirsty sadistic torture the government is a party to the end result. Whilst Mr. Joyce has acknowledged that the treatment is not too good therefore can be assumed not to condone it, it is really even worse if he does not condone it but allows this trade to continue. He is turning a blind eye! The answer to this moral question would have been obvious to me when I was in primary school. I would hope it would still be clear to primary school children but with examples like Mr. Joyce in parliament how long can our ethical standards endure? Mr. Joyce said he cannot police what goes in the rest of the world. That is true, therefore he needs to keep things within is area of control.
The other aspect of the harm inflicted by this industry is the effect on Australians hearing about, knowing and seeing what happens to these animals, knowing that our own government is a party to it and that it is intransigent on the issue. I would consider this to be traumatizing. It traumatizes me every time I hear about it. I cannot watch the footage of suffering animals but I get the picture from reading about it and knowing that there is footage. Maintaining the live animal export industry is doing us all harm as well as the poor animals. It has to be debasing our psyche.
Politicians have blood on their hands
Animals Australia video footage was gathered during the Eid al-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, in Jordan in mid October.
It has been sent to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and shows sheep being dragged along the ground, thrown into car boots and carved open at the throat.
In one scene, four dying sheep lie twitching in an open street alongside the still body of a fifth. Thousands of sheep have been released outside the ESCAS supply chain system that makes exporters responsible for them up to the point of slaughter.
However, Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has ruled out stopping live exports to Jordan, saying such a move would only end up hurting Australian producers. There's more interest in the financial welfare of producers than the animals!
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described graphic footage of Australian sheep being brutally slaughtered in Jordan as "disturbing", but he has defended live exports as a "good system."
We must wonder what a "bad system" for animals really would be like? How can it get any worse?
When there's a lack of human rights, there's even more reason animals can be abused. Amnesty International has particular concerns about the application of the death penalty in Jordan because there is a pattern of death sentences, and sometimes executions, occurring as a result of unfair trials where confessions extracted under torture are used as evidence against the defendants. How are animals to be protected in such brutish regimes?
When animals are concerned, industries can't simply brush aside ethics. These callous politicians have blood on their hands, and show how truly shallow their character are when they can over-look brutality and grotesque treatment of sentient animals.
Animals Australia: Take action to ban live export
Oz Gov helps Corporates to put boot in
Well, this is a nice slap-in-the-face for democracy, isn't it? Couldn't be clearer, this message about telling the serfs to just shut up and swallow anything the lords dish out. Thank you Vivienne for bringing this to our attention.
ABC 774 Kelvin Thomson 4.20am talk-back on population
This morning 31st October at 4:20am on ABC Radio with Michael Pavlich, Kelvin Thomson will be doing an extended interview on the issue of global population and Australia’s population growth. The interview will then be followed by talkback callers with questions and discussion for Kelvin. We understand the interview will be broadcast nationally and can also be listened to online. Details are as follows:
- Tune in to your LOCAL ABC Radio frequency (eg in Melbourne 774am) to hear the interview
- Or stream online and follow the prompts at http://www.abc.net.au/overnights/
- Talkback calls will be taken at 1300 800 222
- Send in texts during the interview at 0437 774 774
Although it is early, calling in will help raise the profile of our predicament with overpopulation. When you consider that all day long the ABC and other networks push population growth, it seems very unfair that the one lucid voice putting a counter argument, is to be aired at such an inaccessible hour.
Kelvin Thomson on Melbourne local talkback radio 4.20AM tomorrow
I received the following from Jill Quirk:
Dear SPA member,
You may wish to listen to this program (see below) early tomorrow morning and you can ring in with your own view point.
Sincerely
Jill Quirk
President Sustainable Population Australia , Victoria and Tasmanian branch
Tomorrow morning Thursday 31st October at 420am on ABC Radio with Michael Pavlich, Kelvin Thomson will be doing an extended interview on the issue of global population and Australia’s population growth. The interview will then be followed by talkback callers with questions and discussion for Kelvin. We understand the interview will be broadcast nationally and can also be listened to online. Details are as follows:
— Tune in to your LOCAL ABC Radio frequency (eg in Melbourne 774am) to hear the interview
— Or stream online and follow the prompts at http://www.abc.net.au/overnights/
— Talkback calls will be taken at 1300 800 222
— Send in texts during the interview at 0437 774 774
Look Local First: Keep Labour Market Testing - CFMEU petition
What do the Australian Mining and Minerals Association, the Business Council of Australia, the Master Builders Association and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry have in common?
They all think that their members, including large multinational companies, shouldn't have to advertise local jobs to Australian workers. They claim that they can’t find "skilled" workers locally. But how do they know if they don't even bother looking? And whatever happened to training workers and putting on apprentices?
We ran a campaign which got the previous Federal Government to pass legislation that made it obligatory for employers to advertise jobs and prove no qualified Australian workers were available, before 457 visa workers can be approved.
But the big end of town is now calling on the new Coalition Government to repeal this legislation, despite the fact that unemployment is rising. There are 714,100 people currently looking for work and our youth unemployment rate is at 12.6 per cent, its highest since 2002.
Despite this, the Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison has signalled he will consider removing this legal requirement, siding with big business instead of the hundreds of thousands of Australians looking for work.
Join with CFMEU and tell Scott Morrison employers should have to advertise jobs to Australian workers first and get 457 visa workers only if they prove they can’t find a suitable Australian candidate.
Why Mr Abbott should we put you first when you put local workers last?
Petition to reclassify dingoes, and have a National Dingo Plan
This petition is directed to the Federal Government asking to re-classify the dingo in Australia and to have a National Dingo Plan, and to end the cruel management (FIDRMS) now still in place on the Fraser Island dingoes, and to Cease Baiting 1080 and ALL poison baiting ..
This is the biggest campaign we've ever run our target is to gain thousands of signatures from all over Australia and Internationally.
The government is going to see that we must protect this native Australia's only top predator and change the legislation and the laws that stand now on the dingoes of Australia who are not recognised as a native species and are classified as a pest on the same level as a cane toad..
Petition to re classify the Dingo in Australia and to have a national dingo plan
Small crop and banana farmers say turkeys are stripping crops and they want the Government to reduce dingo baiting to allow wildlife balance to be restored. An Australian Banana Growers Council spokeswoman said Sunshine Coast growers had reported substantial damage.
Adelaide Now: Stuff the turkey, dingoes need a break
*Many Indigenous Tribes across Australia hold the Dingo as Sacred Totem. It is apart of the Dreamtime.
*Dingoes are the top land Predator and hold the Ecosystem in balance ref: Wallach and O'Neill.
*Dingoes keep the Fox and Cat in tow along with the Goat and Pig and maintain a balance in the Kangaroo and Rabbit population.
*What does it take for people in this country to get off their behinds and demand this travesty is stopped?
*If it was the Japanese killing Whales there would be thousands marching and chanting big mouthed antics against that nation!
*Wake up Aussies before it is too late'.
*If we lose the dingo then the fox will become the top Australian predator an introduced animal for the settlers to use for fox hunting.
*Why is it so important that we as a nation should voice loud and clear to save our dingoes
*when we do this for animals far away from these shores, yet we condone the extinction of the Dingo an agenda our Government delivers every day in their focus of the extinction of our iconic unique dingo!
*Something must be done as this is a travesty of massive proportion.
Download petition in .doc format
Download petition in .pdf format
English language daily Newscast of Syrian TV
The following is one of 28 English language Daily Newscasts of Syrian TV on the Syria RTV YouTube Channel. Links to other Youtube broadcasts are listed below. The English speaking presenters are composed, calm and show remarkably good humour given the appalling bloodshed suffered by their fellow Syrians these past two and a half years.
Earlier daily Newscasts of Syrian TV
October: 27 26 24 22 21 20 19 15 14 13 12 10 9 6 3 2 1
September: 29 26 24 23 22 21 19 17 16 15 14.
The death toll is estimated at above 100,000 and much of Syria's infrastructure has been destroyed. But, as this broadcast shows, the terrorists have been made to pay for their crimes by the Syrian Army.
But no country can endure indifinitely the trials that have been imposed upon Syria. The governments of countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States and France, who are waging proxy war against Syria using the terrorists must be held to account by their people. On 12 October, PressTV reported that Tunisians protested in defence of the Syrian Government and against their government's support of the terrorists. More should follow the Tunisian protestors' example.
Queensland - easier to "cull" kangaroos for "damage mitigation"
Red-neck drought-ridden Queensland farmers will be able to get "relief" from the "plagues" of kangaroos eating grass. They have received some reprieve with the State Government agreeing to relax regulations around the "culling" of macropods. Landowners will now be able to apply for a damage mitigation permit (DMP) to cull up to 1000 kangaroos, rather than the previous limit of 500 kangaroos.
The Queensland outback will become kangaroo-killing fields, without sympathy or limits.
There is no evidence macropods are doing "damage". It's simply a commercially driven bid to allow cattle to maximise the amount of grass they get.
There will also be no limitation on the number of DMPs that a landholder can submit in a calendar year and applications for DMPs will be processed within seven days of lodgement. It's about streamlining processes, to make killing permits quicker and less justified. Graziers claim they are are losing up to half their carrying capacity to kangaroos in some areas. Native animals are being scape-goated for their numbers, despite their indigenous rights to exist in their own territories.
Farmers are struggling with drought and the impact of kangaroos on country they are trying to spell is devastating. Who are the real culprits? There's the implications of the live export industry, of the promises of wealth and industry by providing red meat for Asia, as part of the Asian Century.
Anthropogenic climate change, exacerbated by hard-hoofed cattle, greenhouse emissions and land clearing, will cause more droughts and lower livestock "carrying capacity".
Kangaroos have no economic or political powers in their favour, and are thus being targeted for "damage mitigation"!
Queensland Country Life: Kangaroo cull breakthrough
Selling public assets & Medibank
The coalition claims that privatized companies are more efficient than public ownership. An historical overview shows that efficiency depends upon the leadership in both public and private businesses. That is the key factor.
Ideology is the main factor driving the coalition – meaning that profit for private interests comes before national interest. Looking at public assets for sale or sold or open for sale, by both coalition and Labor governments, short-term funds for the government that sells off the public assets is their major consideration, regardless of the future golden eggs the geese may produce.
The sale of Medibank Private is against the public interest.
It is a cash cow for the present and future governments.
It is the best way of keeping premiums of all the private medical insurance schemes down, which otherwise can rocket. See the American example, which should frighten us. ‘Regulation’ is open to manipulation for private profit and can be bureaucratic tangles without the publicly owned Medibank Private to set the example.
It does not cost the public anything.
Offices combined with Medicare offices are efficient.
Val Yule
All sales of public assets need to be fought by the public who own them. The examples of past sales should frighten us - e.g Telstra and airport parking,
Wombat hit
I decided about 18 years ago after being a passenger in a car that hit a wombat on a country road at around 11pm that I would henceforth avoid driving in the country at night. It's been a good decision.This accident was practically unavoidable (or should I say inevitable?) as the wombat was not crossing the road but walking on the road in the same direction as our car was travelling. We had just a few minutes beforehand narrowly missed hitting another one.
The last time (only a week or so ago) I took a car trip interstate I saw dead wldlife every few kms. I am never desensitised to this. It always upsets me. Our roads with fast vehicles are like knives slashing through wild life habtat
Wildlife road collisions need educational reporting
How about you do a story that no media wants to do, and instead of using sensational headlines to vilify Australian native wildlife whenever there's a collision from speeding vehicles, you take a good look at the drivers. As Australians we should all be aware of the risks of driving on highways after dark, and drive accordingly. Yet time after time the papers blame our wildlife and often call for yet another useless 'cull'. Culls don't work; they don't stop speeding vehicles from colliding with animals. It's very sad that this time a child was seriously hurt but the kangaroo did not take a dive into the windscreen. I'm sure he or she wanted to live too, and also had a family of his own. The media should start to change tactics; find out and alert the public the exact speed the driver was doing at the time, whether he was driving responsibly with his children in the car at 3.00am, was he distracted in some way, and what his blood alcohol level was when police arrived? We need to get the message through about driving more carefully if we have to drive on country roads after dark. There are devices we can discreetly attach to our vehicles that make a sound to alert animals up ahead. Some only cost around $5 and they are not audible to the human ear. Plus, we need to SLOW DOWN when driving after dark on such roads. Papers never talk about this because it may not be popular. They always talk about the dollar value of damage to vehicles which should be insured anyway; they blame the animals who have been killed or injured and left to slowly die on the side of the roads. Please look at reporting different angles on these incidents and then perhaps people will learn to take more care and lives can be saved; both human and non-human.
Pam.
Stupid 9MSN news vilifies wildlife
In an article with the grossly misleading title of "Kangaroo nearly kills child in Qld,"
10:53am October 27, 2013, 9 MSN reported an accident where a car rammed into a kangaroo as, "A five-year-old child is clinging to life after a kangaroo smashed through a car windscreen west of Brisbane. Police say the roo and the car collided on the Warrego Highway at Kingsthorpe on the Darling Downs about 3am (AEST).
The five-year-old was rushed to Toowoomba Base Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Another child and two adults in the car were taken to hospital with minor injuries."
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/10/27/10/56/kangaroo-nearly-kills-child-in-qld
Reported 12:49 PM by ninemsn news.
Kangaroo smashed through a windscreen? The car was "smashing" not the kangaroo!
The mainstream media always vilify the animals, rather than human-caused car crashes.
Then, the "kangaroo nearly kills the child", lifting their status to almost child "murderers."
And, quickly, people start to think it is okay to get rid of them, rather than to drive carefully within their habitat.
State roadbuilding authorities resist building wildlife bridges and tunnels in Australia, making this country one of the worst for wildlife fatalities. If the driver wasn't going too fast, perhaps the driver should sue the road authority for failure to allow for passage of kangaroos in the area.
The extent of callousness in this report is breathtaking, and contributes to the extremely low standard of the report, which tells people nothing useful, but creates a destructive fiction. How can Australians publish something like this?
Net energy analysis controversy
Net-energy analysis became a public controversy in 1974 when two stories made the news. In the first, Business Week reported that Howard Odum had developed a "New Math for Figuring Energy Costs." Among other results, this new math indicated that stripper oil well operations were energy sinks rather than energy sources. According to this analysis, these operations could be profitable only when cheap, regulated oil was used to produce deregulated oil. The other net-energy story of 1974 was the study of Chapman and Mortimer asserting that a rapidly growing nuclear program would lead to an increased use of oil rather than to the desired substitution (see Net-Energy Analysis by Daniel T. Spreng, Oak Ridge Assoc. Univ. & Praeger, 1988).
Nothing but spin and lies
What else could we expect from Matthew Guy except spin - a euphemism for political lies! Our State is losing industries, and revenues, and the quick way of keeping up cash flows is through property development - and pretending that our growth is "natural" and that they can't do anything about it! While 40% of our population growth might be "natural", or through births over deaths, that number would also be influenced by immigration.
Australia's human "carrying capacity" is being reduced by climate change, and evidenced by bushfires.
The CFA predict more and more fires, and challenges in Victoria. The state and federal governments have largely dismissed the link between climate change and bushfires. But the strategy to prepare the authority for challenges likely to arise after 2025 concluded there was ''no doubt'' the atmosphere was warming.
A 2003 CSIRO report predicts that by 2050 the maximum snow depth could decrease by up to 80 centimetres and the ski season might shorten by more than two months. This will impact on revenue on the $1.8 b tourism industry, but also our water catchments. 'The worst scenario is in 2020 the reduction is 30-40 per cent for the higher sites and by 2050 it's 70-80 per cent.
Environment Victoria report that for Melbourne, the number of days over 35°C is set to rise from the long-term average of 10 to anywhere from 15-26 by 2070. This poses a serious threat to children, the elderly and people with existing conditions – heat-related deaths are projected to increase by 40% by 2050. Infrastructure is also strained by extreme heat and the risk of bushfires is also increased. (Environment Victoria don't have a population policy)
Sea-level rise and extreme events such as bushfires put Australians’ property – and lives – at risk in the future. Rising sea levels threaten to drown or put at risk billions of dollars-worth of private and public property before the end of the century.
As climate change progresses, an increase in extreme weather events, property damage caused by rising sea-levels, and strain on public infrastructure will cost Victoria dearly. According to the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority, the Victorian government faces significantly higher insurance costs and liabilities for government-owned assets including schools, hospitals, roads, rail and bridges. In addition to the increased insurance costs, the government faces growing exposure to personal and professional liability claims from more severe climatic events.
EV: Australia at risk
There's a clear incongruence of policies and practice in government circles. The age of growth is certainly over. Why add to the risks, and exacerbate existing problems? More people crammed into our cities will add to the cycle of greenhouse gas emissions, especially from the use of air conditioners and electrical appliances. It's like a farmer, knowing a severe drought is coming, deliberately adding more livestock to the pasture, knowing their doomed future! Or, it's like the captain of a ship known to be not sea-worthy, deliberately cashing in on willing and ignorant passengers.
Recklessness, and a tightening up of democratic transparency, at a time when we should expect adherence to the principle of cation, is deliberate denial of reality and will impact on the well-being and even lives of many people in the future.
EIA inflates shale gas gains denies problems
Within the last couple of years ASPO-USA colleagues and I have communicated with and met with top EIA and DOE officials who constantly lied to us about what they knew and what they didn't know. The New York Times obtained internal emails showing EIA technical experts knew about serious oil & gas constraints while EIA top managment was spouting the Cornucopian concensus.
Some relevant articles on this:
Shale gas won't stop peak oil, but could create an economic crisis
Overinflated industry claims could topple optimistic growth forecasts within just five years
Dr Nafeez Ahmed, June 21, 2013
Victorian planning minister - population stability ridiculous
Thanks Geoff for drawing attention to Guy's comments. My responses:
1. It is obvious that town planning has failed us in the past. It is just too difficult.
2. Even if the percentage growth rates are down, it is the absolute growth that is relevant because of supply constraints, especially the availability of land - and infrastructure provision due to time lags and costs.
The "spirit of co-operation" would certainly apply to the property industry and some other industries and professions with a vested interest in growth.
" . . . without a great deal of fuss" - does Mathew live in a cocoon?
3. A nonsensical argument.
4. In other words, a continuing shambles.
Excellent, Accurate article
Very good job presenting accurate, important information. The very fact that the EIA researches net energy, but refuses to publicly release any results, is quite telling. Perhaps they know what other energy researchers know, that net energy is declining for all fossil energy sources, but will not say this publicly due to political and market concerns.
Thank you for publishing this accurate report. Your conclusions are the result of rigorous investigation.
Moreton bay under threat
Moreton Bay's waterways will die within 20 years if more isn't done to protect the health of the bay, from a sea grass to an algae environment, a leading Australian water scientist has warned.
Mud is flowing downstream from the Lockyer Valley, and from constructions sites around Brisbane into Moreton Bay. Moreton Bay is home to the largest population of dugongs but more than 80 per cent of Moreton Bay's seagrass beds were lost in some areas after sediment flowed into the bay in 2011.
The 2011 Brisbane floods brought thousands of tonnes of silt, which settled in Moreton Bay, and that silt is laced with all the pollutants of agricultural and urban development. The Lockyer Valley is rated among the top ten most fertile farming areas in the world. The area is under heavy urban pressure for housing developments.
Cyclones and floods are part of the climatic landscape, but human impacts have a multiplying effect on disturbances to soils, on the amount of concrete and hard surfaces, and output of pollutants washed into the waterways. By 2031 the region’s population is estimated to grow to over 585,000 from around 390,000 new, and be the third largest growth area after Brisbane and the Gold Coast. "Some" innovative developers controlling erosion is inadequate!
Urban planning needs to consider deadly environmental impacts, and planners need to include the word "no" into their vocabulary where it's inappropriate.
SMH:We are killing Moreton Bay
Victorian 'Planning' Minister: population stability 'ridiculous'
Try to follow the logic in Matthew Guy's argument.
From Cutting migration ridiculous: Guy in the Melbourne Age of 21 Oct 2013 :
- Debate about overseas migration and population growth is ridiculous because Victoria has embraced faster growth in the past, Planning Minister Matthew Guy said.
- ''This country was growing faster on a percentage basis, Victoria was growing much faster on a percentage basis, in the 1950s and '60s … it was managed in a spirit of co-operation and as a positive challenge and one that this country and in particular the state of Victoria accommodated without a great deal of fuss,'' [Matthew Guy] said.
- ''If we ended all overseas migration tomorrow, Melbourne would still add the population of Adelaide [1.2 million people] through natural increase in that period alone,'' Mr Guy told a Property Council of Australia growth summit in Melbourne.
- [Matthew Guy] said ''the issue of managing population increase with services and infrastructure and planning'' would be ongoing.
Given the gridlocked peak hour traffic and lack of public transport and other services to many new belts of Melbourne's urban sprawl, I would have thought it self-evident that neither Matthew Guy's Government nor any previous Victorian state government had managed "infrastructure and planning." So why should we expect any better from him from now on?
Video of Syrian victims of 2.5 tonne car-bomb in Hama
Below is an embedded 2 minute, 48 second Russian-language broadcast with English sub-titles. Be warned : Some of the images are truly shocking and not suitable for viewing by under-age viewers.
On 21 October 2013 Australia's SBS News misreported that "it's thought that most of those killed were government troops." (emphasis aded)
Al-Jazeera, which is infamous for having mis-reported the Syrian conflict, persists in using quotation marks, as if it still considers the perpetrators of these crimes to be freedom fighters and not terrorist mass murderers. An example is the illustration in the story, Dozens killed in Syria suicide bombing of 21 October 2013. The caption underneath the the included image of the devastation, reads:
'Syrian state media blamed the attack on "terrorists" [SANA/Reuters] '
Help for wildlife in NSW - from Maryland Wilson
Dear friends throughout NSW
Injured and distressed animals that have survived the bushfires in the Blue Mountains are emerging from affected areas and seeking refuge. Greg Keightly, branch disaster coordinator of the volunteer organisation Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Services (WIRES) in the Blue Mountains, said the animals included ringtail possums, sugar gliders, birds, swamp wallabies, echidnas, lizards and wallaroos.
Mr Keightly said during previous bushfire disasters, animals had taken weeks to emerge, but the current conditions coupled with the destruction of urban areas meant that on this occasion injured animals had been seeking refuge immediately. He said the animals were distressed, had been badly affected by smoke and that many were suffering from burned paws and fused claws which had been melted by heat.
Mr Keightly said concerned people could make water available for animals in need, but stressed that shallow dishes of water should be used as deep vessels could lead to drownings.
He also reminded people to be aware of the risk that domestic animals posed to wildlife and urged them to keep dogs inside at night.
WIRES advises people to keep a cardboard box and towel in the boot of their car in case they encounter injured wildlife. It recommends that burned animals can be wrapped loosely, placed in a box, kept in a dark, quiet and warm place and offered water but not food.
Mr Keightly advised members of the public to immediately call the 24-hour local WIRES hotline on (02) 4754 2946 or 1300 094 737 if they needed to report a rescue.
He said the organisation ensures animals are cared for until their local habitat regenerates and they can be safely released back into familiar territory.
WIRES has established a Bushfire Appeal Fund to help injured, homeless, orphaned and disoriented animals.
ABC news: Animal victims of the Blue Mountain bushfires seek refuge
NSW Bushfire Emergency Appeal WIRES
24 October 2013. Please add further miscellaneous comments to Miscellaneous comments from 24 October 2013. - Ed
Shark nets in Australia killing Pacific sea life
A baby whale has died after becoming entangled in shark nets off Sydney's northern beaches. Specialist crews were sent in to free it but found the body of the calf this morning at Mona Vale.
Daily Telegraph:baby whale died after being entangled in a shark net
Shona Lonigan of marine rescue group ORRCA says the baby's 45-tonne mother and other whales are nearby. The calf's mother and four other adult whales remain in the vicinity.
The calf's mother and four other adult whales remain in the vicinity.
The baby humpback is understood to have become entangled in the net in the early hours of the morning and was spotted from the shore about 6am.
After authorities were contacted, staff from the National Parks and Wildlife and from ORRCA rushed to the scene to try to disentangle the calf.
ORRCA volunteer Shona Lorigan estimated that the calf was no older than three months, and about 6-7m long.
She estimated its mother's weight to be about 45t.
The baby humpback is understood to have become entangled in the net in the early hours of the morning and was spotted from the shore about 6am.
The calf was travelling with its mother on its southern migration to the Antarctic.
In Australia, the end of Spring means time at the beach and that also means shark nets get deployed at some of the nation's most popular swimming spots.
But the Humane Society International wants these nets removed because it says the nets catch and kill animals that are vital for the ecology and economy of the Pacific region.
These animals include endangered turtles, dugongs and whales.
ABC Radio Australia Shark nets in Australia killing Pacific sea life (Credit: ABC)
The territory of marine animals is the oceans, and humans are terrestrial. The barriers to animal movement must be removed. Sharks are becoming extinct. There must be other ways of protecting swimmers, and it can't become a lethal recreation.
ForceChange Petition- Urge Australia to ban shark nets
Online form to email Greg Hunt, Federal Environment Minister
KIng's anthropocentric world-view is evidence of denial
Bushfires are raging in NSW, yet Premier Barry O'Farrell is denying climate change, and the obvious connection with extreme weather events. Deep cuts in their budget has cut funding to investigating and preparation for climate change. Tony Abbott will cut the carbon tax and has closed the Climate commission. The same with human population growth, that's outstripping ecological and economic limits and headlong into overshoot!
Malcolm King is burying his head in denial.
His attack on SPA reveals ignorance, even to not having ever read their newsletters or web page! His "anti immigration" and anti "population" attacks lack substance and are complete diatribe. SPA is an environmental organization, matching human demands to ensure we don't suffer the consequence of overshoot. Many scientists conclude with SPA. King has a very callous and hardened anthropocentric world-view. It's as if the planet was an economic resource to plunder and conquer for human benefits, with no limits to exploitation.
If there aren't enough trams, its because the heavy demand of population growth doesn't bring in enough revenue to build more! If there aren't enough jobs, the unemployment rate will be exacerbated by high competition from migrants. No one except cornucopia believers imagine that our economy is endless.
Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinctions of the modern world, and many native species are struggling to cope with human settlements on our coasts, where species such as koalas were once abundant.
The cornucopia myth is a superstitious belief in never-ending benefits for humans. It's a mystical adherence that the planet Earth is a receptacle that will keep increasing outputs and size to fit human demands of endless population growth!
'Selfish' describes developer lobby vs democracy (NIMBYs)
I am glad you pointed out this incredibly hypocritical use of the word 'selfish', Nimby.
The developers are like a bunch of cotton producers complaining that slaves selfishly want their freedom.
Kelvin Thomson says “State of the States” Misleading and Shallow
On his blog at http://kelvinthomson.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/state-of-states-misleading-and-shallow.html Kelvin Thomson (MP Wills, Victoria - who got the most votes of any ALP member this Fed election) writes, in response to a widely reported ComSec report:
"We often talk about the numerous shortcomings of GDP as a performance indicator, and yet it continues to dominate our airwaves.
Today the ABC and other media outlets are uncritically reporting a “State of the States” report by CommSec, which purports to rank the performance of the States. The ranking system rewards economic and population growth. As far as I can tell it does not include in its ranking criteria things like protection of habitat, how endangered species are faring, the gap between rich and poor, quality of education, quality of health services, and numerous other important indicators.
I can’t see any reference to traffic congestion, housing affordability, or the cost of living pressures on older people arising from population growth. It is a pity such reports, which are shallow and misleading, receive such uncritical media acceptance."
You can read the report here: http://www.investing.commsec.com.au/stateofstates ComSec uses eight indicators: "eight key indicators: economic growth; retail spending; equipment investment; unemployment, construction work done; population growth; housing finance and dwelling commencements." All these indicators are negatives for our living environment, upon which we all depend for life, however "housing finance and dwelling commencements" are, for most people, symptoms of rising costs and homelessness, and "construction work, population growth" are inflicting costs on the wider public which they have no control over and would not choose. ComSec, however, takes as a positive that some elite grubs are profiting from the distress of the rest of us. ComSec would argue that all this is making money and that it must 'trickle down' eventually, so we should all rejoice. Of course we cannot live on trickles and would rather fair distribution and less tumult.
No "plan" can fix poor planning that assumes unlimited growth
Some planners claim that the inner suburbs are in "selfish" lockdown, which means that developers have to scrimmage for whatever they can get! If planning wasn't so controversial, growth-based, corrupted by closed-door agreements and streamlined to obstruct democratic debate, then it wouldn't be so difficult to get public approval.
It's not "selfish" of residents to want to maintain their suburb's well-being against the greed and proliferation of property developers imposing their high-density plans on our communities. What's causing urban sprawl is not these "selfish" residents, but our socially-engineered 2% population growth! Any vacant land is being hemmed in by our city's rampant growth.
Any land, that should be preserved for schools, golf courses, railway tracks, industries and parks, is under considerable population pressure.
If our city was being renewed, with consideration for amenities, heritage values, open spaces, and the conservation of infrastructure and living standards, then planning in Melbourne wouldn't be the charade, the farce that it is.
The future holds many local and global challenges. The IPCC warn of high weather extremes and devastation to agriculture. Already prices for water and energy are excessive and so are house prices. This "growth" being forced onto future generations is based purely on greed and profits, and will condemn them to all the "challenges" of the future, exacerbated by massive overcrowding. No amount of "planning" can alleviate the dystopia these numbers will create.
There's a dis-connect in thinking coming from the halls of power, and it's completely illogical and incoherent with present day projections of food security, the explosion of human numbers, scarcity of fresh water, mega-billion dollar infrastructure demands, increasing poverty, and costs of living. How many more desalinations does this plan assume the public will pay for - just for the basic privilege of fresh water?
Politicians are in the pocket and power of property developers and big corporations, and continue to support population growth. By the time cracks and flaws are showing our economy, and city's overgrowth, these politicians are have gone, and there mistakes are passed onto to the next government - who in turn think they can "fix" the problem with a new urban development plan, and more growth!
Urban planning has lost any professional status. Most professions and disciplines acknowledge limits, constraints and boundaries of scope, but high benchmarks and professional standards of planning standards are being compromised by forced high population growth - and must thus end up being abrasively contradictory towards community movements to protect their living standards and communities.
Already there are grim prospects for the future, all made worse by the politics of greed being forced unto us by politicians colluding with property developers and the powerful elite who will benefit from this growth.
2009 video of care for koala rescued from bushfire, ...
Wildlife carers could also consider recording their rescue efforts on video and publishing them on Youtube. A search for "care for injured australian wildlife" (quotes omitted) gave me the following broadcasts amongst others:
Australian bushfire koala victim: Mystery Girl - 2009
Baby Brushtail feeding
Dophin massacres in Peru to bait endangered sharks!
Many are keenly aware of the dreadful killing of dolphins at Taiji, Japan and assume that is the largest slaughter of dolphins in the world; far from it. In fact, the killing of dolphins for food, called dolphin bush meat, is a worldwide problem and may be growing as traditional fisheries collapse.
10,000 gentle, intelligent and harmless dolphins a year are being speared and slaughtered by Peruvian fishermen- just for bait to catch endangered sharks
• Fishermen in Peru hunt and butcher dolphins, even though it's illegal
• They harvest meat from the animals to use as cheap bait for sharks
• Jim Wickens negotiated passage on a fishing ship to see it for himself
• He and his cameraman witnessed the brutal process from start to finish
As the harpoon sliced through the dolphin’s flesh, a cry of excitement went up from the crew as they celebrated their catch. Fifty yards away, the dolphin’s beak broke the surface as it struggled to escape the line, slowly tiring as it became enveloped in a thick cloud of its own blood. Two crewmen dragged the rope in, the dolphin still desperately thrashing, but there was to be no miracle escape.
A crew member sharpened a knife and casually began to slice off the fins, tossing them into the sea.
As the thick puddle of bright red blood widened, he began to peel the skin off its back. The hunt was over, the dolphin dead, the fishermen had their bait.
In marine conservation terms, that’s a double catastrophe, with dolphins — many species of which are protected — being killed to catch sharks, many species of which are now endangered.
The Peruvian fishermen call dolphins ‘sea-pigs’. It’s a term that does no justice to their elegant movement through the water but, from the fishermen’s point of view, is perhaps a not unreasonable description of an animal that supplies meat that seems tailor-made for shark fishing.
The meat of the sharks is sold to dealers waiting at the harbour and is destined for dinner plates across the world. The shark fins are sent to the Far East for soup.
Dolphins killed as bait to catch endangered sharks in Peru
Killing dolphins is illegal in Peru but the laws are difficult to enforce on the high seas. However, dolphin meat is sold in markets on shore and could be controlled at that point, if police were willing to do so.
No living creature is safe from human exploitation or violence.
Although it is not well publicised in global media, there are many shark species heading towards extinction. Without international protection, some will disappear in our lifetimes if destructive fishing methods persist and current population trends continue.
The practice of shark "finning," or slicing off a shark's fins and throwing it back to die slowly on the ocean floor from starvation or inability to move, has exploded worldwide due to demand from China, where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy.
Stop Slaughtering and Poisoning dolphins in Peru: PLEASE SIGN
OR
Send an email to the Ambassador of Peru in Canberra:
[email protected]
This animal died too
I tried to help Evelyn find somewhere to take the ring tail possum.The local vet which she thought was open 24 hours was closed. I rang the Lort Smith Animal hospital in North Melbourne who were open and said they would take the possum. They said that if there were any visible injuries that the possum would be put down as possums "do not respond well to antibiotics". They gave me 2 other choices north of the city in Collingwood and Kensington but Evelyn said they were all too far for her. I then drove to meet Evelyn intending to take the possum to a vet. I contacted her by phone on the way to get more directions. During this phone call l I learned that the possum had died. Just one more clash with burgeoning humanity and our wild life!
Albert Park Victoria: Possum attacked by dog and human today
Today a candobetter.net editor received a call from Evelyn, a person who was picniking in St Vincents Garden, Albert Park. She saw a dog off-leash attack a possum, then the human accompanying the owner throwing the possum about. I left a message about the location and nature of the problem on Wildlife Victoria's site (after waiting about 10 minutes on their phone). Animal Lib had initially said that they did domestic animals, but later phoned back, unasked, to say they would send someone out if the girl wished and were given her contact number. They said to count them in in future for this kind of problem. In the mean time Evelyn had found a towel and wrapped the possum and was going to take it to a local vet. it was a ringtail, by her description. A person who had done a possum care course in the area was also contacted and said they would ring Evelyn.
After that I looked at the above page and realised that people were ringing here first because our number was at the top. So I have placed that number at the base of the page and improved the display of more directly relevant resources for finding rescuers.
The Hon. Kelvin Thomson MP - Speech at the Fenner Conference
The Hon Kelvin Thomson MP
Fenner Conference for 2013
Australian Academy of Science
11 October 2013
Last Saturday night I went to my School Reunion for the class of 1972 and 1 973. Forty years on. I’ve spent 25 of them as a State and Federal MP – some of my schoolmates thought this a senseless waste of human life! But I was more interested in their lives. One had dropped out of University after a couple of terms and within 48 hours walked into a job as a trainee Medical Scientist, around which he’s built a lifetime career. One girl never completed Year 12, and when she dropped out of school her mum took her to a local hospital and straight away got her a job as a nurse. She is still nursing. Others went into business and are now semi-retired or fully retired. One said to me, I was so lucky to be born when I was. If I’d come along today, I’d just be a bum. Well I don’t know about that bit, but he’s certainly right about being born in the 1950s. Because the opportunities that my generation had – job and career opportunities, housing opportunity, free education – our children don’t have them. For all the hype about growth and progress and development building a better world, it isn’t. It is way tougher for our kids than it ever was for us.
This is not just true for Australia, it is true in many other countries as well. It is heartbreaking to hear those stories of all the African migrants who drowned off the coast of the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, Terrible, terrible, terrible. There is a response that says we should tackle this problem by dismantling our borders and allowing people to live wherever they want to live. But anyone who has seen the ‘Gumballs’ video by Roy Beck, of Numbers USA, – and if you haven’t, I can’t recommend it too highly – will know that there are 2 billion people in the world living on $2 per day or less, and that their numbers are increasing by 80 million every year.
No nation in the world – not the United States, not Europe, not Australia – can cope with ! such numbers.
There are two causes of mass migration. One is people fleeing political violence and repression. The other driver is poverty and people wanting a better life.
In those countries which are beset by political violence, the most common cause is religious fundamentalism. There is religious violence, oppression of minorities, not enough respect for the rights of women, and not enough separation between religion and politics, between Church and State. This needs to be called out. It is a task for all of us – from whatever religious or ethnic background we come – to condemn, to denounce, to shun, to treat as outcasts religious leaders who preach hate and violence. It has to be called for what it is. Until political and religious violence stops, there will be people fleeing it.
And in the other motive for getting on board a boat – the search for a better life – again we all have a role to play. ! We heard yesterday that each new arrival in Australia creates an infrastructure cost of $341,000, which would go a long way towards lifting an entire African village out of poverty.
We should lift our foreign aid budget to 0.7% of GDP. We should not cut our aid by $4.5 billion over the forward estimates as the Liberal Government is doing. It is claimed there is a budget emergency and we can’t afford this aid. Then why is the defence budget to be increased. The Government target of 2% of GDP is quite arbitrary and absolute nonsense. Spending money on aid builds goodwill with our neighbours and makes us more secure – I’ve seen it with my own eyes – people in Indonesian villages like us. In stark contrast spending money on more powerful weapons just makes our neighbours suspicious and sets in place a vicious circle of arms race, fear and mistrust.
The question I have heard at this conference is, why don’t we win? Why is
Australia’s population not only still increasing, but increasing by more than it used to. Why has Australia’s net migration rocketed up from 80,000 in the mid-1990s to over 200,000 nowadays? After all, all the opinion polls regularly show that between 2/3rds and 70% of Australians don’t support the high population, high migration path we’re on.
It is worthy of note that no Australian political leader has ever gone to an election promising to increase the migration intake. The Whitlam government reduced immigration to just over 50,000. In more recent times migration increased substantially, during the final Howard years, and again under Kevin Rudd, who declared himself a fan of a Big Australia and achieved no electoral success after that. Julia Gillard declared herself an opponent of Big Australia but the migration rate and population growth continued largely unchanged.
So why don’t we win? A central reason is that there is virtually no public debate about it. It is given no oxygen – snuffed out. Why is it so? After considerable reflection, I have come to the conclusion that population is not unique in this regard.
It is one of a number of issues, not the only one, but one of a number of issues, which are considered threatening to the economic interests of the wealthiest and most powerful Australians (and in some cases non-Australians) who exercise great influence on our political debate through their direct and indirect media influence.
There are political issues which contain no germ of threat to corporate wealth – same sex marriage, asylum seekers, the Republic, politicians’ entitlements. These occupy endless column inches and airtime. If they distract and divide us, so much the better.
But issues which have the potential to impact on the wealth of the wealthy – executive salaries, trade practices and market concentration, foreign ownership, threats to the environment from industry and agriculture, and ye! s, population growth and migration – these issues are constantly overlooked and repressed.
So one of the key reasons we lose is that we cannot get going or sustain a public debate about this issue. In this we don’t get any help from quite a few people who think of themselves as progressive, and who would look you in the eye and swear black and blue that they want to save the environment, they want to protect workers, that they care about the future. But whether it is from fear of being called racist or xenophobic, or a form of moral conceit or vanity, they will not touch the issue of population.
That is of course their right, but let me make this point to such people as bluntly as I can. For as long as Australia’s rapid population growth, high migration path endures, it will destroy the things you claim to hold dear. It creates a surplus pool of labour, which is used as a battering ram against job security, an! d against workers’ pay and conditions. It prevents us attaining full employment, and the quest for jobs, jobs, jobs for our increasing workforce leads us to sacrifice our environmental standards, destroy wildlife habitat, and compromise our quality and way of life. It undermines what you say you are trying to achieve, and assures victory to your political opponents.
And I think honourable defeat is overrated. In my view there is little honour in avoidable failure. In my view those who want to save the environment, who want to help workers, who care about the future, have a responsibility to succeed. Honour comes from success, from solving problems, from being able to proudly hand the baton over to the next generation.
So what am I going to do about it? I won’t be contesting the Shadow Ministry election on Monday. I was a Shadow Minister for 10 years during the Howard years; I have been there and done that. But I am certainly not looking for the quiet life and to slip quiet! ly out the back door.
It is precisely in order to focus on the things that really matter that I have taken the steps I have. I will devote myself in this Parliament to doing everything I can to get the neglected issues, like population, considered.
I admit that to date I haven’t been all that successful with my efforts. Elements of my 2009 14 Point Plan have been adopted – the Baby Bonus is gone, the Labor Government lifted the refugee intake to 20,000 – so I will at some point re-write the Plan. But I look at our population growth statistics and projections, and I look at our vanishing birds and plants and animals, and feel that I have been essentially unsuccessful.
So I am going to set up an NGO – an Incorporated Association – to pursue the cause. It will have a token membership fee and will not be a competitor organisation for Sustainable Population Australia or the environment NGOs. It will! not be a political party; I’m in one of those already! It won’t be a single-issue group – I don’t think politicians feel under much pressure from those.
It won’t try to have a policy on everything, and it will try to avoid the divide and distract traps I talked about earlier. But it will set out a coherent, superior, alternative to the path we are on. I am going to launch it soon. It will be limited to Victoria, which will disappoint some of you, but you’ve got to start somewhere. I may be able to work up Associate Membership for interstaters.
The great nineteenth-century philosopher John Stuart Mill said, “Solitude, in the sense of being often alone, is essential to any depth of meditation or of character, and solitude in the presence of natural beauty and grandeur, is the cradle of thoughts and aspirations which are not only good for the individual, but which society could ill do without. Nor is there much satisfaction in contemplating the world with! nothing left to the spontaneous activity of nature…. every hedgerow or superfluous tree rooted out, and scarcely a place left where a wild shrub or flower could grow without being eradicated as a weed in the name of improved agriculture”.
I hope many of you will join my NGO. I hope you will help me build it into a large movement of citizens dedicated to passing on to our children and our grandchildren a world is as good a condition as the one our parents and grandparents gave to us.
“Very Generous Immigration Program” Pushing Out Would Be Home B
Source: Kelvin Thomson, MP. Wills electorate: http://kelvinthomson.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/very-generous-immigration-program.html
Australia used to be the country where everyone could afford to have a home of their own. But for far too many of today’s young Australians, that is no longer true. Housing affordability has declined.
Treasurer Joe Hockey confirmed yesterday in New York in an interview with CNBC that our large migration program is one of the key drivers of housing unaffordability for young people.
He told CNBC that “Australia is a long way from a housing bubble….The fact is we have a very generous immigration program and we have very slow supply coming in the market”.
Mr Hockey is correct that the high migration program is a driver of rising house prices in Australia. Where I differ from Mr Hockey is that I don’t believe rising house prices is a good thing. The fact is that housing is a necessity, like food, water, electricity and petrol. No-one cheers when the price of food, water, electricity and petrol goes up – why should we cheer when the price of a house goes up?
That cheering drowns out the quiet sad shrug of a generation being locked out of the opportunities which my generation and the one before me had the good fortune to have.
You may also comment on this on Kelvin Thomson's blog here: http://kelvinthomson.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/very-generous-immigration-program.html
Drinking recycled effluent 'inevitable' in smarter Australia?
The Drinking Water Through Recycling report by Dr Stuart Khan from the University of NSW found recycling effluent is "technically feasible and can safely supply potable water directly into the water distribution system".
"I can't imagine a direct potable reuse scheme in Australia in anything less than a decade, perhaps 20 years, perhaps 30 years is more likely," Dr Khan said.
Dr Khan said recycled water was already entering water storages. "There are many examples around Australia where we have waste water treatment plants that are discharging into rivers that run into reservoirs that become part of the drinking water supply," he said. Rather than "shortages" of water, it should be a "long-age" of human numbers!
"I see that if we are going to have increasing population pressures, potentially increasing climate pressures in many areas, we really do need get a lot smarter about this one-directional use of water," he said.
The Age: drinking recycled effluent inevitable in a smarter Australia
Rather than "smart", this is an acknowledgement of human population overshoot! Nature can recycle water, naturally and efficiently through climatic systems. How can humans emulate this process safely?
In some river systems, towns upstream discharge their treated sewage into the river and towns further downstream draw water from the same river. For example, people living in towns that draw water from the Murrumbidgee below Canberra, and then down the Murray to Adelaide, are already partly using reuse water.
potential health risks:
Microbial pathogens in wastewater from sewage effluent are the major concern for human health when recycling water. The major groups of pathogens are:
Bacteria (e.g. Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp)
Viruses (e.g. Enteroviruses, Rotavirus, Hepatitis A)
Protozoa (e.g. Giardia Lamblia, Cryptosporidium parvum)
Helminths (e.g. Taenia spp (Tapeworm), Ancylostoma spp (Hookworm))
Australia to be hit hard by climate change
The unreleased draft of the IPCC's second report also warns that $226 billion worth of coastal assets including homes, rail and road infrastructure are at risk with just a 1.1m rise in sea levels. More people will die from extreme heat, and another 800,000 people will fall ill year from contaminated food and water - while more than 270,000 homes will be at risk of collapsing into the ocean from rising sea levels.
The report warns very high and extreme fire danger days will increase by up to 30 per cent by 2020 - and up to 100 per cent by 2050.
Australia, though smaller in population than China, has a land mass comparable to China and its population is concentrated along coastlines – “sea level rises pose a hazardous impact to cities such as Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane,” says Dr Qin Dahe, a glaciologist and respected Chinese academician.
SMH: Australia has much to lose from climate change
Climate change could disrupt farming. And the frequency of bushfires is indirectly linked to climate change. Plans for being the "food bowl" of Asia could be in disarray!
Newly "elected" Labor leader Bill Shorten says that: "My priorities during the [leadership] campaign is for Labor to reinforce a vision for Australia writ large. We recognise, for instance, that to write Australia large, [we’ve] got to be pro-immigration. We’ve got to be pro our regions; Australia is more than just three cities on the east coast". Surely he doesn't suggest that we have more cities on our east coast, loaded by up more imported migrants?
Shorten also says that "The greatest resource we have in Australia is not the minerals beneath the ground, it is in the minds and capacities of Australians. We need to get behind our scientific and research community". We should be investing in science, education and research and that should also mean climate science!
BRW: Immigration, science and Roman history: Q&A with new federal Labor leader Bill Shorten
Contradictorily, he says "We need to be the party of science, research, and higher education".
If Australia is going to be hit hard by climate change, it's illogical and backward thinking to be importing more people! There seems to be a large chasm of disconnect between science, empirical evidence and the grandiose ideas of politicians, completely divorced from reality.
Labor must cast off the yoke of economic neoliberalism
Sooner or later, if the Labor Party is to become a real alternative to the ruling Abbott government, it will have to confront the economic dogma of neoliberalism that was suddenly adopted in 1983, with no prior warning, and no electoral mandate by the Hawke/Keating Government.
When it does, it will have to set about to re-establish the public ownership of the enterprises that were privatised by 'Labor' and Liberal/National Coalition governments in recent decades -- Telstra, power utilities, railways, public transport, roads, housing, ports, etc, etc.
Matthew Guy is not a town planner
Matthew Guy has a BA, from Latrobe University. He is not a professional town planner, only the Minister for Planning in the Victorian government. He was the shadow Minister of Planning from 2006 to December 2010. His understanding of planning is shallow, self serving and monetary in nature - to serve the well-being of property developers and business investors. True and professional planning principles are being dismissed and over-ridden, and in reality are much more profound and multi-disciplinary than accommodating population growth by streamlining building permits, and overlaying Melbourne with high rise towers and high density living!
Planning must take into consideration energy sources, environmental aspects such as sunlight, shadows, weather patterns, and amenities, quality, costs, public expectations, open parklands, natural resources, access, long-term issues and sustainability. Matthew Guy's agenda is about actively encouraging rampant population growth, even against the wishes and well-being of the public. He's taking away democratic rights of citizens, so they can't obstruct developments - which includes rational debate and logical consequences of all the developments threatening to destroy Melbourne's livability.
Any profession must take into consideration scope, constraints, and limitations. For Matthew Guy, there aren't any - they are simply dismissed! Planning is synonymous with GROWTH, GROWTH!
His idea of planning is to create zones, of different degrees of protection of neighbourhoods. It concerns him little that people might want some determination in how their areas are managed, and people in regional and peri-urban areas might actually like them the way they are, and live there by choice to avoid the financial and density pressures of Melbourne! Guy's invasive policies are a threat, undemocratic and even corrupt!
Albanese should have won leadership contest
He had 60% of the members' votes to Shorten's 40%, but because the caucus members all voted for him (and his corporate-friendly, big population policies) he 'won' by a whisker.
The system is still not reformed enough to be a democracy. Labor members should also vote on policy - such as privatisation policy.
With Shorten and Abbott in charge of the two major parties, democracy hasn't a chance. It's between two authoritarian catholics.
Martin Bryant
I think its strange how we never saw a recent photo of Bryant at the time of the shootings, all photo's released were some 8 years old.
For a guy who had only had very limited use of an air rifle prior to the massacre, he did an amazing job to so efficiently kill moving targets at a ratio of 2 dead to 1 injured with high powered inaccurate weapons.
A cover up for sure & only Government officials & high ranking police officers will ever know the real truth. Shame.
Other government policies are dissected, not population growth?
"Not much we can do about population growth"? Other State and Federal government policies are criticized, dissected, evaluated, discussed, supported and objected to - as is our democratic right. However, when it comes to population growth, why is it considered inevitable? Of course, there is a small part that can't be predicted, as is our natural rate of growth, but it has been below long term replacement levels for decades!
"Growth" has become an industry in itself, and part of our human landscape. It's a no-brainer industry, like multiplying bacteria, with no innovation or intellect required. It takes little upfront investment, and the Immigration Department makes healthy revenues from the many fees and charges. It "saves" money in not training our own young people at TAFEs, industries and universities. The skills come already to use, from overseas. The imported people must buy housing, so it supports the housing industry.
The problems of congestion, unaffordable housing, utility costs, loss of soil and bushland, declining biodiversity, and infrastructure overload are only acknowledged in highsight. The public fail to connect the dots... with policially-engineeered population growth! It seems people are willing to be myopic when it comes directly to the problems directly caused by their own numbers.
Political timeframes are short, and governments enjoy the short-term economic benefits of "growth", without long term strategies, and leave the problems and the burdens to the next government, and further still, to next generations.
A species more "successful" than humans!
It's the stuff of a B-Grade horror movie! The oceans being overwhelmed by these jelly-slimy monsters. It's the stuff of a computer or arcade game -spot and destroy the enemy!
Prolific breeders, high volume of consumption, hard to control their numbers, threatening other species, taking over resources, unbalancing ecosystems and "managing" the oceans for their own interests! It's the marine version of what humans are doing to the rest of the planet.
No Democracy for Hanging Rock - watch ABC 11/10/2013
MRRA Macedon Ranges' Residents Association (MRRA) alert:
On Friday, 11th October, “7.30 Victoria” (with Guy Stayner) on ABC will broadcast a story on the Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s terrible decision to put substantial, privately run developments (including a hotel, conference centre and restaurant amongst many other things) at Hanging Rock, and to do this without any consultation.
As appalling as Council’s behaviour is with Hanging Rock, problems in Macedon Ranges Shire go much deeper. We don’t have democracy in Macedon Ranges, we have a Board of Directors who only feel an occasional urge to tell us what they have done, not ask us if they can do it. The development now proposed for Hanging Rock is not based upon any financial “crisis”, it has been in the works since before 2010, when it was included as a project in the 2010 Loddon Mallee South Regional Growth STRATEGY (not exhibited, no community consultation), into which the Shire’s CEO, Peter Johnston, had primary input. Hanging Rock wasn’t in financial trouble then in 2010 when the development first came up, and despite council now claiming it is and needs the development, Council’s own reports show Hanging Rock made $102,000 profit last year.
Our Association, along with representatives of the recently formed Hanging Rock Action Group, were interviewed for 7.30 Victoria. Please watch if you can, and please pass this email to your contacts.
MRRA Macedon Ranges' Residents Association Home Page
Albanese is obviously doing something right ...
If the mainstream media dislike Albanese, this is an indication that his policies are friendly to the Australian people and inconvenient to the corporate sector. Latham is an interesting and amusing commentator, but he works for Fairfax (regular contributor to the Australian Financial Review) and he has a very narrow understanding of the society. He admitted that he could not really grasp what he was being told about the Tasmanian forests, just prior to running for election, and he supports 'aspirational' voters. To support aspirational voters you need to not understand finite resources or that money does not look after the environment and that what is good for economic growth is not usually good for society overall.
300 African migrants died on the way to Italy
Last week some 300 Africans tragically died while trying to smuggle themselves into Italy, and the Pope angrily conjured up the word "disgrace."! The Pope's response was to ''let us unite our efforts so that similar tragedies do not happen again..."
How does the Pope stop these tragedies happening again? Open borders between the Middle East and Africa will mean migrating people will put a heavy burden on Europe at a time of economic slowdown and massive unemployment.
Populations from Africa and the Middle East are certainly on the move and every "rich" or Western country will eventually have to ask - how many will we take? The refugees of the post war period, and Vietnam, were episodic, but the displaced are in swelling and in overwhelming numbers.
The Sub-Saharan Africa's population is rising faster than the rest of the world because modern medicine and healthcare means more babies are surviving until adulthood, and fewer adults are dying from preventable diseases. Birth rates are high and there is a proliferation of large families. It's predicted that Africa's population will double by 2050. Overpopulation drives conflict, poverty, scarcities and displacement.
The Catholic Church must take some responsibility for the planet's woes, and unprecedented global population growth. Their ban on contraception means that the poorer nations are forced to endure unwanted pregnancies and unsustainable rates of population growth. Islam also must be held accountable. Although less than 20% of Africans claim to be Catholic, the Church has failed to promote humane population sizes - globally.
Science is to "blame" for the drownings, nobody else. It was the result of overloaded boats, fire and overbalancing a lethal weight.
Rather than shutting the door to those escaping to a better life, and adding burdens to the rest of the world, the source of the problem must be addressed.
The Catholic church must take some blame for their ban on contraception. There needs to be a global family planning scheme, with aid and assistance linked only those countries making an effort to implement them. The taboo on speaking on human over-population must be lifted, and realistically addressed.
16 million adolescent girls give birth each year, most of them living in low- and middle-income countries. Pregnancy, childbirth-related complications and unsafe abortions are the main cause of death for adolescent girls in developing countries.
Until lift the religious taboo on family planning and reproductive choices, the rate of unwanted migration of asylum seekers will continue to grow, and over-burden the good-will and compassion of western nations.
We need a national day of mourning for all the asylum seekers who have died or drowned trying to escape their own nations' conflicts and poverty, AND the reluctance of developed countries' failure to promote sustainable population sizes through family planning, and health care. At the same time, countries like Australia actually feed off population growth, something hypocritically built-in to our economy!
Human population, church and kangaroo myth
Sent to ABC news on their feedback page as there was nowhere else to comment:
Many Australians, and others, are sick and tired of the whole kangaroo myth about kangaroos being in 'plague proportions'. All this hysteria about 'numbers out of control', is spread by those with a vested interest in killing our national icon. I've worked in country pubs and heard the spin myself. It's as bad as the yarns about Big Foot. If you look at unbiased research, and there is plenty online, it will reveal the exact opposite. (Perhaps you could begin with www.stopkangarookilling.org ). The problem is the 'ballooning population' of humans spreading out into kangaroo habitat. We need to do something first about our own 'out of control breeding' before we point the finger at other species with whom we share this planet. As David Attenborough asks 'Why is the topic of human population control such a ridiculously taboo issue in this country?' http://theconversation.com/can-christianity-and-population-control-co-exist-18981?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+9+October+2013&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+9+October+2013+CID_62f9231bfb3bdb4acc5cb1b60c7a2ce5&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Can%20Christianity%20and%20population%20control%20co-exist
We need to do some serious discussion on this, without the intervention of religious superstition. The church should have no place in governments of the 21st century. We cannot continue mindlessly breeding forever. How can we give the church any credibility when you look at the absolute rubbish they so strongly believe, including the idea that they will be 'saved' from this planet and 'taken' to a 'better place', so they can trash this little blue marble all they like. Where are the ethics in this?
Petition to investigate the impact on the Melbourne Zoo
Jenny Gray, Chief Executive Officer, Zoos Victoria: Insist on rigorous investigation into the impacts of the East-West Link on the Melbourne Zoo.
Petition: insist on rigorous investigation into the impacts of the east west link on the Melbourne Zoo
Universities have adopted a business model
Universities have become businesses, an export industry. Rather than benchmark standards of learning, research and education, their budgets, and income, have largely become their raison d' etre.
Apart from the recent $2.3 billion Gillard-government cut-back, universities have long been starved of funds, and are thus forced to rely more on international students. This compromises standards too, and as they are paying highly for studying here, and expect to pass! The carrot on the end of the stick is that many hope to gain residency here, at a time of rising youth unemployment.
Once we had the Colombo plan, where thousands of foreign students between the 1950s and 1980s could study here, and then return to help their countries' economic development.
Now, the Coalition have a $100 million reverse-Colombo plan.
It's an acknowledgement that Australia is not top-ranking any more, and that the Asia Pacific region can match our own (declining) standards.
Pilliga threatened with CSG extraction
It would be a tragedy to lose this forest and all that goes with it . I went to "Take Action" but their Environment Minister is out of date on the website. Hope they update this.
Stop the Pilliga Forest coal seam gas mining
Farmers and environmentalists don't want CSG mining, but the government is likely to face a backlash from the minerals sector unless it acts.
Critics fear that fracking not only opens up cracks in the coal seam, but could also result in gas escaping into drinking water as it rises to the surface. It would be economically reckless and short-sighted for the supply of CSG to destroy valuable farmland, and compromise underground water supplies. There are fears from some landholders that the ban in Victoria will be lifted.
Coal seam gas is a fossil fuel that is almost entirely made up of the greenhouse gas, methane. It's feared that large tracts of farmland will become unavailable for food production, forests and native bushland will be cleared and fragmented.
According to the industry, developing new supplies is absolutely critical if Australia wants to put downward pressure on energy prices. However, the gas industry want to drill more and more wells to meet their lucrative export contracts, and our prices will be linked with the much higher Asian market.
If it comes to a choice of harvesting underground coal seam gas, until it expires, or the long term integrity of our land, food and water supplies, then it would be counter-productive to prioritise the former over the latter.
The Pilliga is a vast expanse of bushland, located between Narrabri and Coonabarabran in western NSW. This iconic area of public land is under threat from the largest coal seam gas project ever proposed for New South Wales.
The Wilderness Society has been most concerned about the possible impact on the Pilliga forest and Channel Country region of Queensland's Cooper Basin. The government is prepared to relax environmental laws, or "green tape", for gas exploration.
Pilliga forest home to many threatened species, including the koala, Pilliga mouse, superb parrot and southeastern long-eared bat and regent honeyeater. A new ecological study of the Pilliga Forest in north-west NSW has found it is a “Noah's Ark” or refuge for many bird and mammal species that are declining across Australia.
Santos says it believes its CSG operations in the Pilliga can supply 25 per cent of the state's gas needs. More than 54% of Australia is covered by coal and gas licences or applications, and its clear that mining companies are riding roughshod over our governments and local communities. Dead animal bones in the bottom of a coal seam gas wastewater pond, according to the Stop Pilliga Coal Seam Gas movement,
The NSW government gave approval for the drilling in the woodlands in eastern Australia under stringent environmental conditions. The NSW government is hoping that a successful development by Santos of its coal-seam gas development in the Pilliga Forest in the northwest of the state will both satisfy some of the state's energy needs and demonstrate that coal-seam gas is not as environmentally harmful as its opponents claim.
Martin Bryant not guilty ?
I've read a few conspiracy books and they're all conclusive the he couldn't have commited this act himself. At the end of the day the great gun buy back was achieved and the government is happy. Everyone has forgotten about Martin and not everyone knows of the treatment he 's recieved before or after the trial. I'd like to see another trial or invetigation with the latest forensics with real experts in this field instead of the kangaroo court he lept into in 1996.
Cynthia McKinney: Libya still being bombed by drones, occupied
From FaceBook (emphasis added).
I was just told that Libya is still being bombed by U.S. drones and that NATO troops from Germany, Italy, France, and US mercenaries are there. Sadly, I was informed that Blacks comprise the bulk of U.S. mercenaries on the ground in Libya. This is not what Malcolm, Martin, the Black Panthers, and others sacrificed for—so that Blacks in the U.S. could go off and help destroy another country, especially one in Africa trying to unite Africans.
Conservationists are being criminalized
30 Greenpeace activists, including an Australian man, have been charged with piracy after a protest at an Arctic oil rig last month. The group held a protest on September 18 in which several activists scaled Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Barents Sea to protest plans for drilling in the pristine Arctic.
Russian investigators have charged 13 of its activists and one freelance videographer with piracy over an ocean protest against Arctic oil drilling. The charges comes despite president Vladimir Putin's statements last week that the activists "of course are not pirates". The group has denied the charges and accuses Russia of illegally boarding its ship, the Arctic Sunrise, in international waters.
In 2014, the U.N. will receive competing claims on Arctic territory from all of the Arctic nations, and as Russia made clear in 2007, when its explorers planted the Russian flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole, it wants the lion’s share of the Arctic, as well as the seas of oil and gas beneath it.
Putin said that “It’s completely obvious that of course they are not pirates.” But it was also obvious, Putin said, that “these people violated the norms of international law and got dangerously close to the [oil-drilling] platform.”
Russia is stepping up its claim to the Arctic Ocean and the abundant reserves of oil and gas there as its well-exploited Siberian wells are beginning to dwindle. The Arctic represents a lucrative alternative for a country whose budget still heavily relies on natural resource revenues.
Gazprom, a Russian state-owned energy giant,told Reuters that it plans to begin oil production on the Prirazlomnoye platform — the same rig approached by the Greenpeace protesters — by the end of the year.
Humanity's race to secure depleting natural resources for economic growth will mean threatening more remote and extreme locations, and invading pristine areas of our planet. Energy is becoming the new GOLD, and environmentalists and activists are being labelled along with criminals, terrorists and pirates if they dare come in the way of nations, and corporations trying to secure their share of resources!
"The oceans are the last free place on the planet" says wanted fugitive Paul Watson. He believes Sea Shepherd's campaigns against Japan in the waters around Antarctica have saved more than 5,000 whales since they began.
"We look at ourselves as pirates of compassion in pursuit of pirates of greed," he says. "If the oceans die, we die, simple as that."
Melbourne Zoo will be near the ramps to the East West Link
The "tunnel" in the Royal Park will be close to the 151 year old Royal Melbourne Zoo. The Melbourne Zoo says it's examining the impact the construction and operation of a controversial new freeway tunnel will have on its animals. It's planned that the East West Link tunnel will be built under the park with off-ramps not far from the zoo itself. This is the dysfunctional nature of Melbourne's destructive planning - there's no real plan for our city except growth, and reactionary schemes to cope with it.
There will be big freeway off-ramps right near the zoo that you can see and hear and feel when you're approaching it and then you know maybe even inside if you can hear the traffic.
What will be the animals' reaction to construction noise, smells and vibrations on the birds and animals? How will tourists react this this incongruous construction?
Mr Tanner the director of Melbourne Zoo says the zoo is also consulting with other zoos that have experienced construction works nearby. He found that "Oregon Zoo went through a similar project where a subway was built underneath the zoo and they found that there was no affect what so ever upon the animals either before, during or after the construction of their tunnel. So we're using the research data that they have to set up what sort of aspects that may affect our animals". How nice and convenient? What about the reports of other zoologists and ecologists? It's easy to cherry-pick the report findings that are convenient.
Mark Elder is a professor of Zoology at Melbourne university. He says "We know that elephants communicate by seismic signals, those are vibrations that run along the ground. It's possible that vibrations might create some disturbance to these elephants".
The Linking Melbourne Authority which is managing the road project told PM that specialist studies haven’t flagged any significant issues for the zoo or its animals. They won't dig far enough to find any!
Concerns East Weat link may affect Melbourne Zoo
Intermittent hope
If there were never little glimmers of enlightenment such as Mr. Robertson's apparent awareness of the wreckage of endless population growth, most of the non politician populace would have no reason to have any hope at all of maintaining a reasonable quality of life and for a stable or sustainable human population in Australia.
Devastating to read this
The only way that Australians can cope with this terrible vandalism, cruelty and complete disregard for arguably the most beautiful and majestic bio region of Victoria is by being unaware of it. Most Victorians live in Melbourne, a place now devoid of nature in original condition. This arrangement is really convenient because the population is corralled into one region and most of them are there most of the time. Despite these urban dwellers' daily deprivation of a natural environment I think even the most tuned out to nature and plugged into "I Tunes" person in Melbourne would cry if they directly experienced the devastation of our forests and wild life. Some of these city dwellers will read about this but inevitably more pressing city centred matters will override their brief concern. Perhaps the urban spiritual anesthetic blocking out the pain of our lost environment is merciful.
18 October Wildlife Atlas launch Mornington Peninsula
This is your invitation to attend a public lecture organised by the South Eastern Centre for Sustainability as part of its AGM scheduled for 7pm at the Mt Eliza Community Centre on Canadian Bay Rd on 18th October. The lecture will formally launch the Mornington Peninsula Wildlife Atlas by leading ecologist Malcolm Legg. Live music and refreshments will follow.
A government devoid of morals - by Jill Redwood EEG
This comment has been republished as an article here: http://candobetter.net/?q=node/3478
Chainsaws and bulldozers are operating in Orbost, eastern Victoria, and trees have stood for 600 years, sheltering and feeding generations of greater gliders and powerful owls and other species, and being logged.
The lush understorey of ferns and blanket leaf have kept delicate lichens and mosses damp and cool in the hottest summers over the millennia. Liquid eyed marsupials will be huddling terrified in their hollows as these giants crash and splinter in a sickening thud that shakes the earth and shocks the heart. After this brutality, the remaining vegetation is deliberately incinerated with a ring of intensely hot fire. Nothing escapes. It's all part of the 'sustainable forest management' lie that our governments feed us, hoping to hide the reality with a curtain of pleasing language.
Australia's forests have many native wildlife and plant species are teetering on the edge of extinction, but the assistance offered is little more than recognition and shallow sympathy, laced with lip service and PR spin. East Gippsland is a prime example of this situation. It has been described by Professor David Bellamy as "the most diverse area of temperate forest I know of on Earth".
A government devoid of morals: Jill Redwood
Why, in a developed country should small regional volunteer groups, Environment East Gippsland, which run on a meagre budget, be forced to take on the behemoth monster that is the government? The government and its logging agency VicForests agreed to abide by their own laws after being forced to the steps of the Supreme Court.
As a result of EEG's legal challenge, the beautiful glossy black cockatoo finally had a draft action statement drawn up last month after waiting 18 years on the threatened species list. But Minister Walsh's staff have found a loophole — they now learn that although the plan itself is a legal obligation, it doesn't need to have concrete protection measures.
There's no obligation, or guarantee, for the survival of our native animals. Governments "may" make recovery and protection plans, but it's not mandatory. It's all a facade, and political spin.
Email for Minister for Agriculture and Food Security:
[email protected]
Stop a commercial kangaroo industry in Victoria
Sign the Petition
The Municipal Association of Victoria wants to introduce a commercial kangaroo processing industry in Victoria.
Landowners are legally allowed to "manage" their numbers, with the issue of ATCW lethal permits, and instead of leaving the dead kangaroos on the ground to be "wasted", they want to start a commercial kangaroo meat industry.
This is an initiative of the Grampians Shire, where there is a National Park.
We want to petition the State government to protect our native kangaroos, and the justification of their killing for a commercial industry. This idea was rejected in the past as being unsustainable, and continues to be so.
Sign the Petition
Hunter Valley food bowl plan faces urban development pressures
See also : Jonathan Moylan : Anti-coal protester with public support faces huge costs at Supreme Court of 24 Sep 2013.
According to a federal funded report, up to 20 percent of the Hunter Valley’s prime farming land could be lost.
By 2050, world food consumption is likely to increase by 70 per cent and much of that additional demand will be in Asia. A report for the Federal Government's Sustainable Population Strategy defined ‘important agricultural land’ as that which is the most fertile, capable and productive land in the region which holds the ability to respond to a changing climate, market forces and socio-economic conditions in the future.
Extensive development within the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie regions has further heightened the importance of preserving fertile farm land.
The growth is dismissed explained as the "generation gap continues to grow, with the sons and daughters of farmers forced to look elsewhere for careers". Nothing about our record levels of immigration, and our socially-engineered population growth.
The Herald: Pressure Builds in Hunter Food Bowl
Bill Shorten recently endorsed the benefits of ongoing immigration and population growth for Australia, because that's how we've always been! He's a "big Australia" man, like the ill-fated Kevin Rudd. Economics is quantifiable, and figures are easy to comprehend. Growth is an easy definition to account for, but more subtle, grass-roots and environmental concerns are largely abstract or incremental. Governments take the easy route, and measure their success through economic growth, and population growth is the easiest route. They ignores the important implications of climate change, compromised food security, extreme weather events, living standards and the costs of infrastructure. The latter are all hindsight issues, left for future governments (and generations) to sort out.
With little arable land in Australia, the welfare of this, and future generations, should be paramount - not housing estates! Post war high rates of permanent immigration were justified in the post war era and up to the last decade, but not now. If urban development is eating into fertile food producing land, then priorities are all wrong and corrupt.
Myopically, the submissions for the Federal government's Sustainable Population Strategy were ignored by then Minister for (Sustainable) population, Tony Burke.
Food Magazine : Fitzgibbon's Hunter Valley food bowl plan faces urban development pressures.
Albanese and Shorten differ on immigration, population growth
Earlier tonight on the Q & A debate for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party, Bill Shorten (approximately 44 minutes into the 1 hour, 5 minute broadcast) gave a long speech about how the Labor Party was a Party for high immigration and population growth, whether for refugees, "skills migration" or family re-union. Shorten acknowledged that Australia was environmentally fragile, but quickly restated "immigration is a plus for us".
Anthony Albanese responded that we first need to build the necessary infrastructure, make sure that we have proper settlement programs and ensure that the immigrants had skills that matched our needs.
It is many decades since these conditions were met. As a result, immigrants have been crammed into already overcrowded cities. Housing costs have increased as a result of insufficient housing stock for the larger numbers of people requiring shelter. Roads have been gridlocked and our schools, hospitals, public transport and other infrastructure have been strained as a result of having to handle larger numbers.
Had Anthony Albanese's proposals been Federal Government policy, it would not have been possible for the Federal Government to impose the chaotic immigration programs that we have experienced in recent decades.
The Monthly - More low-brow refugee policy debate
In The Monthly "Election Issue" there is an article by Christos Tsiolkas entitled, 'Why we hate refugees'. The author states that "All our political parties know that we are underpopulated...". He goes on to suppose that there are huge amounts of racism in Australia and that Australians are ungenerous.
The basis for this supposition appears to be that he himself has racist reactions to people he sees as foreign and presumably also feels ungenerous. He sees Government and Opposition policies as similarly racist and ungenerous. However he uncritically buys all the other government economic propaganda economic for population growth. He does not seem capable of looking at the problem of democracy and how everything is getting more scarce and more expensive - housing, oil, gas, water, land ... This article is interesting because it sort of epitomises what passes for political comment in Australia - never questions the cause of anything, just roves about imagining individual motives and looking for sin.
It's really hard to know how to respond to propaganda like this. There is a false argument that being compassionate to refugees requires that we accept that Australia is underpopulated, or in reverse, that anyone who doesn't think Australia is underpopulated is not only anti-refugee but "hates" them.
This is irrational. Feeling sorry for refugees is a normal response that has no logical basis in whether or not you believe that Australia is over, under of benignly populous. That is the feeling part. The issue for government however, needs to be logistically accountable.
Policy and pity should also include the situation of people in refugee camps in places like Kenya, who may spend many years in makeshift villages on barren, sun-baked earth, waiting for a government to sponsor them out.
The author of this article seems to have no pity or interest in these people, of which Australia sponsors about 20,000 annually. The author does not seem interested in the wars that caused these peoples' displacement either.
He is fixated on those people who arrive via boats.
It is really worrying that something so simplistically polemic as this poorly researched piece can actually make it to the Monthly. It means that the reading public are in a substantial majority, so naive as to be fooled these days by almost artless propaganda
Indicator of economy needed other than the GDP
There needs to be another indicator of economic well-being, and aims, other than by calculating the GDP.
Of course the size of Australia's "economy" will increase with all the new arrivals. However, human societies are much more complex and demanding than simply economic data, for the benefit of big property developers and corporations!
There are nations will bigger economies than Australia's, but that doesn't make them liveable, or desirable, or sustainable.
Indonesia's GDP is growing, and its economy is now larger than Australia’s in purchasing power parity terms. In 2013-2014, Australia’s assistance to Indonesia will be worth an estimated $646.8 million.
Indonesia's environment is being challenged by population pressures and strong economic growth. The country ranked 157th out of 229 countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita. The Indonesian population therefore experiences many poverty-related problems common to developing nations such as high infant and maternal death rates.
Despite the healthy GDP, asylum seekers seek Australia, not Indonesia!
If land is subdivided for housing, and towers built, people will come. Our government is actively "projecting" population growth through open borders. It may "boost" our economy, but ignores the trailing debt and costs to living standards. An economy with entrenched population growth is logically unsustainable.
Costs of living are blowing out, housing is unaffordable, there are few jobs, congestion is hampering productivity and Victoria is going downhill. There needs to be a break-away from this undesirable and backward form of "growth" as a sign of progress!
Carers needed for baby bats in Queensland
Conservationists in Queensland are preparing for bat birthing season by enlisting an army of foster parents to care for orphaned baby flying foxes.
More than 60 people flocked to the workshop in western Brisbane in the hope of becoming accredited bat carers.
ABC: Nic MacBean
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-29/a-carer-holds-evie2c-an-orphaned-flying-fox2c-during-a-worksh/4987718
Apparently the RSPCA ran a bat care workshop in Wacol, Brisbane, on September 29, 2013.
'Moderate' Syrian 'rebels' have burned St. Malaky church
From Twitter by Proud Syrian:
McCain's very secular and moderate 'rebels' have attacked and burned St. Malaky church in Ghardoka ,#Qamishli, #Syria
Live exports and the Trans Pacific Partnership
THE Five Nations Beef Alliance (FNBA) has signed a letter backing a comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
The 5 countries of the FNBA are Australia, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Mexico. They all agree on core principles for the proposed trade agreement.
Cattle Council Australia president Andrew Ogilvie of Kingston, South Australia, says if the global beef industry is going to feed a growing world population it needs to facilitate the "open and unrestricted trade of food around the world”.
It's assumed that anyone protesting against the barbarity would have the audacity to deny starving people of protein! "The world’s population will have equal opportunity to a reliable and safe food supply without trade barriers inflating the cost of that food," Ogilvie said.
Tony Abbott has made significant changes to the Trade portfolio. Trade responsibilities have now been combined with foreign investment, for the first time uniting the two major branches of foreign economic policy.
The TPP will grant extraordinary power to corporations, and severely weaken the ability of domestic governments to regulate their activities. And all while citizens are kept in the dark. Most notably, schemes like the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) could be severely undermined.
According to Queensland Greens Senate candidate, Adam Stone, “If Mr Abbott’s enthusiasm for free trade means he signs up to this agreement, we could see foreign corporations interfering with local media content rules, environmental regulation, and subsidised medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The excuse that there is no refrigeration in our trade partner countries is disingenuous. Destination countries may have a lower standard of living by comparison with western countries, but the people largely live in urban environments. In addition, on the whole, their standard of living is increasing. It's inconceivable that they don't have refrigeration.
The Coalition is committed to keeping live export rules in place but also to reducing ‘red tape’ for exporters. According to spokesperson on Agriculture John Cobb, the Coalition is opposed to an Independent Office of Animal Welfare. The Coalition has also vowed to apologise to Indonesia for the 2011 suspension of cattle exports.
Barnaby Joyce said fixing the live export trade to Indonesia and pursuing bilateral trade agreements with China, North Korea and Japan would be a priority for the Abbott government. Voters, animal welfare activists and other lobbyists are facing even greater mountainous obstacles and hurdles to contend with as corporations and "free" trade agreements increase in magnitude and power.
Nobody is listening to the warnings on population growth
Australian Academy of Sciences advocated a maximum population for Australia of 24 million, a figure we are fast approaching and will soon exceed.
With climate science being discarded and unfunded by our new Coalition leader, Tony Abbott, any studies or facts that are inconvenient can be simply blacked out.
The Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) in November 2009 called on Federal and State Governments to develop sustainable population policies to curb the associated population health and environmental risks.
“Australia’s population is projected to grow from the current 22 million to 35 million people by 2049 unless urgent action is taken now. Given the dramatic impacts that population growth has on health and environmental
sustainability, it is hard to believe that Australia still has no population policy -- it is well past time to develop one,” according to Michael Moore the CEO of the PHAA.
PHAA spokesperson Dr Peter Howat of the PHAA said: “The projected 60% increase in the population in just 40 years will have a dramatic impact across many areas of service provision including hospitals and other health care services.
The impact will extend to food security, nutrition, affordable housing, transport, education, stress and depression with the changing demography of Australia’s population”.
We lose wealth overall, whilst a minority gains
Bill Shorten has failed to explain how existing inhabitants in our crowded and congested cities can gain by adding yet more people. Just possibly, if Bill Shorten could show that the Australian economy needed more workers that could not be found by recruiting from or training members of the existing population, then there would be a case for increased immigration.
But this has not been shown.
Unless this has is shown, then adding to our population can only make existing inhabitants of Australia poorer on average.
Others who must also lose are the many hundreds of millions who could not possibly hope to immigrate to Australia. Only a small fraction of potential immigrants from the Third World could hope to migrate to Australia. If Australia were to adopt a truly "open borders" immigration program, Australian society would collapse long before more than a fraction of intending immigrants could arrive.
Adding to Australia's population is only possible to a much smaller extent than could theoretically occur with open borders. Nonetheless, if that were to occur by the amount that Shorten is advocating, that still must add much to the quantity of wealth that must be extracted from the rest of the world in order to enable newer inhabitants to enjoy material standards of living comparable to those of existing inhabitants.
So, why pretend to Australian citizens that they stand to gain from population growth, when facts and logic show that we can only lose?
It is because a small selfish minority gain by making all of us poorer on average. This minority includes land developers, property speculators, landlords and others who variously profit from the crowding of cities including private toll-road operators.
Not impressed by Malcolm Fraser - Here's why
You forgot to mention also that Fraser started the appalling dismantling of our laws that protected Australian interests from foreign takeover and Australian housing from foreign purchase. I have never been impressed by Fraser's stance on refugees because of his lack of support for the citizens of his own country, (which appeared at the time as contempt) whose disempowerment he has helped to orchestrate - "Life wasn't meant to be easy." I do not think that Fraser would approve of the Syrian government's defense of public assets and public banking. In my opinion, Fraser's charity is an arms length job that leap-frogs over Australians. The pursuit of 'human rights' over civil rights defeats human rights and local empowerment. Australia is particularly poor in civil rights. In Fraser's pursuit of charity at arm's length he is like so many of our 'modern' politicians and his attitude aligns with the increasingly distant and authoritarian structure of government here. I am afraid that his rehabilitation in recent years by the Fairfax and Murdoch Press inspires me with suspicion that his 'brand' is useful for ongoing undemocratic processes.
My sources on this are to be found at The Growth Lobby and its Absence, pp 191-195, in the chapter entitled "Australia's return to a populationist development and housing policy under the Fraser Government." I cite it here without the endnotes, which you can find in the above linked pdf file. It is a testimony to the unraveling of Australian civil rights, self-government and ownership of assets in favour of a globalised market economy that disenfranchises us all. (By the way, the term 'populationist' comes from the French 'populationniste' and means a person who is for populating, i.e. growing population. The socialist alliance forces that promote high population growth in Australia continuously misuse the term to mean its opposite.)
"Australia's return to a populationist development and housing policy under the Fraser Government.
After the Whitlam government was sacked, and during high unemployment, the Fraser
Liberal/National Party government (November 1975- March 1983) reinstituted
economic policies that were dependent on rapid population growth - through high
immigration - and high energy consumption.
Whitlam's concept and attempts to create a system of feedback loops from population to
housing were dismantled or under-financed. Prime Minister Fraser abolished DURD
very early in his government, under which Federal funding for urban and regional
development declined by 86 per cent. 178 He also began to liberalise the foreign
investment rules, with the Foreign Takeovers Act (1975).
In Whitlam's time foreign investment had been less than 10%, but it increased steadily
after 1975. Between 1980 and 1981 there was the "highest capital inflow on record."
Much of this was for loans to State governments for infrastructure projects, but after
1980 more and more was borrowed by private firms with an ever greater part going to
property development. By 1985-86 services, tourism, real-estate and property
development were responsible for over fifty per cent of incoming capital and real-estate
was the biggest borrower.
The Australian housing industry continued speculative land development and reliance
on high immigration to feed population growth and thus demand, with little central
planning. As the economy was opened up to the ideology of free market forces,
speculation and housing price inflation increased. However, from 1974-1986 economic
recession affected the housing industry.
Government policies assisting home ownership were identified as an impediment to
economic growth by, among others, a group that included the Australian Treasury, 182
over which Federal Treasurer Philip Lynch had presided until 1977, when he was
sacked for involvement in Victorian land speculation scandals. Land scandals were not
confined to Victoria, however. An example of political corruption and land speculation,
with the demise of DURD and the Whitlam Government, occurred when the Liberal
West Australian Minister for Industrial Development, Sir Charles Court, bailed out
property developer, Alan Bond 183 by purchasing a property that Bond had been trying
for years to get rezoned but which had been destined, with the co-operation of the
previous WA Labor Government, under the Federal department, DURD, to remain a
green corridor. Instead of leaving Bond with his unrezoned rural property, Court used
DURD funds to purchase the property from Bond. Bond subsequently donated $20,000
to the Liberals' 1977 election campaign. Soon after Sir Charles Court raised $250,000
in a syndicate to finance Bond's America's Cup venture.
The ALP West Australian Government that followed on from the Liberal one was no
better. It formed a corrupt network with WA land speculators which was subsequently
to be known as "WA Inc." The Premier involved in this was Brian Burke and he was
later imprisoned for corruption.
The members of the Australian Treasury group wanted a reduction in all forms of
housing assistance. They also called for the freeing up of the housing market to market
forces, without interference from subsidies or regulated industry rates. They blamed
government regulation for keeping the cost of home ownership unrealistically low,
inflating ownership expectations and leading to people owning too many houses. 186
In response to lobbying, 187 immigration began to climb again from 1979 and remained
high until 1982.
As well as dismantling Whitlam's urban and rural development system, the Fraser
Government commenced the first of a long series of steps to dismantle the free tertiary
education system. It thereby reduced that avenue for Australia to increase its skilled
and tertiary educated workforce, leaving industry few options but to import new skilled
workers. The structure and finance of the industry meant that support for developing a
local system to provide skilled tradesmen remained weak and unorganised. Thus the
industry continued its strong reliance on imported skilled labour. As the economy was
opened up to the ideology of free market forces, speculation and housing price inflation
increased, with strong encouragement from the Australian Treasury.
This section on Australia's return to a populationist development and housing policy
under the Fraser government illustrates my argument that in countries where a highly
profitable property development and residential construction industry dominates,
individual firms may be more inclined than government assisted housing systems to
access international loans in order to finance continued expansion. Furthermore a
deregulated financial environment will assist the strategy of borrowing to finance
expansion.
This chapter has examined evidence for the hypothesis that Australia had followed a
cornucopian route and France a Malthusian one after the oil crash. My evidence
consisted largely of indicators of policy and practice related to per capita and industrial
energy consumption, principally in the building industry and the production of
dwellings. I situated these indicators within the context of the different land
development and housing systems in Australia and France and showed how the first
relied on immigration but the latter did not. I gave evidence that both countries had
temporarily reduced immigration at the time of the first oil shock for energy saving and
economic reasons, but that the fall of the Whitlam government had brought an end to
these politics in Australia and ushered in a high conventional energy using expansionist
period with fast population growth. I attributed this growthist course in Australia
largely to a populationist lobby in which property developers and residential
construction companies were important actors. I explained the ability of France to
consolidate its population and energy use to the absence of such a lobby.
There are, however, other possible explanations for the difference between immigration
policies in France and Australia that have resulted in a higher migration intake in
Australia. For example there is, arguably, a stronger ethnic lobby in Australia than in
France and this lobby is able to press for extended family reunion. Because Australia
has an active immigrant recruitment intake, it is difficult to justify a small humanitarian
intake. A multiculturalist approach to new settlers, rather than an integrationist approach
may favour the development of ethnic lobbies and the establishment of distinct
communities with a variety of motives for expansion. These explanations have not
been explored here but that is not to say that they and others I have not mentioned, have
no value. Nevertheless, the evidence pointing to a very important role for the property
development lobby in driving immigration is strong.
The next chapter looks at how the immigrationist policies I have described continued in
Australia and argues that the focused gains for the property development and housing
industries from high immigration may have been enhanced by increasing recourse to
foreign finance and globalisation of the property market. It then looks at the impacts on
housing prices and the increasing profits at stake in the growthist economy for property
developers and builders and compares these outcomes with those in France, in the
absence of an immmigration dependent property industry."
Australia needs a National Land Use plan:25% for wildlife
by James Fitzgerald Winner of 2013 AWPC Environmental Award
“One of the biggest threats to our native animals, is that the average Australian doesn’t know how bad things are, in terms of human impact on Australian flora and fauna. Even the largest National Park is just a gene puddle if it is not connected. The gene pool, which needs variability for Australian native animals is not able to function via the natural dispersal of young male animals due to the fragmentation of habitat.
"What Australia needs is a National Land use plan. Good farm land must be set aside and only bought by farmers, so they don’t have to complete for the price per acre that a housing developer or a mining company can afford to pay.
"Land is set for mining, housing etc and connected land is identified for a major wildlife corridor. Via reduction in rates, environmentally friendly people are encouraged to buy land within the corridor, restore habitat and prevent the shooting of native animals.
"We must restore native Australian Wildlife and habitat to 25% of pre-British settlement i.e. there were over 10,000,000 Koalas, so we should have a goal of 2,500,000 Koalas and publish a list of native animals with their percentage remaining compared to Pre-British settlement e.g. presently, koalas are at best 0.8% of their Pre-British settlement numbers.
"The benchmark should be Pre-British settlement wildlife population estimates and we aim for 25% for each species. The list of each species with its % based on Pre-British settlement wildlife population estimates will be a big wakeup call. Most Australians don’t know how bad things are”.
"I took the photo of the jaw shot kangaroo on 4 June 2011 at my property in NSW. The kangaroo was near my dam. It was most likely very thirsty because it was unable to drink as its tongue was hanging through the bullet exit hole in its neck/chin area. The image is so perfect to counteract industry claims that they abide by the Code of Practice and the kangaroo kill is humane. What the Code does not say is: that no one works after 5PM to monitor or police the kangaroo killing at the POINT of the kill – or that such cruelty is not dealt with, on the spot. Nothing happens to monitor the kill until carcases get to the Processors. Mis-shot, harmed, poorly shot kangaroos are NOT reported to the processor because then they would need to be included in the already flawed cruelty statistics".
Huge corporate powers to overwhelm objectors and activists
The Liberal government wants to make boycotts illegal — criminalising our ability to hold corporations to account when they jeopardise our health or our environment. It would make it illegal to call on another individual or company to boycott a product because it was unsafe or destroying the environment.
Tobacco giant Philip Morris is suing the Australian government to overturn public health laws aimed at reducing teenage smoking.
SumOfUs- Sign the Petition
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the so-called “free trade” agreement currently under negotiation between the US, Australia and several other countries.
Probably the most dangerous feature of the agreement as it now stands is the introduction of an Investor State Disputes Settlement (ISDS) system, in which foreign corporations are allowed to sue countries in order to protect the profitability of their investments.
The TPP is another step in the direction of total market deregulation in the interests of international big business and is another threat to Australia’s national sovereignty. The fundamental assumption is that corporations can sue sovereign states, but sovereign states cannot sue corporations operating in their territory. For example, the TPP could be used to block the Australian government’s requirement that cigarette companies use plain packaging. If the policy was successfully challenged, Australia would either need to pay “compensation” to the relevant corporations and/or remove the rule altogether.
Wikileaks Party: Why Australians should be worried about the TPP
These threats are about corporations accumulating enormous economic and political powers, through agreements and "free" trade agreements. They are becoming more powerful and bigger than sovereignties and governments. It's a worrying development, of economic predation on the rights of normal people in democracies to determine what's good and not welcome for their own communities, to actively protect the environment and ensure best animal welfare outcomes in industries.
Shorten backs a "big Australia" - ensuring Labor's fate
Labor leadership contender Bill Shorten has promised to be pro-immigration and says the party should revisit work rights for asylum seekers. He has unwittingly sealed the fate of Labor to be the Opposition - for the years ahead.
Such blatant disregard of the concerns of the public, such as the pressure on our cities, the infrastructure demands hitting our hip -pockets, costs of utilities and housing, pressure to increase the GST, and the multiple signs of global overpopulation - food security, species extinctions, climate change, pollution and the numerous "peaks" in natural resources - are simply being ignored!
One dimensional policies, based on economics in a vacuum, are shallow and doomed to fail.
"I am ambitious for a big Australia, I am ambitious for more immigration because I think it enriches our country," he said.
Obviously he's speaking from the protection and privilege of his Ivory Tower, in Canberra, backed by his wealth and corporate supporters.
Mr Shorten said he would like to see a change in language on asylum seekers and a recognition that coming to Australia to seek asylum is not illegal. Actually, thanks to the UN Refugee Convention, coming to Australia for asylum is not "illegal".
Due to our record level of permanent immigration, our human services and housing are under maximum pressure. Accommodating the world's displaced would mean struggling Australians would be displaced in public housing and welfare queues.
There are people, especially in power, with megalomaniac personality disorders, and people with selfish psychopathic tendencies. It means their ambitions lack recognition for the struggles of other peoples, and they become engrossed in the worship of "big", "massive", and "growth" as a form of progress! They become engrossed in size and their own personal egos that they forget what their democratic duties are- to government for the people, with the people, and in their interests!
It's time for Labor to get back to basics, to grass-roots level, where they traditionally belong. Shorten should listen to the polls, and the heavy costs of growth.
Shorten backs Bigger Australia: SBS
Malcolm Fraser defends Syria
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has, in recent weeks, spoken up to defend Syria against the terrorist proxy war funded by the United States and its allies and plans for direct invasion. This is contrary to the propaganda fed to the public by the mainstream media and government leaders such as former Prime Miniter Kevin Ruddd, former Foreign Minister Bob Carr and the current Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop. Examples include:
- In the Central Midlands and Coastal Advocate of 25 Sep 2013
- Malcolm Fraser: Syria attack 'illegal' of 25 Sep 2013 on the SBS
- An open letter on war to the new PM in the Sydney Morning Morning Herald of 14 Sep 2013. Letter was also signed by:
- Paul Barratt AO, former secretary, Department of Defence
- John Menadue AO, former secretary, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
- Malcolm Fraser, former Liberal prime minister
- Professor Ian Maddocks AM, Senior Australian of the Year
- Professor Peter Baume AC, former federal Liberal minister
- Garry Woodard, retired ambassador
- Professor Ramesh Thakur, former UN assistant secretary-general
- Elizabeth Evatt AC, former judge
- Kellie Merritt, widow of Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, who was killed in Iraq
So, it seems my ridicule of Malcolm Fraser's "efforts to have himself depicted in the media as a 'bleeding heart' friend of refugees" was unfair. Other concerns about his political record still remain. These include his role in the 1975 CIA coup against the government of Gough Whitlam in 1975 and his Sections 45D and 45E of the Trade Practices Act which have criminalised "secondary boycotts" or industrial action by one group of workers in support of another group of workers.In spite of theses concerns, Malcolm Fraser has demonstrated, by his support of Syria that he is prepared to use his public profile to oppose war and defend humanitarian values.
Millennium Development Goals - 2015
The millennium development goals (MDGs) have been hailed as the “world’s greatest promise”, committing world leaders to the pursuit of concrete, measurable improvements on global poverty, hunger, health, education and other key social issues by 2015.
Australia is one of 189 countries that adopted the Millennium Declaration and committed to the Millennium Development Goals in 2000. The eight Millennium Development Goals are a shared world vision for reducing poverty. The central goal is to reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than US$1.25 a day by 2015 relative to 1990.
With less than two years until the MDGs expire, policymakers, civil society groups, and academics worldwide are taking stock of what progress has been made and debating what should happen after 2015.
More than 40 developing countries lack sufficient data to track performance on extreme poverty and hunger. Countries with the highest levels of maternal mortality, malaria, and tuberculosis, meanwhile, often have the least reliable data on these issues.
Also, Uganda’s population growth rate was higher than the economic growth, which undermines development efforts aimed at improving livelihood and sustainable use of the environment.
One of the major reasons behind the failure of the Asian Pacific region MDG to achieve targets was high population growth rate, low economic growth rate and lack of resources to finance the initiatives needed to achieved these targets.
The absolute number of people living in poverty or dying of malnutrition may increase in absolute terms, but due to a growing human population, the percentage change may decrease. The MDGs should concentrate on absolute numbers rather than, deceptively, on percentages.
When the millennium development goal was developed, family planning was omitted. However, after much advocacy, it was included as one of the indicators. Despite this inclusion, uptake is still a big challenge.
Irrevocably there must be family planning as part of the targets.
Data collection left to individuals and wildlife organisations
"Conveniently, no single government agency was collecting data, some states hadn’t tried, others only collected death and injury statistics, or live sightings only, to be filed".
This is the heart of the problem, that collecting data is left to individuals and not for profit wildlife groups, with little overall coordination. There are no funds given to wildlife carers, who are meant to use their own resources to care and rescue animals.
Back in July this year, the Federal Government announced millions of dollars in cuts to the Biodiversity Fund and Carbon Farming Futures program, as Australia moved to a floating carbon price. A floated carbon price was supposed to cover the $213 million in unallocated money from the Biodiversity Fund, including Caring For Our Country among other environmental programs.
What's needed is an integrated approach to biodiversity. It's goes beyond protecting farmland, but protecting the intrinsic value of native flora and fauna.
Kevin Rudd cut millions from the Biodiversity Fund and Tony Abbott wants to hand national environment approvals over to the states, so that damaging developments, such as the rush of mining proposals threatening Tassie devil habitat in the Tarkine, don't have to face federal scrutiny.
Nationally, not one threatened species has had its status upgraded.
The Coalition in August released its “Green Army” policy – a 15,000-person strong environmental workforce that will “provide real and practical solutions to cleaning up riverbanks and creek beds, re-vegetating sand dunes, re-vegetating mangrove habitat, and a host of other environmental conservation projects”. They will scrap the rest of the Biodiversity fund.
There's little importance given to our native animals, and remain incidentals. Land is considered primarily an economic resource rather than for its intrinsic value for biodiversity, and the diversity of iconic and keystone species - such as koalas.
Coalition government in climate change denial mode
The world is on track to suffer potential temperature rises of 2.6 to 4.8 degrees by the century's end if we proceed along the highest future emissions path, according to a major draft report from the IPCC.
It hasn't taken our new Coalition government very long to reveal it's anti-factual and anti-science agenda. The Abbott government moved swiftly to abolish Labor-era climate change institutions. The Coalition closed the Climate Commission, and also plans to repeal other climate change policies of the Rudd and Gillard governments, such as the carbon price, the Climate Change Authority and the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
They are assuming that by shutting the gate to evidence, and access to the facts, the inconvenient issue will go away and the horse will bolt!
Science and the church have had a rocky history of ignorance, a power struggle of evidence and denial, but the co-existence of science and politics is the new religious-like stonewall to transparency and objectivity. Streamlining government processes would save $1.6 million a year, but it ignores the costs of climate change on our health care, food production, destructive weather events, and impacts on natural resources.
It's been assumed by the government that, like religion, we have the option to "believe" in climate change, or not! We are all entitled our beliefs on a personal level, but governments are responsible for creating policies, encouraging transparent debate, and ensuring that our present and future generations have a climate and ecosystems that remain stable, life-supporting, and as future-proof as possible.
It would be a huge economic, technological and turnaround of human-momentum towards growth to get to zero emissions by 2070, as suggested by some scientists.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt's optimism that we can meet the climate change challenge is based on leadership from two of the world's giant economies, America and China. America and China accounted for 43 percent of global emissions in 2011, with China the top emitter. Obama has committed to get the US to reduce emissions by 17 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels. That's still a long way from an average 50% cut of 1990 levels suggested we aim for by 2100.
The constraint for Australia is that, due to our unique economic and social history since the World War 2, “growth” has become built-in to our economic model. It assumes ongoing population growth, along with energy consumption and waste.
We need a transition to a steady-state, post-growth, economic model, one that is not contradictory to scaling down anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
Fortunately, the axed Climate Commission is to be relaunched with private funds in a bid to keep information about global warming prominent in the public arena, former head Tim Flannery said.
Backers Breathe life into climate body: The Age
Australians' lack of land makes their lives precarious
In our society we now have more and more homeless. Those who do not own their own land and home are utterly dependent on waged employment and government pensions. With continuous importing of more human beings to benefit the housing speculation economy and other elite concerns, it is obvious that most Australians are living more and more precariously. If we did not buy and sell land, but only leased it - as the Maoris do in New Zealand - then every child and every adult would be secure. We would have more localised societies with preservation of families and clans. But that is exactly what growth economists want to disrupt because it would be far more difficult to push us around then.
Why the need to explain importance of land?
It seems outrageous to me that this man needs to explain the importance of the land to the Yanomami people. If they lose their land ,it is obvious that they lose their community, their identity their living , their independence. It reminds me of the Australian Aborigines who are attributed with a very special connection with the land that also seems to need explaining as though it is very culture specific and peculiar to them. The thing is that the connection with the land is normal and people who do not connect with the land are somewhat cast adrift, most probably urbanized and in a relatively artificial predicament.
Fraser Island Dingo deliberately maimed by feral tourist
The latest act of barbarism perpetrated upon the dingoes of Fraser Island was the deliberate ramming and maiming of a mother in pup by a tourist's orange Pajero 4WD. This must force a re-assessment of the role of tourism on the island.
The Save Fraser Island Dingoes (SFID) group said the female dingo was hit by a vehicle about 8.30am between Eurong and Dilli Village, with witnesses claiming an orange Pajero changed direction before hitting it.
The dingo was left in agony and had to be euthanised.
"She appeared to be feeding. The fate of her pups is unknown," a spokeswoman said.
Fraser Island Dingo deliberately maimed
Some tourists are allowed to run wild. They are allowed to turn a magnificent beach into a drag strip, safe neither for wildlife or families with children. They turn beaches into drag strips, and threaten bushland and wildlife.
Tourist vehicles must be contained and monitored, and stiff penalties must apply to miscreants, to ensure the survival of the very animals and habitat most people go to the Island to appreciate.
The public should not have to sit by and watch those who break the rules ruin the tourist experience for everyone - visitors and local business operators alike.
Eye witness report states that the dingo WAS deliberately hit, the vehicle drove away in an Orange/Red old model Pajero. The incident occurred early in the morning, Police and Rangers were called she lay in agony we were told possibly with a broken back, howling until she could be euthanised.
SFID together with the Minister of Environment Andrew Powell will continue to work on a plan to establish a Care Centre for all injured animals on Fraser Island.
Australian Independents leader Patricia Petersen called for immediate action to protect island dingoes and said it was time to ban people from the island, except in guided groups. “This is outrageous. No more talk fests. No more passing the buck. We need our dingoes protected and we need them protected right now,” she said.
Dr Petersen said that she “fell in love” with dingoes when she recently toured the Fraser Coast region and visited Fraser Island.
Australian Independents leader demands immediate protection of Fraser Island Dingoes
This should be the "last straw". The Queensland government cannot continue to allow potential feral humans to kill, maim and threaten the last stronghold for pure native dingoes. Tourist dollars have for too long been the priority, not the native animals. This "incident" must turn the tide once and for all!
Christians persecuted in Syria
Christians continue to face threats from militant Islamic extremists who want to implement a brand of Sharia law that leaves no room for Christians. The results have already been tragic with numerous stories of kidnapping, brutal murders, and rape coming from towns where these elements have taken hold. The need for support and essential aid remains urgent.
When government forces aren’t present, Muslims have been known to rob churches and kidnap, rape, or even kill Christian women. Innocent bystanders simply making trips to the store have been gunned down.
Many in the Christian community, which comprises approximately 6 percent of Syria’s population (1.5 million, including Christian refugees from Iraq), have fallen into severe financial hardship since the Arab Spring uprising, primarily because they are too afraid to leave their homes.
Wherever any strongly Islamic regime is in power, Christians suffer. It is an immutable rule. And the more Islamic the state, the harsher the treatment Christians receive. Many Iraqi refugees left to join the two million indigenous Christians of Syria. They now share their hosts’ lot — persecution by the western-supported, Saudi-financed, Islamist-dominated Syrian rebels.
Al-Qaeda terrorists eagerly await U.S. assistance against the Syrian government, so they can subjugate if not slaughter Syria’s Christians, secularists, and non-Muslims. While the US seems to have stepped back from the brink of military engagement in Syria, the conflict on the ground for the country’s Christian community remains in full force.
Syrian Christians feel they have had no choice but to back President al-Assad. Why? Because traditionally Assad has been tolerant of the Christian minority in Syria and the Christians know that the rebel Islamist Jihadis, if they defeat Assad’s forces, will either kill, persecute or expel the Christians. The support of Assad by the patriarchs of Eastern Christianity has caused tensions with church leaders of Western Christianity, who have urged a more critical stance.
Christians protected in Syria, murdered elsewhere by 'Islamists'
Australian international news reports are currently dominated by reports of terrorism by Islamist sectarian extremists. In Nairobi, Kenya 59 Christians have so far been murdered. In Peshawar, Pakistan 60 Christians have so far been murdered.
Few who rely on that mainstream media would know that, paradoxically, the Syrian Government of President Bashar Al-Assad, which has been so demonised by that newsmedia, has been fighting to stop the efforts of the Western-supplied sectarian Islamist insurgents to "ethnically cleanse" the Syrian Christian community with terror.
This community traces its roots back to the time of Jesus Christ and still speaks Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus.
Reports on the Syrian Arab Army's fight to defend Christian communities include:
From syrianews.cc: Syria: Residents of the Christian town of Maaloula speak about the terrorism of 20 Sep 2012, Syrian Army gains more ground in Christian village of Maaloula of 13 Sep 2012, of Sep 2012, Maaloula: Syrian Army eliminates about 350 Al-Qaeda fighters of 16 Sep 2012, Maaloula: Battles between Syrian Army and al-Nusra fighters still ongoing of 10 Sep 2012, Syrian Army: Operations in Christian village of Maaloula continued of 12 Sep 2012, Maaloula: Syrian Army tries to protect Christian village against Al-Qaeda of Sep 2012, Syria: Battles in and around Christian village of Maaloula of 6 Sep 2012, Syria: Army continues Military Operations in Aleppo and Maaloula of 13 Sep 2012
From the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA): Lavrov: The West focuses more on using force than on chemical weapons in Syria of 22 Sep 2012, Clark: American people oppose war on Syria of 22 Sep 2012, 600 martyrs' families honored in Sweida of 22 Sep 2012, Information Minister affirms support to associations looking after martyrs' families of 22 Sep 2012, President al-Assad's interview with Fox News of 20 Sep 2012, Al-Baath party, popular front of Palestine discuss ways of confronting war on Syria of Sep 2012,
Live export ship stranded in Fremantle
The cargo ship, the Pearl of Para, had mechanical difficulties 400 km off the Australian coast, is loaded with 5240 Brahman cattle boarded for Israel. The cattle have been on the ship since September 3rd. The RSPCA inspected the ship, claiming there were no breaches of the Animal Welfare Act.
The ship is 90% full, and the animals are layered on 7 levels.
Mechanical failure on this ship last year led to the death of 400 pregnant cattle on a voyage from US to Russia: the animals reportedly suffocated on ammonia fumes after the ventilation system failed.
(DAFF), said the issues would have no impact on the livestock support systems. However, slowing down would make them more susceptible to pirates! Caitlyn Gribbin from the RSCPA has voiced concern that the time delay will cause the cattle extra stress as the malfunction means the cattle will be onboard the ship two weeks longer than if it had gone straight to Israel.
There have been thousands of deaths at sea as a result of the live export trade.
In 1996, 1592 cattle drowned when the Guernsey Express sank on its voyage to Osaka.
In 1996, over 65,000 sheep died when the Uniceb caught fire and sank.
In 1998, 570 cattle died on the Charolais Express from either suffocating during the journey or were too ill to land at the destination and were slaughtered at sea.
In 1999, 829 cattle suffocated on the Kalymnian Express when ventilation failed en route to Indonesia.
In 2002, 990 cattle and 1400 sheep died as a result of overheating on the Becrux.
In 2003, over 5500 sheep died on the Cormo Express when the Saudi Arabian importer rejected the shipload as they were infected with scabby mouth.
Another live export scandal, an industry littered with breaches, animal cruelty and failures of standards. How can cattle endure such confined conditions all this time? They are grazing animals, used to wide open plains, not canaries in cages! Our government has pinned so much economic hope, the "Asian Century", on the great opportunity to be the "food bowl" of Asia! However, it seems to rest a lot on live exports.
The RSPCA were only allowed to board the ship after it was cleaned up! There will be no comfortable and safe landing for these 5240 hapless animals! They will endure an excruciating and barbaric slaughter with knives - while fully conscious!
Live export is a cruel and inhumane trade and our nation’s politicians must be prepared to show leadership in this area and bring live export to an end.
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Bowman lost his battle with cancer
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bowman sadly died whilst battling cancer last month on 22 August as this obituary of 10 September 2013 on Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth notes.
Robert Bowman flew aerial combat missions in the Vietnam War. However, he worked in his latter years against the threat of war. This included his opposition the the "Star Wars" program which was launched in the years of President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004).
Robert Bowman stopped "Star Wars"
He initially supported the "Star Wars" program, believing it merely a means to prevent a preemptive nuclear strike by the Soviet Union. However, after he realised that the goal of "Star Wars" was to enable the U.S. to launch a nuclear first-strike against the Soviet Union he became a staunch opponent.
He remorselessly campaigned against "Star Wars" and succeeded in forcing the United States Governnment to scrap the program.
Robert Bowman tried to reveal the fraud of 9/11
More recently Robert Bowman tried to show up the fraud of 9/11. On 11 September 2001 (9/11), Senior U.S government officials including Vice-President Dick Cheney, President George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld colluded with terrorists to destroy the World Trade Center Twin Towers of the as well as World Trade Center Tower 7 and blame Islamist extremists based in Afghanistan for the outrage. This was used as a pretext to invade Afghanistan in 2001. It was also used, as well as the fraudulent WMD claim, as an implicit pretext to invade Iraq in 2003, even though no U.S. official ever attempted to explicitly blame the Iraqi Government of President Saddam Hussein for 9/11.
The political climate created by 9/11 has also made it possible for the U.S to launch other wars, including the invasion of Libya in 2011 and the current proxy terrorist war against Syria.
He visited Australia in 2008 to address the national conference of the 9/11 Truth movement. Sadly I had not begun to question 9/11 and still supported the "War on Terror", so I missed an opportunity to see him.
However, in recent years, after I learned of Robert Bowman's story, I was able to 'phone him a number of times and speak to him directly.
For more information about the late Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bowman, please visit thepatriots.us .
Robert Bowman's death is sad loss to the global cause of peace and justice.
The Sellstrom Report:The UN's Syria Inspector Shills for NATO...
The Sellstrom Report: The United Nations' Syria Inspector Shills for NATO and Israel
by Yoichi Shimatsu, September 18, 2013 (from Global Research)
The US objective is to strip Damascus of its limited deterrence capability against Israel’s nuclear forces. Nerve gas may not be much of a counter-strike response compared with atomic warheads, but it seems Israel’s goal is absolute strategic supremacy against the Arab states and Iran. ...
Update: (8:56AM, 20 September 2013) Only just now, serial liar, John Kerry appeared on the ABC Radio National's Breakfast program to repeat his fabriocated c;laims agains Syria. Of course, he wasn't challenged by presenter, Fran Kelly.
VCAT should be closed as a rort
"Public consultation" is a farce, and objections are merely a front to give the community a false layer of democracy. VCAT, with the support of the Supreme court, is simply a scam, a "tribunal", to give ticks to property developers. It's dysfunctional and corrupt. The decision to give the green light for the McDonalds at Tecoma, contrary to the great majority of the community and the local council, is another case of VCAT riding rough-shod over so-called "democracy". While their planning permit allowed the construction of cafes and restaurants in their main street, this was interpreted to allow a multi-national, junk-food franchise McDonalds to be "legal".
VCAT should be closed as a affront to the public, who assume they have some self-determination with regards to where they live. If numbers of objections is "irrelevant", so will votes for the government be at election time.
The expansion of Melbourne's CBD into Armadale, a heritage suburb, will transform it into another generic high density area, and the costs of rates will increase, along with high population pressure on existing public transport, services and amenities. It's a lose-lose for Melbourne, the local community, and this Orrong group who've campaigned for four years - simply to be dismissed in 5 minutes!
ACT's plan to outlaw factory farming
The ACT could become the first state in Australia to legislate against factory farming, with an animal welfare bill introduced to the Legislative Assembly by Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury today. It's expected to be supported by the Greens-Labor. If passed, it will outlaw sow stalls, farrowing crates and battery cages. It's an enlightened step towards an equitable animal welfare system, considering such horrors would not be allowed for companion animals or wildlife.
While there are no commercial piggeries or battery hen factories in the ACT, Rattenbury said the legistlation is still necessary. It's easy to pass legislation when those with vested interests don't exist in the territory. It will mean they are banned from starting up.
The egg industry claims prices will increase, and customer should have a "choice". Animal welfare is not about "customers" but about protecting the animals from exploitation. It's about treating animals humanely, and not about protecting hip pockets.
There's nothing to stop the products from factory farmed livestock from being imported into the ACT.
The Animal Justice Party's group voting ticket lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission showed preferences would go to the Stable Population Party, and further down, to the Labor and Liberal Parties and lastly, the Greens. The reason is for the mass "cull" of over 1400 kangaroos, for "environmental" reasons.
Maybe Shame Rattenbury wants to catch and compete with the upcoming power and prominence of AJP?
There were 2,590 (1.19%) votes originally from Animal Justice Party ACT distributed to Liberal (Zed SESELJA).
Decline in shark numbers impacting on coral reefs
Indonesian fishermen from places like Rote in West Timor travel to the reefs every winter to catch sharks, and their hunt has a dramatic effect on the population of reef sharks like the hammerhead and whaler. Evidence from scientists show that the decline in shark numbers is impacting on coral reefs.
Dr Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute of Marine Science led a team of Canadian and local researchers in a study of coral reefs about 300 kilometres off the north-west Australian coast.
Fishermen are using traditional dug out canoes, but with their long lines, they are quite successful of emptying oceans of sharks. They've basically wiped out the sharks that used to be there. Dr Meekan says smaller predatory fish - such as emperors and snappers - are more abundant on the reefs without sharks than those where no fishing takes place.
The effects flow down the food chain, and it means ecosystems find it harder to recover the damages of cyclones if the food chain is disrupted. Algae grows on the reef as it dies, and there aren't enough aglae-eating herbivore fish.
There needs to be more marine sanctuaries.
Hong Kong’s government said Friday it would stop serving shark fin at official functions as “a good example,” following years of lobbying by conservation groups. More than 70 million sharks are killed every year, with Hong Kong importing about 10,000 tonnes annually for the past decade, according to environmental group WWF. Most of those fins are then exported to mainland China. Hopefully the tide against shark fin soup, and shark eating, is fast and high enough to allow their numbers to recover, and restore some balance in our ailing oceans.
Democracy is "irrelevant" in Victoria
Stonnington Council rejected the 13 story proposal in Armadale in 2011, but that decision was overturned by VCAT. The tribunal's ruling that the "extent of community opposition was irrelevant" is at the centre of the dispute.
What's irrelevant now is democracy, transparency and public consultation! There is so much money to be make from "growth", that VCAT has become dysfunctional and corrupt. Developers are much more lucrative to support, and have more power. 10,000 objectors being the "same" as 10 is an undermining of the meaning of democracy, presumably in which governments are directed for and by the people! Would 10 approvals for high rise constructions be the same as 10,000? Would 10 voters be the same as 10,000? No, because VCAT are directed by monetary powers, and corporate donations to the State government.
Like the VCAT approval of McDonalds at Tecoma, contrary to the great majority of the community and the council, it was "legal" to approve the development. However, size does matter! Their planning permit permitted the construction of cafes and restaurants in the main street, but they could never have imagined a multinational junk food fast-food outlet - and all the traffic, noise and pollution.
Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult