How will we cope with 8 million in Melbourne if we have another pandemic?
Over the last 30 to 40 years, an inexorable process has been in train in Melbourne.
A city that once boasted houses with gardens for the majority has given way to the cannibalisation of our gardens in the interests of accommodating an ever-increasing population. Thus, we have seen increasing medium and high density living in our suburbs, with significant and ongoing loss of trees, other vegetation, and space per person. At the same time we have seen encroachments on public land for ever more residential development. To name only two of many examples, there was the Commonwealth Games Village in Royal Park and the Eastern Golf Course in Doncaster, which were both turned into housing developments. The State Government in Victoria now plans to facilitate development on golf courses, according to their definition by a committee of developers as redundant green amenity.
As a result of Melbourne’s increase in population density, our public transport and roads have been struggling to cope for some years. Passengers now only just fit onto trams and trains, level crossings have had to be turned into overpasses and underpasses, in a disruptive and expensive exercise, all over Melbourne. But still the machine which is Melbourne manages to tick along and somehow function. But, to what end? we may ask, as our quality of life steadily diminishes. If Melbourne's inhabitants are just cogs in a big complex machine, built for wealthy international investors in property and finance, then I suppose we have to say it has been a success …until now.
In the last several days a huge number of the "cogs" have had to be de-activated for an indefinite period . The machine can no longer operate as it has been. But the non-essential " cogs" cannot be simply put away in a drawer. This is because they are not actually cogs. They are humans with lives and with needs. The even larger machine of the Australian government is obliged to sustain them all over the country. There is no other way.
The health crisis due to coronavirus must make those in authority and with power question what we have been doing over the last few decades. What has been the aim of the direction that the new economy adopted in the last years of last century? What I have seen is an erosion of our quality of life in many ways, but the loss of land and space per person is the most stark indicator. Now, in the current health crisis that we are virtually locked down in, our living environment, the amenity or lack of it, in our surroundings, is highlighted. How does a person living in a small apartment take care of his or her mental and physical health? This person no longer uses the small apartment simply as somewhere to sleep after returning from work and an evening get together with friends in a public place. This is now "home". Does it pass the test to qualify as such, or is it more like a prison cell?
The corona virus illustrates the great importance of the availability of public space for the population. Yet the public space we now need to practice safe distance in has been greatly reduced by overdevelopment in Melbourne.
Moreover, we cannot always exist as a crowd. We must separate and have our own space. We are individual beings. For those who still have them, private gardens are of huge importance. Their growing rarity is of great significance in Melbourne’s ability to cope with health and social problems. Had the corona virus struck 30 years ago, a far larger proportion of the population would have had such a refuge. Tragically, these gardens have been taken from us, with the push to live more densely. I use the word "push" deliberately" as we have been pushed into it. Planning in Australia’s big cities has amounted to coercion since the 1990s, with loss of formal rights of objection to the massive changes forced upon us.
Many philosophers, cartoonists and commentators have questioned the purpose of our lives - the "rat race", the overcrowding. I am doing the same as this crisis shrieks out for a serious re-evaluation of where we are going. We are barely coping now so how will we cope with 8 million in Melbourne if we have another pandemic?
Can Australia's government learn from COVID-19?
Covid-19 is a warning. We can take it as such or ignore it if we get through it and come out the other side.
High density, high population, high throughput, globalised manufacturing, global high mobility, are not working for us now. When we first learned in January of the outbreak of Covid -19 in Wuhan my first thought was that "This will be in Melbourne soon." Thirty years ago, I would not have had such a thought because China was so distant and separate. I was right, within a few days it was in Melbourne. On January 25th Australia had its first four cases, the first in Melbourne and another three in Sydney. At this time the city of Wuhan in China was in "lockdown".
I was most alarmed to learn that the disease could be spread by people with no symptoms, and that many did not have symptoms. For me that was the key piece of information that should have dictated government protocol to manage contagion.
By March 2nd, the first two cases of community transmission of Covid -19 were reported in Sydney. One was a woman who caught if from her brother recently returned from Iran and the second was a health care worker, working in close proximity with patients. On March 13th, the Victorian health department announced nine new cases of coronavirus in Victoria, including the state’s first community transmission, and it is now being transmitted at an alarming rate. As at 6.30 p.m. March 28th, Victoria's total case numbers were 685.
Now Victoria is in partial lockdown. We are being asked to stay home as much as possible. Businesses have been closed down, sporting facilities are closed, even beaches are closed in Melbourne. How did our governments let it come to this? If I could see it coming, they should have seen it coming. Why were governments apparently powerless to stop it?
Finally, the Tasmanian Government is now not letting people arrive from the mainland without quarantine. I heard a commentator say that this takes advantage of its geographical status as an island. That’s great, but the rest of Australia is also an island! We have blown our chance to stay clear of this scourge. If we had not blown our chances, people would not have had to die or lose their jobs. To me it is a debacle.
So, people will be spending a lot more time at home. The trouble is that "home" is not what it was thirty years ago. Home is now more likely to be an apartment, rather than a house with a garden. For those with a garden, it is far easier to endure days on end without going outside one's home, than it is for someone in a one-bedroom flat.
Lockdown arrangements have been introduced incrementally, which strikes me as policy on the run, and smacks of "shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted." We hear that schools must remain open and then they are closed. We heard the Prime Minister saying that he is going to a rugby match when most of the people I know had been avoiding crowds for at least a couple of weeks.
Why was a protocol not in place for protecting Australia's population? Now people have died, more will get sick and die, people out of work could lose their houses. The fallout is immense. The only thing I can think of giving the Australian government credit for is being ahead of the even more sluggish World Health Organisation, in declaring Covid-19 a pandemic.
The neo-liberal economy, globalisation, and the pandemic.
The very arrangement that makes money for the few is a bad arrangement for the many. Goods and labour move around the world as though geographical distance were meaningless. The movement of ships spreads environmental pests. The movement of people spreads disease. With the increased population density in Melbourne and other cities, due to rapid population growth, mostly from overseas migration, we in Australia are more likely to have close encounters with strangers than we would have had before Australia’s population numbers were ramped up. On a day like today - sunny and warm in autumn - we crave a walk outside. We think of the beach, but hesitate because others will be thinking the same, and it will be hard to walk on the now defined pathway without encountering people at close quarters, even briefly.
Victorian Senator Sarah Henderson was heard on the ABC a few days ago, saying that she had been a strong proponent of upgrades to the Great Ocean Road but now she urges people not to come to coastal towns even if they own "holiday houses" there. The recent obsession with increased mobility in this state is now something that will only serve Covid -19. Small towns have welcomed the commerce that tourism brings, but now it is unimportant compared with the need to stay isolated.
Australia's ailing economy: Economic stimulation means increasing human transactions and disease transmission
Stimulus packages surely are meant to stimulate the very behaviour that spreads the disease. They contradict moves to save the health of the nation. That is, they aim to increase economic activity, to wit transactions, whilst locking down decreases transactions. The responsibility of the government now is to support the population directly affected by the measures taken to save the health of the population. Those people directly affected are paying a big price.
This plague was forecast
Scientists have warned us for decades that a pandemic was overdue. We even knew it was likely to come from China in the form of a zoonose. We got a real-time warning when we first knew of the deadly virus in Wuhan. Despite all these warnings, we did not act quickly enough and we are now dealing with an exponentially rising number of Covid-19 cases. Our lives have been de-railed. Next time, we need to be ready to pull up the drawbridge sooner. We also need to be prepared in terms of manufactured goods. Supermarkets need to have warehouse supplies. Deliveries "just in time" are inadequate. We need more medical and nursing staff. We cannot just wear our health workers into the ground. Hospital cleaners and hospital management need to be prepared and knowledgeable in disinfection protocols and practices. Government needs to have more of a role in the economic structure of the country, taking health into account as an absolute priority, even if it's not economically rational!
When this crisis has passed will we go back to "Business as Usual," and again flounder just as badly when Covid -21 or 23 arrives?
COVID-19: Time the unsafe Australian Construction industry stopped demanding special consideration
On 27 March 2020, the AWU and Master Builders Australia jointly called on governments to ensure the continued operation of the building and construction industry, claiming that without it the economic knock-on effects would be devastating on a scale that would dwarf what we have seen to date.
There is no question that many dependencies on this very costly and demanding industry would cause more economic disruption, but what about safety with regard to COVID-19? Although the industry argues that it can be safe, we will argue that the industry is not suited to workers keeping safe distances. On the principle that a stitch in time saves nine, it would be better to shut down sooner rather than later because the later action is taken, the worse the grip of COVID-19 will be on the economy. Since the virus has caused the government to cease the mass migration that has driven huge expansion in the construction industry, demand has dropped, and now is the perfect time to massively curtail construction industry activity. In the meantime, will the industry take responsibility for the return home of the many temporary migrant construction workers from China and Indonesia who, unlike international cruise-ship passengers, are already onshore, virtually invisible, but numerous? And an industry worker argues that the industry is not capable of adapting to safe distance practice.
“The shutdown of the construction industry would jeopardise not just those employed directly, but the whole livelihoods of millions of Australians employed in precarious sectors like manufacturing. It would devastate nationally important industries in the building supply chain, like the $30 billion steel industry,” say the AWU and MBA.
This shows that we have become too dependent on this industry. It has an unhealthy hold on our economy, our political system, our politicians and political parties. This hold has destroyed business, industry and employment diversity in Australia, because agriculture and ordinary manufacturing cannot compete with the inflated profits of the rapidly metastasizing property development sector, which attracts finance away from other sectors.
The same industry has successfully lobbied decades for faster and faster population growth, via mass immigration, to drive demand for its product. Now the demand will dry up as immigration has been stopped, finally providing an interruption to property-development’s hold on our economy.
As well as importing customers, the industry has also exploited many temporary migrants, undermining immigration rules, safety, wages and other employment conditions. The industry may have profited, but prices have risen and standards have dropped, to the extent that buildings over three stories are now uninsurable.
The AWU and MBA argue that, “Forcing the industry’s closure would also blunt the impact of federal, state and territory government stimulus packages as infrastructure projects would immediately grind to a halt. Civil construction, in particular, must continue to build the nation and can do so safely given the nature of its sites.”
The cry of ‘nation-building’ has led to overdevelopment with disastrous drops in building standards and environmental amenity. Australians have suffered from constant upheaval and loss of democracy as government outsourced planning to developers. In the name of catering to unprecedented population growth, Australian cities, suburbs and regions have been taken out of the control of their residents, subjected to constant infrastructure expansion, road-building, traffic diversions, and destruction of loved environment.
The AWU and MBA’s line is: ”Indeed, the catastrophic threat of a construction shutdown means the whole construction industry has a civic duty to impress upon authorities it can operate while ensuring compliance with social distancing and hygiene requirements.”
How could anyone have confidence in an industry known for corrupting government at all levels, bullying, unaccountability, uninsurability, and lawlessness? This industry has seen thousands of Australians bankrupted and homeless. Multiple inquiries into its dysfunctionality have failed to reform it. It is time to stop dancing to the demands of this industry. Australia has been living beyond its means in an artificially and unreasonably accelerated growth period.
The AWU and MBA try to present a picture of reform and responsibility:
“That means everyone in the industry has to step up and be accountable. Construction companies and project managers must ensure that protocols at their site are enforced. Construction workers owe it to each other and their families to be responsible and do the right thing. This is only the only way the industry can continue working while reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission.”
Unsafe: Safe distance mostly impossible in Construction industry
An industry worker, who prefers to remain anonymous, says:
“Practising safe distance at building sites for most activities is impossible.
It is generally not safe for one person to work alone in the industry. Usually construction sites involve many people in many activities simultaneously, crisscrossing each other in small and often confined spaces, sharing narrow temporary paths and causeways.
In multi-storey building construction, hoists are used to bring people to various floors. These hoists are always crammed with people. It is not affordable to take people (or loads) one at a time.
Concreters work closely together when they lay concrete, frequently in small areas. You might have one worker using a scrider, and two others using a shovel or a vibrator, not even half a meter from each other. You will often get four or five people a couple of meters square, due to the need to act together to carry out the work. It would be hard or impossible for one person to do such work alone. It would be uneconomical for less than four or five.
High-rise work employs huge crowds of skilled and unskilled workers. It is common in the construction of a multi-storey building to have 40 steel-fixers and 40 form-workers operating simultaneously on one floor.
The nature of the industry entails very basic conditions of hygiene and shelter. Disinfection and maintenance of disinfection in such areas, where many workers are coming and going, would require a large-scale dedicated team of cleaners and supervisors with the authority to stop and start work. It would be dangerous to have such teams present on building sites.
Construction sites are scenes of intense activity, with many people interacting on many processes, helping each other. The cost of construction means that things are done as quickly as possible.
When trucks are unloaded, you often have many labourers unloading next to each other.
It is rare for one person to work alone. Generally speaking, in this industry, safety requires workers to work in pairs or in larger groups.
People are often required to work in confined space and they then need another person to assist with tools and equipment, physically handing these from one person to the next.
Transport is often shared. People habitually organise to come and go to work in one vehicle because many jobs are not accessible by public transport.
Many temporary migrants are moved in and out of construction sites in busloads from densely shared accommodation. A large proportion are Chinese and Indonesian. They often do not speak or read any English, and certainly not enough to know how to protect themselves. They tend to be insecure in their employment and visa status and are not likely to exercise their rights to safety, if they know them. These workers are like a separate population on construction sites, with whom only basic communication is possible, usually via their own foreman.Will the industry now take steps to finance these workers’ return home?”
The AWU and the MBA say in their press release:
”In times of crisis people look to unions, industry, and government to work together. We have to show we can not only slow the spread of COIVID-19 but ensure there's an economy left when the crisis is over.”
The problem is that unions and government have been working for industry and against democracy for too long. Let’s hope the AWU and the MBA, the Property Council of Australia and all the other corporate coercers who have been calling our tune start to adapt to reality for a change.
Staying Safe with COVID-19 in Australia
What do we know about Chloroquine use against COVID-19?
Announcement: Less new content on candobetter until 4 April because editor is away
Existing and future hearings of Planning Panels Victoria - memo
Advice from:
Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning
planning.vic.gov.au | Enquiries: 136 186
Michele
POSITION OF PLANNING PANELS VICTORIA FOR EXISTING AND FUTURE HEARING MATTERS
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Planning Panels Victoria (PPV) is exploring a number of options to progress current and new matters, but we will need to change our practices.
Primarily we are seeking to minimise face to face contact and gatherings of people.
This will require the cooperation of all involved in the PPV process.
We will be consulting with all submitters and parties in relation to alternative arrangements for hearings, and any arrangements that are put in place will be consistent with the requirements for procedural fairness.
For the time being, it is unlikely that new face to face hearings will be scheduled. Directions Hearing for all new matters will be undertaken on the papers.
Options for hearings on the papers, or using technology such as teleconferencing or video conferencing are being explored.
Each Chair/Panel will review its current matters and will provide advice on a process going forward direct to its submitters.
Some imminent hearings with multiple submitters and parties are likely to be postponed in the short term while options are explored.
We thank you for your patience and understanding during this challenging time for our community.
Kathy Mitchell, Chief Panel Member, Planning Panels Victoria
Quarantined Italians Send a Message to Themselves 10 Days Ago: What They Wish They Knew Then
Countries like the US, England, France, Spain and Germany are about 9-10 days behind in the COVID-19 progression. For our benefit, the video channel called "A THING BY" asked Italians to record a message they wish had heard 10 days prior. Let's take careful note of what they have to say.
Capitalism, Closed for business & COVID-19? Oz economist, Steve Keen
Our version of capitalism is something the narcissistic writer Ayn Rand would have adored, but in a headlong rush to hyper-individualism, have we chosen freedom of the individual over the survival of our species…
Host Ross Ashcroft is joined by economist and author, Professor Steve Keen to discuss why coronavirus has closed capitalism.
Cardiologist advice for Australians with heart risks in evolving COVID-19 situation
Cardiologist, Professor Jepson, urges people with cardiovascular risk issues to take more control of their situation.
Getting to the heart of Covid-19
Advice for Australians with heart risk factors in evolving situation, from Professor Nigel Jepson, medical director of Eastern Heart Clinic, Randwick, NSW. Professor Jepson's summary is:
· That Australia [...] ‘must increase vigilance and adopt even stricter measures’ to avoid the trajectory [that COVID-19] has taken in Northern Italy,’ says Professor Nigel Jepson, interventional cardiologist at Prince of Wales Hospital and Medical Director of Eastern Heart Clinic, Randwick NSW.
· Particularly vulnerable are the 1.2 million Australians currently living with cardiovascular disease (CVD);[1] more than 1 in 4 (26%) of those aged 75 and over have heart, stroke and vascular disease.[2]2
· This group and people with other conditions that affect the heart and vascular system, such as high blood pressure, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes, are at elevated risk of developing complications if they contract COVID-19.3 In an ordinary year, CVD already leads to an average of more than 1 million hospitalisations.2
· In addition to following the Government’s advice on social distancing and hygiene, Prof Jepson advises that people with CVD should start following ‘heightened’ measures(below).
· ‘We can see from the data in Wuhan that patients with an underlying heart condition may not be more likely to become infected in the first place but are at higher risk of developing complications including breathing problems, abnormal heart rhythms or, ultimately, heart failure, than others,’ says Prof Jepson. This increased risk of death for people with CVD is estimated to be nearly 10% higher than a ‘healthy’ patient.[3]
· ‘We don’t want to create fear or panic but I don’t think we’re really getting the message across that, while for most of us COVID-19 would be an innocuous disease to get, we need to adopt caution and care to slow the rate of spread as much as possible, in order to protect those who could be more seriously affected.
· ‘We also want to avoid clogging up hospitals. It makes no sense to say, ‘Let’s all get it now, and get it over with’ - that’s nonsensical and dangerous - because we need the emergency beds, equipment and personnel for acute COVID-19 patients or any other person requiring emergency medical care, or we will find ourselves buckling under the pressure, like the health services in Lombardy (northern Italy)’.
· New Italian data released at the weekend shows higher death rates than in China, Iran or Korea.[4] The precise reasons for the higher rates are not clear, but it is thought that very rapid community spread of COVID-19 and a saturated health system were at least significant contributors.
10 WAYS PEOPLE WITH HEART ISSUES CAN REDUCE THEIR COVID-19 RISK:
1. Avoid large gatherings (even contexts with fewer than 500 people) e.g theatres, cinemas, concerts and shopping centres [Candobetter Editor says, Oh, come on, Prof Jepson, stop the pussyfooting, surely you mean much smaller crowds, to wit, avoid groups.]
2. Exercise caution when using public transport - avoid busy times and routes in known outbreak areas; make alternative travel arrangements
3. Do not travel unnecessarily - avoid airports, train stations and bus terminals
4. Go shopping at quiet times- or take advantage of major supermarkets’ time slots for older people only
5. Have your prescriptions for heart medicines filled now – ask your pharmacist and GP to assist as shortages are occurring in some areas
6. Postpone non-urgent medical appointments or procedures - or consult your healthcare professional by phone or ‘telehealth’ instead
7. Stock up on groceries (within reason) – you’re going to be at home more, so organise for online deliveries (friends and family can help)
8. Get vaccinated – stick to plans to be vaccinated for influenza and pneumonia, and others as your doctor advises, to avoid developing other conditions that can be confused with coronavirus (such as flu)
9. Stay healthy - eat well, get enough sleep and follow exercise regimens as advised by your healthcare professionals
10. Keep calm and carry on - if you live alone, think about low-risk activities you can do to socialise, such as meeting a friend outdoors for a walk
Professor Nigel Jepson is the medical director of Eastern Heart Clinic, one of the largest interventional cardiology hospitals in Australia, based at the Prince of Wales Hospital at Randwick. He is also a senior staff cardiologist at the Prince of Wales Hospital, where he established the unit’s trans-catheter aortic valve program.
References:
1. ABS. https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/4364.0.55.001
2. AIHW. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/heart-stroke-vascular-disease/cardiovascular-health-compendium/contents/how-many-australians-have-cardiovascular-disease
3. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CCDC Weekly, Vol 2, No. 8
4. World Health Organisation Situation Reports 16 March 2020. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200316-sitrep-56-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=9fda7db2_2
Terrible news for Seaford environment (Vic, Australia) as Gov lets open slather
Frankston Councillor Glenn Aitken was notified on Thursday 12 March that the LXRP 'works' east of the railway line at Seaford will proceed without further consultation. "It is likely they will remove more vegetation immediately.They will flatten pretty much everything on the eastern side of the railway line from Eel Race Rd to Coolibar Ave. There is no right of appeal as it is on their land which...they conveniently forget... is still public land, owned by the State." This is the clear message that authorities need to hear and heed,as expressed by Cr Glenn, "Our natural environment is not negotiable and must be protected."
You can watch more of Cr Glenn's inspirational Proclamation of 24 February here:
Unfortunately the 'authorities' are not listening to the community, but to the population boosters and developers in and close to government.
Please let your protests be heard and voice your opposition to the wilful environmental destruction without delay to Sonya Kilkenny MP for Carrum :
- telephone her office at (03) 9773 2727
- post on her Facebook page :https://www.facebook.com/SonyaKilkennyMP/ and alert others
- post on other social media platforms
- alert your friends and contacts
Whether or not the vegetation is on railway controlled land is irrelevant.
The vegetation is still a vital connection to the coastal corridor.
Birds, native bees, animals or other inhabitants of the coastal corridor don’t look at a tree and choose not to go there because it’s under railway and State governance.
Cr Glenn is arranging a public meeting and further notice will be given when arrangements are finalised.
Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now - by Tomas Pueyo
With everything that’s happening about the Coronavirus, it might be very hard to make a decision of what to do today. Should you wait for more information? Do something today? What?
Here’s what I’m going to cover in this article, with lots of charts, data and models with plenty of sources:
How many cases of coronavirus will there be in your area?
What will happen when these cases materialize?
What should you do?
When?
When you’re done reading the article, this is what you’ll take away:
The coronavirus is coming to you.
It’s coming at an exponential speed: gradually, and then suddenly.
It’s a matter of days. Maybe a week or two.
When it does, your healthcare system will be overwhelmed.
Your fellow citizens will be treated in the hallways.
Exhausted healthcare workers will break down. Some will die.
They will have to decide which patient gets the oxygen and which one dies.
The only way to prevent this is social distancing today. Not tomorrow. Today.
That means keeping as many people home as possible, starting now.
As a politician, community leader or business leader, you have the power and the responsibility to prevent this.
@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca">Read more & see graphs here
Urbanisation and Natural contaminant threat to drinking water from groundwater
The 'densification' that planners push to accommodate overpopulation drives increasing water pollution risks, along with climate change. “Generally, we expect urbanisation to increase groundwater DOC (dissolved organic carbon) concentrations by up to 19 per cent, compared to agricultural or natural land use, likely as the result of contamination – for example, through leaking septic and sewer systems.” (Research paper.)
Climate change and urbanisation are set to threaten groundwater drinking water quality, new research from UNSW Sydney shows.
More than half of the world’s population faces a looming threat to the quality and availability of their drinking water because climate change and urbanisation are expected to cause an increase in groundwater organic carbon, a new UNSW study has found.
The research, published in Nature Communications overnight, examined the largest global dataset of 9404 published and unpublished groundwater dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations from aquifers in 32 countries across six continents.
DOC is a naturally occurring component of groundwater, but the higher its concentration, the more difficult and expensive it is to make groundwater drinkable. In Australia, groundwater is widely used as the main source of drinking water for many cities and towns.
Lead author Dr Liza McDonough, of the Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre at UNSW, said the study forecasted elevated DOC concentrations because of projected changes in temperature and rainfall due to climate change, as well as increased urbanisation.
“We identified groundwater DOC concentration increases of up to 45 per cent, largely because of increased temperatures in the wettest quarter of the year – for example, in a number of south-eastern states in the United States. We predict increases in DOC in these locations could increase water costs for a family of four by US$134 per year,” Dr McDonough said.
“Other areas such as eastern China, India and parts of Africa already experience severe groundwater contamination issues. These may be further compounded, particularly in south-eastern China, by groundwater DOC increases associated with large predicted increases in temperature in the wettest quarter of the year by 2050.
“Generally, we expect urbanisation to increase groundwater DOC concentrations by up to 19 per cent, compared to agricultural or natural land use, likely as the result of contamination – for example, through leaking septic and sewer systems.”
The research, a collaboration between UNSW, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Southern Cross University, British Geological Survey, and the University of Bradford, found four major contributing factors to groundwater DOC levels: climate, land use, inorganic chemistry and aquifer age.
Health threat
Dr McDonough said increased groundwater DOC, whether naturally occurring or due to contamination, also posed a threat to human health.
“Groundwater is Earth’s largest source of freshwater and provides essential drinking water for more than 50 per cent of the world’s population,” she said.
“But, because most health impacts caused by DOC are related to the formation of by-products of water treatment chlorination and depend on concentrations of other water chemical parameters, the World Health Organization and many countries – including Australia – do not regulate DOC concentrations in drinking water directly.”
Dr McDonough said that while DOC is a naturally occurring, key element of groundwater it could combine with, and transport, potentially dangerous heavy metals otherwise bound to rocks and sediment where groundwater occurs.
“This is a concern when, for example, more than 100,000 lifetime cancer cases in the United States alone can be attributed to drinking water contaminants,” she said.
Water treatment costs to rise
Dr McDonough said it was important to understand what caused high DOC concentrations in groundwater.
“An increase in groundwater DOC concentration impacts the ability and therefore cost to make groundwater drinkable,” she said.
“For example, we projected a 16 per cent increase in annual household water costs in some parts of the United States because of rising water treatment costs – due to the need to implement additional water treatment measures to remove increased DOC concentrations.
“The decrease in groundwater quality and substantial increase in water treatment costs will also compound existing constraints on groundwater resources, including availability.”
Wet vs arid climates
Dr McDonough said the impacts on groundwater DOC levels from climate change and urbanisation, while likely to occur globally, differed by geography and climate.
“Our research found that in arid climates, groundwater DOC concentrations increased with higher rainfall because microbes can better break down organic matter, such as leaves, under warm and increasingly wet conditions,” she said.
“Increased temperatures in arid environments, however, reduced groundwater DOC concentrations because when conditions are too hot and dry, vegetation and organic matter sources are limited.
“By contrast, increased rain in warm and wet environments decreased groundwater DOC concentrations because heavy rainfall dilutes the DOC in groundwater.”
Water treatment solutions
Dr McDonough said she looked forward to conducting further research to determine the best water treatment options for areas where groundwater DOC concentrations are anticipated to increase.
“Our next step is to investigate how the character of DOC changes when you have different aquifer minerals, because some types of organic matter can stick to certain mineral surfaces and ultimately reduce this type of organic matter remaining in the water,” she said.
“This will help provide guidance on the most suitable water treatment options in areas where DOC concentrations are expected to increase.”
Read the full research paper in Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14946-1
Coronavirus: Hospital absurdities and infection control
I was talking to a nursing friend who works in a large suburban Melbourne hospital emergency department, triaging patients for a particular area. I will call her Angie.
Given the high through-put of patients in the area in this time when we are supposed to be trying to reduce the transmission of coronavirus, I was curious to know what measures her hospital was taking to protect their staff and patients.
ANGIE: "None, as far as I know," she said.
NEUTRINO: "You're not issued with masks for every new examination? You're not wiping down surfaces with alcohol or sodium hypochlorite, with every new patient? You are not even wearing gloves? You're not screening people in the waiting room for high temperatures?"
ANGIE: "That's right," she said, and laughed, as nurses do when they acknowledge helplessness at the behest of universally absurd hospital systems.
NEUTRINO: "Are they discussing policy with you, at least?"
ANGIE: "We get emails from them from time to time."
NEUTRINO: "Emails saying what?"
ANGIE: "Oh, just the number of infections in the state and the country."
NEUTRINO: "Do they tell you where they infections are and which hospitals are looking after them?"
ANGIE: "No."
NEUTRINO: "Then you're not getting any more information than the general public does from the news?"
ANGIE: "I guess so."
NEUTRINO: "Are you going to cancel your trip to Japan?"
ANGIE: "Probably, although it seems to me we may be in more danger here. At least the Japanese have cancelled most of their public festivals and tourism attractions."
NEUTRINO: "They have also closed all schools and universities."
ANGIE: "Yes."
NEUTRINO: "Ambivalence rules infection control in Australia. For instance, in Sydney, one school where there was an infected pupil reopened a few days later, and the day it reopened, another closed with two infected pupils."
ANGIE: "So, would you like to meet for coffee at the Italian restaurant on my days off?"
NEUTRINO: "Please don't take this personally, but I'd rather we keep it to telephone conversations for the time being."
ANGIE: "I don't take it personally at all. I don't blame you. Telephone is fine."
NEUTRINO: "Good.
ANGIE: "Although we could meet for coffee on the terrace of the Italian restaurant."
NEUTRINO: "How about we meet on a bench on the beach, and I'll bring a thermos."
ANGIE: "Okay, but I'll get my coffee from the restaurant."
Duran analysis vid: "Putin furious with Erdogan, but will he stop Turkey's war in Syria?"
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss the meeting in Moscow between Russian President Putin and Turkey's Erdogan. Erdogan made many outrageous claims, including that Turkey had killed over 2,500 Syrian troops during fighting in Idlib's surrounding areas...a claim which is ridiculous on its face, and exposes how out of touch the Turkish leader is when it comes to this reckless invasion of Syrian sovereignty. See more at The Duran: https://theduran.com
Tucker Carlson & Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) on Julian Assange
The Case for Use of masks by Public in an Epidemic (Coronavirus) - Registered Nurse
Here is the case for wearing masks whether you are infected or not. In my opinion, people should proceed as if they are infected and wear a mask in order to protect others in the community. Waiting until you are infected is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. None of us know when or if we are infected until/if symptoms arise and are tested. We could be infected without ever knowing. If we all wear masks (and gloves) in public we can substantially reduce infection risk. Official support for this would help us to overide embarassment or the stigma involved in initiating a new public behaviour. Shop owners and other businesses with a public interface can reassure the public by offering masks and gloves at the entrance, and keeping alcohol wipes close to cash registers and electronic keypads, and wiping them with every use or making sure that customers wipe them with every use (and wait 10 minutes between uses).
In Australia and in many western countries, the public have been advised that they should not wear a mask unless they are infected. The explanation is that a mask helps to prevent droplets escaping from an infected person, and that it will not protect an uninfected person from other unmasked peoples' droplets. The problem is that people cannot know whether we have been infected and will only find out if they become ill or are linked to a known infected person and thence formally diagnosed. So if we behave as if we are infected, and wear masks, we will be increasing public safety by reducing droplet transmission through use of the mask as a barrier. We need to be careful when we remove the mask; we should avoid touching the exterior and abrupt movements that might dislodge droplets from the outside. See third video at the end of this article.
Most of us realise there is a logical dissonance in the advice we are receiving about masks. Some of us think this is because of the shortage of masks. The government should be ensuring local manufacture and distribution of quality masks. Unfortunately it is unlikely that really effective masks will become available to the general public - due to problems of supply as much as policy.
In the meantime, it is possible to make relatively effective masks to prevent the spread of infection, as in the first video. These are basically absorbent barriers and last 2-4 hours. The second video evaluates different kinds of mask, notably the N95 mask (which excludes up to 95% of particles). The third video explains how to use and remove a commercially manufactured N95 mask.
New Land Tax Act changes really a tax on Mother Nature
People should know about the state government’s amendments to the Land Tax Act. An interesting article was written about it by Michael Flynn QC in The Age of February 17th 2020. regarding the amendment to the Land Tax Act to restrict land tax exemptions on contiguously rated properties only to regional Victoria. See: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/home-owners-could-be-slugged-with-an-unfair-tax-20200213-p540jq.html. These changes have resulted in charging land tax for anyone in metropolitan Melbourne with vacant land contiguous with their place of residence. Until now, land adjacent to your home was exempt from Land Tax if the property was rated by Council as contiguous (i.e. house and land rated as one parcel of land) The new amendment has changed this to now levy the tax on any properties in metropolitan Melbourne which have contiguous vacant land next to a place of residence. (For the purposes of this exercise, Mornington Peninsula also is considered to be metropolitan by the way). A paltry $43 million revenue is anticipated.
We have just received a Land Tax bill for $7,786 for two vacant blocks adjoining our house on the Mornington Peninsula. We currently maintain the two vacant lots as 'Land for Wildlife’ – effectively as our bush garden. The garden provides the last remaining piece of intact habitat in the surrounding estate – and we say provides open space and improves the amenity of the area for all other resident too. Many other affected people might have veggie gardens, sheds, animal runs, chook pens etc.
We spoke to the State Revenue Office asking why the Act was amended, and were advised that there was a land shortage in Melbourne due to population pressures and that therefore the land should be developed. So, clearly this “initiative” is designed to get people with vacant land next to their existing homes to sell the vacant land- or maybe the home as well. The consequences of this are obvious: Developer windfall resulting in more people, more traffic, less trees, lost amenity and privacy etc. etc.
Many people affected by this change to the Land Tax Act might be asset rich but cash poor, living in properties they have owned for decades. The dramatic fall in interest rates is likely adversely affecting their ability to meet their existing costs of living, let alone a new land tax bill in the thousands of dollars. Presumably most affected people in the real metropolitan Melbourne, will have sites valued higher than ours on the Mornington Peninsula so will likely be getting bills for even more $$ than we have. They might have no alternative but to sell up.
I suspect many people would be horrified by this latest effort to destroy suburban amenity and impose social engineering on people who can no longer afford to live where they want to, just so we can jam in more people. It smacks of a desperate attempt by government to please developer mates by freeing up any remaining vacant sites in the suburbs for developers to move in- meanwhile existing residents are yet again the losers.
Surely this is an unfair and unjust tax. It was slipped in without any consultation with affected people or the wider community. It certainly was not flagged as a policy in the last state election, and the predicted $43 million revenue - for all the inconvenience it imposes on home owners and likely environmental and amenity impacts - is paltry in the extreme.
You can do a lot more to avoid coronavirus infection - Registered Nurse
Here is the opinion of an ex-infection control nurse, on the situation with Corona virus. Use virocides (e.g. methylated spirits and bleach) to disinfect because bacteriocides (most of the handwashes that are disappearing from supermarkets) are ineffective. Cash is dirty - viruses can survive on notes and coins; use electronic cards, but clean keypads and keyboards with alcohol disinfectants with each customer. Act now to avoid unnecessary interactions with other people; don't wait to be told. Worst case scenario is if the infection rate climbs too fast for hospitals to treat the severe cases, because then mortality and economic consequences will multiply, so we need to act to delay infections. The government seems too focused on the economy. If Australia develops a severe epidemic, the economy will be cactus anyhow. The best way to go is with an early economic interruption, so as to slow the infection rate and stop it, rather than delaying shutting non-essential businesses down. The government should (a) provide financial relief in the form of a sickness benefit for interrupted employment and business to assist people to be able to avoid employment interactions, and (b) distribute food where needed.
The mortality rate estimation (among known infections) has risen from 2.5 to over 3%. Although this is still quite low, because the virus is so very very infectious, it probably means that many millions will die, worldwide.
Most importantly, even this mortality rate, however, relies on people who develop serious secondary infections having access to intensive care in hospitals.
The worst that could happen
The biggest problem that can arise is if there are so many infections that the hospitals cannot cope. Then the death rate will rise significantly.
What you and I can do
You and I and other people need to take the initiative to minimise our interactions with others to only those that are absolutely necessary. Avoid crowds and shops. This could help to keep the infection rate down to a level that hospitals could cope with. That is essential. We should not be waiting until the government tells us to do this, since this is the measure that will reduce the outbreak at the outset.
The Victorian government is, however, telling people to make arrangements to stock up on non-perishable food and essential items in order to be able to isolate themselves for two to three weeks. That indicates an awareness that things are likely to get serious. Although the idea behind this is for people to self-isolate if infected, it is also something that people most at risk can do to avoid becoming infected.
Things to stock up on
Eggs, tinned meat and fish, vegetables and fruit that can be cooked and washed in soap and water, fresh meat and fish which can be frozen. Beans and lentils, which can be stored, then boiled.
How to disinfect things: Use virocides
Yes, hand-washing is crucial, but shops and households need to be able to disinfect keypads, keyboards, doorknobs and handles, and products, tables, cars, shelves, benches, and households. Ordinary antibacterial solutions do not kill viruses and we are dealing with viruses. Methylated spirits and bleach do. Methylated spirits is good and cheap for disinfecting hard surfaces rapidly and you can also use it on your skin as in hands and face. Bleach needs to be strong and fresh. Look up the instructions. You need stronger solutions to disinfect body-fluid spills. Don't use hot water. Don't splash in eyes. Ensure ventilation because the fumes are irritating and can affect breathing.(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK214356/)
Avoid cash and wipe keypads and keyboards
Don't use cash. Money - notes and coins - is a great vector for viruses. Use electronic money, but ask for the business to disinfect the keypad, or carry an alcohol-impregnated wipe and clean the keypad yourself.
Who is most vulnerable?
"Nanshan Chen, MD, of Jinyintan Hospital, Wuhan, and his team conducted a retrospective study on 99 cases and, in very short order, published their initial findings in the Lancet online on Jan. 29. These findings could guide action in other cases and help clinicians all over the world create treatment plans for patients of the 2019-nCoV.
The findings show that older men and patients with comorbidities appear most likely to develop pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), and characteristics of those with fatal infections align with the MuLBSTA score — an early warning model for predicting viral pneumonia-related mortality, according to a case review." (Sharon Worcester, Novel Coronavirus: Case Review IDs Clinical Characteristics.)
WHO chief: No evidence Iran covering up severity of coronavirus crisis
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the mechanisms it uses to monitor the performance of various countries in relation to their handling of the coronavirus epidemic do not show any cover-up by the Iranian government with regard to Iran’s virus crisis.
Speaking in a televised interview with the CNBC news channel on Monday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the organization, said the WHO’s fact-checking mechanisms have not found any concrete proof that Iran had been covering up the severity of the epidemic.
Asked about the media hype revolving around Iran and accusing the country of covering up the severity of the new coronavirus epidemic, the WHO chief said, “I wouldn’t frame any country without any reason or without having any fact.”
“There are reports that come from the media… but this is the WHO, you know, this is a technical organization and should check the facts. We cannot say what journalists say,” he added.
“I say if we followed journalists’ reports, whether it’s well done or not, then where we end.”
He concluded by saying, “That’s why we have our own mechanism and from our own mechanism we haven’t seen that, but if we see, then of course we should address it.”
The virus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan in China's Hubei Province late last year has so far claimed more than 3,000 lives worldwide.
In Iran, it has claimed 66 lives and infected 1,501 others, 291 of whom have recovered.
Health Ministry: More Iranian coronavirus patients discharged from hospital
Iranian medical officials have assured that the country will contain the outbreak, noting that the condition of most of the patients diagnosed with the virus has improved.
The country has mobilized all its resources to confront the disease, with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Army being the latest to join the campaign Sunday.
Iran outlines most recent countermeasures against outbreak
Iran has, meanwhile, announced the closure of schools and universities throughout the upcoming days, and health centers have been tasked with distributing protective items, such as facemasks, among the public.
The coronavirus, known as COVID-19, is an illness characterized by fever and coughing and in serious cases causes shortness of breath or pneumonia.
Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:
Assange trial: German parliamentarian observer shocked by judge & officer conduct
Sevim Dagdelen, member of German Bundestag, has been an authorised observer for all or most of Assange's trial. Her account is detailed and informative. Among other observations: US prosecution members are worried that this will be a mistrial due to the procedural unfairness and court bias against Julian Assange, who cannot properly hear what is going on, has no access to his papers, and little access to his lawyers - even in the court. No British parliamentarians are present, yet this is the most internationally important case so far of the 21st century and it has brought British justice into controversy and opprobrium. WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson was temporarily banned from viewing the proceedings, and Assange's family left the court and refused to return if he was not let back in.
In the second part of this episode, Buglife CEO Matt Shardlow speaks about the growing threat of the extinction of insects worldwide. He discusses lobbying efforts by insecticide companies and how they will affect post-Brexit Britain, the continued prevalence of harmful insecticides in the EU and around the world, the crisis of the extinction of bees and many other insects, without which birds and other species will starve.
200 wombats to be massacred in South Australian breeding grounds - Aboriginal elder protests
South Australian authorities have allegedly approved the slaughter of 200 ‘pest’ wombats by a Yorke Peninsula farmer, sending shock waves right across the community.
Traditional Owner Quenten Agius raised the alarm today after learning a farmer leasing the farmland from Aboriginal Lands Trust plans to kill 200 endangered hairy-nosed wombats living in a major breeding colony.
Mr Agius says local South Australian authorities have approved the ‘extermination’ of the wombats over claims they were damaging the farmer’s equipment when he runs them over.
Mr Argiss is calling on the Yorke Peninsula District Council, Aboriginal Lands Trust, The Department of Water and Environment, and Fraser Ellis MP to revoke the decision.
According to the Aborginal Elder, 12 wombats were illegally shot in the area recently by the same farmer (see picture).
“The brutality has disgusted our community. The community has not been consulted so I am speaking out as a Traditional Owner for those with no voice, and the community residents.
“We are connected to these animals, they feature in our cultural knowledge of evolution. Like us, these animals have lived on the land for thousands of years and we need everyone’s help to protect them from genocide. It must be stopped before it happens.”
He estimates just 640 hairy-nosed wombats are left on the Yorke Peninsula and that wiping out 200 from the Point Pearce breeding grounds would put the local colony on the verge of extinction.
“If hundreds of wombats are massacred, our children may never get the chance to see a wild living wombat. It makes me ill to think these wombats are going to be slaughtered.”
Quenten Argius, Traditional Owner, Adjahdura/ Narungga and Ngadjuri Elder
Owner/operator: Aboriginal Cultural Tours SA
Video debate on Assange's kangaroo trial in London by Judge Vanessa Baraitser
Previously published as Re: Assange (28/2/20) | RT CrossTalk, Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/rttv/re-assange?in=rttv/sets/crosstalk-1.
In London, Julian Assange is in court to decide whether he will be extradited to the US to face espionage charges. The stakes could not be higher. Assange's liberty, even life, is on the line. Freedom of speech is also on trial – though you wouldn't know that from the mainstream media. This is a Crosstalking debate featuring Joe Lauria, Taylor Hudak, and Alexander Mercouris, who have all been attending protests outside the courts where a kangaroo trial is being staged for Julian Assange.
‘Fair trial threatened’ as judge rejects Assange request to sit with lawyers: Day 4 of US extradition hearing as it played out
Day four of Julian Assange’s extradition hearing saw lawyers discussing whether international law supersedes English law and a dramatic rejection by the judge of a simple request for Assange to be allowed to sit with his lawyers. [This article first published at https://www.rt.com/uk/481823-assange-judge-denies-bench-lawyers/ on 27 February 2020 at 8pm.].
Snowy and wet weather didn’t deter the WikiLeaks founder’s supporters who gathered outside the Woolwich Crown Court and could again be heard inside the courtroom itself.
It was expected that the day would begin with Judge Vanessa Baraitser considering an application by the defense for Assange to sit on the benches with his lawyers, rather than in the glass-fronted dock where he has been so far, flanked by security guards, and unable to communicate with his team or hear proceedings properly.
Instead, however, the court offered Assange headphones to help him hear. He took the headset and Edward Fitzgerald QC for the defense said they would “give it a try” but he would need to be “glued to the mic” to ensure Assange could hear him and it may not be a proper solution.
It was not the last that was heard of the issue, which blew up dramatically later in the day.
‘Subverting parliament’
Legal arguments kicked off with James Lewis QC for the prosecution rehashing points made on Wednesday that English law contains no exception to extradition for “political offenses” and that this trumps international law. On the contrary, the defense has argued that a 2003 US-UK extradition treaty (along with a slew of other treaties and international conventions), do prevent extradition for political offenses — and that this is more relevant.
Lewis argued that Fitzgerald was trying to introduce an exception through the “backdoor” and subverting the intention of parliament. He also argued that “political offenses” would need to mean Assange explicitly aimed to overthrow the US government or incite a change in policy — and said it was not clear that this was the whistleblower’s goal when he leaked information.
Lewis also reiterated his argument from Monday’s hearing that Assange was not being prosecuted for leaking information to the media, but for putting “lives at risk.” The prosecution has not, however, been able to prove that any lives were actually lost due to WikiLeaks’ actions — and the defense has, over the past three days, made a thorough case that Assange went to great lengths to redact documents, even warning the US government directly when other actors were about to dump unredacted versions online.
Alice in Wonderland world’
Fitzgerald rose for the defense just before midday. Lewis, he said, was going “too far” to suggest that the bilateral treaty between the US and UK had no legal significance — particularly since the treaty itself is the basis for the US’s extradition request. The defense accepted that the extradition treaty is not domestic law, but said the European Convention on Human rights is. At this point, Judge Baraitser asked Fitzgerald if he was just arguing “in circles.”
He said the court would be in a “pretty strange Alice in Wonderland world” if the treaty that gave rise to the extradition request supposedly had nothing to do with the legality of it.
He argued that the US was engaging in “abuse of process” with the extradition request and that the courts had the powers to rule on that. He pointed to a previous case wherein the US tried to extradite a US citizen on tax evasion charges and it was denied on “abuse of process” grounds.
Asked by the judge why he believes Assange was seeking a change in US government policy rather than simply exposing government wrongdoing, Fitzgerald asked “what other goal” could there have been, other than a change in policy? He said WikiLeaks’ actions were explicitly designed to change White House policy in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
‘Interfering with fair trial’
After a long lunch break, Mark Summers QC rose for the defense and told the court that the headset Assange had been given was not a solution to the problem of him being unable to hear and communicate with his team. This sparked a heated back and forth between Summers and Judge Baraitser.
Summers argued that the glass dock in which Assange was sitting presented numerous logistical issues and cited a report which concluded that such enclosures interfere with the right to a fair trial. He said the presence of mics and US personnel in the courtroom also made it impossible to communicate privately.
Judge Baraitser said she was willing to offer frequent breaks for Assange to confer with his team, but Summers did not accept this as a solution, saying it was “not practical” to stop proceedings “every three minutes” and that it was normal practice around the world — and in the UK — for a prisoner to be allowed sit and confer with lawyers.
Hostile to the defense’s concerns, the judge accused Summers of exaggerating and said that if a three-week hearing planned for May-June needed to become a six-week hearing, “so be it.”
The drama prompted Assange himself to rise from his seat to complain further. Judge Baraitser warned him to sit back down and speak through his lawyers. “I can’t,” he said. She told him to put his hand up if he wanted to attract the attention of his team, but Summers complained that since Assange was behind him, he couldn’t see when he had his hand up.
Even when reminded of Assange’s “particular vulnerability” and mental health issues, Baraitser did not back down, and ultimately refused the request for him to leave the dock. Somewhat surprisingly, the US prosecution maintained a “neutral” approach and did not object to the prospect of Assange sitting with his lawyers — but it made no difference.
Following some brief discussion about upcoming hearing dates, the court adjourned just before 3pm. It is now expected to resume for a case management hearing on April 7.
CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling: Assange Case Shows USA Will Use Any Method to Quiet Dissent
This video is from the 26 February episode of Afshin Rattansi's show, Going Underground. On this episode of Going Underground, Afshin Rattansi speaks to CIA Whistle-blower Jeffrey Sterling, who was convicted for revealing details about Operation Merlin. He discusses the extradition trial and persecution Julian Assange is facing, his own experience of being prosecuted for whistleblowing on circumstantial evidence, whether the Wikileaks founder will face a fair trial in Virginia, his experiences of racism with the CIA, his advice for other potential whistle-blowers and more!
Julian Assange documentary
English language version link below, but now appears to be broken:
Next IPAN Victoria (Peace) Meeting Monday 2 March 2020
Reminder: Next IPAN-Victoria Meeting (Independent and Peaceful Australia Network). Meeting includes People's inquiry on costs and consequences of Australia's involvement in US wars; Public Forum on Killer Robots and Wars; Australian military in the Philippines; 50 years Vietnam commemoration.
Monday 2 March
6pm
Level 4
Trades Hall
Proposed Agenda
1. IPAN People's Inquiry - What are the costs and consequences of Australia's involvement in US wars to the people of Australia and around the world. A people's inquiry into the US-Australia Alliance. Military, economic, social, political, environmental.
2. Public Forum - Killer Robots and Wars - Wednesday 18 March, 7pm. MUA. Dr. Joseph Camilleri wil facilitate the Public Forum.
3. July 4 - US independence day.
4. Avalon Air Show activities - Feb - March 2021
5. Australian military in the Philippines
6. 50 years Vietnam War Moratorium commemoration
7. Affiliates' Reports
8. Others
Notes from IPAN-Vic 2 February meeting attached.
Shirley and Patrick
IPAN-Vic. reps.
IPAN national co-ordinating cttee
(Video & transcript) Cr Glen Aitken's Proclamation for trees - Seaford protest against LCRA vandalism 24 Feb 2020
Today, 24 February 2020, Frankston Councillor, Glen Aitken, led a protest with a proclamation against the destruction of trees in a section of rare bush habitat along Kananook Creek. His speech is transcribed inside this article. The Victorian Railway Level Crossing Removal Authority is the author of what appears to be arrogant and gratuitous removal of precious old trees and bushland. This bushland is part of a several kilometer connected habitat that runs along the banks of Kananook Creek. The purpose of the moonscaping of this area is to construct a concrete bicycle path that no-one here wants. Ironically the State Government and the Greens have been promoting cycling as a healthy 'green' activity, whilst using it to spearhead land-clearing in bushland and parks. Residents feel that this shock and awe approach is to soften them up for the execution of an overall plan to infill and overdevelop this area, as part of the State and Federal Governments' project of engineering population growth and overdevelopment, at the behest of the property development lobby, whom they serve.
Cr Glen Aitken acknowledge the Bunerong people and those attending, including people who had travelled quite a distance. Additionally he acknowledged the people who in the past and the present and into the future have fought so strongly for the environment in Frankston and surrounding municipalities and beyond. We would be lost without their efforts. He aknowledged Cr Steve Toms who also attended.
Transcript [1]
"Today is a powerful affirmation of our values and determination to guard and cherish our land. Today is an opportunity to send a clear message to parliament and authorities that our natural environment is not negotiable, and must be protected.
This is a proclamation on behalf of our community to stand strong against planning totalitarianism. And to challenge any government or authority that claims to have listened to the community and then turns around summarily to brutalise land and places we all love.In the beginning, the Aboriginal people gathered on this land, where we stand today. They hunted and fished for survival. They cared for the land and lived with it in harmony. Kananook Creek was once a vital waterway, connected to the vast Carrum Carrum Swamps, part of the huge and extensive ecosystem, which has now largely vanished. The creek and its associated vegetation has long been treasured as it represents an irreplacable reserve that can never be replicated again.
Throughout the years, many people, particularly from the mid-20th century, to this present time, have engaged in heroic labours and struggles to save both Seaford Foreshore and Kananook Creek from degradation and exploitation. They have held high the torch of environmental justice.
Only recently, Frankston Council, creditably, opposed any further development of the Green Wedge, and Council's decision is vindicated. By contrast, the wilful destruction of coastal vegetation here is absolutely shameful, and totally contrary to widely accepted environmental principles and public expectations. How has this happened?
There are numerous ways to 'arrive' with a 'misreading' of public opinion, through surveys and other means, such as methodology. Anyone can get a staged answer according to the style of question that is asked, which in turn can produce the exact result that was wanted and engineered in the first place. Another way to silence anyone who speaks out, is to subject them to public embarassment or political ridicule.Many people complained throughout the entire consultation process, but information was difficult to pin down, and [they] were not satisfied with answers that lacked substance. Our own council had difficulty in securing detail when we requested information, and were taken by surprise with outcomes.
Given the tree losses that have occurred, it is only reasonable many are now asking, 'how did this happen'? Local MPs should answer to the community for what has been done. A thoroughly detailed and educated approach ought to have been taken. And what is going to be done to ensure that this does not happen again?
In Seaford, with this project, there must be a rethink and proper consultation before any further works are carried out. With a huge population increase planned for Melbourne, we have seen a loss of values we have all cherished, such as local identity and character being bulldozed to make way for towering monoliths and multilevel appartments.
Our history is being lost and the places we identified with are vanishing. Residential overcrowding, loss of green space and canopy trees, with housing prices escalating, far beyond the means of many, who will never be able to purchase, and continue, as they age, in rental, 'til they are forced out through inability to pay. That has changed the social landscape.
Our native reserves, our green wedges, and any other open spaces are consequently more important and more critically needed than ever before.
[Picks up a silver coloured cup full of woodchips.] These remnants are from a tree that was about 80 years old and therefore began its life as a young seedling at the end of the Great Depression and the outbreak of World War Two in 1939. It saw the reconstruction years of the 1950s and it continued to spread its branches, providing shelter and food to native birds and animals. It saw the turn of the millenium and continued to cast welcome shade and held its place with pride in our landscape - until this February, when it was unforgivably dragged to the ground and destroyed. These chips are the body and the spirit of the tree and I now return them to the earth.In adversity and hardship, we grow stronger and, in the face of environmental brutality, our voice becomes louder. We will never surrender to stupidity.
We urgently seek greater recognition and protection for all native vegetation. We demand that government and all relevant authorities rewrite consultation formulars to guarantee real consultation processes instead of public pantomime. We call upon the State Government and associated authorities to account for what has happened here in Seaford. And Carrum, for that matter.
I'm going to just add one more comment about Carrum. The vaunted proposal was to provide a place with lovely parks and new facilities. When you go through Carrum today, and see what has happened, and that almighty grey monolith of concrete and steel - it has cut the guts right out of Carrum. It has destroyed Carrum as a kind and generous low-key postal destination forever. That is unforgivable!
And, we call for a complete reassessment of state planning policy in order that strong, clear and visionary policies be written and enacted, that are based on the human values that protect the history, environment, and liveability of the greater metropolitan area."
NOTES
The transcript made by the author of this article from the video.
Protest 2:00pm today (Sunday) Melbourne outside State Library to stop extradition of Julian Assange!
Another protest has been organised for today outside the Melbourne State Library to demand that the British government refuse the United States' illegal request to have Australian journalist extradited to the United States. (See Rallies in Australia and NZ to demand freedom for Assange and Manning. No to US extradition! (28/1/20). See also Protest Melbourne Friday 6:30pm to stop extradition of Julian Assange by outlaw Trump regime> (6/2/20) advertising the rally for Julian Assange held on Friday also outside the State Library). In the United States Julian Assange would face a kangaroo court and be jailed for up to 150 years for revealing to the world U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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