Miscellaneous comments from 14 April 2014

An investigation by the Department of Agriculture's Investigation and Enforcement Unit was launched after a report on ABC’s 7.30 program last night, where it named Livestock Shipping Services (LSS) general manager livestock and meat trading Garry Robinson as allegedly involved in the forging of export shipment documents.

Footage showing the cattle being treated cruelly, including being gouged in the eyes and stabbed in the neck, was released and exports to Gaza were halted.

Documents revealed on the ABC's 7.30 Report suggest that key export documents may have been falsified, flouting strict national and international laws designed to protect countries from importing diseased animals.

Animals Australia claims Australian animals are being slaughtered outside the approved supply chain.

The 7.30 investigation has discovered a trail of paperwork suggesting export documents may have been falsified, flouting strict national and international laws designed to protect countries from importing diseased animals. The media report that the industry is "safe", "improving animal welfare", and increasing, but now 7.30 has uncovered possible criminal conduct at the heart of the industry. There is evidence to suggest that key export documents have been falsified.

Wellard's ship, the Ocean Drover, was refused permission to unload in Bahrain after authorities there declared the sheep onboard were diseased. It was a claim that was later disproven. 7.30 has now discovered that the documents used to gain permission to land the sheep in Pakistan appear to have been falsified.

"The breaches, the recurring breaches and the horrific, sickening cruelty that we have documented in Jordan the first, second, third time, in Gaza, in October last year, and again in February this year, are supply chains that are owned and operated by LSS" says Animals Australia lawyer, Shatha Hamade.

Due to human overpopulation and climate change, there are fewer lions in west Africa than thought. Lions are eaten for bush meat when there's little food, and heavy grazing is causing desertification and erosion.
There are hardly any lions left.

There were thought to be 21 populations of lions left, but scientists only found 4, with less than 50 lions. Competition for scarce resources means that wildlife inevitably come of second best!

The Sahara is engulfing much of Africa, and the lion is a creature of savannah woodlands and much of the land is disappearing to subsistence and cash crops - for humans. Lions now occupy only about 1% of their original range. Small populations of lions are simply not viable. West African lions are unique, and if they are recognised as such, they could get IUC and international support. To save the lion—and many other critically endangered mammals including unique populations of cheetahs, African wild dogs and elephants—will require a massive commitment of resources from the international community.

The trophy hunting of lions remains legal in Burkina Faso and Benin, while a recent aerial survey discovered 50,000 head of livestock grazing within the boundaries of the transfrontier park - if this encroachment by humans and their livestock continues, the park could go the way of other protected areas in west Africa. The populations of other large mammal species declined an average of 85 percent in West Africa between 1970 and 2005, mostly to feed the voracious demand of the bushmeat trade.

Read more: The number of lions in west Africa has fallen so much that there are growing concerns for the future of the entire species (18/4/2014) at http://www.smh.com.au/world/no-more-time-to-lose-for-lions-20140417-36un0.html

Petition: Help Save the Last West African Lions at http://forcechange.com/99725/help-save-the-last-west-african-lions/

Japan said Friday that it would resume its controversial research whaling in the Southern Ocean next year under a redesigned program that would address objections raised by an international court. Despite the ICJ's condemnation of their whaling as not being scientific, Japan is not deterred and will continue their illegal slaughter. They will redesign the "research" to make it more "scientific" when it isn't! Japan would submit a new plan for research whaling next fall to the International Whaling Commission that would allow it to restart its annual hunts in waters off Antarctica in 2015. The IWC's loophole that allows killing has not been closed. ICJ questioned whether the program was really for research, pointing out that it had yielded few scientific results. So, Japan will tweak the results of "research" to make it appear more valid! Minister for Agriculture Mr. Hayashi said Japan would invite “famous scientists from home and abroad” to help devise a new research program that would satisfy the court’s demands. No doubt these pseudo-scientists will be paid, or bribed, to give authority to the results. The redesigned research whaling could eventually serve as a step toward one day resuming commercial hunts, something sought by Japanese cultural conservatives but opposed by many Western nations. There's never been any culture or tradition of Japan whaling in the Antarctic, or hunting with explosive harpoons. It's pointless having court rulings and international laws unless they are enforced. Laws need to be enforced and upheld with law enforcement. With Australia's free trade agreement with Japan, they know that they have Australia's politicians in their laps, in the palm of their hands.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/4/22/economy/big-australia-illusion#comment-686806 Callam Pickering questions the "big Australia" policy of our government, and opposition, and our third world rates of population growth. He says it's to create an illusion of growth, without actually considering the long term implications. It seems that our politicians love "growth", but due to short terms in government, are unable and unwilling to have any vision for the future and are willing to sacrifice long term strategies for short-term injections of cash flows. By the time elections come, they are out to retirement or have changed careers or not in power any longer. The "big Australia" policy continues with the gagging of the public, by political-correctness and the diversionary tactics of the media. Pickering says that there is little doubt that migration will sit at the forefront of economic growth in Australia over the next generation. It drives up the GDP, and gives the illusion of economic growth, but "high population growth puts pressure on existing infrastructure and commonly leads to greater congestion on our roads and public transport. Not to mention the impact on our natural resources and environment". High rates of immigration slightly improves per capita GDP, but most of the benefits are for the migrants. They then must be sourced from developing countries or they won't see any improvement in their lives - except higher wages - but watered down by high costs of living. Pickering says that "effectively our standard of living is now improving at a much slower pace than we had grown accustomed to. If per capita growth rises annually by 2 per cent, living standards will double in 35 years; by comparison, at 1 per cent growth it will take 70 years for per capita income to double". On all accounts, living standards are declining. More people are unemployed and forced into mortgage stress, in public housing or are homeless. Crime is increasing and we have a youth unemployment crisis. Immigration is not a substitute for real economic growth, or productivity. "Strong population growth is not an economic plan. It will not improve the living standards of you or I; nor will it reduce poverty and inequality or foster innovation and creativity." Amassing people is not progress, but a no-brainer way of increasing the size of consumer markets and the GDP.

Treasurer Joe Hockey warns of budget pain. Older Australians, already many of whom are struggling on pensions, will be asked to bear a lot of the budget pain. Despite record levels of youth unemployment, the "ageing population" are being burdened for much of the blame.

Hockey is blaming the heavy weight of pensions, aged care, and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for "draining" the budget. "Between 2010 and 2050 the percentage of people of working age supporting those over the age of 65 in Australia will almost halve". That's partly due to the lack of jobs, and ignores the contribution older people have made to our economy, and still do in their later years.

Read more: 'Nothing is free': Joe Hockey warns of budget pain, with pensions in the firing line (23/4/2014) at http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/nothing-is-free-joe-hockey-warns-of-budget-pain-with-pensions-in-the-firing-line-20140423-zqyaq.html

There will be across the board spending cuts in the public sector, households and corporations. There will be wider means testing for welfare benefits, and more people will fall through the cracks.

We've had 23 years of economic growth in Australia, yet debts are getting deeper, and the cost of maintaining this "growth" is becoming more and more extensive. It's a giant Ponzi scheme, one that gets steeper and more austere with each generation.

Population growth has grown strongly during this period, yet where are the benefits? Economic growth is smoke and mirrors, if it means that what we have must be shared with more people, without actually producing more commodities to sell and export.

The economy is meant to provide high living standards, benefits for individuals and families, and a safety net when things go wrong. Abstract economic growth has become an aim in itself, even if it's to the detriment of the participants.

Labor Leader Bill Shorten is pushing for Labor party reforms. It's brought some criticism from the union movement, as he wants to weaken links with their traditional allies, and grass roots.

The success of Labor in the past is not working in these times. Shorten wants to renew the party's sense of purpose, and revitalise it with more members.

Mr Shorten hopes to raise membership numbers from the current 40,000 to 100,000, but has not set a deadline for that goal to be met,

The Australian Workers' Union - which Mr Shorten once led - has offered neither criticism nor support for the plans. He wants to give more power to rank and file members, and there will be a ground-up review of their policies.

The first policy to scrap should be the "big Australia" one, based on the false sense of productivity and wealth. It isn't working, in light of present budget constraints of having to share any surpluses with more and more people. Shorten says that new policies will try to broaden Labor's appeal, in areas including small business, science and innovation, and support for regions.

They should also ask the electorate - the public - for the sort of reforms that are important to them. Politics has become too abstract, to impersonal and more about political gains and the vague metric of GDP rather than on what the public need - good services such as housing, jobs and standards of living!

Italian navy and coastguard vessels have rescued around 1,800 more people from boats in rough seas off Sicily, authorities said on Friday, as the chronic migrant crisis continued around the southern island.

The latest arrivals come on top of more than 1,000 migrants picked up earlier in the week. In the past two decades, for example, nearly 20,000 people are reported as having lost their lives in an effort to reach the European Union’s southern borders from Africa and the Middle East.

Italy has struggled for decades with a steady stream of migrants looking for a better life in Europe travelling in small, unsafe boats from North Africa to the tiny island of Lampedusa, midway between Tunisia and Sicily.

Rightwing parties in Italy have called for the suspension of the EU-backed mission to rescue migrants who make the dangerous sea crossing from north Africa, putting immigration back on the agenda ahead of next month’s European parliamentary elections.

(Italy's right calls for the end of the navy's rescue of African migrants – behind paywall) at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4236e56c-ca08-11e3-ac05-00144feabdc0.html

More than 1,200 African migrants were escorted ashore in Sicily by Italy’s navy and coast guard over the Easter weekend, bringing to nearly 22,000 the total that have arrived on Italian shores this year. Eritreans and Syrians fleeing war have made up the largest groups.

Italy says 4,000 immigrants have reached its shores by boat in the past two days before 10th April – the highest number since it began a naval operation to handle the influx after two shipwrecks last year. up to 600,000 people from Africa and the Middle East are ready to set off from Libyan shores. It's a mass migration of humanity, displaced by over population, conflict, poverty and scarcities.

The anti-immigration Northern League – a small opposition party – was quick to weigh in on the issue, urging Alfano to stop the arrivals "by turning them back". The only way to stop the tide is to ensure only valid visa holders are able to land - and valid asylum seekers are selected off-shore. Otherwise the "pull" factor will continue.

World Heritage body UNESCO has been concerned about the health of the Great Barrier Reef – a world heritage protected site since 1981 – in recent years as a result of numerous threats including agricultural run-off, large-scale industrial development and climate change. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/un-warns-on-hea... UNESCO points to decisions by the Abbott government and the authority overseeing the reef's marine park to allow the dredging and dumping of three million tonnes of spoil in the reef's waters for new coal export terminals at Abbot Point. This decision condemns the Federal Government's approval to dispose of three million cubic metres of dredge spoil at Abbot Point coal terminal near Bowen, south of Townsville. The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area is bigger than Victoria and Tasmania combined, and is home to 500 species of fish, over 360 species of coral, more than 4000 species of molluscs and over 1500 species of sponge. The constant passage of ships to and from the ports can damage the area through groundings, collisions, introduction of invasive marine pests, oil and chemical spills, waste disposal and anchor damage. UNESCO postponed its decision on whether to put the reef on the endangered list until 2015. Any "development" should inherently be improvements in efficiency, complexity and technology - not environmental destruction. "Sustainable development" is an oxymoron, on a finite planet with wilderness areas, and biodiversity, continually under threats from human activities and economic demands for natural resources. Procrastination gives UNESCO and the public the warm feeling that they are addressing the issue, but it's simply waiting for damage control, and a laissez faire attitude. Nobody wants to challenge the priority of economic benefits, and growth, for Australia. It's easy to make strong decisions in hindsight, when there's little to do and the damage is already complete.

States could levy income taxes, there could be a $15 for medical services, pensions will be reduced, eligibility for pensions will increase and retirement age lifted to 70 years. Disability and unemployment pensions are also in the firing line. Students will pay more for degrees and have to pay loans back sooner. Schools are likely to be States' responsibility, and minimum wages are likely to be abolished. Road tolls could be introduced to pay for congestion, though there's not talk about reducing "growth" agendas, or immigration. Further proposals considered were: Selling off federal assets including the Snowy-Hydro, the Australian Submarine Corporation, Defence Housing, Australian Rail Track Corporation, Australia Post, Medibank, the Royal Mint and the National Broadband Network over time. Australia's welfare system and publically owned assets are being dismantled to bring back Australia into a surplus! Against a backdrop of a sixth consecutive deficit, of $18.8 billion, in 2012-13, or 1.2 per cent of GDP, which is predicted to rise to $47 billion or 3 per cent of GDP in 2013-14. We have been living beyond our means, and our economy has grown but producing less! After WW 11,Australia was one of the wealthiest nations, and we only had a small population. Joe Hockey claims, predictably, that the government has inherited a fiscal mess from Labor. Argentina one hundred years ago was the country ranked among the ten richest in the world, after the likes of Australia, Britain and the United States, but ahead of France, Germany and Italy. Half of the country’s capital stock was in foreign hands in 1913, further exposing it to external shocks. Open borders increased farmers’ takings but sharpened competition from abroad for domestic industry. Low levels of domestic savings can in part be explained by demography: large numbers of immigrants with dependent children spent money rather than saving it. Australia is following suit.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere averaged more than 400 parts per million throughout April, the first time the planet’s monthly average has surpassed that threshold.

The finding adds to concerns that a buildup of carbon dioxide is damaging the atmosphere, making storms more intense, melting glaciers and putting at risk the future of seaside cities such as Miami.

The last time the concentration of Earth's main greenhouse gas reached this mark, horses and camels lived in the high Arctic. Seas were at least 30 feet higher—at a level that today would inundate major cities around the world.

The effect of rising CO2 levels is already evident across the world’s crops could reduce the amount of plant protein available globally by three per cent over the next few decades. Plants use nitrogen to produce the proteins that are vital for human nutrition. Increases in temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) can be beneficial for some crops in some places, but overall changing climate patterns lead to frequent droughts and floods that put a severe strain on yields.

In order to halt global warming by the 2C mark, global emissions per nation would have to start coming down by 2020, with a peak no greater than 44 gigatons.

The United Nations has said that in order to maximize our chances of limiting the global temperature rise since 1750 to the internationally agreed-upon target of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the concentration of all greenhouse gases should peak at no higher than 450 ppm this century.

Global carbon dioxide levels exceeded historic threshold throughout April at http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/global-carbon-dioxide-levels-exceeded-historic-threshold-throughout-april-20140503-zr3s6.html

Despite recent cuts, Australia's emissions per capita stand at 23.2 tonnes, among the highest in the world and nearly four times more than China. The atmosphere is not interested in per capita emissions, but the total.

High population growth cancels out the ongoing emissions-reduction benefits of energy efficiency.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the end of Europe's visa-free Schengen area and the creation of a Franco-German economic bloc at the heart of the eurozone. European Union migration policy has failed and Schengen I needs to be replaced, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy says. Schengen encourages the free movement of people and goods. The Schengen area comprises 26 European countries that have abolished passport or any other type of border control in-between their common borders. For more, see France's Sarkozy calls end of Schengen (22/5/2014) on Sky News at http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/europe/2014/05/22/france-s-sarkozy-... Schengen cooperation enhances this freedom by enabling citizens to cross internal borders without being subjected to border checks. The border-free Schengen Area guarantees free movement to more than 400 million EU citizens, as well as to many non-EU nationals, businessmen, tourists or other persons legally present on the EU territory. Sarkozy said that without a quick fix in coming years France's social system could break up. "Europe is not meant to organise social and migratory dumping, almost systematically at the expense of France," he warned. EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council approved the adoption of a resolution to eliminate the visa requirements for Perú and Colombia. He says that "Europe migration policy has failed and the need to replace Schengen I has become obvious, he added, as the current system allows immigrants who enter it to “choose the (European) country with the most generous welfare system”.

Whitehaven is spending $767 million developing Maules Creek mine in Leard State Forest and is progressively demolishing around 1660 hectares of native woodland to extract coal by early 2015. Whitehaven's plans include using machinery to shake inhabited trees to "encourage" creatures to leave before "gently" bulldozing and leaving them overnight to allow remaining animals to escape. Species include critically endangered regent honeyeater bird, which the NSW government says faces an "extremely high risk of extinction in NSW in the immediate future" as well as the endangered swift parrot and vulnerable greater long-eared bat. The EBPC Act, and other policies and laws that protect wildlife, are easily negotiated away to be immune from the power of mining corporations, and easily moveable "Environment" Departments. In the face of economic benefits, and votes, moving the goal-posts of environmental protection and conservation is as easy as manipulating language, and using the correct vocabulary! Threatened species mine plan delusional Jonathan Moylan, 26, who was responsible for sending out the fake release which purported to be from ANZ that claimed the bank had withdrawn a$1.2 billion loan to help develop the Maules Creek project, has pleaded guilty! This lesser offence pales into insignificance compared the the broad-acre destruction of significant environmental forest assets. More than 160 activists have been arrested in 2014. Big corporations, and their mega environmental crimes, are protected by our government who can't see the value of forests because of $$$$ Earlier this morning, a 24-year-old woman was reported to be suspended from a platform that attached by cable to some of the threatened trees, preventing bulldozers for Whitehaven Coal from clearing part of the forest for an open-cut coal pit. A Whitehaven Coal spokesman reiterated: ‘‘Whitehaven offers great value for investors, but we accept that ­investors will buy and sell shares as they see fit.’’ In a nation famous for extinctions, the destruction of species continues with impunity, and our land is incrementally being emptied of wildlife.

New Immigration Department statistics reveal just one in three of the work visas granted last year was subject to "labour market testing" to prove no Australian could do the job.

How did they actually prove that "no Australian could do the job"? Yet again, Australians are being discriminated against in our own workforce, in preference to foreigners.

The figures also show half of Australia's migrant workers are recruited onshore, with one in every 20 backpackers last year are receiving a 457 visa to stay working here for four more years.

Under the Abbott government's changes to Newstart many poor unemployed people under 25 will have the choice of starving, begging, crime, or prostitution while they wait six months to be eligible for benefits. At the same time, there are plans to deregulate Universities to charge the fees they want, of up to $120,000 per degree. The odds are increasingly stacked against domestic students gaining skills, and competing with some third world nations that give their young people more access to tertiary education than in Australia.

Monash University demographer Bob Birrell, of the Centre for Population and Urban Research, said the 457 program was increasingly a "back door" for foreign workers desperate to get into Australia's labour market, rather than as a program allowing employers to meet skills vacancies.

The success of Europe's anti-immigration parties must end the rorts happening in our own country and the blatant discriminatory policies against our work force.