Comments

Sheila Newman asks:

Does it follow from what, Geoffrey?
Which comment are you answering please?

My comment was a response to your comment immediately above it and not to your more measured and thoughtful comment that preceded that comment.

That the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad funded family planning clinics, as your earlier comment notes, seems to indicate that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was defeated at the Presidential elections of 14 June 2013, was a more progressive and enlightened leader than the new president, Hassan Rouhani.

However, regardless of the merits or otherwise of its family planning policies, Iran, unlike Australia, remains opposed to the New World Order (NWO).

Through the waging of wars against countries in the Middle East and Central Asia since 1990 and the imposition of sanctions, the NWO has caused many hundreds of thousands of deaths and terrible material destruction. Citizens of many other countries around the globe, even where they have, so far, been spared the carnage of war, have been made to endure economic devastation through disaster capitalism at the hands of the NWO as described in The Shock Doctrine of 2007 by Naomi Klein.

Even if both Australia and Iran now both pursue harmful policies aimed at population growth, their mutually contrary policies towards the NWO remains an important distinction between the two.

Media Release 14th December 2013 Save Sydney’s Last Wild Emu population Public Meeting organised – Politicians invited to front upset locals A public meeting has been organised due to widespread community anger at the news the NSW Government is allowing Sydney’s last wild Emu population to be removed. The fight is on to save Sydney’s Emus. 5.30pm Thursday the 19th Dec. Jim Anderson Park, Greenbank Drive, Werrington Downs. Robyn Parker, Stuart Ayres, Bart Bassett, Penrith Councillors, NSW Opposition and Greens were invited “We’ve organised this public meeting to give locals a chance to express their anger at the NSW Government about their treacherous decision to allow the removal of Sydney’s last wild Emu population said Geoff Brown” “The NSW Government needs to unshackle itself from Lend Lease and reverse this appalling decision. The fight to save the 1535 ha ADI Site was also a fight to retain our Emus and Kangaroos. We may not have stopped the housing but we got a 900 ha reserve saved and were promised by government the Emus would be retained in that reserve. This decision by Robyn Parker on behalf of the O’Farrell Government is an act of treachery. They have betrayed the people of Western Sydney that put them in government.” “Robyn Parker and Stuart Ayres the Minister assisting the Premier on Western Sydney, Bart Bassett the local member for Londonderry and all the Penrith Councillors have been invited to front the public. They need to answer why the Emus need to go due to Lend Leases mismanagement. Why is Lend Lease even managing the proposed 900 ha Regional Park when in 2001 we were promised it would be owned and managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service? This whole blame the vandals and Emus line is just a smoke screen for a major stuff up by Robyn Parkers Department and Lend Lease.” “If we are to save Sydney’s last wild Emus then the public needs to get very vocal and turn up in force to this public meeting. We must let the NSW Government know loud and clear that we love our Emus and we want them to stay.” Ends Comments Geoff Brown co – organiser, local resident, President Western Sydney Conservation Alliance and former convenor ADI Residents Action Group 0431 222602 Petition to Robyn Parker (which shows public comments) and more info see www.wsca.org.au To the Sydney media: please contemplate the significance of this decision and report the loss of our last Emus. Western Sydney issues deserve a voice. Backgrounder The Emu population existing on the 1535 ha former Australian Defence Industries site at St Marys/Penrith may be removed over the Christmas period by developer Lend Lease which has been granted a licence to remove them by Robyn Parker the NSW Environment Minister. The Emu population has existed on the old munitions factory site since the 1950’s. It was common place for defence bases to place the Coat of Arms, Kangaroos and Emus, on their properties. The Emus are much loved icons of the Penrith region. Lend Lease has written to local residents informing them of their intention to remove the Emus and this has upset and outraged them. Lend Lease are claiming vandalism of fence lines as the reason the Emus must go. That some Emus are getting out into public areas and are putting themselves and the public at risk of injury. Yet there are no reported cases of any public injury. There was never an issue with fence vandalism and escaped Emus until Lend Lease commenced its development in the mid 2000’s. In 2001 Jackie Kelly the then Member for Lindsay famously declared 900 ha of the 1535 ha site would be set aside as a Regional Park to be run by the NSW Government. The NSW Government then promised that Emus and Kangaroos would be retained in the proposed reserve. Its now stated in their 2011 Wianamatta Regional Park Plan of Management. Yet in 2013 Lend Lease are still managing 836.5 ha of the zoned Regional Park and the NSW Government has only accepted ownership and management of 63.5 ha. A major factor in this dilemma is that the NSW Government is refusing to accept ownership of the entire Regional Park. So we have a developer, whose expertise is housing development, in charge of the majority of the sites wildlife and threatened ecological communities. 828 ha of the site is listed in the Register of the National Estate due to its outstanding conservation value. The problem is Lend Leases unsuitability to manage a wildlife reserve not vandalism or the Emus. What is needed is for the NSW Government to finally take responsibility for the full 900 ha reserve. Surely 27 Emus can be managed with a 900 ha reserve.

Does it follow from this that because Australia supports one side in the Syrian conflict and Iran supports another, that there is nothing to choose from between the two sides?

Kelly O'Shanassy replies that "In our Charter, we set a goal to reduce Victoria's ecological footprint by 25 percent by 2020 and to sustainable levels by 2050...". What's the point of focusing on per capita footprint size when any reduction in consumption levels, greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts will be offset by more and more people! While population continues to grow at third-world levels, and about 1500 new people arrive in our State each week, reducing Victoria's ecological footprint would be an academic and futile exercise. Individual ecological footprints may be reduced by 25% by 2050, but at present rates of growth, Melbourne will be bursting with 8 million people, and 11 million people in Victoria? Population growth has a multiplying effect, and silly to skirt around the raging elephant in the room, with empty goals! It's pointless supporting any environmental, climate change or planning organisations, ngo, unless they have a sustainable population policy.

Shocking footage of Australian cattle being abused in the Gaza Strip should re-ignite a national debate on the legitimacy of the live export trade. Footage emerged of Australian cattle being tortured in Gaza, with the most disturbing images showing a bound animal being stabbed in the eye and another knee-capped with bullets from an assault rifle. With his legs bound and his body outstretched, a bull was helpless as a slaughterman clumsily cut at his throat with a blunt knife. The terrified animal was conscious throughout the prolonged and agonising ordeal, thrashing his head, blinking constantly and looking up at his tormentors as his throat was sawn open. It's unimaginable horror, and sadism! Australian regulations failed to prevent the suffering of this animal, and others like him. This trade is masquerading as a valid economic activity but it's really a sham, and shamefully spreading and endorsing horrific animal cruelty overseas. Labor senators voted with the Coalition in the Senate on Thursday to overturn an Australian Greens motion calling for the cessation of exports until an investigation into previous welfare issues is complete. However, the motion was turned down! Filmed by civilians during the Festival of Sacrifice in October, this footage shows cattle being terrorised by crowds and tortured in streets and makeshift slaughterhouses — all in breach of Australia's live export regulations. It's a victory parade of human dominance over the hapless animals that will be horrifically slaughtered, and made to suffer extreme pain and humiliation in the process. Ban Live Exports: Take Action on Gaza

Say all living creatures belonged to us (humanity) and were our treasures in our collection. We could consider them as such if it helps. To lose precious and rare parts of our "collection'"progressivley is like an art collector time and time again losing unique masterpieces by famous dead artists. What unique species and masterpieces by dead artists have in common is that neither can be replaced.

The following pages, also linked to from the top of the main article, have up-to-date news on Schapelle's fight for justice:

• womenforschapelle.blogspot.com.au and associated Twitter page (twitter.com/Women4Schapell1)
• Kim Bax's Twitter page (twitter.com/KimBax2)
• thebobcarrcover-up.blogspot.com.au and associated Twitter page (https://twitter.com/BobCarrU)

The Telegraph article Tony Blair asked me to 'help invade Zimbabwe', says Thabo Mbeki, linked to from a Twitter post of 7 Dec 2013, shows Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela to become President of South Africa from 1999 until 2008, in a far more favourable light than the odious then British 'Labour' Prime Minister Tony Blair :

When Zimbabwe began sinking into economic collapse and political repression in 2000 ... Mr Mbeki favoured a negotiated settlement; Mr Blair wanted Mr Mugabe to go, by force if necessary.

Tony Blair ... was saying to the chief of the British armed forces, 'you must work out a military plan so we that can physically remove Robert Mugabe'." ...

...

Mr Mbeki explained that the idea was rejected on principle because Britain had no right to decide who leads African countries. ... "So we said 'no, let Zimbabweans sit down, let them talk'."

The fact that Robert Mugabe has been re-elected President in the elections of 31 July 2013 shows that Zimbabweans themselves didn't accept Tony Blair's claim that Zimbabwe was facing economic crisis or if it was, that Robert Mugabe was the cause.

In contrast to the seemingly principled stand taken by President Thabo Mbeki against military interference in Zimbabwe, Naomi Klein has shown that, far from liberating black South Africans, he as well as the former President, Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), who, since his recent death, has been haloed by the international mainstream media₁, in fact, betrayed their own black supporters by imposing economic neoliberal disaster capitalism similar to what is described in the rest of Klein's book:

So, rather than calling for the nationalisation of the mines, Mandela and Mbeki began meeting with Harry Oppenheimer, former chairman of the mining giants Anglo-American and De Beers, the economic symbols of apartheid rule. Shortly after the 1994 election, they even submitted the ANC's economic program to Oppenheimer for approval and made several key revisions to address his concerns as well as those of other top industrialists.²⁸ Hoping to avoid getting another shock from the market, Mandela, in his first post-election interview as president, carefully distanced himself from his previous statements favouring nationalisation. "In our economic policies ... there is not a single reference to things like nationalisation, and this is not accidental," he said. "There is not a single slogan that will connect us with any Marxist ideology."²⁹ The financial press offered steady encouragement for this conversion; "Though the ANC still has a powerful leftist wing," The Wall Street Journal observed, "Mr Mandela has in recent days sounded more like Margaret Thatcher than the socialist revolutionary he was once thought to be."³⁰

...

In June 1996, Mbeki unveiled the results: it was a neoliberal shock therapy for South Africa, calling for more privatisation, cutbacks to government spending, labor "flexibility," freer trade and even looser controls on money flows. According to Gelb, its overriding aim "was to signal to potential investors the government's (and specifically the ANC's) commitment to the prevailing orthodoxy."³⁴ To make sure the message was loud and clear to traders in New York and London, at the public launch of the plan, Mbeki quipped, "Just call me a Thatcherite."³⁵

- - from The Shock Doctrine - The rise of Disaster Capitalism (Penguin, 2007) by Naomi Klein, pp208-210 (most emphasis added).

Footnote[s]

on 27 November ABC Radio National broadcast a provably false claim by the BBC₁ that Syrian Government military forces had "dropped a 'napalm-like' bomb on a school playground nearby."

Susan Dirgham, National Coordinator of "Australians for Mussalaha (Reconciliation) in Syria" responded by posting the following to the program web page:

Dear Andrew,

For a number of reasons, I was greatly disturbed to hear this report on RN's 'Religion and Ethics Report'.

Firstly, there has been serious questioning about the authenticity of this report of a Syrian government attack on a school on 29 August. Even Craig Murray, a former UK ambassador, has suggested the original BBC report which featured Dr Ahsan's UK colleague was not reliable. Secondly, we are not informed by RN that Dr Ahsan was a captain in the UK army before she studied medicine and she has experience of war zones. Dr Ahsan is also very media savvy, having presented many programs on television; she even has an agent as she is a presenter for hire. Thirdly, we are not informed that Dr Ahsan must have crossed into Syria illegally to enter 'rebel' territory in the north and that the UK colleague she accompanied is purported to have family links to the militarized opposition. In crossing into Syria via the Turkish border, Dr Ahsan would have surely seen evidence of at least some of the thousands of foreign jihadists going into Syria to fight the regular army. Some go to fight for an Islamic caliphate, with Damascus as its capital, while others go because they hear dubious media reports such as this which make them believe Muslims are under attack and they need to be 'saved'.

In October, Rachel Kohn wrote on the 'Religion and Ethics Report' blog: "The assault on religious freedom is one of the most important trends in the world today, yet it remains under-reported and even ignored by most secular media outlets." This assault on religious freedom is occurring in Syria. In recent weeks, it has become even more evident that Christians have been particularly targeted by extremist fighters in Syria. Schools and school buses have been attacked, children and teachers killed. Ancient Christian towns, such as Maaloula where Aramaic is still spoken, have been attacked by 'rebels'. Many churches have been targeted, priests and bishops kidnapped and killed, yet instead of an accurate in-depth analysis of all this, "Religion and Ethics Report" presents what could be fairly described as very crude war propaganda.

Andrew West, presenter of the Religion and Ethics Report responded in an e-mail:

I have posted your comment but the interview quoted UN reports.

I'm simply not going to enter into a long debate about these matters, Susan.

On previous programs, we have pointed out the role of foreign jihadis and Saudi backed extremists.

But it is increasingly clear to me that you are unwilling to countenance any criticism of the Assad regime at all.₂ There are no good guys₃ in this fight.

Being a propagandist for Assad will have the same impact on me as being a propagandist for the jihadi "resistance". That is, none.

Please do not bombard me with material, as you did before or I will simply block your emails.

Footnote[s]

Councils are beginning to react and object to the Plan Melbourne, and what's worshipped by our State government - "growth"! As reported in Peninsula-Wide "As plans are being developed to guide metropolitan Melbourne’s growth from its current population of four million to six million by the early 2030s, the Shire’s challenge is to continue to be ‘near to but not part of Melbourne and its accelerating growth’. Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Councillor Lynn Bowden said "the next 20 – 30 years will be one of the most challenging periods in the history of the Mornington Peninsula. “The Mornington Peninsula Shire is not – and does not want to be – a growth municipality". “Our community was talking to us about population growth, traffic and transport, use of the coast and environmental protection, employment and business, township character and green wedge and rural land use to name a few of the important issues". Cr Bowden said “the Mornington Peninsula is critical in many ways to the future sustainability, liveability and prosperity of the Melbourne region and Council’s submissions have continued to emphasise the need for continuing recognition and protection of the peninsula’s special roles and values”. Planning should not be synonymous to GROWTH, but protecting and enhancing amenities, natural heritage, the environment, living standards and ambience. What's needed is a real and productive economy, not one that's entirely and mainly linked to housing and mortgages.

Our economy must deliver to us and to future generations otherwise it is a failure or worse still a menace. It must provide a livelihood , a long term sense of material security and reasonable equality, within the limits of the environment in which it operates. The economy should be asking what it can do for us not what we can do for it! Right now it seems to be the boss and not to be pleased with us at all. It's a bit puzzling since most of us haven't done anything particularly wilful , at least not knowingly. Perhaps the intention or hope of living to a ripe old age is considered a bit uncooperative.

It questions the assertion in the letter it is responding to that Sydney is an "International city" therefore a destination for the whole world. That assertion was supposed to make us all re-think Sydney and in our minds throw it away as part of Australia. The first letter suited the SMH and this one negates the "don't care" attitude it was meant to engender. On top of that it spells out the economic downside of population growth and we can't have that.

The scale of suffering in after the Philippines typhoon has been worsened by the fivefold increase in the population since 1950, from less than 19 million then to almost 100 million today - many of them living in vulnerable coastal zones. One hectare of mangroves in the Philippines can yield 400 kilos of fish, shrimps, crabmeat, molluscs and sea cucumbers annually, and help feed a further 400 kilos of fish and 75 kilos of shrimps that mature elsewhere. Mangroves of Bangladesh remain largely unaffected over the years. On the contrary, Pakistan, Thailand, Myanmar, and Philippines continued to suffer the loss of mangroves. With a disappearing rate of more than 2% per year, particularly mangroves in Pakistan and Myanmar remain critically threatened. The unmet need for voluntary family planning among the Philippines' poor has been high, leading many women and adolescents to become pregnant earlier and more often than they intend. On average, the country's poorest women have two more children than they say they want. The fertility rates among the poor are nearly three times higher than among the country's rich, who have for years enjoyed access to family planning through private providers. Philippine President Benigno Aquino late last year signed the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012. To poor women in the Philippines, this means that government health centers will have to make reproductive health education, maternal health care and contraceptives available to everyone. It is a life-saving measure that will help end the cycle of poverty in this Southeast Asia island nation. The good news is that more Filipino couples are now practicing family planning, therefore slowing the growth rate of the country's population, an official of the Commission on Population (PopCom) said. The PopCom support the implementation of the reproductive health (RH) law will further slow down the country's population growth rate.

I watched the program about greyhounds and the lasting image for me was that a dog could be wagging its tail one minute and a few minutes later it had been drained of blood, its dead body mere refuse. Apart from the exploitation and cruelty to the dogs, what is this doing to the psyches of the veterinary nurses who do this work? The ABC ran a show last night the horrors of Surabaya Zoo. Images were the mixed species version of the Rake's Progress to Bedlam. Worse. It was appalling. I knew about it already from a friend who has lived in Indonesia, for many years. Animals in shocking condition crammed in to tiny, filthy cages, malnourished, poisoned even with food contaminated with formaldahide. Animals Australia has put in enormous efforts on behalf of exported live cattle but still it goes on. The horrors of human treatment of animals is overwhelmingly terrible and it is hard to know where to start in changing anything. Somewhere I guess is the answer.

The extraordinarily detailed information on negotiating positions released by WikiLeaks shows Australia repeatedly backing the interests of the US against the objections of countries including Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam on questions involving intellectual property. The Trans Pacific Partnership is the largest-ever economic treaty, encompassing nations representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. Details of secret trade negotiations that could leave Australians paying more for drugs and medicines, movies, computer games and software, and be placed under surveillance as part of a US-led crackdown on internet piracy. Intellectual property experts are critical of the draft treaty, which they say would help the multinational movie and music industries, software giants and pharmaceutical manufacturers to maintain and increase prices by reinforcing the rights of copyright. It would cause online "piracy" to challenge corporate rights to music and software, and block the sales of generic medicine. It's about accumulating the corporate powers globally, and overwhelming the rights of governments, individual choices, and our sovereignty. Canada and seven other countries want to make it clear that internet providers such as Australia's iiNet cannot be held legally responsible for copyright infringement on their networks. In 2012 iiNet went to the High Court to enforce that right. But Australia and the US are listed in the negotiating document as opposing it. The TPP is the forerunner to the equally secret US-EU pact TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), for which President Obama initiated US-EU negotiations in January 2013. Together, the TPP and TTIP will cover more than 60 per cent of global GDP. Read the Wikileaks press release here on the Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)

10.30am tomorrow morning in Court 12, Ground Floor, 210 William Street, Melbourne.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 13 November 2013, Boroondara Council is taking VCAT to the Supreme Court over a decision

It involved a heritage listed house in a heritage area, where apparently the heritage value was ignored and they approved it to be pulled down and to build a great big block of concrete and glass flats.

This will be a big test of the value of heritage and there might be some of you with time and interest to go and listen to the arguments.

The decision will have great importance to many.

The hearing will commence at 10.30am tomorrow morning in Court 12, Ground Floor, 210 William Street, Melbourne.

Video released by animal rights group Animals Australia shows bulls exported from Australia to Mauritius being dragged head-first off trucks on to concrete and being kicked and trussed before having their throats slit in the street. The footage shows bulls being roped at the neck and pulled off a small livestock truck without a ramp, then dragged on the ground of a feedlot by more than seven men during the festival of sacrifice in October. One bull's horn was broken when it was forced off the truck while another had water thrown over it to make it stand up. The bulls were hog-tied, including one that had its two front legs stamped on before six men held it down while another slaughtered the bull after two attempts to slash its throat. The Age: New video of Australian animals being mistreated in Mauritius alarms activists The exporter responsible is already under investigation for breaches of the live export supply chain assurance scheme, for cruelty in Kuwait. In an act of defiance and cruelty, Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce is planning to actually water down live export rules put in place after the live export ban to Indonesia in 2011. The WA Liberals are also set to vote on a motion at their State conference at the weekend to remove "red tape" from the live export system. Removing inhibiting "red tape" would free-up the supply chain, and allow more atrocities. Rather than dieting to lose morbid obesity, it's a denial of reality by actually loosening the belt! More animals will be cruelly sent to third world countries, ostensibly to help their "food security", and suffer in the hand of barbarians and savages! Animals Australia said the latest incident was evidence that the live export system should not be weakened. How much blood do our politicians have on their hands? Rather than patches, they will be knee-deep in the filth!

Well, I guess this invoce will be a language that VicForestsw will understand.

A PROPOSAL to reduce the amount of dredging at the controversial $2 billion Abbot Point coal port from 3 million cubic metres to just 500,000 cubic metres has been rejected by the State Government. A departmental briefing to Environment Minister Andrew Powell which was uncovered in a Right to Information search says the port could go ahead with less dredging if the two jetties to be built were extended from 2.8km to 4km. Courier Mail: Plan to cut Abbot Point dredging rejected by State government The idea would likely have meant that dredge spoil could have been dumped onshore instead of in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. An assessment of the Reef released on Friday blamed agricultural and urban run-off rather than dredging for most damage. Population growth and increased urban run-off, and the "Asian Century", will ensure the threats continue to increase. The heavy dredging will simply put the nails in the coffin of the Great Barrier Reef's integrity. The briefing warns that dredge spoil material is moving much further and in much greater volumes than previously thought. If Abbot Point dredging was approved this year, it would enable supporting mine and rail developments to proceed, making coal export possible by 2017. Governments couldn't consciously be exporting coal if they accepted the science of climate change. "Science" is acceptable if it remains static and abstract, in journals and academic communities. If it impinges on our government's growth plans, and exports, then it becomes controversial and inconvenient - and must be denied!

UNESCO, which oversees the world heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef, has already voiced concern that the port developments might put the area on its ''endangered'' list. While their report has given some weight to the role dredging and port developments play in the state of the reef, it highlighted more urgent concerns from nutrient run-off, climate change and the crown of thorns starfish. No port developments should be permitted outside the existing major port areas, it said. Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said it was important for decisions about the reef to be based on scientific facts, not "alarmist claims" by environmental groups that can't be verified. Environmental groups remain concerned about the impact of proposed dredging projects near the reef, including the Abbot Point proposal due for a decision next month. Environment Minister Mr Hunt said he was encouraged by ''new science'' that could prove more effective in combating the crown-of-thorns starfish infestations that were killing coral. New programs to stop run-off from farms would also make a difference, he said. His "new science" sounds more like a denial of traditional science, based on observation, empirical evidence and obvious conclusions. This "new science" what our present day politicians are committed to and is the attitude towards climate change! Crown-of-thorns starfish are responsible for 42 per cent of the coral damage. Storms account for 48 per cent of the degradation and bleaching accounts for the remainder. The assessment found seagrass meadows had also been affected, hurting populations of dugongs and turtles. SMH: Fears for reef over port development If Abbot point goes ahead as planned it will be the largest coal export port on the planet, and if Mackay goes ahead it will be the second biggest port coal on the planet. And the Whitsundays lie in the middle. The $6.2 billion expansion of the coal port would see four additional coal terminals built; which would provide an extra annual capacity of 120 million tonnes and would support the developments in the Bowen, Surat, and Galilee Basins of Queensland. Tourists don't want to see destroyed coasts and bygone natural treasures, and marine wildlife will be killed or turned away. This generation shouldn't bear the guilt of having destroyed an world-heritage area, and future generations will be condemning us in retrospect. There's little compatibility between capitalistic economic growth, and long term conservation. There's no ultimate point of having a thriving and successful coal-mining industry if we lose a world-heritage natural treasure- worth more than any billions from dirty coal extraction and export.

A STATEMENT ON LATEST ANIMAL CRUELTY REVELATIONS The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, will discuss the latest revelation of cruelty in Australia’s live animal export trade, this time the live sheep trade to Jordan. WHEN: 12.30pm 31 October WHERE: Parliament House Lawns Hobart “I’m beyond asking how many more episodes of animal cruelty are needed before the Australian Government shuts down the live export trade,” Mr Wilkie said. “The Government simply doesn’t care about the trade being systemically cruel, not being in Australia’s economic self-interest and lacking popular support. “The latest episode in Jordan shows again the cruelty routinely metered out to Australian livestock sent overseas. It joins a very long list of exposé?s by Animal Australia and others in countries as diverse as Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan and of course repeatedly in Indonesia. “In this case the Government must identify the Australian exporter and come down on it like a ton of bricks. “To allow the trade to continue in the full knowledge that it is systemically cruel makes the Australian Government every bit as guilty as any individual found guilty in Australia of cruelty to animals. “I remain committed to progress a Private Member’s Bill in the new Parliament to wind up the trade.” AT least Andrew Wilkie is very concerned about the ongoing animal cruelty and will continue to campaign to end live animal exports. To this end he will be introducing a Private Member’s Bill to the Parliament when it resumes. Contact form for Senator Banaby Joyce

Animals Australia video footage was gathered during the Eid al-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, in Jordan in mid October. It has been sent to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and shows sheep being dragged along the ground, thrown into car boots and carved open at the throat. In one scene, four dying sheep lie twitching in an open street alongside the still body of a fifth. Thousands of sheep have been released outside the ESCAS supply chain system that makes exporters responsible for them up to the point of slaughter. However, Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has ruled out stopping live exports to Jordan, saying such a move would only end up hurting Australian producers. There's more interest in the financial welfare of producers than the animals! Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described graphic footage of Australian sheep being brutally slaughtered in Jordan as "disturbing", but he has defended live exports as a "good system." We must wonder what a "bad system" for animals really would be like? How can it get any worse? When there's a lack of human rights, there's even more reason animals can be abused. Amnesty International has particular concerns about the application of the death penalty in Jordan because there is a pattern of death sentences, and sometimes executions, occurring as a result of unfair trials where confessions extracted under torture are used as evidence against the defendants. How are animals to be protected in such brutish regimes? When animals are concerned, industries can't simply brush aside ethics. These callous politicians have blood on their hands, and show how truly shallow their character are when they can over-look brutality and grotesque treatment of sentient animals. Animals Australia: Take action to ban live export

This morning 31st October at 4:20am on ABC Radio with Michael Pavlich, Kelvin Thomson will be doing an extended interview on the issue of global population and Australia’s population growth. The interview will then be followed by talkback callers with questions and discussion for Kelvin. We understand the interview will be broadcast nationally and can also be listened to online. Details are as follows: - Tune in to your LOCAL ABC Radio frequency (eg in Melbourne 774am) to hear the interview - Or stream online and follow the prompts at http://www.abc.net.au/overnights/ - Talkback calls will be taken at 1300 800 222 - Send in texts during the interview at 0437 774 774 Although it is early, calling in will help raise the profile of our predicament with overpopulation. When you consider that all day long the ABC and other networks push population growth, it seems very unfair that the one lucid voice putting a counter argument, is to be aired at such an inaccessible hour.