“Reply to comment | (We) can do better” was a wonderful blog post and also I actually was extremely joyful to discover the
blog post. Thanks a lot-Ebony
Comments
The Business Council of Australia: Ponzi pyramid economics
The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is proposing to reduce the corporate tax rate from 30% to 25%.
To make up for lost revenue, company tax revenue would be replaced by increasing and expanding the GST so all Australians would pay more for our basic essentials such as food, education and health care.
The Grattan Institute estimates this would add another $3000 a year to average household costs.
They're also proposing to slash penalty rates and reduce the minimum wage for workers, meaning you would have less money in your pocket to pay bills and feed your family. This is to create more "prosperity" for Australia, and create a future surplus.
They would increase immigration too.
It's pure Ponzi economics, a way of getting working Australians to participate in the scheme so that more of their hard-earned saving and wages drift into corporate hands - those at its peak!
Only dodgy and questionable organisations rely on population growth for their revenues. It's about accumulating consumers, as business resources, to boost business profits and opportunities. There's no guarantee of jobs for the migrants they would like to import.
And homebuyers would be invited to pay even more, by introducing a new land tax on home owner-occupiers.
Mitigating an ageing population by adding would mean a further ageing deficit for the next generation. It's Ponzi demographics and is intellectually dishonest.
Financial and corporations, and collectives such as this business "council", make demands and create reports that suit their vested interests.
Russia's ban on importing kangaroo meat applauded: AJP
July 2013
RUSSIA'S DECISION TO FORBID KANGAROO PRODUCT IMPORTS
APPLAUDED BY THE ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT NOW FACES DISGRACE AFTER SUPPORTING AN INDUSTRY WHICH MOSCOW NOW UNCOVERS AS DECEPTIVE AND CORRUPT
It has been confirmed with the Animal Justice Party by Yury Aleshin, Chief of the Agriculture Ministry at the Russian Embassy, that Russia has again imposed a full ban on the importation of kangaroo meat from Australia on grounds of fraudulent and deceptive conduct.
Following an investigation and seizure of containers containing 1,860kg of meat it was discovered the meat was sourced from unapproved plants via unregistered companies owned by Macro meats. The decision follows two former bans in 2008 and 2009 after major contamination was detected.
This will help bring this grotesquely brutal, rogue industry to an end. A core goal of the Animal Justice Party for the current election campaign is now well on the way to being achieved.
Both Labor and the Coalition have provided significant financial and lobbying support for the kangaroo killing industry to access overseas markets in recent years. This was in return for votes in rural areas. Until now, Russia was the largest importer of kangaroo meat which was enough to keep this brutal, unregulated and heavily subsidised industry operational.
“The kangaroo killing industry is an international disgrace and has been the main contributor to Australia having the unenviable distinction of the highest rate of land-based wildlife slaughter on the planet”, said AJP President Professor Steve Garlick.
“The end of this industry is now in sight thanks to the Russian Government. But there is no thanks to Labor and the Coalition who actively propped up this industry, or to the Greens who have failed to oppose this brutal industry. The Greens have never supported Australia’s iconic fauna emblem.” said Professor Garlick.
Animal Justice Party members played a key role in providing evidence to Russian Government officials in order to help them in their decision to ban these imports from Australia.
A full list of AJP policies, including its policy on kangaroos and wallabies, and its manifesto can be found at: www.animaljusticeparty.org
For further information please email [email protected] or tweet us @justice4animals.
Media Enquiries: Professor Steve Garlick – AJP President – 0428 880 564
Mark Pearson - lead Senate candidate for NSW – 0417 252 107
Orang-utans evolving to come down from trees
Orang-utans are reported in the American Journal of Primatology, has been observed in Borneo to be coming down from the trees to forage and travel.
The amount of time the orang-utans were spending on the forest floor had never before been seen.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/study-shows-orangutans-are-co...
Borneo is a network of timber plantations, agroforestry areas and mines, with patches of natural forest. They are being deprived of their natural habitats due to human encroachments and violence. Being forced to change their behaviours and adapt to living on the land is an adaption being forced onto them, to survive.
Their jaws may be getting larger to allow for the eating of bark, rather than fruit. Human oppression against orang-tans means their survival is under threat.
It's said that these gentle animals are better evolved than humans, and on a higher ethical plane. Human egotism has put us on a pedestal, but we aren't necessarily superior in adaption ability, or socially.
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz. Originator of the orangutan theory of human origins(1984) proposed that humans are more closely related to orangutans than to chimpanzees - a model that contradicts the greater molecular similarity (often misrepresented as being the sole 'genetic' component of evolution) of base pair sequences in humans and chimpanzees.
PTUA Public Transport Community Forum, Newport, Thurs 8 August
Community Forum:
The 2013 Federal Election and Public
Transport in Melbourne’s West
Thursday 8 th August 6.30pm doors open 6pm, food and drinks available from the bar
Newport Bowls Club, 4 Market St Newport
The Public Transport Users Association is hosting a community forum looking at public transport issues in Melbourne’s Western Suburbs. With a federal election imminent, residents are concerned about how transport policy will impact on access to jobs, education and services, as well as household transport stress.
This community forum is an opportunity to hear from transport planning experts alongside local Members of Parliament, Councillors and federal candidates. Come along and ask your questions and learn what they plan to
do to solve public transport in Melbourne.
Guest Speakers Include:
Dr Sophie Sturrup, University of Melbourne
Janet Rice, Greens Lead Senate Candidate
Tim Watts, ALP Candidate for Gellibrand
Lisel Thomas, Maribyrnong Truck Action Group
Any questions please contact
Cait Jones: 0412 549 589
Petition: McDonald's abandon plans for McDonald's in Tecoma
McDonald's: abandon plans to build a massive 24/7 store opposite the kindergarten in Tecoma.
McDonald's plans to build a huge 24/7 store and drive-through in our town on the Dandenong ranges -- demolishing local iconic buildings on the site and ensuring it goes directly opposite the kindergarten and school.
For our kids, the nearby national park and our beautiful small-town culture, there could be nothing worse.
Every day, kids as young as five years old would need to walk past a giant advertisement for junk food just to go to school. This is despite health experts warning of the damaging impact of junk food on young children -- and child obesity spiralling out of control. Perhaps even more worryingly, if it goes ahead here, it could set a dangerous precedent of junk food stores being built next to schools.
Our community doesn't want that. The plan is opposed by 90% of residents. The application was rejected by council. But instead of respecting our wishes, McDonald's appealed the decision and are using their huge financial and legal power to bully their way into our town. They're now suing locals who are objecting to the building of the store in the Victorian Supreme Court -- and there are accounts of McDonald's private security on the proposed site threatening and intimidating locals who have peacefully protested against the plan.
If McDonald's win this fight, it'll break our hearts. This town, our special part of the world that we think deserves protecting, would be irreversibly changed. That's why we need your help. The only way McDonald's will walk away now is if they see it becoming a huge brand risk for them -- that thousands of consumers will stand with us in opposing their plan.
Please sign my petition and join our community standing up against McDonald's -- and help ensure they abandon plans to build the store opposite our primary school.
It'd be devastating for our beautiful little town and national park.
You can also leave a message for McDonald's on their Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/McDonaldsAU or tweet at them: https://twitter.com/McDonaldsAu
Petition by
Garry Muratore
Belgrave, Australia
SIGN PETITION
Pets that have been saved, not wildlife pets!
I can't see why the man couldn't keep it, as said it now no longer fears man. How heart breaking for them. Parks and wildlife are great at enforcing these laws, but wont help us wildlife carers stop 1080' non professional culling, and acts of horrific cruelty on our wildlife by MOPs. Aren't there more pressing issues in Hevey Bay than taking away a kangaroo that has been saved from death and now was being looked after with much love and right conditions, other wise it would of died of myopathy by now.
Russia forbids roo-meat imports totally
MOSCOW, July 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has completely forbidden imports of kangaroo meat from Australia after a shipment from an unpermitted supplier was uncovered in the far-eastern region of Primorye, Russia’s agricultural watchdog said Thursday.
Citing multiple veterinary and sanitary violations, including high bacterial contamination, Russia banned Australian kangaroo meat imports in 2009, but last year it permitted imports from a sole Australian supplier, Macro Investments PTY Ltd.
The recently seized 18.6-ton shipment came from Australian Meats PTY Ltd, said the agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor.
“In this connection, Rosselkhoznadzor notified Australia’s veterinary service of the necessity to suspend certification of Macro Investments’ products for the market of the Customs Union states,” which comprise Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the Russian watchdog said in a statement.
Widespread fraud in immigration identities
The ABC has revealed that large numbers of immigrants from India have fraudulent visas. The internal audits show fraud rates approaching 50 per cent, and an Immigration Department struggling to properly identify people who are entering the country.
The fraud rate has raised questions as to whether the Immigration Department's existing security and processing systems can handle the growing and complex issue of identity fraud. It's likely that not only identities are fraudulent, but the level of skills.
DIAC has become another government industry, with proceeds from the high number or immigration/visa applicants. At present levels of mass intakes, there's no way to really assure the names of documents are genuine.
http://www.rythmos1656.com.au/news/skilled-migration-documents-fraud
Open Letter on the Indefensible
To Ian Hunter and Peter Walsh via the Animals Australia website petition on Thursday, 26 July 2013.
cc: The Age and The Adelaide Advertiser.
I have recently become aware of the killing of koalas on timber plantations in South Australia and Victoria. This is as shameful as it is a betrayal of the Australian people's trust.
I'm appalled that the welfare of native animals has been so grossly neglected by our elected representatives and of their lack of moral integrity. The companies involved are foreign owned, and government continues to sell out to clearly disproven neo-liberal views of free markets and wholesale profit grabs by those pretending to represent the people of South Australia, Victoria and thus Australia. Please don't plead the responsibility of a prior government or lack of resources. The contracting practices of all Australian governments are a sham - and you know this.
Self-regulation is a joke - and you know this too - in the forest industry and equally amongst the elected representatives who hide behind a constitution that cannot be changed without their approval.
Animal cruelty, animal suffering must not be tolerated and in this instance it is clearly preventable. Shame on you and your involvement as elected representative to allow this to continue.
What are you going to do to meet your responsibilities as a human being and as one elected to represent more than profit margins and your own power base.
Create a legacy of your time in office and step up to protect the natural environment, its fauna and flora for the well-being of the human family and yours.
Sincerely,
Sheila Cross
Stable Populationparty candidates
Melbourne is an ideal test for SPP to see if they can comvince the electors that increasing population creates the demand for the Eastern Tollway, which will create havoc for the locals.
Another method of expressing your views is to write 'Reduce Immigration' on your ballot papers. Your vote will be valid provided you do not obscure the numbers. For firther information go to www.reduceimmigration.wordpress.com
No fundamental difference between alternative governments
You can do something to influence policy. Write Reduce Immigration on your ballot papers. Your vote will be valid provided you do not obscure the numbers. For further information go to reduceimmigration.wordpress.com
Koalas being killed in foreign owned plantations
The US and Japanese owned companies that run the plantations export this timber as woodchip for paper production in Japan and China.
So rather than acknowledge the problem and try to address it, these companies have tried to avoid bad PR by denying any animals are being killed.
Please sign the Animals Australia Petition to stop the koala slaughter.
With dwindling natural habitats, some koalas have turned to Blue Gum plantations for refuge. But now, as these plantations are being cut down, an animal welfare disaster is unfolding.
With no apparent plan to relocate the local inhabitants, and without any government monitoring, trees are simply being cut down with animals still in them.
Volunteer wildlife carers are struggling to keep up with the number of casualties — koalas suffering from broken limbs and backs, severed arms and impact wounds. Many more don't even survive the fall. Witnesses have even described injured koalas still on the felled trees as they are pulled through the shredders.
The Victorian Department for Environment & Primary Industries has admitted that they rely on timber companies to self-report wildlife issues. Yet the international companies that run the plantations continue to deny there's any problem.
What's clear is that self-regulation is failing, and stronger protection for wildlife is needed. At a minimum, the detection, capture and relocation of koalas (and other at risk wildlife) needs to occur under government supervision before forest areas are logged.
Koalas urgently need you to be their voice. Please call on the Ministers responsible in Victoria and South Australia to stop the tragic killing of koalas and introduce stronger protection for wildlife.
Animals Australia: Koalas under threat
The globalization of our land, our trees, our agricultural output will put our wildlife under international standards of "animal welfare" - something that can't be controlled overseas and to standards that in many countries don't exist. Species such and elephants and orangutans are simply killed as "agricultural pests" - and this is not what we want for our native, iconic, much-loved animals!
Shallow, narrow thinking
Australia used to be a penal colony too, so does that mean we should only settle convicts and criminals? It's just as logical as continuing mass immigration because we "all are all descendants of immigrants", and Australia is an "immigration Nation".
What was beneficial in the past can become detrimental once it's past its use-by-date. It's a result of shallow, unintelligent, narrow thinking.
Australia was once the custodial land of indigenous peoples. Maybe all our leaders should be aboriginal descent? Maybe our land would be better managed, and natural heritage would be better protected. The greed of our leaders now for growth at all costs will be paid for by future generations who will inherit an even larger ageing population - something that is the natural consequence of boosting our population from the baby boom and high rates of immigration.
More people added than jobs created!
Over the next 30 to 40 years the current population of 250,000 is expected to double to 500,000. 80,000 jobs are to be created.
The number of jobs, even if they are permanent jobs, won't keep abreast with population growth. Presuming almost half of the population will be adults, needing jobs, it will leave most people unemployed.
Instead of this growth, there needs to be some innovative jobs creation for the existing population in the area, not have the number of jobs vacant diluted by more people!
According to the City of Greater Geelong Key Economic Indicators bulletin, the average unemployment rate in the Barwon region was 6.0 per cent in the 12 months to May 2013. The Victorian rate was 5.4 per cent and the Australian average 5.5 per cent.
Students are abandoning Geelong's Gordon TAFE in their thousands as the reality of the state government's brutal budget cuts begins to hit home. Apprentice and trainee numbers plummeted by 16 percent state wide in the first quarter of 2013 against the same period last year.
It's ironical that we have our so-called "skills shortages" while the number of trainees and apprenticeships is being reduced by budget slashing!
Koalas face carnage as loggers harvest timber plantations
The attack on Australian working and living conditions doesn't stop there! Our environment is being cleared for logging. housing, industries and mining, and iconic koalas are facing a carnage!
Thousands of koalas have taken refuge in the vast timber plantations that have emerged across the region of south east Australia, which are increasingly maturing for harvest.
While human diaspora get a lot of media attention, there's little attention given to our wildlife. While humans are reproducing in record numbers, other native species, endemic to our land, are being cruelly eradicated.
Koala experts and wildlife refuge staff say many koalas are being wiped out during the logging process.
The ABC's 7.30 program has been provided with damning evidence of the carnage, the scale of which has previously been kept confidential.
"What's happening in our country? We create a big brouhaha when we see it happening to cattle in a slaughterhouse in Indonesia or somewhere like that, but this is happening in our own backyard with a much bigger impact.
"This is a national and international icon that we are treating with so much disrespect and disdain" says Dr Stephen Phillips, a member of the Federal Government's Koala Abundance Working Group.
Australia is descending into hostile, third-world mayhem, and the integrity of our land, our jobs, our economy and environment is under attack for industry $$$$.
Tracy Wilson, a wildlife rescue volunteer from Koroit in Victoria, says she deals with koalas with horrendous injuries. "Broken limbs, impact wounds, broken backs, severed arm, dead mothers with joeys still alive trying to survive," she said.
Instead of asylum seekers, we should concentrate more on the victims in Australia - animals! Industries are supposed to "self-regulate" but that's like asking the fox to take care of the chicken coop!
Koalas face carnage as loggers harvest timber plantations
Mark Butler MP is our new Minister for the Environment.
[email protected]
Welcome to the Asian Century!
Bob Birrell described the heavy competition for jobs as the government putting a "blowtorch" to the economy. This global competition for jobs is to make our economy more internationally competitive. It means more fierce international competition for jobs, housing, tertiary education, land, and our manufacturing industries. Already livestock, through the live export trade, have been sacrificed to global "animal welfare" standards of atrocities.
The 457 Visa scam is the tip of the iceberg!
This, we can only assume, is the small introduction to "The Asian Century". We are to be transformed to a second or third world economy so that we can be more competitive, with lower wages, and lower standards of living and working on par with Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and China. This is for the benefit of mammoth and global corporations, to create a cheaper and more flexible workforce.
It's shameful that a Labor party, with traditional values that endorses and supports labourers, unions and workers, should be betraying the voters, and guilty of un-doing "protectionism". Labor, under Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's liberalisation and deregulation of the jobs market, allowed unemployment to rise, adding pressure on residents - voters - the people who supposed to be represented by our elected government. Labor voters should feel betrayed!
Comments needed on NSW Govts 10800 hectare business area in west
On behalf of Geoff Brown:
I alert you to concerns about the NSW Governments plan to create the 10,800 hectare Broader Western Sydney Employment Area (BWSEA). The BWSEA straddles the LGA’s of Penrith, Blacktown and Fairfield. Of concern is that 16% of the BWSEA is endangered or critically endangered native vegetation. Ecological Australia have done a desktop study of the area and their <5 meg report can be found here http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/wsea
There are some big concerns here surrounding whether this core habitat is going to be cleared or protected. How is it going to be protected? Will there be an offset program similar to the Growth Centres Biodiversity Offset Program? (remember that the Biodiversity Certification of the Sydney Growth Centres, a total area of 27,000 hectares, meant about 2000 ha of core habitat could be developed – NSW committed to delivering a $530 million offset fund as a result – but to date very little offsetting has been provided). Ecological Australia flags Biodiversity Certification and Biobanking as a means to offset any clearing. Will Barry O’Farrell just put jobs first and legislate not to protect this areas environment? At one of his recent community cabinet meetings in Penrith he was challenged about his government failing to conserve Western Sydney Priority Conservation Lands and his response was that his number one priority was the creation of jobs so people could work closer to home. So its clear he doesn’t give two hoots about protecting Western Sydney’s environment.
In any case its likely that more of Sydney’s precious natural heritage will be destroyed in order to facilitate an income for developers and the NSW Govt. The driver of course is Australia’s record level of unsustainable population growth.
Comments can be made here http://planspolicies.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=6032
Geoff Brown
www.wsca.org.au
1.1 DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
Eco Logical Australia Pty Ltd (ELA) was engaged by (DoPI) to undertake a desktop biodiversity and riparian corridors assessment of approximately 10,800 ha that forms the Broader Western Sydney Employment Area (BWSEA). The aim of this assessment is to identify key ecological and riparian constraints to assist in the preparation of a Structure Plan for the area.
Conclusion
The BWSEA is a highly fragmented landscape that has been heavily impacted by past landuses. Based on a desktop assessment, 16% of the study area is native vegetation that is either endangered or critically endangered. Critically Endangered Ecological Communities typically pose a significant constraint to development, especially when listed under both State and Commonwealth legislation. However, given the fragmented nature of the patches of vegetation (many of which will have lower long term viability) there may be an opportunity to develop a positive conservation outcome that focuses on protection and management of riparian corridors and the larger patches of good condition vegetation. Such an outcome would not only deliver security to the EECs and CEECs hat have a higher management viability, but has the added benefits of protecting riparian habitats and ecological connectivity through the study area.
In terms of priorities for additional information on ecological values, this report recommends ground-truthing of vegetation communities to determine whether patches of Shale Hills Woodland, Shale Plains Woodland and Shale / Gravel Transition Forest meet the definition of Cumberland Plain Woodland / Shale Gravel Transition Forest as listed under the Commonwealth EPBC Act. A second priority is the collection of biometric vegetation data so that landuse planning can utilise the assessment methodologies (Biobanking or Biocertification) under the TSC Act to determine how development can occur whilst delivering a positive biodiversity outcome. Other data such as threatened fauna survey and top of bank mapping can be collected at later stages of planning to inform detailed design.
Following collection of this data it is recommended that the conservation significance assessment be re-run to identify vegetation and habitat of high, moderate and low conservation value as a key input to BWSEA or precinct level planning.
Intergeneration injustice
"Intergeneration justice" is a good term used by these researchers. Developers levies are passed onto the new home buyers adding to housing unaffordability. What's not mentioned is that there needs to be a change in our government's constitution that there is more democratic input into these policies. Federal governments make the population rate increase decisions, but the debt to left for councils to deal with, and the residents.
Each generation should not be burdened by the greed of the elite of this generation. Our population growth is not God-given, or a natural result of high fertility. Government policies are human constructs that can and sometimes must be changed according to their impacts and implications.
We look forward to some more reports from CIS on population and democracy.
Immigration Department audits reveal large-scale fraud of visas
Thousands of Indian students, skilled workers and 457 visa holders have been admitted to Australia on dodgy travel and work documents. Freedom of Information show out-of-control fraud of the visa system. The internal audits, from the 2008/09 financial year, show fraud rates approaching 50 per cent, and an Immigration Department struggling to properly identify people who are entering the country.
An Immigration Department spokesman said that "Around the periods of 2008, 2009, 2010 the fraud levels were quite considerable, a matter of real concern to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship".
It is reported that the Department is nearly powerless to stop identity fraud, because of the low level of technology in Indian passports.
Documents outline one alarming case where a man breached Australia's borders by entering the country under a false identity. For a General Skilled Migration visa class, from 23,767 visa lodgements there was a 46.9 per cent fraud rate for 2008/2009.
There does not appear to be much the Department can do, with one of the documents finding "opportunities to combat this type of fraud remain extremely difficult".
"People cheat about all kinds of things, around fraudulent marriages and do scams of all sorts and really that's a challenge for the compliance officers of our country whether they be the police or be they be immigration officials."
Maurene Horder from the Migration Institute of Australia, the peak body for migration agents, wants migration agents overseas to be forced to register with the Department of Immigration, so they can be banned if they cheat the system. "That was a porous, very bad system," she said.
Our whole immigration system is a rort, due to enormous fees being collected by immigration agents, and our own Immigration Department. With our economy's slowdown and unemployment expected to rise, Australia is not short of labour!
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2013-07-22/immigration-de...
Boat arrivals to top 50,000: Carr
Asylum seekers arriving by boat could top 50,000 a year, making a tough response to stem the rise unavoidable, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.
He had been attacked for describing recent arrivals as economic migrants many on the boats had actually confirmed they were not fleeing persecution. There are many countries with economies and lifestyles worse, or much worse, than any of the problems Australian are facing.
He said on the basis that they are not fleeing persecution, they could not object to being resettled in PNG, a robust democracy with a free press and freedom of religion.
"You have got 3000 people arriving a month. The annual rate is something like 40 to 50,000 a year if it continues at this level".
However, the overwhelming number of legal, permanent and temporary migrants, is being ignored in the asylum seeker debate. In May 2012, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced a planned intake for the 2012–13 Migration Program of 190 000 permanent migrants with the majority of places allocated to skilled entrants (129 250 places in the skill stream, 60 185 places in the family stream and 565 special eligibility places for former residents). The temporary working visa holders is uncapped, and increasing each year.
Papua New Guinea's last census in 2011 by the World Bank found that the country had just over 7 million people, and increase of 1.8 million from 2000. Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has warned that Papua New Guinea’s high population growth rate presents the government a mammoth challenge in the delivery of its infrastructure development program. It offers little opportunity for earning cash and in places is stretched beyond its sustainable limits by population growth.
The UNHCR noted that amid the high levels of crime and violence in PNG, “persons of concern, unlike most expatriates in PNG, cannot afford additional security. Non-Melanesian asylum seekers and refugees in PNG are particularly vulnerable to xenophobia and racism amongst the local population.”
Successful refugees who settled here in the post war period, and even from Vietnam, does not set a precedent for today's displaced. The world has changed enormously and the challenges humanity faces are completely different. There are no new welcoming nations to enjoy opportunities that existed in the past. Never before in history has there been today's tidal wave of human migrations. Mass movements of people, hereafter referred to as “diaspora”, in large scale and higher frequency have clearly set a “global trend” that has marked the 21st Century.
The inhabitants of planet Earth have been blessed with a vast supply of most basic materials. But we are placing increased pressure on those supplies, and in some cases we face, in our lifetimes, or those of our children, the prospect of severe resource depletion.”
Just what this tsunami of disaster will look like may, as yet, be hard to discern, but experts warn of “water wars” over contested river systems, global food riots sparked by soaring prices for life’s basics, mass migrations of climate refugees (with resulting anti-migrant violence), and the breakdown of social order or the collapse of states.
(Entering a Resource-Shock World, How Resource Scarcity and Climate Change Could Produce a Global Explosion By Michael T. Klare)
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/boat-arrivals-to-top-50000-carr-20130721-...
Australia is bulking up
The Australian identity, culture and way of the life are being affected by continuous immigration. There's strength in unity, not diversity and differences! Australia is like an obese person assuming that he/she can become a prize-winning athlete! We are bulking up economic muscle purely through population growth, despite our below replacement levels of fertility. There are many challenges ahead, and too often "challenges" are simply throw-away issues such as climate change, liquid fuel depletion, the energy crisis, food security and economic shortfalls for infrastructure needed by our rapid growth. Population growth makes all the problems we have worse, and creates even greater "challenges". To run the race ahead, Australia should return to what PM Bob Hawke said, We should be a "clever country", and be slim and sleek and athletic so that we are ready for the intellectual and knowledge challenges ahead. Bulking up will make our burdens heavier. Our lifestyle and environment needs to be protected, as the basis for a good future for the present, and future, generations. At least there are political parties with population policies now, and they need our support. There are some good elements of globalization, but not the globalization of our resources, jobs, land, housing, and population.
Malaysian official says TPP will not be signed in October
From the Global Post of 15 July 2013
A top trade official of Malaysia, playing host to the latest round of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade accord, said that a basic agreement on the accord will not be reached in October as initially expected, citing many areas which have not been agreed on ...
...
The official also said, "The most important thing is that we will not compromise Malaysia's sovereignty and that we will stick to our policy," ...
Jump in kangaroo collisions in Canberra
Shooting kangaroos in Canberra's Pinnacle Nature reserve, adjacent to Weetangera and Hawker, stopped temporarily about 8pm on Sunday after activists sounded air horns and charged across the reserve.
The designated culling sites were due to be closed to the public at midday last Thursday to enable shooting to begin.
The annual kangaroo "cull" had been given the green light after a decision handed down by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Wednesday, ruling that 1244 kangaroos could be shot by the end of July. The number was reduced to 740, excluding the dependent joeys!
Hardly coincidental is the report in Canberra Times of a jump in kangaroo collisions in Canberra. There has been a spike in the number of car accidents involving kangaroos. Claims data from NRMA Insurance shows a 30 per cent increase in the number of kangaroo vehicle collisions in the ACT in the past year.
The 30 per cent increase would be due to Canberra's human population growth too. Rather than overwhelming conservationism and excessive concern for endangered species being threatened by the number of overgrazing kangaroos, this is likely to be the real reason for the kangaroo reduction.
Canberra- NRMA car accidents kangaroos
Michael Linke from the RSPCA says the spike is not surprising as animals are facing increasing hazards on Canberra roads. "There's increased traffic on the road and more housing development, so it's something that's going to increase over time." He's unknowingly "hit the nail on the head"!
There's usually a hidden monetary reason, a hip-pocket concern, for these "culls". Kangaroos are silent scapegoats for lack of wildlife corridors, over-passes, and urbanisation.
Plea to protect whales from "scientific research" whaling : HSI
In a landmark case, Australia has taken Japan to the International Court of Justice over its ‘scientific whaling’ program—one that kills hundreds of whales every year in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary. Japan, Iceland and Norway all continue their whale hunts, despite the fact that these gentle ocean creatures already face increasing challenges posed by marine pollution, climate change, ship-strikes, bycatch, and more.
Urge nations to make their waters whale-friendly.
While the court’s decision on Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean is expected by the end of the year, there has never been a more opportune time to pressure whaling nations to stop the cruel practice of commercial whaling. Make your voice heard today.
There is no excuse for continuing to allow this barbaric and outdated practice, especially as other threats to whales such as pollution and climate change increase. It is time to call on all nations to safeguard whales from this cruel and unnecessary threat to whales in their waters.
Join us (Humane Society International) in calling on world leaders to make their waters whale-friendly by banning commercial hunting and the transit of whale products, thereby giving whales needed refuge everywhere they feed, breed and migrate. No exceptions.
Killing animals subject to scientific research should be the last option, not mass killings and then trying to justify it in hindsight for the economic and cultural value of the "by-catch".
Trans-Pacific Partnership conference threatens our democracy
Nile Bowie explains to James Corbett how the forthcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership conference, to be held in secret behind closed doors on 27 July 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, threatens economic, political and Intellectual Property rights of Australians and others across the Pacific.
Fighting The Trans-Pacific Partnership - Nile Bowie on GRTV
Cornucopia Myth - disguised by "anti-immigration" accusations
"In pre-election phases you won’t hear politicians talking freely about this issue. It can veer too fast and too easily into the anti-immigration lane." Immigration has become intertwined with racism, and political correctness that as a Western country, we must have open borders and "share" our wealth with foreign nations. However, the converse is not expected. Any nation that is "anti-immigration" is a pariah, demonized as being anti-global and selfish!
Denmark is a largely homogenous country has reportedly offered immigrants cash incentives to leave if they cannot assimilate into Danish culture. The incentive was driven by the far-right Danish People's Party, which states on its website that "Denmark is not an immigrant-country and never has been".
In a country where nationals favour a racially unique and homogenous society, the foreign population accounted for only 1.7 percent of the total population in 2010.
Sweden has generously welcomed asylum seekers from the Middle East, but growing unemployment, which sits at 16 percent among foreign residents, and a recent string of violent riots have politicians and citizens questioning its open-door immigration policy.
Migrationwatch UK, a body calling for immigration restrictions, says 36 per cent of housing demand is created by immigrants – 200 new homes a day over the next 25 years. It says the UK will have a population of 70?million by 2028 (it is now 61m), needing a new Birmingham-sized city every three years.
Joseph Chamie: The world is seeing the greatest mobility of people in human history. Hundreds of millions are on the move – many without authorization – to wealthier and growing economies north and south. The consequences of these migration flows are challenging the capacities and finances of government authorities and intergovernmental organizations as well as public attitudes towards immigrants. This human tide is also shifting the political landscape throughout Europe, with mounting public support for anti-immigration legislation and parties of the extreme right.
The Human Tide: Joseph Chamie
While most of Australia's migrants now come from India and China, there's no reciprocal immigration agreements for Australians, if they wanted to, to immigrate there. They would need to at least have a national background, or be married to a national.
California has some of the most varied wildlife habitat on earth, boasting more endemic species than any other state, but rapid population growth imperils this extraordinary biodiversity. Over one-fourth of California’s plants are extinct, rare, endangered, or threatened, and over 150 animals are listed as threatened or endangered.(SOURCE Californians for Population Stabilization)
There a deeply embedded Cornucopia myth that assumes that the planet has a primary duty to prioritize human concerns and accommodate social/political trends above the environment and living ecosystems. The Cornucopia myth embodies the ideal that while other species are capable of overpopulation, and can become "plagues" and pests (even native species), when it comes to humanity, there are no limits to growth, and Nature's goodness and provision is infinite and never-ending! Overpopulation, and "anti-immigration" movements, therefore are misanthropic and "racist" sentiments, denying the immigrants the social justice due to them!
Those condemning of "anti-immigration" movements are thinly disguised upholders of the Cornucopia myth - something that defies science, reality and the finite-ness of our planet Earth.
"Want peace, prepare for war?" - Oksana Boyko interview on Syria
Reposted from Russia Today bi-weekly Worlds Apart program.
Every soldier is a general after the battle, but it seems we never learn the lessons of war. To discuss the elusive nature of peace, flourishing weapons proliferation and the Syrian conflict, Oksana is joined by Ambassador Fred Tanner, the Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.
Australian Independents to fund Fraser Island dingoes
Dr Patricia Petersen, Leader of the Australian Independents, said that her party was committed to fully funding a Fraser Island Care Facility for injured, orphaned and sick native animals on Fraser Island.
Dr Petersen said that after visiting Fraser Island and consulting with the local Hervey Bay community, it was clear to her that that a Wildlife Care Centre on World Heritage listed Fraser Island was "a must".
My Sunshine Coast - Australian Independents commit to protecting Fraser Island Dingoes
The Australian Independents have policies to eradicate homelessness, increasing the minimal wage to address growing poverty, and have policies about families, housing affordability, child abuse, crime, health, education, the economy, disability, seniors, aged care, public transport, asylum seekers, reproductive rights, human rights, etc, but NO immigration/population policies. Makes you wonder how they can practically address these issues while our population keeps blowing out?
They do have some good policies on animals, to ban "puppy farms", reducing noise for whales, the end of Japanese whaling, and the end of mass "culls" of kangaroos etc.
Australian Independents - policies
They're a newly formed party worthy of a vote!
An Impertinent Question
Permit me an impertinent question (or three).
Suppose a small group of extremely wealthy people sought to systematically destroy the U.S. government by (1) finding and bankrolling new candidates pledged to shrinking and dismembering it; (2) intimidating or bribing many current senators and representatives to block all proposed legislation, prevent the appointment of presidential nominees, eliminate funds to implement and enforce laws, and threaten to default on the nation's debt; (3) taking over state governments in order to redistrict, gerrymander, require voter IDs, purge voter rolls, and otherwise suppress the votes of the majority in federal elections; (4) running a vast PR campaign designed to convince the American public of certain big lies, such as climate change is a hoax, and (5) buying up the media so the public cannot know the truth.
Would you call this treason?
If not, what would you call it?
And what would you do about it?
ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock" and "The Work of Nations." His film, "Inequality for All," will be out in September. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.
Australia's Angry Mayors: How Population growth Frustrates
The Interface Councils launched the “fund Melbourne fairly” campaign last month, calling for increased investment in the outer suburbs. They claim that Melbourne’s outer suburbs received $893 million less than needed “to address critical infrastructure requirements” in the latest state budget.
A report 2011, Australia’s Angry Mayors:How Population Growth Frustrates Local Councils, (Adam Creighton and Oliver Marc Hartwich), says that the debate about population routinely dominates politics in Australia, including the (in)adequacy of Australia’s infrastructure and the potential impact on our environment.
Much of the debate revolves around national statistics and aggregates. What will Australia’s population be in 2050? What will Australia’s ‘carbon footprint’ be in 2030? What is the appropriate annual level of immigration?
Although important, these questions often obscure the impact of population growth on local communities, and the impediments and incentives they face in accommodating more people.
Local councils are at the coalface of population growth.
Local governments have been raising property rates to meet the costs of population growth. These rises are more likely in more populous and rapidly growing communities.
•Almost one-third of respondents, particularly larger councils, said population growth was damaging their bottom line, and that they were concerned about upgrading infrastructure.
•About 80% of respondents use developer levies to help pay for the costs of population growth.
Levies are used more widely by larger councils, and particularly in NSW and Queensland.
•Only a fraction of respondents thought their existing revenue mechanisms were wholly adequate. Indeed, more than half of the respondents in NSW and Queensland said the current setup was not satisfactory. Overwhelmingly, local councils think better access to
ongoing revenue streams would alleviate some of the pressures of accommodating extra population.
Larger councils were more likely to increase rates, while smaller councils were more reluctant.
More than half the survey respondents believed that population growth had a positive net effect on their council’s bottom line, citing the long-term benefits of population growth over the significant short- to medium-term funding shortfalls.
Smaller councils believed that the positive financial effect of population growth outweighed the costs of development. With bigger councils it was the reverse. Perhaps the infrastructure requirements for bigger councils are more expensive, or at least they are more aware of costs.
Local governments typically raise most of their funds from rates. To keep services and amenities up to date with rapidly growing populations, rates must continually rise.
Free Download
Oksana Boysenko interviews Clare Daly
Embedded below is an interview of Irish MP Clare Daly by Oksana Boyko, presenter of the bi-weekly Worlds Apart program on Russia Today. Clare Daly has used her profile as a member of the Irish Parliament to expose the criminal complicity of the Irish government with the United States in its supply of of weapons to the terrorist killers who have been fighting against the Syrian people and their government for the last two years. According to one estimate over 93,000 people have died as a result. As tragic as this loss is, it is only a small fraction of the death and destruction suffered by the people of neighbouring Iraq, who, according to one estimate, have suffered the loss of as many as 3.3 million lives as the result of illegal wars and sanctions imposed on Iraq since 1990 as the result of fraudulent pretexts such as the "incubator babies" lie and the Iraqi WMDs fraud.
The bravery and skill of the soldiers of the Syrian Arab National Army as well as the outspokenness of Clare Daly and other international opponents of war crimes have so far prevented the tragedy of Syria from becoming much worse.
Australia also complicit in crimes against Syria, Libya, Iraq, ...
The current Prime Minister, who recently ousted Australia's first woman Prime Minister Julia Gillard in a coup orchestrated by the Fairfax newsmedia, played a sinister role in fanning the flames of war against Libya in early 2011. As Australian Foreign minister, he took the extraordinary step of publicly advocating the so-called "no-fly zone" which was used by the United States and its NATO allies as a pretext to deprive the Libyan government of an air force to defend itself and its people against terrorists, aerial bombardment and ground invasion.
Kangaroo Court in Canberra - hated in the Bush Capital
There was never going to be justice or independent evaluation of the kangaroos' impacts on ecology coming from the court in Canberra. Their own government ecologist (D. Fletcher) was agreeing with the "cull", and supporting it - even using his own studies to support his arguments!
By definition, a government-appointed ecologists have no independence or detachment. He's bound to his employer - the ACT government - and wouldn't have been employed in the first place unless his focus was anthropocentric and government-centric.
These kangaroo courts are an example of how our native animals are meant to now justify their existence, and not for profit groups are left to their own funds and effort to defend these native animals, kangaroos, against unjustified accusations of being in overpopulated proportions, of being environmental threats, and overgrazing! Native animals shouldn't have to justify their existence!
It's absurd, cruel and full of hidden agendas. It's easy now to cloud economic arguments in pseudo-science to distract the public and make things look orderly and logical when they aren't!
Gillard not a friend of the most vulnerable women
The Victorian Women's Trust may praise Julia Gillard's achievements, but she wasn't very fair or kind to the most vulnerable of women- single mothers!
Gillard’s new policy forced around 100,000 single parents, 90 per cent of whom are women, onto Newstart unemployment payments when their youngest child turns eight. This will slash their weekly income by up to $223 a fortnight, or 12.8 per cent. More than 60,000 will shift to Newstart, with welfare groups estimating they will be between $60 to $100 a week worse off.
There are unlikely to be jobs for these women, yet they will be forced to go through the humiliating processes imposed by Centrelink.
It assumes that single mothers are all living their chosen lifestyles, when the contrary is most likely. Many women are abandoned, deserted, and victims of divorce.
Recipients tend to live in areas where unemployment is high, like Sydney’s western suburbs where employment rates reach 10 per cent.
The government claims the policy is an incentive to push single mothers into the workforce. Gillard has tried to defend the decision, arguing: “…it will be better for them [single parents] because they’ll have a job for the rest of their lives, and better for the child to have someone in the household modeling what it’s like to go to work every day.”
Thanks to declining manufacturing industries, privatisation, and immigration overload, we are facing rising unemployment. Gillard is still living in another era, when jobs were in plenty, and not facing up the realities of these times.
Politicians are increasingly out of touch with the issues facing the public, and are working on pre-formed ideas of another age.
Pat O'Brien also wrote adventure books
Thank you for including the interviews I did with dear Pat O'Brien. He had finished up being thanked and rewarded and recognised by Steve Irwin for his brave and innovative work, which ran against and still bawks Queensland and Australian mainstream environmental lockstep. Steve Irwin was a great man who could find other great people. I remember the simple pleasant house that Steve Irwin had provided for Pat for life. There were trees all around and it wasn't far from the Australia Zoo, where Pat still went to work.
Pat also wrote adventure books, mostly I think about environmentalists. They were e-books ahead of time. I bought one, but cannot now remember what name he wrote under. I checked under amazon.com and google, but cannot track them down. If anyone has links to them, let's add these. In the mean time I will try to track down my copy.
Sheila Newman
Kevin Rudd's Press Club speech: full transcript
The Federal election campaign lacks substance, is full of vague policies, heavy reliance on personalities rather than programs, clashes with the Opposition, and vague praise for our great economy!
Kevin Rudd said in his Press Club speech that "Our population should continue to be supported by a strong migration policy designed to mitigate the effects of our ageing population..."
Read more: Kevin Rudd's Press Club speech: full transcript of 1 July 2013 in the Sydney Morning Herald at http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/kevin-rudds-press-club-speech-full-transcript-20130711-2prqg.html .
Thanks to a unique history, our economic growth and our nation's foundation was forged through immigration - as an immigration nation. It's naively assumed that what we gained from it can continue to be propagated at our present times, contrary to empirical evidence that we are far from benefiting from our ongoing population growth.
That someone presumably as educated, and intelligent, as Kevin Rudd can actually believe that ongoing immigration can dilute our ageing population shows lack of strategic thinking, the ability to adjust his thinking from the past, and naively project it into the future. It's pure Ponzi Demographic- and growth now will mean lower wages, higher unemployment, a further blowout of homelessness and housing costs, and further demands on natural resources which will mean loosening our environmental protection policies even further. Comment: To attribute Kevin Rudd's actions to naïveté is being too kind to him in my opinion. See also Julia Gillard's attempt to enable effective scrutiny of candidates threatened vested interests of 28 June,- Ed
Joseph Chamie, the former head of the United Nations population division, has been quoted as saying: "Like all Ponzi schemes, Ponzi demography is unsustainable. Among its primary tactics, it exploits the fear of population decline and ageing. Without a young and growing population we are warned of becoming a nation facing financial ruin and a loss of national power". The irrational fear of ageing is being exploited, and ignores the fact that it's not only baby-boomers who are ageing, but migrants too!
The next generation will have an even bigger ageing population, and if the same logic is applied, are they then also to have even a bigger immigration program to compensate for it? It's a dangerous, lethal the idiotic human pyramid - one that will collapse under the weight of our own biomass!
"economic growth" brings poverty
We continually read the news about "shortages" of hospital beds, ambulances, housing, infrastructure, and congestion on our roads impeding productivity. When we read about "immigration", it's 99% about asylum seekers, but rarely is there any mention of the major source of our population growth - record numbers of permanent and temporary immigration. It stays behind the media, and the symptoms of overpopulation are mentioned but rarely the cause.
The number of refugees is set to surge, but they remain a diversion, a scapegoat for our own politically-engineered population growth. There's no public housing available, no jobs for the unskilled, and charities are already unable to cope with demands for help. Unless there are jobs, natural resources and industries being initiated, ongoing population growth means that our common wealth is continually diluted to be shared with more people, adding to poverty and deprivation. "Economic growth" brings poverty one we end up in economic and environmental overshoot!
Government hypocrisy
The government is hiding behind the language used for conservation, ie greenwashing, to support this "cull" of "overpopulated" kangaroos on nature reserves in Canberra. While Japan's whalers have been accused by Australia, in the International Court of Justice, of doing commercial whaling using the "lab coat of science", politicians in Canberra are doing similarly with kangaroos- of using junk science to justify the slaughter of wildlife.
Whether there is one, or 4 or 5, kangaroos per hectare is splitting hairs and using questionable science to justify the killings. There's no empirical evidence that kangaroos are as environmentally destructive and threatening as vermin or feral pests. They are soft-footed native animals, evolved especially to be endemic to Australia.
Ironically, it's World Population Day today, July 11th, and if there are any environmental threats to Australia, and ongoing damage being done to our natural heritage, then our own human overpopulation should be examined, not that of kangaroos!
Threatening processes are caused by detrimental habitat loss and changes, overgrazing - mainly by heavy-footed livestock- and introduced species. There's no valid documented evidence of any threats to native flora and fauna from kangaroos.
What's more likely is that this killing is to do with traffic accidents and insurance claims with regards to kangaroos on the road. It's a more mundane and monetary-based explanation for the killings, so the Canberra government should stop hiding behind junk science, and their vilification of kangaroos, in their support of the massacre.
Shallow understanding of dingoes
The dingo management strategy could be the work of Jim's Mowing or the local preschool management committee - who could probably do it better!
Understanding dingoes should include their history in Australia as accompanying indigenous peoples, and their association with humans. Aborigine elders should have been consulted, and an understanding of the dingoes' previous reliance on fishermen on Fraser Island. They should have asked dingo experts with experience being side by side with them, like Jennifer Parkhurst, ecologists and dingo behaviour experts.
The dingo management plan is more about keeping them away from tourists, their planned extinction, and their ultimate annihilation into museums as another species gone forever from Australia.
Party For Freedom
A Sustainable Population Policy for Australia – Halt Third World Immigration
A Sustainable Population Policy for Australia – Halt Third World Immigration (Part 1)
Call for a population policy:
Members of government who should responsibly formulate population policy, need keep in mind that over half the continent is already grazed, where a hectare can feed from 3 to 12 head of cattle. However, this is optimistic. Even the best land would struggle to hold 12 head /hectare and the arid rangelands in WA would be lucky to have 1 head per 35 hectares.
In many areas, soils are rapidly degrading, suffering erosion, or becoming salty. While Australia may currently be a net exporter of food, it increasingly imports more types of food to accommodate a diverse immigrant population.
Through immigration, cities are expanding cities over the surrounding areas of fertile land that were once their food bowl, with property developers calling for the release of more land to take the pressure of housing.
A responsible population policy would not be subject to the specious manipulation of property developers who are far more interested in property sales than sustainable population.
It's time for other councils at the coal-face of having to deal with budgets and services also stood up to government and Opposition big immigration and big population growth for Australia. It's not just "third world" immigration, but population growth as a whole!
'Sizeable' immigration key to economic growth, says Gillard
JULIA Gillard will continue to run "a sizeable immigration program" as she steers the nation towards a population of more than 40 million by 2050. As reported in The Australian on 4th April, she did not anticipate a change in the overall rate of immigration and would not impose population targets, while defending her government's treatment of asylum-seekers.
She backed down on her "sustainable" Australia policy. She is a growth-ist.
"We will continue in the years to come in my view to be a nation that welcomes migrants and particularly welcomes skilled migrants.." There's no guarantee of jobs, affordable housing, a rein on costs of living etc. It's policy in a vacuum, without considering the overall impact and all the parameters or costs of growth. More people means more consumers, more tax payers, more customers for big businesses and more construction for developers and the housing industry.
She's in the pockets of the elite, of global, national and multinational corporations who all demand limitless growth.
It's all part of the "Asian Century" to share Asia's population and economy.
'Sizeable' immigration key to economic growth, says Gillard Ben Packham in The Australian of 4 April 2013.
Julia Gillard broke her first promise
The furore over Kevin Rudd's "big Australia" shock to the nation contributed to his downfall. To ease her transition into Prime Ministership, Julia Gillard reassured the public that she didn't approve of Australia "hurtling towards a 'big Australia'" and instead nominated Environment Minister Tony Burke as Minister of "sustainable" Population. However, nothing was ever done towards the target of a sustainable population. There were three consultative panels that discussed the issue, but Tony Burke's final conclusion had no relationship to the findings of the panel and he declared that population growth would continue. There has been no media releases, or anything, from this Department.
Julia Gillard cut immigration rates from K Rudd's over 300,000 per year, but then it has been creeping upwards. Her "sustainable" population policy is no different from Kevin Rudd's "big Australia". It's all spin, and we have an economy based on jobs, tax revenues, business opportunities for the elite, and the impossibility of perpetual economic growth at all costs. The least brain-draining way of increasing the size of the economy is population growth - and ignore the impacts on the environment, hip pockets, public welfare and long term implications.
While in the details Julia Gillard had some good ideas and enlightened presentation, she failed to have vision and humility for what was happening at grassroots levels.
Population growth now is stealing from future generations - our descendants. Gillard doesn't have children, but parents today must be concerned about Australia's eroding living conditions, a bleak jobless future, costs of living and decline of our cities.
Editorial comment: The shortcomings in Julia Gillard's policies may have, in part, been due to the fact that she would have felt constrained from doing all that she would have preferred to do in the difficult political circumstances she found herself in. If she had been allowed to remain as Prime Minister, I think it is far more likely that she would have acted soon to end population growth.
PostGrowthEra wrote, "The least brain-draining way of increasing the size of the economy is population growth." An illusion of 'growth' is created by the building of more houses, roads, government bureaucracy, retail infrastructure other infrastructure to meet the needs of the new immigrants, but as there aren't any industries which need more workers to produce either for domestic consumption or export, all of this must be paid for out of our existing national wealth. Population growth does not increase the size of the economy. It only increases the number of people amongst which finite resources must be shared.
PM of great value discarded
I am sorry to see Julia Gillard discarded as Prime Minister. In time she will come to be appreciated as a great leader. As for now, Labor under Rudd might come close in the election. But I don't think Labor will come very close, losing - who knows? - Let's say 15 seats.
I am disappointed that so many people let Julia down in the popularity polls. And WHY did they? I don't know. She kept her cool, was tough and strong, cares about Climate Change, got the National Disability Insurance Scheme (now called 'Disability Care Australia') up and almost ready to go, ran a good economy (better than most), did a lot for education and health and much else such as the national roll-out of fibre optic cables, free home insulation, she negotiated a workable tax on mining profits, attended to foreign affairs competently and so on. And all this with a minority government. God, the woman's a star! Her true achievements should have been sheeted home by the media. I am puzzled that journalists didn't air all these things more and sing her praises instead of echoing Tony Abbott's negative comments - that he and the journalists repeated ad- nauseum.
It's as if the journalists are being told what to say, and maybe they are.
See also: Julia Gillard's attempt to enable effective scrutiny of candidates threatened vested interests of 28 June 2012. - Ed
Rudd visits Indonesia to talk about live exports
Mr Rudd is meeting with the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta today, and the beef trade is expected to be high on the agenda.
Rudd talks beef with Indonesia of 5 July 2013 on ABC News
It's assumed that by securing supply chains from Australia, our beef can help "feed the world". There are rising protein levels required in Indonesia, and Kevin Rudd is believes the live export industry represent a "huge opportunity" for us, despite Indonesia recently considering being more self sufficient in food.
What's really chilling is that Rudd said that "I think the first thing he needs to say is apologise to the people to the government and to the Indonesians for what the Australian Government did when they stopped the trade without talking to them". Cattle were routinely smashing their heads on concrete plinths, having their eyes gouged, tails broken, and throats brutally hacked at in Indonesian abattoirs.
If we apologise for ending their stabbing, torture and atrocities to the animals we sent there is an insult to sanity and any humane standards of animal welfare. An ‘apology’ will also send a damaging message to importing countries that trade relations are more important than stopping animal abuse.
Australian Livestock Exporters' Council chief executive, Alison Penfold, says halting exports would be premature and damaging to Australia's relationship with Vietnam. There's not mention of the lack of transparency and mismanagement of the industry that allowed the shameful atrocities to being in the first place!
Australia can't provide "food security" for the world. Cattle are starving now because of drought, and we are they driest country with a rapidly rising population.
According to Animals Australia, live export represents just 0.3% of Australia's total exports. The chilled meat trade is worth nearly 6 times more to the economy. The vast majority of jobs currently supported by the live trade would still exist if livestock were being sent to local markets. Ending live export would in fact create jobs in Australia through increased domestic processing.
Population growth is not inevitable but "silly"! Matthew Guy
But Mr Guy labelled the plan “silly”, saying there were better ways to ease Wyndham’s population pressures.
“No state government or local government can limit population growth as suggested. To suggest that any form of government could limit the number of children people can have is silly".
Matthew Guy is in denial. He's trying to divert attention to the number of children we are having as the source of population growth when 60% is due to immigration - a political policy! While not all the residents are likely to be foreign-born, they are being displaced from our city's core by rampant growth and unaffordable housing.
Once land is subdivided and plans approved for housing, home-seekers will cluster and be lured to the area. Even 3000 homes a year, it's still a pressure on roads, social services and infrastructure. Our governments have no intention of limiting population growth and are deliberately encouraging it.
Good on the Wyndham Council for standing up to the developer-driven State government and Matthew Guy's growth-agenda. There needs to job growth projects, and education/training resources, not housing and population growth.
Nothing can grow forever. Matthew Guy keeps talking about providing infrastructure, but it costs money and city building is expensive. Once immigration equals emigration, we can start to improve our city and enjoy it without people being deprived.
What needs a "slam" is our growth-addicted State government, supported by Federal governments with strong agreement to continue our third-world rates of population growth!
East-West link comments deadline today 5pm
1. Re On Line Survey by Linking Melbourne Authority on East West Link and Community Survey
Please consider completing the Linking Melbourne Authority Survey on the East West Link. It appears that there is opportunity to make critical comments on the East West Link. The online survey for East West Link can be accessed by visiting the site at http://yoursay.linkingmelbourne.vic.gov.au/eastwestlink.
You can also access the Community Survey from this site, or alternatively visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EWLCS1
There are two forum questions that Linking Melbourne Authority says "we are asking":
What is it about the East West Link indicative corridor that appeals to or concerns you?
How do you currently travel between Melbourne's eastern and western suburbs? Do you think the East West Link will make a difference to your commute?
These questions have been open for public comment for two weeks and will close on Friday 5 July (today) .
2. Comments or Submissions on the East West Link
This is of vital importance. Please try to make a submission - even a short comment. Linking Melbourne Authority says "Anyone that would like to make any other comments or suggestions (apart from on the Survey) are encouraged to email them through to [email protected]" Make sure you keep a copy. They have to be submitted today.
See Julianne Bell's paper below on "10 Reasons to Oppose the East West Link." You can select some or all of these and add any other reasons as you see fit. Suggest you cut and paste and send by email for speed.(It does not matter if many of the submissions are the same.) Remember that the Eddington Review of 2008 for construction of the East West Link was defeated by sending in submissions opposing this monster roadway. Over 2,500 submissions.were received. It was said to show "people power".
Please ensure that on your submission you put your name, address if possible, your email and mobile phone.
Keep on checking the Linking Melbourne Authority website.
Protectors of Public Lands Victoria Inc. (PPL VIC)
10 REASONS TO SAY “NO” TO THE EAST WEST LINK TOLL ROAD
1. Public Transport Rail Projects The East West Link may cost $10 billion plus and so suck Treasury dry of funds for long-demanded rail projects, namely Doncaster, Tullamarine, Rowville and extension of the South Morang Rail line. Also Melbourne Metro Rail.
2. No Funds for Key
3. Blowout in Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Increased Car Use Encouraged: The proposed project involves construction of 4 (maybe 6 lane) lane tollway concrete road tunnels and aerial roadways or cut-and cover-roadways for 18 km., which will blow out Victoria’s green house emissions. Provision of new roads will encourage increased vehicle usage, whereas in other States rail lines are being extended for commuters and for freight transport.
4. East West Link = Truck Not Commuter Route: The road tunnels are first and foremost a city by-pass for trucks and therefore do not serve commuters. The EW Link is reportedly going underground at Hoddle Street and, with one turnoff at Elliott Avenue to Flemington Road, emerges in Royal Park, travels through the Ross Straw Field and joins CityLink in or over the Royal Park wetlands. As most traffic off the Eastern Freeway is headed south or north - including for the city – not east-west, the road tunnels do not serve the majority of commuters off the Eastern Freeway.
5. Congestion Will Remain: The current congestion and gridlock experienced in parts of the city will worsen as city commuters avoid the road tollway and turn off at Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill, and filter through the inner city or continue on existing roads above ground.
6. Destruction of Melbourne’s Major Park - Royal Park: The EW Link will cut a swathe through Royal Park and in the process of tunnel or roadway construction over four to five years it will be transformed into giant quarry sites and its bushland (used for passive recreation), sports fields, community facilities, wetlands and water storage tanks ripped up by the EW Link construction.
7. Destruction of Wetlands and Water Storage Facilities: The Royal Park Wetlands which supplies water for Melbourne’s parks and street trees plus the Royal Park Golf course will be completely destroyed, including the vast water storage tanks under the Ross Straw field.
8. Loss of sports fields and club rooms: The sports fields in west and east Royal Park plus Princes Park which serve thousands of people - school children as well as adults – from across Melbourne will be requisitioned for construction for the tollway and probably never restored. This is at a time the population is growing rapidly and sports facilities are already in short supply. This will have a negative impact on people’s health.
9. Loss of the State Netball and Hockey Centre plus Urban Camp for Children: The 4 lane EW Link will come within metres of the SNHC and will wipe out the Urban Camp. As Brens Drive is in its pathway access will be closed off during construction which will take 4 to 5 years. It is doubtful if the SNHC can survive.
10. Compulsory Acquisition of Homes and Loss of Residential Amenity: Whole neighbourhoods will be severely affected by construction of road tunnels and elevated roadways along the route. We know that properties will be subject to compulsory acquisitions in Collingwood, Carlton and West Parkville. As we have no proper plans we do not know the extent of the threat to residential amenity of inner Melbourne.
11. Threat to the Melbourne Zoo and the Royal Children’s Hospital: These institutions are threatened not only during 4 to 5 years of construction with vibration and noise but from long term pollution from vent stacks. It is not known where they will be located and whether the EW Link will be open cut through Royal Park. The Elliott Avenue turn off/on is only a short distance from the RCH.
Contact: Julianne Bell Secretary PPL VIC .
Asylum Seekers from Iran "economic migrants"
Iranians become the leading group of asylum seeker arrivals and the massive numbers of Sri Lankan seen last year shrink dramatically. Government records show 1079 Iranians have made the trip to Australia by boat in 2013, taking top place from Sri Lanka, from where 6428 people arrived in 2012.
Iranians gain relatively painless entry to Indonesia, with the Middle Eastern country on the list of those whose nationals are able to acquire a visa on arrival. That has meant that Iranians ultimately seeking to arrive in Australia by boat are able to conduct the stretch of the journey as far as Indonesia without legal difficulty.
Early indications are that many of the Iranians arrivals are middle-class residents of big cities such as Tehran who have been able to summon up the tens of thousands of dollars to pay a people smuggler for a chance at entry to Australia. As essentially economic refugees, they face little chance of their claim being accepted.
Iranian numbers swelling on asylum seeker list of 11 Jan 2012 on crikey,com.au
Senator Carr says there have "been some boats where 100 per cent of them have been people who are fleeing countries where... their motivation is altogether economic". According to the UNHCR, Iran currently recognises almost a million Afghan refugees. In 2008, Iran said it intended to expel 1.5 million Afghans it considered to be illegally in the country.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees regional head Richard Towle attacked Bob Carr's claims the majority of Iranian asylum-seekers were seeking improved economic circumstances. The problem is due to sheer numbers and costs, causing a need to refine what "asylum seekers" really are. Bob Carr is quite right that economics could play a part in the displacement of nationals from their homelands.
Human population numbers are set to continue to swell by 2 billion more by 2050, and as a result there will be conflicts over finite resources, causing wars and revolutions. Along with climate change and failing food supplies, migrations of entire nations will soon take place as people begin to flee their homelands to seek asylum elsewhere.
GREG BARNES from the Australian Lawyers Alliance says that one of the other things that Mr Carr seems to be confusing is the fact that economic oppression can amount to persecution. "Economic oppression" could include billions of potential refugees who are denied jobs
Asylum seeker lawyer says more compensation is inevitable for detainees! ... on ABC Radio National's The World Today of 2 July 2013.
The latest figures from the Immigration Department show that in the past year the Government has paid out almost a million dollars in compensation to detainees who allege they've been wrongfully held or injured in detention.
There is a deep concern in the community that Labor is allowing migration intake to run out of control. We now have over 200,00 new skilled and family-reunion migrants a year net, along with uncapped temporary migrants, in Australia.
There is a need to have an orderly refugee process, and we certainly have credentials as a compassionate nation. However, we have to protect our borders from unsustainable surging asylum seeker numbers at a time when our cities are already under considerable population pressure.
We need a tough, strong border protection policy, and a redefinition of who qualifies as needing asylum, but there needs to be some rational debate on priorities. Permanent economic migrants arriving at airports each day are shielded because a relatively small number of asylum seekers hijack the "immigration" debate.
Fairfax Media understands that Australia is speaking to Iran and the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, about how failed asylum-seekers can be returned to that country.
Read more: Rudd plan to return failed refugees to Iran in the Canberra Times of 2 July 2103.
Australia fuel security
It is scary for national security when we have to go begging for fuel in desperation. car servicing
Editorial comment: This comment includes a link to a commercial site. However, as this comment adds to the to the discussion and as the car servicing service in the UK, described in the page linked to, seems novel and useful, we decided not to remove this comment.
Japan's whaling - they are not answerable to anyone!
Canberra's lead counsel has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Australia is totally opposed to any form of commercial whaling "whether it be carried out under the guise of science or not". It's junk science that could easily be refuted.
Lawyers for Tokyo are expected to argue Tuesday that the International Court of Justice has no jurisdiction to hear the dispute with Australia and New Zealand over the annual hunt and slaughter of hundreds of minke and fin whales in the Southern Ocean. It seems that Japan will argue that they can do what they want do, and whatever laws and policies they violate, that they are superior to and above them! The Antarctic Treaty, the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, Australia's EEZ in the Antarctic, and now even the Court of Justice have no jurisdiction over what they are allowed or not allowed to do.
Lawyers for Australia told the court last week that the whaling is a commercial hunt dressed up as science and should be stopped.
Japan has their own culture, and values. They don't feel they have obligations to the rest of the world's problems, values, or laws. $10 m donations from Australia, after their earthquake, was squandered on "security" for the whaling fleet and other irrelevant projects.
New ACOSS report
Public housing at "crisis point", more Australians are homeless, many young migrants homeless:
Australia's frontline community services are unable to meet growing demand, and the homeless and mentally ill are hurting most, a new report has found.
Sixty-three per cent of legal services failed to meet demand, along with 52 per cent of youth services, 47 per cent of mental health services and 46 per cent of domestic violence and sexual assault services.
Housing Industry Association (HIA) chief executive Graham Wolfe said the report's findings didn't come as a surprise. "There has been a failure by successive governments at a state and federal level to address the fundamental constraints to housing delivery," he said.
Property developers are feigning horror and adding to the condemnation of governments for not providing support, but they are largely the cause, not the solution.
Nothing is said about record levels of immigration, largely now from third world countries!
This is the nation that a few years ago was the "Lucky Country". More impoverished and more desperate people will make our population more flexible, and more compliant as a resource to exploit for cheaper labour.
Community services can't meet demand
See also: Welfare groups 'can't meet demand', Australian Council of Social Services report says in the Herald Sun of 1 July 2013.
Greens Population policy sadly lacking substance
According to the Greens, the current level of population, population growth and the way we consume are outstripping environmental capacity. Australia must contribute to achieving a globally sustainable population and encourage and support other nations to do the same.
Population| Greens 2013 Election
It's a "complex policy issue"! While they admit that population growth is outstripping environmental capacity, they also consider many human-focused and scientifically irrelevant dimensions.
They also believe that Australia's population should be determined by:
* global and domestic social justice and equity, including women's rights;
* intergenerational equity;
* multiculturalism;
* international human rights obligations; and
* decent wages and conditions for all workers.
Sadly, for a political party focusing on the environment, there is nothing here of any substance, or anything to address population growth that can be implemented.
Population growth is an environmental issue, and as such, science is not concerned about social justice, women's rights, multiculturalism, intergenerational equality, workers wages, global justice, our well-being, human rights etc.
The Greens are confusing the issue and giving the planet some anthropomorphic qualities so it has obligations to humanity? What will impact on our planet is the aggregate numbers of humans seeking resources, clearing land, producing greenhouse gas emissions, and economic growth that requires habitats to be cleared to produce food and other consumables - denying non-human species their rightful existence on our planet.
The Stable Population Party makes sense - simple and straight-forward. We need to stablise our population, protect our lifestyles, and social justice issues can be sorted out subsequently.
Australia can't fix the planet's overpopulation. We will fall in the abyss of overpopulation ourselves. Foreign aid is all we can offer, and some genuine asylum seekers can be accommodated but not while we "big Australia" for property developers and businesses.
Ongoing population growth will cause displacement, disempowerment, poverty, strained human and natural resources, and increasing unemployment.
National Wattle Day - 1st September
AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY
PRESS RELEASE
National Wattle Day
1st September 2013
Nominations for the Native Australian Award
"THE ORDER OF THE WATTLE BLOSSOM"
are invited from Australian Citizens
GENERAL CRITERIA.
Persons nominated should have displayed a commitment to Australia's cultural heritage, our national values, our native soil, or any other suitable aspect that has contributed to the advancement of our European derived civilisation.
Nominations may be either Native Australians, members of the Australoid Race, or any assimilable immigrant who has particularly exhibited having taken up the Australian Spirit.
Please forward particulars, including the following information to the address below before 25th August.
Name and address of nomination; suggested award citation.
Include your own name and address.
In keeping with past tradition, up to five awards can be granted.
AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY
www.australiafirst.net Email: ausfirst [AT] hotmail.com
P.O. Box 223 Croydon 3136 National Contact Line 02 8587 0014
Voting for other than AUSTRALIA FIRST is just a waste of time
Division of finite resources amongst more is not growth
At some time in our past history, when Australia had a sub-optimal population, adding to the numbers could have added to our wealth on average.
However there are no longer industries which require additional labour to produce additional goods, services or food for either domestic consumption or export. So, adding to Australia's population through immigration cannot rightly be labelled 'growth'. It can only possibly lead to our finite stock of natural resources, including arable land and living space, being divided amongst larger numbers of people. It can only make Australians on average poorer.
In addition, an ever greater proportion of our wealth has to be spent on roads, freeways, parking lots, public transport, power generation, government bureaucracy, etc. to keep our ever-expanding cities working.
It is time that our economy was properly investigated so that we can find out who gains from degrading our environment and making us poorer overall and how the economy can be fixed so that we can achieve full employment without the need to continually add to our population.
Song birds disappearing due to trapping and consumption
It's not exactly related to the released chimps, and their first experience of natural surroundings and behaviours, but while some of these captured animals are now enjoying their new found freedoms, other are being trapped and killed.
Many species of birds and animals migrate around the world, from whales to tiny birds. However, the world is getting a more dangerous place due to human activities and human hunger.
Around the world, many of the most spectacular migrations have either disappeared due to human activities or are in steep decline.
Birdwatchers in North America and Europe, for example, complain that fewer songbirds are returning each spring from their winter quarters in Latin America and Africa, respectively. Indeed, a recent continent-wide analysis of European breeding birds concluded that long-distance migrants (i.e., those species that breed in Europe but winter in sub-Saharan Africa) have suffered sustained and often severe population declines, more so than related nonmigratory species. Birdwatchers can still see all of the species of migratory songbirds they seek each spring; they simply have to work harder to do so.
Going, Going, Gone: Is Animal Migration Disappearing
The situation in the Mediterranean is appalling: Every year, from one end of it to the other, hundreds of millions of songbirds and larger migrants are killed for food, profit, sport, and general amusement. Italian hunters and poachers are the most notorious; for much of the year, the woods and wetlands of rural Italy crackle with gunfire and songbird traps. The food-loving French continue to eat ortolan buntings illegally, and France’s singularly long list of huntable birds includes many struggling species of shorebirds. Songbird trapping is still widespread in parts of Spain; Maltese hunters, frustrated by a lack of native quarry. It's considered a "sport" to find "free food".
National Geographic - Last song for Migrating Birds
With feet and wings stuck to “lime sticks,” the songbirds cannot escape. Poachers placed these decoy shrubs along a highway near the Mediterranean. It's the trapping, torture and killing of the innocents - the ultimate human domination of tiny and delicate singing birds that want only to sing, twitter, migrate and come back to breed.
For centuries eating songbirds was a prized delicacy in Cyprus, but now economic crisis is luring many out-of-work Cypriots back into the centuries-old trade. They risk stiff fines and even jail time by supplying an underground market for the tiny songbirds illicitly served up in the country's tavernas - but they say it's their only way to make ends meet.
Cyprus jobless turn to illegal songbird trapping It's an easy and free meal.
Served whole either boiled or pickled, the fatty birds are such an ugly sight on a plate that outsiders find it hard to fathom how there could be any profit to be made from them. For many Cypriots, however, the tangy-sweet taste of the birds is pure bliss.
It's the ultimate of human power, to capture, enslave, kill and consume the weak, the strong, the moving and all of the animal kingdom as much as possible. It's not a wild boar, an strong lion, a raging elephant or the usual trophy catch that hunters usually desire. Eating songbirds is about violating a taboo that we honour and protect the weak, pretty, innocent and musical. Some humans think by eating animal or bird body parts they can capture the elements that make them endearing, or the qualities that make them appreciated. That's why the Asian market in animal body parts is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine is so popular. It's not based on science, but of being able to capture the qualities that make up the once living creatures by consuming them!
Australian voters entitled to be offered public banking
The privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank by the Hawke/Keating 'Labor' governments, which commenced in 1991 and was completed in 1996, was never put to voters during the elections of 1990 and 1993. Indeed, none of the many other government sell-offs of state banks, state government insurance offices and other wealth generating-assets and infrastructure and services which occurred in Australia since the 1980's was ever put to electors, except the one occasion.
New South Wales Voters repudiate privatisation in 2011 elections
That occurred at the New South Wales (NSW) state elections of 2011 after the successive state 'Labor' governments of Premiers Bob Carr, Morris Iemma, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally had attempted to flog off the state's electricity generators against fierce opposition from the NSW community, trade unions and rank-and-file Labor Party members and members of the NSW upper house of Parliament. At the 2011 the ruling Labor Party was trounced and Liberal Leader Barry O'Farrell, who had maintained a principled opposition to privatisation was elected a Premier.
Public banking would be offered to electors in a truly democratic election
Voters are entitled to be offered an opportunity to reverse the grave harm that was done to their interests in recent decades without their consent, partcularly bank privatisation. For the new Federal government to reverse bank privatisation, it would require far less effort and political fight than what it would take to reverse the other privatisations. As an alternative to nationalisation and re-nationalisation, private banks a government bank could be set up. This would immediately break the private banking monopoly. Thereafter open competition by open and accountable public accountable public banks, run by dedicated pubic servants would, at the very least, make it impossible for private banks to continue to impose crippling charges and impose high interest.
The public bank could also be given the right to print sufficient legal tender to enable the real wealth produced by the Australian economy to be circulated. This occurred in the American colonies in the 1770's in the days of Benjamin Franklin and those economies flourished as described in Ellen Brown's "The Web of Debt". However, after the victory of the American revolution, the private bankers were, paradoxically, able to, behind the backs of the American public, take away their right to print legal tender. Since then, a number of American Presidents including Lincoln and JFK have tried to reverse this and break the power of the private banks, with tragic consequences for those two at least.
It remains to be seen if any of the candidates contesting the forthcoming Australian Federal elections, whether standing for either of the major parties, the Greens, other minor parties or as independents, will offer that choice to voters. Where they do, we will certainly make it known to voters on the pages of candobetter.
Foreign skilled workers replacing Australians
There was an article in MX exposing that many young Australians were being forced to find jobs overseas. With all the "skills" we are lacking, we have an immigration overflow! Australians are being displaced from the job market in favour of foreigners. Who gains? Employers can get cheaper wagers and more compliant workers. If it was purely to get workers in remote areas of Australia where there might be genuine skills shortages, but then why are we getting them in urban areas?
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said?
"But where you've got high unemployment - where for example in the case of Geelong where you've seen unemployment running higher than the total employment - sorry the average employment of this country. When you've got issues about Ford's closure, when you've got the Victorian Government talking about wanting a regional migration agreement to increase 457s. I think we have to stop and have a look and say is that what we want to do? Are we going to create an underclass of Australians because we don't provide them with opportunities for work, and we're not providing young people sufficient training to get those jobs? I think that's an obligation of the government to do that."
The "underclass" of Australians is being created by our governments' caving into businesses and their demands for cheaper labour, from third world countries.
It's is quicker and cheaper to get workers from overseas, and coming from third world countries, they will work twice as hard as well. After 12 months here they can go back home and build the house of their dreams with the money they made here. Meanwhile our own kids will work our whole life to pay a mortgage to have a roof over our heads. It is right for workers in Australia to feel betrayed by their fellow Australians and our government, they are being undermined from every direction by people who do not give a damn whether they survive our open borders.
Fires causing smoke and pollution in South East Asia
Fires in South East Asia are polluting Singapore. They are set purposely to convert rainforest into land that can be used for agriculture and plantations, mostly for palm oil production. The fires in Indonesia have created Southeast Asia's worst smog crisis for years, pushing haze levels in the neighboring city-state of Singapore to record levels last week.
The Singapore Tourist Board said it continues to welcome tourists but is keeping a close watch on the situation and advised tourists to limit outdoor activities at the weekend.
WWF says that the burning of forests to clear land for oil palm plantations in Indonesia and, to some extent, Malaysia has been cited as the major cause of the air pollution that affected many areas of Southeast Asia in 1997 and 2002, including Singapore and other cities.
Research shows that up to 25% of concessionaires, including local and foreign companies, ignore the rule restricting the planting of oil palm on peat more than three metres deep. All plantation lands and future plantations on peat are essentially illegal because they contravene national laws. But over 50% of new oil palm plantation areas are planned in peat-lands. (Greenpeace)
Indonesia is preparing to tackle the fires - which happen nearly every year on Sumatra's palm oil plantations - by using planes and helicopters in a 'water-bombing' operation.
Palm oil has become a scourge that humans have inflicted upon this planet. And its fallout is due as much to human overpopulation as it is to pure greed. Palm oil is a cooking oil. It’s also used in many processed foods. Palm oil comes from the fruit of a very specific palm tree. And it’s cheap. It is also high in saturated fat. So why is it spreading like a bad rumor? Let us repeat. It’s cheap, and people need income. (Rainforest Action Website: http://www.enoughof.us/tag/rainforest-action-network/)
There are more people than ever on the earth. Most of them use edible oils. Palm oil is now the most widely used. Other popular oils include soybean and corn. They are much less unhealthful than palm oil. Brazil is well along in decimating its own rainforests, savanna and jungle habitats with farms of various types, often displacing its indigenous communities with both lawful and unlawful development.
Orangutans are endangered due to habitat loss and capture for the illegal pet trade. Their rainforest homes are rapidly declining due to illegal logging, mining, farming, oil palm plantations, and human overpopulation. Orangutan populations have declined more than 50 percent in the last decade.
Orangutans are considered to be pests by the palm oil industry. (The same way kangaroos are considered an ecological threat in Australia). In the deforestation process, orangutans are often run over by logging machinery, beaten to death, buried alive or set on fire. Orangutans that wander into palm oil plantations are considered to be agricultural pest, because they have the potential to damage oil palm crops.
Palm oil produces immense amount of smoke pollution that is toxic to planet earth. This has been found to be the second biggest contributor to greenhouse gas in the world.
Scientists warn that many of Indonesia's species could be extinct in the wild within 20 to 30 years. There are many "environmental" groups who still deny the threat and impacts of human overpopulation. With human numbers surging, the demand for economic growth means infiltrating forests and producing goods for commercial benefits - at what ever costs to the planet!
Jill Quirk is candidate for Stable Population Party
In case you didn't know.
Launch at the Rising Sun Hotel, upstairs, at 2 Raglan St., Sth Melbourne on
Date: Sunday 30 June, 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Event: Social gathering with party president, officials and candidates (including Senate candidates Clifford Hayes and Jill Quirk).
PAYG drinks and lunch available.
Please RSVP: CLICK HERE
Stable Pop Party Campaign launch Sunday midday Sth Melb
Campaign launch - Sun, 30 June
Date: Sunday 30 June, 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Venue: Rising Sun Hotel (upstairs), 2 Raglan St, South Melbourne:
http://www.therisingsunhotel.com
Event: Social gathering with party president, officials and candidates (including Senate candidates Clifford Hayes and Jill Quirk).
PAYG drinks and lunch available.
Please RSVP: CLICK HERE
We need some leadership in Australia - position vacant!
What will the voting public gain from K Rudd's reappearance? He's already shown that he's a failure. He's full of grand gestures, but without substance. The real problem is that we lack leaders in Australia. We have rising costs of living, a corrupt and out of control immigration policies, housing is some of the most expensive in the world, and unemployment rising. The people of Australia want some real leadership, and while there is continual bickering and squabbling inside the Labor party, Australia will continue to be rudderless! This change in leadership is simply moving-the-deckchairs-on-the-Titanic! It makes little difference ultimately. Julia Gillard was doing an adequate job in the face of adversary, and now we have BigKev back again!
Bringing forward the election will stifle democracy by limiting the time smaller parties have for their campaigns.
There needs to a be dramatic and earth-moving change in Australia's political direction. We need a new Australian image, and a reawakening of patriotism. Foreign workers, foreign buyers of land and housing, foreign students, record immigration, and foreign imports are all about globalizing and making Australia a generic, international piece of land. The time of "White Australia" are looking attractive - we at least had the "Lucky Country", high living standards, wealth, and an identity!
Local market testing would squeeze out 457 visa holders
International students have turned our tertiary educational system into a huge export industry. If Australia really has chronic skills shortages, then why are we exporting our universities and TAFEs instead of skilling and educating our own population? International students should be supplementing their fees and making tertiary education more affordable, but funding keeps getting slashed and fees are rising.
What the media are failing to report that the 457 visa program is part of Australia's free trade agreement. In return for trade, foreigners are allowed to have access to the jobs created by our economy. What other country would undermine their own workers, and allow them to be discriminated against by foreign imported labour?
Local market testing would, no doubt, mean that these 457 visa holders would not get the jobs they have been promised.
457 Visas
Does it not seem utterly reasonable that the government require employers to advertise positions locally before importing and installing employees on 457 visas? This to me shows basic (and in fact the minimum ) consideration for Australian workers. To me the stance is morally unassailable.
Aging
Aging is not a problem if people live active productive lives for the extended period of lifespan.
Since retirement age remains around 65 in the community paid employment reduces around this age but the volunteer services to the community have increased greatly over this period in both amount and the type of service provided. This week an elderly friend took on 8 hours of work transporting frail people around Perth's largest hospital complex; others work at collecting patients and delivering them to and from the medical centre thus reducing the need for ambulance transport for low care patients.
Across the community more and more support services are being provided by volunteers.
Work is being transferred from the paid to volunteer sector. Effectively the aging are contributing to the support needed for the average time, around 2 years, of infirmity at the end of life.
Editorial comment: If the economy was run properly, and not just to serve the interests of bankers, renters, land speculators, corporate elites and other trolls under the bridge, the Government would have no trouble finding money to pay for work that must now be performed by volunteers. Also, why couldn't there be graduated retirement? Why couldn't those over 65 be allowed to work part time should they have the need to?
Charity starts at home first and foremost
The comment that was posted here has been modified and re-published as the article Native Australian nurses face discrimination, unemployment. - Ed
Very disappointing news
It seems to me that Julia Gillard has been punished for doing a good job as PM in a difficult situation. I don't know where the heads of her colleagues were tonight when they voted against her . I guess they'll wake up one day, probably fairly soon and realise what fools they are.
K Rudd - Australia Day 2012 Award
AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY - Order of the Toad citation of 2012.
Kevin Rudd.
Displaying the qualities of a subservient peon by compromising the independence and integrity of the Australian People, in colluding to the demands of imperialist war mongers to establish American military bases on our Native Soil.
Leadership spill from this woman's point of view
To me, Rudd looked like a man unable to cope with being replaced by a woman, being manipulated by the male dominated mass media for their own ends.
Scary Transport projects bill DELAYED 'til on or after 20/8/2013
The Legislative Assembly Procedures Office of Parliament has advised that the Government Business Program for Thursday does NOT include this Bill. Hence you do not need to attend Parliament. As this - Thursday 27 June 2013 - is the last sitting day of Parliament before the winter recess, the Bill will not be introduced again until on or after 20 August 2013. (If there is any last minute change Protectors of Public Land will advise.)
Thanks Sheila. The idea is to
Thanks Sheila.
The idea is to get a picture of each candidate.
In my research so far I have found several alternative sites, posted below, that could act as this type of public service.
I wonder what your thoughts are on these sites in comparison to my idea, and if it is needed?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2013/votecompass/ * large media company (public ABC) behind
http://www.mypolitician.com.au *most professional
http://www.virginvoters.com.au/ *media company
http://bothkindsofpolitics.org
http://belowtheline.cc
http://www.candidate.com.au/
http://votersummary.com
The parties I have spoken to are all talking about the hardship that it will be to participate in the election at all due to the increased requirements for Signatures and Fees.
A rung against the small independant voice it seems :(
Why don't the media comment on this?
This topic would be one ideal for programs like Q&A, and other talk-back shows and the media. We have been trained to be so politcally-correct to be mute when it comes to questioning immigration and population growth! The public are like obedient trained dogs, simply obeying the constraints on thought.
Is it "western" or "white" guilt, that we have these "high" living standards, and "jobs", and we are meant to "share" then with the rest of the world? Or is the ideal and assumption of perpetual economic growth must be pursued at all costs, even at our detriment? Alternatively, are an "immigration nation" and nothing can change this and we are locked into immigration forever- despite logic and empirical evidence that it can't be maintained.
Asylum seekers are debated, but their numbers pale into insignificance compared to our legal immigration rates, and swelling numbers of permanent and temporary migrants. It's treated as inevitable, as natural, rather than government policy. The media will scrutinize other government policies, but not NOM!
Tony Abbot said: "The fact is, people from overseas have made a magnificent contribution to our country. And trying to stir people up against them is the last thing that the Prime Minister should be doing, particularly in western Sydney." (re 457 visa workers taking jobs from Australians)
Gillard-Abbott trade blows in row over foreign workers
Between May 2011 and May 2012. Western Sydney had an employment participation rate of 63.0%, which is lower than the participation rates for Sydney (66.0%) and for NSW (63.6%). In May 2012, almost 26% of employed persons in Western Sydney were working in part-time employment. This was lower than the NSW rate of just over 29%. The Fairfield-Liverpool labour force region had the highest unemployment rate of 9.2%, while the North Western Sydney labour force region had the lowest, at 4.2%. Western Sydney had a youth unemployment rate of 17.9%, slightly higher than the NSW rate of 15.3%.
Western Sydney: An Economic Profile NSW government
What about the "magnificent contribution" Australian born people are making, and trying to make, to our country? They are being overlooked. It's more like people are being amassed as economic units, as fillers for the housing and property industries and as an economic resources for businesses.
People born overseas have taken almost three-quarters of the net growth in full-time jobs in Australia in the past two years, even though they make up just 31 per cent of the adult population
Majority of new jobs go to migrants
This has merely slipped past any media follow-up.
The media should be invited to this event, and thanks to Dr Bob Birrell for taking on this topic.
For these bandicoots to stay, keep foxes away
On Tuesday, the rabbit-sized eatern barred bandicoot's wild numbers get a boost with the release of 36 animals into a 280-hectare, fox-free site at Woodlands Historic Park in Greenvale.
For these bandicoots to stay, keep foxes away Bridie Smith, The Age 24th June
In the mid-1990s there were as many as 600 bandicoots at Woodlands. Within a decade, all had disappeared, largely because of foxes. Drought and rabbits also reduced food availability. Ongoing monitoring - including using closed circuit television - would ensure fox territory remained restricted.
With fewer than 400 left in the wild, geneticists say they need at least 2500 to ensure the species' survival.
Let's hope that these bandicoots can survive the many threats that already exist.
Doncaster Rail Study - Feedback urgently required
The Doncaster Railway is the alternative to the awful Bill being pushed through for more tollways. It is a popular, sensible alternative. You can show your support:
A reminder there is only two weeks remaining to complete your feedback submission on the Phase One Draft Recommendations Report for the Doncaster Rail Study. The closing date to provide feedback is Friday 28 June 2013.
The Draft Report was released on 14 March 2013 and can be viewed on our study website www.doncasterrailstudy.com
Comments can be provided by completing the feedback form online by following this link:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/doncasterrailstudy_feedbackform
Alternatively, you can download a copy of the Feedback Form on our website www.doncasterrailstudy.com or send your feedback submission to us in an email to [email protected]
All comments will be considered for incorporation into the Doncaster Rail Study Phase One Final Recommendations Report.
Thank you to all those who participated in the Community Information Session and Online Facebook Forum we held last month to present our key findings on the Draft Recommendations Report. These sessions involved a constructive Q&A opportunity for the community to clarify queries on the recommendations.
Even though the Online Forum is now closed for new questions, you can still read the questions and answers posted. Log into your Facebook account then click on this link to view: https://www.facebook.com/DoncasterRailStudy/app_202980683107053
We look forward to receiving your feedback.
"Land of opportunities" doesn't exist any more
This invitation to a "land of opportunities" may have been quite appropriate from the 1950s to 1980s, but certainly not now! It's an anachronism, or selling overseas of an image that's false and totally inaccurate.
With high and increasing rates of unemployment, and unaffordable housing, the opportunities don't exist any more. Trying to compensate for our "ageing population" through immigration is Ponzi Demographics, and will leave future generations with an even greater "ageing population". Future generations are being burdened with incredible heavy burdens by this generation of governments intent on maximizing greed and growth.
The Process: a poetic reply
They do not really have to lie
To diminish and to crucify
Denigration and "anti-dignification",
Will bring down the leader of a nation.
As a child at school is isolated
When the top girl says her style’s outdated.
Rumours and nasty minded talk
All through our media do their work
To break her inner team’s support
And kill the leadership bravely fought.
It’s enough to say “they do not like her”,
No reason given; just to spite her?
When something is so oft repeated
Its mission is almost completed.
Irish patriot calls out hypocrisy of Obama, Irish govt on Syria
From the Syrian Girl Partisan's Channel. Posted 20 June 2013.
Irish MP, Clare Daly, in a speech to the Dáil Éireann, the lower Irish House of Parliament, shows up the criminal hypocrisy of the visiting President Barack Obama and the Irish Government in their treatment of Syria.
Clare Daly was elected to the Dáil Éireann in April 2013 as a member of the United Left.
Syrian Girl addresses protest for Syria against terrorists
This wonderful speech very succinctly explains the terrible monstrous crimes already committed by those waging the current terrorist war against Syria -i in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and what terrible fate awaits Syria, should the Syrian Army be defeated by the terrorist proxies of the US, France, Israel and the Arab dictatorships.
Craig Lambie's democracy friendly app
I look forward to following your progress on this much-needed public service.
From what you have written I gather that you would allow any candidate to participate, but that you are aiming mostly to publicise alternative candidates in an effort to give them more traction in the slippery slope created by the major parties?
Sheila N
Failures and strengths of Australian parliamentary democracy
The Australian Parliamentary system was badly damaged when the Labor Government of Gough Whitlam was overthrown in the CIA-assisted-coup of 1975, about which Christopher Boyce, amongst others, have blown the whistle.
Since that time, with the exception of the South Australian Government of the late Premier Don Dunstan, and the possible exception of the current Labor Government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, there is little to discern state and federal Labor governments from the corresponding Liberal/Coalition governments in terms of their willingness to put the interests of the ruling global elites above the interests of their own constituents.
Nevertheless, many who have been elected to Parliament have shown themselves not to have been as unconscionable as their party leaders. Many parliamentary members of the major parties and minor parties have shown integrity, honesty and initiative and have shown themselves willing to to serve their constituents.
In "The Latham Diaries" of 2005 and, more recently, on the ABC's Q&A program (mp4 file (206M) of program of 10 June 1013 can be downloaded from this page), former Federal Labor leader Mark Latham has shown himself to have a commitment to fighting unsavoury vested interests in the Coalition parties as well as inside his own party. The fact that such a person, even with his faults and shortcomings, was able to become leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party surely shows that it was likely, at that point in time, that a large number of the Federal parliamentary Labor Caucus had the best interests of their constituents at heart.
Why should we necessarily assume that a Government committed to the welfare of Australian people could could not be voted into office?
Sees no fundamental difference between alternative governments
Subject was: Ed Im sorry to say. It makes.
Ed, I'm sorry to say. It makes no difference who is in government. They are all in this pantomime together. It has been designed to seem as if the different parties are against each other. Where in reality they are all one. It keeps the Sheeple compliant and full of hope that the next puppet will be better. But they never are. Why don't people or sheeple realise this by now?
Bosses expect perfectly skilled workers at a moment's notice
I'd go further to say things like the 457 visa are the problem. Companies have developed a mentality that they deserve to have perfectly skilled and experienced workers ready to start at a moment's notice and that they are not responsible for worker training. Most job advertisements now require a minimum of two years experience, regardless of how simple the job may be. Thus those without experience are bound for permanent unemployment. When it comes to qualifications requirements are just over the top. I've seen sales jobs that require a PhD when clearly the specificity a given PhD has absolutely nothing to do with performance of the job. Its just another symptom of how corporate run our country has become. Of course overseas qualifications are much cheaper and generally of a lower standard than here but that doesn't matter as long as the correct box can be ticked. Systemic change is needed.
Editorial comment: With federal elections coming up, now is the time to ask each candidate standing for election your local House of representatives seat, whether he/she, if elected, will act to end this rort. (This great comment deserved a better title than "I'd go further to say things". I almost deleted this comment as spam.)
Michael Hastings, ‘Rolling Stone’ writer, killed in car accident
From Global Research of 9 June 2013:
Michael Hastings, ‘Rolling Stone’ Contributor, Dead at 33
The bold journalist died in a car accident in Los Angeles
Michael Hastings, the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone has learned. He was 33.
Hastings' unvarnished 2010 profile of McChrystal in the pages of Rolling Stone, "The Runaway General," captured the then-supreme commander of the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan openly mocking his civilian commanders in the White House. The maelstrom sparked by its publication concluded with President Obama recalling McChrystal to Washington and the general resigning his post. "The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be met by – set by a commanding general," Obama said, announcing McChrystal’s departure. "It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system."...
Complete India Development Forum supporter endorses Mark's views
Subject was: contest elections.
Wonderful! This story is very moving and each of my classmates love it, please write more about life,thanks.
Editorial comment
Policies of the Complete India Development Forum, which candobetter endorses, include:
- Establishment of biofarms in India.
- Establish cordial relations with Pakistan.
- Freeze the bank accounts of all corrupt officers.
- Establish 15 universities with free education to Muslims.
- Establish government owned kirana stores.
- Increase the government jobs by 50 fold times.
Further discussion is hoped for and encouraged.
Syria is an example of global threat of military intervention
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned against any attempt at foreign military intervention in Syria, stressing that the move would only make the situation worse. The Russian president also defended his country’s decision to deliver advanced S-300 air defense missile systems to the Syrian government, saying it complies with the international law and will help to tilt the balance of power in the region. He, however, said that Russia has not yet fulfilled the contract, which was signed a few years ago.
11,000 deaths of women and children has been documented thus far in the conflict, some 7,500 have died as a result of regime aerial bombardment and shelling of their towns and neighbourhoods.
Editorial comment: Even some who rightly oppose NATO's terrorist war against Syria will sometimes unwittingly use language of anti-Syrian-government propagandists, for example, 'regime'. All the evidence as even NATO has acknowledged, shows that the Syrian government is overwhelmingly supported by the Syrian people. As the anti-government terrorists often hide in apartment blocks and use the residents as human shields, the Syrian government often faces no choice but to bombard the apartment blocks.
Humanitarian concerns are usually put forward as a key justification for intervention in other nations, but the real reasons why the US decides to act usually involves broader considerations, such as maintaining regional stability or upholding the cohesion of Nato and other Western-led military alliances.
The US also used secret arms supplies to rebels and no-fly zones as key policy instruments even if these ran contrary to international law restrictions.
US President Barack Obama had authorized lethal aid to the rebels for the first time, after Washington said it had conclusive evidence that the regime of Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons. Syria and Russia have accused Obama of fabricating the evidence.
Russia is standing in stark opposition to any sort of resolution so far put forth by other nations present, especially the United States. Iran's President-Elect, Hassan Rowhani, warned against foreign intervention in Syria, insisting that the strife-torn country's crisis should be resolved by its own people. There might be some visionary advantages of globalisation, but not any nation's globalisation of conflict and wars and military intervention.
Meters wide plumes of methane gas from Arctic permafrost
In a year (2012) when 15,000 temperature records were set in March alone and many freak weather patterns continued to cause drought and flooding across the globe, the danger seems increasingly real and undeniable. The latest addition to these concerns is the release of methane gas from the Arctic permafrost.
Scientist Igor Semiletov has sailed the Russian arctic ocean for years checking for small plumes of dangerous Methane gas. He’s mapped many of these meters-wide plumes, emitting gas 20 times more damaging to our climate than carbon dioxide. But on his last trip, as he came across the first plume, he couldn’t believe it. It was a KILOMETER wide. A vast column of gas spewing into our atmosphere. He sailed on and found another a kilometer wide, and another, and another. Hundreds of them.
Scientists are investigating, but this could be what experts warned us about. As the earth warms, it creates many “tipping points” that accelerate the warming out of control.
http://somalilandpress.com/world30-months-to-save-the-world-42565
From 2003 to 2008, an international research team led by University of Alaska-Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov surveyed the waters of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, which covers more than 772,200 square miles (two million square kilometers) of seafloor in the Arctic Ocean.
On May 9 this year, the daily mean concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mauna Loa, Hawaii, surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time since measurements began in 1958. This is 120 ppm higher than pre-industrial peak levels. This unfortunate milestone was widely reported in the media.
Now another milestone has been reached that looks even more threatening than the above one. On the morning of June 16, 2013, methane levels reached an average mean of 1800 parts per billion (ppb). This is 1100 ppb higher than pre-industrial peak levels.
Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/methane-plumes-going-off-in-a-massive-way...
As it has for decades, the scientific community as a whole is moving conservatively, slowly embracing a gradually more and more alarming consensus as evidence rules out other possibilities. But the vast majority agree, with many desperately trying to the get our societies to understand, that we are facing catastrophic threats unless we act.
Climate change is being seen largely as a social justice, or political, issue rather than a scientific one. It's "business as usual" for the media and politics!
Developers are an environmental threat
Developers, with the support of our high immigration-addicted governments, are a public pest and environmental threat. If the damage to coastal strips and fertile lands was done by an invasive species, scientists would trying to manage their impacts and forging solutions to save the environment. However, with population growth surging, due to heavy immigration rates, humans will need land for housing and will need to spill out on whatever land there is! Australia is being wrecked by high population growth, environmentally, socially and economically. A few elite continue to profit, but for the great majority our common wealth is spread further and further between more and more people. Precious coast, biodiversity and picturesque scenery will all become generic housing and urban sprawl unless the pressure is kept up.
457 visas, some details and questions
For the sake of completion, I thought it may be useful to add the list of proposed changes:
Changes proposed to 457 visas:
· Employers must demonstrate that they are not nominating positions where a genuine shortage does not exist;
· The English language requirements for certain positions have been raised;
· The enforceability of existing training requirements for businesses that use the program will be strengthened;
· The market salary exemption will rise from $180,000 to $250,000;
· On-hire arrangements of 457 Visa workers will be banned;
· Compliance and enforcement powers will be beefed up to deal with employers who have abused the 457 system; and
· Stakeholders will be consulted to ensure market rate provisions more effectively protect local employment
The Liberal Opposition is opposing these measures.
A Couple of Q's:
1. Would they, for example, enable a 'local' 'Chef' to be considered/employed as a Specialist Tandoori Chef?
2. And would any 'Specialist Tandoori Chef' ultimately employed be required to have food safety training to an acceptable standard?
3. Will there be improved supervision of the regulations.
4. I read an Oz report, that employers are worried about costs of implementing the new regulations, so my question would be:
Will anyone calculate the National cost of the current free for all?
Does Vic Forestry sell tax-subsidised wood to building industry?
Forestry has been subsidised heavily by taxpayers since the beginning of Victoria as a state.
The industry early infiltrated so-called environmental departments.
It has been my suspicion for years that the reason government protects the forestry industry is because the building industry gets cheap wood from them.
VicForests raking up economic losses
The review of VicForests was carried out by the Australian Conservation Foundation's economic unit and concluded the company's cash flow problems and large debt indicate trouble with its core business.
VicForests has racked up cash losses of $22million since it was formed - equating to a loss of $1.50 for every cubic metre of wood it has logged, and gouged our native forests for losses. The ACF analysis of VicForests financial statements from 2005 to 2012 found the company has current debts of $26.8 million to the Treasury Corporation of Victoria.
http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/1578962/vicforests-cash-flow-under-fire/?cs=12
But VicForests rejected the analysis saying it has delivered overall profits since it was created in 2004 and generated billions of dollars in economic activity for the state.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/vicforests-cash-flow-under-fire-20130617-2oeju.html#ixzz2WWsKeqEp
Some "economic activities" are destructive and financially ruinous. We don't want jobs for a small force of loggers at the loss of biodiversity and iconic old growth timber - forcing endangered species from their existence.
VicForests is supported by lucrative fat-cat administrators in government who don't want to lose their status and benefits.
Skilled newcomers flood the full-time jobs market
Analysis of the Bureau of Statistics jobs data reveals that, comparing the six months to April with the same months two years earlier, Australia gained just 131,000 more full-time jobs - one new full-time job for every five new people.
Skilled newcomers flood full-time jobs market by Tim Colebatch, economic Editor, , The Age, 15 June 2013.
This means that people born overseas have taken almost three quarters of net job growth, even though they make up just 31 % of the population. The myth that Australians are too "lazy" to do jobs is not justified statistically. With our government's full-throttle immigration rates, migrants are more than ready to grab jobs, over any priority to Australian-born applicants.
Most people want full time jobs, but most of the jobs gained now are part time. This twists and distorts the job statistics. People born overseas gained 97,000 more full-time jobs, while Australian-born people gained only 34,000. Priority to jobs created by our economy should be the sovereign right of Australians, but not any more.
Three in every four new jobs gained by Australian-born people have been part-time - whereas just one in four unemployed people are seeking part-time work.
According to Immigration Department figures, 125,070 temporary worker visas were issued during 2011-12 financial year - eclipsing the highest level reached during the Howard government. Why would we need to bring people in from overseas to do skilled jobs when there are good Australians that actually need a job, that are willing to be skilled up in the first place? so many foreign companies are not interested in employing Australians.
457 visa are a great idea where there is a real skill shortage in the economy, but they should not be used to replace thousands of Australian workers like what has happened in the IT industry.
Albury-Wodonga Border Mail reports the truth about Syria
On 11 June 2013, the Albury-Wodonga Border Mail (See your ad here) published by local journalist David MacIlwaine.
Unlike most Australian media coverage, MacIlwaine accurately reports the conflict in Syria as another attempt at "regime change" (by the same parties guilty of murdering 3.3 million Iraqis since 1990 with bombing, invasion, death squads, disease and starvation caused by sanctions).
Unlike the tragic cases of Libya and Iraq, the Syrian people and the government of President al-Assad have kept the upper hand against the West's terrorist glove puppets:
Not only has the Syrian government regained control over many rebel-held areas but it has regained the moral high ground in the eyes of the rest of the “non-aligned” world with a clear commitment to a political and diplomatic resolution.
David Macilwaine concludes:
We can help them by pressuring our government to oppose any “intervention” by our allies, including Israel and the US, and to start telling us the truth about this proxy war for dominance over the Middle East and its resources.
A Stop the War rally in Sydney will take place on Saturday, supported by Hands off Syria, and later in the month a powerful voice for reconciliation in Syria, Mother Agnes Mariam, will be visiting Australia to talk about how we can help with this vital project
I heard the rally in Sydney reported only once briefly ABC NewsRadio at 9:30AM on Saturday 15 June 2013. It was also reported that the protestors rejected John Kerry's lying claim that President al-Assad had used poison gas against this own people. A longer and well illustrated report of the large rally has since appeared on 16 June on the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
Complaint about 2009 article on Sri Linka, defeated Tamil Tigers
Subject was: poor. A title, which is longer and more descriptive than this, would have been appreciated as it would have made it easier for me to distinguish this comment from the spam which has been posted alongside it. - Ed
Seriously this article is complete nonsense. This is what happens when complete idiots talk abt matters that are out of their thinking capacity.
Listen kid, keep away from such topics cos this is not kid's stuff!
Editorial comment: If jayathalika knows more about the war that concluded in 2009 in Sri Lanka and can show us where tigerquoll is wrong, by all means he should show us. We would also appreciate jaythalika refraining from personal abuse in future.
Contrary to what jaythilaka asks, we urge our readers to take an active interest in International affairs, particularly the wars now being fought or planned by the United States, its European Allies, Israel, etc. The failure, of a sufficiently large number of Australians to maintain their opposition for sufficiently long periods of time to the illegal invasions of Iraq in 1991 and 2003 and illegal sanctions, resulted in 3.3 million Iraqi deaths according to one estimate. The same terrible fate could lie in store for Syria, if the world community, of which Australia is a part, is not sufficiently vigilant.
Public hip pockets being gouged for economic growth
Household gas bills in Victoria are set to soar by $170 a year, a new report warns. Australians have traditionally paid a low price for gas compared with other countries thanks to abundant supplies and the fact gas could not be exported.
Warning for Victorian households over gas price explosion
Gas will be exported from the East coast of Australia, so gas prices consumers will be hit with higher prices. This is part of the "economic benefits" of the Asian Century! Japan is willing to pay more for gas that our domestic consumers, so they get the priority.
Struggling Melbourne households will miss meals and cut back on medicines to cope with huge water price rises to pay for the desalination plant, a peak welfare agency warns.
Victoria- warning water prices rises will hurt the poor
VCOSS calculations are based on a draft City West, South East and Yarra Valley price ruling for annual bill increases of $145 to $234 for typical Melbourne households. Hardship programs will have to be increased to pay for the desalination plant.
Gas, water, housing, and increasing council rates are threatening our standards of living. Do we have to go to using the village pump, community toilets, temporary housing and lamps to avoid the heavy costs? The standards of first world are that these are basic commodities, and should be standards amenities for everyone. Population growth is gouging out economies of scale - not for the actual water, energy or gas, but for the increasing costs of maintaining and extending the infrastructure.
A city which deprives people of decent and affordable living standards for the majority, not just the wealthy, is counter-productive and a result of poor government and dis-economies of scale.
How are we supposed to accommodate asylum seekers when already basic resources are increasingly becoming too expensive for those on fixed incomes or pensions? A stable population would stablize these prices, but "economic growth" is threatening our hip pockets.
Agree - ASUS keyboards are rubbish
I would not have published this if I did not have the same kind of problem. Letters jump all over the place. It makes it r impossible to reliably use these machines for which line one has paid hundred of dollars and in some cases thousands. Note how the 'r' and 'line' inserted themselves in the above sentence.
How can ASUS sell this RUBBISH?
I don't understand why there is not more about this on the internet unless somehow ASUS is managing to block discussions.
It is mysterious and awful.
ASUS keyboards unusable - spread the word
I have this experience with two different ASUS products - a notebook and an eee pc. The keyboards are bizarrely unreliable to the point where one simply abandons the product. Unpredictably the text I am typing will backspace and insert letters or a portion of a word elsewhere in the text. I cannot work out how to change this. I am writing this to your forum in desperation because I do not know how to get help and do not have the time to stuff around with guarantees etc. Many people must have this problem. Help!
More about Naomi Wolfe's concern re Edward Snowdon
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35288.html
My Creeping Concern That The NSA Leaker Is Not What He Purports To Be ...
By Naomi Wolf
June 15, 2013 "Information Clearing House - I hate to do this but I feel obligated to share, as the story unfolds, my creeping concern that the NSA leaker is not who he purports to be, and that the motivations involved in the story may be more complex than they appear to be. This is in no way to detract from the great courage of Glenn Greenwald in reporting the story, and the gutsiness of the Guardian in showcasing this kind of reporting, which is a service to America that US media is not performing at all. It is just to raise some cautions as the story unfolds, and to raise some questions about how it is unfolding, based on my experience with high-level political messaging.
Some of Snowden's emphases seem to serve an intelligence/police state objective, rather than to challenge them.
a) He is super-organized, for a whistleblower, in terms of what candidates, the White House, the State Dept. et al call 'message discipline.' He insisted on publishing a power point in the newspapers that ran his initial revelations. I gather that he arranged for a talented filmmaker to shoot the Greenwald interview. These two steps -- which are evidence of great media training, really "PR 101" -- are virtually never done (to my great distress) by other whistleblowers, or by progressive activists involved in breaking news, or by real courageous people who are under stress and getting the word out. They are always done, though, by high-level political surrogates.
b) In the Greenwald video interview, I was concerned about the way Snowden conveys his message. He is not struggling for words, or thinking hard, as even bright, articulate whistleblowers under stress will do. Rather he appears to be transmitting whole paragraphs smoothly, without stumbling. To me this reads as someone who has learned his talking points -- again the way that political campaigns train surrogates to transmit talking points.
c) He keeps saying things like, "If you are a journalist and they think you are the transmission point of this info, they will certainly kill you." Or: "I fully expect to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act." He also keeps stressing what he will lose: his $200,000 salary, his girlfriend, his house in Hawaii. These are the kinds of messages that the police state would LIKE journalists to take away; a real whistleblower also does not put out potential legal penalties as options, and almost always by this point has a lawyer by his/her side who would PROHIBIT him/her from saying, "come get me under the Espionage Act." Finally in my experience, real whistleblowers are completely focused on their act of public service and trying to manage the jeopardy to themselves and their loved ones; they don't tend ever to call attention to their own self-sacrifice. That is why they are heroes, among other reasons. But ***a police state would like us all to think about everything we would lose by standing up against it.***
d) ***It is actually in the Police State's interest to let everyone know that everything you write or say everywhere is being surveilled, and that awful things happen to people who challenge this.*** Which is why I am not surprised that now he is on UK no-fly lists -- ***I assume the end of this story is that we will all have a lesson in terrible things that happen to whistleblowers. That could be because he is a real guy who gets in trouble; but it would be as useful to the police state if he is a fake guy who gets in 'trouble.'***
e) In stories that intelligence services are advancing (I would call the prostitutes-with-the-secret-service such a story), there are great sexy or sex-related mediagenic visuals that keep being dropped in, to keep media focus on the issue. That very pretty pole-dancing Facebooking girlfriend who appeared for, well, no reason in the media coverage...and who keeps leaking commentary, so her picture can be recycled in the press...really, she happens to pole-dance? Dan Ellsberg's wife was and is very beautiful and doubtless a good dancer but somehow she took a statelier role as his news story unfolded...
f) Snowden is in Hong Kong, which has close ties to the UK, which has done the US's bidding with other famous leakers such as Assange. So really there are MANY other countries that he would be less likely to be handed over from...
g) ***Media reports said he had vanished at one point to 'an undisclosed location' or 'a safe house.' Come on. There is no such thing. Unless you are with the one organization that can still get off the surveillance grid, because that org created it.***
h) I was at dinner last night to celebrate the brave and heroic Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Several of Assange's also brave and talented legal team were there, and I remembered them from when I had met with Assange. These attorneys are present at every moment when Assange meets the press -- when I met with him off the record last Fall in the Ecuadoran embassy, his counsel was present the whole time, listening and stepping in when necessary.
Seeing these diligent attentive free-speech attorneys for another whisleblower reinforced my growing anxiety: ***WHERE IS SNOWDEN’S LAWYER as the world's media meet with him? A whistleblower talking to media has his/her counsel advising him/her at all times, if not actually being present at the interview, because anything he/she says can affect the legal danger the whistleblower may be in. It is very, very odd to me that a lawyer has not appeared, to my knowledge, to stand at Snowden's side and keep him from further jeopardy in interviews.***
Again I hate to cast any skepticism on what seems to be a great story of a brave spy coming in from the cold in the service of American freedom. And I would never raise such questions in public if I had not been told by a very senior official in the intelligence world that indeed, there are some news stories that they create and drive -- even in America (where propagandizing Americans is now legal). But ***do consider that in Eastern Germany, for instance, it was the fear of a machine of surveillance that people believed watched them at all times -- rather than the machine itself -- that drove compliance and passivity. From the standpoint of the police state and its interests -- why have a giant Big Brother apparatus spying on us at all times -- unless we know about it?***
[[[In the 13-minute video interview with Snowden -
News
World news
The NSA files
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things' of 10 June 2013 at The Guardian - he says (beginning at 10:45 on the counter):
"The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. . . . [that people] won't be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things, to force their representatives to actually take a stand in their interest."
Since it is almost certain, as I see it, that nothing will in fact change, I think it could be added here that knowing not only that we are all being spied on at all times *but that there is nothing that anyone is going to do to stop this* makes Naomi's final point even stronger.]]]
Naomi Wolf was born in San Francisco in 1962. She was an undergraduate at Yale University and did her graduate work at New College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Yellow journalism effect on Australian political debate
Driving with a friend the other day, she told me how fed up she is the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. I asked her why.
She said, “Well, the stimulus package, the insulation.”
I said, “But I think that was during the Rudd government.
She said, “Oh well, I put them all together."
I asked, "What else?" and she said, “The money for schools.”
I said that I thought that too had been during the Rudd government.
I asked what she thought of the National broad band scheme.
“Oh well, that’s taking ages …I don’t suppose it’s her fault that they found asbestos.” (Well er, no!)
Then I asked about the disability insurance, and she said: "Well yes, obviously that’s a good thing, but it was brought in order to buy votes.”
I said, ‘It was brought out well before the election."
”Oh you mean last month!!!" she expostulated.
She continued “Labor just can’t handle the finances, they said they would deliver a surplus and now it’s a deficit. That really worries me. Whitlam wrecked the finances and now this government is doing it too.”
I could have said, but what about the good work that Whitlam did to keep housing prices and population growth down? (All undone by subsequent governments). And what about the international depression?
But she had turned on the car radio and her attention was riveted by yet another Murdoch journalist moonlighting on the ABC talking about another so-called leadership spill...
June 30: Stable Pop Party Campaign launch Victoria
Campaign launch - Sun, 30 June
Date: Sunday 30 June, 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Venue: Rising Sun Hotel (upstairs), 2 Raglan St, South Melbourne:
http://www.therisingsunhotel.com
Event: Social gathering with party president, officials and candidates.
PAYG drinks and lunch available.
Please RSVP: CLICK HERE
Jonathan Page
Victorian Coordinator
STABLE POPULATION PARTY
www.populationparty.org.au
Like us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/populationparty
Follow us on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/populationparty
Naomi Wolf, Gordon Duff: concerns about Edward Snowden
On 13 June 2013, former US Marine and Editor of Veteran's Today, Gordon Duff wrote: Are whistleblowers sometimes ‘too good to be true’?
...
When we look at [Edward] Snowden, he was around for 9/11 and, though he claims to have full access to all top US intelligence sources, he seems blissfully ignorant about the single largest betrayal of, not just America, but the entire world.
We are supposed to believe that this NSA insider with “access to the full rosters of everyone working at the NSA…” wouldn’t be dying inside from guilt, having remained silent over complicity in so many crimes, so many abuses, so much death, so much torture.
Why speak up now, why say so little if risking one’s life? It makes no sense whatsoever.
Snowden also goes blank two rigged elections, murders like Pat Tillman, Osama bin Laden, John Wheeler III, two illegal wars, torture and rendition, drone warfare, government drug dealing and everything “false flag” and “Israel.”
Instead, he is reporting on NSA spying. Ho Hum. Why so much publicity, “bought” with so little “pocket change?
...
Then on 15 June, Naomi Wolf posted to Global Research, My Creeping Concern that the NSA Leaker Edward Snowden is not who he Purports to be… :
I hate to do this but I feel obligated to share, as the story unfolds, my creeping concern that the NSA leaker is not who he purports to be, and that the motivations involved in the story may be more complex than they appear to be.
This is in no way to detract from the great courage of Glenn Greenwald in reporting the story, and the gutsiness of the Guardian in showcasing this kind of reporting, which is a service to America that US media is not performing at all.
It is just to raise some cautions as the story unfolds, and to raise some questions about how it is unfolding, based on my experience with high-level political messaging.
Some of Snowden’s emphases seem to serve an intelligence/police state objective, rather than to challenge them.
Sydney Syrian protest sees though Kerry's chemical weapons lie
In a rare instance in the which some of the truth about the Syrian conflict is revealed to its listeners, at 9.30 pm on 15 June, ABC News Radio reported that members of the Australian Syrian community had protested in Sydney against the plans by the United States to directly intervene in the terrorist war against Syria. The Syrian protestors also repudiated US Secretary of State John Kerry's lie that the government of Bashar al-Assad had used Chemical weapons against the people of Syria, thereby crossing a "red-line" which Kerry says would justify greater US intervention in Syria.
Over-density of koalas - causing their own demise!