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In the 1950s and 60s, animals, plants birds, even fungi were featured in the popular women's magazine "The Australian Women's Weekly" which my mother always bought. I looked forward to and collected this full page spread with fabulous coloured photos. Anyone who knows this publication in its current form, very typical of most popular women's magazines would find the inclusion of this feature hard to believe. In the same period, nature study was part of the primary school curriculum. A page from my sister's state school grade 3 (age 8) exercise book dated 20.3 61. says "Australia has many animals and birds that are not found in any other countries. Kangaroos are found in all parts of Australia. Koala bears and lyre birds like our eucalypt gum forests. Parrots and cockatoos are in all states.Crocodiles and turtles are in the northern waters. The black swan comes from Western Australia and the platypus likes our southern rivers" There is an illustration on the page opposite showing the map of Australia with smaller stamped images of the animals mentioned - all duly coloured in with Derwent pencils. After the animals of Australia the pages show each of the other continents and the animals of each one with illustrations In another book from the same time the cut out covers of Redhead match box lids with appealing illustrations of different Australian animals, birds are arranged with numbering 1-64 attached with yellowing sticky tape, followed by a similar collection of wild flowers numbering 1-36. Does this sound foreign to the present world that children, primary school teachers and even Redhead match manufacturers inhabit ?

Sorry, I don't really know the answer except to say people are just hard-wired for cruelty, destruction, enjoyment of suffering, etc. There are some wonderful people here in Australia, but our society is disjointed and fragmented, and love for Australia's natural wonderland and unique species is generally low on political agendas, and in society. When I was a child at school we had the the Gould League of Bird Lovers. John and Elizabeth Gould, at the turn of the century 20th century, were concerned that people were collecting eggs of native birds, and decided to start the Gould League of Bird Lovers. "I hereby promise that I will protect native birds and will not collect their eggs. I also promise that I will endeavour to prevent others from injuring native birds and destroying their eggs". (The Gould League pledge, 1909) We are taught to recognise and appreciate our native birds and were rewarded certificates for our skills. However, this program has long gone and has morphed into a general conservation program! Members were encouraged to enter competitions in bird mimicry, write stories and poems and attend 'bird-day concerts'. I still have my membership certificate somewhere. There should be some similar programs in schools to encourage children, many of whom today are divorced from our bush, to recognise and appreciate our wildlife, and protect them. Governments, with the support of landholders, propagate the over-abundance of native animals and their "pest" status. Lethal "management" and vilification of native animals creates hatred too.

If you want to aim for a certain population figure, then you have to slam on the brakes long before you hit that figure, then momentum will carry you to it before growth ceases. Do they think that as soon as Canada hits 80M or 100M population growth growth will cease instantly? Even if they took all reasonable steps to halt growth at 100M the population would probably hit about 150M before peaking then declining. Anyhow the truth is none of these people really want Canada's population to stop growing. Many are fervent cornucopians who believe the world's population, and Canada's by inference, can and will grow forever. Others believe that the population can stop growing in some hazy far-off distant future, a belief which in practice is equivalent to that of the cornucopians. Whatever population figure they invent is not meant as an end-point, but merely a stepping stone to ever-greater population figures.

Hi Vivienne...Iam not from Australia originally but love Australia and I have a real love of Australian native animals of which Iam a carer. I have been searching for the answer for a long time now as to why some Australians hate the real 100% pure Australians which is our native Marsupials and other wildlife..Why is it that the real treasures in our life are treated the way they are...Why dont more care..Why are most Australians so money obsessed, dog obsessed, but not wildlife obsessed..I think once Australia loses its native animals there will not be much hope for this country...Vivienne when you say ' human caused malignant hatred of our wildlife'...would you be able to answer my question as to why this hatred of the real true blue Aussie Battler..

I think that 'making money' and 'profit' are misleading terms. A more accurate term, which I think we should use instead is 'wealth transfer'. If by 'making money' we mean 'creating wealth', which is what it would mean if we had less dysfunctional monetary and financial systems, then that does not describe most of the activities of banks or any of the activities that land speculators and landlords are involved in. In fact they destroy wealth, rather than create wealth by consuming so much resources to transfer wealth created by other sectors of the economy out of the pockets of others and into their own pockets. Most inhabitants of a country, such as Australia, receiving high immigration are being made poorer in at least three ways:
  1. Because Australia has long ago exceeded its optimum population, additional numbers cannot create additional wealth, contrary to what many economists pretend. It can only make each existing inhabitant poorer on average because there are more people to divide the national wealth amongst.
  2. The growing scarcity of shelter forces those who have to buy it or rent it from others to pay for it an even larger proportion of their income.
  3. The land speculation and renting 'industries' and most of the banking 'industry' that create no wealth whatsoever, whilst consuming a good deal of our nation's economic resources.

This deliberate cruelty and evil is truly sickening, and too much of it is happening across Australia. Attacks on native animals are continuing to grow. However, there is an element of hypocrisy coming from Queensland's Kate Jones. The numbers of koalas in Queensland is plummeting, and they are suffering from loss of habitat, roads, straying dogs, land developers and starvation. This of course is deliberate and cold cruelty, but with koala numbers becoming dangerously low, they are on the extinction trail. More needs to be done to protect our wildlife from the explosion of human numbers in SE Queensland. The propagation of humans is causing havoc to wildlife, and this koala is only one victim of human callousness. Let's hope this poor joey survives to be a symbol of victory over human -caused malignant hatred of our wildlife.

I wonder if its something they put in the beer to make these monsters do these things.....I have never felt so sick to my stomach in my life. I would gladly skin alive the detritus that did this.. A BABY koala has been shot in a vicious attack in southeast Queensland. The female joey, believed to be 14 to 16 months old, was wounded with a shotgun at Jimna, receiving 15 pellets to her body, including one blow to the head. She underwent emergency surgery at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital and is currently in a critical condition. Veterinarians have only been able to remove three pellets at this stage because of the critical condition of the joey. She is expected to have more surgery later. Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones said a member of the public found the joey on Friday night. "There was a report that the joey's mother was dead, also probably shot, but the body has not been found to confirm the report," she said in a statement. She has described the attack as sick and cruel. "I'm absolutely disgusted by this cruelty and hope the young koala can recover," Ms Jones said. Harming a koala is a serious offence under the Nature Conservation Act. The penalty for deliberately shooting a koala is a $225,000 or two years imprisonment. Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to contact Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

Producer prices - the prices of goods and services at the factory or farm gate - increased at it's fastest quarterly pace since the December 2008, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed. The PPI is a major component of the key measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), due on Wednesday. The price index for utilities - gas, electricity and water supply - jumped 8.9 per cent in the quarter. Prices of utilities tend to ratchet upward. The chief executive of one of the country's biggest energy retailers has warned that power prices are set to increase dramatically. Origin Energy boss Grant King said that complying with the mandatory renewable energy target (RET) and network spending would put upward pressure on energy prices. Energy Minister Martin Ferguson and his opposition counterpart Ian Macfarlane warned in separate interviews that power prices were likely to double in the next five to seven years. The RET seeks to ensure that 20 per cent of Australia's energy consumption by 2020 is derived from renewable sources. To ensure that renewable energy sources are a sizeable portion of power generation, these expensive components must continually outstrip population growth. Groups such as the Energy Supply Association of Australia say the situation is leading to higher costs for energy users. Network costs -- which made up about half of the total electricity bill for households and businesses -- were going up, particularly in NSW. Population growth means infrastructure costs must be paid for in the fixed price. Soaring utility prices have already been one of the biggest recent drivers of inflation, prompting groups such as the Energy Users Association of Australia, whose members include mining giant Rio Tinto and multinational packaging company Amcor, to warn that jobs and investment could be at risk. Household water bills are spiralling upwards as states struggle to expand desalination and recycling. Further rises are predicted. Figures show we need a growing investment in more diverse sources of supply, such as desalination plants and recycling due to more consumers and diminishing supplies. The World Bank and the OECD, representing major developed countries, warned that the price of water must go up as supply dwindles and populations multiply. A food security summit in Brisbane (Sept, 2010) heard that prices are expected to increase by up to 50 per cent over the next 10 years, making fresh food unattainable for some people. There's very little additional arable land to bring into production and productivity rates in farming have plateaued, irrigated water is not going to be all that much available. Nothing should be growing on a planet with diminishing supplies of natural resources, yet we keep hearing about growth? Economic growth is touted to improve livelihoods, create job opportunities and raise household and government incomes. Higher household incomes directly reduce poverty and help people afford the basic necessities of life. Growth also increases government revenues that can be invested into schools, roads, and hospitals. That's fine, until population growth outstrips the finite supply of natural resources, and government revenues! The workhorse model of economic growth, the neoclassical growth model, suggests that rising population growth reduces steady state living standards, and has no effect on per-capita economic growth. A rise in population growth rate in theory does not affect steady state per capita growth, but lowers living standards. Economist deal with infinite numbers and ideological theories, not with real life where finite environmental factors lead to depletions, rising costs and poverty. Business do not care about GDP per capita. They support high population growth because more people means a larger consumer base and (potentially) higher profits.

Despite weeks of white noise about "excessive" bank profits, no-one seems to have undertaken any deeper analysis of where most of these profits are coming from. In the rust-belt south-eastern states, immigration is the boom industry. Record immigration intake both supplies new house buyers, and by inflating rents, encourages others to invest in residential land and houses. Capital city house prices are going up at a vigorous clip. The poor stiffs who sign up for 30-year mortgages, will end up paying three times the (highly inflated) price of their home to their lender over the life of the loan. And which lender is making so much money for jam? All the major banks declare more than half their profits from lazy, no-risk house mortgages. There are winners and losers from runaway population growth. But an investor, I want more babies, more immigrants and more refugees. I want even bigger dividends from my bank shares. David Hughes I own shares in ANZ, NAB, and Westpac. I bought 1000 more ANZ on margin loan, on 25/10.

Qantas Corporate Communication has spun a humble press release today which reads as follows:

'Australia's Qantas reeling after second mid-air scare' by Australian News.Net 6th Nov 2010.

'It was coincidence that on consecutive days Qantas passenger jets experienced engine problems that forced them to return to Singapore shortly after take-off, the Australian airline said Saturday.

Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth, commenting on the latest incident, exonerated foreign maintenance facilities over the Boeing 747 that abandoned its flight Friday to Sydney after one of its engines had to be shut down.

'In fact, I can report that this recent aircraft, the 747, was actually maintained in Avalon in Australia,' Wirth said. 'Qantas has 85 percent of our maintenance. In fact, last year 92 percent of our maintenance was done onshore in Australia.'

Qantas grounded its A380 fleet Thursday after an engine on a superjumbo failed four minutes after takeoff, raining shards of metal onto Indonesia's Batam Island below.

The A380 landed safely in Singapore, despite the second engine on the left wing failing to shut down and tyres blowing as it touched the tarmac.

The Boeing 747 with 412 passengers and 19 crew on board returned safely to Singapore's Changi airport after an engine failure.

'As a precautionary measure, the captain sought clearance to return to Singapore, and the aircraft landed safely a short time later without incident,' the airline said in a statement.

Flight QF6, which returned to Changi around an hour after takeoff, had arrived from Frankfurt.'

But Olivia Wirth's statement is contrary

It has transpired that Wirth's above statement for QANTAS that 'In fact, I can report that this recent aircraft, the 747, was actually maintained in Avalon in Australia' is in fact contrary to that by Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association secretary Steve Purvinas who stated yesterday that it was:

According to industry sources, the damaged Qantas A380 recently underwent its first heavy maintenance stop in Germany with Lufthansa Technik. The jet is powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines.

Mr Purvinas said the heavy maintenance check - a root- and-branch investigation in which the aircraft is pulled to pieces and reassembled over a period of weeks - would be the first focus of investigators.

He said the incident highlighted concerns about the airline's maintenance.
"Certainly I think there are some danger signs starting to poke their heads out," he said.'

[Source: Read more]


Olivia Wirth's PR background

'Qantas picks Olivia Wirth as PR head' by Steve Creedy, Aviation writer, The Australian, 27th May 2009.

'TOURISM and Transport Forum executive director Olivia Wirth will become the head of Qantas corporate affairs.

This is part of Qantas's moves to consolidate the airline's public and government relations activities.

Ms Wirth will report directly to executive general manager government and corporate affairs, David Epstein, working alongside the airline's new head of government and international relations, Jane McKeon.

Joining the airline on July 14, Ms Wirth will be responsible for issues and events management, public relations and internal communications.

The consolidation reflects a belief within Qantas, whose reputation has taken a battering in recent years, that the airline needs to improve its internal and external communications. Insiders said yesterday the airline would be more active promoting its case externally and was looking to boost the level of engagement with employees.

The move is also expected to help the airline build relationships in Asia, as it pursues its expansion strategy in the region.

Ms Wirth has extensive experience in tourism and public affairs and is well regarded in political and business circles.

A veteran of the Australian Tourist Commission and its successor, Tourism Australia, Ms Wirth was also an adviser to former tourism minister Joe Hockey and worked for the industry lobby group Tourism Council Australia.

She joined TTF in 2007 after spending three years in London leading the corporate affairs team at Business in the Community, an organisation comprising the top 200 British companies.'

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has rejected claims people campaigning against detention centres being built in their communities are racists. But the Immigration Minister insists asylum-seekers are safe and unlikely to escape detention and break the law. On the banks of the Avon River, just 90 minutes from Perth is the town of Northam in the heart of the Avon Valley. The town, with its beautiful setting and its population of nearly 7000, is remarkably attractive although it has a reputation for fiercely hot summers. On 18 October 2010, the Australian Government announced the establishment of an immigration detention centre at the Department of Defence Northam Training Camp. It is a large block of open land which provides maximum flexibility. The government considers a range of factors when selecting new immigration detention accommodation sites including availability of Commonwealth land, infrastructure, ability to provide support services, logistics and efficient operation. Northam residents say local businesses will benefit from the decision by the Federal Government to house 1500 refugees in the Wheatbelt town. More than 700 community members turned up at a town hall in Northam, 100kms north of Perth, to express concerns about the Federal Government's plans to establish a detention centre in the town. One Northam resident, Graham Hassan, asked for reassurance from the Immigration Department, "Our genuine concern is fear, we're fearful for our safety. A number of residents raised security concerns about the Federal Government plan to use the old army barracks in the town as a detention camp. Others claimed the centre would draw vital medical resources away from the local hospital and complained of a lack of consultation by the department before it announced the move. Shire president Steven Pollard drew an angry reaction from the crowd last night when - after acknowledging the traditional Aboriginal owners of the local land - said that everyone at the meeting was there because of the immigration policies of the last few hundred years. (However, mass immigration, large number of asylum seekers, and ecological overstepping has only recently raised its ugly head! Actions in the past can't justify ongoing over-riding of the rights of traditional owners. ) Another woman raised the possibility women could be raped if any of the 1500 single, male asylum seekers broke out, while WA One Nation vice-president Lyn Vickery called out: "They will slit your throat in a second." Many residents raised concerns about the detention centre's impact on Northam's already strained and under-staffed hospital and the contingency plans in place if there were a riot. Premier Colin Barnett said: “I guess many people in the Northam community are feeling the interests of asylum seekers are being put ahead of their interests as local community people.” Others say money should be for struggling farmers and homeless groups. Others claim that it is unfair that 400 people will be housed in the Adelaide Hills when there are thousands of South Australians are on waiting lists for basic housing. Some of these asylum seekers have paid more than $12,000 to get to Australia by boat, according to reports. The Premier repeated calls for the number of 1500 single, male asylum seekers to be halved. Understandably, there are many real concerns, and unknowns. Having such a large number of men confined near a close-knit community with already stretched resources, and knowing that some of the men may have suffered conflicts, is a challenge. The reality is that once residents, the men will want to bring their families, while other mis-placed refugees are still waiting in refugee camps.

Responding to Committee of Melbourne statements urging the State Government to plan for a Melbourne population of eight million by 2060, Real Estate Agent of Woodent, Mr Keating, said the Macedon Ranges population should double by then to about 80,000. Self-serving "demographer" Bernard Salt also wants the city of Melbourne to expand north and west. "Anyone who thinks that the Macedon Ranges won’t have to absorb some of those growth pressures is naive and if you look at upgrades to the Calder and the fast rail, you have quality infrastructure which is readying that process,” Mr Keating said. Mr Keating said medium-density housing and the greater provision of public housing were required in the Macedon Ranges. Macedon Ranges had become too "gentrified" and they had to accept people of low income levels. He obviously has self-serving interests! Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu promised to quicken the time it would take to bring properties to market and a review of the urban growth boundary every two years. Both State Liberals and Labor both want a "big Victoria" and will do so with or without public support! http://sunbury-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/have-your-say-residen... "Sick of the arrogance, the secrecy, the waste and mismanagement? Don't like Myki, desal, Windsor planning sham, native forest logging, puppy farms, clearways, high rise towers, north-south pipeline, street violence, duck shooters, Hazelwood, public transport that doesn't work, government spying on individuals, taking water from the country, government advertising and spin, VCA funding cuts? Rally: 14 November - Make Brumby History." Sunday 14 November, 2010, Steps of Parliament House (Spring St, Melbourne) commencing at 2.00pm We recommend this rally to Macedon Ranges' residents who are unhappy that the State Labor government, over its 11 year life, has never delivered its 1999 promise to provide State level planning protection to Macedon Ranges. Macedon Ranges' residents know that the government has done nothing that stops the awful units, teensy subdivision, houses on rural lots etc. etc. Macedon Ranges Residents' Association Inc. In MRRA's view, the government isn't going to do anything either. Now the Brumby government is showing definite signs of wanting make Macedon Ranges a growth corridor, if not include parts of the Shire in the metropolitan area (like an outer 'outer' suburb of Melbourne). IF YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THE GOVERNMENT'S INACTION IN MACEDON RANGES - OF HAVING TO CONSTANTLY FIGHT HORRIBLE DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS - THIS RALLY IS THE PLACE TO BE. Editorial comment: Whilst candobetter would also dearly love to see the end of this appalling Victorian state 'Labor' government on 27 November, simply replacing this government with another pro-corporate, pro-'growth' government is hardly going to make the situation much less awful than it is today in Victoria. Where they can, voters must vote first for candidates who offer a real alternative to the mis-rule of the Brumby Government. Please look for candidates who have led campaigns against this Government's trampling on the rights of citizens or the environment. An example is Jan Beer of Plug The Pipe. If such a candidate cannot be found on your ballot form, then at least give your first preference to a Greens candidate should there be one. For all the serious flaws of the Greens Party, at least a high vote for the Greens will give some indication that Victorian voters want substantially better than the abysmal offerings put to them by either of the two major parties. It's important that the preferential voting system be used as effectively as possible. Unfortunately, unlike in Queensland where the more democratic 'optional preferential' voting system is used, all squares must be numbered so every voter must voter must make the unpalatable choice between Labor and Liberal. Be sure to put second last whoever you judge to be the least worst amongst the Labor and Liberal candidate and to put last whoever you judge to be the worst.

A desperate US student who is up to his eyeballs in debt, about to become a father and has little hope of finding a job when he graduates next year, has offered to quit law school in exchange for a full tuition refund. About to become a father and is up to his eyeballs in dept - TOUGH..

The American Student Loan Racket by Nancy Hanover. Today’s young adults face a lifetime of diminished expectations, if not outright poverty. A majority of those attending college find themselves caught in the vise of a scissors crisis?low wage jobs and astonishing levels of student loan debt. The majority of the parents of college students, after decades of stagnating wages, had only one asset, home equity - a resource that has either vanished or become a punishing debt load under the impact of the housing meltdown. Now the younger generation has mortgaged its future in the form of student loan debt. The same could be said for Australian students, the avoidance of it adding to our "skills shortages". Australians are competing with foreign students and their up-front cash for courses. A desperate US student who is up to his eyeballs in debt, about to become a father and has little hope of finding a job when he graduates next year, has offered to quit law school in exchange for a full tuition refund. The payback for their investment is supposed to come when they get their degree and are recruited by a law firm, where they could earn in excess of $100,000 a year in their first year. It is the most onerous kind of consumer debt because student borrowers do not receive standard consumer protections. Their loans are undischargable in bankruptcy, usurious penalties are legal, and there is no statute of limitations. The irony is that many of our older Australian politicians would have been paid to study, under Commonwealth studentships, or else had free tertiary education!

OK. I have said this before on this site, but it bears repeating. I made this comment recently about Canadian multiculturalism and I suspect it might be the case in Australia too. "I think it is important that we not get upset with immigrants or with their customs. Instead, we should understand why they are being used, and level our guns against those who are using them. As we found out in the Toronto mayoralty election,the vast majority of "ethnics" didn't come here to be "ethnic".There is an immigration industry that is feasting off this influx. Immigration lawyers, ethnocultural leaders, human rights activists, Canadian academics---all of these people have a vested interest in promoting "diversity"---they make a living out of it. If my great grandparents were alive today, they, along with nearly all non-English speaking immigrants of their generation, would have told this coalition of professional parasites to get a life and get out of the taxpayers trough. Most immigrants want to be part of the mainstream culture, but they are being used as a battering ram to shatter it. The main barrier to their assimilation, aside from a determined effort by government to stop them from Canadianizing, is the fact that most newcomers must work long hours at very low wages to put food on the table. They were, after all, imported as a slave labour class, for the most part. 80% of immigrants are unskilled and half of them lack the most basic job skill--fluency in one of the two official languages. They don't even earn the $25,000/year needed to reimburse governments for the services they consume. They are too tired and busy to read newspapers and attend meetings to learn more about what is happening around them. Some are barely able to understand most television programs. Most rely on their children to interpret Canadian society for them. I grew up in a multi-ethnic environment, and that was true in an overwhelming number of cases. They are not pushing this "diversity" agenda---or any agenda. They are just trying to survive. Blame the power-brokers. Multiculturalism is government policy because it serves corporate interests and militates against efforts to form a united front against them. If people see themselves as members of an ethnic identity group, rather than citizens, then commitment to the collective goals of citizenship is weakened. Citizens care about the society they live in. Hyphenated Canadians, on the other hand, are encouraged to follow the lead of their tribal leaders, who enjoy the status of junior partners to the political-corporate establishment. I don't care if people wear funny clothing or prepare different cuisines or celebrate different religious holidays---as my great grandparents did. So long as they invest their energies in joining me and other Canadians to fight the dominant culture---the culture of money." BTW, Superb article, Sheila

The subtle message that Australians have no special rights in their country has been well absorbed by one of my friends who listens to the ABC and reads "The Age". We were discussing my opposition to rapid densification in the Melbourne suburbs and accompanying loss of parks and gardens and natural areas. She asked whether I was being "selfish", pointed out that many people want to live in Melbourne and emphasized that I in fact want to live in Melbourne. It was said as though I had no more right to live in the place of my birth than anyone else from anywhere else in the world! I was shocked and lost for words because it seemed to me that it is the bottom line of my rights to live in my own city! I acknowledge I have no right to live in Paris, or London and that the a Parisians and Londoners do have rights but I really thought I had a complete right to live Melbourne . It was amazing to me that a friend would as I felt diminish my right to one that was equivalent to anyone else in the world perhaps with many other choices! How well these messages referred to in the article above have been conveyed!

The capsule to rescue the trapped miners. constructed by the Chilean Navy, traveled up and down through the earth a distance of 33 miles in total to save the 33 trapped down below. It was reported that about 1 billion people watched the rescue operation, and the rescue was estimated to have cost US $20 million. News of the courage, faith and patriotism of the nation, the rescuers and the miners has now traveled across the globe to touch every nation in the world. It was amazing to see the unity and patriotism displayed. There were Chilean flags, songs, t shirts and balloons of Chile's colours - red, white, and blue - and patriotic chants. "Chile" was written on the capsule. There was the constant presence and attention of Chile’s Presidente Sebastián Piñera and the Minister for Mining. Everybody supported each other at all levels. Their faith, courage and patriotism is a credit to their solidarity as a nation. Crises always brings out the best in human nature, but Australia - if we had a similar crisis - would be much more muted in response. We have become so divided, so diverse, so embedded by political correctness, so multicultural, that any display of such patriotism would no doubt be considered in bad-taste, "racist" or "offensive" to ethnic groups! We need a new wave of affirmation of Australian-ness, of our unity, our sovereignty, our alliance to our great nation. Our national pride has been diluted by decades of division, multi-nationalism and multi-loyalties. Our Indigenous people have been marginalised by layer upon layer of ethnic settlements, and our Irish-English-European heritage is being over-ridden so that we have become an "International" medley of mixed identities without real meaning, common history, common interests or common culture. Chile is to be commended for their unity and dedication for each other.

"Australians have found it very hard to protest against this high immigration because of constant subtle messages from government and media implying that they had no right to object". The messages are that you can't be anti- immigration because the forces of Political Correctness are powerful, and force us to comply and be silent. Being anti-immigration is to make oneself a pariah, a racist, a xenophobe, in line with Hitler! I am married to someone born overseas, in a non-western country. My children are of mixed race. However, we are both against more immigration! This is not about race, but patriotism, concern for Australia's future, fear of overpopulation, of Australia losing its identity, of further marginalising our indigenous people, of destroying what is unique about Australia - its forests, coasts, wildlife and vegetation. Many people who come here do not care about Australia. It's just a place to live, to work, to make money and to call a home! Keeping their own loyalities, or multiculturalism, is not encouraging loyalty to Australia. With our "skills shortages", deliberately manufactured, means that people coming here feel they are "helping" us! Dual citizenship should go. Loyalty to Australia, and our sovereign nation, should be the priority of anyone considering taking up citizenship, and permanent residence should be limited.

The sooner a deadly flu virus or such like wipes out a vast amount of the human parasite the better..You would imagine all is well on our planet earth when you walk down town and see nearly every other young woman getting ready to pop out another parasite...what is wrong with the sick human race..

The tweed council treat her like an idiot because she is an idiot. All greens are idiots,well intentioned and good hearted maybe but idiots just the same,red communist socialist idiots who will one day grow up hopefully. Editorial comment: Even if the the poster concedes that Greens are 'good hearted' this comment remains insulting and adds nothing tto he discussion. In future, such comments will not be posted. Critical comments are still encouraged, as long as they add to the discussion.

Jennifer Parkhurst from Rainbow Beach pleaded guilty to 46 charges, including the feeding and interfering with dingoes, in the Maryborough Magistrates Court today. Prosecutors for the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) alleged she fed 17 dingoes, including six puppies, over a 13 month period. Recently three students bashed to death a kangaroo while at a school camp. They were give a "caution" by police! Other cases of extreme sadism and animal killings end up with almost no punishment, or trivial fines. We humans have impacted on this land, stolen habitat from wildlife, killed large numbers as "pests", and eradicated their food supplies. If dingoes are starving, park rangers have a duty of care to make sure they survive. The priorities of our callous decision-makers and law enforcers are decidedly warped. Of course, dingoes should not get used to visitors feeding them, and thus threatening visitors on the island! However, the "safety" of people is more of an issue than concern for the welfare of the indigenous animals! People entering into wildlife habitats must take precautions, and the dingoes could be fed in such as way as it appears "natural".

Dr Vandana Shiva is an environmental activist who's in Australia to accept this year's Sydney Peace Prize. The 57-year-old philosopher and activist has been recognised for her work on the empowerment of women in developing countries, her advocacy of the human rights of small farming communities, and her scientific analysis of environmental sustainability. For three decades she's argued that the world's poor and the planet's ecosystems have suffered at the hands of the free market system. "Many communities are threatened by the consequences of global warming, yet in Australia the movement to address this issue has gone to sleep," he said. Women been left to look after the care economy and they've been left to look after life. It's not in our genes but it's definitely in the social division of labour and that's what woke her up to the fact that if we have to care about nature and we have to learn how to live differently. She says we have to give up the paradigms that have come from what she has called capitalist patriarchy and start building alternatives on the basis of this convergence of feminism and ecology for all - men included. According to Dr Shiva, gender equality is crucial for the economic prosperity and growth of any country. "No country can prosper if half its population is left behind," she told IPS news, http://www.awid.org/eng/Issues-and-Analysis/Issues-and-Analysis/INDIA-Wo... She condemns capitalist systems driving economic growth because so much of the high living standard is linked to transfer of resources from what were colonies in the past. She says that Capitalism has transferred huge wealth - and that wealth transfer has not stopped because for every dollar given to the Third World as aid, $3 is taken out in terms of business and interest repayments. That is why the Third World is always in a debt trap. Her worry about globalisation is that the huge amount of consumerism of rich societies and rich people is based on constant demands on the world's resources. The most polluting part of this activity is now being dumped on India and China. It's like saying - "You carry the burden of ruining your rivers, ruining your lands but we will have the consumption".

India In India, permanent residency is a status largely reserved for people of Indian extraction who can prove certain connections to the country. These may include family ties, former possession of an Indian passport or other criteria linked to historical developments such as the postindependence period (after 1947) and the constitution of 1950. China Foreigners who want to apply for permanent residence in China should obey Chinese laws, be healthy and have no criminal records. At same time, they should act in accordance with one of the conditions below: First, the applicants have invested in China directly, have steady investment condition and good revenue record for more than 3 years. Second, the applicants take the job continually as or above the assistant general manager or factory director, have the high title of or above the associate professor or assistant researcher, or have enjoy the equal treatment in China for more than 4 years, during which the applicants have been living in China adding up to no less than 3 years and have good revenue records. Third, the applicants have great and outstanding contributions to China or meet the special requirements of Chinese government. Pakistan UK citizens who can demonstrate a family link to Pakistan can gain citizenship on application. It is unusual for others, except for journalists, diplomats and entrepreneurs, to seek residency. Cases are dealt with on an individual basis by the Ministry of the Interior (Pakistan). Turkey Residency permits granted to foreigners married to Turkish citizens are of two types. The law classifies countries into “Group A” and “Group B.” If you are a citizen of “Group A” countries, you are granted a five-year temporary residency permit and the permit can be renewed for five years each time. For “Group B” countries’ citizens, you are initially granted a one-year residency permit, which at the second and third renewal can be extended to two years. All subsequent renewals receive a five-year temporary residency permit.“Group A” countries are European Union members and members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). “Group B” consists of all other countries. Chile You will be required to apply for permanent residency after you have been a temporary resident for two years, but you may apply after one year. If you leave Chile for more than one year, your permanent residence status will expire. ertain things might help you obtain permanent residency. For instance: family in Chile, a college education, a large savings account, owning real estate in chile, fluency in spanish, skills that are high in demand, and of course the help of a qualified attorney. Vietnam Foreigners who are residing in Vietnam in the following conditions will be considered for permanent residence: a) Being unjustifiably oppressed while fighting for people’s freedom and independence, socialism, democracy and peace or for a science cause. b) Having contributions in building and protecting the fatherland of Vietnam c) Being the wife, husband, child, father or mother of a Vietnamese citizen residing permanently in Vietnam. Japan If you want to get Permanent Residency and are not willing to marry a Japanese, count on a ten-year stay in Japan minimum. If you want the easy way in, you must: Firstly, be married to a Japanese for at least five years Why five? It's pretty arbitrary, but five is the benchmark if you are from a first-world country (it will take longer, word has it, if you are from Asia or Africa). Almost impossible! Indonesia The processes of obtaining proper documentation to live and work in Indonesia can seem like an endless maze of bureaucracy. Lack of posted regulations, irregular application of existing regulations, vested interests and other matters complicate what one would think would be a relatively smooth processing of paperwork for foreigners to live and work in Indonesia. Company sponsorship is required as a FIRST STEP in order for a foreigner who wants to work in Indonesia to be issued a work permit/visa. This sponsorship is required BEFORE a semi-permanent visa and work permit can be processed. Thailand All applications for Thai Permanent Residency is processed by the Royal Thai Immigration Commission. The annual quota for granting permanent residency in Thailand is a maximum of 100 persons per country. 1. You must have had a Thai non-immigrant visa for at least three years prior to the submission of your application. Holders of multiple NON-Immigrant visas can not apply. You must have 3 consecutive yearly extensions in order to qualify. 2. You must be a holder of a non-immigrant visa at the time of submitting your application. 3. You must be able to meet one of these categories to apply for PR status in Thailand: * Investment category (minumum 3 - 10 Mil. Baht investment in Thailand) * Working/ Business category * Support a family or Humanity Reasons category: In this category, you must have a relationship with a Thai citizen or an alien who already posses a residence permit as a husband or wife; father or mother; or a guardian of a Thai child under 20 years of age. * Expert / academic category * Other categories as determined by Thai Immigration Australia Many categories! Employer sponsored workers Professionals and other skilled migrants Business people Specialist entry Doctors and nurses Regional employment Air and Sea crew Pacific regional pilot scheme Students Refugees Retirement investor visas etc, etc We have endless resources, endless land, a bottomless pit full of "skills shortages" despite our unemployment rate and first rate educational system. "Populate or Perish" is still the motif of today's politicians.

As Bandicoot points out, a roof area is needed for the collection of local sunshine for solar energy. In a 6 storey building only 1/6th of the apartments has a rooftop. In a 20 storey building only 1/20th of the living space has a rooftop etc. Amidst the decades long media propaganda campaign to talk us out of our back backyards, the Hills Hoist as a symbol of un-cool suburban mediocrity has been rubbished almost out of existence yet it is a very energy efficient way of drying clothes. In high rise apartment buildings the options are -power hungry clothes dryers, hanging laundry around a small apartment or displaying it over the balcony as one sees in poorer urban areas all over the world. Anyone think we are being talked into heading in the wrong direction?

A CSIRO study titled Reshaping Cities for a More Sustainable Future predicts that if Australia’s cities continue to grow as urban sprawl, in just 10 to 15 years air pollution in our cities will increase as much as 70 per cent compared to 1990 levels. So much for reducing our ghg emissions while we have contradictory population growth! The result is cities that, in the long term, are economically and environmentally non-sustainable. As the pollution increases, the liveability of our cities will worsen. The CSIRO study examined several alternative urban forms to evaluate their capacity to minimise both energy consumption and atmospheric pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. The CSIRO study examined several alternative urban forms to evaluate their capacity to minimise both energy consumption and atmospheric pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. However, they do not include a plan to cap our popualtion - the most obvious strategy to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions! The proposed location and design of Melbourne's newest unsustainable communities will make outer urban sprawl inhabitants extremely vulnerable to changes in utility, fuel and food costs. This is bad planning, bad for public health and bad for the environment. Many native species now face extinction because the size of their habitats is shrinking as a result of expanding urban development. New housing developments in outlying areas are almost entirely based on low density planning. The prevailing assumption among big property developers and our mainstream conservative political parties seems to be that Australia is a huge country with a relatively small population, so it does not matter if our towns and cities sprawl an awful lot. Land is a limitless supply, and the concept of Terra Nullius continues to erode our nation. Either way, we are growing our cities upward AND outwards, and Australia's natural wealth, environmental heritage and biodiversity must be sacrificed for growth at all costs.

High-density development in Australia is causing more greenhouse gases than the suburbs, argues Dr. Tony Recsei of the group Save Our Suburbs, in this rebuttal of a blog post by Michael Dudley. Resisting Dickensian Gloom Advocates of high-density policies (often termed "Smart Growth" but also under other descriptions and euphemisms such as "urban consolidation", "compact development", "growth management" and "urban renewal") maintain these policies save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Inner city households outstrip the rest of Australia in every other category of consumption. Even in the area of housing, the opportunities for relatively efficient, compact living appear to be overwhelmed by the energy and water demands of modern urban living, such as air conditioning, spa baths, down lighting and luxury electronics and appliances, as well as by a higher proportion of individuals living alone or in small households. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation's Consumption Atlas, the average carbon dioxide equivalent emission of the high-density core areas of Australian cities is 27.9 tonnes per person whereas that for the low-density outer areas is 17.5 tonnes per person. The emissions from household dwelling construction and renovations at 11.8% are greater than emissions for transport. If we are to reduce our urban energy and water footprint by individually collecting localised solar energy and rainwater it appears reasonable that this will only be practical for dwellings that have a large roof area per inhabitant. That means low density. It also means trees, garden spaces and vegetable patches.

Kurt Sonnenfeld was the only videographer, who was allowed to film at Ground Zero in New York. He was working for the FEMA. (FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency of US homeland security). On New Years Eve 2002, he was arrested for having killed his wife. The story didn't make big headlines in the news, but started some speculations and rumours on the internet. On June 14, 2002, prosecutors dismissed first-degree murder charges against Sonnenfeld in the early New Year's morning shooting death of his wife. Nancy Sonnenfeld, 36, died of a gunshot wound in the head after she and her husband had celebrated New Year's Eve together. If he is guilty of murdering his wife and is using the 'evidence of conspiracy' that he possesses to ensure his continuing liberty, then his 'evidence' may never be released. If, however, he is innocent of the murder and is being harassed with a trumped up charge precisely because he has evidence of a 9/11 government conspiracy, then it would seem sensible for him to release the details at some point in the near future. His wife, he said, committed suicide. The defense investigation found a note written by Nancy Sonnenfeld which police had not taken into evidence. Interview with Kurt Sonnenfeld: We are asked to believe that all four of the “indestructible” black boxes of the two jets that struck the twin towers were never found because they were completely vaporized, yet I have footage of the rubber wheels of the landing gear nearly undamaged, as well as the seats, parts of the fuselage and a jet turbine that were absolutely not vaporized. This being said, I do find it rather odd that such objects could have survived fairly intact the type of destruction that turned most of the Twin Towers into thin dust. And I definitely harbor some doubts about the authenticity of the “jet” turbine, far too small to have come from one of the Boeings! What happened with Building 7 is incredibly suspicious. I have video that shows how curiously small the rubble pile was, and how the buildings to either side were untouched by Building Seven when it collapsed. It had not been hit by an airplane; it had suffered only minor injuries when the Twin Towers collapsed, and there were only small fires on a couple of floors. There’s no way that building could have imploded the way it did without controlled demolition. Yet the collapse of Building 7 was hardly mentioned by the mainstream media and suspiciously ignored by the 9/11 Commission. When Sonnenfeld discovered that his official documentation contradicted the U.S. government’s account of the events, he refused to be a part of a cover-up and did not turn over the tapes to officialdom. However, the federal government is determined to do whatever it takes to retrieve Sonnenfeld’s material and silence him. This has converted him into the refugee that he never meant to be. Sonnenfeld writes, “There are many who say that the wildest conspiracy theory of all is the one offered by the United States government.” Based on his observations, did you know that:
  • On the weekend prior to the World Trade Center attacks, all electricity was cut off for approximately 36 hours , including the security cameras and control systems in a highly irregular maintenance operation;
  • In the weeks leading up to the attacks there were several unusual evacuations of both towers;
  • The company in charge of security at the World Trade Center, Securacom, was directed by Marvin Bush, George W. Bush’s younger brother, and Wirt Walker III, George W. Bush’s cousin;
  • Hundreds of government personnel were pre-positioned in New York City on Sept. 10 ; and
  • FEMA officials had already set up their command post at Pier 92 near the World Trade Center one day before the attacks?

Bush's infamous legacy was his abandonment of countrymen in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, plus his diversionary illegitimate crusade in Iraq, despite Al Qaeda flourishing in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan. Obama's legacy could have been saving Haitians in the wake of its devastating earthquake and taking civil control of the BP oil spill and the banks. But Obama has not. That cholera has now broken out is an indictment on Obama's regional leadership. But strictly speaking the UN has failed the people of Haiti, like it failed the Bosnians, the Rwandans, the Somalis, the Tamils, the Burmese, the Kurds, the Sumatrans, the Uzbekistanis, the Pakistanis. The false hope and trust of the United Nations should be wound up, just as the British Commonwealth should be.

It is instructive to realise that the same heroic, courageous and principled person that stopped President Reagan launching nuclear war against the Soviet Union in the 1980's, tried to stop the 1992 and 2003 wars against Iraq, tried to stop the war against Afghanistan, and spoke out about the false flag terrorist atrocities of 11September2001 , also opposes unlimited immigration into the United States.

Perhaps it takes the same courage to stand up to the politically correct.

Below is what former Lieutenant Colonel Bowman has published on his web-site www.thepatriots.us:

www.thepatriots.us/pg_02_issues.html
http://www.thepatriots.us/pg_02_issues.html#MM

Immigration: "Immigration is a complex issue which cuts across party lines. Those in favor of “amnesty” or a “guest worker program” include pro-corporate Republicans, elements of the Roman Catholic Church seeking new congregants to replace millions of alienated and excommunicated parishioners, a few Union leaders hoping for new dues-paying members, and liberal Democrats driven by compassion for poor illegal immigrants seeking a better life. Those opposing the “guest worker program” include a few racist Republicans and a lot of disgruntled taxpayers who don't want to subsidize social services for illegals. None of the above groups sees the critical problem with illegal immigration (or indeed with uncontrolled legal immigration). The problem is that large numbers of immigrants willing to work for peanuts depresses the wages for all working Americans, including what's left of the middle class."

In Australia, the same political groups that stridently support mass immigration are publicly silent on the excuse for the current war against Afghanistan, despite raging controversy surrounding Jon Faine's attempt to start a witch hunt against Kevin Bracken.

Whilst Green Left is publicly silent on the 9/11 controversy, individual members of the 'Democratic' 'Socialist' Party, who distribute Green Left Weekly will take you aside to push something very similar to the official US government story about 9/11.

Odd clusters of wildlife signal Nature's stress and a call for help. As humans alter and destroy habitat, wildlife moves on. Yet there remain only so many islands of habitat left on the planet, that when wildlife cluster in numbers into the last bastions of suitable habitat it has become a local extinction risk. Yet dim selfish humans narrow-mindedly misconstrue such numbers as wildlife caused. They label it a 'plague' and kneejerk call on the need for a cull. It is classic redneck, or a 'no-neck' troglodyte response - Ugg! Ugg! When kangaroos are denied free range and are fenced in and herded off farmland, their population doesn't change, only their population density, forced by human malevolence. When clusters of wildlife exist out of natural proportion it is a call for help, like any animal herded. Personally I would not blink an eye learning of millions of humans herded into an Ebola virus epidemic. The planet would not miss indeed a billion humans, but breath a sigh of relief, but don't tell the globalist humanists. Tigerquoll Suggan Buggan Snowy River Region Victoria 3885 Australia

Researchers have produced new DNA evidence that almost certainly confirms the theory that all modern humans have a common ancestry. The research confirms the “Out Of Africa” hypothesis that all modern humans stem from a single group of Homo sapiens who emigrated from Africa 2,000 generations ago and spread throughout Eurasia over thousands of years. The carbon isotopic composition of individual plant leaf waxes in a marine sediment core collected from beneath the plume of Sahara-derived dust in northwest Africa reveals three periods during the past 192,000 years when the central Sahara/Sahel contained likely trees, indicating substantially wetter conditions than at present. In 1974, the discovery of Mungo Man turned the conventional theory of human evolution upside-down. Anatomically, Mungo Man's bones were distinct from other human skeletons being unearthed in Australia. Unlike the younger skeletons that had big-brows and thick-skulls, Mungo Man's skeleton was finer, and more like modern humans. Aside from undermining the Out of Africa theory of evolution, Mungo Man also undermined other migration theories relating to human colonisation of Australia. Although Mungo Man was dissimilar to the 10,000-year-old robust skeletons being found in Australia, his bone structure was similar to modern day Aborigines. Multiple migrations helped explain the variance in skeletons. 200,000 years ago an African tribe, either through superior food gathering ability or open war, started the extinction of all hominin species living throughout Eurasia. We know about European colonisation, and their discovery of "new" continents while stealing homelands from indigenous peoples. Humans have always migrated. However, there are no new frontiers to conquer, or races to subdue, conquer, exploit and exterminate! Racism has its roots in the belief that some people are superior because they belong to a particular race, ethnic or national group. The concept of race is a social construct, not a scientific one. Western Europeans have in recent years accepted more immigration in a shorter period of time than any society has ever done peacefully in human history. There are hardly any Britons in Pakistan today, so why should the Brits allow huge numbers of Pakistanis to settle in Britain? And if the Algerians can demand independence from France, why can't the French demand independence from Algerians? "Racist" accusations and the fact that we are all "out of Africa" with innate rights to immigrate, are being used as a population myth to support ongoing immigration to Western nations. However, opposition to immigration, once high levels have been achieved, is not necessarily about racism or ethnicity but about sustainable numbers, and protecting our planet, our nation, our territories, from the multiple threats present this century. Anti-immigration is not necessarily racist, but about managing home territories and not stealing opportunities from future generations of the host country. At least 2.2 million migrants will arrive in the West every year until 2050, according to a United Nations report . It appears to be taken for granted by the UN that we will sit back and accept all these millions to flood our countries. Westerners should not and cannot take responsibility for billions of people in other parts of the world. They have a right to limit their population growth to a sustainable level. More immigration peacefully has already occurred than any other society has done in human history. Migration patterns about about TO Western nations, not the contrary! Some nations are immune from criticism and are under no pressure to conform! But nothing is inevitable. Societies could collapse, yet we are supposed to stand by quietly and simply observe this demise. On one hand, the economic right-wing assures us that this unparalleled mass migration will be “good for the economy” and provide for "skills shortages". On the other hand, left-wingers attack those of us who are concerned for our cultural survival us for inciting “racism, xenophobia and discrimination.” Meanwhile all we can desire and aim for is our continued existence in the face of multiple imminent global threats!

Any animal or bird that appears in the "wrong" place or in the "wrong" numbers is always there because of human actions. When I hear the word "cull" I'm afraid I start to feel like "Le Misanthrope"

The word "inhumane" is somewhat of a contradiction since it refers to cruel conduct that is in fact characteristic of humans. Shark finning is one of those behaviors. It comes into the category of "we did it because we could". Presumably there are commercial reasons for this cruel and wasteful practice. Why else would a pragmatic fisherman throw good meat already caught back into the ocean? The fact that the animal cannot survive the mutilation and dies an excruciating death is a necessary consequence of this practice.

It appears that Kangaroo Island is the latest part of Australia to be lashing out their corella woes in the public arena. In this case the locals appear to be claiming that the birds are from the mainland and are displacing "native", endangered species as well as the resident little corellas that normally reside on the island in stable numbers. No mention is made of where exactly these birds reside on the mainland when they are not terrorising island residents and it is not clear whether they are the predatory type that recently invaded Horsham. Once again the little corella faces culling in an area where it supposedly does not belong. Some locals have even put it in the same basket as rabbits, foxes and other introduced European animals. It seems the noises made by the little corella exceed the levels recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidlines to avoid sleep disturbance and annoyance. Perhaps this is the reason why they are so unpopular? It was a common complaint made by early settlers of Australia that the birds on this wretched land don't sing, they squawk. Perhaps these early pioneers encountered the little corella in its fabled "native" area but didn't bother to describe the appearance of this unsavoury bird, it's amazing how little our attitudes have changed.

Anglophones need to take what they read about Venezuela in the Anglophone press with an entire shaker of salt. I agree with James that Chavez is wrong to prevent Arizonians from taking democratic control of their territory to prevent flooding of the labour-market and to prevent exacerbation of ecological degradation by overpopulation, but his remarks could be made in the context of an ongoing propaganda war between the US and Latin America, where the US has for many years sponsored and marketed privatisation and exploitation. I went into this with an open mind when I researched the article which I cite below for a book of energy articles in 2008. I cannot see how things could possibly have been described as 'better' - except for the corrupt elites - before Hugo Chavez won power.

Venezuela before Chavez:

“In 1998, or 168 years after independence, a tiny wealthy elite was separated by a vast chasm from the rest of the people, of whom one quarter were unemployed. This seems disgusting when you realize that Venezuela was then the second biggest [oil] exporter in the world and had received around 300 billion dollars in oil sales – or the equivalent of 20 Marshall Plans - over the preceding 25 years. It was in this context that Hugo Chávez and his social plan won the elections of 6 December 1998 with 56.24% of the votes.” (Nicolas Lehoucq, Paris Institute for International Studies).

Why and how Chavez won government of Venezuela:

"From the 15th C the indigenous long-term stable clan and tribal populations of Chávez’s people were ravaged by invasion, immigration, disease, dispossession and slavery. The original peoples nearly died out, then, completely disorganized, ballooned in circumstances where child labour was the only source of additional income for low-wage landless people. What is now called Venezuela contained a stable population estimated at around 400,000 Amerindians in 1498. (Now the population is around 27 million.) In the early 16th C King Charles Martel V granted Welsers German banking firm rights to exploit the people and resources of Venezuela in payment of a debt. The colony returned to the Spanish Crown within 20 years and hereditary land grants were made to conquistadores for a time, but later declared illegal. Meanwhile the Amerindians fought back until smallpox overwhelmed most of them in 1580. Not until 1821 did Simón Bolívar win the long indigenous struggle for independence.

In 1921 the discovery of oil permitted agricultural and industrial development. At the start of the Second World War Venezuela’s oil production was only exceeded by that of the United States. Much of the oil concession development involved attracted US, British, and Dutch companies. Venezuela became a democracy in 1958 and founded OPEC in 1960.

The historic inequities of colonial land distribution guaranteed a large population of impoverished rural labourers. As oil prices waxed and waned, productive agricultural holdings were neglected and waves of poor people left the country regions to look for work in the city, creating the slum of Caracas. Between 1959 and 1964 the government redistributed rural land to 150,000 families but many resold the land to speculators, it is said, because they had little education about farming and no ready market for their product. Other wealth redistribution and educative policies were carried out but these programs failed to establish themselves against a background of depressed commodity prices and political schism. The then Democratic Action (DA) government was aligned with the USA but many Venezuelans were sympathetic to the Castro regime in Cuba, which was charged with supplying arms to guerrillas in 1963. The state became increasingly repressive in the context of continued political unrest. In 1968 the Social Christians (SC) won government and remained in power until 1973.

In the wave of nationalizations following the first oil-shock, the DA Government created the State-run oil and natural gas company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA) in 1975-1976. PdVSA is Venezuela’s largest employer and provides 80 per cent of export earnings but, reflecting later trends to privatization, government revenue declined from 70.6 per cent in 1981 to 38 per cent in 2000.

The oil countershock of 1979 culminated in currency devaluation by one third and a change to an SC government, which remained in power until 1983, when AD was returned under Jaime Lusinchi. Despite promises to diversify the economy and deliver on housing, public health and education, the situation continued to deteriorate. In 1988 another AD president, Carlos Andrés Pérez, introduced an austerity regime, removing subsidies on gasoline as well as on a number of important consumables, culminating in hunger riots in Caracas, with a death toll of thousands.

Two attempted military coups took place against a background of continued repression in 1992 and Hugo Chávez led one of them. President Pérez later went to prison for 28 months with the government limping along under another recycled leader, Caldera, whose foreign policy was very USA friendly. In 1995, 103 per cent inflation hit the Venezuelan middle class. In 1997 doctors, university professors, and national telephone company workers went on strike. In December 1998 Hugo Chávez won the Presidency.

On 30 December 1999 Venezuela’s 26th constitution was approved by 71 per cent of votes. The Senate was replaced by a single chamber National Assembly, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela came into being, named after the National hero. Presidential terms increased from five to six years and limitations on presidents serving a second consecutive term were lifted, but it became possible for the public to sack a president through a publicly initiated referendum. Privatisation of the oil industry, social security, health care and other major state-owned sectors was outlawed." (The above was an excerpt from the following book-chapter: Sheila Newman,"Venezuela, Chavez and Latin-American Oil on the World Stage,"Chapter 10 in The Final Energy Crisis - 2nd Edition, Pluto Press, UK, 2008.)

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has detailed the findings of a grim report released last week on the future of Pacific Island fisheries. It says the industry is seriously threatened by over-fishing, population growth and climate change. According to the SPC, the end result is the industry could be dead by 2035. Report warns Pacific fisheries industry could collapse by 2035 The report warned some types of tuna were already being dangerously overexploited and the problem would spread to other species as foreign fleets clamoured for access to rich fishing grounds amid a global fall in fish stocks. "There is a dangerous misconception that these resources will always be there but this is not true," the report said. "Pacific island fisheries are the major renewable resource available to the region for food security, livelihoods and economic growth," it said. Nothing should be "growing" - except renewable energy sources - while the natural world continues to shrink! The oceans or their biodiversity have no obligation to continue to produce food or economic benefits for a human population that insists on expanding.

Not only is the finning of sharks barbaric, but their indiscriminate slaughter at an unsustainable rate is pushing many species to the brink of extinction. Since the 1970s the populations of several species have been decimated by over 95%. Due to the clandestine nature of finning, records are rarely kept of the numbers of sharks and species caught. Estimates are based on declared imports to shark fin markets such as Hong Kong and China. The shark is most often still alive when it is tossed back into the water. Unable to swim, the shark slowly sinks toward the bottom where it is eaten alive by other fish. A number of countries have introduced legislation to prevent shark-finning. Some stipulate that fins must constitute 5 per cent of the total weight of shark carcasses onboard. Australia is one of the few countries that require captured sharks must arrive in port intact, with fins still attached.

The Greens policy on population is too broad, idealistic and vague. It is perfectly reasonable for the Greens to make policies on a wide range of issues. They wouldn't be a real political party otherwise. But unfortunately their policies on population are too broad, idealistic and vague. Overpopulation is the greatest problem facing Australia. We are mildly overpopulated now, and becoming more and more overpopulated by the day. Bob Brown, for all his virtues, doesn't fully appreciate this. The greens population policy should consist of one simple sentence: "We will halt Australia's population growth immediately." Simple, unambiguous and to the point.

Venezuela's minister of foreign affairs said the country’s socialist president, Hugo Chavez, is demanding that Arizona’s law against illegal immigration be “repealed” and that America turn away from its “old habits of racism.” Cuban leaders and Venezuela's president are adding to the chorus and calling the law 'racist and xenophobic" – but they're carrying their own human rights baggage. Ironically, Cuba, the communist-run island of roughly 11 million, has long been condemned for its human rights record, including the jailing of roughly 200 political prisoners, the banning of a free press and the outlawing of opposition political parties. In Venezuela there is a growing number of strikes, demonstrations and social struggles over housing, food shortages, workers' rights, and many more issues. Venezuelan elites today have a profoundly racist complex that has even led intellectuals to refer to the Colonization as a positive event. To this day, many deny that inequality has roots in racism. For example, in Venezuela it has only been now, under President Chávez's government that recognition is given to African-Venezuelans. Today, Venezuelans come to Australia, and decide to stay here and work. For foreigners living in Venezuela, many advertise ONLY VENEZUELAN-BORN people may apply! They protect themselves from being adversely affected by immigrants taking jobs away from nationals, yet condemn Arizona as "racist"! Editorial comment: Whilst much that is positive can be said of Venezuela and Cuba in terms of social justice and sustainability, their demands that the U.S. effectively allow open borders would harm most of all, the poorest in the U.S. if they were agreed to, and, ironically, be of greatest benefit to the US elites, who are, otherwise, hostile to the governments of those countries, Efforts to limit immigration into the U.S., Canada and Australia have to be maintained contray to the objections of the governments of Cuba and Venezuela.

Good and wholesome policies from Australia First Party. 1. Ensure Australia Retains Full Independence. 2. Rebuild Australian Manufacturing Industries. 3. Control Foreign Ownership. 4. Reduce and Limit Immigration. 5. Abolish Multiculturalism. 6. Introduce Citizen's Initiated Referenda. 7. Strengthen the Family. 8. Strive To Rebuild A United Australia. The Australia First Party do not mention the environment, or protecting our rivers, forests, coasts, wildlife and biodiversity. However, with such patriotism and sovereignty being promoted, they inherently should reduce environmental impacts by abolishing multiculturalism and reducing or limiting immigration - the main source of our population growth. We don't hear enough of them. Globalisation is threatening our control of natural and man-made assets. We are not part of Asia, or a global resource. Our control and sovereignty needs to be promoted. We are being sold out by our current political policies, based on economic growth at all costs.

Vivienne and Geoffrey, your above comments are valuable and I respond to the discussion by making four summary observations. (On learing from your comments, I have since changed my reference to Greens 'focus' to Greens 'effort').

1. The original environmental conservation focus of The Greens has been steadily diluted and distracted as the Party has (1) sought more mainstream acceptance and (2) invited under its wing those with non-environmental conservation agendas - I have collectively branded these 'pink' - which is intentionally open to interpretation - 'pale Red', 'alternative lifestyle', 'liberal values', 'civil rights activists', but distinguishably human focused, not environmentally focused!

Hence much of The Greens polices are now grouped under 'Care for People', 'Human Rights & Democracy', and 'Media, Arts & Science.'

The Greens are suffering a classic 'quality for quantity compromise' and in seeking mainstream popularism have become a clichéd jack of all trades and master of none. Worse, they risk alienating their original environmental conservation ideological support base.

2. Scores of socialists and humanists disaffected within Australia's dominant Left-wing party - the Australian Labor Party (ALP) have become disillusioned by Labor's gradual Center-Right direction and by its corrosive factional politics. Many have defected to The Greens. In turn they have influence the direction of The Greens and the Greens in their conciliatory habit have modified their policy focus to adopt more and more 'pink' social justice agenda. With this 'accommodation' The Greens core environmental conservation focus is being diluted by increasing 'pink' 'Left-leaning', social justice policies.

3. The core driver of environmental degradation (including pollution, habitat loss, species extinctions) is the exponential human population increase and the unchecked encouraged consumerism per capita. More people in the same area causes more pressure on the environment - simple logic!

Climate change is merely a background broad incremental consequence; it is the consequence, not the driver of the environmental problems!

Brown and his Greens have sided with the population control lobby but only in vague in-principled support. Reason for the token support is that the new pink allegiances and policies adopted by The greens have inherently compromised the ability of The Greens to achieve a consensus on a population control policy that would be effective in reducing its environmental impact.
The Greens are now beholden to its 'pink' policies on social justice, yet have failed to recognise that both social justice problems and environmental problems are compounded by excesses in human population.

4. The genteel, academic and legalese make up of The Greens leadership has shaped a group think culture of idealistic passiveness with any change management specifying a conciliatory approach. A lack of effective principled 'balls' has meant a failure to take the conservation fight to the protagonists - the selfish property developers, property speculators, stock market, the banks, the growth lobby, the big corporate exploiters, the self-sustainable captains of industry and industrialisation.

Is it then any wonder, with The Greens beholden to a 'pink' agenda displacing their environmental conservation core, that conservation groups are disaffected with The Greens and that we are experiencing the emergence of a fresh wave of political groups fill the political void?

* Australian Protectionist Party
* Stable Population Party of Australia
* Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated of which I acknowledge being an active member.

Conclusion

If The Greens continue down their popularist vote grabbing 'pink' path, it is only a matter of time before the critical mass of environmental conservation disaffection in The Greens sees a new alternative 'green' party emerge. Personally, a political wing of The Wilderness Society has best chance of achieving that.
There is logic in this assessment, but that is another article.


Author's note: I have since added this comment to the text of my article.

I agree that the Greens lack of a population policy seems to be an astonishing oversight for any group which claims to be pro-environmental. However I would argue that it is a symptom of of their lack of genuine commitment to social justice rather than being caused by a "focus ... toward human issues with Left socialist and civil rights agendas" or as the author John Marlowe has put it. If the Greens genuinely cared about the poor and human rights, they would have had much more to say about how immigration, demanded by land speculators, has impoverished the poorest in this country and driven many more previously well-off people into housing stress. This has happened because it has increased the demand for the commodity of shelter over which speculators have gained a monopoly. The fact that hardly any Greens have said a word about this suggests to me that their concern for human rights is as shallow as their concern for the environment.

Senator Bob Brown in March this year said former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's vision of a "big Australia" with a population of 35 million by 2050 isn't sustainable. The Greens want an inquiry to investigate Australia's "carrying capacity" in terms of population impacts on infrastructure, the environment, health and education. It would report back by mid-2011. However, on the big issues of the previous election campaign - immigration and population growth - Bob Brown offers nothing but equivocation and confused messages. In response to the intergenerational report last year which famously projected Australia would have nearly 15 million more people in 2050, Brown called for ... an inquiry. A review. Another report. Sarah Hanson-Young, the Greens senator from South Australia, tried to claim "Compassion is key to any discussion of population growth". The party's approach to asylum seekers is clear cut. The Australian Green Party presents itself as the leading advocate of environmental issues, so you would expect them to have a strong policy on curbing population growth. How can they advocate the addressing of anthropogenic climate change and support a higher population? Our economic migration plan needs to be abandoned so we are forced to rely on our own human resources, and have training and education funded properly, but we can't have the predicted millions of refugees that could be homeless in the future. Not only will there be territorial wars, as the planet has no new frontiers to colonise, but there will be refugees from climate change, and overpopulation. The Greens policy on population is too broad, idealistic and vague. Surely it is too late to "work to achieve a sustainable relationship between humans and the environment by taking action....". With our rising greenhouse gas emissions one of the highest per capita in the world, the unsustainability of our MDB food bowl, our world record mammal extinction rate, rampant logging of forests etc etc, their environmental policies would be a hard to implement against market forces demanding jobs and economic benefits! Humans and human population numbers are the planet's biggest environmental threat! The Greens should make their policies and objectives clearer.

I just posted this here. (Some small errors have since been corrected.) I consider Jon Faine's treatment of Kevin Bracken a shameful breach of ethical journalistic principles. What makes Faine think he has the right to ignore the facts of the September 11 terrorist atrocity that Bracken attempted to put on his program, to refuse Bracken's request to debate the issue and to engage in ad hominem attacks? The fact remains that well over a million have died and millions more have become impoverished  as a consequence of wars launched using September 11 as a pretext. What journalist with any conscience whatsoever would attempt to prevent the public from examining the raging controversy surrounding the pretext for thes bloody wars ?

The entire place is quite peaceful and overwhelmingly quiet. The inhabitants of Titicaca lake are mostly the ancient people of Peru.  There are lots of places and items that show the history of the people around the lake.  The people around the lake still live an over whelming traditional way of life. titicaca lake Editorial comment: This comment appears to be, in part, an advertisement for a travel company. It is, however, related, if only in a loose sense, to the article.

Hope in the Gilluddite should be tempered by an uninterrupted watching of the classic 1966 US western film 'The Good Bad and the Ugly'.

By the end of this spaghetti western, one should be clear deciding who best portrays the metaphor for Labor's good, bad and ugly - in terms of governance and electoral performance.

The following immortal quotes from the movie ought assist, while listening to Ennio Morricone's legendary theme music:

"I've never seen so many men wasted so badly."

"Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We're gonna have to earn it."

"Tut, tut. Such ingratitude after all the times I saved your life."

"Every gun makes its own tune."

"The way I figure, there's really not too much future with a sawed-off runt like you."

When some charity hassles you again for money on the street dont give them anything. Haiti where millions of people donated...Wake up people. 'Foul drinking water is killing Haitians in the first epidemic of cholera on the island in over a century. Behind the TV images on German television of the misery lies a tale of international corruption and malfeasance that goes directly to former US President Bill Clinton and leading families of the so-called Haitian Oligarchy. According to Haitian civic organizations donations that could have provided permanent clean water are not being used to do so. Instead, the money is part of a racket by so-called “poverty aid” NGOs to earn huge financial gain off the outpouring of international contributions to the victims of the January devastating earthquake.' (emphasis by editor.)

A CSIRO study titled Reshaping Cities for a More Sustainable Future predicts that if Australia’s cities continue to grow as urban sprawl, in just 10 to 15 years air pollution in our cities will increase as much as 70 per cent compared to 1990 levels. Urban design exerts a strong impact on a city's air quality and the exposure of its population to harmful pollutants. The result is cities that, in the long term, are economically and environmentally non-sustainable. We’re a nation that whose economy and way of life are underpinned by access to affordable and sustainable fuel sources. This can't continue. But we’re also a nation made more vulnerable to the impacts of rising oil prices due to our relatively high vehicle use, the relatively high fuel consumption in our vehicle fleet, our 97 per cent reliance on oil based fuels for transport and our declining domestic oil reserves. The food bowl that was the Murray-Darling Basin is fast drying up - the CSIRO expects cuts in irrigation water availability of up to 85 per cent by 2030 in Victorian regions. Unless significant changes are made to the way we shape and build our cities, the 21st century looks bleak for Australia. Transport emissions alone are projected to increase by 42 per cent over the 1990 level (Australian Greenhouse Office 2004). Almost half of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions and two thirds of emissions from energy are generated in urban areas, or through energy conversion for urban use. Urban form and density also have a significant impact on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Australia's self-sufficiency in oil products is declining markedly, and like most other Asia-Pacific states, Australia will become increasingly dependent on imports from the Middle East in the next decades. Why are we deliberately heading towards increasing the threats with population growth? Obviously, there are global forces behind the power brokers with self-serving interests.

I've read a few article from those purporting to be from the green left, yet at the same time pleading for continued population growth. Some of their arguments are (from memory, I don't feel like tracking them all down):

  • Sure we'll have to stop growing our population soon. But for now we must keep growing. When is "soon" exactly? Well, it's soon.
  • We must relieve overpopulation in other countries by letting in many more people! Otherwise they might think that we're selfish. Here's an article from Crikey blog along this line.
  • The more people in Australia, the easier it will be to invest in green industries & our environmental impact will diminish. Economies of scale or something.
  • As our numbers increase we will become ever more energy efficient and everyone will willingly make sacrifices to ensure our environmental impact will grow ever smaller.
    Here's another article from Crikey which also seems to argue this.
    (Crikey seems to have stopped blogging about population lately though.)
  • We've been spoiled by our low population density. We need to learn sympathy with people living in crowded third world cities by increasing our population density to match. This will teach us to live in a simpler, lower energy way just like them too.

(Of course I think these arguments are all nonsense.)

Th International banking cartel, through their financing of two World Wars, the creation of the IMF, World Bank and other private "central banks" like the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, backing of international organizations like the United Nations, World Health Organization, World Trade Organization has sought to control not only the purse strings of the governments of the world, The new-world order are the World Banking Cartel who own all 'Reserve Banks". They control the world economy, they have the 'rights' to print the money for all Countries under the UN, and consequently they make trillions of dollars in 'Fractional Reserve Lending' and they dictate the price of Gold, making huge profits from the 'highs' and 'lows' . If you regard this as the most serious threat to Australian way of life and our freedom - Join the new party- Australian Sovereignty Party - Urgently. Following are just some of the policies of the United Nations:
  • Control of all zoning/States matters in all Member States and the control of our National parks, Rivers and Historical sites, Barrier Reef etc.
  • Control over whether women are allowed to have babies.v
  • Control over population
  • Control over all food sources.
  • Control over our Farms.
  • Control over all Land and Property
  • Control over the economic and judicial policies of all nations (Member States inc Australia).
http://www.sovereigntyparty.org.au The Australian Sovereignty Party (ASP) upholds the belief that Australia should be a united, democratic and sovereign nation: standing on a firm foundation of truth, freedom and justice for all.

According to Prof. Tim Flannery, in his new book Here on Earth: An Argument For Hope , this is the century of crisis, because this is the century population is going to peak. He says that it's also the century of the great climate crisis. If we survive this century, we'll be in a much better position to forge a sustainable global human entity on this planet. Sounds like a big "if"! To achieve sustainability our environment must come before all the considerations, including the economy. Having reached environmental limits to the Murray Darling food bowl production, it is time we concentrated on products that are sustainable, both economically and environmentally. In 2007-08, vegetables for human consumption contributed the highest value to total irrigated production of $2,972 million, followed by fruit and nuts ($2,292 million). On the contrary, the ABS estimated that 43 per cent of the water consumed in agriculture was used by dairy farms (16 per cent), other livestock industry farms (19 per cent) and other irrigated pasture (8 per cent). Yet only 13% of the 1.65 million hectares was for grapes, fruits and vegetables. The major agricultural water users in the MDB were: cotton (1,574 GL), dairy farming (1,287 GL), pasture for livestock (excluding dairy, 1,284 GL) and rice (1,252 GL). These crops and pasture collectively accounted for 70% of all agricultural water consumption in the MDB. The dairy, livestock cotton and rice industries are simply over-rated and grossly inefficient! The looming cuts to water use in the Murray-Darling Basin would affect Australia's ability to make competitive food products for export, a spokesperson for Australian Food and Grocery Council said. Australia produces enough food for 50 or more million people. yet we are net importers of food. With climate change, drought, population growth, lack of fertilizers, loss are arable land to McMansions, strangling of river systems with irrigation farming, and salination of soils, the quantity produced may not continue - and clearly it is unsustainable. We should make optional, and luxuries, the industries that consume inefficient and unrealistic amounts of water and prioritize of those that consume the least and produce more income. Our diets are our closest link with Nature, yet are continually overlooked in issues of sustainability, and sustainability is not optional.

I think John Marlowe and Bandicoot should be commended for having drawn our attention to reasons to be very wary of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Nevertheless, I think Gillard should still also be commended for having stood up to and toppled her awful predecessor, instead of having been meekly subordinate to the misrule of her 'leader' as nearly all Federal Labor politicians have been for the last three decades at least. I haven't completely abandoned my hope that Gillard will turn out to be a significant improvement upon Kevin Rudd, but, sadly, that hope is now considerably diminished.

Gillard's reckless legacy of waste and mismanagement from her championed 'education revolution' continues to plague her credibility now as PM. Gillard was complicit in the Rudd gang of four's failed insulation scheme and the failed green loans scheme. The Gillard Government's nationalisation of health has stalled. The emissions trading scheme seems all but abandoned. The Murray Darling water sharing solution ignored rural communities.

Some record of so-called 'reform'! It is not reform - it is Rudd's popularism legacy.

Now PM Gillard is spruiking 'reform' in tax and superannuation under another hastily thought through scheme, which in true Labor style has sought to only divide and conquer the mining industry. How can reform be based on selective favouritism of a few big mining companies?

It is Labor short-termism at best, driven by classic Sussex Street manipulative self-serving bullying. Dare anyone disagrees with Labor and its methods of 'reform', or Gillard will label you a 'Hansonite'. How unfair on someone who has long left politics!

Gillard is not moving forward. She is policy spinning and getting nowhere fast.
Her inexperience and simpleton outlook is revealing the real Gillardite that the Sussex Street puppeteers implanted as PM. Gillard and Keneally should really get along - same party, same puppeteers, albeit different puppet shows.

If Julia Gillard's economic "reforms" mean globalisation in cloaked terms, then despite the "prosperity" it may have brought, Julia Gillard is going in the wrong direction. Mr Abbott said Gillard's attacks were designed to divert attention from her failure to deliver election promises on her new mining tax, climate change and border security, and amid public concern about whether the National Broadband Network offered value for money. Julia Gillard has declared national interest will decide the government's response to Singapore's takeover bid for the Australian Securities Exchange. Perhaps we should sell our government and outsource Parliament to be run for us - in "national interests"! Before the elections, she promised to move "Forward". We have the NBN in a shambles, no policy on asylum seekers, nothing being done about climate change, the Murray Darling crisis, and her stance against a "big Australia" has dwindled to nought. It's important to identify what is market-based reforms and what is not. If protecting our sovereignty, our nation-hood, our land, our people, our history and our heritage from global forces that split Australia into pieces of international ownership is "Hansonism", then bring back Pauline Hanson! She is forgiven for her racism! What was the point of the Anzacs in World War 11? Perhaps if Japan has conquered our shores, we would have a bigger economy by now? We don't exist for the Economy, but it exists for us, and for the benefit of the people and nation of Australia!

Unfortunately the various forces driving Australia's rapid, perpetual population growth seem irresistible. Something will stop us growing, probably within a century, but we won't do voluntarily. * The vast majority of business leaders are obsessed with short term profit above all else. Population growth is more profitable short term, whereas population stabilization is unprofitable short and medium term. * Our politicians are mostly hardcore cornucopians (especially our former PM and now foreign minister Kevin Rudd). * Most everyday people are cornucopian too, in a kind of lazy unthinking way. * Our economy seems to have become fine-tuned to depend on perpetual rapid population growth.

Thanks, Tim and quark, for your excellent insights. If it were possible to have a comprehensive 'time and motion' study of all of our lives today and we were to compare it to a similar 'time and motion' study of 100 years ago, there would be little doubt that most of us have lost very badly as a consequence of 'growth' and our supposedly improved economy. As quark pointed out, it takes at least two incomes of people on ordinary income to support a family, whereas fifty years ago in Australia it was easily possible for most people to do that on one income. That is only one of many examples that indisputably proves that we have become, on average, much poorer. What economist could be unaware of this? So, why do so many insist, contrary to this hard evidence, that we have, instead, become wealthier? And why do they attempt to further deceive us, by insisting that more of the same, that is, more population growth and more economic 'reform' will make us more prosperous, when they must know, unless they are stupid, that it can only make us, on average, even poorer and impoverish many? On top of that, to which Tim has so eloquently drawn our attention, so much of our scarce remaining non-working time is taken up in so many more ways than it used to be. The most obvious is, of course, our much greater commuting and travel times. Additionlly, so much more of our time is taken up, by our being legally or economically required to deal with vastly more vastly more complicted government and commercial red tape. As Tim has rightly shown us, the 'growth' pushers are stealing our time, as well as our wealth and our future.

From the depths of the past I remember this question making it into conversations, newspaper articles and the occasional musing radio broadcast. I don't think it went on for very long because the future, now the present caught up and it is nothing like this almost Utopian dream where we might have been at a loss for entertainment and fulfillment working a 3 or 4 day week for a fairly good standard of living. We are in a frenzy here in Australia too, Tim. Children are over scheduled with after school activities and extra learning. You have to sound impatient when you answer the phone or else you will be seen as unimportant or with time on your hands. Apart from the requirements of one's image, people are also genuinely busy. I haven't done the research but it is obvious that more hours are now worked per household than used to be the case decades ago. Two people now work to pay off the mortgage and support a family as well as paying for child care which used not to be needed. I do not believe that all young women postpone motherhood and put their babies (who are only babies for a very short time) into child care purely because they love their jobs so much. I think there is more often a financial imperative. I'm sure we could have had that leisured future that put its nose over the parapet so briefly decades ago. Had it been so, imagine all the time that could have gone into writing poetry, painting pictures, talking with friends, sitting and thinking..etc. Those who rule the roost did not want it like this. Now it seems that people have to be daily funneled down freeways or injected into trams to work long hours that leave them in exhausted shock just to survive and keep going.

Howard and Rudd both supported and encouraged a massive increase in immigration, and then patted themselves on the back for averting an "oncoming crisis" of underfunded retirees. Ironically a couple of generations from now their successors will curse, not thank them, when this huge new population boom themselves face retirement. Something which anyone, who is capable of long term thought (i.e. not a politician or business leader), will see is inevitable. Unfortunately the first response of that future government will be to boost the Australian population to even huger numbers to help pay for this latest generation of retirees, thus repeating the cycle all over again.

Wildlife, Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) said on Friday it is receiving calls to rescue hundreds of seabirds found dying on the coast. The birds, mainly short-tailed shearwaters or Tasmanian mutton birds as they are sometimes known, are on their annual migration - one of the longest of any bird. Many reach the limits of exhaustion, especially if the weather turns nasty towards the end of their epic journey south to avoid the severe northern hemisphere winter. Thousands of the birds have washed up on the beaches of Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia due bad weather during their journey. There is an assurance that hundreds of dead birds turning up on New South Wales far south coast beaches are due to natural reasons. Exhaustion due to bad weather en route appears to be the cause, Biosecurity Queensland said in a statement. Rainfall records were broken over much of Queensland in a windy September and October records also look set to fall. A similar event occurred five years ago when short-tailed shearwaters were found dead around Fraser Island. The short-tailed shearwater, alias the muttonbird, is subject to both recreational and commercial hunting in Tasmania. Recreational killing of muttonbirds requires a licence and there is a 2 week season. The victims of hunting are the chicks who are taken from their burrows in sand dunes along the coast of Tasmania. Many chicks are killed in a barbaric way. Commonly they are swung around the killer's head until their neck breaks, or in some cases the chick's heads are stomped on and they may still be staggering around. Gillnet fisheries in the North Pacific drown many thousands of birds annually. These birds are vulnerable to many threats, here and on their long journeys.

Dear Mr. Batchelor, I would like to express my utter alarm at the proposal that suburban trees be savagely lopped so that branches are 2 meters from power lines. This blanket decree whilst perhaps adhering to the letter of bushfire recommendations in areas of Melbourne which do not experience bushfires and eliminating a remote risk, deprives us with 100% certainly of much needed shade , the cooling effect of trees through transpiration and will increase the use of air conditioners. Please do not go through with this exercise which will ruin our liveability this summer. I know the leafy suburbs are derided for having trees as though it is some kind of middle class privilege . I would like all suburbs to have trees to the maximum. That is how we have some chance of preserving some quality of life in Melbourne as our population rockets . This is especially important since we are losing and will continue to lose trees as our gardens go under opportunistic infilling and densification. cc Premier John Brumby cc Stonnington Mayor and all coucillors

For years now I have been disgusted and upset at the sight of trees in streets that have been deformed to accomodate cables. This, for me, symbolises natures pain and the dictatorial and vandal nature of our government. Recently this practise has been, unbelievably, stepped up. Thanks to your protests and those of some Councils - Boroondara and Stonnington Councils (also MAV?) will be holding talks with Premier Brumby, Energy Minister Batchelor and the Electricity Safe Victoria (ESV) which brought in the new draconian regulation that all street trees under/near power lines must be lopped so that "structural branches" are removed from trees. This means that trees will be lopped back to the tree trunks and will end up as stumps. This will cost millions and resident rates will escalate. (Lots of work for contractors though) Plus your property values will deflate if your street trees are mangled. ESV claims this is necessary because of a "windstorm in April" and as a result of the Bushfire Royal Commission recommendations. Ever had a bushfire in your suburb? Please write - if you have not already done so - to Premier Brumby [email protected] and Energy Minister Batchelor [email protected] and the Mayor of your suburb asking them to stop the chop and review the 2010 regulation and ensure that Councils have exemptions for lopping street trees. Source: Julianne Bell of Protectors of Public Lands Victoria, Inc. Editorial comment: Thank you, greatly, Julianne Bell, for having alerted us to this. Please also, send to me, copies of any correspondences to John Brumby etc. and any reponses or, better still, post them here yourself in your comments, as any site visitor can (subject to our moderation) here, to the Your Say (or "Miscellaneous Comments pages") or to any other appropriate page on candobetter.org. Personally, I think that given the enormous benefit that the Internet offers to most of us, including its ability to reduce our consumption of non-renewable natural resources, some expense to build it in the first place and even some amount of disruption to our natural environment can be justified, but nowhere near to the extent we are being made to endure now. Nearly all of the destruction could have been avoided if the natural monoply had been taken advantage of and the silly contrived 'competition' of having two sets of cables run past each house, below ground and above ground, often through the trees, had been avoided, especially if Telstra has remained in public hands. If cables had to have been erected above ground, then the greater expense (even if it proved to be greater) of having cables skirt around trees, rather than be built through them would have been easily justified. - JS (end of editorial comment).

To be frank, I think that we can confuse the media annointed heads of business and commercial think-tanks with the government and with the opposition without getting too blurry at all. Unfortunately the ALP, and probably also the Libs, are so deeply invested in the whole land speculation and property development thing that their funds and party wealth are hopelessly tied to high immigration. I have written before that I see the ALP and ALP governments as commercial land companies, not real governments anymore. For instance, the way that laws are made by the parliament in Victoria to privilege development over democracy is a clear case of total failure of government to respond to its voting constituents, therefore should be a case to disqualify the ALP from government. As to whether there is a constitutional or other legal way to do this, I am still looking. The Green Brand party doesn't seem at all interested in differentiating itself from the government which has lost its way.

I think that 'luxury air-conditioned camps' is a false claim, Mr Rich. The detainment centres are more or less prisons, which people are held in until such time as they can establish the legality of their claims to be asylum seekers.* We need to give these people the benefit of the doubt and of charity, as we would hope would be done for us. It does not help the case for low immigration to stick the boot into people who have taken a desperate route to get here. The ideal of asylum is to give people political refuge from terrible political regimes. Unfortunately Australia has a terrible political regime which accords its citizens very few real rights. At the moment it is our relative affluence that protects us from starvation, not our rights as citizens. This situation cannot last continuing population growth though, which is why population growth is a citizens' rights and democracy issue. Unless we carve out some real democracy in this country we cannot affect forced high immigration and therefore we cannot protect our environment and quality of life, or standard of living. By the way, the situation in Canada, where definitions of 'in need of asylum' and 'refugee' are much looser than in Australia, does sound really problematic. It is more helpful to discuss this matter without the pejoratives, like 'scroungers'. I appreciate that people are upset by the situation and that this is probably in part a reaction to mainstream media political manipulation, which wants to distract the public from the huge numbers of 'legal' immigrants and visitors here. For this reason we need to be calm and look factual here in the free press. *If they subsequently are unable to show that they have a legitimate claim then they can be held indefinitely and charged for the 'privilege' if they refuse to return to their country of origin and if they have destroyed the papers to show where they should be repatriated, as sometimes happens.

What is going to be done about the constant stream of boats loaded with Economic migrants, so called asylum seekers that are arriving every week, and the the so called government wants to release this lot into society as the luxury airconditioned camps are full up. Well who will pay for all of this the tax payer of course. As if life in Australia isnt expensive enough for every Australian already without having to fork out for these scroungers..Is every Australian rich enough to be able to pay for this lot to have a lovely life in Australia...Who wants to pay for these asylum seekers to have a better life, I dont and I wouldnt want them living near me...If that sound racist well tough Im afraid...Charity begins at home and there are plenty of Australians without food or shelter...If anyone believes that this government doesnt have some ulterior motive as to why they are bringing all these asylum seekers here then they need to really wake up soon..

I have not heard the Committee for Melbourne advocating or campaigning to cut population growth in order to reach a population of 8 million people rather than 9 or 11 million by 2060 and since, if the real Andrew McLeod is indeed here on this site it appears he knows growth needs to be cut for 8 million to be a correct figure. If this is the real Andrew McLeod he should say this instead of talking about a measly 8 million. At 2% p.a growth Melbourne will be 8 million in fact by 2045 and 16 million by 2080. I only heard Kevin Rudd once saying that we would need to cut growth rates in order to have a national population of 36 million by mid century. That was in the aftermath of his "Big Australia" gaff. No- we are being softened up with lower numbers than we are really headed for, and then we will be told they all came early just as for Melbourne 2030. Those extra million people will be here a decade early! Surprise surprise! Not to confuse Committee for Melbourne with government, but when they make an utterance, it makes news as though they were some authority or indeed in charge of the place.

A Melbourne man has tried to mortgage his home to defend his daughter who has been charged for the "crime" of feeding dingoes on Frazer Island. People are banned from feeding the island's dingo population after some of the animals seeking food from tourists began to attack. Surely people entering wildlife territory should be on the alert, not allow the animals to starve to protect visitors! Wildlife photographer Jennifer Parkhurst is facing massive fines and years behind bars, charged with 44 offences relating to alleged contact with the pack of pedigree wild dogs. Animal lovers have been concerned that Australia's last pocket of pure-blood dingoes on Fraser Island were starving. It is embarrassing for the Queensland Government that one of their own rangers had been sacked for feeding a sick dingo. Due to tourism taking over the island, food resources have become more scarce. Jennifer Parkhurst is facing fines of up to $300,000 or several years in jail if the charges against her are proved. If someone were to starve to death dogs or cats or livestock, the RSPCA could quite rightly charge them with animal cruelty. Our landscape has been altered and impacted by human populations and structures that wildlife are finding it increasingly hard to survive. As the perpetrators, it is cruel and not natural to deny them food! Tourists, quite rightly, should not be able to feed dingoes, but at the same time, they should not be allowed to starve! Fraser Island Defenders Organisation (FIDO), Nationals Parks Association Queensland and the Wilderness Society, said claims that dingoes were starving were false and ill-informed. Read more: http://www.news.com.au/fraser-island-dingoes-not-starving-after-all-desp... Honorary secretary of FIDO says that dingo hierarchy dictated that alpha males and females were the best fed while the weakest animals would go hungry. The dogs were also leaner at different times of the year. "Some animal lovers just can't abide animals being thin," Mr Sinclair. These dingoes are the responsibility of the national parks and if they are in such poor condition, food supply would be limited. They say its the natural way but its not. If dingoes were living naturally, there would be fish on the shores, no fences, roads, plenty of prey and water. The Department of Environment and Resource Management allege the wildlife photographer and Save Fraser Island Dingoes Association member "interfered" with and fed dingoes on the World Heritage listed sand island over a 13-month period. If found guilty she faces fines of up to $300,000 or two years’ imprisonment. Ms Parkhurst has won widespread support from wildlife groups, Aboriginal elders, Noosa locals, and civil libertarians.

The so-called skills shortage Australia is claimed and claiming to have, is a farce! Ask industry employers about skills shortages in their industry, and they might mention the lack of 'good' and experienced tradespeople and the turnover rates of some occupations. Well to fill those shortages it would mean them being filled with people who fit the above criteria, yeah - not needing foreign nationals to take up beginner positions! By far. There are plenty of unemployed Australian residents, many of which have been born in Australia, who have accessed Tafe and university institutions yet don't find employment. Even offering employment to international students above the preference of local students and graduates is no guarantee to them staying in the industry of which they've studied. They just choose a course from 'The List'; the skills shortages list provided by the Dept of Immigration. In trades, an apprenticeship needs to be undertaken and finished to become qualified for a Trade Certificate. What internationals study are not apprenticeships, as they are private students. The latter don't fill qualified-level positions and cannot and shouldn't. Locals should be given jobs and supported in this by partnerships with employers and even government. And there is the correlation between new migrants taking locals' jobs, and tightening the local job market with them taking labour, delivery, hospitality, taxi and retail jobs as well as professional entry-level jobs. There should not be 'beyond-border' competition for jobs. In other countries, you'd struggle to find proper jobs without being a national of that country! And here? They're even advertising Australia as almost a country of drongos who don't want to work or have a low population count. What an offence to our predecessors who've gotten employment with only locals, not foreigners giving them jobs and pay! Why employ them? Have some nationalism!!!

Thanks, John Marlowe for, such an interesting and well thought out article. Those, who label views, in favour of the defence of economic and cultural rights for native Australians, racist, should consider the words of Paul Craig Roberts, in his article "Truth has fallen and has taken Liberty with it" (originally published earlier on Information Clearing House and also published here):
“Free market economists” are paid to sell offshoring to the American people. High-productivity, high value-added American jobs are denigrated as dirty, old industrial jobs. Relics from long ago, we are best shed of them.
Paul Craig Roberts is also an outspoken opponent of US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He tells the truth about the principle pretext for those wars, that is that the September 11 atrocity was carried out by terrorists operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. How can it be that such a nationalist as Roberts is prepared to tell the truth about the lie used to justify the US's and Australia's current wars, whilst Australia's militant and outspoken "anti-racists", for example the publishers of The Green Left Review are silent about it, and, in particular, the recent attempted persecution of Victoria MUA secretary Kevin Bracken? If you don't believe me, check out Green-Left Weekly yourself. Try searching it, using search, using the term "Bracken". Of course, there are stories avout Bracken's past record as an official of the MUA, but nothing about the current attacks on Bracken. --- BTW, Paul Craig Roberts, who can far more justifiably claim to be 'anti-racist' than the phoney revolutionaries discussed above has the most unlikely past of having been Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term and of having been Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. Of course, he now repudiates his past service to the awful Reagan regime.

Skyrocketing unemployment rates among Victoria’s youth are being ignored by the Brumby Government. Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the average unemployment rate among Victorians aged between 15 and 19 had increased by 27.5 per cent from 2008 to 2009. Victoria has the highest youth unemployment in Australia is not a record to be proud of. According to an article written by Paul Bird, Mission Australia’s Victorian state director which recently appeared in The Age, the region bounded by the suburbs of Brunswick, Sunbury and Kalkallo 55% of 15 – 19 year olds are not in full time work or education. That wasn’t a typo, YES……. 55% Youth unemployment is 28% across Victoria – the worst in the Australia. Politicians and media focus on Australia's ability or luck in avoiding the ravages of the global financial meltdown. Little is mentioned of population growing faster than jobs, or the outsourced and privatized public services that previously provided a large number of skill training schemes and apprenticeships to our youth, and on-going employment. Many manufacturing industries have gone overseas too. It's the casual, part-time and lower skilled jobs in the labour market - the type of jobs young people rely on - that are first to go and the last to return. These jobs have been largely taken by flexible and compliant international students. To boost our numbers further, people overseas are still being invited to come to live in Victoria due to our "skills shortages" despite our record youth unemployment! Our political leaders would rather bypass our own youth, and new arrivals, and employ already trained and educated foreigners instead! Globalism is the economics of treason, while increasing our "cultural diversity" is an intellectual scam put to justify mass immigration. Australia has a major neurosis concerning the topic of bulk immigration. That means that public debate is more an expression of national hang-ups - magnanimous humanitarianism, racism, xenophobia, new-age ideologies - than an expression of rational thought. It ensures that debate about feral immigration is ill-informed, unpatriotic, self depreciating and hypocritical.

Thank you, immensely, Sheila Newman for having taken the trouble to write this excellent review and for having let me know about the book beforehand. (The rest is adapted from an e-mail I sent to a visitor who expressed an interest in buying "Back from the Brink"). I can also thoroughly recommend the book. It seems to me that Peter Andrews has discovered a simple and effective means that, if applied systematically, will prevent us from turning Australia into a desert continent and may still make it possible to turn this country back into a moist and fertile land. If an unexpected change in personal circumstances had not prevented me from standing as a candidate in the recent Federal elections, and being more active at the time, I would have used the occasion to ask as many other candidates as I could (Greens, Labor, National, Liberal) why they weren't pushing hard for the adoption of Peter Andrews' ideas.

Maggie, There is a clickable link to Amazon.com in the article, but you can also buy the book in many other places. Just ring up your local bookstore and order it.

The "students" who assaulted and raped a woman in Oakleigh, Melbourne, have logically committed a "racist" crime for attacking a non-Indian woman. They escaped back to India to avoid being arrested. However, this accusation will not be levelled at them because apparently only "white" people are capable of racism! It would be "racist" if our Australian and Indian governments ignore this crime in the name of "peace" between India and Australia! Similarly, ridiculing blonde women or red-headed people is accepted as funny and fair game, but painting black faces on entertainers is "racist"!

I went for a job recently, to work in the trade I have been studying for, and the employer said that he prefers to employ only "international students" - from India!

Laboral* invitation of hoards of foreign populations from contra-cultural societies is directly displacing the lesser numbers of traditional Australians (those born here and with traditional ancestral origins in Australia). It is a repeat of British colonisation of Australia that directly displaced Australia's Aboriginal people.

History regurgitated!

The Laboral policy of immigrant favouritism is Reverse Racism. It is discriminatory against local people and our traditional way of life. It is cultural treason. Then when an immigrant gets into a position of influence (management, politics) favouritism to the immigrant's countrymen and women is ignored by Australia's anti-discrimination laws.

One rule for immigrants, another rule to traditional Australians who are targeted by the these laws as if we are inherently racist. By favouritising and excluding immigrants, Australia's supposed anti-discrimination laws are passive reverse racism.

The tragedy is that the unjust discrimination felt by traditional Australians is causing legitimate disaffection. That disaffection and sense of injustice is steadily converting tolerant easy-going Australians, like myself, into angry resentful protectionists. The vocal outrage is perceived as racist, but it is an early cry for help. Cronulla in 2005 was a warning to governments. Heed it and curb the immigration and listen to us locals!


*'Laboral' is the hybridisation of the Liberal Party and Labor Party, so closely aligned ideologically at the Centre-Right that they factions of the same quasi-coalition, taking alternate turns of governing at Federal and State level.

Thanks Tim, for reminding us of only some of the harm that former Australian Prime Minister John Howard was able to inflict upon us between 1996 and 2009 largely because of his gift for avoiding public scrutiny of his policies. On Monday night he is a guest on Q&A, the episode of which has been misnamed "Adventures in Democracy". If democracy means rule according to the will and welfare of the majority, Howard's period in government was anything but democratic. In this show, questions by members of the public, recorded on video. are put to the guest,. So, to have any input into the show, you need your own video, camera and a good Internet connection. It is my understanding, although I haven't been able to obtain confirmation on the Q&A site, that all submitted videos are stored on the Q&A site, even if only a few can be used in the program. Let's hope the public, with video cameras, and the program producers, don't allow this very dark period in Australian history to be whitewashed.

Reform for Melbourne should focus on the need to protect the interests of residents and businesses that their suburbs will not be subject to excessive upheaval, and we will be protected from uncontrolled wholesale redevelopment for self-serving reasons, by greedy developers in collusion with our political elites. The Committee for Melbourne describes an 8 million population for Melbourne as part of ''normal growth''. It is clear that most residents are against our a population blow-out, yet business keeps pressing for more. It's not just a matter of "planning' and adequate infrastructure, which must be funded by the public purse, but protecting our suburbs, our lifestyles, our green wedges, our environment, our water supply and our community. We have everything to lose and nothing to gain by further population growth. If, as Andrew McLeod would have us believe people love living in dense Melbourne suburbs and highrise apartments, why are they turning up in droves many kilometres from Melbourne in the south east growth corridor seeking accommodation and services which the local council cannot provide fast enough? High rise and high density apartments are not suitable for families, and most prefer outer wastelands without transport or facilities. The "Committee of Melbourne" is a total misnomer, it should be correctly known as "Committee for big profits for big business in Melbourne". There is not one hint of concern for what the average Melbourne resident thinks or wants, unless it improves the bottom line of the big business members of the Committee For Profits for Big business in Melbourne. Committee for Melbourne head Andrew MacLeod tells us that this ban on nuclear doesn't make sense if Melbourne is going to grow to 8 million by 2060! Australians don't want nuclear power! Andrew Macleod believes that can you have a big Australia and a sustainable Australia as well! You know, if you look at countries that have a similar land mass as Australia - China, United States, Brazil - who are all more or less around about the same size as Australia, their populations are many, many, many times larger than Australia's so we have not really defined what we mean by big.....It is why we are so scared that the no-growth debate will win the public discourse because that is the most dangerous thing for the future for our country. China, Brazil, United States are all overpopulated and are suffering from poverty. This is what we need to avoid. Interview The World Today

I think the observation at the end of the above post,

"We should take an example from Haiti - where population growth has endangered the nation through consumption of flora and fauna, and thus vulnerable to Nature's extremities,"

is unintentionally ironic.

Sadly it would seem that the Victorian Colonial Raj does take its example from Haiti. I really do not believe that they intend to stop before there is nothing left. Victoria and Australia could easily become like Haiti within ten years at the rate of immigration that is being forced on us. No water, no housing, huge unemployment, and very low wages. Forests chopped down, schools and universities too expensive for the poor, and foreign ownership of most land and resources.

Co-Owner of Out of Africa Safaris lives in Autaugaville, Alabama, USA. His name is Yanaman Groenewald. Ironically, he has a personalized tag which says "ProHunt". He seems to enjoy days of golfing...still showing his face. What a shame that people become filled with such greed that they have to butcher innocent animals to enhance their already very comfortable lifestyles. May God have mercy on all involved. If there is a such thing as Rhino hell, these offender will surely occumpany them one day. What a shame! There are reports of his wife and father in-law being involved in the Rhino butcherings. The father-n-law is the owner of a gun shop in Autaugaville, Alabama. There is an entire room of legal and illegal mounts in the father-n-law's "trophy room". Someone needs to investigate the involvment of US citizens in the killings. There are many participants in the Rhino Deaths. May they all face justice!!

The GMG should also pressure the receiving nations to provide adequate citizens' rights, so that they have the ability to self govern, instead of being dictated to by commercial lobby groups that want big populations. Sheila Newman, population sociologist home page Articles Copyright to the author. Please contact sheila [AT] candobetter org or the editor if you wish to make substantial reproduction or repu

1.4%, 1.65%, 2.2%, even much lower rates under 1%, they all get you to the same place eventually (massive overpopulation), it just takes a little while longer (and not that much longer really). At some point all population growth will cease, in Melbourne and Australia in general. Cease entirely. Not just low growth or "sustainable growth", a complete cessation of population growth followed by a gradual decline in population until stabilization occurs. It is absolutely inevitable and will almost certainly before the end of this century.

Andrew, there's plenty of room for more Melbourne immigrants - drain Port Phillip Bay and invite the Israeli bulldozers over to do a bit of land filling and construction! Swan Island could be the site of a new Westfield to cash in on the new dwellings, but the Queenscliff Golf Course would have to go!

Now here's a good one: Melbourne remains one of the world’s most liveable cities"ranked third in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) latest liveability survey" in February 2010.

"Australian cities dominated the rankings with four cities inside the top ten. Melbourne remains the most liveable city in Australia with a score of 97.5 out of 100, topping Sydney in seventh place and Perth and Adelaide at equal eighth.

Melbourne was also the highest ranked city in the Asia-Pacific, reinforcing why it is a great place to live and do business in the region.

Vancouver, Canada, home of the Winter Olympics, ranked first and Vienna, Austria came in second place. Toronto (4), Calgary (5), Finland (6) and Auckland (10) rounded out the top ten, while Zimbabwe’s capital Harare was ranked last.

The EIU’s Liveability Ranking, part of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, assesses living conditions in 140 cities around the world by assigning a rating across five broad categories of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Melbourne achieved perfect scores in the areas of healthcare, education and infrastructure, according to the survey."

[Source: Victorian Government reference to the US Economic Intelligence Unit - a reliable source?]

According to John Bursill: 'For the record on the 28th of March 2008 the Victorian Trades Hall Council passed this motion after lengthy debate supporting a thorough and independent inquiry of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. From the minutes of the meeting on the 28th of March 2008; “That this meeting of VTHC Executive Council calls for a thorough, independent enquiry into the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11. The events of that day have been used to start pre-emptive wars “that will not end in our lifetime”. They have been used to attack civil liberties and legal principles that have been the cornerstone of civilized communities. There is an urgent need to reassess the way we view the world after September 11 and we call for proper investigation into the events around that day.”' Also, I see that the votes supporting Kevin Bracken's statements as reasonable are running at 66.67% now on the Herald Sun poll - at 0017hrs on 23-10-2010, with 7718 votes. Pretty amazing how wrong Faine and the PM seem to have got the public mood ... again.

'Racist', discrimination' and 'xenophobic' are convenient cowardly invasion labels used to attack and silence locals who are standing up for their local way of life.

I just returned from visiting the Middle East, where I was careful to respect the local customs - do in Rome...

I'd like to see a secular Australian try immigrating to a strongly religious country and publicly imposing a secular liberal culture on the local populous - to try to get the government to change laws to recognise the rights of sectarian, modern western ideas and values! Good bloody luck!

Tolerant Australians being tolerant of foreigners who choose to impose their will and way are only letting Australian values erode to a lower standard. Foreigners arriving in droves and rejecting Australian customs, language, values and critical of the cultural sensitivities of locals are unwelcome invaders.

Change management is a real human issue to all involved. It took the Greeks and Italians three generations to assimilate into the Australian culture and now they are integrated and accepted.

What is despicable is that Aboriginal Australians are more marginalised than immigrants.

When in Australia, assimilate don't aggravate!

Less people in a world of human excess would be bliss, and dare I say more 'sustainable' probably.

No country needs immigrants. Immigrants aspire a better life and wealthier countries offer it - simple. But to make the world more 'equal' is not solved by shifting high birth rates from undeveloped countries to developed countries, it is to improve the lot of those in undeveloped countries by addressing poverty and rewarding lower birth rates with a better quality of life.

Human quality of life is not found by communal sharing "allowing poorer nations to have access to their land, culture, social security benefits and housing" - show where communal sharing has worked in hunan history?

Migration from undeveloped countries to developed countries, avoids the cause of the problem driving the migration. Worse, its shifts problems to developed countries. The quagmire of human misery is moved around instead of it being resolved. Migration is social problem avoidance on a international scale.

Ahead if seeking human equality, is the more fundamental priority of maintaining basic life needs and human rights. Indeed, the UN is a failed organisation with a broken record of 'do as I say, not as I do' - Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Congo, etc. And from where are the bulk of migrants fleeing?

"As details emerged this week of the U.N.'s knowledge of rebel activity in the villages where nearly 200 women were systematically gang raped by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) late last month, human rights groups are demanding an investigation into the U.N.'s failure to prevent the raid from occurring. "These scandalous, outrageous atrocities should serve as a wake up call for the international community," Marcel Stoessel, Oxfam International's country director in the DRC, told IPS in a phone interview."

[Source: D.R. Congo: Outrage grows over UN failure to protect civilians]

If you want to get closer to the truth on human rights, don't listen to the UNHCR, listen to Amnesty International.

Strategic invasive desires of wealthy and unethical countries like the USA and Israel continue to cause similar migration pressures from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon.

Human problems must be addressed in the countries of origin, not be used as the driver of mass refugee problems impacting on other countries.

Subject was: "population growth rates" The Committee for Melbourne is not promoting ‘fast’ or ‘excessive’ growth. Consider the following: GROWTH RATES Melbourne’s growth rate from 1860 (half a million) to now (4 million): Growth rate 1.4% Melbourne’s growth rate from 1960 (1.85 million) to now 4 million. Growth rate 1.65% If Melbourne continued historic rates of growth, what would its population be in 2060? 1.4% growth: (200 year average Committee for Melbourne) 8 million 1.5% growth: (Gillard/Abbott) 8.42 million 1.65% growth: (the fifty year average) 9.07 million 1.7% growth: (Brumby/Bailleu option) 9.29 million 2.2% growth: (last year’s spike) 11.87 million

If you would rather I not come just let me know.. In the interests of discussion perhaps listening to an argument before making a judgement would benefit open and honest dialogue. I am not at all interested i being part of a witch hunt. I am interested in open and honest dialogue. I am not a 'growth pusher' or a 'lobbyist'. My profile is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_MacLeod I would be grateful if the organisers would contact me as after reading the comments I have severe reservations about the event.

An Arizona-style immigration law gives police and deputies more authority to check the registry of people they suspect are in the country or state illegally. Current Arizona state law, which Colorado and Florida are also considering adopting, gives state officers the authority to check the immigration status of a suspected alien during the course of other business. Opponents of the legislation cite the law's infringement of the 4th and 14th amendments, two important American civil rights statutes. The architect of Arizona's immigration law, SB2070, announced a new crusade to correct what he perceives as an unfortunate misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment that allows children of illegal immigrant parents to be considered U.S. citizens if they're born on U.S. soil. As Arizona borders Mexico, and considering it has struggled with controlling immigration for years, the many legal Mexican immigrants need to always be ready with their paperwork. A report issued september by a United Nations agency appears to be a thinly veiled critique of Arizona’s immigration law, one that equates its supporters with “xenophobes and racists.” The Global Migration Group (GMG) adopted its statement on the “Human Rights of Migrants in Irregular Situation” — that is, illegal aliens — earlier in Geneva. It condemned unnamed nations for viewing illegal immigrants “through the lens of sovereignty, border security or law enforcement, sometimes driven by hostile domestic constituencies,” and demanded governments instead grant illegals “economic, social, and cultural rights,” including “reproductive healthcare.” The UN is instrumental is trying to blur national and state borders and over-ride nation sovereignty in their agenda to push for a unified world government, a planet with no borders, and support the sharing of sovereign "rights" to illegal migrants from overpopulated developing nations. The drain on public resources, the loss of national identity, and taxpayers funds needed to accommodate these aliens is over-looked. "The GMG .... calls on States, civil society, the private sector, the media and host communities to address the demand side of trafficking and exploitation, to work actively to combat xenophobia, racism and incitement to discrimination in national politics and in public discourse, to protect all migrants, as well as to actively promote tolerant societies in which every person can enjoy his or her human rights, regardless of migration status". The GMG should pressure the SOURCE nations to provide adequate human rights, and health and reproductive advice to their citizens, not outsource this responsibility to other nations -HOST nations to alien immigrants! The UN are more interesting homogenising our planet's populations than finding solutions. Surely PC (political correctness) has gone too far?

Originally published:

21 Oct 2010

I was appalled to listen to Jon Faine's treatment of Kevin Bracken, yesterday on his radio 'talkback' show.

In spite of the treatment of those who question the official version of September 11 and hence the justification for the war against Afghanistan, which our Prime Minster now wants to last until 2020, that is, 19 years after the terrorist outrage was allegedly committed against US citizens with the collusion of the Government then, according to one recent online poll on the Herald-Sun, 46% of the Australian public agrees with the "conspracy nutter" Kevin Bracken of whom John Faine was so contemptuous.

Who does Faine, whose salary is paid for by the public, believe he is to be so unfairly dismissive of opinions which differ from his own? Anyone who thinks that Faine's treatment of Bracken, the Victorian Branch Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia and the President of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, was fair and reasonable, should read for themselves the dialogue between Bracken and Faine as published on the PM web site:

KEVIN BRACKEN: Well I believe that the official story is a conspiracy theory that doesn't stand up to scientific scrutiny.

JON FAINE: Are you serious? Is this a hoax or are you serious?

KEVIN BRACKEN: No and I'd love to debate you publicly Jon if you think it's ridiculous.

JON FAINE: There's nothing to debate Kevin.

KEVIN BRACKEN: I challenge you to a public debate.

JON FAINE: There's nothing to debate.

KEVIN BRACKEN: Well the fact is that aviation fuel doesn't get hot enough to melt steel.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Jon Faine pressed Mr Bracken on which "nutter theory" he subscribes to.

KEVIN BRACKEN: In my mind the buildings were imploded.

JON FAINE: Yeah and you're the Secretary of the Maritime Union and you're on the Trades Hall Council Executive?

KEVIN BRACKEN: I'm the president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council and we've taken resolutions from both those…

JON FAINE: I think it reflects very poorly on your members Kevin that you have views that are so ridiculous, so extreme and so unacceptable and yet you hold office in some of our unions in Victoria.

KEVIN BRACKEN: I'd love to... if it's so ridiculous Jon I challenge you to debate me on it.

JON FAINE: It is; unequivocally.

KEVIN BRACKEN: The trouble is mate, blokes like you are keeping most of the people in the dark.

Note, which of the two tried to discuss the facts and which resorted to ad hominem dismissal of the views he disagreed with.

Contrary to what Faine claimed and in support of what 46% of Australians and much of world opinion believe, there is a great deal about the official account of the September 11 outrage which is open to debate by reasonable people. John Faine, who is, apparently, a lawyer, needs to explain to his listeners why he thinks that not one person has been captured or tried for mass murder with a proven link to 9/11, the Bali bombings, 7.7, the Madrid train bombings and other outrages, despite nine years of military occupation of Afghanistan.

Update 22 October: Jon Faine's poor treatment of Kevin Bracken, for daring to question the justification for bloody wars that have cost well over a million lives, and which have impoverished millions more since 2001, has created, an enormous public reaction against this attempt to stifle free debate. Most recently, Jon Fain has attempted to depict himself as having been the unjust target of persecution by "conspiracy theorists" in an attempt to win back public sympathy. (See story "9/11 conspiracy theorists swamping talkback: Faine" which did include embedded video of Jon Faine 'defending' himself.)

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