Wednesday 20 June 2018
Majority believe that funding for all ABC services should be increased or maintained, according to Essential Research survey
In May 2018 the Turnbull Government 'slashed' the ABC's 2019-2021 funding by $84 million.
Is this another example of this federal government's tin ear?
Because the Essential Report of 19 June 2018 shows majority support for ABC funding levels to be maintained or increased:
Perhaps Turnbull and Co should stop listening to the Institute of Public Affairs and seek opinion from outside that fetid conservative hothouse and places other than Parliament Drive or News Corp headquarters.
Labels:
elections 2018,
funding,
Our ABC,
statistics
Over $4 billion of taxpayers money being spent on Snowy 2.0 and they get what?
The Turnbull Coalition Government in
Canberra and the Hodgman Liberal
Government in Tasmania have laboured to produce two new energy schemes - Snowy 2.0
and the "Battery
of the Nation".
These schemes
are being touted as ‘clean energy’ providing stability across the nation’s
power networks, supply into the future and cheaper consumer costs.
One small
problem……
Both are pumped hydro systems which will actually
use more power than they generate as their electricity consumption will be
high.
That is, the
total megawatts of electricity from other sources required to pump the water into
the hydroelectric plant will exceed the megawatts of electricity produced by
the plant.
Not all
the potential electricity produced by the plant is realised, because pumping
water uphill and, the conversions of the potential energy to kinetic energy to
electricity is less than 100% efficient across each stage of the entire process.
It seems efficiency loss would run somewhere between 20% to 40%.
Then there
are the environmental effects.
According to Union
of Concerned Scientists:
Hydropower projects can
reduce the flows in rivers downstream if the upstream flows are trapped behind
a reservoir and/or diverted into canals that take the water off stream to a
generation unit. Lowering the flows in a river can alter water temperatures and
degrade habitat for plants and animals. Less water in the river can also reduce
oxygen levels which damage water quality.
Water is typically
stored behind a dam and released through the turbines when power is needed.
This creates artificial flow patterns in the downstream river that may be very
different from the flow patterns a river would naturally experience. For example,
rivers fed mostly by snowmelt may experience much higher flows in the winter
and spring than the summer and fall. Hydropower operations may differ from
these natural flow patterns, which has implications for downstream riparian and
aquatic species. If water levels downstream of a hydropower project
fluctuate wildly because of generation operations, fish could be stranded in
suddenly shallow waters. If operations cause a more static flow schedule
throughout the year than what the river would normally experience, the movement
of sediment along a river section could be disrupted, reducing habitat for
aquatic species. Fewer seasonal flow events could also cause a riparian
corridor to thicken into a less dynamic channel as saplings that would usually
be seasonally thinned by high flows are able to mature.
Dams can also block the
migration of fish that swim upstream to reach spawning grounds.
In addition, large dams
created in heavily forested areas have been known to produce high levels of
methane into the water and air in the period following construction.
The Snowy
Mountains Scheme already contains one power station which includes capacity for
pumped hydro - Tumut 3 Power Station at
Talbingo Dam. It has a maximum 600 MW capacity and reportedly rarely uses its
pumped hydro due to at least 30% efficiency loss. For every 1MWh of
pumping the amount of generation that results is only 0.7 MWh of electricity. Operating
hours when storage full is 40 hours.
The proposed Snowy 2.0 hydro scheme will have a
maximum 2,000 MW capacity and will run an energy deficit as there will
be an est. 24% difference between the amount of energy required to pump the
water in and turn it into electricity and the amount of electricity the scheme actually
produces. Operating hours when storage full is expected to be up to 7.3 days.
Its pumping storage
is expected to have a life time of 40-60 years and for that the Australian taxpayer
is expected to watch at least $4.5$ billion leave general revenue and go towards
its construction.
It will the
eighth power plant constructed within the Snowy Mountain Scheme.
Snowy 2.0 will
be inserted 1km underground somewhere between Talbingo and Tantangra reservoirs.
Rivers which feed the Snowy Mountain Scheme are the Tumbarumba, Tooma, Tumut, Eucumbene,
Snowy, Jindabyne and Goodradigbee - their flows are expected to
decrease over time due to climate change and, it is predicted that median water runoff
into the scheme will be 13% lower within the next 50 years.
The bottom line is that the entire Snowy Mountains scheme (including 2.0) will very likely be water hungry in the lifetime of today's primary school kids and operating on ageing infrastructure. It is also likely that by that time the amount of electricity it can produce will have fallen.
It is a
continuing marvel that the Howard, Abbott and Turnbull governments all only
seriously considered those energy schemes which are at
the higher end of the negative impact scale.
The 2006 Howard Government's Switkowski report into the feasibility of nuclear power generation is a case in point. Now in approaching a large-scale renewable energy project this current federal government again choses one with a long list of potential negatives.
The 2006 Howard Government's Switkowski report into the feasibility of nuclear power generation is a case in point. Now in approaching a large-scale renewable energy project this current federal government again choses one with a long list of potential negatives.
For the life
of me I cannot see why solar, wind and wave power frightens Liberal and
Nationals MPs and senators so much, when overseas experience shows just how
successfully these can be harnessed by national governments that believe in climate change and the need for mitigation measures.
Reference Material
Snowy 2.0 feasibility
study information and reports:
A short summary booklet
on the feasibility study is available, click
here.
To view the publicly
available chapters of the feasibility study, go
to the 2.0 Feasibility Study page here.
The Marsden Jacob
Associates report (an independent expert economic analysis of the changing
energy market) commissioned as part of the Snowy 2.0 feasibility study is
available, click
here.
Tuesday 19 June 2018
OUR ABC: Will voters be foolish enough to believe Turnbull Government protestations of innocence?
The Liberal Party of Australia Federal Council
comprises 14 delegates from each State and the ACT - the State / Territory President,
the State / Territory Parliamentary Leader, the President of the Young Liberal
Movement, the President / Chairman of the Women’s Council and 10 other
delegates.
According to
the Liberal Party website; It is the Organisational wing’s
highest forum for debating Federal policies. Views of the Federal Council are
not binding on the Parliamentary party, but do carry considerable weight as the
stated position of the organisation on a range of policy issues.
More than 100 Liberal Party MPs, senators and party members were in Sydney on
16 June 2018 for the party’s 60th annual federal council which is
expected to be the last one before the next federal election.
Here are some of the smiling faces at the event readers
might recognise.
Twitter: A bevy of Liberal ministers: Sen. Mitch Fifield, Sen. Mathias Cormann, Julie Bishop MP & Malcolm Turnbull MP |
The Young Liberals put forward the motion “That
federal council calls for the full privatisation of the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, except for services into regional areas that are not commercially
viable” and on a more than 2 to 1 show of hands the
council voted in favour this motion.
Fairfax media snapshot of ABC privatisation vote |
Council
delegate Mitchell Collier, federal vice president of the Young Liberals, asserted there was no economic
case to keep the broadcaster in public hands.
At the end of the motion debate Mitch Fifield reluctantly got to his feet at the urging of the Chair to
offer “comments and observations” but did not condemn the idea of privatisation or oppose the motion outright.
As the vote was on a show of hands only with no official count taken there is no record of how Fifield voted.
As the vote was on a show of hands only with no official count taken there is no record of how Fifield voted.
Four members
of the party’s federal executive voted in favour of the call for privatisation - Federal Liberal vice-presidents Karina Okotel
and Trish Worth, Young Liberal president Josh Manuatu and vice president
Mitchell Collier who moved the motion. Incoming Federal Liberal vice-president NSW member Teena
McQueen also voted for privatisation.
The federal council also voted in favour of an efficiency review
of the SBS network.
After the vote became public two Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) members made statements to the
media.
RMIT
University professor and IPA Senior Research Fellow Sinclair Davidson said privatisation of the ABC should be the “default”
Coalition policy as the Liberals were the party of small government which
supported private enterprise.
He also told Sky News that ‘Selling the ABC to Gina Rinehart would be magnificent’
He also told Sky News that ‘Selling the ABC to Gina Rinehart would be magnificent’
IPA research
fellow Chris Berg said the preferred
option would be for ownership to be transferred to ABC staff or Australian taxpayers.
The
Australian Minister for Communications and yet another IPA member, Senator Mitch Fifield, who has previously
stated that there is “merit in the proposal to privatise the ABC is
currently trying to hose down alarm in the national electorate over that federal council vote.
His claims that
the Turnbull Government supports the Australian public broadcaster and denies it has any intention of selling off the ABC.
Given past behaviour of the Abbott and Turnbull governments, the belligerence displayed towards the ABC and the stable from which
Fifield comes, I don’t believe a word of his denial.
Just as the Prime Minister's denial is not one on which I would depend.
Just as the Prime Minister's denial is not one on which I would depend.
Worshipping Trump has a scary parallel
United States of America, May 2018
Deutsches Reich, also known as the Third Reich, circa 1933-1945@POTUS is honest and old school, and that's why my family and I love him! He's the BEST AND WISEST AND MOST LOVING AND PATRIOTIC POTUS EVER!! Thank God 🙏🇺🇸🚂— Mama Da Bear (@MamaDaBear) May 29, 2018
'Dedicated: in
unutterable thanks to the blessed parents the mother who gave birth to "Our Furhrer"' - Text of a handmade Mother's Day card sent to Adolf Hitler [Daily Beast, 12 April 2015]
Labels:
Adolf Hitler,
Donald Trump
Monday 18 June 2018
The Australian Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs put a dog whistle to his lips and blew hard last week
This is Australian
Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Liberal MP for Aston and child of British migrant parents, Alan Edward Tudge, quoted by ABC
News on 14 June 2018:
The Federal Government
is considering new English language requirements for anyone seeking permanent
residency, with figures showing close to 1 million people in Australia cannot
speak basic English.
Australia accepts up to
190,000 permanent migrants each year and while they need to prove they can
understand English, their spouses, children and extended family accompanying
them do not.
Multicultural Affairs
Minister Alan Tudge argued this had created the "concerning
situation" where "close to a million" Australians now do not
speak the national language.
"That's not in the
interests of those migrants but nor is it in the interests of social cohesion,
because if we can't communicate with one another, it's very difficult to
integrate," he said.
So there are “close
to a million” Australians who don’t speak English, are there?
Although the
article mention the 2016 Census it is unclear if Alan Tudge has actually read
the English proficiency data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
As is usual
for a Coalition minister, he is applying a dog whistle to his lips and blowing
hard.
This is what
that census actually revealed:
*In
the Australia in 2016 there were 2,071,384 females and 1,997,244 males who
spoke another language at home who reported they spoke English well or very
well;
*Another
460,039 females and 359,882 males who spoke another language at home reported a
degree of difficulty in speaking English;
*That’s
a total of 819,922 people stating a degree of difficulty or 3.5% of a population of 23,401,907 persons counted
at the 2016 Census; and
*Of
the number who had difficulty in speaking English only 193,036 (aged 0 to 85
years and over) spoke no English at all - that’s 0.82% of the entire Australian
population.
So what any reasonable person can say with regard to English proficiency is that a total of 193,036
people from a non-English speaking background, ranging from newborns up to the very old do, not speak any English.
That number is 806,964 short of being one million - it's not even "close to a million".
As a ploy for presenting yet another bill to parliament which allows denial of permanent residency or denial of citizenship to migrants from non-English speaking countries, Alan Tudge’s argument is
full of holes.
Sunday 17 June 2018
NSW Berejiklian Government still playing hide and seek with independent review of the out-of-home care system
In November 2015 the NSW Government gave retired senior public servant David Tune the task of conducting an independent review of the out-of-home care system in the state.
In August 2016 the then Baird Government Cabinet considered his report.
However, it took until 2018, on the heel of threats from the NSW Upper House, before this report was released by the Berejiklian Government.
Although details of this report have become available to mainstream media, as yet there is no complete copy on the NSW Government's Family & Community Services or "Their Futures Matter" websites.
So it was not surprising to see the responsible minister duck for cover.
The Guardian, 13 June 2018:
NSW minister for family
services Pru Goward blamed the premier’s department for the decision to
withhold a
damning report into NSW’s out-of-home care system.
Goward appeared on ABC
Canberra radio on Wednesday morning and when the questioning turned from local
issues to the Tune report she appeared to end the interview abruptly with: “I
have to go.”
Labels:
#BerejiklianGovernmentFAIL,
children
Political bully boy exposed
The Guardian, 15
June 2018:
An advertising executive
and commentator is refusing to delete a social media post mocking the
Queensland opposition frontbencher Jarrod Bleijie,
despite being referred to the powerful ethics committee.
Dee Madigan last
month posted
a gif of Bleijie ripping up a piece of paper in state parliament with the
comment “Your taxes at work. A toddler tantrum for @JarrodBleijieMP”.
Bleijie had at the time
been arguing against a motion to speed up debate on the Labor government’s
vegetation management laws so parliament could adjourn at its new “family
friendly” time and avoid sitting into the night.
After seeing the tweet,
Bleijie complained to the speaker, Curtis Pitt, who referred Madigan to the
ethics committee, because under parliamentary rules vision from the floor of
the house can’t be used for “satire or ridicule”.
Pitt said his office
also attempted to have the Twitter post removed.
Madigan previously
refused to remove the tweet when contacted by the clerk of parliament, and on
Friday again tweeted she would be leaving the post up.
“If this is upheld it
means no one on [social media] can retweet or share with a comment any parli
footage, even if it has been on the news or streamed live or shared by
pollies,” Madigan wrote. “The precedent on free speech is extraordinary. It is
bullshit.”
No Fibs, 15 June 2018:
Not long after, the
Clerk of the Queensland Parliament, Neil Laurie, contacted Ms Madigan asking
her to delete her comment after a complaint had been received. He labeled her,
“a contracted campaigner of the Labor Party, Queensland Division”. Mr Laurie went
on to cite, in its entirety, section 50 of the Parliament of Queensland
Act 2001 including that footage of proceedings in the Queensland
parliament should not be subject to such things as ridicule, satire or
political advertising. In his view, the Tweet breached, “the terms and
conditions and is a prima facie contempt”….
Ms Madigan pointed out
that she was not contracted to the Labor Party in either Queensland or
elsewhere, that she was a private citizen, entitled to retweet people and would
not be removing the Tweet. She also pointed out that multiple members of the
LNP had used parliamentary footage over time to express political opinions and
to ridicule.
Thirty-six year old former lawyer and former Attorney-General Jarrod Pieter Bleijie has been a sitting Liberal National Party member in the
Queensland Parliament since 21 March 2009.
However nine years in politics has not given him any claim to wisdom.
However nine years in politics has not given him any claim to wisdom.
Why he saw
fit to take his objection to this tweet as far as he has is not known1.
What was
predictable is that now he has, this tweet below will likely live on as a footnote in
Queensland political history and, he
will be forever remembered as a pompous and thin skinned individual.
FootnoteYour taxes at work. A toddler tantrum for @JarrodBleijieMP https://t.co/bSjhGRCyIz— Dee Madigan (@deemadigan) May 10, 2018
1. PARLIAMENT OF QUEENSLAND ACT 2001
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF QUEENSLAND CODE OF ETHICAL STANDARDS
THE ETHICS COMMITTEE
The Ethics Committee of the 56th Parliament was established on 15 February 2018.
The
committee’s areas of responsibility as set out in section 104B of the Parliament
of Queensland Act 2001 are as follows:
* dealing with complaints
about the ethical conduct of particular members
* dealing with alleged
breaches of parliamentary privilege by members of the Assembly and other
persons.
Further
to this, section 104C of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 provides:
The committee’s area of responsibility about dealing with complaints about the ethical conduct of particular members is to—
The committee’s area of responsibility about dealing with complaints about the ethical conduct of particular members is to—
* consider complaints
referred to the committee about particular members failing to register
particular interests; and
* consider complaints
against particular members for failing to comply with the code of ethical
conduct for members, report on complaints to the Assembly and recommend action
by the Assembly.
* A complaint about a member
not complying with the code of ethical conduct for members may be considered
only by the Assembly or the committee.
* Subsection (2) has effect
despite any other law, but the subsection does not apply to a court, tribunal
or other entity if the entity may, under a law, consider an issue and the issue
that is considered involves the commission, or claimed or suspected commission,
of a criminal offence.
* Subsection (3) does not
limit or otherwise affect the powers, rights and immunities of the Assembly and
its committees and members.
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