Brendan Nelson stuns this mullet

Federal Leader of the Opposition Brendan Nelson was on the ABC TV The Insiders program yesterday morning.

A minute or two into the interview he left me looking like a stunned mullet accidentally beached on the living room carpet, when I heard him calmly suggest interfering in state politics to the extent of finding the means to call an early election in New South Wales three years ahead of the end of this government's term.

Here is what he said:
"Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson says he will examine the constitutional arrangements in New South Wales to see if there is any chance of an early election."

Brendan, that strange hairstyle you sport must be eating through to your brain.
It is not up to any federal pollie to look for ways to wreck a state government or to assist others to do so, no matter how deeply concerned that political lowlife allegedly feels.

Everyone acting too late for the Lower Murray to survive

Isn't it marvellous. After decades of warnings and years of inaction, suddenly the move is on to save the lower sections of the Murray River system.

It's almost laughable that independent Senator Nick Xenaphon is reported in The Age as calling on people power to save the Coorong and Lower Lakes.

Speaking at a protest meeting yesterday in the Murray River town of Goolwa, where about 2000 people observed a minute's silence for a river system dying from the bottom up, Senator Xenophon challenged federal Water Minister Penny Wong's recent assertion that no extra water could be found upstream to save the lakes.
"I say, Penny, look harder," Senator Xenophon said. He urged the rally, held in Alexander Downer's former seat of Mayo — which will be contested by Liberal Jamie Briggs at a federal byelection on September 6 — to use "people power" and public pressure to force the Federal Government to act.....
"Why should we sacrifice Storm Boy country so that big business can grow crops in the driest continent on earth?" Senator Xenophon said. "Why have we abandoned our international obligations to the lower lakes so that managed investment schemes can fatten the wallets of well-heeled city investors who couldn't find the Coorong on a map?"

Where was Nick Xenaphon and those 2,000 over the last six years? Probably still supporting the overallocation of water resources in their own state and local government areas.
Most were almost certainly not camping at the doors of then prime minister John Howard and then federal environment minister Malcolm Turnbull asking for them to act and act now.

Unfortunately for communities on the Lower Murray and the nation as a whole, the Murray Darling Basin Commission is correct when it states that water released from northern basin storage points would not make it down the length of the river system as far as the Lower Lakes in any appreciable volume.

It is of no use whatsoever to blame this state of affairs on the current Rudd Government, which has been in power for only nine and a half months.

The entire nation spent too much time heeding the expedient words of politicians of all persuasions, allowing the rapacious agendas of irrigators to hold sway and giving too much credence to climate change naysayers.

We have all killed the Murray Darling river system in its historical form.

It is now only a myth we can recount to our great-grandchildren.

Call to buy out water hoarders to save the Murray. Hold on, haven't we heard this before?

According to News.com.au yest'dee

"A SYDNEY Harbour-sized wall of water could be pumped into the ailing River Murray from six water-hoarding cotton farms under a radical new plan unveiled by conservationists yesterday.
Describing the move as a "huge win for NSW", the green groups have demanded the Federal Government buy the properties - located in western NSW and Queensland - which are ready to be sold, and pump the 300-400 gigalitres of water a year into the drought-ravaged River Murray basin. The Government - which yesterday admitted it was open to the idea - has been urged to buy the water allocation under its National Water Plan." ----

Properties being suggested include Toorale and Darling Farms in NSW and the famous Cubbie Station and Balandool in Queensland."

Sounds familar doesn't it? Too right it does.

Peter Beatie (while Queensland Premier) almost begged the Howard Government to partner his state in a buyout of Cubbie, Ballandool and Clyde Stations to return water to the river system.

Jackboot Johnnie said no to Cubbie in 2002 and rejected the other two in 2006.

Now the entire country is paying for his sheer bl**dy mindedness.

The little dictator didn't deserve a gong after the country sacked him - he deserved a rope necktie!

Are Costa and Meagher trying to stiff sick and needy in the Clarence Valley?

The Clarence Valley has been waiting for the promised upgrade to Grafton Base Hospital for over a decade now.
The NSW Government had told us on more than one occasion that the money was there and that work was starting soon - then returned to ignoring the health needs of Valley residents.

It took Labor's Janelle Saffin and the 2007 federal election to see another health funding pledge of $18 million.
But the NSW Minister for Health, who has had a departmental master plan before her ever since she took over this portfolio, is yet to supply the Commonwealth with a timetable and schedule of works.

Many in the Valley are beginning to wonder if the Iemma Government is trying to obtain the offered funding without it being tied specifically to a Grafton Hospital upgrade, so that it can plug the gap elsewhere.
Or if it is procrastinating in the hope it will not have to come up with its upgrade funding share for another decade.
Are we to be diddled again?

Journalist and Deputy-Editor of The Daily Examiner, David Bancroft, ran this frontpage comment on Thursday.

WE asked NSW Health Minister Reba Meagher a simple question yesterday: when will work start on the upgrade of the promised operating theatres and emergency department at Grafton Base Hospital?
Her answer was waffle.
She told us that that the Federal Government's announced funding was welcome. Obviously.
She told us that planning had already started. That started more than a decade ago.
She told us that Grafton Base Hospital played an important role in delivering health services. Again, obviuously.
And she told us admissions to the emergency department had increased. Exactly.
What she did not tell us was when work would start and if the State Government would provide additional money needed for the projects to proceed.
We need answers, Ms. Meagher, not platitiudes, and we need them now.

Gillard's error of judgement

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a serious error of judgement when she jumped on the performance-based pay for teachers bandwagon.

Parading under false banners such as "lifting the status of the teaching profession" and "boosting students' results", "teaching quality" once again raised its head at this week's first meeting of state and federal education ministers since the election of the Rudd Government.

Gillard, like many others, just doesn't get it. Implementing teacher pay schemes that are associated with merit will not enhance the teaching profession. Competitive, cut-throat, eat-your-enemies approaches to paying teachers cannot sit squarely with a profession that is based on co-operation.

Opposition shadow spokesperson for water makes a Laughing Jackass of himself

It's been a long saga and like many other Aussies I have been crossing my fingers and hoping that this nation will finally come to grips with those huge environmental problems in the Murray-Darling river system which have been generations in the making.
However, Opposition spokesperson for environment and water Greg Hunt continues the Liberal's new tradition of counting kookaburras whenever it is brought face-to-face with another instance of cooperative endeavour between the Commonwealth and the States under the Rudd Labor Government.
Yesterday when a real breakthough was announced on management of water within the Murray-Darling Basin, I swear I heard Hunt on the teev repeating a version of his February line about the Murray-Darling being an "defining failure" of the Rudd Government.
Only this time he was calling it "an abiding failure".
After the complete, utter, total, abiding failure of the John Howard-Malcolm Turnbull attempt to bully the states into a collective formal agreement over this dying river system, all Hunt could do yesterday was accuse Rudd of a similar failure.
He has definitely taken to imitating the Laughing Jackass. A real Koo-koo-koo-waa-aah-aah-ah!
This new agreement may not be perfect, but at least it's a fair dinkum attempt.
You remember what fair dinkum means don't you, Greg?
Here is the Murray Darling Basin Reform Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Prime Minister and every Premier and State Minister with territory within the Murray-Darling Basin.

Global warming impacts on the NSW North Coast

Yesterday The Northern Star reported on expected coastline changes and innundation due to climate change. 

The Federal Government has given $2 million towards assisting NSW North Coast councils to plan for negative impacts such as sea-level rises.

"It is estimated that the sea will rise by at least one metre in the next 100 years, claiming about 100 metres of the shoreline.

It would see the destruction of multi-million-dollar coastal real estate at places like Belongil and Lennox Head, more frequent severe floods, and land become swampy in low-lying places like Ballina. ----

Dr Peter Cowell, senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, said hundreds of thousands of homes faced possible inundation resulting from climate change over the next 20 to 30 years.

He said Byron Bay and Ballina were areas expected to be among the hardest hit, as well as Cairns in north Queensland, Wamberal on the NSW Central Coast and Narrabeen on Sydney's northern beaches.

"With places like Belongil, it's not a matter of 'if', but 'when'," he said.

"Existing hazards which happen occasionally will start to happen more often. As the sea level rises nuisance floods will happen so often they'll create dysfunction in the community."

 

Unfortunately for North Coast residents, most elected councillors do not fully understand the processes or timelines involved in permanent seawater inundation or rises in the water table and salt levels.

Throwing money at local councils will not result in adequate planning, because both State and local governments are in the thrall of coastal developers.

If the Rudd Government truly wants to help the North Coast plan for climate change it needs to insist that the NSW Government (and other state governments) put in place legislation prohibiting further development in identified vulnerable areas and all coastal estuaries.

It should do so, not just because of the high population numbers living on the coast, but because coastal economies significantly contribute to the nation's wealth and it would be foolish to allow continued public or business infrastructure growth in high risk areas.

Local economic disruption from increased severe storms, flooding, and inundation would have a flow-on effect for the national economy.

Kevin Rudd returns to NSW North Coast to inspect flood damage

Having Labor's Justine Elliot and Janelle Saffin as federal MPs for Richmond and Page seems to be paying dividends.
Kevin Rudd has again visited the North Coast and yesterday, as Prime Minister, he inspected flood damage in the Kyogle area.
Locals are hopeful that this on-the-spot look around will result in more funding for flood damage repairs to infrastructure, roads and businesses.
With Elliot and Saffin on the case I expect a shoe-in. On ya!

Look 'ere! It's the Saffin-Cansdell dog fight

The Daily Examiner today reported on the dispute between Federal Labor's Janelle Saffin and NSW Nationals'  Steve Cansdell as to who exactly arranged a meeting between canegowers and the NSW Minister for Roads, with the Federal Minister for Primary Industries also attending.

The NSW Minister supports Ms. Saffin's version of events.

Sorry, Mr. Cansdell - you are not all that believable.

On the Lower Clarence you already have a reputation for running to the media and taking credit for funding obtained through the local community's own lobbying efforts.

The fact of the matter is that Ms. Saffin has been steadily delivering for the Page electorate since her election in November 2007.

Just yesterday she confirmed a hefty funding boost for Grafton District Meals-on-Wheels, which provided more than 42,000 meals to aged and incapacitated people in the Clarence Valley district in 2007.

The Daily Examiner yesterday:

http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3762703&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

176,000 Australian households on public housing waiting lists

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found 176,000 households on public housing waiting lists.

The new Federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek says she is shocked.

After asking around, I think the shock will be even greater when she realises that these lists only show people who have been filling in forms for years and not the total number of those on low-incomes needing affordable accommodation.

I mean, whoever thought that we would need homeless shelters here on the North Coast?

Yet it is becoming a reality of life in the Lucky Country.

A reminder to the Rudd Government and all state & coastal local governments

Recent wild weather and high seas have highlighted the vulnerability of Australia's coastline. Time is beginning to run out for the formation and implementation of adequate national, state and local government coordinated planning responses.

This opinion piece in The Age last Friday says it all.

 

"COASTAL development, rising sea levels, increasing storm surges and a vocal community are a potent political mix. The climate change debate has rightly focused on the critical need to reduce carbon emissions but inadequate attention is being given to what we need to do in terms of adaptation to climate change on the coast.

Our coastal communities face an impending crisis. Continuing development in areas likely to be inundated is foolhardy at best. For a nation skilled at emergency management when it comes to floods and fire, we are remarkably unprepared for when the inevitable storm surge hits a populated coastal area.

Coastal planning is one of those policy areas that doesn't fit neatly into one portfolio or level of government. It covers environment, urban planning and infrastructure provision, including water, housing and indigenous interests and cuts across portfolio responsibilities. With the significant risks of climate change, this now involves the Federal Government and the insurance industry, as well as state and local governments.

The Sea Change Taskforce, comprising coastal council representatives and the Planning Institute of Australia among others, has lobbied government for years on the looming problem for local councils experiencing rapid urban growth and the accompanying servicing requirements.

The Australian coastline is littered with exhausted communities battling to save the character and environment of their townships. As if this weren't enough, climate change predictions of rising sea levels and storm surge have added a potent ingredient to the mix challenging the capacity of land-use planning systems and local councils to respond. Only now have governments started to map seriously the coastal areas likely to be inundated at the scales and resolutions needed to respond effectively to the science produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the CSIRO. But this has been largely the result of individual council or state government initiatives rather than as part of a wider plan."

The Age article by Barbara Norman, past national president of the Planning Institute of Australia:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/our-endangered-coast/2008/01/10/1199554828671.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Never mind the quality - feel the width!

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) met yesterday for the first time since the 24 November federal election completed a Labor hat trick across the country.

 

The communique issued at the meeting's end was optimistic, covered quite a few areas of concern and did seek some restructuring of how COAG operates.

The 20th COAG meeting communique:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/files/coag_minutes.doc

 

However, most recent COAG meetings ended with an upbeat communique running a spin on cooperative effort across many areas of concern. The meeting last year was a good example.

The 19th COAG meeting communique:

http://www.coag.gov.au/meetings/130407/index.htm

 

The proof of true COAG cooperation will of course be tested further down the track. Right now there is more than a little hype attached and everyone is still visibly overattached to those underwhelming campaign slogans.

One has to wish COAG well and hope that years of entrenched adversarial interaction have not ruled out change for the better.

Wall-to-wall Labor governments are a yet untested combination.