Better late than never in Coffs Harbour?

For literally decades the Coffs Harbour City Council has merrily developed the district to death, in the face of drinking water scarcity, farm land and floodplain issues.
Now after what is probably the fifth local flood in eleven months, the Coffs Coast News reports last Monday:
"FORMER Coffs Harbour deputy mayor Rod McKelvey has called for a ban on future development projects until proper flood protection is in place.
McKelvey, who stood down at the last local government elections because of family illness, believes future developments without protection could have serious consequences for a number of areas, including Coffs Harbour hospital.
"The more we develop Coffs, the worse the problem will get, McKelvey told The Advocate in an exclusive interview over the weekend.
"There are many possible actions worthy of investigation, including the GM's pump concept.
"But before we go rushing into developing West Boambee, which will add to the hospital's flood woes, or the airport and other areas in the path of floods, we should have a moratorium until proper protection is in place."
McKelvey said he felt there was a moral responsibility as well as an economical one to ensure property is safe from future flooding"
Definitely a case of wanting to close the door after the horse has bolted, but at least there is now some recognition of the deep doo-doo homeowners have been landed in by local powers that be.

Did you know? A morning tea trivia break

World's digital content equivalent to stack of books stretching from Earth to Pluto 10 times....
The world's store of digital content is now the equivalent of one full top-of-the-range iPod for every two people on the planet, following the explosion of social networking sites, internet-enabled mobile phones and government surveillance.
The Guardian, 18 May 2009 Internet data heads for 500bn gigabytes

French president Nicolas Sarcozy claims he was in Berlin on the evening the Berlin Wall fell and that he helped dismantle a part of the wall on the spot at Check Point Charlie. His claim has been torn to shreds by historial information available from Internet searches which appear to show that he did not arrive in Germany's capital until days later.
Simple Thoughts, 9 November 2009, Skeptics question French President Sarkozy’s Facebook post suggesting he saw Berlin Wall fall & The Australian, 12 November 2009, Sarkozy's Berlin Wall claim falls over

The average Australian adult male is only around 1.2 feet taller than the average adult male orang-utan. Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett is reputedly 2.1-2.4 feet taller than this red ape.
Wikipedia Human height, & Orangutan Outreach & Mike Portnoy 2009

Researchers found a strong link between wages and height, particularly for men, with each additional 10 centimetres of height adding three per cent to hourly wages.
The "height premium" was two per cent per 10 centimetres for women, researchers from the University of Sydney and Canberra's Australian National University (ANU) found.
They calculated that every five centimetres above the average height of 178 centimetres boosted a male's wages by the equivalent of an extra year's experience in the labour force. WA Today, 17 May 2009, Study finds tall people at top of wages ladder

An Adelaide property developer, Ross Markris, heads the BRW 2009 young and rich list for the under 40s.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 September 2009

U.S. billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has only donated $340,358 to major American political parties since 1978 but film maker Steven Speilberg has donated over $1M in the same period.
Newsmeat, Hall of Fame-Billionaires, 2009

Monsanto staffer claims that 1 bale of cotton makes 215 pairs of jeans, but there is no data on how many litres of GM oil comes from those harvested cotton plants.
Monsanto & Co on Twitter, 13 November 2009

Google suggests over 26 million indexed entries when given the search term "how to get away with a lie" and then produces 47 million items if you proceed with this search.
Google Australia, 13 November 2009

There are at least 1,817 individuals in Australia who currently control wealth worth over $30 million.
Australian Tax Office, 19 October 2009, JCPAA Submssion

Australian Households



RESERVE BANK BULLETIN – APRIL 2009














U.S. National Debt



Newsmeat, 2009

Is it any wonder that the Murray Darling Basin river systems are in trouble?

Thirty major dams and over 4, 000 weirs clutter the Murray-Darling Basin's rivers. Total dam storage is two-and-half times the average annual runoff, meaning they exert enormous control over river flows. Most of the Basin's rivers are regulated by dams and weirs. [Australian Water Association, 2009]

At least most Tweed Daily News online readers believe in climate change

From the Tweed Daily News on 17 November 2009

Online opinion poll on the same day the Tweed Daily News reported on Rising sea levels predicted

An historic moment everyone wishes hadn't happened - Australia's first official catastrophic fire warning issued for Wednesday 18 November 2009

BOM Radar 17 November 2009

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued the first official catastrophic fire warning this afternoon:

FIRE WEATHER WARNING FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Issued at 4:25 pm CDT on Tuesday, 17 November 2009.

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 is forecast to be very hot and dry for most of South Australia. Fresh northwesterly winds over the pastorals and parts of the northern agricultural districts will shift fresh southwesterly during the day.

Catastrophic Fire Danger [100+] is forecast for the Northwest Pastoral and Flinders Total Fire Ban districts.

Extreme Fire Danger [75-99] is forecast for the Northeast Pastoral, Eastern Eyre Peninsula and Mid North Total Fire Ban districts.

Severe Fire Danger [50-74] is forecast for the Riverland Total Fire Ban district.

The Country Fire Service advises that fires burning under these conditions are likely to be fast moving, unpredictable and uncontrollable. You should action your Bushfire Survival Plan now.

Total Fire Bans
As a consequence of the forecast fire danger, the Country Fire Service has imposed a Total Fire Ban in all the Total Fire Ban districts listed above.

For more information on Total Fire Bans and how to prepare for fires, visit the CFS web page at http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/ or call the CFS Bushfire Information Hotline on 1300 362 361.

For the latest weather information, listen to your local radio station or visit the Bureau of Meteorology web page at http://www.bom.gov.au/.

This Warning will be updated by 7:00 am on Wednesday, 18 November 2009.

When did Australia turn into a nation of cheats?

In October this year the Australian Tax Office appeared before a bi-annual hearing of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit and explained its approach to companies which were liquidated then reformed, as a new company using the same assets, in order to avoid meeting debt obligations to creditors and employees:

Phoenix activity

In 2008-09, we maintained a focus on those who engage in Phoenix activities, and intervened earlier to ensure the liabilities of current entities were kept up to date and paid on time. We ran a targeted letter/phone campaign directed to those who appeared at risk for repeat Phoenix behaviour.
The Tax Office, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Treasury are working together to identify a range of potential legislative remedies that could help us better address fraudulent phoenix behaviour.
Since 2000, ten company directors have been prosecuted for phoenix-related offences, arising from Tax Office referred matters. An additional four briefs of evidence are currently with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), with charges laid in relation to three matters. The are currently five potential prosecution cases in the pipeline for referral to the CDPP.
During 2008-09, 124 phoenix cases were finalised raising $83.3 million in tax and penalties. [ATO submission to the Joint Committee dated 19 October 2009]

Since then Adele Ferguson writing in The Brisbane Times and The Age has revealed that:

CORPORATE Australia is littered with company directors who have managed to survive multiple company failures, a trend that suggests illegal ''phoenix'' companies are on the rise.
Research compiled exclusively for BusinessDay by Dun & Bradstreet indicates a 25 per cent jump in the number of companies entering external administration during the 2009 financial year that had at least one director who had already been involved in a wound-up business.
Even more alarming, of the 10,264 companies that went belly up in the year to June 30, a staggering 43 per cent involved companies with directors of previously wound-up companies.
The research indicates the worst offenders tend to gravitate to the building and construction sector, employment agencies, labour hire, security and infrastructure.

and

Using a database of 2.8 million credit-active entities in Australia, Dun & Bradstreet revealed an 18 per cent surge in companies entering external administration in 2009. At least one director had previously been involved with four wound-up entities.
Dun & Bradstreet's chief executive, Christine Christian, said the research showed that directors on the board of a company that has gone into external administration were 250 per cent more likely to be involved in an insolvent wind-up in the following 12 months.

Phoenix companies are not a new phenomena as the answer to a 2005 Question on Notice by the then Member for Barton Robert McClelland confirms:

The Commissioner of Taxation advised me that since 1998 the Tax Office has maintained a planned and co-ordinated focus on individuals who use, or promote the use of, successive company structures to intentionally evade payment of taxes. A major focus of the Tax Office has been on serial (Phoenix) offenders who use deliberate and fraudulent methods to avoid their obligations.

This type of business activity is not unknown on the NSW North Coast and in recent years has cost the local workforce and retirees with small investment portfolios dearly in some instances.

The length of time the problem has been a highly visible issue combined with the low number of prosecutions and often risible court-imposed penalties leads to the following questions:

• Is it really good enough for the Australian Tax Office and Directors of Public Prosecutions to clearly place a sustained regime of prosecuting phoenix activity repeat offenders in the too hard basket?
• Has cheating creditors and employees become an accepted method of conducting business in Australia?
• Now that the Member for Barton is Australia's Attorney General, what is he going to do about the holes in corporate law which are allowing dishonest company directors to get away with this blatant form of theft?

The lights weren’t on, but Monsanto was at home

MADGE Australia and friends went to see Monsanto and came away with a story to tell:

Monsanto turned out the lights yesterday after the ladies of MADGE Australia, Cropwatch, and Gene Ethics arrived to deliver bags of GM canola roadside weeds.

Agri-chemical giant Monsanto is the patent holder of the GM Roundup Ready canola crop recently planted in Australia. Bob Phelps of Gene Ethics also attended.

After obligatory photos in the Monsanto lobby, the ladies went to the door. It was locked. Then the Monsanto lights went out.

MADGE Australia's Madeleine Love explained the visit.

"The GM weeds were Monsanto's property, and they were on our roadsides. We'd prefer not to be cleaning up, but we didn't want to leave them there to contaminate GM free crops."

"They were physically removed from beside farmer Gai Marshall's GM free canola crop near Berrigan, NSW. There are many more, further up the road."

"Monsanto was told about their GM weeds, but they didn't come and clean them up.

Monsanto has a record of suing farmers who accidentally have these GM plants on their property [Percy Schmeiser]."

"We don't know anyone in Australia who would want GM weeds, so we were returning them to their owners. Strangely, Monsanto didn't seem to want them either."

* This post is part of North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.

Rees and NSW Labor Party pledge to forego political contributions from developers, but will the Opposition agree?

The Daily Telegraph on 15th November 2009:
"Developers are the biggest donors to NSW political parties, feeding suspicions that public policy-making could be bought. In the lead-up to the 2007 election, developers donated $8.2 million to the ALP and $4.4 million to the Liberal Party.
Mr Rees said it was time to end the perception that politicians were hostage to developers' interests.
"From today, the NSW Labor Party will ban donations from developers,'' he said.
"It will cover all members of NSW Parliament, all local councillors and all party units and organisations.
"Delegates, the reason for all these measures is simple _ it's time for a fresh start.
"One way or another, the next State election will be conducted under a public funding model.
"The era of big donations is over.''

But will the Libs, Nats and right-wing minor parties block this move in the NSW Parliament?
Will they keep their options open to yell "Corruption!" during the election campaign?

What do the latest Australian Government sea level rise projections mean for the Clarence Coast?

The latest Australian Government sea level rise projections contained in the November 2009 Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts report indicate that:

Between 40,800 and 62,400 residential buildings in New South Wales may be at risk of inundation from a sea-level rise of 1.1 metres and storm tide associated with a 1-in-100 year storm. The current value of the residential buildings at risk is between $12.4 billion and $18.7 billion.....

Inundation analysis is based on 1.1 metres of sea-level rise using medium resolution elevation data.
A storm tide allowance (1-in-100 year event) based on CSIRO modelling is included in the analysis for Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, although storm tide values for New South Wales are likely to be underestimates as they do not include a wave setup component.

What does this mean for the Clarence Coast in Northern NSW?

At first glance these projections indicate that the coastal and estuary zones may face:

(i) a loss of beach and foreshore along the length of Bundjalung National Park;

(ii) loss of all Yamba coastal beaches;

(iii) loss of most of Hickey and Dart islands as well as other smaller lower Clarence River islands;

(iv) the one road into and out of Yamba permanently breached by estuary waters at multiple points;

(v) loss of foreshore and part/all of some residential properties in the Crystal Waters-West Yamba area;

(vi) loss of foreshore and part of residential and agricultural properties on Palmers, Goodwood and Micalo islands;

(vii) loss of foreshore and part of residential properties in Iluka, Marandowie Drive permanently breached by estuary waters;

(viii) loss of beach and/or foreshore in parts of Yuraygir National Park;

(ix) loss of foreshore at Brooms Head, Sandon and Red Rock;

(x) loss of foreshore and residential property in Wooli; and

(xi) loss of some foreshore on both sides of the Clarence River up to Maclean and beyond to Brushgrove; and

(xii) possible inundation of part of the Pacific Highway passing through the Lower Clarence.

* Interactive seal level rise map here.

* Interactive map showing estimated altitudes here.

Don't be alarmed. It's just the CIA - hunting toads!

Conservation In Action (CIA) Landcare volunteers and NPWS staff will be out at night across the Clarence Valley in organised cane toad hunts this summer. In an effort to reduce the numbers of this introduced pest which decimates local frog and reptile populations where ever it establishes a permanent presence.

If you would like to join these volunteers:
Phone: 0411 020 394
Email: toads@cvcia.org.au or Sharon@cvcia.org.au
Website: www.cvia.org.au

Next volunteer training day/night event and hunt is Saturday 28 November 2009 (booking essential).

Contact Sharon or visit the website for details.

Why climate change science is the new Sisyphus

A NSW North Coast 'catastrophic climate change' denier in full cry when writing a letter to the editor last week.
How on earth can science counter such strongly-held belief that everyone is wrong except those who just know in their hearts that there is no such thing as man-made global warming?

NSW North Coast could lose in vicinity of 2,000 homes in latest climate change 'worst case' scenario

From the Australian Government report Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts released on 14 November 2009.

Number of residential building in NSW local government areas at risk of sea water inundation

Click images to enlarge

Tweed Heads inundation projections

Fighting back against gene patents in 2009

This year the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Association for Molecular Pathology have led a court challenge to the legality of the U.S. Patent Office practice of granting patents on genes.

COMPLAINT against United States Patent and Trademark Office, Myriad Genetics, Lorris Betz, Roger Boyer, Jack Brittain, Arnold B. Combe, Raymond Gesteland, James U. Jensen, John Kendall Morris, Thomas Parks, David W. Pershing, Michael K. Young. (Filing Fee $ 350.00, Receipt Number 687779)Document filed by American Society For Clinical Pathology, College of American Pathologists, Association For Molecular Pathology, Haig Kazazian, Arupa Ganguly, Wendy Chung, Harry Ostrer, David Ledbetter, Stephen Warren, Ellen Matloff, Elsa Reich, Breast Cancer Action, Boston Women's Health Book Collective, American College of Medical Genetics, Lisbeth Ceriani, Runi Limary, Genae Girard, Patrice Fortune, Vicky Thomason, Kathleen Raker.(ama) (Entered: 05/12/2009)

According to the ACLU on 2 November 2009 and WebWire on 3 November 2009:

Several major organizations, including the American Medical Association, the March of Dimes and the American Society for Human Genetics, filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the challenge to the patents on the BRCA genes.

and

The court noted the significance of this case. The court's opinion stated, "The widespread use of gene sequence information as the foundation for biomedical research means that resolution of these issues will have far-reaching implications, not only for gene-based health care and the health of millions of women facing the specter of breast cancer, but also for the future course of biomedical research… The novel circumstances presented by this action against the USPTO, the absence of any remedy provided in the Patent Act, and the important constitutional rights the Plaintiffs seek to vindicate establish subject matter jurisdiction over the Plaintiffs' claim against the USPTO".

This case has survived a plaintiff's motion to dismiss and is going forward.

With patents now being held on approximately 20 per cent of identified human genes, this court case is of more than passing interest.