"My strongest criticism in all of this is directed at the MLA....they’re still in denial on their culpability" Federal Member for Page

Janelle Saffin’s statement on the end of suspension of live cattle trade

Today I sought further detail on the announcement by Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig lifting the suspension of live cattle exports to Indonesia.

The Minister has declared that no live cattle will depart for Indonesia until the government is assured of humane treatment throughout the supply chain.

I welcome this and I’d like to be able to say that the Minister’s announcement satisfies the three part motion put to Caucus last month.
At this stage I do not have enough information to give that unqualified support.

Last month Caucus endorsed a motion that called for:
*the immediate cessation of live cattle exports to Indonesia until all slaughter houses receiving Australian cattle to comply with international OIE standards, encouraging the use of stunning and ongoing independent monitoring.
*an independent review of the live animal export trade
*MLA to use their contingency funds to support the producers affected by the suspension, and for the Minister to use his statutory power if the MLA did not act of its own volition.

The Minister has said that his announcement addresses the Caucus motion.
I still need to see more detail of how it addresses the part of the motion that called for encouragement of stunning.

I have asked the minister how he would comply with that part of the motion.
The Minister in his ministerial statement said “obviously the use of stunning equipment improves the welfare outcomes for animals and the Government has made it clear it will encourage stunning wherever possible”.

I want to see a stronger commitment from the Government for encouraging stunning.
The Caucus motion clearly called for encouraging the use of stunning, and that has to be an ongoing process.
The Australian community expects no less.

My strongest criticism in all of this is directed at the MLA.
I’ve made many comments on the MLA and they‘re still missing in action in taking responsibility for this mess.
They use the levies from farmers and public money and they’re still in denial on their culpability - denying their responsibility for the fact that Australian animals were not being killed humanely.

I repeat my call which I’ve made many times for a complete inquiry into their whole structure.

I also deplore the duplicitous actions of the Federal National Party in this matter. Their attitude is say to the community how terrible it is that animals are being killed like that, but in Canberra they talk very differently. And we must remember they set up the structure of the MLA and industry self-regulation.

7 July 2011 media release from the Office of Janelle Saffin MP, Member for Page

Buckingham speaks out in defence of NSW North Coast communities. Where is Cansdell?

Looking towards upper reaches of the Nymboida River

The Greens Jeremy Buckingham MLC speaks out for the Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour and Belligen local government areas, as well as the Clarence River catchment in this foreshadowed motion NSW Parliament Legislative Council.

Legislative Council Notice Paper No. 24

147. Mr Buckingham to move

1. That this House notes that:

(a) Anchor Resources Ltd have conducted scoping studies that indicate a resource of 17,500 tons of antimony have been found at both Wild Cattle Creek, near Nymboida and the Blicks River to the northwest of Dorrigo on the mid north coast of New South Wales,

(b) Anchor Resources Ltd has recently been subject to a majority takeover by the Chinese minerals company China Shandong Jinshunda Ltd which now owns over 90 per cent of the company,

(c) antimony is a mineral resource used for a range of “high-tech” products such as polymers, fire retardants and electronics,

(d) antimony and many of its compounds are toxic and the World Health Organisation has stated that oral consumption can result in "a strong irritating effect on the gastrointestinal mucosa and trigger sustained vomiting ... abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and cardiac toxicity",

(e) the majority of the municipal water supply for more than 100,000 residents in Coffs Harbour is provided by Shannon Creek Dam which is fed by pipes directly from the Nymboida River,

(f) this project is located within the headwaters of the Nymboida River, which is the highest rainfall catchment in New South Wales,

(g) the high rainfall of the catchment, which sometimes exceeds three metres, means that there is a significant risk that antimony mined in the area could be released and contaminate the water,

(h) a previous antimony ore processing plant at Urunga Lagoon has been described in the Bellingen Council 2009-10 State of the Environment Report as seriously contaminated and unable to be rehabilitated, and

(i) a 2002 report by the University of New England has shown that antimony from the Hillgrove and Bakers Creek mines which are located in the catchment of the Macleay River to the east of Armidale, have seriously contaminated over twenty kilometres of the headwaters of this river system and this has proved impossible to remediate.

2. That this House recognises that:

(a) the government has a responsibility to protect the community from current and future health risks associated with extractive industries, and

(b) proponent driven applications to determine the exploitation of our mineral resources are not in the best interests of the wider New South Wales community.

3. That this House calls on the Government to:

(a) prohibit mining activities within the critical catchments which supply water to our communities because of the unacceptable risks this poses to human and ecosystem health, the quality of our water supply and our state's agricultural capacity, and

(b) engage more extensively with the community in all assessments for extractive industries and take appropriate and precautionary actions, especially in regards to health risks.

(Notice given 23 June 2011—expires Notice Paper No. 43)

No names, no pack drill

 

All personal submissions published on the Australian Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Migration’s Inquiry into Multiculturalism in Australia web page are only identified by the initials of their authors.
I don’t know who this circumstance reflects on more – the Committee or the political climate in this country.

Equal gender numbers make up new senators entering the Australian Parliament in July 2011

Senators-elect (terms of service commencing 1 July 2011)

Di Natale, Richard
VIC AG
Public health specialist, drug and alcohol clinician and general practitioner
Drug and Alcohol Clinician, Geelong, 2008–2010Worked on HIV prevention for injecting drug users in India with the Nossal Institute for Global Health, 2005–2007
Public Health, Department of Human Services, 2001–2004
Medical practitioner, Aboriginal Health Service (NT), 1999–2000
Fellow, Australasian Faculty of Public Health MedicineMaster of Public Health, Master of Health Sciences

Edwards, Sean
SA LP
Born and educated in Clare, South Australia, as part of the 5th generation of Clare Edwards’, his career pursuits in business meant he has been involved in both rural and city communities in the varied fields of property development, agriculture, viticulture, winemaking and global trade. Married with four children.

Fawcett, David
SA LP
Director, Fawcett Consulting
Member of the House of Representatives for Wakefield (SA), 2004–2007
Army officer, 1982–2004Commanding Officer, RAAF Aircraft Research and Development Unit, Edinburgh, SA

Gallacher, Alex
SA ALP
Secretary/Treasurer, SA–NT branch, Transport Workers’ Union of Australia (TWU), 1996–Federal President, TWU, 2007–2010
Vice President, TWU, 2005–2007
Organiser, TWU SA–NT branch, 1992–1996Federal Industrial Relations Officer, TWU, 1988–1992
Director, Motor Accident Commission (SA), 2005–2010Commissioner, National Road Transport Commission, 2003–2004 Member and acting Chair, Road Safety Advisory Council (SA)

Madigan, John
VIC DLP
Blacksmith, Hepburn Springs, Vic
Apprenticeship, Victorian Railways Newport workshop
Former employee of Victorian Railways for 10 years

McKenzie, Bridget
VIC NATS
Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Gippsland Campus, Monash University, until 2010Junior vice-president, The Nationals (Vic), 2006–2009
Former secondary school teacher
Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement)Bachelor of Education

Rhiannon, Lee
NSW AG
Member of the NSW Legislative Council, 1999–2010
Founder and director, AID/WATCH, an NGO that monitors Australia’s overseas aid program, 1993–1998
Founder and convenor, Coalition for Gun Control, 1988–1992
Former freelance journalistCampaigner on a range of issues including promoting workers’ rights, public education, environmental protection and political donation reformQualified zoologist and botanist

Singh, Lisa
TAS ALP
CEO, Asbestos Free Tasmania Foundation
Member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 2006–2010Minister Assisting the Premier on Climate Change, 2009–2010
Minister for Corrections and Consumer Protection, 2008–2010
Minister for Workplace Relations, 2008–2010
Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier Assisting with Education, 2008

Thistlethwaite, Matthew
NSW ALP
General Secretary, NSW Labor, 2008–2010
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Unions NSW, 2004–2008
Industrial Officer, The Australian Workers’ Union, 1995–2004
Director, State Transit Authority of NSW, 2005–2008
President, Maroubra Surf Lifesaving Club, 2004–2008
Member, Racing Industry Advisory Council, 2002–2008
President, NSW Young Labor, 1997–1998Bachelor of Economics (UNSW)Diploma of Law

Urquhart, Anne
TAS ALP
President, Unions Tasmania, 2007–Vice President, Australian Labor Party (Tas), 2004–Secretary, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (Tasmanian Division), 2004–2010President, AMWU (Tas), 1998–2004
Organiser, Food Preservers’ Union, 1990–1998

Waters, Larissa
QLD AG
Community environmental lawyer, Environmental Defenders Office (Qld) Inc., 2002–Graduate lawyer, Freehills national law firm, 2001–2002
Researcher, Land and Resources Tribunal (Qld), 2000–2001Volunteer Queensland editor, National Environmental Law Review, 2005–2008
Volunteer board member, Queensland Environmental Law Association, 2004–2007LLB (Hons)/BSc, Griffith UniversityGrad Dip (Leg Prac), College of Law, NSW

Wright, Penny
SA AG
Solicitor, tribunal member and mediator
Deputy President, Guardianship Board (SA), 1996–2010
Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner, Relationships Australia, 2007–2010
Member, Social Security Appeals Tribunal, 2006–2007
Conciliator & Investigating Solicitor, Legal Practitioners Conduct Board, 2003–2006
Member, Residential Tenancies Tribunal, 1993–2003
Former campaigner for human rights, aid and environmental organisations

AG—Australian Greens, ALP—Australian Labor Party, DLP—Democratic Labor Party, LP—Liberal Party of Australia, NATS—The Nationals

'Cause a light-hearted view of the world never goes amiss.....

Footpath sign in the main street of Maclean "The Scottish Town" on the NSW North Coast...........everything else is just old newspaper wrapping this quick and easy meal.

Thanks to Clarencegirl for the pic.

There's more to lose than a few dollars if antimony mining is again allowed in the Clarence River catchment

…………wealth is about more than money.
Quality of life and the environment feature pretty high on my agenda. And we need to be mindful of what happens after we sell off the farm. In the case of the proposed antimony and gold mines in the Wild Cattle Creek and Tyringham areas - the mining company would be Chinese, the approving authority the Bellingen Shire Council and most of the workers (and there is unlikely to be too many of them) would probably be based in Coffs.
But who cops the risk if a tailings dam fails and mercury or other heavy metals spew into the tributaries of the Nymboida River?
The Clarence Valley, of course.
And it appears unlikely to receive any of the benefits.
Mining has helped Australia ride out an international financial storm, but we need to be careful that we look at more than dollar signs when considering projects. There's more to lose than a few dollars.

[David Bancroft, Editor, The Daily Examiner 2 July 2011]

Willie Soon tells the world that porkers can fly

 

“One of the world's most prominent scientific figures to be sceptical about climate change has admitted to being paid more than $1m in the past decade by major US oil and coal companies.

Dr Willie Soon, an astrophysicist at the Solar, Stellar and Planetary Sciences Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, is known for his view that global warming and the melting of the arctic sea ice is caused by solar variation rather than human-caused CO2 emissions, and that polar bears are not primarily threatened by climate change.

But according to a Greenpeace US investigation, he has been heavily funded by coal and oil industry interests since 2001, receiving money from ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and Koch Industries along with Southern, one of the world's largest coal-burning utility companies.

Since 2002, it is alleged, every new grant he has received has been from either oil or coal interests.

In addition, freedom of information documents suggest that Soon corresponded in 2003 with other prominent climate sceptics to try to weaken a major assessment of global warming being conducted by the UN's leading climate science body, the Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Soon, who had previously disclosed corporate funding he received in the 1990s, was today reportedly unapologetic, telling Reuters that he agreed that he had received money from all of the groups and companies named in the report but denied that any group would have influenced his studies. ‘{The Guardian on 28 June 2011}

Porker flew in from Google Images

For no other reason than this political comment appears to be getting up Gerry Harvey's nose [video]

http://youtu.be/7ZSRLbRQVHk

The Sydney Morning Herald 4 July 2011:

MFC and GetUp! had planned to launched a 60-second television commercial targeting Harvey Norman, which is a major TV advertising client.
But the groups said the ad had been refused classification by industry body Commercials Advice - which provides classification and information to advertisers, agencies and production houses - on the basis that it might expose free-to-air TV stations to legal action.
The ad was due to be shown during this week's State of Origin rugby league decider.
GetUp! national director Simon Sheikh said the classification decision amounted to corporate censorship.
"The reason given to us for the refusal was that running the ad may expose networks to lawsuits from Harvey Norman, but this assessment is beyond [Commercials Advice's] mandate," he said in a statement.

Markets for Change
‘NoHarveyNo: How Australia’s largest furniture and electronics retailers is driving the destruction of our native forests.’: Executive Summary and Report
Commercials Advice (CAD) 2010 Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice

We want to buy your farms and mines, says China

 

我們要買你的牧場和礦場我們要買你的牧場和礦場我們要買你的牧場和礦場

"We want to buy your farms and mines"
The Daily Examiner 2 July 2011

Chinese Government 'world view' as expressed at the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China:

China is a development nation with a large population but limited resources. In the new century, strengthening China's cooperation with other developing nations in the fields of science and technology and economy has become unprecedentedly urgent and important. Such cooperation will obviously create ways and means for taking full advantage of the respective strength of different countries, alleviating poverty, accelerating economic development and making fortunes for their people. Such cooperation will also become a stimulus to the south-south cooperation and enhance our international competitiveness and risk resistance so as to allow more positive involvement in the economic globalization process, safeguarding our economic interests and security, and enhancing the visibility of developing nations in south-north dialogues.

The China Shandong Jinshunda Group Co Ltd through its Australian mining exploration arm, Anchor Resources Ltd, is now seeking ways to put this philosophy into action at Wild Cattle Creek in the Clarence River catchment.

* Wild Cattle Creek: China encourages mining in Clarence River catchment in order to conserve its own national resources? 25 June 2011
* Is Chris Hartcher trying to flannel the Clarence Valley? 30 June 2011
* No problems with any new Wild Cattle Creek tailing dams, according to the China Shandong Jinshunda Group 1 July 2011

NAIDOC Week 4-10 July 2011

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Local NAIDOC Events Calendar

FFS! Is Abbott for real?

When I first heard this masterful piece of economic nonsense last Thursday I couldn't believe my ears.
When asked about foreign mining companies and the money they derive from Australia's non-renewable resources, Tony Abbott said; "We’ve got to remember that foreign investors take millions out of our country but they put billions in first"
It seems Abbott refuses to recognise that he has no capacity for basic economics.
Rio Tinto alone produced net profit after tax of A$37.4 billion in Australia in the 10 years to 2009. That's about 3.74 billion annually that it probably took home to head office in a brown paper bag.
As for the tax these multinationals pay, well that's quite frankly laughable.
In the 2007-08 financial year 4,290 mining companies had combined incomes which totalled $160,323,192,189 with combined taxable incomes of $29,010,243,407.
Net tax actually paid was $8,068,463,15 after all allowed deductions had been made.
Of course the royalties mining businesses paid in the past were all tax deductible, and as exporters these same companies get such a whopping collective GST refund that it all but wipes out the financial impact of money paid in taxes by the industry as a whole.
Any fool can see that foreign mining companies are on a sweet deal here. So what does that make Tony Abbott - a specimen lower than a fool or simply a Lib?

Welcome to the wonderful world of residential electricity supply pricing on the NSW North Coast

Click on image to enlarge

Origin-Country Energy price increases came into effect on 1 July 2011 just in time to greet another spell of low night time temperatures (around 10C or under) and wintry daytime temperatures in the low 20s if one is lucky - accompanied by wind, rain and fog in some areas of the NSW North Coast.

On average these are the differences between the last bill received for electricity consumption in the home and the final 63 days or so of the next bill:
* Residential light and power now costs an extra 4.106 cents per kilowatt hour plus GST.
* Off-peak hot water has risen by 1.566 cents per kilowatt hour plus GST.
* Supply charges on the former are up by 1.566 cents and on the latter by 1.299 cents without GST included.

According to IPART this round of price rises represents an average increase of 18.1% for Country Energy customers.
While Integral Energy customers will experience a 16.4% hike and EnergyAustralia customers will see their bills rise by 17.9%.

Welcome to the world of miserable heating choices until Spring arrives.

Levee wall art in Maclean NSW

Aspects of a section of a Clarence River levee wall in Maclean on the NSW North Coast.

The mural was painted on behalf of the Clarence Coast Cultural Committee as part of the district's celebration of the centenary of Federation.

It recognises community groups achieving 100 years of continuous service.

Click on images to enlarge