NSW Hansard and a case of 'but, butt, but, butt, but'!

Sometimes I wonder how those hardy souls sitting patiently in the NSW Parliament recording for Hansard can actually bear the job, with exchanges like this often being the order of the day:

Mr MATT BROWN (Kiama) [3.53 p.m.], in reply: I acknowledge all those members who made a contribution to the debate, particularly the positive words spoken by my parliamentary colleagues the member for South Coast, Shelley Hancock, and the member for Shellharbour, Lylea McMahon. I was very pleased that the member for South Coast gave the road between Dunmore and Oak Flats, which is the matter we are discussing today, a big tick. The member for Bega asked why I did not acknowledge the Federal money in the project. I want to make it very clear that not one cent of Federal money has gone into the Dunmore to Oak Flats section of the road. They were his words. I do not think the member for Bega understands how this funding works. I agree with the member for South Coast, who said that she would be happy to see that southbound lane opened. I certainly will be because it is still creating a little traffic congestion. However, motorists can see that things are moving ahead extremely well. The member for South Coast then put her big "but" in the debate.
Mrs Shelley Hancock: Point of order: I ask the member to withdraw that remark. It is highly offensive. It is not that big!
Mr MATT BROWN: To the point of order: The member was going along positively and then she said "but".
Mrs Shelley Hancock: I ask the member to withdraw that comment.
Mr MATT BROWN: I am not withdrawing because it is a part of my argument. I did not mean any offence but after a big "but" the debate became negative.
Mrs Shelley Hancock: Madam Deputy-Speaker, I ask you to rule on the point of order I have raised. I take offence at that comment.
Mr MATT BROWN: It is a one "t" but.
The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kiama has indicated he is not prepared to withdraw the word "but".
Mr Andrew Constance: Point of order—
The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! I hope the member for Bega rises on a valid point of order.
Mr Andrew Constance: Madam Deputy-Speaker, based on your facial expressions you knew full well what the member for Kiama meant in that remark. Therefore, I ask you to direct the member for Kiama to withdraw that sexist remark.
Mr MATT BROWN: You are wasting time. If I offended the member for South Coast I apologise. It was not my intention. I was referring to the member for South Coast saying "but".
The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kiama has indicated that he was referring to the word "but". The member has the call.

NSW Parliament Legislative Assembly 27th October 2009 Hansard transcript

Talking of sea level change.......

The U.S. University of Colorado has a webpage dealing with sea level change and an interactive map which allows one to plot sea levels for particular areas such as the one below using a lat/long on the NSW North Coast (based on surface height anomoly data from 1992-2009).

Click on images to enlarge

NEWSPOLLING: don't kid yerself, Kev - it's not all about asylum seekers

3rd November 2009 Newspoll release

The Australian's publication of the latest Newspoll results last Tuesday showing the primary vote now a neck-and-neck battle between Labor and the Coalition parties is not as simple as the media is attempting to make out.
It's not all about what journalists think is sexy copy of the moment - asylum seekers.
The Rudd Government is beginning to wilt in the public's eye for many reasons.
Let me count some of the ways:

• Overall policy response to climate change, particularly its pale and insignificant attempt at an emissions trading scheme
  
• The total screw-up which inevitably flowed from federal government accepting the racist premise behind the former Howard Government's NT Intervention and continuing with its provisions
  
• Conroy's obvious determination to censor what information we can access on the Internet
  
• A lazy, late and environmentally dangerous response to the Timor Sea massive oil spill
  
• Supporting a manifestly corrupt Afghan Government
  
• The shocking raid on universal health care that cut the scheduled fee for cataract surgery in half, as well as failure to fix ailing state public hospitals and inadequate dental health programs
  
• Ditto for broken promise to quarantine the one-off increase in the single pension so state government housing authorities and aged care accommodation providers couldn't take a bite
  
• Each and every Labor state government for numerous reasons, including perceptions of incompetence and corruption. 02/11/09:Bimonthly reading of New South Wales voting intention and leaders' ratings {May not be your fault Kev, but you're not helping by appearing to support these drongos}
  
• Peter Garrett and Peter Garrett and Peter Garrett.

At least half of the issues on this list would resonate with those voters under 50 who appear to be the disenchanted according to Newspoll's latest.
The way your going Kev, it's almost as if you're keen to be a one hit wonder.

It's the first Tuesday in November and they're off!

It's the day of the Melbourne Cup in Australia and like the rest of the country North Coast Voices is preparing to stand still for this historic horse race.

Back tomorrow.








Here is the field.......

Click on image to enlarge

Photograph from Google Images and race field information from Racenet

Journalist Janet Albrechtsen gloriously loses the plot and Nationals MP Kay Hull joins in

The Australian journalist Janet Albrechtsen decides that no-one in Australia has bothered to read the 2009 CopenhagenTreaty (which at this point is as full of caveats as any other U.N. draft document) and goes downhill towards media madness from there until she comes to a point of secret plans for world domination and Rudd Government reluctance to tell all:

SHAME on us all: on us in the media and on our politicians. Despite thousands of news reports, interviews, analyses, critiques and commentaries from journalists, what has the inquiring, intellectually sceptical media told us about the potential details of a Copenhagen treaty? And despite countless speeches, addresses, interviews, doorstops, moralising sermons from government ministers, pleas from Canberra for an outcome at Copenhagen, opposition criticism of government policy, what have our elected representatives told us about the potential details of a Copenhagen treaty? .............
So I read the draft treaty. The word government appears on page 18. Monckton says: "This is the first time I've ever seen any transnational treaty referring to a new body to be set up under that treaty as a government. But it's the powers that are going to be given to this entirely unelected government that are so frightening.".......
Now read the 181-page draft treaty. It is impossible to fully understand the convoluted UN verbiage. Yet even those incomprehensible clauses point to some nasty surprises that no politician has told us about. For example, Monckton says the drafters want this new world government to have control over once free markets: the financial and trading markets of nation-states. "The sheer ambition of this new world government is enormous right from the start; that's even before it starts accreting powers to itself in the way that these entities inevitably always do," he says........
Put aside Monckton's comments. Ask yourself this: why has our government failed to explain the possible text of a treaty it wants Australia to sign? There has been no address from any Rudd minister to explain the draft treaty. No 3000-word essay from the thoughtful PM. No speech in parliament. No interview. No press release. Nothing.

Joining her in this folly is none other than the Nationals MP for Riverina, Kay Hull, who told Parliament:

There will be laughter from across the chamber, I am sure, at these words. But, believe me, we are entering dangerous waters. Who will be the banker? I believe that we will have the world's biggest cartel. It will be more powerful than anything we have seen before. I was so pleased to see another journalist doing some research on this issue of who will be the banker. Janet Albrechtsen has done what other journalists were too lazy to do, or maybe they were too intimidated. On 28 October 2009, in an article in the Australian entitled 'Beware the UN's Copenhagen Plot', the journalist demonstrated enormous bravery in raising the lack of detail on the Copenhagen meeting, and her work on the draft treaty is absolutely commendable. She has covered the intentions to control the once-free markets—namely, the financial and trading markets.......

Before we all start sewing red banners to wave at our new overlords perhaps a quick reference to language; "government" has other meanings beside the body which governs a sovereign state, it can also simply mean the overarching decision-making/management body of an institution.

An explanation which makes Ms.s Albrechtsen and Hull look rather 'tired and emotional'.
Time for a cup of tea and a lie down perhaps?

Does Federal Health & Aging Minister Nicola Roxan believe that some eyes are more equal than others?

Australian Federal Minister for Health and Aging Nicola Roxon has made much of what she describes as technological advances and efficiencies reducing straightforward cataract removal to minor eye surgery requiring a lower Medicare rebate (ophthalmologists are already subject to an individual Medicare annual cataract surgery quota according to one local optometrist).

Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? If it takes less time and effort to perform this surgery it makes sense that the operation is worth less than the $650.25 2008 Medicare scheduled fee - it's not just a government cost cutting measure hitting the low-income elderly the hardest by reducing this fee to $350.95 per No. 42698 procedure.

Except that according to the Australian Medical Association, a higher existing cataract surgery scheduled fee will still apply to operations performed on returned service personnel.
This fee being set independently of Medicare Benefits Schedule and the Rudd Government obviously wary of taking on the RSL has left it intact - improved medical procedures it seems in this case are besides the point.

Here is how this new schedule appears to work for all other Australians accessing eye surgery through Medicare:

On 28 October 2009 the Senate passed a motion to disallow MBS items 42698, 42701, 42702 and 42718 relating to cataract surgery, from the Health Insurance (General Medical Services Table) Regulations 2009 . This effectively meant there would have been no Medicare rebates available for those services from 1 November 2009. On 29 October 2009, the Minister for Health and Ageing the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, signed a Determination, in accordance with section 3C of the Health Insurance Act 1973 reinstating those items. As such, rebates will be available from 1 November 2009 at the following rates:
























The NSW Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association media release on 31 October 2009:

"Fee-free access to cataract surgery will remain available to veterans, but pensioners and others on low incomes will have to pay hundreds of dollars extra for their treatment," said Antoine Mangion, CPSA Policy/Research Officer. "One has to wonder what makes a procedure on a veteran so special as to warrant maintaining the current rebate if the Government finds it so justifiable to slash the rebate for others, especially pensioners."

The Minister needs to explain to low-income families, pensioners and retirees living on the NSW North Coast and across the rest of Australia why she considers that some people's eyesight is worth more than others. ?

Cataract remains the leading cause of blindness globally

[World Health Organisation, May 2009]

In 2007 Monsanto spent US$4M+ on lobbying, in 2008 it spent US$8M+, while in 2009....

Graph U.S. Agricultural sector lobbying expenditure 2009

Monsanto & Co. continues to expand its dominance of the world seed and genetically modified food additive markets with certain of its corporate expenses rising each year this century.

In 2006 this biotech multinational spent over US$3 million on lobbying governments and government agencies. By 2008 it was spending over US$8 million. In 2009 so far Monsanto & Co has spent over US$6 million on similar activities.

It is only one of 342 agricultural sector lobbyists in the United States listed by Open Secrets but is by far the biggest spender this year.

The U.S. agricultural lobby sector in 2009 is worth $25,721,913, has made over $2 million in campaign contributions for the American 2010 election cycle to date and Monsanto is in the top five donation contributors.

In February of this year Monsanto approached the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking a ruling that stearidonic (SDA) omega-3 soybean oil was generally recognised as safe.

Monsanto intends to market SDA soybean oil as a food ingredient in the United States in a variety of food products including baked goods and baking mixes, breakfast cereals and grains, cheeses, dairy product analogs, fats and oils, fish products, frozen dairy desserts and mixes, grain products and pastas, gravies and sauces, meat products, milk products, nuts and nut products, poultry products, processed fruit juices, processed vegetable products, puddings and fillings, snack foods, soft candy, and soups and soup mixes. SDA soybean oil will be added to foods at levels that provide 375 mg SDA/serving.

Now it is reported that Monsanto is positioning itself to release soy-based GMO omega-3 oil on the market sometime after 2010 and according to a Monsanto media release the FDA has announced this month that genetically modified omega-3 oil is safe to use (however the FDA makes it plain that it has solely relied on Monsanto's own assessment).

Are we getting close to quod erat demonstrandum?

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

Mackenzie Harvison crowned as new Grafton Jacaranda Festival Queen 2009

Congratulations to Mackenzie Harvison for being crowned

Grafton's 75th Jacaranda Festival Queen.

Congratulations also to

Amanda Finucane 2009 Jacaranda Princess

Samantha Dive Holiday Princess

Ashleigh O'Connor Junior Jacaranda Queen

Micaela Burgess Junior Jacaranda Princess.

Hope you all have a wonderful year.

The Daily Examiner slideshow here.

Cardinal George Pell's hypocrisy

Peter FitzSimons provided this gem in today's Sun Herald.

Images from smh.com.au

NASA images show Australian Government failure to curb oil & gas companies

A NASA satellite image of Australia's north-west coast, said to show the sheen of the Timor Sea oil leak. (NASA Earth Observatory) courtesy of ABC News 31 October 2009

Oil slick in the Timor Sea on 30 August 2009 from NASA Earth Observatory

Click on images to enlarge

Fears of second oil leak off WA

Toll rises as sea life feed at oil spill

After seeing the scale of the oil slick, which is spread over 4223 square kilometres, Dr Watson told the Herald: ''I am amazed at how little Australia really cares about this. This is a huge oil slick.'' (WA Today 31 October 2009)

Oh for goodness sake - leave me with something!

I'm doing my best to reduce my consumption level and live within a smaller environmental footprint in response to the threat of global warming - like a lot of other Australians I suppose.
I re-use where possible, limit the amount of household waste I produce, purchase second-hand goods in preference to new, shop locally, buy Australian almost exclusively when it comes to groceries, avoid buying food with ingredients which were produced by denuding rainforest, limit my meat eating to flesh that is less carbon intensive, walk everywhere I can or get public transport, don't load my garden with chemicals and I'm getting quite miserly when it comes to electricity and water.
So why do I feel like too much is being asked of me?
Because Larvatus Prodeo has opened my eyes to the fact that someone somewhere has written a book called "Time to Eat the Dog? the real guide to sustainable living" and those authors obviously want me to feel guilty about having a pet.
What next will I have to offer up on the altar of climate change - the heart of my first born?

Katz
Grafton

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.

The Guardian newspaper kills Blair softly [with laughter]

Pass notes No 2,763: Tony Blair
All you need to know about the man who would be president of the European Council

The Guardian, Wednesday 28 October 2009

Age: 56.
Appearance: Two parts ambition to one part madness, wrapped in flesh.
He's still alive? Yes, although he is now held together entirely by his all-consuming thirst for power.
Which manifests itself how? He's got his eye on the job of president of the European Council.
Got his eye on? He hasn't officially declared his candidacy.
Why not? According to a friend, "Tony will not put himself into a position where he is humiliated like Guy Verhofstadt."
Ah, well, obviously no one wants to end up like Guy Verhofstadt. Quite.
You can't get much more humiliated than Guy Verhofstadt. Nope.
I mean when you think of the word 'humiliation', you immediately think . . . You don't know who he is, do you?
Not even slightly. Please fill me in. Verhofstadt was due to be the next President of the European Commission but, once he became the frontrunner, Blair and Silvio Berlusconi vetoed him......

The rest of the article here.

In the land of the blind today a one-eyed Health Minister is queen

"MEDICARE rebates for the most common type of cataract surgery will be slashed by more than $280 from Sunday, after the federal government sidestepped a Senate vote blocking its planned cuts and announced a new set of reductions only slightly less severe."
Ah, Nici, Nici, Nici - a true believer you never were and now it seems you're an ersatz Liberal decked out in Howard feathers as you begin to reduce healthcare access for the very poor from today onwards.

I don't know what's more offensive - Abbott's arrogance or his monumental stupidity

Earlier this week Tony Abbott said that he wasn't worried about climate change.
Sky News repeated the exact words that he used in interviews that night.
Sea levels had risen along the NSW coast by more than 20 centimetres during the past century, the Liberal frontbencher said. 'Has anyone noticed it? No, they haven't,' he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
The man's mad. Doesn't he look out the window during a big storm or go down to the beach afterwards?
More importantly, hasn't he been reading news from small towns up and down the coast where houses are losing front yards to the ocean and landslips are becoming common?
I've got my own news for Abbott. Mother Nature doesn't stop misbehaving just because you and your cronies don't believe in global warming and you can't hold back the sea by pretending that the tide isn't getting higher each year.

Martin
Coffs Harbour

Coalition dinasours!: the Member for Page rises to her feet during the second reading debate on the re-introduced CPRS Bill 2009

Open Australia website; an exerpt from the Hansard debate record of the Federal Labor Member for the NSW North Coast elecorate of Page on 29 October 2009:

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this Link to this Hansard source

In 2007, when I stood for election with the Rudd Labor team, we had a plan. That plan was to tackle climate change. It was a 10-point plan, a holistic approach to the challenge of climate change. It was a plan that would protect our jobs, protect the environment and the economy in the here and now, and take us into the future. It was a plan that rose to the challenge. Since I came into this place—since the Rudd government was elected—we have all worked to implement that plan. Since the election we have had the appointment of the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, the green paper, the white paper, draft legislation, and wide consultation and deep consultation with communities, industry and interested groups on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which brings in the emissions trading scheme and its implementation. It is one of the biggest consultation processes that I have seen.

When we went to the election, the people of Australia said: 'We want you to do something about climate change.' We are doing something about climate change and we will continue to, but that has been thwarted by the coalition—the opposition. The coalition were and are divided on climate change. They do not talk about solutions and responses. Their view of climate change prevents them from coming to any reasonable let alone reasoned response. It just seems to me a crazy way to do business. They say that they are interested in jobs and, you know, they are—it seems the key job they are focussed on is the Leader of the Opposition's job and other aspirants coming up behind him. It is in their base political interest to drag it up. That is what I see and that is what people in the electorate see. That is the reality. Their coalition partner, the National Party, has nine members in this place and five in the Senate. The only jobs they are interested in are their own. It is like natural attrition; they are going the way of the dinosaur.