Our Kev not so bright and shiny anymore

Being an Aussie prime minister must be a b*gger of a job, but compared to some others who've been at the top of the pollie pile Kevin Rudd has had a dream run in the public opinion polls since November 2007.
The UN shenanigans in Copenhagen this month have put a bit of a dent in that bright and shiny image......

ABC The Drum poll results at 6am on 21st December 2009

Stewart Franks quite frankly puzzles

I must confess that until fairly recently I had not heard of Associate Professor Stewart Franks.

Franks swam into view when his name become associated with Family First's Senator Steve Fielding and the now notorious Assessment of Penny Wong's Response to My 3 Questions on Climate Change.

Now I do not call into question this academic's record, but I do wish he wouldn't misspeak concerning possible conflicts of interest arising from his research funding.

The Australian online states in Rebels of the Sun:

While not interviewed for Channel 4, hydro-climatologist Stewart Franks at Newcastle University in NSW is one such scientist. Like all other scientists quoted in this article, he says he has never received any funding from any industry, but is increasingly uneasy about the dangerous path the debate is taking, where alternative views are discouraged and reputations attacked and discredited. [my emphasis]

However, in 2007 Stewart Franks received a two-year project grant from Macquarie Generation worth $85,000.

Macquarie Generation is a state-owned corporporation with a core business producing and wholesale selling electricity on the National Electricity Market in Australia.
This corporation operates two of the largest coal-powered stations in New South Wales (consuming a combined total of 13 million tonnes of greenhouse gas producing coal per annum) and is part of the national energy industry.

Therefore, this academic did indeed receive funding from industry.

Which does give one pause for thought when Associate Professor Franks goes into print asserting that high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are not driving climate change.

EFA publishes Takedown Hall of Shame

See full details here and submit your own candidates for this list here.

I understand that the recent takedown of an Australian political spoof site has already been sent to EFA.

Nature's canvas

NASA photograph of The Northern Lights

The Oz Minister for Censorshop speaks. I reply

"Australia stands on the cusp of a digital transformation."
So says the Oz Minister for censorsip on the DBCDE website in the same week he announced that the Internet will be censored and then told a whole heap of pork pies about his decision.

There's only one reply possible:

World betrayed by national leaders at COP15 - 18 December draft agreement text

Australia is one of those countries at the pointy end of global warming trends and lack of any national water security, potential for catastrophic floods or storms, as well as predicted sea level rise are some of our biggest concerns.

It is also no secret that here on the NSW North Coast we have a sustained higher than the national average unemployment rate, a considerable bloc of low-income families and many retirees who reached sixty-five years of age with little more than home ownership to buffer against old age.

So there is little ability for many residents to hedge against future climate change impacts by either relocating, strengthening/raising their homes or taking out more comprehensive insurance policies, simply because extra costs cannot be accommodated in modest household budgets.

Additionally, it is obvious that local water security will continue to be threatened by vested commercial interest in the Murray-Darling Basin pressuring government to divert water inland from our coastal river systems.

So when news out of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) this week reveals that world leaders have failed to reach any binding treaty or even meaningful political agreement on a global response to climate change and, what is worse, U.S. President Barack Obama (who in a desire to take any old short cut-and-paste piece of paper back to refute his domestic critics flew in and out within 24 hours) has opened the door to international inaction on a binding accord to a point in time past the end of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, the future does not look hopeful for our coastal communities.

It is not too harsh to say that we have all been betrayed by those political leaders and national government delegates attending COP15.

* George Monbiot on the biosphere's betrayal

* First draft of the 18 December 2009 'Copenhagen Agreement' before reference to 2020 reduction target date allegedly removed:

The Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers, and other heads of delegation present at the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties and the fifth meeting of the Parties to Conference of the Parties to the to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
In pursuit of the ultimate objective of the Convention as stated in its Article,
Recalling the provisions of the Convention,
Being guided by Article 3 of the Convention,
Affirming our firm resolve to adopt one or more legal instruments under the Convention pursuant to decisions taken at COP13 and this decision as soon as possible and no later than COP16/CMP6.

Have agreed on this Copenhagen [X] which is operational immediately

1. The Parties underline that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The Parties emphasise their strong political will to combat climate change in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Recognizing the scientific view that the increase in global temperature ought not to exceed 2 degrees and on the basis of equity and in the context of sustainable development, the Parties commit to a vigorous response through immediate and enhanced national action on mitigation based on strengthened international cooperation.

Ambitious action to mitigate climate change is needed with developed countries taking the lead. The Parties recognize the critical impact of climate change on countries particularly vulnerable to its adverse effects and stress the need to establish a comprehensive adaptation programme including international support.

2. Deep cuts in global emissions are required. The Parties should cooperate in achieving the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible, recognizing that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing country Parties and bearing in mind that social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing country Parties and that low-emission development is indispensible to sustainable development.

3. Adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change is a challenge faced by all Parties, and enhanced action and international cooperation on adaptation is urgently required to enable and support the implementation of adaptation actions aimed at reducing vulnerability and building resilience in developing country Parties, especially in those that are particularly vulnerable, especially least developed countries, small island developing States and countries in Africa affected by drought, desertification and floods.
The Parties agree that developed country Parties shall provide adequate, predictable and sustainable financial resources, technology and capacity-building to support the implementation of adaptation action in developing country Parties. The Parties further endorse -/CP.15 on adaptation.

4. Annex I Parties to the Convention commit to implement, individually or jointly, the quantified economy-wide emission targets for 2020 as listed yielding in aggregate reductions of greenhouse gas emissions of X per cent in 2020 compared to 1990 and Y per cent in 2020 compared to 2005 ensuring that accounting of such targets and finance is rigorous, robust and transparent.

5. Non-Annex I Parties to the Convention resolve to implement mitigation actions, based on their specific national circumstances and in the context of sustainable development. Mitigation actions taken and envisaged by Non-Annex I Parties shall be reflected through their national communications in accordance with Article 12.1 (b) of the Convention.
The frequency of submissions of the national communications of Non-Annex I Parties shall be every two years.
Mitigation actions taken by Non-Annex I Parties will be subject to their domestic auditing, supervision and assessment, the result of which will be reported through their national communications.
Clarification may, upon request, be provided by the Party concerned at its discretion to respond to any question regarding information contained in the national communications. Nationally appropriate mitigation actions supported and enabled by countries in terms of technology, financing and capacity building, will be registered in a registry, including both action taken and relevant technology, financing and capacity building support.
These supported nationally appropriate mitigation actions shall be subject to international measurement, reporting and verification in accordance with guidelines elaborated by the COP. The Parties take note of the information on enhanced mitigation action actions by Non-Annex I Parties as listed.

6. Developing countries Parties should, in accordance with the provisions contained in decision /CP.15, contribute to mitigation actions in the forest sector by undertaking the following activities:
reducing emissions from deforestation, reducing emissions from forest degradation, conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forest, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

7. The Parties decide to pursue various approaches, including opportunities to use markets, to enhance the cost-effectiveness of, and to promote, mitigation actions, in accordance with decision -/CP.15.

8. Scaled up, new and additional, predictable and adequate funding shall be provided to developing country Parties, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, to enable and support enhanced action on mitigation, including REDD-plus, adaptation, technology development and transfer and capacity-building, for enhanced implementation of the Convention. Parties take note of the individual pledges by developed country Parties to provide new and additional resources amounting to 30 billion dollars for the period 2010-2012 as listed and with funding for adaptation prioritized for the most vulnerable developing countries, such as the least developed countries, small island developing states and countries in Africa affected by drought, desertification and floods.
In the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, the Parties support a goal of mobilizing jointly 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries. This funding will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.

9. A High Level Panel will be established under the guidance of and accountable to the Conference of then Parties to assess the contribution of the potential sources of revenue, including alternative sources of finance, towards meeting this goal.

10. The Parties decide that the Copenhagen Climate Fund shall be established as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the Convention to support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing countries related to mitigation including REDD-plus, adaptation, capacity-building, technology development and transfer as set forth in decision -/CP.15.

11. In order to enhance action on development and transfer of technology the Parties decide to establish a Technology Mechanism as set forth in decision -/CP.15 to accelerate technology development and transfer in support of action on adaptation and mitigation that will be guided by a country-driven approach and be based on national circumstances and priorities.

12. The Parties call for a review of this decision and its implementation in 2016 including in light of the Conventions ultimate objective.

13. Capturing the progress achieved in the work by the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action and Ad Hoc Working Group on the Kyoto Protocol under the Convention the Parties by continuing negotiations pursuant to decisions taken at COP13 and this decision, with a view to adopting one or more legal instruments under the Convention as soon as possible and no later than COP16.
Deciding to extend the mandate of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action under the Convention and continue the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under Kyoto Protocol to negotiate one or more legal instruments under the Convention.



UPDATE:

Political Owl has images of the draft Copenhagen Agreement up on his blog.
The bare bones three-page appendix ending on Page 9 (shown here) demonstrates just how shoddy this document is - the framers apparently Googled the undertakings which at this time have not been formally endorsed by the listed countries:

















FURTHER UPDATE:

UN Framework Convention On Climate Change (UNFCCC) officially releases its own copy of the draft.
This time without any countries listed in the appendix and with no trace of that embarrassing Googled information.

May I speak with the Labor Minister for Fascism......pleez

From www.stephenconroy.com.au (now stephen-conroy.com) commenting on the Rudd Government's plan to censor the Internet.

Since I first placed this in North Coast Voices' post queue for next week, The Orstrahyun has commented on the fact that the Minister for Fascism appears to have struck again. Hat tip to Darryl Mason.
So I'm bringing this forward just in case the second version of this protest site goes off line:

auDA, the .au Domain Administrator is trying to take us offline. Earlier today they issued a notice giving us 3 hours to provide evidence of our eligibility to hold the 'stephenconroy.com.au' and related domain names. Normally registrants are provided with approximately one week to provide this information on request. We asked for reasonable time to prepare and submit representations on our eligibility but auDA refused to grant this. Accordingly we've moved the site to 'stephen-conroy.com' - please update your bookmarks. Conroy's office must have been busy this afternoon! {Thursday 17 December 2009 - 15:22:10}

I suspect it's not really the protest site's original name and URL (obviously the subject of either a complaint from Team Conroy or preemptive removal by the server after all the online publicity) which caused the problem.
It was the likes of this on the home page:

This protest site is hosting discussion; Forums are now active SIGN UP and post your thoughts/opinions/comments.

In ur Internetz filterin' & losin' ur vote

The Rudd Government mandatory national Internet filtering scheme aka The Great Firewall of Australia is expected to be blocking free speech by 2011

Australian SeaBird Rescue SPOT THE TURTLE NEST COMPETITION

A great competition to enter if you live on the NSW North Coast.

SPOT THE TURTLE NEST COMPETITION

Yes, it's that time of year again. We need anyone and everyone out there looking for turtles or turtle tracks from now until the end of March. With beach erosion from the June storms yet to be replaced in many places there are still steep sand cliffs along many beaches. Turtle nests laid at the bottom of these cliffs will be in danger of inundation from subsequent summer king tides. We have to spot the nest the same day it's laid if we are to relocate the nest to a safer spot. Moving one nest has the potential to save 100 hatchlings. Last season the Make Turtles Count project spotted 7 nests and missed probably another 13. Also last summer was a record for ASR with 30 turtles in care at one time. It seems that when people are out looking for turtle nests they're also more likely to spot a sick or injured turtle.

With this in mind we've started a competition. Keep an eye out on your local beach, talk to friends and neighbours and enlist them in the fun. A turtle prize pack from the ASR Gift Shop (value $40.00) awaits any successful turtle nest spotters this season.

Australian Seabird Rescue

Phone: 02 66862852
Fax: 02 66869852
Mobile: 0428 862852
Email: admin@seabirdrescue.org

Photograph of a rescued 15 year-old Green Turtle at Australian Seabird Rescue

A COP15 'secret' that never was

Each day seems to bring more bad news out of Copenhagen as the United Nations battles to get the world's leaders to commit to concrete measures to combat predicted catastrophic climate change.
Thursday's glum tidings came through The Guardian newspaper which said it has a leaked UN document, concerning shortfalls between international pledges and actions required to keep the global temperature rise at no more than two degrees Celsius.
Except of course that wasn't actually 'news'. The United Nations Environment Programme had a similar pledges shortfall all mapped out on its website for the world to see.
With everyone from heads of government through to the media repeating the same 'old' information is it any wonder that we are all becoming quite jaded and sometimes close to downright cynical about the COP15 process on its final working day.



The total height of the bars represents the global emissions in a Business As Usual (BAU) scenario. It is only possible to calculate the global BAU for 2020. Therefore, no number for 2050 is shown.
Light yellow sections illustrate the global emission reductions if current low reduction pledges are implemented.
Dark yellow sections illustrate the global emissions reductions if current high reduction pledges are implemented.
Red sections represent the remaining gap between the current pledges and the emission levels needed to reach the 2°C goal.
The emission levels needed to achieve the 2˚C goal are illustrated by the green sections.

Is this your retirement castle? Mapping predicted sea level rise (4)

Is this the home you worked so hard for?

Below is your home as a 1 metre sea level rise begins to cover the street.

The Rudd Government's recent report Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts contains a 1.1 metre predicted sea level rise as its worse case scenario for New South Wales sometime within the next ninety years. Google Earth mapping uses a 1 metre sea level rise.

Half of all ambulances will arrive within 10 minutes of a 000 call, but on the NSW North Coast.....

Ambulance response times from NSW Health

Half of all ambulances in New South Wales will arrive within 10 minutes of a Triple O call, but on the NSW North Coast 30 out of every 100 people taken to a public hospital will probably wait in that ambulance or on a stretcher in some open hallway for over 30 minutes before being transferred into the care of Accident & Emergency medical staff for treatment according to the last NSW Health Quarterly Hospital Performance Report July-September 2009.
North Coast Area Health Service needs to explain why there is a bottle neck.
Staff cuts beginning to bite perhaps?

Stephen Conroy - mass murderer?

Memo to the Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy: This is the type of publicity a censor-in-chief receives. You may ban this image as offensive but you will never be able to ban its Internet distribution.

Prime Minister, you're banned!

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd received this NSW North Coast email concerning mandatory national ISP-level Internet filtering via his online contact form on 16 December 2009:

Dear Prime Minister Rudd,

I have read the ENEX Test Lab "Internet Service Provider (ISP)Content Filtering Pilot Report" and the accompanying discussion paper.

I am sincerely concerned that your government intends to impose mandatory national ISP-level Internet filtering on Australian society.

I still consider this censorship scheme open to both bureaucratic and political abuse.

The scheme will considerably add to the end-user costs of a typical Internet connection home account and, these cost will be prohibitive for low-income households.

It is doubtful that unrestricted Internet surfing by any determined IT literate teenager would be stopped by such a filtering scheme (ditto for adults seeking unlawful or pornographic material online), but it will probably limit Internet access to a large number of citizens on the federal electoral roll who may not be as technologically savvy.

When it comes to imposing an Internet filtering scheme - this is very much a multiple player game.

So I have removed and blocked KevinRuddPM from my own Twitter account and I intend to place www.pm.gov.au on the restricted URL list created by Internet Explorer on my personal computer.

Needless to say I may become strangely blind to Labor candidates' names on the next federal ballot paper I am required to mark.

Sincerely,

[redacted]

Email your support for those little islands standing up to the big polluting nations at Copenhagen

Greens Senator Christine Milne is asking Australians to send emails supporting the stance taken by the smaller island states for strong and binding international greenhouse gas emissions targets and a meaningful climate treaty.

Please take a few minutes to email these leaders to give them your support:

• Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Mr Apisai Ielemia, can be reached via his personal secretary at mailto:%20ksaloa@gov.tv
• Prime Minister of Grenada, Mr Tillman Thomas, can be reached via mailto:%20pmoffice@gov.gd
• President Nasheed of the Maldives can be reached via mailto:%20info@presidencymaldives.gov.mv
• President Anote Tong of Kiribati can be reached via mailto:%20eni@parliament.gov.ki
• Premier of Niue, Toke Talagi, can be reached via Secretaty to Government Richarde Hipa at sog.hipa@mail.gov.nu

Or send a letter to the editor at:

• Adelaide Advertiser: submit letters at www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/news/opinion/sendletter
• The Age: email letters to letters@theage.com.au
• The Australian: email letters to letters@theaustralian.com.au
• Australian Financial Review: email letters to edletters@afr.com.au
• Canberra Times: email letters to letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au
• The Courier Mail: submit letters at www.news.com.au/couriermail/editorial/letter
• The Daily Telegraph: email letters to http://letters@dailytelegraph.com.au/
• The Herald Sun: submit letters at www.news.com.au/heraldsun/editorial/letter
• Hobart Mercury: email letters to mailto:%20mercuryedletter@dbl.newsltd.com.au
• Sydney Morning Herald: email letters to letters@smh.com.au
• The West Australian: email letters to letters@wanews.com.au