Amargi Wolf: Please help save some dingoes!

Go Fund Me at http://www.gofundme.com/9fp5c4:

This little black pup was found whining in the bush near Grafton. Although not a common colouring for dingoes, he is very dingo-like. DNA tests will tell, but of course this costs money, as does vaccinations, worming, feeding etc etc... Please help us look after this beautiful little fella!

I take on young rescued dingoes, for rehabilitation & rehoming. The costs involved in such a project have been & still are huge - special fencing, food, vet bills, DNA tests, desexing, immunisation, microchips, registration, pest & medical treatment, equipment etc etc..

More rescues are coming in now, as this year's pups become orphaned by the Winter baiting programs. I need another compound & holding pen, and to be able to cover the costs of looking after the new pups - some of which no doubt will involve extra vet bills. 

I am on a pension due to physical problems, I get the odd job here & there as a dog trainer & canine behaviourist, but not much due to where I live, as well as the physical problems which make it painful for me to travel. 

Please help in any way you can, even the smallest donation will be greatly appreciated! If you are unable or prefer not to donate online, please message me & I will send you bank details for a direct deposit :)

Tweets of the Week

It is time to be afraid, very afraid, in Abbott's Australia

There are realistic and credible circumstances in which it may be necessary to conduct coercive questioning of a person for the purposes of gathering intelligence about a terrorism offence….

The existence of other, less intrusive methods of obtaining the intelligence will continue to be a relevant but non-determinative consideration in decisions made under subsection 34D(4).

[Australian Security & Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), October 2014, submission to to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Inquiry into the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014]

ASIO detention powers should be repealed not extended. Detaining non-suspects for up to seven days, virtually incommunicado and without effective review at the time, removing the right to silence on penalty of imprisonment, and criminalizing any disclosure of detention, is excessive and disproportionate in view of existing powers, the level of terrorist threat, and the absence of any declared public emergency justifying derogation from protected human rights. The regime violates the freedom from arbitrary or unlawful detention under Article 9(1) of the ICCPR and the right to effective judicial review of detention under Article 9(4) of the ICCPR.

[Ben Saul, Professor of International Law (Syd Uni), 1 October 2014, submission to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Inquiry into the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014]

If you reveal it, you’re guilty. If it goes to court the question is whether a journalist revealed information, not whether they’re justified in revealing that information. 
[Professor George Williams, Director of Public Law, University of NSW, Statement to Media Watch re National Security Amendment Bill (No 1) 2014, 1st October, 2014]

Australia now stood alone as the only country in the world with the types of control order and preventative detention order the government wanted to keep, after Britain substantially amended its regime.

[Professor George Williams, The Guardian, 3 October 2014]

But the key provision is section 35P, which bans disclosure of any information that relates to a SPECIAL Intelligence Operation.
This ban applies to any person.
So journalists, whistleblowers, bloggers and even tweeters could all end up behind bars. 

[Paul Barry, ABC Media Watch, 6 October 2014, re National Security Amendment Bill (No 1) 2014]

[North Coast Voices, preview of An Untold Story insert which will be displayed every time this blog judges that Abbott Government laws make it unsafe to mention or debate an issue of importance]

Yaegl elder Ron Heron honoured by Macquarie University on 23 September 2014

Macquarie University media release:

Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton, Mr (Uncle) Ronald Heron (Doctor of Letters), and Deputy Chancellor Elizabeth Crouch

Senior Indigenous elder Uncle Ron Heron receives honorary doctorate

23 September 2014

Ronald Heron, a highly respected senior elder of the of the Yaegl Aboriginal people of Northern New South Wales, and an anthropologist, historian and former university lecturer, will be recognised with a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from Macquarie University on Tuesday, 23 September.

The award will be granted in an afternoon graduation ceremony for students of the Faculty of Science, with Heron’s family and friends coming to Sydney for this special occasion.

“We are delighted to confer this award upon Uncle Ron, who has contributed so much to the endeavours of this University through science, education and leadership,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor S. Bruce Dowton. “He provides a remarkable example of the power of education; not only in his own life but in how he has touched and shaped so many others.”

Since 2002, Uncle Ron – as he is known – has worked with Macquarie University researchers on a cooperative project studying and testing medicines made from native plants. With Heron as a key supporter, the Macquarie team started education programs in local schools aimed at providing pathways through high school and tertiary study, now a national initiative in the National Indigenous Science Experience Program.

“This award is a great honour and means so much, not only for myself, but for all of my people of Yaegl and Bundjalung Country,” says Heron. “I feel enormous pride – I have come a long way from a tin hut.  It is up there with the very best.  I thank Macquarie University for this opportunity.”

Born in the Clarence Valley in 1947, Heron was schooled in the prevailing mission system of the day. He worked until his early thirties cutting and burning cane and picking peas before moving into a role as an Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol counsellor.

He moved to Canberra and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Letters, by thesis (now Masters of Letters), in prehistory and anthropology. Heron then lectured for 10 years at Southern Cross University, Lismore in Indigenous Studies. As an academic he has contributed to many publications, including ethnographic books on the North Coast Aboriginal peoples, and remains a frequently cited researcher.

Heron has contributed to extensive research at Macquarie University including on bush medicines, has been a contributing author on books on Yaegl bush resources in international scientific journals, has presented lectures and storytelling at Macquarie led National Science Week activities and has co-developed the long running and successful River of Learning celebrations at Maclean High School.

“As part of our initial consultations with Uncle Ron and the Yaegl and Bundjalung communities, they told us that we could help them run science and youth leadership activities. Now that the program has gone nationally, they’re even running their own part of it in the fabulous cultural immersion program.”

Despite advancing age, Heron’s drive has not diminished and in the last few years he has successfully studied for TAFE certification in Tourism and Guiding and has started taking tourists around the Clarence region.