Another rate rise announced by the Reserve Bank. Are there more to come?

With so many consecutive interest rate rises since 1996, the latest media release from the Reserve Bank offers only limited hope that this will be the last cash rate increase of 2008.

Read it and make up your own mind before deciding on the next major purchase.

 

STATEMENT BY GLENN STEVENS, GOVERNOR

MONETARY POLICY

 

"At its meeting today, the Board decided to increase the cash rate by 25 basis points to 7.0 per cent.

Recent information points to significant inflation pressures. CPI inflation on a year‑ended basis picked up to 3 per cent in the December quarter, with underlying measures around 3½ per cent. This was a little higher than was expected a few months ago. Indicators of demand remained strong through the second half of 2007, and reports of high capacity usage and shortages of suitable labour persist. In the short term, inflation is likely to remain relatively high and will probably rise further in year‑ended terms, though the Bank expects it to moderate somewhat next year.

The Board took careful note of recent events abroad and developments in financial markets. The world economy is slowing and it now appears likely that global growth will be below trend in 2008. Recent trends in world commodity markets suggest, however, that Australia's terms of trade are likely to rise further.

The pressures in short-term money markets seen late last year have eased in recent weeks, but sentiment in international capital and equity markets remains fragile. In Australia, financial intermediaries have passed on higher costs to their customers over the past couple of months. There has also been some tightening of lending standards to risky borrowers, a process which may yet have further to go.

These developments, together with the effects of earlier changes to monetary policy, can be expected to exert a moderating influence on private demand in Australia over the period ahead. But given the extent of pressure on capacity and the build up in inflation, a significant slowing in demand from its recent pace is likely to be necessary to reduce inflation over time.

Having weighed both the international and domestic information available, the Board concluded that a tighter monetary policy setting was needed now. In future meetings, the Board will continue to evaluate whether the stance of policy will be sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to the 2-3 per cent target."

Caroline Overington still M.I.A.

Journalist Caroline Overington appeared again in The Australian online opinion pages briefly in December 2007.

This is the last Google reference I can find after her spectacular, intrusive participation in the November 2007 federal election process which caused that newspaper to issue a public apology.

Overington's career is shaping up to be the lasting journalistic train wreck of the Howard era.

All the other media neo-cons are slowly clawing their way back towards relevancy.

Except for the likes of Piers Akerman (The Daily Telegraph), Gerard Henderson (The Sydney Morning Herald) and Janet Albrechtsen (The Australian) who are irredeemable if their latest efforts are any indication.

Nine tipping points for irreversible effects of climate change

The Independent yesterday reported on the nine tipping points which may cause global warming to run out of control.

 

"Our findings suggest that a variety of tipping elements could reach their critical point in this century under human-induced climate change," said Professor Timothy Lenton, of the University of East Anglia, who led the study."

 

Irreversible changes

* Arctic sea ice: some scientists believe that the tipping point for the total loss of summer sea ice is imminent.

* Greenland ice sheet: total melting could take 300 years or more but the tipping point that could see irreversible change might occur within 50 years.

* West Antarctic ice sheet: scientists believe it could unexpectedly collapse if it slips into the sea at its warming edges.

* Gulf Stream: few scientists believe it could be switched off completely this century but its collapse is a possibility.

* El Niño: the southern Pacific current may be affected by warmer seas, resulting in far-reaching climate change.

* Indian monsoon: relies on temperature difference between land and sea, which could be tipped off-balance by pollutants that cause localised cooling.

* West African monsoon: in the past it has changed, causing the greening of the Sahara, but in the future it could cause droughts.

* Amazon rainforest: a warmer world and further deforestation may cause a collapse of the rain supporting this ecosystem.

* Boreal forests: cold-adapted trees of Siberia and Canada are dying as temperatures rise.

U.S. Big Brother is watching Australia but doesn't like what it sees

The very peaceful and law-abiding Port Phillip Bay anti-channel dredging protest group Blue Wedges Coalition has turned up on the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence's international threat list, according to Richard Baker of The Age.

 

"Blue Wedges is included in an Office of Naval Intelligence's worldwide threat to shipping document, which details active violence against shipping, credible threats to vessels, or situations that have the potential to develop into direct threats.------

Blue Wedges joins Greenpeace as the only groups included in the threat list under the section headed: Environmental and Economic Non-State Activist Groups.

"Protesters plan to surround the dredger (Queen of the Netherlands) as it arrives in Port Phillip Bay, Australia, on 02 Aug (sic) to begin a controversial trial dredging project for the Port of Melbourne Corporation," the Office of Naval Intelligence warned.

"The Greenpeace ship (Rainbow Warrior) is due in port the same week but Greenpeace denies they are planning to block dredging operations. The Blue Wedges Coalition, which is leading the opposition, is consulting lawyers over possible action in the Supreme Court to block the trial dredging."

The Age article last Monday week:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/investigations/blue-wedges-tagged-with-sea-pirates/2008/01/27/1201368944836.html

 

It would seem that the Bush Administration finds democracy Australian-style just a little too heady for its neo-con taste.

 

Greenpeace also appears to be a sensitive topic generally with U.S. Intelligence.

When North Coast Voices began to mention Greenpeace and the protest against Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters, it received a rather interesting site visit from the Naval Ocean Systems Center (Joint Intelligence Center Pacific/RDON) out of Hawaii at ISP 198.201.23.#, confirmed by WHO.IS as a U.S. Dept of Defense ISP address.

Aloha, boys and girls.

 

Brendan Nelson hoist with Liberal Party's own petard

I found this The Sydney Morning Herald take on Brendan Nelson's reluctance to fully support an apology to the Stolen Generation a perfect example of where semantics and pedantry have led the Liberal Party of Australia.

 

"Nelson has argued, however, that we do not claim credit today for the heroics at Gallipoli so why take responsibility for taking children from their families?

These themes last met seven years ago when the Howard government scaled new heights in pedantry by using mathematics to deny the existence of the stolen generation. In a submission to a Senate inquiry, the then-minister John Herron argued fewer than 10 per cent of Aboriginal children were taken from their families, either wrongfully or "for good reason".

Therefore: "There was never a 'generation' of stolen children."

Three weeks later, John Howard was in Turkey for the 85th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.

"Thus we come to this place at this hour on this day to observe not only a dawn but a dusk," the prime minister said in his dawn service speech. "For dusk has all but fallen on that great-hearted generation of Australians who fought here."

Demographic statistics for 1915 were not as detailed as they are today but, back then, Australia's population was about 5 million. Based on the best information available, slightly more than 1 million were aged between 15 and 35 years. During the nine months of the Gallipoli campaign, between 55,000 and 60,000 Australians were landed on the peninsula, neither 10 per cent of the whole population or those of military age.

Based on the then-government's logic, there was never a Gallipoli "generation" either.

Try mounting that argument and see how popular you'd be."

 

The Liberals are fast becoming a laughing stock for their convoluted reasoning.

Poll on Rudd's 2020 vision

It was great to see Rudders come up with the notion of a national summit to map out an agreed national direction for Australia beyond the next electoral cycle.

It appears that I am not alone in approving of the Australia 2020 Summit.

Granny Herald ran a poll yesterday which showed 75% of those who answered thought that Kevin Rudd's summit was a 'great idea'.

Let's hope both he and co-chair, Melbourne Uni vice-chancellor Glyn Davis, have a workable outcome to show us all by the end of April.

Leader of the Opposition Brendan 'we'll all be rooned' Nelson as usual is fence sitting and hasn't decided if he will attend this summit.

NSW North Coast Area Health Service tries 'the cheque is in the mail' routine

CEO Chris Crawford and the North Coast Area Health Service are obviously having problems colouring in between the lines of the recent announcement that some public hospital beds would be withdrawn from daily use and nursing shift numbers would be decreased.

 

"AT 5.10pm yesterday members of the New South Wales Nurses Association were still sitting by their fax machine waiting for an explanation from the North Coast Area Health Service on its plans to reallocate 86 North Coast hospital beds, including 12 from Grafton and Maclean, as surge beds.

They didn't get it.

Nurses Association organiser Susan Pearce said she had been told the Health Service had sent the material electronically about 4.45pm, but it hadn't arrived by the 5pm deadline set by a disputes committee.

"They were going to implement this plan on Tuesday, so I wouldn't have thought it would take them that long to send us the material," she said."

The Daily Examiner article on Saturday:

http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3762539&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

 

Ms. Pearce is being diplomatic here. This was so obviously local health policy on the run, that I doubt whether anything was in place except the most rudimentary moves to close down beds and reduce shift numbers. 

Why is it that only ratepayers and local government are responsible for disposal of all wasteful or inappropriate packaging of consumer goods?

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief. It doesn't matter who buys that soft drink or hamburger on the NSW North Coast. Eventually the throw-away bottle, styrofoam box or paper bag will be disposed of in landfill, using the resources of local government and money collected from local ratepayers.

So why is it that the manufacturers of food and drink are not responsible for the enduring forms of packaging that they use?

That bottle or styrofoam container lasts well beyond its immediate purpose, and either litters our streets or adds to our landfill refuse volume.

 

Clean Up Australia's Ian Keirnan has the right idea when he calls for the introduction of a national drinks container refund scheme.

It has always been frustrating to watch the successful refund scheme operating in South Australia and know that there was no such scheme available to us on the North Coast.

 

"The organisation's annual rubbish report, for 2006-07 "showed nearly 40 per cent of the 8000 tonnes of rubbish collected on Clean Up Australia Day was used drink bottles and cans.

Chairman Ian Kiernan said climate change meant Australia had to change its ways, with recycling reform an important part of that."

 

So how about it, Prime Minister Rudd, are you up to tackling the multinationals over packaging rubbish?

Is there no-one brave enough to send Peter Garrett to the backbenches?

Peter Garrett attracts bad press like a magnet and almost appears to go out of his way to create conditions for the political gaffe.

Under fire for his volte-face agreement with the Coalition on Gunn's pulp mill proposal during the election campaign, he then went on as the new Environment Minister to endorse another disaster in the making - Port Phillip Bay dredging.

In between, he managed a large and very public foot in the mouth over Labor's future policy intentions.

Somewhere in all this he also cocked-up his part in organising Australia's monitoring of this year's Antarctic whaling season.

Now it seems Garrett thinks he can finalise the Bay dredging issues by looking at documents "over the weekend". At the same time putting Gunn's mill to bed by approving the environmental plan in stages, while hoping Australia doesn't notice by announcing it after 5pm on a Friday night.

The man is shaping up as Federal Labor's great galah. Gawd knows what will happen to this minister once February 13 comes around and he has to get to his feet in the House of Reps.

By then he'll have probably brought Labor's entire environmental platform crashing down.

Especially as Rudd has just given him responsibility for community and household climate change action, greenhouse gas abatement and energy efficiency.

What on earth was the Prime Minister thinking?

Morrie wants to sell the farm and Sussex Street gets very nervous

The NSW Labor Government is still pushing ahead with the privatisation of power supplies in the state.

It's rumoured that sitting government MPs are rather irate at the voter flack that Morris Iemma has brought down on their heads.

The Sussex Street party machine is also worried about surviving the next state election, if the voter mood remains the same.

They should all be worried, every man-jack. This has to be the stupidest political move that Iemma and Costa have made, in a growing list of stupid moves.

I hear that the Opposition is down on its knees every night praying that privatisation goes ahead, as they see it delivering votes and cash when they win government.

  

Bundjalung artists exhibit this month at Ballina

Two Catfish Nesting by Noel Kenneth Caldwell. Photograph from The Northern Rivers Echo.

Indigenous artists from the Jambama Art Shed in Casino are taking their art to the coast for a special exhibition at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina, aptly titled Branching Out.
As well as traditional canvas paintings, there are painted boomerangs, clap sticks, sculptures, pyrographic pieces and designer wall hangings. There are also sewn items including bags, place mats and cushion covers, all with original hand printed designs.
Branching Out opens at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina on Friday, February 1, and runs until February 24. Artworks are also on display at the Jambama Art Shed Gallery Space in Casino, which is open to the public Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm."

The other side of the 'sorry' coin: bitter bile spews forth

This swam across my screen yesterday from a site describing itself as " Australia's eminent source of news, politics and commentary. Make iServ your trusted resource for accuracy and the good old Aussie fair go!"

It seems this blog has been swallowing Liberal Party memos whole for breakfast, with disastrous results.

 

"Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is about to say sorry to the alleged stolen generation, a generation of people who in reality simply don't understand that they all would have probably been dead by now if it wasn't for them being placed in foster homes - a bunch of ungrateful, resentful brats who are keen on big payouts at the hands of bleeding hearted do-gooders in one of the greatest displays of double standards the current generation of Australians will witness."

Found at http://iserv.com.au/default.asp?t=485 

The National Indigenous Times on the 'sorry' question

The National Indigenous Times January 2008 editorial.

"The Rudd government's handling of the sorry saga over an apology and payment of compensation to members of the Stolen Generation represents both a step forward and a step backward.
And as any fifth grader will tell you, that adds up to not much progress at all.
The step forward is that a national apology will be delivered. Granted, for Indigenous Australians extracting the word 'sorry' must feel like drawing blood from a stone. But a belated apology is better than no apology at all.
The step backward is that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Indigenous affairs minister, Jenny Macklin have decided that no compensation will be forthcoming. That is deeply disappointing.
Of course, the practice of removal was primarily committed by state governments, so it is not the federal government's responsibility to compensate ALL Aboriginal people for the Stolen Generations outrage, even though some leadership from federal Labor on the issue would have been welcome.
But it is most certainly the federal government's responsibility in relation to the Northern Territory, which was under Commonwealth control until the late 1970s.
Sadly, politics got in the way of progress again.
Rudd simply did not want his Prime Ministership defined by an early act of 'generosity' towards 'the blacks'. While it may well have been the 'right thing to do', politics is about pragmatism and populism, not principle and leadership."
National Indigenous Times editorial in full:

http://www.nit.com.au/opinion/story.aspx?id=13781

 

The Australian legal system has recognised that compensation is due to individuals from the Stolen Generation.

 

"THE first stolen generation Aborigine to be given compensation has been awarded another $250,000 by a South Australian court.

Bruce Trevorrow was awarded $525,000 in compensation in August last year after a South Australian judge ruled the state falsely imprisoned him as a child and owed him a duty of care for pain and suffering.
Lawyers for Mr Trevorrow then returned to court seeking 50 years of interest on the compensation payment.
The lawyers argued Mr Trevorrow should receive an extra $800,000 but the SA Supreme Court, civil jurisdiction, today awarded him $250,000 in interest.
Mr Trevorrow was 13 months old in 1957 when a neighbour drove him from his Coorong family home, south-east of Adelaide, to Adelaide's Children's Hospital with stomach pains.
Two weeks later, under the authority of the Aborigines Protection Board, he was given to a woman, who later became his foster parent, without the permission of his natural parents.

He did not see his family again for 10 years--- "

News.com.au article yesterday:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23143865-29277,00.html

Frank Sartor's name is turning into a swear word on the NSW North Coast

The NSW North Coast has been under sustained population growth and demographic change for decades; as retirees, sea-changers and tree-changers look for their piece of coastal paradise.

Consequently demands on local government infrastructure have been relentlessly growing in relation to how many extra bodies there are per town or square kilometre and, although all groups profess satisfaction with their new lives, within five years they are demanding increased infrastructure and services.

Throughout this period there has been limited NSW Government assistance for local government. 

Indeed there has been considerable cost-shifting onto this lower tier of government at both state and federal level.

Now NSW Labor's Morris Iemma and Frank Sartor are intent on finally bringing the only truly immediate form of government available to us, local government, to its knees by depriving it of reasonable Section 94 developer contributions.

 

Genia McCaffery, President of the Local Government Association of NSW, reflects a widespread dissatisfaction with State Government.

 

"Local government usually negotiates as a first option, so it is a measure of how angry we are with the State Government's high-handed treatment that we are now proposing drastic action. On Wednesday 250 mayors, councillors and general managers from across NSW defied the State Government by vowing to refuse to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars in community funds.

The State Government plans to slash the contributions developers are required to pay to councils - usually an amount per lot known as a Section 94 levy - to help fund the additional infrastructure that is needed to service the new population housed by the development.

Furthermore, the State Government plans to take control of the smaller contribution developers will have to pay rather than passing it on to the local council so that the council can use the money to build new roads, stormwater and drainage facilities, parks and sporting fields or to extend existing facilities such as libraries and community centres.

We argue that developers should not be able to walk away with huge profits from development, leaving councils with the cost of providing infrastructure to meet the needs of new residents. This burden is particularly onerous under the rate-pegging scheme, where our revenue from ratepayers is already restricted.-------

The Government is hiding behind the catchphrase of housing affordability. They argue that slashing contributions will take $50,000 to $60,000 off the price of a new home. In reality, developers contribute just $13,000 to $15,000 per house.

Does anyone really believe that developers will pass the $15,000 in savings on to new home owners? This Government is pandering to the interests of one group - developers, the same interest group that makes large contributions to party election funding."

The Sydney Morning Herald full opinion piece:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/councils-are-nearing-melting-point/2008/01/31/1201714145875.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 

Going toe-to-toe on the whaling issue in Tokyo

Japan versus the rest of the world is how the issue of 'scientific research' whaling in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary is shaping up.

 

The U.S. based Pew Charitable Trusts through its environment group is now attempting to referee.

It called a two-day symposium in Tokyo and made this left field observation which may not meet with the approval of the International Whaling Commission.

"Tuiloma Neroni Slade, the chairman of the symposium, said a resolution of the row could include a recognition of wider hunting rights by Japan's coastal whalers, suspension of research whaling, and a limit on the number of animals that whaling nations can kill each year."

 

The Age yesterday reported on the Australia-Japan whaling impasse.

"Japan's prime minister insisted a bitter dispute over whaling won't hurt bilateral relations, a day after Australia expressed its disappointment as whalers resumed their hunt.----

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is in Tokyo and has held talks with Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who sought to downplay any diplomatic fallout from the dispute.

"The whaling issue is a matter of each country's circumstances," Fukuda told reporters after the meeting, during which the whaling standoff was discussed.

"It should not negatively influence diplomatic relations.

"It's important to address the whaling issue in a calm manner."

Smith said he was disappointed the whalers had resumed their hunt in the Southern Ocean, killing five minke whales hours after he arrived in Tokyo on Thursday."

Nelson and Turnbull: oh, what hyp-hyp-hypocrites

These last few days the airwaves have been full of Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson and wannabe leader Malcolm Turnbull rabbiting on about how the Howard Government had left a booming economy without a worry on the horizon. They both accuse the Labor Federal Treasurer Wayne Swann of putting a spin on talk of increasing inflationary pressures.

Hello? In the twelve months before the 2007 federal election almost every economist who gave a public opinion warned that the Howard Government needed to watch the growing trend towards inflation, as it presided over back-to-back interest rate rises.

Both these blokes need a good kick in the withers to bring them back on track to reality.

Did that resounding election loss teach them nothing?

Australian political financial disclosure returns for 2006-7 just released

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) media release today.

 

"The 2006/07 annual financial disclosure returns from political parties, associated entities and donors have been released for public inspection.

The annual returns are on the Australian Electoral Commission's website at http://fadar.aec.gov.au/

The returns for the 2006/07 financial year include 49 political party returns, 218 associated entity returns and 194 donor returns. 

For the first time, people who engage in political expenditure are required to lodge a return.  Fifty-one political expenditure returns have been lodged for 2006/07.

Total receipts disclosed by political parties in the 2006/07 financial year were $127,218,316.76 compared to $74,556,334.55 for the 2005/06 annual returns.

For associated entities, the total declared receipts increased from $113,397,256.91 in 2005/06 to $637,938,063.70 in 2006/07 – largely as a result of the increase in the number of associated entities.

At this time last year, the AEC had received 80 political party returns, 89 associated entity returns and 317 donor returns. 
The increase in associated entity returns since last year can be attributed to the broadening of the definition of associated entity to include trade unions affiliated with the Australian Labor Party. 

The decrease in donor returns is a result of the new increased disclosure threshold (more than $10,300 for 2006/07) applying for the full financial year.  During the 2004/05 financial year, the last to use the old threshold, there were 1,286 donor returns. In 2005/06, when the new threshold applied for half the year, the number declined to 317 donor returns.

Attached is a fact sheet showing the basic disclosure requirements."

 

For those who love following the money trail, all the usual suspects plus more can be found using the search button at:

http://fadar.aec.gov.au/

Sen. Ted Kennedy on the campaign trail for Obama and asking for money

The emails received from Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign team have been a fascinating glimpse into the American political process as it is practised.

One of the marked differences from the Australian system is the constant drive for political donations from ordinary citizens.

Now Senator Ted Kennedy has said "I'm for Obama" and went on to (rather mistakenly) ask me for money yesterday.

What puzzles me [sly smile]. Where are Hillary's emails? Does Senator Clinton have all the campaign funding she needs? And why have no Republicans placed me on their mailing lists?

 

The email:

Dear [edited],   When I endorsed Barack Obama on Monday, I was also endorsing a candidate with the power to transform America.   As President Kennedy said in 1960, "It is time for a new generation of leadership."   This campaign is about a new generation of leadership today. A generation ready to be part of something bigger than themselves. A generation ready to change the country, and a generation ready to change the world.   I'm doing everything I can to elect Barack Obama. With less than a week before my state and 21 others make their voices heard, there is no time to lose.   Please join me by making a $50 donation now:   https://donate.barackobama.com/newgeneration   Like my son Patrick and my niece Caroline, I have found a new generation of leadership for America in Barack Obama -- and I hope you have too!   Sincerely,   Senator Edward M. Kennedy

It's time to speak up in Professor Garnaut's review of climate change issues and carbon trading

The government-sponsored Garnaut Review has committed to undertaking an extensive consultation process to encourage open and informed discussion on key climate change issues.

 

With less than an estimated one quarter of all Australian businesses currently attempting any form of climate change action, it seems that ordinary Australians might have to ginger the debate by making submissions to the Garnaut Review.

 

A strong demand by actual or future customers, for industry wide mid-term climate change targets, is one way to jerk the business community out of its present torpor.

 

Remember, approximately 50% of all Australians live within 7km of our coastline which is expected to take the early brunt of extreme climate change events.

Such extreme events won't just affect the value of houses but, in some cases, the actual value of the land on which they stand.

Climate Change Review Discussion Paper:

http://www.garnautreview.org.au/CA25734E0016A131/WebObj/FinancialServicesforManagingRisk-ClimateChangeandCarbonTradingIssuesPaper/$File/Financial%20Services%20for%20Managing%20Risk%20-%20Climate%20Change%20and%20Carbon%20Trading%20Issues%20Paper.pdf

 

Information on making submissions to the Review:

http://www.garnautreview.org.au/CA25734E0016A131/pages/submissions-financial-services

Kevin Rudd sprays for propaganda roaches and Brendan Nelson bombs

Rudders is a bit of a wonder. The election promises of Kevin 07 are being ticked off at a gratifying rate.

Now it's the turn of the former Howard Government propaganda juggernaut.

The Ministerial Committee for Government Communications is to be abolished and the Government Communications Unit is gone.

Government advertising is to be slashed. Advertising policy and practice are being redesigned -

hopefully with reference to the many calls for a more transparent disclosure of marketing costs.

I look forward to a life where government advertising doesn't constantly assault my senses with the bl**dy obvious or insult my intelligence with blatant lies.

Or am I living in a fool's paradise?

 

This week Brendan Nelson wants a preview of the Commonwealth Government's formal apology to indigenous Australians, to make sure that the government is not apologising for the wrong things. He worries that other matters are more important.

Is this Liberal Party buffoon serious? Will someone please put this bloke out of his misery by challenging his leadership.

 

"Moggy Musings" [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat)

Post-election musing:
Well it's all feeling rather flat at my house. Watching the tellie is no fun because my human has stopped shaking her fist and yelling at the pollies. Though I did catch her saying a rude word when little Morrie Iemma told everyone in rural NSW that we have to give up the security of a state-owned electricity supply so that Sydney can get an expensive metro train service.
Warning musing:
I saw you girl! Just because you wear young Butcher Bird feathers doesn't mean you can sneak into the kitchen and steal my breakfast. What is the world coming to when a cat has to fight off impertinent youth in the middle of a quiet meal.
Cautionary musing:
Bruce the Superdog from Yamba was thrilled to learn that he had won 480,152 pounds in a British lottery this week and most disappointed when his human pointed out that the email personally addressed to him was a scam. Bruce would like to warn anyone receiving this sort of email to junk it immediately.
First 2008 musing:
Happy New Year to every living thing with fur, feathers, fins, shells or scales!
I am pleased to report that I tolerated the noise of local fireworks with never a care. However my little canine friend, Veronica Lake, hid under clarencegirl's desk and wouldn't come out until all those big bangs ceased.
Hip, hip, hooray! musing:
On the third day of 2008, Diff the bull mastiff was rescued from a cliff on Mt. Maroon in south-east Queensland.
Welcome back down, Diff. Congratulations to Mark Gamble who climbed up to save him.
Well done, chaps musing:
Saw this in the news as I looked over clarencegirl's shoulder.
Two Australian kayakers have completed their journey across the Tasman Sea.
James Castrission, 25, and Justin Jones, 24, reached shore at Ngamotu Beach, about 4km west of New Plymouth on NZ's West Coast, on Sunday 13 January 2008 after spending two months paddling across the Tasman Sea.
Well done, James and Justin. Me - I'll just stick to paddling in the bath.
Natural disaster musing:
A thought to ponder.
In case of bushfire or flood - do you have an emergency evacuation plan for the family pet?

Australian business has poor record on climate change action

"A new survey has found that despite the warnings, just 22 per cent of Australian businesses have taken action in response to climate change.
The report surveyed more than 300 business groups around the country that had an annual turnover of $150 million.
It found that four out of five corporate leaders want to take a more active role but expressed concern about the quality of emissions data available."
ABC News:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/30/2149464.htm?section=business

Such a typical response from Australian business - blame someone else, preferably government.
Action on climate change could start tomorrow with most companies, when it comes to waste generated, transport, electricity consumption and product packaging.
Companies with potentially high emission levels are also quite capable of contracting their own assessments of greenhouse gas produced by the company.
However it seems that many businesses has eyes firmly on carbon trading offsets as the easy way out, rather than actual greenhouse gas reduction at production sites.

Crikey gives Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty a serve

Greg Barns writing in www.crikey.com.au yesterday gives Mick Keelty a well-deserved serve.

"Are there two Mick Keeltys? Last night a man calling himself Mick Keelty and claiming to be the Australian Federal Police Commissioner told a Sydney audience that he wants a black-out of all media coverage of terrorism investigations and cases. This Mr Keelty claims that police records of interviews are being leaked to the media to help the person under investigation get public sympathy. And this Mr Keelty thinks there should be a secret society of editors that he and his fellow security agency heads can brief, on an off-the-record basis, so that matters are set straight.

 

Now, let's turn to the other person who calls himself Mick Keelty and who also claims to be the nation's top cop. This is the Mick Keelty who revels in media publicity about terrorism cases, whose organisation leaks to the media and who runs a police force which wrongly accused a Gold Coast Indian doctor of terrorism offences (besmirched his name in the media in the meantime).

 

Could the real Mick Keelty please stand up? Is it the man calling for media black-outs and secret briefings, or is it the man who uses the media relentlessly to chase his quarry? The evidence suggests it's the latter."

 

"Aunty ABC" took a more measured approach which canvasses similar views.

 

"After taking sustained criticism for the Australian Federal Police's handling of the Mohamed Haneef saga, AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty has gone on the front foot to defend his organisation's handling of terrorism cases.

In a speech to the Sydney Institute last night, Mr Keelty took a swipe at media coverage of such cases, saying it is often uninformed and gives an incorrect perception that the AFP is failing in its duties.

But lawyers and journalists involved in the Mohamed Haneef case say Mr Keelty is simply shooting the messenger in what they say is a crude attempt to regain credibility for the AFP.

When Mr Keelty addressed the Sydney Institute last night, he had a few things he wanted to get off his chest.

"For most people, their sole source of knowledge regarding the AFP's counter terrorism investigations is in the mass media," he said.

"As such, it would be perfectly understandable if they mistakenly thought or held the belief that the AFP has failed the community.'-------

The Australian newspaper's Hedley Thomas won Australian journalism's highest award, the Gold Walkley, for his coverage of the Mohamed Haneef affair. He describes Mr Keelty's reasoning in the speech as strange.

"On the one hand he was saying that defendants and suspects deserve a much better go in the court of public opinion, as he described it, and that the media should treat them more kindly," he said.

"But the facts are that in the Mohamed Haneef case and others, it's been the police, the security agencies and the politicians using police information, that have smeared the character of the suspects before they have even been charged."

Dr Haneef's barrister, Stephen Keim, is equally perplexed with Mr Keelty's views about media coverage of AFP operations."

ABC News report yesterday:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/30/2149867.htm

Ex-Ministers get the begging bowl out

What a joke. Yesterday The Australian let us all know that ex-Howard Government ministers were having a little difficulty adjusting to lower pay as ordinary MPs.

The Liberals Tony Abbott apparently "has taken a $90,000 pay cut on the $200,000-plus salary he earned as federal health minister. With three daughters and a mortgage to pay in Sydney, it's blown a sizeable hole in the finances."

An annual MP's salary of $127,600 plus electoral allowance, mailing allowance, living away from home allowance and some travel expenses.

My heart bleeds for you, mate. Try living on less than $20,000 a year like a good many other Australians, then go crying to the media. I might have some sympathy then.

Japanese whaling fleet's false advertising

Photograph of MV Yushin Maru, a 1,025 tonnage whale catching vessel in Japan's whaling fleet, showing the large spurious signage "RESEARCH".

With both protest vessels returning to port, Japan's whalers are now free to resume the whale kill.

"Greenpeace claimed its actions had saved more than 100 whales by effectively rendering the rest of the Japanese fleet impotent. "Without the factory ship, the remaining hunter vessels have been unable to operate, bringing the entire whaling programme to a halt," it said.
It estimated that the whalers needed to catch about nine minke whales a day, and an endangered fin whale every other day, to meet its quota of 835 minkes and 50 fins by the time the hunt ends in mid-April.
Though commercial whaling was banned in 1986 Japan is permitted to conduct annual culls for what it describes as cetacean research.
The campaigners' exit from the southern ocean whale sanctuary will allow Japan's six-vessel fleet to resume the cull within days.
The Oceanic Viking, an Australian coastguard ship that was dispatched to collect evidence for a possible legal challenge to the annual slaughter, is still tracking the fleet but will not attempt to frustrate the whalers."
Guardian Unlimited yesterday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/29/whaling.conservation

Exactly who did the Northern Rivers Area Health Service consult with before deciding on 'surge' beds?

The NSW North Coast Area Health Service took the region by surprise this week when it announced that it would be withholding some hospital beds from normal use and instituting a policy of 'treatment in the home'.

 

No mention was made of how such home treatment would be implemented by community nursing already stretched by the North Coast's increasing population and changing demographics.

Nor was there any indication of whether it was expected that local GPs and their practice nurses would play a part. Which given the limited number of bulk-billing medical practices in certain areas, would involve patients in additional costs.

 

No consultation with local communities was advertised. I'm left wondering exactly which chronically ill patients the NCAHS chief allegedly consulted with, and whether those consulted happen to fall within a socio-economic band which allows them greater facility to draw on other home assistance which would make home treatment an attractive personal option.

Certainly the frail-aged pensioners of my acquaintance, with no family living close by, would not be clamouring to receive home treatment during episodes of illness normally requiring hospital admission.

It is distressing to see North Coast residents short-changed in this way.

 

According to ABC News yesterday.

"The nurses' association is meeting the North Coast Area Health Service executive this afternoon over a plan to slash bed and nurse numbers across New South Wales north coast hospitals.

The plan would see more than 80 beds at 14 north coast public hospitals converted into 'surge' beds for seriously ill patients at times of high demand.

Less ill patients would be treated at home or at outpatient clinics.

Union organiser Susan Pearce says the initiative was to have come into play today, but is on hold because health management failed to consult nurses.

"We're just amazed that they would seek to introduce such a change today without any consultation with our members whatsoever. It doesn't set us off on a good track for discussion about this particular issue," she said.

The chief executive of the North Coast Area Health Service, Chris Crawford, is defending the surge-bed plan.

He says the strategy is the result of consultations held with medical staff and chronically ill patients.

"Particularly patients have given us feedback that they'd prefer to be treated in their homes if they could be in a familiar environment rather than having to go to hospital," he said.

But the chairman of the Port Macquarie Base Hospital medical staff council says the move has taken it by surprise.

Dr Steven Begbie says it has been working with the area health executive to try and solve the bed crisis at Port Macquarie Base Hospital.

"There is a vision to increase the footprint of the hospital so that we can have more beds, an increase in services, and yet this plan comes out of left field as an option that reduces the beds in our hospital on a day-to-day basis," he said."

Exit polls: Obama campaign sends another email to Oz

Well, I should give the Barack Obama campaign team their due for persistence, and report yesterday's email content on the Democrat presidential nominee from Illinios.

 

"Here are a few details about our victory in South Carolina. According to the official results and CNN exit polls, Barack won:

• 55% of the total vote, more than twice as many votes as any other candidate
• 57% of voters who had never voted in a primary
• 66% of voters who had never voted before at all
• Every type of community -- urban, suburban, and rural
• 58% of voters between ages 18 and 64
• 67% of voters between ages 18 and 29

The clear lesson from South Carolina is that voters are ready to bring this country together and solve the problems that matter to ordinary Americans."

 

Although the political system and stats are not exactly comparable, I get the feeling that Senator Obama is starting to poll in a similar fashion to Kevin Rudd in 2007.

The Liberal Party of Australia now a dying duck

Listening to the Liberal Party's new leader Brendan Nelson on ABC News Radio yesterday, I heard a man's fumbling attempt to use pop psychology to feebly defend his rejection of a Commonwealth Government formal apology to the Stolen Generation.

A big mistake. A huge mistake. A monumental mistake.

Nelson and his party are welded to the past, cannot reconnect with ordinary Australians and are fast dwindling into insignificance.

Even a leadership challenge will not save these political troglodytes. Dying ducks one and all.

hen house thoughts

I was over in the hen house talking to the chooks as I cleaned the roosts and nest boxes.

There were only a few still in the yard the rest were out chasing grasshoppers.

The gang of five were planning their next attack on my vegie garden, I saw a couple head of to the house verandas where they sit on the chairs and listen to the radio (they prefer ABC Classics Radio).

I hope I remembered to shut the house doors. If not they will be inside on the lounge or in the kitchen checking out the compost bucket.

The hens with me in the roosts were the tribal elders; if they were human they would have received the telegram from the Queen years ago. These girls don't travel very far from their home now, they are quite dignified in their movements no flapping and squawking for these old birds.

I babbled on about global warming, explaining to them that if the worst case scenario came to pass we will be sitting on beach front property with large areas of the Clarence Valley water logged and what that would mean for the people who live there.

They listened politely adding a few muted clucks while inspecting my cleaning efforts, then got busy arranging the new nest bedding.

As I walked back to the house I thought that the hens had the right idea, it is no use worrying about what you can't change.

You do what you can and clean up your local chook yard and pressure those in power to take their share of responsibility, all the while remembering the way you decide to live your life has a direct impact on our environment and therefore the planet.

Let's all eat whale!

The Japan Whaling Association newsletter Isana features a whale recipe page.

The latest issue recommends a whale pot dish.

Like much of the newsletter's contents, the recipe page begins with a little crude propaganda.

 

"Boiled "une" (whale ventral grooves) and "mizuna" (a green vegetable) with a little salt and whale meat sashimi with a lot of grated ginger are two of the regular menus at my home. In Kokura, Kita-Kyushu, western Japan, where I live, whales are popular food. Although I sometimes sigh over the high prices of whale meat after the commercial whaling moratorium was enforced, it is still readily available at stores. In my neighborhood, there are many fish shops that deal in whale meat. In the Tanga Market in downtown Kokura, there are two stores specializing in whale meat. Up until quite recently, there were whale-specialized stores in every market in Kita-Kyushu, and they were thriving. Why are there so many people who like whale meat in northern Kyushu?"

Isana December 2007 issue:

http://www.whaling.jp/english/isana/no34_02.html

Liberals still can't get their tongues around the 'S' word

Liberal Party Leader and Leader of the Opposition, Brendan Nelson, is urging the Rudd Government to go slow on the planned apology to the indigenous Stolen Generation.

Apparently Mr. Nelson doesn't relish the thought that he might be faced with a decision on whether or not to support a formal apology when Federal Parliament resumes in February.

 

"Whatever the attitude of Australians towards this generation, apologising for things that were done by earlier generations, you've really got to ask yourself whether this is a high priority for the Australian Parliament," he said.

The Australian article yesterday:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23121309-601,00.html

 

In the same issue of The Australian Tony Abbott, the Liberals new indigenous affairs spokesperson, echoes former PM John Howard's double talk on saying sorry.

 

"Well, this whole question of a formal apology, I think the proponents, no less than the opponents, are getting hung up on semantics,'' Mr Abbott said last year.

"Because, let's face it, back in 1999 the parliament unanimously carried a resolution of profound and sincere regret about the various mistakes that had been made in terms of indigenous policy over the years.

"So who is playing word games here? This apology ... I would like to see precisely what words the incoming Government is proposing, because finding a form of words that is acceptable to everyone is going to be an extraordinarily difficult business."

 

While that old Liberal headkicker, Wilson Tuckey, objects to even allowing Australia's traditional owners to dance at the opening of Parliament.

 

"Mr Tuckey has criticised reports traditional owners will dance at the opening of Federal Parliament next month, when it is speculated the Federal Government may make a formal apology to the Stolen Generations.

Mr Tuckey says it is not what Parliament is for.

"I'm horrified and concerned that we're going to turn the Parliament of Australia into a dance parlour," he said."

ABC News yesterday:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/28/2148258.htm?section=australia

 

I for one think that the 'S' word is long overdue. One has to admire the resilience of indigenous communities across Australia and on the NSW North Coast - they survived every misguided attempt at assimilation and retain their dignity and culture in the face of enormous social and economic disadvantage.

Not only do I support a formal Federal Government apology, I would also support a national compensation scheme.

As for Wilson Tuckey - this MP should be taken to task by his leader.

What will the the Prime Minister and Cabinet do about their carbon footprints?

In the first year of the Rudd Government the Prime Minister and his senior ministers will rack up quite a few hours in air and road travel.

Perhaps they should all give some thought to how they're going to offset the amount of greenhouse gas these trips will produce.

Leading by example is something I expect from this new Labor government.

Talking the talk has to be followed by walking the walk on global warming if they expect the rest of us to follow.

Rudd Government must address the way Australian schools are funded

The independent Australian Council on Educational Research (ACER) recently released a report Australia's School Funding System.

This report highlights ongoing problems with Commonwealth criteria for school funding.

If Kevin Rudd intends an education revolution over the next four years he cannot avoid this issue of disproportionate funding favouring private schools.

 

"This does not mean the Commonwealth

is giving less money to government schools but

rather that its funding to non-government schools

may be disproportionate to that sector's needs.20

To summarise, "average" school costs are increasingly

problematic as a means of determining adequate

funds to educate real students. Both government

and non-government schools are receiving funding

based on an "average" student even though nongovernment

schools may be recruiting a student

body with below average costs. On the other hand,

government schools appear to have an increasingly

expensive student body.

Other issues include that:

a) The system does not actually measure a

school's resources and in fact ignores a school's

capacity to generate its own income through

fees, investments, donations and fundraising in

measuring need (the stated rationale from the

Commonwealth is that to reduce funding for

schools that exceed a limit on private income

would act as a disincentive to private efforts to

raise funds).

b) The local community's SES may not reflect the

individual student's SES in a particular nongovernment

school. Some students may come

from the wealthiest home in a disadvantaged

area. Barry McGaw has recently described this

phenomenon as "relatively advantaged students

from disadvantaged communities carry[ing]

with them to a non-government school a

government voucher based on the students they

leave behind in their communities" (2007).

c) Although a formula, the SES system is not

applied consistently with scope for compromise

arrangements to alter the formula. As mentioned

above, in 2005, over half of non-government

schools received an adjusted amount because

the strict application of their SES score would

have resulted in less funding."

Full ACER report:

 http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/PolicyBriefs_Dowling07.pdf

Telstra's Next G being tested by NSW North Coast resident

"Telstra raised Mr Cameron's hackles when it started telling people they'd have to switch networks fast or lose their phone number.-------Mr Cameron said he had just got a Next G handset from Telstra, which he planned to compare with his CDMA handset. He had selected 35 'marginal' locations around Goonengerry, Coopers Creek, Federal, Eureka and between Eureka and Lismore, where he gets coverage on his CDMA phone.

He had tested each location by calling his home and leaving a message on his answering machine describing the location, the time of day and the weather conditions. The next step would be to go through the same process with his new Next G phone.

"However, even if he could get clear messages through to his home phone, most of the new network's features would be wasted in the bush.

"It's really starting to annoy me," he said. "Even if we get to the point where Next G can be said to be as good as CDMA, there's still questions of why we have to go to it.

"Because of the enhanced applications, the video calls and rapid downloads, even if we can get it as good as CDMA we won't get the speed or consistency of coverage for those enhanced functions; so we're having to pay for a new $500 phone to get the same phone coverage as we had before."

Telstra, at the request of Mr Conroy, has set up a 1800 number to answer questions about the new network and the axing of the old one."

The Northern Star article last Sunday:

http://www.northernstar.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3762013&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

Time for the Nats to give Libs the boot

Last Saturday Liberal Senator Nick Minchin joined the national conservative chorus calling for one united right-wing political party in Australia.

I particularly loved his comment in The Herald Sun "that internal party factions were "evil in the wrong hands" and repeated calls for a united conservative party to effectively compete with their "great political enemy".

Yeah, just what Australia needs - narrowing voter choice in an already narrow political spectrum.

If the Nationals had any spine they would split with the Liberal Party and form genuine policy platforms to take to the next federal election.

They have been a 'tag along' party for too long. If they stay with their demoralised and disintegrating partner the Nats may disappear from the federal stage within the next few years.

Time to tell the Libs to get on their bikes. The only smart move that party machine has made in recent years was to refuse Liberal Party presidency to Lazarus-with-a-triple-bypass when he lobbied for it within weeks of losing his seat.

telephones

I rang Telstra to inform them that my phone is suffering from phonopause ( the telegraphic equivalent of menopause) and to see if they could help.

A very nice young man patiently listened to the list of symptoms I described;

• sometimes the phone will not ring and sends all incoming calls to message bank
• one ring then message bank
• rings loudly, no one there
• only one half of the conversation can be heard, I can heard the caller talking and they can't hear me or visa versa.
• sometimes only parts of the conversation can be heard, this has lead to some amusing and annoying conversations. From what I'm hearing I think the conversation is about Soya futures when the other person is talking about store cattle prices.
• other times the phone is obviously bored with the conversation and just hangs up
• even when both parties can hear one another there are many and various noises heard, the most common is a loud clicking. Is the phone going to blow-up?
• the fastest I can get a download is 3.1 kbts, and this only for a few minutes. I think the phone then takes a Valium and has a nice rest before it decides if it will perhaps do a little bit more. With this attitude it can take hours to download virus updates.
• we have had a fair bit of rain here so is that why some callers sound as if they are under water?

The young man said he had the answer to all my problems, the Next G network had a larger footprint than the old CDMA system and was vastly superior in many ways and all of this I could enjoy as soon as I purchase a better handset then all my problems would be solved. When I informed him I was talking about a landline and that we never had CDMA reception out here I didn't hear the rest of the conversation. The phone decided that it had enough and hung-up. It refused to work for the rest of the day.

I think I will just have to bred a race of carrier ducks, it's too wet for pigeons.

North coast hospitals to cut 86 beds

It appears the annual silly season has been extended in northern NSW.

How else can the ridiculous decision that will see fourteen public hospitals on NSW's north coast lose a total of 86 bed be explained?

The Age reports that North Coast Area's health chief executive Chris Crawford announced the decision in a memo.

What is Mr Crawford's real role with NCAHS? Rather than serve as a health administrator, Mr Crawford is yet again portraying himself as a bean counter who's acting on behalf of a state government that continues to fail to deliver the necessary resources public health so desperately needs.

Does the Sydney-centric not understand the demography of northern NSW?

Read The Age article at: http://news.theage.com.au/north-coast-hospitals-to-cut-86-beds/20080127-1ode.html

The U.S. pushes its own climate change agenda - it's all about increasing the reach of American international trade

The Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong would do well to keep her eye on the ball at the Hawaii climate change conference.

Accepting the elimination of trade barriers as the only or principal outcome of this conference would not significantly move the international climate change response forward.

Europe, Asia, South America and Australia, not the U.S., need to drive the agenda.

This is the only way real progress will be made.

 

"WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States pushed forward with its own agenda on climate change Friday despite criticism that Washington is attempting to undermine the global effort led by the United Nations.-------

Bush has invited Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and the United Nations to send representatives to the meeting in Hawaii January 30-31.-------

Europeans leaders in particular have approached the US initiative with reluctance and have said they will take a firm approach to ensure the talks do not undermine the progress made in Bali last month.

High on the US agenda is an attempt to eliminate trade barriers for "climate-beneficial goods and services," Connaughton said.-------

Europeans leaders in particular have approached the US initiative with reluctance and have said they will take a firm approach to ensure the talks do not undermine the progress made in Bali last month.

High on the US agenda is an attempt to eliminate trade barriers for "climate-beneficial goods and services," Connaughton said."

Google News yesterday: 

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jlgTTxinVCRqeqRMGI5Zq7bv0jBw

Barack Obama casts his net wide

I received this email message from the Obama for America campaign team yesterday.

For some reason the team seems to think I vote in the United States.

For details of the obscene amount of money the US presidential nominees are receiving and spending, go to: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/

It looks as though Malcolm Turnbull's former business associates at Goldman Sachs are making campaign contributions to a number of the candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

 

The email.

"In less than 24 hours, voters in South Carolina will head to the polls.

Before they do, I wanted to show you a bit about what kind of campaign we're running here.

When Michelle and I talked about my running for president, one of the core goals we both had for this campaign was to leave the political process better off than we found it.

Here in South Carolina, a state with a history of some pretty divisive politics, ordinary people have challenged conventional thinking about the process and built a statewide organization based on local community organizing and neighbor-to-neighbor contacts.

Our supporters -- men and women of all ages, races, religions, and backgrounds -- have come together around the idea that we are one people, invested in each other and in our common future.

We've put together a few videos that will give you a sense of what we've built here -- please take a look:

http://my.barackobama.com/organize

In communities across this state, people who have never been involved in politics before -- or who had given up on what they saw as a broken system -- have built something special.

No matter what the outcome tomorrow, our work here will have a lasting impact on those communities and on the Democratic Party for a long time to come.

We're seeing the same story play out across the country as grassroots supporters in 22 states prepare to cast their votes or turn out to caucus on February 5th.

Remember that tomorrow night, after the votes are in from South Carolina, the playing field will expand dramatically as races in those states come into full focus.

There will be a lot happening, and the intensity will be ratcheted up.

But the spirit of the grassroots organizing we have done here -- of ordinary people taking back the political process -- will be apparent in thousands of communities across the country.

I believe more strongly than ever that this movement for change can do more than just win an election. Together, we can transform this country.

Thank you for being part of this,

Barack"

Australia Day weekend in the Lower Clarence - rain broken by bouts of sunshine

It's been good to see Hughie sending down enough rain to give the Mighty Clarence a full belly, but it's getting rather damp around the house.

La Nina is doing us proud this year.

Parts of the coastal fringe received between 50 to 99mm in the 24 hours up to 9a.m. yesterday morning.

The frog chorus during the evening and night hasn't been this loud in years, and one large green treefrog has taken up residence in one of my gumboots parked outside the door onto the front verandah.

It's a bit rich when even the frogs are looking for somewhere dry.

Keep it coming, Hughie, there's a good fella - but leave enough fine days so that the NSW North Coast doesn't flood again and the beach dunes have time to recover.

swamp musing

Sitting in the bath last night watching the moon rise over the swamp I was listening to the radio and some presenter  was talking about the Japanese whaling fleet in the southern ocean. A spokesperson for the whaling industry came on and was emphasising Japan's traditional reliance on whaling, this started me thinking if somehow I was transported back in time let's say over 200 years and was standing on Iluka Bluff I would not have seen Captain Cook sail passed but a fleet of Japanese row boats heading south to the Antarctic for the annual whale hunt?

This brings up the question of how far back in time does a practice have to be set to become a tradition?

The type of whaling that the Japanese currently espouse only came into existence after World War II, is that long enough to be a traditional practice?

If the traditional whaling methods were used only whales in the northern hemisphere and close to the Japanese islands would be killed.

On the second glass of wine the questions arrived.

Do the Japanese public know where and how the whale meat sold in their markets gets there?

Are they just told that this is their tradition and some green fanatics are trying to limit their enjoyment of a traditional dish?

I would like to know the answers to these questions, but the bath water is getting cold and it is a busy day tomorrow. I have to mow the pumpkins, they are taking over the ancestral homeland of the tomatoes and eggplants.

Just how much is an old prime minister worth?

Well, we are all now aware that John Winston Howard is offering himself as an international speaker for hire.

The Liverpool City Champion in England has just given us an idea of how much The Washington Speakers Bureau might be charging to hear The Great Man's pearls of wisdom.

How much do you think a tired old neo-con is worth on this fee scale?

 

"The website does not say how much eager audiences will have to cough up to hear Mr Howard but its billing code offers six categories, in US dollars: $1000-$7500; $7501-$10,000; 10,001-$15,000; 15,001-$25,000; 25,001-$40,000; and $40,001 and over."
The Liverpool City Champion article:

http://liverpool.yourguide.com.au/news/national/general/howard-for-hire-on-website/1166094.html

 

Now The Sydney Morning Herald informs us of at least four US speaking engagements next month.

If John Howard were to fall in the mid-range of the billing code he might potentially be earning US$60,000 over those four weeks.

Subsidised as well by the Australian taxpayer who is paying for that research/personal assistant.

 

While Howard is overseas talking up his place in history, let us hope that he will refrain from sour grapes.

Because, behind the fine public words of those close to the Bush Administration, there lies a basic lack of comprehension concerning the Australian Labor Party which makes Americans nervous.

The fact that John Howard's visit appears scheduled to closely precede Kevin Rudd's first official visit as Prime Minister leaves Howard with an opportunity for some private political mischief-making.

The Sydney Morning Herald today:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/in-with-the-new-and-no-hard-feelings/2008/01/25/1201157663391.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Happy 100th Birthday, BOM

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has been in existence for one hundred years this month.

I may have stood watching the sky and sniffing the air to get a feel for the weather in my youth, but it was to the Bureau's reports that I turned to see if I needed to bring the cattle into sheltered paddocks when winter was at its worst.

Now the Bureau keeps me informed on everything; from when it's unwise to put a foot in the water at North Coast beaches, to when I should batten down the hatches because an east-coast low is on the way.

Town or country - it is a part of daily life.

So Happy 100th Birthday, BOM, and many more to come.

Senator Heffernan loses baby

You almost have to feel sorry for Bill Heffernan.

Out of government and now losing chair of the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce.

A position and body which John Howard appeared to have created just to keep him happy in the sandbox.

Although five other Coalition pollies were booted from the taskforce along with Bill, he must be disappointed that he can no longer chase after his dream of either overpopulating and overdeveloping the north of the continent or stripping it of water.

I guess it's back to allegedly impersonating public servants and spooks.

Anyone seen 007 Heffernan lately? 

The real face of Japan's 'scientific' whale research

This is the real face of Japanese
whaling.
Domestic consumption of whale
meat as food.
Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo
Fukuda can protest about the
Australian attitude to
southern ocean whaling.
The fact remains that someone
eventually makes a commercial
profit from this annual
'scientific' whale kill.
Girl eating whale burger
Photo from http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Only seven weeks in office and already the Rudd Government is starting to beat up on the poor

For the last two weeks there has been a rumour on the NSW North Coast that the Rudd Government was contemplating a Centrelink shake up, and that this exercise wouldn't be a look at the agency itself but another free kick at those receiving pensions, benefits and allowances.

 

Today Minister for Human Services Joe Ludwig stated that he has ordered a crackdown on Centrelink fraud, the old Howard Government code phrase for 'let's see if we can make compliance conditions even harder for all welfare recipients'.

 

As "National Welfare Rights Network president Michael Raper said tax fraud was a bigger problem than welfare fraud.

"If they want to chase tax fraud, that's where the dollars are," he said. "There's some in social security but it's pretty tight and hard already. Less than half of 1 per cent of social security debt is fraud."

The Australian article today:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23105154-2702,00.html

 

Tax fraud recovery had become a joke during the Howard era and most cases were not vigorously pursued because of legal costs. It was much easier to 'breach' welfare recipients for minor offences and run to the media with the few isolated instances of significant welfare fraud.

 

Senator Ludwig's statement is adding insult to injury here on the North Coast.

As contact with his office (and the offices of local members) clearly indicates that the Labor election promise to grant Disability Support pensioners the Utility Allowance is on the back burner and it is beginning to look as though the Rudd Government is hoping to delay implementing this promise during this fiscal year.

Apparently making the budgetary books look good may yet be considered more important than pensioners being able to meet their winter heating bills.

 

It had long been obvious that John Howard considered chronic illness or disability a moral weakness. It would be a great disappointment to many if Kevin Rudd was found to hold that same biased view.

 

 

176,000 Australian households on public housing waiting lists

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found 176,000 households on public housing waiting lists.

The new Federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek says she is shocked.

After asking around, I think the shock will be even greater when she realises that these lists only show people who have been filling in forms for years and not the total number of those on low-incomes needing affordable accommodation.

I mean, whoever thought that we would need homeless shelters here on the North Coast?

Yet it is becoming a reality of life in the Lucky Country.

NSW North Coast "ConVerge" ceramic art exhibition: January 25 to March 1

Compassion Virgins 2006 by Ishta Wilson
Photograph from The Northern Rivers Echo

The new exhibition ConVerge: The Northern Rivers Ceramic Exhibition, opens Friday, January 25 at the Lismore Regional Art Gallery and runs until March 1.
The exhibition features the works of 20 local ceramic artists and demonstrates how ceramic arts in the Northern Rivers have evolved over the last 20 years.
The Northern Rivers Echo today:
http://www.echonews.com/index.php?page=View%20Article&article=19665&issue=311