名誉のない国: Japan launches whaling fleet for summer slaughter in Pacific

名誉のない国 - A nation without honour intends to kill gentle mammals such as this sperm whale pictured above. Why? Not because it's people are starving and in need of food, but simply because it can.

The Global Times 10th June 2010:

"Japan launched a summer whaling mission Wednesday, with the target of killing 260 of the giant sea mammals in the Northwest Pacific, despite legal action by Australia. Three harpoon and two research ships set sail from three separate ports in Japan with more than 200 crew to hunt whales in the Pacific Ocean, said the Institute of Cetacean Research, which is sending the state-backed whaling fleet. Due to obstructions by the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Japan said that its catch was down to 507 whales in the 2009-2010 expedition in the southern waters, below a target of about 850. In the latest whaling trip, the fleet led by the Nisshin Maru mother ship plans to catch 100 minke whales, 100 sei whales, 50 Bryde's whales and 10 sperm whales. The expedition comes after Australia launched legal action with the International Court of Justice in an effort to stop Japan from killing whales in the name of science."

Pic found at Google Images

The Great Cup Hunt

The last couple of months I've been lost in a mind fog.
I'm finding that I have the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimer's. Nice rock....nice rock....[thunk]....where did that big hard thing come from?

My vagueness was brought home to me when I went to get a mug for my morning cuppa. There were only three mugs facing me.
Since I usually have about eighteen mugs in the cupboard I had to wonder where all the other mugs had got to?
I've never seen mugs migrate north for the winter before. Was this a new phenomena? Something to do with global climate change?

Then it occurred to me that every morning I make myself a cuppa, go down to feed Arnold the calf and then wander around the farm checking on things or down to the garden to work. So off I go on six cylinders, with only two firing.

Sure enough there are three cups sitting like nesting birds around Arnold's stall. The cup hunt is now on in earnest.

Next stop the garden. Each tap yields a cup, two on various garden posts and another one that had fallen off its wooden perch. I’m on the right track.

So then I walk the yard fence and this comes up trumps with another five. By the time I get to the main gate I have a bucket load of cups, a sense of destiny and a great hunger for breakfast.

After breakfast I unload the cups ready for washing and something occurs to me - where is the mug with the fish pattern I had with me this morning when I went on the cup hunt?

Pic from Google Images

Weekly Greenhouse Gas Indicator for NSW 28 May-3 June 2010

If anything is needed to convince there is an urgent need for a national legislative response to global warming, it is the fact that the Australian states display such variance in greenhouse gas levels under different state policies and strategies.

According to the Climate Group, between 28 May and 3 June 2010 South Australia was 11% below the average equivalent 1990 weekly emissions and 16% below the equivalent 2000 weekly average, Queensland 97% above the average equivalent 1990 weekly emissions and 27% above the equivalent 2000 weekly average, Victoria 31% above the average equivalent 1990 weekly emissions and 1.8% above the equivalent 2000 weekly average and New South Wales 23% above the average equivalent 1990 weekly emissions and 5.7% above the equivalent 2000 weekly average.

Neither West Australia, Tasmania nor the Northern Territory are tracked in this data set.

Weekly Greenhouse Indicator - New south Wales

This week's (28 May to 3 June) NSW Indicator is 2.043 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, the breakdown is as follows:

In tonnes:

Electricity from coal: 1.192 million; 58.3%

Natural gas: 0.177 million; 8.7%

Petroleum: 0.675 million; 33.0%

This week

NSW's emissions from energy fell by 0.9% or 18,000 tonnes, due to a decrease in emissions from both gas and coal-fired generation.

Emissions sources

Emissions from coal-fired electricity, which accounted for 88% of electricity generation in NSW this week, fell by 1.9% or 23,000 tonnes.

Emissions from gas fell by 8.7% or 17,000 tonnes.

Emissions from petroleum products grew by 3.3% or 22,000 tonnes

Demand & Import/Export

Electricity demand fell by 0.7%.

NSW imported 4.6% of its electricity demand from other states, compared to 2.3% last week.

Comparisons

This week's Indicator is 1.0% higher than the same week in 2009 and total emissions to this stage of 2010 are 4.9% lower than the similar stage last year.

This week's Indicator is 23% above the average equivalent 1990 weekly emissions and 5.7% above the equivalent 2000 weekly average.

Overview: WEEKLY GREENHOUSE INDICATOR - SUMMER REPORT 2009/10

Possum had a bright shiny graph of Teh Convergence

Click on Pollytics graph to tumefy

Two party preferred trend as we approach the 2010 federal election.
Will it be curtains for Rudd or the long drop for Abbott?

Yamba in world's top ten places

Charlie Kemp, a no frills blogger from the Old Dart, has just returned home after 129 days on the road.

Charlie, who blogs at Nap Year Diaries, listed the the Top Ten Places he visited. They are (in chronological order): Delhi, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Panjim, Arambol (India), Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An (Vietnam), Siem Reap (Cambodia), Yamba (Australia).

Other highlights from Charlie's journeys include:
Best country - Vietnam
Best beach - Booti Booti, NSW
Best hotel - Hotel Siddartha, Agra, India
Best breakfast - bagels at Café Stir, Christchurch
Best lunch - 'Two-Steak Tuesday' at a forgotten pub on his first day in Sydney - a forgotten pub!?! I didn't think such an institution existed.
Best dinner - Tandoori Pomfret on the beach in Anjuna, Goa
Best beer - Tui (New Zealand)
Most attractive women - Vietnam
Most attractive men -New Zealand - Charlie didn't say if this was before or after the beer.
Best film - Invictus
Best book - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Here are a few of Charlie's other thoughts about his journey:
Turning the corner into Delhi's Main Bazaar an hour after landing on our first day in India to see a seething mass of humanity, motorcycles, dust and rotting vegetables, and wondering if this was such a good idea.

Trying to catch the sleeper train from Agra to Jaipur, squeezing into an approximately coffin-sized berth, realising we were on the wrong train, giving up on our actual train once it was more than five hours late, heading back into the city and finding a hotel room around midnight.

Cycling from Siem Reap (Cambodia) into the ancient city of Angkor and around its remarkable temples in sweltering heat on decrepit but loveable bicycles.

Tweedie knocking an old Vietnamese man off his motorcycle almost as soon as we landed in Hanoi, and moments later the smiles on the faces of everyone involved.

Hopping into a tiny fishing boat in Hoi An where a tiny old Vietnamese lady had agreed to take us up and down the river, only for her to hand me the paddle and roll an enormous reefer.

Going on an irrelevantly unsuccessful fishing trip with our new Australian friends Paul and Gillian on their friends Ross and Helen's boat on an otherwise empty lake near Yamba.

It would seem that Charlie had an A-1 holiday.

Axe the billionaires!

Axe the Tax!

Save a mining billionaire!

Reweavers: the quiet achievers

David Bancroft, editor of The Daily Examiner, pens some well-deserved praise of reweavers on 8 June 2010:

IN about 1900, former US president Theodore Roosevelt wrote how he had been impressed with an African saying: "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

He believed people who followed the adage would go far.

It is an adage that would apply to virtually all the people who attended a modest dinner in Grafton on Friday night.

I was honoured to accept an invitation to attend the annual dinner of the Clarence Valley's reweavers group, a group committed to 'reweaving' the tapestry of society.

Most of those attending were committed environmentalists, people who had dedicated most of their adult lives to improving or at least protecting what remains of the environment of the Clarence Valley and neighbouring regions.

Those up for special mention were Stan Mussared, Carmel Flint and the Koala Protection Society.

These people, and the 70-plus others who attended, gain nothing from their environmental advocacy and hands-on effort apart from making the world what they believe to be a better place.

They are quietly spoken, reserved and non-confrontational but prepared to stand their ground when they believe it necessary.

It can sometimes get them offside with industry and government, but their motivation and commitment should not be questioned.

They offered a valuable lesson to us all.

Generation Yzzzzzz........

I'm flabbergasted - about one in ten Aussies eligible to vote have not bothered to enrol and around 400,000 of these are 18 to 20 year olds.

Most of the rest are between 21 and 39 years of age.

C'mon Noddy! Off the couch and out the door you go (or at least bootup that PC and click onto the AEC) and register to vote.

Remember it's all three forms of government which make the laws and by-laws which rule your life.

They'll decide how much you'll pay for your higher education, how much alcohol you can legally consume before getting in the car, the minimum wage a boss can pay you, the taxation rate you pay, whether or not you'll ever be frogmarched into national service or off to war, how much in land and water rates you'll pay on the home you eventually own, and much, much more.

YOUR OPINIONS WON'T AMOUNT

TO A HANDFUL OF CHERRY PITS

IF YOU DON'T VOTE!

The Coastal Emu - a local icon

Whilst our friends on the western side of the ranges might encounter emus on a regular basis, it is not so for those of us on the coast. The number of Coastal Emu is extremely low. There is one small isolated group to the north, but the core population is only found in the Clarence Valley.

Evidence suggests the Coastal Emu may be a distinct species from the inland emu due to geographical isolation. They are isolated from their inland relatives by several hundred kilometres, and limited by the escarpments of the dividing range. The coastal emus were formerly common, but now face the possibility of extinction.

It has been a pretty devastating time in recent months with two major fires burning more than one third (11 000 ha) of Yuraygir National Park, the stronghold for the Coastal Emu. It is likely that these large, hot and relatively fast moving fires have had an adverse impact on the emu population as well other populations of threatened flora and fauna.

In 2009, 30 volunteers from the community joined with staff from the National Parks and Wildlife Service to traverse over 800km of roads and trails by vehicle or by foot to record the habitat and range of the Coastal emu. Many local residents provided additional information on sightings and historical records.

A total of 68 emus were recorded.

Given the cryptic nature of these birds accurate numbers are difficult to ascertain, however, this is a perilously low number, and it is down again on the previous year's total of 110 birds.

Like many native animals the Coastal emu is experiencing the effects of living in close proximity to us. In some areas access to food is restricted by the proliferation of impenetrable fencing. Safe nesting sites are diminished by land clearing and the presence of feral pigs and dogs. Collision with vehicles has caused the demise of almost 60 Coastal emu in the last decade.

These threats can be avoided if we modify our behaviour. We can also ask our elected leaders to better accommodate our wildlife in their decisions and planning processes.
As the local community we need to play our part in the conservation of our local icon.

Imelda Jennings, Wildlife SOS

* GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak at live.com.au for consideration.

Conroy denies vendetta, but how many believe him?

Australian Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy was quick off the mark to deny any suggestion that his referral of Google Inc to the Australian Federal Police over its StreetView cars collecting digital information which they had no right to access.
Still, it's easy to imagine that he was filled with gleeful anticipation as he set the train in motion, against what he refers to as the "creepy" IT giant.
However Stevo appears more interested in getting his own hands on what he believes this data contains:
"(If) you were doing a banking transaction, or transmitting personal information, they could have hoovered it up, sucked it up into their machine," he told ABC TV yesterday.
"What we want to ensure now is that we get access to the information that's been collected.
"We want to know where it's stored, we want to know what the information is, and importantly we want to ensure that Google don't destroy this information." (Google has denied that it could read encrypted banking transactions).
Personally I'd be more worried about the Minister for Censorship & Moral Policing getting hold of any information downloaded from unsecured wireless connections, than I would be about Google having it.
Stevo's full frontal assault on basic freedoms in this country knows no bounds.

North Coast MP continues her anti-whaling stance as the Australian east coast prepares to count its whales in June 2010

Breaching Humpback Whale taken by Wayne Reynolds at Wild About Whales
Blue Whale and Humpack whale songs

Janelle Saffin, Federal Labor Member for Page on the NSW North Coast, has a genuine history of interest in environmental issues and opposition to whaling in the Southern Ocean.

2007: Coastal pollution, Japanese whaling, climate change, sustainable forestry and resource management will be among the topics up for discussion when the new Member for Page meets with Southern Cross University researchers at the Lismore campus tomorrow (December 14).
Janelle Saffin will receive a briefing on a range of environmental issues impacting on the North Coast from academic staff in the School of Environmental Science and Management.

2008: Page MP Janelle Saffin said the Australian public clearly wanted to put an end to Japan's so-called scientific-based whaling and that many young people in her electorate were very passionate about the cause. "Some people have asked why we don't send in the warships immediately, and it's because we obviously have an obligation to settle things diplomatically and peacefully," Ms Saffin said. "Our actions so far have been robust, sending an unambiguous message to the Japanese Government that whaling should be consigned to history.

2010 in the House of Representatives: I represent the electorate of Page, and the active communities across my electorate regularly raise a number of issues and priorities with me. Today I take the opportunity to put on the record issues impacting and affecting my electorate. The community's priorities are my priorities. I may not be able to mention all them that I want to in three minutes, but I will see how I go. There are two issues that many members of the community are passionately opposed to......There is a strong antiwhaling campaign in Page. There is support for the government's diplomatic efforts with Japan to get them to cease and for the legal case, coming by year's end, if diplomatic efforts do not bear fruit. There is support for Sea Shepherd and others who work to stop Japanese whaling in the southern ocean.

2010 in The Northern Star : FEDERAL Member for Page Janelle Saffin has welcomed the Australian Government's decision to initiate legal action in the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Japanese 'scientific' whaling in the Southern Ocean.Ms Saffin said she endorsed the government's commitment to bring an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and around the globe, after unsuccessful efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to this issue in the International Whaling Commission and bilaterally with Japan."This decision is not one which has been taken lightly, but it will have widespread support across Page from all sectors of the community because so many local people are passionately opposed to whaling," she said.

This month the annual east coast whale census occurs and now is the time to make plans to participate:

On Sunday 27 June 2010, ORRCA (Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia) will be conducting its annual Whale Census Day along the Australian coastline. If you are interested in whales, we invite you to head to your nearest or favourite ocean viewing spot to take part in the whale census and learn more about these noble and fascinating creatures.
To register and report your sightings, just call the ORRCA Hotline (24 hours) on (02) 9415 3333. Pack a picnic, sun block and your binoculars (and a book on whales if you have one) and enjoy the great outdoors.

You can also show your support for whales at Tails for Whales

A great big new tax - it's gonna ruin us! Again!

It's Going To Ruin Us YouTube video

No wonder the Libs like Clive!

No wonder the Über Mensch of the Liberal Party like Australian mining magnate, rich listee and generous political donor Clive Palmer - he has the same take on 'truth' as Lib leader Tony Abbott.

Clive in The Bulletin on 20th May 2010:
"MINING magnate Clive Palmer will visit Central Queensland tomorrow to continue development of the Alpha coal mining project. Mr Palmer said the project will go ahead despite the Federal Government's proposal to tax the mining industry a further 40%, which he called "rubbish". He said: ''We will go ahead with that project, as finance is already approved, but any further expansion is definitely out of the question, and our other projects won't go ahead." Mr Palmer said two interstate projects, which he said could employ at least 6000 people directly, and up to 50,000 people through mining service industries, have been taken off the drawing board."

Clive in The Sydney Morning Herald on 6th June 2010:
"First out of the blocks in the race to cancel spending was Palmer, who, within days of the tax's announcement on May 2, claimed he was going to scrap exploration plans in South Australia. The problem - as Treasurer Wayne Swan quickly pointed out - was that no one in government seemed to know about the plans. ''Mr Palmer has claimed that he has scrapped a project in South Australia that neither the Federal Resources Department, nor the State Resources Department in South Australia know anything about,'' Swan said. And when it was suggested to the former staffer of Joh Bjelke Petersen that the tax might also disrupt his plans to float his privately owned empire, Palmer changed his tune. ''I don't think so....."

Clive in ABC News yesterday:
"In the heat of the public debate, Queensland billionaire and Liberal National Party (LNP) donor Clive Palmer admits he may have overstated the tax's impact on his projects in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
Mr Palmer owns one of the largest deposits of iron ore in the world, carved out in five separate projects.
The investment for the first development was secured before the super profits tax was announced.
When asked about one project Mr Palmer said was "canned", the chief geologist at Mineralogy, Mark Strizek, said the project was still going ahead.
"All approvals are done and we've also submitted the environmental approvals for the other three or four projects there, so they're all in train," he said.
Mr Palmer says he probably phrased it too strongly.
"It should have been ... slowing them down, waiting to see what happens," he said."

That Clive thinks he can tell any old tall tale is well-known, but what is not as well known is that on his personal brag page at Mineralogy he links to media articles he likes about his bankrolling of WA Lib state election campaign ads, mining expansion plans, accquistions, the sports team and anything else 'Clive' which takes his fancy. Of course what is missing from that webpage is any mention that the economy will go into free fall if the Rudd Government introduces a resources profits tax or that company expansion plans are in anyway on hold - he leaves that nonsense he spouts elsewhere well alone.

Why is Google inserting itself in the Australian mining tax debate?

Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer has been making much of the fact that Kevin Rudd is mentioned in the same breath as Marx and Engels when one does a Google search for the term "super tax".

However the first mention of this 'trio' appears to have been by Palmer himself - starting initially as a general charge of "communist" to a Bowen LNP audience on May 19 before refining to a specific association with Marx and Engels by 2 June this year in front of a National Press Club audience.

Coincidentally, the latter reference does not turn up 'independently' until 2 June, when Wikipedia finally makes mention.

When looking for references I stumbled upon this comment attached to an online Sydney Morning Herald article on 3 June 2010:

On Tuesday 1 June 2010 if you clicked he following link to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superprofit you would have seen Kevin Rudd's name along side those of Marx and Lenin in the first paragraph. It stated that Kevin Rudd had announced a "Super Profit tax," for mining in Australia.
I know because I sent the link to some friends suggesting that having the PM of Australia mentioned in the same paragraph as the 2 communist icons is not a good thing for Australia.
Having checked the link again this morning, Rudd's name is not mentioned and the reference to the mining tax has been removed.
I don't know if/how you can check things out in Wiki land to see what and when something was updated, but it would be great if someone could as it has definitely changed. I wonder if it was within a few minutes of Clive Palmer mentioning it at the Press Club yesterday.
Forget fighting Conroy's disastrous internet filter, Labor government censorship is happening right now.
CJ NSW - June 03, 2010, 8:06AM

Intrigued, I went to Wikipedia and discovered the individual who edited out mention of Kevin Rudd was USER Intelligent Mr. Toad, an occasional Wiki editor since 2004 who possibly hails from Queensland.

However, even more intriguing was the identity of the individual who first inserted Rudd's name USER 72.14.228.140, an individual/s apparently from somewhere in or near New York who only emerged on 13 April 2010 in Wiki edit histories.

Now IP address 72.14.228.140 belongs to Google Corporate It according to Whois. It's not a robot.

So why was a Google employee bothering to mimic Clive Palmer by placing Rudd in the same company as Marx and Engels?
Thought Clive needed a little help with his credibility perhaps?

Kristina the Angry

Anyone else notice how many times NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is angry these days?
This year alone she's been angry with Paluzzano, Campbell, McDonald for not telling her teh troof and with a whistleblower for so obviously yelling troofs - calling him "vexatious" and hinting at nefarious deeds.
Whenever Tina the First isn't angry she often finds herself "disappointed" or "frustrated". Yesterday she was reported a "grim" once the media asked her to comment on the fact that ICAC is allegedly looking into an allegation that she created a dirt file on that whistleblower.

I'm getting a strong impression that this premier is no longer in control of the state train.
I expect that Keneally will also find herself "shocked" and "sorry" on a few occasions before the next state election rolls around.

Pics of Tina flashing her cranky face from Google Images

The Clarence Valley Famous Five continue to suffer fallout after caving in to McDonald's Australia

Letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner on 5 June 2010:

Who does CVC represent?

FIVE Clarence Valley Councillors need reminding of who they represent.

I would like to make a comment in regard to Cr Pat Comben's McDonald's opinion and the general McDonald's issue.

First of all, congratulations to the three young men from Yamba, who along with the Yamba Chamber of Commerce, stepped outside their comfort zone and drove the "No McDonald's" campaign.

Community campaigns and lobbying at a grassroots level take great courage, time and effort and usually come with a steep learning curve. To the uninitiated who blindly believe we have numerous rights soon find out that a lot of those rights are, in actual fact, constantly being eroded away by our very own local, state and federal governments and corporate greed.

We also had the Yamba Chamber of Commerce, who represent the local Yamba business community and has an obligation to its members, also involved in this campaign. Nobody knows or loves the Yamba business community better than they do and council's "Yes" decision is a slap in the face to them. The chamber would have not gone down the campaign road unless it had the support of its own members.

What I find interesting from a community perspective is those people involved in trying to save the Grafton and Maclean hospitals must be shaking their heads and wondering how to harness the energy of those 6000 people who made their feelings known about McDonald's in Yamba when they can only muster a couple hundred for their issue.

The good news is we need to be reminded there are numerous examples from around the world and Australia that people power is still alive and well and can move mountains, stop wars, affect change and bring governments and companies to account. The trick is to inspire people to stop being armchair critics and apathetic and become involved in their community.

Now for Cr Comben's comment. A former Queensland Cabinet Minister in the Goss era, Cr Comben obviously hasn't read his own "councillor guide", published by the NSW Department of Local Government in co-operation with the Local Government Association of NSW and the Shires Association of NSW when elected to Clarence Valley Council.

Cr Comben's comment: "The view of some individuals that councillors or any elected representative must vote as the majority of the ratepayers or electors wish... is not a requirement of Australian democracy", maybe that is how Queenslanders think and do things, however, it appears that is not the preferred style within NSW.

Excerpt 2.1 - Roles and Responsibilities of a councillor: "To represent the interests of residents and ratepayers, provide leadership and guidance to the community, facilitate communication between the community and the council. A councillor's role as a democratically elected representative provides an essential link between the community and council."

In my humble opinion, CVC and the five councillors who voted "yes" have been negligent in their duty of care to the Yamba constituents and the Yamba Chamber of Commerce involved in this matter by not enabling the Local Government Act 1993, which contains important mechanisms to enable a council to more formally consult with its community.

For example, a council may conduct a poll on an important issue to get an understanding of the community's views on a matter. Consultation is a mechanism to assist councillors to understand and incorporate the public will and community concerns into decision-making.

From the outset, CVC knew this was a contentious issue. Surely it would have been in the public and community interest to conduct a poll, public meeting or at the very least an education campaign as to what legal framework was available that could have been adopted to assist the Yamba community to resolve this issue in a more amicable fashion.

DEBRAH NOVAK, Yamba

Chris Hazell wins another regional art prize

A LOCAL identity in the art scene, Chris Hazell, has won a regional art prize by painting a local icon, Wayne Whitney. Chris took out the inaugural Northern Rivers Portrait Prize People's Choice Award through the Lismore Art Gallery for her portrait, titled Unsung.

Last year Chris took out first prize in the Grafton Art Club's 41st Jacaranda Art Exhibition with Puppet Master.

Image and quote from The Daily Examiner

Ned the Bear does national emergencies

It's always a bridesmaid and never the bride for Kevin Rudd when it comes to hosting a visit Down Under from U.S. President Barack Obama and naughty Ned the Bear takes full advantage of the situation. :-D
"He's cranky. He's orange. He's a cartoon bear." And he's here.

Those bl@@dy godbotherers and the Barclay Bros are at it again

Why is it that people who belong to certain long-established religions want to rule the world?
Here they are - at it again. And don't be fooled by the picture or the plea.
What this European group is really after in the long-term is for all ISPs around the world to keep records of every website you visit, page you open and image you download - then hand info it over to government on demand.

Of course they're not the only ones busily trying to create easily identifiable cyber profiles where none existed before.
Take a look at the Barclay brothers latest effort which is being sent out to frequent and one-time commenters on the U.K. Tele's online pages:
"Today we have released a new system that makes it easier to follow conversations across the website and gives every reader a profile."

Driver of golf buggy really blew it

NSW Police report that a man has been charged after allegedly being caught driving a golf buggy whilst intoxicated at Yamba on the state’s Far North Coast.

About 8.50pm yesterday (Friday 4 June 2010), patrolling police saw a golf buggy being driven north on Clarence Street towards the Pilot Street intersection.

It will be alleged a 51-year-old Yamba male then drove the buggy to the kerb on the road’s northern side and attempted to mount the gutter. The buggy was not equipped with head lamps, brake lights, or turn signals. The man was stopped by police and breath-tested, returning a positive reading of 0.135.

He was taken to Yamba Police Station and issued a Field Court Attendance Notice (FCAN) for drive with middle range PCA, and use unregistered vehicle on road. Police also suspended the man’s driving licence.

Source: NSW Police

How we feel about privacy for politicians

Excerpt from the Essential Report on 31 May 2010:

Media Coverage of Politicians' Private Live

Q. There have been some recent situations where a politician has resigned from their position or their party after some aspects of their sexual behaviour were made public by the media. Is it appropriate for the media to reveal details of a political figure's private life?

A majority (54%) believe it is appropriate for the media to reveal details of a political figure's personal life in some or all circumstances. 12% think details should be revealed in all circumstances and 42% in some circumstances. 38% say details of a political figure's personal life should not be revealed at all. 64% of Liberal/National voters and 50% of Labor voters approved revealing details of political figure's personal life in some or all circumstances. Greens voters were split 50% some/all, 50% not at all. There were no substantial demographic differences.

If answered "in some circumstances" –

Q. Is it appropriate for the media to reveal details of a political figure's private life in any of the following circumstances?

The majority of those who approved revealing details in some circumstances agreed that details could be revealed where there is a public interest due to impact on the politician's work or taxpayers' resources (92%) or where the politician has acted in a way clearly at odds with their publicly expressed views (88%). However, revealing details where a politician's personal choices are unusual or not considered mainstream was only acceptable to 20%.

K-K-Keneally gets the snake eye

This ABC News piece is probably the kindest comment on NSW Premier Kristina K. Keneally's management style:

New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has defended her level of spending on privately chartered jets, entertainment and staff redundancies since taking the top job.

The Opposition has obtained documents detailing $4 million in spending within the Premier's office since December.

It includes $120,000 on flights around Australia, many of them privately chartered, as well as $1,200 on entertainment and $1.2 million on staff redundancies.

New South Wales Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell says it is an exorbitant figure.

"Well it's not justified to take two chartered aircraft at a cost of $40,000 to Armidale when there are scheduled services to those areas," he said.

But Ms Keneally maintains the spending is justified, especially the travel spending.

"I make no apology whatsoever for getting out across the length and breadth of this state," she said.

She has rejected suggestions the spending was designed to boost her public profile.

While The Herald Sun added some meat to the tale:

"The figures show Ms Keneally has spent over $120,000 flying around Australia, including on privately chartered jets and helicopters. By contrast, Mr Rees spent about $80,000 on flights, including less than $70,000 for chartered planes.

Other expenses have included more than $100,000 in rent for private car-parking in the Sydney CBD, $32,000 on mobile phones and $222 on books.

There was also a $72.50 laundry bill for towels in Ms Keneally's personal bathroom in Governor Macquarie Tower.

Another $1200 was spent on "entertainment" - mainly food at restaurants and in-house catering.

The bill also includes a $1.2 million payout to around 26 staff made redundant after Ms Keneally took the top job.

The staff, who worked for Mr Rees, included senior Labor media advisers Tim Gleason and Aaron Ross, policy hound Davina Langton and Labor political strategist Graeme Wedderburn.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal Mr Wedderburn's payout, estimated to be $160,000, triggered an investigation by the Auditor General's Office into ministerial payouts, and Government sources say the yet-to-be released report recommends future payouts be subject to greater tax."

By 2 June there was another hiccup for Ms. Keneally's hard-pressed PR team:

"NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has admitted she failed to declare free airline upgrades for her children during a trip to the US in 2008.
But Ms Keneally said she made no apology for failing to declare the upgrades, given by Qantas, saying the issue of free upgrades for politicians was a "grey area".

Photo from The Sydney Morning Herald

When a water spout becomes a tornado: spare a thought for Lennox Head on the NSW North Coast today

ABC News online:
Police say it is a miracle no-one was killed when a tornado smashed into the New South Wales north coast town of Lennox Head this morning.Twelve houses were destroyed and debris was sent flying when the storm, which one witness said hit "like a bomb", careered in off the sea about 7:30am.

Numerous caravans were also tipped over and an estimated 2,000 homes left without power.

The following images are from ABC News, The Sydney Morning Herald and Channel Nine News. All were apparently captured by local residents and holidaymakers on the spot. They deserve credit for keeping the 'new' in regional news and the 'current' in current affairs programs which mention the Northern Rivers area.

More tornado photographs courtesy of The Northern Star here.

Rio Tinto releases more RSPT spin and now I'm getting annoyed

Like many other observers of the political scene, I've been waiting on Rio Tinto releasing those figures it has been proclaiming would show that the proposed Resources Super Profits Tax was really the economic ogre the Coalition and mining industry said it was.

Well the media release is out and running across the mainstream media.
But the Rio Tinto wording is rather curious.......

"Corporate taxes amounted to A$14.6 billion and royalties were A$5.7 billion in the period 2000-2009. Rio Tinto's rate of taxation over the 10 years to 2009 averaged 35.6 per cent of its earnings before tax payments in Australia."

Huh? Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese and friends are calculating the tax rate on the mining multinational's global business enterprise, not the rate it actually pays in Australia?
A global business that earned around US$50.53 billion between 1999 to 2008 according to Rio's own 2008 financial statement and, had a combined profit after tax in 2007 & 2008 of US$12.35 billion on combined earnings of US$37.48 (before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation -restated) for the same two years.

Interestingly, at the time of writing Advfin Australia lists Rio's effective tax rate for the last twelve months as 26.4 per cent.

When it comes to its Australian mining interests we are told that its tax direct tax obligations were A$20.3 billion between 2000-2009 (across its 19 operating mines and smelters etc.) and that Rio Tinto has generated net profit after tax of A$37.4 billion in Australia in the 10 years to 2009.

Hold on - didn't the company write off that A$5.7 billion in royalties as business costs?

After all, Under the Total Tax Contribution framework, petroleum resource rent tax is included as a tax whereas extraction royalties are not treated as a tax. (Refer "Survey for the Business Council of Australia and the Corporate Tax Association").

And didn't the 2007 Business Council of Australia survey also find that Taxes Collected are negative for the mining industry group because as major exporters survey participants reported a significant GST refund which more than offset other Taxes Collected?

I'm sorry Mr. Albanese, I just can't dredge up any sympathy for the mining giant you represent.
Try as I might I can find no justification for the average 35.6 per cent tax figure you complain about.

The bottom line is that I'm more inclined to believe the Federal Treasurer's estimation that; "In Australia, wholly-domestic mining companies paid an effective tax rate of only 17 per cent and multinational mining companies paid an effective tax rate of only 13 per cent".
Because these are somewhat similar percentages to those my own calculator spits out (without benefit of Shakelford and Markle).

Nor do I believe all the gloom and doom Rio Tinto predicts; with regard to this week's annual general meeting it was reported that "China's demand for iron ore, copper, coal and aluminium is expected to continue to grow over the next 15 years, after which time we expect to see increasing commodity demand from India," Mr du Plessis said. Mr Albanese said industrialisation, urbanisation and increased productivity would double demand for iron ore, aluminium and copper in that time.

In fact the longer Rio Tinto and the rest of the mining industry continue this tawdry exercise in spinning figures the more irritated I've become and, that irritation may inform my federal election vote later this year.

Australian Securities Exchange graph of Rio Tinto monthly share activity over ten years:

The true nature of Stephen Conroy?

"This week, I spent longer inside the mind of media minister Stephen Conroy than I would necessarily recommend.

The reason was as we've written in various posts his performance at the Senate Estimates Committee.

Reading the transcript has, I must admit, made me change my mind about him.

You see, when he was saying some of the more extreme stuff about his proposed internet filter over the last few months, I assumed it was just politics. I thought he was grandstanding on family values while of course knowing that it wouldn't fly.

But when you read his thoughts (you can find the 131 page transcript here if you like), it's enough to make you think again about him both as a person and as a minister.

(A slight declaration of interest at this point - unlike Rupert Murdoch, I've sat next to Conroy at dinner, within a few days of him being appointed. At that stage he seemed thoroughly affable, if more interested in talking about soccer than media policy.)

But the person who comes across in the transcript is a sneering, sarcastic grudge-bearing point scorer. And one who won't give a straight answer to a straight question, at that."

More from Tim Burrowes writing for MUmBRELLA here.

Stevo continued to cement his reputation as the federal pollie most loose-with-the truth (after el supremo o' teh lie Tony Abbott) when he was caught out by one Aussie ISP - "Don't claim we support filter, iiNet tells Conroy".

SMH online poll around 7am last Monday

By 6.30am on the second day 1st June 2010 the poll count was 85,271 - still running 99% against the Rudd-Conroy plan to censor the Australian Internet.

NSW North Coast enters its June-July 2010 flood season

Priority
NSW SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
Flash Flooding
For people in
Northern Rivers, Midnorth Coast, and eastern parts of the Northern Tablelands.

Issued at 5:00 pm on Wednesday 2 June 2010

Synoptic Situation: 3:00 pm EST Wednesday

FLASH FLOODING EXPECTED ABOUT PARTS OF NORTHEAST NEW SOUTH WALES TONIGHT AND THURSDAY.

A trough lying off the New South Wales north coast is expected to deepen tonight, leading to the development off a low pressure centre in the region during Thursday. Widespread showers and rain are expected over the northeast of the state during this time, with the chance of local thunderstorms. Later Thursday and on Friday the low is forecast to move slowly south, before moving away to the Tasman Sea on Saturday.

The very heavy rain is expected to cause flash flooding, with the area of coast and adjacent ranges between about Yamba and Kempsey likely to see the heaviest falls tonight and Thursday.

A Flood Watch has also been issued for the NSW North and Mid North Coast from Yamba to Taree.
Emergency services advise do not enter flood water. Stay well clear of creeks, storm drains and causeways.

For emergency help in floods and storms, ring the SES [NSW and ACT] on telephone number 132 500.

The next warning is due to be issued by 11 pm Wednesday.

This warning is also available through TV and Radio broadcasts; the Bureau's website at www.bom.gov.au or call 1300 659 218. The Bureau and State Emergency Service would appreciate this warning being broadcast regularly.

Updates at BOM Weather Warnings