A fact that all those living in the Murray-Darling Basin need to consider

Photograph of Clarence River displayed at abc.net.au,15 October 2007

With Senator Nick Xenophon now on the interbasin water transfer bandwagon and yet more discussion about damming and diverting Clarence River catchment water into the Murray-Darling river systems, it is once again time to actually look at the physical reality.

This is a photograph of the freshwater flow in the upper reaches of the Clarence River.

Most of the popular images of the Clarence River showing what appears to be a wide full river, are from within the approximately one third of its length which is salt and strongly tidal.

When are all those local councils, communities, primary industries and irrigators in the Murray Darling Basin going to open their eyes and finally admit that extracting anymore fresh water from the Clarence and its tributaries is nothing more than an unsustainable pipe dream?

Dispiriting questions about water security

What hope is there for Australia ever developing and implementing a national water security policy - if every Man Jack in the Murray Darling Basin with even one drop of water entitlement seems determined to not only hold on to that entitlement, but also appears hellbent on increasing allocations by supporting unsustainable inter basin water transfers?
Is 2010 the year we see the fate of the one mighty Murray-Darling Rivers finally abandoned to individual greed, naked self-interest and blind chance?
Future generations will curse us all for this.

Ginger Meggs's school boy howler

A mate who reads everything and anything has picked up a howler in a recent Ginger Meggs strip.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Can you find the howler?

Thanks, Yamba's Apostrophe Person, for the tip.

Why Clarence Valley businesses are giving Telstra the flick

A Grafton business owner has provided ample evidence of why local businesses are leaving Telstra (which is closing its Grafton call centre) in droves.

Daily Examiner (22/10/2010)

I have a business in Grafton that I will soon be relocating to different premises, but still in Grafton.

Over the past week I have made three separate attempts to notify Telstra that we are moving and will need to have our services relocated.

I originally notified them and gave them the new address, which is a current business premises in Prince Street.

The person from the call centre (not in Grafton) said they could not verify the address in their system and said someone would call me back later that day.

No-one did.

I called again the next day, they still couldn't work out where the address was and assured me they would call me back.

Still no-one called back.

So on my third attempt and after 15 minutes of the usual recorded messages telling me how important my call was, I finally got through to a customer support person who was fantastic.

She was from the call centre in Grafton.

Her name was Cheryl.

In no time at all she had verified the address, booked the relocation of the service, and gave extra useful advice.

What a pity Telstra is going to lose helpful staff like Cheryl and we will all be forced to tolerate the generic incompetence that is so often the benchmark of large call centres either in southern cities or offshore, where staff appear to have scant knowledge of regional issues (such as reality of ADSL speeds) and little empathy towards customers.

So, well done Cheryl, but Telstra, I can fully understand why local businesses are moving away from your services in droves.

BONNIE CAPELL,

Grafton.

Source: The Daily Examiner

Do you need the services of a Justice of the Peace?

Finding a Justice of the Peace can at times be a bit of a problem.

The NSW Department of Justice and Attorney General has a very handy online site that provides a Register of JPs.

JPs on the register are volunteers so, understandably, they may not be available at short notice or at all times of the day.

Click here to find a JP in your local area or submit a name and check if someone is a JP.

NSW Irrigators Council proves that tweeting doesn't improve intelligence

nswirrigators

If the MDBA's new #basinplan study involves WWF lobbyists "Wentworth Group", it should and will be rejected. #agchatoz 7:23 PM Oct 17th via Twitter for iPhone

How sad it is to see the Murray Darling Basin water security debate reduced to such a mean, pointless and rather inaccurate characterization.

This is what the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists states about itself:

MEMBERS - Dr Neil Byron, Mr Peter Cosier, Prof Tim Flannery, Prof Quentin Grafton, Dr Ronnie Harding, Prof David Karoly, Prof Hugh Possingham FAA, Mr Robert Purves AM, Dr Denis Saunders AM, Prof Bruce Thom AM FIAG FTSE, Dr John Williams, Prof Mike Young FASSA,
FORMER MEMBERS Prof Peter Cullen AO FTSE, Ms Leith Boully FAIC, Prof David Lindenmayer FAA

The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists is an independent group comprising leading Australian environmental, economists, scientists and business leaders with conservation interests.

The Wentworth Group has three core objectives:

1.Driving innovation in the management of Australia’s land, water and marine resources;
2.Engage business, community and political leaders in a dialogue to find and implement solutions to the challenge of environmental stewardship facing the future of Australian society;
3.Building capacity by mentoring and supporting young scientists, lawyers and economists to develop their skills and understanding of public policy.
Background
Since coming together in November 2002, the Wentworth Group has been the catalyst for a series of ground breaking land and water reforms across Australia.

The Wentworth Group’s first statement, Blueprint for a Living Continent, set out what it believed were the key changes that needed to be made to deliver a sustainable future for our continent and its people. They emphasised the need to:

•Clarify water property rights and the obligations associated with those rights to give farmers some certainty and to enable water to be recovered for the environment.
•Restore environmental flows to stressed rivers, such as the River Murray and its tributaries.
•Immediately end broadscale landclearing of remnant native vegetation and assist rural communities with adjustment. This provides fundamental benefits to water quality, prevention of salinity, prevention of soil loss and conservation of biodiversity.
•Pay farmers for environmental services (clean water, fresh air, healthy soils). Where we expect farmers to maintain land in a certain way that is above their duty of care, we should pay them to provide those services on behalf of the rest of Australia.
•Incorporate into the cost of food, fibre and water the hidden subsidies currently borne by the environment, to assist farmers to farm sustainably and profitably in this country.........

In 2008 the Wentworth Group with other scientists put forward an Interim Basin Plan as a model for excelerating water reform across the Muray-Darling Basin in a senate submission: 'The urgent provision of water to the Coroong and Lower Lakes'.

The Wentworth Group remains committed to using its combined experience, interdisciplinary expertise and shared values to work with others to improve the long term management and conservation of the Australian landscape.

Funding
The Wentworth Group exists thanks to the generous support of the Purves Environmental Fund.

Purvis Environmental Fund according to itself and Source Watch.

Some campaign slogans never die.........

This is the 2007 campaign slogan used in the Clarence Valley in the fight to stop the Howard-Turnbull-Vaile attempt to raid this catchment's fresh water.

What a pity that less than three years later this slogan is just as relevant, as once more the water raiders seek the ear of Federal Government touting the idea that the Clarence River should be dammed and diverted.

Of course the 2007 water raiders behind the Howard-Turnbull-Vaile push never really went away and their political sock puppets continued to agitate for more water over those years.

Never one to waste an opportunity 'independent' representative for Murray Darling Basin irrigators/farmers,Tony Windsor, has been beating the drum on interbasin water transfers whenever he found an opening.

This is Windsor on Thursday, 18 September 2008 at 3:16 pm according to Open Australia:

Tony Windsor (New England, Independent)
My question is to the Prime Minister and relates to comments made by the Prime Minister, senior ministers and scientists that a major part of the Murray-Darling crisis is caused by climate change. Could the Prime Minister quantify how many gigalitres of lost inflows in the Murray-Darling system are caused by climate change? Given Professor Garnaut’s admission that his recommendations of five or 10 per cent emission reduction targets by 2020 will not alleviate the Murray-Darling crisis, would the Prime Minister initiate a cost-benefit analysis of potential intercatchment transfers of water to cancel out the climate change components of the reduction in inflows?

As one can see, Windsor takes the basic MDB irrigator positions as he tries for a new way to sing the old refrain:

• less water in the system is always someone else's fault - this time it's climate change.
• the answer to river system decline is not to reduce the chronic over-allocation of Basin water resources - it's to take someone else's water.

Since then the Independent Member for New England has extended the 'not our fault' argument and, this was Mr. Windsor on 14 October 2010 explaining to the world that (most uniquely among humans) Basin irrigators don't contribute to man-made climate change:

Mr Windsor said the MDBA should not allow water to be taken away from irrigators on account of climate change, because they were not responsible for the problem.

No wonder Clarence Valley residents are brushing off that slogan and again saying loudly and clearly...........

NOT A DROP!

A case of duelling beef exports

It seems the Nats just can’t let go of the idea that there is bovine mileage in pursuing Page MP Janelle Saffin over her suggestion that chilled beef exports should be encouraged over live cattle exports.
It doesn't take expert knowledge to understand that jobs and humane animal handling would win hands here on the NSW North Coast.

“Nationals Member for Lismore Thomas George says Janelle Saffin's bid to ban live exports demonstrates her disconnection with the constituents of the Page electorate and clearly is supporting Greens policy. Ms Saffin, Federal Member for Page, plans to raise a notice of motion to debate the live animal export issue in Parliament next week.

Mr George, a former stock and station agent, founding member of Beef Week and director of the Northern Cooperative Meat Company, said in all his years working in the cattle industry, he had never been approached with complaints from anyone about the trade.

"How could the Member for an area that boasts a strong beef industry put forward such a motion?" he questioned.”

This is our Janelle in reply via a media release which followed hot on the heels of Ol' Tom's effort:

Federal Member for Page, Janelle Saffin has hit back at State Member for Lismore, Thomas George on the issue of live exports.

Ms Saffin is calling for an increase in chilled beef exports and the phasing out of live exports.

She said contrary to her State Parliamentary colleague’s claim, she has indeed been dealing with locals in the beef industry on this issue.

“Experience as a stock and station agent does not make him the only spokesman about industry policy, nor the ultimate expert.

“I do recognise his experience in rural matters, but I am not without experience either.

“What I am paying attention to is the need to strengthen our local job base, and not argue the case for exporters in this case of live exports, who do nothing for our local economy, except threaten future trade out of our region.

“I am for building jobs, not exporting them.

“I also note that the Member for Lismore said that he has not been approached by constituents on this matter, well I have.

“When I addressed hundreds of meat processing workers in my seat of Page, many of whom live in the State seat of Lismore, they cheered when I said I would raise the matter of phasing out of live exports in Parliament,” Ms Saffin said.

“There are others in the industry who have encouraged me as well, on the basis that live exports export jobs.”

Saffin sends a message to the Two Tonys -Not A Drop!

From A Clarence Valley Protest on 19 October 2010:

A Message to the Two Tonys - Not A Drop!

The Federal Labor Member for Page Janelle Saffin taking the Clarence Valley's message to Water Minister Tony Burke and New England Independent Tony Windsor on 18 October 2010, according to the Commonwealth Hansard:

Page Electorate: Clarence River
Ms SAFFIN (Page) (10.57 am)—I have a message on behalf of my community in Page that I want to give to the parliament and everybody who is going to be involved in the Murray-Darling Basin plan and debate. The message from my community, which is home to the Clarence River—and a lot of people seem to be talking about wanting to get their hands on it and are looking at it for diversion—is this: not a drop. Right across my electorate thousands of cars have that on their bumper stickers: not a drop. In effect it is saying hands off the Clarence River.
The idea that the Clarence River can be diverted is one of those issues that have been around for quite some time.
Everybody has raised this issue at different times. In particular, there was some engineering plan that it could be done. My message to the two Tonys is: not one drop will be taken out of the Clarence River. I have also been told, and I do not want to verbal the honourable member for Kennedy, that on the member’s website he talks about those not in favour of looking at some sort of diversion as being political pygmies. While I am not going to comment about my size and whether that is correct, I would say to the honourable member that the people in the Clarence Valley and in Page are certainly not political pygmies. The catchment area of the Clarence River falls within 100 kilometres of the New South Wales coastal strip. Our industries are fishing—we have a huge commercial fishing industry—and agriculture, and the economy is heavily underpinned by that commercial fishing. There is also forestry and tourism. It is all worth a lot to us. This debate is one of those debates that come up every now and then. Engineering wise, we can do anything—we can do marvels—but in terms of the environment and also the viability of the Clarence it would be a disaster. They can look all they like but—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. Peter Slipper)—Order! In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members’ constituency statements has expired.

The nature of poverty on the NSW North Coast in 2010

The Salvation Army commissioned Roy Morgan Research to conduct a CATIBus national telephone survey which formed the basis of the recently released Perception of Poverty: An Insight into the Nature and Impact of Poverty in Australia. This report can be downloaded as a PDF file here.

ABC News 18 October 2010:

The Salvation Army says that many families in the Northern Rivers are living below the poverty line. A report released today by The Salvation Army says that low income earners are now known as the "working poor".

A new report released by The Salvation Army called "Perceptions of Poverty" shows there are 2 million Australians living in poverty. Doug Barber is the Northern Region Community support coordinator for The Salvation Army. He says that on the north coast many low income families are living below the poverty line and they are seeing a greater call for people seeking material aid through neighbourhood centres, The Salvation Army and other centres."That is a trend that has been reported to us in the past 3 years, so pre-dated financial crisis. [There is an] increasing number of families and older people, the type of people who wouldn't normally have access to support services, coming for assistance", he said.Mr Barber says that some of the factors contributing to people living in poverty on the north coast are long term unemployment, intergenerational unemployment and high housing costs.
"The housing costs here are relatively high relative to income that essentially keeps people in poverty. People are trapped in a cycle of low income and essentially having to commit a large proportion of their income to maintaining a roof over their heads", Mr Barber said. Nationally the report said that there are 80,000 new clients for the Salvation Army last year and are part of the new working poor, people who have full time jobs but just can not make ends meet. The Salvation Army says housing and rental costs in the Northern Rivers are extremely high and people are paying between $300 and $450 per week in rent and their income across a fortnight is around $1000-$1200 per fortnight and people are struggling to make ends meet.......

Windsor confirms he's an environmental & economic eejit

Does a pollie come any greedier or dumber than this?
Did he not take any notice of evidence given at the 2007 Australian Senate inquiry which looked at the Clarence River?
Has he not noticed that the Snowy River is seriously f**ked?
This is the Member for New England and chair of the latest parliamentary water inquiry, Tony Windsor, yesterday:
FEDERAL independent Member for New England Tony Windsor says diverting water from the Clarence River is an option to revive the Murray Darling basin.
Mr Windsor, whose electorate shares a border with Page, said diversion of east coast rivers, including the Clarence, would be looked at by a parliamentary inquiry, of which he was a member, into the impact of Murray Darling Basin Plan.
“Diverting water into the Murray Darling system to avert the effects of climate change is a possibility,” he said.
“But where it comes from is an issue I don't want to get into debate about right now. There are a lot of options out there to be looked at yet.”
Mr Windsor, who previously flagged the idea of diverting the Clarence in 2007, said sending water west was possible.
“It's technically possible to bring eastern flowing water to the west as we have done with the snowy mountains scheme,” he said.

Saffin tells Parliament 'Not a drop' from the Clarence River

Bravo to Federal Labor’s Janelle Saffin who really is in tune with her electorate in this 18 October 2010 media release.

Saffin tells Parliament -- ‘Not a drop’

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin made it clear on the first day of the Parliamentary session that she would be vigilant on protecting the Clarence River against water raiders.

Ms Saffin today told Parliament that a lot of people are talking about wanting to get their hands on water from the Clarence River.

But she said the message from the local community in response to those looking at river diversion under the Murray-Darling Basin plan is this – “Not a drop”.

“Engineering-wise, we can do anything -- we can do marvels -- but in terms of the environment and also the viability of the Clarence, it would be a disaster.

“The catchment area of the Clarence River falls within 100 kilometres of the New South Wales coastal strip.

“Our industries are fishing -- we have a huge commercial fishing industry -- and agriculture, and the economy is heavily underpinned by that commercial fishing.

“There is also forestry and tourism. It is all worth a lot to us.

“This debate is one of those debates that come up ever now and then.”

Ms Saffin said that right across her electorate thousands of cars display the ‘not a drop’ bumper stickers, part of a Daily Examiner campaign against Coalition water policy in 2007.

Following her statement in the House, Ms Saffin said she did not want to alarm people but she wanted to be up front on the first sitting day on this important issue.

“I also want to thank the local people who sent me good information on the issue this morning,” Ms Saffin said.

“The idea of diverting the Clarence River inland won’t stand up to closer public scrutiny.”

Leave river to flow free says local media

From the pen of David Bancroft, The Daily Examiner Editor, 18 October 2010

Click on image to enlarge

Huh, kids today!

taylorrtay

Oh dear, my mother has a Twitter account now... that's the moment when you know this social network is heading downhill #sorrymum via Chromed Bird

What is in Armidale's drinking water?

Authorities must undertake an immediate audit of Armidale city's water supply. I'm not referring to its quantity, but rather its quality.

An Armidale resident has a letter to the editor in today's Daily Examiner that provides abundant evidence that a brain-destroying contaminant is in the drinking water in at least one Armidale home.

Click on letter to enlarge. 

Here's The Daily Examiner editor's response:

  

One of Stephen Heaney's strongest claims is that the fishing industry would benefit if fresh water was prevented from entering the river by being diverted elsewhere. That would be news to the fishing industry. For years the industry has fought tooth and nail to prevent diversion, recognising that natural river flows are essential to the health and therefore the viability of the fishing industry. It recognises that floods and freshes can cause disruption but, like farmers, understand their value to the productive capacity of the valley.

Also from the editor: 

We must fight any proposals to divert the Clarence.

Is anyone out there?

Looks suspiciously like everyone along the Murray-Darling rivers is having too much fun burning books and loudly swearing for the benefit of cameras to actually go online and give an opinion.

Last time I clicked onto the Murray Darling Basin Authority Basin Plan online forum page there were only a handful of comments and this was one example:

tony grose

17-10-2010 1:05 PM

Pipe Line Out of left feild here but would it be viable to build a pipe line to feed water into the basin. We seem to be able to spend millions and millions of dollars on reports and the likes why dont we just bite the bullet and start a massive task like this. The government wants to stimulate the economy emagine how much work this would create. I see that the swiss have just completed the longest tunnel under the elpes and it has taken 14 years for just that part of it, that to me is long term vision. We have a massive water source in the north and north west so maybe we need to try and tap into that and then all Australians will benefit. Tony

Abbott gave a reshuffle party and nobody came

Surely this14 September 2010 media release would have to heralded one of the quietest reshuffles in Coalition history:

The reshaped Coalition frontbench that I announce today is a strong and experienced team that will hold a weak Government to account. The new Shadow Ministry is a team with deep connections to the community, ensuring that we will continue to put forward practical policies that help Australian families get ahead.

There was little mention of this change to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's team of shadow spokespeople, but quite a few media observations on his attempt to censor video and photographs (below) and his ill-advised interview with Alan Jones.

Leaving one thankful that this man is not the Australian Prime Minister.

Yaegl family on ABC's Message Stick

Last week Bloodline Series on ABC TV's Message Stick featured The Randall-Parker Family from the Clarence River area in northern NSW. The "stars' of the program were Reverend Lenore Parker, a Deacon of the Anglican Church, and her daughters Frances Belle, Susan and Catherine.

Message Stick presenter Miriam Corowa opened with:

Yet, like other Yaegl people, they draw their strength from those generations that have walked before them. I hope you enjoy Bloodlines.

The program was terrific. It provided a wonderful opportunity for viewers to gain a better understanding of how Yaegl people draw their strength from the generations that have walked before them.

Lenore and her daughters paid tribute to the pivotal role of their mother and grandmother, respectively.

Lenore Parker:

I'm a Yaegl woman, born in this beautiful part of Australia, the north-east coast of Australia, in Yaegl country, and I'm the eldest daughter of the marriage of Wallace and Jesse. And...I have nine other brothers and sisters from that union.

Frances Belle Parker:
My nan ... had a big presence, but she was so gentle, like one of the most gentle people that you could ever meet.... even now, when she's not here, her spirit always is.

Frances Belle

Susan Parker:

Nan just had the most gentle nature...she'd always make time for you ...she was happiest when she was with her family.

Susan

Catherine

Lenore with her sister Judy after Lenore's ordination

Credits: Words and images from ABC TV's Message Stick

MDBA understatement of the year!

Even a bad situation can elicit a laugh or two as Mike Taylor demonstrates with this classic understatement reported by Aunty ABC last week:"But Victorian farmers in Shepparton believe diverting water from the Clarence is still an option. "I think the Murray Darling Basin Commission has done a marvellous job of identifying the needs of the environment. I was just wondering if you could give it a little bit of attention to the needs of irrigators by redirecting some of the big flows of water that run straight into the sea every year like on the Clarence River in NSW and redirect them through a tunnel and through to the darling river and supply a new stream of income water to the whole pool in the environment rather than cutting back all the time. We need more water and there's thousands and thousands of gigalitres of water that just run straight into the sea in this country." Murray Darling Basin Authority Chair Mike Taylor told the Shepparton meeting this week, it's not on the agenda."First of all I'm going to do two things here. I'm going to explain what our brief is which is to deal with the water that's in the Murray Darling Basin so we don't actually get to look at those alternatives. The second bit I am going to say though about taking water from the Clarence, having talked to many people who operate on the Clarence, they're not actually keen on diverting the water across the Great Dividing Range."
Too bluidy right we're not keen!

No comment required ... the picture says it all

Source: The Readers Panel SMH 16/10/10

That effin b@stard Tony Burke!

Federal Water Minister Tony Burke thinks he's playing cute by not ruling out damming the Clarence River and piping water across the Great Dividing Range into the Murray Darling Basin.
Does he really think that the Clarence Valley mob are so stupid that they don't know he'd pander to the Independents on just about anything if it meant that Labor could stay on top of the muck heap?
It's as plain as a pikestaff that wannabe water vandal Tony Windsor is going after NSW coastal rivers and that the Clarence heads his wish list.
This is going to be a trying time for the Labor Member for Page Janelle Saffin as she pits herself against the big boys in her party and vested interests in the Basin.
As for the Coalition - even though they probably hold the most federal seats along the Murray Darling they can sit back and let Windsor and the irrigators do all the political biting and tearing at the Gillard Government without having to show their hand until the House votes on the final version of the Basin Plan.

Journalist Rodney Stevens writing in The Daily Examiner on 16th of October:
"FEDERAL Water Minister Tony Burke has not ruled out diverting Clarence River water as a solution to irrigation problems in the Murray Darling basin.
Facing severe backlash from irate farmers about the proposed reduction in irrigation allocations at public consultation meetings held by the Murray Darling Basin Authority this week, Mr Burke said he would not discount any options as solutions to help revive Australia's 'food bowl'.
"The consultation is real and I'm not going to play the game of ruling things in or out," he said.
"Lots of options will be put on the table in the next few months and I don't want people to hesitate from putting ideas on the table."
Mr Burke hinted the enormousness of the engineering involved in a diversion may save the Clarence River.
"Certainly in the past, projects like this have not been considered as practical as other options," he said.
Outraged at the suggestion of any potential for diversion by Minister Burke, Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin said she would fight to see that the Clarence remained untouched.
"I will stand by my community. Not one drop goes from the Clarence," she said.
Ms Saffin said she would be raising the issue of any potential diversion in parliament next week.
"They can all rack off. I will make that clear next week," she said."

Water raiders begin to grab control of Murray Darling Basin Plan debate?

From A Clarence Valley Protest earlier this morning:

One has to wonder if the Gillard Government has lost control of the Murray Darling Basin Plan guidelines debate or whether the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has ceded control of its community consultation process and, what this might mean for NSW North Coast Rivers which are often seen by primary industry as a preferred alternative to curtailment of water rights/cuts in annual allocations.

One well-known would be water raider, Federal Independent MP for New England Tony Windsor is to chair the parliamentary inquiry into social and economic impacts of any proposed basin plan.

This is Mr. Windsor in a 2007 media release:

Mr. Windsor said he was also keen to see the possible diversion of the Clarence River examined under the new policy.
"The ideal site to divert the Clarence to is the New England Electorate...."

The Murray Darling Association is to chair two community forums in Broken Hill and Menindee on 19 and 20 October 2010.

In 2009 this association at its national conference and annual general meeting endorsed these motions:

13.2 Clarence River Region 2
For many years, Region 2 has been raising the issue of a feasibility study to dam part of theClarence River and divert some of the water inland to the Murray-Darling Basin to help alleviatewater shortages. The Federal Government has made it quite clear that it will not support any suchproject but the NSW Government has not been as clear on the issue. Some years ago, theAssociation supported a feasibility study into the idea.
RECOMMENDATION: That the NSW Government be asked to respond directly tocommunity requests over the years that part of the Clarence River be dammed to minimise flood damage and to divert some of the water inland to the Murray-Darling Basin.

13.3 Clarence River diversion Region 6
This proposed diversion of the Clarence River was first discussed in the 1930s. The FraserGovernment allocated $4 million to fund a feasibility study into the scheme. The HawkeGovernment discontinued this. The proposal, if feasible, would involve the construction of aheadwater dam on the Clarence River, with a 22km tunnel under the Gibralta Ranges in NorthernNSW. This tunnel would emerge on the Murray-Darling Basin side of the ranges and feed intothe Beardy River, then the McIntyre River and, ultimately into the Basin. The Gibralta Ranges aresituated in one of the highest rainfall areas in Australia. Benefits of the scheme include:• The dams would have storage capacity approaching that of the Snowy MountainsScheme.• The capacity of the headwater storage would provide flood control to the Clarence Valley.• The diversion would only require 24% of the total maximum storage volumes of water toprovide similar volumes of water to the Basin as the Snowy Mountains Scheme.• The generation of hydro-electricity is another major benefit.This motion is not a request to build the scheme, but to revisit it in the context of recent climaticevents and over-allocations in the Murray Darling Basin.
RECOMMENDATION: That the MDA requests the Federal Government, as a matter of urgency, to commission a report on the Clarence River Diversion Proposal relative to water flows through the Murray-Darling system and to make that report widely available.

Australia gets bad report card from WWF in 2010

10 national biocapacities in 2007:

Ten countries alone accounted for over 60% of the Earth's biocapacity

(Global Footprint Network, 2010)

The World Wildlife Fund has released its 2010 Living Planet Report.

Australia does not fare well in the report's latest global assessment.
With an enviously high national biocapacity* Australians remain profligate in how they consume vital resources and the nation's ecological footprint is disproportionate to its population size.

Of 152 countries ranked in order of their destruction of the world's natural resources, Australia is eighth, behind nations such as the United Arab Emirates, the US and Canada - performing much worse than countries including China and the United Kingdom.

A disturbing fact that for which all of us (including those Murray-Darling Basin communities currently agitating over water rights) should reserve some serious thinking time.

*Biocapacity refers to the capacity of a given biologically productive area to generate an on-going supply of renewable resources and to absorb its spillover wastes.
Unsustainability occurs if the area’s ecological footprint exceeds its biocapacity.
Source: GreenFacts

Water is a precious commodity in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Cambodia's Angkor Wat has almost 2 million visitors a year. The visitors, many of whom stay in 5-star accommodation in the nearby city of Siem Reap, are putting increasing pressure on the scarce water resource.

The plush tourist resorts with fairways of lawns soak up the area's valuable water supply and are in stark contrast to the homes and the lives of the locals of Siem Reap.

Water is a precious commodity in Siem Reap, particularly during the dry season, when tourist numbers are highest. And the population of the city, barely five kilometres from Angkor Wat, has doubled in a little more than a decade to about 200,000.

Water is sucked from groundwater under the city of Siem Reap and as a consequence the stability of Angkor Wat, a centuries-old World Heritage-listed landmark, is under threat.

Local authorities have expressed concerns that thousands of illegal private pumps have been sunk across the city, pulling millions of litres of water from the ground each day.

However, the very survival of the local community is dependent upon a clean and reliable water supply.

Locals living in Siem Reap's hinterland include thousands who are lake dwellers - they live permanently in building along the banks of the lake of Tonle Sap or on the lake itself. For them, clean fresh water is a major problem. Communal pumps, where they are available, are often some distance from the homes.

On a recent visit to Cambodia this writer did not stay in 5-star accommodation.

Credit: SMH

Tony Windsor takes a dangerous tack in water debate

From A Clarence Valley Protest on 14 October 2010:

Tony Windsor demonstrates a dangerous parochialism in water debate

Federal Independent MP for New England Tony Windsor has apparently threatened to push for alternatives to mass water buybacks, including redirecting water into the struggling Murray according to The Australian today.

Mr Windsor said that if the Murray-Darling Basin Authority was going to use climate change as part of its justification to take 3000-4000 gigalitres of water from irrigators, it could look at diverting water into the basin from areas of higher rainfall elsewhere...........
Mr Windsor said he would conduct an objective valley-by-valley analysis of where the authority's recommended cuts to water allocation could be tolerated. He said that where the risk of a significant socio-economic fallout was high, "there may be other strategies to fixing this not identified by the authority". He said "the political process" would examine these and other issues in the coming months.
Mr Windsor said the MDBA should not allow water to be taken away from irrigators on account of climate change, because they were not responsible for the problem.

Mr. Windsor does not elaborate on where any potential water diversion would originate except to vaguely point in the direction of far north Queensland.

However, as the Clarence River began to be mentioned within days of the release of the Murray Darling Basin Authority's draft basin plan, on has to suspect that the fate of this NSW coastal river is once more being discussed by politicians and interested parties who are still unwilling or unable to understand that wrecking one catchment area to apply what is little more than a band-aid to the Murray-Darling catchment is not an environmentally or economically sustainable response.

The fact that the Gillard Government is so determined to cling to power that Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Tony Burke could state: "I am certainly not going to reject it,"....."If Tony Windsor has ideas like that, then we'll talk them through" should be of concern to Clarence Valley communities.

“I stand by my community, not one drop goes from the Clarence”: Janelle Saffin, MP for Page

The Daily Examiner continues to warn Clarence Valley residents of the ongoing debate concerning damming and diverting fresh water from the Clarence River catchment in its 13 October 2010 article Clarence diversion not on agenda.

Thankfully, Federal Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin continues to stand firm on the issue and support the Clarence community's opposition to any water raid.

Oi, Tony! Whatever happened to "No comment until I have appropriate details."

Tony Windsor is turning out to be a very ordinary pollie.
After telling us all he wouldn't comment until he had all the details on legislation, policy or proposals, he's one of the first out the gate talking up water diversion into the Murray-Darling from other regions so that his constituents can fly in the face of the Basin Plan and continue their collective grossly unsustainable use of river and ground water in the face of the Basin Plan proposed guidelines.
No-one in the Northern Rivers is fooled by his clumsy artifice in this hypothetical query; "is it possible to repatriate that water to neutralise the effect of climate change in the Murray-Darling system by bringing water in?"
We all know bl**dy well which river his home ground voters will be opting for - our coastal Clarence River.
The same river which is salt for much of its course to the sea and you can walk across in dry times up where the fresh water flows.
A bloke doesn't have to look to undeveloped countries to find people willing to rape healthy rivers - all he has to do these days is look over the Great Dividing Range!

Another Yamba 'local' sports star hits the big time

In keeping with the long-established tradition local media has of playing the 'local' ace card any time anyone who can be tracked via a long distance connection to the local area (even if, for example, it has to be via a second cousin five times removed) this blog is only too happy to claim the boyfriend of Donna Urquhart, who won a bronze medal in squash at the Delhi Games, as a 'local'.

Urquhart's boyfriend, Van Humphries, has been named in the 36-man Wallabies squad for their tour of Hong Kong and Europe.

Unfortunately, another local, young Kane Douglas, who has rocketed to prominence in Australian rugby and has just completed what can only be described as a hell-of-a-ride in 2010, didn't make the cut and isn't in the touring squad. Douglas, who popped up this year via Sydney's Southern Districts, first appeared on the Waratahs' bench but soon became a fixture in their run-on side.

Yamba's Cameron Pilley wins gold in Delhi

Yamba's Cameron Pilley and Taree's Kasey Brown have won gold in the mixed doubles squash competition at the Delhi Comonwealth Games. Pilley and Brown downed Kiwis Joelle King and Martin Knight 8-11, 11-7, 11-5.

The Age reported:  
The Australians appeared in trouble during an attritional opening game that went the way of the New Zealanders, but their superior agility and court movement eventually turned momentum their way. Pilley and Brown, both of whom had won bronze in earlier matches yesterday, clawed back from 3-0 down to win the second game, and breezed through the final game 11-5 to complete a forgettable afternoon for New Zealand in Delhi.

''We both played two matches today and we didn't lose,'' Pilley said. ''That's all we can do.''

Added Brown: ''It's very tiring. Your arm gets pretty sore. I think I've hit about a million forehands over the last four days. You get stiff, but I think doubles is more of a mental game … Physically it's different to singles.''

 Victory to Pilley and Brown may have bolstered Australia's lead atop the gold medal standings, but the team is on track to record its worst haul at the Commonwealth Games in 20 years. Australian teams have claimed in excess of 80 gold medals in each of their past four campaigns and, with just one day of competition remaining, they are guaranteed to fall short of that standard.

 Earlier, Brown and Donna Urquhart (also of Yamba) won bronze in an all-Australian third-place women's doubles play-off against Lisa Camilleri and Amelia Pittock. Pilley and Ryan Cuskelly also claimed bronze in the men's doubles over Scotland.

I've been filtered? Oh, that hurts!

Around the time Communications Minister Stephen Conroy began to tell Australia that the big ISPs were voluntarily filtering out net nasties I discovered I could no longer bring up a number of websites on the Internet at home, including the news aggregate site Kwoff.
Similarly The Political Sword was off the home viewing menu.
I did not connect these events and went hunting through my PC looking for what turned out to be a non-existent bug.
Because when I eventually changed my ISP to take advantage of better rates (leaving all my original operating and security systems intact) I suddenly found that all those sites which had been bringing up error and connection problem notices (and the odd verboten!) were once more accessible.
So what has been going on up in Dodo Land that innocuous web addresses are on some sort of voluntary black list?

Not A Paedo
Grafton

If you thought the 2010 federal election campaign was lacklustre & media reporting ordinary - wait until you see what this ballot cost voters

Apparently Australian taxpayers spent over $53 million electing a minority government. Are we getting value for money so far from this Government and its Loyal Opposition?

From an Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) 13 October 2010 media release:

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has authorised the second and final payment to political parties and candidates for votes received at the 2010 federal election.

The final payment is $752,094, bringing the total to $53,163,385.

Payment is made in two stages, with the first stage based on the number of votes counted as at the 20th day after election day. This first stage payment was announced in an AEC media release of 20 September. The second payment is the remainder due once vote counting is finalised.

Payments are calculated using an indexed sum per first preference vote. At the 2010 federal election, each first preference vote was worth 231.191 cents.

In order to obtain election funding a candidate must obtain at least four per cent of the first preference vote.

At the 2007 federal election, a total of $49,002,639 was paid. The funding rate for the 2007 federal election was 210.027 cents per vote.

Following on page two is a breakdown of the election funding for the 2010 federal election.

Election results are available from the AEC's Virtual Tally Room.

Final Election Funding Payments Summary, 21 August 2010 Federal Election
Click on table to enlarge






















And that is without adding the AEC's costs.

A priceless piece of hypocritical copy

An anonymous Townville Bulletin journo criticizing anonymous bloggers..........

"WHEN reporter James Massola "outed" an anonymous blogger in The Australian newspaper last week, he received death threats and a torrent of personal abuse.

How dare someone in the mainstream media name one of these increasingly puerile bloggers, self-appointed guardians of righteousness and all that is wrong about society and, in particular, newspapers.

Grogs Gamut was named as a Canberra public servant and the reaction from his mates was as predictable as it was boring.

Those who hide under the veil of anonymity, taking cheap shots to satisfy their trendy social agenda, don't like it when they are thrust into the real world."

Hat tip to Blogging Townville's Anon and proud if it: Part 2.

Now don't tell me - I bet he's a mate of James Massola!

From a Guardian U.K. journalist with nothing better to do that day than report on the musings of this nong:

"Andrew Marr, has dismissed bloggers as "inadequate, pimpled and single", and citizen journalism as the "spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night".

Marr, the BBC's former political editor who now presents BBC1's flagship Sunday morning show, said: "Most citizen journalism strikes me as nothing to do with journalism at all.

"A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people," he told the Cheltenham Literary Festival. "OK – the country is full of very angry people. Many of us are angry people at times. Some of us are angry and drunk".

"But the so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night.

"It is fantastic at times but it is not going to replace journalism."

Marohasy confirms she's a AGW denier and tries to stack Q&A with rehearsed audience

This I just gotta quote in full from Jennifer Marohasy's blog on the 12th October.............

"I should probably be flattered to be invited on to the popular ABC TV program Q&A as a panelist. But why is the promo for the program next Monday advertising Tim Flannery as 'scientist' and me as 'climate sceptic'?

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/

Tony Jones could refer to us both as 'scientists'. Alternatively the promo could suggest Tim is an 'alarmist' and me the 'denier'.

I am not even a climate sceptic… but rather sceptical of what was the consensus position on anthropogenic global warming.

Anyway, it would be good if there were a few other so-called climate change sceptics at the event… and also some people who don't believe more water for South Australia will necessarily solve all the environmental problems of the Murray Darling Basin. So, I am encouraging readers of this blog to try for a place in the studio audience next Monday by applying here: http://www2b.abc.net.au/AudienceBooking/Client/AudienceRegistration.aspx
And you can send in questions via email using this link http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/ask.htm

Also, the annual Australian Environment Foundation Conference is this Saturday at Rydges in Brisbane. Max Rheese is organising a Q&A session at the Conference dinner on Saturday night, to give me some practice in advance of Monday, October 18th. Apparently there will be a 'Tony Jones' at the dinner and through him you can ask me questions. It should be a lot of fun. You can register here: http://aefweb.info/ "

Drums are beating out a warning along the length of the Clarence River that the Liberal-National Coalition is fronting a raid on coastal water in 2010

Clarence River photograph found at Flickr

During the federal election campaign earlier this year the Nationals leader and one local candidate went to some pains (as did the NSW Nationals MP for Clarence) to deny that the Liberal-Nationals Coalition was still determined to push for a large dam and pipeline in the Clarence River catchment area which would divert water into north-west New South Wales and the Murray-Darling Basin river system.

However, Tony Abbott had already let the cat out of the bag at the Official Coalition Election Campaign Launch on 8 August 2010 when he stated:

The Coalition will end Labor's procrastination and fully and finally implement the Howard/Turnbull/Anderson plan for the Murray Darling basin.

The tail end of that particular 'plan' contained the option of damming and diverting a NSW North Coast river, with frequent mention being made of the Clarence River.

Since it became apparent that the Gillard Government would only be able to govern courtesy of the wandering goodwill of independent members of parliament, I have been waiting to hear that the Federal Opposition was intent on flexing its muscle and preparing to act as a sock puppet for those water raiders of 2006 to 2007 - the irrigators, property developers, mine owners, energy companies and groups within the Murray Darling Association who want cheap water at the expense of Northern Rivers communities.

I didn't have long to wait once blind panic set in concerning possible loss of water entitlements under the proposed Murray Darling Basin Plan. It is no accident that the NSW Irrigators Council is taking an active role in opposing this plan.

The drums are now beginning to beat out a warning that the raiders have gathered once again behind the Opposition banner to pursue the divine right of kings to pillage and plunder.

Presumably the rationale for public consumption will be that coastal river diversion will ease pressure on the Murray Darling system and therefore existing water entitlements in the Basin will not have to be drastically cut in the New South Wales region.

So to those New South Wales and Federal MPs of all political persuasions who may be entertaining the idea that robbing one fragile river system to support continued unsustainable water use in a long-abused river system elsewhere; I say "Hands off our river, our environment, our cultural and aesthetic values, our local economy, our communities, our wellbeing and our children's future."

Otherwise Clarence Valley residents are very likely to declare all out war - both standing on the riverbank and lining up at the ballot box.

For a potted history of the 2006-07 campaign to save the mighty Clarence go to A Clarence Valley Protest.

UPDATE:

The Daily Examiner sounds a warning on 12 October 2010:

In the Clarence we need to be vigilant to protect our river system from those who believe a diversion of the Clarence will save the Murray Darling.
Killing the Clarence to protect another river system would simply add to the destruction.