Some trees are more equal than others or Malcolm Turnbull exposed once more

Not for the first time the suspect nature of the Federal Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbulls' commitment to a sustainable environment comes to light.
First his revelation that planting trees across Australia will save all in the face of climate change and then the media rediscovery of the fact that Turnbull actively support forest logging in the Pacific:
JUST as Malcolm Turnbull tries to outsmart Labor on environmental issues, a file of documents has emerged linking the Leader of the Opposition to a mass logging operation in the Solomon Islands.
The tiny island of Vangunu is a speck on the world map; a dot in the Pacific and home to just over 2000 people. It forms part of the collection of thousands of land masses that make up the Solomon Islands.
Once covered in pristine rainforest, the island and the surrounding Marovo Lagoon were the subject of lobbying by the New Zealand government and environmentalists to have it World Heritage-listed in the late 1980s.
Almost two decades later, the island is again being talked about - only this time for different reasons.
The emergence of a carefully-documented file detailing mass logging operations and the ongoing impacts in the region has Vangunu back in the spotlight.
More specifically, the file - obtained by The Sunday Telegraph - records the involvement of Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull over that time.
Mr Turnbull was the chairman of a company called Axiom Holdings after he and fellow investors purchased a 16.21 per cent stake in the company in 1991.
The company was one of several companies with logging activities in the Solomons.
It was also one of the largest.

One wonders just how long the Coalition king makers are going to tolerate this man, whose diverse financial dealings make him vulnerable to criticism (and sometimes legal action) on so many fronts.

Photograph of Vangunu from Picassa Web Albums

How Internet filters work 101

livefeet2 27/02/09 5:34PM

I was recently denied access to the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) on the grounds that it contained illegal content.

From New Matilda, 25 February 2009

Letter to Guest Speak on corruption and p@edophilia

Last week a letter was submitted to Guest Speak for publication.
This letter contained a number of untrue or defamatory statements so cannot be included here.
However, as the general subject matters were alleged police corruption and p*edophilia and because ramifications from various government inquiries are still flowing, North Coast Voices has included the following historical links for readers interested in these issues.

Inquiry into allegations of misconduct in the investigation of p#edophilia in Queensland: Kimmins report

This report of the Kimmins Inquiry addresses the first four terms of reference related to the possibility of systemic wrongdoing in the Queensland Police Service in the handling of suspected p#edophilia cases. The report on the final term of reference (which looked at isolated complaints against individual police officers) was published separately in February 1999.

Inquiry into allegations of misconduct in the investigation of p#edophilia in Queensland: Kimmins report: term of reference no. 5

This report examines the fifth and final term of reference addressed by the Kimmins Inquiry. The fifth term of reference related to 56 separate complaints that were made of isolated incidents related to police mishandling of cases involving suspected p#edophilia rather than of systemic wrongdoing.

Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct also known as the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

Courier Mail: Shadow Land reporting by Michael Ware.

Royal Commission Into Whether There Has Been Corrupt Or Criminal Conduct By Any Western Australian Police Officer also known as the Kennedy report

Exposing corruption within senior levels of Victoria Police, Office of Police Integrity

Exposing Victoria's underbelly, February 2009

Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service Final Report also known as the Wood Royal Commission.

VOLUME1.pdf (1,733kb)

VOLUME2.pdf (2,140kb)

VOLUME3.pdf (5,944kb)

VOLUME4.pdf (6,732kb)

VOLUME5.pdf (2,483kb)

VOLUME6.pdf (12,098kb)

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.

Google Trends a bit dodgy right now?

It pays to be careful these days when surfing the Net because nothing is sacred to spammers, scammers and other worldwide nasties.
According to Computer World on 27 February:
"Cyber crooks are using one of Google's own tools to poison search results with links that spread fake security software, a researcher said Thursday.
"Malware distributors have abused Google Trends before," said Craig Schmugar, a senior threat researcher with McAfee. "But I've never seen them use it as aggressively as they are now."
Google Trends, a tool the search giant rolled out last June, highlights the most popular searches of the past hour. At mid-day Thursday, for instance, the No. 1 search phrase, according to Trends, was "Obama budget."
Scammers and malware makers are closely monitoring Google Trends to guide them in selecting search phrases and legitimate news content, which they then integrate into their own fly-by-night sites, said Schmugar. The idea is to "game" Google into ranking their malware-hosting sites near the top on scores of high-profile, current events-related search results.
"I'm not talking about just a few sites," Schmugar said. "I've collected a lot of them, with poisoned links [in Google search results] that are pretty high up, almost always in the top 10."

And Google Flu Trends is raising privacy concerns itself, with "The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking US federal officials to disclose how much user search data the company has recently transmitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, as part of its Google Flu Trends effort."
However, Google Inc deserves a pat on the back for its "This site may harm your computer" function even if it has a few glitches.

On the money.........

It seems there is no end to greed in the ranks of the rich in Oz.

Example One:
"ALMOST 400,000 millionaires are receiving the age pension and 51,200 people in the nation's top income bracket also are getting the welfare payment.
As the Government prepares to lift the pension rate for the poorest single age pensioners, it has emerged tens of thousands of people receiving the payment are very well off.
And a key welfare group is calling for a crackdown on the rich receiving the pension, which would include homes worth more than $1 million in the age pension means test.
Research carried out for the Brotherhood of St Laurence has found the age pension system is helping the rich because the means test exempts the family home.
Other very wealthy retirees are able to fiddle their income so they can receive a part-pension.
The research by NATSEM shows 14 per cent of the nation's 2.8 million pensioners have an average net worth of more than $1.6 million when the value of their home is taken into account.
But even if the value of the home is disregarded, 51,200 age pensioners have incomes that place them in the highest income bracket."

Example Two:

"Unions say large pay increases for the top executives at Pacific Brands are obscene in the light of the company's job cuts this week.

A total of 1,850 jobs will be axed after the company, which owns brands including Bonds and Berlei, posted a first-half loss of almost $150 million and said it was moving manufacturing off shore.

Last year the firm's 13 top executives were awarded pay rises, with chief executive Sue Morphett's pay going up from around $680,000 to more than $1.8 million."

"The Bill, which was approved last June, includes a rise in CEO Sue Morphet's package from $685,775 to $1,860,649, including a staggering seven-fold increase in her "incentive payments" - blood money for slashing nearly 1850 jobs.

Her bonus was approved despite her overseeing a 45 per cent fall in the share price in the six months leading up to the pay deals."

Example Three:

"OUTGOING Telstra boss Sol Trujillo will head home to the US with a payout estimated at more than $20 million.

The man who boasted about personally axing 10,000 Telstra jobs will quit as CEO in June.

Telstra's share price has slumped from just over $5 when Mr Trujillo took over the company in 2005 to yesterday's price of $3.68 - a decline of more than 25 per cent.

Mum and dad shareholders who bought T2 shares for $7.40 are way below the price they were enticed to buy the shares and barely breaking even on the $3.60 T3 float.

Officially, Telstra says the 57-year-old chief executive is entitled to just one year's annual base salary, worth $3 million.

But Mr Trujillo received an annual pay packet of $13.4 million, $25,800 a week, based on performance bonuses.

The value of Mr Trujillo's golden parachute will depend on bonuses he receives for the current financial year and the start of next financial year. His total departure package will not be calculated and made public until August, according to Telstra."

In the deep blue on the NSW North Coast

Images from Cook Island, Tweed Heads and Julian Rock, Byron Bay.

More photographs can be found at Underwater Australasia.