Kingston vs The Australian propaganda sheet

 

News Limited's The Australian newspaper gets caught distorting known facts – again.

 

The Australian 8 January 2013:

 

 

Margot Kingston 8 January 2013:

 

Just to keep the record straight in the face of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's claim that these new allegations reflect on Australian Prime Minister Gillard's judgement (but apparently not on his own judgement or that of former Prime Minister Howard), herewith timeline information taken from the Parliament of Australia biography of the Hon. Peter Neil Slipper:

Elected to the House of Representatives for Fisher, Queensland, 1984 for the National Party of Australia. Defeated 1987.

Re-elected for the Liberal Party of Australia 1993, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010.

Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government Whip from 11.7.97 to 18.10.98.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration (Coalition Ministers John Fahey & Nick Minchin) from 21.10.98 to 26.10.04.

Acting Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister John Howard from 14.3.02 to 7.10.03.

Member, Liberal Party 1989-2008; Member, Liberal National Party of Queensland 2008-11.

Alternate Representative, Liberal Party State Executive (Qld) 1990-92.

Vice-Chairman, Liberal Party Sunshine Coast Zone 1990-92.

Membership Development Officer, Liberal Party Sunshine Coast Zone 1990-92.

Branch Vice-Chairman, Liberal Party 1991-92.

Delegate, Liberal Party and Liberal National Party State Conventions (Qld) 1990-2011.

Became an Independent MP from 24.11.2011.

On 7 January 2013 the Australian Federal Police served the legal representative of Mr Peter Slipper MP with a summons in relation to three offences of Dishonestly Causing a Risk of a Loss to the Commonwealth pursuant to section 135.1(5) Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

The same day The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

 

It is understood they relate to three Comcar trips in 2010, in which Mr Slipper - who was then a Coalition MP - travelled beyond the allowed Canberra region. The trips are understood amount to about $900.

No matter what, it's always about ME!

Armed only with a self-promoting tweet and a tame photographer, Australian Federal Oppostion Leader and legend in his own mind, Tony Abbott, goes forth to grab more mainstream media column inches.........



Volunteer firefighter Tony Abbott, in a posed photograph allegedly working on fire containment lines in the Conjola National Park on NSW's south coast. Picture: Craig Greenhill - Source: The Australian 9 January 2013 - Caption: Clarencegirl

Still posing for the camera below. Note the absence of protective gloves:

Mr. Abbott is delaying a holiday for three days in order to milk his presence somewhere near a bushfire for all it's worth.

More photos of Tony well away from the frontline flames

UPDATE:

Just when I thought Abbott's shameless self-promotion on the backs of other people's fear and loss could not get any worse - The Daily Telegraph online had this montage on its homepage, with yet another posed Abbott behind the front lines .

Abbott has nothing to offer a nation - Monbiot

George Monbiot carves Tony Climate Change Is Crap Abbott up in The Guardian on the 18^th January:

“So far Abbott has commented, as far as I can tell, only on the fires: "Our thoughts are with the people and the communities across the country who are impacted by the bushfires," he says. Quite right too, but it's time his thoughts also extended to the question of why this is happening and how Australian politicians should respond. He says he's currently on standby with his local fire brigade, but as his opposition to effective action on climate change is likely to contribute to even more extreme events in the future, this looks like the most cynical kind of stunt politics

To ask him and others to change their view of the problem could be to demand the impossible. It requires that they confront some of the most powerful interests in Australia: from Rupert Murdoch to Gina Rinehart. It requires that they confront some of the powerful narratives that have shaped Australians' view of themselves, just as we in the United Kingdom must challenge our own founding myths. In Australia's case, climate change clashes with a story of great cultural power: of a land of opportunity, in which progress is limited only by the rate at which natural resources can be extracted; in which this accelerating extraction leads to the inexorable improvement of the lives of its people. What is happening in Australia today looks like anything but improvement.

This, I think, is too much for Abbott to take on: as a result he has nothing to offer a nation for which this terrible weather is a warning of much worse to come. Australia's new weather demands a new politics; a politics capable of responding to an existential threat.”

Australian National Heatwave 9 January 2013

Australian Bureau of Meteorology Northern Rivers forecast for Wednesday 9 January:

Sunny morning. The chance of showers and thunderstorms from midday, with little, if any, rain reaching the ground. Winds north to northwesterly 25 to 35 km/h tending northwesterly in the middle of the day then shifting south to southeasterly in the afternoon. Overnight temperatures falling to the low to mid 20s with daytime temperatures reaching 37 to 42.
Fire Danger - Far North Coast: Severe
UV Alert from 8:50 am to 5:00 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 13 [Extreme]

Tasmanian Bushfires 2013 Appeal

http://www.redcross.org.au/tasmanian-bushfires-appeal-2013.aspx 

 

Red Cross is running the National Registration and Inquiry System, which helps reconnect family and friends affected by the disaster.

All people affected by the fires are urged to register their details online or call the State Inquiry Centre on 1800 727 077.

Red Cross volunteers and staff have been registering people at relief centres, including at Sorell, Hobart City Hall, Hobart Wharf, Nubeena and Dunalley.

Red Cross is also working closely with emergency service authorities to determine what other support Red Cross can provide at this time and will assist with any ongoing response and recovery efforts needed

You can help

Australian Red Cross is running the Tasmanian Bushfires 2013 Appeal at the invitation of the Tasmanian Government in order to provide assistance to those affected by the devastating bushfires.

You can assist those people affected by the bushfires by making a donation.

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible. Please make a secure online donation, or make a donation via credit card by phoning 1800 811 700, or send a cheque or money order with a note that it is for the Tasmanian Bushfires Appeal 2013 to:

Australian Red Cross Supporter Service
GPO Box 2957
Melbourne VIC 8060



Images sent by mobile phone to one Tasmanian mother separated by bushfire from her children to show they were still safe with their grandparents:

What the NSW Roads & Maritime Services appears intent on ignoring about the new Pacific Highway route from Woolgoolga to Ballina - including the Glenugie to Iluka turn-off leg

 

NSW North Coast Pacific Highway Upgrade Biodiversity Assessment, November 2012 - Executive Summary excerpt

 

Much of the native vegetation in the study area has been cleared or fragmented for agriculture and rural development, with the exception of the Summervale Range and associated foot slopes, Wardell heath, and several adjoining state forests and conservation reserves. The project traverses a number of these key habitats and corridors including the boundaries of eight state forests

 

These formations consist of 57 separate vegetation communities including six Threatened

Ecological Communities listed as Endangered under the NSW Threatened Species

Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act) and one Critically Endangered Ecological Community

listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC

Act).
 

These are:

• Sub-tropical coastal floodplain forest of the NSW North Coast Bioregion (TSC Act)

• Swamp sclerophyll forest on coastal floodplains of the NSW North coast, Sydney Basin

and south east corner bioregions (TSC Act)

• Swamp oak floodplain forest of the NSW North Coast, Sydney Basin and South East

Corner bioregions (TSC Act)

• Coastal Cypress Pine shrubby open forest of the North Coast Bioregion (TSC Act)

• Freshwater wetlands on coastal floodplains on the NSW North coast, Sydney Basin and

South East Corner bioregions (TSC Act)

• Lowland Rainforest on floodplain in the NSW North Coast Bioregion (TSC Act)

• Lowland Rainforest of sub-tropical Australia (EPBC Act).

 

A total of 123 threatened flora and fauna species were identified either as known from or potentially occurring in the study area comprising 63 vertebrate fauna species (one an

endangered population), 54 plant species, three invertebrate species and three fish species and six conservation reserves which adjoin the project boundary.
 

The project traverses the major river catchments of the Clarence and Richmond rivers.

Eight Nationally Important Wetlands (from the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (2001)) and thirteen State listed wetlands (State Environmental Planning Policy No.14) are located in this study area. Many of these wetlands are recharged or fed by the Clarence River catchment and support significant areas of groundwater dependent ecosystems...
 

The proposed upgrade of the Pacific Highway from Woolgoolga to Ballina would have a significant impact on aspects of the biodiversity of study area. There would be a loss of

around 948 hectares of remnant vegetation from low to high condition, one third of which (337 hectares) consists of listed threatened ecological communities. An additional potential loss of 25 hectares is likely to be required for ancillary facilities. The scale of impact highlights the importance of mitigating and managing long-term indirect impacts to rare and high quality habitats and maintaining existing connectivity in the landscape...
 

As the project would result in clearing of native vegetation including critically endangered ecological communities, threatened species and their habitat, it is unlikely that the objective of maintaining or improving biodiversity values can be met....[my emphasis]

 

The NSW North Coast Bioregion supports high biodiversity and a considerable number of State and Commonwealth listed threatened species and ecological communities. Measures to avoid and mitigate listed key threatening processes have been duly considered through the route planning process and biodiversity management strategies. This thorough process considered the long-term protection of the majority of the threatened species identified as known or likely to occur in the study area.

 

There is no conclusive scientific knowledge on the ability of each of the assessed species to sustain a loss of the magnitude expected or resilience to change including adaptation to the proposed mitigation measures. As such, there is a risk that the project could have a significant impact on several threatened flora and fauna, most notably the coastal emu endangered population and the critically endangered Lowland Rainforest of Subtropical Australia present in the study area.....[my emphasis]

* Hat tip to Dr. Greg Clancy, Ecologist, Coutts Crossing, Clarence Valley, for drawing this assessment to my attention.