Quote of the Month

So there we have it. Policy questions lead to "mischief-making". Public discussion of major issues is an unnecessary "sport". Asking basic questions can lead to unwarranted "micro-detailed discussions".

The policy goals justify silence about the means. And for that reason the government, which believes so fervently in free speech, thinks it is reasonable to withhold basic information from the national policy conversation. [Journalist Lenore Taylor quoting and explaining Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott,9 January 2014]

Australia's Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison, exhibits signs of political madness

Hazarra Asylum Seekers website on 8 January 2013:

In an email circulated to registered Migration Agents, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison has said that his department will no longer process applications for family reunion lodged by those who came to Australia on a boat and after being recognized as ‘Refugees’ (and clearing security checks) and therefore became Australian permanent residents . The email states that ‘Family Migration visa applications sponsored by IMAs (Irregular/Illegal Maritime Arrivals – a term used for asylum seekers and their boats)  will be given the lowest processing priority.

‘The office would also be unable to further assist with enquiries and complaints about these changes’.

This is the transcript of the letter sent to Migration Agents;

—-Original Message—–
From: immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au [mailto:immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 7 January 2014 12:33 AM
Subject: Important information regarding changes to processing for Family
Migration visa applications [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Importance: High

Dear Registered Migration Agent

I am writing to you about changes to processing for Family Migration visa
applications sponsored by people who arrived in Australia as illegal
maritime arrivals (IMAs).

Your office has been identified as having visa applications being affected
by a new Direction by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.
This Direction states that Family Migration visa applications sponsored by
IMAs will be given the lowest processing priority. This Direction applies to
visa applicants sponsored by a person who arrived in Australia as an IMA and
who now holds a permanent visa. It does not apply where a sponsor is
already (or becomes) an Australian citizen. A copy of the new Direction is
available on LEGEND.

Applications sponsored by IMAs who hold a permanent visa will not be
processed until all applications of higher priority have been finalised. As
a result, these visa applications will not be processed further. There is no
priority for families sponsored by an IMA who are facing compelling or
compassionate circumstances.

Applicants who have already lodged valid applications and have paid the Visa
Application Charge (VAC) will not be refunded the VAC even if they withdraw
their application. We recommend that your clients cancel any travel plans,
and appointments for health, DNA and character checks.

As this visa processing Direction has been made by the Minister for
Immigration and Border Protection, this office is unable to assist with
further enquiries and complaints about this change. A FAQ document is also
attached to this email.

If a sponsor becomes an Australian citizen, please advise this office via
Form 1022 Notification of changes in circumstances available at
http://www.immi.gov.au/Pages/Welcome.aspx

If you have a case identified where the sponsor did not arrive in Australia
as an IMA after September 2001 please contact this office immediately with
the file number.

Kind regards
Ellen Dorfling
Consul (Immigration)
Chief Migration Officer
Australian Consulate-General
Dubai, United Arab

Courtesy: Asylum Seekers Resource Centre (http://www.asrc.org.au/)

This week's 'Spot the Difference'

Due to overwhelming demand, NCV provides readers with this week's copy of APN's competition.

Remember, entries should be sent to your local APN production. Clarence valley readers can send their entries to the The Daily Examiner.

1. APN's effort

2. GoComics

Images from The Daily Examiner (digital edition, 18/1/14) and GoComics.com

Australian Media Coverage Of Climate Change/Global Warming 2000-2013

Been wondering which Australian newspapers have the most stories in which global warming/climate change science and/or debate about reality of climate change or need for mitigation measures occur?

Well here is a graph for you from the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research.....

Http://Sciencepolicy.Colorado.Edu/Media_Coverage/Australia/Graph.Jpg

How our region compares with the rest of the world....

http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/media_coverage/world_graph.jpg

Below average rainfall likely across Northern Rivers region January-March 2014

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology:

December catchment conditions

December rainfall was below to very much below average for most of Queensland and New South Wales. Parts of southwestern New South Wales and northern Victoria recorded above average December rainfall. The Murray-Darling Basin recorded only 21.3 mm of rain, the driest December since 2001. More information about December weather and climate conditions can be found in the climate summaries for Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Territory.

Near median December streamflows were recorded at 23 of the 69 locations and low streamflows at 45 locations. High December streamflow was recorded only at Swanfels, located in the Condamine-Culgoa basin in southern Queensland.

Streamflow forecasts for January to March

Near median and low streamflows for the January to March forecast period are more likely at 25 and 18 locations respectively. High flows are forecast to be more likely only at Rocks Crossing, located in the Manning basin in northern New South Wales. The forecast is not issued due to very low skill scores or missing streamflow data at 25 locations mainly in Queensland, Northern Territory and New South Wales.

The tropical Pacific has remained neutral with respect to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) since mid-2012, with all the main ENSO indicators remaining well within neutral bounds. International climate models surveyed by the Bureau of Meteorology indicate the persistence of this neutral ENSO phase through at least the austral autumn. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is currently neutral. It typically does not influence the Australian climate from December to April.

The chances of exceeding median rainfall during the January to March period are 30 to 40% over most of Queensland, parts of the eastern Northern Territory, most of New South Wales and northeastern Victoria. In other words, the chances of below average rainfall are 60 to 70% over these areas. Conversely, the chance of exceeding median rainfall is greater than 60% over parts of western Western Australia and most of Tasmania. The chance of receiving a wetter or drier than normal January to March period is roughly equal (i.e., close to 50%) over the remainder of the country.

Australian Liberal-National Politics 2014: you stupid, stupid men

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne demonstrate their abysmal intellectual and political stupidity in appointing Kevin Donnelly one of only  two individuals who will be reviewing the national curriculum from Foundation to Year 12.

Former teacher and ex-Liberal Party staffer Kevin Donnelly says Australian education has become too secular, and the federation's Judeo-Christian heritage should be better reflected in the curriculum. [http://ab.co/1d9CV5e, 11 January 2013]

It is no secret that Donnelly would like to return Australian education to a time when the teaching of history was little more than instilling the political and cultural myths of dominant elites into the minds of students.

His hostility to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and the current national curriculum is well known.

As to why religion is ignored, the answer is easy to find. In a report on the consultation process related to the curriculum, those responsible are content to argue, “The treatment of religion within the paper needs to be reviewed to include more reference to ‘non-religious’ views.”

The authors are also happy to embrace a politically-correct, postmodern view of society. Their belief is that Australia is “a secular nation with a multicultural and multi-faith society”, one that is “diverse and dynamic” and where students are taught to “value their own cultures, languages and beliefs”. [Dr Kevin Donnelly,8 June 2013,National curriculum's crusade against Christianity]

The history curriculum, in addition to uncritically promoting diversity and difference instead of what binds us a community and a nation, undervalues Western civilisation and the significance of Judeo-Christian values to our institutions and way of life. [Kevin Donnelly,29 October 2013,Our colonised classrooms]

While Donnelly’s fear of a factual history of Christianity as a political/social force (particularly the history of the Catholic Church) being taught to high school students is obvious:

In an early draft of the history curriculum, while “Christian” appeared once, there was no mention of Christianity. While the most recent document refers to Christianity a number of times (and once to the Catholic Church) the focus is very much on diversity, difference and cultural relativism. When Christianity is mentioned it is usually in the context of other religions (Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam) and there is no attempt to detail the historical and cultural significance of Christianity. When studying ancient Rome, for example, students are asked to consider the rise of the Roman empire and the spread of religious beliefs, but there is no mention of Christianity. In the study of Medieval Europe, Christianity is included, but the stated aims, that students should learn about “the dominance of the Catholic Church and the role of significant individuals such as Charlemagne”, “the Church’s power in terms of wealth and labour” and “the nature and power of the Church in this period”, indicate that students will be left with a less than favourable impression. [Kevin Donnelly,1 March 2011, A Back-to-Nonsense Curriculum]

Donnelly seems to have a long personal history of pushing ultra-conservative, religion-based views and resisting the concept of an inclusive society.

Dr Donnelly is the director of the Education Standards Institute, which his website states is the trading name for Impetus Consultants Pty Ltd, a business registered to the K Donnelly Family Trust.

In 2005, Amanda Vanstone told Parliament the Education Department had engaged Impetus Consultants to provide advice and services since 1996.

Ms Vanstone said Dr Donnelly had been paid $165,997 between 1997-2005 by the Howard government for consultant work....

Dr Donnelly wrote in 2011 for the ABC: ''Multiculturalism is based on the mistaken belief that all cultures are of equal worth and that it is unfair to discriminate and argue that some practices are wrong''.

In 2004, he wrote that ''many parents'' would consider homosexuality ''abnormal behaviour'', arguing: ''the reality is that gays, lesbians and same-sex couples with children are a very small minority and such groups do not represent the mainstream.''

He has also called for the Bible to be taught in state schools.  [The Sydney Morning Herald 12 January 2014]

Unfortunately Donnelly also appears to view the national curriculum and education as part of a wider political battleground:

the Cultural-left is dominant in areas like the ABC, the Fairfax Press, most of our universities and amongst our so-called public intellectuals. Listen to the news, read the papers or follow public debates and it soon becomes obvious that the consensus on most issues champions a Cultural-left perspective.

With the exception of the Murdoch Press, especially The Australian and commentators like Andrew Bolt, conservative authors and commentators like myself find it impossible to get an airing and, if we do, it is generally as the token spokesman from the ‘right’ selected to balance the other 2 or 3 hand chosen from the ‘left’. [Kevin Donnelly, Quadrant online,Education Standards Institute]

Donnelly's educational expertise is also called into question by past behaviour.

The education guru tasked with reforming Australia's national curriculum by the federal government was previously employed by tobacco firm Phillip Morris to design a school program teaching children about peer pressure and decision making that did not discuss the health dangers of smoking.

The material, which was given to more than 1500 children in Australia and New Zealand, instead encouraged students to make their own decisions about doing ''something wrong'' including smoking (later versions of the guide, including an Aboriginal version, included discussion of the harmful impacts of smoking).

On Friday, the material's author, Kevin Donnelly,.... [The Sydney Morning Herald 12 January 2014]

The Australian Medical Journal, “Below the Line”: The tobacco industry and youth smoking - in part a critique of Donnelly's school program.

The appointment of this two-man review body makes one suspect that both Abbott and Pyne are progressing their own personal religious agendas rather than creating policy for the national good.

Background

Who is Kevin Donnelly?

Who is Ken Wiltshire?