The lowdown on Frogmouths

Painting of Tawny Frogmouth by Prue Sailer

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner on 15 September 2014:

Frogmouth, not owl

THERE have been a couple of photographs of tawny frogmouths on page 2 of The Daily Examiner in recent days with them being called owls.

Frogmouths are not owls, despite their nocturnal habits and when examined closely can be seen to be quite different to owls.

Owls catch their prey with their feet (talons), frogmouths have weak feet and catch their prey with their large broad bills.

Their large mouths are similar to the large mouths of frogs, hence the name frogmouth.

The scientific name of the tawny frogmouth, our local representative (there are other species in Australia and other parts of the world), is Podargus strigoides. 'Pod' means foot and 'argus' means weak.

So if they were owls they would starve because they wouldn't be able to use their feet to catch prey.

They are like nocturnal kookaburras in the way that they hunt.

The broad mouth is a throwback to a time when their ancestors hunted for flying prey, hence the broad mouth like those of swallows and dollarbirds.

Other differences with owls are that frogmouths have longer tails and the eyes are set more to the sides of the head, unlike owls which are at the front of the head.

Frogmouths don't 'hoot' or call like the southern boobook's 'boo-book', but make a machine-like repeated 'oom'.

Dr Greg P. Clancy

Coutts Crossing

Crass Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott decides to give religious instruction to Muslims

This was Tony Abbott quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald on 15 September 2014:

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned Australian Muslims they will be acting "against God" if they join Islamic State…

Words fail me.

A history lesson for The Warmonger

One irate Fairfax reader had this to say about Australia's historically illiterate prime minister......

The question and answer at a 14 September 2014 Darwin press conference which gave rise to Warwick’s comment:

QUESTION:

Where does responsibility lie for the rise of ISIL?

PRIME MINISTER:

Look, that's a question that people are entitled to ponder. For myself, I find it hard to believe that anyone would want to practice the kind of barbarism against innocent people which we have seen on an abundant scale from the ISIL movement over the last few months. We've seen beheadings, we've seen crucifixions, we’ve seen mass executions, we've seen hundreds of thousands of people driven from their homes. We've had women forced into sexual slavery, we've had the deaths of very young children. We've had tens of thousands of people besieged on Mount Sinjar. We have seen cruelty on an extraordinary scale. What we have seen is an exaltation in atrocity unparalleled since the Middle Ages. Where does this come from? What evil in the human heart gives rise to this? I just don't know. All I know is that decent people everywhere, regardless of their religion, regardless of their culture, should unite against it. [my red bolding]

I'm sure North Coast Voices readers will be able to easily add to Warwick's list of large-scale atrocities committed since the Middle Ages - that is after the beginning of the 15th century.

A quick look at International Criminal Court indictments opens a window onto a number committed in recent years, including war crimes and crimes against humanity which Abbott apparently knows nothing about or cynically chooses to ignore.

Before that the Turkish courts-martial of persons accused of genocide in Armenia during WW1, the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crime trials covering genocide and crimes against humanity in WW2, media reports of Mau Mau-British atrocities in 1950s Kenya, the My Lai massacre courts-martial in the United States 1970-71, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia addressing ethic cleansing and war crimes in the 1990s, all document aspects of the history of "cruelty on an extraordinary scale" over the last 100 years.

As for where responsibility lies for the rise of Islamic State militants - one does not have to look further than the last war the Howard Coalition Government (of which Tony Abbott was a Cabinet Minister) led Australia into.

The only reason Australia's terror alert level has been raised is because it gives Popeye a visceral thrill to do so

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that the terror threat level has been raised from medium to high. He has stressed that people should continue to go about their normal lives and that there is no intelligence on a specific plot. [The Sydney Morning Herald 12 September 2014]

Mr Abbott on Saturday repeated his assurance that the upgraded alert level did not mean a terror attack was imminent. But it was designed to raise community awareness about the increased likelihood of a terrorist attack in Australia, with people urged to contact the authorities if they noticed anything suspicious. [The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 2014]

This was The Age and John Howard in September 2002: 

This is The Courier Mail, The Daily Telegraph and Tony Abbott in September 2014:

What’s radically changed in between these two headlines and caused Abbott to now classifiy the country as being likely to be the victim of a terrorist attack? 

Very little. Except we now have a prime minister desperate for media coverage in which he saves Australia from the battalions of baddies lurking around every corner intent on killing or maiming each and every voter.

And if that takes orchestrating a nation-wide scare dressed up as both an awareness campaign and a response to alleged physical danger; well so be it.

That what is being served up is classic right-wing political spin is obvious when one looks at both fear campaigns. In an effort to deflect scrutiny of the actual threat level the general populace is offered a diversion - the National Security Hotline which was set up in late 2002.

This was John Howard in February 2003:

The package is the second phase of the Government's campaign to alert Australians to the threat of terrorism, and includes a booklet, fridge magnet and a letter from Prime Minister John Howard. Delivery began yesterday.

The fridge magnet

And Tony Abbott's spin in September 2014:

BARRIE CASSIDY:  And the Prime Minister did mention at the Friday news conference that there will be a modest PR campaign, or an awareness campaign.  Can you say what that will involve?

ATTORNEY-GENERAL:  It will involve some advertising to make people aware of the importance of vigilance, we need to advertise the call number – 1800 123 400 – so that if people do see something that is genuinely suspicious, particularly around government buildings, military facilities and such, they should call that number – 1800 123 400.

It would almost be funny – except that cynical political moves like this sometimes have a nasty habit of turning into self-fulfilling prophesies.

A frightened and resentful populace may begin to discriminate against and socially isolate groups they have been told they should fear and resent, while the behaviour of equally fearful or aggrieved people within these groups may become volatile.

* Cartoon by Moir

Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: review report required by legislation to be handed to federal government by 27 September 2014

Tony Abbott is determined that recognising indigenous people in Australia's constitution is a "national crusade'' that should be important to everyone…. He has promised to finalise a draft form of words for changing the constitution by September. [The Australian, 26 January 2014]

Under federal legislation, An Act to provide for the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, enacted by the former Gillard Government, a review committee comprising former Nationals MP & Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, Campaign Director of Recognise Tanya Hosch and Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet Mr Richard Eccles, was formed by the Abbott Government in March 2014.

This committee is under a mandatory deadline and has until 27 September 2014 to submit its report to the Federal Government on support for a referendum to amend the Constitution.

Another requirement under this legislation means that the Abbott Government must table this review committee report in the House of Representatives within 15 sitting days of receiving it - that is on or before 27 November 2014.

Thus far there has been no media release from the Minister for Indigenous Affairs concerning receipt of the report.

As has become the norm these days, Abbott & Co. appear to be briefing the media before the Australian Parliament and people:

TONY Abbott’s hand-picked panel advising on a constitutional change to recognise Aborigines has paved the way for delaying a vote as late as the 50th anniv­ersary of the highly successful 1967 “Aboriginal” referendum.

The panel is concerned that the public is not nearly ready for a recognition referendum and has raised the possibility of delaying the vote until 2017 — after the next election.

The foremost recommendation that has gone to the government is that a “council of elders” — indigenous and non-indigenous — be established to oversee and crystallise the referendum model for constitutional change.

The new council would be separate from the other inquiries and panels currently reviewing the future of the referendum.

The recommendations of the review panel, chaired by ­former deputy prime minister John ­Anderson, include the ­creation of a timeline for action as soon as possible.

Recognising that poor public awareness and ­extreme views would threaten any referendum held too soon, the review panel canvassed with the government an “outer limit” for the vote of the 50th ­anniversary of the 1967 referendum, the highest “yes” vote in a referendum in Australia’s history…. [The Australian, 12 September 2014]

Scullion also said it was unlikely the referendum would be put to voters in this term of parliament. He said it would be a “very brave” government who injected this issue into its first bid for re-election. [The Guardian, 9 September 2014]

It seems that the Abbott Government intends to allow the current recognition legislation to lapse on 27 March 2015 without there being a timetable for a national referendum or concrete details of any referendum question.

Are voters in Page getting value for money out of Nationals MP Kevin Hogan?

THE 2013 Federal Election finally wraps up in Page today with the official confirmation of the Nationals' Kevin Hogan as the member for the next three years.

Mr Hogan will be confirmed as the seat's new federal member at noon in the Australian Electoral Commission office in Grafton. [The Daily Examiner, 25 September 2013]

Pomp and ceremony will trump daily politics in Canberra today as MPs of the 44th Parliament are sworn in and officially presented to the Governor-General. [ABC News, 12 November 2013]

Federal Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan's initial parliamentary entitlements claim covers his official first forty-nine days in the House of Representatives.

Not content to wait on the formal declaration of the Page electorate poll on 25 September or that official swearing-in on 12 November, Mr. Hogan began to rack up charges against Australian taxpayers beginning on 11 September 2013 with fuel for his car.

By 31 December his entitlement total came to $104,651.47.

Including $7,701.89 airfare/COMCAR costs for a family member/s.

Click on image to enlarge

Hopefully sometime between now and the next federal election he will start demonstrating value for the money being spent on him.