Time for Rudd Government to look Howard's NT Intervention squarely in the face

It is no use pussy footing around the issue. John Howard's NT Intervention was a thinly disguised attempt to quash new native title applications on affected land, a grab at indigenous community assets and a dress rehearsal for controlling the income of all Australian welfare recipients.

It is based on 1940s-style racism and bigotry.

In The Age today a call went out for the Rudd Government to overhaul the legislation that it cravenly voted for when in Opposition.

 

"A GOVERNMENT human rights watchdog has called for an overhaul of the landmark emergency intervention legislation to remove "punitive and racist" provisions that discriminate against Aborigines.

A report prepared by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has found that the "racially based legislation" contravenes a number of international human rights conventions and the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act.

The Age believes the report outlines a 10-point program on how to unscramble the legislation and endorses moves by the Government to reimpose permits, reinstate the work-for-the-dole scheme, known as CDEP, and provide a strategy to close the life expectancy gap for indigenous people.----

"Tom Calma, the commissioner responsible for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice issues and author of the report, said yesterday: "The whole intervention is questionable, especially the racist way it was imposed on Aboriginal people."

While declining to discuss the contents of the report, he said there was a problem with the legislation because "it contravened most of the international conventions Australia had signed up to … There will be a lot of detail and arguments identifying what changes need to be made."

It's the little things that finally drive you mad

Nearly chocked on my morning cuppa yesterday - I kid you not.

ABC News Radio broadcast Liberals leader Brendan Nelson saying that he was the most important person Kevin Rudd should negotiate with about wording of the apology to the Stolen Generation.

Not the Stolen Generation, not indigenous leaders or their communities - just Brendan should be the main focus.

The mind boggles at how little most Coalition MPs understand.

Little Brennie's statement was so 'out there' that it deserves a link. 

 

Almost knocked over a beer at dinner that night - my oath I did.

ABC TV showed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd beaming from the box as he assured us all that privatising the NSW power industry was good for Australia.

In one fell swoop betraying Labor Party principles and NSW voters.

Rudders support was such a 'rat out' that it also deserves a link for posterity.

 

Of course it's always the minor things which drive you screaming from the room - too right.

All night with that new, bright blue solid ABC1 logo, winking and blinking and intruding on every televised scene. Aaaggh!

Wondering exactly where Japan might be made answerable for its Southern Ocean whale kill? Here's one venue Australia may be considering

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea online information.

 

"The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was opened for signature at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982. It entered into force 12 years later, on 16 November 1994. A subsequent Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the Convention was adopted on 28 July 1994 and entered into force on 28 July 1996. This Agreement and Part XI of the Convention are to be interpreted and applied together as a single instrument.

The origins of the Convention date from 1 November 1967 when Ambassador Arvid Pardo of Malta addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations and called for "an effective international regime over the seabed and the ocean floor beyond a clearly defined national jurisdiction". This led to the convening, in 1973, of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which after nine years of negotiations adopted the Convention.

The Convention establishes a comprehensive legal framework to regulate all ocean space, its uses and resources. It contains, among other things, provisions relating to the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone and the high seas. It also provides for the protection and preservation of the marine environment, for marine scientific research and for the development and transfer of marine technology. One of the most important parts of the Convention concerns the exploration for and exploitation of the resources of the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (the Area). The Convention declares the Area and its resources to be "the common heritage of mankind". The International Seabed Authority, established by the Convention, administers the resources of the Area.

Part XV of the Convention lays down a comprehensive system for the settlement of disputes that might arise with respect to the interpretation and application of the Convention. It requires States Parties to settle their disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention by peaceful means indicated in the Charter of the United Nations. However, if parties to a dispute fail to reach a settlement by peaceful means of their own choice, they are obliged to resort to the compulsory dispute settlement procedures entailing binding decisions, subject to limitations and exceptions contained in the Convention.

The mechanism established by the Convention provides for four alternative means for the settlement of disputes: the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Court of Justice, an arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VII to the Convention, and a special arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VIII to the Convention.

A State Party is free to choose one or more of these means by a written declaration to be made under article 287 of the Convention and deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations (declarations made by States Parties under article 287).

If the parties to a dispute have not accepted the same settlement procedure, the dispute may be submitted only to arbitration in accordance with Annex VII, unless the parties otherwise agree."

 

Both New Zealand and Australia have previously used the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to stop Japan's overfishing of Southern Bluefin Tuna.

Exclusive Brethren fleece the public purse

The Sydney Morning Herald (11/2/2008) reports that a secret review by the federal Education Department reveals how the Exclusive Brethren and other organisations that have been identified as receiving an already too-generous share of government funding are exploiting a loophole to claim even more money from taxpayers - simply by building more campuses.

The report shows the Exclusive Brethren to be the "biggest winner" in this rort by establishing 16 campuses around NSW.

The MET School at Meadowbank, run by the Brethren, is an example of what the Education Department sees as schools getting an unfair advantage. The MET School is the parent school for the other 15 campuses. Only one of these, at Kellyville, is within 50 kilometres of the parent school. One, Lavington, is 600 kilometres away in Albury. If they were called new schools, they would not qualify for the same generous funding. But as "campuses", they keep it.

The department is critical of the "inequities" being entrenched because these schools, under a deal struck with the Howard government, have had their funding maintained at the same level as before the SES system was introduced in 2001.

The overfunding has cost taxpayers more than $2 billion over four years and, according to the review, will cost $2.7 billion over the next four-year funding cycle, starting next year.

Despite having previously criticised the Funding Maintained system as unfair, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, locked Labor into keeping it before the federal election.

The Department of Education's internal review of the funding for private schools was commissioned by the Howard government and completed last year.

The Rudd Government refused to release it to the Herald under a freedom of information request. The leaked report recommends dealing with the extra funding by gradually taking money away from many schools until they receive their correct entitlement.

When John Howard was Prime Minister he had meetings with senior members of the Brethren. Why? Perhaps the sect, which does not allow its followers to vote, but has been linked to funding and advertising campaigns supporting the Liberal Party was getting a few tips on the rort directly from the horse's mouth.

Read the Herald's report at:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/loophole-keeps-schools-in-clover/2008/02/10/1202578600919.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

NRMA making limited ex-gratia payments to some policyholders affected by NSW North Coast flooding

According to The Northern Star the "NRMA announced it would make ex-gratia payments to about 40 policy-holders whose homes were damaged in the flood, but were not eligible for an insurance payout because the company, like most others, did not cover flood.

NSW claims manager William Reilly said the payment would be the same as if the homes were covered for flood damage. However, that did not mean NRMA covered floods."

 

This is welcome news, but many other people are still waiting for resolution of claims lodged with other insurance companies.

Page MP Janelle Saffin praised the NRMA and invited "People with outstanding flood insurance problems can contact me on 6621 9909."

 

Finally, a local member who actually cares.

Barack dances in a policy vacumn to the tune of money, money, money

Watching the US race for presidential nomination, it is fascinating to observe the almost complete lack of stated policy or real political goals. 

To an outsider it seems that both Democrat and Republican candidates view dollars to be as important as delegates.

According to the Obama for America team its fundraising had produced US$7,596,326 between 5th and 7th February.

American politics is certainly a moneyed sport.

 

Here's the latest fundraising e-mail from the Obama camp yesterday.

"We just learned that we won all three contests today -- in Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington State.

We've now won 18 out of 28 states, with New Mexico still in the balance.

What's more, we also estimate that we at least doubled our delegate lead today.

Our momentum is strong, but another round of tough contests is about to begin.

Tomorrow, Democrats will caucus in Maine. And on Tuesday, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia will have their turn.

To win, we need to bring as many people into the process as possible. We're pushing towards 500,000 donors this year by March 4th, when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont vote.

Now is the time to make your first online donation of $25 -- if you do, it will be matched by another supporter, doubling your impact:

https://donate.barackobama.com/match

This race is still extremely close, and we need your support to remain competitive.

Thank you for making this possible.

Barack"

Frank Sartor tries to finally kill-off local government

The Northern Rivers Echo reported last Thursday on Sartor's mad plan to completely control major regional development from Sydney or locally through his little mates club.
This plan now includes the Minister taking complete control of all developer contribution funds normally held by councils.
It is obvious that the Iemma Government has a death wish.

"Under proposed reforms of the state's planning laws, the planning minister can agree to a 20-storey high-rise building in the middle of Lismore or Ballina and the local council would have absolutely no say.

That is just one of the alarming scenarios facing all mayors on the Northern Rivers – and throughout the state – which sparked a crisis meeting in Sydney recently attended by over 100 mayors including those from Lismore, Ballina, Richmond Valley and Kyogle.

Late last year Mr Sartor announced the proposed changes, which are designed to reduce processing times of development applications, and introduce a new system for approving development applications. It also decreases the amount of money big developers have to contribute to local government by up to 40 per cent.

The mayors fear that local council decision-making will be affected and the reduction in developer contributions (called Section 94 funds) could make community facilities such as new pools and playgrounds unaffordable.

Kyogle mayor Ernie Bennett, the president of the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils (NOROC), said the changes would undermine local democracy by taking many of the checks and balances out of the planning system.......

"The package of changes gives more power to unelected planning panels and private certifiers, and sets a target of allowing up to half of all new development to be approved by private certifiers using a 'one size fits all' checklist," Cr Bennett said. "That will be a significant change and will put the future character of our communities at risk."

Cr Bennett said the NSW Government's plan to slash developer contributions posed a great threat to small regional communities who relied on those funds to build vital social facilities."