Take that Morris Iemma! Rachel Evans deals a body blow to World Youth Day regulations

BBC NEWS today:

A court in Sydney has struck down a controversial state law that made it illegal to "annoy" pilgrims gathered for a Roman Catholic youth festival.

The judges ruled that the law, which allowed the police to fine people protesting over the Vatican's stance on various issues, limited free speech.
The ruling came as the World Youth Day festival opens. It will be attended by Pope Benedict XVI later this week.
The challenge to the law was brought by a coalition of protest groups.
Activists say they plan to hold a rally on Saturday at which they will demonstrate against the Church's stand on homosexuality and birth control, by handing out condoms and wearing provocative T-shirts.
Civil liberty groups had denounced the New South Wales state law - which threatened fines of up to A$5,500 (£2,680) against anyone causing "annoyance" to pilgrims - as unnecessary and repugnant.

The Sydney Morning Herald today:

Annoyance clause invalid
The judges said that the interpretation of clause 7.1 of the act, which allowed regulation of conduct deemed to be a cause of "annoyance", was invalid because it "affects freedom of speech in a way that, in our opinion, is not supported by the statutory powers".
There was "no intelligible boundary" on what "causes annoyance".
The regulation relating to annoyance "could be expected to have a chilling effect upon the exercise of their freedom of speech because of the very uncertainty about the degree of its infringement upon that freedom", they said.

Well done Ms. Evans. I hope you stand for election again in the future.
Australia needs its fighters.

National Tree Day Sunday 27 July 2008

On Sunday 27th July 2008, Australians will come together once again to plant native trees in their local areas for National Tree Day.

School's Tree Day will be held two days earlier on Friday 25th July 2008.

So don't forget to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty and get involved.

Last year trees were planted all over the NSW Northern Rivers region.
Contact your local council or Planet Ark to see where you can join in the plantings this year.

Photograph found at Ecostruction

Big Brother dies - hurrah, hooray!

That Channel 10 program Big Brother, which notoriously ran overtime again and again as well as having the dumbest premise of any teev show, is finally ending next week.
Television bosses now have an opportunity to fill around 120 hours of air time with decent viewing.
When last I looked the Herald Sun poll was running at 87% agreement with the proposition that television would be better off without Big Brother.
Oi Nick, mate, you're Ten's chairman - make sure that something decent is purchased for that vacant space.
Ten's pitching to the lowest common denominator is enough to bore the pelt off a dingo.

Interpretation of an Internet moment

LOL from I can has Cheezburger

Is this the future of the Murray Darling Basin?

Satellite image from Environmental Graffiti

This is an image taken from space of the Great Sandy Desert.

Drainage is limited to short ephemeral creeks and rivers, which only flow after heavy rainfalls. The bioregion comprises two ancient inactive river basins that are divided by a low watershed. The watershed is a lateritic surface that forms the Anketell Range in the west and Southwest Tableland in the east. North of the watershed Sturt Creek (now only visible from satellite imagery) once flowed across the desert to Mandora on the 80 Mile Beach. The southern basin contains Percival Lakes which represent a river system from the past (Beard, 1990). Calcrete and evaporite outcrops are associated with palaeodrainage systems that traverse the desert.
The headwaters of the Rudall and Cotton Rivers are in the northern limits of the bioregion in Western Australia. The Rudall River is a significant wetland/ecological refuge, which contains major permanent waterholes and soaks. The Rudall River flows approximately 120km into Lake Dora (30, 000ha) in the Western Australian sector of the bioregion.
In the northwest of the bioregion is Dragon Tree Soak, a 5ha swamp regarded as a relict of the riverine vegetation found along the palaeo-river in the wetter climates of the early to mid Holocene. The soak is a fresh water spring that supplies freshwater to the marsh and peatland.
Lake Amadeus is a massive saline lake in the Northern Territory, which has no significant surface inflow. The main inflow of water is via groundwater seepage.

Are we looking at a window into the future showing us all what will become of the southern half of the Murray Darling Basin?

It is now a minute past midnight and it looks as if we have missed the chance to save the Murray Darling.

Tony Abbott: when the political ambition is the joke

According to The Manly Daily the Libs Tony Abbott has not abandoned all hope of becoming Prime Minister of Oz one day.

"WARRINGAH MP Tony Abbott is writing a manifesto outlining his plan for Australia under his leadership.The Oppostion frontbencher has revealed a radical proposal for a vastly stronger Federal Government at the expense of the states.And in so doing so has reignited leadership speculation."

Someone's having a lend of us, right?
A quick surf of Open Australia gives a few choice examples of how The Mad Monk can disrupt the business of Parliament.

Questions without Notice: Workplace Relations (26 Mar 2007)
Anthony Abbott: Mr Speaker, I said that she was a liar and I withdraw that.
Matters of Public Importance: Health Care (13 Jun 2007)
Anthony Abbott: At the close of my contribution to the MPI discussion I referred to two opposition staffers as scum. I should not have done that. I apologise. But they are notorious dirt diggers and I wonder why Saint Kevin has employed them.
Questions without Notice: Mental Health Services (27 Mar 2007)
Mr Speaker, don’t let Dr Death wreck Medicare like he did the health services in Queensland.
Questions to the Speaker: Question Time (29 Mar 2006)
You big bellowing cow.

As for his communications skills generally.

Has spoken in 85 debates in the last year — well above average amongst MPs.
People have made 0 comments on this MP's speeches — well above average amongst MPs.
This MP's speeches are understandable to an average 17–18 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.
0 people are tracking whenever this MP speaks — email me whenever Anthony Abbott speaks.
Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. "she sells seashells") 215 times in debates — well above average amongst MPs. (Why is this here?)

While Google Trends shows that Australia and the rest of the world are more interested in cane toads.
Tone's the blue line and cane toads are the red.

Climate change denialists: practising to deceive?

The Daily Telegraph journalist/blogger, Tim Blair, is at it again with another misleading global warming denialist post on July 10, titled Go India .

Penny Wong’s theory:
Senator Wong said unless developed countries like Australia demonstrated leadership, developing countries would not commit to the required reductions in greenhouse pollution.
Reality:
India issued its National Action Plan on Climate Change in June 2008 disputing man-made global warming fears and declared the country of one billion people had no intention of stopping its energy growth or cutting back its CO2 emissions ...
The report declared: “No firm link between the documented [climate] changes described below and warming due to anthropogenic climate change has yet been established.”
The report made clear that India has no plans to cut back energy usage. “It is obvious that India needs to substantially increase its per capita energy consumption to provide a minimally acceptable level of wellbeing to its people.”
(Via Marc Morano)

Sounds good, doesn't it? However there is one small problem - this is a very simplistic rendition of India's position on climate change (the title of its action plan should have given Tim the hint) and not how other sections of the international and Indian media see the situation.

From EcoWorldly:

The PM further reinstated India’s stand on this global issue, in confirmation with the world view by informing that India believes that every citizen of this planet should have an equal share of the planetary atmospheric space and therefore, long-term convergence of per capita GHG emissions was the only equitable basis for a global agreement to tackle climate change. In this context, Dr. Singh reaffirmed India’s pledge that as it pursued sustainable development, its per capita GHG emissions would not exceed the per capita GHG emissions of developed countries, despite India’s developmental imperatives.
The PM also clarified that the National Action Plan would evolve and change in the light of changing circumstances and therefore invited broader interaction with civil society as a means to further improve the various elements of the Plan. He concluded by recalling Mahatma Gandhi’s advice: “The earth has enough resources to meet the needs of people, but will never have enough to serve their greed”.

And in the India Times:

Explaining the importance of the Indian position, which was first stated by the prime minister at last year's G8 summit in Germany, Saran said: "India has said that at no point will its own per capita emissions exceed that of developed countries.
"Now this is a huge contribution by India to the entire climate change debate. Because, number one, it answers the criticism that while India is asking others to limit and reduce their emissions, what is India prepared to do? Well, India is prepared to accept the limitation on its per capita emissions.

And yet again from The Financial Times:

Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, on Monday vowed to combat climate change by focusing on renewable energy as he unveiled the country’s long-awaited policy on global warming. However, he stopped short of setting targets for reducing greenhouse gases.
The “national action plan” outlines an eight-point strategy that seeks to sustain rapid economic growth of 9 per cent while addressing the global threat of climate change.

One last example from the Indian Business Standard...

The new point in the action plan is that it proposes sector-wise benchmarks and does its own version of domestic carbon credit trade. It also proposes caps on energy use in polluting sectors, such as thermal power, cement, fertiliser and iron and steel. Going further, it provides for retirement of certain categories of old and inefficient coal-based power plants and phasing out of end-of-life vehicles with the mandatory obligation on the last owners to hand them over at designated collection centres.

Indian Prime Minister's press release of 30 June 2008:

Prime Minister emphasized the global dimension of the challenge of climate change, which demands a global and cooperative effort on the basis of the principle of equity. India, he said, was ready to play its role as a responsible member of the international community and to make its own contribution.

So it appears that India does in fact have plans to cap its greenhouse gas emissions. The situation is not quite as black and white as Mr. Blair implies.

A bit of background from ResponseNet in October last year:

Despite being the world's second most populous country and fourth largest economy, India's CO2 emissions is still only one-fifth that of the U.S. or China. Unlike in other countries, India's carbon intensity did not rise as economic growth accelerated in the last decade. So how should India be treated in the global dialogue on climate change?

The question Tim Blair needs to ask himself is - when does having a consistent position on an issue begin to turn into an effort to deceive?

India's National Action Plan on Climate Change is here.