Stephen Conroy lies and Kevin Rudd supports these lies with his silence

Did anybody bother to count the number of times that the Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, assured Australians that they would have the option of 'opting out' of any Internet ISP filtering scheme the Rudd Government foolishly put in place?

Hands up the number of people who telephoned the Minister's office and were also told that they could 'opt out' of ISP filtering?

Well it seems as though we have all been lied to by an arrogant Labor minister in an increasingly paternalistic Rudd Government.

Global Voices Advocacy on Friday:

The issue of internet censorship generally involves countries deemed non-democratic or "repressive" (something I discuss in my new book, The Blogging Revolution.) We regularly read reports about the regimes in China or Iran blocking countless "subversive" websites for overtly political gain.

Alas, a growing number of nations in the West are examining the possibility of censoring sites that allegedly harm society. France and Germany are leading the way and the United States is not far behind.

We can now add Australia to the list.

Computer World reported on 13 October 2008:

Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government's pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say.

Under the government's $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material.

Pundits say consumers have been lulled into believing the opt-out proviso would remove content filtering altogether.

The government will iron-out policy and implementation of the Internet content filtering software following an upcoming trial of the technology, according to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

A spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the filters will be mandatory for all Australians.

"Labor's plan for cyber-safety will require ISPs to offer a clean feed Internet service to all homes, schools and public Internet points accessible by children," Marshall said.

"The upcoming field pilot of ISP filtering technology will look at various aspects of filtering, including effectiveness, ease of circumvention, the impact on internet access speeds and cost."

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) contacted by Computerworld say blanket content filtering will cripple Internet speeds because the technology is not up to scratch............

Newton said advisers to Minister Conroy have told ISPs that Internet content filtering will be mandatory for all users.

The government reported it does not expected to prescribe which filtering technologies ISPs can use, and will only set blacklists of filtered content, supplied by the Australia Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

EFA chair Dale Clapperton said in a previous article that Internet content filtering could lead to censorship of drugs, political dissident and other legal freedoms.

"Once the public has allowed the system to be established, it is much easier to block other material," Clapperton said.

According to preliminary trials, the best Internet content filters would incorrectly block about 10,000 Web pages from one million.

But wait for it - here's the anomaly according to The Australian:

THE federal Government says it may be flexible with mobile internet providers in its mandatory ISP filtering policy....

Telstra spokesman Andrew Maiden said network filters were becoming increasingly difficult for carriers to install as more phones had the smarts needed to let users explore beyond the confines of their carrier's "walled garden", where content was much easier to control.

ZNet reported last Tuesday:

Internet service providers (ISPs) are sitting on the fence on whether to participate in the government's upcoming live trial for ISP-level filtering of undesirable internet content, with their involvement depending heavily on the terms of the trial.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is set to kick off the expressions of interest process for the live trial before the end of this month, following the completion earlier in the year of testing and review of content filtering software, the results of which were published in July. He faces concerns on costs and performance consequences of filtering measures.

NB:

* Don't bother trying to access Senator Conroy's January 2008 media release in which he promised the 'opt out' feature in his Internet censorship proposal - you will receive a 404 notice and immediately be re-directed to http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/ and surprise, surprise, media release 70 is no longer to be found.

Nor can one find his reported media release of 30-31 December 2007 on the same subject.

* No Clean Feed (which protests Minister Conroy's plan) is currently receiving complaints that the NSW Government is blocking its website. I can verify that entering this site will frequently see Internet Explorer close it within a minute.

If Stephen Conroy holds dual citizenship - it's time Kevin Rudd advised this little dictator to go home before he loses the electoral base the Prime Minister needs to get re-elected in 2010.

NSW Tree Farmer of the Year hails from the North Coast

Old Bonalbo farmer Rod Stanford didn't realise managing a plantation would grow into such a major commitment, but his hard work has paid off, not in timber just yet – that will take another 15 years or so – but in the form of a prestigious award.

On Monday Rod was presented with the NSW Tree Farmer of the Year award from the Australian Forest Growers, who said Rod's management of the plantation was an example to other farmers of how to do it right.

Rod's 110-hectare farm is home to a plantation of three select eucalypt species – an ironbark, a red mahogany and a white mahogany. He has planted trees in steep and difficult areas that are less suitable for agriculture and as a result has begun to halt erosion as well as provide habitat for a range of native wildlife from wallabies to squirrel gliders. He also holds field days to share his ideas and knowledge with his neighbours and encourage sustainable plantation management.

Well done and well deserved, Rod.

An alternative view of the earth and a new word

From The Washington Post

Most dastardly quotes of the week + The hoi polloi assess 'Truffles' Turnbull

“Obviously we want to work towards alleviating the pressure on the Australian people,” Mr Joyce told 2GB Radio today. “I do have a concern that if you pay people in lump sums it can end up against the wall, and we don’t want that.“People go to work every day to pay their taxes, and they don’t like seeing it end up in poker machines or plasma TVs.”
Senator Barnaby Joyce, Nationals leader in the Senate, quoted in The Australian last Tuesday on the subject of the December lumpsum payments.

But Senator Joyce said the money could be wasted on Christmas presents..."I'm worried about when big chunks of money turn up in one fell swoop just before Christmas, because a couple of weeks later you see a lot of Australia's $10 billion scattered around the floor with 'Made in China' on the back."
Senator Barnaby Joyce quoted in News.com.au on the same subject.

Portrait of the dozy dastard from the National Museum of Australia

What can't Malcolm do?

Not only did Malcolm Turnbull think up "all the good ideas" (October 16) that Kevin Rudd has being putting into action lately, he also invented the internet, Microsoft and Google, put unmanned spacecraft on Mars, walked on the moon, cured cervical cancer and won World War II singlehandedly.
Not bad for a bloke who started out in life as the son of poor black sharecroppers born in a cardboard box on the lip of an active volcano outside downtown Vaucluse.
Ross Sharp of Toowong (Qld) in The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday

Just a few words for Mr. Monsanto

Hearing a Victorian farmer admitting on the ABC TV Landline program last Sunday that his genetically modified canola test plot took more time and money to raise than his adjoining non-GM plot, I began to feel that North Coast Voices has lately been a bit neglectful of the job security of that Monsanto employee paid to monitor the blogosphere.

To make it up to Mr. Monsanto as he/she is affectionately known Down Under, here are a few updates.

From AFN in late September:

Ninety per cent of Australians want all genetically modified (GM) products labelled and are less likely to purchase such products, according to a recent Newspoll poll.According to the poll, which was commissioned by anti-GM campaigners Greenpeace, when asked if food products from GM crops and animals fed with GM feed should or should not be labelled, 90% of the respondents said they should be labelled. The 25-34 age group was the most keen for labelling of GM food (95%), with the 18-24 age group indicating the least support for GM labelling (86%).
Fifty-four per cent of respondents outlined they would be less likely to purchase GM food if given a choice, while 2% said they would be more likely to buy it and 42 per cent suggested it would have no impact on their purchase. The 18-24 age group was once again the least concerned about GM-food, as 61 per cent reported that it would have no impact on their purchases. Across states the statistics were similar, except in Western Australia and Tasmania. WA consumers were more likely to show little concern as only 45% would be less likely to purchase compared to the Australia-wide leaders Tasmania - where 71% said they would be less likely to purchase GM-food.
The survey questions are here.

A few words on seed servitude were found in Multinational Monitor in its Sept/Oct 2008 issue:

In the United States, industry leader Monsanto has pursued thousands of farmers for allegedly saving and replanting its patented Roundup Ready soybean seeds. An analysis by the Center for Food Safety documented court-imposed payments of more than $21 million from farmers to Monsanto for alleged patent infringement. However, when one includes the much greater number of pre-trial settlements, the total jumps to more than $85 million, collected from several thousand farmers.

In September Worcester Telegram & Gazette News also reported:

Monsanto has filed about 125 lawsuits to stop patent infringement, and it has been able to avoid court in all but eight of those cases, winning those eight.

Open Secrets lists Monsanto as donating $1.3 million to congressmen and senators standing for re-election this year.

Madge and ABC National Rural News that same month told us that GM canola grower Evan Ryan found that drought hits all crops regardless:

Some of the country's first GM canola crops are struggling with the drought. Northern Victorian grain grower Evan Ryan from Yarrawonga says if the rain stays away he may even have to cut his valuable crop for hay.

Now we are in October, Delaware Online told us last week that all was not rosy for Monsanto:

Monsanto Co., the world's largest seed maker, said Wednesday its loss narrowed to $172 million in its fourth fiscal quarter as sales rose 35 percent. Its loss amounted to 31 cents a share in the three months ended Aug. 31, versus a loss of $210 million, or 39 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Sales rose to $2.05 billion from $1.5 billion last year. Monsanto also reported a smaller loss of 3 cents a share from ongoing business during the quarter, down from 18 cents year ago. Those figures factor in the one-time sale of its Posilac milk hormone business, and a separate legal settlement.

Finally, last Monday GM-Free Ireland published the results of a recent survey:

As well as this growing consumer rejection of GM food in America, GM companies have had to face opposition by US farmers and regulatory authorities to a series of new GM products.

Both GM rice and GM wheat faced such strong opposition from farmers that they never made it out of field trials, and have never been grown commercially in the USA.

Hardly any GM sweet corn1 for human consumption is grown either (as opposed to maize grown for animal feed), for the simple reason that it tastes so bad that consumers wonít buy it. Attempts to launch GM alfalfa, Americaís fourth most widely grown crop, have also fallen flat. Farmers took legal action against the release of the crop and won.

In 2007 the USDA was ordered to withdraw its approval of the GM alfalfa, a ban was placed on all planting of the crop and the sale of GM alfalfa seeds has now been prohibited throughout the USA. There is also evidence that US plant breeders are rejecting GM technology in favour of more reliable and effective methods such as marker assisted selection. Despite soya being one of the most widely grown GM crops, the newest high-yielding soya strains are non-GM.

For the first time in the USA, a major labelling initiative is underway that will finally provide consumers with the option of choosing a wide range of non-GM foods. The biggest companies in the natural and organic industry have united to develop a non-GMO label scheme that offers consumers the choice they clearly wish for, backed up by a robust verification system to ensure that it is a claim they can trust.

This new ëNon-GMO Projectí will be launched next year. It is led by a group of companies with combined annual sales of at least $12 billion - equivalent to almost 10% of the entire UK food and drink industry.

Around four hundred companies across the US and Canada have pledged their support, and at the outset around 28,000 different products are likely to be covered by the scheme. With US consumers, farmers and politicians losing their enthusiasm for GM crops, it is not surprising that the GM industry has scaled up its efforts to find a new market in the EU.

But in Europe, over 175 regions and over 4,500 municipalities and local areas have declared themselves GMO-free.

Major countries that once supported GM, like France and Germany, no longer do so, and the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all committed to GM-free policies.

Land of the GM-free report here.

So to recap: Monsanto - with uncertainty growing in its 'home' market - is setting Australian farmers up to produce grain crops that many consumers do not really want to use or eat, and probably intends to sue the pants off some of these same farmers to help protect its not so healthy corporate bottom line.

Bravo, Monsanto!

Monsanto graphic from Google Images

Reconnecting to Country grant for Wilson's River project

The Northern Rivers Echo yesterday:

The NSW Environmental Trust has provided $400,000 over three years for a new project called Reconnecting to Country, which aims to improve the health of the Wilsons River catchment through on-the-ground environmental actions and cultural exchanges with Widjabul custodians.

The first step for the project is a series of community workshops to be held throughout the region in November to introduce the project, the Widjabul custodians, and the process of working together as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

After getting community input and ideas from the workshops about how people feel they can improve catchment health, working groups to run different projects will be established. These groups could undertake practical measures like tree planting and rehabilitating the banks of waterways. The projects are only limited by the community's imagination.

Spokesperson for the project, Anthony Acret from Rous Water, says that the project aims to build a culture of sustainability, develop creative partnerships, build capacity to employ Aboriginal people in sustainability education and action, and cultivate a sense of place and reconciliation.

The Widjabul custodians have a simple message for everyone: Jahna ngali garimaleh jogun, which means "Let's stand together, looking after country".

A partnership project, it includes the community, Rous Water, the Widjabul custodians and Sustainable Futures Australia.

For further information or to register for one of the free workshops phone Emily at Sustainable Futures Australia on 6685 7194 or email wilsonsriver@sustainablefutures.com.au.

ASIO laugh of the week via Crikey

Crikey on Monday:

"ASIO is advertising for intelligence officers, but to apply, you have to email a recruitment company for an application form (intelligence@tmpworldwide.com.au.) You can see this on the following page. But how good can ASIO's security be if a private company (and a foreign one at that) will have the name of every applicant? TMP may not necessarily know who is successful with their application to become an intelligence officer, but they will have a complete list of applicants and so if anybody later on ever wants to find if someone is a ASIO intelligence officer or works for ASIO they can just see if their name is on the applicant list. Seeing as TMP is a foreign company, how safe can it be giving them a list of all ASIO job applicants? You'd think ASIO would be handling that in-house. Their own website says:

Please note: All applications for employment with ASIO are handled in the strictest confidence. It is essential that you DO NOT discuss your application with others as doing so may adversely affect your application.

But they still outsource the recruiting of Australia's spy agency to a foreign company --- that doesn't seem very good security to me."

Just gotta laugh!

Cartoon came from Dvice.com