Ten reasons why I distrust Malcolm Bligh Turnbull

Cartoon found at The Sydney Morning Herald

1. Malcolm Bligh Turnbull imagines that living in a rented flat when he was young and going to private school on a scholarship means that he understands what it feels like to be disadvantaged; however many little kids growing up in Redfern, Newtown, Millers Point etc., in that era would have given their eye teeth for the level of security and comfort he enjoyed.

2. As Water Minister in the Howard Government he thought it reasonable that water security in the Clarence River catchment should be compromised in order to meet the wasteful water wants of his energy industry, mining and irrigator mates elsewhere.

To further this aim he was prepared to treat Clarence Valley residents like unwashed serfs.

3. Malcolm Turnbull belongs to the oldest gentleman's club in Australia which has a predominately monied WASP membership. Which limits his friendship group in such a way that his ability to understand issues important to the little person is further reduced beyond the fact that he is both a barrister and a conservative politician.

4. As Water Minister in the Howard Government he thought it reasonable that water security in the Clarence River catchment should be compromised in order to meet the wasteful water wants of his energy industry, mining and irrigator mates elsewhere.

To further this aim he was prepared to treat Clarence Valley residents like unwashed serfs.

5. Malcolm Turnbull was part of the Goldman Sachs merchant banking group which helped lay the ground work for those predatory and greedy practices which inevitably led to the Global Financial Crisis. He was also involved in the genisis of the HIH collapse which saw many ordinary Australians lose their savings.

6. As Water Minister in the Howard Government he thought it reasonable that water security in the Clarence River catchment should be compromised in order to meet the wasteful water wants of his energy industry, mining and irrigator mates elsewhere.
To further this aim he was prepared to treat Clarence Valley residents like unwashed serfs.

7. Malcolm Turnbull is such a prima donna that he can take up a popular movement (eg., the republican movement), sink it and blithely walk away. Something he is obviously preparing to do to the federal division of Liberal Party of Australia.

8. As Water Minister in the Howard Government he thought it reasonable that water security in the Clarence River catchment should be compromised in order to meet the wasteful water wants of his energy industry, mining and irrigator mates elsewhere.To further this aim he was prepared to treat Clarence Valley residents like unwashed serfs.

9. Malcolm Turnbull has so much ego and so little intestinal fortitude that he is unable to apologise when discovered trying to hoodwink the Australian electorate, eg., his role in the Ozcar affair.

10. As Water Minister in the Howard Government he thought it reasonable that water security in the Clarence River catchment should be compromised in order to meet the wasteful water wants of his energy industry, mining and irrigator mates elsewhere.
To further this aim he was prepared to treat Clarence Valley residents like unwashed serfs.

The faces behind "Mr. Monsanto"

I've been told in no uncertain terms that it's my turn to do a post on Monsanto & Co., so here it is - a view of some of the faces behind Monsanto's media monitor, Mr. Monsanto.

PHOTO: Mica Veihman, head of Monsanto’s social media team (seated), with Chris Paton and Kathleen Manning, is tapping into Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. From the St. Lois Business Journal on 8th August 2009.

Regular readers will remember Kathleen for the noteworty line that no blog is too big or small for Monsanto to monitor.

* This post is part of North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.

August 2009 is Perseid Meteor Shower Month

Gibbous Moon photograph at Google Images

The Earth is currently passing through Comet Swift-Tuttle's dust and debris tail.
From 11-13 August numerous meteors will be visible travelling across the sky from 3am onwards if you live north of Brisbane and above that latitude elsewhere in Australia.

However, we will all be able to see the 55% gibbous Moon which will be in the sky over the same period.

Frontier Economics recycles its submissions to government and turns them into Turnbull's Greener, Cheaper, Smarter ETS? rofl

In September 2008 business consultants Frontier Economics (Australia) made an 18-page formal submission to the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change on the emissions trading scheme Green Paper.
It has previously made a 36-page formal submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review in April 2008.

Unsurprisingly in August 2008 the consultants also advised on a joint industry response by the National Generators' Forum (which represents 22 major power generators) to the Rudd Government proposed emissions trading scheme.

What all this means is that the Rudd Government had considered Frontier Economics' assessment of ETS models and conclusions before it finalised the government's own proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme(CPRS) legislation.

Now I may be a trifle thick here, but I cannot see how Malcolm Turnbull or the Coalition get any political brownie points for this basic reworking of Frontier Economics earlier positions with a bit of colourful window dressing thrown in to produce the August 2009 Greener, Cheaper, Smarter ETS aka the 102-page graph ridden report The economic impact of the CPRS and modifications to the CPRS:REPORT FOR THE COALITION AND SENATOR XENOPHON.

If Rudd's CPRS is shaping up to be a dud because it gives too much leeway to dirty industries, then Turnbull's ETS is a complete disaster because it appears to give these industries even more (with only a promise of very short-term savings for ordinary Australian households during implementation of this scheme) and without a clear, workable incentive for industry to actually reduce greenhouse gas emission levels.
It seems we are supposed to rely on other countries doing the actual carbon reduction and being ever willing to sell Australian industry what Turnbull fondly supposes will be rather cheap credits.

Conclusion: Malcolm Turnbull will continue to be an embarrassment until his party finally potty trains this political l'enfant terrible.

The underbelly of government emergency financial handouts hinted at by Commonwealth Ombudsman?

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has alerted the media to problems with Federal Government emergency financial handouts and other grants.

ABC News on 5 August 2009:

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has criticised the lack of accountability governing emergency financial handouts and other grants by federal departments.

The grants for schemes such as bushfire aid, drought relief and redundancy benefits are not controlled by legislation.

The ombudsman, Professor John McMillan, says this provides flexibility when money needs to be handed out urgently.
But it has also led to problems such as unpublished closing dates for applications, ambiguous rules for handing out the money and poor decisions by bureaucrats which cannot be corrected.
Prof MacMillan says while executive schemes can be set up quickly, the public can suffer.
He has criticised the lack of accountability governing emergency financial handouts and other grants by federal departments.
He has recommended a series of measures to improve accountability, including the publication of up to date information about the schemes and procedures for complaint handling.

While the Ombudsman cites ambiguous rules for handing out the money and poor decisions by bureaucrats, he fails to mention that this situation also appears to allow for widespread rorting of the emergency payment system in which government coffers rather than the public suffer.

On the NSW North Coast it is an open secret that a number of successful applications for the 2009 one-off $1,000 per flood victim emergency payment (administered through Centrelink) were made by residents who were not living in homes or on land affected by flooding this year.

Indeed one person supposedly made a successful claim while residing in a house which is approximately 41 metres above sea level on land that could never experience river flooding due to its height.

It is understood that government is aware of this far from novel situation and that in past years it had been informed of similar fraud.

Public Meeting on the Shooters Party’s Game and Feral Animal Control Amendment Bill 2009, Lismore 6pm 26 August 2009

A public meeting will be held to discuss the Shooters Party's Game and Feral Animal Control Amendment Bill 2009, which would allow hunting of feral and some native species in national parks and the establishment of private game reserves.

Wednesday 26 August
5.45 for 6-8 pm
Red Dove Hall
upstairs, cnr Keen & Woodlark Sts Lismore

Speakers (may change)

Carol Booth, Invasive Species Council

Sue Higginson, EDO solicitor

Richard Jones, former Democrats MLC

Catherine Cusack, Liberal MLC & Shadow Minister for the Environment

Is an overly optimistic Tony Abbot an indicator of a firming Coalition response to climate change?

An overly optimistic Tony Abbott in his speech A realist's approach to climate change at the David Davies memorial dinner, 27 July 2009:

We can't conclusively say whether man-made carbon dioxide emissions are contributing to climate change. If they are, we don't know whether they are exacerbating or counteracting what might otherwise be happening to global climate. Even if they are adding to climatic extremes, humanity may be able to cope with only modest adjustments. Our ability to live well in cities as climatically different as Ottawa and Singapore and to produce an abundance of food in countries as environmentally diverse as Australia and Canada suggests that humans can adapt even to quite significant changes in global temperatures.

Federal Parliament's return this week should make for interesting viewing as the national emissions trading scheme is once more before MPs and senators.

If Tony Abbott is any indication, there seems to be little hope that the Coalition will be anything other than antagonistic towards any climate change mitigation measures.