Another mosquito borne disease getting closer to the NSW North Coast

2009 map of historical QLD Dengue Fever distribution. Dengue has historically been reported in the Northern Territory, New South Wales and north Queensland but it is currently limited by the distribution of its vector, the dengue mosquito to north Queensland.

Ross River Fever (and to a slightly lesser extent Barmah Forest Virus) have long been established on the NSW North Coast.

According to a NSW Dept. of Health media release Mosquito Warning Across NSW issued at the beginning of the month: Ross River Virus is the most widespread arboviral disease in the NSW North Coast region, accounting for about 60% of notifications over the past 20 years and 48.5% over the past 10 years. Notifications of Ross River virus infection from the North Coast accounted for about 33% of all NSW Ross River notifications over the past 10 years and The North Coast has the highest levels of Barmah Forest virus infection incidence in NSW. Notifications of Barmah Forest virus infection from the North Coast accounted for about 55% of all NSW notifications of this infection over the past 10 years.

Now the deadlier Dengue Fever is once more beginning to edge down the Australian east coast towards south-east Queensland from where it will be a short hop across the NSW border.

From The Observer in Gladstone Queensland on 2 April 2010:

QUEENSLAND Health has mounted a "search and destroy mission" against the Dengue Fever carrying mosquito in Gladstone after a positive case in the city.
A local resident, who recently returned from an overseas holiday, has tested positive for an as yet unknown type of dengue......
Paul Florian, director of environmental health services for Central Queensland Public Health Unit, is in Gladstone today working with Gladstone Regional Council staff, conducting door to door inspections and working in "hotspots" to try and reduce numbers of the carrier mosquito.
"Dengue mosquitoes only breed around homes and in urban areas, and not in swamps or creeks," said Mr Florian said.
"They breed in containers that hold water such as buckets, old tyres, tarpaulins and black plastic, pot plant bases, vases, boats, tin cans and plastic containers, roof guttering, rainwater tanks with damaged or missing screens, bird baths, striking containers for plant cuttings, drain sumps, fallen palm fronds and coconut shells."
Mr Florian said the dengue fever carrying mosquito, the Aedes aegypti, was found in some parts of Gladstone, although not in the abundance in Northern Queensland.

NSW North Coast eco vandals fined by court

Credit: The Northern Star on Saturday 3 April 2010

The 2007 removal of threatened and rare trees as well as destruction of koala habitat saw the principals of Mullumbimby company Kohinoor Pty Ltd and Uki business Hardings Earth Moving in court this week, where total fines and costs awarded against them exceeded $227,000.
Unfortunately the clock cannot be turned back and once again corporate eco-vandals have had their way on the NSW North Coast with minimum personal cost.

McDonald's 24 hour fast food: Do you want a drunk with that?

Don't you just love when you drunk, and McDonald's is like the best idea in the world!!!! Facebook page Drunk McDonalds quote and photograph

"Stumbling home drunk from the pub, everyone always wants a feed, but nothings open unless u wanna wait for the bakery, everyone should be saying yes to maccas in good old Yamba!!" one younger adult male wrote on a Facebook page after the news came out that McDonald's Australia had lodged a development application for a 24 hour drive-through fast food outlet in Treelands Drive.

He was not alone in marrying the idea of McDonald's and a feed after hotels and clubs close.
Indeed, there is one website catering "For people who got drunk and then ended up at McDonalds" and another called "There would be less drunk driving in the world if McDonalds delivered" which has over 217,000 registered fans.

Now charitable souls might think that statements like these probably wouldn't translate into action if Clarence Valley shire councillors voted to allow McDonald's Australia to go ahead and establish a 24 hour drive-through fast food outlet in Treelands Dive, Yamba.

However McDonald's does appear to attract the intoxicated and just plain irresponsible.

In 2010 the media has reported:
a) "A woman caught five times over the limit had been driving because she was hungry, Queanbeyan Local Court on Monday............pleaded guilty to high-range drink driving after she was caught on February 2 with a blood alcohol reading of .240.
The court was told that the Centrelink employee attended a ball in Woden on February 6 and consumed two bottles of champagne.The Chisholm resident, who recently purchased a property in Queanbeyan, caught a taxi home from the ball and then watched television for two hours before becoming hungry.
Intoxicated......drove two kilometres to McDonalds to purchase some food and was pulled over for a random breath test on her way home, the court was told.
It was said that her decision to drive was irrational and irresponsible and she regretted her actions.
The court was told she had no prior criminal record and only one infringement in 2001." [ The Canberra Times, 1 March 2010]
b) "No licence because he accumulated demerit points for various driving offences.......was pulled over by police on his way to McDonalds for a feed. "Which part of you doesn't get it?" Magistrate Maxine Baldwin asked him. "You lost six points for (a high-speed offence) and continued to speed until you lost your licence." [The Gympie Times,20 February 2010]

McDonald's Australia is well aware that it attracts alcohol and drug intoxicated people and The Daily Telegraph reported in December last year that; "Family restaurant McDonald's is hiring security guards, installing CCTV and vowing to not serve drunks to placate community anger over its plans to stay open all night."

One reader's comment attached to that particular article stated; "Just go to McDonalds Stanmore and see the result that 24 hr trading brings to the local community. Hoodlums, rubbish strewn all over the road and [what] seems like an endless stream of drunks after their binge drinking nights out."

Elsewhere another online reader lamenting a change in the McDonald's menu admitted; "My standard meal when drunk is a triple cheese meal, 6 nuggets with sweet chilli sauce. What to do now?"

While last year Cessnock residents went public with their concerns about a McDonald's already operating there; "She said residents already put up with drunks fighting, smashing bottles, damaging gardens and vomiting.
"These issues will worsen if there is an extension of the trading hours," Mrs Carter said. "We are already subject to unacceptable antisocial behaviour with people congregating in the McDonald's car park, bus shelters and nearby streets." [The Herald,8 October 2009]

At Twitter searching for "drunk at McDonalds" bring up pages of recent tweets such as these:

* 2.11 a.m. jenyie showed up at my door with half a litre of vodka and a twited katie. bout to get drunk then head to mcdonalds :D

* ahaha i did that at mcdonalds when i was drunk haha!

* 90 percent of ppl at this mcdonalds are drunk or high

* ordering at mcdonalds drunk is too fucking funny. i'm peeing this is too good.

Some background

• David and Goliath. Yamba versus McDonald's


• Gawd 'elp us! Maccas wants to invade Yamba

Bahnisch & Warhurst on Abbott and Abbott on Abbott.....

"Abbott's Catholicism hearkens back to a much older tradition in Australian political culture, born of sectarian antagonisms, and an overweening ambition to impose a particular social and moral economy on the unwelcoming terrain of Anglo-Australian Protestant soil." said Mark Bahnisch over at The Drum on 1st April.

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"Other current politicians have connections through their parents and through its residue in party and union politics. But no one else has ties as deep as Abbott, who stresses the closeness of his association with Santamaria, his personal inspiration and mentor from school days onwards." John Warhurst quoted in Bahnisch's "Can Tony Abbott separate faith and politics?"

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"I was initially quite hesitant about accepting The Weekend Australian Magazine's invitation to write about the Pope's visit to Australia for World Youth Day. For one thing, a "Captain Catholic" reputation is supposed to be bad for my political prospects. For another, as revealed by a well-publicised youthful romance, I'm more than capable of breaking the church's rules. But on reflection, this papal visit seemed a rare chance to have Australians focus on the things that really count.
Many Catholics are understandably ambivalent about their church. The gospels are uplifting; the sacraments are a wonderful source of inner peace; attending mass should be a time of solace amid the daily rush; and many priests are wise and kind. On the other hand, sermons are often trite or dull; some religious services are tacky; and the official church too often resembles the caricature drawn by her enemies. For every inspirational pastor, there are plodders who make the "whiskey priest" of Graham Greene's novel seem like the saint that, deep down, he probably was. Most of us intuit God's existence but he remains elusive.
It's just over 20 years since I stopped training for the Catholic priesthood. It wasn't a "loss of faith". Rather, I'd reluctantly concluded that I wasn't cut out to be a parish priest; was unlikely to stay celibate for the rest of my life; and didn't quite have the sense of closeness to God that a priest would need in order to inspire faith in others. To this day, though, bringing people closer to God strikes me as the finest thing anyone can do. Next to my dad, Father Emmet Costello, a Jesuit mentor from school days, has been the most important male influence on my life. I've never had a better friend than Paul Mankowski, the American Jesuit who inveigled me into the boxing team at Oxford University." from My life as a Catholic by Tony Abbott sometime in 2008.

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The 2010 Easter Message

A breakdown of the Easter message coming from major Christian religions this weekend:

Atheists are neo-Nazi spawns of Satan and devotees of a new religion which is trying to destroy Christianity and the world.

Anyone who criticises the paedophile-ridden organisational structure of the Catholic Church is a bigoted and racist spawn of Satan trying to systematically persecute members of the one true religion.

Obviously religious leaders will continue to wonder why their congregations are so small and the Easter Bunny's following so large.

Poster from Google Images

How the Easter Bunny gets those eggs.......

How else?
Pic found in Google Images

Prawn farms fined and managers gaoled

The NSW North Coast is sometimes called the Northern Rivers or Many Rivers region with good reason. Most of its local government areas contain major river systems and those on the coast also feature estuaries. The largest of these estuaries is on the Clarence River with the small towns of Yamba and Iluka on its banks .

Local economies depend on these coastal estuaries which support both professional and recreational fishers and contribute to tourism, so it is particularly chilling to read a media release such as this from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry:

DAFF10/001D31 March 2010
Three prawn farm operators from Australia’s east coast have been sentenced to up to four years in jail after being found guilty of illegally importing feed products.
The two prawn aquaculture companies involved have also been fined a total of $80,000 by the Brisbane District Court over the illegal importation.
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) officers from the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) uncovered the breach during an investigation in 2006 called ‘Operation Penaeus’.
Deputy Secretary, Biosecurity Services Group Rona Mellor said prawn feed which is imported without proper quarantine checks could pose a biosecurity risk to Australian seafood industries, through the introduction of exotic prawn diseases or pests.
“The sentences handed down by the Brisbane District Court send a strong message to anyone considering illegally importing products into Australia,” Ms Mellor said.
The Mission Beach farm manager and company director of Fortune Enterprises Australia Pty Ltd, Fang Che Yang, and the Yamba farm manager of Fortune Enterprises Australia Pty Ltd, Chung Yan Lee, both pleaded guilty to aiding in the commission of an aggravated illegal importation offence contrary to section 67 (3) of the Quarantine Act 1908.
Mr Yang and Mr Lee were each sentenced to three years jail and could be released after a period of six months on entering into $1000 good behaviour bond for a further period of two years.
The Proserpine farm manager of Hamilton Prawn Farm Pty Ltd and company director Hsien Chin Tsai pleaded guilty to aiding in the illegal importation and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Mr Tsai was sentenced to three years jail on the illegal importation charge and a further year on the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Mr Tsai may be released after a period of nine months on entering into $1000 good behaviour bond for a further period of two years.
The companies, Fortune Enterprises Australia and Hamilton Prawn Farm Pty Ltd both entered guilty pleas to aggravated illegal importation charges and were fined $40,000 each.