Generation Yzzzzzz........

I'm flabbergasted - about one in ten Aussies eligible to vote have not bothered to enrol and around 400,000 of these are 18 to 20 year olds.

Most of the rest are between 21 and 39 years of age.

C'mon Noddy! Off the couch and out the door you go (or at least bootup that PC and click onto the AEC) and register to vote.

Remember it's all three forms of government which make the laws and by-laws which rule your life.

They'll decide how much you'll pay for your higher education, how much alcohol you can legally consume before getting in the car, the minimum wage a boss can pay you, the taxation rate you pay, whether or not you'll ever be frogmarched into national service or off to war, how much in land and water rates you'll pay on the home you eventually own, and much, much more.

YOUR OPINIONS WON'T AMOUNT

TO A HANDFUL OF CHERRY PITS

IF YOU DON'T VOTE!

The Coastal Emu - a local icon

Whilst our friends on the western side of the ranges might encounter emus on a regular basis, it is not so for those of us on the coast. The number of Coastal Emu is extremely low. There is one small isolated group to the north, but the core population is only found in the Clarence Valley.

Evidence suggests the Coastal Emu may be a distinct species from the inland emu due to geographical isolation. They are isolated from their inland relatives by several hundred kilometres, and limited by the escarpments of the dividing range. The coastal emus were formerly common, but now face the possibility of extinction.

It has been a pretty devastating time in recent months with two major fires burning more than one third (11 000 ha) of Yuraygir National Park, the stronghold for the Coastal Emu. It is likely that these large, hot and relatively fast moving fires have had an adverse impact on the emu population as well other populations of threatened flora and fauna.

In 2009, 30 volunteers from the community joined with staff from the National Parks and Wildlife Service to traverse over 800km of roads and trails by vehicle or by foot to record the habitat and range of the Coastal emu. Many local residents provided additional information on sightings and historical records.

A total of 68 emus were recorded.

Given the cryptic nature of these birds accurate numbers are difficult to ascertain, however, this is a perilously low number, and it is down again on the previous year's total of 110 birds.

Like many native animals the Coastal emu is experiencing the effects of living in close proximity to us. In some areas access to food is restricted by the proliferation of impenetrable fencing. Safe nesting sites are diminished by land clearing and the presence of feral pigs and dogs. Collision with vehicles has caused the demise of almost 60 Coastal emu in the last decade.

These threats can be avoided if we modify our behaviour. We can also ask our elected leaders to better accommodate our wildlife in their decisions and planning processes.
As the local community we need to play our part in the conservation of our local icon.

Imelda Jennings, Wildlife SOS

* GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak at live.com.au for consideration.

Conroy denies vendetta, but how many believe him?

Australian Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy was quick off the mark to deny any suggestion that his referral of Google Inc to the Australian Federal Police over its StreetView cars collecting digital information which they had no right to access.
Still, it's easy to imagine that he was filled with gleeful anticipation as he set the train in motion, against what he refers to as the "creepy" IT giant.
However Stevo appears more interested in getting his own hands on what he believes this data contains:
"(If) you were doing a banking transaction, or transmitting personal information, they could have hoovered it up, sucked it up into their machine," he told ABC TV yesterday.
"What we want to ensure now is that we get access to the information that's been collected.
"We want to know where it's stored, we want to know what the information is, and importantly we want to ensure that Google don't destroy this information." (Google has denied that it could read encrypted banking transactions).
Personally I'd be more worried about the Minister for Censorship & Moral Policing getting hold of any information downloaded from unsecured wireless connections, than I would be about Google having it.
Stevo's full frontal assault on basic freedoms in this country knows no bounds.

North Coast MP continues her anti-whaling stance as the Australian east coast prepares to count its whales in June 2010

Breaching Humpback Whale taken by Wayne Reynolds at Wild About Whales
Blue Whale and Humpack whale songs

Janelle Saffin, Federal Labor Member for Page on the NSW North Coast, has a genuine history of interest in environmental issues and opposition to whaling in the Southern Ocean.

2007: Coastal pollution, Japanese whaling, climate change, sustainable forestry and resource management will be among the topics up for discussion when the new Member for Page meets with Southern Cross University researchers at the Lismore campus tomorrow (December 14).
Janelle Saffin will receive a briefing on a range of environmental issues impacting on the North Coast from academic staff in the School of Environmental Science and Management.

2008: Page MP Janelle Saffin said the Australian public clearly wanted to put an end to Japan's so-called scientific-based whaling and that many young people in her electorate were very passionate about the cause. "Some people have asked why we don't send in the warships immediately, and it's because we obviously have an obligation to settle things diplomatically and peacefully," Ms Saffin said. "Our actions so far have been robust, sending an unambiguous message to the Japanese Government that whaling should be consigned to history.

2010 in the House of Representatives: I represent the electorate of Page, and the active communities across my electorate regularly raise a number of issues and priorities with me. Today I take the opportunity to put on the record issues impacting and affecting my electorate. The community's priorities are my priorities. I may not be able to mention all them that I want to in three minutes, but I will see how I go. There are two issues that many members of the community are passionately opposed to......There is a strong antiwhaling campaign in Page. There is support for the government's diplomatic efforts with Japan to get them to cease and for the legal case, coming by year's end, if diplomatic efforts do not bear fruit. There is support for Sea Shepherd and others who work to stop Japanese whaling in the southern ocean.

2010 in The Northern Star : FEDERAL Member for Page Janelle Saffin has welcomed the Australian Government's decision to initiate legal action in the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Japanese 'scientific' whaling in the Southern Ocean.Ms Saffin said she endorsed the government's commitment to bring an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and around the globe, after unsuccessful efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to this issue in the International Whaling Commission and bilaterally with Japan."This decision is not one which has been taken lightly, but it will have widespread support across Page from all sectors of the community because so many local people are passionately opposed to whaling," she said.

This month the annual east coast whale census occurs and now is the time to make plans to participate:

On Sunday 27 June 2010, ORRCA (Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia) will be conducting its annual Whale Census Day along the Australian coastline. If you are interested in whales, we invite you to head to your nearest or favourite ocean viewing spot to take part in the whale census and learn more about these noble and fascinating creatures.
To register and report your sightings, just call the ORRCA Hotline (24 hours) on (02) 9415 3333. Pack a picnic, sun block and your binoculars (and a book on whales if you have one) and enjoy the great outdoors.

You can also show your support for whales at Tails for Whales

A great big new tax - it's gonna ruin us! Again!

It's Going To Ruin Us YouTube video

No wonder the Libs like Clive!

No wonder the Über Mensch of the Liberal Party like Australian mining magnate, rich listee and generous political donor Clive Palmer - he has the same take on 'truth' as Lib leader Tony Abbott.

Clive in The Bulletin on 20th May 2010:
"MINING magnate Clive Palmer will visit Central Queensland tomorrow to continue development of the Alpha coal mining project. Mr Palmer said the project will go ahead despite the Federal Government's proposal to tax the mining industry a further 40%, which he called "rubbish". He said: ''We will go ahead with that project, as finance is already approved, but any further expansion is definitely out of the question, and our other projects won't go ahead." Mr Palmer said two interstate projects, which he said could employ at least 6000 people directly, and up to 50,000 people through mining service industries, have been taken off the drawing board."

Clive in The Sydney Morning Herald on 6th June 2010:
"First out of the blocks in the race to cancel spending was Palmer, who, within days of the tax's announcement on May 2, claimed he was going to scrap exploration plans in South Australia. The problem - as Treasurer Wayne Swan quickly pointed out - was that no one in government seemed to know about the plans. ''Mr Palmer has claimed that he has scrapped a project in South Australia that neither the Federal Resources Department, nor the State Resources Department in South Australia know anything about,'' Swan said. And when it was suggested to the former staffer of Joh Bjelke Petersen that the tax might also disrupt his plans to float his privately owned empire, Palmer changed his tune. ''I don't think so....."

Clive in ABC News yesterday:
"In the heat of the public debate, Queensland billionaire and Liberal National Party (LNP) donor Clive Palmer admits he may have overstated the tax's impact on his projects in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
Mr Palmer owns one of the largest deposits of iron ore in the world, carved out in five separate projects.
The investment for the first development was secured before the super profits tax was announced.
When asked about one project Mr Palmer said was "canned", the chief geologist at Mineralogy, Mark Strizek, said the project was still going ahead.
"All approvals are done and we've also submitted the environmental approvals for the other three or four projects there, so they're all in train," he said.
Mr Palmer says he probably phrased it too strongly.
"It should have been ... slowing them down, waiting to see what happens," he said."

That Clive thinks he can tell any old tall tale is well-known, but what is not as well known is that on his personal brag page at Mineralogy he links to media articles he likes about his bankrolling of WA Lib state election campaign ads, mining expansion plans, accquistions, the sports team and anything else 'Clive' which takes his fancy. Of course what is missing from that webpage is any mention that the economy will go into free fall if the Rudd Government introduces a resources profits tax or that company expansion plans are in anyway on hold - he leaves that nonsense he spouts elsewhere well alone.

Why is Google inserting itself in the Australian mining tax debate?

Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer has been making much of the fact that Kevin Rudd is mentioned in the same breath as Marx and Engels when one does a Google search for the term "super tax".

However the first mention of this 'trio' appears to have been by Palmer himself - starting initially as a general charge of "communist" to a Bowen LNP audience on May 19 before refining to a specific association with Marx and Engels by 2 June this year in front of a National Press Club audience.

Coincidentally, the latter reference does not turn up 'independently' until 2 June, when Wikipedia finally makes mention.

When looking for references I stumbled upon this comment attached to an online Sydney Morning Herald article on 3 June 2010:

On Tuesday 1 June 2010 if you clicked he following link to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superprofit you would have seen Kevin Rudd's name along side those of Marx and Lenin in the first paragraph. It stated that Kevin Rudd had announced a "Super Profit tax," for mining in Australia.
I know because I sent the link to some friends suggesting that having the PM of Australia mentioned in the same paragraph as the 2 communist icons is not a good thing for Australia.
Having checked the link again this morning, Rudd's name is not mentioned and the reference to the mining tax has been removed.
I don't know if/how you can check things out in Wiki land to see what and when something was updated, but it would be great if someone could as it has definitely changed. I wonder if it was within a few minutes of Clive Palmer mentioning it at the Press Club yesterday.
Forget fighting Conroy's disastrous internet filter, Labor government censorship is happening right now.
CJ NSW - June 03, 2010, 8:06AM

Intrigued, I went to Wikipedia and discovered the individual who edited out mention of Kevin Rudd was USER Intelligent Mr. Toad, an occasional Wiki editor since 2004 who possibly hails from Queensland.

However, even more intriguing was the identity of the individual who first inserted Rudd's name USER 72.14.228.140, an individual/s apparently from somewhere in or near New York who only emerged on 13 April 2010 in Wiki edit histories.

Now IP address 72.14.228.140 belongs to Google Corporate It according to Whois. It's not a robot.

So why was a Google employee bothering to mimic Clive Palmer by placing Rudd in the same company as Marx and Engels?
Thought Clive needed a little help with his credibility perhaps?