Live Cattle Export: I wondered how long it would take some fool to mention religion

One George Robert Christensen, the climate change ambivalent Liberal National Party MP for the Dawson electorate in Queensland (and a Mackay City councillor/journalist until the 2010 federal election), decided to sink his boot into Islam on the floor of the Australian House of Representatives. Clearly demonstrating just how far the Coalition has sunk under the leadership of Tony Abbott.

This is Christensen on 21 June 2011 according to the Commonwealth Hansard:

These fakers claim that they are out to protect animals, and what do they do? They vote to remove Australia from the situation, which does nothing for the cattle from other nations or from Indonesia that are going to end up at the abattoirs that are not doing the right thing.
It has occurred to me that there is something missing from this blame game. They are quick to blame Australian farmers and the industry, but they have not said anything about the religion that actually inspires the torture of the cattle there. I find that very hypocritical. We have not heard the member for Wills, the member for Fremantle or the member for Page raise that issue. But they are very quick to sink the boot into the farmers regardless of the consequences.

Intent on showing that his political bigotry is not just a passing phase, Christensen went on to tell The Age:

''There are many different culprits in the whole thing, [but] certainly the people who are doing this are not Australian farmers. The people who are doing it are Indonesian abattoir workers and their mates who, they say, are acting in accordance with their religious principles,''

Yes, that is truly an heroic effort and one which will surely assist the current negotiations between Australia and Indonesia concerning the circumstances in which live cattle export may be resumed.

Those who follow Queensland politics will remember George Christiansen was outed in 2010 as a former editor of the Central Queensland University newspaper The Student Advocate published on behalf of the Conservative Students’ Alliance:

As then editor of The Student Advocate, George Christensen had expressed concern that new versions of the Bible were, quote, "removing accusations that the Jews killed Christ". He also told homophobic jokes and stated, quote, "the truth is women are stupid and that's that".

Although Christensen is apparently comfortable with social media, I'm not sure if @GChristensenMP is actually his offical Twitter account. Nevertheless, it might be worth keeping an eye out for George in the twitterverse as he is sure to put his foot in his mouth again and again and again.

Images found at Google Images and Vex News

A bunch of ol' farts fall for the oldest trick in the book - a nonsense survey question from a TV channel

What on earth are they trying to measure?
Even I knew at first glance that attempting to correlate Julia Gillard’s prime ministership with a simple period of time and nothing else was a broadly-worded but emotionally loaded closed question which can’t give a reliable answer:

“The most negative groups were men (57% worse) and those aged 55+ (61% worse).”

The incarceration rate of Australia's first inhabitants is deplorable

Top marks go to The Daily Examiner for today's Comment piece where the editor writes "Aborigines comprise about 5 per cent of the [Clarence Valley's] population, but it is evident from sitting in our courtrooms they make up 50% or more of the people going through our courts." (Source The Daily Examiner, 22/6/11)

Memo to Federal Minister Joe Ludwig: Australian Meat Industry Council and I agree

When I left my local butcher shop yesterday I came home with more than the modest amount of meat I can afford to purchase - I came home with a pamphlet from the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) calling for the immediate suspension of all live cattle exports to Indonesia and that this suspension should not be lifted until there are assurances that animal welfare standards are applies to all live exported Australian cattle.

If all Argriculture Minister Ludwig and the Indonesian Government can offer is a vague hope that live export cattle will be stunned before slaughter, then I concur with the Council's call to ban live export to Indonesia.

Indeed I would go further and say that all live animal export should be permanently banned across the board. This ban to be implemented over a three year period to allow for some export industry adjustment.

The AMIC website states:

The Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) is committed to the highest level of animal welfare and the humane treatment of livestock. Our mission is to ensure acceptable animal welfare standards are implemented and effectively verified. AMIC affirms that livestock processing in Australia is conducted in accordance with national laws and international requirements, and enforced accordingly by State, Territory and Commonwealth inspectors to ensure that high standards of animal welfare are maintained at all times. In 2005, AMIC proactively developed and implemented the AMIC ‘Industry Animal Welfare Standards for Livestock Processing Establishments’ which integrate the national Codes of Practice, relevant State and Commonwealth legislation and other commercial requirements. These Standards are verified by Commonwealth and State inspectors and commercial auditors on behalf of customers. The Standards were developed by a national committee, comprising representatives from Government, science, animal welfare organisations, as well as technical experts and representatives from industry. As part of the Standards meat processors are required to ensure personnel are trained and competent when handling livestock. In the last three years over 300 personnel have undertaken the “Animal Welfare Officer Skill Set” course. Approximately 150 new livestock handlers undertake the ‘Livestock Handling’ course each year.

In summary
The Australian Processing Industry
• is committed to the highest level of animal welfare
• operates under strict state and federal animal welfare regulations which are verified by Commonwealth and State inspectors and commercial auditors on behalf of customers.
• has developed and implemented worlds best practice animal welfare standards
• invests in ensuring its employees are trained and competent in animal welfare

Update:

The Sydney Morning Herald 25 June 2011
Excerpt from Meat industry knew of Indonesian cruelty last year
[Please note this article contains video images which may distress the reader]

Meat and Livestock Australia and LiveCorp have repeatedly claimed that both bodies were unaware of the extent of animal welfare problems in Indonesia before the airing of a Four Corners program on May 30.
How much they knew is now the subject of a Senate inquiry.
Yet a report, commissioned by MLA and LiveCorp and handed to the bodies early last year, extensively documents every aspect of the abuse revealed last month.
The report makes repeated references to the shortcomings of the Australian-made restraining boxes, warns about the non-compliance with World Organisation for Animal Health standards, and says only four abattoirs in Indonesia had stun guns.
Most damning are accounts of slaughtering fully conscious animals, which suffered protracted, agonising deaths.
''At an abattoir in Sumatra the neck was struck with a knife using a hard impact to sever the skin above the larynx and then up to 18 cuts were made to severe the neck and both arteries,'' the report says.
''Bleeding was impaired in 10 per cent of cattle … possibly resulting in extended consciousness … In some instances where stunning was not used, the delay between restraint and slaughter was significant.''
On the performance of the restraining box, ''finding better methods of restraint with higher animal welfare outcomes is essential'', the report concludes. The ''mark 2'' box, designed to solve the problems, makes the plight of the animals even worse, the report says, to the point of being ''not acceptable''.
Thrashing, prostrate animals bashed their heads on the box's concrete plinth an average of 3.5 times before death. The report says: ''Where the severity of the fall was severe and head slapping occurred, significant animal welfare issues were identified that should be addressed.''
The halal practice of dousing the thrashing animal with water requires ''revision'', as ''disturbed behaviour … was particularly apparent when buckets of water were thrown over the animal before slaughter''.

CSIRO shows the air pollution science

According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO):

Cape Grim, on Tasmania’s west coast, is one of the three premier Baseline Air Pollution Stations in the World Meteorological Organization-Global Atmosphere Watch (WMO-GAW) network. Baseline stations are defined by the WMO to meet a specific set of criteria for measuring greenhouse and ozone depleting gases and aerosols in clean air environments.

Full data updated monthly can be found at Cape Grim Greenhouse Gas Data

Click on carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide graphs to enlarge

Out of this world eye candy

An unnamed green nebula
courtesy of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

Look how far the Liberal Party hasn't moved in the last year

The Australian Libs and Nats are definitely a one-note coalition under the leadership of Tones of the Fork-ed Tongue Abbott.

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

June 2011