The mystery of Blue's beer

Onya, Bazza!

YOUR article ("Soldiers' 'solace in binge drinking' ", 3-4/3) got us thinking down at the RSL the other night.

Blue just wanted to know who drank his beer. We struggled with the maths but finally agreed that 7.5 million cans over six months divided by troop strength meant we should have had six cans a night each.

However, The Ant reminded us that in camp at Nui Dat our ration was two cans a night and when we did occasionally get to Vung Tau he only drank local beer. Then, always alert, Grunt said: "Wait on, at any one time, a third of us were out on patrol. It was hard enough carrying water and ammo let alone beer."

We also recalled that some stronger willed Nashos did not drink alcohol. So the remaining third of us had to get through 18 beers every night. Since the boozer opened at 5pm, was closed for dinner and curfew was 10pm, we conceded the task was beyond even us.

We concluded that there must have been a phantom company that had Olympian drinking capacity was sent over along with the beer. Or else the whole story is a furphy.

Nevertheless, if it is true that if 7.5 million cans were dispatched from Australia to Vietnam for us Diggers over six months, whoever got them, it's your shout.

Barry Golding, Sherwood, Qld

Google Images supplied the beer pic

Cansdellgate - believe it or not!

A Daily Examiner correspondent has expressed his amazement [and it's most likely the same view that thousands of others have] about the speed with which the NSW DPP worked on the stat dec matter associated with disgraced former MP for Clarence, Steve Cansdell.

Source: Letters, The Daily Examiner, 14/3/12

So who wants to mine our backyard?

http://www.minerals.nsw.gov.au/mv2web/mv2?cmd=MainMap&topic=ttl

On 9 March 2012 the NSW Aboriginal Land Council announced it had applied for three Petroleum Special Prospecting Authority licences - about 49km ESE  White Cliffs (approx.. 368,340 sq km area), six kilometres SSE  Murwillumbah (approx.1,330 sq km area) and about 45km SSW Grafton (approx.47,040 sq km area). Murwillumbah and Grafton are on the NSW Far North Coast.

The  Murwillumbah  application PSPAPP 55 runs from the Dorroughby, Rosebank, Federal region right up through the ranges to the NSW-QLD border. The much larger Grafton application PSPAPP 56 roughly covers an inland area which goes from the Stanthorpe-Tenterfield region in the north to past Armidale in the south – extending across to the coastal zone from Mount Tucabia and Yamba in the north, Coffs Harbour midway, down to just above Crowdy Head.

So it was of more than passing interest to find that on the same day The Sydney Morning Herald reported a spokesperson stating that NSWALC already had a joint venture partner who apparently did not wish to be identified:

''Our initial geology studies are showing their potential is enormous. This is a paradigm shift.''

The council had a joint venture partner that would provide most of the cash and expertise required to follow any petroleum exploration and extraction through, he said. He would not identify the partner. Profits would be split equally. None of the titles fell on land owned by Aboriginal people, he said.

By 13 March 2012 The Daily Examiner was revealing a lack of consultation with local land councils:

NORTH Coast Aboriginal community leaders have sought to distance themselves from a plan by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council to apply for licenses to explore for petroleum and coal seam gas in the region……

But Ngaraakwal/Ngarangwal elder Harry Boyd has called for a public inquiry into the decision, describing it as a "back room deal" which was made without consultation.

"The matter of the NSW Land Council signing-off on petrol exploration licenses means for us, all of us, the entire community, a rubber stamp on coal seam gas," Mr Boyd said.

"But my people and I speak for most of the 'blackfellas' in the Northern Rivers here, (and) we were not present at the signing of any agreements.

"We were not consulted by the Land Council ... and we have not been represented by the Land Councils for many years."

He said those who signed the "back room documents" needed to explain themselves to the people of the North Coast.

"This matter needs to be opened up for public inspection as it affects us all," he said.

"We want those people ... to explain to us what ground they are standing on.

"All of this leads to confusion for everyone and it upsets my people who still consider the ground sacred.

"The land councils are meant to protect the culture, not just do deals."

Mr Boyd said he made it clear to Federal Government representatives in April that Aboriginal people of the North Coast did not want coal seam gas.

"Our unborn spirits are in the underground water, and we consider this industry as a great offence," he said.

Mr Boyd's comments were supported by Arakwal community representative Gilbert King.

Mr King said the proposal potentially affected the traditional land of his people, but that they were not consulted in the decision.

Bundjalung elder and Gugin Guddaba Local Aboriginal Land Council deputy chairwoman Patsy Nagas also said her group were strongly opposed to the development of coal seam gas in the region.

Also on 13 March 2012 ABC North Coast NSW confirmed another LALC which had not been consulted:

The Tweed-Byron Local Aboriginal Land Council says it's surprised by its state counterpart's application for petroleum exploration licences on the north coast

The chairman of a local Aboriginal land council on the state's far north coast says he wasn't consulted about plans to mine in the area.

ABC Indigenous  indicated that the unease was felt further afield:

A far west Aboriginal elder says local indigenous communities still haven't been consulted about the NSW Aboriginal Lands Council's plan to invest in the mining industry….

Doctor Beryl Carmichael, an elder of Ngiyaempaa country, said local Aboriginal people weren't told about the plan.

"There's been no consultation, with the grass root people, nor the custodians of this country," she said.

"And I think they should have had the decency to let us know, indicate something to us, that this was going on."

"They are, will be operating in Ngiyaempaa country, and I think they should start sitting down and coming out and sitting down with the grass root people, and talking about their plans."

Doctor Carmichael said mining the land goes against traditional Aboriginal beliefs.

"The land's our mother, and if these people want to go and exploit the land, well where are they coming from, you know?" she said.

"Where's their connectedness to the land and the environment? They don't even know their culture, what culture really means."

"No, I'll certainly argue with this one, I think, I've got to for the sake of my ancestors."

UPDATE:

MinView mapping indicates that all three NSWALC prospecting applications may also include areas under current native title claims. Click on images to enlarge.

The three applications marked in purple

Native title claim areas in red

Cansdell continues to haunt the NSW parliament

According to Hansard former and disgraced Member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, was in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday 13 March 2012 a bit after 3.30pm and voted with the government on its Education Reform motion That this House supports the Government in delivering on its election commitment to give decision-making power back to local schools and school communities.

How very convenient  it must be for the newly elected Member for Clarence, Christopher Gulaptis, to be able to sneak out of the house when a division is called and know his good old best mate Steve is ever ready to stand in for him.

A rare frog the NSW Minister for Resources and Energy & Anchor Resources intends to ignore?

Giant Barred Frog found on the Wild Cattle Creek property

Scientific name: Mixophyes iteratus
Conservation status in NSW: Endangered
National conservation status: Endangered

Image found at

Protect & Preserve the Dorrigo Plateau

It is no secret that NSW Minister for Resources and Energy, Chris Hartcher, is enthusiastic at the prospect of mining on the Mid and Far North Coast – particularly when it comes to gold and antimony mining on the Dorrigo Plateau.

A plateau which takes in the Clarence River catchment high country which supplies fresh water to an estimated 125,419 residents (based on 2010 ERP figures) in Coffs Harbour City and Clarence Valley Shire local government areas.

Local government areas falling within a region which has a population expected to grow more than 28% to around 424,400 by 2031.

Given the ongoing exploration within Anchor Resources Limited’s Wild Cattle Creek EL 6388 lease and the corporation’s recent history of environmental degradation, one has to wonder why Minister Hartcher and his department head have not yet thought fit to insist on a formal environmental assessment of the lease area.

NSW Department of Environment and Conservation:

Description

Giant Barred Frogs are large frogs, up to 115 mm in length. They are olive to dark brown above with paler or darker blotches, and cream to pale yellow below. The skin is finely granular. The pupil of the eye is vertical and the iris is pale golden in the upper half and brown in the lower half. The call is a deep ‘ork’ breaking into a series of ‘orks’ and grunts. The Giant Barred Frog can be most easily distinguished from other barred frog species by the black thighs with smaller yellow spots, distinct barring on the limbs, dark blotches on the sides, absence of a creamy stripe on the upper lip and the distinctive eye colour.

Location and habitat

Distribution

Coast and ranges from south-eastern Queensland to the Hawkesbury River in NSW. North-eastern NSW, particularly the Coffs Harbour-Dorrigo area, is now a stronghold. Considered to have disappeared south of the Hawkesbury and there are no recent records from the Blue Mountains. [my bolding]

Habitat and ecology

• Giant Barred Frogs forage and live amongst deep, damp leaf litter in rainforests, moist eucalypt forest and nearby dry eucalypt forest, at elevations below 1000 m.
• They breed around shallow, flowing rocky streams from late spring to summer.
• Females lay eggs onto moist creek banks or rocks above water level, from where tadpoles drop into the water when hatched.
• Tadpoles grow to a length of 80 mm and take up to 14 months before changing into frogs. When not breeding the frogs disperse hundreds of metres away from streams. They feed primarily on large insects and spiders.

Threats

• Reduction in water quality, from sedimentation or pollution.
• Changes in water flow patterns, either increased or decreased flows.
• Reduction of leaf-litter and fallen log cover through burning.
• Timber harvesting and other forestry practices.
• Vegetation clearance.
• Predation on eggs and tadpoles by introduced fish.
• Weed spraying close to streams.
• Chytrid fungal disease.

An empty vessel satirized

http://youtu.be/JyxTX8ozLGI

Of course it's harder to laugh at the bloke when you read some of the dangerous nonsence that pours out of the clutter of empty brain boxes on his hand-picked team.
"Asking mining companies to fund dam projects was one of the options being considered.
''For instance, some of the dam work we are looking at, we think we can get - instead of taxing the mining industry - suggest to them they can invest in a dam and then have access to water to wash their coal. And they'll pay serious amounts of money, in fact they will pay for the construction of the dam,''

The price we pay for Tony Abbott's never-ending censure motions and other nonsense

After the general election ballot box, Question Time in both houses of Australia’s federal parliament is perhaps the principle way that the government of the day is held accountable - now that much of the national mainstream media spends most of its time uncritically regurgitating political media releases as a substitute for investigative journalism.

According to the Australian Parliament website statistics link, in 1963 (an election year) the House of Representatives sat for 53 days and the Government was asked 968 Questions Without Notice during Question Time.

In the following year 1964, the House sat for 65 days and there were 1,557 Questions Without Notice recorded.

In 2010 (an election year) and 2011 the House sat for 55 and 64 days respectively, taking  948 Questions Without Notice in the first instance and 882 Questions Without Notice in the second instance.

Now I may be wrong, but I think that the period 2010 to 2011 was only the second time that House of Representatives’ Questions Without Notice have fallen in number (when an ordinary year followed an election year) in the last forty-eight years.

It seems that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s grandstanding is actually ensuring that other Members of Parliament are being given fewer opportunities to apply that very Australian maxim - keep the b@stards honest.

If it’s Thursday it must be censure time is not quite so funny a phrase when one remembers that, every time he rose to his feet and uttered the words I move that so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition from moving forthwith the following motion, voters were denied an opportunity to hear their own elected representatives raise important national and local issues.

Drawing of Coat of Arms from Google Images