Photograph & video of the rare Australian Featherless Drongo

Australian Featherless Drongo

Parasitus palma

Family: Cuculidae
Sparse plumage

Usually solitary but sometimes seen with Noisy Miners

Natural habitat is degraded land and open cut mines

Call is similar to that of the European Common Cuckoo

Recognizable by its clumsy flight

Untidy nest construction

Frequently lays eggs in nests of other avian species

Aggressive feeder
Has been the subject of an international banding program by

LaRouche Movement

Citizens Electoral Council

Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley

Nominated for protected species status by
Liberal and National Parties of Australia

Video of the Featherless Drongo in the wild


http://youtu.be/TryXOPcLW2A

Australian health professionals are sometimes a bitter pill to swallow

Symptom of a very unhealthy relationship?

News.com.au:

“DRUG companies spent more than $40 million in six months on events to "educate" Australian medics last year.

The money was spent on a range of "education events", with wining and dining of doctors, and some nurses and other health professionals….

The $40 million - up more than $8 million since 2008 - includes $18 million for hospitality alone for more than 18,000 events drawing 423,000 attendees, with other costs including the hire of venues and speakers.”

According to Medicines Australia in 2011:

Currently the medicines industry is:

> the largest high-technology exporter from Australia—$3.8 billion in 2010-11;

> the highest manufacturing industry investor in R&D—$1.0 billion in 2009-10; and

> one of the largest employers of science graduates in Australia.

A word on the subject of divorce

The Dawn Magazine, Tuesday 15 May 1888, on the Divorce Extension Bill:

Tasmanian marine environment Red Map to go national at end of 2012

This year Red Map goes national. Congratulations to the Red Map team and their project partners.

Hopefully, the NSW North Coast will get behind this worthwhile project.

About Redmap

Each year over 120,000 Tasmanians go fishing at least once. Imagine ....120,000 potential 'citizen scientists' collecting valuable data about the marine environment! We did. Welcome to REDMAP.

Redmap invites the Tasmanian community to spot, log and map marine species that are uncommon in Tasmania, or along particular parts of our coast. The information collected is mapped and displayed on the site, demonstrating, in time, how species distributions may be changing; it does not require extra fishing – just remember to log your sighting. Please always follow the correct rules and regulations outlined in the in the Recreational Sea Fishing Guide when fishing and there is also valuable information in the Recreational Marine Fishing Code of Practice.

Sightings are divided into two categories – those with a photo that can be ‘verified’ by a marine biologist, and sightings without photos that we call community sightings (anecdotal). All the information collected, with and without photos, is mapped and will be used in the following years to map the ‘story’ of what changes are occurring in our marine environment.

Redmap also provides educational resources on Tasmanian marine environments, marine species and climate change. Tell your school about the resources here on the website or tell us what else you’d like to know that isn’t here and we’ll add it to our ‘wish list’!

How much did NSW Nats Steve Cansdell's 2011 six month term in office cost?

It cost the NSW National Party $77,889.71 and donors $2,000 to get Steve Cansdell re-elected as the Member for Clarence on the Far North Coast in March last year.

It also cost state taxpayers one general election ballot and one by-election ballot in the Clarence Electorate in 2011, because he suddenly resigned.
Based on the NSW Electoral Commission’s cost projection for the 2011 state election, the total for two Clarence ballots would be in the vicinity of $903,000.

Add to that parliamentary salary paid between March and September 2011 which comes in at around $68,000, and it’s likely Steve the Speeder cost all and sundry at least $1million.

One million is a lot of moolah to spend because a less than honest politician had to admit to an offence committed in 2005 and resign when outed in September 2011.

Pic from The Northern Star in March 2011

The many faces of Clive Palmer in 2012

Poor ol’ Clive – his billions can’t protect him from himself.

Courier Mail 31st January 2012

“Mr Palmer's China First company is launching an $8 billion lawsuit against rail operator QR National for competing with his plans to build a 500km rail link to carry coal.

On social network Twitter this morning, Mr Palmer said he would sue the Bligh Government over the decision.”

9 News 3rd February:

“Mining magnate Clive Palmer says he will consider a tilt at media ownership like his billionaire counterpart Gina Rinehart who has become Fairfax Media's biggest single shareholder.”

International Business Times 23rd  February:

“Mining mogul Clive Palmer sought this week to oust world-renowned hotel management firm Hyatt Hotels Corp from the Queensland golf resort that he had acquired last year.”

Bigpond Money 15th March:

“As it currently stands, Palmer has been stripped of his licence by Football Federation Australia (FFA), a legal stoush is in the making and heated words have been exchanged between him and fellow billionaire Frank Lowy.”

Yahoo! 7 Finance 15^th March:

“Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer has indicated there will be a High Court challenge against the carbon tax because he has advice the legislation is unconstitutional.

The legislation has passed both houses of Parliament and is due to come into effect in the middle of the year.

The Coalition has promised to repeal the legislation if it wins the next election.

Mr Palmer, who is a financial backer of the Coalition, first threatened to challenge the legislation last year and now says he is going to act on it.”

The Age 17th March:

“IT'S late Thursday night and millions of dollars in cash and a billion tonnes of iron ore are being traded in mining magnate Clive Palmer's name. It is enough to make a finance reporter weep.

Palmer's private company, Mineralogy, is seeking to buy 50 per cent of another private company that is wholly owned by a public company whose biggest shareholder is … Clive Palmer. As part of the deal, the private company that Mineralogy is pursuing has agreed to buy a fourth private company that is wholly owned by Mineralogy and therefore majority owned by … Clive Palmer.

Finally, emboldened by a hand-drawn diagram of the deal and a brief conversation with a worker (not Palmer) at one of the companies involved, your correspondent summons the confidence to declare that this is a deal between four companies controlled by the same man.

And while it isn't the most significant corporate play to hit the markets this week, the transaction neatly sums up the past few days in Australian life: no matter where you turn, Palmer is there.”

The Sydney Morning Herald 20^th March:

“Mining magnate Clive Palmer won’t seek a High Court injunction to stop the federal government’s mining profits tax.

Mr Palmer said the tax is bad for the national economy, but it won’t affect him directly.

‘‘It probably won’t cost me anything because I’m not mining anything that comes under the classification of it,’’ he told reporters in Brisbane today.”

News.com.au 20th March:

“BILLIONAIRE Clive Palmer has made bizarre claims the CIA is backing green groups in a bid to kill the Australian coal mining industry.

And he appeared to suggest that US President Barack Obama was directly briefed on the sabotage.”

Courier Mail 21st  March:

“BILLIONAIRE mining magnate Clive Palmer's failing luxury Sunshine Coast international resort was likely to run out of money to keep it operating by the end of next week, a court has been told.

The Supreme Court in Brisbane was today told an operating account funded by Palmer's companies and used by the Hyatt Group to run the Regency Coolum Golf Resort and Spa was likely to run out of money within a week.”

The Australian 21^st March:

“ACTIVIST group GetUp! will fund a legal suit against Clive Palmer after the billionaire linked environmentalist Drew Hutton to an alleged CIA plot to damage the Queensland coal industry.

Mr Hutton told The Australian Online he had been bombarded with offers of financial support and revealed GetUp! had made an offer this afternoon to finance his legal case for defamation.”

Dorrigo Environment Watch calls on international agencies to come and see what mining will place at risk on Dorrigo Plateau

From A Clarence Valley Protest on 20 March 2012:

UNESCO & IUCN invited to see what mining would place at risk on the Dorrigo Plateau

Dorrigo Environment Watch Inc.

Our mission is "To raise community awareness of risks to human and environmental health"

Press Release

Invitation to UNESCO & IUCN to visit the Dorrigo Plateau

By copy of this Press Release Dorrigo Environment Watch have invited the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) monitoring team (who are currently visiting Australia to monitor impacts of mining on the Barrier Reef) to also schedule in a visit to the Dorrigo Plateau.

The Dorrigo Plateau has 4 different mining companies with current exploration licences and recent drilling has been undertaken for gold and antimony across the Plateau. There is concern that the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area values could be compromised if any mining developments were approved on the Plateau.

Dorrigo Environment Watch will ask the NSW and Australian Governments to zone the plateau a ‘no go zone’ for mining to ensure that the world heritage values and vital ecosystem services (which underpin our food, fisheries, fibre and drinking water) are protected for present and future generations. Australia has an obligation to abide by our world heritage agreements to protect the Gondwana Rainforests. A ‘no go zone’ would serve as an appropriate Government commitment and celebration for the 25 year anniversary of the World Heritage listing of our Gondwana rainforests.

For more information or comment please contact Trevor Deane on 02 6657 4005.