16th Year of Flickerfest at Bangalow 25-27 January 2013

Travelling Flicks

 

FLiCKERFEST

presented by RENAULT

22^nd INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

A & I Hall at Bangalow from 25th -27th January 2013

 

Celebrating 22 years of short film excellence Flickerfest presented by Renault, remains Australia’s leading short film festival.
Flickerfest rides the short film wave into the Northern Rivers from the 25th until the 27th January, for it’s 16th year screening a smorgasbord of shorts from the Byron Region, Australia and around the world over 3 jam-packed days at the A & i Hall Bangalow.

 

Information/Bookings: PH 02 6684 5577

 

Program:
Best Of International 1: Fri 25th Jan 8.30pm (Opening Night drinks start 7.30pm)
Best Of International 2: Sat 26th Jan 8.30pm
Best Of Australian Shorts: Sun 27th Jan 8.30pm

So why is the Australian National University aiding and abetting a mining company intent on destroying NSW Northern Rivers communities?

 

 

According to the Australian National University (ANU) in the ACT this is its financial situation:

 

ANU is unusual in Australia in that it has a large investment portfolio for the size of the University budget. Annual University revenue is $0.9B, while funds in investments total $1.1B. This investment portfolio serves a number of purposes:

• Provides revenue to support the ANU liability to current and former staff covered by the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (CSS) – approx. $450M
• Invests the funds within the Endowment for Excellence which funds some staff salaries, scholarships etc.
• Invests the cash reserves of the University, whether held centrally or by Colleges

National and international issues mean that investment returns have declined in recent years and the expectations are that markets may have now entered a period where investment returns may be below 5 per cent for an extended period. This decline in investment income will have a significant impact on the University budget. The 2012 budget indicates investment returns will be $30M less than in 2011. Within this, the total funds required to support CSS pensions will be $10M more than the return on the CSS investment sum. This is a shortfall which must be met from other University funding sources.

So how is this university tackling its falling investment income?

Well, it is apparently not doing what it implied to faculty, students, media and the general public in 2011 - totally divesting itself of coal seam gas industry shares.

Woroni, the ANU student newspaper:

Vice-Chancellor Ian Young has announced that ANU will sell its shares in Coal Seam Gas extractor Metgasco in light of opposition from students to university involvement with the industry.

 

The Canberra Times:

The ANU's vice-chancellor Professor Ian Young announced the sell-off of about $1million worth of Metgasco shares in a statement to the ANU Students Association this week. But he's played down the role of student protests in forcing the move, telling The Canberra Times it was ''a pragmatic decision'' based on the worth of the shares.
''We've had those shares since 2001,'' Professor Young said.
''They represent less than 0.1 per cent of our total investment portfolio.''

Because according to Metgasco's own documents as of 21 September 2012 ANU was the 17th largest shareholder in this coal seam gas exploration and production company with 2.5 million shares remaining of the 4.2  million shares it held in 2011.

The university's excuse in August last year for this state of affairs - “there are no/few buyers” for these shares. 

This excuse seems laboured. Even though share volume traded is often sluggish, by the end of September 2012 a good stockbroker should have been able to offload ANU's remaining shares.

It would appear that it is determined to retain its investment in Metgasco in spite of the fact that this mining company's first-stage plan for the Northern Rivers is to establish an estimated 1,000 gas production wells.

Turning the rural landscape into a version of this:

Section of a gas field in Tara, Queensland

 

ANU faculty, students and alumni need to confront the fact that they are enabling a mining company to proceed with its commercial objectives despite the fact that the affected Northern Rivers communities have clearly not granted it a social licence to do so.

This is the current membership of the University Council and I would suggest to Northern Rivers communities that these individuals need to justify the continuing inclusion of Metgasco Limited in the university's investment portfolio:

Professor the Honourable Gareth Evans AC QC - Chancellor

Professor Ian Robert Young AO - Vice-Chancellor

Ms Ilana Atlas - Pro-Chancellor  

Dr Doug McTaggart

Dr Vince FitzGerald

Ms Robin Hughes AO

Ms Martine Letts

Mr David Miles AM

Mr Graeme Samuel AC

Professor Andrew MacIntyre

Professor John Close

Professor Tim Senden

Mr Matthew King

Ms Aleksandra Sladojevic

Ms Julie Melrose

 

Their contact details are here.

* An email was sent to the Australian National University Chancellor seeking further confirmation of the Metgasco share parcel. No reply has been received.

Uncle Joe Hockey, insomniac

Think a pollie found awake after 3am is either partying hard or tackling a backlog in policy paperwork?
Think again. Some are just cybersurfing and playing with 140 characters on Twitter.
GO TO SLEEP JOE!

NASA: Long-Term Climate Warming Trend 1880-2012 [Animated World Map]

http://youtu.be/oYibmPnmutM

 

Jan. 15, 2013: NASA scientists say 2012 was the ninth warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the nine warmest years in the 132-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years on record.NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated analysis Tuesday that compares temperatures around the globe in 2012 to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago. 

The BRP - Banks R Not Us

Last week the Australian Electoral Commission advertised an application for non-parliamentary party registration by the Bank Reform Party or BRP of West Australia and its registered officer - a former journo & media bloke for BankWest - wants election campaign funding for 2013 thanks very much.

He hopes his fledgling party will join the throng lining up around the country later this year eager to stuff our letter boxes with glossy leaflets and crowd the airwaves with vague promises most have no intention of honouring if they make it onto parliamentary benches:

• Animal Justice Party
• Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated
• Australian Christians
• Australian Democrats
• Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party
• Australian Greens (including three additional branches listed below)
• The Greens NSW
• Queensland Greens
• The Greens (WA) Inc
• Australian Labor Party (ALP) (including nine additional branches listed below)
• Australian Labor Party (N.S.W. Branch)
• Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch)
• Australian Labor Party (State of Queensland)
• Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)
• Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)
• Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch)
• Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch)
• Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory) Branch
• Country Labor Party
• Australian Protectionist Party
• Australian Sex Party
• Australian Stable Population Party
• Building Australia Party
• Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)
• Citizens Electoral Council of Australia
• Country Alliance
• Country Liberals (Northern Territory)
• Democratic Labor Party (DLP) of Australia
• Family First Party
• Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party
• Katter’s Australian Party
• Liberal Democratic Party
• Liberal Party of Australia (including seven additional branches listed below)
• Liberal Party of Australia, NSW Division
• Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)
• Liberal National Party of Queensland
• Liberal Party (W.A. Division) Inc.
• Liberal Party of Australia (S.A. Division)
• Liberal Party of Australia – Tasmanian Division
• Liberal Party of Australia – ACT Division
• National Party of Australia (including four additional branches listed below)
• National Party of Australia – N.S.W.
• National Party of Australia – Victoria
• National Party of Australia (WA) Inc
• National Party of Australia (S.A.) Inc.
• No Carbon Tax Climate Sceptics
• Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting)
• One Nation
• Rise Up Australia Party
• Secular Party of Australia
• Senator Online (Internet Voting Bills/Issues)
• Shooters and Fishers Party
• Socialist Alliance
• Socialist Equality Party
• The First Nations Political Party

Michael Daniel Harmer goes to Court

 

In NSD31/2013 Federal Court of Australia:

Clause in Harmer’s  Application for leave to appeal in matter listed as Michael Daniel Harmer v Peter Slipper & Anor.

 

The Anor would appear to be James Hunter Ashby, his client in Ashby v Commonwealth of Australia & Peter Slipper.

 

Besides lodging the application for leave to appeal, Mr. Harmer also made an interlocutory application and submitted an affidavit.

 

Lawyers Weekly 18  January 2013:



The Office of the Legal Services Commissioner could not reveal whether Harmer is currently being investigated over “abuse of process” allegations in Rares’ judgment. However, Assistant Legal Services Commissioner Lynda Muston told Lawyers Weekly that the office always investigates claims of abuse of process or misleading the court.

“Where the evidence supports those allegations we’ll prosecute accordingly,” she added.

But an investigation could be on hold until the outcome of Harmer’s appeal.

“If we were looking at findings of a particular court in a particular matter and that matter then went on appeal we would ... defer that investigation pending the outcome of an appeal,” said Muston.

 

Mr. Harmer's matter is before the court on 8 February 2013.

Can the NSW Roads & Maritime Serives make a worse fist of it environmental assessment of the Woolgoolga to Ballina leg of the Pacific Highway upgrade?

 

"This failed monitoring is part of a flawed strategy to deal with the insurmountable problems of building a freeway through the habitat of the coastal emu." Dr. Greg Clancy,Ecologist

 

Clarence Valley W.I.R.E.S carers who look after such emu chicks must be devastated that in this instance all their care has been undone in this manner, while many North Coast residents' jaws dropped when the news was published this week.

As for the estimated $70,000 reported set aside for this study before its cancellation, one wonders just how much of this funding remains.

 

Media statement from NSW Roads & Maritime Services 16 January 2013:

 

A state and federally funded trial where six hand raised emus with tracking devices were released back into the wild near Taloumbi as part of the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade project has been stopped.

 

Roads and Maritime Services obtained support from a local wildlife carer, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Taronga Western Plains Zoo to facilitate the study.

 

The study aimed to track the released emus for up to 18 months to determine their movements, habitat and the success of released captive birds back into the wild.

 

At the beginning of January three birds were found killed by wild dogs or dingos.

 

In addition three of the recaptured study birds sustained abrasions from their tracking cuffs as well as injuries from barbed wire fencing.

 

The study team is looking into why the birds sustained cuff related injuries as the tracking devices used on cassowary research did not experience similar issues.

 

Results from the study to date will be considered for the project’s environmental impact statement which includes a Biodiversity Connectivity Strategy which identifies a number of measures to manage potential impacts on the coastal emu population.

 

Vanessa Juresic

Media Officer