Thursday, 1 August 2013
Toll Holdings: Tents R Us
Toll Holdings has a business.
Camp
Infrastructure Services
Toll specialises in
delivering camp infrastructure in emerging markets and remote locations.
Whether
you need a permanent camp or a mobile one, in a remote location or a regional
area, we’ll provide you with a complete camp infrastructure solution that is
tailored to your organisation’s unique needs. With 20 years’ experience in
delivering camp logistics solutions, we create efficient camp designs that
maximise productivity and reduce costs.
Our
end-to-end camp infrastructure services include:
·
planning
·
design
·
construction
·
camp management
·
camp shut downs
Our
highly experienced team will manage local council, town planning, indigenous
communities and other statutory requirements, minimising delays. And we’re able
to accelerate build times by leveraging Toll’s global network to ensure
infrastructure and equipment arrives on time regardless of location.
We provide camp infrastructure solutions for:
·
Permanent camps suitable for long term or permanent projects. We can build, own
and operate these camps.
·
Temporary camps to support 50 to 200 people, suitable for 1- 6 month projects.
These are all above ground, with less onerous council requirements.
·
Mobile camps for short term projects
supporting up to 100 people. Our mobile camps are self-sufficient and can be
deployed and made operational within a matter of hours.
Tony Abbott sprung pinching pennies while pleasing powerful mates.
From pages 133 to 138 of Toll Holdings Appendix 4E Preliminary Final Report for year ended 30 June 2012 there is a complete list of companies controlled by Toll - feel free to knock yourselves out figuring exactly who might be filling Tones' campaign coffers.
The Sydney Morning Herald 30th July 2013:
A logistics company that stands to profit from the Coalition's "tent city" on Nauru funded the trip of its immigration spokesman Scott Morrison and a journalist and photographer from News Corporation to the remote island to announce the plan.
The trip to Nauru was facilitated by Toll Holdings, which has multimillion-dollar contracts already to help handle asylum seekers and is eager for more business in the area.
Other news outlets were not invited to travel with Mr Morrison, leading to News Corporation's newspapers reporting an “exclusive” story that the Coalition would set up a “tent city” on Nauru to house at least 2000 asylum seekers.
It is understood Toll Holdings chartered the flight for the Coalition and News Corporation.
Contacted on Tuesday morning, Mr Morrison's office had no policy documents to accompany the announcement, and a spokeswoman advised reporters to get their information from what had been reported in newspapers. Mr Morrison has since issued a press release with broad details of the policy.
News Corporation - formerly known as News Limited - is controlled by Rupert Murdoch, who has made no secret of his support for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and disdain for Labor…..
The Age 30th July 2013:
Former Commonwealth Ombudsman Allan Asher said accepting funding from a company likely to bid for a contract arising from the policy announcement was "entirely inappropriate".
"I think at any time of the year that would be a questionable thing, but in the context of elections, it just makes it an entirely inappropriate thing to do," he said.
The Sydney Morning Herald June 12 2011:
OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has chartered a private jet to Nauru to discuss asylum-seeker policy, with all expenses picked up by Liberal Party donors.
Mr Abbott wants to press the Coalition's case to reopen an asylum-seeker processing centre on the South Pacific island.
A party spokesman confirmed Mr Abbott and his entourage had chartered a private jet for the trip, and said all expenses had been paid for by Liberal Party donors….
Mr Abbott and the opposition's immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, are expected to meet Nauruan President Marcus Stephen and senior members of his government to discuss the Coalition's policy of sending those asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat to be processed in Nauru….
From pages 133 to 138 of Toll Holdings Appendix 4E Preliminary Final Report for year ended 30 June 2012 there is a complete list of companies controlled by Toll - feel free to knock yourselves out figuring exactly who might be filling Tones' campaign coffers.
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
NO CSG IN THE NORTHERN RIVERS: Swampy's not amused and on his way to Canberra with as many of your letters as will fit in his saddlebags
## OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY ## Facebook 26 July 2013
To whom it may concern,
My name is Michael Franklin (Turtle or Swampy). My parents, grandparents, and great grandparents have been breeding horses, logging and farming in the Grafton area since the 1800s. We have a great love for the land and everything has been done with consideration to the future viability of our property to sustain a decent lifestyle. I worked in Queensland after going to TOCAL Agricultural College. I started as a Jackaroo and went through to Head Stockman for AA Company. I loved the way of life up there, the attitude was, do what you wanted as long as it wasn't at someone else's expense.
I have just returned from the CSG Gasfields around Tara/Chinchilla on a fact-finding tour. I went to peoples properties, whose bores were contaminated. Not drinkable, and no idea of if, or when the water will ever be drinkable. They have admittance from the company to interfering with the Aquatard, not the Aquifer so no responsibility taken. They have now had to build dams and if you know Queensland, you would realise that dams are there in the good years but when it comes dry, it's all bore water. What happens then? It is not just one farm, there are numerous and any farmer worth his salt knows that clean water is our most valuable resource.
I went to the Wiembiella Estate where the blockies live. This is a motley crew of people, who have bought a piece of Australia to live and raise their families in peace and quiet, only to have it shattered by being turned into an Energy Hub. Thousands of vehicles a week, hundreds of trucks, I mean this is in your face 24/7, it just never goes to sleep. Its total disregard for your fellow man, the land and the water. We drove 15km around a dam just being built to fill up with toxic water to be cleaned and pumped back into the river that feeds the Chinchilla water supply. All they are taking out is the salts, not the radioactive materials or the heavy metal elements. The water is also used to irrigate crops and to water feedlots. I have done my Quality Assurance, Training and Assessment course for Beef Cattle Production and I am concerned about the quality of what the Australian consumer may be eating or drinking. I have never considered fertilising my paddocks with lead, yet The Land newspaper have reported that up to 90kg/ha annually is going onto the fields irrigated with produced water. I expect that the meat will be sold on the domestic/local market due to stringent export quality standards. You are what you eat.
I think that reusing emissions and renewable is the answer to our power problem. Septics/sewage, piggeries, dairies, sawmills, and rubbish tips and biofuel can all produce power. Then there is solar, solar-thermal, wind and tidal energies. Its more than enough and the proof is out there.
I am riding to Canberra against CSG. I believe in respecting thy neighbour. Even if you don't like your neighbour, I don't believe that poisoning them is justifiable. Common decency says that you do not have the right to interfere with or threaten the wellbeing your neighbours. I will also be promoting Australian Owned, Australian Made and Australian Grown because I believe that we should be supporting Australian business and farming as a sustainable future rather than the inevitable bust that will follow the mining boom. I would rather see Australia as a food bowl than a gravel pit.
Mick Franklin
Glenugie
NSW
##LATEST ANNOUNCEMENT##
Franklin Horses will be running a postal service direct to Parliament House!
Departing from Grafton on the 21st of September 2013, and arriving in Canberra sometime in late November. All hand written letters of concern will be delivered direct to Parliament by way of Pony Express. Arrangements will be made for various collection points prior to departure and also along the way. Further announcements will be made regarding collection.
Tell 'em what you think and we'll take it to 'em!
Cheers
The Franklin Horses Team
Tony keeps Team Abbott on message with amusing results
Snapshots of Team Abbott singing from the same hymn book…….
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Clive Palmer plays the buffoon in Lyne electorate
Clive Palmer toured the Lyne electorate on the weekend to meet supporters of the Palmer United Party (PUP) and to drum up support for party candidates.
The businessman and entrepreneur attended forums in Port Macquarie and Taree to answer questions regarding party policies.
On Monday morning Mr. Palmer spoke with ABC Mid North Coast Mornings Presenter Michael Spooner.
The conversation abruptly ended when Clive Palmer could not name the PUP candidate for Lyne.
A little light reading for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and assorted climate change denialists
As adverse weather event casualties rise around the world, perhaps it is time that Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott stopped playing juvenile political games with climate change mitigation policy.
Press Release No. 976
For use of the information media
Not an official record
Not an official record
2001-2010, A Decade of Climate Extremes
|
GENEVA 3 July 2013 - The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The report, The Global Climate 2001-2010, A Decade of Climate Extremes, analysed global and regional temperatures and precipitation, as well as extreme events such as the heat waves in Europe and Russia, Hurricane Katrina in the United States of America, Tropical Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, droughts in the Amazon Basin, Australia and East Africa and floods in Pakistan.
The decade was the warmest for both hemispheres and for both land and ocean surface temperatures. The record warmth was accompanied by a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice, and accelerating loss of net mass from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and from the world’s glaciers. As a result of this widespread melting and the thermal expansion of sea water, global mean sea levels rose about 3 millimetres (mm) per year, about double the observed 20th century trend of 1.6 mm per year. Global sea level averaged over the decade was about 20 cm higher than that of 1880, according to the report.
The WMO report charted rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Global-average concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose to 389 parts per million in 2010 (an increase of 39% since the start of the industrial era in 1750), methane to 1808.0parts per billion (158%) and nitrous oxide to 323.2 parts per billion (20%).
“A decade is the minimum possible timeframe for meaningful assessments of climate change,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. “WMO’s report shows that global warming was significant from 1971 to 2010 and that the decadal rate of increase between 1991-2000 and 2001-2010 was unprecedented. Rising concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are changing our climate, with far reaching implications for our environment and our oceans, which are absorbing both carbon dioxide and heat.”
“Natural climate variability, caused in part by interactions between our atmosphere and oceans – as evidenced by El Niño and La Niña events - means that some years are cooler than others. On an annual basis, the global temperature curve is not a smooth one. On a long-term basis the underlying trend is clearly in an upward direction, more so in recent times” said Mr Jarraud.
Between 2001 and 2010, there was no major El Niño event, which normally leads to higher temperatures (as occurred in the then-record warm year of 1998). Much of the decade experienced either cooling La Niña or neutral conditions, except for the 2009/2010 moderate to strong El Niño.
The 100-page report and an executive summary, incorporating findings from a unique survey of 139 National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and socio-economic data and analysis from several UN agencies and partners, were released to coincide with the first session of the Intergovernmental Board on Climate Services. This Board is overseeing the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services – an international initiative to improve and expand scientifically-based climate information to help society cope with the natural variability of our climate and human induced climate change.
‘“A decadal perspective makes it possible to assess trends in the climate system and anticipate the future. It can also inform efforts to develop operational climate services that provide information and forecasts for decision-making in agriculture, health, disaster risk, water resources and other sectors. These efforts are being coordinated through the WMO-led Global Framework for Climate Services,” said Mr Jarraud.
“Climate services are more necessary than ever to help us cope with global changes in our climate, which are accentuated at regional and national scales. Despite the significant decrease in casualties due to severe storms and flooding, the WMO report highlighted an alarming impact on health and mortality rates caused by the European and Russian heat-waves. Given that climate change is expected to lead to more frequent and intense heat-waves, we need to be prepared,‘’ said Mr. Jarraud.
Temperatures: The average land and ocean-surface temperature for the decade 2001-2010 was estimated to be 14.47°C, or 0.47°C above the 1961–1990 global average and +0.21°C above the 1991–2000 global average (with a factor of uncertainty of ± 0.1°C).
The decadal rate of increase in the global temperature accelerated between 1971 and 2010. The global temperature increased at an average estimated rate of 0.17°C per decade during that period, compared with 0.062°C per decade for the entire 1880-2010 period. The average 2001-2010 decadal temperature was 0.21°C warmer than 1991–2000, which in turn was +0.14°C warmer than 1981-1990.
Every year of the decade except 2008 was among the 10 warmest years on record. The warmest year ever recorded was 2010, with a temperature estimated at 0.54°C above the 14.0°C long term average of 1961-1990 base period, followed closely by 2005.
Above-average temperatures were observed over most parts of the globe in 2001-2010. This was particularly marked in the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Greenland recorded the largest decadal temperature anomaly, at +1.71°C above the long-term average and with a temperature in 2010 of +3.2°C above average. Africa experienced warmer than normal conditions in every year of the decade.
Results from WMO’s survey showed that nearly 94% of reporting countries had their warmest decade in 2001-2010 and no country reported a nationwide average decadal temperature anomaly cooler than the long term average.
Some 44% of countries in the survey reported nationwide hottest temperature records in 2001-2010, compared to 24% in 1991-2000. Coldest daily minimum temperature absolute records showed an opposite pattern: In 1961-1970, nearly 32 % of the countries reported nationwide lowest minimum temperature values. The percentage decreased to 11% in 2001-2010.
Precipitation and floods: The 2001-2010 decade was the second wettest since 1901. Globally, 2010 was the wettest year since the start of instrumental records.
Most parts of the globe had above-normal precipitation during the decade. The eastern USA, northern and eastern Canada, and many parts of Europe and central Asia were particularly wet.
According to the WMO survey, floods were the most frequently experienced extreme events over the course of the decade. Eastern Europe was particularly affected in 2001 and 2005, India in 2005, Africa in 2008, Asia (notably Pakistan, where 2 000 people died and 20 million were affected) in 2010, and Australia, also in 2010.
Droughts affect more people than any other kind of natural hazards owing to their large scale and long-lasting nature. The decade 2001–2010 saw droughts occur in all parts of the world. Some of the highest-impact and long-term droughts struck Australia (in 2002 and other years), East Africa (2004 and 2005, resulting in widespread loss of life) and the Amazon Basin (2010) with negative environmental impacts.
Tropical cyclones: Between 2001 and 2010, there were 511 tropical cyclone related events which resulted in a total of nearly 170,000 persons reported killed, over 250 million people reported affected and estimated economic damages of US$ 380 billion.
According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2001-2010 was the most active decade since 1855 in terms of tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic Basin. An average of 15 named storms per year was recorded, well above the long-term average of 12.
The North Indian Ocean saw the deadliest tropical cyclone recorded during the decade, when Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar in early May 2008. More than 138 000 people were reported killed or missing, eight million people were affected and thousands of homes were destroyed.
Impacts: During the decade 2001-2010, more than 370,000 people died as a result of extreme weather and climate conditions, including heat waves, cold spells, drought, storms and floods, according to the data provided by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). This was 20% higher than 1991-2000. This increase is due mainly to the 2003 heat wave in Europe and the 2010 in Russia which contributed to an increase of more than 2000% in the global death toll from heat waves (from less than 6000 in 1991-2000 to 136 000 in 2001-2010).
On the other hand, there was a 16% decline in deaths due to storms and 43% decline in deaths from floods, thanks mainly to better early warning systems and increased preparedness and despite an increase in populations in disaster-prone areas.
According to the 2011 Global Assessment Report, the average population exposed to flooding every year increased by 114% globally between 1970 and 2010, a period in which the world’s population increased by 87% from 3.7 billion to 6.9 billion. The number of people exposed to severe storms almost tripled in cyclone-prone areas, increasing by 192%, in the same period.
Much research is being conducted into whether it is possible to attribute individual extreme events to climate change rather than natural variability. Scientists increasingly conclude that the likelihood of an event such as the 2003 European heat wave was probably substantially increased by rising global temperatures. It is therefore important to develop this research to strengthen climate science and to use it to improve climate services to help society adapt to climate change.
Decadal global combined surface-air temperature over land and sea-surface temperature (°C) obtained from the average over the three independent datasets maintained by the HadCRU, NOAA-NCDCand NASA-GISS.The Horizontal grey line indicates the long term average value ( 14°C).
Impact of Extreme events during 2001-2010 compared with 1991-2000. Total number of loss of lives
Notes to Editors: Climate data and information used in this report was provided by a number of international, regional and national institutions. Most of the data on impacts caused by extreme events was provided by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. Details on data sources, contributors and references are included in the full report
The World Meteorological Organization is the United Nations System’s authoritative voice on Weather, Climate and Water
For more information, please contact:
Clare Nullis, Media Officer, Communications and Public Affairs, Tel: +(41 22) 730 8478; 41-79) 7091397 (cell)
Website: www.wmo.int
 | |
Monday, 29 July 2013
So Barnaby Joyce is in the Clarence Valley today
Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, the Coalition’s candidate for New England at the forthcoming federal lower house election, while clinging on to his senate seat until the last possible moment is down in the Clarence Valley today opening fellow Nationals Kevin Hogan’s Grafton campaign office.
It is a wonder Joyce would show his face in the Valley, given he sat on the Senate RRAT Committee inquiry into additional water supplies for south-east Queensland where he made it plain at that time that he was not adverse to any proposal to steal Clarence freshwater so that his Queensland mates could continue their unsustainable irrigation practices [April-August 2007].
He also voted against The Greens motion in the Senate which read in part:
He also voted against The Greens motion in the Senate which read in part:
"That the Senate:....(b) calls on the Federal Government to: (i) abandon plans for damming the Clarence, Tweed, Richmond and Mann Rivers;" [C'wealth Hansard,Senate,proof issue,19 August 2007,p.p. 33-34].
He was still including mention of the Clarence catchment in his discussions on water supply in 2008:
"You can't create water with money. That means you have to think about bringing it from somewhere else, like the Gulf or the Clarence." [The Land, 13 August 2008]
While according to The Clarence Valley Review on 20 February 2013 the leaked ‘100 Dams’ draft consultation paper mentioned the Clarence River catchment area:
Joyce has this to say about these latest dam proposals:
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
