Quotes of the Week

“Scott Morrison ignoring Jacinda Ardern’s proffered hand and hugging her instead was exactly everything women are sick of. It was patronising, invaded her space when she had not given permission for it to be and it was designed to disempower her.” [@katevanp on Twitter, 30 March 2019]

British tories are “bogus patriots in crumpled suits and yesterday’s underpants, loving the sound of their own voices.” [Anon, The New York Times, 20 March 2019]

Big Bat & Wildlife Festival in Maclean rained out but not before locals enjoyed the talks, music and stalls

The flow on effects of a cyclone saw the inaugural Big Bat & Wildlife Festival in Maclean cancelled in February 2019.

Resheduled for Saturday 30 March the festival fun began at noon - then around 3pm the rain came pelting down.

The following is the observations of one of the festival organisers.

“We love the rain but why did it have to fall on the Saturday of the Big Bat and Wildlife Festival?!

During a dry patch I was coming down from the displays and presentations in the Jim Thompson pavilion to the activities on the oval and I stopped to have a look around. And I thought, 'Have a look at all those happy kids down there, and all their happy parents - and not having to get their wallets out'. Smiles under the umbrellas.

Anthony of Australian Wildlife Displays was a hit with the kids with the live animals. I heard one boy announce Anthony was his new hero.

We were down on quite a few stalls and activities due the wet weather but things were going on very well and we had a good attendance ducking in between light showers, until about three o'clock.

It just started to pour and was set in. In the movies the band keeps playing, but not when safety comes first. A shame all outdoor activities had to pack up and we had to call that part of the event closed.

The best part of the day was so many people asking about the NEXT Big Bat and Wildlife Festival...…. so thank you for all those people who came to enjoy the day in the rain, and thank you all of the festival participants for all your much appreciated efforts. Looks like we going to do it all again next year.”

Some pics from the day

Cr. Greg Clancy and Yaegl Elder Ron Herron

A lesson on snakes

Handmade homes for wildlife

Talking Boobook with an interested festival goer

Nationals MP for New England Barnaby Joyce throws a tantrum….

Barnaby in full throttle in Australian House of Representatives
Image: AIMN Network

News.com.au, 1 April 2019:

Barnaby Joyce has been forced to issue a grovelling apology to Channel 7 staff who copped his wrath during an expletive-laden backstage tantrum.

It has been revealed the former deputy prime minister was in a foul mood on the night of the New South Wales election, during which he sat on the network’s broadcast panel.

Viewers criticised his aggressive attitude on screen, including his treatment of a female Labor senator, but it paled in comparison to his antics in the green room.

The Australian newspaper today reports Mr Joyce has apologised for his “behaviour and demeanour” off screen after details were leaked by insiders.

It’s understood the former leader of the National Party — who resigned his position last year after it was revealed his mistress and staffer Vicki Campion was pregnant with his child — was furious about how brief his appearance was scheduled to be.

“There were four-letter words aplenty when Joyce first arrived on set and saw his schedule for the night,” The Australian reported.

An unnamed insider told the newspaper: “He had the sh*ts supreme about whether he should even be there.”

A network source told news.com.au word of Mr Joyce’s behaviour had begun to spread last week, and it was only a matter of time before it leaked.

The firebrand politician’s beef was that he was due to appear on screen for just 10 minutes, despite having flown from his home in Armidale.

He was accompanied by his partner, Ms Campion — he broke off his marriage just prior to the scandal erupting — and their toddler.

“I saw the schedule on the (green room) wall,” Mr Joyce told the newspaper. “Then I saw the closest human being, and I told them what I thought.”

He apologised for his conduct and said he was tired. After the tantrum, Mr Joyce was used for the live coverage broadcast for more than two hours.

On election night, he was criticised by viewers for his rude treatment of Labor Senator Jenny McAllister, including talking over her.

“I am surprised that you’d not put water on the list of concerns,” Ms McAllister said about the National Party’s poor electoral performance in the state’s west.

“You’ve got these western NSW seats with massive fish kill and a very active conversation …” she continued before being cut off.

“That was because of the Greens … you can’t take water to the south, not have it come to the north and not expect something to die in the middle. It’s the bleeding obvious,” Mr Joyce said as his fellow panellist tried to get her point across.

“I think the proposition that’s been put is that there’s been complete mismanagement of the water system”, she said, before being again interrupted.

“May I finish my remarks?” Senator McAllister said — a comment met by a shrug from Mr Joyce.

She did continue, barely finishing her sentence before Mr Joyce had his say.

“Finished? You’re wrong,” he said.

The rare Omura’s whale

The New York Times, 22 March 2019:

An Omura’s whale in waters off Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. CreditCreditGabriel Barathieu/Biosphoto, via Alamy

Salvatore Cerchio stunned the small world of whale science in 2015 when he found examples of a new species in the wild for the first time. Now, he’s mapped the habitat of that species, called Omura’s whale after Hideo Omura, a prominent Japanese whale biologist.

The surprise in the new study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, is that Omura’s whales, though little seen, are widespread across the tropical world.

Dr. Cerchio, a researcher with the New England Aquarium in Boston, found a population off the northwest coast of Madagascar, where he works, and compiled reports of sightings from Japan, Australia, Brazil and off the coasts of Indonesia, among others. In total, from photographs, audio recordings, museums and documents, he identified 161 accounts of Omura’s whales in 95 locales.

Scientists said the finding is a reminder of how little we actually know about what goes on in the world’s oceans….

Japanese researchers first identified Omura’s whales in 2003, based on a 1998 stranding in Japan and tissue from eight animals killed during Japanese scientific whaling operations in the 1970s. The Omura’s whales have relatively small bodies, distinct genetics and unusually shaped skulls, leading researchers to conclude that the new species had split off from its genetic cousins 17 million years earlier.

Omura’s whales are baleen whales, meaning they are filter feeders, and they can be identified by their asymmetric coloration. The right side of their jaws are white, with a swirling, smoky splash of light coloration and four bisecting dark stripes on the right side of their heads, and their backs are decorated with asymmetrical chevrons. They favor tropical environments more than most whales and don’t migrate, Dr. Cerchio said.

After publishing his 2015 paper, in which he described more than 40 whales seen in the wild and expanded their range beyond the Indo-Pacific, Dr. Cerchio said people sent him pictures of similar looking whales.

“Little by little it became clear that there were a lot more out there that could be researched and tallied,” he said.

At the urging of Bob Brownell, the paper’s senior author, Dr. Cerchio counted images he received, those he’d stumbled across on the internet, as well as sound recordings and historical sightings dating back to a 1955 magazine article from Hong Kong University that misidentified an Omura’s whale as an immature fin whale.

Bob Pitman, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who was not involved in this research, said he was surprised to learn the scope of the species’ habitat. “I think most of us whale scientists expected that it would have a small, relatively localized population,” he wrote.

As Mr. Pitman noted, “if new whales are still being described, it means we are probably also losing species of animals that we never even knew existed.”

NSW Office of Environment and Heritage is being dissolved. More truthful version – the regions are being scr$wed over to allow Berejiklian Government’s mates a freer hand to develop coastal NSW to death

The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 April2019:

A government spokeswoman said the restructuring would enable the administration "to better serve the people of NSW".

"For the first time, we have a combined Energy and Environment portfolio and this new structure will ensure the government can take a holistic approach to this issue," she told the Herald. "The functions currently performed by OEH will continue.”

Among staff, though, the worry was that the oversight separately developed and funded for years would now be subsumed in the expanded Planning cluster, with job losses one consequence.

Rob Stokes, a former environment minister, returns as Planning Minister as part of the government's post-election reshuffle. Matt Kean will be the new Energy and Environment minister….

One senior staffer told the Herald OEH had often provided a dissenting view to Planning, such as when new housing projects in the Sydney Basin threatened the dwindling natural reserves. Remaining koala corridors, for instance, were among the habitats at risk.

Work that had previously been conducted by inhouse OEH experts was already being diverted to external consultants - a process staff worry will accelerate with the bureaucratic overhaul now under way.

"There has already been a strong shift away from the environment having its own voice already," the staffer said.

Penny Sharpe, acting Labor leader and environment spokeswoman, said NSW had now become the only state in Australia without an environment department.

"One of the first acts of the Premer - after talking a lot about the environment during the election - is to abolish the Office of Environment," Ms Sharpe said.

"This is a terrible outcome for the environment of NSW and it's a betrayal for [voters]," she said.  "We know it was a very important, top-order issue for many, many people."

The environmental problems facing the state include more than 1000 plant and animal species threatened with extinction, an 800 per cent increase in land-clearing during the past three years, and waterways "that are in crisis", Ms Sharpe said.

Scott Morrison just can't resist the urge to meddle in Liberal Party candidate selection

Latest version of Scott Morrison on the Net

Yet another 'captain's pick' is on the cards.....

The Canberra Times, 31 March 2019:

A Liberal vying to become the party's candidate for Craig Laundy's old seat has delivered an astonishing condemnation of the closed-door selection process, just as Prime Minister Scott Morrison prepares to name his captain's pick for the hotly contested Sydney electorate.

Controversial psychiatrist and writer Tanveer Ahmed - who is among a number of people under consideration for the job - slammed the process as unfair and undemocratic, arguing he had been denied the opportunity to confront his challengers.

It is expected Mr Morrison could recommend a candidate to replace Mr Laundy in the inner west seat of Reid as soon as Sunday, to be rubber-stamped by the party's state executive on Monday.

The Sun-Herald understands Dr Ahmed met with Mr Morrison's principal private secretary Yaron Finkelstein and factional powerbroker Alex Hawke, the Special Minister of State, and has been positively vetted.

But Mr Morrison is said to be considering other options including two women and failed state election candidate for Kogarah, Scott Yung. Liberal pollsters have also gauged support for Coca Cola executive Tanya Baini.

It is likely to be tears before bedtime for many regional communities as Berejiklian Government restructures government departments

Government News, 2 April 2019:   

 

The NSW government will abolish key agencies including the Office of Local Government, the RMS and Jobs NSW under sweeping changes to the structure of the NSW public service.

A memo from the Department of  Premier and Cabinet obtained by Government News says the Office of Local Government, along with the Office of Environment and Heritage, will cease to be independent entities and their functions will be absorbed by a Planning and Industry Cluster.

The cluster will cover areas such as long term planning, precincts, infrastructure, open space, the environment and natural resources.

The RMS, coming under the Transport Cluster, will also be scrapped as a separate agency and as will Jobs NSW, which will be merged into the Treasury Cluster…..

Local Government NSW President Linda Scott said the peak would be seeking assurances from the new local government minister, Shelley Hancock, and the Premier, that local governments would be appropriately resourced within the new cluster.

“We’d hope, for example, that the inclusion into a larger cluster will facilitate real analysis of the massive amounts of data collected by Government, which should be shared with the sector to help them deliver great outcomes for the public good,” she told Government News.

“Local governments welcome a new opportunity to work with the State Government to set housing targets with local governments, not for them – to rebalance planning powers by working in partnership with councils and their neighbourhoods on planning decisions that affect them.”

However she said the appointment of Ms Hancock was a stand-alone Local Government Minister was welcomed and had long been advocated for by LGNSW.....

The memo says the structure of the public service will also incorporate the following clusters: Stronger Communities, Customer Service, Health; Premier and Cabinet, Transport, Treasury  and Education.

The following clusters will cease to exist by July 1:  Finance, Services & Innovation; Industry; Planning & Environment; Family and Communities; and Justice.

The Secretaries Board will be expanded in members to accommodate more senior public servants to “effectively drive implementation of the Government’s priorities”.

New appointments under the restructure:

Michael Coutts-Trotter – Secretary, Families & Community Services & Justice

Jim Betts – Secretary, Planning and Industry

Glenn King – Secretary, Customer Service

Simon Draper – Chief Executive, Infrastructure Australia

NOTE:

The Grafton Loop of the Knitting Nannas Against Gas and Greed will be holding a knit-in on Thursday 4 April 2019 at 1pm to peacefully protest the abolition of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. It will be held outside the electoral office of Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis at 11 Prince Street, Grafton and interested people are welcome to attend.