Whale Wars: battle is about to be joined again in Antarctic waters

 Kyodo News 7 December 2013:

Japan's research whaling

Japanese research whaling ship the Yushin Maru leaves Shimonoseki port in Yamaguchi Prefecture on Dec. 7, 2013. Two Japanese whaling ships and a surveillance ship left the port the same day to join the mother vessel Nisshin Maru and hunt up to 935 Antarctic minke whales and up to 50 fin whales through March. (Kyodo)

The Sydney Morning Herald 8 December 2013:

Asked on Monday if Mr Hunt would send a Customs vessel to the Southern Ocean, a spokesman from his office said the Coalition had stated a commitment to monitoring whaling and that commitment stood.

He said beyond that commitment, the Coalition would not pre-empt nor discuss operational activities.

Business Insider 9 December 2013:

Japan plans to hunt 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales until about March.

There is still a question over whether Australia will send a surveillance vessel, as indicated by the Coalition during the election campaign.

The Southern Ocean patrol vessel, the ACV Ocean Protector, was reported to be near Christmas Island, a long way from the Antarctic.

ABC radio reports that Sea Shepherd’s chairman, former Greens leader Bob Brown, says:

“The Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt promised in May this year in the run to the election that if the Japanese whaling ships went south there’d be Customs vessels from Australia going south. So we need to hear from the Prime Minister that that promise to the Australian people will be kept.”

Sea Shepherd Australia 18 December 2013:

This morning friends, family and supporters gathered at Sea Shepherd Australia’s Operations Base in Williamstown, and at Elizabeth Street Pier in Hobart to bid a fond farewell to crews of The Steve Irwin, The Sam Simon and The Bob Barker as the ships depart for Sea Shepherd’s tenth Antarctic Defence Campaign, Operation Relentless.

Last year, the Sea Shepherd Fleet was successful in shutting down the poaching operations of the Japanese whaling fleet, saving the lives of 932 whales. In the nine previous Antarctic Whale Defence Campaigns, Sea Shepherd has saved over 4,500 protected whales from illegal slaughter.

Quote of the Week

Holden told the commission it cost twice as much to make a car in Australia as in Europe, and four times as much as in Asia.

Holden never needed to close that gap. The deal it had struck with the Gillard government (that the Abbott government reneged on) wouldn't have closed the gap, but it would have closed it somewhat, enough to make it worth staying. [Peter Martin,The Sydney Morning Herald,15 December 2013]

Canberra Times caught out in historical error

This was the Canberra Times boast on 22 November 2013:

Canberra learned of the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy exactly 50 years ago - after a whole edition of The Canberra Times was overhauled and reprinted in the early hours of what otherwise would have been an unremarkable Saturday.

It was the only newspaper in Australia to report the story on November 23, 1963. Journalists and printers were called back to work when a taxi driver happened to ask editor David Bowman for news of the 46-year-old leader's possible assassination in Texas.

The boast was duly reported in the December 2013 Australian Newspaper History Group [ANHG] newsletter:

75.4.11 Reporting the assassination of JFK

A whole edition of the Canberra Times was overhauled and reprinted in the early hours of Saturday, 23 November 1963. The Canberra Times has claimed (22 November 2013) it was the only newspaper in Australia to report that day the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. Journalists and printers were called back to work at the Canberra Times when a taxi driver happened to ask editor David Bowman for news of the 46-year-old leader’s possible assassination in Texas. Just hours before, Kennedy’s motorcade had flashed past huge crowds in downtown Dallas and into the range of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, perched on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

Ian Mathews, a subeditor at the newspaper in 1963 and later the editor-in-chief, said: “The print run at the Mort Street office and printery would have been about 2am or 3am … The main body of printers, apart from those who had headed home, gathered in the bindery for their ritual Friday night-Saturday morning poker game.” The news was reported just after 4.30am, prompting only momentary shock from Bowman and chief subeditor Frank Hamilton who snapped to action. ‘‘The radio was switched on; AAP, who supplied the newspaper with foreign news, was called; the single teleprinter was turned on again. And the news began to flow,’’ Mathews said. ‘‘To print a new edition Bowman needed printers and he found them playing poker. On any other night it would have been different.’’

Returning for a shift on the subeditors’ desk on Sunday afternoon, Mathews helped fit news of the tragedy into a Monday edition, alongside weekly fixtures including local sport results and the television guide. ‘‘As usual we ran late. This was fortunate because just after 3.30am Canberra time, [nightclub owner] Jack Ruby shot Harvey Oswald – and once again we rushed to produce a second edition,’’ he said. [Trove does not have the second edition of the Canberra Times of 23 November 1963.]

Then the letters began to arrive at ANHG and according to Rod Kirkpatrick the boast was shot down in flames:

Ken Sanz wrote: 

I am glad you used the word “claimed” in the Canberra Times article on the death of JF Kennedy, and being the only paper printed with this news on Saturday.

It may have been the only morning newspaper to print this, but it was not the only paper to print this news on the Saturday 23 November 1963. Both the Daily Mirror and The Sun usually went out at 10am each Saturday. Admittedly they were only 16 pages tabloid, but on this day they produced their first editions at 9 a.m. and followed this during the day!

My source for this is my memory because I was there as an apprentice for the Sun-Herald and when I arrived at 8 a.m. the Sun compositors and editorial were already on duty and rushing about to get the paper out early to beat The Daily Mirror. I checked this with Gavin Souter’s “Company of Heralds” page 523.

I also suspect that the Saturday early editions of the Saturday night and Sunday newspapers also printed on Saturday from before 6 pm of this news for country readers.

Kim Lockwood wrote: 

Meanwhile, the Canberra Times cannot be allowed to get away with its claim that it was "the only newspaper in Australia to report that day [22/11/63] the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy".

I know for a fact the Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial put out a late edition, having recalled several staff from home. And what does the Times have to say about the afternoon papers across the country (Saturday afternoon papers were still printed in the capitals)? The Herald, Melbourne, splashed with two decks on the front:

PRES KENNEDY

ASSASSINATED

Others did something similar.

To Metgasco Limited and all State & Federal NSW North Coast National Party MPs - Merry Christmas!

The Northern Star  20 December 2013:

USING knitting as a "tool for non-violent form of political activism", the Knitting Nannas Against Gas are now regulars at anti-coal seam gas protests throughout the region.

One of their favourite haunts is the office of Lismore MP Thomas George.

The ladies said their knitting skills were "less important than the act of bearing witness while we knit".....

@Mayorjd

Deputy Leader of the House Hartsuyker's latest parliamentary entitlements record

In October this year Federal Nationals MP for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker was caught stretching his 2012 overseas study tour to include what looked suspiciously like a visit to family and friends in The Netherlands.

Or as he put it to the APN Newsdesk on 12 October; On the Netherlands leg of the trip, he said he went to Amsterdam to see cycling infrastructure, but was unable to secure official meetings.

The latest Expenditure on Entitlements paid by the Department of Finance record (1 January to 30 June 2013) carefully notes Mr. Hartsuyker’s reimbursed expenses totalling $141,039.21 over that six month period.

This is not one of the biggest bills presented to the Australian taxpayer by a federal politician, but it does contain at least one puzzling entry.

In the December-January break after Parliament dissolved Mr. Hartsuyker did not claim to be on official political business again until 21 January 2013 when he claimed travel allowance.

Yet he is popping down to Sydney and back to Coffs Harbour with a family member on 3 January 2013 and charging the taxpayer $1,306.48 in combined airfares for this trip of unspecified purpose, plus $62.30 in Comcar travel and $47.73 in taxi fares.

If whatever took him south actually was part of his duties as the Member for Cowper, one still has to wonder why a day trip to Sydney required the presence of a family member.

Hmmmmm..........

Note: 2nd Test Match Cricket Australia vs Sri Lanka Thursday 3rd January 2013 at the SCG and various other Sydney sporting events on that date.

PACIFIC HIGHWAY: Nationals MP Kevin Hogan and his November 2013 electorate newsletter

The Northern Star: Federal and State MPs Kevin Hogan and Don Page hard at work allegedly turning “the first sod”

Complete with a colourfully festive holly sprig graphic, Nationals MP Kevin Hogan’s glossy November 2013 newsletter led off with this opening paragraph: Within weeks of being sworn in as the Federal Member for Page, Kevin was turning the first sod for the Pimlico to Teven upgrade on the Woolgoolga to Ballina section of the Pacific Highway. “The political squabbling is over. We are getting on with the job of saving lives,”.......

I can breathe a sigh of relief – Kevin has donned his superman costume and taken to the air.

He has turned the sod on a section of the Pacific Highway approximately 2.3 kilometres long, being built by Leightons Constructions Pty Ltd and, funded as part of the joint former Labor Federal Government and current NSW Government commitment to the upgrade with preliminary ‘soft soil’ work begun in January and project tenders invited in April 2013.

Kevin of course was not elected to the 44^th Australian Parliament until 7 September 2013.

However, these few kilometres may be the only road work done for a long time (if they are done at all), as Kevin and his colleagues have withdrawn $70 million of Commonwealth road funding from NSW this year.

The Sydney Morning Herald 15 December 2013:

Despite promises the Pacific Highway upgrade would be delivered sooner under an Abbott government, projects at Maclean and Ballina will be delayed and funding cut, the O'Farrell government has revealed.....

A NSW Budget document revealed last week that project planning on the Pacific Highway had been delayed, and Commonwealth roads funding would be reduced by $70 million this year.

A spokesman for NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the Commonwealth funding had been ''rephased'', and would be paid in coming years.

Pacific Highway construction that was due to take place this year that will now be delayed includes ''priority three'' projects for dual carriageway upgrades between Woolgoolga and Ballina.

''Both the Australian and NSW governments share the goal of completing the Pacific Highway upgrade by 2020,'' the spokesman said.....

All of which leaves one wondering just how much of the $2.5 billion the Abbott Government promised NSW voters to upgrade the Pacific Highway over the next two and a half years, the North Coast will actually see as new dual road on the ground.

Kevin Hogan has some explaining to do.

A beleaguered Tony Abbott pulls the daughter card

It started as a joke suggesting that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott needed to trot his daughters out to bolster his flagging opinion poll numbers only 92 days after he took office, but this dishonest and manipulative faux leader actually did it.

Tony Abbott: Family Secrets Revealed

December 19, 2013, 7:43 am Emma Martin | WHO Magazine