Look who's a big user of the OpenAustralia website...

OpenAustralia did a bit of digging into its user profile and came up with a surprisingly large number of government PCs using its website.


It looks as though OpenAustralia is easier to use than Hansard records as it comes with the added feature of email alerts.
Perhaps MPs whose staffers use this website might consider whether a donation or two would be in order to keep this handy site going.

Truth in advertising missing from Turnbull's debt and deficit advertisement

Liberal Party advertisment May-June 2009

This week I saw a news clip on the teev showing Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull spruiking the former Howard Government's financial record and bagging the Rudd Government's level of public debt.
There was even a snippet from a coming Liberal Party advert on the subject.
"18 months ago we had no debt and cash at the bank."
And there's the rub - Mal was so foolish as to say that the Howard Government went out on zero debt.
How stupid does he think the average punter is?
Does he really think no-one was watching the growing current account deficit, outstanding Treasury bonds, level of government borrowing and interest payments before November 2007?
For heaven's sake - in 2006 total public sector gross foreign debt was 9.1% of GDP, in 2007 it was 7.7% of GDP and a big chunk of that was general government & Reserve Bank borrowing.
As for total gross national public debt.
Well, let's look at that graph again.







A history of public debt in Australia

See a 2006 0r 2007 zero there anyone?
The fact that Turnbull appears to be bragging about a lack of net public debt by 2006-2007 doesn't mean that there is absolutely no Commonwealth debt.
It simply means that government liabilities (mostly in the form of debt) were matched with financial assets which it could if needed sell-off to meet outstanding debt and interest obligations.
However, I suspect that with Costello as Treasurer these net figures became a trifle rubbery over time. Commonwealth unfunded superannuation liabilities and net claims were an ongoing problem in the final Costello budget.
As a millionaire ex-merchant banker, Turnbull can't pretend that he doesn't know that the Libs are trying to pull the wool over voter's eyes and he can't walk away from the fact that he is telling a political whopper in that first advert of a blatant disinformation campaign.
Who could honestly feel comfortable with the thought of this man's hands on the national helm?

"Over my dead body" - a reminder of the Northern Rivers water wars

The Daily Examiner letter to the editor posted at A Clarence Valley Protest on 28 May 2009:

It is on again.

Floods in the Clarence and droughts in the Murray bring out the ratbags.

On my walking and paddling trip down the Darling in 2007 I encountered a host of people, nearly everyone in fact, who wanted the Clarence River diverted inland.

In 2008 we had a Fellow of Engineers Australia advocating the same. Now in 2009 we have the Citizens Electoral Council issuing a press release about the desirability of the scheme and radio programs picking up on it.

We diverted the Snowy River inland destroying much of it, created severe salinity issues, took the sustainable dairying industries from the Northern Rivers to irrigated land in the
Murray basin, created huge wealth for some and drove many Victorians to suicide when the grand ideas fell over.

After 5,000 kilometres of dragging and paddling a kayak, with decades of engineering experience in the water industry, I have been humbled. I came to realise that a river is much more than we were taught at university. The link between ground water and surface water is inextricable. The effect of taking any water out of a river can be profound.

But people don't seem to get it. They think that we can carry on with even more arrogance. Look at what has been destroyed already by our attitude and still we do not learn.

There is one thing the people of the Darling understood. "You can divert the Clarence over my dead body," l told them.

They didn't like it but they understood.

There are plenty of us who will fight for the river but be warned, the issue will never die. We just have to be ready - always.

STEVE POSSELT

Grafton resident 1952-1969
Author of Cry Me a River

One of the lesser known international celebrations listed on a government website

From the South Australian Government Women's Information Service:

International Whores Day Invitation Friday 5th June

International Whores Day celebrates the birth of the sex worker rights movement in 1976 Lyons, France. In 2009, more than 30 years on, South Australian sex workers are still fighting against discrimination, criminalisation and victimisation. This year please join sex workers, other sex industry employees, health and welfare workers, supporters, friends and families, to show your support for sex workers in South Australia as we continue to fight for our human rights.

The Scarlet Alliance has details of events in SA, NSW, Vic and the ACT

Want to know which 'real' pollies are tweeting across Australia?

Want to know if the tweets you're reading are coming from fair dinkum pollies or their evil twins?
Go to ozpollietweeters (which also helpfully lists the fakes) or tweetMP*

Want a dirty weekend next weekend?

Then get down and get dirty at the Australian Singles Marbles Championships next weekend in Brunswick Heads.

The Championships are part of the Brunswick Heads 9th Old and Gold Festival.

Players are advised that "Brunwick Heads" Rules will apply, with the Championships being played “FOR FAIR”, so all marbles will be returned to their owners.

Other significant rules include:

* Glass Marbles are to be no bigger than 3/4” (three-quarters of an inch). Agates & Steelies are banned.

* The order of shooting will be determined by “lagging”. Closest shoot or toss to designated line.

* Players can either shoot with their “TAW”(their shooting marble) off the ground or knuckled down outside or on the edge of the ring.

* Fudging is a foul shoot & next player takes turn.

* Shooters are not permitted to step/walk inside the ring.

REFEREE & TOURNAMENT ORGANISER’S DECISIONS ARE FINAL.

Click here for more information about the Old and Gold Festival.

And the Speaker of the House went like... Ck Ck Boom

With the Federal Opposition benches doing their level best to disrupt House of Representatives sitting days last week, one sometimes feels sorry for The Speaker Harry Jenkins and the obvious wear and tear his tonsils endure as those on his left act like hyperactive jacks-in-the-box.

However, The Speaker does eventually hold the upper hand when faced with the usual suspects and is not averse to showing them the door.

What a pity that MPs Abbott, Baldwin, Bishop, Dutton, Haase, Hockey, Pyne, Randall, Robert, Turnbull and Tuckey feel that wasting time on childish tantrums is a legitimate part of their job descriptions.

Their combined behaviour is now so tiresome that I feel like breaking out the popcorn whenever I hear the echo of a ck ck boom from the Chair.

Excerpts from Open Australia Hansard records:

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The member for Cook will resume his seat.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: I understand. The member for Paterson will resume his seat.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Treasurer will relate his response to the question and he will refer to members by their titles.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for North Sydney will resume his seat. The member for Blair has the call.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The member for Canning will resume his seat.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. I think I created some confusion—I am not sure how. Before greeting our distinguished visitor, I was going to ask the Prime Minister whether he had concluded his answer. The Prime Minister, I think, had anticipated your point of order and had sat down. I call the Prime Minister.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Sturt will resume his seat. Now hop up and do your stunt. I am ruling it out of order—

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Sturt will resume his seat. I thank him for supporting my case.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Dickson is warned!

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The Leader of the Opposition is warned.

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Fadden is warned!

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Fadden will leave the chamber for one hour under standing order 94(a).

(28 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The honourable member for Fadden is suspended from the service of the House for 24 hours.

(27 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Canning will resume his seat. While I do not adjudicate on personal explanations, I am not sure whether it was the member for Canning or the member for La Trobe who was at greater distress over that article.

(27 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Warringah will resume his seat. I say to the member for Warringah that I am not dissuaded by his argument from my actions, but I indicate to the member for Sturt that it is a really surprising set of behaviours, to come into the chamber and within five minutes think that he can prattle on without having the call. Like with the display of posters and other things, it is in the...

(27 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The member for North Sydney will resume his seat. The Treasurer is responding to the question.

(27 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Canning is warned!

(27 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for O'Connor will leave the chamber under 94(a) for one hour. The member for O'Connor then left the chamber.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The member for O'Connor will resume his seat. Having been given an A for his first effort, that was nearly a fail, but he has made his point.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The member for Dickson will resume his seat.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for North Sydney will resume his seat. The Treasurer will respond to the question.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Mackellar will resume her seat.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: So you are not interested in a response to your point of order. There is no point of order and the honourable member for Sturt knows it quite well.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The member for Sturt is warned. Member for Oxley, there is no need for any encouragement.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The honourable member for Sturt is suspended from the service of the House for 24 hours under standing order 94(b). The member for Sturt then left the chamber.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: I call the member for North Sydney to order. The member for Dickson will leave the chamber for one hour under standing order 94(a). The Treasurer will respond to the question. The member for Dickson then left the chamber.

(26 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: Order! The member for Paterson may leave the chamber for one hour under standing order 94(a). The member for Paterson then left the chamber.
(25 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Cowper will resume his seat. I have indicated that the Deputy Prime Minister is responding to the question.
(25 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Sturt will resume his seat—and he is warned, not because he raised a point of order but for the way in which he handled himself at the dispatch box. That was not my recollection of the question. The member has indicated that he was trying to change the question to make it in order.

(25 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Dickson will resume his seat. The Prime Minister has the call.

(25 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The question is related to gross debt. The Prime Minister, as I have said, knows of the requirement to make his response relevant to the question.

(25 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: I name the member for Kalgoorlie!

(25 May 2009) Harry Jenkins: The member for Kalgoorlie is suspended from the service of the House for 24 hours. The member for Kalgoorlie then left the chamber.

The question of West Yamba

Image from Clarence Valley Council

From The Daily Examiner letters column 27 & 28 May 2009:

West Yamba Flooded

GIVEN the recent discussion regarding the development of West Yamba, it is timely that we have been inundated by widespread flooding.
Anyone who has ventured along Carrs Drive within recent days, the site for the proposed
suburb of 1000 dwellings, would wonder at the wisdom of such planning.
Much of the area has been submerged under water, including sections of the road.
It could be argued that these are extreme conditions and unlikely to impinge on future development. However, it is only eight years since we had cyclonic conditions in Yamba in early March 2001, with localised flooding.
Added to this are the problems of global warming, which will exacerbate severe weather condi tions such as flooding.
The costs and the inconvenience of relocating victims of flooding, as well as attendant expenses of infrastructure, landfill requirements and compromising a wetlands area, among other issues, all indicate the foolishness of development of West Yamba underscored by flooding of recent days.

S HUXTABLE,
Yamba

Thoughts on the 2009 floods

ONCE again in the North Coast we faced the danger of flood inundation and especially in Yamba the danger of being cut off from the mainland.
If anybody ventured down Carrs Drive in West Yamba last Friday they would have noticed the land flooded, this is just the area that the proposed West Yamba development be placed.
I along with thousands of others in West Yamba live in filled flood plains but those were decisions made 20 years ago.
With modern knowledge the filling in of these flood plain releases is reckless.

P STEPHEN,
Yamba

Obama and Korea: is Kim winning the latest battle of wills?

PBS Online news in-depth cover Tracking Nuclear Proliferation 27th May 2009

According to an opinion piece in the U.K. Telegraph last Friday President Obama is losing the PR battle on this one:

"Kim Jong-il, the charismatic and popular (if you are a Pyongyang resident and covet a life expectancy of more than 24 hours) Dear Leader of North Korea, is on his sixth or seventh missile this week. See the pretty vapour trails streak across Asian skies, in an impressive firework display to celebrate the arrival of President Pantywaist in the Oval Office.
School's out! Suddenly it is playtime for all the naughtier elements in the more "reclusive" parts of the world who enjoy kicking Uncle Sam's butt but didn't much relish tangling with Dick Cheney and (what was that other guy's name?). This time Comrade Kim is really throwing his toys out of the playpen. He has even unilaterally revoked the 1953 armistice between the Korean War belligerents, which means, in case anybody is interested, that North and South Korea are once more at war.
So, what is the response of the Messiah in the Oval Office? Really severe rhetoric, is the answer. The soundbite manufacturers have been burning the midnight oil and the auto-cue is going into meltdown. So is the confidence of Asian leaders. The word is out: the most powerful nation on earth has got itself a pussycat for a president and all the bad guys are queuing up to give him the finger."