Have Keneally and Sartor let down regional indigenous communities once again?

New provisions of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act came into effect at the beginning of this month.

In light of increasing competition over land use on the NSW North Coast and the sometimes cavalier destruction of indigenous heritage sites which has occurred in the not so distant past, it is worth noting that the Keneally Government and Minister Frank Sartor are still falling short in relation to commitments given according to this NSW Aboriginal Land Council media release:

The State's peak Aboriginal groups have expressed extreme concern at the lack of honesty and integrity displayed by the NSW Government in withholding key information about new Aboriginal cultural heritage regulations, despite its commitment to negotiate.

The NSW Government's undertaking to negotiate on regulations was a key condition for the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) and NTSCORP Ltd to remove their opposition to legislative changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW), opening the way for Coalition and Greens support for the National Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill 2010.

NSWALC and NTSCORP are very disappointed they did not receive key information or copies of the final National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Aboriginal Objects and Aboriginal Places) Regulation 2010 until the documents were made publicly available by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) this week.

This is despite a commitment made in Hansard in April by the Environment Minister, Hon Frank Sartor MP to continue working with both organisations on the regulations.

"While meetings between our organisations and the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water took place, it now appears the negotiations were not in good faith," said Bev Manton, Chair of NSWALC.

She said that repeated requests for copies of the regulations had led to late and partial information being provided and there had been no response at all on several key issues raised by NSWALC and NTSCORP over the past four months until this week.

"Unfortunately, now that we have the information, it's clear that commitments made by the Minister in writing are absent, including a promised amendment to ensure that court appeals would still be available if there was substantial non-compliance with the consultation process.

"This was one of the few hard-won rights for Aboriginal people under the previous law," said Ms Manton.

The regulations will support new provisions in the National Parks and Wildlife Act which are due to come into effect on 1 October 2010.

The regulations will detail the defences available where a person has damaged or destroyed an Aboriginal object, and also outline the processes for consultation with Aboriginal groups.

Defences will be available if a person was carrying out a wide range of activities defined by the regulations as 'low impact', including major farming infrastructure and mining exploration works. Separate codes of conduct set out in the regulations for the forestry and mining industries will also act as a defence if a person destroys an Aboriginal object.

NSW still remains the only state without standalone Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation.

"Aboriginal cultural heritage is not only significant to our people, but holds a central place in the cultural heritage of this State. It's insulting that it continues to be treated under the same legislation as flora and fauna," said Warren Mundine, CEO of NTSCORP.

"Aboriginal People have the cultural responsibility to protect their significant objects and places and the traditional right to speak for those places but in NSW we still don't have the legal right to protect and speak for our own cultural heritage," Mr. Mundine said.

During debate on the legislative changes earlier this year, the Minister announced the establishment of a working party to undertake a two-year review of the regulation of Aboriginal cultural heritage in New South Wales and to develop a new legislative model.

But NSWALC, NTSCORP and other Aboriginal groups are still waiting for a further announcement from the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Hon Paul Lynch MP, and confirmation as to who will be invited to participate on the Working Group.

"These changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Act were announced with great fanfare by the NSW Government as an improvement for Aboriginal heritage protection, to be followed by much overdue broader reform in the coming years," said Ms Manton.

"The lack of details put forward by the Government on the establishment of a working party to undertake a two-year review of the regulation of Aboriginal cultural heritage in New South Wales and to develop a new legislative model, and the failure to properly and respectfully negotiate with Aboriginal groups on the changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Regulations, tell a different story," she said.

• National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Aboriginal Objects and Aboriginal Places) Regulation 2010
• National Parks and Wildlife Amendment Act 2010 No 38
• Frank Sartor, NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment (NSW Hansard 21 April 2010): Since then my department has had further targeted consultations with stakeholders, which we undertook to do. I have also met with peak Aboriginal groups to discuss their outstanding concerns. I have committed to continuing to work with the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council and the Native Title Services Corporation to develop amendments to the draft regulations and the draft Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water code of practice, which will reflect and give effect to the objects of the legislation to conserve places, objects and features of significance to Aboriginal people and to strengthen the protection afforded to Aboriginal objects and places in New South Wales. [my emphasis]

Teh Bolta will take the stand in his own defence

Australian journalist Andrew Bolt may be facing some well-deserved legal difficulties if he intends to be the only witness on his own behalf in a matter where it is asserted that he breached the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act:
UP TO nine fair-skinned people will testify that they were hurt, humiliated and offended by newspaper columns that questioned their right to claim they were Aboriginal, the Federal Court was told yesterday.
The nine are suing Herald Sun journalist Andrew Bolt over articles and blogs including one headlined ''White is the new black'' that suggested it was fashionable to choose Aboriginal racial identity, which brought ''political and career clout''. Earlier articles, ''It's so hip to be black'', and ''White fellas in the black'', had similar themes.
Bolt wrote that ''white Aborigines'' were ''people who, out of their multi-stranded but largely European genealogy, decide to identify with the thinnest of all those strands, and the one that's contributed least to their looks''.
Bolt will be the only witness in response, his lawyer told the court.

# Fellow journalist Chris Berg defends Bolt and takes a swipe at anti-discrimination law in the process here.

Gold star for the Australian economy

In coming weeks it shall be interesting to see how the Opposition's Abbott and Hockey work a negative political spin on the International Monetary Fund and the Reserve Bank of Australia's consistently positive view of the national economy.

International Monetary Fund's Australia—2010 Article IV Consultation Concluding Statement September 15, 2010:

This statement contains our preliminary policy recommendations following discussions with the Australian authorities and a range of private sector institutions. The discussions focused on the pace of exit from macro stimulus, managing the mining boom, and addressing vulnerabilities related to high household and external debt.

1. Despite growth slowing due to the global financial crisis, Australia was one of the few advanced economies to escape recession in 2009. This reflected strong demand for commodities from China, a prompt and significant macro policy response, a healthy banking sector, and a flexible exchange rate. With a mining boom now driving the recovery and dissipating spare capacity, policy stimulus is appropriately being withdrawn.
2. Australia’s growing integration with emerging Asia also underpins its favorable medium-term growth prospects. However, it brings with it vulnerabilities to which policy will need to respond. The impact on Australia’s terms of trade from industrialization and urbanization in China and the rest of emerging Asia is expected to be long lived. Careful macroeconomic management of the mining boom could permanently raise household incomes in Australia. However, shifting resources to the mining sector without giving rise to inflationary pressures will be challenging. Moreover, the growing dependence on mining may amplify the business cycle, as the economy will be more vulnerable to swings in the terms of trade.

Reserve Bank's 30 September 2010 Financial Stability Review :

The Australian financial system remains in relatively strong condition, as does the broader economy. The effects of the global crisis on the Australian economy and financial system were quite mild, and economic growth has now broadly returned to trend. This performance reflects several factors including the greater scope that existed for macroeconomic policy action in Australia to moderate the impact of the crisis, the comparatively strong balance sheets of the domestic banks in the period leading into the crisis, and the high exposure of the Australian economy to trade with the Asian region.
Indicators of the financial strength of Australian banks have generally continued to improve recently.
In aggregate, Australia’s banking system remained profitable during the crisis period, and profits have increased further in the latest half year. The flow of bad debt charges has generally peaked, while the stock of non-performing assets on banks’ balance sheets appears to be stabilising at a level that remains low in comparison with previous cyclical experience. Loan impairments and losses have been concentrated mainly in lending to businesses, particularly for commercial property. There has been some upward drift in arrears rates on the housing portfolio, though these remain fairly low overall......

The financial position of the household and business sectors in Australia remains sound. Household incomes have been growing at a solid pace and unemployment has been declining. Households continue to exhibit a somewhat more cautious approach to debt than prior to the crisis, with welcome signs that the recent housing market strength led by first-home buyers has cooled.
Notwithstanding recent cyclical variations, housing prices have shown little net change as a ratio to incomes over several years, following an earlier structural increase in this ratio associated with financial deregulation and the shift to a low inflation environment. Within the national housing market, there has been some significant regional variation, with market conditions particularly strong recently in Victoria.

In the business sector, there has been considerable deleveraging in the post-crisis period, bringing average debt-to-equity and interest-payment ratios to levels close to their lowest in three decades.
Businesses have made use of both new equity issuance and strong internal funding during this process. While this shift in business funding was in part demand-driven, there was also a notable tightening of supply in 2008 and 2009; the availability of debt funding to businesses now appears to be improving, though credit availability for some sectors, including commercial property, remains quite constrained.....

What the Royal Society actually concluded concerning climate change science

There is a growing suspicion being voiced that The Australian newspaper has abandoned balance in favour of headlines which can be used as ammunition against the Gillard Government.

I cannot in truth confirm this suspicion, however its October 2 headline Top science body cools on global warming and the thrust of the article below that banner bears only a passing resemblance to last month's The Royal Society paper, Climate change: a summary of the science.

The Society's considered summary in concluding remarks stated:

57 There is strong evidence that changes in greenhouse gas concentrations due to human activity are the dominant cause of the global warming that has taken place over the last half century. This warming trend is expected to continue as are changes in precipitation over the long term in many regions. Further and more rapid increases in sea level are likely which will have profound implications for coastal communities and ecosystems.

58 It is not possible to determine exactly how much the Earth will warm or exactly how the climate will change in the future, but careful estimates of potential changes and associated uncertainties have been made. Scientists continue to work to narrow these areas of uncertainty. Uncertainty can work both ways, since the changes and their impacts may be either smaller or larger than those projected.

59 Like many important decisions, policy choices about climate change have to be made in the absence of perfect knowledge. Even if the remaining uncertainties were substantially resolved, the wide variety of interests, cultures and beliefs in society would make consensus about such choices difficult to achieve. However, the potential impacts of climate change are sufficiently serious that important decisions will need to be made.
Climate science – including the substantial body of knowledge that is already well established, and the results of future research – is the essential basis for future climate projections and planning, and must be a vital component of public reasoning in this complex and challenging area.

Congratulations to the HEMP Party - now a legitimate political party sited in Nimbin, NSW, Australia

In certain spots on the NSW North Coast they're partying like it's 1969.
Last week the Australian Electoral Commission registered the following:

Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party

Date Registered:
23 September 2010

Name of Party:
Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party

Abbreviation of name of party:
HEMP

Party Correspondence Address:
51 Cullen Street
NIMBIN NSW 2480

Registered Officer of Party:
Name: Graham Askey
Address: 9 Frank Street
LISMORE NSW 2480

Wishes to Receive Public Funding:Yes

First words in the Forty-Third Australian Parliament that Tony Abbott may repudiate

Somehow I suspect that these words may be some of the first Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will repudiate in the Forty-Third Commonwealth Parliament:

Mr Speaker, you are the custodian of the traditions of this parliament. You are the custodian of the rights of members. You are no longer a creature of party. You are no longer the creature of the executive. You are now free to be in this parliament everything that a Westminster style Speaker should be. This is your time, Mr Speaker, and I know you will use it in the best interests of this parliament and this nation.

A far cry from this previous statement by Abbott on 22 February 2008:

Mr Speaker, you are acting dishonourably.

Which may in part explain the constrained look (hinting at barely restrained annoyance) on the Speaker's face, on the first sitting day since the August 2010 general election, as Abbott proclaimed:

Mr Speaker, I never wavered in my faith that you were the best person for the job that you hold. There were weeks when others doubted. There were weeks when you must have doubted yourself what was going to emerge from this parliament. But I was with you every step of the way. I was there, I was your true friend......

Although it is more likely that the reason for this apparent coolness towards Abbott may be found in Jenkins' remark after his re-election as Speaker:

It is true to say that it has been an interesting period over the last few weeks, and you get to acknowledge those that are close to you, both family and friends. At some stage, perhaps, the true story of the last few weeks will be aired.......

As for future interaction in the House of Representatives between this pair, perhaps one should look to the past. Harry Jenkins or his deputy removed Abbott from the House during the Forty-Second Parliament at least thrice and he was requested to resume his seat on occasions too numerous to mention. One has to wonder how long it will be before he tries The Speaker's patience during this particular parliament.

Teh Drum woz wrung! Poodle doesn't win 'most loathed' prize

The Sydney Morning Herald poll early yesterday evening

Aunty ABC has been getting her knickers in a knot because Marieke Hardy over at The Drum online decided to presume that "there is nobody in the entire world who is loathed by Australia more than Christopher Pyne".

Of course Aunty should apologise to "Poodle' Pyne for getting its facts wrong.

He's only the second-most loathed person in Australia! After Andrew Bolt or Alan Jones on any given day and when the wind is blowing in from the west.

Here's editor Jonathan Green disappearing up his own nether regions in an effort to avoid whatever fall-out he imagines might come his way:

"On Monday I approved a piece by Marieke Hardy titled The Pyne experiments. I was wrong to do that.
Marieke is a very talented writer ... we value her contributions. Drum readers love her too, regularly making her Monday columns among our top 10 pieces for any given week.
I feel I let her down this time, because the assault on Christopher Pyne she filed this week was not on a par with the main body of her work. It was not up to her standards, and failed to meet the standards for argument and well-thought opinion we try to maintain on this site. As her editor I should have told her that and pulled the piece.
We’ve dropped it from our site now, and we take this opportunity to apologise to Christopher Pyne for both the attack and for its deeply personal nature. There is no formal pressure on us to do this, but we think it’s the right thing to do.
Mistakes happen in daily publishing. Sometimes things see the light of day that on reflection ought more properly have been cut, re-written or dropped altogether. I take the view that while it’s regrettable to make the error in the first place, it’s never too late to both apologise and do what you can to correct the situation.
Jonathan Green"

Telstra tries to close the gate behind those bolting brumbies

In the Clarence Valley on the NSW North Coast Telstra customer satisfaction is probably at an all time low and, in a clear case of karmic retribution, some customers are telling me that they will be abandoning their home and business accounts as soon as current contracts expire because this national telecommunications company is not supporting the community and local economy.

So it was with some amusement that I read the following in The Herald-Sun on Thursday 30 September 2010:

AFTER years of appalling service Telstra has finally conceded the customer is always right.
In a major turnaround, Telstra chief David Thodey yesterday pledged to lift rock-bottom customer satisfaction levels.
Under a $1 billion plan already under way, Telstra intends to drastically reduce complaints and resolve problems on a first-call basis.
In recent months Telstra has scrapped a $2.20 "administration fee" and shelved charges for calls to Telstra's help desk for service and support from home and mobile phones.
Some "nuisance fees" will also become a thing of the past, with Big Pond customers no longer having to pay for extra email addresses.
And in another break with the past, Mr Thodey declared there would be no flashy advertising campaigns, instead spending the money to change staff attitudes.
"What we will be focused on is changing the culture of this company, changing the way we interact with customers and giving a different experience," Mr Thodey said.
Staff are already being sat down to watch a short film that Telstra marketing chief Kate McKenzie says will teach them to stop "lecturing to the crowd" - "Something we've been guilty of in the past," the film's narrator says.
Ms McKenzie adds: "We don't want to shout at our customers, we want to have a dialogue with them."

The day before the newspaper article I received a copy of this email:

From: [redacted]
Sent:Wednesday, 29 September 2010 8:53 AM
To: 'nswtcw@team.telstra.com'; Telstra - Susan.Passmore (susan.passmore@team.telstra.com)
Cc: [redacted]
Subject: Attention Ms Sue Passmore
Importance: High

Ms Passmore

I am totally dismayed (no, disgusted!) by Telstra's decision to close its Grafton call centre.

It seems loyalty counts for nothing – only the almighty dollar counts!

Hence, I now hold serious doubts about remaining as a Telstra customer.

Please forward to me at my postal address (below) the relevant information, papers, forms, etc associated with closing my account for all Telstra services associated with my phone number and address.

[Name and address redacted for privacy reasons]

UPDATE:

TELSTRA shares crashed to a new low yesterday as the telco tried to calm staff concerns over speculation thousands of jobs would be cut.
It is believed to be part of a three-year plan to simplify the business and strip costs to bolster dwindling earnings.
Shares in Telstra fell 6c to $2.62 as David Thodey's strategy to revitalise its lumbering business failed to win over investors and as speculation on massive job cuts permeated the market.
In an internal memo, Telstra staff were told to expect more job cuts but to remain focused on improving the business.
[The Australian on 1 October 2010, as Telstra share price continues to reach record lows]

A nugget of truth?

"I gave a Bible to my daughter.

That's how you make atheists."

Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists