The CSIRO today - sometimes the threat to Australian water and food security is found in unexpected places

The commercially-driven Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Earth Science and Resource Engineering division reveals that ‘fracking’ is now considered mainstream mining technology which it supports:

* Hydraulic fracturing is a core technology in conventional petroleum production and in fast growing areas of unconventional gas, geothermal energy and carbon capture and storage.

It is also a cornerstone of innovative new methods in mining.

The CSIRO hydraulic fracture group combines theoretical development and experimental investigations with application-ready capabilities to provide basic research and novel technologies aligned with the needs of an expanding range of industries.

* Outcomes from our fundamental mechanics studies provide building blocks for a new generation of commercial and research hydraulic fracturing simulators that account for multi-scale processes in hydraulic fracturing and the interaction of hydraulic fractures with natural fractures in the reservoir rock.

We are actively pioneering new applications of hydraulic fracturing to:

·         pre-condition ore bodies for caving-type mining operations

·         enhanced gas drainage from coal seams

·         geothermal reservoir development

·         carbon capture and storage operations.  

The Greens zero in on Hapless Gulaptis

You’ve gotta enjoy the way Gulaptis’ chicken words quickly come home to roost after they fly from his mouth. Here are The Greens taking him to task in his self-appointed role of the defender of mainstream values against those dastardly interest groups in "We all benefit from the achievements of 'noisy' minorities":

Chris Gulaptis appears to have a problem with 'noisy' minorities.

Some of the achievements of noisy minorities:

• voting rights for women
• the end of child labour in the U.K.
• the end of open slavery
• the protection of the Franklin River
• the end of cigarette advertising in the media

Do you belong to a noisy minority?

If a state election was held today the Nationals would gain 6% of the state's primary vote. The Greens would gain 14%. (Latest Newspoll- The Australian, November 10)

Families rally for the Nymboida and Clarence Rivers in November 20011

Protest picnic drawing attention to proposed mining

in Nymboida River and Clarence River catchments,

Karangi Dam, Saturday November 12, 2011.

Photographs from Mid North Coast Greens

Nationals Chris Gulaptis continues to align himself with admitted lawbreaker

Some aspiring politicians kiss babies, help little old ladies find a seat and shake the hands of old soldiers.

Not the NSW Nationals' candidate in the Clarence by-election, Chris Gulaptis.

He keeps buddying up to former disgraced MP Steve Cansdell who had to resign his seat because he had been outed for signing a false statuatory declaration in which he lied in order to keep his driver's license after repeat speeding infringements.

The snapshot of Chris and Steve (above) comes from a Gulaptis campaign leaflet being delivered across the Clarence Valley this month.

UPDATE:

He confessed, so why delay the arrest? Could the police be dragging their feet for political reasons, asks the Herald Sun on 13 November 2011.

Clarence By-Election: Remembering that Gulaptis Grand Tanty of 2007 & the Fiji Dictatorship

This letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner last Saturday reminded voters that Chris Gulaptis can throw a spectacular sulk.

Vowed never to return

I'm not sure whether G Dobbin (DE Letters) is a passionate Labor supporter with deep concerns for Peter Ellem's dress sense or a National Party stooge, but whatever it was that prompted his or her letter to the editor they got one thing dead right; Labor still has integrity.

So much so, in fact, that Chris Gulaptis, despite his desperate attempts, couldn't make it onto the Labor membership books and get the ALP pre-selection he thought would lead to a seat in parliament.

What a shame the Nationals, unlike the ALP, can't spot political opportunism when it's staring them in the face.

If they could, we poor voters would have been spared the odious situation of being saddled with a National Party candidate who had the hide to vent his spleen on the people of Grafton, simply because they failed to vote for him at the Federal elections.

And the National Party would not now be stuck with someone they prefer to keep hidden rather than out on the campaign trail.

Chris Gulaptis stormed out of Grafton after his Federal election loss vowing never to return.

What a shame he didn't stick to his promise.

BILL O'DONNELL

Maclean

What the letter didn't mention was the fact that he also ratted out ratepayers because he was still a Clarence Valley councillor with another 10 months on the clock when he lost at the 2007 federal election - months in which he was an absentee representative working overseas for much of the time.

And that after the Australian democratic process chewed him up and spat him out he first worked in a South Pacific dictatorship run by Josaia Voreqe 'Frank' Bainimarama before settling in Queensland. Indeed, Gulaptis said "his work overseas was more of a priority" than Clarence Valley local government.
The Bainimarama totalitarian regime obviously approved the resort he worked on as it still hosts the company's job vacancy advertising.

So while the ordinary people of Fiji were suffering the ongoing effects of a coup which stripped them of democratic rights (and saw people physically intimidated, sexually assaulted, beaten to death, detained, tortured, spied on, deprived of free speech) Gulaptis was helping to bring into being this foreign-owned Fijian island resort for the rich and famous:

"Small plates are the order here, with seven-course meals of smartly proportioned gourmet dishes. The airy, colonial-style Plantation House contains a fine-dining restaurant, a lounge and an impressive wine cellar. (Premium wines can be had at an additional cost, starting at $55 and going as high as $1,280 for a 1995 Château Mouton Rothschild Premier Cru.) At the Seagrass Lounge, the fare is Asian-fusion. The Beach Bar grills a mix of meat, seafood and vegetables; the clifftop Rock Lounge is best for sunsets, cocktails and savory bites; and the Pool Bar offers an addictive tuna carpaccio with French-fried zucchini and wasabi dipping sauce.
Service at Fiji’s better resorts has always been wholehearted, but it has also been famously slow. Not so at Laucala. With a staff of 360 and a guest count below 80, a call for coffee produces a smiling employee carrying a steaming pot in three minutes flat. One recent guest, out for an early round with New Zealand golf pro Tony Christie, came upon a perfectly set table near the fourth hole. Someone had decided they might like breakfast with their game.
Accommodations begin at $3,800 {a night} for two people." Or as Gulaptis likes to brag "ranging from $4000 to $30,000 per night".
This is definitely an 'invitation only' resort.

Update:
Gulaptis admits he missed five meetings from April 2008 to the council elections in September 2008.

Grafton's purple haze in November 2011

Jacarandas in bloom abound across public spaces

City of Grafton, Clarence Valley NSW

Chris Gulaptis' masters block motion calling for moratorium on mining approvals on Dorrigo Plateau & in Clarence River Catchment

From A Clarence Valley Protest on 11 November 2011: 

O'Farrell Government blocks motion calling for moratorium on mining approvals on the Dorrigo Plateau and Clarence River Catchment

Today the NSW Parliament Legislative Council was adjourned at 3.52 pm until Tuesday 22 November 2011 at 2.30 pm.

However, before the House rose the O’Farrell Coalition Government gave voters on the NSW North Coast a very good reason to reject his candidate, Chris Gulaptis, at the 19 November Clarence by-election when it used its numbers and influence to block this motion:

349. Mr Buckingham to move—

1. That this House notes that:

(a) Anchor Resources Limited have conducted scoping studies that indicate a resource of 17,500 tons of antimony have been found at both Wild Cattle Creek near Nymboida, and the Blicks River to the northwest of Dorrigo on the mid north coast of New South Wales,

(b) Anchor Resources Limited has recently been subject to a majority takeover by the Chinese minerals company China Shandong Jinshunda Group Limited which now owns over 90 per cent of the company,

(c) antimony is a mineral resource used for a range of high tech products such as polymers, fire retardants and electronics,

(d) antimony and many of its compounds are toxic and the World Health Organisation has stated that oral consumption can result in "a strong irritating effect on the gastrointestinal mucosa and trigger sustained vomiting ... abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and cardiac toxicity",

(e) the Wild Cattle Creek project is located within the headwaters of the Nymboida River, which is the highest rainfall catchment in New South Wales,

(f) the majority of the municipal water supply for more than 100,000 residents in Coffs Harbour is provided by Shannon Creek Dam which is fed by pipes directly from the Nymboida River,

(g) the Nymboida also flows into the Clarence River which provides water for domestic and agricultural purposes and is part of an important fishery based around Yamba,

(h) the high rainfall of the catchment means there is a significant risk that run off containing antimony and arsenic from any mine site could contaminate the river systems,

(i) a previous antimony ore processing plant at Urunga Lagoon has been described in the Bellingen Council 2009-10 State of the Environment Report as seriously contaminated and unable to be rehabilitated, and

(j) the Government has admitted that mining activities at Hillgrove have caused serious and long-term contamination of the Macleay River from the mine to the Pacific Ocean.

2. That this House calls on the Government to:

(a) place a moratorium on mining approvals on the Dorrigo Plateau and Clarence until the Strategic Regional Land Use Plan has been completed for this area, and

(b) consider declaring the area around Wild Cattle Creek at the headwaters of the Nymboida an environmentally sensitive area, off-limits to mining as per the Coalition's Strategic Regional Land Use Policy.

(Notice given 8 November 2011—expires Notice Paper No. 72)

Legislative Council Notice Paper No. 55—Friday 11 November 2011

I know! Why not make it hard for voters in Yamba?

The Clarence Valley Review would have Yamba voters rock up to meet the 8 Clarence byelection candidates long after the polls have closed and in 2013 to make this Monday the 19th!
For those living in real time I'm pretty sure the candidates expect to see a crowd on Monday 14th November 2011 at 6pm.

Remembrance Day 2011

The tradition of Rememberance Day in Australia

Picture from Google images