Wednesday 13 February 2008
Well duh, M'lud
Tuesday 12 February 2008
NSW North Coast battening down the hatches today
Coastal Waters Wind Warning
For NSW Waters North of Wooli and South of Ulladulla.
Issued at 4:10 am EDT on Tuesday 12 February 2008
High over the Tasman Sea directing an easterly flow tending northerly in the south. A cold front expected to affect the far southern coast overnight Tuesday before continuing further north on Wednesday, whilst a low pressure system expected to develop off the coast near the Queensland/NSW border Tuesday afternoon or evening.
For the Far North Coast, from Point Danger to Cape Byron
For the Far North Coast, from Cape Byron to Wooli
Wind gusts can be a further 40 percent stronger than the averages given here, and maximum waves may be up to twice the height."
Peter Singer argues that whaling and lethal whale research are unethical
Time for Rudd Government to look Howard's NT Intervention squarely in the face
It's the little things that finally drive you mad
Monday 11 February 2008
Wondering exactly where Japan might be made answerable for its Southern Ocean whale kill? Here's one venue Australia may be considering
The origins of the Convention date from 1 November 1967 when Ambassador Arvid Pardo of Malta addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations and called for "an effective international regime over the seabed and the ocean floor beyond a clearly defined national jurisdiction". This led to the convening, in 1973, of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which after nine years of negotiations adopted the Convention.
The Convention establishes a comprehensive legal framework to regulate all ocean space, its uses and resources. It contains, among other things, provisions relating to the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone and the high seas. It also provides for the protection and preservation of the marine environment, for marine scientific research and for the development and transfer of marine technology. One of the most important parts of the Convention concerns the exploration for and exploitation of the resources of the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (the Area). The Convention declares the Area and its resources to be "the common heritage of mankind". The International Seabed Authority, established by the Convention, administers the resources of the Area.
Part XV of the Convention lays down a comprehensive system for the settlement of disputes that might arise with respect to the interpretation and application of the Convention. It requires States Parties to settle their disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention by peaceful means indicated in the Charter of the United Nations. However, if parties to a dispute fail to reach a settlement by peaceful means of their own choice, they are obliged to resort to the compulsory dispute settlement procedures entailing binding decisions, subject to limitations and exceptions contained in the Convention.
The mechanism established by the Convention provides for four alternative means for the settlement of disputes: the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Court of Justice, an arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VII to the Convention, and a special arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VIII to the Convention.
A State Party is free to choose one or more of these means by a written declaration to be made under article 287 of the Convention and deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations (declarations made by States Parties under article 287).
If the parties to a dispute have not accepted the same settlement procedure, the dispute may be submitted only to arbitration in accordance with Annex VII, unless the parties otherwise agree."
Exclusive Brethren fleece the public purse
The report shows the Exclusive Brethren to be the "biggest winner" in this rort by establishing 16 campuses around NSW.
The MET School at Meadowbank, run by the Brethren, is an example of what the Education Department sees as schools getting an unfair advantage. The MET School is the parent school for the other 15 campuses. Only one of these, at Kellyville, is within 50 kilometres of the parent school. One, Lavington, is 600 kilometres away in Albury. If they were called new schools, they would not qualify for the same generous funding. But as "campuses", they keep it.The department is critical of the "inequities" being entrenched because these schools, under a deal struck with the Howard government, have had their funding maintained at the same level as before the SES system was introduced in 2001.
The overfunding has cost taxpayers more than $2 billion over four years and, according to the review, will cost $2.7 billion over the next four-year funding cycle, starting next year.
Despite having previously criticised the Funding Maintained system as unfair, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, locked Labor into keeping it before the federal election.The Department of Education's internal review of the funding for private schools was commissioned by the Howard government and completed last year.
The Rudd Government refused to release it to the Herald under a freedom of information request. The leaked report recommends dealing with the extra funding by gradually taking money away from many schools until they receive their correct entitlement.
Read the Herald's report at:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/loophole-keeps-schools-in-clover/2008/02/10/1202578600919.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
NRMA making limited ex-gratia payments to some policyholders affected by NSW North Coast flooding
Barack dances in a policy vacumn to the tune of money, money, money
Frank Sartor tries to finally kill-off local government
This plan now includes the Minister taking complete control of all developer contribution funds normally held by councils.
It is obvious that the Iemma Government has a death wish.