Current Lib leadership not worth a bent zac

I wonder when the Liberal Party of Australia is going to realise that its political salvation does not lie in a choice between Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull as federal leader.
The party's entire federal front bench is so tainted by the Howard years, that public opinion polls are not likely to firm into double digits for any length of time with any of the usual suspects captaining the ship.
Every time one of these shadow ministers front a camera it is hard not to recall that they all turned a blind eye while refugees drowned at sea, drove people into madness in detention centres, allowed mates to fund a dictator with brown paper bags full of money, sent our kids to war based on WMD lies and generally rorted the political system.
Time for new blood fellas - or your particular craft just might sink without a trace.
Right now, as teh Opposition, you are p*ss weak.

Every breath you take, I'll be watching you

Tucked neatly into Joe Ludwig and Jenny Macklin's joint media release, on the welfare debit card to be introduced this year for Centrelink clients under income management and all baby bonus recipients, is this little admission.

Using the EFTPOS network will make more data available for better-targeted compliance checks aimed at detecting breaches.

What this sentence means is that every purchase made with one of these cards will be recorded against the name of the card holder and the data stored by the Federal Government.
Because it is nigh impossible to monitor for breaches without doing so.

It seems that the Rudd Government in its wisdom has decided that everytime the holder of a welfare debit card decides to purchase Kleenex tissues over Coles own brand, Arnott's biscuits over Dick Smith's cookies, Panadol over Nurofen, dried peas over fresh peas, or if a card holder buys over-the-counter haemorrhoid relief cream, it needs to know all the details.

As these debit cards will bar the purchase of alcohol, tobacco, pornography and not allow cash withdrawals, collection of additional information is insensitive, intrusive and needless.

Given that there is every indication that the Rudd Government intends to eventually roll out the welfare debit card nationally to include all government pension, benefit, allowance, concession recipients; every Australian citizen should be concerned with the implications of this data collection drive.

When one adds to this the recent Rudd Government announcement that it intends to access the full details of bank accounts held by people receiving cash transfers through Centrelink, whenever it deems this necessary; every citizen should be alarmed at where this attitude is taking our society.

NSW North Coast whale migration season underway

The magnificent humpback whales have begun their northerly migration along the east Australian coast.
It is estimated that more than 10,000 whales will soon be cruising past our doorsteps, and Australian Seabird Rescue (ASR) general manager Rochelle Ferris says that the organisation founded by her late father, Lance, is well-prepared in the event of a stranding.
“In the event of a whale stranding, ASR works closely and co-operatively with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and other non-government organisations by providing assistance and resources at the scene.
“The ASR Cetacean Stranding Team is a highly trained group of volunteers who are available to respond promptly to a stranding event anywhere between the Clarence River and the Tweed.”
ASR maintains a wide variety of response equipment including boats, tents, generators, lighting and wetsuits to support a co-ordinated rescue effort.

Please remember if you are boating, swimming or diving in sight of a whale:
NSW Parks and Wildlife introduced amended regulations in 2006 that govern whale watching from the sea to meet strict national standards. They introduced a caution zone limiting boats to 300m from a pregnant or calving whale and 100m from an adult or juvenile.
Boats are also banned from approaching whales head on or from the rear. But if a boat is stationary or drifting, a whale can obviously approach and stay with it as long as it likes.for more info on Whale and Dolphin regulations visit NSW Parks and Wildlife.

Photograph and articles from The Far North Coaster online magazine.

Someone's having a lend of Stephen Conroy

Now I know that pollies can be quite dense outside their area of expertise (ie., how to get elected) but someone must be actively having a lend of the Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy for him to have endorsed including "promotion of" technology addiction in the terms of reference for a recently formed cyber-safety consultative working group.
Nobody could be that dumb surely.
Even I know that this so-called addiction is one of the many supposed problematic behaviours which suddenly pop up overnight like mushrooms and get exposure in the media whenever major pharmaceutical companies are hunting to expand their markets.
Stephen won't find it or any variant listed in the DSM or recognised by the principal specialist medical associations, even if his departmental website links try to imply that this addiction exists as a mental disorder.
The next time a shrink makes a joke about the psychopathology of childhood, I bet this gullible minister will bite.
M'oath, he'd probably even buy a roo's tailfeather if you offered it to him!

If the Minister is interested, the website which reputedly gave the drug companies their 'bright' idea is here.