Some of the saddest words uttered this year

Yesterday, Harry Nelson, former Yuendumu Council President, presented Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin with a statement signed by 236 residents in a meeting of the community before the Minister opened the new Yuendumu pool, funding of which predates the intervention.

The statement read:

We, the residents of Yuendumu, want you to listen to the following statement and take our message back to the Federal and NT Governments:

When John Howard and Mal Brough lost their seats, we were happy. But now you are doing the same thing to us, piggybacking Howard and Brough's policies, and we feel upset, betrayed and disappointed.

We don't want this intervention!

We talked to the Review board, and now the Government is not even listening to the report, and is keeping this intervention going almost unchanged. It is an insult to us.

This is our land. We want the Government to give it back to us. We want the Government to stop blackmailing us. We want houses, but we will not sign any leases over our land, because we want to keep control of our country, our houses, and our property.

We say NO to income management. We can look after our own money.

We want the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 reinstated now, not in 12 months.

The Government Business Manager is useless, expensive, and we don't need them. We want our community councils back instead. We want community control, not Shires. We don't want more police, we don't want more contractors, we don't want more government people.

Everything is coming from the outside, from the top down. The government is abusing us with this intervention. We want to be re-empowered to make our own decisions and control our own affairs. We want self-determination. We want support, funding and resources for things coming from our community, from the inside.

Yuendumu has a lot of things to be proud of. Our community programs, like the Mt Theo program, the bilingual education program, Warlpiri media, the Old People's program, Warlukurlunga arts centre, childcare, the youth program, should be supported, celebrated, and used as a model for other communities.

We want to keep our bilingual education program and use our own language to teach English, maths, and other things in schools.

We want you to give us respect and dignity, and stop telling lies about our people.

We want the Government to listen to us, talk with us, consult with us, and do things proper way.

[Crikey.com.au,28 October 2008]

*

I know money matters, but........

The global financial crisis appears to be dominating the media recently.
While this is understandable to a degree, the fact remains that Australia is not in financial dire peril right at this moment.

However the Murray-Darling Basin is in dire peril and its crisis directly affects the cost of meat, dairy products, fresh fruit and vegetables for us all and its long-term prognosis will have a direct effect on the national economy.

So it was more than disappointing to see this Media Monitors break down of the media-led focus on issues last week:

Click to enlarge

Media Monitors has also looked at the media response to climate change in Making Sense of the Climate Change Debate 2008 report and found that less than a third of Australian media reports over the period assessed are solution focused (including blogs of which only about 6% mention solutions), with a small 7.25% of all media reports mentioning reducing oil and coal consumption.

What was apparent though is that overall (when compared to the rest of the world) the Australian debate was very focused on what to do, how to do it and when to do it.

That was then and this is now.

With governments across this country having the attention span of gnats and seemingly glued to populist politics garnered by daily perusal of the media, there is a danger that the plight of the Murray-Darling Basin, greenhouse emission reduction plans and climate change solutions generally will slip further to the edge of political radars.

The real crisis is current and looming climate change impacts as well as ongoing water sustainability.

It is time to remind domestic media of this fact and insist that a brief journalistic flurry in response to yesterday's release of Treasury modelling of the proposed national carbon pollution reduction scheme does not mitigate the need to keep global warming high on the national issues list and so reflect ongoing national concern.

You go (you godless) girl!

News.com.au yesterday ran this story:

LONDON'S iconic red buses could be plastered with the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life", in an atheist advertising campaign responding to a set of Christian ads.

Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, 28, objected to the Christian adverts on some London buses, which carried an internet address warning that people who rejected God were condemned to spend eternity in "torment in hell".

She sought £5 ($12.90) donations towards a "reassuring" counter-advertisement - and received the backing of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and atheist campaigner Professor Richard Dawkins.

The campaign has already smashed its £5500 ($14,215) target and the slogan is planned to hit the side of several London buses in January.

"We see so many posters advertising salvation through Jesus or threatening us with eternal damnation, that I feel sure that a bus advert like this will be welcomed as a breath of fresh air," said BHA chief executive Hanne Stinson.

Prof Dawkins said: "This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion."

Ariane Sherine gives me a bit of 'faith' in the younger generation's ability to leaven the loaf.

Her blog detailing the Atheist Bus campaign is here.

Photo from Ariane's website

Should GM food be adequately labelled so that the consumer has a real choice?

Should GMO food be adequately labelled so that the consumer has a real choice in the matter of what they purchase to eat?

Farm Online's Stock and Land asked a similar question on Monday:

Q: Should there be mandatory labelling laws to advise consumers if food contains ingredients from genetically modified (GM) crops?

Yes

(88.1%)

No

(10.4%)

Undecided

(1.5%)

Total Votes: 840
Poll Date: 27/10/2008

A small sample admittedly from what is probably a relatively small readership, but it should give the Rudd Government some indication that Australians may not be happy with the state of food labelling in this country.

Poll can be accessed here. Vote if you feel inclined - let the world know how you feel about GMO.

* This post is part of North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.

Spring Arts Fair, Dunoon November 1 2008

A year ago a tornado hit little Dunoon on the NSW North Coast.

...causing huge damage to local homes and all but flattening Dunoon Public School.

To raise money for the students and their chosen charity Kids for Kids, the school will be transformed into an art gallery for the inaugural Spring Arts Fair next Saturday, November 1.

Around 15 professional artists who live in and around Dunoon have donated artworks for the event. Students have also been putting paint to canvas and these will be displayed alongside the collection of professional paintings, photography, sculpture, felting, drawings, garden sculptures and handmade jewellery that will be for sale. Prices range from $20 to $300, so there's something for everyone. Student artworks will be $10, with family and parents given first option to buy.

There will be sparkling apple juice, stuffed olives and camembert served (it is an art event after all!) plus a jumping castle, a mural painting workshop on the school toilet block and a monster sandpit raffle with prizes including an accommodation package, macadamia hampers, plant nursery vouchers, yoga and fitness classes, dinner vouchers, toys and even a poster autographed by Eric Bana. One in four tickets wins a prize, and the list is not yet complete!

Funds raised will help the school and assist Kids for Kids to continue improving the lives of children living in impoverished regions around the world.

The Spring Arts Fair will run from 4-6pm.

For more information phone Renee on 6689 5868 or Madeleine on 6689 5542.

If you are on the North Coast this Saturday, drop by and support a very worthy effort by Dunoon Public School and the local community.

Photograph of Dunoon tornardo from www.australiasevereweather.com

Local government is best says local government (I fall about laughing)

In my entire lifetime I don't think I have ever met my Federal MP while he or she actually held office and I may only have had a two minute face-to-face conversation in passing with one or two of the State MPs elected to represent me over that time.
The nature of both types of representative remain somewhat of a mystery, although a few of their falls from grace do eventually become public knowledge over time.

However.............
It would be hard not to know a whole lot about those local government councillors who've supposedly collectively acted on my behalf since I first saw the light of day.
With some shining exceptions, they would have to be the most one-eyed, short-sighted, venial and often downright corrupt mob that ever graced government.
And the council management structure which develops under them would be just as bad on average.

So I almost fell off my perch laughing when ABC News Radio announced that:

"Councils across New South Wales have backed a push by Lake Macquarie Council to abolish the State Government.

The councils' motion, calling for a two-tier government system, was yesterday passed unchallenged at the Local Government Association Conference in Broken Hill.
But Lake Macquarie Deputy Mayor Barry Johnston says a two-tier system of government makes more sense.
"It costs the Australian people over $2 billion per year to have the three levels of government, and there is a lot of duplication between State and Federal Government," he said."

I'm sorry Barry, old china, it was hard not to guffaw at this. Given the opportunity, councils would waste more than $2 billion annually in duplication with one hand tied behind the back and then waste some more in parochial fighting over the central pot.
I would happily support Australia-wide local government directly receiving a fixed percentage of the GST or other taxes, but heaven forfend that any NSW North Coast council is my only bulwark against the centralised power of Canberra.

Global financial crisis media coverage getting you down? Some of the best things in life are free

Coastal Emu and chicks beside the road in the Brooms Head area

Scott at picasaweb.google.com

We have known for some weeks that Australia is about to face an unwelcome patch of belt-tightening, but the bad news doesn't seem stop if one listens to those international financial gurus holding forth in the media.

So perhaps now is a good time to remember that some of the best things in every week are free for the taking.

So walk around the block and admire the neighbourhood gardens before dinner, sit in a local park and soak up the morning sun, wander through the nearest nature reserve and listen to the birds, and if you are lucky enough to live on the NSW North Coast simply revel in all that nature can offer on your doorstep.