The Rudd Government endores the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples while problems persist

First the Rudd Government formally said sorry to the Stolen Generation and now it has endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin delivered a statement in support of the document at Parliament House this morning, saying that the move was a step forward in "re-setting" the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
"The Declaration gives us new impetus to work together in trust and good faith to advance human rights and close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians," Ms Macklin said.
"The Declaration recognises the legitimate entitlement of Indigenous peoples to all human rights – based on principles of equality, partnership, good faith and mutual benefit."

However, this is the true state of affairs according to the National Indigenous Times:

NATIONAL, April 7, 2009: Residents of remote Aboriginal communities are routinely being sold rotten and overpriced food, an inquiry has heard.
A federal parliamentary inquiry into community stores has also heard a Queensland government-run store in the Torres Strait was infested with rats.
Distressed residents told the inquiry the infestation at the IBIS store at Moa Island had reached plague proportions, while a store representative admitted there was rodent problem.
"Many of the stores we heard about and some of the stores we saw were not up to scratch and that's got to have an effect," Labor MP and head of the inquiry Richard Marles said.
Mr Marles, who spent last week touring communities in the Torres Strait and Cape York, said residents across the region claimed food at their local store was rotten or out of date.
"There was a repeated sense that a lot of product was out of date, there was some evidence that the use-by date had been textaed over - that was certainly a repeated theme among those who were giving evidence before us," he said.
The inquiry has also received an anonymous submission from a Northern Territory nurse who expressed dismay at the quality and price of goods in her local store.
"The cucumber I bought was mostly rotten. Of the 1kg bag of tomatoes three were rotten, the sour cream went out of date six weeks ago, the avocado was black all through ... and a package of a red onion, a tomato and a lettuce cost $11," she said.

ISSUE 174, April 2, 2009:.........With the election of Labor, there was some optimism that there might be major changes to the scope and nature of the intervention. The political analysis was that Labor had deliberately kept themselves as a small target over the intervention, and that there would be a significant shift in policy and emphasis over the intervention post-election.
However, apart from some cosmetic changes to CDEP and the permit system - which have yet to be enacted - the new government decided to keep the intervention rolling.

A mounting case of intervention failure

UN tells Rudd to 'redesign' NT intervention

Graphic from the National Indigenous Times

Black Carbon Aerosols: another culprit contributing to global warming?

On 4 April 2009 the US National Aeronautics and Space agency (NASA) reported that aerosol particles known as Black Carbon, produced by industrial processes and the combustion of diesel and biofuels, are contributing to the warming of the Arctic which receives wind drift from North America and Europe but has minimal precipitation to flush these fine particles out of the atmosphere.

Full article Aerosols May Drive a Significant Portion of Arctic Warming.

Australian Law Reform Commission online forum asks for your opinion on royal commissions

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) is holding a review of the operation and provisions of the Commonwealth Royal Commissions Act 1902 and related issues.

Submissions can be lodged in the usual way or the online forum can be accessed.

This is an important subject as royal commissions are sometimes the only way Australian citizens have of establishing the veracity of what the government of the day is telling voters about a given issue.

It is interesting to note that the ALRC has highlighted cost in its media release and not the attempts by government to limit such inquiries by handing down very narrow terms of reference, as was the case in the faux royal commission, the 2005 Inquiry Into Certain Australian Companies In Relation To The UN Oil-For-Food Programme (also popularly known as the Cole Inquiry or AWB Inquiry)

Here is the ALRC media release:

The Australian Law Reform Commission today released an Issues Paper, Review of the Royal Commissions Act (IP35) seeking feedback from the community on 49 questions posed as part of its current review of the Royal Commissions Act 1902 (Cth). The ALRC has been asked by the Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP, to review the operation of the Act—which has been in force since 1902—and in particular to consider whether less formal alternatives to a Royal Commission may be appropriate in some circumstances.

ALRC President Professor David Weisbrot noted that "Royal Commissions look at issues of great public importance and play a very important role in ensuring that systemic failures are addressed. When there are controversial issues that cannot be handled satisfactorily by the courts or the political process, there are invariably calls for the establishment of a Royal Commission—and there are often expressions of disappointment when other 'lesser' forms of inquiry are established, such as the inquiries into the treatment of Dr Mohamed Haneef and Cornelia Rau.

"Royal Commissions usually prove to be very expensive. Precise figures are surprisingly difficult to pin down, but we estimate that, in today's dollars, the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry cost taxpayers over $70M, the one into the collapse of insurer HIH cost over $47M, and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody cost over $50M."

Professor Weisbrot stated "A key concern for the ALRC is whether an alternative model of executive inquiry might provide similar advantages and outcomes to Royal Commissions, in terms of respect, independence, protection of witnesses and so on, while offering more flexibility, less formality and greater cost-effectiveness."

Royal Commission powers are another issue under the spotlight. Commissioner in charge of the ALRC Inquiry, Professor Les McCrimmon, noted that, "The Act currently gives Royal Commissions a wide range of coercive information gathering powers. For example, a Royal Commission can apply for a search warrant, summon witnesses to give evidence and require the production of evidence. The exercise of such powers must be balanced carefully against the rights of those being investigated.

"The Royal Commissions Act also contains a number of criminal offences that can be used to punish failures to comply with the requirements of a Royal Commission, interfering with witnesses, or interfering with the work or authority of a Commission. We will be exploring whether civil penalties may be more appropriate in some of these contexts," Professor McCrimmon said.

Along with the release of the Issues Paper, the ALRC has also developed an Online Discussion Forum organised around the key questions being considered in this inquiry, making it easy for people to share their ideas and experiences at http://talk.alrc.gov.au.

The Review of Royal Commissions Issues Paper and further information about this Inquiry are available from the ALRC website http://www.alrc.gov.au/. The closing date for written submissions in response to the Issues Paper is 19 May 2009.

The final report and recommendations are due to be presented by 30 October 2009.

Job Services Australia 2009: unemployment service providers for the NSW North Coast

From the Minister's media release:

Providers for Job Services Australia will begin operation from July 1. There will be a 12 month transition period for job seekers to Job Services Australia providers........
Job Services Australia folds seven separate employment services programs into a 'one-stop-shop' that provides job seekers with a more personalised service......
There will be 116 contracts servicing job seekers across Australia. The 116 contracts comprise individual organisations or groups of organisations totalling 141 providers. They will be supported by at least 48 sub contractors.
There will be more than 2000 Job Service Australia sites across the nation, an increase from 1800 sites under the current system.........

Job seekers will receive a letter from April informing them of changes.
If job seekers have any queries they can call the customer service hotline 1800 805 260.

List of stream services by ESA:

Clarence NSW	ACET australia	Indigenous Australians	Grafton, Maclean, Yamba
	Key Employment	People with a disability	Grafton, Maclean
	Nortec Employment and Training Limited	Generalist	Grafton, Yamba
	Tursa Employment & Training Inc.	Generalist	Grafton, Maclean, Yamba

Coffs Harbour NSW	ACET australia	Indigenous Australians	Coffs Harbour, Corindi Beach, Nambucca Heads
	Enterprise and Training Company Ltd	Generalist	Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Dorrigo, Nambucca Heads, Toormina, Woolgoolga
	Ngurrala Aboriginal Corporation	Indigenous Australians	Macksville, Nambucca Heads
	Nortec Employment and Training Limited	Generalist	Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Dorrigo, Nambucca Heads, Woolgoolga
	Tursa Employment & Training Inc.	Generalist	Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca Heads, Woolgoolga

North Coast NSW	Bunjum Employment Services Pty Ltd ABN 45102978129	Indigenous Australians	Ballina
	Jobfind Centres Australia Pty Ltd	Generalist	Ballina, Brunswick Heads, Byron Bay
	Nortec Employment and Training Limited	Generalist	Ballina, Brunswick Heads, Byron Bay
	Tursa Employment & Training Inc.	Generalist	Ballina, Brunswick Heads, Byron Bay, Mullumbimby

Richmond NSW	Job Futures Ltd	Youth At Risk	Casino, Kyogle, Lismore, Nimbin
	Jobfind Centres Australia Pty Ltd	Generalist	Casino, Lismore, Woodburn
	Nortec Employment and Training Limited	Generalist	Casino, Kyogle, Lismore, Nimbin
	Summit Employment and Training	Indigenous Australians	Casino, Kyogle, Lismore
	Tursa Employment & Training Inc.	Generalist	Casino, Kyogle, Lismore
	Yabur Yulgun CDEP Aboriginal Corporation	Indigenous Australians	Lismore

Tweed NSW	Nortec Employment and Training Limited	Generalist	Bray Park, Kingscliff, Murwillumbah, Pottsville, Tweed Heads South
	The Salvation Army Employment Plus	Generalist	Murwillumbah, Tweed Heads South
	Tursa Employment & Training Inc.	Generalist	Kingscliff, Murwillumbah, South Tweed Heads
	Yabur Yulgun CDEP Aboriginal Corporation	Indigenous Australians	Tweed Heads

It's market failure, says Senator Conroy

Australian Minister for Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy says that the Rudd Government announcement that it will establish a national broadband network costing around $43 billion (financed by government bond issues) is due to "market failure"
From where I'm sitting it looks more like a Stevo failure to me.
The Australian rightly points to Telstra as the fly in the ointment but doesn't mention that the Conroy tender process didn't result in viable bids anyway.
Having Stephen Conroy as minister when the basic plan for creating the new national network is being put in place does not bode well.
Especially as home use on the new network will be limited and much more expensive according to one analyst - which if true will alarm the average blogger
When is Kevin Rudd going to shuffle this inept minister away from a sensitive portfolio and into the obscurity he so fully deserves.
Conroy is a living example of the Peter Principle; "the theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent."

Beserker 2009

Many Australian families have stories past down through the years about life during the Great Depression.
By now some of these stories have acquired a glossy surface demonstrating the family's valiant survival and humour in the face of adversity.

However, it doesn't take much to peek below and see memories of the fear, distrust and intense dislike which existed between those without jobs or income and the agents of those that had both.

If one delves deeper one often finds examples of verbal and physical violence.
Threats, beatings; to the constant refrain of get out, get out or move on, move on.

I'm not suggesting that the world is on the brink of another world-wide depression as I write, but I am wondering how a modern affluent society used to only relative poverty since the Great Depression will cope with a prolonged global recession.

If Australia were to enter a long period of high unemployment, will our answer at an individual level be the type of violence seen in the growing number of multiple murders since the beginning of 2008 in America and elsewhere?
Or will Australian society weather the global financial crisis relatively intact?
Will our old egalitarian myths sustain us?

Photograph from The Age

XKCD on windpower - the funny side of the energy debate

From XKCD