Headline of the Week

Toxic Tony: Abbott threw Napthine under a bus

[The New Daily 30 November 2014]                     

Quote of the Week

"Abbott has already burnt up an enormous amount of political capital and it's hard to get that back”,……Abbott "ran a very negative campaign to win government and he's now getting that back in spades".

[Former Liberal MP and former Shadow Federal Treasurer John Hewson in stuff.co.nz, 29 November 2014]

Dear Bastion of Old Conservative White Male Privilege, I Quit

Menzies House, a self-styled conservative think tank, published this resignation letter on 1 December 2014.

I have to confess that I find it hard to feel much sympathy for the letter's author.......

Damien Mantach
State Director
Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)
Level 3, 104 Exhibition Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

1 December 2014

Dear Mr Mantach,

I write to you today to resign my membership of the Victorian Liberal Party.

I am greatly saddened that I have become ashamed to be a member of the Liberal Party, which has completely betrayed its core principles and let down its base, and the Victorian people.

I understood the principles of the Liberal Party to be the inalienable rights and freedoms of all peoples, a lean government that minimises interference in our daily lives, and maximises individual and private sector initiative. Indeed, the Liberal Party’s national website states: “… we simply believe in individual freedom and free enterprise; and if you share this belief, then ours is the Party for you.” It is my view – and the view of many current members and members of staff whom I have spoken to – that the Liberal Party now obviously believes in nothing except perhaps the restriction of liberty and the electoral success of the Liberal Party.

I will no longer let my name, time, or labour be channelled into enacting the restriction and taxation that the Liberal Party now pursues almost exclusively.

In terms of being a “safe pair of economic hands” the Liberal Party has failed spectacularly. The Napthine Government certainly could not be accused of being “illiberal” in terms of expenditure – the election campaign consisted almost entirely of cash splashing and vote buying.

The parliamentary Party now violates individual freedom and hampers free enterprise as a matter of routine. The atrocious “unexplained wealth seizure” laws are a clear repudiation of the rule of law: a violation of the most basic principles of our legal system.  The avid campaign against drug users does no more than exploit fear to promote the militant repression of the most vulnerable members of our society. The further suspension of late-night liquor licensing – besides betraying a fundamental distrust for individuals ability to exercise their liberty responsibly – is a blow to the entertainment industry, as is the extremely stupid ban on ‘cage-fighting’.

I am equally disturbed by the many and varied ways the Coalition has acted to limit personal freedoms: banning solariums, punitive tobacco reforms, not to also mention the completely unjustified removal of suspended sentences.

My frustration is shared by voters, who have made it very clear that they find the Victorian Liberal Party slightly more repulsive than the empty authoritarians in the ALP and Greens. It should be no surprise that the state election results for minor parties in the Legislative Council rose from under 10%, to a staggering almost 25% as voters, including many Liberal Party members, sought to vote for parties who actually stand for something.

Lastly, the manner in which you have treated both candidates and party members that have come to media attention has been absolutely appalling and shameful. Any principled organisation must show loyalty to its members. I have no interest in being associated with a party that doesn’t stick by some of its people when they are unfairly attacked by the media and throws people under a bus for short term political gain. I believe in second chances, and we know from history that some of the greatest advocates for liberty and freedom have been converts from other unpleasant ideologies. Those who have come to liberalism from repugnant ideologies should be praised and used as advocates for de-radicalisation, not shunned and banished from the party.

That other self-serving, unloyal, unprincipled authoritarians, men without any values, are allowed to vocally and publicly represent the Party simply adds insult to injury.

In contrast, Labor stood by Daniel Andrew’s CoS and their Assistant State Secretary in the face of media hype in relation to the “Dictaphone Scandal”. There is now an overwhelming and saddening view amongst the younger members of the Liberal Party that at the first sign of negative press the party will abandon them. This is adding fuel to many who are disengaging and avoiding involvement in party politics.

Labor values their young people, involves them in senior ranks of their campaign. The liberal Party appears to see young people as a weakness and something to avoid, depriving the party of the new ideas and renewal that every party needs if it is to continue to grow.

I suspect you will be receiving a lot of feedback in this vein and I truly hope you take this on board if the Liberal Party ever wishes to be a viable option for the people of Victoria.

Accordingly, it is my hope that the Victorian Liberal Party will learn the lesson that stares us in the face right around the country, and will search deep inside itself for its soul, lopping off the poisonous, vacuous growths that are strangling what was once the greatest force for the advancement and aspiration of the Australian people and nation.

Yours sincerely
Marguerite Iliescu

Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association's nonsense response to a coal seam gas study is exposed

DeSmogBlog 19 November 2014:

In August 2012, two Australian research scientists attached a highly sensitive spectrometer to a vehicle with a GPS tracker and took a 700 kilometre drive around gas fields in Queensland.

Starting at 3.30am in the morning, Dr Isaac Santos and Dr Damien Maher, of Southern Cross University, wanted to measure the levels of methane and carbon dioxide in the air around coal seam gas fields operated by BG Group, formerly known as British Gas.

Twelve hours of driving took them past fields with about 300 wells that tap coal seams to release gas, often with the help of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technology.

They also drove past other areas where you might expect levels of methane to be high such as wetlands, fields of cows and sewage treatment plants.

The researchers found methane levels at the gas fields were triple the background levels.

The chemical fingerprints of the methane they detected near the gasfields — known as isotopic signatures — matched those from the gas produced from the wells.

Methane is important because as a greenhouse gas it is more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide over the course of a century.

Santos and Maher made their findings public at a forum and in a submission to the federal government. They also sent them to a journal for peer review.

Predictably, the industry group Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) attacked the scientists claiming — wrongly — that they had targeted the gas fields while ignoring other potential sources of methane.

At that time the Federal Resources Minister was Martin Ferguson.

He joined in the attack on the scientists, characterising them as unprofessional media opportunists — a claim he had made without having actually read the scientists' submission.

This week, the research from Maher and Santos was finally published in the journal Water, Air and Soil Pollution. The paper reads:

Data from this study indicates that unconventional gas may drive large-scale increases in atmospheric CH4 (methane) and CO2 concentrations, which need to be accounted for when determining the net [greenhouse gas] impact of using unconventional gas sources…

Considering the lack of previous similar studies in Australia, the identified hotspots of GHGs and the distinct isotopic signature within the Tara gas field demonstrate the need to fully quantifyGHG emissions before, during and after CSG exploration commences in individual gas fields.

The findings are identical to the initial publicized research. The response from APPEA is similarly identical.

The gas industry lobby group has again attacked the scientists, repeating the criticisms addressed two years previously as if time had stood still.

Astonishingly, APPEA reported it had written to Southern Cross University Vice Chancellor Peter Lee two years ago with a series of questions, but “no response was ever received”.

In fact, DeSmogBlog understands Lee wrote back to APPEA on 20 November 2012, defending the work of the scientists at his university and defending their right to speak about what they had found.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported at the time that Lee had written back, rejected APPEA’s assertions and also accused them of issuing a “misleading” press release.

According to APPEA, the group asked four questions of the researchers and their findings. The questions seem to me to be more an effort to produce doubt, rather than to produce responses. Repeating them now when all the answers are in plain sight adds to this suspicion.

APPEA first asked if the work was being peer reviewed – the answer to that now seems clear.

APPEA asked if the university would “provide GPS data highlighting exactly where and how many readings/measurements were recorded in the Tara area, on which roads and when”.

The original submission clearly shows detailed maps of where the measurements were taken. Maher told DeSmogBlog that the university had also shared GPS and data with the Queensland state government’s GasFields Commission. One of the commissioners is Rick Wilkinson, the chief technical officer at APPEA…..

APPEA asked if the researchers had taken into account “other potential sources of emissions such as naturally-occurring hydrocarbon seeps” even though it was made clear in the original submission that the researchers had done this by taking measurements at locations including “wetland, sewage treatment plant, landfill, urban area and a bushfire”.

Maher said:

We surveyed 100’s of km’s inside and outside of the gas fields. The high methane concentrations were not found directly outside of the gasfield, in spite of identical geology and topography, etc.

Our research cannot definitively say how the gas is escaping to the atmosphere. What we can say is that it had the identical chemical fingerprint to the gas within the coal seam, and that we did not find any similarly elevated concentrations directly outside of the gas field, i.e. as soon as we drove out of the gas field theCH4 (methane) concentrations returned to near background levels for 100s of kilometres.

The data indicates that [the increased levels of methane] is related to some of the activities or infrastructure within the gas field which is leading to gas of an identical chemical fingerprint toCSG being released to the atmosphere……

Finally, APPEA said it had asked if “other potential sources of emissions such as large scale feedlots” had been taken into account. A section of the journal paper read that during the surveys:

… a number of other potential point sources were observed including the following: vehicle emissions (from passing cars), wetlands, a combined sewage treatment plant and landfill site, an abattoir and cattle holding complex, urban areas, and a bushfire.

Read the full post here.

International Volunteer Day 5 December 2014

On International Volunteer Day (IVD) 2014, we not only celebrate volunteerism in all its facets – but also pay special tribute to people’s participation in making a difference locally, nationally and globally. IVD 2014 highlights the contribution of volunteers in engaging people from the grass-roots in decision-making processes, ultimately creating space for participation that leads to: stronger governance, social cohesion, peace and sustainable development.

On 5 December, 2014 join us in recognizing all volunteers' commitment and applaud hundreds of millions of people who volunteer to make change happen. [http://www.volunteeractioncounts.org/en/]

Pippi Beach at Yamba now closed to private vehicles

It has taken more than a few years against some councillor resistance for local government in the Clarence Valley to come to its senses and close Pippi Beach at Yamba to private vehicles.

Ordinary Council Meeting Minutes, 18 November 2014

The Yamba community can thank the persistence of Lower Clarence councillors Karen Toms and Jim Simmons, supported by Sue Hughes,  for making this beach a safer place for elderly beach goers, dog walkers, families with small children, local surfers, holidaymakers and wildlife.