North Coast Voices

While Clarence Valley Council remains silent on latest climate change report, local newspaper spells it out

2009-11-24T08:52:00.010+11:00

The Daily Examiner,24 November 2009

In the face of Clarence Valley Council's silence on the Rudd Government's recent report Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts, The Daily Examiner's Erin Brady lays the facts before Clarence Valley communities in Sea level rise threatens our homes:

IF sea levels rise 1.1 metres by 2100, large parts of the Clarence Valley could be under water and towns may have to be relocated.
It sounds like a doomsday prediction, but according to a report released this month by the Department of Climate Change titled Climate Change Risks to Australia’s Coast, this warning is based on credible science and is a scenario we should all be preparing for.
The report’s worst case scenario for the Clarence Valley is that up to 900 homes will be at risk of inundation from sea level rise by the end of the century.
At best, about 400 homes will be at risk and that is not including homes to be built in the future.
The report lays the cause of rising sea levels squarely on climate change.
It suggests extreme weather events will also be likely to become more intense, with larger and more damaging storm surges and the possible extension of cyclones further south.
“The current 1-in-100 year event could occur several times a year,” the national report said.
According to computerised modelling based on a 1.1 metre sea level rise, homes near the coast and in low-lying parts of the Valley could be under water or prone to inundation.
This includes large areas of west Yamba, islands in the Clarence River, west of Lawrence, Shark Creek, Lower Coldstream, Tucabia through to Sandy Crossing, Southgate, Ulmarra, Great Marlow and Alumy Creek.
Populated villages along the Clarence Coast would also be prone to inundation, including Iluka, Yamba, Brooms Head, Sandon and Wooli.......

Previous posts on North Coast Voices:

Even the ABC gets sloppy when it goes online

2009-11-24T00:30:00.001+11:00

On November 18 ABC Radio's AM program online record for that morning ran with this headline "Australia still highest per capita carbon emitter".
However when you open the link what is actually said is; "MICHAEL RAUPACH: In the basket of developed countries we compare obviously with the US whose emissions are almost flat at the moment, countries like Canada, with the European Union. And in almost all of those cases we exceed the emissions rates of those countries."
So the ABC is insisting that Australia is still highest while one of the authors of the report in question is cleverly ducking giving a direct reply to the radio interviewer's incorrect statement by switching the focus to growth rates.
What is really happening here?
The interviewer is being told that Australia is not the highest carbon dioxide emitter in terms of growth rates, isn't the highest carbon dioxide emitter on a per capita basis and isn't the leading developed nation carbon dioxide emitter on the same per capita basis.
Everyone else seems to know that this country is very slowly falling down the ranks of carbon dioxide gas producers per head of population (now behind the United States if the very thorough International Energy Agency 2009 figures compute), so why on earth is the ABC indulging in sensationalist headlines that reek of The Telegraph's haphazard approach?
Why did Sarah Clarke insist that Australia's CO2 emissions were still rising according to the Carbon Budget 2008 when anyone reading this report and number sets can see that the nation's Co2 was down by 4,918 units last year.
Is the ABC making a bid to be accepted into the University of East Bumcrack School of Journalism?

Smart Aleck
Woolgoolga

These are the decade's 10 most influential moments on the Internet?

2009-11-24T00:10:00.004+11:00

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences thinks these are the moments that really mattered on the Internet. What do you think?

The Ten Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade

Craigslist expands outside San Francisco (2000)
In 2000, the free classifieds site broadened its reach outside of San Francisco into nine additional U.S. cities, sending chills down the spines of newspaper publishers everywhere. Today Craigslist serves free listings in more than 500 cities in 50 countries, serving as a model for no-frills business and community success and the catalyst for countless jobs, apartments, and just about anything else you can think of.

Google AdWords launches (2000)
With the launch of AdWords in October 2000, Google turned advertising on its head. The self-service ad program opened up the marketplace to any business, no matter how big or small, and allowed advertisers to target their customers with laser-sharp precision.

Wikipedia launches (2001)
Containing 20,000 articles in 18 languages by the end of its first year online, Wikipedia today boasts more than 14 million articles in 271 different languages. The free open-source encyclopedia epitomizes the Internet's power to bring strangers from around the world together to collaborate on projects both big and small.

Napster Shut Down (2001)
Although Napster was shut down in 2001, it opened the file-sharing floodgates. Its demise sparked a wave of innovations that forever changed how we obtain and experience music and video - from Hulu to iTunes to Radiohead famously dropping its label and self-distributing their "In Rainbows" CD online for free.

Google IPO (2004)
Google's IPO, one of the largest in history, put the six year old search engine on the path to becoming the most dominant and influential company of the decade. From gmail and YouTube to Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Android, the Internet giant and constant innovator is the engine that powers countless aspects of our everyday lives.

Online video revolution (2006)
In 2006, a perfect storm of faster bandwidth, cheaper camcorders, and the groundbreaking use of Adobe's Flash 9 video player by YouTube combined to launch the online video revolution. The trifecta led to a boom in homemade and professional content - the Diet Coke and Mentos guys, lonelygirl15, SNL's Lazy Sunday, and Senator George Allen's "macacagate" - that has reshaped everything from pop culture to politics.

Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off (2006)
In September 2006, a social networking site for college students changed its user qualifications to include anyone 13 and older with a valid e-mail address. Facebook struck an immediate chord -- and almost overnight, social media went mainstream. Less than a month later, the creators of Twitter acquired the company and its assets from its investors, paving the way for the service to take off in 2007. Both companies took social media mainstream, radically changing the way we connect, collaborate, and communicate with everyone from friends to colleagues to customers.

The iPhone debuts (2007)
The iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. By the end of the weekend, half a million had been sold, and smartphones had gone from a luxury item to a necessity. The iPhone inspired the development of operating systems like Google Android, as well as an app for just about every aspect of modern life. Over the next decade, it's estimated that a billion new users will come to the Internet for the first time through mobile devices.

U.S. Presidential Campaign (2008)
The Internet altered presidential politicking in 2008 much as television had forty years earlier during the Kennedy/Nixon race. From videos like "Obama Girl" and the Reverend Wright clip shaping the debate, to social media mobilizing voters, to record-breaking online fundraising from small donors, every facet of the way campaigns are run was permanently transformed.

Iranian election protests (2009)
When Iran's 2009 presidential election produced fishy results, the opposition took to the tweets -- and the "Twitter Revolution" was born. In fact, it was so vital to organizing demonstrations that the U.S. State Department asked the company to delay planned maintenance.. The protests also highlighted Twitter's key asset as a protest tool: Since most users don't access it through a central website, it's nearly impossible to censor.

Is this your house? Google Earth now plots predicted climate change sea level rises

2009-11-23T00:15:00.017+11:00

Before and after a 1 metre sea level rise in one of the streets with building consents granted by NSW North Coast Clarence Valley Council in the thirty years since climate change has been an issue. Latest official 'worst case' predictions are for a 1.1 metre sea level rise in NSW coastal zones.
Click on images to enlarge.
Google Earth now has a sidebar function which allows the plotting of predicted sea levels rises due to climate change.
This is a chance to get a visual appreciation of just how your home may be affected in light of the Rudd Government's recent report Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts.

Treasury explains Australians to themselves in the latest tax reform report

2009-11-23T00:15:00.006+11:00

This is the opening salvo in an Australian Treasury commissioned report Behavioural Economics and Complex Decision-Making: Implications for the Australian Tax and Transfer System:

Many aspects of observed human decision-making differ from the 'rational' behaviour assumed in economic models. For example:

People are much more concerned about possible losses than possible gains
People are inclined to stick with the status quo
People dislike uncertainty
People value fairness
People sharply discount the future compared to the present

For all but the simplest of decisions, people generally do not attempt to find the optimal solution, but rather apply simple decision-making strategies:

They stick with what they know
They follow others
They settle for something that is good enough, rather than searching for the best

The more complex the decision, the less well equipped people are to deal with it. As a result, people often make decisions which do not appear to be in their best interests:

They procrastinate, putting off things such as saving for retirement
They stick with the default option, even if it is not the best
If a decision is too complex they may avoid it altogether
People are readily confused, and prone to misleading advice

These issues tend to be particularly prevalent among the least well-off.

Full August 2009 CSIRO report here.

Columbus go home! Columbus go home!

2009-11-22T00:15:00.001+11:00

Last Monday Crooks and Liars posted the transcipt of a tongue-in-check speech given at a Tea Party Against Amnesty And Illegal Immigration rally before an initially cheering crowd of American wingnuts - the best punk'd I've read this year:
Hi, my name is Robert Erickson and I'm really excited to be here. Its people like all of you, and events like this that make our country great! Give yourselves a round of applause!
I just want to talk about a couple themes this afternoon because I love this country and I want to see America be the best place it can be.
Mr. Gutierrez is getting ready to propose an immigration bill in just a few short days, and we have to make sure he knows that we want a bill that's tough on immigration. Now is the time for us to stand up and make our voices heard!
In Minneapolis, where I'm from, we have a huge immigrant population that's been causing a number of problems. With the economy in recession, and so many people getting laid off, and unable to find work, immigrants should not be competing for the few jobs that are out there. It's just not fair to the folks who have a claim to this land and the right to be here. All across America, they are contributing to the flooding of our job markets making it hard for Americans to find jobs. Well, I'm fed up, and it's time to let our politicians know that enough is enough, and we're not gonna take it any more!
We need to secure our borders to protect our country. We need to restore order and put an end to the anarchy that's sweeping the nation. We need tougher immigration laws to make sure that we send these people back where they came from. We need to protect the sovereignty of the real Americans. We need to hold our politicians accountable.
It's no secret that with an invasion of immigrants comes waves of crime. We see them involved in massive theft, in murder, and bringing diseases like smallpox, which is responsible for the death of millions of Americans. These aren't new problems, though -- they have been going on for hundreds of years, and continue to this day.
I say it's time for us to say enough is enough! Are you with me? Are you with me? Let's send these European immigrants back where they came from! I don't care if they are Polish, Irish, English, Italian, or Norwegian! European immigrants are responsible for the most violent and heinous crimes in the history of the world, including genocide and slavery! It's time to restore the sovereignty of people native to this land!
I want more workplace raids, starting with the big banks downtown. There are thousands of illegals working in those buildings, hiding in their offices, and taking Dakota jobs. Let's round them up and ship them out. Then we need to hit them at home where they sleep. I don't care if we separate families, they should have known better when they came here illegally!
If we aren't able to stand up to these European immigrants, who can we stand up to? We need to send every one of them back home, right now.
Thank you very much, and we'll see you in the streets!
Columbus Go Home! Columbus Go Home! Columbus Go Home!

I'll take a serve of national pride, but no whale meat on the side thankyou

2009-11-22T00:10:00.002+11:00

Photograph from The Sydney Morning Herald

Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama apparently doesn't like whale meat, but according to The Sydney Morning Herald and other sources his desire to protect his country's fishing interests is quite strong:

Despite Hatoyama's reported dislike of whale meat he urged Balkenende to take action against the group over its attacks on Japanese whalers in the Antarctic, government officials said.

There has been some discussion in the media of the possibility that Japan may draw back slightly from a position based mainly on national pride and that the whaling fleet's peak body may be facing funding cuts as reported in The Age:

A Japanese parliamentary review panel targeted the 80 billion yen ($A960 million) given to the OFCF for all of its fisheries programs on Thursday at one of its first public hearings......
A 2008 investigation by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper found that the OFCF had propped up the Institute of Cetacean Research with yearly interest-free loans of around 3.6 billion yen since 2001, but the institute had been unable to pay them back in full.

That Japan might have been considering changing focus from its Antarctica hunt in the southern hemisphere summer to hunts in the North West Pacific and in its own coastal zone is perhaps a faint possibility
as there is a paucity of published JARPA/JARPAII 2008 Antarctic-based research which might in other circumstances indicate a falling away of interest. However this may not denote decline but may be a function of increased intervention by anti-whaling vessels during the whale killing months.

What is a more realistic scenario is that Japan (still convinced that whales are consuming commercial fish stock and causing supply shortages on its domestic market) will continue in the same vein as The Shared Interests of International Whaling Commission Members Supporting the Principle of Sustainable Use Tokyo, Japan 23 April 2009 :

WE SUPPORT the principle of sustainable use of abundant whale stocks which contribute to sustainable coastal communities, sustainable livelihoods, preservation of cultural traditions, food security and poverty reduction;

WE OPPOSE placing the use of whales outside the context of the globally accepted concept of sustainable use and the norm of science-based management and rule-making, as whales are no different from any other living marine or terrestrial resource traditionally utilized for food;

RECOGNIZING that many whale stocks are abundant and increasing, we support the sustainable use of abundant stocks of whales and the protection of depleted ones, consistent with the ICRW;

WE WELCOME the resumption of international trade in whale products and reiterate that the IWC has no competence on this issue;

WE NOTE with concern the continued use of existing classifications, such as "Aboriginal Subsistence", "Commercial" and "Small-Type Whaling", as these discriminatory terms have no meaning in resource management.

WE RECOMMEND strongly the use of the universal language "Harvest Quota" when describing all off-takes of whales irrespective of purpose;

WE OPPOSE the continuation of the moratorium for those whale stocks that have recovered and are abundant, given the risk-averse management procedure for calculating quotas, that is, the RMP, which has been adopted by consensus by the IWC;

WE CONTINUE TO REJECT the creation of sanctuaries which are inconsistent with the ICRW;

WE RECOGNIZE THE NEED of both lethal and non-lethal scientific research related to population growth and the interactions between whales and the marine ecosystem, and

WE SUPPORT decisions that ensure food security and the maintenance and preservation of traditional food cultures as a fundamental right.

Climate Change: is it all over red rover for the world as we know it?

2009-11-22T00:05:00.005+11:00

On the 15th of November 2009 it was confirmed that world leaders at the latest APEC conference had watered down their pre-COP15 statement on climate change goals. The APEC mention of a target figure for lower global greenhouse gas emissions had disappeared up the vested interests' overfed collective posterior about the same time that the draft document prepared for ratification at the Copenhagen meeting had been ripped to shreds.
This followed hot on the heels of a domestic announcement that the Rudd Government was watering down its own national climate change response, with an eviscerated Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme being shaped in negotiation between federal government and what are essentially climate change deniers acting on behalf of big greenhouse gas polluting industries.
It is distressingly apparent that this December the national governments gathered together are not about to bring forth a legally binding global agreement to tackle climate change - even though scientists have been bluntly warning about global warming since the early 1970s and we've literally run out of time to um and ah.
An enforceable global agreement will probably never happen, period.
Instead what the world's populations are being offered is the ephemeral promise of a joint political pledge which can be torn in two at the next round of home-grown elections.
It seems that the largest national economies have reached their own domestic political tipping points and are walking away from the rest of the world with a shrug of the shoulders and a "She'll be right Jack" attitude.
So where does that leave the ordinary Aussie man, woman and child?
It leaves every single one up sh*t creek without a paddle. No realistic options, no escape. Part of an unofficial third world.
Because when things start to go pear-shaped with water, food, electricity, fuels and goods becoming ridiculously expensive due to resource scarcity it will be the ordinary person who will be called upon to bear a disproportionate level of the financial burden and meekly receive a lesser allocation of these resources.
Later, when Australia and the rest of the world moves from scarcity to actual absence of certain vital reserves it will be ordinary people again who will be expected to go hungry, thirsty and place themselves at the mercy local weather extremes.
These same ordinary people will also be expected to pick up their belongings and move away from the coast with little or no help to relocate, for those with money and political pull will be more interested in smoothing their own passage in the face of an ongoing global crisis.
It won't help that you may own your own home - it's likely to be virtually worthless in 30 years time if you live in the immediate coastal zone or perhaps even within seven kilometres of the coast if severe destructive storms are frequent enough.
It won't matter that you were expecting your superannuation fund to see you through retirement - most of the infrastructure and shares it invested in will have gone on the incoming tide, been blown away by endless drought or disappeared into the maw of institutional investor and stock market panic.
No-one will care if you were a good and loyal employee or a lazy worker, a responsible citizen or a couldn't care less grasshopper - by then it's more than possible that your government will be flat broke and unable to offer any form of social safety net.
The politicians and power brokers of today don't really give a damn what happens to you because you're not one of the privileged clique.
It would cost too much in financial and political effort to actually do something effective about the catastrophic climate change bearing inexorably down on us all and these silvertails might actually have to momentarily pause in their obsessive drive for political power and influence or halt for a few financial cycles their current obscene wealth accumulation.
Dragging them out of their beds and lynching them is too good for our so-called world leaders and their multinational backers.
But in Australia the local sub-species of effin' sods obviously feel smugly safe from threat because Aussies don't resort to that sort of mob violence, instead we wait meekly for the pubs and the polls to open.
However, the world will change dramatically over the next fifty years or so and perhaps the then oh so elderly Rudd and Turnbull (flanked by their withered front benchers in bath chairs) shouldn't expect to sleep as peacefully in their retirement beds as their predecessors.

How to get Google's attention

2009-11-21T12:19:00.006+11:00

Simply mentioning the name Geoffrey Edelsten is a sure way to have Google notice you.

Today's Sydney Morning Herald features a front page yarn about Edelsten with a pic of his bride-to-be, Brynne Gordon, giving him a pash on the cheek.

The Herald's page 2 has a pic of Edelsten and Gordon at the Brownlow Medal. The less said about that pic, the better.

So, how and why does Google get into the Edelsten picture?

Edelsten, who has a hate-hate relationship with most journos and a track record of going to the Press Council, pays Google to alert him when his name appears. Well, that's what the SMH says today.

Edelsten is behind the website australiasworstjournalist.com.au which appeared this week. The site is registered to Lonnex Pty Ltd (ABN 12097786751).

The sole director of Lonnex is Geoffrey Walter Edelsten but, as the Herald Sun reports, Edelsten denied he had set the site up."I know the person who did set it up, but I haven't seen it myself," he said vaguely. He said he was flying a helicopter and couldn't talk.

Edelsten's PR team produced Edelsten's very flashy website geoffedelsten.com.au

But, why is Edelsten paying Google? Edelsten could save himself a few bucks by setting up some free Google Alerts

Credits: SMH and HS

Teh Red Herring gets fan mail

2009-11-21T00:15:00.002+11:00

The NSW North Coast has a number of fairly regular letter to the editor correspondents, but none more prolific than Fred Perring in the Clarence Valley.
Fred's published letters are greeted with a smile at absurdity or a groan of real pain in many Valley households.
Here is a 'fan' letter that made it into print in The Daily Examiner on 16 November 2009.

Wasted time

I DON'T know why all those academics waste years of their time and money learning all about physics, chemistry, mathematics, meteorology, climatology, geology, biology, ecology, statistical analysis and such.
I mean you have to go to university for three or four years, then do an honours year of study on a project, then if you are good enough, spend another two or three years to become somewhat expert in some field of study by gaining a PhD, and working for more years in the area of your chosen field to continually improve your knowledge and skills.
Instead of spending all of that time and money gaining considerable knowledge and expertise, just become a bulldozer driver like Fred, and you will automatically become an expert on anything and have strong opinions on everything (even things you don't have the slightest knowledge about).
Pay some earthmoving company a few hundred bucks to show you which knobs to move on the bulldozer, then go down to the RTA and sit for the licence.
Once you have done this you will become an expert in climate change, bat migration behaviour, politics, economics, whether or not sea levels are rising.
Complex issues like the functioning of the world's economy and the workings of the planet will be like child's play for you - after all, all you will need is a strong opinion and a typewriter to write letters to the editor.
You won't need to bother with trivialities like evidence, proofs, statistical analysis on any issue. Think how simple life will become.
So next time you have a bad pain behind your temple and a strange discharge coming out your nose, don't bother to get the opinion of a neurosurgeon, give Fred a call.
And if you think the safety/ survival of yourself and your children is at risk from catastrophic climate change, stop worrying, Fred has declared it to be a greenie conspiracy, and all those scientists who are giving daily warnings about impending danger are either mad, or even worse, 'greenies'.
For those of you who have had the misfortune not to have seen one of Fred's letters I will give a summary of the letters to the editor he has written (or is ever likely to write).
Regarding politics - the Liberal/National Party can do nothing wrong, the Labor Party can do nothing right, John Howard is God (or at least Fred's version thereof).
If there is a bushfire somewhere it is not caused by the red-neck idiot that lit it with a match or cigarette lighter, it is the greenies fault. After all everyone knows that National Parks spontaneously burst into flame at the slightest opportunity (or they seem to since humans arrived?).
If your football team lost or your chooks won't lay eggs or your car won't start it is being caused by those greenies somehow.
So I personally will rest safe and secure in my bed knowing Fred is on the job, solving all of the world's problems with his trusty typewriter (I somehow think that Fred is pre-computer era).

M CASEY,

Grafton.

Sometimes it seems we just can't win when it comes to water......

2009-11-21T00:05:00.002+11:00

ABC Rural News on 13th November 2009:

Australia is running out of recycled water, as the nation's drains and sewers dry up.
Managing director of agricultural research consultancy Arris Pty Ltd, Dr Daryl Stevens, says flows into most Australian sewage treatment plants are declining dramatically, especially in drought-affected country towns.
He says water restrictions, more efficient water-using appliances and recycling of water in homes and on farms are all contributing, and Australia's sewage system may struggle to cope with waste.
"The amount and volumes of water have decreased 25 to 50 per cent going in to some sewage treatment plants," he says.
"One of the tricky things is the whole sewage system is designed on a certain volume of water flushing through it to carry all the solids that are mixed up in the water."

National Party candidate cannot be serious

2009-11-20T06:11:00.003+11:00

ON the day Tania Murdock announced she would nominate as the National Party candidate for the federal seat of Richmond (in northern NSW), she was at Tweed Heads Local Court trying to pass herself off as a Queenslander to avoid a driver’s licence suspension.

The Tweed Daily News report continues:

The Roads and Traffic Authority had caught the Pottsville pharmacy manager driving on a Queensland licence under her parents’ Runcorn address when her New South Wales licence was suspended.

Mrs Murdock attempted to appeal the suspension on Tuesday on the grounds she was a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

But Magistrate Michael Dakin was quick to dismiss the application when it was revealed the 40-year-old had accumulated 26, mostly speeding related, traffic offences in Queensland between 1988 and 2008.

Her NSW record was not publicly available.

The long-time campaigner for extra police resources on the Tweed was forced to apologise yesterday.

“I am sorry,” Mrs Murdock said in a statement sent to the Tweed Daily News.

“While I never caused any accidents or drove under the influence, an accumulation of demerit points, particularly over double demerit weekends, has led the RTA to suspend my driving privileges until next April.”

She claimed she transferred to a Queensland licence earlier in the year when she temporarily lived with her parents in Brisbane.

“I looked for legal means to avoid losing my driving licence, and with hindsight now regret that too.”

“Like many local working mums, I do a lot of driving and I just didn’t give myself enough time to get from one place to another.”

“I fully support the road rules, accept the court’s decision and hope this will serve as a reminder to others that you really do have to keep a very close eye on your speed.”

The RTA sent a letter to Mrs Murdock’s Queensland address stating it had banned her from driving in NSW and she took up the option to appeal the decision at court.

“The RTA was advised you have transferred your licence to another state ... in view of the demerit points that have accrued for an offence committed by you while your former NSW driver’s licence was subject to good behaviour conditions, the RTA has determined that it will take action in respect to your driving privileges in this state (NSW),” the letter, which was submitted to the court, said.

“Driving privileges which allow you to drive in (NSW) while the holder of a driver’s licence in another jurisdiction will be withdrawn.”

Mrs Murdock said she hoped the incident would help others avoid the same fate.

“There is a silver lining in every cloud. In this case, I hope some of the people reading about this will take the foot off the pedal and avoid suffering a similar fate.”

Mrs Murdock is the president of the Pottsville Beach Business Association and narrowly missed election to the Tweed Shire Council last year.

If her nomination is accepted by the National Party on December 6, she will be up against former Tweed mayor Joan van Lieshout and current Richmond MP and sitting member Justine Elliot.

Mrs Murdock and her husband Colin have three young boys and have operated pharmacies at Pottsville for 14 years.

Source: Tweed Daily News

Going batty over feral humans. Animalia......[3]

2009-11-20T00:15:00.002+11:00

Going batty over feral humans

The bats of the Lower Clarence have recently held a meeting to discuss the problems feral humans (which are rumoured to be boat people) are causing in their community.

These boat people apparently arrived some time ago down south somewhere and have been spreading across the country causing problems with the locals wherever they have turned up.

Spokesman for the bats, Rufus, said: "We don't want any of these boat scum in our community. If you let even one of them into the community then it quickly becomes a ghetto.

"They put their boxes up everywhere, vandalism and the crime rate go through the roof, they start cutting down bat houses and harassing law abiding bats that are going about their daily business."

He then added: "After a hard nights work out in the forest pollinating the trees and trying to earn a living so that they can feed their children, they return home to get a good days rest only to find that they are continually harassed by the humans making loud noises and throwing things at them.

"And the racket coming from the place where they keep their young, which are apparently called schools, is quite unbelievable -screaming, screeching and yelling. It is almost impossible to get some sleep.

"Also, there is a foul stench coming from their camps. Some of this comes from the tin boxes they move about in, some from the mechanical contraptions that they push around the grass on weekends, and some from evil smelling burning weeds which they have in their mouths."

The bats have hired an environmental consultant, who after an extensive study of the problem has recommended that Maclean and Iluka be bulldozed and the trees left to reclaim the area and restore it to its former pristine condition.

However, some bats have said that this would only be a short-term solution and that the humans should be rounded up and sent back to where they originally came from -'The African Solution' the bats called it.

The Africans are understood to be resisting this idea, particularly the chimpanzees and the gorillas, who said that the human's behaviour was an embarrassment to the whole family and they did not want them back.

However, a group of red-neck extremist bats has called for the total eradication of the species, saying that the humans had arrived uninvited, were illegal immigrants, were an introduced feral pest that caused massive environmental destruction, and were obviously vermin by any definition of the word.

A vote was held which was attended by all the bats, plus other interested groups such as the marsupials, birds, fish, reptiles and the local vegetation, plus a few mammals.

The result of this vote, which was nearly unanimous, was that eradication was the best solution. Dogs and cats were undecided and wanted more time to consider the merits of the proposal.

As a result of the community consensus vote, a deputation has been sent to Mother Earth to see if humans can be evicted from the planet, as they are bad neighbours who create problems everywhere they are found and don't seem able to get on with anyone.

Mother Nature is considering the proposal and was last seen muttering to herself: "Better an empty house than a bad tenant."

M CASEY,

Grafton.

[Photograph and text,The Daily Examiner, letter to the editor column, 10 November 2009]

Did Stephen Conroy's live trial of national ISP-level Internet filtering run into trouble?

2009-11-20T00:14:00.000+11:00

These are images from a Wikileaks document which purports to be a 2009 Watchdog International white paper called List Management Issues When Filtering using URL Blacklists.

Watchdog technology was used within a live trial of the Rudd-Conroy mandatory national ISP-level filtering of the Australian Internet.

It would appear that the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy may have run into a few problems in testing his ACMA blacklist if the white paper is to be believed.

Perhaps this hints at the reason behind Senator Conroy's reluctance to release the live trial report, which has now been twice delayed with no guarantee as to when it will be published.

Click on images to enlarge

GCP Carbon Budget 2008: a brief outline of the major global polluters

2009-11-19T00:18:00.006+11:00

The Global Carbon Project Carbon Budget 2008* released on 17 November 2009 reveals that the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) is now 385ppm which is 38 per cent above pre-industrial levels and, global emissions now stand at 8.7 PgC**.

This is a 2008 growth rate of 2 per cent (up 41 per cent on 1990 levels) and the highest CO2 level in at least the last two million years according to the report.

China, USA and India are responsible for 50 per cent of all global emissions, with 90 per cent of the increase in CO2 emissions from coal emissions between 2006-2008 coming from China and India.

Globally the fraction of total CO2 emissions which remain in the air has risen to 45 percent (a five per cent increase since 1960). It is suggested that the increase may be due to earth and ocean sinks declining in efficiency.

An estimated 20-35 percent of today’s emissions will remain in the atmosphere for several centuries into the future.

2008 Top Six Countries for CO2 Emissions From Fossil Fuels and Cement in MtC/yr (TcG/yr):

1 CHINA 1922687
2 USA 1547460
3 INDIA 479039
4 RUSSIA 435126
5 JAPAN 357534
6 GERMANY 210480

Australia comes in at number 18 on this list with 96168 (down from 101086 in 2007 & 101458 in 2006). However our per capita emissions growth rate is still higher than many other comparable developed countries.

Carbon Budget 2008 full document including graphs here.
Carbon Budget 2008 Policy Brief here.

*Carbon Budget 2008 highlights.
**[1 Pg = 1 Petagram = 1 Billion metric tonnes = 1 Gigatonne = 1x1015g]

Nomination shortlist for the 2009 Australian Human Rights Awards and Medals

2009-11-19T00:15:00.002+11:00

On Wednesday 11 November 2009 the Australian Human Rights Commission announced the shortlist for this year's Human Rights Awards and Medals.

Winners will be announces on 10 December 2009.

These shortlisted entries are not listed in any order of preference.

The shortlist for the Law Award will be available shortly.

Please note there are no shortlists for the Human Rights Medal or the Young People's Human Rights Medal.

Print Media

Ticking boxes: Part I and II
National Indigenous Times
Revealed: Australia's suicide epidemic
Ruth Pollard
The Sydney Morning Herald
Our schools for scandal
Sushi Das
The Age
Dying to be heard
Ruth Pollard
The Sydney Morning Herald
Diversity, Difference and Diagnosis (D3) - series
Copeland Publishing - 'Child' Magazines

Television Award

Going back to Lajamanu
Debbie Whitmont, Michael Doyle, Kate Wild, Anne Connolly
Four Corners, ABC Television
Who killed Mr Ward?
Liz Jackson, Janine Cohen, Kate Wild
Four Corners, ABC Television
Kids' Business
People Pictures
My name is Jack
Helen Grasswill, Renata Gombac, Ian Harley, Quentin Davis, John Gunn
Australian Story, ABC Television
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome: Part 1 and 2
Suzanne Smith, Tony Jones, Brett Evans, John Bruce
Lateline, ABC Television

Radio Award

Holding Our Tongues
Lorena Allam
Hindsight, ABC Radio National
Dementia and Anti-Psychotics: medication or management?
Natasha Mitchell and Anita Barraud
All in the Mind, ABC Radio National
Losing Erin
Kirsti Melville
360°, ABC Radio National
A Sense of Duty
Heather Stewart
360°, ABC Radio National
Crisis for Children
Ian Townsend
Background Briefing, ABC Radio National

Community Award (Individual)

Ivan-Tiwu Copley
Kate Locke
Ikebal Adam Patel
Doreen Green
Joan Dicka

Community Award (Organisation)

GetUp! Action for Australia
Accessible Arts
The Human Rights Law Resource Centre
ACON
Centre for Multicultural Youth

Literature Non-Fiction Award

The Native Title Market
David Ritter

Black Politics: Inside the complexity of Aboriginal political culture
Sarah Maddison

Culture is… Australian Stories Across Cultures: An Anthology
Anne - Marie Smith (Editor)
The Multicultural Writers Association of Australia

Blind Conscience
Margot O'Neill

Navigating Teenage Depression: A guide for parents and professionals
Gordon Parker and Kerrie Eyers

Better late than never in Coffs Harbour?

2009-11-19T00:05:00.001+11:00

For literally decades the Coffs Harbour City Council has merrily developed the district to death, in the face of drinking water scarcity, farm land and floodplain issues.
Now after what is probably the fifth local flood in eleven months, the Coffs Coast News reports last Monday:
"FORMER Coffs Harbour deputy mayor Rod McKelvey has called for a ban on future development projects until proper flood protection is in place.
McKelvey, who stood down at the last local government elections because of family illness, believes future developments without protection could have serious consequences for a number of areas, including Coffs Harbour hospital.
"The more we develop Coffs, the worse the problem will get, McKelvey told The Advocate in an exclusive interview over the weekend.
"There are many possible actions worthy of investigation, including the GM's pump concept.
"But before we go rushing into developing West Boambee, which will add to the hospital's flood woes, or the airport and other areas in the path of floods, we should have a moratorium until proper protection is in place."
McKelvey said he felt there was a moral responsibility as well as an economical one to ensure property is safe from future flooding"
Definitely a case of wanting to close the door after the horse has bolted, but at least there is now some recognition of the deep doo-doo homeowners have been landed in by local powers that be.

Did you know? A morning tea trivia break

2009-11-18T00:15:00.001+11:00

World's digital content equivalent to stack of books stretching from Earth to Pluto 10 times....
The world's store of digital content is now the equivalent of one full top-of-the-range iPod for every two people on the planet, following the explosion of social networking sites, internet-enabled mobile phones and government surveillance.
The Guardian, 18 May 2009 Internet data heads for 500bn gigabytes

French president Nicolas Sarcozy claims he was in Berlin on the evening the Berlin Wall fell and that he helped dismantle a part of the wall on the spot at Check Point Charlie. His claim has been torn to shreds by historial information available from Internet searches which appear to show that he did not arrive in Germany's capital until days later.
Simple Thoughts, 9 November 2009, Skeptics question French President Sarkozy’s Facebook post suggesting he saw Berlin Wall fall & The Australian, 12 November 2009, Sarkozy's Berlin Wall claim falls over

The average Australian adult male is only around 1.2 feet taller than the average adult male orang-utan. Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett is reputedly 2.1-2.4 feet taller than this red ape.
Wikipedia Human height, & Orangutan Outreach & Mike Portnoy 2009

Researchers found a strong link between wages and height, particularly for men, with each additional 10 centimetres of height adding three per cent to hourly wages.
The "height premium" was two per cent per 10 centimetres for women, researchers from the University of Sydney and Canberra's Australian National University (ANU) found.
They calculated that every five centimetres above the average height of 178 centimetres boosted a male's wages by the equivalent of an extra year's experience in the labour force. WA Today, 17 May 2009, Study finds tall people at top of wages ladder

An Adelaide property developer, Ross Markris, heads the BRW 2009 young and rich list for the under 40s.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 September 2009

U.S. billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has only donated $340,358 to major American political parties since 1978 but film maker Steven Speilberg has donated over $1M in the same period.
Newsmeat, Hall of Fame-Billionaires, 2009

Monsanto staffer claims that 1 bale of cotton makes 215 pairs of jeans, but there is no data on how many litres of GM oil comes from those harvested cotton plants.
Monsanto & Co on Twitter, 13 November 2009

Google suggests over 26 million indexed entries when given the search term "how to get away with a lie" and then produces 47 million items if you proceed with this search.
Google Australia, 13 November 2009

There are at least 1,817 individuals in Australia who currently control wealth worth over $30 million.
Australian Tax Office, 19 October 2009, JCPAA Submssion

Australian Households

RESERVE BANK BULLETIN – APRIL 2009

U.S. National Debt

Newsmeat, 2009

Is it any wonder that the Murray Darling Basin river systems are in trouble?

2009-11-18T00:15:00.000+11:00

Thirty major dams and over 4, 000 weirs clutter the Murray-Darling Basin's rivers. Total dam storage is two-and-half times the average annual runoff, meaning they exert enormous control over river flows. Most of the Basin's rivers are regulated by dams and weirs. [Australian Water Association, 2009]

At least most Tweed Daily News online readers believe in climate change

2009-11-18T00:10:00.001+11:00

From the Tweed Daily News on 17 November 2009

Online opinion poll on the same day the Tweed Daily News reported on Rising sea levels predicted

An historic moment everyone wishes hadn't happened - Australia's first official catastrophic fire warning issued for Wednesday 18 November 2009

2009-11-17T20:56:00.005+11:00

BOM Radar 17 November 2009

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued the first official catastrophic fire warning this afternoon:

FIRE WEATHER WARNING FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Issued at 4:25 pm CDT on Tuesday, 17 November 2009.

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 is forecast to be very hot and dry for most of South Australia. Fresh northwesterly winds over the pastorals and parts of the northern agricultural districts will shift fresh southwesterly during the day.

Catastrophic Fire Danger [100+] is forecast for the Northwest Pastoral and Flinders Total Fire Ban districts.

Extreme Fire Danger [75-99] is forecast for the Northeast Pastoral, Eastern Eyre Peninsula and Mid North Total Fire Ban districts.

Severe Fire Danger [50-74] is forecast for the Riverland Total Fire Ban district.

The Country Fire Service advises that fires burning under these conditions are likely to be fast moving, unpredictable and uncontrollable. You should action your Bushfire Survival Plan now.

Total Fire Bans
As a consequence of the forecast fire danger, the Country Fire Service has imposed a Total Fire Ban in all the Total Fire Ban districts listed above.

For more information on Total Fire Bans and how to prepare for fires, visit the CFS web page at http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/ or call the CFS Bushfire Information Hotline on 1300 362 361.

For the latest weather information, listen to your local radio station or visit the Bureau of Meteorology web page at http://www.bom.gov.au/.

This Warning will be updated by 7:00 am on Wednesday, 18 November 2009.

When did Australia turn into a nation of cheats?

2009-11-17T00:15:00.012+11:00

In October this year the Australian Tax Office appeared before a bi-annual hearing of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit and explained its approach to companies which were liquidated then reformed, as a new company using the same assets, in order to avoid meeting debt obligations to creditors and employees:

Phoenix activity

In 2008-09, we maintained a focus on those who engage in Phoenix activities, and intervened earlier to ensure the liabilities of current entities were kept up to date and paid on time. We ran a targeted letter/phone campaign directed to those who appeared at risk for repeat Phoenix behaviour.
The Tax Office, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Treasury are working together to identify a range of potential legislative remedies that could help us better address fraudulent phoenix behaviour.
Since 2000, ten company directors have been prosecuted for phoenix-related offences, arising from Tax Office referred matters. An additional four briefs of evidence are currently with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), with charges laid in relation to three matters. The are currently five potential prosecution cases in the pipeline for referral to the CDPP.
During 2008-09, 124 phoenix cases were finalised raising $83.3 million in tax and penalties. [ATO submission to the Joint Committee dated 19 October 2009]

Since then Adele Ferguson writing in The Brisbane Times and The Age has revealed that:

CORPORATE Australia is littered with company directors who have managed to survive multiple company failures, a trend that suggests illegal ''phoenix'' companies are on the rise.
Research compiled exclusively for BusinessDay by Dun & Bradstreet indicates a 25 per cent jump in the number of companies entering external administration during the 2009 financial year that had at least one director who had already been involved in a wound-up business.
Even more alarming, of the 10,264 companies that went belly up in the year to June 30, a staggering 43 per cent involved companies with directors of previously wound-up companies.
The research indicates the worst offenders tend to gravitate to the building and construction sector, employment agencies, labour hire, security and infrastructure.

and

Using a database of 2.8 million credit-active entities in Australia, Dun & Bradstreet revealed an 18 per cent surge in companies entering external administration in 2009. At least one director had previously been involved with four wound-up entities.
Dun & Bradstreet's chief executive, Christine Christian, said the research showed that directors on the board of a company that has gone into external administration were 250 per cent more likely to be involved in an insolvent wind-up in the following 12 months.

Phoenix companies are not a new phenomena as the answer to a 2005 Question on Notice by the then Member for Barton Robert McClelland confirms:

The Commissioner of Taxation advised me that since 1998 the Tax Office has maintained a planned and co-ordinated focus on individuals who use, or promote the use of, successive company structures to intentionally evade payment of taxes. A major focus of the Tax Office has been on serial (Phoenix) offenders who use deliberate and fraudulent methods to avoid their obligations.

This type of business activity is not unknown on the NSW North Coast and in recent years has cost the local workforce and retirees with small investment portfolios dearly in some instances.

The length of time the problem has been a highly visible issue combined with the low number of prosecutions and often risible court-imposed penalties leads to the following questions:

Is it really good enough for the Australian Tax Office and Directors of Public Prosecutions to clearly place a sustained regime of prosecuting phoenix activity repeat offenders in the too hard basket?
Has cheating creditors and employees become an accepted method of conducting business in Australia?
Now that the Member for Barton is Australia's Attorney General, what is he going to do about the holes in corporate law which are allowing dishonest company directors to get away with this blatant form of theft?

The lights weren’t on, but Monsanto was at home

2009-11-17T00:10:00.001+11:00

MADGE Australia and friends went to see Monsanto and came away with a story to tell:

Monsanto turned out the lights yesterday after the ladies of MADGE Australia, Cropwatch, and Gene Ethics arrived to deliver bags of GM canola roadside weeds.

Agri-chemical giant Monsanto is the patent holder of the GM Roundup Ready canola crop recently planted in Australia. Bob Phelps of Gene Ethics also attended.

After obligatory photos in the Monsanto lobby, the ladies went to the door. It was locked. Then the Monsanto lights went out.

MADGE Australia's Madeleine Love explained the visit.

"The GM weeds were Monsanto's property, and they were on our roadsides. We'd prefer not to be cleaning up, but we didn't want to leave them there to contaminate GM free crops."

"They were physically removed from beside farmer Gai Marshall's GM free canola crop near Berrigan, NSW. There are many more, further up the road."

"Monsanto was told about their GM weeds, but they didn't come and clean them up.

Monsanto has a record of suing farmers who accidentally have these GM plants on their property [Percy Schmeiser]."

"We don't know anyone in Australia who would want GM weeds, so we were returning them to their owners. Strangely, Monsanto didn't seem to want them either."

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

Rees and NSW Labor Party pledge to forego political contributions from developers, but will the Opposition agree?

2009-11-17T00:05:00.000+11:00

The Daily Telegraph on 15th November 2009:
"Developers are the biggest donors to NSW political parties, feeding suspicions that public policy-making could be bought. In the lead-up to the 2007 election, developers donated $8.2 million to the ALP and $4.4 million to the Liberal Party.
Mr Rees said it was time to end the perception that politicians were hostage to developers' interests.
"From today, the NSW Labor Party will ban donations from developers,'' he said.
"It will cover all members of NSW Parliament, all local councillors and all party units and organisations.
"Delegates, the reason for all these measures is simple _ it's time for a fresh start.
"One way or another, the next State election will be conducted under a public funding model.
"The era of big donations is over.''

But will the Libs, Nats and right-wing minor parties block this move in the NSW Parliament?
Will they keep their options open to yell "Corruption!" during the election campaign?

What do the latest Australian Government sea level rise projections mean for the Clarence Coast?

2009-11-16T00:15:00.008+11:00

The latest Australian Government sea level rise projections contained in the November 2009 Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts report indicate that:

Between 40,800 and 62,400 residential buildings in New South Wales may be at risk of inundation from a sea-level rise of 1.1 metres and storm tide associated with a 1-in-100 year storm. The current value of the residential buildings at risk is between $12.4 billion and $18.7 billion.....

Inundation analysis is based on 1.1 metres of sea-level rise using medium resolution elevation data.
A storm tide allowance (1-in-100 year event) based on CSIRO modelling is included in the analysis for Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, although storm tide values for New South Wales are likely to be underestimates as they do not include a wave setup component.

What does this mean for the Clarence Coast in Northern NSW?

At first glance these projections indicate that the coastal and estuary zones may face:

(i) a loss of beach and foreshore along the length of Bundjalung National Park;

(ii) loss of all Yamba coastal beaches;

(iii) loss of most of Hickey and Dart islands as well as other smaller lower Clarence River islands;

(iv) the one road into and out of Yamba permanently breached by estuary waters at multiple points;

(v) loss of foreshore and part/all of some residential properties in the Crystal Waters-West Yamba area;

(vi) loss of foreshore and part of residential and agricultural properties on Palmers, Goodwood and Micalo islands;

(vii) loss of foreshore and part of residential properties in Iluka, Marandowie Drive permanently breached by estuary waters;

(viii) loss of beach and/or foreshore in parts of Yuraygir National Park;

(ix) loss of foreshore at Brooms Head, Sandon and Red Rock;

(x) loss of foreshore and residential property in Wooli; and

(xi) loss of some foreshore on both sides of the Clarence River up to Maclean and beyond to Brushgrove; and

(xii) possible inundation of part of the Pacific Highway passing through the Lower Clarence.

* Interactive seal level rise map here.

* Interactive map showing estimated altitudes here.