(We) can do better

In 1996, the incoming Howard Government, 'discovered' a massive budgetary black hole left by the outgoing Keating Government. They claimed to have no choice but to impose slash-and-burn budgets and asset fire sales. The excuse of the cupboard left bare or crippling debt, supposedly taking all choice out of the hands of incoming Governments, forms part of a tired and recurring pattern in Australian history. Recently, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has seized upon the debt created by the Rudd Government's incompetently managed 'stimulus program' as an excuse to resurrect his dream of privatising Medibank Private and wielding the budgetary axe. Is history about to repeat itself, yet again? (Note: This article encompasses and replaces a brief article by Sheila Newman of 7 May 09 in which about Cyrius01's video "Krazy Kevin Rudd Responds to the Global Financial Crisis" was embedded.)

Cumberland Plains Woodland has been listed as Critically Endangered Ecological Communities. It is believed that the basis for the Critically Endangered Listing was that CPW had been reduced in area by some 400 hectares. About 400 ha has been lost since CPW was first listed as endangered in 1997/98 and that amount lost has justified the next listing as critically endangered. Yet PM Howard gave Delfin permission to clear practically all the remaining 400 ha at the site in question. The Western Sydney Conservation Alliance is asking Garrett to reverse this terrible decision. Inside: Letter to Peter Garrett.

And the new message from the growth lobby is ..... "Yes, we hear your pain and we understand absolutely. No we don't intend to take any notice of your protests." Analysis of ex-ANZ bank economist, Saul Eslake's article, "Populate and Stagnate." in the Fairfax Press (The Age)

Environmentalists might expect Green MLC Greg Barber, to back another environmentalist, Kelvin Thomson, rather than supply quotes that could make him out unfairly to be racist. Wedge Politics we don't need from Mr Barber MLC who represents the Northern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne in the Legislative Council at State level, which Kelvin Thomson represents in the Lower House at the Federal level. What's going on? Are the Greens for real?

In a Parliamentary speech, Glen Elmes₁ warned how the vast discretionary powers, given to the Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Stirling Hinchliffe (pictured), with his past history as a property development industry insider, would add to the consequences of SEQ's already shambolic urban planning and environmental management and runaway population growth.

Speech from Queensland State Parliamentary Hansard of Hansard of 12 Feb 10, linked to from Hansard page, See also: "SEQ Regional Plan a travesty against the people of South East Queensland" of 9 May 09 by Dr Jane O'Sullivan, "The downward spiral of hasty population growth" of 8 Mar 10 on Online Opinion by Dr Jane O'Sullivan.

Please attend public forums against population growth, featuring Kelvin Thomson, Mark O'Connor and others. Brisbane: 8:30AM - 12:30PM, Saturday 13 March, Sunshine Coast: 2:00PM-4:30PM, Sunday 14 March.(See article "Sunshine Coast environmentalists condemn sham population debate" for more details.)

Religion comes in many guises. Orthodox or established belief systems have no monopoly in delusional thinking. In fact, it is my contention that such thinking is central to our makeup, and that efforts to eradicate it, however well merited, are futile. That is why we are doomed. We need comfort as well as truth, and are programmed to ignore or deny long-term threats. Delusional thinking gets us through the night, but it will not get us through this century.

According to the Sunshine Coast Environment Council, the so called "Great Growth Debate" hosted by the Property Council of Australia in Brisbane on Friday 5 March 2010 was rigged in advanced to come out in favour the the continuation of "Business as Usual" rampant population growth that so suited its own members' interests at the expense of the broader community and our environment. (Originally published on 4 Mar 10 on scec.org.au.)

Please attend public forums against population growth, featuring Kelvin Thomson, Mark O'Connor and others. Brisbane: 8:30AM - 12:30PM, Saturday 13 March, Sunshine Coast: 2:00PM-4:30PM, Sunday 14 March.(See article for more details.)

See inside for the AJP's new charter. One of the clauses is "A population settlement and land use system that is truly sustainable for all its inhabitants and ecosystems." I know that the AJP has requested a paper on this subject. Animal activists tendn to be very aware of the impact of human population and activities on habitat and rights of other species. To join the Animal Justice Party, click here.

“ In sisterhood is our strength” Monday March 8 is International Women's Day. The Rye Women's House at 3 Lyons Street, Rye, Victoria, Phone 59 855 955, on the Mornington Peninsula will be celebrating its silver anniversary. It is perhaps the oldest independent feminist institution of its kind in Victoria and it does an awesome International Women's Day. Please come along and experience the intellects, the humour, the politics, the music, the food... They mean what they say when they say, "The microphone is open to all women all day".

EEG trial update. The Brown Mountain landmark trial has begun.

According to software engineer Arved von Brasch the danger posed by Senator Steven Conroy's Mandatory Internet Filtering is that it will confer upon the Federal Government the capacity to censor internet content it considers a threat, in exactly the same way that the Chinese Government now uses the same technology that Conroy proposes to introduce to censor views of its critics. Arved von Brasch also shows there are overwhelming reasons to reject the legislation on technical grounds alone.

Originally published as "The consequences of filtering", with discussion forum, on 4 Mar 10 Online Opinion. Republished under the terms of the Creative Commons License. See also: Internet censorship, Citizens Initiated Referenda and the Greens - an open letter of 23 Dec 09.
Includes Appendix: Why won't Greens move motion to put filtering to a referendum?

Has the nature of politics changed over the last few decades into a struggle of the people against the government? How much of our leisure time is now related to environmental struggles, signified by volunteer-manned stalls displaying educational material? Why do local and state government logos now figure in our community events? How much of our leisure-time and our attention has been taken over by ubiquitous commercialised, organised activities for children and adults? No answers in this article , just observations and questions... on a community event, somewhere, which could almost have been anywhere in Australia.

The Bligh Government has arrogantly proceeded with its privatisation plans despite over 80% of Queenslanders opposing the decision.

What you can do: Attend the protest at Brisbane's Roma Street Forum at 10:30AM on Tues 9 March.

See also: the Queensland Council of Union's "Queensland Not for Sale" campaign site, saveourpublicassets.org, "Labor wrecker of 2007 claims union anti-privatisation campaign a threat to re-election of federal Labor" of 28 Feb 10.

The Keneally Government of NSW has just announced that it will protect 107,000 hectares of Riverina redgums and set up an $80 million support package with logging to be wound down over the next five years.

But after five years the loggers would have done their redgum raping and pillaging, so seriously how much viable forest habitat would be left worth protecting?

Premier Keneally in following others advice has ignored the NSW Government's own community consultative process of the Natural Resources Commission and chosen to ignore the Commission's 16 recommendations. She's no different!

In the last three months of 2009 a discussion on Larvatus Prodeo, about the controversy surrounding 9/11, turned into the online equivalent of a lynching. On 28 December at the point at which the intended victim (myself) was able to turn the tables on his tormentors, the moderators abruptly closed the disccussion. I have been barred from contributing to that site ever since, as if I had been blamed for the abuses of others.

Originally published on 29 Dec 09. Updated 2 Mar 10 to include as appendices, excerpts from the forum discusion and correspondence between myself and the LP moderators. Original forum here (html file, 5.6Mb).
Update (3 Mar): Larvatus Prodeo moderator tells me she is "comfortable with how [she's] represented," but I am still waiting to be advised if I have been intentionally banned and why. See Appendix 3.

Sir Henry Parkes' vision for a federation of Australia over a hundred years ago to unite six separate British self-governing colonies to secede from the British Empire into an independent federation of the British Commonwealth was a logical first step for our new Australia back then.

But Australia has changed significantly over a hundred odd years. Failings of our current constitutional monarchy ruled by three tiers of government, with democracy undermined by unaccountable government between four year term elections, necessitates Australian constitutional reform and for discussion to commence amongst Australians.

Several communities of koalas in the Mumbulla and Murrah State Forests on the NSW South Coast near Bermagui are at risk of regional extinction due to plans by Forestry NSW to commence logging their forest habitat on Monday 1st March 2010.

Originally published 27 Feb 10, Updated 1 Mar 10 with Media Release of 27 Feb 10 from the Conservation Council ACT Region.

NEWSFLASH! Environment East Gippsland v Loggers. Court case begins tomorrow (March 1, 2010) between Environment East Gippsland for Brown Mountain against the Government and logging interests. All welcome. This is a very important test of our environmental and democratic laws. In the preliminary hearings Judge Forrest did not make going ahead with the case dependent on EEG providing a financial bond for costs to the logging interests if EEG lost the case. This public interest decision on his part has made this case possible. The requirement of such a bond was what stopped Blue Wedges from going ahead to represent the public and try to stop the dredging of Port Philip Bay.

In 2007, Andrew Fraser, as Local Govenment Minister, imposed council amalgamations against the overwhelming wishes of affected residents, even threatening to dismiss councillors who dared hold ballots on amalgamation. For many months, the angry backlash threatened Labor's federal election prospects. In 2010, the same Andrew Fraser, as Queensland Treasurer, claims that the unions' campaign against his unpopular $15 billion fire sale, opposed by 79% of the Queensland public, will threaten Labor's federal election prospects.

What you can do: Attend Queensland Council of Union's Rallies to stop the Sell-off before it starts: Innisfail - 28 Feb, Cairns - 2 Mar, Mackay - 3 Mar, Rockhampton - 3 Mar, Gladstone - 6 Mar, Brisbane - 10.30AM 9 Mar at Roma St Forum
Sign the petition calling for new state elections and the repudiation of assets sale legislation. (You have until 2 March. See also "Why Queenslanders must demand new and fair state elections" of 12 Jan 10).
See also: "Unions 'aiding and abetting' Abbott: Fraser" by Jessica Marszalek in the Brisbane Times of 27 Feb 10, "Anna Bligh faces rural anger in Queensland" in the Courier-Mail of 28 Feb 10 , "Peter Beattie bent on destruction of Rudd's chances" of 9 Aug 07 by Margo Kingston in WebDiary, "Cate Molloy : Forced council amalgamations planned by Property Council of Australia" of 7 Sep 07. ...

Canada needs a new anthem, suitable to contemporary trends. I offer this as our national poem, and I would suggest that our national symbol, the beaver, should be changed to something more appropriate---the bulldozer

See also "The Sounds of Media Silence----With Apologies to Simon and Garfunkel" of 28 Feb 10.

The TRUTH comes out of Maddens office. Consultation is faked. This is what we have all know for a long time as we spend hours of our time working away putting in submissions.
Well it is official; they just tick the boxes, as in: "Consulted with the community - tick."
And this is Madden who wants to be Premier?

Originally published on 25 Feb 10. Updated on 28 Feb 10 with embedded videos (thanks to Marvellous Melbourne) showing Madden being grilled by the newsmedia.
See also: "Government email reveals plans to deceive" of 25 Feb 10 by Ryan Sheales on ABC Online, "Consultation with community a sham" of 27 Feb 10 on Marvellous Melbourne.

Melbourne Zoo's baby elephant has been blessed by Buddhist monks after Victorians voted to name her "Mali", the Thai word for the jasmine flower.
Sadly, there is no animal "Christening" or official Blessing ceremony in the Christian church.
There is little or no agenda in the church to recognize non-human creatures, despite their worshipping of God of All Creation.
(Newborn baby Asian Elephant - Photos courtesy of Wikimedia commons)

Amazing account of how a tiny wallaby joey was rescued within minutes of death by a motorist on the way to see his wife in hospital. A heart-warming short story of the good in people responding to helpless orphaned wildlife and the lengths they will go to to save them.

Moscow plasma physicist, Boris A. Osadin comes in from the cold winter with a fascinating account of the political history of trends in plasma physics theory, experiment and finance in Russia during the Cold War and today. This is an account of exotic Soviet scientific personalities and rival theoretical schools, as well as the broader associated military and international politics and the tolls on science of an 'atomic Gulag'. It is also a tale of how the financing of the ITER project today may be an outcome of the ways in which US, European and Soviet scientists exploited the crazy Cold War politics to the benefit of their research preferences and to survive.

In November last year, Richard Gage, who represents 1059 qualified architects and engineers, who are calling for a new investigation of the 'collapses' of the three World Trade Center buildings on 11 September 2001, toured Australia. During the tour, he met and interviewed one of the architects he represents, Jan Utzon, son of the late Jørn Utzon, who designed Australia's iconic Sydney Opera House.

Originally published as "Jan Utzon A Compassionate Architect Who Cares About the Truth"on ae911truth.org on 23 Feb 10. See also: "Why Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should take another look at the 'image of the twin towers coming down'" of 30 Dec 09, "Utzon's son signs up for September 11 conspiracy theory" in the SMH of 25 Nov 09, "Science Show too quick to close discussion of World Trade Center collapses" of 24 Dec 08.

Listeners to ABC Brisbane local radio's Morning Show presenter Madonna King will often be moved almost to tears by her frequent impassioned exhortations against injustices inflicted upon ordinary people as a result of crime, political expediency or bureaucratic indifference. Yet, somehow this capacity for compassion does not extend to demanding humane treatment, let alone justice for a clearly innocent Australian woman, now rotting away in Bali's Kerobokan prison, diagnosed as clinically insane and at risk of losing her life.

See also: "What The Hell Is Schapelle Corby Still Doing In Jail?" of 29 Jan 10 on voxy.co.nz, "Schapelle Corby is innocent, and the Australian Government knows she is" of 6 Sep 09, "Schapelle Corby 'insane'" in the SMH of 24 Aug 09, "Schapelle Corby not the only Aussie languishing in foreign jail" by Madonna King in the Courier-Mail of 28 Aug 09, "Your support for clemency bid needed to save Schapelle's life" of 12 Feb 10, freeschapelle.com.au, schapellecorby.co.nz.

This is about another new party with a small population policy and more. The key objectives of NewAustralia are to: Swap 'Bad' taxes for 'Good' taxes - a major shift to eco-taxation; Stop population growth; Shift spending from road to rail; Shift spending from defence to education while improving Australia's self-defence capability; Increase housing affordability; Shift spending from private health to public health; Reduce the current account deficit. There is a forum to discuss and help form the policies which are not all set in concrete. You do not have to join to participate in the forum. You can just register as a supporter. Membership is free, but candidates will have to finance their own campaigns. I urge people to interact and support all new parties in the short term because without political diversity nothing will change. Go here to join free.

The combination of economic 'reforms', globalisation and high immigration have dramatically worsened circumstances for working Australians in recent years. However, the situation is vastly worse in the United States. David Seminara's exhaustively researched article describes the effect of the H2-B visa system for unskilled non-agricultural temporary workers. Australia does not (yet) have such a direct equivalent for non-agricultural workers, nevertheless, the general conclusions about the effects of one aspect of the high rate of immigration into the US remain highly relevant to the consideration of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plans to dramatically increase Australia's population through immigration.

Original article, by David Seminera, published in February 2010 by the US Center for Immigration Studies. Also published there as a pdf file (400K).See also: Will Rudd Government's high immigration program turn Australia into Argentina? of 19 Jul 08.

Tweed Shire Council is fast approaching the most complained about council in NSW. The only green councillor trying to implement sustainability into council policies is treated like an idiot when the councillors should be following her!

Corellas are one of the most visible birds in many Australian cities, any proposal to cull their numbers inevitably causes some controversy. Like humans, they may be recent inhabitants of an area but are they occupying an environmental niche that we created ?