Wildlife activist, Lynda Staker, recently communicated to me some amazing case-work on combatting the effects of snake bite in a variety of wild and domestic animals, using injectable Vitamin C. Candobetter welcomes further comment and discussion in this controversial treatment in an important field. In fairness to this subject, we also supply other explanations for the effects observed, citing a veterinarian, and a contrary account from goat-herders.

Congratulations Jill Redwood, leader of Environment East Gippsland! In a landmark decision today, the Supreme Court has found that the government has a responsibility to look for and protect endangered wildlife before logging in the contentious Brown Mountain forests of East Gippsland. “This judgment has implications for all native forests that are set to be destroyed by logging,” said EEG spokesperson Jill Redwood. “If we hadn’t sued VicForests, Brown Mountain would have been illegally logged by now. And Brown Mountain is just one area. The government is logging publicly owned forests every day without endangered species surveys.” EEG Website for more updates

Tasmanian wildlife are in a terrible situation and there is a great need for better laws to look after their welfare and habitat. Candobetter did articles on this problem Tasmania, West Australia, Victoria - our wildlife are ignored by government, and fortunately the recent Auditor General Special Report No. 78, Management of threatened species (Tasmania) will hopefully provide a good basis for your submissions. Please send your submissions to us and we will publish them.

How our taxes are used in hospitals and other prevention and treatment modalities is of almost as much importance as how our access to shelter and food are or are not guaranteed by our political systems. The Public Health Association of Australia has a broad interpretation of public health and is thus interested in population policy and housing as well as in clinics and hospitals. It is important to support the PHAA to influence public policy in a broad range of areas. The Association has a network throughout Australia, in rural and urban areas. As such it is among several organisations which has some potential to combat aspects of the property and finance based Growth Lobby in Australia, which has apparently taken over government in this country.

Click on picture to see film. "Knowing these young monkeys would have faced decades of painful experimentation, it was a particularly emotional moment this morning as we loaded them onto the transport truck in preparation for their journey. It was truly a relief to look each one of these incredible creatures in the eyes and make good on my promise: finally taking them into our arms of compassion."

(Click picture for film). July 6, 2010. "Bear in mind that what you can see on the water represents only 1% of what is below the surface."

The Australian Growth Lobby has only a couple of primitive weapons - calling the PM a racist and misrepresenting the figures. The other side has all the good arguments, as well as truth on its side. This article analyses the childish statistical misrepresentation and social innuendo in the 5 July 2010 Australian Financial Review editorial, "PM's own goal on population."

(Click image to see film of storm-tide surge in Frankston on Port Phillip Bay on 26 April 2009, soon after Channel Deepening. There is another film inside article.) Sue Pennicuik (Greens, Victoria) says that analysis of tidal data supports residents' reports of higher Bay tides since channel deepening. But even without higher tides overpopulation has made old conditions more dangerous. Films made by Sheila Newman and including still-footage by James Sinnamon, show very high water in a creek at a time when the tides themselves were not at their highest. What caused the very high levels in the mouth of Kananook Creek, Frankston, were increased volumes of run-off from increased hard surfaces associated with more buildings to accommodate population growth in Frankston, plus the very heavy, tropical style rain on top of the storm-tide. This means that, even without sea-level rise, a king tide could be devastating if it occurs during a similar short period of high rain and wind. Note that the deepening of the channel from the ocean to Port Phillip Bay was done to accommodate much bigger ships justified by projections of greater volumes of trade associated with the bigger populations in Australia as encouraged undemocratically by her state and Federal governments.
ABC TV Stateline 7.30 PM this evening (2 July 10) also has a story on the evidence of higher tides since channel deepening.

For those who follow the stock exchange, building materials share values are the key to the boom and bust cycle of Australian (and similar systems) property, infrastructure and construction booms. When building materials values go down we know that overall market demand decline has settled in. It means that the developers and engineers have reduced their forward orders for bricks and mortar. At the same time the States have been told to reduce their own little-known immigrant-sponsorship programs.

"Inevitably when a Prime Minister or a Government says or does something there is a political analysis – Why are they doing this? What are they up to? While this is pretty much unavoidable, I think the explanation here is a pretty simple conjunction of the Prime Minister’s own convictions with the views of the vast majority of Australians." (Kelvin Thomson)

Russian Trade Minister asks where the kangaroos are in Queensland after being shown around rural Australia where the 'roo meat industry pretends they are in 'plague numbers'.

Today, in a press release titled, 'Change of direction on 'Big Australia', Kelvin Thomson wrote: "I am really pleased by the announcement by the Prime Minister that she intends to take a new direction in population policy, and to chart a course away from growth towards sustainability." At candobetter.org we are delighted to be gob-smacked. Here's a pod-cast of the recent Insiders (ABC) program on the change of P.M. for those who are keen to hear more.

Protectors of Public Land, Planning Backlash and Green Wedges Colaition join forces tomorrow (June 22nd) to oppose Amendment VC67, which is being brought to Parliament by Justin Madden (Minister for Planning) the same day. Rally on steps of Victorian Parliament, Spring St., Melbourne, at 12:24 pm for 1 pm start, Tuesday 22 June 2010.

A common line of argument from those who favor population growth in Australia is that it's all a matter of optimism versus pessimism, and that environmentalists are much too negative. But there are situations where optimism would be better named meglomania.

What underlies the Australian establishment's antipathy to and ignorance of nature? The conflict between religion and science, and the roles played by 'colonial rationalists', the Catholic Church, and the State in the suppression of flourishing scientific debate and celebration of Australia's unique ecology. How controversy preceding the passage of the Victorian Education Act 1872 (which was intended to secularise education) derived from a rearguard defence against the growing influence of Darwin, to the lasting demotion of natural science and respect for environment and other creatures in mass media and government. This article was published in response to "Anglican Church Australia Overpopulated discussion paper - entire," and comments by Vivienne Ortega and John Marlowe

Churches are part of politics and usually back the establishment, as much through investment in property assets as through political policy. It is therefore inspiring to see this honorable departure from the mainstream church and mass-media-led arguments for population growth in this Anglican Church discussion paper, which we are republishing here with only minor changes to format.

"Ever wondered why you are increasingly being trapped in traffic jams and gridlock on Melbourne's roads? Ever wondered whether construction of monster freeways/tunnels will alleviate the problems ? Then come to hear our speakers and ask questions. We really need your support in holding a public meeting on this important topic. Protectors of Public Lands.

On Monday 17 May I interviewed William Bourke about himself and his party and his views on the politics of the current population debate. He described concerns about the impact of population numbers since the 1990s, but said that reading the book, Overloading Australia had really galvanised him to do something about this. See also Short but superb SBS Interview with William Bourke of Stable Population Party of Australia

Your chance to become an Urban Avatar!
Environment East Gippsland's Inaugural Melbourne Meeting.
6pm Wednesday 12th of May, 2nd Floor, Kindness House, 288 Brunswick St, FITZROY.
(This is the Forest Group that is in court over Brown Mountain.) Please write feedback on how it went.

Almost all seats were taken for the population reform breakfast at the Hilton in Adelaide on 7 April 2010. Among the audience were several members of the Liberal opposition, including their leader, Isobel Redmond. Greens MLC, Mark Parnell, was also in attendance. No members of the Labor government appeared to be present.

"You may join the discussion and debate around the world on overpopulation! Australia heats up by the day as it overpopulates itself into demographic consequences that grow irreversible and unsolvable. No rational country wants to follow in the footsteps of China, India, Bangladesh or Mexico. But the USA, Canada, Great Britain and Australia follow in the same tracks!" - Frosty Wooldridge.

"The ACT Kangaroo Management Plan significantly, and disturbingly, fails society, the economy and the environment in the ACT and its contiguous region in numerous ways. In many respects it is a dishonest, unscientific, inconsistent, biased and unethical report that perpetuates ignorance of the place of humans in the natural landscape and fosters a culture of disrespect and harm." Professor Steve Garlick

Born in Canberra on 10th November 2008 in response to the continuing massacres of landlocked kangaroos in the ACT without consultation with the Indigenous/Aboriginal peoples and local communities, and the arrest and prosecution of six Aboriginal people who were performing a smoking and healing ceremony, on Wednesday 5 May, a new Alliance for Native Animal Survival was formed. Its aims include the establishment of land-rights for native species.

Michael Lardelli, who is on the governance committee of the new Australian party, Stop Population Growth Now, says why he agreed to help form the new party, which is based in South Australia. The party seeks "to reduce Australia’s population growth to zero as a matter of urgency." Other Australian anti-overpopulation parties.

A graph from "Australian Population Scenarios in the context of oil decline and global warming" at shows that the bulge in the Australian population pyramid which growth economists say will cause a larger number of aging people than the economy can cope with, was obviously caused by high levels of post-war immigration. Dr Jane O'Sullivan has quantified the enormous cost in new infrastructure and maintenance of population growth.

Bob Irwin, the late Steve Irwin's father, will be the special guest speaker at "An Afternoon with Australian Icons", an event organised by Gail Browning to raise money to help wild kangaroos. Indeed the event really does sound like quite a remarkable Aussie evening, mixing outback with working class and wildlife carers. Overseas tourists might like to book in order to experience something important and non-commercial, in the cause of our wildlife for whom the Australian government and their friends seem not to give a toss. The event will be at the Revesby Workers Club, 2b Brett St, Revesby, Sydney on Sunday 23 May 2010 from 3-6pm. All proceeds to the Australian Society of Kangaroos.

Vandals prevail in New South Wales, reducing to rubble the equivalent of nature's great monasteries and old churches, for short term gain by a tiny tyrannical minority. This scourge is led for the profit of Delfin Developments, against democracy and the local people who love their living landscape.

A new you-tube film about the forest protectors' camp and community at Goongerah, South East Gippsland, near Brown Mountain...

We look at Dr Katharine Betts's latest graph of ABS statistics on the ratio of working to dependent in Australia, noting that it is both untrue and discriminatory to imply that the 'Aged' are by far the biggest group of 'dependents.' In relation to the graph, we also look at the role of land-use planning and the social division of work in industrial society in creating financial dependencies where none previously existed. We note that established financial and institutional investment in the post-war industrial-contractual model makes it inflexible and resistant to changes in economic feedback, but that change it must as fossil fuels deplete. Left to their own devices, Australians would probably return to the human default social organisation around kin and place, which is flexible and low cost. This will only become possible, however, with cheaper land and an economic system which permits increasing relocalisation and more flexible use of land than the current plans for packed appartments and dense dormitory-suburbs anticipate.