Eleven adults and one infant calf were brutally slaughtered in Tsavo East National Park in southern Kenya by poachers to feed the demand for ivory in Asian countries.
Entire elephant family killed for their ivory: Care2
The family was gunned down with automatic rifles before their tusks were hacked out with machetes, while the calf is believed to have been crushed by its mother as she fell after being shot.
This attack is the latest in an increasing number of elephant deaths that KWS figures show have risen from fewer than 50 in 2007 to 360 in 2012, according to the Telegraph.
Humans believe they are above Nature, and can take any natural resources for their own use, even from living and sentient animals as magnificent as elephants!
Less than a month ago Bouba N’Djida National Park in northeastern Cameroon was home to 450 elephants. Today, at least half of those elephants are gone, slaughtered by armed horsemen who traveled hundreds of kilometers, probably from Sudan, to kill the animals for their valuable ivory tusks.
It is expected that the poachers will soon travel back to Sudan, carrying the ivory on horseback and on camels, where they will be sold in the markets at Khartoum before heading to their most likely destination: China. Coveted in Asia, their tusks bring in handsome sums that are funding wars across the continent. Many game wardens hardly stand a chance against the slaughter.
Around 500,000 elephants still live in Africa, but poachers kill several tens of thousands of them each year, and that number is on the rise. Customs officials seized over 23 tons of smuggled elephant tusks in 2011, the highest amount in 20 years. But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said his government has taken a firm stance on ivory trafficking.
The level of butchery is a throwback to the 1980s, when an estimated 100,000 elephants were being killed every year, according to WWF.
The number of Cameroon’s elephants was last officially estimated in 2007, with ‘Definite’ and ‘Probable’ figures amounting to less than 1000 elephants altogether.
Bloody Ivory- sign the petition
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Peninsula Link opened up
Melbourne's newest freeway is expected to open within days, with an announcement from Premier Ted Baillieu on Wednesday.
The premier and roads minister Terry Mulder will announce the opening date for the $759 million Peninsula Link, which spans 27 kilometres from EastLink in Carrum Downs to the Mornington Peninsula Freeway in Mount Martha.
Read more: Peninsula Link to open within days, 16 January 2013
at http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/peninsula-link-to-open-within-days-20130116-2csjh.html
The government claims that the new freeway will cut the time of travelling between Mount Martha and Curram Downs by 17 minutes, and saving 40 minutes in peak time. Do the public really this is a magnaminous effort to reduce the driving times for communters?
With 1500 new arrivals to our city each week, thanks to our goverment-engineered rampad population growth, the Peninsula's green wedges will be more accessible and thus be nibbled away for urban sprawl - and our housing market. We will hear Matthew Guy, also magnaminously, spouting that he is trying to fulfill the Baillieu election promise of creating "affordable housing". That means more land will be opened up for housing, and more of our environmental and social capital will be flogged for population growth.
It won't be more affordable - prices will be maximised by good "location" for prime real estate, and the heavy competition from potential buyers.
Welcome to Victoria, a paradise for developers!
Anti-Fracking movement heats up
''Fracking kills, and it doesn't just kill us,'' Ono said. ''It kills the land, nature and, eventually, the whole world.''
Yoko Ono, her son Sean, and the late John Lennon bought a farm and now are fighting to prevent coal mining - fracking. They and other activists delivered 50 boxes of what they said were 204,000 anti-drilling comments to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The Age - Ono you don't: Yoko fights fracking
“Fracking" is when oil and gas companies blast millions of gallons of water treated with chemicals into the ground to force oil and gas from hard-to-reach places deep inside the earth. Coal Seam Gas mining has proven to have disastrous impacts on water quality, livestock and agricultural health and the natural environment in other countries around the world.
As traditional oil and gas reservoirs become more expensive to find and produce, alternatives like CSG and shale gas, have become attractive.
America's new "glut" of natural gas was due to high prices that provided an incentive for using expensive technology to drill problematic reservoirs. We have "100 years of abundant gas supplies", says President Obama. However, the gas reserves in Australia, the US and elsewhere may still be vast, but increasingly expensive to extract, and reportedly overstated.
Shale-gas producers face opposition from environmentalists who object to the industry's heavy water usage, fugitive methane, use of chemicals, and a small risk that fracking could lead to contamination of aquifers and even cause earthquakes.
Revenue in Australia's oil and gas sector will surge this year, making it the standout sector as the mining boom fades, research shows.
While it might bring us welcome revenue this year, there's no similar assurances for the future. According to ASPO, (Australian Association for the study of Peak Oil and Gas) there are serious risks of global oil shortages, and a common but unfortunate tendency in Government and business to overlook or discount crucial risk factors.
As US peak oil expert, Richard Heinberg says: we live on a finite planet, yet we have an economic system based upon infinite growth. Thus, at some point, when we have reached our limits of natural capital, growth as we know it will end.
We have a window of opportunity to adjust to the end of growth but governments and economists would rather head-long hurtle towards big economic growth, and "big Australia, leaving future generations to face the fallouts.
It's pointless to have a cannibalistic industry if in the process of extracting energy for profits, it leaves poisoned water, more greenhouse gases, chemicals in the ground and a sterile landscape!
Residents of Youngstown, Ohio, suffered recent earthquakes measuring 2.7 and 4.0 on the Richter scale, respectively. Scientists believe it was caused by fracking. Water supplies are being stretched even thinner as rivers and farms are poised to be drained for drilling and fracking.
The short-term financial benefits associated with this industry is compromising the food security, health and welfare of future generations of Australians.
Anti-coal protester Jonathan Moylan has said the main reason for his ANZ sharemarket hoax was his concern about the health impacts of coal mining at Maules Creek.
Creating hoax media releases is not normally something that should be endorsed, but it's a case of a means to an end - of trying not to exacerbate
patterns that are already hostile to the inhabitants of our planet. His concerns were purely altruistic regarding the Whitehaven's impact on farmers, the largest remaining forest in the Liverpool Plains, the climate and public health.
Earth is the only habitable planet in our solar system, and there's only a thin layer of atmosphere protecting us from uninhabitable space. Even a small rise in temperature could mean accompanying changes in cloud cover and wind patterns, with systematic feedback effects. It's foolish to gamble with the only piece of rock suitable to live on.
James Moylan should be thanked for waking the media and public out of their slumber, and apathy.
Growth and profits, the ones who should be charged with environmental crimes.
Ono warned that the fight would not stop, even if hydraulic fracturing were approved.
Mealworms - solution to food security?
In 2007, the average person used 2.7 hectares. So we are in “ecological overshoot” a condition where we are extracting resources at a faster rate than the natural world can replace them.
We currently need 1.5 Earths to sustain our extraction of renewable resources each year and the estimates are that by 2030 we will need two Earths. Well, there aren't two Earths!
Instead of tackling the world's overpopulation crises, food security is being focused on, as a distraction from the real cause which is too sensitive to tackle! Researchers have turned their attention to mealworms. Mealworms are not worms but are the larvae of the “darkling” beetle (Tenebrio molitor). The impact of protein production on a mealworm farm compared very favourably to traditional animal farms raising chickens, pigs, and cattle (beef and dairy). Currently, more than two thirds of all agricultural land is used for animal production (whether housing the animals themselves or growing feed crops for them). This whole process—from fertilizing grain to raising cows to shipping milk—produces some 15 percent of all human-generated greenhouse gasses.
Many people appear shocked, even disgusted, when they are presented with the idea of eating mealworms. They’ve never considered eating insects. Mealworms taste just like roasted nuts or seeds. They’re particularly good covered in chocolate or sprinkled on soup!
Mealworms might be more familiar to pet owners as reptile, fish or bird food.
Mealworms live in areas surrounded by what they eat under rocks, and logs, in animal burrows and in stored grains. They clean up after plants and animals, and therefore can be found anywhere where "leftovers" occur. Most pet stores and many fish tackle shops sell small and large mealworms.
Most of the recipes include including the mealworms in breads, cookies. However, you can also consume them in the form of fry along with potatoes.
People will go to great extremes to avoid the human overpopulation issue. Promoting alternative foods buys time. There are enough vegetable based proteins available before resorting to worms!
Editor's comment: Another scientific breakthrough, which just possibly may save humankind from the stupidity, thus far, of its ruling elites, is synthetic biology. A video report of synthetic biology (of a duration of just over one hour), at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD5uNAMbDaQ, is embedded in the story Introduction to Synthetic Biology of 5 Jan 2013 by Tony Cartalucci at http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/. Even if its promises can be realised, synthetic biology can only hope to solve humankind's problems if we stabilise our population.
Past upholder of 9/11 fraud censors his own words
The following was posted to Mike Stasse's web-site, http://damnthematrix.wordpress.com, at around midnight on the 10th and 11th of January 2013:
mikestasse wrote:
My greatest surprise came at the very end, where the author provides a post-9/11 epilogue, and says: "There is abundant evidence that September 11 was an outcome of these shadowy coalitions, which link global energy corporations, US foreign policy, the global 'intelligence community', Islamic fundamentalists, arms dealers, and illegal drug trade."
Discussion of this bizarre symbiosis [elsewhere he puns on 'Bush Laden'] remains beyond the pale of mainstream media ... and is the best example of the paralysis of public discourse due to an absence of language to comprehend top-down thinking and bottom-up action as a new mode of power ...
Frankly, I'm disappointed this subject has turned up on this blog. 9/11 truthout beliefs are like religion: you either fervently believe the conspiracies, or you don't. In my experience, no amount of discussion will sway one camp or the other.
Comment: The above post contains nothing more than Mike Stasse's own words: his own apparent recent awakening to the impossibility of the Official account of 9/11 and his earlier endorsement of that Official account and repudiation of those who who disputed that account on this web-site, together with a link back to this page. I posted the second comment, pretending to disagree with him now apparently disputing the Official 9/11 Conspiracy Theory, but using the same words that Mike Stasse had, himself, previously used above to dismiss my own views on 9/11.
My own FireFox web browser displayed the comment as if it had been published, but the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) advised me that my comment was 'awaiting moderation'. By 8.30AM in the morning the comment had vanished. Presumably Mike Stasse had deleted the comment.
This is censorship on a site which purports to promote free and open discussion. That the post has been secretively censored and other site visitors left unaware that one visitor disagrees with the post compounds done.
What you can do: Make your objections to censorship and to promotion of pro-war propaganda known on Mike Stasse's web-site and elsewhere. Be sure to post a copy of your comment here so that should your comment also be censored, a public record can be found here.
Indonesia needs an Animal Justice Party like Australia
How about an Animal Justice Party in Indonesia?
I thought they were civilised there.
Maybe 'civilisation' is the problem. - Ed
Kelvin Thomson has contacted Indonesian government
Kelvin Thomson MP has contacted the Indonesian government about animal cruelty in response to this. See his blog http://kelvinthomson.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/animal-cruelty-in-indonesia...
Maybe contacting Joe Ludwig's counterpart in Indonesia- the Minister for Agriculture would be the most effective.
Calling all Indonesians to do something re cattle treatment
One's reaction on seeing the photography and article that gave rise to Quark's comment, "...and another act of extreme cruelty" is to get really angry with Indonesia and Indonesians who are not speaking out against this. We are already angry with Australians who are permitting live transport to Indonesia. Is there anyone reasonable with whom we can have a dialogue on candobetter.net via the comments function who can tell us how to help to stop this absolutely disgusting and intolerable, utterly stupid and depraved treatment of animals in Indonesia?
Sheila Newman, population sociologist
home page
Articles Copyright to the author. Please contact sheila [AT] candobetter org or the editor if you wish to make substantial reproduction or repu
More Nimbys needed
Nimby,
This outrage merits a full article, if you can find the time.
By the way, as I put the article up about foxes in Tasmania, I nearly added to the intro, "Of course foxes are nothing compared to the rising human population in Tasmania for causing extinction." I didn't add it because I would have had to have written half an article around it and was running out of puff - so you make good points. Well, essential points. Well.. THE essential point.
And who imported foxes, anyhow?
Sheila Newman, population sociologist
home page
Articles Copyright to the author. Please contact sheila [AT] candobetter org or the editor if you wish to make substantial reproduction or repu
Outrage over native animal destruction in South Australia
Foxes and other feral animals are not the only challenge to the survival and existence of Australia's precious wildlife! We have government departments with lethal weapons killing thousands of them, deliberately.
Hairy-nosed wombat 'Clobber' who was a victim of animal cruelty. He was shot in the mouth and hit on the head with a hammer and left to die. He has since made a great recovery.
Destruction permits have been issued for more than 100,000 native animals in South Australia in the last two years, including vulnerable and rare species, has infuriated conservationists. The death toll of native animals in South Australia from permits issued by the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources was revealed after a Freedom of Information application by Greens MLC Mark Parnell.
Outrage over native animal destruction in South Australia of 9 Jan 2013 at: http://www.naracoorteherald.com.au/story/1225436/outrage-over-native-animal-destruction-in-south-australia/?cs=1236
The most popular species to be destroyed were the Western Grey Kangaroo and the Tammar Wallaby. There were also more than 10,000 brushtail possums destroyed, which is listed as a rare species because of habitat destruction. There were permits issued for 24 different species that were “threatening to human safety”. Native animals are being accused of "scaring children" and older people, swooping on people, causing traffic collisions, and a hazard to navigation equipment! Could it be more people invading native habitats?
Last year, 901 permits were issued for culling the wombats, which is more than the previous five years combined. Just over 800 were issued from 2006-2011.
Native animals are considered threats by fear-warmongering government departments, with their Colonial-mentality of destruction, and agenda of sterilizing and "taming" the Australian bush!
The dangerous madness of megalomaniacs
Obviously Katter is a megalomaniac, obsessed by "bigness" and his own grand ideas of "progress" and growth! These are dangerous people who would like to inflict onto followers, the public, the rest of the country, some of his mad and idiotic ideas- ideas that will ultimately fail. Our parks, our cities and our natural heritage are increasingly being "managed" by a bunch of megalomaniacs building their empires with their own agendas, constantly grabbing more land when they don't know what to do with what they have.
The Catholic idea of high birth rates, open-borders and turbo charged immigration is one that assumes a planet without borders. However, it's contrary to the Biblical concept of NATIONS. Ethno-nationalism holds that nations are defined and rooted in common heredity, and that the foundations of a nation are based on common ancestry, language, culture, religion, and social customs. White Christians today are lead to believe that any sort of pride of race is inherently wrong or evil! All nations and peoples have a right to life, to develop their culture and language and to continue their history and ethnicity without globalisation. Peoples have national right to self-determination and a right to exist without interference from bloated economic/political/religious manipulation.
Even the passages of Scripture most often cited by religious advocates of mass immigration and amnesty plainly do not argue for open borders.
Old Testament Bible verses saying “welcome the stranger” and “love the stranger” are the ultimate trump cards and justification for their position of supporting mass immigration. The premise of many open border advocates, religious and non-religious, is that nations shouldn’t regulate immigration, because — first and foremost — nations shouldn’t exist as sovereign entities, or even exist at all. History offers little justification for this globalist vision.
Leviticus 19:33-34: “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Similarly reads Exodus 22:21: “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Hebrew term for “sojourn” means temporary stayer. Such persons enjoyed many privileges in common with the Jews, but still were separate from them. Even the Holy family, who sought refuge in Egypt, only stayed there until it was safe to return home. There was no religious precedent for permanent residency for asylum seekers.
If current trends continue, the diversity of mankind will disappear within 150 years. Bio-diversity of species, whether they be flora, fauna or human, is paramount to creative and personal expression. Those that interfere with God's creation declare war on the Creator Himself and God's Handiwork - Nature itself!
It would be political suicide for any government to continue with the "big Australia" notion, especially with climate change and increasing scarcity of resources.
The number of desalination plants already in Australia is a symptom of ecological overshoot. Three very large plants being commissioned: Adelaide (300 ML/d), Wonthaggi near Melbourne, (450 ML/d) and Stage 2 of Perth’s Southern Desalination Plant at Binningup (total 300 ML/d). Perth continues to rely on seawater desalination for water security, and by March 2013 half of Perth’s reticulated water supply will come from this source. Relying on technology makes us vulnerable to energy, greenhouse gas emissions, technological complexity, and sabotage.
...and another act of extreme cruelty
In Surabaya, Indonesia cattle were lifted by crane with nooses around their necks and suspended in mid air. Have a look at the photo in "The Australian" today.
It matters little where the animals pictured actually come from. To see this picture in “The Australian” is sufficient evidence that cattle we export will certainly suffer immense cruelty in Indonesia.
Anger over 'cruel' Indonesian cattle mistreatment of 8 Jan 13 at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/anger-over-cruel-indonesian-cattle-mistreatment/story-fn59niix-1226549380157
Another live export scandal exposed
Animals Australia have exposed another scandal and tragedy for the $1 billion live export trade. The deaths of 65 pregnant cows, heading towards Mauritius, comes after the horrific culling of over 20,000 Australian sheep in Pakistan - bludgeoned and buried alive!
According to Australian government paperwork, none of the 2061 cattle that left Australia on October 5 were pregnant, but two cows allegedly gave birth during the usual 10-day voyage, four cows were found to be pregnant when slaughtered and further testing revealed many more cattle pregnant in the feedlot. The supply-chain simply isn't working!
The importer was furious when it discovered the cattle were pregnant, because it is illegal in Mauritius to slaughter animals in that condition. Local police are now investigating how the cattle died and allegations they may have been poisoned.
Scandal hits live export trade as pregnant cattle are shipped [1]
The fact remains that once animals are out of Australia, there is no way they can be protected on the horrendous sea journeys, packed like sardines, and no way that conditions can be controlled. Once animals are in foreign lands, Australia's control of them is basically ended.
There are a lot of "healthy" and "good" economically viable industries, and the slave trade was one of them. Europeans didn't want to work in the humidity and the heat of the cotton plantations. Like the slave trade of the past, the $1 billion live export trade can't be morally or ethically justified. Animals are not static or inanimate cargo, but living, sentient creatures. Poisoning could be the result of a mafia-like vendetta against the Australian trade.
This is one more arrow into Australia's shameful live export scandalous trade!
Footnote[s]
[1] At http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/scandal-hits-live-export-trade-as-pregnant-cattle-are-shipped/story-fn59nm2j-1226548526700 (Most of the story is behind a pay-wall. - Ed)
Film star Brigitte Bardot's love for two elephants
Film star Brigitte Bardot says she will join Gerard Depardieu unless France stops the deaths of two elephants at a zoo in Lyon. The animals, named Baby and Nepal, are owned by a touring circus and were ordered to be put down by a Lyon court as a precautionary measure due to their having tuberculosis.
"If those in power are cowardly and impudent enough to kill the elephants... then I have decided I will ask for Russian nationality to get out of this country which has become nothing more than an animal cemetery," Bardot said in a statement.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-05/bardot-warns-she27ll-quit-france-o...
Authorities in the central city ordered the elephants be put to sleep last month, prompting an outcry that resulted in them being granted a temporary reprieve over Christmas. She said last month that her fellow actor, who was branded "pathetic" by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, had been the "victim of extremely unfair persecution".
“I’m not convinced they are less cruel to animals in Russia compared to France,” one tweet said.
Pioneering initiatives in Russia are gaining the increased attention of animal rights groups working towards a more humane world in which cruelty towards animals disappears altogether, whether this be cruelty for fur, cruelty for meat or cruelty for laboratory testing. Another initiative Russia has been involved in recently is the scheme to protect polar bears, backing the USA's proposal that the status of polar bears be increased to the maximum level at the next meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in March 2013, effectively banning international polar bear trade.
http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/11-12-2012/123114-animal_welfare-0/
The dark side of humanity, of infinite depth and fathomless depravity, is often exposed through their treatment and torment of animals. Bardot is a hero for animals, and has acted against the clubbing of live seals, and the inhumane halal slaughter.
A fragile life support system in a mostly lifeless Universe
Humankind has been astonishingly fortunate to be able to inhabit this minute part, capable of supporting life forms as complex as our own, of a vast. almost lifeless, Universe.
If it were possible, with utmost care, to sustain this life support system for any worthwhile length of time, we would count ourself most lucky.
Yet humankind, far from acting to carefully preserve its life support system, has been doing the precise reverse for several thousand years. In recent years, humankind's destruction of its life support system has accelerated even more as it has acquired the technological means to extract ever more vast quantities of the earth's non-renewable natural resources at an ever greater rate.
If we are to have any hope of preserving our species and other life forms on earth, this madness, made even worse by uncontrolled human population growth, must cease now.
Heat wave in WA and the eastern States of Australia
We talked of where we could escape to
As population and traffic can’t be catered to,
The weather is changing, it’s getting hotter
and water supply is getting much shorter,
Victoria is baking, WA had it first
They suffered for weeks, not just a short burst,
Desalinated water keeps them hydrated
But collapse of it all I reckon is fated
We worried and planned and thought of an escape hatch
But in Europe we’re not welcome, that is the sad catch
We seek something cooler and greener and wetter,
New Zealand or Tasmania might be a bit better.
Now Tassie is baking, even more than the rest
As fires blaze through the state, crews are doing their best.
They’ve a history of fires in summers so fine
Tassie’s not just an isle all green and benign
Middle Eastern land grabs - global predation
Wealthy Gulf Arab companies are boosting their investment in Africa’s vast lands and untapped resources, marking a shift for investors who have traditionally directed their money towards assets in the United States and Europe.
The United States is suffering from economic woes, but Africa's middle classes are reportedly growing. Africa is a source of food and arable land, and the Gulf countries are launching an infrastructure building boom that recalls their own construction spree in the past decade.
Annual trade between the Middle East and Africa has grown fivefold to $49 billion over the past decade, from $10 billion in 2002, according to Standard Chartered Bank.
Oil-rich, water-poor Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been buying large areas of farmland overseas to ensure access to food supplies. This is despite water security concerns, (water shortage!) and the displacement of local people from their own traditional lands.
It's a predatory global market now, with the wealthy grabbing resources to secure their own economic growth at whatever costs. It could mean millions will starve - the most impoverished of the world.
See Wealthy Gulf investors warm to Africa -- Continent’s arable land resources are major attraction at:
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/191686/reftab/73/t/Wealthy-Gulf-investors-warm-to-Africa/Default.aspx
Oxfam reports that while foreign investment is normally thought of as good for a country, these land deals by internationally wealthy nations potentially threaten the livelihoods of 80 million small landholders, farmers and pastoralists.
To imagine that Perth could grow their economy and be the new Dubai of the West, modeled on the Middle East, is about deliberately causing unsustainable population growth. It's genocidal considering the Arab states, despite their massive wealth from oil, can't sustainably support their own wealth - and populations.
There needs to be an independent enquiry into our governments' suicidal headlong thrust into dangerous overpopulation - in such perilous and threatening times.
Japan's whale slaughter - ignored by our government
No recent academic publications resulting from whale research can be found. This is despite the Japanese Government saying such strong papers are there, but are simply ignored by the Western media.
Past results are loosely based on demographic data, on age and range. Their "research" is about managing whale resources and actually justifying more commercial whaling. Most genuine research is done non-lethally, on living whales in their habitats.
Japan's whale slaughter has nothing to do with science, or needing more meat to eat. Their "science" is based on data that could easily be got non-lethally, and there is a stockpile of 5000 tonnes of whale meat. The whaling is about national pride, of malice against Sea Shepherd, and not "losing face". Japan must "win" against the West - and preserve their historic Samurai warrior reputation!
It's a case of Prisoners' Dilemma - both the Australian and Japanese governments would be better off if they ended the war against whales. However, neither wants to be the first to surrender, or take action and end the folly. Free trade agreements have priority for our government, and for Japan, they must uphold their hatred for Sea Shepherd, and defy the West!
There is already a 2008 injunction against Japan's killing whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary, under the EPBC Act. Our government could act, but they are reluctant to do so. The International Court of Justice might get to hear the case this year. Maybe. If we are lucky!
It's a war of wills, and the whales are the hapless and innocent victims.
Hospital management fail to alert gov to need for policy change
Sunshine Hospital's maternity unit was built 20 years ago to cater for just 2000 babies a year.
In 2008, 3,800 were born. This year 5000 were born. That is a ridiculous and obviously dangerous increase. Apparently maternity staff were delivering 17 babies a day in November with only 10 'birthing rooms'.
The attitude in the hospital seems to be to put up with this unsustainable pressure and to expect their staff to simply increase their workload. This is typical of irresponsible hospital attitudes all over Australia. Faced with continuously rising undue patient loads which should be controlled by controlling immigration downwards, management do not raise an uproar. No, they go along with increased danger to patients and physical and mental stress for staff in a situation which is clearly unsustainable and which they should be strongly protesting and demanding changes in policy for.
Source of data was http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/a-record-breaking-5000-babies-were-born-in-sunshine-hospital-last-year/story-e6frf7kx-1226545853628
Fiscal Cliff and Limits to Growth
Fiscal Cliff: Nowhere to go But Down- Richard Heinberg
Everybody agrees the U. S. national debt is too high, but no one can agree on what to do about it. The Fiscal Cliff is a symptom that we have run into the limits to growth advertised in the 1972 book of the same name.
Economic growth means increasing population and increasing per capita consumption. There’s nothing magical about it. Economic growth means more and more “things" such as consumer goods, and it takes more resources to make it happen. Things tends to run out. Peak Oil, Peak Water, Peak Everything as Richard Heinberg called it - and our finite planet Earth has only so much to go around.
Fiscal Cliff - nowhere to go but down
Huge economies have to reach across their borders for natural resources, and their pollutants go international too.
Resource shortages, pollution, climate change, congestion, and biodiversity loss are all results and indicators of economic (or uneconomic) growth, as Herman Daly calls it.
According to Richard Heinberg, (post Carbon Institute), the only way to steer clear of the cliff is for the President and Congress to agree on somewhat smaller spending cuts and tax increases that would substantially reduce federal deficits over time.
What if, as U.S. economist Robert Gordon speculates in his paper “Is U.S. Economic Growth Over?”), the nation’s ability to expand its economy has effectively dissipated?
Since 2008 Federal Reserve actions have forestalled a banking crisis, while government deficit spending (initially via stimulus programs) has generated a temporary "recovery". In fact the key thing to do right now is to recognize that growth is over. It was a temporary and anomalous condition that cannot be extended into the future. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly apparent that infinite growth is impossible on a finite planet. The problem that we are seemingly unable to countenance is the end of growth.
All environmental problems track with GDP growth, and it’s no coincidence. The relationship between economic growth and environmental impact is causal, just as gaining weight is causal of bad knees.
The relatively easy way to deal with the Fiscal Cliff is to slash defense spending, raise taxes on the rich, abolish factory farms drastically reduce meat consumption - which would reduce medical expenses- reform the economy along the lines of ecological economics, slash immigration and stop illegal immigration, and start building the infrastructure for a much smaller economy based on something sustainable.
Drought in the US and underperforming economy
Nearly 62 per cent of the United States was gripped by drought, as of December 25, and "exceptional" drought enveloped parts of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, according to the US Drought Monitor.
There is no relief in sight for the Great Plains at least through the winter, according to Drought Monitor forecasts, which could portend more dust clouds. (SMH report)
When most people hear the term “dust bowl,” they think of the American heartland in the 1930s, when a homesteading wheat bonanza led to the plowing up of the Great Plains' native grassland, culminating in the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Today two new dust bowls are forming: one in northern China and southern Mongolia and the other in Africa south of the Sahara. Whereas the dust bowls in the United States and the Soviet Union were the result of overplowing, the main culprit in Asia and Africa is overgrazing.
The drought has caused major damage to crops, particularly field corn and soybeans in the Midwest. This leads to higher feed costs for livestock, as well as higher prices in the grocery store on processed foods such as cereal, flour and the like.
If a fiscal cliff deal is not made that addresses estate and capital gains taxes, passing a bought-and-paid-for farm to your surviving family members may be next to impossible. The nation's worst drought in decades shows no signs of subsiding in 2013. The dryness, affecting 42 of 50 states, may have cost the USA as much as $100 billion in 2012, even more than Superstorm Sandy.
Congress is trying to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. If a compromise is not reached there will be budget cuts and tax increases across the board. Local farmers say the uncertainty is worrisome.
The Farm Bill is crop insurance and various subsidies to help farmers stay profitable during tough economic times.
The US economy continues to underperform; unemployment remains frustratingly high; climate change is worsening; the immigration system is a mess; the nation's infrastructure is still falling apart.
Turkish language popular music site
Turkish Language popular music broadcast site at http://www.ztk3.com/
Comment was originally posted probably on 1 January 2013 with a comment and subject of http://www.ztk3.com/ . The relevance of the site to the above article is not clear to me, but we never censor any visitor's post unless it somehow prevents other visitors from being able to effectively use candobetter, for example, by being too verbose, contains personal abuse, is defamatory or illegal in any other way or is spam. Were we ever not to publish any material, except in the case of spam, we would do so transparently, and not secretively as, for example, was done by the (now defunct) web-sites Lavartus Prodeo and Web Diary, so that other visitors would at least be aware that material had not be published and be free to raise any concerns about the non-publication with us. - Ed, 2 January
Victoria heading towards third-world health standards
MORE than 3600 Victorians have died awaiting elective surgery in the past five years - many spent their final months in pain or immobile. (Herald Sun, 31 Dec)
Records obtained by the Herald Sun via Freedom of Information laws document for the first time the age and sex of each of the patients and the surgery needed.
Read more: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/top-stories/thousands-of-victorians-die-wait...
The data shows more than 400 patients who died were aged under 65. The most commonly needed procedures were knee and hip replacements and bladder explorations.
The warped and lethal priorities of our State government must take the blame for some of these deaths. Health care needs to be a priority, not an optional extra. So much revenue is sourced from Stamp duty on new housing, and this means pumping up our population growth - perpetually. Population growth is outstripping infrastructure, jobs and housing, and it leave insufficient funds for essential services such as hospitals and health care etc.
Ironically, Victoria's health-care funding was slashed by our Federal government because our population growth was not enough!
The growth-based economic model served us well in the past, but we should be heading towards an era of catching-up and enhancements/improvements. People shouldn't be dying while waiting for surgery and treatment - like those in third-world countries.
SA Democrats vote
Dear Mt Gambier - It's not productive to use this website for a debate of the type you are beginning. The recent events are a reflection of what happens when a strong stance is taken against population growth and your view from the outside is very flawed. Let me know your e-mail address or phone number and we can have a discussion about it.
SA Democrats vote has plumbed new lows under Kanck's leadership
Under Kanck's leadership the SA Democrats vote has plumbed new lows (about 1% now). Her political judgement is, and it hurts to say it, a bit lacking! None in the party have taken responsibility for the Winderlich disaster. I don't know the current circumstances, but surely it is more likely that Kanck was pushed because she is one of the leaders who has led the party to ruin. The results from the last 10 years are self-evident. I am a sustainable population believer but some things need to grow - like the share of votes a party receives!
new opportunities
Sandra, you are a person of great integrity, intelligence and courage and I can see more opportunities opening up than you know how to deal with. As a member of the Greens, I think our party could take a much stronger stand against population growth. Looking foward to to see your career blossom in the near future.
We need a clean-out of corruption
It's good for the voters to have this serious conflict of interests within the Democrats exposed now and not after being voted. All politicians should take an oath that they will serve their country and their constituents to their best abilities, and any vested interests should be transparent and declared.
What we need is a clearing out of corruption in parliament, especially with regards to political donations and growth that is beyond our capability to sustain.
Population growth now will deny future generations the amenities, lifestyles, natural resources and living standards those of past generations had. The general principle should be that we leave this life, and our part of the world, in the same state it was when we were born.
This fight within the Democrats is a model of how political parties have become distorted by elitism, personal interests and greed. "Nature bats last"- but Nature will have the final victory as populations will decline - whether we want it or not.
More power and more costs of growth
With high density and high rise living, something we are forced to "choose" more due to population growth, then inevitably the demands for electricity will grow. With more buildings exposed to the elements, without trees and natural shade, air conditioners and heaters will be ultimately used more. It's not just population growth and urban sprawl that will exacerbate the distribution costs, but the increasing demands of energy-guzzling lifestyles.
The privatization of public assets under the Kennett government means profits for private owners, and it benefits not the consumers but the power companies. There's nothing ''sustainable" about Victoria. Neo-liberalism means caving into whatever is "good" for the Economy, and being enslaved to economic growth at whatever environmental and social costs. Instead of the Economy being a tool, a system to support our lifestyles, it has become a our Master to eat away at our future - the terrestrial rock we survive on (our part of the planet) - and our well-being.
Slavery is misery
Another day another headline about rising cost of living pressures.[1] As ever increasing population builds financial pressure on state budgets the government must find new ways to gouge residents to pay the bills.
And I don't understand the neo-liberal obsession with budget surpluses.[2] Cut backs in government spending simply decrease government services and pull money out of the economy. Ballieu says we have to live within our means and pay our way with savings. Did Ted pay for his home in cash? Maybe he and his rich mates can but the rest of us borrow to buy somewhere to live and improve our lot. Debt is an investment in our future. We accept the risk and, mostly, come out ahead.
And did you know Ted is a socialist neo-liberal?[3] He socialises the costs of Big Australia and privatises the profits. All these cost of living increases are public subsidies for the Big Australia lobby. They make the money from this Ponzi immigration scam and we take the pain. The burden is being disproportionately absorbed by low and middle income households. The "death by a thousands cuts" (to government funded services and increases in every damn government imposed fee and charge known to mankind) is the fate of the 99%. The cost of living increases aren't even felt by the wealthy elites who benefit from Big Australia but it amounts to misery and virtual slavery for us plebs. And if you don't think it's slavery, let me what happens when you refuse to pay exorbitant prices rises.
Footnote[s]
[1] See Herald-Sun story linked to above. - Ed
[2] The supposed necessity for governments to achieve financial budget surpluses is a fraud. What if that 'financial surplus' is achieved by cutting economically and socially necessary service as was 'achieved' by Prime Minister John Howard during the early years of his (mis)rule. Howard slashed and burned spending on Federal Government services including education and training. In the latter years of his rule, he suddenly 'discovered' a massive deficit in skills in the Australian workforce and so ramped up his skilled immigration program. - Ed
[3] I was unable to find the term "socialist neoliberal" either on Wikipedia or by searching Google. I presume the self-contradiction in combining too virtual opposites is too much for it to be considered a useful term. However it is true that neoliberal extremists like Baillieu, Newman, Howard, Costello and Keating will endeavour to socialise the losses of corporations. - Ed
Australian Democrats Population Policy
It all sounds good, until the first policy element:
'Creating a formalised system whereby immigration intakes are determined as a result of trends in key indicators of sustainability.'
Sounds to me like a gobledegook formula for doing nothing.
And where is the reference to cost and affordability?
The time has surely come to establish what our mad 'population policy ponzi' is really costing us as a Nation. It is obviously unaffordable; yet we keep on doing it.
Where do the Dems stand on this? Ask Bartlett.[1]
If you want an answer. I'll provide one. Its all good.
Its no wonder people no longer have any faith in the political system.
Footnote[s]
[1] Andrew Bartlett is no longer a member of the Australian Democrats. He is now Green. He joined the Australian Greens in 2009 at then Senator Bob Brown's request to contest the Federal seat of Brisbane in the 2010 elections. Andrew Bartlett was a Democrat Senator from 1997 until 2008. His website is andrewbartlett.com. - Ed
Educational standards not up to expectations
It seems only too obvious that if you have classes where, say, one child in four (perhaps more like 1in 6; I do not have actual statistics) does not have English as a their native language then education of a class of children becomes less effective and overall standards may drop.
Overall, the school funding/child has probably fallen as numbers have grown, which, as mentioned by nimby, will also effect teaching standards.
I believe that the Gonsky report is just another elaborate way of disguising this lack of funding. ie requesting more funding without actually acknowledging that the need for this, or cause, is the increased numbers of children, including many who lack basic English comprehension and skills.
The only mention of this on MSM was a very brief comment on the 7.30 report, by an academic.
I do not know a lot about Finland and Russia, both scored well in the test, but I would suggest that their 'success' was very much owed to their low population growth and monocultures.
Slaughter of horses causes outrage
''A worker shot the horse once, did not ensure the horse was dead, and then tied the horse to a tractor and dragged him across 60 metres of concrete and gravel after which he was found to still be breathing." -- investigators account from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses.
It was covered by The Age. Another shocking report of animal abuse at a knackery -- just 20 minutes' drive from the where the Melbourne Cup is held.
This wasn’t the first time. And it won't be the last unless Racing Victoria commits to a retirement plan for racehorses -- and uses a fraction of the industry’s massive profits to make sure these animals are retrained and rehomed.
The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses has been overwhelmed by the response.
Change.org Petition
Each year, about 18,000 racehorses are shot and killed -- most of them bought by meat buyers and turned into pet food.
This is what the footage the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorse took during Melbourne Cup week exposed: beautiful racehorses were being hoarded into cages not much bigger than the size of their own bodies -- and shot in the head. Some lay twitching and struggling until a final shot by the handler killed them.
The Age: Slaughter of horses causes outrage
Greedy elites actually gain from making society poorer
The front page story of today's Herald-Sun, Families will pay $1300 more for CityLink, water and power appears to bear nimby out:
FAMILIES face a blowout in basic household bills of up to $1300 next year.
A CityLink toll rise is the latest hip pocket slug, driving up costs by as much as $76.80 a year for the average motorist from January 1.
The latest sting follows increases to electricity and gas bills, as well as myki fares, also set to take effect from January.
The rest of the story is behind an on-line paywall. My hard copy further advises me:
Victorian Households will be paying up $310 more per year for water ... while gas and electricity prices will rise by up to $250 per month ...
No explanation is given for the increases by the Herald-Sun.
Plausible explanations that come to my mind, many of which should be obvious to the Herald-Sun include:
- Profit gouging by the private corporations that own the utilities that were once owned by us;
- Loss of economy of scale and duplication that resulted from breaking down what were once public monopolies into allwfedly 'competing' private companies; and
- Diseconmies of scale and less to go around as a consequence of population growth imposed upon us.
In previous decades, those promoting population growth have repeatedly and loudly proclaimed, contrary to intuition and common sense that population growth will make us a wealthier society. Those promoting privatisation, deregulation, which commenced with Paul Keating's 'floating' of the Australian dollar in 1983, have made similar claims.
The evidence that all of us have seen around us in our daily lives, which has ben confirmed by the Herald-Sun, has shown these claims to be hogwash. Those who made these claims could not have failed to realise that they were hogwash. Only because they stood to gain at our expense have they promoted policies which have made society as a whole, poorer.
Other policies from which a minority gain from the destruction of wealth include:
- The use, by educational institutions and other government bodies, of expensive copyrighted intellectual property, particularly Micro$oft Windows in preference to free open-source software;
- Failure of governments to set up public banks and allowing the continuation of needless national and global financial crises caused by private banking cartels. (See Ellen Brown, Public Banking Institute.)
- Failure of governments to plan cities so that we live in easy commuting distances from our places of work, education, retail, entertainment, recreation, etc. Consequently many of us have have to spend hours every day burning up petrol on gridlocked freeways getting to and from work.
- Planned obsolescence and spare part incompatibility. As a consequence, many of the artifacts, we buy to make our lives easier and more enjoyable, break down after only few years at most, after which they end up in landfill.
- War: Every war fought in modern times has been needlessly prolonged to enrich a few. Almost all, with the exception the Second World War, have been thoroughly pointless or else unjustly waged against a weaker adversary for economic gain as happened to Iraq in 2003.
We all pay for population growth
It's an absurdly wrong statement that current home owners in established suburbs get a "free ride" with regards to infrastructure! The cost of the house a land package rests largely on location - land costs and amenities. Buyers pay more for housing in developed suburbs, and infrastructure is what is "developed". It's not FREE!! Council rates are also proportionally higher. Expecting the public to pay for something that they are unlikely to benefit by, or even worse, contrary to their interests, would be political suicide!
What's interesting in this plan of Roz Hansen, that people in developed suburbs pay for the infrastructure for population growth, is the admission that population growth doesn't pay for itself. Instead of being a source of funds, it's a sink. The way to tackle infrastructure costs is through addressing our increasing immigration visas.
Net Overseas Migration is set to increase in the 2013-14 period to 229,400. This is much higher than predicted in the 2010 Intergenerational report with an average of 180,000 per year. It's a knee-jerk reaction to the need to increase the size of our economy at whatever costs.
These politicians sit in their ivory towers, studying figures and economic data, and simply make devastating decisions in a vacuum, without public debate and without considering the impacts on our citizens, environment and lifestyles. We have a remote, disinterested government, with their noses in the trough of "growth" and "big" to satisfy massive egos and their megalomaniac personalities.
Democrats Population Policy
[Ed. The following comment has been expanded into an article with the population policy in full here: Australian Democrats' new population policy caused minority dummy-spit?]
Hi Sheila, Your article asks, "Whatever happened to the Democrats' Population Policy?" Well, after some years without a proper population policy (although population was still referred to in our Immigration and Environment Policies and our party objectives) the Australian Democrats balloted a new Population Policy in May this year. it has been hailed by many as our "best Population Policy ever!" See it here: http://www.democrats.org.au/policies/pdf/Population.pdf.
I'll allow your readers to make their own assessment of the connection of our strongly balloted policy and the stories of the last couple of days.
Darren Churchill, Senior Deputy national President, Australian Democrats
Conflicts of interests are not "laughable"!
John Davey said it was "laughable" that there was a conflict of interest in him being a migration agent and the expelling of Sandra Kanck because of her being president of SPA! (The Australian). It's "laughable" that there could be any other reason! As SPA is not a political party but an environmental organisation, there is no real conflict of interest. The environment is a big concern now for voters, and without an environmental agenda, and alliances to environmental organisations, they will not attract votes. Without a population policy, they are exposed to skirting around the edges of many policies that directly impact on our well-being - and climate change/environmental issues. This internal cannibalization within the party is a reflection of the deeply divided politics around facing the "elephant in the room" - a growing population at a time of climate change and increasing scarcity of natural resources. "Growth" means profits and big returns for businesses, and the property development industries, where as "conservation" means protection and "red" or "green" tape prohibiting developments and economic growth. Ongoing immigration is the no-brainer way to increase the size of the economy - ignoring the ongoing impacts.
Thomson's view is fair
Kelvin Thomson suggests here that the cost of infrastructure of new denser development in an established suburban area should be factored in. In contrast, Roz Hansen who advises the Victorian State Government on planning matters is reported to have suggested that when more people are squashed into an established area, that the current home owners should pay for the infrastructure through a levy. (recent report in Melbourne Herald Sun) Her justification is that the forefathers of the residents of established suburbs paid for the infrastructure in the past, implying that current home owners got a free ride and so it is fair for them to pay now for the additional infrastructure to support a higher population! Hansen's proposition completely disregards the fact that the home owners in the area paid more for their houses because they water and power supply and probably good public transport. They paid already! What's more these residents will be disadvantaged through loss of amenity -increased competition for parking, access to open space, loss of light with increased building heights, loss of leisure time now spent fighting planning issues to minimize damage - by having the population increased where they live!
Educational standards not up to expectations
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard's goal of Australia having one of the top five schooling systems in the world by 2025 has been thrown into doubt after the nation received disastrous results in the latest international reading, maths and science tests.
Australian children were beaten by students from 26 countries in year four reading in the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study.
(The Age) Australia - a disaster in education
Could it be that decades of high immigration from non-English-speaking nations has inhibited educational excellence and strained resources? Not only this, but the costs of providing teachers, schools and resources must continually stretched due to State budget "shortages" of funding as a result of accommodating population growth? Due to "skilled" migration, TAFE and university educational investment is less of a priority for domestic students - it's all too easy to import the skilled from overseas.
Perpetually accommodating growth can only stretch and strain resources - including economic ones - and keeping abreast with international standards set in countries with relatively stable populations.
Stop the Warmongers Petition
AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY
VICTORIAN BRANCH
CITIZENS PETITION
TO:- The Members of the High Court of Australia; the Honorable Chief Justice Murray Gleeson AC, the Honorable Justice William Gummow AC, the Honorable Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG, the Honorable Justice Kenneth Hayne AC, the Honorable Ian Callinan AC, the Honorable Justice Dyson Heyden AC, the Honorable Justice Susan Maree Crennan.
We the undersigned Citizens, entitled to vote in elections, and being MEMBERS OF THE ELECTOR’S PARLIAMENT OF AUSTRALIA, THE HIGHEST AUTHORITY IN OUR NATIVE LAND, Petition and Authorise the said Justices to:-
I] Constitute and undertake a Judicial Enquiry into the knowledge, conduct, and actions of the former Howard/Vaile Liberal/National Party Government, its Ministers and Parliamentary Members, and to include such Public Servants as they find involved, excepting and excluding all members of the Australian Defence Forces, which has contributed and led to the Act of War by Australia on the Sovereign Nation of Iraq, to establish any illegality, breaches of Public Duty and or Trust owed towards the Australian People.
II] We further Petition and Authorise the said Justices, should such illegality, breaches of Public Duty and or Trust, be prima facie established:-
a] To engage and request the Governor General of Australia, to pursue the Public Prosecutors Office to institute criminal charges against the same, as are appropriate under the Crimes Act, or other legislation in accord with the Australian Constitution.
b] To forthwith request the Governor General, as Commander of the Australian Defence Forces, to proceed with the orderly disengagement of Australian Military Personnel from continuing war on the Iraqi People, and for their safe return to Australia.
c] To establish a tribunal or authority as necessary to consider redressing the damage, and the suffering thus caused to the People of Iraq.
Name Address Signature
Few real politicians
There's no money from sustainability, or scaling down population growth. Population growth is lucrative, because people are consumers and fresh consumers is what big businesses always strive to gain. Big businesses have money to splash on political donations, something that conservation groups lack. The population agenda ends up remaining behind closed doors.
Political-correctness and the taboo against being "racist" or "anti-immigration" remains a strong deterrent to discuss population issues - along with "white" or "Western" guilt.
There are few real politicians now, and democracy remains largely an illusion. Anyone who dares to speak out about the "elephant in the room" of many impacts of perpetual mass population growth remain on the outer - ostracized. Let's hope that Sandra Kanck remains firm against the power of the immigration-growth lobby.
Consumption/Population both bad, but Consumption not as bad
Humans, like any other animal, only really think in the short term. Given resources, we will spend them as fast as reasonably possible. But unlike many other animals it seems we have two ways of spending them:
- more population
- more consumption
The green left say (1) is good, (2) is evil. Of course both are bad and unsustainable. But I disagree with the green left and think that if we're going to recklessly spend resources, consumption is better. Cause when the resources run out its a lot easier to reduce consumption than it is to reduce population.....
It really does come down to going easy on the lichen...
From reports of hungry reindeer shortly before that last disastrous winter the reindeer really did cut back their individual consumption, significantly. Collectively though, their consumption was unsustainable as they were grossly overpopulated. The green left would do well to appreciate this lesson.
M.L. King's assassination and the US system
I agree that it is pretty poor that a major documentary failed to mention that a civil trial exonerated James Earl Ray, who was convicted of the assassination and died in prison. This lack of compassion and accuracy erodes the overall value of the film.
If, however, you have the background information provided by this article, for example, the documentary on SBS is quite striking and thought provoking. It shows absolutely massive solidarity among US blacks organising for industrial rights. As Geoffrey Taylor reminds us, in his comment above, no less than four assassinations (including King's) of civil rights defenders occurred close together in this period in the United States. With those assassinations it seems that coherent social movements to raise US workers' rights and poor peoples' access to the public wealth also died.
Watching these records on film you get the impression of an utterly different country from today's United States, with clear conflicts and clear solutions, bearing more hope of solidarity than now exists. The US today seems like the country of every man for himself, where wealth trumps human rights.
These pages get huge amounts of reads on candobetter. It would be great to have some articles from Americans about this time and its consequences.
Another coverup of Martin Luther King murder conspiracy on SBS
Martin Luther King: Assassination Tapes was broadcast on Australia's SBS on 7 December and is still available on demand until 20 December.
This program reveals much about black labour and civil rights struggles that the Reverend Martin Luther King helped to lead. It shows how Dr King appealed passionately that black Americans protest their grievances through peaceful methods only and appealed to angry black youths to cease their destructive looting of shops and attacks on police.
Nevertheless, the program remains yet another cover-up of the conspiracy by the US military and Memphis Police department found in 1999 by a trial jury to have caused the murder of Dr Martin Luther King on 4 April 1968.
That Martin Luther King was only one of four outstanding visionary and courageous American political leaders murdered in the 1960's, was not disclosed.
Even though Senator Robert Kennedy featured a number of times in the documentary, his subsequent murder on 6 June 1968 was not mentioned. Nor was mention made of the prior death of Robert's elder brother, President John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963. No mention was made of the attempts by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison to bring President Kennedy's murderers to justice as dramatised in Oliver Stone's epic film JFK of 1991. The murder of that other outstanding black American leader of the 1960's Malcolm X on 21 February 1965 was not mentioned either.
Very illuminating
It really does come down to going easy on the lichen...
Native Australian Awards - January 26th
AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY
Whatever will benefit Australia - that we are for;
whatever will harm Australia - that we are against. William Lane.
PRESS RELEASE
Nominations for the Native Australian Award
THE ORDER OF THE TOAD
are invited from Australian Citizens, to be formally declared on AUSTRALIA DAY 26th January 2013
GENERAL CRITERIA.
This award is derived from the vernacular heritage of Australia’s pioneering peoples, who applied the term to those who betrayed fairdinkum values, or undertook what were considered un-Australian activities. The graphic symbol of the award, Bufo Marinus, [Cane Toad] should exemplify the character of any nominee - a terminal despoiler, necessitating complete removal from any influence in our Australian civilisation.
Nominations are restricted to individuals who could be classed either as Native Australian
.
Persons nominated should have excelled in the prevailing Traitor Class:- Globalists and internationalists working against the European derived identity of the Australian Nation, and the Great Cause of Independence for Australia; bourgeois liberals; media sycophants; quisling politicians; money changers who advance economics as the prime determinant in society; Australia-hating multicultists undermining our Aussie culture and heritage; Aborigine Race destroyers, proponents of over population through mass immigration, advocates for fake refugees, exploiters pillaging the environment and adding to the destruction of the eco-systems of our Native Land.
Please forward the name and address of the person to be nominated, with full particulars, including references to support the nomination, by 20th January 2013, to the address below. Include your own name and address.
AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY
Identity - Freedom - Independence
P O Box 223 Croydon 3136. www.australiafirst.net email: ausfirst [&nbsb;AT ] hotmail.com
Voting for other than AUSTRALIA FIRST is now just a waste of time
Cows being sent to Pakistan
Thousands of Aussie cows are to be sent to Pakistan where 21,000 sheep were brutally slaughtered. Exporter Elders was preparing to send a shipment of nearly 3000 breeder cows, 2000 of which were destined for Pakistan, where they would be under the supervision of the same government department that carried out the cull.
Last month’s episode of Four Corners saw Sarah Ferguson present the results of an investigation into the brutal slaughter of 20,000 sheep at an abattoir in Karachi. It was followed up by shocking video evidence of the cruelty. Tens of thousands of Australians marched on parliament buildings around the country last month to call for an end to the trade.
What a disgrace, so soon after 20,000 healthy Australian sheep were brutally attacked and buried alive! Where's the guarantee the same won't happen to the cows? Animals are not cargo, and never should be. The level of democracy in Australia, a so-called "democratic" nation, is abysmal. Rallies, phone calls, petitions and letters make no difference, and neither does all the tragedies and cruel disasters of the live export trade. Australia is contributing to the globalisation of lower animal welfare standards, and the normalization of cruelty. Where's the accountability in Canberra?
Lyn White of Animals Australia says: "Why would you send further animals into a country before you have completed your investigation into what happened to a shipment that has been horrendously treated?"
Bow and Arrow killing a child in NSW
Ed. The comment that was here has been unpublished because it made an allegation about the perpetrator of a fatal incident. The commenter did not provide documentation, which would need to be of forensic standard anyway and in a context of due process (which candobetter.net cannot provide). The impact of such allegations could cause immense distress.
Apart from this the comment was about control of bows and arrows and the right of the public to know if children were using them.
Viral humans
There seems to be a malignant growth-gene in humans. What other animals want to keep expanding and destroying other species at the rate humans do it? What moral and ethical justification can there be to continually destroy habitats and kill other animals? Like Agent Smith in The Matrix says, humans are acting like viruses or bacteria. They spread, destroy, continually multiply and then more on to new frontiers to do the same and spread the malign influence. It’s just a fact that we can’t take all the people who want to come and settle in Australia. Economic growth can't be at the expense of our planet. What species would destroy their own piece of the universe through deliberate excessive behaviors?
The world’s human population doubled from 1 to 2 billion between 1800 and 1930, and then doubled again by 1975. At the end of October 2011, it surpassed 7 billion. Ending human population growth is the way to stop the planetary extinction crisis wiping out rare plants and animals around the world. Explosive, unsustainable human population growth is an essential root cause of this crisis. This has gotten so bad that currently 200 species a day are becoming extinct. This is a bigger problem than asking how we are going to feed 10 billion mouths in the next few decades. Not only animals, but we ourselves are eating away at our own habitats.
While the wildlife-conservation movement is valiantly attempting to save the world’s remaining diversity of life, this effort is overwhelmed by the demands of mounting numbers of people. The obvious solution of birth control and family planning remains largely unknown or ignored due to a heritage of our ancient customs and religious beliefs. Being locked into the habits of the past, and viral multiplication rates, must end unless we all become victims of extinction.
While Australia, a land rich in diversity, is losing species at world-record levels, our population growth is heading forwards at break-neck speed. Since the Howard era, immigration levels have undemocratically and stealthfully been increasing, under the media radar and sheltered by asylum seekers. Wildlife, especially in semi-urban areas and those under threats from agriculture, can't compete. With State governments largely under the heavy political control of property developers and businesses, they will dilute any "red tape" such as the EPBC Act protecting even national parks and coastal reserves - for "development" opportunities and housing.
Frankston Council high-rise plans will hurt Kananook Creek
Frankston Council is supporting the construction of a 8 storey high rise office block on the banks of Kananook Creek between the town centre and Frankston's main beach. The width of the building extends for an entire city block from Playne Street to Wells Street. This will house South East Water's new headquarters.
We applaud Council's intention to attract 700 jobs to our city but there are alternative sites or ways of doing this.
We are seeking your help to prevent this outrageous development, which will set a precedent of similar highrise that will cut Frankston's off from it's foreshore.
Final approval for this will be decided at the Council meeting at the Civic Centre on Monday the 10th December at 7:00pm.
Artist's concept pictures of the building are attached to this email (don't be deceived by the misleading images - it is planned to be 8 storeys, and potentially 10 in future). Furthers concerns are explained at the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bea6cROV214
http://longislandresidents.wordpress.com/
If you share these concerns, please take the following actions:
URGENT ACTIONS:
1. Send this message to your own contacts so they are informed regarding this development.
2. Contact local Councillors to request them to vote against this proposal on the 10th December or to defer the decision to allow a proper period of public consultation. Coucillor contact details are listed below.
3 Please attend the Council meeting on next Monday the 10th December, to show your opposition - numbers count
4. Ask the Councillors to rescind the motion to exempt this development from complying with the usual planning requirements.
5. Attend the Public information session at the Frankston Surf Life Saving Club on Thursday 6th December (4 to 7pm) and Saturday 8th December (10 – 12 noon) to voice your concerns.
COUNCILLORS CONTACT DETAILS:
[email protected]
[email protected] (Ph: 0400 236 107)
[email protected] (Ph: 0400 236 109)
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected] (Ph: 0400 236 97)
[email protected]
[email protected]
Councillor Aitken email : [email protected] (Ph: 9786 3274)
Thank you for your support!
CONCERNED FRANKSTON RESIDENTS
Privatisers are stealing your property
The following was adapted from a post on John Quiggin's Web site. Please feel encouraged to add to the discussion there as well as on this site. - Ed
Taking property without the consent of the owner is theft
Whether or not the property was 'paid' for is beside the point. Given that governments are so ineffective at providing public services, only a fraction of what was 'paid' for the assets has, in any case, benefited the public. Most of that money also went to private corporations or into the pockets of their government and public service glove puppets.
The consent was never obtained from the owners of the public property that was privatised in recent decades --- Telstra, the railways, power generation, ports, banks, insurance companies, retirement income, land, housing, buildings, butcher shops, abattoirs, etc. --- by those who flogged it off -- Keating, Carr, Howard, Beattie, Bligh, Kennett, etc.
12,000 migrants to be added to South Australia
The erroneous and misguided idea of boosting South Australia's population by 12,000 migrants to address their "aging population" is deeply flawed. There's no way of capturing youth, either for an individual or for a nation. Snake-oil peddlers will always try to deceive the naive and vain by selling remedies for eternal youth. An ageing population is a sign of a nation's maturity, and good health care. The wealthiest nations all have "ageing populations". Overpopulated poor nations have high numbers of young people.
Those not working also include children, teenagers, the sick, disabled and the unemployed - not just the older people. This flawed scheme, to add 12,000 migrants, ignores the cost of infrastructure, and that these migrants also will all age - at the normal rate of one year per year! Then, just how many more migrants will need to be added to dilute their numbers when they inevitably age? The basis or our human "carrying capacity" is our environmental resources, and ability to pay for the compensation for ecological overshoot. The "need" for desalination plants, and hefty water bills, is an indication that already our cities are overpopulated.
Predictably, the idea was driven by the Property council, with vested interests in housing and construction. We all want "vibrancy" not economic stagnation! What is stagnant is loss of productivity and per capita wealth from traffic congestion, lowering housing standards, rising costs of living and the massive costs of infrastructure that well be forced onto the public to pay.
Stop Population Growth Now Party convenor Bob Couch said the country couldn't afford to accept more migrants. Industries now require skills, and fewer people. "A bigger population will just put more pressure on our water supplies, our fisheries, roads, health services, schools, flora and fauna, and arable land."
"Economic growth", when it becomes uneconomic and devoid of democracy, needs to end and replaced by a sustainable economy - for long term survival and adaption to an era of scarcity and deprivation. Desalination plants are an indication of overpopuation, and South Australians should avoid the hefty costs of Melbourne's water - a basic human necessity and not a luxury.
Economic growth will eat away at Melbourne
A growth-based economy flies in the face of any logic, or recognition that the world is finite and that life-giving resources are in rapid decline - not to mention the grave threats of climate change! The growth-based foundation of our economy is madness in light of the many costs. It's a way of digging ourselves into an abyss, with further to fall when we hit the limits to growth. Growing the size of our economy is compounding further the threats and tangles we already have in our cities. Our food bowls are under threat from urban sprawl, and the consumption of green-wedges for housing and businesses etc is a symptom of excessive population growth. The congestion on our roads is constricting productivity. Our politicians are living in a parallel world of plenty, of the past when we benefited from population growth.
"Planning" has become an oxymoron - as it means disassembling and deregulating any former planning principles and dismantling the axioms of good planning. What our "Planning" Minister Matthew Guy is doing is not "planning" but making a freeway open for open-slather developments in reaction to high population growth.
If the public in established areas are taxed to pay for population growth, then obviously population growth is not paying for itself. It would be political suicide to impose such as tax, as the vast majority of our population do not want "big Victoria" or "big Australia". If economic growth becomes obviously uneconomical, why are our governments forcing it on us? Why should people who don't need the infrastructure be forced to pay for something that is not only that they don't want, but contrary to their interests?
It's incredibly stupid to be driven by habit, and robotically addicted to an economic model that's not only expensive, environmentally threatening, but can't be maintained into the future. Next generations will be forced to accept less amenities, higher costs of living, loss of land, home ownership only for the privileged, and a Melbourne destroyed by greed.
Short-term greed, myopic politics, an unhealthy alliance between property developers, bankers, urban planners, businesses are mocking any form of "planning" and democracy. The planning we have today, rather than true planning for future continences and global threats, will make Melbourne and Victoria worse places to live.
Victorians also asking for curb on migration numbers
Yes, they may be offered a choice - unlike Australians, who do not live in a real democracy.
I heard that at a rally in Melbourne yesterday a resolution was passed to ask the Victorian government to lobby the federal government to “curb immigration” and for the Victorian Government itself to stop advertising for new settlers to the state. The vote was almost unanimous among representatives of numerous groups. Hopefully candobetter.net will get a report of the when and where and conveners.
Years ago Kevin Rudd remarked that "Australia has a 'robust democracy'" after some incident in China. I thought, that Rudd must either be deluded or think that Australians are. In fact, we can say mostly what we want but, due to the control that the duopoly press has over what information reaches most of us, it doesn't matter what we say. As long as most Australians think that what is in the Murdoch press and the ABC and Fairfax is official we will get nowhere, despite relative freedom of speech, because Australians lack real communication channels, locally, state-wide and nationally. This means that we are not aware of what other Australians think and cannot communicate what we think to each other.
We are definitely a country where the press manufactures consent.
Candobetter.net tries to remedy this.
A wall around Swtizerland?
Earlier this year whilst dining with friends in Geneva, a great argument broke out. This is not unusual in for this particular set as they are used to the art of dialectic and it is generally no holds barred. The discussion was about Switzerland's right to remain Swiss and limit the number of foreigners calling it "home". I recall one of them getting very hot under the collar in favour of unrestricted immigration because "on ne peux pas construire un mur autour de La Suisse! (one cannot build a wall around Switzerland) I wonder how she will vote in 2015! Despite there being no actual wall, it seems she and her compatriots will be offered a choice.
Denise McLean's Beautiful Babies
Hi Jillian,
I only published and edited the article. It was actually the carer, Denise McLean, who wrote it and who looks after these little animals. I am glad you enjoyed the article. Are you a carer? We always like to hear from them. Send in your stories or post them as comments.
Sheila Newman
Beautiful Babies
Hi Sheila,
Wow, your day is certainly full. I don't know how you do so much and keep going.
You are a wonderful person to doing this in order to save our Wildlife.
I am sure that once you look into those darling little eyes of your Joey's you would be smitten.
Well done and bless you.
Russian scientists Valentin Danilov finally freed!
UPDATE: Today candobetter.net received a happy notification from Boris Osadin that Valentin Danilov has been freed.
"Dear Sheila,
it's a pleasure for me to tell you that since November the 13-th Valentin Danilov is a free human being. Now he's at home in Krasnojarsk.
Thank you for your anxiety and help.
Sinserely yours
Boris Osadin."
RMC Bullying Culture
Grow Up people!! Get a can of harden up spray!! I joined the Army in 1975 and beleive me "Barstardization" was rife. I was never physically hurt as the "treatment" was more mental not so much pysical.
I beleive I am a better person today because of it. Then again disipline throughout society at that time was much harsher than it is today. The culture has changed......we are much softer and more PC.... and don't get me wrong...it is for the better, however, do not fall into the habit of comparing today's society and values with that of yesteryear ....they are as different as chalk and cheese.
Refugee lobby
In my view much of the vocal refugee lobby are population boosters of a different 'flavour'.
We are all sandwiched between the refugee lobby calling for more refugees to meet our UN obligations and bif developers calling for more skilled immigrants to feed the housing market and consumption.
Open-source intellectual property could help fix global problems
The following is adapted from an e-mail I posted to Tony Cartalucci who produces the web-site Land Destroyer (http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com). The e-mail was in response to a request for suggestions in his article Occupy Sandy Aids Storm Victims of 25 November.
Open source software made the Internet possible. Two of many examples are:
1. The Apache Webserver. Almost every web-site in the world is provided from an Apache webserver
2. The Linux Operating system. The Apache web-server, as well as open source mail-server, etc. will almost certainly be run from a computer running the the Linux operating system (or BSD, another open source operating system).
Sites on which you can read about and download open source software include http://distrowatch.com and http://sourceforge.com
There is no way that the Internet could have grown so large and so fast if they had attempted to build it with the old proprietary software system. A web content provider would have been forced to pay for each and every piece of software necessary to run a webserver and to develop the content or else have had to resort to copying copyright software and have been in breech of the law in many countries. (In Australia, BTW, we are periodically subject to hysterical media campaigns which warn us not to illegally copy copyright DVDs.)
Sadly, it seems that proprietary software producers have succeeded in convincing the overwhelming majority of computer users to continue using the proprietary Apple and Micro$oft operating systems on their personal computers. It seems that only a small minority of computer users in countries like Australia, the UK and the US use Linux. I think this is largely because Micro$oft and Apple are able to persuade educational institutions to install their software on classroom computers. Once a child is familiar with a proprietary operating systems he/she is reluctant to try anything different.
... but open source software still needs a business model to remunerate producers
A problem with open-source software is that many who contribute, or would like to contribute, are not remunerated. They miss out on a livelihood they would enjoy and we miss out on much of what they would otherwise be able to contribute.
A possible solution could be adapted from < a href="http://flattr.com">Flattr (http://flattr.com). I think many web users would be happy to voluntarily make a payment in the order of AU20c, AU50c, AU$1, AU$2, ... for an article, image, video that they liked or found particularly helpful. If they could easily do so with Flattr, PayPal, or another system, I think it very likely that at least a large proportion of content providers would find that they are adequately remunerated for their work.
Another example of open source intellectual property is Project Gutenburg. From http://gutenberg.net.au and http://www.gutenberg.org you can download literary works that are no longer copyrighted.
I think such a site could have added to it the means for consumers of the literature provided to voluntarily remunerate the producers of the literature.
Conclusion
I think, if the business model I have described were more widely adopted the Internet could go a long way further towards solving the problems we face in the world in 2012.
Ridout and Sloan performed flank duties
The author of this otherwise perceptive article does not seem to have noticed that there were a couple of women on the panel too: Heather Ridout (banker) and Judith Sloane (murdoch journo). Each seemed to have the role of supporting one of the Big Men. Ridout was agreeing Rudd and Sloan was doing a right wing thing for Turnbull. But all four were right wing - Growth, GROWTH, GROWTH!
http://www.wildliferescuemagazine.com/
Hi, this is a great post. Thank you for rescuing the monkeys. Hope they will be safe.
These two parasitic puppets
These two parasitic puppets are both scum and belong on the scrap heap, where the likes of Dillard and the rest will end up after they have destroyed Australia..
VicForests avoids Supreme Court - won't log rainforest sites
In an out of court settlement – VicForests on 21 November avoided being taken to the Supreme Court a third time by environment groups. This follows the case against VicForests coming to an agreed end in the Supreme Court today.
VicForests agreed to protect 9 areas in nationally significant rainforest sites in East Gippsland.
“The out of court settlement means that VicForests agreed to no logging at three forest areas and to modify their logging boundaries in another six Rainforests Sites of National Significance”, said Jill Redwood.
“Environment East Gippsland believes that the State government through the Department of Sustainability & Environment should have protected all Rainforest Sites of National Significance by their inclusion in the reserve system. They continue to fail to do so. They have failed to provide that basic protection for nationally significant rainforest sites. We believe that the law requires them to do so and that none of the sites should be on the logging schedule,” Ms Redwood said.
The fight against Department of Sustainability & Environment for not protecting all Rainforest Sites of National Significance would have continued in the Supreme Court next week, but after its significant win for rainforest sites this week, where VicForests agreed not to log in important rainforest zones, EEG decided to drop the Supreme Court case against the DSE Secretary.
EEG believe their legal arguments were strong, but after considering the valuable time and money still needed to pursue them in the Supreme Court, they made the decision to drop the case. It was more of a ‘tidying the edges’ issue of forcing DSE to put the rest of the areas inside protected zones (which are only non-statutory, non-permanent zones anyway).
EEG is now diverting its resources and legal team’s efforts into an even bigger case which it hopes to get up and running before the end of the year or in the new year.
Nurse problem worse with token action by governments
The problem is worsening and increasingly becoming a national issue with every state and territory now having large numbers of graduate nurses missing out on a graduate placement.
Disappointingly the problem has been exacerbated by inaction and state and federal governments passing the buck for too long. This is the perfect recipe for creating a nursing and midwifery shortage, and must be addressed urgently.
Recently the ANF (Vic Branch) wrote to the Victorian Minister for Health David Davis highlighting the dire situation. The response highlighted the Office of the Minister for Health’s recognition of the situation and held that the Department of Health was taking some steps to begin addressing the situation including producing a booklet of information for new graduates and investigating broadening the health services through which graduate programs are offered in Victoria.
With regard to nurses and midwives being told by health services that they will not be employed without a graduate year the response stated:
“…a graduate program place is not mandatory to be able to practise as a Registered Nurse or Midwife. In relation to your concern about a requirement for a graduate program to be a pre-condition for employment, I can assure you that health services have been informed that a graduate program is not required as a condition of employment.”
If members are aware of any hospital continuing to advise graduates to the contrary please email ANF (Vic Branch) as soon as possible so that we can bring this to the Minister’s attention.
The response from the Health Minister’s office is inadequate and does not indicate that they will work urgently with the Federal Minister for Health on this issue. Instead it indicates continued inaction and buck passing. This will not resolve the situation that currently exists and through which Victoria stands to lose 805 graduate nurses and midwives.
Victoria must have enough graduate programs to support every new graduate’s safe transition to registered nurse or midwife, to help retain nurses and midwives and to invest in addressing the claimed future shortages. Doing so is vital to making sure we have a strong health workforce and all Victorians continue to receive professional health care.
In response to this growing crisis ANF is running a national campaign focused on applying pressure to state and federal politicians to fund a range of strategies that ensure employment of graduate nurses and the ongoing promotion of safe patient care.
Part of this campaign includes sending a strong message to Victorian Health Minister Hon David Davis and the Federal Health Minister Hon Tanya Plibersek, calling on them to stop the buck passing and to work together towards a real solution that ensures every newly graduating nurse or midwife can access a quality graduate year.
Graduates are a precious resource, and it will be to the detriment of us all if state and federal politicians don't act urgently and make sure every Victorian graduate nurse or midwife receives a well-supported, high quality transition into their career as a nurse or midwife.
Please ask our federal and state health ministers to stop passing the buck and start working together to secure jobs for new grads.
From an ANF Press Release signed by Paul Gilbert, Acting Secretary, ANF (Vic Branch): http://anf2012.cmail5.com/t/ViewEmail/r/FD7975B9327D5C81/BA2F7301B2E1D7989780B6D0B3F3FC10
Turnbull & Rudd are both Big losers
Both these politicians represent businesses and both desire big population growth. It's a tunnel-vision strategy, with no perspective or consideration of the impacts or the future. Growth now will deny future generations of "wriggle room" or the benefits of decisions we are able to make today. Maximising our population now will deny people in the future any good living standards and they will be lumbered with all the scarcity and problems associated with peak oil, climate change, homelessness, loss of food bowls and arable land. No wonder the public are questioning our democratic system. Immigration continues to be ramped up even further without consulting the public. Many people are feeling discarded, through lack of occupations, jobs, affordable housing and the squeeze of rising costs of living. Kevin Rudd's "big Australia" was his death knell, and despite Malcolm Turnbull's concern about climate change, he contradictorily wants to continue with population growth - it's "good for the economy"! Both are losers.
"Melbourne, let's talk about the future"
Unfortunately for most Melbourne activists and concerned citizens,we have been talking about Melbourne ad nauseum for the last 10 years. It used to be just the place where we lived and was sufficiently easy to live in that we could just get on with our lives. Since population growth was ramped up, Melbourne has become some sort of monster work in progress with no end to its dimensions and mass for which we feel compelled to spend our time examining because if we don't we will have no say in what it could turn into.
The title of the Victorian government document "Melbourne, let's talk about the future" seems innocuous enough. It invites the public to join in the conversation about our city's future. Seems democratic enough? The document covers preliminary thoughts the way Melbourne will grow over the next 40 years. By mid century , Melbourne could well be a city of over 7 million people, possibly 8 going on recent growth rates.
The document is all about managing growth. Successive state government ministers and premiers have claimed they have no control over population growth in Victoria as they have no say in immigration levels. They are simply left to "manage growth. Well how many signals do they send to their federal colleagues that high population growth is causing stress? Instead, they try to attract a greater population to the state. For example, they do this through their website liveinvictoria (http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/). No, the state government is complicit in this process of unending, imposed high population growth which the time of activists and concerned citizens as they try to put out spot fires and mitigate the damage of each new oversized or unwanted housing or infrastructure development. These are unwanted because they steal from the current residents. They steal park land, natural areas and suburban amenity such as light, space and quiet.
The document says "Growth is often seen in a negative light but well managed growth provides the opportunity for Melbourne to address the challenges it faces and for communities and for communities and individuals to achieve their aspirations." Que? Could we not do this without a huge influx of people?
I suppose if it were really true that we must have unending population growth and if our available resources and climate were going to remain favourable to us as they have been all our lives (none of which is the case) the document would not be as annoying as it is. It is available at http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/news-and-events/news/melbourne,-lets-talk-about-the-future. You can make comments on it until March 2013.
Reading politicians is like reading tea leaves
Julie T -
Nice thought but you are naive if you think that Guy won't rationalize what he said there.
I predict: Guy will say that he only meant with poor planning. He will say that population growth is just fine if it is planned well. And no-one will be able to chase him round the table saying, "That's what the developers and planners ALWAYS say."
The Brumby Government planned and planned and planned. They planned for population growth in the knowledge that it would destroy everyone's quality of life. They do not care about the consequences or they just don't know of them because nothing they care about (money, money and, um... money) is affected by overpopulation if you are on the receiving end. They don't have to live in high rises unless they want to. The rest of us do.
Making sense of what politicians say is like reading tea-leaves. They can read anything into their comments.
Where does Matt Guy really stand on population?
He didn't seem to like it when Labor was in power.
"Bigger may not be better for Melbourne, says key minister" - Herald Sun, 15/02/2011
MELBOURNE should not become bigger at the expense of its liveability, says a key State Government minister. Planning Minister Matthew Guy blamed the former Labor government for seeking unchecked population growth.
"I think the days of focusing on being the biggest for the sake of being the biggest are over," he told the Herald Sun. "It's no use being the biggest if you're going to sacrifice liveability."
In 2005, then Premier Steve Bracks welcomed Melbourne's rampant growth, saying "we could become the largest capital city in the country, it's a possibility".
Melbourne's population has grown from 3.6 million in 2003-04 to more than four million today and is tipped to pass five million by 2026 given high migrant intakes…
Environment Protection Authority chief executive John Merritt said that population intensity was a threat to the quality of the environment.
Mary Drost, from residents' action group Planning Backlash, said that huge population growth was making Melbourne more and more unliveable. "We are all suffering in the trains, on the roads and in the schools," she said. "We are gradually strangling our city to death."
And there are no seats left - Part 4
By J Hood
I see the changes at work
My work is full of ethnics
And I’ll front to work one day to find
There are no seats left
They push and insist with their new rights
But they have more rights
If I speak out, they cry ‘discrimination’
What about us locals, displaced in our own home?
This feels like intrusion, dare I say invasion
No one asked me if their millions could take over
I didn’t see the signs
Was I too tolerant?
I shouldn’t have given up my seat
Thank God I’m not Aboriginal, poor bast*rds.
Road to nowhere
I was present at the rally on Friday November 16th opposing the East West Link through Royal Park, Melbourne.
The project is part of the endless push for continuing road building and the accompanying neglect of new public transport. As Federal MP Kelvin Thomson pointed out at the rally, Melbourne already has “east-west links" in the form of the Western Ring Road and the West Gate Bridge. Mr. Thomson also pointed out that the state government should be focusing on a rail link to Doncaster which he described as a “no brainer”. He empahised that funds should be spent on public transport.
Apart from the drilling activities (respectfully suspended during the rally) the scene was very peaceful with native grasses blowing in the foreground and the city skyline in the back ground.
A mammoth road project in this spot would destroy entirely the integrity of Royal Park and render it largely unuseable. To the state government, Royal Park is obviously a dispensable "terra nullius” It is a shame that the previous dysfunctional State Labor Government was not returned at the last election as at least they had shelved the idea of the East West Link project.
Successive state governments in Victoria have had no appetite for public transport and a huge appetite for population growth. This combination means more and more roads which will continually fill up with cars. With perpetual population growth we will never reach a point where the roads accommodate the cars and people can get to their destinations easily. Meanwhile we all live on a permanent construction site. Of course while the seemingly blind politicians put their energies into road plans, oil depletion continues inexorably. It is inevitable that the last road project if is ever finished will be the ultimate while elephant.
Stop Penrith Council's destruction of our Environment
From CommunityRun
TO: PENRITH CITY COUNCILLORS
Stop Penrith Council's destruction of our environment
Campaign created by Suzie Wright
Dear Councillor,
Please do not approve the direction proposed by Penrith Council planners in their Local Environment Plan (LEP). I urge you to seek a thorough review of their plans so far and an open community consultation period of at least two months.
I value the natural environment and want you to take this planning decision very seriously in order to ensure a decent quality of life for our children and grandchildren. We do not want wall to wall housing, more transport gridlock and the further degradation of our natural environment in Penrith.
Please ensure that you are given the time for a thorough and independent review of Penrith Councils proposed LEP in terms that it undermines the Cumberland Plain Recovery Plan and the protection of Priority Conservation Lands as mapped by the NSW Government. The proposed LEP destroys any hope of achieving the Cumberland Conservation Corridor within the North Ward of Penrith and it will have far reaching impacts including on the Nepean River.
I urge Penrith Councillors not to proceed with their Local Environment Plan until the North Ward Priority Conservation Lands are protected with conservation zonings and that these zonings facilitate the creation of the Cumberland Conservation Corridor. Penrith Council must map and protect these national treasures. No Councillor should vote on this matter until they have visited these conservation jewels to see for themselves what is at stake.
Regards
Why is this important?
Penrith LGA is home to some of the rarest and most valued bushland areas in the Sydney basin. The Castlereagh Woodland area within the North Ward of Penrith is unique and endangered. It provides habitat for hundreds of species of plants and animals. Many of these are themselves endangered. We are at that point in history where we need to decide if we want them to survive or to face extinction.
It is up to Penrith Council and they are proposing "business as usual" - more houses, more roads, more profit for developers and in their latest LEP proposal to the newly elected Councillors. The city planners are insisting the elected Councillors endorse this "developer dream" direction.
On top of this they are railroading the Councillors saying that they do not have time to consider this matter carefully. Not even enough time for them to visit the sites or allow the normal community consultation period, which in their proposal has been reduced from 2 months to 28 days.
Our city planners are insisting that the Councillors have to set the direction on Monday 19 November. Its not true.
The LEP determines the whole shape of our city and our countryside forever so it is the duty of Councillors to get this right. They must act in the public interest.
Re-zoning lands is a very serious matter and has huge implications for landowners, the rare and endangered species, the Nepean River, the wild places, commuters, shop owners, businesses and visitors alike.
Why should it be rushed? Why should new Councillors in particular, who have little or in some cases no idea what an RU4 or an E2 zoning is, be asked to make a decision on the future of this city without even understanding what these zonings mean?
Council needs to tell Council planners to back off, take their time and do their due diligence.
How it will be delivered
In person to the Council meeting
Royal Park needs to be protected
Only after seeing the site can one appreciate the enormous impact the 4 lane freeway going right through our city and Royal Park would have. These grasslands have been part of Melbourne's heritage, and the Master Plan shouldn't simply be deleted and ignored. Any open space or "vacant" land is now up for grabs by our government. It's a treasure of open space and native grasses, bordered by trees. Melbourne's destruction has never before been so obviously a threat. Back in 2003, a proposed tunnel linking the Eastern and Tullamarine freeways under the Melbourne General Cemetery and Royal Park was shelved after a Government study found it would be too expensive.
It appears that the East West Link will rip through the heart of Royal Park and may not be a tunnel but a an open cut freeway. The drilling site locations indicate that the new route will be through the heart of the grasslands to the north of the old Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). How are sick children meant to recover near noise and pollution of traffic just nearby?
The growth of Melbourne means over-riding heritage values, open-spaces, living standards, increasing pollution, and destruction of natural landscapes and native species.
Major current campaigns by the Royal Park protection group include opposition to the alienation of parkland for a private real estate development (the 2006 Games Village in disguise) on the Royal Park Hospital site and to the extension of the Eastern Freeway.
Royal Park protection group
Our politicians are living in fantasy land of perpetual growth. There's little strategic thinking about oil supplies, greenhouse gas emissions, our city's amenities and qualities that need preserving, or the end of the fossil-fuel age. It's tunnel-vision of growth, and blinkered "planning" of "business as usual".
Campbell Newman's penny pinching
The mean spirit within the Newman Govenment has even cut out the long service medals for employees. Long serving teachers and public servants are now given an A4 sheet of paper off the printer rather than a medal which most likely costs about $5. The dismissal of the hard work put in as not worth more than a sheet of photocopy paper must cut deeply with the dedicated Australian workforce. Maybe foreign workers are valued more? They will work for less money and lower living standards after all.
MEDIA RELEASE. Indigenous Elders Outraged.
There is outrage from the Indigenous Elders here on the Coast and outlines the anger at these dingoes being destined for destruction.
No more dingoes should die.
There should be a complete moratorium on killing dingoes until the Ecosure FIDMS and peer review is released in Feb.2013, . Dingoes may be unnecessarily destroyed by then.
There really is no independent scientific data to determine how many sustainable dingoes are left for the future of our Fraser Island dingoes.
Repeatedly stated over and over again by the locals, the Indigenous Elders and Stakeholders and the predominant conclusion,at a recent open workshop arranged by Ecosure in Maryborough on the 5th.Oct.2012, is the failure of the present FDIMS & QPWS to correctly care for these dingoes and as yet their future looks bleak.
The recent media release of Ross Belcher's relentless hunting of one little juvenile male dingo one of the K'Gari Butchulla camp dingo's, called "Inky" is deplorable.
Also the rangers damaging the ear of a 3 month old pup from negligent ear tagging of this age pup at Eurong, has given serious concerns to the Aboriginal community and Elders and locals here on the Coast.
"Inky" is now a timid frightened animal fearful of the rangers and as has been stated with Statuary declarations from the Butchulla and poses no threat.
But he is part of the new generation males. All healthy juvenile and a puppy, necessary for the future breeding stock now at risk
The puppy from his inability to hunt and will therefore seek food from tourists, or at a risk of starvation, obtaining a bad mark against him for "Habituating" from the rangers and caused by the very QPWS rangers who tagged him.
When will the locals and the Indigenous elders, be listened to?
Aunty Mallie wrote recently of her anger recently, and the locals in a recent public opinion from an online poll ,asking " if further dingoes be destroyed," was an overwhelming amount of 98% saying no more dingoes should be killed.
Why are the Indigenous Elders and the public not being listened to.
Why is the track and kill mentality still in existence on Fraser Island.?
Marie -Louise Sarjeant
Ph. 07 54742364
Mob:-0410 909 911
WASTAGE- horses discarded and killed by the racing industry
The racing industry earns massive amounts of money for punters and owners and allied services. It's a lucrative industry. However, horses are often cruelly and heartlessly discarded as "wastage" once they are too slow, injured or past their "use by" date.
$14,387,790,000 was wagered on thoroughbred racing in 2011. A 1% levy could be applied to all bets to secure the horse’s future. This would equate to more than $143M in 2011. If owners breed foals, they have a duty of care to make sure their animals live normal lifespans, not end up - in their thousands - at the knackers for pet food!
Horses need a retirement plan, not just be discarded as waste meat.
15,893 new horses were born into the racing industry in 2011. A widely accepted figure is that only 300 of 1000 Thoroughbred foals born actually end up racing.
Read more at HorseRacingKills and SIGN THE PETITION
Independence For Australia
From the AFP Electoral And Community Programme - May 2012
FOR A UNITED PATRIOTIC FRONT
The Australia First Party recognises the dependent nature of the Australian state upon the forces of globalism. Australia is a client state, ruled by a traitor class which is integrated into a transnational network of globalist elites and their economic and political structures. This class would govern Australia as a resources quarry cowed by thought-policing and a secret political police. Australia is further menaced by a new Chinese imperialism that competes with the American face of the New World Order for domination over Asia and the Pacific, with Australia a pawn in the game.
The unfolding population / food crisis coupled with New World Order wars launches refugee hordes at Australia’s borders, whilst the traitor class sponsors a mass immigration recolonization of Australia for the purposes of economic enmeshment with the ‘global economy’. In the world crisis of the first quarter of the twenty-first century, Australia lacks status as an independent country. Indeed, Australia may disappear by century’s end as a country - and suffer partition by other states.
To rescue our country and our people means removing Australia to a position outside of the chaos of globalism. That means the creation of an independent Australia. To win an independent Australia where political power can be exercised directly by the people, where wealth comes to all who labour and where arms and the initiation and the enforcement of the laws are in the hands of the people, a new force outside of the old parties and their worn-out ideologies and prejudices - has become necessary. This new nationalist movement must now fight and win the struggle for Australia’s national independence.
It is ultimately necessary to unite all who can be united against the traitor class into a broad patriotic front to achieve Australian national independence. All those parties, groups and trade and community associations which contest the ideology, the politics, the economics and the cultural expressions of globalism, can find common ground against the foreign control and exploitation of Australia. Their uniting thread is the cause of Australian national independence.
The patriotic united front should not be a matter for tomorrow, but a matter of immediacy. United fronts operate in two ways: we predict the ultimate formation of a mass united front in times future, one that will win Australian national independence at a moment when parties and groups, economic and social and cultural associations all bond together in intense struggle. For today, we must build for that future in struggles on a daily basis around all manner of issues; we must wage community campaigns apposite to each Australian group and build unity on the ground. It is mandatory to seek this unity.
Australians developed this continent and we should be proud
Is Australia so impoverished that we can't develop our own land? Why is China doing it? It there some trade deal the public don't know about that China must have more land or will refuse to buy our resources? Their arable land is shrinking, due to population growth and infrastructure creeping over it, and soil depletion. Australia is the driest nation, yet we have a foreign nation controlling our biggest irrigation scheme?
Professor Geoffrey Blainey, noted historian and author, said (in 1985) that as a nation Australia seemed to be passing through a moderately serious crisis of identity and one of the clearest symptoms of the crisis was an inability to handle our pride and our unease – some would say our guilt.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/3116428651/
Professor Blainey listed the achievements:
“In the last 200 years Australians have developed this continent so that some 40 or 50 times as many people live here today as lived here in 1788. We not only feed ourselves but each year we feed tens of millions of people in China, Egypt and other lands. This achievement was made in the face of severe obstacles.
Now we are facing the "Asian Century". Trade with China is fine, but not foreign ownership of assets and land, or unhealthy reliance on their companies to "develop" Australia - our own soil.
Perhaps it's our "white" or "Western" guilt, forcing us to cave into Asia's demands, matching Asia's population density, their environmental woes, and economy size?
Chinese take over Ord River in West Australia; Oz Gov blind eye
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tax-questions-cloud-ord-food-bowl-lease-by-china-conglomerate/story-fn59niix-1226516582508
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tax-questions-cloud-ord-food-bowl-lease-by-china-conglomerate/story-fn59niix-1226516582508
All the arable land around the Ord River - 15,200ha - has been leased for 50 years to a Chinese property development conglomerate, which apparently intends to grow the cheapest of third world tropical crops - Sugarcane - and process it for ethanol fuel. Australian taxpayers financed the infrastructure of roads and irrigation which this foreign commercial entity will now benefit from at our expense.
"The little-known Chinese private company has been handed all available land in the second stage expansion of the Ord irrigation scheme in Western Australia's Kimberley region for a peppercorn rent, on the condition it is cleared, developed, farmed and a state-of-the-art export sugar mill built." (Sue Neale: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/chinese-secure-northern-foodbowl-as-row-over-ord-river-lease-continues/story-fn59niix-1226516223693There will be no food crops and the above articles report that the company, Shanghai Zhongfu, will be paying a peppercorn rent and no taxes. Apparently this commercial invasion (facilitated by Bob Hawke) did not have to be vetted by our (xenophilic) foreign investment review board because it was not a sale per se, but a leasing arrangement - no matter that it will last for about two generations, by which time we can expect an entire population of foreign workers and their descendents to have built towns and, virtually a new country. Will it be a direct portal to China, with millions to follow, or will it be an independent country What have the Aborigines got to say about this? Did anyone ask them? No-one asked the rest of us. Whatever we are told, after the fact, no-one can feel safe or secure with a government that permits the casual corporate secession of a large part of Australia containing the only major river system besides the doomed Murray Darling Basin in the South East of Australia? For all their caterwauling, even the country politicians have little to say about thisa because they are so beholden to the ideology of growth and development that democracy just isn't on their radar. Senator Joyce did pipe up, and is quoted by The Australian as having said "if the FIRB did not have oversight of the arrangement, the rules should be changed." And that, "China was attempting to secure its long-term food security at Australia's expense." “I've got no problem with the Chinese being clever,” he said. “My problem is with Australia being stupid.” He's right about that. As the anonymous writer of this comment, I suppose I need to say that I have nothing against the Chinese. I don't. But I do have a lot against overpopulation and loss of political control over my country to whomever.
He is talking about minorities, not immigrants.
Immigrants? He said nothing about immigrants, he's talking about minorities.
Editorial comment: (Title added.) I am unable to see how this contribution adds to the discussion. Clearly native Canadians are being discriminated against in favour of immigrants. I fail to see how the fact, that immigrant groups, that are being favourably treated, currently comprise a minority of the Canadian population, is relevant to this issue. - Ed
Leard State Forest destruction and devastation
http://youtu.be/HhTEV905-3Q
Leard State Forest includes the most extensive and intact stands of the nationally-listed and critically endangered Box-Gum Woodland remaining on the Australian continent. The thousands of hectares of Australian native forest within Leard are teeming with life – representing the most significant forest for conservation of the entire Wheat-Sheep belt. (NCC, 2012)
Three open cut coal mines, two of which have already commenced and are now seeking to expand, will clear over 5,000 hectares and destroy the largest remnant of bushland left on the Liverpool Plains.
“This protest highlights the glaring failures of environmental protection legislation and the NSW Government Strategic Regional Land Use Plan” said Phil Spark, farmer and spokesperson with the Northern Inland Council for the Environment.
If this endangered forest were located on adjoining farmland there would be strict rules preventing farmers from clearing it, but the coal miners are a law unto themselves. It's humans fouling their own nest, and more importantly, that of native flora and fauna species.
Leard State park is home to 26 threatened plant and animal species, as well as two endangered ecological communities, including one of the largest remaining strands of the nationally endangered Grassy White Box ecosystem. It's irreplaceable.
When the public spoke loud enough, Tony Burke stopped the ecologically devastating super-trawler. Now he needs to stop the ecologically devastating Maules Creek open-cut coal mine and he has clear powers to do it. If this coal mine is allowed to go ahead it will wipe out nationally protected woodlands and koala habitat in Leard State Forest near Narrabri in north-west NSW. The equivalent of 2800 soccer pitches of precious woodland will be razed and replaced with a massive open cut coal mine.
Take Action:
Tony Burke must veto Maules Creek coal mine - The Greens
Melbourne prospers according to the UN
MELBOURNE has been ranked eighth in a new global ''city prosperity index'' by the United Nations.
Our city prospers in New UN Test The Age
Ironically, it gets high marks for infrastructure and environmental sustainability, but less for ''equity and social inclusion''. Maybe they are hinting that our great ideal of "multiculturalism", and the fragmentation of families due to high immigration levels, is a negative influence?
The State of the World's Cities 2012/2013: Prosperity of Cities report examined 95 cities but Melbourne was the only Australian city. The top three most prosperous cities in the index were Vienna, Helsinki and Oslo. Vienna has less than 2 million people, Helsinki’s population was 595,384 at year-end 2011 and Oslo, 613,000. Immigrants are set to make up almost half of Oslo’s population by 2040, according to Statistics Norway. It's prompted an immediate call for more restrictive immigration policies from Progress Party leader Siv Jensen.
Obviously it's easier to maintain a healthy city without the "lopsided" impact of tunnel-vision focused on economic growth. "A lopsided focus on purely financial prosperity has led to growing inequalities between rich and poor, generated serious distortions in the form and functionality of cities, also causing serious damage to the environment - not to mention the unleashing of precarious financial systems that could not be sustained in the long run.." said United Nations Under-Secretary-General Joan Clos.
How economist measure a city's success is different from what residents would assess. Obviously the UN didn't go into the fringe growth areas where there's little public transport, housing is unaffordable, double figure youth unemployment, rising crime, and health care is at a minimum. It defies any sense of the terms they were using!!
Fragmentation and isolation
Generalising from the case above where the single woman was sent home nine hours after the birth of her baby, the situation is exacerbated by the fragmentation of families and support networks in Australian urban society. It is unlikely that that this woman has a sister or best friend living next door and her mother may live in another town or city altogether. This is so often the case and all the more reason why government sponsored maternal and child health services are vital. It is pathetic that Victoria's health services are as stretched as they are. Recently in the news- are a litany of problems indicating that services are just not managing demand (i.e. population). e.g ambulances lined up outside hospitals unable to unload patients because the patients cannot be admitted to hospital because of a lack of beds and ambulances are therefore unable to respond to new calls - a potentially fatal problem; dearth of obstetric beds in hospitals in the fast growing western suburbs.. There is no point in offering a "baby bonus" if these services are not available where they are needed . Unless one has a need for a service or works in the service area, one is blissfully unaware of the fact that things are actually out of control It all works OK as long as you do and are therefore not directly depending on the overloaded services.
And there are no seats left - Part 3
By J Hood
I wait on the platform
I take a seat to wait for the next train
Another half hour added to my journey
I watch my train leave with out me, crowded to the gunwales
The foreigners we let in have taken over my train
They got their seats first, I came later
But I was here first, they came later
This is my country, my birth place, my ancestors’ home
Doesn’t seem right
What’s the gov’ment done?
I board the next train
I get a seat
T’is late and I’m tired
My train fills with ethnics
My train now stops to pick up more
It’s cramped and slow
And there are no seats left
It’s no longer express
It’s no longer familiar
No longer the joy
I see the changes in the streets and shops
I can’t read the signs
Single mother sent home nine hours after birth
Due to high population growth, largely driven by excessive immigration levels, the western growth area of Melbourne can't give new mothers the support they need. Over crowded hospitals are sending women home just hours after giving birth, despite them wanting to stay longer. New mothers are also being discharged without enough help to care for themselves and their babies, forcing some to reach crisis point, maternal and child health experts say.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/single-mother-sent-home-nine-hours-after-birth-20121109-293j7.html
The normal a few years ago was one week in hospital, with time for rest, and a time for mothers and babies to adjust to a feeding and sleep routine, and health checks.
It's unsafe, and a dereliction of duty of care. However, the chronic shortages aren't stopping the Baillieu government from continuing with their agenda of growth, and their spruiking of growth as "good" for the economy. The costs - social, economic, and environmental - as simply swept under the carpet.
While some women could afford to pay for private services, research has found many new mothers were taking unsettled babies to hospital emergency departments because they were desperate. Population growth has continued, but without the funding for health care.
While our system of health care may still be higher than those of developing countries, the pressure on funding and services is cutting into our status and infrastructure that would and should expected as a developed nation.
The decline in living standards, and services, in Victoria, is because of powerful lobby groups, such as industries benefiting financially from growth, which continue to have the upper hand in our government's decision-making - compromising the integrity of our democratically-elected government.
DISCUSSION PAPER BRIEFING
An exclusive opportunity to be briefed on the Metropolitan Planning Strategy Discussion Paper, Melbourne, let’s talk about the future.
Hear about the ideas presented in the Discussion Paper, insights for the delivery
of this critical strategy and how you can be involved.
Join the discussion on some of the challenges and ideas for Melbourne’s future
including growth and consolidation, transport, affordable living and employment.
DETAILS:
4:00pm to 6:00pm
Tuesday 20th November 2012
Gippsland Room
Investment Centre Victoria
Level 46, 55 Collins Street
Melbourne
Tea and coffee provided
Please RSVP to:
Ms Nikita Walsh, MPS Unit,
Department of Planning and
Community Development
Phone:
03 9208 3837
or
Email:
[email protected]
PRESENTERS INCLUDE:
Hon. Matthew Guy MLC
Minister for Planning
Roz Hansen
Chair, MPS Advisory Committee
Peak oil, empty containers, the end of globalization
The Weekly Times in March this year reported that the biggest shipping container export out of Australia's east coast cities is thin air.
An analysis by The Weekly Times shows the major ports of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane ship a million empty containers a year, with food a distant second.
Huge numbers of imports have overwhelmed exports, with masses of containers unloaded and then shipped back overseas empty. They were going back to Asia empty because of all their imports here, and little reciprocal trade.
The Port of Melbourne exported 383,852 empty containers in 2010-11, ahead of food (256,000) and manufactured goods (168,000). It's not only the high cost of the Australian dollar, but evidence of a shallow, soft economy lacking in manufacturing and innovation.
A spokesman for Minister for Ports, Denis Napthine, said the Victorian Government had committed to numerous port and transport projects which "far outweighs any revenue generated through the Port Licence Fee". So, the costs will come from the pockets of tax-payers.
The government expects a surge in container trade during the next 40 years, with the Port of Melbourne expected to reach capacity by 2027. They assume a "business as usual" scenario of further globalization with Asia.
Global trade depends on cheap, long-distance freight transportation, on land and sea.
Empty containers top export Weekly Times
Former Chief Economist with CIBC World Market, Jeff Rubin, believes high oil prices due to Peak oil may actually reverse globalization. It will mean that each country needs to develop a plan to balance population, resources, energy and jobs in line with the end of the age of cheap energy.
Jeff Rubin: Oil and the End of Globalization
Governments and businesses are locked into the model of perpetual economic growth instead of forward-looking towards a "green" economy based on renewable energy, and locally-grown and made goods and services.
19th century clipper ships transported spices, teas and chocolates from across the globe, using wind power. Elegant and graceful wind-powered cargo ships could soon be the norm as the world's fossil fuel supplies continue to diminish.
Instead of new ports we need to adapt what we have to a new era of slower global trade, the end of growth-addictive policies, the elegance of sailing ships, a post-carbon economy, and the use of alternative energy.
Manufacturing Dissent: The Truth about Syria
The following is also embedded on Land Destroyer.
What do dingoes eat?
I wondered what dingoes were supposed to eat if no humans fed them. This seems to be the answer. How sustainable is this?
http://research.usc.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/usc:891?exper...
Title
Dingo diet and prey availability on Fraser Island
Author/Creator
Angel-E, D
Description
The management of dingoes (Canis lupus dingo) on Fraser Island presents a serious issue regarding the balance of public safety and world heritage conservation. One of the most important and least understood aspects of this issue is the availability of prey and prey species relations with the dingo diet. This relationship is the focal point of this research. To assess prey availability, three forest types were sampled during summer and winter 2005 using live trapping (12 sites) and track counting techniques (24 sites). Population estimations were obtained from statistical models (Nest) when possible, and with indices such as minimum number known to be alive (Ñ) and the Passive Activity Index (PAI). To investigate the diet of the dingo, 126 scats were collected. Prey remains were identified and the diet composition was described using presence-absence and weight of remains methods. The most common species in the study area were pale field rat and bush rat. The activity of rodents was different in the three habitats sampled and in the two seasons. A remarkably higher activity level was recorded for lizards in summer and bandicoots and antechinus in winter. The PAI was calibrated against population estimates for rodents, providing a simple and efficient monitoring tool for use by natural resource managers. A generalist pattern for the diet of Fraser Island dingoes suggested a selective predatory behaviour towards bandicoots, in particular long-nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta), and prey switching for secondary prey, such as rodents, according to temporal fluctuations in the abundance of these species. Fish and human-sourced food consumption has decreased since the 1990s but they are still an important part of dingo diet. The functional relationship between dingoes and bandicoots approaches to Type II and with rodents approaches Type III. The habitat suitability for dingoes is similar in the three habitats sampled and prey availability is slightly higher in the Tall Wet Forest.
Description
Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Science by Research, University of the Sunshine Coast, 2006.
Year
2006
Subject
FoR 0608 (Zoology)
Subject
dingo
Subject
Fraser Island
Subject
dingo diet
Subject
dingo prey
Subject
predation
Subject
dingo human interaction
Resource Type
Dingo is "aggressive"?
According to the Hon. Steve Dickson, Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing, "the dingo you refer to has been identified as carrying out several aggressive and dangerous incidents on Fraser Island and at least three incidents involved attacks on children.
"No one wants dingoes on Fraser Island to be destroyed; this includes the rangers who are required to manage these situations. Unfortunately, humane destruction it required when habituated dingoes become aggressive and dangerous towards people and habituation generally occurs when dingoes become used to getting food from people. The dingo is wary and difficult to capture, however, it remains a significant danger to people on the island.
"Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services QPWS staff are operating under the current Fraser Island Dingo Management Strategy which includes criteria for gauging the significance of dingo behaviour and risk to people and providing extensive dingo safety education to people living and visiting the island. There is also a program to fence waste transfer stations, communities and some campsites to assist in preventing habitation due to getting their food from human sources."
It's significant that the "incidents" involved children! Why are children without adults on FI? The current Fraser Island Management Strategy obviously isn't working if the dingoes it is supposed to be managing includes harassing it and actually killing it! Considering dingoes traditionally rely to some extent on humans for food, obviously they will continue to seek food out from people. Do these managers really expect dingoes to evolve to be totally wild in a short few decades?
Specious argument
One hears the argument that were Australia to cease live animal exports , that international live animal trade would continue anyway with other source countries. This is more of a rationalisation to continue sending innocent animals to meet a terrible fate whist suffering for an extended period on the way.
Ultimately a national government has to make major decisions within its own sphere of influence. Many countries boycotted South Africa to isolate the country and highlight the issue of Apartheid. To continue business as usual does not apply any pressure to change. Just because Australia has less ability to change hideous treatment of animals in foreign countries like Pakistan, does not mean it has to join in. Australia should cease live animal exports. Australia is a party to that recent barbaric and seemingly illogical act of cruelty to the sheep in Pakistan. It seems that country doesn't really need the meat anyway if it can throw away 20,000 sheep.
Australia's pride?
The atrocities happening to animals sent live overseas is shameful, disgraceful and horrific. How can farmers, the industry and government simply turn a blind eye? Australia is globalizing animal abuse and cruelty. The Supply Chain Assurances do not work. The brutal slaying and burying alive of 21,000 sheep in Pakistan is not an "isolated incidence"! 2000 cows are to be sent to Pakistan, to the same government organisation that culled the sheep!! The lust for money is the root of all evil. The live export industry is shameful to Australia and must end. Money can't justify it.
And there are no seats left - Part 2
By J Hood
And now my train is full of ethnics
Strangers from foreign lands
They come from crowded countries
They take the seats first
They’re used to jostling in crowds
My slow swagger is no match
I arrive at the station at the usual time
With ten minutes to spare to get my seat
My train is there. It starts from there
A familiar friend
With case in hand I step aboard
Lots of dark shiny-haired folk
Strange languages spoken amongst themselves
Not a familiar face in sight, not like the old days
And there’s no seat left
These folk are sitting in the aisles like back home
Next carriage is just as full
And there’s no seats left
My journey of two hours is too far to stand
So I withdraw from the carriage
I withdraw from my journey home
I withdraw. I can’t change this
Refugee protector attacked by creator of refugee crises
The following was posted to the web site of Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Bob Carr. It is 'awaiting moderation'. Any response from Bob Carr will also be posted here.
Senator Bob Carr,
As Susan Dirgham pointed out above, 1.4 million Iraqis have fled to Syria as a result of the illegal wars against Iraq in 1991 and 2003 in which Australia shamefully participated. This is on top of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who had already fled into Syria. The toll from war and and starvation and disease from sanctions against Iraq in which Australia also participated are at least many hundreds of thousands and probably exceed one million.
When are those Australian political leaders, whose actions helped to cause that terrible human toll, going to be held to account?
Why, instead of expelling Syria's ambassador and imposing sanctions as you did in May, is Australia not sending at least hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid to Syria to help them cope with the refugee crisis which Australia helped to create?
Update, 7.21pm, Tue, 6 Nov, 2012: The above comment is no longer 'awaiting approval'. It has vanished, in all probability intentionally deleted by Senator Bob Carr. It would appear that Bob Carr has judged real debate and scrutiny of his Government's actions too high a price to pay to maintain the facade of accountability that he presumably intended to erect when he created Thoughtlines with Bob Carr (aka bobcarrblog.wordpress.com).
Four Corners Monday - another live export expose
Few TV programs in history have packed a public and political punch quite like 'A Bloody Business' — the Four Corners exposé of our investigation into the live export trade to Indonesia last year.
This Monday night at 8:30PM, Four Corners will again expose a story that the live export industry doesn't want you to see.
Twelve weeks ago, 75,000 sheep were loaded onto the MV Ocean Drover in Fremantle, bound for slaughter in the Middle East. There would be no happy ending for these animals. But what 21,000 of them were ultimately forced to endure shocked everyone — even the live export industry.
After being rejected by Bahrain these sheep were stranded at sea in high heat and humidity for nearly two weeks while the exporter made desperate attempts to secure a country to take them.
Within 24 hours of this situation being exposed in the Australian media, a 'solution' was announced: the sheep were being unloaded in Pakistan. Yet not only was Pakistan not approved to take Australian sheep when these animals left Australia four weeks earlier — Pakistan had never been a traditional market for our sheep...
What then happened to these sheep, and why, is a story that desperately needs to be told. On Monday night, Walkley Award winning journalist Sarah Ferguson will reveal the whole truth in the final Four Corners episode for 2012.
Whether or not you choose to tune in, join us after the show at www.AnimalsAustralia.org to take urgent action on behalf of these and all victims of the live export trade.
Lyn White
Campaign Director
Petition to protect EDO in NSW
You can show your support of the EDO by signing this petition:
http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/nsw-government-save-environmental-defender-s-office-edo-nsw
The Australian newspaper has accused the organisation of secretly working with Greenpeace to draft a plan to cripple the coal industry. An allegation denied by the EDO. Since when did the Australian go beyond being a "news" paper and become part of the coal lobby?
Questions about the organisations relationship with groups such as Lock the Gate have also been raised, with the Energy Minister Chris Hartcher accusing the group of being allied with radical socialists. This is about ostracizing anyone who questions our political policies and businesses that want to over-ride property laws.
The bulk of the EDO's work focused on planning laws. It also advises on native vegetation, chemicals, water, forestry and biodiversity protection law. The economic model of perpetual growth means quashing and loosening environmental laws and policies, and holistic planning, to allow access to natural resources, and accommodate a swelling population.
And there are no seats left - Part 1
By J Hood.
My nightly train journey home was once a joy
It was express, fast and comfortable
Every night the regular chaps
The paper tucked under their arm, colleagues joking
We all recognised each other, not by name so much
More familiar nod or hello
And we all had our usual seats
The seats used to be numbered in fact
An old timer once told me you could book a numbered seat
It was the country train then
And the nightly train journey was a joy
But then someone heralded ‘multiculturalism’
Whitlam and Fraser opened the flood gates
Millions from all walks of life arrived in my lucky country
Prices went up, houses went up, costs went up
The city grew and grew and grew
New languages, new cultures, new babies, all welcomed with open arms
And we were tolerant and accepting
But they kept coming and coming
Jamming the city
Planning "complex" because of population growth
"They (NSW government) say that members of the public struggle to understand the legalities of complex planning proposals,," They do understand the complexity of planning processes. It's obviously about implementing plans to accommodate more people, due to our record-high immigration rates. What's being compromised is environmental integrity and conservation, and the principles of balanced planning. Of course planning processes get more complex! It's an impossible task to preserve open spaces, biodiversity, living standards and good amenities with our rate of population growth - "economic growth". Thus, one more door of public redress must be closed - there's no room for environmental concerns and democratic input as we head for what's unwelcomed by the public - "big Australia"!!!
Its about time a deadly