Areas inside the Bunya Mountains National Park area continued to be logged in the Barkers Creek and Middle Creek areas after it was brought to the attention of proper authorities.

Mr Newson, The Greens candidate for Nanango, has done inspections of the areas logged and is shocked that a National Park could be allowed to have such devastation done to it.

Desecration of a Sacred Site is a serious offence and the Bunya Mountains is an important part of Indigenous culture and heritage.

The logging is taking place within the protected water recharge area where the South Burnett Creeks and waterways begin within the Bunya Mountains.

“The logging should have been halted immediately questions and concerns were raised,” Mr Newson said.

“There is absolutely no way inside any National Park area should be allowed to be harvested”.

The logging company has a ‘log and leave’ policy. This means that they just harvest the trees and do absolutely no regeneration of native plants – just leave. This has caused the pests and weeds to thrive within these open areas killing any chance for any native vegetation to ever return.

Mr Newson said “The lantana is so thick that you cannot see through it. Just another perfect area for feral pigs to thrive as no can get access to them.”

With the flooding rain earlier this year, these logged areas have no protection from erosion causing massive damage to the protected waterways within the Shire.

The electorate of Nanango is well overdue for some Green attention. Being a member of the local Rural Fire Brigade Mr Newson is critical of the management of local National Parks and State forests which are vulnerable to fire and require programs such as regular servicing of fire trails, fuel reduction, weeds and pest control.

“We have just witnessed the destruction that can be caused by fire in Western Australia, and the Bunya Mountains had a lucky escape from a similar incident not long ago,” said Mr Newson.

“It is a ticking time bomb with more and more houses being built and no fuel reduction program being continually maintained.”

Shoppers rushing to complete their Christmas shopping could find toilets and food courts closed at their favourite shopping centres over the last two shopping days before Christmas, as cleaners fighting for fair workloads walk off the job from midnight tonight.

Cleaners working for contracting giant Spotless have announced plans for two 24-hour strikes, which could hit any of 11 of Victoria’s busiest shopping centres over December 23 and 24. They are demanding that Spotless put a stop to brutal workloads and poverty pay.

“Over the last two full days of Christmas shopping, many cleaners will be on strike. Obviously these are the two busiest shopping days of the year, so toilets and food courts could get very dirty very quickly — and may even need to be closed altogether,” warned Ben Redford, Assistant State Secretary of United Voice, the Cleaners Union.

“So if you’re trying to cram in some last-minute Christmas shopping at your favourite mall, it may be good idea to avoid the food courts and use your own bathroom before you leave home,” Redford says.

The 24-hour strikes could hit any of Chadstone, Westfield Doncaster, Westfield Fountain Gate, Werribee Plaza, Broadmeadows Town Centre, Epping Plaza, Victoria Gardens, Stockland The Pines, Hoppers Crossing Shopping Centre, Corio Village in Geelong and Stockland Wendouree in Ballarat on December 23 and 24.

One of the centres, Chadstone, is open around the clock on December 23 and 24, while many others have extended hours over the final two shopping days before Christmas.

“These centres are expecting many thousands of shoppers to flood in over these last days before Christmas. It’s a shame many shoppers won’t be able to enjoy clean toilets and food courts simply because Spotless refuses to sit down with its cleaners and talk about their back-breaking workloads and their poverty wages,” Redford says.

A recent report by the Uniting Church found that impossible workloads are contributing to a spate of injuries, heart disease, depression and breakdowns. The report (http://bit.ly/qgsUMV) found that poverty pay — cleaners earn as little as $16.57 an hour, or around $600 a week — means that more than 80 per cent of those surveyed cannot support a family on their wages.

More than half said they were forced to cut back on groceries, and nearly three quarters are struggling to pay bills and debts. In recent days, cleaners have been making their issues known at many of Victoria’s shopping centres by holding noisy protests, and leafleting patrons.

“Cleaners are something of an invisible army, rarely seen and never heard. But they want the public to know how tough things are for them and how important their job is, so they have been peacefully protesting and leafleting at many shopping centres,” Redford says.

“They’ve been surprised to see that shopping centres have panicked with a ham-fisted reaction, with dozens of police milling around them wherever they go,” he says.

“Naturally, that’s just adding to the chaos endured by shoppers at Christmas time.”

“Centre managers need to realise that trying to intimidate cleaners by calling in the police will not resolve this crisis. The solution is to listen to what cleaners are saying and demand that Spotless sit down and talk to them about realistic workloads and wages they and their families can live on.”

Spotless holds more shopping centre cleaning contracts than any other company in Victoria, boasting nearly 20 per cent of the market. In the year to June, it posted a 34.7 per cent rise in revenues to $433.8 million for its Australian and NZ cleaning operations.

 

Regional Australia Minister Simon Crean has announced Air New Zealand has been awarded the contract to operate regular return airline services to Norfolk Island from Brisbane and Sydney.

The Federal Government awarded the contract following a tender process for an underwritten air service to the Island. Mr Crean said the announcement is an important step in the comprehensive reform agenda both the Federal and Norfolk Island Governments are committed to.

"In March this year, I joined David Buffett, the Chief Minister of Norfolk Island, to announce a roadmap of shared intent that was developed in partnership between the two Governments," Mr Crean said.

"The roadmap is about strengthening the Island's economic diversity, social cohesion and unique heritage and environment. "Attracting a carrier with the size and experience of Air New Zealand will kick-start Norfolk Island's tourism activity and provide greater economic opportunities for the community.

"The contract means the Norfolk Island Government will no longer have to carry the huge financial cost of running an airline.

"Those funds can now be directed towards other important community services and infrastructure."

Air New Zealand has operated into Norfolk Island since 1947 and has significant presence in the Tasman market.

The airline currently operates a weekly service between Auckland and Norfolk Island.

Air New Zealand will commence services in March 2012 using a 168-seat A320 aircraft.

Statement from Attorney General Paul Lucas re Tracey Wigginton

I am seeking Crown Law advice on this matter. Ordinarily, someone would receive about 16 years for murder.

This person has served 21 years for this horrendous crime.

The decision about parole was made by the independent Parole Board and independent parole boards have existed in Queensland for decades under both sides of politics.

People seem to forget the LNP style was regular escapes from maximum security prisons which hasn’t happened under Labor.

Statement from Queensland Health’s Director-General Dr Tony O’Connell

Queensland Health Director-General Dr Tony O’Connell today issued the following:

This person’s criminal record has been publicly reported in the past.

The CMC was also briefed on his situation in 2003, and raised no concerns with his on-going employment.

He has been a Queensland Health employee without incident since 2000.

This person’s role is not clinical and he has no direct contact with children whatsoever as a consequence of his role.

It is unlawful to discriminate against a person on the basis of their prior criminal history unless the crime is directly relevant to their duties.

In this case, this position involves no contact with children in his role, this person is closely supervised, and the person has worked in the public sector for 11 years without incident.

***

This person has not been convicted of any criminal offence. A police check was undertaken prior to his employment, and there was no criminal history precluding his employment.

The criminal history check process is a check undertaken on an individual person's criminal history.

It does not cover civil matters nor matters involving a company.

The 99 percent has found an ally 2,500 years in the past. It just so happens that it’s with those that found themselves in the Ancient Roman plebian and slave classes.

According to research done recently by historians Walter Schiedel and Steven Friesen, the income inequality gap in modern day America is far greater than the separation within the societies during the days of Julius Caesar. During the Ancient Roman Republic, says the duo’s study published in Per Square Mile, the top one percent controlled 16 percent of society’s wealth. If you fire up the Delorean and go from the Diocletian Empire to twenty-first century USA, you’ll see that things are a little more uneven. Today, that one percent on top controls 40 percent of the country’s wealth.

What difference does a few dozen centuries make, though? Emperors back then had a trained arsenal of soldiers equipped with on equines with hand-trebuchets, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today calls the NYPD his own army (who come with Tasers and pepper-spray on the ready). Want more? Today the top one percent saw their incomes rise by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007. Back then, well, back then the Romans saw the rise of the Constantine. Neither, frankly, was all that pretty.

Historical humor aside, the narrowing of America’s middle class and rise of poverty has been a long time in the making, even if just become more obvious in recent times thanks in part of course to the Occupy Wall Street movement’s pressing for reform. While 50 million Americans are currently living below the poverty line, in all one-in-two Americans are what the US Census Bureau calls “low-income.” In Washington DC, which is part of the wealthiest metropolitan region per-capital in the country, one-in-ten residents actually earns less than half of what would put them at the poverty line, creating an entire new class of the poorest of the poor which is only increasing as the wealth is torpedoed upwards to the top of the pyramid.

In coming up with their research, Schiedel and Friesen mulled over papyri ledgers, old school estimates and Biblical passages, specifically at around the times when the Roman Empire was at its population peak — around 150 C.E. Putting together the top members of the hierarchy around that times — the patricians, senators, equestrians and decuriones — the researchers have determined that the top 1.5 percent of the 70 million or so citizens of the empire had all-in-all around 20 percent of the wealth.

Despite this inequality, there was never an Occupy the Aqueducts movement or a tent city within the walls of the Coliseum — as far as we know, at least. Instead, rather, those that didn’t match up with the leading ranks were simply disregarded. As Per Square Mile puts it, the empire seems to have been “built on the backs of poor farmers and laborers,” adding, “it’s as though Rome’s 99 percent never existed.”

Sounds like something right out of Fox News.

On Tuesday December 20th State Senator Vincent Fort, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and Dean of the civil rights movement Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, civil rights leader Joe Beasley, and other members of the Occupy Atlanta family will be present at Brigitte Walker's house at 2607 South Hills Dr. Riverdale, GA at 11am to announce a major development not only for the local Atlanta Occupations, but for the "Occupy Our Homes" movement across the country.

Brigitte Walker is a former Army Staff Sergeant and decorated Iraq War veteran. When she was medically discharged in 2007, her income was cut in half. Since then she has struggled not only with her wounds received in service to her country, but also with paying her mortgage. Occupy Atlanta finds this situation outrageous and hopes her story will bring light to the many other similar stories unfolding across America.

Banks have been found, over and over again, to be breaking laws while they take our homes. We’ve got a new kind of bank robber – banks robbing our homes. Americans across the country are standing up. We’re defending our homes. We’ve decided to stand up and fight for what’s ours.

More Background:

In late November, Brigitte Walker, a decorated Iraq War veteran received another foreclosure notice. Brigitte had unsuccessfully tried to modify her loan with Chase Bank since she medically retired from the army as a result of combat related injuries in 2007. Her home was set to be sold on the Fulton County Courthouse steps on January 3rd, whether she was in it or not. Instead of making holiday plans or putting up a Christmas tree, Brigitte and her girlfriend Ajai were worried about losing their home. On a whim, Brigitte sent an email to Georgia state senator Vincent Fort, who set up a meeting with Occupy Atlanta. On December 6, after leaving the very same auction where Brigitte’s home was to be sold the following month, we started occupying her home.

The sad reality is that countless families in Georgia have their homes auctioned off at county court houses every month. Many believe that homes auctioned on the court house steps are unoccupied. This is not true; Occupy Atlanta has seen multiple families begging auctioneers not to sell their homes. For many, this auction is the last nail in the coffin of their American dream, their home. Let’s not get it twisted, the auctioning of occupied foreclosed homes in Georgia is nasty business.

In Georgia, the foreclosure process can begin after just one missed payment. The lender then sets a sale date for that home to be auctioned off, and publishes the sale notice in the county paper. They are only required to give the homeowner 30 days’ notice, and there is no requirement that the homeowner receives the notice, only that it is sent. If the sale goes through, there is no right of redemption in Georgia, meaning there is no way for a homeowner to reclaim their home. Disrupting the auction of a home literally gives a family one more month of housing, and in some cases one more chance to save their home.

A six to nine month moratorium on evictions and foreclosures would allow time for bank inflated home values to be re-assessed to realistic payable levels. The banks’ irresponsible practices played a huge role in our current crisis. In their time of need we bailed them out. Now it’s their turn to do the right thing, to stop holding our economy hostage.

After two press conferences on her lawn, a national call in day, and direct action on Chase Bank, Occupy Atlanta did what Brigitte Walker couldn’t do in years, get a loan modification. If it weren’t for Occupy Atlanta and Brigitte Walker’s willingness to resist Chase Banks she would have had her American Dream auctioned off on the Fulton county court house steps. Instead Brigitte Walker and her family can breathe easy knowing they can continue to live the American dream of home ownership.

Winning Brigitte’s home is a win for the people. It should be a call for Georgians to fight for their homes, and fight for their neighbors’ homes. Let’s not forget, we outnumber the bank executives.

Here's video of the original press conference at Brigitte Walker's home with Occupy Atlanta: Check out more at http://occupyourhomes.org

COUNTRY NOTE: AUSTRALIA

Income inequality among working-age people has been rising since 2000 and is today above the OECD average. In 2008, the average income of the top 10% of Australians was 131 300 AUD (88 800 USD), nearly 10 times higher than that of the bottom 10%, who had an average income of 13 700 AUD (9 300 USD). This is up from a ratio of 8 to 1 in the mid 1990s.

The growth in inequality since 2000 was driven by two forces in different periods: widening disparities of market incomes (gross earnings, savings and capital) between 2000 and 2004 and weakening redistribution since 2004. According to the latest data, taxes and benefits reduce inequality by 23%, which is about OECD average.

Key findings:

* The richest 1% of Australians saw their share of total national income almost double, from 4.8% in 1980 to 8.8% in 2008 [Table9.1]. Moreover, that of the richest 0.1% rose from 1% to 3%. At the same time, top marginal income tax rates declined markedly, dropping from 60% in 1981 to 45% in 2010.

* Labour market changes have been a key driver of inequality trends in Australia. The earnings gap between the 10% best and least paid full-time workers increased by a fifth between 1980 and in 2008.

* Employment income makes up only a third of household income in the bottom quintile in Australia (compared to an OECD average of two thirds). This suggests jobless households face a much higher risk of falling at the bottom of the income distribution.

* As in most other countries, the divide in hours worked between higher- and lower-wage earners in Australia is growing, confirming a trend seen in most OECD countries. Since the mid-1980s, annual hours of low-wage workers fell from 1300 to 1100 hours, those of higher-wage workers remained stable at around 2300 hours.

*Societal changes, such as more single parent families and people living alone, and people marrying within similar earnings classes, also contributed to rising household earnings inequality. At the same time, higher employment rates for women helped reduce household earnings inequality. Growing disparities and declining employment rates among men are the main drivers, explaining about two-thirds of the increase.

* The tax-benefit system in Australia has offset just over half of the rise that occurred in market income inequality during the past two decades, a percentage that is higher than in many other OECD countries.

* Nonetheless, since the mid-1980s, taxes have become less redistributive. Both progressivity and average tax rates have declined. And since the mid-1990s the overall redistributive effect also weakened. In most cases, out-of-work income as a proportion of in-work income has fallen, in part due to allowance rates failing to keep pace with wage growth. Only lone parents, whose income support is tied to an average earnings measure and who benefitted from more generous family benefits, were excepted.The flattening of the personal income tax system in the mid-2000s (e.g. through increases to the top threshold) also contributed to a reduced capacity of redistribution.

* Spending on public services in Australia is higher than the OECD average but spending on cash transfers is lower. Overall, these services such as education, health or care cut inequality by 17%, a little less than the OECD average.

Key policy recommendations for OECD countries from Divided We Stand

* Employment is the most promising way of tackling inequality. The biggest challenge is creating more and better jobs that offer good career prospects and a real chance to people to escape poverty.

* Investing in human capital is key. This must begin from early childhood and be sustained through compulsory education. Once the transition from school to work has been accomplished, there must be sufficient incentives for workers and employers to invest in skills throughout the working life.

* Reforming tax and benefit policies is the most direct instrument for increasing redistributive effects. Large and persistent losses in low-income groups following recessions underline the importance of government transfers and well-conceived income-support policies.

* The growing share of income going to top earners means that this group now has a greater capacity to pay taxes. In this context governments may re-examine the redistributive role of taxation to ensure that wealthier individuals contribute their fair share of the tax burden.

* The provision of freely accessible and high-quality public services, such as education, health, and family care, is important.

The Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning, today expressed his deep sorrow at news of the weekend asylum boat disaster. “This event is an utter tragedy,” he said.

“We offer heart-felt condolences to the families of all those who have perished.”

“This event serves to remind us yet again of the desperate circumstances that people – especially oppressed minorities - are facing in places like Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran – and the desperate measures they are prepared to take to escape. Two things need to happen now.”

“First, Australia should double our annual national humanitarian migration intake - with the increase taking the form of a major program of settlement of refugees from within our own region. Such an initiative would remove the incentive for people of jumping on a boat and risking their lives.”

“We need a regional solution that has the region in it – both the Malaysia and Nauru proposals are not regional processes. They offer no lasting solution,” Mr Glendenning emphasised.

“Second, our politicians have got to stop playing partisan politics with this issue. The level of leadership displayed by both major political parties on this issue has been simply appalling.”

“We urgently need a bi-partisan response that is about protecting people’s lives, rather than responding to the alarmist stance of shock-jocks, or instilling fear into normally generous Australians,” he said. “We need a bipartisanship that moves the debate forward towards real solutions and that doesn’t expose the lives of the vulnerable to greater risk.”

“Measures for deterrence are ineffective in addressing the region-wide refugee situation whilst persecution continues in source countries, and while there is no hope of lasting viable security for those fleeing persecution,” Mr Glendenning affirmed.

“Australia has the resources to take a key leadership role within the region to address the crisis by implementing a significant regional intake quota,” he stated.

“Of course, Australia has successfully dealt with this issue before. Following the Vietnam War under the Government of Malcolm Fraser and with the support of the then Labor Opposition, Australia increased its intake to well over 20,000 and assisted in the settlement of over 250,000 people through a proper regional co-operation process. In those years the numbers escaping by boat from Indo-China were much, much higher than those coming by boat today.”

“In the wake of the Vietnam War, the problem was far more difficult but the leadership was better. Our nation urgently needs such leadership today if further catastrophe is to be prevented,” he said.

Around 50 Occupy protesters stormed a derelict court building in London today after driving there in a tank on a mission to bring 'those responsible' for the economic crisis to justice.

They have vowed to hold mock trials at Old Street Magistrates' Court for alleged corrupt politicians and greedy bankers using real solicitors before a retired judge.

The group also includes a new offshoot comprising ex-servicemen who call themselves 'Occupy veterans'.

The protesters have already unfurled a giant ‘Occupy Everywhere’ banner along the roof of the courthouse, although legal notices put on doors establishing their ‘rights’ as squatters had been ripped down by noon.

They scribbled the names of bankers and politicians on chalkboards outside the court's cells.

Occupy member Adam Fitzmaurice, a 28-year-old music industry management student, said: 'We are going to use the courthouse to put some people on trial.

'The government has failed to bring those responsible to justice, so we felt the people should do it instead. We’ve got a retired judge and real solicitors.'

But asked whether they expected their ‘defendants’ to attend, fellow Occupy protester Ronan McNern admitted: 'We might have to try them in absentia.'

He added: 'We are targeting the people we feel have been let off or not been brought to justice - it could be bankers, politicians or companies. 'These are not mock trials. These are trials with qualified solicitors. It’s not about staging anything. The accused will be invited to attend.'

Mr McNern denied the building was a glorified squat, saying: 'This building has been empty since 1996, which is a travesty given what is currently going on.

'This is about inviting the public in, just as we did with the ‘bank of ideas’ in the disused UBS building.'

A statement posted on the group’s website said: 'As Occupy London Stock Exchange occupation prepares to present its case at the High Court today, members of Occupy London have liberated a disused court house - Old Street Magistrates' Court - in London’s East End alongside a group of military veterans, Occupy Veterans.

'The opening of Occupy London’s fourth occupation, will see the movement conducting ‘trials of the one per cent’ in the abandoned magistrates' court building which has lain empty since 1996 despite its prime location and Grade II listing.'

A Met Police spokesperson said: 'Officers were called to a disused building on Old Street this morning following a report of squatters in place.

'Officers from Hackney attended the scene. No arrests have been made.'

The results of a poll published today shows that nearly two-thirds of Christians surveyed (63 per cent) thought the Church of England should do more to speak out against the financial sector.

This compared to just one in five (22 per cent) respondents who disagreed.

Peter Kerridge, CEO of Premier Christian Media Trust, which commissioned the survey, said: 'The Church of England found themselves in a difficult position when taken by surprise by the protesters encampment.

'However the Bishop of London’s intervention did make a positive difference to what could have become a truly disastrous situation.

'The results clearly show that Christians believe the Church could have responded better to the protesters as well as doing more to combat corruption within some parts of the financial sector.

'Even David Cameron, recently acknowledged that the absence of a Christian moral code allowed some bankers and politicians to behave immorally to the detriment of British society.

'The Prime Minister’s speech has now given the Church of England the perfect opportunity to take a stand against this corruption on behalf of the Christian community and beyond.'

The Occupy Auckland movement looks set to celebrate Christmas in Aotea Square - despite their Dunedin counterparts moving on.

The group's planning a brunch for Christmas Day, and we're all welcome.

Spokesman Chris Glen says they plan to do what every other Kiwi will be doing on Sunday.

"Just have a festive fun stay. I imagine it'll be turkey, chicken, ham, the regular with all the trimmings,'' he says.

Mr Glen says they expect several hundred people to attend.

This short doco explores the state of the #OWS protests now that local governments have removed permanent encampments, and asks what the future will be for this still young movement.

Over 70% of all Australian energy production was exported, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Energy production by Australian industry decreased by 3% in the last year. Black coal production increased by 8% in 2009-10, representing 57% of all Australian energy production.

The supply of natural gas also increased by 8%, and now accounts for nearly 12% of total Australian energy supply.

Australian households and businesses energy usage increased slightly in the last year (1% from 2008-09). Natural gas (24%), electricity (22%), diesel (18%) and petrol (16%) were the main fuels consumed domestically.

Despite being a large net producer of energy, Australian businesses and households still imported 51% of our domestic energy consumption. Crude oil made up 52% of our energy imports, along with diesel fuel (17%) and other refined fuels (12%).

The Manufacturing industry accounted for (26%) of Australian net energy use in 2009-10, with households accounting for 26%. Mining and Transport each accounted for 14% of domestic net energy use, and commercial and services industries used 11%.

Energy production from renewable sources is still dominated by bagasse [the residue of the sugar cane milling process] and hydro electricity.

However, production of solar and wind energy have both increased by 26% from 2008-09.

More details are available in Energy Account, Australia (cat. no 4604.0).

SUMMARY:

Last Tuesday, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Peter Collier, reneged on an earlier commitment to hold Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) accountable for identification and protection of Yindjibarndi heritage in the path of its Solomon Project mine. After FMG demanded that critical conditions of his consent be deleted, Minister Collier complied, clearing the way for wholesale destruction of rare and ancient Yindjibarndi heritage.

Yindjibarndi CEO, Michael Woodley, said “This is a Christmas from hell for us. It is a weak and morally wrong decision from Mr Collier. The Minister had a choice – to ensure Yindjibarndi people could properly record their sites before FMG wipes them off the face of the earth, and use this knowledge to make safe and fair decisions; or kick us in the guts and cheer on FMG’s destruction of our culture places before anyone has the chance to understand, care or know they ever existed. Mr Collier took the second option. So while FMG mining grinds on round the clock over Christmas, there will be no peace for Yindjibarndi.” […]

In the last two months FMG has repeatedly obstructed Yindjibarndi people from going onto their country to record their heritage and perform ceremonies. This is in breach of a condition of their mining lease that states access to and use of the land by Yindjibarndi people “is not to be restricted” by FMG, except in relation to any parts that are being used for mining operations, or for safety or security reasons relating to those operations.

FMG has fraudulently cited this “safety and security” stipulation by declaring areas YAC needs access to as ‘controlled areas’. FMG’s invocation of “safety and security” is false because no mining operations were being conducted on the land where the YAC sought to undertake surveys at the time of YAC’s visit, nor could there be for as long as the Minister’s section 18 conditions for comprehensive surveys remained unfulfilled. […]

The grave consequence of this obstruction for Yindjibarndi, and the advantage sought by FMG, is that after FMG mining operations have razed the country and destroyed physical evidence of Yindjibarndi heritage, there will be no certified and authentic documentary record upon which the prosecution of FMG can be based. […]

Mr Woodley said, “We are deeply angered that fundamental human rights standards spelled out in United Nations covenants are being blatantly violated in this state. The Minister’s decision steals from our people what is at the centre of our world, the cultural heritage that lies at the heart of our identity, our confidence, our right to exist as Yindjibarndi.”

READ FULL STATEMENT [PDF]

I don't know how you feel about Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, and one of the world's richest men. Many people appreciate what he's accomplished. Many think that Gates' wife, Melinda, is doing wonderful work aiding the poor in underdeveloped countries. Gates' dad, who has taken the lead in advocating higher taxes for the wealthy, has always seemed really likable.

In philanthropic circles, the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gives some $3 billion annually, especially in fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and mother-child deaths in underdeveloped countries around the world, is highly regarded.

However, there are critics concerned about what Edward Skloot, director of Duke University's Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society, recently characterized as the foundation's "brass-knuckle philanthropy." (It should also be noted that Skloot has indicated he thinks the foundation's methodology was "pretty close to the ideal.")

At a recent Hudson Institute-sponsored panel titled "Living with the Gates Foundation," Tim Ogden, editor of Philanthropy Action, said that Gates is "creating the ball, building the team, hiring the referees," and "funding the instant replay." According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Caroline Preston's report, Laura Freschi, of New York University's Development Research Institute, "said it's not out of the question that one day a reader might devour an article about a Gates-supported health project, printed on the pages of a newspaper that gets Gates money, reported by a journalist who received media training paid for by Gates, citing research by scientists financed by Gates."

Gates recently told Christiane Amanpour, the host of ABC's "This Week With Christiane Amanpour," that while he favored raising taxes on the wealthy, he didn't think that would solve the "deficit gap." He also said that he didn't think President Obama was waging class warfare on the rich, joking that as far as knows, there are no barricades in the streets being manned by the wealthy.

Gates does have a legion of critics. In his new biography of the late Steve Jobs, author Walter Isaacson reported that Jobs told him that Gates is "basically unimaginative, has never invented anything ... he just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas."

Last year, I wrote a piece about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's relationship to the chemical company Monsanto and the agribusiness giant Cargill (http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/11834). The gist of the story was that the Foundation had bought 500,000 Monsanto shares worth around $23 million in the second quarter of 2010. Critics pointed out that amongst other things, Monsanto has for years had a negative impact on small farmers, especially in Africa.

And some critics are highly skeptical about some of the Gates Foundation's choices, particularly as it relates to education in the United States. According to the Gates Foundation website, their education mission in the U.S. is pretty straightforward: "... to dramatically improve education so that all young people have the opportunity to reach their full potential. We seek to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college and career and prepared to complete a postsecondary degree or certificate with value in the workplace."

Would it surprise you to learn that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently gave more than $300,000 to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a shadowy right-wing organization that has inordinate power in state legislatures across the country?

In November, the foundation announced that it has awarded the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) a grant of $376,635 earmarked for ALEC's work on an assortment of education projects, over a 22-month period. The Gates Foundation's official description of the grant reads: "to educate and engage its membership on more efficient state budget approaches to drive greater student outcomes, as well as educate them on beneficial ways to recruit, retain, evaluate and compensate effective teaching based upon merit and achievement."

Robin Rogers is an associate professor of sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY), and the author of "Why Philanthro-policymaking Matters" in The Politics of Philanthrocapitalism, Society 2011, The Welfare Experiments: Politics and Policy Evaluation (Stanford University Press, 2004). In a recent piece at The Education Optimists titled "Billionaire Education Policy," Rogers pointed out that the Gates Foundation's grant to ALEC was aimed at "influenc[ing] state budget making - where the rubber hits the road on education policy." Rogers noted that after the grant's announcement, "Twitter was buzzing with the news" and the debate revolved around "whether this constituted a Republican takeover of the state budget process, a Gates Foundation takeover of ALEC or both. No one suggested it was a victory for democracy."

Since its' founding nearly 40 years ago, the raison d'etre of the American Legislative Exchange Council has been to influence state legislatures on behalf of corporations and so-called family values advocates, but mostly corporations. As The Center for Media and Democracy's "ALEC Exposed" project points out, the organization is "not a lobby" and "not a front group": "It is much more powerful than that."

Primarily funded by corporations, corporate trade groups, and corporate foundations," and populated mainly by Republican office holders, ALEC is a non-profit organization made up primarily of a "who's who' of the extreme right."

As I reported in late March of this year, "while the Washington, D.C.-based ALEC may not be responsible for all of the mayhem going on in such states as Wisconsin, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Florida, and Michigan (with more states certain to follow), it has historically played an extraordinary role in shaping pro-corporate legislation in a number of states."

According to ALEC Exposed, ALEC-sponsored "bills would privatize public education, crush teacher's unions, and push American universities to the right. Among other things, these bills make education a private commodity rather than a public good, and reverse America's modern innovation of promoting learning and civic virtue through public schools staffed with professional teachers for children from all backgrounds."

As Julie Underwood, dean of the School of Education and a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, pointed out in a piece in The Nation, ALEC's mission is "to defund and redesign public schools." Underwood detailed how ALEC has been promoting "choice" and "vouchers" for more than 20 years.

However, Underwood wrote: "ALEC's most ambitious and strategic push toward privatizing education came in 2007, through a publication called School Choice and State Constitutions, which proposed a list of programs tailored to each state." Several states, including Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida, Utah and Indiana enacted ALEC-suggested legislation.

"ALEC's 2010 Report Card on American Education called on members and allies to ‘Transform the system, don't tweak it,' likening the group's current legislative strategy to a game of whack-a-mole: introduce so many pieces of model legislation that there is "no way the person with the mallet [teachers' unions] can get them all." Underwood wrote.

According to Underwood, "ALEC's agenda includes":

"Introducing market factors into teaching, through bills like the National Teacher Certification Fairness Act."

"Privatizing education through vouchers, charters and tax incentives, especially through the Parental Choice Scholarship Program Act and Special Needs Scholarship Program Act, whose many spinoffs encourage the creation of private schools for specific populations: children with autism, children in military families, etc."

"Increasing student testing and reporting, through more "accountability," as seen in the Education Accountability Act, Longitudinal Student Growth Act, One-to-One Reading Improvement Act and the Resolution Supporting the Principles of No Child Left Behind."

"Chipping away at local school districts and school boards, through its 2009 Innovation Schools and School Districts Act and more. Proposals like the Public School Financial Transparency Act and School Board Freedom to Contract Act would allow school districts to outsource auxiliary services."

Admittedly, the $376,635 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is just a drop from the foundation's bucket, and it will not guarantee ALEC's success in achieving its goals. It certainly will help. As Underwood pointed out, "ALEC's real motivation for dismantling the public education system is ideological-creating a system where schools do not provide for everyone - and profit-driven."

What the foundation's grant might contribute to is another in a series of ginned-up reports produced by ALEC's education team. Robin Rogers wrote recently that there's a danger to extrapolate conclusions from education experiments - as it was in welfare reform: "Our measurements are imprecise at best and meaningless and misleading at worst. Most educators, advocates, researchers, philanthropists, and policymakers are well aware of the problem of measuring complex outcomes. That awareness disappears when we talk about policy experiments. We act as if testing these programs will lead to some empirical, objective truth about what works best."

Rogers added: "Policy experiments are supposed to tell us empirically how good a program or approach is. They don't do this very well. Randomized experiments are expensive, difficult, and rare. Most policy ‘experiments' aren't really experiments. They are a trial run of a program with data collection. Even then, the data is often collected haphazardly or to highlight program success and minimize failures. Politics and research also operate in different time frames - solid evaluations often take years. In short, well-funded policy evaluations take too long to actually affect policy, and ad hoc evaluations don't produce reliable findings."

In the final analysis, ALEC will take Gates money. It will likely come up with another report touting the success of charter schools and voucher programs, and more reasons to bust teachers unions. It will design sample legislation for its members to introduce in state houses across the country. The privatization of public education will move forward. This is not a project that Bill or Melinda Gates should be proud of.

About author Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American Right.

Solomon, the miniature horse believed to be stolen from a residence in Carindale on Saturday night has been safely returned home in time for Christmas.

His relieved owners located him in their yard at their Powis Street property at around 9pm.

Solomon was hungry, thirsty and tired upon his return, however he appeared to be freshly groomed, and missing his rug.

When asked if he knew where he’d been, Solomon replied, “Neigh”.

Police would like to thank members of the public and the media for their assistance in helping to return Solomon.

Police investigations are continuing.

Anyone with information which could assist police with their investigations should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au 24hrs a day.

The Sunday New York Times (12/18/11) featured a powerful investigation of civilian casualties resulting from the NATO war in Libya--casualties that, to hear NATO officials tell it, maybe don't even exist.

The Times' C.J. Chivers and Eric Schmitt report:

But an on-the-ground examination by The New York Times of airstrike sites across Libya--including interviews with survivors, doctors and witnesses, and the collection of munitions remnants, medical reports, death certificates and photographs--found credible accounts of dozens of civilians killed by NATO in many distinct attacks. The victims, including at least 29 women or children, often had been asleep in homes when the ordnance hit.

The Times even took its research--based on a small number of incidents--to NATO, which seemed to change its story immediately:

Two weeks after being provided a 27-page memorandum from the Times containing extensive details of nine separate attacks in which evidence indicated that allied planes had killed or wounded unintended victims, NATO modified its stance.

"From what you have gathered on the ground, it appears that innocent civilians may have been killed or injured, despite all the care and precision," said Oana Lungescu, a spokeswoman for NATO headquarters in Brussels. "We deeply regret any loss of life."

The Times reports that it "found significant damage to civilian infrastructure from certain attacks for which a rationale was not evident or risks to civilians were clear." The paper also noted that many witnesses talked about "warplanes restriking targets minutes after a first attack, a practice that imperiled, and sometimes killed, civilians rushing to the wounded." That is a tactic often associated with terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda.

The Times also offers a sickening glimpse into the denial of NATO leaders after civilians were killed in an airstrike in Tripoli:

Initially, NATO almost acknowledged its mistake. "A military missile site was the intended target," an alliance statement said soon after. "There may have been a weapons system failure which may have caused a number of civilian casualties."

Then it backtracked. Kristele Younes, director of field operations for Civic, the victims' group, examined the site and delivered her findings to NATO. She met a cold response. "They said, 'We have no confirmed reports of civilian casualties,'" Ms. Younes said.

The reason, she said, was that the alliance had created its own definition for "confirmed": Only a death that NATO itself investigated and corroborated could be called confirmed. But because the alliance declined to investigate allegations, its casualty tally by definition could not budge--from zero.

If you recall the corporate media coverage of the war while it was happening, Libyan leaders were churning out laughably clumsy propaganda about civilian deaths. "Libya Stokes Its Machine Generating Propaganda" was the June 7 headline of a New York Times story by John Burns, who scoffed at the "nightly propaganda tour" of the Libyan capitol. It seemed obvious at the time that Burns and his ilk were offended by by the Libyan government's inability to lie as effectively as the NATO generals.

The Times also investigated August airstrikes that it termed "NATO's bloodiest known accidents in the war"--a series of strikes on buildings in the town of Majer:

The attack began with a series of 500-pound laser-guided bombs, called GBU-12s, ordnance remnants suggest. The first house, owned by Ali Hamid Gafez, 61, was crowded with Mr. Gafez's relatives, who had been dislocated by the war, he and his neighbors said.

The bomb destroyed the second floor and much of the first. Five women and seven children were killed; several more people were wounded, including Mr. Gafez's wife, whose her lower left leg had to be amputated, the doctor who performed the procedure said.

Minutes later, NATO aircraft attacked two buildings in a second compound, owned by brothers in the Jarud family. Four people were killed, the family said.

Several minutes after the first strikes, as neighbors rushed to dig for victims, another bomb struck. The blast killed 18 civilians, both families said.

The death toll has been a source of confusion. The Qaddafi government said 85 civilians died. That claim does not seem to be credible. With the Qaddafi propaganda machine now gone, an official list of dead, issued by the new government, includes 35 victims, among them the late-term fetus of a fatally wounded woman the Gafez family said went into labor as she died.

The Zlitan hospital confirmed 34 deaths. Five doctors there also told of treating dozens of wounded people, including many women and children.

The airstrikes in Majer were discussed by FAIR in an August 18 media advisory, where it was noted that several reports talked about a death toll of about 30. The deaths were barely covered at all. As we pointed out, the Paper of Record did not think much at the time:

The New York Times (8/10/11) ran a 170-word version of a Reuters dispatch which noted: "There was no evidence of weapons at the farmhouses, but there were no bodies there, either. Nor was there blood."

Corporate media were more offended by inflated Libyan claims about civilian casualties than they were about the false denials coming from the people doing the killing. What's worse, to kill people and then deny that you did so, or to overstate how many people your enemies were killing? Many reporters--too many--seemed to think the latter was the more serious crime.

An independent United Nations human rights expert has urged authorities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory to lift restrictions to freedom of expression, stressing that these are curbing minority views and dissenting opinions, and preventing journalists and human rights defenders from reporting on rights violations.

“Truly democratic societies are measured by their respect of human rights, and in particular the right to freedom of expression as a ‘facilitator’ of all other rights,” said Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Frank La Rue.

“Freedom of expression does not only include expression of views that are widely accepted by the majority of the population or reflect the government’s policies, but also minority views and dissenting opinions,” he said.

Mr. La Rue visited Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Israel as part of a 12-day fact-finding mission, becoming the first independent UN expert charged with monitoring and reporting on the right to freedom of opinion and expression to make an official visit to the region.

During his visit, which wrapped up yesterday, Mr. La Rue met with senior Government officials, representatives of civil society, lawyers, human rights defenders, and journalists.

Mr. La Rue expressed his concern with the current situation regarding journalists and human rights defenders in the region, who he said are being prevented from carrying out their work.

“In Gaza, I was informed of the trend of arbitrary arrests and overnight detention of journalists and human rights defenders by the security agencies of the de facto authorities, which has an intimidating effect and leads to self-censorship,” he said, calling on authorities to facilitate their freedom of movement.

He also recommended abolishing a new practice which requires foreign journalists to name a local contact before entering Gaza, saying it encourages visiting journalists to apply self-censorship.

In Israel, Mr. La Rue expressed his concern about the Government’s post of chief censor, who decides whether information gathered by journalists poses a threat to State security and if it can be published in the media.

Mr. La Rue stressed that while every country has the right to keep certain information confidential from the public to protect its national security, a body for the prior censorship of the press should not exist in any country.

In addition, Mr. La Rue urged Israeli authorities to guarantee the right to freedom of expression to Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 per cent of the population, and Arab members of the Knesset, the country’s Parliament.

Mr. La Rue, who serves in an independent and unpaid capacity, will present his full findings and recommendations in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June next year.

The Salt March scene: 'Gandhi' is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, who led the non-violent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th Century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley.

CHANDIGARH: A local version of 'Occupy Wall Street' movement - a protest against social and economic inequality that started in New York but has now spread across 83 countries, is now also shaping up in India, and has in fact already incubated a 'community-owns-resources' experiment at Hazaribagh in Bihar.

The experiment questioning the new global economic order that led to the collapse of European and American economies, leaving people unemployed across the globe, has emboldened those Indians who oppose the "World Bank-piloted economic models designed to satiate appetite of big corporations and re-colonizers".

Banwari Lal Sharma, one of the Indian campaigners leading the Azadi Bachao Andolan in India and who provided leadership to the agitating farmers of Hazaribagh against mining companies, while interaction with a group of intellectuals in Chandigarh to share his new concept of development, said "Our alternative model allows the local communities partner in economic growth, which is otherwise appropriated by the corporates."

Azadi Bachao Andolan was also in the forefront to oppose acquisition of agricultural land in Greater NOIDA. The Andolan ultimately devised a plan where farmers themselves make colonies and sell flats at market price. Giving details of the Hazaribagh example, Sharma said when farmers refused mining companies to extract coal from beneath their fields, they themselves formed a company to start a 60 MW coal-fired power plant. Farmers themselves have provided free land for the project. The process of the setting up of the plant has been set in motion.

This could be done as the Companies Act 1956 allows such kind of venture. Similar models have been tried in hydel power sector in Uttarakhand, he said. Sharma explained that this process will not allow one per cent rich to prosper at the cost of 99% less or little privileged as the entire community has to be made a partner in development without hurting the environment.

He said a death knell has been sounded for the corporate greed-based economic model this year with Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (PIIGS) require debt bailout packages immediately after the US plunging into a crisis.

Slamming the Indian government for pushing FDI in retail, food security campaigner Devinder Sharma said, "If retail chains like Walmart can benefit farmer, why 14 lakh farmers of America are surviving on heavy government subsidy?"

Greens MLC Robin Chapple said that Woodside’s decision to delay its final investment decision on the Browse LNG project was an opportunity for the company and its partners to find a better location for the gas hub.

“Woodside’s decision to delay a final decision on Browse is a tremendous reprieve for the ecological and cultural integrity of the Kimberley and a great opportunity for the Joint Venture partners to re-assess the location of the project,” Mr. Chapple said.

“There are locations along our vast coastline that are less environmentally and culturally significant than James Price Point – which the Browse JV partners are very much aware of.”

“It is common knowledge that the James Price Point site was not the preferred location for several of the partners.”

“Woodside’s reluctance to commit to its current site represents a chance for the partners to more fully assess the huge social, heritage, and environmental impacts of a gas hub on the current site, as highlighted by the committed West Kimberley community who have opposed this project from the start.”

“I am fully confident that a comprehensive examination of the impacts of a gas hub at James Price Point would render an alternative site the more attractive option.”

Mr. Chapple said that in any re-assessment of the Browse project, the Greens would demand that fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from the project – estimated to be up to 8 million tonnes per annum – be taken into account.

“The EPA must account for the massive carbon footprint of this project, and its impact on the State’s emissions targets to 2020 and beyond ahead of any final approval for a future gas hub,” Mr. Chapple said.

Occupied Wedding

The meeting

Joel and Amy met while she was working in a cafe to fund her studies. Joel was a customer and they got chatting.

“I always enjoyed his visits,” says Amy.

“Admittedly, he asked me out a few times before I said yes,” she says.

But after their first date she was hooked.

“I realised we had so much in common, like enjoying great food and conversation for a start! I was smitten from that first date, I think we both pretty much knew this was it.”

The proposal

Joel popped the question during a surprise dinner at Vue de Monde for Amy’s thirtieth birthday.

“He proposed towards the end of our meal, with a plastic ring!” she says.

“I wore it all the time until we had the real ring made by David Parker.”

The wedding day

They held their ceremony in the Treasury Gardens and made their vows in front of 145 guests. They had heard that the Occupy Melbourne movement had moved to the gardens and they were initially a little concerned.

“But then we decided to just embrace it. We sympathise with the Occupy movement, in principle,” says Amy.

So before heading to Comme restaurant to celebrate with all their family and friends, they had a photo shoot in the gardens with the protestors.

“They all congratulated us, wished us well for the future. It is part of the history of our wedding day,” she says.

Style wise, they went for an overall vintage and art deco theme with a cocktail style reception.

The dress

Amy wore an art deco style, bias-cut gown in a heavy silk satin. It came from Stellini.

The cake

They had two smaller cakes rather than one big cake – chocolate truffle and orange syrup cake. They were made by Julie Gunthorpe at Cake Art.

The photography

The photos were taken by Kat Soutar and Scout Kozakiewicz from It's Beautiful Here.

The honeymoon

They went to Tasmania for five days.

Australia cannot evade its share of the responsibility for yesterday’s tragic sinking of another asylum boat off Java, according to advocates from the Refugee Action Coalition. The boat is believed to have been carrying Afghan and Iranian refugees.

“Australia’s push for Indonesia to detain asylum seekers and to criminalize people smuggling directly leads to the kind of tragedy we’ve seen yet again today,” said Ian Rintoul, RAC spokesperson.

“There’s nothing inherently dangerous about the passage from Indonesia – if it’s in proper boats. If the government is worried about people losing their lives at sea, they should decriminalize people-smuggling so that the voyages can be planned in the open and seaworthy boats can come here without having to sneak into Australian waters in secret.”

“But the policy of detaining asylum seekers in Indonesia means asylum seekers risk imprisonment if they contact authorities if they are concerned about the seaworthiness of any boat. The fact that Australia impounds and destroys the vessels that bring asylum seekers here means boats used are more likely to be unseaworthy. The crossing from Indonesia is these boats’ last voyage.”

“This time we tragically have hundreds of people likely to be dead. No doubt we’ll hear a lot of hypocrisy from government and opposition about the tragedy of lost lives. They’ll say the sinking shows Australia has to deter people from undertaking boat trips. But talk of stopping the boats only makes the situation worse. It doesn’t matter how unsafe the boat is, refugees will try to get to Australia because that is often the only place where they can be safe.”

“According to reports earlier this year, there were 1462 civilian deaths in Afghanistan in the first half of 2011 alone – a 15% increase. May this year was the deadliest month of the war for civilians since 2007. It’s no surprise that people are willing to risk their lives on the trip to Australia.

“Sending people to Nauru or Malaysia will make no difference. People trying to escape war and persecution in Afghanistan or Iran are still going to try and come here because they have no other option. And any refugees who are prevented from coming to Australia by government policies will just undertake other dangerous journeys to Europe or America, with just as much risk to their lives.”

“Australia’s obligation is to welcome asylum seekers. We have resettled a minuscule number of refugees from our region.”

“If the government and opposition really had a concern for asylum seekers’ lives they would institute the humane refugee policy Australia has needed for so long. They’d massively increase our refugee intake from the region, they’d end mandatory detention, decriminalize people-smuggling, remove offshore processing as a policy option, and process and resettle refugees from Indonesia.”

Dear Minister

We write to express our concern about the plight of Julian Assange.

To date, no charges have been laid against Mr Assange by Swedish authorities. Nonetheless, we understand that should he be sent to Sweden, he will be held on remand, incommunicado. We note your comments last year about the need for Mr Assange to receive appropriate consular support. We trust that this consular support is being provided and will continue.

We are concerned that should Mr Assange be placed in Swedish custody, he will be subject to the process of "temporary surrender", enabling his removal to the United States without the appropriate legal processes that accompany normal extradition cases. We urge you to convey to the Swedish government Australia's expectation that Mr Assange will be provided with the same rights of appeal and review that any standard extradition request would entail.

Any prosecution of Mr Assange in the United States will be on the basis of his activities as a journalist and editor (Mr Assange's status as such has been recently confirmed by the High Court in England). Such a prosecution will be a serious assault on freedom of speech and the need for an unfettered, independent media.

Further, the chances of Mr Assange receiving a fair trial in the United States appear remote. A number of prominent political figures have called for him to be assassinated, and the Vice-President has called him a "high-tech terrorist". Given the atmosphere of hostility in relation to Mr Assange, we hold serious concerns about his safety once in US custody. We note that Mr Assange is an Australian citizen, whose journalistic activities were undertaken entirely outside of US territory.

Mr Assange is entitled to the best endeavours of his government to ensure he is treated fairly. He is entitled to expect that his government will not remain silent while his liberty and safety are placed at risk by a government embarrassed by his journalism. Australians also expect that their government will speak out against efforts to silence the media and intimidate those who wish to hold governments to account.

We ask that you convey clearly to the United States government Australia's concerns about any effort to manufacture charges against Mr Assange, or to use an unrelated criminal investigation as the basis for what may effectively be rendition. We also urge the government to publicly affirm that Mr Assange is welcome to return to Australia once proceedings against him in Sweden are concluded, and that the government will fully protect his rights as an Australian citizen once here.

We have copied this letter to your colleague, the Attorney-General.

Yours sincerely

The undersigned ...

Last Thursday 15 December 2011, approximately fifty people attended the ‘What Is In Our Water’ Forum at the Walgett RSL Memorial Hall. This meeting was organised by Lock The Gate Walgett, a group of concerned community members who wish to raise awareness about the risks and dangers associated with coal seam gas mining in NSW.

Attendees of this meeting included local business owners, medical practitioners, police officials, members from the Walgett Shire Council, NSW Farmers Association, the Walgett Catchment Management Authority and the Dharriwaa Elders Group.

The meeting heard personal statements from Federal ministers including Robert Oakeshott MP, Mark Coulton MP and local State MP Kevin Humphries. After a series of speeches and discussions from local farmers, residents of the Pilliga and guests from the University of NSW, the members of Lock The Gate Walgett decided to pass the following motion:

We demand the NSW government place a moratorium on all current and future exploration and production licences for coal seam gas activities across NSW until the following demands are met:

• A full and comprehensive water study of the Pilliga region, including the Namoi River and the relevant sections of the Great Artesian Basin.
• Clear information is disclosed to the public concerning the chemicals used and produced (including BTEX, and the discharge created) during coal seam gas activities and processes.
• All mining companies be held accountable for their activities throughout the Pilliga, including any damage to the Namoi River and the Great Artesian Basin and ensure that these areas are not subjected to further environmental damage.
• The health and environmental quality of the Pilliga water ways are restored to a pre-coal seam gas mining state.

Lock The Gate Alliance Vice President Jacinta Green stated that: “Groups like Lock The Gate Walgett are part of a growing alliance of over 100 community groups now raising awareness about coal seam gas mining around Australia.”

Spokesperson for Lock the Gate Walgett Daniel Robins told last night’s meeting that “Protecting Australia’s water systems such as the Murray Darling and the Great Artesian Basin is one of the most important issues in Australia today. Unfortunately, both State and Federal Governments are resisting the calls of our communities to take action now to ensure the protection of Australia’s water into the future.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced hope that the Sri Lankan Government will move forward on its commitments to deal with accountability concerns in the wake of the long-running civil war in the Asian country.

Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission tabled its report in the national Parliament yesterday, and Mr. Ban welcomed the public release of the report, according to information released by his spokesperson last night.

The spokesperson said Mr. Ban hopes the Government will forward with its accountability commitments in good faith as an essential step towards reconciliation and lasting peace in the island country.

Sri Lankan Government forces declared victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009 after a conflict that had raged on and off for nearly three decades and killed thousands of people. The conflict ended with large numbers of Sri Lankans living as internally displaced persons (IDPs), especially in the country''s north.

Earlier this year Mr. Ban forwarded a report by a three-member United Nations panel of experts on accountability issues during the civil war to the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The panel found there were credible reports that both Government forces and the LTTE committed war crimes during the war''s final months. It recommended that the Government respond to the allegations by initiating an effective accountability process starting with genuine investigations.

After Police destroy our latest Art Piece they Harass two Homeless People and then Arrest them in Violation of the Homeless Protocols.

One of the things that almost has never come out of the generally appalling media coverage of Julian and Wikileaks, is the REASON for Wikileaks.

It had a moral base. It was about Justice. He wrote it on the home page of the first Wikileaks. It wasn't necessarily finally defined, but to use that expression... he nailed his colours and the colours of Wikileaks to the mast.

This was going to be about Justice. It was about seeking Justice through letting people KNOW what is going on.

John Pilger, December 2011

Occupy Protesters Arrested In New York

Hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters took to New York City's streets on Saturday in an attempt to establish a new encampment, with scores arrested as they tried to move onto church-owned land.

The protesters had used a wooden ladder to climb over a chain-link fence into the lot owned by Trinity Church, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman said.

Police had no immediate figure on how many protesters were arrested, but Gideon Oliver, president of the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, put the number at about 55, including between five and 10 members of the clergy.

The demonstrators continued moving around Manhattan's streets into the evening, at one point saying they were headed to the house of the Trinity Church rector.

"We are unstoppable. Another world is possible," and "Whose street? Our street," were among the chants from the protesters, who blocked some streets as they marched.

Later, as they started to move toward Midtown, some of the demonstrators were hemmed in by lines of police, and police on motorcycles tried to disperse protesters who were in the middle of streets. ...

Desmond Tutu To Trinity Church: Let Occupy Stay!

An open letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to New York's Trinity Church urges the church to allow the Occupy protest in Duarte Park, which is owned by the Episcopalian parish:

Yours is a voice for the world not just the neighborhood of Duarte Park. Injustice, unfairness, and the strangle hold of greed which has beset humanity in our times must be answered with a resounding, "No!" You are that answer. I write this to you not many miles away from the houses of the poor in my country. It pains me despite all the progress we have made. You see, the heartbeat of what you are asking for--that those who have too much must wake up to the cries of their brothers and sisters who have so little--beats in me and all South Africans who believe in justice.

Trinity Church is an esteemed and valued old friend of mine; from the earliest days when I was a young Deacon. Theirs was the consistent and supportive voice I heard when no one else supported me or our beloved brother Nelson Mandela. That is why it is especially painful for me to hear of the impasse you are experiencing with the parish. I appeal to them to find a way to help you. I appeal to them to embrace the higher calling of Our Lord Jesus Christ--which they live so well in all other ways--but now to do so in this instance...can we not rearrange our affairs for justice sake? Just as history watched as South Africa was reborn in promise and fairness so it is watching you now.

A Message Of Solidarity From Archbishop Desmond Tutu (via Runnin' Scared)

A man in his early 20’s is in a critical condition at the Princess Alexandra Hospital after being struck by a vehicle in a drive through bottleshop at Meadowbrook overnight.

Around 11pm, the man was working at the Logandowns Drive bottleshop when he attempted to stop a red utility and its occupants from leaving with stolen products.

The vehicle then struck the man as it sped out of the driveway exit and away from the scene.

He was transported to hospital with believed life-threatening head and internal injuries while the vehicle was subsequently located by police abandoned.

Forensic Crash Unit and Criminal Investigation Branch officers are currently investigating.

Anyone with information which could assist police with their investigations should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au 24hrs a day.

Serious Traffic Crash, Gladstone: Queensland Police Media [18/12/11]

Police are currently at the scene of a serious traffic crash on Toolooa Street at Gladstone in which a male pedestrian has sustained life-threatening injuries.

Around 3.20am the man, believed to be in 40’s, was on the roadway when he was struck by a van travelling east.

He has since been transported to the Gladstone Base Hospital with suspected leg and life-threatening head injuries.

The driver remained at the scene.

Anyone with information which could assist police with their investigations should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au 24hrs a day.

HOME