Queensland's floods inquiry will continue extended hearings today, but in a remarkable development one deputy commissioner will not be there.

In the latest development in an extraordinary series of events, the Courier-Mail newspaper claimed deputy commissioner Philip Cummins has a conflict of interest as he plans to work for a company which is currently doing work for dam operator Seqwater.

The dam operator has come under question at the inquiry.

The story prompted a stinging attack from Commissioner Cate Holmes at yesterday's hearing. She opened the hearings by saying the Courier-Mail story is wrong, explaining Mr Cummins will do work for the consulting company once his role with the commission ends, but it will not involve reviewing the manual. She said the report appears to be a calculated attempt to undermine the commission and its work.

"I am concerned that the work of this commission not be undermined by sections of the press desperate to pump a headline out of nothing," she said.

But in a twist, she later announced Mr Cummins will not take part in further hearings involving Seqwater and she will not take his advice on the topic. She maintains there is been no conflict of interest but acknowledges there could be a perception of one.

"Justice Holmes notes that to date there has been no conflict of interest. However, given the seriousness of the issues under consideration by the commission, she is concerned that its work not be compromised by the perception of a conflict in the future," she said in statement released on Saturday afternoon.

"Mr Cummins therefore will not take part in further hearings involving Seqwater and Justice Holmes will not take his advice in this area, although he remains a deputy commissioner of the inquiry."

In the statement she said Mr Cummins was not aware until late on Thursday the consultant he is planning to work for would be involved with Seqwater.

"Justice Holmes has today discussed with Mr Cummins the prospect that he will, after the conclusion of the commission, take work with a consultant who has been engaged by Seqwater as part of a committee to review technical work in connection with the Wivenhoe manual," the statement said.

"Mr Cummins was not aware until late Thursday afternoon that the consultant would take work with Seqwater."

The statement also stressed the deputy commissioners were only advisory roles to the commissioner.

"As Justice Holmes noted in today's hearing, she constitutes the commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act. She alone makes the findings and recommendations contained in her reports to the Government," it said.

"When the inquiry was established, the deputy commissioners were appointed to assist her in whatever roles she assigned to them. Accordingly she has made the decision that she will not seek assistance from him in the remaining part of the inquiry that concerns Seqwater."

Heated exchange

Saturday's session was also the scene for another heated exchange between the inquiry's counsel, Peter Callaghan, and a Wivenhoe Dam engineer.

The inquiry is investigating whether the engineers who controlled the dam during last summer's disaster botched water releases and also misled the inquiry.

Mr Callaghan on Friday accused the four engineers of not following the operating manual for the dam as they were supposed to. After the flood, the engineers wrote a report explaining what they had done to control the dam, which Mr Callaghan described as a fiction.

He continued his attack on Saturday when engineer Terrance Malone was in the witness stand.

Mr Callaghan told Mr Malone the report process was flawed, and likened it to being allowed to wait until a horse race is over, backing the winner and then cashing in your ticket.

A man has been critically injured after a traffic crash yesterday afternoon in Springfield.

Preliminary inquiries indicate that the 64-year-old local man was mowing lawn near the side of a Greenway Circuit property when he stepped into the road, and was struck by an oncoming car.

The man was transported to the Princess Alexandra Hospital suffering from serious head injuries.

The driver of the car was not physically injured during the incident.

The Forensic Crash Unit is 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.

Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam today launched a campaign urging the Government to strengthen media cross ownership laws and protect diversity in the Australian mass media.

Senator Ludlam said the recent Fairfax raid by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart was just an example of the ongoing concentration of media ownership in Australia.

"This is not about Mrs Rinehart's personal world view. It's about the mass media in Australia being run by a tiny handful of people which is getting smaller and smaller."

"Eleven of Australia's twelve capital city daily papers are owned by either Fairfax or Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd. The remaining newspaper is effectively controlled by the owner of Channel Seven. It stands to reason that the concentration of media ownership in this country has gone far enough."

"Disturbingly, Australia is already ranked 30th in the world for press freedom. By comparison, Canada is 10th and New Zealand is 13th." (Reporters Without Borders - Press Freedom Index 2011/2012)

Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has bought almost 14% of Fairfax Media, adding to her 10% stake in Channel Ten.

The reach of Fairfax extends beyond the city mastheads the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age into regional towns right across Australia.

"The weakening of Australia's media ownership laws by the Howard Government has had a negative impact on the integrity of public debate in Australia, a situation that will worsen if further concentration of ownership is permitted."

"With the support of the Australian Greens, the Government can take the urgent action required to protect diversity in media ownership in Australia.

We have asked the Australian people to write to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy through our website - http://www.greensmps.org.au/media-ownership - to urge him to take action before it is too late."

A new craze for photographing pet cats with a slice of bread on their heads has become a hit on the Internet. These are some of the bizarre photos uploaded to a Facebook group called: "Putting bread on your cat, so that people think you have a walking sandwich". [CNTV - 3/2/12]

The inane thoughts of the feeble-minded have been valued at $100 billion, it has been announced.

Facebook filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday that values the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion, putting it on track to become one of the highest valued companies in the world, despite the fact that its main asset is the badly spelt musings of the type of people who enjoy agricultural simulation games.

Financial analysts predict this will see the emergence of fucking stupid opinions as a major commodity on the stock market alongside gold, silver and oil.

David Solomons from Whiteman Richman Capital said: “A status update quoting overwrought song lyrics is valued at $1, a user telling their partner that they love them in a public message at $1.16, and a pouting self-taken photo of a user’s ‘good side’ is worth $1.39.”

Investors will also be able to buy and sell Facebook users’ friendships.

"The next time you accept a friendship request from a Mancunian builder who fingered you on the beach in Ibiza one night, the value of Facebook will increase by 46 cents,” he added.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners today revised upwards an appeal for funding to continue relief work for six months among the more than 300,000 people in the Philippines island of Mindanao who were affected by last year’s tropical storm Washi.

The revised humanitarian action plan for Mindanao seeks $39 million, a $10.6 million increase over the $28.4 million requested in December, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

“I have been tremendously encouraged to witness the tireless efforts of the Government, aid organisations, civil society and the affected communities themselves to provide vital assistance to hundreds of thousands of Sendong survivors,” said Jacqui Badcock, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Philippines.

The storm was also known locally as Sendong.

Sustained, generous financial support is crucial to enable provision of basic goods and services and the rebuilding of resilient communities.

“Sustained, generous financial support is crucial to enable provision of basic goods and services and the rebuilding of resilient communities,” she said.

The tropical storm lashed Mindanao and neighbouring areas from 16 to 18 December last year, bringing torrential rains which triggered flash floods and landslides.

Nearly 48,000 houses were damaged and the livelihoods of as many as 625,000 people were affected. More than 550,000 were forced out of their homes.

Seven weeks after the disaster, some 21,900 survivors remain in overcrowded evacuation centres in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, and more than 400,000 people are housed in makeshift shelters by host families in their areas of origin.

Some people have returned to their damaged houses in highly hazardous and disaster-prone areas, recently declared by the Government as ‘no-build’ zones.

Some $9.6 million has been received in response to the appeal, including $3 million disbursed from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which is managed by OCHA.

Recent decisions by Israel’s high court aim to legitimize clear violations of Israel’s international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. In one decision, the court disregarded international law prohibiting discrimination, and in another, it ignored international law on the use of resources in an occupied territory.

Israel should annul a law preventing Israeli citizens from living with their Palestinian spouses and end policies that permit private Israeli companies to strip rocks and other construction materials from quarries in the occupied West Bank for their own economic gain.

“With these rulings, Israel’s highest court has veered seriously off course in serving as a final bastion for upholding human rights,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“For the system of legal checks against rights abuses to break down like this is one more indication of the unraveling of protections for rights and freedom in Israel.”

The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law

On January 11, 2012, the court upheld the constitutionality of the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, which bans the entry of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and any “area in which operations that constitute a threat to the State of Israel are being carried out” for the purpose of family unification with their Israeli spouses.

The law primarily affects Palestinian citizens of Israel and their Palestinian spouses, who are prohibited from living together in Israel. About 20 percent of Israel’s citizens are of Palestinian Arab origin, and many have married Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel’s Interior Ministry first banned family unification between Israeli citizens and Palestinians in 2002, at the height of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising; the Knesset enacted the policy into law in 2003, and amended it in 2005 and 2007.

The petitioners said the law violates the right to family life and personal autonomy, and discriminates on the basis of nationality. Adalah noted that, by contrast, Jewish foreigners can gain Israeli citizenship automatically under the Law of Return (1950), and non-Jewish foreigners who marry Jewish citizens can obtain Israeli residency or citizenship status over a four-year period, such that the law creates classifications based on national background.

The ruling upheld the blanket ban on the basis that Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens were potential security risks because some had carried out attacks on Israeli civilians. The majority of justices held that Israeli citizens had the right to family life, but that this right does not have to be realized in Israel.

From 2001 to 2010, the ruling said, 54 Palestinians who had received residency status in Israel or whose parents received such status were “involved in terrorist activities,” but the state did not provide specific information about these cases or whether any of those “involved” in such activities had been indicted or convicted of any crime. During hearings on the case in 2011, the state acknowledged that since 2001, only seven Palestinians who received residency status had been convicted and sentenced for security crimes, of whom two had already been released from prison. According to the ruling, about 135,000 Palestinians were granted Israeli citizenship or permitted temporarily to enter Israel on the basis of marriage to Israelis between 1994 and 2002.

The sweeping ban, which prevents all Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza, and “enemy countries” from living with their Israeli spouses in Israel, without any individual assessments of whether the person in question could threaten security, is unjustified, Human Rights Watch said, and imposes severely disproportionate harm on the right of Palestinians and Israeli citizens to live with their families. As measured by its effects on Palestinian citizens of Israel as opposed to Jewish citizens, the law is also discriminatory, given the difference in treatment and impact on those citizens, and the lack of justification for such a blanket prohibition.Justices in the minority argued that the law should have required individual examinations of whether an applicant’s Palestinian spouse posed a security threat and that the right to a family life includes both the right to marry a foreigner and to live with the foreign spouse in Israel.

Under the law, Israel’s interior minister may grant exemptions for Palestinian men older than 35 and women older than 25, to work in Israel, or for humanitarian reasons, if they are from the West Bank, but Palestinians from Gaza or “enemy states” are not eligible for the exemptions. The law states, however, that the fact that an Israeli citizen is separated from “his or her spouse, or that the couple have children, shall not, of itself, constitute a special humanitarian reason.” Since 2005, some 4,118 Palestinians were granted residency in Israel under the law’s exemptions, including 33 on humanitarian grounds.

The High Court had upheld the law in 2006, in a split 6-5 decision. Justices in the minority had argued that the law conflated security issues with demographic concerns about maintaining Israel’s Jewish majority. One justice noted that the law was based on a government decision (no. 1813) from 2003, which provided that the government would examine “possibilities of determining quotas for giving approvals for family reunifications.” Since quotas have “no connection with security considerations,” he wrote, this aspect of the decision appeared to be “based merely on demographic considerations.” Another justice in the 2006 ruling noted that “the demographic issue” dominated some parliamentary discussions about amending the law in 2005. The Chairman of the Knesset, for instance, “warned against family reunifications as a mechanism that was designed to implement de facto a right of return.”

The law violates Israel’s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which applies not only to race but also to national or ethnic origin and among enumerated rights protects “the right to marriage and choice of spouse.” In 2007, the committee that monitors compliance with the convention urged Israel to revoke the law because of its “disproportionate impact on Arab Israeli citizens wishing to be reunited with their families in Israel,” and noted that restrictions “targeting a particular national or ethnic group” are in violation of “the obligation … to guarantee to everyone equality before the law.” The Committee recommended that Israel “reconsider its policy with a view to facilitating family reunification on a non-discriminatory basis,” and “ensure that restrictions on family reunification are strictly necessary and limited in scope, and are not applied on the basis of nationality, residency or membership of a particular community.”

“The court should never have approved a law that treats the desire of Palestinians to marry Israelis and live with their families in Israel as if it were automatically a security threat,” Whitson said.

Israeli-Owned Quarries in the West Bank

On December 26, 2011, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition to stop the operations of Israeli-owned quarries in the West Bank on the basis that they violated Israel’s obligations as an occupying power. Israeli companies currently operate eight quarries for construction materials, all of which opened after Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967. They export around 94 percent of their production to Israel with no compensation to the occupied population for this natural resource.

The Hague Regulations of 1907, which set out basic international rules for military occupations, require an occupying power to “safeguard the capital” of state land and buildings in the occupied territory and administer them only for the needs of the occupied population or as necessary for the occupying army.

The ruling, by Chief Justice Dorit Beinish, held that an occupier may lawfully make “reasonable use” of state-owned natural resources in the occupied territory if it did not wastefully deplete or exhaust them. However, the court ignored the legal prohibition on any exploitation of resources, wasteful or not, for the occupying power’s economic gain rather than its military needs or the benefit of the occupied population, Human Rights Watch said. As Yesh Din’s petition noted, the profits from the quarries benefit the Israeli economy, not the Palestinian economy, because Israel granted the quarrying concessions without tender to Israeli companies, rather than Palestinian companies.

The court ruled that the “unique circumstances” of Israel’s “prolonged occupation” of the West Bank “requires the adjustment of the laws of occupation,” although it stated this should be ostensibly for the benefit of the occupied population. Israel’s operation of quarries, the court said, helped prevent both the degradation of quarrying infrastructure and the stagnation of the local economy, because the Israeli companies that operate the quarries employ around 200 Palestinian workers. However, the fact that an occupier pays members of the occupied population to help it remove and profit from natural resources cannot under any reasonable interpretation of the law of occupation be considered as “safeguarding the natural resources” of the occupied territory, Human Rights Watch said.

In addition to permitting the exploitation of natural resources in an occupied territory for the economic benefit of the occupying power, the court’s presentation of the facts of the case concerning the supposed benefit to the Palestinian population at times stretched credulity, Human Rights Watch said. The quarries pay royalties and leasing fees to the Civil Administration, the Israeli military’s administrative authority in the West Bank. The court characterized the Civil Administration as operating “for the benefit of residents of the Area [the West Bank],”contrary to the findings of Human Rights Watch and others that the Civil Administration’s policies and practices consistently harm Palestinians while benefiting settlers. For instance, in 2011 the Civil Administration demolished a record number of Palestinian homes, forcibly displacing around 500 people, according to the United Nations, while Israeli settlers in the same area began building 1,850 new homes, according to the Israeli organization Peace Now.

The court also cited procedural reasons for dismissing the petition, including that the issue was a “political” matter outside its jurisdiction. The 1995 Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the ruling said, allowed for Israel’s continued operation of West Bank quarries during an interim period, after which they were to be transferred to Palestinian control. However, local agreements such as the Oslo accords, which were due to expire in 1999, do not justify Israeli acts that violate international law, Human Rights Watch said. The Geneva Conventions state that residents of occupied territory cannot consent to waive their rights.

In January, Yesh Din filed an extraordinary petition for the court’s 11 justices to reconsider the decision by a three-member panel, on the basis that the judgment relied on errors of fact and law.

“Adding to the litany of abuses by Israel in its occupation in the West Bank, we now have an affirmation of plunder by Israeli companies by none other than Israel’s high court,” Whitson said. “It is not for this court or any domestic court to disregard the rules that have governed occupations for over a century.”

The media reporting of the Ellis matter in recent days is missing a few key facts.

As your police service, we deal in fact and credible risk. We must always walk the fine line between informing the public and potentially causing unnecessary panic or concern in the community.

The responsibility for those decisions lies with senior officers, based on verifiable information.

The reality is that are a significant number of people living in the community on varying custodial orders or other rehabilitation situations as ordered by the courts. These people are the responsibility of the Department of Corrective Services (DCS).

Breaches of supervision orders occur reasonably regularly and DCS, as the responsible agency, takes the lead in informing the public on these occasions. The media were aware of the breach of supervision order from very early in the morning.

Police Media took a call from a reporter in the first hours after the police call out appeared on MATCAD, an online near-real time record of police jobs occurring in Brisbane that is provided for media access. We checked information, and provided him with the details we had available at that time.

In the background, the QPS was throwing significant resources at locating Ellis, including searching the surrounding area and making inquiries in the community.

A “Be On the Look Out” was broadcast several times in the area from 2am, and by 9am, an alert had gone to all police officers around the State. The Department of Corrective Services released a statement on the breach of the supervision order at 9:31am.

At a press conference shortly after 10am, the Commissioner of Police, when questioned about the incident, expressed concern that Ellis may reoffend, and that police were working hard to locate him. These comments were reported during the day. Print, radio and television carried the Ellis story throughout the morning and into the afternoon. His description and a photograph had been provided by the Department of Corrective Services.

The QPS takes the responsibility of making public safety warnings seriously. A warning should only be issued there is credible, factual information suggesting there is a risk. That information came to hand at approximately 2pm, when an alleged link was established between Ellis and an assault that had occurred early that morning at around 6:30am.

At that time, immediate and urgent steps were taken to tell the public of our concerns through our usual information channels, including media releases, media conferences and our social media channels.

It was not until the link to Ellis and that assault was established that it was appropriate to identify him in relation to it. We have to work on facts and evidence, not speculation. It is worth noting that matter is still before court.

By 2:45pm, the Commissioner told a media conference of these increased public safety concerns, a release went out minutes later, and a further press conference was held at HQ at 4pm. Ellis was subsequently located and detained by Police at Acacia Ridge later that afternoon and less than 24 hours after he first breached his supervision order.

Some of the reporting of this matter has been based on assumptions and with the knowledge of hindsight. Other offences allegedly committed by Ellis relating to property crime were established by the police only after he was apprehended.

The QPS Police Media Unit coordinates a 24-hour service with minimal staffing levels. The Media make extensive use of this service. The Police Media Unit receives approximately 5000 calls from the media each month.

The safety of the community is our primary concern. Everyday we make judgement calls in relation to matters that are unfolding at the time.

With the perfect vision of hindsight, it can be easy to be critical, however we have to make decisions on the information available to us at the time. Our commitment to the safety of the community, however, is absolute.

Charleville Police and emergency services are currently door knocking in low-lying areas advising residents to evacuate.

Residents who were originally impacted in the 1997 floods are being advised to evacuate to the Charleville Showgrounds.

Elderly residents are advised to go to the Charleville Showgrounds to register before going to the evacuation shelter at the Charleville Racecourse.

Charleville Courthouse [2008]

The Tall Man, 8.30 pm SBS 1 [5/2/12]

The Tall Man is the Walkley award winning documentary about the events on Palm Island that follow the death of local indigenous man Cameron Doomadgee. On the morning of November 19, 2004 Cameron Doomadgee was arrested for public nuisance. An hour later he lay dead in a watchhouse cell. The documentary interviews the family, friends and residents of the community on the island as they struggle to understand what happened to Cameron and the tragic events that subsequently followed his death.

The Boys Locked Up At Leonora

Chris Bowen promised to release women and children asylum seekers into community detention in 2010 but 160 boys remain in the remote Leonora centre. This is what they told refugee activists who visited on the weekend

Pressure from a group of teenage detainees inside the Leonora Immigration Detention Facility eased a 24 hour stand-off between Serco and a group of Refugee Rights Action Network protesters over the weekend.

Refugee Rights Action Network members were told on Friday by a member of Serco staff that the detained boys did not want to meet with protestors. But over the weekend demonstrators were informed that they would, after all, be allowed to meet the 160 unaccompanied minors, boys aged between 14 and 17, living in the compound.

The protesters were allowed to to enter in groups of four to meet the boys.

New Matilda spoke to protester Emma Norton, 21, who was in a group who met with nine Hazara boys from Afghanistan aged between 15 and 17.

Norton said the boys inside had demanded an interview with the protesters when they saw one of the placards said "Azadi", the word for freedom in Afghanistan.

"A few them had managed to see us waving placards and banners displaying peace signs and it was when they saw the Azadi sign they insisted on seeing us," she said.

Norton told New Matilda that one boy, who was 16, said he had been in detention for two years and five days. "Most of the other boys had been in detention for a year and others have been detained for many months," she said.

"They just want to be free," she said. "They are spending their childhood locked up."

Norton said the boys were friendly and polite. "They were just so happy to see us. The boys came and went during the interview. At first Serco wasn’t going to let us have an interpreter but then Serco changed their minds again and an Iraqi boy of about 16 who spoke good English interpreted for us. He kept telling us the boys wanted to thank us for coming such a long way to see them. They couldn’t believe we had driven all the way just to see them," she said.

"They said they were on holidays at the moment and would be schooled inside the compound. They said they weren’t allowed to attend the local school as far as they knew they were having lessons inside the centre."

"We slipped some handwritten notes to them with website addresses so that they could try and contact us if they had any concerns.

"When we asked what conditions were like at Leonora the boys would say ‘Serco good, Serco good’ but then they would wink at us in a discreet way so the two guards couldn’t see.

"One boy came out and said the conditions at Leonora were worse than the detention facility in Darwin."

Refugee Rights Action Network spokesperson Clare Middlemas expressed frustration with Serco’s behaviour. "The staff just constantly contradict themselves. One staff member told us that the boys were so excited to see us while another was saying we wouldn’t be able to go inside," she said.

"Once we got a chance to talk to the boys inside they told us, through a 16-year-old Iraqi interpreter, that they hadn’t been told anything about us at all and they never said they didn’t want to talk to us.

"But we knew something wasn’t right. We didn’t believe Serco. We told them we had presents — MP3s and sport equipment for the kids and Serco told us the kids didn’t want the presents. I mean what teenage kid doesn’t want a present?"

Middlemas and Norton were just two of the 38 Refugee Rights Action Network advocates who made the overnight bus trip to Leonora. The group included students, parents with children, teachers and mental health workers.

Middlemas told New Matilda by telephone that when they arrived on the Friday that she could see the children waving at the protestors from behind the fences. She said 16 unmarked police cars were already parked outside the detention facility when the RRAN group arrived to protest the decision to send the teenage boys to the isolated town.

RRAN first visited the Leonora immigration detention facility in August 2010 and then again in January 2011. when they were able to enter the facility freely and talk to the detainees. This time Serco took a tougher stance.

"There is always a police presence here as well every time we come out — there’s usually as many police as protestors — but we’ve always been allowed to talk to detainees," said Middlemas. "But each time we come out we can see even more barriers have gone up outside the compound."

This tough treatment is far from the sympathetic regard expressed by Chris Bowen last March when he argued that when children’s refugee claims were being processed in Australia, they should be treated with care.

"Regardless of whether they are recognised as genuine refugees or returned to their homeland after consideration of their claims, they should be given the chance to learn and grow while they are here," he said.

Children are no longer held in Australia’s high security immigration detention centres but they are still held in low security immigration detention facilities. These include immigration residential housing in Sydney and Perth, immigration transit accommodation in Melbourne and Brisbane and various "alternative places of detention" on Christmas Island and the mainland including the facility at Leonora. In July 2011, DIAC reported that there were 872 children in immigration detention on the mainland and Christmas Island as of July 2011. Of these, 446 children were in community detention and the remainder were in immigration detention facilities.

In October 2010 Chris Bowen announced he would begin to use his existing residence determination powers to move some families and unaccompanied minors into community detention.

A Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) spokesperson confirmed that the last of the families accommodated at Leonora had been moved to family accommodation in Darwin in recent weeks and that Leonora was now a facility for 160 unaccompanied minors aged from 14 to 17 only. She said there was no time limit on the stay of unaccompanied minors at the detention facility in Leonora but moving the children into community detention was a priority.

"People are placed in a particular facility due to individual needs and operational requirements — and everyone’s case is different," she said.

"Some of these unaccompanied minors have come straight from Christmas Island and some are from Darwin. The Minister announced to the media last year that moving vulnerable clients into community detention was a priority and it is something we continue to work toward. It’s not a case of once you land there you stay there."

The DIAC spokeswoman said that groups of boys would be taken on supervised visits with volunteers into the town.

"Education for the unaccompanied minors will include ESL and Life In Australia classes which are all about preparing them for life in Australian communities and other programs and activities which will include supervised excursions into the town to play sport and swim at the public pool."

The spokeswoman said onsite education services for unaccompanied minors using qualified and registered teachers were already in place at Leonora but there were no concrete plans to send the boys to school next term — although children had been allowed to attend the local school last year.

"Leonora high school only goes to year 10 — these clients are mostly 16 and 17 years old," she told New Matilda. "It would also be disruptive to the community to put them in school and take them out again in a matter of weeks."

"The Department will continue to ensure all appropriate services and education services are provided."

In March 2011, Bowen reiterated his commitment to moving the majority of children and vulnerable family groups out of immigration detention facilities and into community-based accommodation by June 2011. And in January 2012, 160 youths remain at Leonora.

Heavy rains shut four coal mines in eastern Australia on Friday as military helicopters evacuated stranded residents from inundated towns, and authorities warned of further flash flooding.

More than 11,000 people in Queensland state have been isolated by the flooding and thousands had been evacuated, emergency services authorities said.

The town of Moree, the centre of the region's cotton growing, has been cut in half by record floodwaters, while authorities are using helicopters to relocate 300 people already at an evacuation centre in the outback town of Roma to another centre on higher ground.

Whitehaven Coal said it had shut four mines due to heavy rainfall, but the mines were not flooded and no equipment had been damaged.

Other miners and liquefied natural gas producers reported their operations had so far not been affected.

Flash floods across Australia's Queensland and New South Wales states in early 2011 killed around 35 people, swamped 30,000 houses, and wiped out roads, bridges and rail lines. The 2011 floods also damaged crops and inundated coal mines, pushing up prices for coal.

Australia is the world's largest coal exporter and accounts for roughly two-thirds of global trade of coking coal, used for steel production.

Peter Birch, who runs a cotton farm outside Moree, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that floodwater had trapped him on the second storey of his home.

"We woke up this morning with wallabies, kangaroos, an echidna and a koala sitting in the trees, so I think everything is headed to any little bit of high ground they can," he said.

Birch said the floods are set to wipe out A$500,000 to A$750,000 ($537,000-$805,000) worth of cotton crops from each 500-hectare farm in the area.

The Queensland Resources Council said many of the state's mines were still carrying water from last year's wet season and it was monitoring mining areas.

"Sites are reportedly dealing well with what are traditional wet season issues such as site access and water accumulation," said Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Michael Roche.

NOT AGAIN

A spokeswoman for Xstrata, the world's largest thermal coal exporter, which has mines in both New South Wales and Queensland, said it was not aware of any impact due to the wet weather.

In the northwestern district of Queensland, Xstrata said it had resumed operations at its Ernest Henry copper mine following a short suspension last week to ensure the safety of staff.

"Most of our operations are now back online and we are currently assessing recovery times and the potential production impacts from this event," Xstrata said in an e-mail to Reuters.

Another coal major, Rio Tinto, said it would not comment on production. About $45 billion worth of liquefied natural gas export projects are also under construction in southern Queensland.

Santos said it had suspended some of its operations at its $16 billion Gladstone LNG development.

"However the impact on operations has been minimal. None of our equipment or facilities is at risk," Santos spokeswoman Samantha Santy said in an email.

Origin said its Australia Pacific LNG project was unaffected, while BP Group said their operations were outside of the flooding area.

The Bureau of Meteorology said heavy rains were likely to add to already overflowing rivers and warned of localized flash flooding. It cancelled a severe weather warning for parts of New South Wales.

The flooding over the past week could also affect crops, the government's commodities forecaster ABARES warned, adding that the rain has reportedly affected sugarcane, soybeans and corn.

Storm damage was estimated to have cut Australia's commodity-weighted economy's gross domestic product growth by A$20 billion, or 1.5 percent, in the 2010-2011 financial year. ($1 = 0.9317 Australian dollars)

Brisbane Indigenous artist Vernon Ah Kee has been selected as one of four Australian artists to exhibit at the Venice Biennale as a part of Once Removed a show which represents Australia's selection at this prestigious world stage.Vernon Ah Kee's evocative work challenges past and current injustices to aboriginal people and delves into beach culture and race issues surrounding the 2005 Cronulla riots. Source: SilverScreen Cast & Crew

Today Miranda Gibson has broken the Tasmanian record for the longest time spent at the top of a tree. Miranda has been on a platform 60 meters from the ground for 52 days, and will remain there to highlight the ongoing destruction of Tasmania’s forests.

“I am 100% committed to staying up here to draw attention to the continued destruction of these world-class forests, and the broken promise of the Australian and Tasmanian governments. This ancient tree that I’m sitting was ear-marked for protection. Now, due to Ta Ann’s demand for wood sourced from these high conservation value forests, this area is under immediate threat,” said Ms Gibson.

Peter ‘Peck’ Firth, the previous Tasmanian tree sit record holder, who spent 51 days in an old growth tree in the Styx Valley in 2006, offered support and encouragement to Miranda today from Western Australia.

“I’d like to acknowledge the courage and dedication of Miranda and all the people supporting her in her effort. It is not easy working for the protection of the high conservation value forests,” said Mr Firth.

“This is a tragedy that Miranda and all the other good people to this day have to spend their time honouring agreements broken by the forestry industry. I look forward to the day we can all enjoy the wilderness forest for their true value without fear of their destruction. Until then our resolve to see their protection will not waiver as Miranda is demonstrating,” said Mr Firth.

Miranda’s tree sit, known as The Observer Tree, has received international attention over the past 52 days. Using solar power and internet access Miranda has been able to bring Tasmania’s spectacular forests to people’s homes all around the world.

On 14 and 15 February, a global 24 hours of action in support of The Observer Tree will call on the Japanese customers of Ta Ann to cease purchasing wood coming from Tasmania’s high conservation value forests.

To view footage of Peter Firth being pulled out of his tree by helicopter in 2006, visit http://youtu.be/MWoYbA3nMM8

For more information about Ta Ann and their Japanese customers, visit www.taann.com.au

The new school year is being welcomed by a billboard targeting church missionaries for still being in State schools.

The billboard has gone up Thursday, February 02, 2012 near the corner of Greenway St. and Manningham Rd. in Bulleen, Victoria. Responsible for the strongly worded message is a group of parents, called Fairness in Religions in School (FIRIS) who want the State Minister of Education to sever all links between schools and the controversial parachurch: ACCESS Ministries.

The billboard says “State Schools are not Church Playgrounds” and “Special Religious Instruction Divides our Children”. FIRIS says the billboard aims at alerting the public to unfair policy that gives an “open door”, and also funds a church ministry to use curriculum time to instruct children in specific religious beliefs.

“This is the Minister’s preference as the law imposes no such requirement,” says Campaign Chairman Tim Heasley.

ACCESS is the parachurch controlled by 12 protestant churches that made headlines attracted last year when its CEO, Evonne Paddison, urged church congregations to “make disciples” by adopting “missional attitudes” in Victoria’s State Schools.

The billboard comes in advance of a case being put by parents before the Victorian Administrative and Civil Tribunal (VCAT) which aims to force Mr. Dixon to bring the policy into line with the expectations of Victorian parents and end the exception the policy allows to a guiding principle of Victoria Schools, “secular education”.

Said Mr. Heasley: “We would like to see religion taught in a fair way that reflects Australia’s multi-cultural commitments and we’re asking our schools to do this in a way that does not violate the `secular principle’ of public education. This needs to be done by closing the door to activists from all religions who want to use our schools to get at kids”.

“Our State Schools are not Church Playgrounds and it is deeply concerning to me as an Australian and as a parent, that I should need to put up a billboard to make this case to the Minister of Education. The Minister could easily change this policy, and that is what we intend to see him do”.

The policy by which church volunteers come into the school day and take up part of the curriculum is not supported by the Australian Education Union. The Victorian branch passed a resolution calling for an end to the policy.

“Parents should never be put in a position of having to remove their child from a church-run program in a state school, yet here we are at the start of the school year and policy to favor this ministry rolls on”, said Mr Heasley.

The billboard, funded by donations to FIRIS, and designed by a parent, is based on what the designer’s six year old daughter experienced at her school, as a result of what many parents agree forces a choice between making their kids feel different or having them ministered to by ACCESS volunteers.

Another parent, Julia Brotherton, said in her case, even the choice between two evils wasn’t possible, because the schools can’t reasonably be expected to deal with equitably with the problems the policy creates. She says, “despite opting my child out at the start of the year, I discovered she was in fact attending Christian Religious Instruction by ACCESS Ministries. When I asked the school why this was, they explained how hard it was for the school to administrate the system and that ultimately it was up to my 6 year old to tell her teacher she was not meant to be there”!

Ms. Brotherton, said that it was the policy and not the school where change needed to occur. “The schools are doing the best they can, it is obvious that the policy is designed to induce parents to go along, even if they don’t want to. Its a political problem, that infringes on my rights as a parent. This is not fair to families, and its not fair to teachers, and it shouldn’t be on the principal’s to do list”.

FIRIS is a parent-run group supporting the upcoming parents case in VCAT. The case, which is being run by the law firm Holding Redlich, will be heard on 1 March, and will be the first time that this policy has been given a true hearing in an impartial setting.

Mr. Heasley said that the case before VCAT will show how SRI hurts families, but also fully explain the policy undermines the very principles of public education in Victoria. “One of the non negotiable values Australians hold is that our schools should not discriminate between children according to their parents’ religions or lack thereof. This policy is designed to do exactly this and gives church groups say over part of the curriculum. We hope to end this policy in 2012”.

“ACCESS Ministries instructs children with what amounts to a Sunday School type program that includes prayer and has no comparative religious component. It is totally out of step with the state school curriculum”, said Heasley.

FIRIS believes religion is a family matter, and that there are a diversity of approaches families choose with respect to religion. It is an obligation on the Minister of Education to prevent discrimination on religious grounds, to uphold the secular principles written into our constitution, in order to foster citizenship and tolerance in our nation.

A village that kicked out its Communist Party bosses and faced down a police siege held fresh elections to replace the deposed officials on Wednesday. Wukan has been rewarded for its brave stand against corruption with a fresh start and its first free elections in decades, but it also paid a high price for taking a stand.

The response of Fisheries Minister, Craig Wallace, to the preliminary report from Veterinary Scientist Dr Matt Landos on the health of barramundi caught in Gladstone Harbour is unsatisfactory and misses the point according to the Queensland Greens.

Queensland Greens state spokesperson Libby Connors said that the most important point to arise from Dr Landos's report is his recommendation that people not consume the local barramundi.

"The Minister has responded with statistics from the Fisheries Queensland report on their December catch from the region," Libby Connors said this afternoon.

"This is highly misleading given that the Fisheries Queensland report released in January could only state that 54% of barramundi were healthy, ie 46% were still showing signs of disease.

"This level of disease has now been given preliminary confirmation by vet scientist Matt Landos who examined the internal organs of the fish.

"His advice is that even those barramundi without external lesions had them internally.

"Given the proportion of disease that he found he recommended that they not be consumed.

"So is the Minister saying that it is safe to eat Gladstone caught barramundi?

"There appears to be a huge difference between the independent veterinary scientist and the Minister but it is the Minister who has responsibility for Biosecurity Queensland and the safety of Queensland grown food.

"The Queensland public deserve some clarity instead of misleading statistics."

Relevant links including photos of fish from Dr Landos

Website of the community group, Gladstone Fishing Research Fund. Link to the Report by Dr Landos is on the home page: http://gladstonefishingresearchfund.org.au/

Photos:http://gladstonefishingresearchfund.org.au/#/gallery/4558193335

Minister's comments reported in today's Gladstone Observer: http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/story/2012/02/02/fisheries-minister-fish-health-improves-in-region/

Washington's enemy is not "terrorism" but the principle of free speech and voices of conscience within its militarist state.

By John Pilger

February 01, 2012 "Information Clearing House" --- This month's Supreme Court hearing in the Julian Assange case has profound meaning for the preservation of basic freedoms in western democracies.

This is Assange's final appeal against his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct that were originally dismissed by the chief prosecutor in Stockholm and constitute no crime in Britain.

The consequences, if he loses, lie not in Sweden but in the shadows cast by America's descent into totalitarianism. In Sweden, he is at risk of being "temporarily surrendered" to the US, where his life has been threatened and he is accused of "aiding the enemy" with Bradley Manning, the young soldier accused of leaking evidence of US war crimes to WikiLeaks.

The connections between Manning and Assange have been concocted by a secret grand jury in Virginia that allowed no defence counsel or witnesses, and by a system of plea-bargaining that ensures a 90 per cent conviction rate. It is reminiscent of a Soviet show trial.

Moral choice

The Obama administration's determination to crush Assange is revealed in secret Australian government documents, released under Freedom of Information, which describe Washington's pursuit of WikiLeaks as "unprecedented". It is unprecedented because it subverts the First Amendment of the US constitution, which protects truth-tellers such as WikiLeaks.

In 2008 Barack Obama said, "Government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal." Obama has since prosecuted twice as many whistleblowers as all previous US presidents.

With US courts demanding to see the worldwide accounts of Twitter, Google and Yahoo, the threat to Assange, an Australian, extends to any internet user anywhere. Washington's enemy is not "terrorism" but the principle of free speech and voices of conscience within its militarist state and those journalists brave enough to tell their stories.

“How do you prosecute Julian Assange and not the New York Times?" a former administration official told Reuters.

The threat is well understood by the New York Times, which in 2010 published a selection of the WikiLeaks cables. The editor at the time, Bill Keller, boasted that he had sent the cables to the state department for vetting. His obeisance extended to his denial that WikiLeaks was a "partner" - which it was - and to personal attacks on Assange.

The message to all journalists was clear: do your job as it should be done and you are traitors; do your job as we say you should and you are journalists.

Much of the media's depiction of Bradley Manning illuminates this. The world's pre-eminent prisoner of conscience, Manning remained true to the Nuremberg principle that every soldier has the right to a "moral choice".

But according to the New York Times, he is weird or mad, a "geek". In an "exclusive investigation", the Guardian reported him as an "unstable" gay man who got "out of control" and who "wet himself" when he was "picked on".

Such psycho-hearsay serves to suppress the truth of the outrage Manning felt at the wanton killing in Iraq, his moral heroism and the criminal complicity of his military superiors. "I prefer a painful truth over any blissful fantasy," he reportedly said.

The treatment handed out to Assange is well documented, though not the duplicitous and cowardly behaviour of his own government. Australia remains a colony in all but name. Australian intelligence agencies are branches of the main office in Washington. The Australian military has played a regular role as US mercenary.

When Prime Minister Gough Whitlam tried to change this in 1975 and secure Australia's partial independence, he was dismissed by a governor general using archaic "reserve powers" who was revealed to have intelligence connections.

Don't explain

WikiLeaks has given Australians a rare glimpse of how their country is run. In 2010, leaked US cables disclosed that top government figures in the Labor Party coup that brought Julia Gillard to power were "protected" sources of the US embassy: what the CIA calls "assets". Kevin Rudd, the prime minister Gillard ousted, apparently had displeased Washington by being disobedient, even suggesting that Australian troops withdraw from Afghanistan.

In the wake of her portentous rise to power, Gillard attacked WikiLeaks's actions as "illegal" and her attorney general threatened to withdraw Assange's passport. Yet the Australian Federal Police reported that Assange and Wiki­Leaks had broken no law.

Freedom of Information files have since shown that Australian diplomats have colluded with the US in its pursuit of Assange. This is not unusual. The government of John Howard ignored the rule of law and conspired with the US to keep David Hicks, an Australian citizen, in Guantanamo Bay, where he was tortured.

Australia's principal intelligence organisation, Asio, is allowed to imprison refugees indefinitely without explanation, prosecution or appeal.

Every Australian citizen in grave difficulty overseas is said to have the right to diplomatic support. The denial of this to Assange, bar the perfunctory, is an unreported scandal.

Last September his London lawyer, Gareth Peirce, wrote to the Australian government warning that Assange's "personal safety and security has become at risk in circumstances that have become highly politically charged". Only when the Melbourne Age reported that she had received no response did a dissembling official letter turn up.

In November, Peirce and I briefed the Australian consul general in London, Ken Pascoe. One of Britain's most experienced human rights lawyers, Peirce told him she feared a unique miscarriage of justice if Assange was extradited and his government remained silent. The silence remains

John Pilger, renowned investigative journalist and documentary film-maker, is one of only two to have twice won British journalism's top award; his documentaries have won academy awards in both the UK and the US. In a New Statesman survey of the 50 heroes of our time, Pilger came fourth behind Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. "John Pilger," wrote Harold Pinter, "unearths, with steely attention facts, the filthy truth. I salute him." This article was first posted at www.newstatesman.com

The Assange Extradition Hearing: Day 1

... Over the course of the day, [Dinah] Rose ran through statutes, case law, and legislative history supporting her argument regarding the inability of a public prosecutor to fulfill the independence requirement. Assange's counsel pointed out that the initial draft of the EAW's framework decision did allow for prosecutors to issue EAWs, but this provision was omitted from the final, enacted version; Rose argued that this indicated that the EU member states deliberately rejected the idea of a public prosecutor acting as a judicial authority competent to issue EAWs. She averred that the "insistence on a true judicialization" of the EAW process demonstrated a concern for the seriousness of the individual rights that are impaired by the issuance of an EAW.

The Assange extradition hearing is scheduled to conclude tomorrow; according to the media briefing, opposing counsel Clare Montgomery will argue for the first 2.5 hours, followed by the Assange team's one-hour reply. ...

At 6.30am this morning, February 2nd 2012, 30 NSW Police officers raided the Occupy Sydney site at Martin Place.

During the raid six people were arrested for camping and staying overnight, most of who were homeless.

Personal property was removed and thrown away once again, with little opportunity given for people to recover it.

The Occupy Sydney site did not include tents or camping structures.

Occupy Sydney has built a strong community over the last three months which is inclusive of people from varying walks of life and the decision to evict will serve as further motivation to participants to continue to fight against unjust laws and regulations that propagate social and economic injustices towards the 99%.

Occupy Sydney’s legal team fronted by Stuart Littlemore yesterday filed a constitutional challenge and tomorrow has over 20 people appearing at The Downing Centre local court on varying charges.

‘Occupy Sydney is disappointed that NSW Police has chosen to once again try to evict this peaceful protest, but this shows that we are being heard. This week we showed solidarity for redundant workers, and began discussing how we can assist those under risk of foreclosures, this is just the beginning. You cannot evict an idea,’ said Vicki, an Occupy Sydney participant.

Occupy Sydney vows to continue and will be holding a general press conference today at The Rocks LAC Police Station at 11am.

‘The World Of All Of Us’

... In the act of occupation, protesters found a means of interruption. In seizing the land around the citadels of high finance, they demanded attention. In refusing to vacate, they created a new forum for discussion. Within makeshift camps, occupiers attempted to share their experiences and to define their aims: ‘I see people talking. Everybody’s talking, man, and I can talk, too.’ Holding placards and posting blogs, they reminded their fellow citizens of the hard and bitter facts of economic inequality. This was not a simple appeal for government action; it was an intervention with the capacity to change the nature of political debate. The same process was evident across the globe, but perhaps members of Occupy Melbourne put it most clearly:

Why are you doing this?

We are reclaiming public spaces in the interests of free speech.

We are challenging the assumptions that this societies [sic] mode of existence is the only way of life.

We are looking to engage people in this dialogue and develop better communication between people.

We are empowering people to voice their concerns and express their ambitions.

...

Environment groups today launch a campaign calling on South Australia’s federal MPs to represent the interests of their constituents by speaking up for the health of the Murray.

For the next month big billboards with the message ‘No future on a dead river: SA needs a healthy Murray’ will be on display at prominent locations within the electorates of federal MPs Kate Ellis and Christopher Pyne. A letterboxing campaign will follow.

“South Australia has become the nation’s salt dump with our natural systems destroyed and our drinking water security compromised because big irrigators in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria are taking too much water out of the river,” said the Wilderness Society's South Australian Campaign Manager Peter Owen.

“It’s going to take a concerted, bi-partisan effort from South Australia’s political players, at federal and state levels, to wrestle the Murray-Darling Basin Plan out of the grip of powerful industries upstream,” said Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Don Henry.

“This is an issue SA’s federal representatives must not shy away from – it is too important to the livelihoods of their constituents and to our state’s precious natural environment – on World Wetlands Day let us stand tall and honour Australia's international commitments,” said Prof Diane Bell of the Conservation Council of South Australia.

As the last Appeal Hearing against Julian Assange's Extradition to Sweden begins in London a Group of Supporters in Sydney begin a Vigil at the Sydney Town Hall.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/livevideo/

 

Presumably The Main Beach Pavilion Has Been Fenced Off For Refurbishments?

The 2010-11 annual financial disclosure returns from political parties, associated entities, donors and third parties who incur political expenditure are now available for public inspection.

The annual returns are available on the annual returns system on the AEC website. This website provides images of the original returns, some analysis and a data export function to enable users to undertake additional analysis of data.

The total figures disclosed in the 2010-11 annual returns are provided below in the high level summary tables together with a breakdown showing the total amounts disclosed by the major party groups. ...

"Julian Assange should be congratulated for carrying out the responsibilities of a citizen in democratic societies, where the population should be aware of what their selected representatives are doing and planning.

The Wikileaks revelations have surely advanced such awareness and understanding, and are a valuable contribution for that reason".

Noam CHOMSKY
December 2011

(Jayapura) The treason trial against the leaders of the Third Papuan People’s Congress in Jayapura was adjourned on Monday until February 8, after a short hearing that Indonesian authorities moved at the last moment preventing many supporters from attending.

The five defendants, President of the Federated Republic of West Papua (FRWP) Forkorus Yaboisembut, Prime Minister Edison Waromi, together with Congress organisers Selpius Bobii, Dominikus Sorabut and Agus Sananay were charged with makar or treason under Article 106 of KUHP (the Indonesian Criminal Code) for their declaration of an independent West Papua at the close of the Third Papuan People’s Congress on October 19 last year. ...

Jakarta Post [31/1/12] Sri Lankan nurses take part in a protest outside a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday. Sri Lankan nurses staged a protest against irregularities, political interferences and demanded the government to establish a better professionalism for them. Placards from left read as "Give Us Promotions in 5 years", "Amend the Nurses", "Constitution for the betterment of Public", "Nursing Graduates Awaiting Jobs". (AP/Eranga Jayawardena)

 

Tony Abbott's speech to the National Press Club today outlining his ‘Plan for a Stronger Economy and a Stronger Australia' should be judged against the very basic standards for sustainable economies set out in last night's report of the UN Secretary General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, the Australian Greens said today.

At the same time, Kevin Rudd's own actions both when he was Prime Minister and when he campaigns in the Queensland election must be judged by the same standards set out in the report he was involved in preparing.

"This high-level group of world leaders and ministers has confirmed once again what scientists and economists have known for a generation now - that a strong economy is dependent on a healthy environment," Australian Greens Acting Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said.

"Tony Abbott's ‘Plan for a Stronger Economy' needs to be judged against the very basic standards like phasing out wasteful and damaging fossil fuel subsidies, putting a price on pollution, doubling the rate of energy efficiency and moving towards clean, renewable energy.

"Unless he looks towards putting our economy onto a sustainable footing, he will join the list of last-century ‘leaders' who are condemning our economy to failure in the 21st century.

"Kevin Rudd, who was involved in preparing this UN report, also needs to be judged by the same standards and will come up very short indeed.

"Mr Rudd cannot get away with grandstanding about sustainability on the world stage while travelling around Queensland campaigning for more coal mines, more coal exports and more coal seam gas. As Prime Minister, Mr Rudd continued fossil fuel subsidies and developed a failed emissions trading scheme that would have locked in coal power for many years.

"Tragically, this hypocrisy is writ large across most of those involved in the UN report. World leaders put their names to these reports while blocking progress in global climate negotiations and doing little at home to shift their economies onto sustainable footings.

"This is why Greens parties are growing rapidly around the world: because social justice and sustainability are at the heart of Greens politics; because our politics is based on the premise that you cannot have a healthy economy and society unless you have a healthy environment; because we understand that the Earth has limits.

"While last-century politicians continue to mouth principles of sustainability while governing in the opposite direction, their parties will continue to fade while Greens parties continue to grow."

Rejecting discrimination in the constitution would empower us all.

There are examples where Aboriginal people have resisted attempts by the state and others to trample their rights without resorting to violence and the use of brute force. Noonkanbah in the Kimberley and the tent embassy in Canberra spring to mind, though recent events in Canberra may have tainted this perspective of the tent embassy for some.

It would be simplistic however, to condemn outright the behaviour of protesters associated with the tent embassy last week without considering the sense of oppression that some of our people still feel towards our governments on a whole range of matters.

I will always condemn bad manners and unnecessarily aggressive behaviour by whomever. But I will always defend people's rights to assert their political position and try to look to the heart of why people feel so oppressed that they feel violent confrontation is the only recourse to the resolution of their position.

As a nation-state, we have not succeeded in achieving a just accommodation of the truth concerning the sovereign indigenous peoples who occupied this continent before the arrival of the British.

This year I have had the privilege of working with an expert panel comprised of Australians from diverse backgrounds and political persuasions to search for ways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia to be recognised in the Australian constitution. Our report was handed to the Prime Minister earlier this month.

The panel proposed a new head of power called section 51A. This new section would incorporate a statement of recognition similar to a preamble, and also give the Commonwealth Parliament the power to pass laws for Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples. The panel also recommended a non-discrimination provision (section 116A) be inserted in the constitution.

This is not a one-clause bill of rights. Nor is this proposition something that is radical or new. Such a provision would bring us into step with international standards.

The expert panel has been criticised for over-extending its reach by proposing such a recommendation. There will, of course, be some who argue against and some who argue in favour for such a provision.

I hope, however, that we as a nation can have an informed and mature conversation about such matters, without resorting to divisive commentary or cheap political point scoring.

Australians generally do believe in justice and tolerance and are not racist, but we are perhaps too accepting of the racism and intolerance in our midst. The terrible attacks on Indian students, the demonising of Muslims and the Cronulla riots tell us how far we still need to go to address racism and intolerance in our society.

The intolerance and racism is something that many indigenous people are confronted with on a daily basis.

We have seen the demonising of our cultural identity and ridiculing of our traumatic history by Australia's political leaders who label the ''indigenous rights agenda'' as meaningless symbolism that has no positive practical outcomes.

What we have not seen is an honest dialogue about the impacts of the settler state and its intertwined history with us. What we do see are the consequences of modernity upon our ways, cultures and spiritual values. This is why a dialogue is essential. I believe that racial discrimination should not be tolerated in our society, and enshrining this in our constitution would be an act that enhances us all.

Patrick Dodson is chairman of the Lingiari Foundation.

Is The Gold Coast Runway Safe?

Pilots have expressed concern about the safety of the Gold Coast runway during wet weather.

Steve Austin spoke to Richard Woodward from the Australian and International Pilots Association and the CEO of Gold Coast Airport Paul Donovan.

As if politicians weren’t busy enough attacking abortion rights and access to contraception, there’s another reproductive choice that’s under threat from conservative lawmakers: the right to choose where your baby is born and with whose help.

Though it may sometimes be eclipsed by the public fixation on the abortion debate, a movement to improve women’s access to midwife and home birth services has been steadily gaining ground in recent years.

Having long championed home and out-of-hospital birth as a less stressful, potentially healthier birthing method, midwives have weighed in on the healthcare reform debate by advocating for a more holistic system of maternity care based on personal “hands-on” help throughout pregnancy and after delivery. The Big Push for Midwives campaign has also advocated for state legislation that enables birth under the care of licensed Certified Professional Midwives, which is currently unavailable in 23 states as of August 2010.

In contrast to the abortion battle, the midwife’s chief foe is not so much the Religious Right but a medical establishment that has marginalized non-hospital, woman-centered methods of childbirth.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recently issued an opinion on planned home births that focuses on the supposed medical risks of the practice, citing a study that the Big Push campaign decries as misleading and methodologically flawed.

Midwifery advocates point to research showing that home births attended by midwives are safe, less invasive and cost-effective compared to conventional hospital birth.

Expanded access to midwives and home birth could dramatically boost maternity care for underserved communities. Citing data showing a recent rise in maternal mortality rates, advocates say the option of childbirth at home is crucial for socially disadvantaged women.

According to one study published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, “midwives predominantly serve vulnerable women who are young, poor, immigrants or members of racial and ethnic minorities.” But, the researchers add,

Health system changes are making it more difficult to provide effective care and counseling to disadvantaged women, especially in managed care settings.

Why the hostility to midwives? After all, the practice is the norm in many other countries, and in the U.S. the vocation goes back to the earliest days of the republic—a history lovingly detailed in A Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

However, as medicine became increasingly professionalized, the male-dominated world of physicians gradually squeezed midwives out of the mainstream health system. Today, the standard regimen of drugs and emergency rooms dominates maternity care. The movement toward home births marks a subtle rebellion against the inertia of a bloated, profit-minded medical infrastructure.

You could say that a woman is never more vulnerable, or more human, than she is at the point of childbirth. So why shouldn’t the care she receives respect that most delicate of human connections?

Independent Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott today backed calls by Australian Dairy Farmers for an urgent response from the Federal Government to a Parliamentary report into the supermarket milk war.

The Senate Economics Reference committee’s report regarding the impact of supermarket milk pricing strategies on the dairy industry was released on November 3 last year.

“Almost three months later, dairy farmers on the Mid-North Coast are still waiting to hear from the government about what it will do to support their industry in the face of damaging marketing tactics by Coles and Woolworths,” Mr Oakeshott said.

“The report included a set of ‘additional comments’ from several senators raising concerns about the dangers posed to the dairy industry by the enormous market power of the two big players and continuing government inaction on this issue.

“Specific strategies to deal with these risks, including changes to legislation, have been recommended, yet we remain in a stalemate that can only do further harm to Mid-North Coast dairy farmers and the industry overall.”

Mr Oakeshott said the delay was causing further frustration for farmers, who are also still waiting for a response from government to the 2010 report, Milking it for all its worth – competition and pricing in the Australian dairy industry.

“That particular report was released in May of 2010, prompting a call from this latest inquiry for government to table a response to the previous report by May 2011, but we’re still waiting.

“After two inquiries, surely the government has the evidence it needs to make an informed, policy response, which would then allow the Parliament to take action on restoring fairness and transparency in the market,” Mr Oakeshott said.

Apologies for the Bad Audio. Occupy Sydney Occupies the Head Office of Westpac in Sydney to Protest against the axing of 188 jobs, the people being axed will have to train their overseas replacements who will be paid less, meanwhile Westpac's CEO Gail Kelly was paid $9.5 Million in 2011 and Westpac made $6.9 Billion.

 

The buttoned-down World Economic Forum ended with a bare-breasted blow-out after it had debated the crisis in capitalism, the euro’s fate – and even the economics of space litter.

After five thankless days in the snow, checking for bombs and suspicious devices, Swiss army officers froze with amazement when they were ambushed by three topless Ukrainian women.

Wearing jeans and protest slogans on their exposed chests – “Gangster Party”, “Poor Because of You” and “Crisis: Made in Davos” – the three young women braved the sub-zero temperatures and tried to storm the congress hall.

Snapping out of their stupor, the soldiers handcuffed them and led them away to take their particulars – but not before grateful photographers had clicked their fill of them after five dull days snapping well-groomed politicians and slick bankers.

The topless protesters said they were angry about world poverty and sex tourism in the former Soviet republic.

Their protest slogan: “Ukraine is not a brothel.”

“If people see us today, they’ll talk about what we’re protesting against,” said one of then, Inna Shevchenko.

“We shake people awake and show them that something’s happening here, that people are protesting. It’s very effective.”

At Davos town hall square, about 100 demonstrators left their Occupy WEF igloos for a final protest after failing to meet WEF chief Klaus Schwab.

“For us this isn’t about changing the existing power and property relationships,” said Occupy WEF leader David Roth.

“We don’t want a slice of the cake, we want the whole bakery.”

The upshot of the forum? Some 2,500 chatter- and partied-out attendees, hundreds of sleep-deprived journalists – and so many attention-seeking corporate initiatives to tackle world problems it’s a wonder the planet has any problems left.

In one of the final bashes, the Duke of York urged wealthy guests to forget the rest of Europe and invest in Britain.

“Britain is open for business – unlike one or two other countries I could mention,” he said, according to guests who were present.

“And what’s more, we have our own currency.”

Self-doubting billionaires were sent on their way with an uplifting message from psychologist and “emotional intelligence” guru Daniel Goleman: harness happiness, be nice to others and heal the world.

“Every leader is a chief energy officer,” he said.

“Great leaders ‘recharge’ the energy of their people.”

Drifting out in a daze, one attendee said:

“That was amazing; I wonder if there’s an app for that.”

Liberté (freedom) was, along with brotherhood (see fraternity) and equality, one of the great rallying cries of the French Revolution, and it has been, in one guise or another, an unarguable value of most societies ever since. Inevitably there are dozens of versions of freedom as a supreme political virtue. At its most basic, the demand for freedom is the claim that every human has the right to do exactly what they want to do, at any time, provided only that they do not infringe the equal right of every other individual to a similar freedom. There are very few arguments positively to prove this doctrine, because, like equality, it is usually taken as an obvious natural right, the infringements of which require justification.

There are three major aspects of freedom which have been politically important. Historically the earliest has not been a notion of individual freedom, but of national freedom as endless nations have sought to throw off foreign domination; even today the 'wars of national liberation' are still with us, and the idea of a 'free people' is still a vital coin in political currency. This ideal, of course, says nothing at all about the political and social ties to be found inside the liberated state. The second most important strand historically has been the fight for individualistic, 'legal', freedom, originally the demands of the rising economic bourgeoisie for equal political rights and eocnomic laissez-faire against the feudal aristocracies. This was the essential meaning of liberté to the French revolutionaires. Developing from this has been the demand for civil liberties, for specified basic freedoms that are held to be essential to the chance for man as an individual and for mankind generally to develop and progress. Hence come demands for freedom of assembly, of association, of speech and of religious practice. Within the inevitable limits of imperfection, the basic human freedoms of this sort are available in Western democracies, although economic freedom is often held to have been severely limited in the last few decades by the need for state involvement in controlling the economy. The third broad current in discussions of freedom has come from socialism. It is here held that freedom consists not only in legal permission to do or be something, but in the possibility of so doing. Thus, for example, some socialists would argue that we have very little freedom of expression in modern democracies, because while there is no legal censorship, the media is dominated by capitalist enterprises, or the state, and thus rival, radical, views are prevented from being expressed. Any socio-economic barrier to the carrying out of desires is thus held to be an infringement on freedom, with the obvious inference that there can be no liberty without equality. Much of the clash betwen these second and third meanings of political freedom relates to deep philosphical divisions in the debate often described as being between the 'positive' and 'negative' conceptions of liberty.

On January 30, 2012, 12:48 pm Police have located the body of a man who was the subject of a police search today after he was last seen entering the Broadwater along Seaworld Drive, Main Beach, from a boardwalk around 8pm last night.

The man believed to be is in his mid-40’s was located by police divers on the sea bottom around 11.15am today near where he was last seen.

There are believed to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding the man’s death. Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

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.

Following the recent rainfall in the city, it is likely the quality of water at some popular swimming and recreation areas near stormwater outlets have been affected by pollution from stormwater runoff.

Council’s Community and Cultural Development Chair, Councillor Bob La Castra, said Council conducted regular microbial sampling of water at recreational locations throughout the city.

“We have had very heavy continuous rain this week and an enormous volume of water has been flushed through the stormwater systems and into our local waterways,” said Cr La Castra.

“Water sampling has revealed that popular swimming locations, such as swimming enclosures, rivers, creeks and water bodies – particularly those near stormwater outlets – are sometimes affected by pollutants after heavy rains that have the potential to harm human health.

“Changes to water quality can result from a number of sources including stormwater runoff, farming activities, domestic animals, human effluent and wildlife. Swimming in and/or swallowing water contaminated with high levels of pollution can spark illness such as gastroenteritis, skin irritations or ear and eye infections.

“It is recommended swimming and other recreational activities be avoided following heavy rains. We also encourage people to take note of signs posted at water recreation sites.”

Councillor La Castra said Council regularly monitored the city’s natural waterways to:

* determine its safety for swimming and other recreational activities
* issue information and advice about pollution events
* identify pollution sources
* monitor long-term trends

Avoid swimming after rainfall

Rainfall often collects pollutants from streets, gardens and farms, before it is flushed into our ocean and rivers via the storm water system. Stormwater runoff can increase bacterial levels in the water and make it unsafe for swimming

As a precaution avoid swimming:

• one day after rainfall at open beaches
• three days after rainfall at river and estuarine locations

Avoid swimming next to stormwater drains or in warm, slow moving, stagnant water

Warm, slow moving, stagnant water or flowing stormwater are signs that you should not go swimming. Such conditions promote the growth of bacteria and algae. Swimming in these conditions has the potential to harm your health.

Do not swim in water that looks discoloured, murky, or smells unpleasant

Murky, discoloured or smelly water is a clear sign that something might not be right and you should avoid swimming.

Always follow advice on posted signs

When pollution is detected in a water body health warning signs may be installed to alert the public not to use the water. Always follow the advice a health warning sign and do not go swimming.

More than 400 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested in Oakland during a night of skirmishes in which police fired tear gas and bean bag projectiles, the city said on Sunday, marking one of the biggest mass arrests since nationwide economic protests began last year.

Earlier on Sunday, authorities had said that the arrest figure was between 200 and 300. But the Oakland emergency operations center said in a statement that revised that up to more than 400, and said that Oakland Police were expected to announce a more precise number later on Sunday.

Riot police on Saturday night fought running skirmishes with protesters, injuring three officers and at least one demonstrator. The scuffles erupted in the afternoon as activists sought to take over a shuttered downtown convention center, sparking cat-and-mouse battles that lasted well into the night in a city that has seen tensions between police and protesters boil over repeatedly.

Oakland has become an unlikely flashpoint of the national "Occupy" protests against economic inequality that began last year in New York's financial district and have spread to dozens of cities across the country.

The protests in most cities have been peaceful and sparked a national debate over how much of the country's wealth is held by the richest 1 percent of the population.

President Barack Obama has sought to capitalize on the attention by calling for higher taxes on the richest Americans.

Protests focused on Oakland after a former Marine, Scott Olsen, was critically injured during a demonstration in October. Protesters said he was hit in the head by a tear gas canister but authorities have never said exactly how he was hurt.

The Occupy movement appeared to lose momentum late last year as police cleared protest camps in cities across the country.

Violence erupted again in Oakland on Saturday when protesters attempted to take over the apparently empty downtown convention center to establish a new headquarters and draw attention to the problem of homelessness.

Police in riot gear moved in, firing smoke grenades, tear gas and bean-bag projectiles to drive the crowd back.

"Officers were pelted with bottles, metal pipe, rocks, spray cans, improvised explosive devices and burning flares," the Oakland Police Department said in a statement.

"Oakland Police Department deployed smoke and tear gas." Some activists, carrying shields made of plastic garbage cans and corrugated metal, tried to circumvent the police line, and surged toward police on another side of the building as more smoke canisters were fired.

Oakland city officials said "extremists" were fomenting the demonstrations and using the city as a playground for the movement.

Protesters have accused the city of overreacting and using heavy-handed tactics.

Across the country in New York, police said four people were arrested on Saturday night after protesters clashed with police at what demonstrators had called an "OccuParty" inside an abandoned building in the borough of Brooklyn.

Protesters knocked over garbage pails and hurled objects at police, slightly injuring six officers, a police spokesman said. The four people were charged with a variety of crimes including inciting a riot.

Tension was rising in Washington as well, where the National Park Service has said it will bar Occupy protesters in the nation's capital from camping in two parks near the White House where they have been living since October.

That order, if carried out as promised on Monday, could be a blow to one of the highest-profile chapters of the movement.

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York and Kim Dixon and Rachelle Younglai in Washington; Editing by Greg McCune and Corrie MacLaggan)

The Queensland Greens are concerned that the Department of Environment and Resource Management is understating the significance of the muddiness and aluminium concentrations in Gladstone waters and sediment in its report released last Friday.

[See http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/gladstone/pdf/port-curtis-3rd-update-report.pdf]

The report of the 'Third Update on the Water Quality of Port Curtis and Tributaries' emphasises that while high levels of dissolved aluminium were detected at several sites across the harbour from September to December 2011, these high levels have been detected in previous studies.

"The Gladstone Fish Health Scientific Advisory Panel recommended testing for total and dissolved aluminium," Queensland Greens spokesperson Libby Connors said today.

"Unfortunately DERM's monitoring does not report total aluminium, although they are likely to be testing for it. Furthermore its current testing can only detect dissolved aluminium at twenty times the Australian and New Zealand Trigger Value of 0.5 µg/L.

"We have to assume that all sites are therefore above the trigger level.

"The potential for acute toxic effects of aluminium in the gills of barramundi from both dissolved aluminium in the water and total aluminium attached to the sediment stuck in their gills is significant."

Greens spokesperson Libby Connors said that advice from environmental medicine specialist, Dr Andrew Jeremijenko, is that where turbidity is high, total aluminium is likely to be high.

According to Dr Jeremijenko, "DERM has previously found that total aluminium is often closely associated with the amount of sediment in the water and there is a strong relationship between total aluminium and turbidity at the sites.

"So there is certainly a problem if they are using tests that cannot determine whether the level is harmful or not."

DERM have been reassuring Gladstone Harbour users that all is well when in fact their monitoring has not been detailed or minute enough to meet ANZ environmental health triggers.

"This is a repeat of the farcical nature of air quality monitoring near coal mines and coal dumps,? Greens spokesperson Libby Connors said.

"Environmental health experts have warned that the most damaging coal dust particulates for human respiratory disease are the ultra-fine particles known as PM2.5 and PM1 which are so minute that they can enter the blood stream.

"It was reported in national news on Saturday that Queensland's Safety in Mines Testing and Research officers are monitoring air quality near Oakey on the Darling Downs only for fine particles of PM10, which are much larger, so that the real threat to human health remains undetected.

"So we have two state government agencies that are not doing sufficiently detailed checks on harmful environmental activities, yet have the audacity to keep telling the Queensland public that they can find no evidence of any environmental problems.

"The Queensland Greens repeat, the state government does not have the capacity to regulate these big coal and gas industries sufficiently and the companies will not pay for proper environmental controls.

"They have no commitment to Queenslanders' public or environmental health. When the coal and gas are finished they will withdraw to their board rooms in Beijing and London and Queensland will be left with the public health and land degradation bill.

"It is time there was a pause on these developments so we can have proper consideration of where in the state it is safe for these two sectors to proceed and where we need to exclude them."

Relevant links

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/gladstone/pdf/port-curtis-3rd-update-report.pdf
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/195_06_190911/cas10169_fm.html

A $20 million compensation claim is being lodged in a Brisbane court today by fishermen and businesses adversely affected by the Gladstone Harbour development in central Queensland.

The claim says the development has damaged the Gladstone fishing grounds and they want damages from the State Government and Gladstone Ports Corporation.

Lawyer Rebecca Jancauskas says she will be seeking a speedy determination in the Planning and Environment Court.

"Our clients are at the end of their tether," she said.

"They've been waiting for the Gladstone Ports Corporation and the Government to assist them for several months now.

"Their calls for help to the Premier and to the ministers have fallen on deaf ears and now they see this as their point of last resort for them, so we're urging to push this forward as quickly as we can."

The Darwin Port Corporation says a cargo ship ordered to anchor four nautical miles off the city's East Point Reserve has been leaking gas.

It says the Eline Enterprise had its cargo damaged in rough seas on the way to Darwin.

The corporation says some of the containers on board were dislodged and four were leaking ethylene gas.

It says it is too risky for Darwin staff to board the vessel yet because of rough seas.

The ship's predicament was reported to authorities at 3am on Thursday.

The vessel's captain has told the Port Corporation that gas has now stopped flowing from the containers.

Emergency Services representatives are meeting at the Port Corporation headquarters.

It is believed that all of the ship's crew are safe.

The ABC understands an incident management team is preparing to inspect the ship.

Countries Adopt UN-Backed Declaration To Enhance Protection Of Marine Environment: Media Release [28/1/12]

Delegates from 65 countries attending a United Nations-backed conference in the Philippines have agreed to step up efforts to protect the world's oceans from land-based activities, stressing the marine environment's central role in the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient green economy.

The Manila Declaration was adopted yesterday on the final day of the Global Conference on Land-Ocean Connections (GLOC), co-organized by the Government of the Philippines and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The four-day event brought together environment ministers, marine scientists, non-governmental organizations, representatives from financial institutions and other interested bodies, aiming to formulate new policies and actions to improve the sustainable management of oceans and coastal areas.

Signatories to the declaration reaffirmed their commitment to developing policies to reduce and control wastewater, marine litter and pollution from fertilizers.

The agreement contains a total of 16 provisions focusing on actions to be taken between this year and 2016 at international, regional and local levels.

Among them is a call for countries to develop guidance and policies on the sustainable use of nutrients to improve the efficiency of fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorous. Doing so would bring economic benefits for farmers, while mitigating negative environmental impacts such as algal blooms caused by agricultural run-off.

“The Manila Declaration signals a new way forward for all of us,” said Amina Mohamed, UNEP Deputy Executive-Director, who led the agency's delegation at the meeting.

“The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June is an excellent opportunity to take the Manila Declaration to a global audience and initiate action to reduce the impact of land-based activities on the marine environment,” she said.

“It is essential that we sustain our momentum to achieve on-the-ground improvements in the health of ocean and coastal ecosystems, for which the continued and co-ordinated effort of the international community is vital,” added Ms. Mohamed.

Signatories to the Manila Declaration underlined the importance of healthy oceans and coasts in supporting livelihoods and food security – especially in Small Island Developing States.

The declaration calls for collaborative action to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change and to tackle biodiversity loss, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and ocean acidification resulting from land-based activities.

Prior to the signing of the Declaration, UNEP and partners launched the “Green Economy in a Blue World” report, which outlines ways for a green economy transition across six marine-based economic sectors.

The report argues that the health and productivity of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are currently in decline across the globe, can be boosted by shifting to a more sustainable economic paradigm that taps their natural potential – from generating renewable energy and promoting eco-tourism, to sustainable fisheries and transport.

Recommendations include targeted financial support from governments for marine-based renewable energy projects, such as wind and wave power, to harness the considerable opportunities for green job creation in the sector.

China: Cadmium Spill Threatens Drinking Water For Millions

A cancer-causing cadmium discharge from a mining company has polluted a long stretch of two rivers in southern China, and officials warned some 3.7 million people of Liuzhou in the Guangxi region to avoid drinking water from the river, state media reported on Friday.

Pollution of waterways by toxic run-offs from factories and farms is a pressing issue in China, prompting authorities to call for policy tightening, though the problem shows no sign of going away.

Officials opened sluices at four upstream hydrological stations on the Longjiang River, a tributary to the Liujiang that runs through Liuzhou, hoping to dilute the pollutants after the toxic metal cadmium was first detected nearly two weeks ago in Hechi, Xinhua state news agency said.

Many fish died despite efforts by local fire officials to dissolve the cadmium by pouring hundreds of tonnes of neutralizers into the river, and authorities reported panic buying of bottled water by local residents.

Xinhua said officials blamed the Guangxi Jinhe Mining Co. for the January 15 spill, but it was not clear how long the company had been discharging the chemical into the river or how much had had been released.

As of Friday, elevated levels of cadmium were being detected in Liuzhou, more than 130 km downstream from the plant, according to the report.

Xinhua quoted Gan Jinglin, Liuzhou's environmental chief, as saying the water in Liuzhou met national standards and was safe for drinking.

But it added that local authorities had warned citizens not to drink water from the polluted sections of the river, and the government began looking for alternative water sources out of concern the pollution might spread further.

As of Friday, hundreds of residents near the source of the spill were still dependent on bottled water because wells there had also become contaminated, Xinhua said.

Despite Beijing's frequent pledges to reduce pollution, local officials often put economic growth, revenue and job creation ahead of environmental concerns.

(Reporting by Ken Wills)

Around 40 refugee supporters from the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) travelling to Leonora this weekend have been shocked to discover children who have been in detention for over a year when they visited the remote Western Australian detention centre.

Around 140 unaccompanied minors have been moved in recent weeks from Christmas Island and Darwin to the detention centre.

The RRAN activists have called for the immediate release of the children from detention.

“We were told that children and families were going to be out of detention by the end of June last year, but Leonora is proof positive that even six months later, the government has not lived up to the promise of getting children out of detention. It’s a scandal,” said RRAN spokesperson Victoria Martin-Iverson.

“These kids are not recent arrivals. A majority of the 40 kids we managed to see have been in detention over a year. Yet, they are either still waiting for their second interview or have just had their appeal hearing. One seventeen year-old Hazara asylum seeker has been in detention for two years and only had his second interview this week! How is that possible?

“We were shocked to find that Serco guards referred to them by number. How dehumanising is that? One guard came is asking ‘Is 176 in here?”

Another introduced a young Mohammed as, “Here is 428; he speaks good English.” Perhaps more shocking – some of these kids have signs of self harm on their bodies.

“We have serious concerns. They are not going to school; teachers are meant to be coming into the detention centre – but even that hasn’t happened yet, six weeks after they have arrived here.”

“We eat, we sleep; we eat, we sleep. We are very tired,” one Hazara told the Perth visitors.

“We were told in town that the no asylum kid has been to the library since the families were moved out of Leonora,” said Victoria.

“We are also concerned that there seems to be a large number of untrained MSS guards at Leonora, and that we saw them with direct client contact responsibilities with the children in detention. We thought that having untrained guards in such contact is in direct conflict with guidelines for children in detention. There is a serious question whether Serco or the Immigration Department is breaching its duty of care by using untrained guards.”

The RRAN cavalcade will be leaving Leonora around Sunday lunchtime (29 Jan) to make the return journey to Perth.

Martial Law In The United States

The Sands has an unusual 'L' shaped plan with central porte cochere and swimming pool within the space created by the two wings. A separate low rise wing is located toward the west of the site. The lobby and lift core of the main building are located at the junction of the wings with access to the indivdual units by an open verandah. The open fire stairs are expressed at the elevation to The Esplanade. The complex has a mixture of one an two bedroom apartments, each with its own balcony overlooking the pool. Car parking is at half level under the building.

It was apparently the first holiday apartment building to be marketed and managed as a total package.

[The Sands. 40 The Esplanade Surfers Paradise. Constructed 1964/6. Architects E G Nemes, Sydney]

The Australian Government is boosting regional economies through $30 million in support and a further $30 million per annum in reduced red tape for agricultural export industries.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig, said the changes to the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) export certification services were made under the Export Certification Reform Package to deliver better and more flexible arrangements for exporters.

“In October 2011, improvements in the meat inspection program introduced flexibility and efficiency through the implementation of AQIS Authorised Officers,” Minister Ludwig said.

“Changes to the meat program will reduce the regulatory cost of export certification by $27 million per annum and are being supported by $25.8 million in transitional assistance.

“On 1 January 2012, new arrangements commenced for exports of grain, fish and egg products.

“The Government will provide $1.5 million to support efficiencies in the fish and eggs program and $2.5 million to support the changes to the grain export program.”

Minister Ludwig said the changes were developed in close partnership with export groups to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements.

“None of the reforms that have been agreed and implemented could be delivered without an effective working partnership with exporters,” Minister Ludwig said.

“Australia’s agriculture industries support 300,000 jobs in regional communities.”

“I’m calling on the Opposition to support these important reforms, including underpinning regulations, and show their commitment to jobs in regional Australia rather than playing politics with regional communities.

“Export reforms will improve confidence in Australia’s export certification systems and improve the competitiveness of Australia’s $32 billion agricultural export industries.”

Highlights of the new service delivery arrangements follow.

A full report on each project is available at www.daff.gov.au/ecri. ...

At least 10,000 ducks will be destroyed to contain an outbreak of bird flu at two Victorian farms. The virus found in birds on the two properties is a low-pathogenic avian influenza and not the deadlier form of the virus that spread through Asia. Hugh Millar, the state's chief veterinary officer, said there was no risk to the community, but authorities acted quickly to remove any chance the virus could spread.

... When we reached the café we could barely believe our eyes – the café walls were double-glazed clear-as-clear-day glass. We could see absolutely everything that was going on inside and the venue itself was tiny – it was a tiny little fishbowl and we gathered around to see. And what did we’ith see? There before our eyes was not only Tony Abbott but Tony Abbott with the Honorable PM Julia Gillard, quaffing champagne and schmoozing. They were no more than five meters away and divided only by glass. ...

... The news that Mr Abbott had reportedly advocated the closure of the Tent Embassy inflamed the Aboriginal protestors. There are, in fact, two very separate issues here.

One is the role of the Embassy as a site of national significance. I think that the majority of Australians would agree with this. The second is the role of the site as a current symbolic camping place. Here views are more divided.

I now want to introduce yet another variable. This photo taken from The Lobby web site shows a function at the restaurant.

Please look closely at the photo. Note the plate glass windows. These pretty much surround the building. The Tent Embassy and the original demonstration are straight through the windows shown in the photo.

Now we have an angry crowd surrounding a building with ground level plate glass windows so that the demonstrators can see the guests, the guests and security people can see the demonstrators.

We now introduce a new factor, protocols. In our modern world where we try to define every eventuality, we need protocols that dictate what must be done. These actually hold independent of circumstance.

Not all that many years ago, people would have gone out and talked to the crowd to find out what was happening. Now, protocols drawing from international experience dictate responses. This lead to delay and the nationally humiliating experience of seeing the PM and Opposition Leader, hustled even dragged away. This is quite a disproportionate response. ...

 

Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Canberra [VIDEO, Overlander TV]

 

Serco Lies Again: Day 1 At Leonora

On 28 January 2012 · Leave a Comment By Alex Bainbridge, from http://socialistallianceperth.blogspot.com/2012/01/serco-lies-again.html. Video by Zeb Parkes.

Almost 40 refugee activists travelled the twelve hour journey from Perth to Leonora to visit refugees and protest mandatory detention at the Leonora Detention Centre on the “Australia Day” weekend.

Prior to departure, activists were informed that their booking at the local caravan park had been cancelled because the proprietors didn’t want to lose business from their Serco and Immigration Department clients. That decision would have been in violation of the anti-discrimination act.

Instead, activists camped at a town oval with support of the local shire.

Upon arrival at the Detention Centre gates, an advance delegation was informed that the detention centre administrators had held a “community” meeting of the 140 unaccompanied minors in the centre. According to representatives of Serco – the private company that runs the prison – there was not one single refugee inside who was interested in meeting with the refugee activists.

This was despite activists bringing MP3 players and art supplies as gifts.

As soon as the main body of activists arrived at the gate and Serco management reiterated that no visits would be facilitated, chants of “free the refugees” and “Freedom, Azadi” attracted a lot of interest from the refugees inside.

They came and waved at protesters from behind fences in the distance. They explicitly indicated that they wanted to see the visiting activists.

Serco guards tried unsuccessfully to drive the refugees back from the internal fence. When that failed, they arranged for a large bus to be driven and parked between activists and one of the groups of refugees. Other vehicles were already stationed in front of the second group of young detainees.

Protesters outside wrote a letter to the refugees explaining that they support refugees and oppose mandatory detention. Despite being explicitly told that Serco would allow a letter to be delivered, police and centre security initially refused to pass the letter on. A sympathetic staff member (who was not a security guard) helped make sure the letter was delivered.

The refugees responded by sending out a balloon with the messages “go, go, go” and “happy Australia Day”.

By the end of the day, Serco management could no longer maintain the fiction that the refugees did not want to speak to the activists and agreed to facilitate visits the next day.

Organisers from the Refugee Rights Action Network have a lot of experience visiting refugees in detention and organising convergences. They regard it as routine that Serco regularly puts in place petty obstructions and outright lies to try to prevent activists from communicating with refugees unfairly held in refugee prisons.

This is all part of the policy of isolating refugees in detention from the broader community. For instance, while Serco considers clinical depression and hunger strikes of less than 24 hours to be “minor” incidents, unauthorised access by journalists to detention centres is considered to be a “major” issue.

Ilargi: For today’s global financial problems, there are no solutions that are favorable to either incumbent politicians or wannabe leaders (unless they’re extremists, perhaps), let alone to the people they claim to represent. All our herd of leaders can do is to postpone the inevitable outcome of inevitable processes as long as possible.

That's why we see Obama presenting yet another housing plan that won't work, and Europe setting up the umptieth Save Greece concoction that is doomed to fail before it's signed - if that happens at all -. Obama knows it, and so do Europe's leaders.

The disaster they're seeking to avert, it seems, is not so much economic depression as it is their being voted out of office. And this pattern is not going to change, not as long as they can keep up appearances by seizing ever more of our children's future wealth, not as long as we let them.

Greece is negotiating a deal with investors to achieve a 70% haircut on existing bonds, up from 21% hardly more than half a year ago, and it still won't be enough. The 49% increase since last summer should be a huge red flag for everyone.

Why that increase? Well, first of all of course because 21% was always ridiculously low. But something else is happening too: the biggest developing problem for Europe is that a Greek default can increasingly be enormously profitable for certain parties in the market. And why should they then work to "save" Greece?

It has been clear for a long time now that Greek bonds have no value left at all. During that time, the smarter kids in the class have been able to position themselves according to that fact. Therefore the noose around the EU and ECB necks gets pulled in tighter as we go along. And as the ridiculous notion of the 70% haircut being labeled as "voluntary" keeps being touted.

The IMF is pressuring the ECB to also take a haircut. Other central banks and sovereigns are next in line. Hello, Fed! Hey, China! The ECB wants to sell its Greek paper to one of the European emergency funds, which can then take the haircut. Musical chairs is making a come-back as a highly popular game these days.

The smarter kids are laughing all the way to all the banks as they are paid all the money they want by all the bankrupt nations seeking to hide their insolvency from their own citizens, squandering those very citizens' scarce remaining wealth in the process.

We can only keep our societies alive and running by telling a seemingly neverending series of lies. And if everyone had the same interests, this delusion could last quite a while; we’ve been doing it for 4-5 years already, after all (and arguably for much longer). But not everybody has the same interests, not anymore.

This lying eyes mirage system is almost perfect, but, in the words of Leonard Cohen: "there's a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in". Still, people believe most of the lies, and add their own with impunity, because they don't want to see things for what they are. So we just keep talking about economic growth, and we'll make up the numbers we need to prove it as we go along.

The plans discussed for Greece involve interest payments on new bonds of 4-5% or so. It doesn't matter one bit what percentage they come up with. Greece won’t be able to pay any interest, never mind principal, for many years to come. And everybody with a seat at the table knows it. These are your proverbial exercises in futility. They're all that's left us.

Financially bankrupt, politically bankrupt, morally bankrupt. As every additional dollar issued as debt no longer adds to GDP, but instead subtracts from it, there's no doubt where this is going. But yes, it's true, we can still choose to look the other way and wait for it to hit us over the head. Matter of preference.

If houses in countries like the US, Britain, Holland, Spain, China are ever to reach a level where they become affordable, we will find they no longer are, no matter how low prices become - receding horizons in reverse, sort of -. Because if they do reach that level, the entire contraption that is our economy will have crumbled.

So governments choose to prop up home prices. Helped in arriving at that decision by the knowledge that homeowners are a formidable political force they don’t want to turn against them. But propping up home prices means supporting price levels that were established by hot air credit in combination with liar loans and other "criminal legalities" in the first decade of the millennium.

The hot air credit is rapidly vanishing because it's put everyone and their pet hamster neck deep into debt. People can't afford to borrow anymore, a simple truth that is almost entirely ignored. Hence, to prop up today's prices at yesterday's levels, governments themselves need to step in. Can't have that ole market working its magic. What this does is it lets every single citizen pay for every single underwater homeowner's debt. And why should people who already have a hard time pay for someone else's home?

Obama's State of the Union mortgage plan, provided it doesn't simmer down and die like all the preceding plans, is based on refinancing at lower interest rates. If nothing else, this will put potentially substantial ($100 billion? $300 billion?) additional pressure on Fannie and Freddie. Which already have negative capitalization rates. And sit on trillions of dollars "worth" of highly dubious paper, most of which has not been written down to anything like reasonable, realistic levels.

Of course all the negative aspects of this were dealt with a few years back through the brilliant move to let everyone decide their own accounting standards. A move that is as dangerous as it is brilliant, however. Because nobody knows what anything is truly worth anymore. You can have lender A having a home loan on its books for $200,000, while bank B has issued securities for a strikingly similar home next door "worth" $400,000, and the just as similar home next to that one has been sold for $50,000 just last week.

Now if the "owners" of either the first or the second home default, what happens to the value of those loans and/or securities written on them? At some point, someone will demand to know the truth. But neither the government, nor the lenders, nor the borrowers want that truth to be known. Small wonder that banks would rather let homes sit empty or let borrowers stay put for years without paying. Price discovery is a bitch, and never more so than after a long period of lying about that price.

There's only one thing a government can reasonably do when faced with a conundrum such as this: nothing. Unfortunately, that's not what governments think they're for, doing nothing, and - luckily for them - neither does the majority of people they represent. In this particular case, all those homeowners want action. They demand that the government protect the value of - what they see as- their property. And so we have another plan.

America likes to tout its status of a free market country. But that's just nuts. Delusional nuts. And no, it's not that all of a sudden we see socialism or communism, popular as those accusations may be; that just comes from people who don't understand what those words mean.

What has happened is that America is electing a Liar-in-Chief every four years. His/her job is to keep the herd in the faith, to let them buy stuff all the time, preferably with borrowed money. To keep all noses pointing in the same direction, namely perpetual growth, especially when there isn't any.

The Liar-in-Chief is far more a religious leader than a political one. You can't have the herd disperse and separate and all its members running off in different direction to go and do their own thing. Nothing to do with Obama specifically either, it's simply in the job description. Taking the job, though, is indeed his own responsibility.

If Obama were a political instead of a faith-based leader, he would take his hands off the US real estate market, and let the market do what it does best: price discovery. Shut down Fannie and Freddie and their ilk, the biggest economic disaster in US history, and sell off their "assets" to the highest bidder. Write down all the losses, let holders of loans and securities take the haircuts they are entitled to, and go on with life. Look at the future instead of being stuck in the past.

There is zero chance that US home prices will ever reach their recent peak again, unless some sort of huge inflation were to take place, and that is obviously not in the cards for many years (if it were, it would have been here already) . So before that happens, other factors will have made sure that home prices are driven down relentlessly. Like, for instance, most Americans, or the ones that have jobs at least, a select group, making the kinds of wages that are current today among burgerflippers in China or Vietnam.

Fannie and Freddie are to a significant extent responsible for the fact that the financial sector has been able to take over and govern US society, including its political sphere. Whenever I say things like this, there are always people that point to all the good the GSEs have done: allowed ordinary people to afford a home etc. But in fact, from the get-go, they have driven up prices by "raising affordability", and that has allowed for the banking sector to get a stranglehold on the US population.

Today this has culminated in a situation where personal debt levels and federal debt levels have reached ridiculous levels. Debts which will never ever be serviced. All that's left is trying to let people continue to believe that they will, until creditors bring down the guillotine. Which they will, simply because there's a profit to be made.

Releasing Fannie and Freddie from their misery would amount to certain election defeat, or so goes the perceived wisdom. So that's not going to happen. We're going to have to wait for the markets to judge that the time has come when profits from wagers are more attractive than hand-outs and bail-outs. At that point, governments and central banks will be exposed as being absolutely powerless to influence anything at all, and least of all interest rates or home prices.

And that is a sad reality. For all of us who don't have seats at the big casino tables in Washington and Brussels and Davos.

It's not like I'm alone in my judgment of Fannie and Freddie, even if that's a small consolation in view of the enormity of the consequences of the decision to let an election victory prevail over the health of an economy. If you ever wonder what kind of person wants a job like POTUS anyway, keep that in mind.

...

26 January 2012: 'Amnesia Day'. WTF happened? People gathered in front of Old Parliament House to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. The peaceful day was suddenly interrupted when someone announced that Tony Abbott was only meters away from the site. (It is important to know that, that very morning, Abbott had made a provocative statement to the press - expressing the opinion that the Embassy should be removed: a statement which, predictably, caused anger among the Embassy crowd). So, upon hearing that Abbott was nearby, a group of people rushed to confront the leader of the Opposition. Within minutes, the crowd had grown and surrounded the glass-walled restaurant, chanting/banging on the windows, disrupting the function (at which PM Julia Gillard also happened to be present). 10 minutes into this rather surreal scenario, Police and Security decided to launch the PM directly from the restaurant into her car - very nearly injuring her - and causing her to lose her shoe. (Commit the memory of that shoe to your minds, dear readers). This sudden event caused the crowd to lose control. Some people attempted to impede the car carrying Abbott & Gillard from leaving; whereupon police reacted with force and threatened the use of batons and pepper-spray, which very nearly escalated the situation. Fortunately, no injuries were incurred.

In the very first reports which came out of the scene news reporters for mainstream channels such as Ten exaggerated the violence of the crowd, depicting the scene as a "riot". Yet, no damage was done to the building; no-one attempted to touch the PM or Mr. Abbott. Whilst exaggerating the level of violence , several early reports failed to mention that the reason for this behaviour was not mere hooliganism, but rather Mr. Abbott's statement regarding the Embassy. By the time that the full picture was reported in later reports, headlines which depicted the PM being assaulted by a violent horde of savage natives and feral hippies had already gone around the world.

Whilst the crowd did not behave in the best way; no-one advocated violence and it was clear that no-one - including the PM or Mr. Abbott - felt physically threatened. The whole thing was turned into a spin story which has no-doubt damaged the image of the peaceful and diplomatic mission of the Aboriginal community and its supporters. Worst of all, it gave hundreds of rednecks - who were not present at the event - a perfect excuse to publicly vent their racist invectives against Aboriginal people all over the country. Embassies are about diplomacy, not violence but diplomacy.

Tent Embassy Extend Invitation To PM To Retrieve Shoe

[VIDEO, The Age - 26/1/12]

Members of the Aboriginal tent embassy have returned Julia Gillard's missing shoe after the prime minister lost it during her flight from a protest on Thursday.

The right-foot blue suede shoe was handed to a security guard just outside the doors of the main entrance at Parliament House on Friday evening.

The shoe was believed to have been transported to Capital Hill by car. ...

by Tracker editor Amy McQuire.

The most striking aspect of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy protests, which sprung onto the media’s radar on Survival Day, was the stark difference between the reports of the events, and the reality.

This week, 2000 people made their way to the tent embassy to camp on the land where four Aboriginal men had helped change the course of Aboriginal political history 40 years prior. On January 26, 1972, Michael Anderson, Billie Craigie, Bertie Williams and Tony Coorie staked their claim on the lawns opposite Old Parliament House, in a historic protest for land rights. Yesterday, Aboriginal people and their non-indigenous supporters came together to celebrate that occasion, and protest against the succeeding decades that brought little change.

The day began with a well-attended protest through the heart of Canberra. Starting at the Australian National University, the rally wound its way through the city, to Parliament House, and back to the Tent Embassy. It was peaceful, but lively, and mirrored the concerns of those four men in 1972. Men, women and children marched peacefully alongside the police escorts, calling for “Land Rights Now”.

By the end of the day, that protest would be forgotten, replaced by images of an “angry mob” that had “trapped” the Prime Minister and opposition leader in a Canberra restaurant.

I was at the tent embassy at the time we heard of Tony Abbott’s comments. Abbott had responded to the 40th anniversary by stating it was time the tent embassy move on:

“I think a lot has changed for the better since then … I think the indigenous people of Australia can be very proud of the respect in which they are held by every Australian … I think it probably is time to move on from that.”

Comments such as that from a man who wants to be prime minister were never going to go down well.
The common sentiment from the embassy was that they were insensitive remarks, and wildly untrue. The fact we were still protesting for land rights 40 years on put the lie to those claims.

There has been much discussion in the media about whether Abbott was misinterpreted, but by saying “moving on” people did interpret that to mean move the tent embassy on, and today many people are still pretty angry at the literal interpretation. For many, it was seen as insensitive because things now are not much better than the 70s (eg. the gap is only getting wider).

When word got around the embassy that Abbott was at a restaurant less than 200 metres away from the camp, people slowly started to trickle over.

The Lobby Restaurant is encased in glass, with the interior easily visible to those outside. While protesters were angry, it’s safe to say the reaction would not have been as emotional had Abbott not made those comments.

But while there was anger, it was far from a “riot”. A riot involves violence and a disturbing of the peace. While it was definitely a loud demonstration, there was no damage. A few smudged fingerprints on the glass of the restaurant was the net result. There were about 1000 protesters around the café when Gillard and Abbott were rushed through their own mob of security guards.

When they did come out, there were few protesters in the firing line. In fact, people such as Michael Anderson, one of the original founding members of the tent embassy, was pushed out of the way and into the stair railing. One of the only Aboriginal protesters near Gillard when she was delivered to her car was a photographer who was unceremoniously pushed away by a policeman.

Similarly, it was the police that made Gillard stumble. There was no protesters around her. People such as Anderson and Tiga Bayles, a prominent indigenous broadcaster, were involved in soothing the crowd and were negotiating with police who had made a line of blue outside the restaurant. There was a call for people to return to the embassy, as the “point had been made”.

The only violence I saw was on behalf of police, who were pushing protesters away. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop media from portraying an angry mob who were bent on terrorising our first female prime minister. Images of Gillard in the arm of her protector made the front page of newspapers around the country, but would it have been such a source of public outrage if she wasn’t a woman?

There was no attempt to hurt Gillard or Abbott. Protesters simply wanted to make clear their concerns about sovereignty, land rights and Aboriginal rights to the mainstream. On that part, they were effective. Would media even be reporting the protests of the tent embassy if this didn’t happen?

Aboriginal people still want to have a national conversation about the issues that affect our communities. Unfortunately, media ignore it, and prefer to listen to the self-appointed Aboriginal leaders such as Warren Mundine, who represent the smallest percentage of Aboriginal opinion. I’m not surprised that he is the Aboriginal leader they have decided to quote, even though he was not present, and did not know the full story.

Today, the tent embassy is also peaceful. Children are playing on the jumping castle, and about 500 people are having a conversation about sovereignty in a tent set up by the organising committee. It is not the angry, riotous place portrayed on your television screens this morning.

If more people came down and saw for themselves, maybe it would be reported more accurately.

 

Tent Embassy Protest With Original Member Tiga Bayles [AUDIO]

Original tent embassy member Tiga Bayles gave Keith and John a protestor's perspective.

Police Performing Special Services:

Queensland Police Media [27/1/12]

Special Services is a user-pays arrangement for events which require police attendance over and above ordinary policing response.

Specials are a part of police management of events which may have public order or safety issues, and the decision to use specials as a part of a policing response is one for local senior officers.

It is totally appropriate that in certain circumstances organisations offset the costs to the Queensland taxpayer during events which require additional resourcing to ensure public safety and order.

The payment of specials does not influence police performance or response. Officers on specials do not take instruction from the organisation that has paid for the specials. The Service manages thousands of protests each year. Our primary role is to ensure the safety of all involved and, where necessary, to carry out law enforcement.

The special services rate is $111.10 per hour per officer for 2009/10. This is based on the average salaried level of a police officer performing specials (Senior Constable paypoint 4), at the overtime rate, plus cost-recovery for oncosts such as payroll tax and other overheads.

The special services rate is adjusted annually based on the change in payrate for Senior Constable paypoint 4.

The Queensland Police Service recovered a total of $31.6 million last financial year. This revenue is based on full-cost recovery for costs incurred by the QPS in performing services for wide-load vehicle escorts, traffic control and at events such as sporting or cultural events and other activities.

The Gold Coast Disaster Coordination Centre is monitoring the ongoing heavy rainfall expected across the city in the next four hours.

Local Disaster Coordinator Warren Day said the ground was already saturated from recent heavy rain this week.

“The Disaster Management Group is monitoring weather conditions and we need to be ready should the predicted intense rain come later this morning,’’ said Mr Day.

“Areas such as Reedy Creek, Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek are of particular interest. As of 7.45am today, there was no need for any localised evacuations but we urge people in low lying areas to ensure they have their disaster kits prepared and an evacuation plan in place.

“For road closures, residents should contact the Traffic Management Centre on 131940 and for school closures, phone Education Queensland on 55 624 888.

“We will be providing regular updates via Council’s Facebook and Twitter.

“Media should contact the Disaster Coordination Centre on 5581 1571.

“For drivers, we are urging motorists to exercise caution. If it’s flooded – forget it.”

For updates, visit Council’s Facebook site at www.facebook.com/goldcoastcity or Twitter at twitter.com/gold_coast_city.

The www.qldalert.com site has all relevant information.

... The First Nations Parliament says it's an organisation which will be re-established as a result of the Tent Embassy 40th anniversary celebrations on Australia Day.

The group says police bundled the prime minister out of the venue, knocking her to the ground in their haste.

They said Aboriginal protesters were assaulted by police.

"We're appalled at the violence we saw today directed against the Prime Minister, and the tactics police employed to try and intimidate members of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, who were peacefully protesting at a family gathering," the groups spokesman Paul Coe said in a statement late on Thursday night.

"The only violence came from police. There was no risk to the Prime Minister of Australia.

"No-one here would have hurt the Prime Minister. Even the opposition leader was safe.

Mr Coe told reporters he was shocked by the behaviour of police.

"We are appalled at the brutal behaviour that the police and the Australian security service handed out to the Prime Minister of Australia that forced her to lose her shoe," he said.

He said the group would return the shoe to her as a gesture of friendship and in the spirit of cooperation.

"We hope she will turn up here tomorrow to accept it in the same spirit," he said.

"We are not a nation of thieves," he added. Mr Coe said the First Nations Parliament would be established within a year.

"We're sending letters out to our lawmen and women asking them to meet with First Nations to convene our parliament and to draft our constitution," he said.

Four Aboriginal men set up the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, opposite Old Parliament House in Canberra, on January 27, 1972, camping underneath a beach umbrella in protest of the McMahon Liberal government's refusal to recognise Aboriginal land rights.

Over the years the issues of sovereignty became central to the embassy's ongoing protest.

Tensions boiled over on Thursday afternoon following comments by Mr Abbott who said that it was time for Tent Embassy to be taken down.

The Privatisation Of Public Profits: Utilities

... Examination of key public utilities which might be natural monopolies has shown that in all cases privatisation and deregulation has led to substantial price increases for consumers and to huge profits for the owners of companies. This privatisation of public profit, which is always promoted in terms of the alleged benefits of the market and the greater opportunities to raise capital for infrastructure investment, has often been accompanied by a decline in service quality. In Britain, despite increased investment in the water infrastructure, there are still very substantial daily leakages from water pipes. In California, the flawed electricity deregulation experiment, far from attracting new investment in power generation, instead brought extortionate wholesale price reises but no additional generating capacity to the state.

A second major implication of the above cases is the extremes to which an amoral company will go in the obsessive pursuit of short-term profit-maximisation, irrespective of the consequences for the wider public interest. Enron's behaviour, both in its fraudulent accounting and in its illegal manipulation of the Californian electricity market, was so extreme as to verge on the suicidal. In New Zealand, Mercury Energy neglected its electricity cables, including the ones which had passed their replacement date, thus undermining its core business and bringing chaos to Auckland's central business district. In Sydney, by following its contract to the letter AWS was complicit in allowing dangerous parasites to pollute the city's water supply. Indeed, privatisation and dergulation offer many opportunities to companies to tender for work at low costs in the short term, with the long-term needs of customers then often neglected. In late 2007, after yet another serieis of large increases in the price of electricity to residential customers, British Energy denounced the extensive, injurious collusion between the six largest suppliers of domestic electricity and the refusal of the reuglator Ofgem to intervene. The companies were so powerful that they were able to manipulate prices at will and to preclude the entry of new entrants to the market.

Another important conclusion of the cases examined here is that, where deregulation and privatisation occur, strong regulatory bodies are needed. It is essential that such bodies are run by people who actually believe in the concept of regulation and exercise regulatory powers accordingly. The crisis in California could have been resolved much earlier had Enron been investigated using subpoena powers in 2000, and had price controls covering western states been introduced much earlier. The key underlying problem was that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was run by people who were constrained by their fundamentalist belief in deregulation. In Britain, OFWAT has extensive powers but very rarely uses them. None of the recent profit-driven takeovers of water companies has been referred to the Competition Commission, while action has only been taken against Thames Water, the worst offender in terms of water leakages, after it had missed its leakage reduction targets every year for six years.

For public policy, one last compelling implication of these critical failures of privatised utilities is to ensure that such privatisation and deregulation does not lead to disasters which then have to be remedied using a combination of stronger re-regulation and public money. This occurred in both the Californian electricity case and Sydney's water crisis, and again demonstrates the flimsiness of the liberal rhetoric which promoted such policies in the first place.

Major Question Marks Over James Price Point:

ACF Media Release [27/1/12]

The Australian Conservation Foundation has called on the proponents of a gas plant on the Kimberley coastline to rethink plans to process Browse Basin gas at James Price Point.

ACF Kimberley officer Wade Freeman said the news that Woodside Petroleum will sell most of its 50 per cent stake in the project after being warned off by many of its investment partners should send a clear signal that the Kimberley coastline is an inappropriate site for such a huge scale industrial project.

"This latest move from Woodside vindicates the view that gas from the Browse Basin fields should be piped to alternative, less environmentally sensitive locations, such as the North West Shelf in the Pilbara," Mr Freeman said.

"The James Price Point gas hub proposal has stoked up so much opposition on so many fronts that many investors are now asking if the project is still viable, or if Woodside has already lost its social licence to proceed.

"Concern about this development has expanded in recent months from a local issue to one that has full national attention.

"The investor community and even Woodside itself now recognises that James Price Point is both environmentally inappropriate and financially unviable option for the Browse Basin gas hub.

"As well as the domestic environmental concerns about this development, investors here and overseas are increasingly sceptical about Woodside’s ability to deliver on the project.

"With Woodside now seeking to offload the lion’s share of its investment in Browse, it is clear the economics of developing a gas hub at James Price Point will simply never stack up.

"Woodside and its partners should take stock and gracefully concede that Browse gas will not be developed at James Price Point."

You can read our investor alerts here:

ACF Investor Alert on James Price Point (April 2011) [PDF]
ACF Investor Alert on James Price Point (September 2011) [PDF]

On January 26, 2012, 8:23 pm A 19-year-old Southport man has been issued with two traffic infringement notices after he was intercepted by police driving on the Gold Coast this afternoon.

It will be alleged that the man was intercepted on Albert Avenue, Broadbeach around 12.40pm and issued with a $300 infringement notice for Drive High Powered Vehicle in Breach of P2 License Exemption.

It will be further alleged that the man was stopped by police in Surf Parade, Broadbeach around 3pm where he was issued with a further $300 infringement notice for the same offence.

Senior police from the Gold Coast are investigating after the man allegedly failed to stop for police after he was seen driving on Waterways Drive, Main Beach around 3.30pm.

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.

In Canberra, in front of Old Parliament House (also known as the Museum of Democracy) is the First Nation’s Tent Embassy, first established in 1972 by four Aboriginal activists who wanted to draw attention to the plight and inequality of indigenous Australians. 2012 is the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Embassy and so a large gathering was organised for this Australia/Invasion day.

The Tent Embassy managed to get a lot of press today (26/1) after a large protest was held that resulted in Australian Federal Police and protective services dragging Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to their ComCars and massively over-reacting to the presence of protesters at the site. But what really happened?

Speaking to Sam Castro, currently at the Tent Embassy, I was able to get a run down of the day’s events.

The morning started with speeches being made at the Tent Embassy on a range of subjects until one person stood up and explained to the crowd that Tony Abbott had remarked to the media that he believed the Tent Embassy was no longer relevant and should be packed up and moved on; information had just come through that Tony Abbott was at The Lobby, a restaurant near the Old Parliament House, and the suggestion was made that the group should go there and ask Abbott to talk to the crowd and explain himself.

A contingent of about 100 protesters made their way up the road to The Lobby and surrounded it. Though they were loud and noisy they were non-violent. Security blocked the protesters from getting close to the restaurant for a while but it didn’t take long for a few protesters to break the line and soon the rest had gotten close up against the restaurant’s walls. As the walls of The Lobby are made of glass the protesters could look in and see Mr Abbott and the others pretending not to hear them and, after about ten or fifteen minutes Julia Gillard’s white jacket was recognised and the protesters realised that she was in there along with Mr Abbott.

The aim of the protest had been to get Mr. Abbott to come out and talk to the crowd – now it wanted to get Ms. Gillard to come out and do the same as well. Yet they continued to ignore the protesters, drink champagne and take photos of one another while their constituents tried to get their attention.

A short time later a contingent of riot police and protective service officers arrived at the restaurant. All up there were about 50 to 60 officers there and protesters watched on as a group of about 20 riot police hurtled past them in V-formation, bursting into the restaurant and then locking themselves inside.

When I spoke to Sam she said that the protesters thought the riot police were arranging to form a sort of guard around the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader so that they could come out and talk to the crowd but, as the rest of the media has shown, the riot police’s real objective was to ‘escort’ the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader to their cars.

As more protesters made their way to the restaurant, the riot police charged out the doors, practically dragging Ms Gillard along, while the onlookers began to shout “where are you going?” and “why won’t you talk to us?” As the cars drove off, some people threw plastic water bottles and water at the cars.

At this point things began to get fairly nasty; one protester was knocked into the rose bushes and one gigantic cop started brandishing a can of tear gas or capsicum spray (reports differ on this point) in people’s faces and shoved Sam, another girl and a female photo-journalist in the head. When Sam told him to calm down he reportedly bared his teeth and grinned so widely his eyes nearly popped out of his head; to many on site it was fairly clear that the officer was barely under control.

Then the police began to link arms to form a line against the protesters and the protesters followed suit, ending up with a Mexican standoff. Some of the indigenous Elders called for the protesters to return to the Tent Embassy but a female Elder began a non-violent sit-down protest in the road just down from the café and soon a line of indigenous women, female Elders and non-indigenous women had been formed across the road.

The women declared that they were not going to be intimidated by the police and that they would not move until the police stood down. While some of the other protesters returned to the Tent Embassy, a large group (including some of the Occupy Melbourne contingent) remained to watch on and support their fellow activists until the police eventually gave in and stood down.

As the remaining protesters made their way back to the Tent Embassy they were greeted by applause and the female protesters went through a cleansing smoke ceremony. ...

On the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, ANTaR urges consideration of a more inclusive national holiday.

“As we finally seek to address our Constitutional silence regarding the prior occupation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, we should also reflect on the symbolism of our national day,” said ANTaR National Director, Jacqueline Phillips.

“January 26 is regarded by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Invasion or Survival Day, in recognition of their experience of dispossession and colonisation.”

On January 26, a British naval officer, Arthur Phillip, raised the Union Jack over Sydney without the consent of the First Peoples. This began the British occupation of the land we now know as Australia.

“Until we choose a more appropriate national holiday, our aspiration for a modern, reconciled nation will be difficult to realise.”

ANTaR has sent a message of support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples gathering for the Corroboree for Sovereignty at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra from today.

“It is no coincidence that the Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established 40 years ago today, as a protest against the failure of governments to recognise the continuing sovereignty of Australia’s First Peoples.”

“Forty years on, the Tent Embassy remains a powerful symbol of the Aboriginal struggle for equality, rights, recognition and sovereignty.”

“It is a reminder of how far we have come, but also how far we have to go to secure a truly equal place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this country.”

“As Australians reflect on this national holiday, it is worth remembering that we lag behind our peers in failing to recognise Australia’s First Peoples and their struggle for civil rights in our holiday calendar.”

“Across the Tasman, New Zealand celebrates the historic signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the Maori and British colonisers on its national holiday. In the United States, civil rights leader Martin Luther King is honoured by a national holiday every year.”

Don’t Stop The Boats – Stop The Need For Boats. The Alternative: Resettlement

“Today resettlement is offered to less than one percent of the world’s refugees, between 1912 and 1969, nearly 50 million Europeans sought refuge abroad and all of them were resettled. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Australia resettled over 100 000 Indo-Chinese refugees from Southeast Asia under the Fraser Government. In the past, the world has demonstrated that, where there is the political will, vast numbers of people in need can be accommodated.”

The difference here historically is that Australia actively resettled, processed and safely harboured European and Indo-Chinese refugees so they did not need to embark on perilous journeys here. If we increased or at the very least provided the option of resettlement in the countries that people are fleeing from like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq – which we don’t – they would no longer need to embark on a dangerous boat journey to come here. Statistically speaking, “whilst there were 2567 asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia at the end of 2009, Australia resettled only 33 in 2005, 30 in 2006, 86 in 2007, 35 in 2008 and 29 in 2009.”¹ Thus, leaving people with no other choice than to get on a boat.

This correlates with the myth that asylum seekers are coming to Australia because we ‘are a soft touch’ on asylum seekers – historical trends indicate that the truth could not be more contrary.

The introduction of TPVs under the Howard government was one of the most brutal and inhumane policies to ever be inflicted on asylum seekers. During this time though there was a huge spike in the number of children (and their mothers) on boats as they precluded family reunions. Boatphobes often ask “why is it always single men on the boats” – it was because they didn’t want to risk the lives of their families, and TPVs meant they had to if they wanted to get them out. This is an example of a ‘harsh’ government policy that only resulted in exacerbating the influx of people.

Between the end of the South Vietnamese refugee peak period subsequent to the end of the Vietnam War, and the introduction of mandatory detention of asylum seekers, there was never more than 300 people arriving by boat in any given year (1981-1992). So people weren’t coming even though Australia didn’t have desert prison camps, TPVs and Nauru. It was seven years after the introduction of mandatory detention that numbers cracked 1000 for the first time since 1975. Why? In 1996 the Taliban took Kabul. Three years later, relatively large numbers of Afghans were trying to make it to Australia. The fact that almost 100% of Afghan boat arrivals in that year (1999 – similar rates in 2000 and 2001) were granted asylum suggest that the PUSH factor was far greater than any pull.

2006-2009 fighting in Sri Lanka and the defeat of the LTTE saw a similar response in terms of Tamils trying to reach Australia. People fleeing Iran after the crackdown on the ‘Green Movement’, people fleeing Iraq has increased since the 2003 invasion. People fleeing Burma since the crackdown on the Saffron Revolution. It’s more painting by numbers than it is rocket science. But of course, it is politically convenient to ignore push factors.

On Australia Day 2006 I met three sisters from Afghanistan aged 20, 23 and 24. They were getting their citizenship. They had first applied for asylum in Australia seven years earlier – in 1999, and had waited four years to get out and to get here. Now if three orphaned girls aged 13, 16 and 17 had to wait four years to get out of Afghanistan when the Taliban controlled 90% of the country – you have to ask what is going on with the so-called “proper channels”.

Now in 2011 numbers were down by almost half from 2010. What is more interesting is that while our max cap is 13,750 a year – fewer than 9000 people applied for asylum in Aus in 2011 in total. So where’s the queue? If Australia is such a soft touch, where’s the flood? If there’s such a gap, why aren’t there more boats than there have been? If there’s usually a gap, why do people like those three sisters have to wait several years to get through the system?

If one really wants to get boat arrivals down to 1980s levels (when there was no mandatory detention, let alone TPVs or Pacific prison camps), then you’d do something about the fact people with glaringly obvious claims to asylum have to wait four years to get through the system. The answer is offer resettlement - facilitate peoples journey here.

¹Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (http://www.asrc.org.au/media/documents/myths-facts-solutions-info-apr-2011.pdf)

A woman makes sampian, an offering made from palm leaf shaped lanterns for the celebration of Galungan in Mengwi, Badung, on Tuesday. Materials for such offerings are sold for Rp 6000 (66 US cents) to Rp 50,000 ahead of Galungan, the celebration of the victory of dharma or truth over adharma or evil, on Feb. 1. (Jakarta Post/Agung Parameswara)

 

How To Make A Paper Lantern

 

No Fracking Way! [Submedia TV - VIDEO]

Includes Franklin Lopez's interview with Innes Larkin, Keep The Scenic Rim Scenic

Queensland Police Media [25/1/12]

Police are appealing for public assistance after a 93-year-old woman was knocked to the ground and her walking aid stolen during an early morning theft at Vincent.

Around 5.15am the woman was walking along Dimmock Street when someone grabbed her from behind causing her to fall to the ground. Her walking frame, which contained her purse, was stolen.

A nearby resident spotted the woman crawling along the gutter and went to her aid. She was transported toTownsville General Hospital for treatment to bruises and abrasions on her arms and legs.

The walking frame was located a short time later in a park in Burrell Lane, with the purse missing.

Local detectives are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident or saw anyone acting suspiciously in vicinity of the Caltex Service Station, which the woman was walking back from, or the general area, to contact Crime Stoppers or their local police station.

The woman has been released from hospital.

Lamenting the lack of progress in recent years within the world’s sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged its members to break the existing impasse and move the agenda forward.

“I urge you to seize this moment, when the world is focused intently on advancing disarmament goals,” Mr. Ban said in a message to the opening of the Conference on Disarmament, read out on his behalf by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG).

“I appeal to you to support the immediate commencement of negotiations in the Conference on agreed disarmament issues,” he added.

“Prior agreement on their scope or final outcomes should not be a precondition for the start of negotiations, or an excuse to avoid them. Prior agreement on their scope or final outcomes should not be a precondition for the start of negotiations, or an excuse to avoid them.

“The tide of disarmament is rising, yet the Conference on Disarmament is in danger of sinking.”

Established in 1979 as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, the CD – as the Conference is known – primarily focuses on cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament, prevention of nuclear war, and prevention of an arms race in outer space, among other things.

It has been plagued in recent years by an inability to overcome differences among its members and start its substantive work towards advancing disarmament goals.

Mr. Ban reminded members that the CD and its predecessors have had some impressive accomplishments, including work on the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

“Many of these were achieved during the Cold War, proving that it is possible to create global legal norms even in times of great political disagreements,” he noted.

“Yet today, this distinguished body is no longer living up to expectations,” Mr. Ban said, adding that the last occasion on which the Conference fulfilled the negotiating role given to it by the General Assembly was in 1996, when the CTBT emerged from an intensive three-year process.

“The future of the Conference is in the hands of its member States. But I can not stand by and watch it decline into irrelevancy, as States consider other negotiating arenas,” said the Secretary-General.

“Let us restore the Conference to the central role it can and must play in strengthening the rule of law in the field of disarmament. It is our shared responsibility to make the Conference work, not only for us but for future generations.”

The Gold Coast Disaster Coordination Centre has been activated to monitor the ongoing heavy rainfall across the city.

Local Disaster Coordinator Warren Day said activating the centre was a precaution and would enable coordinated response should any localised evacuations be required.

“The Disaster Management Group is currently monitoring weather conditions and we need to be ready should the predicted storm for later today dump further heavy rain across the city,” said Mr Day.

“Areas such as Coombabah Lakes Caravan Park and Loders Creek at Southport are being monitored, and while localised evacuations are not yet required, we are closely monitoring weather conditions.

“For road closures, residents should contact the Traffic Management Centre on 131940 and for school closures, phone Education Queensland on 55 624 888.

“We will be providing regular updates via Twitter and Facebook, including audio grabs. Media should contact the Disaster Coordination Centre on 5581 1583 and 5581 1571.

“For drivers, we are urging motorists to exercise caution. If you don’t have to drive - don’t, and if it’s flooded – forget it!”

For updates, visit Council’s Facebook site at www.facebook.com/goldcoastcity or Twitter at twitter.com/gold_coast_city.

With further rain overnight and this morning, Gold Coast City Council has been forced to close more roads across the region.

Closed Roads (Updated):

Days Rd, Coomera
Goldmine Rd, Ormeau
Hotham Creek Rd (Culvert sth of Fernhill Dr P326 – A9), Willowvale
Old Coach Rd, Coomera
Pimpama-Jacobs Well Rd (Near WRX Track), Pimpama
Rix Dve - cnr Godden Dve, Upper Coomera
Stanmore Rd (Causeway P304 – K3), Yatala
Yawalpa Rd, Pimpama
Zipfs Rd, Alberton
Reserve Road near Harts Road, Upper Coomera
Siganto Dr, Helensvale
Billiau Road, Guanaba
Birds Rd, Guanaba
Clargiraba Rd (Coomera River Causeway), Clagiraba
Hertiage Dr, Clagiraba
Piggotts Road, Guanaba
Tarata Rd, Guanaba
Chisholm Rd, Carrara
Berrigans Rd, Mudgeeraba
Gunsynd Dr, Mudgeeraba
Hardys Rd, Bonogin
Somerset Dr, Mudgeeraba
Highfield Dr, Merrimac
Araluen Rd, Tallebudgera Valley
Currumbin Ck Rd (Dolans Crossing), Currumbin Valley
Daltons Rd, Tallebudgera Valley
Mount Cougal Rd, Tallebudgera Valley
Tallebudgera Ck Rd (Past Dickfos Rd), Tallebudgera Valley
Trees Rd, Tallebudgera

Drivers are urged to take caution in the wet weather and under no circumstances should they drive through flooded causeways or roads.

Further updates will be provided on road closures as they become available.

Coomera River Rising At Oxenford On The Gold Coast

Image: Seven News Facebook [25/1/12]

Severe Weather Continues In Queensland

Stay Home!

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for heavy rain for people in parts of the Southeast Coast district and parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett and Darling Downs and Granite Belt districts.

An upper trough extends over the southern interior of Queensland and is forecast to move slowly west tonight and on Thursday.

Moist north-easterly winds currently extend into southeast Queensland and are forecast to begin easing later today.

Heavy rain which may lead to flash flooding is expected over areas southeast of about Bundaberg to Goondiwindi, particularly about the coast and adjacent inland areas south of Gympie.

Locations which may be affected include Gympie, Toowoomba, the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Ipswich, the Gold Coast and Warwick.

At 4:30am AEST, the heaviest rain was located on radar over the Gold Coast and inland to the southern border ranges east of Wilsons Peak with the highest hourly totals between 20-30mm.

Rain and local thunderstorms are also expected in the central and northern areas of the state including:

Capricornia District: Scattered showers, tending to rain areas with local thunder, mainly during the afternoon and evening. Moderate to locally heavy falls possible. Light to moderate N to NE winds.

Central Coast and Whitsundays: Scattered showers and rain areas with local thunder. Moderate falls, locally heavy in thunderstorms. Mostly light NW to NE winds.

Herbert and Lower Burdekin: Scattered showers, rain areas and isolated thunderstorms. Moderate to heavy falls. Light to moderate NW to NE winds.

The following locations have recorded significant rainfalls since 9am Tuesday: Sugarbag Road 280mm, Meridan Way 264mm, Ewen Maddock Dam 253mm, Lower and Upper Springbrook 250mm, Bracken Ridge 236mm, Deception Bay 232mm, Parrearra Weir 219mm and Redcliffe 213mm.

The following Watches/Warnings are current:

Flood warning for Bungil Creek
Flood warning for coastal rivers and streams from Rainbow Beach to the NSW border and adjacent inland catchments
Flood warning for the Albert River
Flood warning for the Flinders River
Flood warning for the Maroochy and Mooloolah rivers and Coochin Creek
Flood warning for the upper Mary River
Flood warning for the Warrego River
Flood warning for the western Queensland Rivers

Other flood information includes:

Wide Bay: Minor flooding continues at Dr May's Crossing on the Elliott River.
Barron River catchment: Minor flood levels have been recorded along Clohesy River at Bolton Road.

Emergency Management Queensland advises that people should avoid driving, walking or riding through flood waters and keep clear of creeks and storm drains.

For emergency assistance contact the SES on 132 500.

Road information:

Police would like advise the following local roads have been affected by localised flooding or traffic hazzards such as debris.

Brisbane North / Moreton Bay Regional Council Area - Sandgate and Breakfast Creek roads, Albion - Kingsford Smith Drive, Albion - Kangaroo Gully Road, Anstead - Bowman Parade and Cecil Road, Bardon - Abbotsford Road, Bowen Hills - Edmondstone Road, Bowen Hills - Beams Road, Boondall - Muller Road, Boondall - Groth Road and Zillmere Road, Boondall - Kremzow Road, Brendale - Countess Street, Brisbane City - Rafting Ground Road, Brookfield - Boscombe Road, Brookfield - Lancing Road, Brookfield - Green Trees Avenue, Brookfield - Gympie Road, Carseldine - Halls Road, Cedar Creek - Widdop Street, Clayfield - Dohles Rocks Road, Griffin - Henry Road, Griffin - Gap Creek Road, Kenmore Hills & The Gap - Paradise Road, Larrapinta - Leis Parade, Lawnton - Anzac Avenue, Mango Hill - Dohles Rocks Road, Murrumba Downs - Wagner Road, Murrumba Downs - Sandgate Road, Nundah - Widdop Street, Nundah & Clayfield - Youngs Crossing Road, Petrie / Joyner - Grandview Road, Pullenvale - Lancing Road, Pullenvale - Pinjarra Road, Pullenvale - Anzac Avenue, Rothwell - Bells Pocket Road, Strathpine - Lawnton Pocket Road, Strathpine - Mott Street, Strathpine - Edinburgh Castle Road, Wavell Heights - Northey Street and Victoria Terrace, Windsor - Zillmere Road, Zillmere

Brisbane South - Epala Street, Carina - Preston Road, Carina - Railway Street, Darra - Illaweena Street, Drewvale - Petrie Street, Dunwich - Goodna Road, Greenbank - Paradise Road, Larapinta - Mount Cotton Road, Mount Cotton / Sheldon - Hope Street, Norman Park - Serpentine Creek Road, Redland Bay - Marshall Road, Rocklea -Avalon Road, Sheldon - Judanne Court, Thornlands - Wilga Street, Wacol South East corner (Logan and Gold Coast Districts) - The upper reaches of the Albert River is sending a large volume of water downstream and likely to affect the following areas of Cedar Creek, Woolfdene and Wondaroo. - Beaudesert-Nerang Road at Biddadabba Creek Road, Biddadabba. - George Street and Bourndary Street, Beenleigh - Biddaddaba Creek Rd, Beaudesert - Nerang - Beaudesert Rd, Beaudesert - Coburg Road Canungra - Cedar Grove Road, Cedar Grove - Cedar Pocket Road, Cedar Grove - Days Road, Coomera - Foxwell Road, Coomera - Fryar Road, Eagleby - Upper Ormeau Road, Kingsholme - Goldmine Road, Ormeau - Tamarind Street, Marsden - Princess Street, Marsden - Kurrajong Dr, Marsden - Birds Road, Maudsland - The narrow bridge on Guanaba Creek Rd, Maudsland - Gold Course Road, Mount Tamborine - Sommerset Drive, Mudgeeraba - Springbrook Road , Mudgeeraba - Hardys Road, Mudgeeraba - Gunsynd Dr, Mudgeeraba - Mundoolan Road, Mundoolan - Millstream Rd and the Mount Lindesay Highway is flooded - Mount Tamborine Road, North Tamborine - Tamborine-Oxenford Road, Oxenford (John Muntz Causeway) - Stoney Camp Road, Park Ridge - Shailer Rd near the old on ramp south-bound to the Pacific Mwy, Shailer Park - Beenleigh-Beaudesert Road, Wolffdene / Luscombe
South West Queensland - Warrego Highway closed approximately 10km east of Roma. - Carnarvon Highway closed south of Injune and approximately 50km north of Roma. - Mitchell Highway at Yo Yo Creek between Charleville and Augathella.

Police are advising the community to avoid flooded roads, creeks and watercourses and members of the public are also reminded that road closures and road conditions can change rapidly as creeks and water courses can rise and fall quickly.

Police would like to remind motorists and members of the public of the hazardous and unpredictable nature of flood waters and the dangers associated with storm debris and road washouts.

Police urge everyone to obey road closure signs and to travel with extreme caution, limiting non essential travel in flood affected areas where possible. Parents are also reminded to ensure their children are not playing in flood prone waterways, watercourses and drains as water levels can rise quickly.

Members of the public should monitor local radio stations, their local council and organisations, such as the Traffic and Travel information site www.131940.qld.gov.au or call 13 19 40 for information on localised flooding and road closures.

Long Term Afghan Asylum Seekers Stage Mass Hunger Strike At Pontville, Three Hospitalised

Frustrations over the Immigration department’s reneging on promises of community detention and bridging visas for long term detainees have spilled over to the Pontville detention centre in Tasmania.

Around 150, more than half of the Afghan asylum seekers at Pontville detention centre, are now involved in a hunger strike. The asylum seekers have been in detention between 15 and 33 months.

“We have been a long time in detention with no result,” one Pontville asylum seeker told the Refugee Action Coalition on Monday night.

“Immigration told us that we would get community detention and bridging visa to get us out, but there is nothing. We have been waiting too long.”

A smaller group of around 34 have been on hunger strike for seven days. So far, at least three of them have been hospitalised.

In the last two days, the hunger strike has been joined by over 100 other Hazara asylum seekers.

The Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) has been told that even more asylum seekers could join the hunger strike.

“The government has reneged everywhere on its promise to release detainees on bridging visas or community detention. The announcement was a cruel hoax,” said RAC spokesperson, Ian Rintoul.

“There is nothing like 100 visas a month being issued and tensions are growing in all the detention centres.

“Darwin asylum seekers have been told there will be 30 visas by the end of the month, but so far there is no sign of that either. The Minister’s lies are coming back to bite him. The Pontville protest may just be the beginning. It is a disgrace that he can raise hopes and then smash them in this way. It is a form of mental torture. If there is a bigger wave of protests, the responsibility will be at the Minister’s feet.

“We are coming up to the anniversary of the protests on Christmas Island, you would think the Minister might have learned his lesson. The vast majority of detainees have indicated friends and relatives that are willing to assist them to live in the community. The only thing that is missing is the Minister’s willingness to act.”

The percentage of long-term unemployed (people unemployed for one year or more) was 19% in July 2011 compared to 18% in July 2010 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Of these, around 83,000 (or three quarters of long-term unemployed people) were looking for full-time work in July 2011.

For long-term unemployed people the most common difficulties in finding a job were 'own health or disability' (17%), 'lacked necessary skills or education' (13%), followed by 'too many applicants for available jobs' (11%).

The majority of unemployed people, (81%) were unemployed for less than one year (short-term unemployed), with over a quarter of these (26%) having been unemployed for less than four weeks.

Of the short-term unemployed people, 13% reported that they had no difficulties in finding another job. For unemployed people aged 15 to 24 years, the main difficulty in finding work was 'insufficient work experience' (17%), while for those aged 45 years and over it was 'considered too old by employers' (18%).

Of all unemployed people, 20% had never worked before and 21% had worked previously, but not in the last two years. Four out of five unemployed people (80%) had not received any offers of employment in the current period of unemployment.

Minister Flies Out To Shore Up New Live Export Rules

As reported in today's article from Sydney Morning Herald, Minister for Agriculture, Joe Ludwig, is traveling this week to the Middle East to discuss animal welfare standards with regards to live exports.

The trip comes following the Minister’s imposed deadline of 1 March to enact new animal welfare guidelines and “supply chain assurances.”

Live export companies have been crying out against these new guidelines, predicting that the new framework will result in decreased shipments for 2012.

A recent article in Meat Trade News daily even wondered if this could be signaling a dismal future for the industry, asking “Are live exports coming to an end?”

The fact is, demand for live exports is rapidly decreasing, and Australians have come to realise the impact that this inhumane practice has on animals. While WSPA salutes Minister Ludwig’s efforts towards animal welfare, we question the time and effort being spent on so-called improvements that the industry is not getting behind.

The Minister could instead focus on supporting our processing sector in Australia, which supports manufacturing jobs in rural and regional areas. The economic advantages are irrefutable - a sheep processed in Australia is worth 20% more than one processed overseas.

Thousands of sheep die each year on board live export vessels from starvation and disease. We are killing animals and leaking money. The Minister needs to re-focus on the chilled meat trade, which is better for Australia and better for the sheep and cattle.

Press Release: National Traditional Country Music Association Prepared by Bob Phillips, Public Relations Director, National Traditional Country Music Association, Inc.
www.ntcma.net

LeMars, Iowa - As 'Occupy' occupiers gather in America, the music of Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie ultimately fill the air wherever they are camped out. Many of them celebrate the music of Guthrie. Dylan, in particular, is releasing "Chimes of Freedom" a 4-CD tribute honoring the 50-year existence of 'Amnesty International.' Rest assured this will be followed by a massive Guthrie 'new music releases' and celebration, especially since 2012 is his 100th birthday.

Why would Iowa be a focal point of Guthrie's birthday? In 1980 and 1981, Woody's widow, Marjorie Guthrie, came to Iowa for a couple of reasons. One, to accept Woody's induction into 'America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame,' and secondly, to support the work and music of another Moses Asch recording artist, Bob Everhart, who makes his home in Iowa. She brought with her an old guitar she said Woody often played on, but certainly not the guitar that boldly proclaimed "This Machine Kills Facists." The guitar she brought is proudly displayed in the Pioneer Music Museum, along with a bountiful display of Guthrie's works. Marjorie spoke often of her solid relationship with Woody, how they called themselves "World Shakers and World Changers," and indeed they did just that. She came to a festival promoted by Bob Everhart called the "National Old Time Country, Bluegrass, & Folk Music Festival and Pioneer Exposition of America's Rural Lifestyle." It was the name of the event, as much as Everhart's work with Moses Asch, that prompted her to become involved. She later had Everhart as a special guest at the Woody Guthrie Music Festival in Oklahoma City.

Known as the "Dust Bowl Troubadour" Woody witnessed the destruction a natural disaster could do to his birth state, Oklahoma. "So Long It's Been Good To Know Ya" he sang (or at least thought) as his family struggled through the hard times. He rode boxcars all the way to California, and reminded us all "Going Down This Road Feeling Bad" was a national experience as well as a personal one. He rarely had a decent place to sleep, much less eat healthy food. He was a self-proclaimed conservative, and though accused of being a communist, he never was. His songs created folk radio, and his persona created Bob Dylan. In today's political world he is more relevant than ever, so a celebration of his birth, especially in Iowa, speaks highly of his influence, in the past, and today. ...

Gold Coast City Council meetings will now be streamed live on the internet to provide greater community access to Council decisions.

Mayor Ron Clarke said the move would enable the public to have access to decisions and debates without having to leave their homes or offices.

“If the community wants to know what Council is considering and what the outcomes of decisions are, they now don’t have to get in their cars, come to the meetings and sit for hours in the public gallery,” said Cr Clarke.

“Most people these days are so busy that even if someone is interested in an issue, they often don’t have the time to attend Council meetings.

“With a Budget process that’s open to the public, I have always said this Council is one of the most transparent in the country and live-streaming is another step towards greater public engagement in the local government process.

“Often the community only hears about a decision through the media and don’t get the benefit of context by watching the actual discussion - incorporating the differing points of view of various councillors. Live-streaming offers real time access to decisions wherever you are and for those actively interested in city affairs, this will be a very useful tool.”

Live-streaming of meetings includes audio and video and requires the Flash Player program for PC or Mac, which can be downloaded free from the Internet. Live-streaming will commence next Monday (30/1) for the first Council meeting for 2012. The cost of providing live-streaming is $1800 per month.

To access live-streaming, visit goldcoastcity.com.au and click on the link on the homepage.

2 February each year is World Wetlands Day. This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat has provided materials so that government agencies, non-governmental organizations, conservation organizations, and groups of citizens can help raise public awareness about the importance and value of wetlands.

"Wetlands, leisure and tourism – take a breath of fresh air"

With their natural beauty and biodiversity wetlands make ideal locations for tourism. The income can be significant and support livelihoods locally and nationally. Wetlands provide other ‘services’ , too, such as water, food, water purification, erosion control ,etc., for the benefit of tourists and tourist accommodation. The income generated by tourism for national and local economies in and around wetlands can be substantial: the Broads in the UK supports the equivalent of 3,000 full-time jobs; over 1.6 million people visit the Great Barrier Reef every year, generating an income of over 1 billion AUS$. But - unsustainable tourism may bring short-term benefits but long-term losses to wetland health, compromising ecosystem services and sometimes local livelihoods. ...

More On Latest Brisbane River Oil Spill

Up to five pelicans are believed to have been affected by an oil spill in the Brisbane River that has spread upstream to Breakfast Creek.

Five tonnes of fuel oil leaked into the river at about 6.45am (AEST) on Monday as a livestock carrier was being refuelled at Hamilton wharves.

Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) said about five pelicans covered in oil have been spotted but it's believed only one has so far been rescued.

MSQ acting general manager Jim Huggett said it would take several days for the oil to be cleaned up.

"The incoming tide carried some oil sheen upstream as far as Breakfast Creek but as the tide turns our aim is to prevent oil affecting areas downstream such as environmentally sensitive mangroves," Mr Huggett said.

Containment booms are in place to stop the oil from reaching the mangroves, he said.

"An oil skimmer vessel is sucking up oil from the water and trucks with vacuum hoses are pumping oil directly from the spill site to wharfside," Mr Huggett said.

The clean-up is expected to be called off on Monday night and to restart early on Tuesday morning.

MSQ has begun an investigation into the cause of the spill.

The cargo ship GL Lan Xiu was being refuelled by the Valliant III at Hamilton Number 4 Wharf when the spill occurred.

About 2000 head of cattle, which were due to be loaded on board the GL Lan Xiu, remain on shore, MSQ said.

Brisbane Oil Spill At King Tide A Tragedy For Moreton Bay And Estuarine Wildlife: Greens Media Release [23/1/12]

The Queensland Greens say that the refuelling accident at Hamilton Wharves on the Brisbane River this morning is not just inconvenient for commuters and river traffic but probably lethal for a range of wildlife.

"Although the king tide was pushing against the rivermouth this morning, when the tide turns it will be extremely low and the worry is that the oil will spread north and south into Moreton Bay," Queensland Greens state spokesperson Libby Connors said today.

"I am worried about its effects on sea birds and marine life especially near the river mouth.

"Luggage Point is an important bird resting site and the Boondall wetlands are a protected Ramsar site.

"This not a minor spill and the effect on riverine and bay habitats will be awful.

"We need several answers from government ministers.

"Vicky Darling needs to explain what effect the spill will have on international environmental commitments to protect Ramsar sites.

"Craig Wallace as the minister responsible for marine infrastructure needs to tell the people of Queensland whether recommendations from past oil spill inquiries have been fully enacted.

"There has been a lack of preparedness by authorities in the past - sadly oil and shipping mishaps are becoming all too frequent in Queensland waters and are likely to increase given the massive port expansions in train.

"It is less than three years since Moreton Bay had to cope with the Pacific Adventurer spill followed by the Shen Neng in 2010.

"The government needs to restore our confidence in maritime services' ability to prevent these serious environmental disasters in our fisheries and marine habitats."

"The government needs to restore our confidence in maritime services' ability to prevent these serious environmental disasters in our fisheries and marine habitats."

Cyclonic winds, reaching gusts up to 170kph lashed Hughenden overnight, causing seven houses to lose their roofs and a further eight to lose sheeting.

The severe system has been described by the Bureau of Meteorology as a ``freak storm'' with further rain and storms expected trhoughout the week.

In Hughenden, about 35mm of rain fell within 10 minutes just after 8pm on Sunday, with a further 20mm falling within half an hour. There was a total of 77mm throughout the night, with the fiercest part of the storm over within three quarters of an hour.

Bureau forecaster Lauren Murphy said while Sunday night's flash flooding and damaging winds should not repeat itself, there was a monsoonal trough in Cape York peninsula, which was expected to drift south throughout the week, bringing heavier showers and storms to the Flinders region by Thursday.

``The monsoonal trough should have reached Georgetown by Wednesday and will keep drifting south,'' Ms Murphy said.

``From today there will be scattered showers and rain in the Flinders area, tending to rain and isolated thunderstorms, more frequent in the afternoon.

``There shouldn't be any freak storms again but more sustained and widespread showers.''

The Bureau has forecast that between 50-150mm of rain could fall between Wednesday and Sunday.

Emergency workers were in full force in Hughenden throuhgout Sunday night and managed to restore power to the majority of the township by midnight. They also managed to cover most of the damaged houses with tarps.

The outskirts of the town, including Prairie and Torrens Creek, were still without power on Monday at midday, with it expected to be returned by the afternoon.

The Flinders Shire Local Disaster Management Group met at 10am on Monday to discuss the recovery. This included members of the SES, EMQ, QPS, QFRS, as well as Council Mayor Brendan McNamara and CEO, Stephen McCartney. Ergon Energy also communicated an update to Council. Mr McCartney had been out from 8.30pm on Sunday night surveying the damage.

The main issue for Council was ensuring there was no fruther water damage to the uncovered houses, as well as ensuring two powerlines, one at the airport and the other on the eastern side of Mowbray Street, were manned to protect the community and sight-seers. There were also a large number of trees uprooted throughout the town, which needed to be cleared.

``There have been clean-ups of the obvious areas, including the school grounds with the first day back at school today,'' he said.

``We have started rubbish pick-ups from the footpaths and we will continue theses for the next two weeks.

``We will continue to put updates, including road closures on the Council website, Facebook page (Hughenden Connect), community noticeboard and will communicate with the media.''

There has only been a minor increase in the flow of the Flinders River at this point. The Shovel Creek crossing, between Charters Towers and Hughenden, had opened to 4WDs just after midday. By 1:30pm it had opened to all vehicles in both directions.

Residents are urged to contact Council on 47412900 if they have any issues.

Australia Day Flag Drivers More Racist: UWA

People who fly Australian flags on their cars in the leadup to Australia Day express more racist attitudes than others without flags, University of Western Australia research has found.

UWA sociologist and anthropologist Farida Fozdar and a team of assistants surveyed 513 people at last year’s Australia Day Skyworks extravaganza on Perth’s Swan River foreshore.

One in five fireworks fans said they had attached flags to their cars to celebrate Australia Day.

WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY

Professor Fozdar said 43 per cent of people with car flags believed the long-abandoned White Australia Policy had saved Australia from many problems experienced by other countries.

Only 25 per cent of Skyworks goers who did not adorn their cars with flags thought the same way.

A total of 56 per cent of people with car flags feared their culture and its most important values were in danger, compared with 34 per cent of non-flaggers.

And 35 per cent of flaggers felt that people had to be born in Australia to be truly Australian, while 23 per cent believed true Australians had to be Christian.

This compared with 22 per cent and 18 per cent respectively for non-flaggers.

MINORITY GROUPS

Professor Fozdar said there were clear differences in how people with car flags felt toward minority groups.

Only 39 per cent of flaggers expressed a positive view toward Aboriginal people compared with 47 per cent of non-flaggers.

And 19 per cent of flaggers felt positive towards Muslim Australians compared to 26 per cent of non-flaggers.

Just seven per cent of flaggers were positive towards asylum seekers compared to 24 per cent of non-flaggers.

And 27 per cent with flags felt positive towards Asian Australians compared to 48 per cent of non-flaggers.

Three survey questions sought views on Australian cultural diversity: 64 per cent of people with car flags agreed that it was good for people from different ethnic, religious and racial groups to live in Australia, compared to 75 per cent of non-flaggers.

AUSTRALIAN VALUES

An overwhelming 91 per cent of people with car flags agreed that people who move to Australia should adopt Australian values, compared to 76 per cent of non-flaggers.

A total of 55 per cent of flaggers believed migrants should leave their old ways behind, compared with 30 per cent of non-flaggers.

However, majorities of both groups - 60 per cent of flaggers and 73 per cent of non-flaggers - also felt it was best to respect and learn from each other’s cultural differences.

Professor Fozdar said there was no clear link between flag flying and education, gender, ethnicity, citizenship, voting pattern or income.

However, her survey showed a slightly higher likelihood of younger rather than older people adopting the practice.

NATIONALISM

In terms of nationalism, 88 per cent of those with Australian flags on their cars said they thought it showed they were proud to be Australian, while only 52 per cent of those without flags thought so.

Some thought the increased popularity of flying Australian car flags was due to increased patriotism.

Others said it was simply peer pressure to follow the trend or avoid seeming unpatriotic.

Many said the phenomenon was caused by marketing and the cheap availability of car flags.

Others thought it was a response to loss of culture due to multiculturalism, immigration, invasion and terrorism.

“What I found interesting is that many people didn’t really have much to say about why they chose to fly car flags or not,” Professor Fozdar said.

“Many felt strongly patriotic about it - and for some, this was quite a racist or exclusionary type of patriotism - but it wasn’t a particularly conscious thing for many.

“Very clear statistical differences in attitudes to diversity between those who fly car flags and those who don’t show that flag waving - while not inherently exclusionary – is linked in this instance to negative attitudes about those who do not fit the ‘mainstream’ stereotype.”

Fewer people - one in five - reported flying Australian flags from their cars in 2011 compared to 2010 when it was one in four.

Auckland Police Probe After Occupy Arrests

Three police officers are being investigated for wearing matching identification numbers while helping Auckland Council evict Occupy protesters today.

Protesters claim up to four officers in Aotea Square were wearing the same badge number - Z557 - while police shut down Occupy camps this morning.

Photographic evidence partially backs those claims, with one photograph showing two officers wearing the same number.

Police this evening released a statement confirming the officers were now "subject to an employment investigation" over the incident.

It is police policy for each officer to wear their own identification number.

"An employment procedure has commenced into this breach of policy," Inspector Gary Allcock said.

Police, security guards and council staff today moved to shut down the Occupy camps across Auckland, leading to the arrest of three protesters and frequent scuffles and standoffs between the parties.

Protester Merlin Blackmore, who today claimed four officers were wearing the same number, claims the identical numbers are being used to allow police to act with impunity.

"The police are supposed to have an identification number so you can identify them if they're being naughty.

"That's like having two people with the same driver's licence or passport... One of them was one of the people who was being physically quite brutal whilst arresting a protester and yanking them out of the van."

Blackmore believed police could use this tactic to deny complaints, saying the officer could not be identified.

However, the break-up of the protest and subsequent arrests were carried out in front of a large media contingent and members of the public.

It is not yet known why the officers were wearing the same identification numbers.

A police national headquarters spokeswoman confirmed the officers should be wearing their own numbers but referred calls to Auckland police, who have not returned calls.

This is not the first time issues have been raised over the way police dealt with Occupy protesters as the movement spread across the world.

Officers in Oakland, Boston and Houston were found to have covered their nameplates and badges while dispersing Occupy protests in the US.

"This is exactly the kind of thing that we've seen in New York and across the world where police have covered their badge numbers and [used] these kinds of tactics," Blackmore said.

It was also reported that some officers in the US were targeted by internet hackers as a result of their involvement in arresting protesters.

Blackmore said they would discuss what they would do as a result.

"We will be seeking appropriate legal recourse, we'll have to talk to our lawyers and we'll have to have general assembly and discuss that in consensus.

"This is a complete crock of s---".

The West End Community Association (WECA) has again succeeded in supporting sound development in its local area through the courts.

On Friday (20th January) the Planning and Environment Court took just five minutes to uphold WECA's appeal against a controversial proposal pushed through Brisbane City Council (BCC) by former Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.

The court accepted consent orders in favour of WECA and refused the development application at 321 Montague Road, West End.

This order overturns the BCC approval for several 12-14 storey buildings in an area where the current legal planning scheme specifies a maximum of seven storeys.

"The message is loud and clear: the community will not be sidelined, and inappropriate development will not be tolerated," said WECA President Darren Godwell.

"This approval was for a development twice the size allowed by the local plan had no basis in town planning. It was indefensible politics interfering with sound development principles."

"City Council had every opportunity to defend its decision in court, but as has happened before they settled without even appearing before a judge."

"WECA repeats its support for City Council's planners to stand firm in the face of undue political pressures. Politicians must not be allowed to break the rules in this way."

"WECA is supported by its members and residents of the local community, who are willing and able to use their resources and experience in planning and environmental law. The Association continues to be vigilant and an active defender of sound development on the Kurilpa peninsula, promoting local leadership for local development."

About WECA

The West End Community Association (WECA) is a non-profit, non-aligned, incorporated association of residents advancing the liveability of South Brisbane, Hill End, West End and Highgate Hill. WECA's members are active contributors to many of the neighbourhood’s activities, events and community organisations.

WORLD PEACE HANGING BY A THREAD

Reflections by Comrade Fidel

Yesterday I had the satisfaction of having a pleasant conversation with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I had not seen him since 2006, more than five years ago, when he visited our country to participate in the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement of Countries in Havana. During the summit, Cuba was elected for the second time as president of the organization for a three-year term.

I had become gravely ill on July 26, 2006, a month and a half prior to the summit, and could barely sit up in bed. Many of the most distinguished leaders who participated in the event were kind enough to visit me. Chavez and Evo visited me several times. One afternoon four visitors came by whom I will always remember: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; an old friend, Abdelaziz Buteflika, the president of Algeria; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran; and the vice minister of Foreign Affairs and current Foreign Minister of China, Yang Jiechi, on behalf of the leader of the Communist Party and the president of China, Hu Jintao. It was really an important time for me; I was in the midst of intense physiotherapy on my right hand that I had seriously injured when I fell in Santa Clara.

With all four I spoke about some of the difficulties facing the world at the time; problems that have become progressively more complex.

During our meeting yesterday, I noted that the Iranian president was absolutely calm and tranquil, completely unconcerned about the Yankee threats and, fully confident in the capacity of his people to confront any aggression and in the effectiveness of their arms —which, in large part, they produce themselves— to inflict an unpayable price on its aggressors.

In reality, we hardly spoke about the topic of war. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was focused on the ideas he had presented at the Main Hall of the University of Havana during his conference on the struggle of humankind: “Moving towards reaching and achieving peace, security, respect and human dignity as a fundamental desire of all human beings throughout history.”

I am convinced that Iran will not commit any rash actions that might contribute to setting off a war. If a war were to be unleashed, it would inevitably be completely as a result of the recklessness and congenital irresponsibility of the Yankee Empire.

I believe that the political situation surrounding Iran and the associated risks of a nuclear war that involves us all —regardless of whether one possess nuclear weapons— are extremely delicate because they threaten the very existence of our species. The Middle East has become the most troubled region on the planet, the same region that produces the energy resources vital for the world’s economy.

The destructive power and the mass sufferings caused by some of the weapons used in World War Two led to a strong movement to ban weapons such as asphyxiating gas and others. Nevertheless, conflicting interests and the huge profits made by arms manufacturers led to the production of crueler and more destructive weapons; modern technology has now added the means and material to build weapons that if used in a world war would lead to extinction.

I support the opinion, undoubtedly shared by all those with a basic sense of responsibility, that no country big or small has the right to possess nuclear weapons.

They never should have been used to attack two defenseless cities such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing and irradiating with horrible and long-lasting effects hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, in a country that had already been militarily defeated.

If fascism indeed forced the allied nations against Nazism to compete with this enemy of humanity in the production of such weapons, once the war ended and the United Nations was created, the first duty of this organization should have been to prohibit nuclear weapons without exception.

However, the United States, the strongest and richest power, forced the rest of the world to follow its lead. Today, they have hundreds of satellites that spy and monitor the entire world from outer space. Their naval, air and land forces are equipped with thousands of nuclear weapons; and they control the world’s finances and investments at their whim via the International Monetary Fund.

Analyzing the history of each Latin American nation, from Mexico to Patagonia, by way of Santo Domingo and Haiti, one can observe that each and every country, without exception, have suffered for 200 years, from the beginning of the 19th century up until today. And, in one way or another, they are increasingly suffering the worst crimes that power and force can commit against the rights of a people. Brilliant Latin American writers are emerging in an increasing number. One of them, Eduardo Galeano, author of the book Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent that describes the aforementioned, has just been invited to open the prestigious Casa de Las Americas Awards as a recognition to his outstanding body of work.

Events happen incredibly fast; but technologies report them to the public even faster. On any given day, like today, important news comes out a dizzying pace. A cable report dated from January 11 states: “The Danish presidency of the European Union confirmed on Wednesday that a new series of more severe European sanctions against Iran, because of its nuclear program, will be discussed on January 23. The new sanctions will not only target the oil industry but also the Central Bank.”

During a meeting with international journalists, Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal said that “We will increase sanctions against the oil industry in addition to sanctions against financial structures.” This clearly demonstrates that, in order to impede nuclear proliferation, Israel can go on accumulating hundreds of nuclear warheads while Iran is not allowed to produce 20% enriched uranium.

Another article, from a respected British news agency, states that “China gave no hint on Wednesday of giving ground to U.S. demands to curb Iran's oil revenues, rejecting Washington's sanctions on Tehran as overstepping …”

The sheer tranquility with which the United States and civilized Europe carry out this campaign with incredible and systematic acts of terrorism is enough to shock anybody. Just look at these lines reported by another important European news agency: “The murder on Wednesday of Iranian nuclear specialist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan [a scientist at the Natanz nuclear plant] was the fourth attack to kill a leading scientist in the country in almost exactly two years.”

On January 12, 2010: “Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a particle physics professor at Tehran University is killed when a booby-trapped motorcycle explodes outside his home in the capital. “

On November 29, 2010: “Two attacks target leading Iranian nuclear scientists on the same day. Majid Shahriari, a key member of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, is killed in Tehran by a limpet bomb attached to his car. His colleague Fereydoon Abbasi Davani is also targeted by a bomb attached to his car, but escapes.” The car was parked in front of the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran where both men worked as professors.

On July 23, 2011: “Gunmen shoot dead Dariush Rezaei-Nejad, a senior scientist who is reportedly associated with the defense ministry, and wound his wife as they waited for their child outside a Tehran kindergarten.”

On January 11, 2012 —the same day that Ahmadinejad travelled from Nicaragua to Cuba to give a conference at the University of Havana—, scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, “a deputy director at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, is killed in a car bomb blast outside the [Allameh Tabatabai] University in east Tehran.” As in previous years “Iran once again accused the United States and Israel.”

The killings represent a systematic and selective slaughter of brilliant Iranian scientists. I have read articles by known Israeli sympathizers who write about crimes carried out by Israeli intelligence services in cooperation with the United States and NATO as if they were the most normal occurrence.

At the same time, Moscow news agencies report that “Russia warned that in Syria a similar scenario is developing as to that in Libya, and added that this time the attack will be launched from neighboring Turkey.

“The secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said the West wants to ‘punish Damascus not as much for repressing the opposition, but because it is unwilling to sever ties with Tehran.’”

"…NATO members and some Persian Gulf states, operating according to the Libya scenario, intend to move from indirect intervention in Syrian affairs to direct military intervention…This time the main strikes forces will not be provided by France, the U.K. or Italy, but possibly by neighboring Turkey."

“Washington and Ankara are now assumed to be negotiating a “no-fly” zone over Syria, where Syrian armed insurgents can be trained and concentrated, added Patrushev."

News is not only coming out of Iran and the Middle East, but also from other parts of Central Asia near the Middle East. These reports show the great complexity of the problems that can arise from this dangerous region.

The United States has been led by its contradictory and absurd imperial policy to get involved in serious problems in countries such as Pakistan, whose borders with Afghanistan were drawn up by the colonialists without taking into account culture or ethnicities.

In Afghanistan, which defended its independence against English colonialism for centuries, drug production has multiplied in the wake of the Yankee invasion. Meanwhile, European soldiers, supported by drone airplanes and armed with sophisticated US weapons, carry out deplorable massacres that increase the people’s hatred and ward off any possibilities of peace. All this and other dirty actions are also reported by Western news agencies.

“WASHINGTON, January 12, 2012 - US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta called the actions of four U.S. marines who urinated on corpses in Afghanistan “utterly deplorable” The video of the act was circulated in the Internet.

"’I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable…’

"’This conduct is entirely inappropriate for members of the United States military and does not reflect the standards of values our armed forces are sworn to uphold…’”

In reality, Panetta neither confirms nor denies the action, and anyone, including the Secretary of Defense himself, may harbor doubt.

But it is also extremely inhumane that men, women and children, or an Afghani combatant fighting against the foreign occupation, be murdered by bombs dropped by drone planes. Another very serious incident: dozens of Pakistani soldiers and officials who safeguarded the country’s borders have been killed by these bombs.

Afghani President Karzai stated that the outrage committed against the bodies was “simply inhumane.” He asked for the US government “to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime.”

Meanwhile Taliban spokespersons declared that “over the last ten years, hundreds of similar acts have been carried out that were not reported…”

One even feels sorry for those soldiers, thousands of kilometers away from their family, friends and country, sent to fight in countries that they might not have even heard of during their school days, where they are assigned the task of killing or dying to enrich transnational companies, arms manufacturers and unscrupulous politicians who each year squander funds needed to feed and educate the uncountable millions of hungry and illiterate people around the world.

Many of these soldiers, victims of the trauma suffered, end up taking their own lives.

Is it an exaggeration to say that world peace is hanging by a thread?

Fidel Castro Ruz

January 12, 2012

9:14 p.m.

Brisbane City Council has suspended CityCat services at its Bretts Wharf terminal following an oil spill this morning.

Services have been temporarily suspended to assist Maritime Safety Queensland with the clean-up.

The oil spill, which was unrelated to Council, is expected to affect services for the next hour.

The decision to suspend services is in addition to the suspension of CityCat operations at the Northshore Hamilton Terminal this evening and tomorrow morning as a result of the oil spill.

For more information on CityCat timetables and affected services contact TransLink on 13 12 30 or visit www.translink.com.au

At Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony, UN Urges Protection Of Children From War: Media Release [21/1/12]

Top United Nations officials today urged for the protection of children from the scourges of war during a Holocaust remembrance service to honour the memory of the estimated six million Jews and countless others killed in the Nazi death camps during the Second World War.

“One and a half million Jewish children perished,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his remarks to the congregation of the Park East Synagogue in New York.

“Tens of thousands of others were murdered, including people with disabilities, as well as Roma and Sinti.

“Many died of starvation or disease. Many others were orphaned by the war, or ripped away from their families. We will never know what these boys and girls might have contributed to our world. And many survivors were too shattered to tell their stories. Today, we seek to give voice to those accounts,” Mr. Ban said.

“Children are uniquely vulnerable to the worst of humankind. We must show them the best this world has to offer,” he added.

President of the General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser echoed Mr. Ban''s remarks and urged countries to protect the rights of those most vulnerable regardless of race, colour, sex or religious beliefs.

Mr. Al-Nasser stressed that the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, observed each year on 27 January, ensures that “the Holocaust will forever remain, in our time and for future generations, a warning to all people about the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice.”

Mr. Al-Nasser also underscored the critical need to establish dialogue among various faiths to ensure widespread peace and stability.

“As part of our efforts to build peace, we focus on what brings us together: our shared humanity,” he said. “Initiatives that enhance mutual understanding, harmony and cooperation – that turn words into action – are the way forward.”

Next week, the UN will remember the children who perished during the Holocaust with a week of events culminating in a memorial ceremony to be held in the General Assembly Hall in New York on Friday.

The events include film screenings, exhibits and talks, as well as the launch of a website offering videos and testimonials from over a thousand Holocaust survivors, as well as educational tools and resources for students and teachers.

Greens’ spokesperson for gambling, Senator Richard Di Natale, said today that the Greens would introduce $1 bet legislation when Parliament resumes.

“The Government has made it clear that it doesn't have the courage to implement meaningful poker machine reforms. If they won't help problem gamblers, the Greens will,” said Senator Di Natale.

“I will introduce legislation when parliament resumes that would put a $1 limit on bets, a limit on jackpots and a $20 limit on the amount of money that can be loaded into machines at one time.

“This is one of the Productivity Commission's key recommendations and the legislation can be enacted immediately.

“The Government has suggested that $1 bet limits would be too expensive but that flies in the face of independent research.

“I call on the Government to release their departmental advice on $1 bets.

“Coalition members I have talked to agree that $1 bets would be the simplest, cheapest and most effective option for reform. Tony Abbott has not ruled out $1 bets so I hope he will show the courage that this prime minister lacks and throw his support behind my bill.”

Canberra's licensed clubs will share at least $36million worth of compensation and the Federal Government will pay to upgrade or replace some of their older poker machines if a trial of mandatory pre-commitment technology goes ahead.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie withdrew his support for the Government at the weekend after Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she did not have the numbers in Parliament to keep her promise to introduce mandatory pre-commitment by 2014.

Ms Gillard wants an ACT trial of the technology, which requires players to set maximum loss limits before a pokies session.

A written offer from Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin for a trial to be conducted in Canberra will be considered by ClubsACT members over the next fortnight.

The written offer said the trial would run for a year from February 2013, followed by a six-month evaluation and review period.

Venues would be paid in monthly instalments a combined $36million participation fee: 20 per cent of their 2010-11 gross gaming machine revenue.

During the trial, two reviews would be conducted by an oversight committee and an independent auditor to assess if the compensation structure should be revised.

Clubs would be able to request ''extra assistance in exceptional circumstances due to the implementation of mandatory pre-commitment''.

The Federal Government would meet all infrastructure costs for the trial, including upgrading or replacing poker machines not suitable for mandatory pre-commitment.

The ACT Government previously estimated it would cost between $20million and $30million to network the territory's poker machines as part of mandatory pre-commitment, but a temporary network could be cheaper. ...

Slow, Cruel and Pointless: Cetaceans and Entanglement

January, 13th, 2010, Hawaii: “The entanglement remains life threatening. One of the wraps is seated in a deep wound just forward of the dorsal fin. The animal is in poor condition. It is emaciated, has a heavy load of orange-colored cyamid amphipods (whale lice), is blotchy-looking, and has two line scars between the blowhole and the wound in front of the dorsal.”

Of the numerous threats facing cetaceans, injury and death by entrapment in fishing gear must be one of the most heart-wrenching to witness. While reports are thankfully rare on the Silver Bank, a badly entangled young calf was encountered in 2009, and despite a valiant but unsuccessful day long effort to free her, the odds for survival were small and she almost certainly perished as a result. This month we review the issue and efforts to ameliorate a universally tragic consequence of our sharing the seas, and its bounty, with marine animals.

It has been estimated that over 300,000 cetaceans worldwide, die each year as a result of entanglement in lost or active fishing gear (Reid et al 2006), including pot gear (lobster and crab traps), long line and most deadly of all, gill nets (Clapham et al 1999). In Australia, shark nets pose a problem, particularly to humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), a coastal species (Remove Shark Nets, 2010). Along with ship strikes, it is considered a major threat at the population level to the great whales (Clapham et al 1999). Pinnipeds, small whales and dolphins may drown relatively rapidly but for great whales like the humpback, able to drag heavy line, gear and buoys long distances it may be one of the cruelest threats to the species.

Entanglement incidents are widespread although research acknowledges what we see and observe is very likely an underestimation. Tired, emaciated whales, dragging heavy line and buoys long distances, rapidly lose blubber stores and on dying, carcasses will quickly sink and are unrecoverable. Still, entanglement in fishing gear is cited as the most frequent cause of injury and death in the Atlantic humpback population (Wiley et al 1995, Barco et al 2002). In the Pacific, photo identification studies showed that around 30% of individuals in Hawaii and over 50% in southwest Alaska (Neilson et al, 2009) showed scarring consistent with entanglement. For humpbacks this is frequently around the tail (caudal peduncle) and mouth.

Populations in heavily fished regions like the eastern seaboard of the United States are especially at risk (Clapham et al 1999). Numbering only 250-300, studies showed that over 70% of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), showed scarification consistent with entanglement (Johnson et al 2005).

Interestingly, growth of the whale watching industry in the northeastern U.S. over the last 30-40 years added not only a dimension of empathy and concern for the animals but importantly extra eyes looking out for them. Prior reports to authorities were sporadic and when animals did wash ashore, fishing gear had often been cut away and removed (NOAA, 2010).

Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network Work to improve the problem focuses on reporting and disentanglement efforts as well as increasing understanding of gear type and subsequent gear modification. More reporting and evidence is needed of gear type first and foremost (Neilson, 2009). Technical modifications include weak links which will rupture, break or experience calculated material failure upon receiving sufficient load. Or ‘pingers’ which provide an acoustic warning in the hopes that whales will avoid the area (Johnson et al 2005). Work on incidental catch of small cetaceans in a north Atlantic long line fishery (Pilot whales and Risso’s dolphins) showed that reducing line length below 20 nautical miles, reduced entanglement events (Garrison, 2007).

Of course, one of the very best things you can do to help whales and the oceans every day is make ethical seafood choices. Do your research: there is a lot of conflicting information. Wild netted, trawled and long line caught species may well entail both by-catch and entanglement risk.

The extent of the entanglement problem and the sheer scope of the oceans means that these tragedies will continue but we have come a long way in emergency response. On the eastern seaboard of the U.S. the federal government has established the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network (with authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act). Initially set up in Cape Cod in 1984 at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS), the center operates a network of response teams including a number of agencies and trained respondents.

In partnership with NOAA, the center developed a technique called “kegging,” a modified trick of 19th century Yankee whalers. After harpooning a whale, whalers would attach kegs (barrels) to the harpoon line to tire and slow the animal. PCCS response teams snap a control line to an existing trailing entanglement line then additional buoys or floats can be safely attached to slow the whale down but allow easy snap on/snap off release in the unfortunate event that a rescue attempt fails. Freeing a forty ton great whale is a task left to trained responders: although the Center notes that one of the most important elements of any rescue operation is that of standing by or staying with an observed entangled whale, until rescue teams can get there.

On Boxing Day 2009 (December 26th), the determination and tenacity of two teenage boys to free an entangled humpback in The Bahamas was tested with success. The story also illustrates why it is so important to let professionals complete rescue efforts. The boys managed to cut most of the culprit fishing net away but it took a diver to remove the last pieces. The PCCS stress that removing some but not all of tangled lines can be worse than none: as the load is lightened and the animal can dive again, it is gone. This story had a happy ending. As we work towards cleaning up the oceans, step by step, we hope there are many more. ...

Brisbane’s bus services will return to normal tomorrow (Monday) with all but 33 of Brisbane City Council’s gas powered bus fleet going back on the road.

Council’s 569 gas powered buses were removed from service yesterday as a safety precaution after a gas tank ruptured at Virginia Bus Depot early on Saturday morning.

Council is removing from service until further notice all 33 buses that are fitted with cylinders within a six week period before and after the date of manufacture of the failed cylinder.

Council will continue working with DEEDI to further investigate the cause of the cylinder rupture.

For up to date information on bus services and timetables, visit Translink’s website at www.translink.com.au or phone Translink on 13 12 30.

 

Rick Santorum Gets Glitter Bombed [VIDEO]

 

Image: @annarchism

 

I.B. Posse Wins Inaugural New Zealand Sandcastle Competition

Imperial Beach:

I.B. Posse took first place in the Inaugural New Zealand Sandcastle Competition held Saturday in Christchurch. Their trophy came with a $2,500 cash prize.

The team also won the U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition in Imperial Beach in 2010 and 2011 for sculptures saluting the troops and depicting the BP oil spill.

The sand sculpture that won the team top honors Saturday was a member of the All Blacks, New Zealand's famed rugby team, coming out of an iPhone “to reflect an All Blacks mobile app,” I.B. Posse said on their Facebook page.

“It all came about because of Imperial Beach,” said Gail Sheriff with Pegasus Bay Charitable Trust, who organized the event. “It was the most amazing day and for the community, the best day they have had in a long long time.”

Organizers estimate that 20,000 people came to New Brighton Beach to watch a total of 18 teams compete Saturday, including Orange County-based Archisand, who won the People’s Choice award.

Both Southern California sand sculpting teams were invited to the inaugural in New Zealand last year, but it was canceled after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near Christchurch. Instead of competing, Gonzales and his family made a baby kiwi sculpture in memorium to lives lost in the earthquake.

As a result of the rough handling - one of the protesers - a 65-year-old woman - had her fingernail ripped out. Both women at the end of the banner have bruises on their arms.

 

Astounding symbolism as Australians trampled by foreign CSG corporations with support from government and police - Kerry CSG Blockade [VIDEO]

Drilling rig trucks crushed Akubra hats into the dirt this morning as Arrow Energy sought to end a 10 day standoff with angry farmers and landholders in the Scenic Rim, in Queensland's south east.

Emotions poured over as Kerry Valley farmer Rod Anderson addressed the crowd of more than 100 people, who had been blockading a coal seam gas exploration well.

Before throwing his hat in front of the departing drill rig in the traditional Australian challenge to a fight, his message was clear:

"I’ve been standing over by that strainer post for the last bloody 10 days quietly behaving, like all of us locals have.

"I’ve got a little place up the top there, it's only small, might be insignificant to some, but it's my house and it's my home. There’s plenty of farmers around here, and no-one’s listening to us, treating us like there’s no one underneath these hats. They don’t give a shit. We’ve had a gut-full.…

"And fancy, it's just absolutely mind-boggling that good citizens and good farmers and good people with no criminal history, just blokes off the street who are trying to do the right thing for this country, are forced to come down here and bark at cars like mongrel dogs. That’s bullshit. It's not fair.

"The whole place here is built on generations of farmers, generations of business people that’ve done the best they can do for this community and are putting stuff back into the community. I can’t believe that we have to justify ourselves to the government and justify our existence and farming and our concern for the water table to the government and to arrow. Arrow should be down here justifying their existence to have the right to ruin our water. And the government’s letting them do it.

"So I’m here to make a stand for all the people who were too afraid to come down here because of the stand over tactics and they didn’t want to be involved and they didn’t want to be seen…they were frightened. But By Gee whiskers there’s a lot of bloody locals here that have had enough and I tell ya what: if that rig or any other rig comes back into this community there will be a shitload more people that’ll stand up and then we’re in for a good fight. So I’m putting my hat down in protest, and all the other peoples hats down that I know that are me mates. I’ve had a gutfull. Its bloody un-Australian. We need our help here from our government and its about time that someone come down here saw us….."

"Drive over that!" he yelled, as other landholders also threw down their hats.

Police looked on uncomfortably, as Mr Anderson then challenged the officers to move an Australian flag, placed. Then Arrow energy trucks drove over the hats as they left in a move symbolic of the way the Scenic Rim community feels about its experiences with Arrow Energy.

"Today's decision by Arrow Energy to drive over those hats - iconic symbols of the Australian bush - is the visual depiction of how we feel: a community which feels it has been ridden rough-shod over by the mining industry and the police force, which it always believed was in place to protect the people," said Keep the Scenic Rim Scenic spokesperson Innes Larkin.

"This is one small battle in the war against coal seam gas. We might not have stopped the drilling, but we know the court of public opinion is with us. This small blockade has achieved so much, with support from all levels of government, business and communities across Australia.”

“The Scenic Rim community is now fired up and stands ready to help other communities in their efforts to challenge the rush for coal seam gas,” Mr Larkin said.

Lock the Gate Alliance committee member Michael McNamara told the crowd that the Kerry blockade represented a significant turning point in the fight against coal seam gas:

"Arrow Energy, through their arrogance and disregard for local people, local government and the state laws under which they operate have radicalised and activated a traditionally conservative community. "

The rig was expected to depart on Monday. Arrow has announced that they have completed the exploratory drilling. Protestors speculate that the rig was pulled out early due to swelling local support of the blockade, and Campbell Newman's Saturday announcement that, if elected, he would refuse production permits in the Scenic Rim.

The ObserverTree is a platform situated 60m above the ground in an old-growth Eucalyptus Delegatensis tree, in the heart of Tasmania’s southern forests. On the 14th of December 2011 conservationist Miranda Gibson climbed a rope to the top of the tree and vowed to stay untill the forest is protected. Miranda’s upper canopy home is a tree under imminent threat, in a forest due to be logged any day now.

The tree top platform is fully equipped with the technology to communicate to the world. This website features Miranda’s daily blog about life in a tree sit, commentary on the state of the forest negotiations, updates on flora and fauna monitoring and video footage from the tree sit. Watch this space for celebrity and guest blog appearances too!

If logging commences Miranda will also, sadly, document the destruction of the forest around her, streaming these images out to the world. The traumatic process of forest destruction that occurs every day in Tasmania is generally hidden from public view. Now these archaic practises will be fully exposed, allowing the global community to see for themselves what is really going on in our forests.

Why?

This area of forest is in an area earmarked as one of Tasmania’s future forest reserves. It was promised protection by the State and Federal governments. Yet, if the logging industry has its way, it is going to be logged this summer! What is really going on in Tasmania’s forests?

A brief history of the Tasmanian Forest Negotiations:

2011 could have been a year of celebration for Tasmania’s wild forest. In October 2010, A statement of principles signed by Environmental NGO’s, industry groups and Unions paved the way for comprehensive forest protection and a restructuring of the logging industry. But, more than a year later, not one tree has been saved, more cash has been delivered to the timber industry and destructive logging continues in some of our island’s most sensitive and iconic forest areas. So what went wrong?

A series of broken promises, industry pressure and Government backpeddling have jeapordised the progress of this historic agreement.

First, in December 2010, the Tasmanian Government failed to implement a promised moratorium on the logging of 572,000 hectares of high conservation value forest. Forestry Tasmania, the State-owned forest management agency, flaunted this failure of leadership by pushing ahead with roading and logging in some of Tasmania’s most contentious forest areas.

In August 2011, the Tasmanian and Federal Governments signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that promised immediate protection for 430,000 hectares of high conservation forest. The IGA stipulated that the Tasmanian Government would ‘ensure that the 430,000 hectares of State Forest identified … is not accessed [for logging]‘ and that the Commonwealth would compensate any contract holder affected by the protection of these areas.

But the agreement also required that hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of sawlogs and veneer peeler logs must continue to be supplied to the industry. Malaysian logging company Ta Ann Holdings has been promised an ongoing supply of over 265,000 cubic metres of timber per year from Tasmania’s forests. Forestry Tasmania argued that they could not supply this timber without continuing to log within the 430,00 hectares. In another backflip, the Tasmanian and Commonwealth Governments have turned a blind eye to the ongoing logging of pristine forests within an area they earmarked for immediate protection.

As 2011 draws to a close, Tasmanians are suffering the loss of hundreds of hectares of native forest that should have been saved from logging. Activists have occupied forests on the flanks of Mt Mueller to document this destruction. Prime Minister Julia Gillard must keep her word before the trail of broken promises undermines this crucial opportunity to protect Tasmania’s forests.

Where?

Mount Mueller is a spectacular mountain located near the Styx Valley, Southwest Tasmania. The Weld, Styx and Florentine rivers all flow from this iconic mountain. While the mountain top is protected in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, the pristine ancient forests at its base remain under threat from industrial scale logging. The Tree Top Watch Spot lies in the heart of these forests.

This area of forest is known to Forestry Tasmania as “TN044B.” We have affectionately named it “Julia’s Forest.” Named after Prime Minister Julia Gillard. She is, after all, responsible for the life of this forest. On the day she signed the Intergovernmental Agreement, making a promise to protect this forests, she became it’s guardian. Julia will be accountable for every tree that falls in this forest.

Julia’s Forest is a prime example of Tasmania’s spectacular and unique forests. The ridges are lined with giant Eucalpyts, the tallest flowering plant on earth. Steep fern gullies are bursting with tree ferns, sasafrass, leatherwood and other Tasmanian rainforest tree species. Unique and threatened wildlife have been found in Julia’s Forest, including Tasmanian Devils, Spotted Tailed Quolls and the unique Tasmanian White Goshawks. The waterways in this forest are also home to a rare and threatened Hyrdrobiid snail.

The terrain is so steep in this forest that the loggers need to use specialised cable logging machinery. This is despite the historical land-slips that have occurred in the area. This type of logging causes irreparable damage to the soil and waterways. ...

The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has withdrawn his support for the Federal Government due to the Prime Minister’s failure to honour her agreement on poker machine reform.

``I can no longer guarantee supply and confidence for the Government because the Prime Minister has told me she can’t honour the promise to introduce mandatory pre-commitment on poker machines by the end of 2014,” Mr Wilkie said.

``Consequently I regard the Prime Minister to be in breach of the written agreement she signed, leaving me no option but to honour my word and end my current relationship with her Government.

``Frankly, a deal’s a deal and it must be honoured. Our democracy is simply too precious to trash with broken promises and backroom compromises. So I will walk, take my chances and so be it.

``As someone said to me this week, millions of people are concerned about poker machines, but everyone should care about politicians being true to their word.

``Moreover the Government has failed to seize the opportunity to enact genuinely meaningful poker machine reform. This Parliament presents a remarkable opportunity to finally do something about poker machine problem gambling and its devastating social and financial damage cost. But instead the Government took the easy way out.

``The Government’s explanation that it doesn’t have the numbers is simply wrong. The legislation should be debated in the Parliament and tested on the floor of the House. After all, that’s what democracy is supposed to be about.’’

Mr Wilkie acknowledged that the Government is pursuing limited reform and expressed the hope that this first step would lead to meaningful reform.

``I will not stand in the Government’s way because I do feel that in the circumstances it would be better to achieve at least some reform.

``The push for pokies reform has not failed,’’ he said. ``Poker machine problem gambling is now a hot topic, polling shows a strong groundswell for reform and the Commonwealth is set to intervene in gambling regulation for the first time in our history.

``But our foothold is small, so it’s more important than ever that pressure is kept on the Government to deliver the reform package announced today and eventually much more.

``Some people will ask why I would still withdraw my support for the Government when it’s progressing reform.

``But the issue is not that the Government is not progressing poker machine reform. Rather the issue is that the Government has decided it can’t deliver on the reforms it agreed to, which I’ve insisted repeatedly were the basis for my ongoing support and which I’ve honoured since the agreement was made some 16 months ago.”

Mr Wilkie added that in relation to matters of confidence, it’s in the public interest for parliaments to be stable and go full term.

``I will only support motions of no confidence in the event of serious misconduct and not support politically opportunistic motions. I will consider budget measures on their merits.

``As far as I’m concerned it’s still early days in the campaign for reform because too many people are being hurt by the pokies and the vast majority of people are looking to their elected representatives to do something about the problem.

``This and future governments must be forced to understand that this is just the start. The millions of people affected adversely by poker machines now and in the future deserve nothing less than our full support to minimise the damage.

``I will continue to push for mandatory pre-commitment and $1 maximum bets.’’

Residents are alarmed at the number of rogue motorbikes racing over State government-owned land in Ashmore, revealed Gaven MP Alex Douglas today.

Dr Douglas said land north of Keen Road in Ashmore had been cleared by the State government with no notification of intention to surrounding residents.

“The State government has approved clearing on this site which has now provided the perfect illegal playground for motorbike racing,” he said.

“This land links to a major land parcel which connects through to Keen Rd and the lack of transparency surrounding the government’s planned use of this site smacks of a cover up. What is the government hiding and why?

“Residents are complaining to me that the motorbikes are not only loud in what is a normally quiet residential area , but they also pose a risk to surrounding families as they tear through the neighbourhood.

“I call on the State government to make their intentions clear to residents, the GCCC and the local member of state parliament as it is an historic site, having the Southport 100 year old rail tunnel within it.”

Passengers have once again been stranded on the Gold Coast when a Surfside bus failed to turn up in Surfers Paradise late last night, according to Member for Gaven, Dr Alex Douglas MP.

“This comes on top of at least 300 people being stranded at Nerang Railway Station on Christmas Day when buses failed to arrive,” he said.

“At least ten passengers waiting for the last 745 bus to Nerang at 11.18 pm had no way home on our faltering public transport system.

“One person phoned my office this morning angry that she was forced to pay $30 for a cab after phoning Translink and being told there was nothing they could do.

“At least three passengers phoned Translink last night from the bus-stop in Surfers Paradise and each were told there was nothing that could be done.

“Some of these passengers were from Switzerland, who are just bewildered by our unreliable bus system, which is also one of the most expensive in the world.

“What is the point of having a Translink help line when passengers are told it’s not their problem and there is nothing they can do?

“The angry passenger told me she was now purchasing a bicycle as the only reliable way of getting from Surfers Paradise to Carrara at night.

“Our public transport system is making us a laughing stock amongst our international tourists.”

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