Mood:  chatty

 

 This is not a well packaged story. It's a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies  in Big Politics and Big Media. 

For actual transcripts and/or video feeds go to the programme web sites quoted including Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don't really give you the image content value.

Media backgrounders (and see following post on SAM of 'big media short takes')

* Refer previous two posts on the big press ‘tantrum' after the mini budget last week in NSW perhaps indicating the old media don't realize they don't make or break government's anymore in the age of Get Up etc. There is the 5^th estate accountability on their spin and selective editing. True it's still early days but Obama literally leveraged the internet to the US presidency, and young mind Nathan Rees is in the cycle race of his life starting at 29% primary vote polling handicap to win in 2 years. And the alternative media will play a significant role in that now that he has stared down the Daily Telegraph and SMH front page malice. As if in agreement it's a new media future editor David Penberthy to go to new projects in the same stable.

* Speaking of Penberthy, notice this ‘truth or fiction you decide' piece by Joe Hildebrand in yesterday's Terror:

* News Corp papers are at least an hour or more late Saturday morning. Desperate headline too about blood suckers attacking Rees Govt.

*  Paul Kelly hopelessly flawed article in The Australian yesterday. Airbrushes real NSW political history regarding Greiner years - seeking to buy off Metherell's vote on forest destruction by job sinecure in the EPA, over feisty public servant Neil Shepherd. Carr winning on the green vote - narrowly. Falsely conflating two very different energy sell off proposals 1997 to 2007-8 with a $10 billion disjunct in the assets (no transmission infrastructure in the second). Greiner being a big business lackey in name as well as substance today working for British American Tobacco. Kelly needs a good spanking.

* Mark Scott revealed on ABC conversation hour. If it looks like, sounds like, smells like a lone Liberal Party SAS advance inside the ABC then it probably is. Reveals his days as political staffer with Terry Metherell presumably not for his forest loving ways. Rather his attempt to split and scatter the teacher union stronghold in the education sector for free market ideologue Nick Greiner. The man for a job would have been the thought of the Howard clones.

* SMH runs another natural history puff piece for the new Govt via James Woodford about an island habitat on the NSW South Coast. Their real environment reporter did a web story on the koala habitat logging on the NSW south coast a week ago. As did PM abc. As did ABC TV news. As did JJJ late last week. But not the newsprint at Fairfax this weekend. Instead they do a book review of depressed, maybe neurotic, Woodford entitled Grid Life Crisis. Arts graduate passenger on the backs of 1,500 people arrested trying to stop the Eden woodchipper destroying our south coast.

* Indeed the SMH compounds the conformist conservative careerist view of the environment with a profile of Kathy Ridge, a greenocrat former exec officer of NSW Nature Conservation Council at a time when the state govt became quite disastrous on environmental management. But don't take our word for it - let me quote Ridge herself in email effectively reporting on the failure of her own tenure at the helm:

From our own SAM/ecology action archive: Tarnished credentials of Bob Carr's ALP NSW Govt 1999-2003 written about March 2003, and see links below for more archive of the Carr years:

5. Nature Conservation Council spits the dummy and gobs on Premier Bob Carr!?

Extracts of Kathy Ridge Executive Officer summer newsletter article 2002/2003.

[Intro by Tom McLoughlin of Ecology Action Sydney.

The umbrella group for most big and small green groups in NSW - though not all e.g. Greenpeace, NEFA, ecology action and some others - has laid the boot into Bob Carr's 'green' credibility. The NSW Nature Conservation Council is supposed to be a networking and service provider to the green movement rather than a spokesperson per se but the group is recognised in NSW legislation and has undoubted stature and influence with the community and the public. Often it does act as a small 'g' greens spokesperson.

The NSW NCC is emphatically stating there is something wrong in the state of Denmark. It is a safe bet to say Bob Carr is following former NSW ALP Premier McKell's successful rural electoral strategies to win over redneck votes from the coalition. However, Carr has forgotten one thing - McKell was a Premier for a pre-environmental age of the mid 20th Century, when the word 'ecology' was barely invented, and 'environmental flows' meant the reverse of today i.e. damming the next floodwater, not saving the fish or South Australia's water supply.

But don't take my word for it - read the esteemed Ms Kathy Ridge in her last newsletter for summer 02-03, soon to bail out for a legal career as a judge's associate. A careeer change can do wonders for the vocal chords, they say. Extract follows,]

"Selling out the environment"

"Kathy Ridge [pictured, lead story, page 1 Environment NSW, the quarterly newsletter of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW Summer 2002/3]

"At the time when the landscape of NSW and its dependent regional communities are suffering the worst drought in 100 years, the Carr government has backed away from the very reforms that would have delivered a more robust environment.

"The last two months has [sic] seen the NSW government fail to put in place two of the most important strategic natural resource management frameworks - the Native Vegetation Management Strategy, and the State Water Management Outcomes Plan.

"Both policy frameworks were designed to guide the work of regional natural resource committees, including Catchment Management Boards, Regional Native Vegetation Committees and the Water Management Committees.

"Without clear policy positions being articulated by the government, community based planning has been an utter failure dogged by poor data, insufficient resources and lack of transparency and accountability in committee processes.

"It has also limited the discussion of the value of the outcomes within government. Each of the draft regional vegetation plans are of varying quality with no cohesive statewide direction being discernible. The extensive, not to mention expensive, Water Sharing Plan process is going to deliver less than a 0.5 per cent increase in water for the environment statewide, and very little of that increase is protected as environmental health water.

"Against the backdrop of landscape scale failure to address land clearing and over extraction from our rivers, the ongoing destruction of old growth forests, woodchipping and charcoal threats, loss of valuable public lands to developers and suffocating stacks in our suburbs, Carr could well be advised to not rest on his environmental record.
.....
"It will be a long 'hot' summer, both politically and environmentally speaking."

 More archive here:

9 Mar 2006: Blast from the past, Sid Walker former Executive Officer NSW Nature Conservation Council 1990-1995 on Carr's broken 'ban on woodchipping' promise.

21/3/05...Objective analysis of Carr on the environment, it's not the TEC director? [discusses undue positive reports by SMH/TEC re Carr regime '95-99,'99-03 and Green Party/other ngo balance effect]

Material on this page below focuses mainly on the NSW Govt period of 1999 to 2003.  For the Carr Govt "dodges"  up to 1999 see: 

30/1/99...The REAL Carr govt on forest protection and destruction, prelude to 1999 election

.........

Whether despite KR's stirling efforts under an increasingly brown and spin driven govt, or because of it we remain agnostic. We have real regard for her spouse barrister McAvoy, and she did seem to be getting an independent mojo by the end of the NCC tour. But the point is while saying she doesn't want the PR she is pictured beaming into the camera with chunky jewellery and business suit in place. 

KR we assume has never been arrested for her beliefs and lives a comfortable career and that's about the speed of the SMH commitment to the environment. Tame captured greenies including by flattery in the first instance. We reflected recently how precious privacy really is. Good luck KR you're going to need it after that profile piece. And what a miserable life it must be in the public eye 24/7.

Press roundup - decline the Rees beat up, run with breaking G20 summit. Sunday mail in Brisbane re vaccine for skin cancer. SunHerald story about ABC Learning chosen.

First guest is Kim Carr - Industry Minister.  Traverse the Rudd Bush dynamic ‘can't take it seriously' says Carr.

Great out take of axe weilder comedy show with Julie Bishop. Very comic and charming and alarming too. Panel really amused on recommencing.

Next segment of show, grab of Ken Henry don't talk ourselves into a recession.

Panel is Alison Carabine 2UE, Brad Norrington News Corp. Get to his portfolio about industry. Structural advantages. Carr is earnest, articulate big bear of a guy, quite persuasive. Sounds steady. His suit seems to fill ¾ of the screen.

AC goes Rees "betrayal" in NSW. Helped by NSW? Presses. This is the business. Get's to it by saying NSW has "special problems" working through it as soon as we can. Or something like that.

Another ripping out take animation of PM Kevin and Wayne Treasurer on the scene of filim "Australia" (speaking of hyperbole). Bombing of the surplus by the GFC says a lot, levering the plot line of bombing of Darwin, a seriously untold story here of WW2. Hundreds killed apparently. Grim.

Australian Industry Group - Heather Ridout without even looking - 60% per cent reduction. Sounding as articulate as ever, but a lot slighter and softer voiced. Has she been ill? [Reminds saw her in Newtown street possibly but looking a lot thinner than I recalled.] Diplomatically declines debate over 1.5 to 2% Coalition.

BN criticism of NSW? 30% of economy reducing, need Federal Govt send in administrator - very careful investment path, stable let alone growth.

AC lack of political leadership, drag down national economy. Why is Victoria doing better than NSW? It's all about management. Ridout relies on USA for precedent of no arbitration in industry - back to the bad old days. Bongiorno intervenes umpire is in our constitution. Free market ideologue leveraging economic downturn to ruthless business power. Inner Ayn Rand showing.

Meet The Press - Watch Political Video Online - Channel TEN.

Riley Diary 7, from 8.30am

 Very good comic traverse of Rudd hyperbolic ‘war' rhetoric on all kinds of topics. Hockey line "war on relevance" is cute and Rudd sidelining the institution of parliament is starting to resonate as real. Rudd needs to show more respect for parliamentary institution as a real politik risk, not just an insider's gripe by Ramsay et al. The 4^th estate have got a point. As do Opposition. Don't blatantly avoid parliamentary scrutiny.

Riley off to APEC in Peru this week but cut to LO below during this Q & A.

http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend

9 Sunday newshour Laurie Oakes interview 8.40 am

LO has Julie Bishop on. It's a balancer for Therese Rein launching his book 2 Fridays ago. His column yesterday was also symbolically rude to the ALP PM though only while Rudd was out of the country.  It's also good value grist about real politik of GFC, fallout of USA election for Howard's People.

Cut's across Q and A in Riley Diary cie la vie.

Missed some of the boiler plate on political economy of the GFC with $21 billion of surplus spent etc. She also retreats  a little on the 2% versus 1.5% growth projections and moderates her approach to ALP Governance - ‘that we will get through this' showing she realizes the problem of blame for talking the economy into a recession as per Henry comments on MTP.

Dives into the "confidential talks" with Bush story but projects her own anxiety over Obama winning, and her side losing. It's a proxy argument, somewhat in denial of changed real politik - for instance refuses to repudiate Howard attack on Obama as friend of Al Qaeda. A disgusting slur. Shows Bishop remains a Howard clone.

LO gives several chances to "repudiate" slur on Obama and she like the nasty Republicans leaves these things hanging out there.

LO presses her hard on this. Combine with MTP grab of  anecdote of the 4 year old axe wielder of sisters swing set  10 Newsweek comedy and that she is happy to reveal her zeal and determination beyond sensible balance, shows that she is indeed something of an extremist. In a telling and cruel blow LO quotes Dennis Shanahan of News Corp hardly a "mad leftie" against her as "damaged political goods" failing to take Swan down. She takes it squarely but it's serious impact on her cred as Julia Gillard floats on through as deputy PM (as per Crabb columns).

Worth consulting the transcript in due course to fill gaps.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/oakes

Insiders 2: 9- 10am

Headlines, showcasing Fran Kelly on Howard Years. Cross to G20 ie GFC summit fallout.

Refers to Rudd Bush dynamic [is this all a real subtextual balancer in power relations for US ambassador attacking Latham in domestic politics here? That Rudd is an Obama barracker.]

Panel - Fran Kelly. Handshake Bush v Rudd barest of handshakes. Meglo. Mal Farr. The pro observers all agree. But the fact is Obama is pres and it's all about Bush being seriously damaged. The more Bush reacts the more the Obama folks will like him.

Footage of Rudd aggregated stimulus packages of 1 trillion dollars.

Lindsay Tanner - Q of financial sector serving wider economy or other way round. ABC childcare via local councils discussed. Boilerplate about retail and jobs ticking over and public construction hinted at. Diverse approach.Cute reference to arm wrestle or mud wrestle with State Govts after Federal support. Left out Barnett from WA - bad form? Tanner boilerplate doesn't answer.

Have to renege on election promises? Doesn't agree. Tanner says Bush Rudd dynamic is "nonsense" attacks Bishop re slur on Obama. True she was deliberately hardball. Tanner is covering about ‘body language' as Kim Carr was.

BC cross refers to LO interview suggestive he watched it pre 9 am maybe or maybe building on Tanner comment.

Every person segment refers to Barak as Beroc as in berrocca energy lift drink.

Meglo points out deficit under Costello in 2000-01 discreetly. Mal Farr questions loathing of deficit word and won't be marked down if do mention it. Footage of Swan refusing to mention deficit without damaging confidence.

Meglo formula of words "not afraid of deficit to keep the economy growing".

Australian editorial sticks by their story. Good source. Fran Kelly says sure it's false story. Ill judged. Reflects on PM via tone of self aggrandizement. The panel buys in seriously now. Mal Farr from same News Corp stable waxes on it. More realistic person would know it wasn't true. The tone of the story is that a staffer ran a false story and Rudd won't cut them loose.

Rudd footage on Downer refusing to who released a story in 2003. "Unacceptable" .

Paul Kelly late emergence in the show at 9.38 perhaps because of his weasley piece in The Oz yesterday. Voice is a little thick and nasal like a cold, like LO last week, must be going through the gallery? Bangs on about G20.

Kelly says Opp has unhealthy fixation with Ken Henry re mid year forecasts. Opp target officials "never works" should target ministers. Treasury at press club still optimistic. In place most of the Howard period, no question of integrity of independence.

Robb grab not attacking officials, silence critics on every front. Meglo warns Robb be much more careful. Go the govt not the officials. [So is Robb projecting their own period in govt - of cooking up, or at the least anticipating Fran Kelly interview re kids overboard dishonesty courting the One Nation cohort - that rings true].

Nice grab on Rudd using Member for Wentworth not Leader of Opposition. Meglo says one of the best questions in the last 20 years. Cut away to Govt laughing at Rudd would have been good. Rudd amused also.

Showcasing of Howard Years. Daily Telegraph Mal Farr unhappy didn't get a copy of The Howard Years but direct competitors did. Sunday Telegraph did get it. Interesting ABC sanction. Mal sounded aggrieved.

Kelly says loyalty remains to Howard from his then ministers Downer, Reith.

Jim Ballman Cincinnati Inquirer, talking pictures, constructive competition. Likes Obama for being a young mind text and email.

[Howard suffered so long and so deep he wasn't going to give up his achievement to anyone else who hasn't suffered as much. He has set the bar too high really for anyone to aspire for leadership transition. The Liberal Party is deformed by Howard gigantism.]

Home page is http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/

Inside Business - 2 at 10am

Refer http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/

Posted by editor at 10:22 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 17 November 2008 10:44 AM EADT

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Mood:  d'oh

Comment from SAM editor

Fairfax hypocrisy over a sexualised society, and poor sense of news values has infested the Sydney mainstream press this last 4 days. It's mostly a tantrum about big corporate advertisers and political mates not getting their snouts in the trough of a $15 billion energy industry that is publicly owned.

Today it's an embarrassing massage parlour site, wickedly leveraging the unrelated gruesome murder of 2 Chinese alleged sex workers who have nothing to do with the Premier's electorate office, or him.

The Sun Herald front page story is pure political malice by the Fairfax owners, who care little or nothing for their own journalists. Their sexual hypocrisy about objectifying women is pretty (!) obvious in the screen prints we took of the Fairfax website from today and Saturday's archive. Flesh is the word. But not just on the web, burgeoning home of modern porn, but also racy lifestyle pages in the newsprint.

Ironically it's News Corp, equally malicious who decline the sex angle - wisely given the number of brothels near Holt St. Rather yesterday in true schlock tones they take a horror "blood" suckers route. Vampires anyone? There's nothing in it except special interest private health insurers paying their share for the blood bank public service. These are the insurance folks who destroyed public health in the USA.

 Is Premier Rees also a nazi, child molster, AIDS carrier? Stay tuned for day 5 of The Tantrum and no doubt all will be revealed.

We reserve special attention for later this morning to Paul Kelly in The Australian promoting the false history of NSW politics via ex Premier Nick Greiner - a man thrown out of office for corruption later reversed on appeal.  Good lawyers are like that. Greiner now works for British American Tobacco and he's the honest broker? Head shaking stuff really.

One howler in Kelly's piece can be mentioned here already - the 2007 energy sell off proposal did not include the wires and transmission infrastructure - a mere $10 billion dollar difference when compared with the 1997 proposal. But Greiner conflates the two as did Paul Keating in his own opinion piece in Fairfax earlier this year - who also works for big business these days.

Posted by editor at 7:16 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 17 November 2008 9:24 AM EADT

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Mood:  a-ok

Well, it's turning into one of those days again. Pulling the weeds, managing middle age ailments, when the ABC runs a brief line or two at 11 am: The editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph has resigned. Such a short story yet so significant in context.

Some of that context appears in this google for a start:

You get the drift - Penberthy has been a player in the meat grinder that is NSW politics.  A crucible that reaches red hot temperatures. Other metaphors come to mind - live by and die by the sword.

As the ABC reports below, News Corp's editor has blinked in a power struggle in two respects - political power over who decides govt, and also who decides policy on public energy assets. 

We were always going to do another post on the 'big press tantrum day 1' after our penultimate post: Some things we noticed in the Sydney press today:

* Although both newspapers run negative front page stories they are both fairly thin. One about single deck train purchases (Fairfax), one about a so called "Labor MPs in Budget revolt" (Daily Telegraph).

* But the front of the Herald is mitigated by rebel MP Stewart looking more 'conspiracy fetish' and 'Walter Mitty' by the day. Fair or not. And as every administrative law student knows any judicial review in his favour in the Supreme Court just means a re-run of the process by the same decision maker - Rees, Ronaldson SC or whoever. Stewart's political capital is arguably going backwards faster than the Rees premiership.

* The front of the Tele is mitigated for Rees by the page 4 breakout with a classic Liberal Party newsletter demographic - newsagent from Campbelltown. No lost Labor voter there. Then there is the story above with a shopping list of "must do" and tucked in quietly is sale of $10 billion in public energy assets. Which is the whole point of the campaign against Rees to deliver $10 billion in assets into private corporate hands. It's a free market ideological thing. A fairly bizarre editorial claims this in fact would be to "take on the top end of town on behalf of the little guy". Little guys like investment banks and foreign energy multinationals? That's confusing.

* Nor does Tony Stewart MP get off free in the Telegraph either. This graphic shows his ALP Right amigo and factional prop ex PM Paul Keating is being trashed for not supporting charity while on a lifetime PM's pension. You can't play in the public life of the nation Mr Keating and not pull your weight for charity. Talk about basic politics.

* Then we have Simon Benson in the News Corp tabloid misconceiving Australian history comparing NSW in Premier Jack Lang's time in 1932 with Rees in 2008. Foolish because in those days NSW had the stature and size of a national govt, and the feds were the beggars. Today tax and budgetary roles are reversed along with revenue base. Apples and oranges Simon. Bad history. The irony is that this is Paul Keating's history lesson via ABC radio some years back.

* Peter Hartcher in the Herald conspicuously displays his political economy credentials in the main opinion piece.  As if in riposte to our sledge about big press weak grasp of political economy in their trantrum of yesterday, but likely a coincidence. Patronising as Hartcher is, his piece is quite informative of why the federal Opposition attack on Rudd economic governance is misconceived, as arguably the News Corp tabloid gets it wrong versus the NSW Govt economic governance. Hartcher mentions our Australian good fortune regarding

• strong company profits
• low unemployment
• fat order book
• $10.4B federal budget stimulus
• 20% fall in dollar for export sales
• 30% fall in price of petrol
• echo of other western countries' stimulus packages
• RBA dramatic interest rate cuts

Which apparently lends to PM Rudd powering along in the polls. Certainly Rees is not so blessed in NSW but he's in there swinging and it's News Corp who look to have blinked today.

Ouch. 

* Punters on the rail might have noticed something more than the daily press of concern to wonky obsessives: There was a security blitz Tuesday evening on the public rail system. It's reported in part on page 11 of today's Terror. We say a big bunch at Windsor and Blacktown last Tuesday evening. 900 arrests all up says the little report. We think this might be the equivalent of road works in the last 6 months before a local council election (engendering a sense of - finally we get some govt attention around here), only this time it was rail security and a mini budget for the State Govt.

Posted by editor at 11:44 AM EADT

Updated: Friday, 14 November 2008 3:44 PM EADT

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Mood:  d'oh

We have some appointments but given the ramp up in both press today in Sydney some preliminary comments are timely:

* You know there's a rat in the stew of Big Media coverage when Piers Akerman of all people accuses the ALP of spin doctoring. Excuse me, that's rich coming from machine operator Akerman there at tabloid News Corp. Akerman thinks balance is a sugar substitute. Talk about hypocrisy.

* The rusted on Liberal Party readers load up a survey of 89% at the News Corp tabloid who want to junk the 4 year terms. An important reform in 1992 that prevented govt be the plaything of Big Media corporations for a start. And so what? Let's see a real poll done independently based on public rejection of energy privatisation and willingness to make sacrifices for that.

* You can't take the ex News Corp tabloid out of the woman: Devine refers to "bankrupt" NSW - fact checker anyone? We saw "bankrupt" bobbing around somewhere else too by some know nothing.

* The give away to the spin machine of the Big Press today with it's fearsome tantrum is the constant reference to failure to privatise the public's energy assets e.g. Telegraph editorial but also Gittins influential column p1 Herald yesterday. Sue Cato chimes in on the 'spin doctors' segment abc radio.

But none of these are man or woman enough to admit that the Global Financial Crisis meant such a sale would have been a disastrous outcome for undervalued assets.

* To top it all off about the whining and carping and cant is that petrol is now heading to $1 a litre. Which will save more money than any tiny increase in congestion charges.

If these capitalist reactionaries in the press don't even know their own political economy why should anyone else take them seriously. Let the tantrum proceed. However be assured, it's both boring and boorish Big Media bullshit.

* The federal budget has lost some $40 billion in projections - what makes people think that the cost of a capuccino per day won't come off their lifestyle as well? Wake up to yourselves.

* A "cheap shot" at Rees is that he doesn't have a car license as if it's a metaphor for lack of understanding or sympathy. But how dumb is this attack? Anyone in a really busy job knows how much work can be done in a car if you are not driving, not least from mental energy saved not watching the road rules. The idea of premier or minister driving themselves is a false economy.

Rees is a dedicated cyclist previously competition level. We are not. But even we were surprised the other day taking only 25 minutes by bike from Marrickville to the CBD. That's quicker than train and car. We took 50 minutes to Bondi on Tuesday last (and back again similar time phew).

Admittedly this was after a year of training up the fitness levels. But we are no spring chicken and it does show how dumb the car really is as a primary mode of transport in Sydney.

Posted by editor at 10:15 AM EADT

Updated: Thursday, 13 November 2008 4:50 PM EADT

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Mood:  special

Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 11:12 AM

That:

1. The application under S96 to modify Development Consent DA0134/95, Lot 2, DP 628806, No. 6102 Singleton Road, Mellong be refused as, due to non-compliance with Condition 4 of the original consent, the consent has lapsed and Council is unable to consider the application.

2. A Notice of Intention to serve an Order be issued on the operator to cease operations due to there being no current consent for the operation.

3. A survey plan is to be submitted to Council within two months, showing the location of diversion works in relation to the property boundary. Should any works be located outside the property boundary of Lot 2 DP 628806, those works are to be removed immediately and the land rehabilitated to its natural state.

Background to the paper and comments on the report are here:

Posted by editor at 12:04 PM EADT

Updated: Wednesday, 12 November 2008 2:32 PM EADT

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Mood:  chatty

This is not a well packaged story. It's a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies  in Big Politics and Big Media. 

For actual transcripts and/or video feeds go to the programme web sites quoted including Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don't really give you the image content value.

Media backgrounders

* Bush still the president for 2 months until 20 January 2008.

* Saturday Daily Telegraph preaches 10 things to do list to Obama pres elect leaves out "planet in peril" while Sunday Herald carries story that Obama opening press conference spoke about ... climate change. Is this News Corp bias by omission? Curious photo in Fairfax of first presser with Rahm Emmanuel in the prized far right spot taken by "David Katz/Obama for America" indicating not journalist but inhouse slant. It is a compelling photo too.

* By coincidence we well remember Friday Sept 13 1994 as "a black Friday" on ‘wilderness policy protection of the coalition govt'. We infiltrated the State Office Block press conference - as NSW campaign coordinator for The Wilderness Society - by Premier John Fahey, who gulped and now I realize the security tensions at innocent moi slipping through the security lines unchallenged. Paul Mullins at Ch10 said I caused a "royal commission" about how I got in. The truth is I just walked through and they must have thought I was late arrival with the press for the presser by Fahey. We commenced a presser back on veranda of Parliament House half an hour later standing with Kevin Parker Director of The Wilderness Society national office.

* Another ouch story for NSW ALP is ICAC complaint made by high media profile smooth talking copper Dave Darcy about being leaned on by Tony Stewart over policing in Bankstown. Talk of a shouting argument between two suggesting useless aggression in politics. It would be wrong to think Darcy doesn't play a political game too as he did in the Kings Cross command and as community liaison with ngo protest groups. Whether Stewart is exposed the reader should judge for themselves too.

* Obama notes he is "a mutt" like mongrels from the pound - shows he understands his genetic diversity above and beyond his gifted parents i.e hybrid vigour. And the comment shows he is doing the internal personal reflections on ego and id that such a big change in status invariably must involve. Indeed the confusion of rising above either parents and or peers and friends. He is a very bright fellow to address his own psychological balance by transcending the self image inherent in the parental exemplar. The truth is he is sui generis (one of a kind) due to the unusual combination effect of gifted African and European humanity.

* Laurie, Laurie, Laurie - Oakes that is. His book Power Plays is out. It was launched by the PM's wife Therese Rein we notice. This puts her directly in the "power plays" herself and fair game in the political cut and thrust. And sure enough Opposition Leader Turnbull has mentioned she is rude in reportage today. Minister Tanner says it's bad attacking the PM's spouse but that's gross naivety or dis ingenuous (the latter). And Laurie has given Treasurer Swan a free pass for not knowing the projected inflation figures at a presser under the cover of the Obama (aka BHO, and thank heaven for the H) victory, in Saturday's Daily Telegraph. That's wrong, even for our hero of political journalism LO. Ironic that his book should have such a full stop being compromised in his independence. Should we say Laurie is officially moving into semi retirement as feisty indy hero?

Which all calls up LO talking to Deborah Cameron on abc 702 in Sydney on Friday and saying journalist's private lives didn't need as much scrutiny as political leaders. Cameron was suitably sceptical. Mmm. I wonder LO, I wonder. 5th estate blogocracy anyone keeping the 4th estate honest?

In conclusion Oakes had no business challenging Hockey on Sunday News 9 below about Rudd's wife without declaring the book launch last Friday. Or in his column about Swan on Saturday. He's made a serious error of judgment in our view.

* Claire Harvey showing style in Sydney News Corp with cute story about swallows on the way out, and more seriously Australia's first black prime minister. We notice a kind or centrist beating heart in a News Corp reptile.

* Speaking of books. Gough Whitlam, the only Australian PM to ever fight in a war. Nice extract of 1972 pioneering diplomacy with Chinese Premier Zou Enlai. Significant for the highly sophisticated politiking of the leadership of this huge country. Significant because it was this event as entre to Nixon going to China - already in train. Significant because PM Rudd got his inspiration to join the Labor Party here from that media coverage at home. Significant because Rudd now is a Mandarin speaker and PM of Australia ideally placed to act as some kind of intermediary for the West and for "a planet in peril" to quote one BHO, president elect of the USA.

* A general theme amongst conservative commentators (say Piers Akerman, Greg Sheridan, even kind hearted Andrew O'Keefe) is that the national problems for Obama are intractable and solutions are unrealistic. To avoid disapppointment they say don't buy into the "fairytale". We say that's measuring Obama against mediocrity to which they have grown far too accustomed.

"Serial boofhead" aka Cardinal George Pell takes a leaf out of Pauline Hanson's book too in his Sunday News Corp column noting Obama's "Muslim" dad from Kenya, his "fanatical" support for abortion [along with Malcolm Turnbull leader of the Liberal Party in Australia] and "as a young man mixed with some of the wildest from the radical Left, urban terrorists and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation". And just in case you didn't get boofhead's slant on all this "and his financial advisers [like Warren Buffet?] include those who helped provoke the financial meltdown".

Like Akerman Pell doesn't get the need for public housing in that little economic argument. Millions of poor people who need but can't pay home loans still need shelter and just think what a few million rampaging angry folks with no shelter would have done to bank assets and society in the USA long before the GFC came along? Crime, vandalism, mayhem, possibly even revolution.

* Lots of effective weight measurement adverts paid for by the government.

* Helen Clark defeated in NZ general election by former investment banker self made millionaire as market system falls to bits.

* Bali mass murderers get their wish and are made 'martyrs' for the cause by the Indonesian policy of capital punishment. Reprisals are expected to follow says Foreign Minister Stephen Smith. Timing of execution presumably relates in part to the shift in US politics above where the message of extremism will be much harder to sell in Muslim countries for symbolic reasons?

* NSW ALP Govt 'murders' some koala habitat near Bermagui as reported by SMH and ABC national tv news this last week.

10 Meet the Press:  8- 8-30 am

Obama intro footage, missed half of this about "hope".

Shadow finance (?) minister Andrew Robb in news catchup re shooting of 3 Bali bombers. NZ election to conservatives.

Mood for change - incumbency under threat Robb says.

Footage of current USA Ambassador - G20 ‘gaffe' closed matter, not accurate reportage by either.  Says Rudd can't be trusted.

Footage of awesome McCain then Obama speeches. "My former opponent my president ... "What we did today. " Very profound.

Panel of Mal Farr News Corp Daily Telegraph, Phillip Clark 2GB.

Footage leads in with climate renewable energy issues. Mal Farr notes heavy weight climate change agenda. Supports cap and trade scheme. Robb tap dances. Goes back to need for global consensus, what Obama can deliver. Notes USA going into recession. Congress voted both sides against the scheme. Says Govt here worried about ministers under threat from Greens [Albanese, Tanner].

Clarke top question which side you on denial or believe re climate?  - Robb says not climate sceptic, but Rudd sceptic. Says motives not appropriate. Best tackle from position of economic strength. Agree with Rupert Murdoch - have to give planet the benefit of the doubt. Get on with the job, do in a way that doesn't export jobs or emissions. Says more so in China and India. [interesting twist on rhetoric but sounds too cute.]

Footage of Wayne Swan - tough decisions. Where will you go? Rail public transport etc or ports highways.  ..... Agrees city congestion is major drag on economy.

......................

Out take - footage lame joke animation about Kevin Rudd name dropping stakes.

Last 1/3 time guest - Claire Martin re-appears on the public stage as head of ACOSS

Meet The Press - Watch Political Video Online - Channel TEN.

Riley Diary 7, from 8.30am

 Roundup of Obama victory. Lots of dancing in Japan and Kenya.

Wayne Swan used victory as "cover" for bad economic news. Obama One like Obi Won Kinobi in Star Wars. Holograms in US coverage and

Footage of McCain doing the Howard shushing with the outstretched hands.

Great Tina Fey real Sarah Pallin footage.

Cut back to Swan 8 minute search for inflation figures.  Lots of Yes we cans and stunned black kid watching on at history and hope.

Q&A at end about reality and disappointment likely? 2010 before any change in economic improvement.

http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend

9 Sunday newshour Laurie Oakes interview 8.40 am

 Joe Hockey juxtapose with F Troop DVD big promo adverts. Really really really funny. Likely to be better than anything Joe has to say.

Clash with Riley Diary likely to happen anytime. 9 carries Peter Hughes survivor. "I guess it will another day for me. Q. People mass murder sends a message, is a supporter.

Missed first 10 minutes noting Bali mass murderer executions and new NZ PM "with a touch of the Turnbulls" as a self made millionaire.  LO has a touch of the head colds.

Hockey sews seeds of doubt in govt capacity to look after economy [which in turn drags down the economy and confidence at a premium in the political cycle? Overly negative? Wouldn't it be better to say doing okay, but they could be better. Faint praise would be more effective tactics of the Opposition?]

Going to war not consulting the generals. Hockey stuck in trench warfare mode.

Oakes notes tone "sounds ugly". Heroic magic pudding promises. Hockey goes to town in attacking aggressively the govt. Where are they going to get the money [all but said the sky is falling in].  Says govt's "error of judgement". Break key election promises? We warned of dark clouds on the horizon.

Govt doesn't understand what it is doing. Ford, GM and Chrysler needing $20B injection in US. Merging or existing in future, Toyata ructions too. Says hold back. Don't bail out individual business, rather protect industry, didn't bailout Ansett and in hindsight was the right decision.

Right decision to keep ABC Learning open until Christmas. Agrees with Turnbull on that.

Why did Turnbull drag Rein into "it" about being "rude". Hock disagrees defends Turnbull not attacking Rudd's wife. Story is page 2 News Corp Sunday Telegraph. [See above postscript added re LO conflict of interest with Rein launching his book the Friday before.]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/oakes

Insiders 2: 9- 10am

Lead in with Bali mass murderers excuted last night. NZ Labour PM Helen Clarke loses the general election. 47 year old. Overseas investment banker. Only in politics for 6 years.

New administration in Washington. Obama victory. Wrap on annual deficit of 730 billion in US and total deficit of 1,400 billion or 1.4 trillion. In Australia 5.4 billion surplus despite rhetoric of Rudd tough ugly hard future.

[Obama opening presser will be important to watch via YouTube or Google Video.]

Stephen Smith says credible intel on terror attacks, take advice on travel to Indonesia. Australia has generally opposed capital punishment. Urge countries against capital punishment.

Travel to Bali. School leavers soon. Read the advisory. November 2002. Reconsider the need to travel. True many Australians will so contemplate. Urge travel industry maximum flexibility. [This is a big issue for Australians.] Abu Bakir Bashir calls on murderers to be treated as martyrs. Smith says his views treated with contempt. Don't want extremism, respect and regard for peoples faith. Interfaith dialogue. No room for intolerance and extremism.

Views on NZ election. Welcome etc.

G20 ‘gaffe' story about Rudd spinning Bush alleged ignorance. Smith says it was wrong story. Doesn't know who generated the story. Barry Cassidy stands on his digs about journo accuracy.

............................................

Every person segment with restaurant 3 30 somethings.

Panel newspapers Karen Middleton sbs, Dennis Atkin News Corp Brisbane, Tim Blair News Corp Sydney re NZ election. Throw away ignorant sledge on Green Party in NZ by Blair.

Like Riley they run the Wayne Swan minutes delay finding inflation figures.

Funny use of Mike Wran SA PM, "yes we can".

Dennis Atkin deconstructs Swan presser, got it in real time, not briefed to ask the real questions.

Paul Kelly soliloquy. Swan mid year forecast - $40B down, should prepare people for budget deficit. .75 interest rate cut by RBA very aggressive to keep economy stable.

Govt has to rework its agenda and political strategy. States are in the firing line. 2 big trends. Falling polling and in revenues thus no tool to reverse. Big question over COAG with

Turnbull and Keating in social debate last Friday night with footage of that.  Journos impressed by Turnbull confidence.

Talking pics - Warren and Jason Chatfield who does a nice Democrat elephant and donkey.

BC howeler that the largest thing Obama has run is a senate office. Well that sort of ignores the longest running campaign in world history, with a $1 billion in donations budget, having defeated the highly competitive Hillary Clinton.

[If that's not forged the heat in of electoral battle then nothing is. Such an unrealistic and foolish comment echoing professional Clown Tim Blair as to be shocking. It may be BC is biting off more than he can chew with a new digital tv channel show 6 till 9 or so with Virginnia Trioli. BC is highly professional and yet remember what happened to over worked Andrew Olle doing morning abc 702 breakfast and then backing up with 7.30 report that night. He died of a stroke after an undiagnosed brain tumour. Ambition is a corrosive drug I would say.]

Home page is http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/

Inside Business - 2 at 10am

US ex Clinton adviser Gene Ludwig on how to "fix" the USA economy.

Refer http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/

Picture: Obama confronts race and unity 18 March 2008, hard to find on Youtube but we found it here on MSNBC

Posted by editor at 10:23 AM EADT

Updated: Sunday, 9 November 2008 9:22 PM EADT

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Mood:  cool

Terpenes! The role of terpenes adds to our knowledge of how forests cycle water naturally. The role of forests up until now has been summarised here in this diagram (terpenes not indicated)

Now we need to add into the diagram that forests naturally produce a natural haze of tiny particles called terpenes, which seed rainfall of correct droplet size. Correct in the sense that they create normal clouds and drive the natural monsoonal and rainfall patterns in predictable fashion for agriculture and human society.

Till now we have mainly been concerned with the impact of logging on this water cycle as follows;

Now we can say logging also removes terpenes from the rainfall cycle.

This compares with industrial particulates which is known to also form droplets and changed landscape scale rainfall patterns including failed monsoonal rains in North Africa: 

Four Corners - 21/03/2005: Global Dimming

These particles are also blamed for global dimming of some 10% of sunlight from reaching the earth's surface. That's incredible.

Notice this string of email in several parts about the role of terpens and the complexity of the inter relationship with global dimming, natural and unnatural.

#1

#2

At 05:40 PM 2/11/2008, you wrote:

I know that weensy particles called nuclei are needed for moisture to form around and make clouds and rain. Basic weather dynamics. Those can come from dust or from the minuscule particles forests send up when they do their evapotranspiration thing. Not sure how different this is to the chemicals they are talking about below. But it's great to see it reinforcing of the role forests play in rain making. An old farmers saying was something like ' The rain follows the trees '. Australia's euc forests also give off such a haze, especially in warm weather.  

#3

I did a quick search and found that terpenes are definitely present in eucalypt leaves, too. Although most of the scientific discussion seems to be related to the digestibility of leaves by marsupials and to the eucalypt's characteristic of retarding growth of young plants close to them, I don't see why we shouldn't extend the European conclusion to our forests too.

#3

Posted by editor at 7:56 AM EADT

Updated: Saturday, 8 November 2008 8:43 AM EADT

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Mood:  don't ask

Harriet Swift a qualified journalist and local land holder from Bega writes:

Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 9:40 AM

Subject: [chipstop] Bermi tomorrow

Hi greenies
Just to confirm, .....tomorrow at the Bermagui logging compartment .... Meet at the bus shelter on the corner of Wallaga Lake Road and the Cobargo road  by 8.30am.
The koalas need you there with your placard!
This animal was seen and photographed less than a year ago almost directly over the road from Box Flat Rd, where logging started last Monday. See http://www.chipstop.forests.org.au/bermi_logging.htm
NSW Primary Industry minister may think there are no koalas around, but this critter looks a lot like one to me.
See you tomorrow?
regards
harriett
 

Indeed the spin doctoring of the NSW government continues so as to avoid the gravity of the picture above.

We will try to explain to those of good faith how we understand the public's natural forest estate: At 20% land cover 200 years ago it was  like two loaves of bread in an already sparsely forested wide brown land continent.

Now come forward 220 years and we only have one loaf left, or 10% land cover and most of that is trashed and disrupted as well. 

And Environment Minister Tebbutt was on abc tv news in Sydney last night arguing that 89 conservation reserves were already in place on the NSW South Coast. What does this really mean?

No need to worry about logging of koala habitat down there as per reports of the ABC tv and Sydney Morning Herald here?:

1. www.smh.com.au - Last koala habitats get the chop  Date: October 28 2008. Ben Cubby Environment Reporter.

2. PM - Protestors push for preservation of native forests 6 Nov 2008 Reporter: Jayne Margetts

MARK COLVIN: With a fresh round of logging starting in NSW, conservationists are calling on the State Government to stop cutting down native forests.

Logging has just begun on an area of land at Bermagui on the state's south coast.

Protestors have been out in force arguing that all native forests should be preserved as carbon sinks, and as valuable habitats for animals.

Jayne Margetts reports.

(Sound of chain saw)

JAYNE MARGETTS: Another swathe of Australia's native forest is getting the chop.

This time it's a 180 hectare area of land in between two national parks at Bermagui. John Hibberd from the Conservation Alliance wants it and other areas like it to be preserved as carbon sinks.

JOHN HIBBERD: All native forests are really important for carbon sinks. As they get older more and more carbon is stored in them and we believe that if native forest logging stopped in Australia a massive saving in carbon emissions could be made at the stroke of a pen.

I'm not talking about carbon emissions straining and something in 10 to 15 years time, right now the Federal and State Governments across Australia could massively reduce the carbon emissions of this country.

JAYNE MARGETTS: Environmentalists and local residents have begun a campaign to protect the forest.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS: Save our forests!

JAYNE MARGETTS: Protestors say the forest is a valuable habitat for animals, especially the severely depleted koala population. But so far their calls have fallen on deaf ears.

POLICE OFFICER: Your arguments, your discussions about koalas are irrelevant to me.

JAYNE MARGETTS: The police have been blocking them from entering the logging site.

POLICE OFFICER 2: All you people right now are currently within the exclusion zone

PROTESTER: Remove the loggers then.

POLICE OFFICER 2: If you don't leave the exclusion zone you'll be arrested. Okay? You've got 2 minutes.

JAYNE MARGETTS: One woman who swore at a police officer was carted off to the station.

FEMALE PROTESTOR: I wanna be arrested!

JAYNE MARGETTS: Environmentalist Prue Acton says the forest is only just recovering from the last logging operation 20 years ago.

PRUE ACTON: The spotty gums are only just coming back, when they're starting to have their full carbon and their full size and their full beauty and the understorey is coming and the animals are returning and the soil is stabilising. What are we doing instead? We're just going to chop them down.

JAYNE MARGETTS: Research from the Australian National University is adding weight to the campaign. A study has found that eucalypt forests hold three times the amount of carbon than was previously thought.

And there are economic arguments too.

Dr Judith Adjani, an economist from the ANU say the logging of native forests is unnecessary.

JUDITH ADJANI: We can substitute for, easily substitute for all of our native forests chip exports using our hardwood plantation resources. If we want to not log native forests we can do that because we have enough plantations both hardwood and softwood to meet virtually all of our wood needs.

JAYNE MARGETTS: The protestors are hoping to get their message through to the state government.

John Hibberd again.

JOHN HIBBERD: We're asking the State Government to immediately intervene in this matter. We want them to stop the logging not only in this Bermagui corridor forest but also in the forest to the South where the logging is intended to move next year and where the koalas are actually living and breeding at the moment.

And we also want them to scrap the Regional Forest Agreement. That agreement was made 10 years ago. It's now out of date. The world has moved on.

 

JAYNE MARGETTS: But The NSW Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt says large areas of forest are already protected under legislation and there's no plan for a review.

CARMEL TEBBUTT: There were very important conservation gains that came out of the Regional Forest Agreements. 300,000 hectares of national parks and reserves added for example in that Eden area as a result of the Regional Forest Agreements. Now it is simply not possible to go back and unpick those agreements, without placing at risk those important conservation gains.

MARK COLVIN: NSW Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt ending that report by Jayne Margetts.

.......................... 

The trouble for Minister Tebbutt and all of us is that Australia never had much forest to begin with. Since 1788 via agriculture and now especially mechanised woodchipping we have already lost fully 50% of our forest.

Of the 10% forested land cover left on the fringes of the continent today barely 1/10 of that is mature forest with hollow bearing trees. You could think of it as the chewy crusts at the end of the loaf of bread. Most of this 10% forest land cover remaining is being sliced up. Some is divided into reserves and the rest is allocated to high intensity logging by private companies. The bigger the reserves the bigger the thrashing for anything outside the reserves including koala habitat. 

The mature type of forest with nesting hollows in trunk and branches is essential to protect wildlife from going extinct locally and nationally. But it is also the type of forest industry most want to log - usually for higher volumes of chips, and usually good rainfall areas desirable for conversion to defacto plantation by high rotation logging.

Forest destruction is one of several reasons why Australia has the worst mammal extinction records in the world.

Minister Tebbutt is actually green lighting more slicing and dicing of the last loaf of bread on the table.

(Our bread board and table is made of wood too, but in our case it was recycled from a council throwout. Experts tell us we can provide most if not all our timber needs from existing plantations).

Ms Tebbutt can say there's 89 conservation reserves in SE NSW already but it's all one national forest really being cut into smaller and smaller pieces with roughly half given to the private profiteers. Like the one loaf of bread which can be sliced into 19 then cut again into 38, 76 and finally 144 pieces these symbolise the large number of new fragmentated reserves. 

It's a politician's word game really: The longer the list of reserves the better it sounds but this ignores the context of a mostly treeless Australia. NSW for instance is 80 million hectares in size and most of it has no forest. So much for political sophistry.

And the smaller forest areas are easily degraded and local populations of wildlife slip into extinction - in this case the favourite koalas on the NSW South Coast at Bermigui. This is for real. It is happening now. On our watch. Not 100 years ago.

The real issue is not 89 reserves, rather

- the amount of national forest cover,

- the species and forest types, scarcity of categories,

- the level of maturity of forest type,

- green carbon storage regarding climate change, and 

- rate of logging, which is still extremely high and mostly for woodchips to Eden (1 million tonnes a year, some of the best forest in the world).

Given this national, and global, context industry and tame pollies always try to bring the focus down to the local and regional level to imply a large resource is being shared between conservation and industry. Indeed that's why the egregious Regional Forest Agreement rhetoric was invented - to destory the notion of a scarce national forest estate. That's very deceptive by industry and government. It's public property being vandalised for private gain. In Europe they hardly have one forest. Same with Asia.

It's a shame the police on the NSW South Coast don't realise they are being manipulated to help destroy their own environmental future: Notice Harriet from Chipstop in this report also

Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 6:47 PM

Subject: [chipstop] police antics at Bermagui logging

Hi chipstoppers
Police antics at Bermagui continue to be extraordinarily heavy handed. Here are some examples:

1. Yesterday we conducted a walk along the edge of the prohibited zone towards the logging and were met by huge numbers of police . It was largely uneventful - a couple of people got PINs (Sam got a PIN and stint in the paddy wagon for taking the piss out of Inspector Jason Edmonds) but most people complied when told by police to leave. Not much choice, given their numbers.  The event was all very fluffy and staged but was probably OK TV footage. However, the funny thing was, once the main crowd left and just a few enthusiasts remained, the police became even more attentive. We were practically surrounded. Police drove by constantly in 4WDs leaning out their windows video-ing us. Others lurked in the bush behind us. One suspects they may have been expecting some more concrete action from the hard core, but they didn't get it. Eventually they gave up and went back to their post at the water tank.

2. Another instance occurred that morning when a small group started making a large sign in the sand on the beach, hoping that the ABC helicopter would see it as they left. The police turned up and told them to leave; making a sandcastle sign on the beach is apparently now illegal.
This was all quite remarkable, but today's action took the cake.

3. Two nights ago somebody wrote in very large neat white letters on the bermagui road at the approach to the logging compartment words like: flora, fauna, CO2 sinks, forests, life. It was very expertly done and must have taken hours! Today, the Bega Valley Shire Council Jetpatcher spent 2 hours spraying tar over the painted words. There was nothing wrong with the road; it did not need any repairs. The police told the council to do it because it was an "urgent and serious traffic hazard."

This gets more and more silly. I know of one example of offensive large graffiti on a road in Bega  200 meters from the Police Station that is probably a greater traffic hazard given its sexual content. That has been there for six months without a visit from the Jetpatcher.

Stay tuned for more. I am a great believer in never picking a fight with the police; our argument is not with them and they always have the last word,. However, this behaviour is exceptional. I guess they have to do something to justify their absurdly large presence there.

regards
harriett

Between 2,500 and 3,000 trees from SE NSW and East Gippsland are cut down every working day to supply the Eden chipmill
CHIPSTOP campaign against woodchipping the SE forests, 02-64923134, PO Box 797 Bega NSW 2550 Australia, http://www.chipstop.forests.org.au
CHIPSTOP on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vJuZya1X00

This all reminds of the over eager APEC police September 2007 some of whom were exposed for failing to wear their name tags. The implication being they were willing to bend the law for a bit of extra judicial biffo against peaceful protesters.

Meanwhile we notice James Woodford has censored this logging of public forest koala habitat off his so called Real Dirt blog here. Even when it's in his local region.

Rather he's authored a story about how the State govt is wisely marshalling the Shoalhaven water resources which is run on page 4 of the Sydney Morning Herald. Too bad koalas don't like to swim eh James?

Woodford, only seems to run government endorsed stories these days. When it comes to water it helps that his spouse - after working PR for State Forests as the logging agency - then worked for the Southern Water Catchment Authority all on the government drip. So is it news or spin?

Posted by editor at 1:28 PM EADT

Updated: Sunday, 9 November 2008 11:12 AM EADT

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Mood:  sad

Next Tuesday 11th November 2008 the application to "modify" the above sandmine by allowing another whopping 1.3 million tonnes of sand to be extracted will be considered. It comes before the great and good Hawkesbury City Council under the leadership of Liberal Party Mayor Bart Bassett and other notable councillors as former mayor Rex Stubbs and Liberal Party candidate Kevin Connolly.

Most reasonable observers might think for a designated development like this such an expansion right on a creek running into the Blue Mountains World Heritage area would justify a new EIS. The last time it was before council on 29 July 2008 it was recommended by the chief planner Matt Owens on legal advice to be refused and a notice to cease to operate be issued.

Some councillors suggested they would vote against their own officer's recommendation. Neville Diamond took it to the Land & Environment court before councillors could vote. He lost on financial technicallity around being an undischarged bankrupt. Now it is going back to council for determination.

Since then community groups like Colong Foundation for Wilderness, NSW National Parks Association, The Wilderness Society, Blue Mountains Conservation Society and local Hawkesbury Council Watch and other residents have all expressed concern.

Below is the final part in the diary by way of affidavit of Neville Diamond former neighbour of the Birdon Contracting Pty Ltd sandmine which has been operating for more years illegally than legally this last 20 years. The company has made significant profits while giving the neighbours, the local council and the state authorities the run around ... and worse.

Way back in 1995 after 10 years of illegal operations an Environmental Impact Statement was prepared to regularise the whole thing which states at page 21 unders section 5.1.2

Rehabilitation

"Rehabilitation will be undertaken on a regular programme, ensuring on ly 30% of the site contains areas affected by the sand extraction."

The site pictured above taken in a council flyover in 2005 shows no staged rehabilitation at all. Clearly there was meant to be staged approval from 1 to 6 as each stage was rehabilitated. The developer is in breach big time.

Reports that the State have not been too busy with prosecutions of mining companies is also a public concern:

Previous posts in this series are here:

Thursday, 30 October 2008 Diamond Diary Part 5: Illegal works on crown land intercepting Tinda Ck headwaters Mood:  blue Topic: legal

Tuesday, 28 October 2008 Diamond Diary Part 4: Attacking the messenger, not the vandalism Mood:  don't ask, Topic: legal

25 October 2008 Diamond Diary Part 3: Getting to grips with the costs regime in the NSW Land & Environment Court, Mood:  not sure, Topic: legal

Thursday, 23 October 2008 Diamond Diary Part 2: How I went bankrupt 'doing litigation for Dixon Sands' Mood:  accident prone Topic: legal

 

Wednesday, 22 October 2008 Diamond Diary Part 1: Amazing career of environmental litigation Mood:  on fire Topic: legal

Tuesday, 21 October 2008 World heritage vandal gets technical win in Land & Environment Court ...for now Mood:  accident prone Topic: legal

16 October 2008 Hawkesbury City Council public duty to protect their World Heritage park in court Friday 9.30am Mood:  blue Topic: legal

Friday, 10 October 2008 Misleading plan and letter by sandminer in threat to Blue Mtns World Heritage Area? Mood:  sharp Topic: legal

6 October 2008 Google Earth reveals illegal drain intercepting Tinda Creek to World Heritage area? Mood:  sharp

............................

[Diamond Diary continues from Part 5 here]

- strong evidence for the declaratory orders sought in the Amended Application

62. This section of my Affidavit of Evidence in Reply amounts to a first draft of the points of claim to support the declaratory orders sought in the Amended Application filed and served the same day. Following the order of the Amended Application:

[continued at paragraph 62, order 2 of 25 sought]

2. A declaration that the Second Respondent had no power to grant the consent on the 14^th of December 2004 for an application by First Respondent under section 96 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (“EPAA.

Particulars:

Follows from lapsing of consent from around 1997 for failure by Birdon to comply with consent condition A.4.

…………………………………………….

3. A declaration that the Second Respondent has no power under the EPAA to grant consent to the  section 96 application under the EPAA lodged by First Respondent in 2006 to modify the DA.

Particulars:

Follows from lapsing of consent from around 1999 for failure by Birdon to comply with consent condition A.4. Refer also to copy of s.96 application 2006 by Unwelt for Birdon dated 11 July 2008, and follow up correspondence from Unwelt dated 24 July 2007 from  at annexure 32

………………………………………………………

4. A declaration that the consents for development application 192/85 and DA 134/95 above, and the purported s.96 modification approval of DA 134/95, were all granted retrospectively by the Second Respondent for work already commenced without lawful approval.

Particulars:

(a)   Regarding DA 192/85 this is my Evidence from knowledge of the council file and direct observation.

(b)   Regarding DA 192/85 illegal works and demands for restoration works refer to letter of GM McCully – GM of HCC to Stout dated October 14 1988. Refer annexure 33.

(c)   Regarding s. 96 modifications after 1997 for DA 134/95 follows from lapsing of consent from around 1999 for failure by Birdon to comply with consent condition A.4 in relation to the later consents,

(d)   Admission  by council by their letter of Letter General Manager HCC to Birdon dated 15 January 1996 at annexure 31 mentioned above. Refer also limited conditions of consent for a ‘farm dam’ 11/11/86 at annexure 1 page 6 of First Diamond Affidavit.

(e)   Memo dated 29 Dec 1995 by Paul Bourne DLWC to file CC Mr Radcliffe Legal Branch, “An unauthorised extractive industry is currently operating at the site, copy at annexure 33 for particulars of order 1 sought.

……………………………………………………..

5. A declaration that DA 134/95 was a staged approval with deferred commencement for each individual stage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 dependent on full compliance for the previous stage with (a) the rehabilitation plan and (b) the consent conditions A. 1 to 33 of the consent as set out in the letter of consent from the Second Respondent to First Respondent dated 23^rd December 1996 including background in two reports of the Second Respondent of 10^th December 1996.

Particulars:

1.      Letter 24 December 1996 by Peter Lee, Branch Manager Buiding & Development to Neville Diamond – “The approval is subject to conditions as a Staged Approval for compliance with each stage of the operations.”

2.      Letter dated 20/8/96 by NSW NPWS Lou Ewins Manager Environmental Planning Unit SYDNEY ZONE to GM/HCC: “As noted in previous correspondence, the Service recommends that should consent be given Council should consider a staged approval process with approval of each stage dependent on satisfactory performance of environmental safeguards (as assessed by proposed water quality monitoring) and site rehabilitation.”

3.      Memo officer Greg Hall of HCC to Malcolm Ryan dated 17/9/2003 “Legal Opinion of the Consent “would be carried out in stages and in recognition of concerns raised by the residents and govt agencies for the development to pollute ….staged approval under Sec 91 AB be permitted … further stages only permitted where the development can illustrate that the revegetation/rehabilitation is taking place ….”

4.      Letter of legal advice by Abbott Tout to GM HCC dated 12 July 2000 to GM -HCC regarding staging and deferred commencement and refers to evidence of meaning contained in the original officers report to full council dated 10 December 1996, and resolution of council same date.

5.      Precedent case of Baulkham Hills Council v Dixon Sands (Penrith) Pty Ltd 98/40130 by Lloyd J

Documents about staged development referred to above are attached at annexure 34

..........................................

6. An order that the First Respondent and their respective servants and agents and assigns, including successors in title, be restrained from using, or permitting to be used, or causing to be used, the Property until such time that the Respondent has a lawful development approval for any future sandmining.

7. An order that the First Respondent and their respective servants and agents and assigns, including successors in title, be restrained  from using, or permitting to be used, or causing to be used, upon the Property all plant and equipment associated with extractive industry specifically the wash / screening plant/cyclone, including the associated  house / dwelling /sheds and the septic tank system, until such time as a building application has been considered and approved by Council.

8. An order that the First Respondent and their respective servants and agents and assigns, including successors in title, be restrained  from using, or permitting to be used, or causing to be used, the Property for any extractive industry until such time as the First Respondent has caused to be carried out upon the Property the progressive rehabilitation and revegetation of

(a) Tinda Creek including restoration of natural flow running through the Property; and

(b) the Property itself.

9. An order that the First Respondent must substantially commence rehabilitation of  Tinda Creek including restoration of natural flow on the Property, and the Property itself within 9 months and be completed within 2 years of commencement of rehabilitation works.

10. An order that the First Respondent retain within 3 months an independent qualified hydrologist to assess the interchange between Tinda Creek and the sandmine on the Property in order to formulate a rehabilitation plan, the assessment to be completed within 6 months. The hydrologist should consider work by Chris Jewell in a report on the Property for the Second Respondent in 2007, current water licences and the principles of ecological sustainability including advice of NSW Department of Environment & Climate Change. A copy of instructions to the consultant to be provided to the Applicant and the Second Respondent.

11. An order that the First Respondent retains within 3 months an independent qualified ecological consultant to prepare a rehabilitation plan for Tinda Creek on the Property and the Property itself, the plan to be completed within 6 months. A copy of instructions to the consultant to be provided to the Applicant and the Second Respondent.

12. An order that the Second Respondent obtain a qualified independent peer review of both the hydrological assessment and rehabilitation plan. This can be paid for out of the $50,000 rehabilitation bond held the Second Respondent.

13. An order that if the First Respondent fails to substantially commence implementing orders 9 and 10 within 3 months, or fails to finalise plans within 6 months, the Second Respondent must proceed to do so at the expense of the First Respondent

14. Such further orders as the court deems necessary for rehabilitation of Tinda Creek and the Property.

Particulars

Declarartory orders 6-14 sought are a regime over the next 2 years and 9 months described with the help of my court agent for rehabilitation and recovery of Tinda Creek which follows from findings of the lapsed consent above, and the absence of any new EIS or approval for works to continue, in support of HCC officer’s recommendation of 29 July 2008 to recommend issuing a cease to operate notice.

………………………………………

16. A declaration that First Respondent has operated on Lot 2 DP 6288806 out of the approved area to the north east of the site, the approved areas being that which is set out in the amended plan no. PS91/E130 by Port Stephens Design Services dated April 1996 as referred to in the 1996 development consent conditions A. 1 and 2.

Particulars

(a)   Memo to file dated 10 May 2005 Greg Hall Town Planning Co-Ordinator “Meeting on the 2 May 2005 with Tom Bruce concerning DA 134/95…when the site plan of the EMP is compared with the EIS and approved plans the excavated area is outside the approved plans … Tom in discussion acknowledged that the mining was outside the area shown on the plans (referred to in the consent).”

(b)   Letter 7 November 2005 Greg Hall Town Planning Co-Ordinator to Birdon Contracting Pty Ltd: “It is noted that some drainage works are now being undertaken on an adjoining property and under the provisions of Section 96, Council officers are of the view that the addition of an additional property onto the description of the development consent DA 0134/95 could not be considered under Section 96. In this regard a new development application may be required for proposed works as they cannot be considered with the provisions of Section 96 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.”

(c)   Letter dated 26 June 2007 by Greg Hall Town Planning Co-Ordinator HCC to Birdon Contracting Pty Ltd: “The plan submitted with the s.96 application shows the proposed extraction area being approximately 22ha however the consultant Port Stephens Design Services confirmed in writing that the area of extraction by the original application was 14ha. [new para] The current application to modify the consent proposed to increase the area of extraction from 14 ha to approximately 22 ha. [new para] Based on the information provided with the current application it would appear that the total extraction of 2,000,000 tonnes over 25 years will not be exceeded however as the area of excavation on the site has increased from 14ha to 22ha details need to be provided to demonstrate how this total will not be exceeded with the increase in area of extraction.“  Copy of letter annexure 31 mentioned above for particulars of order 1 sought.

(d)   Letter 12 March 2006 Robert Montgomery Executive Manger Town Planning Services  to Neville Diamond: “Council has previously written to Birdon Contracting in respect to use of the adjoining property.

(e)   Letter 30 August 2005 Tom Bruce - Birdon Contracting Pty Ltd to Greg Hall, Robert Montgomery HCC “Firstly our EIS applied for development of the mining of 22 hectares. Drawings of the mining plan & rehabilitation plan did not indicate this area. This was due to control of the bypass channel [of natural water course of Tinda Creek] around the site so it did not effect the property of the northern boundary.  ....To continue mining to maximum depth we wish to extend mining into the north eastern corner of our 22 hectare mining site. “

(f)     Refer page 3 section 2.2. of Umwelt Australia Pty Ltd report for Birdon dated June 2006 “The location of the diversion drain along the eastern boundary of the current extraction area limits the extent of resource that could be extracted to approximately 15 hectares compared with the 22 hectares identified in the EIS (Port Stephens Design Services 1995)”

(g)   Expert Report of hydrologist Chris Jewell for HCC report of June 2008: section 4.1 in second last paragraph to that section on page 11: "If the final landform involved a lake occupying the entire 22-ha operational site, as now proposed, then the reduction in outflow to Tinda Creek would be 204 ML/year, or 53 per cent."

(h)    Misleading and or deceptive so called “confusion” over the 1996 approved plan in the Umwelt s.96 covering letter of 11 July 2006 attaching plan SK2 of the same job number showing a 22 ha excavation site. Refer annexure "35" for these.

……………………………………………..

17. A declaration that the 1996 development application DA 134/95 by the First Respondent was an invalid application under the applicable Environmental Planning & Assessment Regulation, because there was no consent of the Crown as part owner of the land below 15.24 metres according to the title deed for DP 628806.

Particulars

(a)   Letter 7 March 2005 Stephen Fenn Policy Adviser Minister for Lands to Neville Diamond: “However, I understand that at no time during the processing of the Development Application by Hawkesbury City Council was the Department’s consent either sought or given to the activity.”

(b)   Title deed Lot 2 Search Dept of Lands dated 3/11/2003: “EXCEPTING LAND BELOW A DEPTH FROM THE SURFACE OF 15.24 METRES BY CROWN GRANT”

(c)   Approved plan map 1 of 3 PS91/E130 dated April 1996 shows “DREDGE FINES” the bottom 6 metres of a 20 metre excavation.

(d)   Unwelt report of 2006 at page 1 under Introduction 1.0 “current sand dredging and extraction operations at ‘Tinda Park’ …..with sand extraction extraction proposed to an average depth of 20 metres over a 22 hectare area.”

(e)   Refer EDO advice dated 29 November 2004 at p.3

Copy of these documents is at annexure36

………………………………………………………..

18. A declaration that the s.96 modification application by the First Respondent dated 6^th July 2006 for DP 628806 (“s.96 Application”) was an invalid application under clause 115 (h) of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Regulation 2000, because there was no actual consent of the Crown as part owner of the land below 15.24 metres according to the title deed for DP 628806.

Particulars

Refer evidence for declaratory order 17 above.

………………………………………

19.  A declaration that the s.96 Application was false and misleading for presenting and relying on a plan SK2 instead of the well defined approved “Plan No PS91/E130, dated April 1996” as per the development consent condition A. 1 of 1996:

 - thereby suggesting Tinda Creek was 500 metres from the sandmine excavation on DP 628806 when it is adjacent to and formerly through the sandmine site;

- falsely suggesting the approved “EXTRACTION AREA” is significantly larger than it is.

Particulars

(a)   Umwelt letter of 11 July 2006 with s.96 modification application: Jamieson/Umwelt for the sandminer Birdon write: "The first reason for seeking this modification application is that since consent was granted there has been confusion as to which plan Consent Condition 1 is referring to as PS91/E130 is the Job Number used .... as a result there are many figures and plans showing a range of things that have PS91/E130 on them" [bold added] referred to in the annexure 32 above

(b)   Jamieson attaches a convenient diagram called "JOB No. PS1/E130 DRAWING No. SK2" which just happens to show a bigger extraction area than the one approved in the detailed actual DA consent with plan from back in 1996 which is "Plan No PS1/E130, dated April 1996".  The date is all important as the identifer and Jamieson airbrushes that reality. The SK2 diagram also truncates the watercourse of Tinda Creek to a mere 100 metres or so from the Singleton/Putty Rd, when in fact it runs all the way to the now sandmine which interrupts the natural watercourse.  

(c)   The diagram later proferred by Umwelt for Birdon in their correspondence of 27 July 2007 to Greg Hall of HCC “Proposed Final Landform” to progress their s.96 modification application, has never been advertised to the public. Refer annexure 32 above

 (d)    Also there is no record of rehabilitation to give efficacy to the new final landform with restored area in the south west corner such that the lake window will remain at 14-15 ha in the approved plan of 1996 compared with 22 ha if the new stages 1a and 2a go ahead under the s.96 application. There is no evidence in the HCC officer’s report of 29 July 2008 to verify this rehabilitation claim.

(e)   There has never been a proper or thorough environmental study of the new stages 1a and 2a because the 1996 EIS was limited to the approved area in the consent.

(f)     6 diagrams from the EIS as amended by the April 1996 plans approved in the consent conditions A1 and 2 provide further evidence of the situation, at annexure 37

20. A declaration that the section 96 modification of 11 July 2006 on behalf of the First Respondent constitutes a designated development under s.35, s.36 of Schedule 3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000, and therefore requires a new Environmental Impact Statement.

Particulars

Refer EDO letter of advice dated 17 Sept 2007 at annexure 38

…………………………………………………………….

21. A declaration that the First Respondent is in breach of consent condition A.1 to comply with “documentation of Environmental Impact Statement dated 1 November 1995 as amended” in respect of “a series of bores will be installed to monitor groundwater behaviour” at page 23: For instance as recommended by the First Respondent’s consultant Eco-wise Environmental dated 27/10/2005 attaching at Appendix 2 report of Golder Associates dated October 2005 at section 4.0 Recommendations, 2^nd dot point “Installation of six shallow and deep monitoring well pairs on Site to assess groundwater flow” pursuant to orders by consent in LEC proceedings 40230 of 2005.

Particulars

(a)   Memo dated 18 January 1996 by John Williams of DLWC recommending monitoring bores

(b)   Page 23 of the EIS of 1995

(c)   Page 7 of the Golder report attached to the Ecowise report for Birdon October 2005 pursuant to the orders by consent of 9 Sept 05 in settlement of proceedings 40230 and 40430 Diamond v Birdon & HCC.

(d)   Illegal bores in pictures from HCC council file

For documents refer annexure 39

22.  A declaration that the First Respondent is using more water than is allowed by their water licenses.

Particulars

(a)   Refer EDO advice letter of 17 Sept 2007 by principal solicitor Kirsty Ruddock: “Increase in water usage (see report of C. Jewell dated June 2007). In particular, the existing water licences only allow for use of 55 ML of water (see 40 ML licences - ……). The report of C. Jewell dated June 2007 indicates the existing quarry is using at least 98ML”

(b)   Wayne Conners memo for DLWC dated 16 March 2005 states “Net water extraction is therefore 155.5 megalitres” at 30 hours per week. Refer p128 of the First Diamond Affidavit, annexure 14 to that affidavit;

(c)   Ray Bygraves for Birdon at the meeting Sept 2007 at HCC briefing meeting with Chris Jewell said they pumped for 25 hours week.

(d)   From 1996 to 2004 Birdon operated with no water licence, only obtained these after the 2005 consent orders of the LEC in 40230 and 40430 Diamond v Birdon & HCC. The application to the DIPNR for the water license attached a misleading diagram area as to area of approved extraction. Copy is available.

23. A declaration that the First Respondent is in breach of their water licenses 10BL162737 and 10BL162738 conditions 9 and/or 10 requiring submission of hours and pumping figures.

Particulars

(a)   Affidavit of Luke Phelps for DWE dated 3 Sept 2008 in these proceedings at paragraph 16 cross referring to subpoena to DWE by Diamond paragraph 12 dated 21 August 2008 “a copy of pumping figures including hours required by Birdon ….as set out in the Licenses  10BL162 737 and 10BL162738…” Answer by DWE “”I am informed and I believe that DWE does not possess any such records”

(b)   Copies of licences referred to in (a)

(c)   Diagram from DIPNR file of false alteration to diagram 7.2 “extraction area” viewed by Diamond pursuant to subpoena in 2005 proceedings.

Documents referred to in annexure 40.

24. A declaration that the First Respondent is in breach of consent condition A.33 for DA 134/95 for not submitting annual compliance reports regarding consent conditions and all permits and licenses.

Particulars

(a)   Refer HCC chief planner’s report of page 69 “Compliance with this condition has been low” with details there.

25. A declaration that trees cleared on the Property between 2005 and 2008 in the “Proposed Stage 2a” area in the s.96 modification application of 2006 was unlawful due to no permit from the Second Respondent under their Tree Preservation Order, and/or Part 3A Permit under Rivers & Foreshore Act 1948 (NSW) which was in force during this time, and under consent condition A.1 at page 23 which says there will be no further clearing for the development.

Particulars

(a)   Refer last page of Letter of consent of 23 December 1996 stating TPO applies to this site. Diamond has read the HCC file up to this month 2008 for the last 10 years and there is nothing there about TPO

(b)   Diamond subpoened the DIPNR file in 2005 proceedings and there was no reference to RFIA permits for Tinda Creek.

(c)   Refer to references to particulars for declaratory order 1 regarding application of RFIA Act 1948 to the Tinda Creek site.

* The Applicant Diamond also relies on the bundle of evidence in the First Diamond Affidavit subject to relevance.

...................

Breach of Commonwealth law regarding protection of World Heritage Area outside the jurisdiction of the LEC

63. I refer to the Federal Court precedent case of the Flying Fox Case:

• Judgment granting a final injunction by Branson J: Booth v Bosworth [2001] FCA 1453;

• Judgment granting costs by Branson J: Booth v Bosworth [2001] FCA 1718.

In that case it was impacts from adjacent landholder using an electric grid to kill endangered flying foxes - in their thousands -  in breach of the World Heritage Act 1983. At Tinda Creek here it is killing off a large segment of World Heritage catchment by diverting it's water into a highly evaporative lake from sandmining.

I understand that now the 1983 legislation is folded into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 that protects Cth threatened species and World Heritage areas. Or it should under Federal Minister Peter Garrett's responsibility.

I am thankful of Kirsty Ruddock principal solicitor of the EDO for the last legal clarification of the new EPBC legal framework.

Posted by editor at 11:31 AM EADT

Updated: Saturday, 8 November 2008 12:15 PM EADT

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Mood:  quizzical

We did our own little vox pop the afternoon of the awesome McCain concession speech and the even more awesome victory speech by Obama.

One South American buddy sent a text of jubilation, the Persian or maybe Arabic guy in the corner shop was excited and told me later he stayed up all night watching the news till 3 am. Another very jaded South American buddy said nothing would change or jobs would be lost poor countries in a US protectionist policy.

My 30 year old female neighbour said only half joking "until they shoot him" while the shop keeper also said he was in danger.

Even so you can tell in this very mixed race suburb of Sydney a certain bounce in the coloured residents. A bounce in everyone. Even as we spied a notorious white supremacist incognito in the main street early on election day.

What strikes us is how stark the claim in the Big Media that Obama is the first "Black" president. How did it come to this of defining people by their colour rather than the content of their character as Martin Luther King would have it? Or is the colour simply an artefact.

One defensive journalist said his parentage has been well documented. But maybe it's my post racial attitude that just ignores the colour and finds much more significant that:

1. His mother had a Phd (in anthropology)

2. His dad was an economics graduate from Harvard

As Oprah has said "it's because he is brilliant". On a trivial level we recall that Obama is what we call coffee not black, while this writer is pink not white, and one of the guys in my neighbourhood surely from North or Central Africa is indeed coal black. The Indigenous in Ten Canoes are somewhere in there again. But the Big Media in particular simplify and stereotype because they can.

There is no doubt that Obama is adopted by the civil rights movement from Jesse Jackson crying on tv, to 95% of African Americans voting for Obama. We shed a few tears and punched the air too. But did Obama represent their struggle? There is no doubt he provides blessed inspiration but we are not convinced he was the civil rights candidate per se even as he is adopted across the globe by minorities. As he says himself he was the mainstream candidate.  He needed voters far beyond the relatively small proportion of African Americans which he demonstrably did receive.

His biographer was on the 7.30 Report last night pointing out that he was raised by his caucasion mother, adding to pictures of his 'white' western grandparents who obviously loved him to bits. That he had to learn in 2000 how to connect with struggling 'black' voters. That his friends in school were 'white'.

By chance we watched a quite inspiring sports movie based on a true story  2 weeks out from the US election. It's called Coach Carter and good value:

Here is the wikipedia entry for Kenny Ray Carter:

Biography

Carter gained notoriety in 1999 when coaching the Richmond High School Oilers. He canceled all of his undefeated basketball team's games and practiced for eight days -- forfeiting two games (one non-conference game and one alumni game) -- because fifteen team members had unacceptably poor academic performance. This event was known as "the lockout", and his actions were criticized by the school, players' parents, the community, the schools where his team was scheduled to play, and media commentators.

Carter maintained that his athletes must take their studies seriously as good academic performance would give them access to college and other opportunities in life. Public opinion eventually changed, and he was praised for his determined emphasis on encouraging proper life priorities for his team.

The story of the 1999 season is in the 2005 film Coach Carter, with Carter played by Samuel L. Jackson.

The DVD dramatisation carries an interview with the man himself with emphasis on close knit family and high expectations for African Americans.

It was a good window into that community about a pioneer for success against a backdrop of psychological victimhood. It echoes commentary how Obama avoided victimhood growing up outside the 'black' community. Just as Colin Powell is said to have Jamaican roots longer emantcipated from the historical slavery grievance.

Many writers here have spoken about Obama as president elect being in effect very 'white' in his upbringing and even of 'white' guilt motivating voters to pick Obama. What worries us is this approach just doesn't get the true message of MLK that it's irrelevant. Colour blind is the way to go and judge a man on "the content of his character".

And I can add one other piece from my genetics course in a zoology degree. A healthy combination of diverse genes will throw up hybrid vigour above even the two already superior parents. And that I think is the true nature of Obama. A superior human being from the union of Africa and European humanity. This is stock standard good breeding in The Man. That indeed is a message of hope for humanity in a complex world.

The biographer on tv last night said he was driven by ambition to resolve the "failure" of his father. But I think that too may misunderstand that Obama is just a better mind with that hybrid factor than either his mother or father which is a great credit to both regardless.

Meanwhile in the damaged and sick eddies and currents of humanity some one wrote some weeks back in a public toilet at Addison Rd Centre Marrickville: "the only good black man is a dead black man". So there is no doubt the sickness of racism still exists out there. We didn't see it, an Irish chap I was chatting too warned me so it could be painted over as quickly as possible. I hope it was.

Posted by editor at 8:43 AM EADT

Updated: Saturday, 8 November 2008 7:24 AM EADT

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