A Sydney astronomer says Tuesday night’s "blood moon" lunar eclipse should be visible to most people across the country.

Lunar eclipses occur at least twice a year, somewhere in the world, but the last time a total eclipse was visible from Australia’s eastern states was in July 2000.

"It’s a pretty spectacular sight tonight. It’s also a convenient time for families and safe to look at," Nick Lomb, curator of astronomy at Sydney Observatory, told AAP.

"It’s rare but not as rare as a blue moon and we will have to find out if it is a full eclipse," he said.

If the sky is clear, most people should be able to see the moon become red as the earth’s shadow passed over it, Mr Lomb said.

The moon is expected to rise at 5.22 pm (AEST).

At 6.51pm (AEST) the eclipse will begin with earth’s shadow starting to block light travelling from the sun to the moon’s surface.

The eclipse will be full from 7.52pm (AEST) until 9.23pm (AEST), with the moon appearing red, because only the red component of sunlight will be diffracted around the earth onto its surface.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s website suggests relatively clear conditions for most of the country, although cloud is expected over parts of Victoria and southwestern Australia.

For those unfortunate to miss out due to bad weather, The Discovery channel is hosting a live broadcast of the eclipse on the internet at http://www.discoverychannel.com.au/eclipse

Source: SMH  

But cost confusion rife if dams overflow: In the long term, however, the supply of water should adjust to maintain the supply/demand balance. In this context, it may be more appropriate for usage prices to reflect the LRMC of supply, rather than the short term scarcity of water. Further, setting prices to reflect the short term changes in supply of water may result in perverse outcomes, for example, very low usage prices may be required when the dams are overflowing such that usage prices do not inform customers about the costs of providing them with water in the long term.

Reflecting costs of desalination plant in prices: There were a wide range of issues relating to how best to reflect the costs of the desalination plant in prices. The first issue that the Tribunal would need to consider was whether the costs of the desalination plant, or a proportion of these costs, should be recovered through developer charges rather than the periodic charges.

Depends on desal future demand outlook: This largely depended on whether the plant had been constructed to meet the likely future demands placed on Sydney’s water supply due to new growth or whether it is constructed to ensure security of water supply for existing customers. If the plant, for example, had been constructed to meet future demand from new growth areas then it may be consistent with existing pricing policies to recover part of these costs through the upfront developer charges. If the costs of the desalination plant were to be recovered through the periodic charge, the Tribunal will need to consider whether the costs should be reflected in the fixed component of the two-part tariff or whether it should be reflected also in the usage component of the charge. This would, in part, relate to the operating rules of the plant.

When should desal payoff start? Another issue related to the desalination plant was the point in the price path that these costs should begin to be reflected in water prices. One option, for example, was to allow the capital costs related to the construction of the plant to be recovered from users prior to the plant commencing operation. This may mean a fixed charge being levied on users prior to the commencement of the plant with the usage component of the charge only commencing once the plant is operated. The Tribunal will consider these timing issues for the desalination plant as part of its inquiry processes.

Tell IPART which system to choose: IPART sought comment on whether the costs of the desalination plant should be:

• incorporated in upfront developer charges or Sydney Water’s periodic prices or a combination of both;

• recovered through the fixed component of the two-part tariff or a mix of fixed and usage components;

• reflected in Sydney Water’s prices prior to the plant being operational.

Reference: Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, Review of prices for Sydney Water Corporation’s water, sewerage, stormwater and recycled water from 1 July 2008.Water – Issues Paper DP92, August 2007. Inquiries regarding this document should be directed to a staff member: Richard Warner: (02) 9290 8406; Nigel Rajaratnam: (02) 9290 8467 Website: http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au

When the University of Western Australian posted this Media Statement on its website, it exposed the Federal Governments long term agenda to introducte genetically modified crops into Australia.

It seems that government funding has been channeled into the development of GE or GM crops for 15 years, although these crops were banned.

The Howard Government has never been open to acting on independent studies on the consequences of introducing genetically modified crops into Australia’s farming sector.

This media statement should ring alarm bells for all Australians.

Media Statement

Thursday, June 14, 2007

GM MORATORIUM LIMITS LUPINS

When the current moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops is lifted, The University of Western Australia (UWA) has GM lupin lines with superior seed quality and yield readily available for wider testing and evaluation in the WA grainbelt.

According to UWA Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis Director, Professor Craig Atkins, sustaining cereal production through rotating legumes drove the UWA GM lupin breeding program, which commenced in 1992.

“We developed a very successful genetic engineering program for narrow-leafed lupin, including herbicide (Basta®) and bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV) resistant varieties,” he said. 

Full statement  

Posted Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:23pm AEST

ABC News Online

Federal Labor’s primary industry spokesman Kerry O’Brien is accusing Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran of promoting one side of the genetically modified (GM) canola argument.

Mr McGauran released a report on GM crops this month and is pushing state governments to drop their bans on GM canola.

Senator O’Brien says Mr McGauran ignored sections of the report referring to consumer resistance, divisions in the farming community and weed problems.

He says Mr McGauran is setting up another argument with the states.

"There is also the question of whether the markets are going to be there for our product or whether there’s any advantage to the extra expenditure that’s spent in getting a higher value for the crop that’s grown," he said.

"All these issues have to be dealt with, this is something to be dealt with dispassionately, not in the heat of an election campaign for political advantage."

Mr McGauran says lifting the bans will put choice on GM technologies in the hands of farmers.

He says he acknowledges the report was not all positive, but he says most farmers are in favour of GM technology.

"The problem for Senator O’Brien is he’s walking both sides of the street, he doesn’t support nor oppose GM, I think the political cowardice after all these years and all of the data and evidence available not to make a decision, you’re either for the commercial release or you’re not, so long as all the safeguards are in place," he said.

Posted Tue May 29, 2007 12:39pm AEST

ABC Online   

The Organic Agriculture Association is urging dairy farmers to oppose the lifting of a moratorium on genetically modified canola.

The State Government is conducting a review on the moratorium due to be lifted early next year.

The Organic Association’s Robin Grant says once the ban is lifted no-one will be able to stop the G-M crops spreading to non-GM properties.

And she says the invading crops will be resistant to conventional weed killers.

She says evidence of canola spread can be seen along railway lines in Victoria’s cropping belt.

"The amount of canola that is along those railway lines if you go there in October when it’s flowering you’ll just see that they can’t control these crops," she said.

"The agricultural weeds that are on our roadsides now, they just can’t control it, they won’t be able to control it."