Grover Norquist Discussion
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Category: General news
Managing director of Ebono Institute and major sponsor of The Generator, Geoff Ebbs, is running against Kevin Rudd in the seat of Griffith at the next Federal election. By the expression on their faces in this candid shot it looks like a pretty dull campaign. Read on
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HANSEN Grover Norquist Discussion
Grover Norquist Discussion
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News from Malcolm Turnbull
Dear Neville,
The Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, released this week, revealed the fragility of Labors assertion that it will deliver a (wafer thin) budget surplus.
In the area of broadband and communications, the Government is cutting money out of telehealth programs so it can find $20 million to promote the NBN ahead of the next election. No doubt some of that advertising will focus on those very eHealth programs from which it has cut funding.
Stripped of the hype and ceremony Labor lavishes on the NBN Co, the reality is that the project is floundering. Since 2009 the Government has injected $2.8 billion into the project and the NBN Co has recorded losses of $923 million (as of June). For all that, they have still only connected around 6,400 customers to its fibre network barely three per cent of the target the NBN Co set for itself in 2010.
I recently launched www.fasterbroadband.com.au, an online survey that will measure your internet speeds at home. We will use that information to do what the NBN Co has not been able to do: We will prioritise areas which currently have poor broadband and help deliver these upgrades sooner, cheaper for taxpayers and more affordably for consumers.
And in the last month I have given many speeches and interviews on subjects ranging from the NBN and communications, free speech and social media, gay marriage, the Olympics and Thucydides and one of my finest teachers.
It is time competent management returned to Government in Canberra.
Coalition Broadband Survey
State By-Election
Bali Memorial Service
Wentworth Families Take on Type-1 Diabetes
Rose Bay Marina Rejected
Other Speeches and Writings
Podcasts and Video
Update Your DetailsCoalition Broadband Survey
The Coalition has launched a nationwide broadband survey which allows every Australian to see for themselves the speed of their existing fixed line and mobile broadband services.If you haven’t already done so, I would encourage everyone to complete the survey (and forward it on to friends and family!). It is online at: www.fasterbroadband.com.au
The survey will provide important information to the Coalition about the speed of existing broadband in Australian cities, suburbs, towns and regions so that we can target those areas which have the worst broadband today.
We want every Australian to have faster broadband sooner and more affordably.
On Saturday, there will be a by-election for the State seat of Sydney. The Liberal Party’s candidate is Shayne Mallard, who has been a Sydney City and South Sydney councillor for more than 12 years and has long experience in small business.
Shayne knows the challenges faced in the inner-city — especially the need to cut traffic congestion and improve public transport services in our neighbourhoods. He has already made an impact ensuring that tough new rules have been introduced to reduce alcohol fuelled violence at Kings Cross and new transport services to ensure visitors can get home in the early hours on Saturday and Sunday.
During the campaign, Shayne has secured funding to upgrade the Paddington gates at Centennial Park and will continue to ensure the State Liberal Government and the Premier Barry OFarrell pay close attention to the inner city.
This is a unique opportunity to put a strong voice for the local community into the NSW Government, where it will be heard. So I would encourage you to visit Shayne’s website here — and more importantly, vote ‘1’ Liberal on Saturday.
On October 12, I attended a memorial service at Dolphin Point in Coogee to commemorate the lives and the tragic loss of the 202 people who were killed in the Bali Bombings.
The memorial sculpture at Coogee is a reminder of the importance of community in times of hardship. The three bronze figures are leaning into and supporting each other, just as the victims and their community – both on the night of the tragedy and since – have been supporting each other. The memorial service was again a great celebration of love’s triumph over hatred.
Wentworth Families Take on Type-1 Diabetes
I recently met Zoe Moyes, Matt Antulov and Marley McCallum to hear their stories about living with Type-1 diabetes. They are campaigning to raise awareness of Type-1 diabetes and to garner support in Canberra for a Clinical Trial Network, which would cost the Government $35 million (At the previous federal election, the Coalition pledged the $35 million and the network would be up and running had we been elected).
Seven-year-old Zoe is raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to help find a cure for Type-1 diabetes — she has already raised more than $2,000 which is an incredible effort! I would encourage every one to go to her site by clicking here and give even a small amount to the cause.
After thousands of people voiced their overwhelming opposition to a proposed extension to Rose Bay Marina in our online survey, the Joint Regional Planning Panel voted against the development application.
The panel stated: The principal reason for refusal is that the additional arm would increase the cumulative view impact adversely. It may be that a restriction on the height of vessels proposed by the Sydney Harbour Association and accepted by the applicant would allow a view of Manly over the top of boats; however, the view of the foreground, just as important in the Panels opinion, would be further obscured.
On this occasion at least the views of the local community have been heard and recognised.
Other Recent Speeches and Writings
At the annual Alfred Deakin Lecture at Melbourne University I outlined the Coalition’s vision for extending freedom of speech and privacy in the age of digital communications and reflected on how the power of social media was demonstrated in the Alan Jones affair.
I addressed Parliament on the Marriage Amendment Bill, and also spoke in Parliament on the importance of the surf life saving community and its contribution to the egalitarianism of the Australian character. On the same sporting theme I noted the Olympic efforts of Wentworth athletes and the success of the London Olympics themselves.
On a more academic note, I paid a tribute to my old classics teacher John Sheldon in an address to the NSW Classics Association, where I explored great power relations in the Peloponnesian War. And returning to more contemporary power plays, I also addressed the China Business Forum in Sydney on Chinese investment in Australia.
Lucy Turnbull delivered the annual Walter Burley Griffin lecture at the National Gallery of Australia, outlining a vision for making our cities more sustainable and better places to live.
And remembering the NBN and communications policy I gave a speech to the annual CommsDay Summit in Melbourne on how to reform the NBN and I addressed the National Radio Conference on the need for less burdensome regulation of new media platforms.
I also wrote about the recent decision to spend $20 million on NBN advertising despite taking money out of telehealth programs and I corrected recent comments made by former ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel, who is unaware of recent advances made in fibre-to-the-node technology.
I had a conversation with ABC’s Lyndal Curtis and Labor’s Mark Butler on why our trust in experts is declining.
Following Frank Lowy’s excellent speech to the Australian Muticultural Council, I spoke with Adam Spencer about the ‘great unwritten deal’ that migrants to this country sign on to by contributing to our culture and economy.
Leigh Sales probed me on 7.30 on the Coalition’s plans to deliver broadband faster and more affordably and I spoke with Ben Fordham on 2GB about our broadband survey. I also spoke with 2GB’s Luke Grant about the exorbitant bonuses paid out to NBN Co executives despite the project being many months behind schedule.
I also spoke with author (and Deputy Principal of Cranbrook) Michael Parker about the upcoming Woollahra Festival.
If you think our records of your details are wrong, then click on ‘Update Your Details’ at the top of the page and you can correct our records. Also, if you have some friends who would like to receive the newsletter, please direct them to my website.
And if you wish to unsubscribe from this list, then you can do that too by clicking here (but you will be missed!).
Yours sincerely,
Malcolm Turnbull
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New Understanding of Antarctica’s ‘weight loss’: Sea level is rising with little apparent contribution from Antarctica
Posted: 22 Oct 2012 06:31 AM PDT
Scientists have found that the present sea level rise is happening with apparently very little contribution from Antarctica as a whole. The large amount of water flowing away from West Antarctica through ice-melt has been partly cancelled out by the volume of water falling onto the continent in the form of snow, suggesting some past studies have overestimated Antarctica’s contribution to fast-rising sea levels.You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Earth Science News
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Scientists found guilty for earthquake deaths
Scientists found guilty for earthquake deaths
Disaster … an aerial view of L’Aquila after the 2009 earthquake that killed more than 300 people. Photo: AP
Six Italian scientists and a government official have been found guilty of multiple manslaughter for underestimating the risks of a killer earthquake in L’Aquila in 2009.
They were sentenced to six years in jail in a case that has provoked outrage among scientists worldwide.
We cannot call this a victory. It’s a tragedy, whatever way you look at it.
The experts were also ordered to pay more than €9 million ($11.5 million) in damages to survivors and inhabitants. Under the Italian justice system, the seven will remain free until they have exhausted two chances to appeal against the verdict.
Aftermath …. a man walks past buildings destroyed in the earthquake. Photo: Reuters
Some commentators had warned that any convictions would dissuade other experts from sharing their expertise for fear of legal retribution.
AdvertisementThe prosecutor, Fabio Picuti, had asked for jail sentences of four years for each defendant for failing to alert the population of the walled medieval town of L’Aquila to the risks, days before the 6.3-magnitude quake killed 309 people.
All seven were members of the Major Risks Committee, which met in the central Italian town on March 31, 2009, six days before the quake devastated the region, tearing down houses and churches and leaving thousands homeless.
Bernardo De Bernardinis … gave media interviews saying tremors “posed no danger”. Photo: AFP
“This is a historic sentence, above all for the victims,” said Wania della Vigna, a lawyer who represents 11 plaintiffs, including the family of an Israeli student who died when a student residence collapsed on top of him.
“It also marks a step forward for the justice system and I hope it will lead to change, not only in Italy but across the world,” she said.
The bright blue, classroom-sized temporary tribunal in L’Aquila – built on an industrial estate after the town’s historic court was flattened in the quake – was packed with lawyers, advisers and international media for the verdict.
Four of the defendants were in court, as well as a small group of survivors.
Aldo Scimia, whose mother was killed, wept as the verdict was read out.
“We cannot call this a victory. It’s a tragedy, whatever way you look at it, it won’t bring our loved ones back,” he said. “I continue to call this a massacre at the hand of the state, but at least now we hope that our children may live safer lives,” he said.
Mr Picuti had criticised the experts for providing “an incomplete, inept, unsuitable and criminally mistaken” analysis, which reassured locals and led many to stay indoors when the first tremors hit.
The government committee met after a series of small tremors in the preceding weeks had sown panic – particularly after a resident began making worrying unofficial earthquake predictions.
Italy’s top seismologists were called to evaluate the situation and the then-vice-director of the Civil Protection Agency, Bernardo De Bernardinis, gave media interviews saying the seismic activity in L’Aquila posed “no danger”.
“The scientific community continues to assure me that, to the contrary, it’s a favourable situation because of the continuous discharge of energy,” he said.
A government lawyer, Carlo Sica, who had called for the seven defendants to be acquitted, said that minutes from the March 31 meeting were not valid as evidence because they were written up only after the April 6 earthquake.
“They are not guilty of anything, the earthquake’s no one’s fault,” he said.
Filippo Dinacci, a lawyer for Mr Bernardinis and Mauro Dolce, the head of the Civil Protection’s seismic risk office, criticised the charges last week as something out of “medieval criminal law”.
“The ruling in my opinion is not fair. We will certainly be appealing,” said Alessandra Stefano, the lawyer for the expert Gian Michele Calvi, after the verdict.
Scientists were outraged when the charges were brought against the geophysicists in 2010. Many complained that they were merely scapegoats and warned against putting science on trial.
More than 5000 scientists sent an open letter to President Giorgio Napolitano denouncing the trial against colleagues for failing to predict a quake – something widely acknowledged to be impossible.
The seven include Enzo Boschi, who at the time was the head of Italy’s national geophysics institute; Giulio Selvaggi, head of the national earthquake centre in Rome; and Franco Barberi from Rome’s University Three.
The other scientists found guilty are Mr Dolce, Mr Calvi, the head of the European centre of earthquake engineering; and Claudio Eva from the University of Genoa.
Agence France-Presse
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Ash Cloud Monbiot
Monbiot.com
Posted: 22 Oct 2012 12:24 PM PDT
How conservatism turned into an orgy of destruction.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 22nd October 2012
There was a time when conservatism meant what the word suggests. It was an attempt to keep things as they are: to arrest economic and social change, to defend the position of the dominant class. Today conservatism has become a nihilistic festival of destruction: a gleeful Bullingdon dinner party of upper class anarchists, smashing other people’s crockery and hurling the chairs through the windows. Yet its purpose is still to secure the position of the dominant class.
It is no longer enough to own the land and most of the capital, to own the media and – through the corrupt system of party funding – the political process. To reinstate Edwardian levels of inequality, the feral elite must seek to reverse the political progress that has been made since then. This means dismantling the tax system, which redistributes wealth. It means ditching the rules which prevent the powerful from acting as they please.
Both are being consumed in what British Conservatives proudly describe as a bonfire(1,2). Nowhere is deregulation more destructive than in its treatment of the natural world.
If ash die-back takes root in Britain, it could be as damaging as Dutch elm disease was. This fungus is now raging across the Continent, consuming almost all the ash trees in its path(3). Few ashes – among which are some of the oldest and best-loved trees in Britain(4) – are expected to survive if the disease becomes established here.
The only way the fungus can arrive in this country is through imports of infected saplings. In February the first case in the UK was reported, at a tree nursery in Buckinghamshire. The disease has now been found in ten places, and foresters are desperately trying to contain it(5).
But – and this is the extraordinary thing – the government still refuses to ban imports of ash saplings. Instead, it has put the issue out to consultation, as if it had all the time in the world. It’s like spraying one side of a burning house with water while allowing petrol to be sprayed on the other. The government’s commitment to deregulating business outweighs the likely consequences. If ash dieback spreads through Britain, Cameron’s administration will be solely and unequivocally to blame.
It cares just as little about what’s happening to the bees. A new study published this week in Nature provides yet more evidence of the devastating impacts of a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids(6,7.8). But, unlike other European nations, Britain refuses even to suspend their use.
The same politics inform the planned mass slaughter of badgers, which seems mystifying until you understand that it’s an alternative to effective regulation. Far from controlling tuberculosis in cattle, it could, as Professor John Bourne (who led the previous government’s £49m scientific trial) says, “make TB a damn sight worse.”(9) In the 1960s, strict quarantine rules and the rigorous testing of cattle almost eliminated the disease from the UK(10). But farmers complained, so the rules were relaxed, and TB returned with a vengeance. Killing badgers creates an impression of action, without offending landed interests.
In March the government published its kill list of environmental regulations(11). Among those being downgraded are the rules controlling hazardous waste, air pollution, contaminated land, noise, light and the use of lead shot(12,13). Ministers describe this as the shrinking of the state. In reality it’s the shrinking of democracy. Regulation is the means by which civilised societies resolve their conflicts. It prevents the selfish and the powerful from spoiling the lives of others.
But this isn’t about only economic dominance. It is also about cultural hegemony. Uniquely perhaps, in Britain the right-wing culture war is waged largely in the countryside. Tory culture revolves around land owning: battle lines are drawn around the issue of who represents rural Britain.
Writing in the Telegraph last month, Fraser Nelson, a reliable guide to the current state of thinking in the party, maintained that people who live in the countryside don’t care about “newts, trees and bats”: these are of interest only in London(14). He went on to describe David Cameron as “at heart, a rural Tory”, who “still grumbles to his wife about what, for him, are ‘banned activities’ – notably shooting”. Authentic rural people spend their adult lives in Notting Hill and drive out to their second homes for a shooting party at the weekend. Inauthentic rural people are those who live in the countryside and care about wildlife. They are, “at heart”, Londoners. The rural-urban divide, as formulated by Tory theorists, is nothing to do with location. It’s about class.
Those who wish to restrain destructive activities are characterised – by the minister Greg Barker(15) and, apparently, George Osborne(16) – as “environmental Taliban”. Their attempt to associate democratic debate with people who shoot girls in the head tells you all you need to know about their sense of political entitlement.
This conservatism does not care what it destroys. It does not care whom it hurts. It will sacrifice entire species rather than contemplate the slightest check on its own self-interest. All else can burn.
References:
2. http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debate/?id=2012-02-21b.832.1
3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/07/disease-killing-denmarks-ash-trees
4. http://www.monbiot.com/2012/10/12/heart-rot/
5. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara
6. Richard J. Gill, Oscar Ramos-Rodriguez and Nigel E. Raine, 21st October 2012. Combined pesticide exposure severely affects individual- and colony-level traits in bees. Nature. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11585
7. See also Penelope R. Whitehorn, 20th April 2012. Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production. Science.Vol. 336, no. 6079, pp 351-352. doi:10.1126/science.1215025
8. and Mickaël Henry et al. 20th April 2012. A Common Pesticide Decreases Foraging Success and Survival in Honey Bees. Science. Vol. 336 no. 6079, pp 348-350. doi: 10.1126/science.1215039
9. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/15/badger-cull-government-accused
10. John Bourne, 13th November 2010. pers comm.
11. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/16/environmental-regulations-slashed-red-tape
12. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2012/mar/16/environment-red-tape-challenge
13. For some background to the lead shot issue, please read this: http://www.monbiot.com/2012/07/26/lead-soldiers/
15. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f0aa4d08-2d9f-11e1-b5bf-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz29fAwOv2q
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Govt to set up foreign land register
Govt to set up foreign land register
AAPUpdated October 23, 2012, 9:58 amThe federal government will introduce a foreign ownership register for agricultural land, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has told farmers.
The register will provide a more comprehensive picture of the specific size and locations of foreign agricultural landholdings.
The prime minister’s announcement at the National Farmers Federation national congress in Canberra on Tuesday was applauded by delegates.
The government shortly will release a paper to begin discussions with stakeholders including farmers, the states and territories about the design and content of the register.
Ms Gillard said she wanted to take the politics out of foreign ownership.
“Foreign investment is not a new thing,” she said.
Just 0.1 per cent of total direct foreign investment is in agriculture, forestry and fishing, while 89 per cent of agricultural land is entirely Australian-owned.
A further six per cent is majority Australian-owned.
That proportion was roughly similar to levels 30 years ago, Ms Gillard said.
A working group that includes Treasury and other government agencies will release a consultation paper soon.
The final design of the register will take into account the need to improve transparency of foreign ownership in agriculture without imposing unnecessary burdens on investors or duplicating work already undertaken by state and territory governments.
