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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

  • Undersea volcano gave off signals before eruption in 2011

    Undersea volcano gave off signals before eruption in 2011

    Posted: 10 Jun 2012 12:14 PM PDT

    A team of scientists that last year created waves by correctly forecasting the 2011 eruption of Axial Seamount years in advance now says that the undersea volcano located some 250 miles off the Oregon coast gave off clear signals hours before its impending eruption.
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  • Jobs to go at Office of Water despite $500m funds boost

    Jobs to go at Office of Water despite $500m funds boost

    Louise Schwartzkoff

    June 11, 2012

    Jbs to go ... NSW Office of Water to cut 50 jobs.

    Jobs to go … NSW Office of Water to cut 50 jobs.

    THE state government plans to cut jobs at its water management body, in spite of a federal government promise to pump millions into major water infrastructure projects across NSW.

    Last week the NSW Office of Water told staff it would cut 50 jobs. The Public Service Association of NSW believes staff at risk include scientists, planners and policy experts. The announcement follows a round of 17 voluntary redundancies in March.

    ”They are getting rid of hands-on, on-the-ground people who are responsible for managing programs and working with communities,” said the assistant general secretary of the PSA, Steve Turner. ”There is a failure to recognise that there are a lot of important frontline workers that aren’t necessarily police, nurses or teachers.”

    Mr Turner said some of those targeted were specialist staff responsible for implementing the Murray-Darling Basin plan. ”When the Murray-Darling plan was first proposed, there was huge community outrage,” he said. ”The workers at risk made sure those voices were heard. Those communities along the river must suffer as a result of these job losses. They won’t have frontline staff working with them to implement the plan.”

    The NSW Commissioner for Water, David Harriss, said the affected staff were not generally working on the Murray-Darling plan. The affected positions were ”either not high priority or can be delivered in a different manner”. Staff in these positions would be redeployed or eligible for redundancy.

    The job losses are believed to be part of a planned 10,000 job cuts across the public service. The announcement coincides with an injection of $500 million in federal funding for water infrastructure projects across the state.

    Mr Turner said the Office of Water was also expecting more funding from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal from the next financial year, partly as a result of increased water management charges placed on irrigators.

    ”This increase in funding recognises that the office has more activities and more responsibilities, yet at the same time they are cutting the staff who will implement those programs,” Mr Turner said. ”After a massive period of drought then floods, water management has become an extreme focus of government, and yet at the very same time, the frontline people responsible for water management are being cut.”

    Mr Harriss said the $500 million in funding was mostly for capital works and measures that would recover water for the environment. ”There may be some money for staff to implement these projects,” he said.

    The restructure will also mean the relocation of about 50 staff from Sydney to regional centres. Mr Harriss said the restructure would make the office more efficient and lead to greater interaction with farmers and industry. ”It will provide a significant boost to regional NSW. As the NSW Office of Water is responsible for regional service delivery of water management functions, it is important staff be located in areas close to the issues and to be able to work closely with the industry and stakeholders.”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/jobs-to-go-at-office-of-water-despite-500m-funds-boost-20120610-204h2.html#ixzz1xTFQFmWW

  • 160,000 lose power in WA storm

    The severe weather events we are seeing must be due to Global Warming, this would be denied by the sceptics.

    160,000 lose power in WA storm

    Updated: 20:29, Sunday June 10, 2012

    A violent storm has left more than 160,000 homes and businesses without power in WA, as its trail of destruction continues to sweep through the southwest.

    By late Sunday afternoon, Western Power had reported more than 100,000 homes in Perth and more than 50,000 in regional areas had lost power, as a dangerous weather warning remained in place for the entire southwest – an area the size of Victoria.

    Emergency services had received more than 300 calls for help across Perth and regional areas, as rains and winds of up to 140kmh caused road closures and significant damage to buildings and infrastructure.

    Western Power said more than 150 power lines and more than 50 poles had been brought down across metropolitan Perth, while its network was still being damaged by high winds in the southwest region.

    The utility said homes and businesses could be without power for days, due to the widespread nature of the destruction.

    In Perth’s northeast suburbs, a roof had collapsed on a two-storey block of flats, forcing residents to evacuate, while a crane collapsed on a corner of the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre in the western suburb of Nedlands, also causing significant damage.

    Sky News television showed dozens of boats, including large motor launches and at least one ketch, washed onshore in coastal areas and the Perth Now online site said shipping containers has been blown off their stacks in Fremantle harbour.

    Power lines and wooden poles were down in most Perth suburbs, while there were reports of homes being damaged by falling trees and branches, as well as dangerous debris flying.

    Parts of Perth’s Swan River had flooded and about 50 sets of traffic lights had been blacked out across the metropolitan area.

    A spokeswoman from Perth Airport confirmed some inbound and outbound flights had been delayed, while ferries to Rottnest Island, 12km west of Fremantle, had been stopped.

    There was also an unconfirmed report of a marina jetty being swept away with boats still moored to it in the coastal city of Mandurah, about 80km south of Perth, with other reports of shipping containers being blown around at Fremantle Port.

    The Bureau of Meteorology said the storm was caused by a deepening offshore low-pressure system off the coast of Geraldton earlier in the day that had moved rapidly south and inland.

    The bureau had issued a dangerous weather warning from Kalbarri on the midwest coast to Kalgoorlie in the east, and Israelite Bay on the south coast.

    While the warning has been cancelled in northern parts, it remains in place for the southwest and is predicted to cause more damage, particularly around coastal areas.

  • Even schools, hospitals feel carbon tax

    Even schools, hospitals feel carbon tax

    0

    Implementation of the carbon tax is now just 20 days away, and still the surprises continue about just how wide-ranging the new tax will be.

    One reason for the carbon tax’s unpopularity is that the electorate rightly feels kept in the dark over where and how the tax will apply.

    Carbon confusion reigns. The government’s messages have been mixed, to say the least, beginning with Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s pre-election promise that there would be no such tax under her leadership.

    The government moved on from that stance a little too quickly for public tastes.

    Now we have government ads that promote compensation to cover the increased costs of living that the carbon tax will bring about, yet the ads decline to mention the tax itself.

    It’s more than slightly worrying. So, too, is the exclusive news in today’s Daily Telegraph that Sydney hospitals and schools will face extensive carbon tax bills. This doesn’t fit at all with the government’s rhetoric about punishing so-called big polluters.

    According to NSW Treasury analysis, our public health system could be hit with carbon tax bills of $120,000 per hospital per year. Public schools are warned to expect annual carbon tax bills of about $9000. The list of beneficial things that schools and hospitals could do with this money is probably infinite, and almost all of them would have a more positive effect than sending those funds to Canberra.

    Consider, too, the pointless and expensive extent of financial “churn” involved.

    State hospitals and schools are funded by taxes. They then return some of those taxes to cover their carbon tax debt, at which point a segment of those taxes is redirected to certain households as part of the government’s compensation plan.

    It appears to be a massive amount of effort in order to achieve very little at all, apart from hostility throughout the electorate.

    On that score, and that score alone, the carbon tax has been an extraordinarily efficient device.

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    The adults started it

    Children have at least two profound innate skills. One is to rapidly absorb information about the world around them, particularly in the area of communication.

    The other is a powerful awareness of just how to get the attention of parents.

    Combine these two abilities and it’s no wonder that swear words are so irresistible to even the very youngest of children.

    Incredibly, after listening to an adult conversation that may include thousands of words, a child will effortlessly detect and then repeat the one word that is “naughty”. Perhaps they pick up on the clear use of these words to provide emphasis.

    As for a solution, even the least profane household would be hard-put to conceal a child from language heard on television, in schoolyards and at sporting events. Especially, and regrettably, at sporting events featuring rugby league teams from Queensland.

    Language happens.

    Thankfully, children are also quick to pick up on parental instructions. If you can’t stop the bad words, you can still have your say on why they are bad.

  • Conservationists ‘thrilled’ by ocean parks plan

    Conservationists ‘thrilled’ by ocean parks plan

    By environment reporter Conor Duffy, ABCJune 11, 2012, 6:45 am

    The ABC has obtained an Environment Department proposal for a network of marine parks that would make up the biggest ocean conservation sanctuary in the world.

    Environment Minister Tony Burke’s upcoming announcement of a national network of Commonwealth marine parks has been described by environmentalists as a chance for the government to leave a legacy as significant as the protection of the Great Barrier Reef or Kakadu.

    The documents show a huge protected area in the Coral Sea off Queensland, stretching all the way along the state’s coastline and a long way out to sea.

    There are protected pockets stretching further south past New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, and significant protected areas proposed around Western Australia and up to the Northern Territory.

    Work on the network of marine parks has being underway for years, and it is expected a final decision on the protection zone could be just a week or two away.

    Michele Grady from the Pew Environment Foundation says the proposed changes will be a world first.

    “It will be the first time that a nation has put in place the sort of protection that the science world is saying is needed to ensure that marine life is protected into the future,” she said.

    “We know from the devastating impacts of fishing and the search for oil and gas globally where oceans are in very deep decline that we have to do it better here.”

    But furious commercial fishermen say it will see businesses shut down and Australians paying more for their favourite seafood.

    “What we’re talking about here is Australia setting aside up to 50 per cent of the total economic zone to close to significant areas of fishing,” said Brian Jeffriess from the Commonwealth Fisheries Association.

    “Now that would mean that Australia would have over 50 per cent of the world’s closed areas. That’s Australia getting along way ahead of the world with no good reason.”

    Opposition Environment spokesman Greg Hunt also called for fishing communities to be fully consulted on the plans.

    The University of Queensland’s Hugh Possingham – who worked on the software and modelling that helped inform the plan – says the rezoning will be a significant change.

    “Much of what we do seems esoteric, but this is the biggest rezoning the world’s ever seen.

    “The software that we’ve developed as part of this process will change 10 to 20 per cent of the surface of the entire development.”

    United front?

    There are also questions being asked about whether the Government is unified in its enthusiasm for the marine park network.

    While Mr Burke has been drawing up the marine park plans, his Cabinet colleague, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, has been opening up Commonwealth waters to oil and gas exploration.

    Environmentalists say those plans need greater scrutiny, and claim exploration in places like Rowley Shoals off the coast of Broome in WA risk jeopardising the marine park.

    “Despite the marine sanctuary process now running for 10 years by way of preparation for these important decisions this year, there’s been absolutely no check on what’s been an increasingly desperate search for oil and gas,” Ms Grady said.

    “It would be akin to opening up the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to oil and gas.”

    The reserves are in some cases along way off shore, and will mostly impact commercial fishery operations rather than recreational fishers.

    The Commonwealth Fisheries Association’s Brian Jeffriess says that could put some lucrative catches at risk.

    “There’s significant areas of rock lobster in the southern areas and in the western areas. There are significant areas of tuna long lining on the east coast of Australia and the south west of Australia. There are significant elements of trawl fishery in Queensland, NSW and WA.

    “These are regional communities that are dependent on these fisheries and the prosperity it generates for regional communities.

    “Could it have any impact on the consumer who goes down to the fish market looking for their choice cut or their bit of lobster?

    “Clearly it will, whatever total adjustment this means in the end is going to be significant and domestic prices will go up.”

  • Panicked residents jump from buildings as quake rocks tourist resort

    Panicked residents jump from buildings as quake rocks tourist resort

    June 11, 2012 – 8:32AM

    A strong earthquake hit off the southwest coast of Turkey on Sunday near a popular tourist resort, putting dozens of people in hospital, including some who jumped from buildings in panic, officials said.

    The 6.0 magnitude quake struck off Oludeniz, a small Aegean Sea holiday resort near the city of Fethiye which is popular particularly with Britons.

    No-one was killed, according to the national disaster management centre, but provincial health director Cihan Tekin said 59 people were taken to hospital, most for psychological trauma.

    “From the information we’ve gathered, 59 Turkish citizens are in hospital after the earthquake, including 54 in Fethiye,” Tekin was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

    One person suffered a severe head injury jumping from a window out of fright, Tekin said, adding that two people suffered heart attacks.

    “Some people were admitted to hospital for fractures and cuts. But most were admitted for psychological trauma,” he said.

    Tekin had earlier put the number of injured at six to seven people, saying: “They jumped in panic from balconies or windows.”

    Oludeniz mayor Keramettin Yilmaz told the private NTV television network that the quake also caused material damage but no details were immediately available.

    Oludeniz, a resort popular with British tourists, looks out at the brilliant turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea.

    Turkey is crossed by several fault lines.

    A powerful quake shook eastern Turkey on October 23 last year, killing more than 600 people. It was followed on November 12 by a 5.6-magnitude tremor that killed another 40 people in the same area.

    In 1999, two strong quakes in heavily populated and industrialised parts of northwest Turkey killed 20,000 people

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/panicked-residents-jump-from-buildings-as-quake-rocks-tourist-resort-20120611-204vv.html#ixzz1xR6eq62A