Category: Sustainable Settlement and Agriculture

The Generator is founded on the simple premise that we should leave the world in better condition than we found it. The news items in this category outline the attempts people have made to do this. They are mainly concerned with our food supply and settlement patterns. The impact that the human race has on the planet.

Rudd’s hospital reform more radical than 1984 Medicare revamp

admin /3 March, 2010

Rudd’s hospital reform more radical than 1984 Medicare revamp

MARK METHERELL

March 3, 2010 – 1:04PM

 

Rudd delivers big hospital fix

Tim Lester analyses Kevin Rudd’s announcement about fixing Australia’s public hospitals, with a $30.9 billion funding takeover

The Prime Minister’s $30.9 billion overhaul to integrate Australia’s health system goes much further than his simple pledge before the last election to “fix” the public hospitals.

Kevin Rudd is proposing steps to integrate the health system in radical changes, of a scale that transcends Australia’s last big health revamp, Medicare, in 1984.

Not only is he proposing to radically change Australia’s heavy dependency on hospitals, he is also planning to establish a new “independent umpire” at arm’s lengths from government, to set “efficient national prices” of health services to be paid for by federal and state governments.

Labor to axe drought relief

admin /3 March, 2010

Labor to axe drought relief

  • Matthew Franklin, Chief Political Correspondent
  • From: The Australian
  • March 03, 2010 12:00AM

 

AGRICULTURE Minister Tony Burke will scrap taxpayer-funded subsidies for drought-affected farmers to meet interest payments on their bank debts as part of a shake-up of drought policy.

And Mr Burke has accused previous governments of using bogus quarantine claims as a cover for protectionism, insisting Australia must open itself to competition if it expects access to lucrative overseas markets.

Mr Burke made the comments in an aggressive speech in Canberra yesterday in which he expressed his desire to tackle the “holy grails” of agricultural policy, including drought aid.

“I cannot see any justification as to why a future drought policy should involve an interest rate subsidy,” Mr Burke told the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics in Canberra.

“I do not believe we are doing people a favour by continuing to have these policy settings for the next drought.”

Related Coverage

While the opposition accused him of being out of touch, the National Farmers Federation last night expressed qualified support for banning interest rate subsidies, provided they were replaced by more effective assistance.

Why Greenies Can’t See The Forest For The Trees

admin /1 March, 2010

environment movement

18 Feb 2010

When Greenies Can’t See The Forest For The Trees

By Heidi Douglas

Pulp mill protesters

Tasmanians protesting against Gunns’ proposed Tamar Valley pulp mill. Image: the Wilderness Society

Environmentalists in the Wilderness Society are at war with themselves at a time when they should be sharpening their focus on the great task ahead, writes Heidi Douglas

Something you don’t get to see very often is a bunch of environmentalists baying for blood. Vegetarian jokes aside, a political campaign led by a powerful group of disgruntled ex-staff, members and internal staff is attempting to topple the heads of The Wilderness Society’s National Management Committee and Executive Director Alec Marr — and in doing so is threatening the organisation’s ability to protect Australia’s environment.

The internal conflict at TWS has recently made the news, generating plenty of potentially damaging publicity for the organisation. In a recent article in The Age, serious allegations against Marr — including bullying, financial mismanagement and a lack of transparency — appeared in print.

Kevin Rudd’s mea Culpa carries risks

admin /1 March, 2010

Kevin Rudd’s mea culpa carries risks

 

KEVIN Rudd has admitted he has a problem, a wider problem than the bungled $2.45 billion home insulation scheme, and one that began before Tony Abbott became Opposition Leader- a problem with his leadership and a problem he has to address himself.

It’s also a problem he realises he should have addressed a few months ago. It is the end of a state of denial about Rudd’s public support, his management style and his priorities.

The dramatic fashion in which he has undertaken to become more emotionally involved, to act more instinctively, and to refine his re-election policies and themes has caught his colleagues, the media and the public unawares.

Reacting suddenly and personally to a problem that he should have addressed earlier has also led the Prime Minister to over-react and appear panicked when it wasn’t necessary. There were concerns expressed yesterday within Labor ranks that the leader may have gone too far initially in admitting faults and causing alarm.

He’s refined his agenda, redefined his promises and talked down expectations of a double-dissolution election on climate change and completely omitted tax reform as a priority. Under pressure from falling public support for months – “taking a whacking”, as Rudd said yesterday – and concern about his style among his colleagues, he decided unilaterally to put himself “in the frame” for blame and to spearhead a recovery.

UK sending ships to deadly xcrapyards in Bangladesh

admin /26 February, 2010

UK sending ships to deadly scrapyards in Bangladesh

Ecologist

24th February, 2010

Workers are dying in conditions described as ‘hell on earth’ yet the west’s shipping industry continues sending ships to the country for disposal

UK companies are among those using loopholes in European and international law to sell ships to Bangladesh scrapyards with little or no safety regulations, according to an Ecologist investigation.

The ship-breaking industry is booming in Southern Bangladesh but NGOs say workers are frequently exposed to toxins and that at least one worker dies every week from explosions or falling steel plates.

It was a week for bodgie batts, busy bees and bogong moths

admin /25 February, 2010

It was a week for bodgie batts, busy bees and bogong moths

February 26, 2010

Comments 20

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott with Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey, Shadow Health Minister Peter Dutton and Shadow Minister for Family, Housing and Community Services Kevin Andrews during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House.

Valiant efforts by the opposition … Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey, Peter Dutton and Kevin Andrews could not stop Kevin Rudd recovering his mojo. Photo: Glen McCurtayne

Since the Prime Minister decided personally to shoulder ”full responsibility” for the bungled home insulation program, his assiduous attention to detail has known no bounds.

It reached the surreal point yesterday where he was giving out his phone number on Melbourne radio so home owners could call to complain about dodgy batts in their roofs.

On Wednesday he strode out of Parliament House in shirt sleeves, unannounced, to listen sagely to protesting installers and jot down their complaints in a little notebook.

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