Author: media

Green preferences will go to  five progressive micro parties ahead of the ALP in the Griffith by-election.

“The Greens spearhead a progressive movement that is a coalition of concerned citizens and activists opposed to putting short term profits first and everything else a distant second,” Griffith candidate, Geoff Ebbs said.

“The ALP has spent the last thirty years with one hand in the bosses’ pocket and one hand in the workers’. That is the fundamental reason it has lost its way.

“The Greens are a force in our own right. We effectively stand up for people, community and the environment in local, state and federal government. We are the party of the future.”

Mr Ebbs said that the five parties they have placed ahead of the ALP are all well aligned with Green values and contain many activists concerned that the Greens are too moderate on their particular issue.

“As a mature party with real power, we cannot push every agenda as strongly as its advocates would like. Our role as the political wing of the movement is to support these micro-parties and to represent their interests in parliament.”

In order of Greens preferences the parties are:

• Bullet Train for Australia – The bullet train is a Greens initiative and official party policy.
• Stable Population Party – Over-population and consumption are the underlying causes of our current crises.
• Pirate Party of Australia – Big Brother is here and is not working on behalf of the people
• Secular Party of Australia – The separation of church and state is an important plank in democracy
• Karel Boele Independent – The People Decide is part of a movement to build the grass roots democracy that is one of the four pillars of the Greens.

The Queensland Centre for Photography has released its schedule for 2014. During the first exhibition period of 2014 the gallery is showcasing artists who focus on storytelling in photography.

That includes exhibitions by Dean Butters (ACT), Barbara Doran & Penelope Cain (NSW), Christophe Canato (WA), Alexia Sinclair (NSW), and Katelyn-Jane Dunn (QLD). The Undergraduate Bridging Program features Paul Dielemans (QLD) from CATC Design School. The International Bridging Program features Alma Haser (UNITED KINGDOM).

Dean Butters: Batman & Robin

Dean Butters uses the tropes of Batman in constructed scenarios to portray the often-stark reality of an unfulfilled life, contrasted against the hopes and aspirations of childhood idealism. Butters images examine the ideas of protracted adolescence and social disconnection, amalgamating realistic situations with the fictional stories that we consume, to ultimately talk about a failure of identity through process of growing up and accepting the real world.

Christophe Canato: Ricochet

The series Ricochet delves into the psyche of childhood, a time when darkness hides all sorts of threats and time itself seems endless. Christophe Canato’s images reflect the style of evocative renaissance paintings, put together to create an elaborate storyboard for a greater unseen tale. Canato uses the French description of the word ricochet to reference a rock skimming across water, defying logic before the reality of gravity brings it to an end, and relates the word to the dreams and fears of childhood.

Barbara Doran & Penelope Cain: Fractured Fairy Tales

Through the use of storytelling, Barbara Doran and Penelope Cain examine the contemporary urban condition, responding with hyper real narratives to make sense of where humanity stands in the modern era. Doran’s series At’Onement’ INCorporeal considers the social structures and hierarchy that we encounter in the workplace. This is combined with Cain’s series Nightgarden, exploring the qualities of the worlds we create outside our bodies in our individual dialogues between nature and culture, to form Fractured Fairy Tales.

Alexia Sinclair: A Frozen Tale

In A Frozen Tale, Alexia Sinclair weaves the historical narrative of Skokloster Slott, a baroque castle constructed in 17th century Sweden. She recreates the castles settings and the visits of its many important guests through a combination of historical snippets, digital manipulation and highly controlled studio shoots, to produce images reminiscent of traditional European paintings. The resulting works give an impression of life in the castle, from moments of significance to the simplicity of daily routine, encapsulating the myth and legend of 17th century Europe.

Katelyn-Jane Dunn: Sugar

Katelyn-Jane Dunn series Sugar presents an ambiguous and personal narrative, exploring the existing tensions of femininity, womanhood and coming of age in the male-dominated culture of regional towns. Based in her grandmothers’s home, Dunn combines documentary style images with site-specific performance to reconcile, reclaim and reflect upon a multidimensional femininity, ultimately asking, “What is it to be feminine in a regional context?”

International Bridging Program: Alma Haser (UK)

For this month as part of our International Bridging Program, where we showcase the work of international artists on the LED screen at the QCP gallery entrance, UK based artist Alma Haser’s series The Cosmic Surgery will be presented. Haser graduated in 2010 with a BA (Hons) in Photography, being named as one of the four best graduates of 2010 by the British Journal of Photography.

Undergraduate Bridging Program: Paul Dielemans (CATC)

Showcased in our window gallery is the QCP Undergraduate Bridging Program, which presents work by emerging artists who are currently studying photo media at an Australian higher learning institution. The month we are presenting Paul Dielemans, a student of CATC Design School, and his series Concrete Clad, which analyses the tensions between the ever-advancing front of human construction and the natural environment.

The Queensland Centre for Photography (QCP) is a non-profit organization based in Brisbane Australia, dedicated to the exhibition and publishing of photo-media art. It is the leading institution of its kind supporting the development of Australian practitioners and their global appreciation.

Australia’s honey industry is preparing for a difficult 2014, with abnormal weather conditions set to deliver the lowest national honey yields in at least a decade.

A combination of excessive heat, flood and drought has hit prime honey producing areas in recent times and led to honey supplies falling by over 50 percent.

The honey producing process requires the right mix of temperatures and rainfall for nectar producing crops to grow, set buds, flower and then have bees collect the nectar to ripen into honey. Erratic temperatures, both hot and cold, have meant spring production was very low.

Australia’s hottest year on record has severely hampered honey flows for bee keepers, with high temperatures causing stress and erratic behaviour in local bee populations. In extreme heatwave conditions beeswax honeycombs can melt inside the hive. The heat forces bees to remain inside and collectively fan their wings in an attempt to keep the hive cool.

According to Trevor Weatherhead, Executive Director of the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, the honey shortage has the potential to rock the industry in the short term.

“It is a dire time for the honey industry with both apiarists and honey packers bracing themselves for the next 12 months.

“We have witnessed a ‘perfect storm’ of negative weather conditions.

“Because of this, honey stock is now the scarcest it has been in over ten years and honey packers are finding it very difficult to secure supplies,” Mr Weatherhead said.

“This will no doubt make it very hard for some companies to meet contracts with supermarkets and supply their full range of products.”

Mr Weatherhead said it was more important than ever for Australian’s to support the local honey industry.

“An estimated 65 per cent of agricultural production in Australia depends on pollination by honeybees with pollination services to Australian agriculture being valued at more $1.7 billion per annum.

“Domestic Australian supermarket retail sales for honey are in excess of $150 million a year and honey is a growing multi-million dollar source of export revenue for Australia.

“Conditions will once again return to normal, but like any agriculturally based business, during this period there will be a number of hardships that will have to be endured.

“Over the next 12 months we can greatly assist our Australian bee keepers and honey producers by continuing to buy honey as you would normally,” Mr Weatherhead concluded.

This article has no connection to the Hot Brown Honey reviewed on Jan 1.

Tourism industry associations’ plea to GBRMPA over permit for dumping of port dredge spoil in waters of the Great Barrier Reef

Four Queensland peak tourism industry associations have this week expressed grave concerns to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) over the consideration to dump 3.5 million cubic metres of port dredge from Abbot Point Coal Port into the waters of the world heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.

The Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, Queensland Tourism Industry Council, Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association and Dive Queensland have written to GBRMPA requesting that they do not issue a permit to allow dumping of port dredge inside the Marine Park waters.

Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators Col McKenzie said the four industry associations expect that the GBRMPA act on the organisation’s own report findings about management of the reef.

“The ecosystem health of the Great Barrier Reef is rated as ‘poor to very poor’, which is why we are asking GBRMPA to not issue a permit for offshore dumping of industrial volumes of spoil inside the reef’s waters,” Mr McKenzie said.

“GBRMPA’s own report states ‘the reef’s health is declining, and without additional management intervention the region’s ecosystem, it is likely to continue to deteriorate’.

“We ask GBRMPA to heed their own findings which state ‘Strong steps are needed now to secure the long-term future of the reef. A history of increased nutrient and sediment loads entering the region, combined with a decade of extreme weather, has affected the region’s ecosystem.”

Queensland Tourism Industry Council Chief Executive Daniel Gschwind said the interests of all coastal industries- including tourism – must remain significant and competitive alongside other government interests.

“Tourism in Queensland directly contributes $22 billion to the state’s economy and more than 136,000 Queenslanders are directly employed through tourism,” Mr Gschwind said.

“The reef alone produces an Australia-wide value-added economic contribution of $5.7 billion generated in the Great Barrier Reef catchment with employment of almost 70,000 people.”

“It is essential that the correct balance is achieved in regards to port development and the environmental protection of the Great Barrier Reef.”

Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association President Tony Brown said all users of the marine park should follow the best environmental practices.

“The cost to a business should never be part of the equation in deciding if a permit should be given. Just because it is more expensive for the Ports to build wharves to deeper water, should have no bearing on the permit approval process,” Mr Brown said.

“If the best environmental outcome is to build the wharves, then that is the way it must be if that user wants to operate within the marine park.”

Dive Queensland President Steve Moon said it is time for GBRMPA to take the ‘strong steps’ they themselves say are needed if there is a chance to not only halt but reverse the decline of the reef’s health.

“Any way you look at it, there will be an escalation in sediment loads on the Great Barrier Reef, in particular on the already stressed inner coral shelf,” Mr Moon said.

“We don’t have five, ten or twenty years to decide what to do – the only sensible action from here is to reduce man-made sediment loads immediately.”

The strata title industry in Queensland applauds a ruling by the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria, clarifying the lawful use of class 2 (residential) buildings for short-term stays and holiday letting.

The Australian Building Code defines Class 2 buildings as containing two or more sole-occupancy units each being a separate dwelling. Apartments are class 2 buildings.

The ruling is regarded by the industry as vitally important – especially in major holiday letting markets like the Gold and Sunshine Coasts – in clarifying the letting rights of strata title owners and managers.

This ruling came after Melbourne City Council and a group of unit owners in a residential building at Docklands claimed that short term letting of apartments in the building was unlawful and that such use was only permitted in class 3 buildings that are explicitly residential.

Strata Community Australia (Qld), the peak body for the multi billion dollar Body Corporate and Community Title Management industry in Queensland, says the clarified definition of “dwelling” in the Building Code of Australia is a positive and vital step forward in clarifying the lawful letting of class 2 building units (like most holiday apartment buildings).

Strata Community Australia (Qld) President, Simon Barnard, said today the sector supports the decision, and believes it will benefit both the property and tourism industries.

“This ruling will provide a precedent for the many investment owners as well as management rights operators of residential apartment complexes throughout Queensland and Australia”, Mr Barnard said.

“It is reassuring having this ruling in place in Victoria. If the same dispute was to occur in Queensland it will now be much easier to protect the many investors who purchase units in high-tourist areas, with the clear intention of renting the properties to holiday makers, for short periods of time”

“The Queensland tourism and property investment market rely heavily on the return from short term stays and holiday letting in areas like the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. The Supreme Court ruling provides confidence that the Building Code will now be applied correctly in short term and holiday apartments.”

The Court of Appeal found that the use of the word “dwelling” in the relevant definition did not limit the residential use to permanent or long term residence. The concept of dwelling encompasses short term and holiday accommodation and there is no basis for limiting the word dwelling to just long term residential use.

Thousands of honey bees in Australia are being fitted with tiny sensors as part of a world-first research program to monitor the insects and their environment using a technique known as ‘swarm sensing’.

The research is being led by CSIRO and aims to improve honey bee pollination and productivity on farms as well as help understand the drivers of bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a condition decimating honey bee populations worldwide.

Up to 5,000 sensors, measuring 2.5mm x2.5mm are being fitted to the backs of the bees in Hobart, Tasmania, before being released into the wild. It’s the first time such large numbers of insects have been used for environmental monitoring.

“Honey bees play a vital role in the landscape through a free pollination service for agriculture, which various crops rely on to increase yields. A recent CSIRO study showed bee pollination in Faba beans can lead to a productivity increase of 17%,” CSIRO science leader Dr Paulo de Souza, who leads the swarm sensing project, said.

“Around one third of the food we eat relies on pollination, but honey bee populations around the world are crashing because of the dreaded Varroa mite and Colony Collapse Disorder. Thankfully, Australia is currently free from both of those threats.”

The research will also look at the impacts of agricultural pesticides on honey bees by monitoring insects that feed at sites with trace amounts of commonly used chemicals.

“Using this technology, we aim to understand the bee’s relationship with its environment. This should help us understand optimal productivity conditions as well as further our knowledge of the cause of colony collapse disorder,” Dr de Souza said.

The sensors are tiny Radio Frequency Identification sensors that work in a similar way to a vehicle’s e-tag, recording when the insect passes a particular checkpoint. The information is then sent remotely to a central location where researchers can use the signals from the 5,000 sensors to build a comprehensive three dimensional model and visualise how these insects move through the landscape.

“Bees are social insects that return to the same point and operate on a very predictable schedule. Any change in their behaviour indicates a change in their environment. If we can model their movements, we’ll be able to recognise very quickly when their activity shows variation and identify the cause. This will help us understand how to maximise their productivity as well as monitor for any biosecurity risks,” Dr de Souza said.

Understanding bee behaviour will give farmers and fruit growers improved management knowledge enabling them to increase the benefit received from this free pollination service. It will also help them to gain and maintain access to markets through improving the way we monitor for pests.

“We’re working with the University of Tasmania, Tasmanian Beekeepers Association, local beekeepers in Hobart and fruit growers around the state to trial the technology. Many growers rely on wild bees or the beekeepers to provide them with pollinators so they can improve their crops each year. Understanding optimal conditions for these insects will improve this process,” Dr de Souza said.

To attach the sensors, the bees are refrigerated for a short period, which puts them into a rest state long enough for the tiny sensors to be secured to their backs with an adhesive. After a few minutes, the bees awaken and are ready to return to their hive and start gathering valuable information.

“This is a non-destructive process and the sensors appear to have no impact on the bee’s ability to fly and carry out its normal duties,” Dr de Souza said.

The next stage of the project is to reduce the size of the sensors to only 1mm so they can be attached to smaller insects such as mosquitoes and fruit flies.

Background

Varroa Mite

Varroa mites are external parasites of bees. The mites, which are about the size of a pinhead, use specialised mouthparts to attack developing bee larvae or adult bees, resulting in deformed bees, reduced lifespan and ultimately the destruction of the colony or hive. These mites are the most important pest of honeybees around the world.

Colony Collapse Disorder

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or European honey bee colony abruptly disappear.  Colony collapse is significant economically because many agricultural crops worldwide are pollinated by European honey bees.