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  • Gary the goat has his day in court

    Gary the goat has his day in court

    Peter Bodkin
    The Daily Telegraph
    January 23, 20133:15PM

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    Gary the goat with Jimbo Bazoobi / Pic: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

    Gary the goat with Jimbo Bazoobi / Pic: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

    WHEN police nabbed Gary the Goat for lunching on a city flower bed, they had no idea they had bitten off more than they could chew.

    Gary sat calmly outside the Downing Centre Local Court in a rainbow hat this morning as his owner, comedian James “Jimbo” Bazoobi, won his fight against $440 in fines he was issued for damaging vegetation last year.

    Mr Bazoobi, was handed the ticket a few days after his travel companion decided to snack on some flowers from a garden bed outside the Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay on August 22.

    But today his lawyer Paul McGirr argued police had the wrong defendant because it was Gary – not the man who was fined – who was responsible for eating the plants.

    “The liability (for the fine) attaches to a person – but Gary’s not a person,” he told magistrate Carolyn Barkell.

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    Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Rick Mansley said Mr Bazoobi was rightly fined because he knew Gary was hungry and had been reckless letting him near the flowers.

    “Maybe we should just have an argument on whether Jimbo or Gary the Goat should be in the dock,” he said.

    Mr Bazoobi told the police who dragged his goat from the flower bed that he had brought his companion down to the park because he needed to eat.

    But Mr Girr said his client couldn’t have known what Gary was about to do when he started chewing on the plants.

    “We’re not here to guess about what Gary might have had whispered in his goat ear,” he said.

    Ms Barkell said it was clear Gary had done more damage than “just eating the grass” during the incident, but there was no way Mr Bazoobi could have predicted what the animal would do.

    “The person has no control over what the goat might eat … he might have eaten an ice-cream that fell on the ground,” she said as she dismissed the fine.

    The magistrate said the fine never should have been issued and dismissed the case, although she refused to order the police to pay Mr Bazoobi’s legal costs.

    Outside the court, Mr Bazoobi told the throng of waiting media he was happy that Gary’s name had now been cleared.

    “I just think there’s so many laws and regulations in Australia which are just an abuse of commonsense,” he said.

    “This is actually an abuse of the laws of nature – a goat eating grass. I’m a comedian, I can come up with jokes, but it’s pretty hard to compete with the cops coming out with this stuff.”

  • Owner of grass-eating goat bleats the rap
    By Andrea Blumire

    Updated 1 hour 23 minutes ago
    Gary the Goat outside court. Photo: Gary the goat has his day in court. (ABC News: Andrea Blumire)
    Map: The Rocks 2000

    A Sydney magistrate has dismissed charges against a man whose goat was accused of damaging vegetation at Circular Quay last year.

    The courtroom at times erupted into fits of giggles at today’s hearing in the Downing Centre.

    Police fined Jim Dezarnaulds $440 last August, saying he allowed his goat Gary to eat plants and flowers at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

    He was charged with destroying vegetation without authority.

    News of Gary the Goat’s run-in with the law went viral after Mr Dezarnaulds posted the incident on Facebook, attracting more than 300,000 likes.

    Before the case was heard, Mr Dezarnaulds – a performer who goes by the name of Jimbo – wrote to The Rocks police asking for the case to be dropped.

    In the letter he also thanked them for “helping me out with my career as comedian”.

    After a lively hearing this morning, the magistrate dismissed the charge, saying Mr Dezarnaulds “had no control over what the goat might eat, he might have preferred an ice cream”.

    Outside court, Mr Dezarnaulds says Gary has taught police a lesson.

    “This is actually an abuse of the laws of nature, I mean it was a goat eating grass,” he said.

    “I’m a comedian, I can come up with jokes, but it’s pretty hard to compete with cops coming up with this stuff.

    “It’s obviously a joke, but the fact that we’re here it’s gone a bit beyond a joke.”

    There is now speculation that an unfortunate mishap outside court may lead Gary to be charged with public urination.

    Topics: courts-and-trials, animals, the-rocks-2000

    First posted 6 hours 59 minutes ago

  • Mystery over methane gas in Condamine River

    Weather: Brisbane 22°C – 31°C. Mostly fine, possible shower.

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    Mystery over methane gas in Condamine River

    by: John McCarthy
    From:The Courier-Mail
    January 22, 20138:39PM

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    THE methane bubbling up through a section of the Condamine River posed no health or environmental risk, but the State Government still does not know where it comes from.

    Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said his department had mapped 60km of the Condamine River downstream from Chinchilla Weir, as well as 10km of the Charley’s Creek tributary and safety testing four gas seeps and adjacent properties.

    “While the results of this report don’t provide definite evidence of the source or cause of the gas seeps, we are taking a long-term approach to find science-based answers to this phenomenon,” Mr Cripps said.

    “The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) has also conducted water and soil sampling at targeted seep and background sites along the river.

    “Analysis of these results has to date found no evidence of gas safety or water quality risks to the community from the gas seeps or any evidence of environmental harm.

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    “Results also indicate that the gas is predominantly composed of methane, consistent with gas originating from Surat Basin geological formations.”

    Mr Cripps said Queensland Government agencies had started the next phase of their investigation into the bubbling gas seeps downstream of Chinchilla Weir in the Condamine River.

    “The focus of new activities will be ongoing water quality monitoring and periodic gas safety assessments of the river and water bores on adjacent properties,” he said.

    Some local farmers claim the river had always bubbled and local water bores in the area have also been known to flammable, but environmental activists claim the Condamine has never been known the bubble so extensively and blame the coal seam gas industry.

    Residents around Tara said the heavy rain on the weekend left puddles that were also bubbling.

    Mr Cripps said the Government was still working with landholders and industry to determine the source or cause of the Condamine River gas seeps.

    “Government agencies have already undertaken comprehensive investigations and testing along the Condamine River independent of the investigation being conducted by coal seam gas company, Origin.

    “A key aspect of the Government’s ongoing gas seep investigation is the verification of Origin data in order to ensure the company’s investigation is rigorous and is independently assessed,” he said.

    “An independent scientific review will be completed by Queensland’s Chief Scientist, Dr Geoff Garrett, to ensure that Origin’s investigation and verification actions by government agencies, achieve a high scientific standard and integrity.

    “All this work will be coordinated by the government’s LNG Enforcement Unit and adjacent landholders will be kept fully informed about activities and findings.”

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  • Obeid bought $400,000 Merc with coal profits, inquiry told

    Obeid bought $400,000 Merc with coal profits, inquiry told

    Date January 23, 2013 – 2:48PM 230 reading now

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    Kate McClymont

    Senior Reporter

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    Eddie Obeid … inquiry told of luxury car and house purchases. Photo: Dean Sewell

    Controversial former Labor MP Eddie Obeid used some of the millions of dollars in profits from his family’s secret shareholdings in coal companies to acquire a $400,000 Mercedes-Benz, while his wife, Judith, made a deposit on a waterfront mansion in Woolwich, a corruption inquiry has heard.

    The Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry, labelled one of the most significant in the state’s history, is examining whether the Obeid family received inside information from then resources minister Ian Macdonald that allowed them to make millions of dollars by investing in companies which won lucrative coal exploration licences in the Bylong Valley and in the Hunter Valley.

    Mr Obeid’s son-in-law Sam Achie has told the commission that the Obeid family, which consists of Eddie and Judith Obeid and their five sons and four daughters, operated as a joint entity. The millions of dollars which came into the family were paid out again to family members as loans through a complicated series of trusts. Mr Achie reluctantly agreed that payments to the Obeid family were in the form of loans as opposed to distributions because no tax is payable on loans.

    Eddie Obeid’s son-in-law, Sam Achie, right, with Obeid son Paul Obeid. Photo: Tamara Dean

    The inquiry has heard that $15 million came into the Obeid coffers in 2011 and 2012 from their sale of shares in mining tenements.

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    Before Mr Obeid left Parliament in mid-2011, he used some of those funds to make lease payments on a $400,000 luxury car. The inquiry also heard that Mr Obeid’s wife used some of the mining proceeds to make a deposit on a waterfront mansion in Woolwich. The Obeids paid a deposit on a $8.5-million five-bedroom house in Angelo Street, Woolwich, with the sale due to be completed after the March 2011 state election.

    The house was being offloaded by Mr Obeid’s friend, the financially troubled mobile phone seller Mick Hakim. The house had earlier been on the market for $13.5 million.

    When Fairfax Media reported the sale in February 2011, the second mortgagee on the property threatened legal action and the house went back on the market.

    The house was eventually sold to another buyer.

    Mr Achie told the commission that although his salary as the financial controller of the Obeid Corporation is $55,000 and his wife, Fiona Obeid, does not work, his wife purchased a $1.4 million Hunters Hill house, with plans for a $1 million renovation, because his in-laws “have looked after us in other ways”.

    Mr Achie’s company, Calvin Holdings, is the trustee of one of the major Obeid family trusts, but Mr Achie said he had never read the trust deeds, nor did he know who the beneficiaries of the trust were.

    He denied that his positions as trustee was a “sham” but Mr Achie agreed that he gave out money to members of the Obeid family, as he was instructed to do by the Obeid “boys”.

    The inquiry continues.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/obeid-bought-400000-merc-with-coal-profits-inquiry-told-20130123-2d6km.html#ixzz2Ilo8MdvS

  • Connecting the dots to local climate impacts is a key to community engagement

    Connecting the dots to local climate impacts is a key to community engagement

    Posted: 21 Jan 2013 03:52 PM PST
    by Graeme Taylor

    Notwithstanding Australia’s record-smashing heatwave, the impacts of climate change are often perceived to be distant in time and space.
    Most Australians do not yet understand the scale and urgency of what UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls the climate emergency—the most serious threat facing humanity. The reasons are many, including the poor performance of much of the media, and the complacency of political and business leaders. The most broadly disseminated view is that climate change is a distant and very long-term problem; an international problem (and therefore too big and complex for you or me to influence); and something that can and will be eventually managed with adaptation and new technologies.
    Our challenge is to find ways to overcome these myths, mobilise communities, and then build a national movement for a paradigm shift in Australian climate politics.
    One key path to catalyse this process is to help local communities understand how climate and health and livelihood issues are intertwined, and why the current global climate change trajectory menaces their futures.
    Such an approach could see Australian environmental and climate action advocates focus on helping communities that have already experienced serious climate change damage understand the critical threats they face in the coming decades. These campaigns will work with residents to develop clear, powerful narratives capable of mobilising their communities in support of emergency action. The success of these local initiatives will help lay the foundations of a wider, national movement.
    The campaigns should focus on high profile issues — such as dying coral reefs, coastal inundation, extreme heat, bushfires and droughts as a threat to both health and livelihood — and the communities that these issues will affect first and foremost: exemplar communities that are in the unfortunate position of “canaries in coal mines”. A priority is selecting communities and regions that are iconic in nature, that are vulnerable to climate change; and where there is a close relationship between regional environmental and economic damage. Exemplars could include:

    Cairns and neighbouring communities and the Great Barrier Reef. Half the reef has died since 1985 and most of the rest will disappear in the next 30 years. Have residents been fully informed of the threat and its causes? Have they been asked: Is the loss of the GBR acceptable to you? How will this affect the economy of the region? How will this affect you personally? Will your community and way of life survive? Are governments aware of this? Should they take immediate action to save the GBR? What do you think the community should do? (This approach is being used to some extent in campaigns against the expansion of the Queensland coal export industry.)
    Communities that are at particular risk of bush fires increasing in frequency and intensity. This campaign could focus first on building awareness among emergency personnel (such as volunteer fire fighters) of projected weather changes over the next 40 years — increasing heat, dryness and wind — and ask them questions such as: How will a constantly worsening climate affect your quality of life and your work and work safety? Are these changes acceptable to you, your children and your communities? Will your community and way of life survive? Are your political representatives and government officials aware of this? What will you do to help stop global warming?
    Urban communities and workers at particular risk from global warming and heat waves. This campaign could focus first on building awareness among emergency personnel (ambulance, fire, police and hospital staff) and vulnerable groups such as the elderly of the threat to both health and the quality of life of projected weather changes over the next 40 years. How will constantly rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather affect public health, the quality of life of your community, and your work? At what point will your city become unliveable during summer months? Are these changes acceptable to you, your children and your communities? Are your political representatives and government officials aware of this? What will you do to help stop global warming?
    Agricultural communities particularly at risk from increasing bush fires, droughts, extreme heat and diminishing access to irrigation. This campaign could focus first on building awareness among farmers of the threat to both their incomes and the quality of life of projected weather changes over the next 40 years. They could be asked questions such as: How will constantly rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather affect your production, increase your risks and costs, and negatively impact both your work and the quality of life of your community? At what point will farming become unviable? Are these changes acceptable to you, your children and your communities? Are your political representatives and government officials aware of this? What will you do to help stop global warming?

    Dr Graeme Taylor is the coordinator of BEST Futures (www.bestfutures.org) and the author of Evolution’s Edge: The Coming Collapse and Transformation of Our World, which won the 2009 IPPY Gold Medal for the book “most likely to save the planet”.

  • Greenpeace warns against expanding coal exports

    Greenpeace warns against expanding coal exports

    Updated 2 hours 7 minutes ago

    Photo: The Greenpeace-commissioned study identifies the expansion of Australian coal exports as a threat to the climate (Mick Tsikas: Reuters)

    Related Story: Soaring coal demand stokes emissions concerns

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    Map: Australia
    A new report has warned Australia to stop expanding coal exports or risk inflicting “catastrophic” effects of climate change on the world.

    The Greenpeace-commissioned study identifies the expansion of Australian coal exports as one of 14 proposed coal, oil and gas projects around the world that will raise greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.

    The study predicts Australia will increase coal exports to 408 million tonnes a year, producing an estimated 1,200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

    Greenpeace’s Georgina Woods says if the projects go ahead, they will warm the globe more than two degrees Celsius.

    That is considered the temperature limit to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

    “Our coal exports are already our biggest single contribution to climate change, and part of a global fossil fuel expansion enterprise that will push us beyond the point of no return in climate change,” she said.