The Salvation Army indicated that it will need to feed 2.2 million Australians at Christmas … all in an environment of massive earnings from royalties for the sale of our diminishing resources by these same tow governments; and the solution according to ‘the Honourable’ Karen Struthers (Minister for Community Services, Housing and Women, in a December 21st 2011 press release) … Two local bunnies MPs Peter Lawlor and Peta Kaye Croft are all for the rights of caravan park dwellers.

As we see more and more people unable to pay their electricity bills or being kicked out of their homes, it begs the question, are we turning into a state of the USA and is this the start of Aussie Trailer Trash, displaced and marginalized people unable to sink roots and no possibility to become part of a community?

Ms Struthers claims caravan park dwellers and residential park home owners and the broader community have a say, but in her press release, you can tell it’s already a done deal, the government has given up not just on these people but the greater community. She visited manufactured home parks on the Gold Coast and encouraged participants to make submissions to the recently released discussion paper on growing the industry’s future, then puts some spin on it (sugars the bullshit) by pretending that ‘it’s important home owners and support agencies join discussion on how the government can ensure sector growth while also protecting the rights of manufactured home owners; that input from industry forums and the discussion paper are vital in determining future government policy when it comes to this type of home ownership and the parks that accommodate them’.

Of course her statement that ‘it will be a growth industry’ further confirms the complete and utter failure by the Labor government/s to make housing affordable; of course politicians, their families and relatives (many now employed in government) will all live in gated areas to separate the riff-raff and growing number of homeless and marginalized trailer-trash and the pensioners (now past their productive life) from their neighbourhoods.

Yet another example of the total failure of urban planning. ‘Let them eat cake …’

The Australian Medical Association released its public hospital analysis, revealing Queensland has 2.4 beds per 1000 people – lower than the national average of 2.6; 10,911 public hospital beds in 2009/10 – up 106 from the previous year; about a tenth of what doctors believed were needed.

Public hospitals’ performance in every state and territory was well below target for access to emergency departments and elective surgery set by the Council of Australian Governments, with the median Australian waiting time for elective surgery 35 days.

However, Queensland although stating it was 27 days, the real waiting time was far higher, but I guess that’s why they pay so much money to administration.

How this happens is, before people appear on a waiting list for elective surgery, they have to see a specialist and be booked in for surgery, so there is a big delay in waiting to see said specialist, which can in itself, take 6 months; but if you’re waiting for ear, nose and throat surgery in Queensland, it can be more than five years. A doctor suggested that because of the length of the wait, some people don’t make it to surgery.

Leaked US embassy cables published by WikiLeaks have revealed that the government has “weakened” the compulsory pilotage regime for large vessels, including oil tankers, chemical tankers and liquefied gas carriers, sailing through the sensitive maritime environment of the Torres Strait. Owners and masters of vessels that fail to use a pilot to navigate the narrow and hazardous channel will not face any penalty if they do not subsequently call at an Australian port.

On learning the Torres Strait pilotage regime was quietly amended 17 months ago, the chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Don Henry, said it was “absolutely essential” that all shipping [through the strait] has pilotage. The cables reveal that the US and Singaporean governments reacted strongly against the Howard government’s October 2006 announcement of a compulsory pilotage regime in the Torres Strait designed to reduce the risk of oil and chemical spills in the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef.  Singapore’s Foreign Minister, George Yeo, wrote directly to his Australian counterpart, Alexander Downer, “to complain about the decision and its negative impact on larger strategic interests”.

The leaked cables show the US shared Singapore’s concerns and served as Singapore’s “closest ally on the Torres Strait issue”. American diplomats lobbied other countries with large registered merchant fleets such as Panama and Cyprus to protest to Australia as well. The Howard government was unmoved. In early 2008 the new Labor government under Kevin Rudd would not change its position either. However, in July 2008, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s international law branch, assistant secretary Adam McCarthy, told the US embassy in Canberra that “Australia recognises that it has not handled the Torres Strait pilotage issue particularly well” and indicated Canberra was prepared “to explore ways to address US concerns”.

After detailed talks between US and Australian officials in Washington in August 2008, the department sought American agreement to a compromise formula that would allow Australia to save face while meeting US demands. This would involve leaving the “compulsory” framework in place while in practice reverting to a voluntary scheme for many vessels by not enforcing penalties against ships that passed through the Torres Strait without a pilot, but which did not call at an Australian port. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority formalised the change on April 17, 2009.

So there you have it, a piss-ant under secretary selling out Australia’s interests for what ? A night out with ladies of the night or was it laddies …

Premer Anna Bligh said Queensland Treasury had been tasked with investigating investment opportunities to fund the Connors River Dam and proposed Multi-Cargo Facility at Abbot Point.

A report examining funding models and options is expected to be completed by the end of this year, with the Government possibly in a position to approach the market in early 2012.

“Queensland taxpayers stand to benefit from the increased royalties the infrastructure investment will reap from enhanced export potential without having to foot the bill,” Mr Bligh said.

“The government’s plan is unashamedly to create opportunities for private sector investment that results in increased benefits for Queenslanders – be it through increased royalty revenues, new jobs or growth in our regional centres.

“Money speaks and business investment is flowing in Queensland, creating export capacity, developing our natural wealth and securing future prosperity.”

The proposed $2.6 billion Connors River dam and pipelines project involves a 49,500 megalitre dam and two pipelines; a 133 km pipeline from the dam to Moranbah and a 265 km pipeline from Moranbah to Alpha.

Ms Bligh said the projects would deliver reliable water supplies to the Bowen and Galilee coal basins as well as the townships of Nebo, Moranbah and Alpha.

“This massive project will underpin the water supply needs for the development of this resource industry corridor and the towns that support it,” Ms Bligh said.

“With the continued development of the Bowen Basin, and indeed the opening of the Galilee Basin, there is also strong demand for additional export capacity in the north of the state.

“Abbot Point represents a prime opportunity for additional export capacity which is why a business case is currently underway to capture the potential opportunity of combining development of the sites known as T2 to T7.”

Ms Bligh said the business case was due by the end of the year and start of construction of $2 billion-plus project targeted for 2014-15.

“Combine development of T2 to T7 in an offshore multi-cargo facility could provide for up to 12 cape-sizeable berths and tug harbour,” Ms Bligh said.

The Government has already awarded development rights of up to 60 mtpa to BHP and Hancock at T2 and T3; and T4 to T7 expansions is already in an expression of interest stage as companies look to secure future capacity

The Qld government – after selling off QR – will support mining companies that despoil the land via tax cuts and expemptions …

After a billion dollars plus on water infrastructure in SEQ, even more precious water and above costs to Queensland tax-payers will be allocated to water intensive mining processes for a pittance in royalties …

However, in the SMH (Aug 8th) the story suggests another direction to the spin ‘The unemployment rate in flood-affected Queensland rose to 5.6 per cent in July from 5.2 per cent in June’.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/jobless-rate-jumps-in-july-20110811-1inr9.html

‘Early stage testing in animals has shown that a Nanopatch delivered – flu vaccine – was effective at a lower dose and can combat needle phobia, needle injuries and cross contamination and it doesn’t need refrigeration, which makes transport to developing nations easier’. The Premier said the exciting new develop showed how the State Government’s investment in the Smart State Strategy was resulting in new and exciting commercial biotech ventures.

Anna Blight said ‘it used to be that after developing a concept here, Queensland innovators would need to go offshore to bring their project to fruition; now Queensland can be the true home of innovation and a new bio tech industry – our State can profit while doing good in the world’ and ‘the Government partner with US businessesHealth Care Ventures and Eli Lilly to establish a Bio Capital Fund and (sic) on its way to reaching $250 million for investment in biotechnology ventures and Queensland-based venture to be supported through this fund’.

Wow … how smart is that ?

On top of inhaling medicines (and other not so friendly chemicals) we can apply them via patches … just wait till the tobacco companies find out ….. what … they have?

Maybe that’s why Anna Bligh calls herself ‘the minister of reconstruction’ ….

In his GCI Insight Seminar Series presentation, GCI Research Fellow Guy Pearse takes us behind the ‘Climatesmart’ branding and asks how much longer Queensland expects to tackle climate change by increasing spin rather than cutting emissions.

Last year the Queensland government released a glossy 424 page strategy called ‘ClimateQ: Towards a Greener Queensland’. There were lots of new ‘Climatesmart’ initiatives, but no timetable for cutting the state’s greenhouse gas emissions from their current level—the highest in the country. Instead, the government acknowledged that current policy would leave Queensland’s emissions 36% higher in 2050.

Though the emissions generated by the state’s coal exports are Queensland’s biggest single contribution to climate change by far, they were not mentioned in the strategy once. Meanwhile, the government is spending billions of dollars on infrastructure to help Queensland double coal exports over the next decade or so. The legacy of that is a state generating more than 50% more greenhouse pollution at home and abroad than Australia’s current national total. Seemingly en-route to becoming the ‘greenhouse ghetto of the South Pacific’, Queensland looks determined to fuel climate change as much as it feels it.

http://gci.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=142366

Transcript and References of Presentation © Guy Pearse 2010 [PDF 4.3 MB ]

Amazing fact: Queensland exports the annual emissions of the average Queensland household every second.
Dave Kimble

Angry community groups yesterday called on mayor Bob Abbot to tell the State Government to stop interfering with the region’s green objectives.

Mr Abbot has been told to tell Planning Minister Stirling Hinchliffe that changes to critical planning documents for the region were totally unacceptable. Council briefed key stakeholders, including land owners and community groups, on the implications of changes it was ordered by the state to make to Palmview green field development precinct.

The government has altered maximum population numbers set by council to minimums, stripped out provisions for energy efficiency and other sustainability initiatives and slashed the size of buffers to ecologically sensitive wetlands and the Bruce Highway. Regional strategy and planning head Vivien Griffin issued a call to arms and will push for the setting up of a campaign committee to send a loud community voice to the government.

Ms Griffin said the region’s future was now at the crossroads. She said the council had a significant role to play; she said the State Government was proposing a new community whose minimum size would be equal to what Maroochydore holds; and she warned the government’s rejection of key sustainability measures made this a fight that affected communities from Beerburrum to Kin Kin.

Sippy Downs and District Community Association President, Murray Lyons, whose members would be most impacted by the development, said State Government changes would kill off any chance of building a sustainable community; ‘we have been telling the council since day dot that appeasement doesn’t work; Council has been saying it had to work with the government or planning would be taken from it; Council needs to stand up and say no to the impacts of the changes; if the State goes forward with this let it be on their head’.

Johanne Wright, who heads OSCAR, which represents the region’s community associations, said Mr Abbot would be expected to tell the government that “enough was enough”. The council’s sustainability advisory panel head Ian Christesen said population size was the number one issue that needed to be confronted if the council was to achieve sustainability.

He said carrying capacity should be based not just on biophysical constraints but also on the look, feel and character this community wanted for the future.
‘The SEQ plan dwelling targets are legally binding and mandatory; he said; we want them seen only as projections and a proper planning exercise started that fully involves the community and not just developers and their mates in George Street; by ripping out any mention of sustainability, Mr Hinchliffe has clearly shown where the State Government’s really at; it’s clear they want business as usual, development as usual to continue to be rolled out across the Coast. If that happens we can kiss goodbye to sustainability’.

Sunshine Coast Environment Council Manager Narelle McCarthy accused the government of arrogance, saying it had made no attempt to understand the region’s aspirations. Ms McCarthy urged residents to make submissions to the document which need to be completed within the next 30 business days and to get publicly vocal about how they feel about what the government has done.

She said the community had been given a window to how the state would treat the regional planning scheme now being developed by the council.

It’s time to fight Bligh’s growth

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2010/03/06/its-time-to-fight-blighs-growth/

In this case it was the Clive Palmer coal mine touted to create thousands of jobs by the chief spruiker – who is not taken seriously these days at all – Anna (bout time she walked the plank) Bligh.

How does it pan out in simple language?

Well in Queensland, we prosocute shop owners for selling cigarettes to under-age people, yet it’s OK for us to dig up our reducing stockpile of coal and sell to a most prolific GHG emitter, China. Anna says we Queenslanders will earn tens of millions of $’s in royalties, but she is seeking $100 million in federal cash to bring climate-friendly solar power back into the state’s energy mix.

According to the Courier Labor Party, Queensland was once at the forefront of solar power but what sent a shiver down the back of every solar power business was the State Government’s Office of Clean Energy having Stephen Robertson put in charge; if he succeeds in the Energy Department like he did as Health Minister, we can use that big hole Clive Palmer is soon to dig coal from and bury the remains of the photovoltaic industry. Ever since Peter Beattie came up with the ‘smart state’ identity, we’ve all become leery of any government utterence with the word ‘smart’ in it.

Anyhow, we will have a ‘smart grid’ system that uses communications technology to lift energy efficiency, for example by programming appliances to run on off-peak power; how we store the solar power and then change demand from day to night raises the question, is it really off-peak then ?  Mr Robertson said the Queensland Smart Communities project would build a large-scale demonstration smart-grid in Townsville, with several stand-alone projects at Zillmere in Brisbane’s north and in Toowoomba; the project would use solar *thermal-storage technology to capture the sun’s heat and store it for future electricity generation. Korean Government-owned electricity giant KEPCO will provide smart-grid technology knowledge. Mr Robertson said the Government hoped the project would create opportunities for businesses to develop clean-energy products to sell to Asian markets.

USA, German and Japanese technology companies dominate the global solar-power market. The USA Government claims to have strong policies in place aimed at producing cheaper solar power and expects solar plants – by 2020 or earlier – to be able to store 12-17 hours of energy, enabling 24-hour solar power that could replace coal and gas-fired plants. Problem is, that batteries to store such power are very expensive as the rare earth materials used to make them is a small finite supply.

The real dilema for politicians is how do you meet the needs of the people who voted you in by backing an energy source that will take years to be effective and in doing so, cut off the large amount of financial and media support paid for by the companies that profit from coal, oil and gas ? Givernments have squandered pension funds, taxed superannuation funds and provide little tax incentive to spur private funding for a massive rollout of pollution-free technologies that use the sun, wind and wave energy. You can forget geothermal / underground heat.

Australia’s electricity sector is the biggest source of GHG (greenhouse gases) but the electricity generators aren’t investing in a major way in large-scale, clean-energy projects because there is no price on carbon, Australia’s 2020 targets for emission cuts are weak and there are flaws in a current program aimed at increasing clean-energy capacity.

* Solar thermal energy is where the Sun’s heat is used to boil water (hopefully not so much oil) to create energy rather than solar panels which generate electricity directly.

Yes, Captain kRudd’s government is investigating granting MPs a pay rise in return for tightening other perks in a move that would deliver extra cash to State members, whose salaries are linked to Canberra.

But don’t be too concerned for our struggling pollies as our State MPs would get to keep their lucrative perks which can amount to a de facto salary boost of up to $100,000-a-year.

While Queenslands performance with jobs, population growth and housing starts was among the worst in the nation, even out-performed by South Australia, traditionally one of Australia’s basket case economies.

Premier Anna Bligh announced a 3.1 per cent pay rise for State MPs before Christmas, taking the base salary from $126,560 to $130,540, plus a 2 per cent boost to allowances.

According to COMMSEC, Queensland is ranked third in economic growth, second in retail trade, second in business investment, sixth in unemployment, third in construction, fourth in housing finance and seventh in dwelling starts.

David Goodwin (president of Chamber of Commerce and Industry) said Queensland was being held back by business red tape which was strangling the entrepreneurial talent; he said ‘the legislative burden in Queensland is greater than any other state’,

‘Members of Queensland Parliament are remunerated far in excess of Federal parliamentarians’ Mr Somlyay told The Courier-Mail, which also revealed that a high-powered federal committee (due to report by April) supports a hefty boost to federal salaries to offset cuts to entitlements worth up to $60,000, (why are we not surprised).

Under Queensland law, MPs’ pay is set at $500 less than the base salary of a Federal backbencher, who earns $131,040; however, Queensland MPs are entitled to more generous electorate allowances of between $36,652 and $72,741 plus a $30,020 miscellaneous allowance.

Both allowances are taxed and under the rules, MPs can keep the cash for themselves or spend it on electorate costs and claim a tax deduction.