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Sunday, 7 February 2010

Sunday tv talkies: Back to school for federal politicians unvarnished
Mood:

chatty
Topic: aust govt

Author’s general introductory note

This is not a well packaged story. It’s a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies in Big Politics and Big Media. Perhaps the greatest utility is the headline synthesis above of the 3 or 4 shows followed in this session.

For actual transcripts and/or video feeds go to the programme web sites quoted including Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don’t really give you the image content value.

Other sources of pollie talkies on Sunday include SkyNews paytv Sunday Agenda, Radio National Monica Attard Sunday Profile show. And of course Sunday night shows SBS Dateline, Sixty Minutes and now Sunday Tonight on 7.

Media backgrounders.

1. Memorial for Black Saturday Vic bushfires, and Silly season officially over.

2. Paddy McGuinness – G Biz column continues to blaze the trail for depth of ecological economics business reportage every weekend in the Sydney Morning Herald.

3. SAM has been smacking down loggers in The Australian in the form of Gary Johns and redneck alliance.

4. TWS internal ructions will see a town hall meeting in Melbourne next week (12?).

5. SAM exposed the poisoned water hole creek evil history of murder of Blacks in the 19C, and fight for water in dying Murray Darling Basin as informing the pro development push in Cape York wild rivers today.

6. Even with the various ezines, we renewed our crikey.com.au subscription for 2 years.

7. SAM here pulls 31K January pageview stats (5 stories per page).

10 Meet the Press: 8- 8-30 am

Bonge in chair, opening is Abbott and Rudd re climate. Detour on economic discred of Opp esp Joyce, ethics of namecalling, twit Monkton, humour out take Abbott “first time nerves” [referring to his teenage years again?]

Adbreak with Irwin kids food product.

Panel Grattan in yellow glow (cool MG), Marius Benson. Opener on debt, says GFC. [really western FC].

Benson on 160 staff on ETS wasteful? LT refers to 1/3 artic tundra melting – have to act. One small fact. Grab of Abbott re 20B waste given GFC over. LT says equity issue.

MG re population at 36M, says real issue is bad planning. In favour of aiming big? Change migration rate – economics [so does support high immigration, high population].

Humour out take Kudelka climate donkey. Restart Black Saturday memorial day – Premier of Victoria Brumby. Normalcy? Loyalty to 3 levels of govt and reconstruction authority, rejects criticism. Indian victims of crime.

Meet The Press - Watch Political Video Online - Channel TEN.

Riley Diary 7, from 8.40am

Back to school, lots of Dr Evil themes. Hanson Young most gracious. Abbott as direct action man. Bearded lady sledge of frothing Joyce. Q&A re Abbott carbon plan, notes Abbott simplicity approach. Good value.

http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend

9 Sunday newshour Laurie Oakes interview 8.44 am

Q&A of Riley cuts into start on climate. Gillard is talent. Notes Obama backing off, senate approach. Notes Abbott “crap” view. Back to senate.

Gillard has grey streak in her hair, and smart enough to know it. Suggesting gravitas, experience. Compensation for families in climate deal.

Rudd verbal sludge, black belt in boredom. Compared to Abbott. Disagrees with premise. Abbott punches through a simple message. JG says economic risk. Notes Costello would never have him as a deputy. Joyce as finance misjudgement by TA. TA Joyce risk all over them in the election.

As Ed minister – loyal to My School – says 110 schools will get more targeted assistance. On IR runs better than Opposition on Work Choices [3 years ago]. Says it will be the next election campaign too.

Hoist on petard of Rudd PM workers no disadvantaged, JG belt and braces. Gillard repeats guarantee, LO says Rudd flip flopping should be briefed.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/oakes

Insiders 2: 9- 10am

Riley style action man package. With big hair rock music back to the school. MishaSchubert, Bolt, LenoreTaylor. Turnbull to cross the floor. Bolt sure this is irrelevant [wrong – 2 Lib senators].

Talent is Tony Abbott looking predatory, Rudd preface footage being very humble. $10B is the appropriate – says enough evidence to be prudent. Problem as conviction politician. Spinning climate is crap comment as scientific Not vast in terms of overall government budget. Frontier as short to medium term measure. Nothing wrong sensible medium term plan. Worried by Turnbull cross the floor? Not, everything changed after Copenhagen. Obama has plan B, Rudd doesn’t. Like Obama moving to direct action.

BJ mistakes acceptable – he will be barnstorming marginal seats over Rudd’s great big tax. 65 and 67 retirement ages unrealistic in battlelines – when? Says Lib policy longer productive lives, incentives.

Offshore processing of refugees, deter risky boat trips. Christmas Island over crowded. Strong enough deterent. And so on re climate costs. Barry grateful

Wine tasting Tas group in vox pop. Stupid comments about speedos.

Panel discussion on contrasting climate policy. Taylor reckons Abbott no chance of light green vote. Agreement ETS is problematic without other top 5 adopting, taking other action. Monckton as extremist. Role of media in fair reporting. Bolt agrees Joyce is a mistake. Finance is Mr Sober but Joyce is go for the throat. Damning footage of Joyce mixing billions with millions and trillions. Voter notes his terrible “flippancy”.

Talking pictures. Warren drinking a latte – very funny Monckton Fin Review David Rowe pieces. A toast – not very hygienic.

http://www.abc.net.au/insiders

Inside Business with Alan Kohler .

Climate policy sharp end – Yallourn brown coal MD for TruEnergy Inc Ian McIndoe is talent. Convert to gas? Pace for 10 to 20 year policy. Capitalism risk – why pay out now? Ans – affect foreign investors in future, need for changeover.

Super resource tax being discussed.

Refer http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/

Posted by editor at 10:29 AM EADT

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Friday, 5 February 2010

Fran Bailey MP asleep during 50 years of wet forest conversion to dry schlerophyll?
Mood:

sharp
Topic: wildfires

Who plays politics out of a guilty conscience over the Victorian bushfire disaster? As we always say 'the government is the government, .... is the government', and in this we include bipartisan opposition figures who support woodchipping of huge old wet forests.

Main candidates today would be Fran Bailey MP, on ABC RN radio this morning and Sophie Mirabella MP (nee Panopoulos) in the federal parliament Matter of Public Importance motion yesterday.

As per the pictures in the penultimate story we have giant trees in parts of Victoria even today in wet forest types that obviously have lived for centuries without fatal wildfires. Wet areas resistant to wildfire.

But over the last 50 years highly mechanised logging has changed the majority of those landscapes to dry schlerophyll eucalyptus. Same species but hundreds of thousands of hectares of dry hot dusty regrowth that builds up wildfire on extreme risk days.

The question Bailey and Mirabella need to answer is Do you support an audit of logging impact on the water cycle in regional landscapes over the last 50 years?

They never will - because the whispering in their hearts tells them it's one major root cause of bushfire intensity because ..... it's moisture levels that makes the difference between a safe day and a very, very, very ordinary day.

To get a sense of the specific mechanism of redneck logging tradition ripping miosture out of the water cycle converting wet to dry landscape refer diagrams here: Bushfire science

and the tab here wildfires re more recent profound scientific evidence of logging and wildfire problems by Australian Professor Lindenmeyer et al.

.............................

Postscript: Will the egregious moderator at The Australian take our comment on this article today, rebutting this piece Black Saturday could happen again this month authored by "Max Rheese is secretary of the Victorian Lands Alliance, which includes the Australian Environment Foundation, Australian Motorcycle Trailriders Association, Australian Trail Horseriders Association, Mountain Cattlemen, Sporting Shooters Association of Australia, Victorian Association of Forest Industries, and the Victorian Game and Deerstalking Association."

Will The Oz block me today? Let's see? And yes I did pile burns, bushfire bunker etc this last winter and know the feeling of insecurity if not the horror.
This resource industry front refuse to address their own record of trashing huge old wet forest types, ripping moisture out of the ancient forests. Moisture which is the true difference between safety and a very, very, very ordinary day. Hundreds of thousands of hectares over the last 50 years have been converted to dry, dusty, regrowth schlerophyll eucalypt. Thanks for nothing. And that's best science talking, not just common sense.
As the good book says, look to the log in your own eye.

Posted by editor at 8:37 AM EADT

Updated: Friday, 5 February 2010 9:19 AM EADT

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Thursday, 4 February 2010

The Oz censors comment on Gary Johns bogus climate science article?
Mood:

incredulous
Topic: big media

Gary Johns has a pompous climate science opinion piece today:

Don't count your trees, forests aren't that green
Gary Johns
February 04, 2010

But The Australian is blocking our comment that it's stupid and boring because it airbrushes the expert science of Professor Brendan Mackey (not Mackie as we wrote) with the Australian National University about green carbon in forests, as we reference here now via ABC, and use your own search engines:

AM - Forests have bigger than expected carbon storage
5 Aug 2008 ...
SARAH CLARKE: Its taken 10 years and endless field trips visiting 240 sites scattered across Australia's vast remaining natural forests. But a group of scientists from the Australian National University has for the first time come up with an accurate figure of the role these gigantic trees can play in the climate change solution.

Brendan Mackey is a professor of environmental science, and is part of the research team.

BRENDAN MACKEY: We looked at half of Australia's remaining forests and our estimate is that they can store around 33 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. These are very big numbers I know.

SARAH CLARKE: Very big numbers, particularly if you compare them to what scientists had previously thought. At last count they estimated temperate forests could store around 200 tonnes of carbon per hectare. This study reveals they can store on average three times more than that.

BRENDAN MACKEY: If all those forests were to be cleared and all of the carbon in the biomass in the soil were to be released into the atmosphere - that would be the equivalent of about 80 per cent of Australia's annual greenhouse gas emissions every year for 100 years. So we really have to protect our natural forests.

SARAH CLARKE: The largest stocks of carbon were found in the mountain ash forests of the central highlands of Victoria and Tasmania. The eucalypt trees in these undisturbed areas are up to 80 metres tall with trunks around four and a half metres in diameter.

BRENDAN MACKEY: We've got a big brown barrel here Eucalyptus fastigata.

SARAH CLARKE: These gigantic trees tower above a dense layer of rainforest. Heather Keith is part of the team from the Australian National University.

HEATHER KEITH: It's the big old trees that have a very high amount of carbon and also the coarse woody debris so the dead standing trees, and the dead logs on the ground that are there in the natural undisturbed forests.

SARAH CLARKE: About half of Australia's forests have been cleared in the last two centuries in three quarters of these carbon stocks have been degraded by human activities such as logging. These scientists say it's crucial, what's left remains intact. If trees and forests are to help soak up the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and do their bit for global warming.

Virginia Young from the Wilderness Society agrees.

VIRGINIA YOUNG: It's the forests that enable us to act early and make deep cuts and that applies whether its Australia or globally.

............................................

Here is a media release of 2003 regarding the tree identified in East Gippsland shown above

15 December 2003
Biggest Tree in Victoria found
A massive tree has been discovered in a remote area of East Gippsland,
near Bendoc on the Errinundra Plateau. The tree, a rare Errinundra
Shining Gum found only in parts of the Errinundra Plateau, has a girth
of 18.5 metres. It is believed to be the largest girth of any tree on
record in Victoria. The tree is situated in the Bonang River catchment
and is surrounded by rainforest.
Discovered by volunteer conservationists conducting endangered species
research, the tree has been brought to the attention of the National
Heritage Trust, who say that they have no record of a tree that large.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment have also been informed
of the existence of the tree, however, they stated that legislation does
not provide for the protection of the tree, as it does not fall into a
category for protection. The tree is adjacent to a number of proposed
logging coupes.
One of the discoverers of the tree, Rena Gabarov, is concerned that the
tree will suffer the same fate as El Grande, Tasmania’s largest tree,
which was declared dead last week following a regeneration burn in an
adjacent logging coupe which fatally burnt the tree.
“It would be a tragedy if such an ancient tree remained unprotected. Who
knows how many more trees of this size are out there waiting to be
discovered? It is time for the government to protect all old growth
forest and ensure that trees such as these can remain as part of
Australia’s natural heritage,” said Rena Gabarov.

Posted by editor at 1:57 PM EADT

Updated: Thursday, 4 February 2010 2:27 PM EADT

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'Ethical products' PR launch for Brisbane based web retail operation
Mood:

chatty
Topic: local news

The blurb sent through reads:

"According to Peita Gardiman, the founder, one of the main aims of Ethikl is to promote and support the ethical consumer movement and encourage shoppers to make positive buying decisions, such as favoring ethical products, be they fair trade, cruelty free, organic, recycled, re-used, or produced locally.

"One of our goals is to change the way the economy works and begin to change people’s consumption habits. Many people are tired of mass produced, chemically- packed products and want to get back to basics,” says Peita.

“We live in a culture of excess, we want more and more and then throw it away faster and faster. When you buy something from Ethikl, there’s a story behind it. There’s a person behind it. If people start to rediscover handmade, natural products, they will learn to treasure them and become more ethical consumers.”

While there is nothing like the experience of going to a farmer's market, smelling the fresh produce, tasting samples, and interacting with producers themselves, not everyone can afford the time, leisure, or access to do so , but now you can explore Ethikl’s online marketplace and discover handcrafted jewellery, clothing, homewares, unique gifts, specialty foods and more at www.ethikl.com.au"

SAM is agnostic about this commercial enterprise except it does look idealistic (and beyond our humble budget). We do like industrial hemp products as a concept and rainbow coloured nappies are novel (shown above).

Posted by editor at 12:51 PM EADT

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South Coast forest being smashed daily
Mood:

don't ask
Topic: nsw govt

South Coast Area Logging Compartments Current

February 2010 report from South East Forest Rescue.

South Brooman 56, 63, 65

Yadboro 418

Currowan 501

Buckenbowra 544

Wandera 585

Currambene 1042

Tallaganda 2433 & 2434, 2439

Bodalla 3013

Dampier 3123, 3231

That makes thirteen active areas destroying forest habitat daily.

South Brooman is being logged heavily at present on the pretence that when they logged it last time

about six years ago the marking up wasn't done correctly and missed out on a lot of area down by the

gullies etc. into the rainforest and there was only wattle regeneration happening in the areas they done

last time anyway so…what you see on the ground is "adaptive management" at an exasperating level of

dysfunction. Interestingly compartment 65 had a sudden change of logging style; originally the

harvesting was said to be a 'single tree selection' operation

[Forest stands of mixed age cover 100% of the net planned area (249ha) and will be harvested under a

single tree selection (STS) regime with the objective of removing approx 50% of mature trees and defective trees

containing a sawlog, while minimising damage to young regenerating stems, and creating canopy openings where

appropriate for regeneration.]

but when questioning the logging contractor Mr Condie last Sunday he told us that they amended that

and changed to an AGS style operation. Austalian Group Selection is predicted to feature prominently

in native forest logging to come

[AGS medium intensity canopy openings must not be greater than 0.39ha and the total area of canopy

openings must not exceed 22.5% of the net harvestable area within the AGS medium intensity tract.]

inside each AGS canopy opening (which vary in their size and do get rather large) is clear fall logging,

all trees removed, lots of ground disturbance and scant remaining habitat.

Both Yadboro and Currowan forest are situated between the Clyde River and the escarpment to the

west; Currowan 501 has had neglible logging, and Yadboro 418 also only lightly logged historically.

Buckenbowra is west of Mogo and was nominated to be declared wilderness, yet tragically more

roading continues in compartment 544.

Wandera 585 can be seen kicking up dust from the highway just north of Moruya.

Currambene 1042 is way north up by the St Georges Basin. Coastal forest being scientifically thinned

for various Forests NSW research projects

The total combined green mill recovery based on volume was 48.3%.

This forest research said that about half of the logs become actual product ie. rough sawn green boards.

Tallaganda compartments are either old growth or minimally disturbed along the Great Dividing Range

west of Braidwood, Shoalhaven River drains to the east, Murray-Darling River Basin to the west.

Bodalla 3013 is out along Mitchells Ridge Road north of Narooma, more overcutting in coastal forests.

In Dampier 3231 there is original forest being destroyed. Compartment 3123 has been logged but a

very long time ago.

Future Plans

More roading in Buckenboura 543 after 544. Wandera 584 next after 585. Macdonald 1101 and 1104

beginning any day now. This forest is north of Milton has scant records of previous logging events.

Currowan big time in April with five compartments slated to start; 486 is virtual old growth, 487 was

last cut in 1984. Compartments 227 228 and 230 have only been selected for mining timbers with much

original forest still intact along the Clyde River.

Bodalla 3063 next, then Gulaga compartment 3047 in April , then with compartment 3023 in May.

Four Dampier compartments waiting in the wings 3127, 3102, 3162 & 3163.

All information for this report obtained from publicly available from government sources.

Posted by editor at 10:44 AM EADT

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AM - Forests have bigger than expected carbon storage