HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome 2008 !

Protect the Children!

The wowsers are back. Apparently we are going to join China and Saudi Arabia by censoring the Internet. All to protect children from the horrors of Internet porn:

EVERY Australian with an Internet connection could soon have their web content automatically censored.

The restrictions are planned by the Federal Government to give greater protection to children from online pornography and violent websites.

Under the plan, all Internet service providers will have to provide a "clean" feed to households and schools, free of pornography and other "inappropriate" material.

Australians who want uncensored access to the web will have to contact their Internet service provider and "opt out" of the service.

Online civil libertarians yesterday warned the freedom of the internet was at stake, while internet providers were concerned the new measures could slow the internet in Australia to a crawl.

They said it was a measure usually associated with oppressive regimes and was no alternative to proper parental monitoring.

But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said everything possible had to be done to shield children from violent and pornographic online material.

"We have always argued more needs to be done to protect children," he said. Senator Conroy said the clean feed, also known as mandatory ISP filtering, would prevent users from accessing prohibited content. ......

The previous government made a free internet filter available but us children can't be counted on to use it, so censorship is the answer. Yeah, right. Call me a cynic but the fact that minor party politicians like Family First's Steve Fielding will be controlling the balance of power in the new Senate may have something to do with it.

Fortress Australia

The left are at it again. Now that Labor is in government they want to strip the Australian Defense Force and leave us without an effective military. Have a read of Labor hack Michael Costello's recent article, its a return to the disastrous fortress Australia defense policy of the previous Labor government. Which means you concentrate on protecting Australia from a mythical invasion with subs and advanced jet fighters and cut everything else. We saw what the result of that was in Timor. Our army had been so run down that even a modest peace keeping exercise like that was a complete stretch. We needed to borrow US equipment and hire Russian transport planes to do it. Had the Indonesians decided to shoot back we would have been gone. The reality is we need to defend our continent and our national interest. We can not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, we have an import/export economy, major events on the other side of the planet effects on our lives. Not only that but if we were threaten by an aggressive enemy they would be a threat to other nations in the region too. Thats why we fight our battles away from our shores not at our borders, thats not going to change.

The Howard government learn t this the hard way in Timor and Iraq and was building upthe ADF with tanks, helicopters, the AAW destroyers and importantly the LHDs. To the Left this is anathema because it gives the government the option of projecting major force away from our borders. They want to remove that option and retreat into isolationism.

The Left's liking for the F-22 has to be seen in this context. The F-22 would be an ideal plane for the Australian left. Its deadly and modern but useless for our needs. The USA is the only country that has the F-22 , it would be expensive for us to maintain and be regarded as a strategic asset, similar to the F-111. Wannabe top guns would love to fly it but would be unlikely to see combat. Besides, its not for export! Thats why we are getting the F-35, the F-35 is a multi role aircraft that will be the workhorse of air forces around the world. Its a fighter we can easily slot in to what ever mission is required.

Which brings us to Mr Beazley and submarines. Mr Beazley wants the government to double the number of subs to 12. He wants more subs to defend our ships from enemy submarines. Emmmm. How does he propose to do that? Sure, the Americans with their nuke subs can hunt down enemy subs and escort their fleet but our submarines are conventional so are much slower submerged. They are not going to be escorting the navy. Mr Beazley is Mr Fortress Australia, 12 expensive submarines would soak up so much of the defense budget it could only be done by cutting back other acquisitions.

The big acquisition to watch is the LHDs. The Landing Helicopter Docks will replace the HMAS Manoora and HMAS Kanimbla , two former US ships now over thirty years old. In size and shape the LHDs are similar to small aircraft carriers like the old Melbourne. But although they could also support the VSTOL F-35B, they are not really carriers. They are amphibious transport ships that can take over a thousand men and their equipment to trouble spots. Thats why the left hate them. While in opposition Rudd's team supported the LHD purchase, let hope they withstand leftest pressure and don't change their minds.

Remember Pakistan has nukes

I think Mark Steyn sums up best the current situation in Pakistan:

....Since her last spell in power, Pakistan has changed, profoundly. Its sovereignty is meaningless in increasingly significant chunks of its territory, and, within the portions Musharraf is just about holding together, to an ever more radicalized generation of young Muslim men Miss Bhutto was entirely unacceptable as the leader of their nation. "Everyone’s an expert on Pakistan, a faraway country of which we know everything," I wrote last month. "It seems to me a certain humility is appropriate." The State Department geniuses thought they had it all figured out. They'd arranged a shotgun marriage between the Bhutto and Sharif factions as a "united" "democratic" "movement" and were pushing Musharraf to reach a deal with them. That's what diplomats do: They find guys in suits and get 'em round a table. But none of those representatives represents the rapidly evolving reality of Pakistan. Miss Bhutto could never have been a viable leader of a post-Musharraf settlement, and the delusion that she could have been sent her to her death. Earlier this year, I had an argument with an old (infidel) boyfriend of Benazir's, who swatted my concerns aside with the sweeping claim that "the whole of the western world" was behind her. On the streets of Islamabad, that and a dime'll get you a cup of coffee......

What concerns me is that they have nukes, lets hope this report is correct:

THE White House said it was confident that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was secure and did not risk falling into extremists' hands after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

"At this time, as far as I know, it is the assessment of the intelligence community that Pakistan's weapons arsenal is secure,'' spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters near the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Stanzel did not say whether President George W. Bush, who is spending the remainder of the year at his Texas home, brought up the nuclear question during a phone call to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf yesterday.

But he acknowledged that it was a major topic of discussion between US and Pakistani officials amid fears of further instability in the wake of Bhutto's death.......

Mediocre Sydney

Piers Akerman is dead right, Sydney is just not living up to its potential:

But the great natural Harbour and these two man-made structures divert attention from the reality that Sydney is otherwise mired in mediocrity. It should be a city to rival New York, Paris or Berlin - but without the Bridge, the Opera House and the Harbour, it could just as easily be Minneapolis, or any other undistinguished western city.

Sad to say, but Melbourne is Australia’s cultural and sporting capital, even though the major media companies are headquartered in Sydney. Melbourne is again trying to reclaim its title as the nation’s finance capital as well.

Akerman identifies one of the major problem New South Wales has, the best political leaders bypass State politics and go straight to Canberra. We get the time servers and leftovers. If some of the top NSW Liberals like Turnbull, Nelson or even Hockey or Abbott had gone into state politics Iemma would be long gone.

I like his idea of giving Sydney its own police force, policing is a local government function in the USA and I think a local police force would be more responsive. Perhaps we should follow the American part and all the Commissioner or Sheriff to be elected for the same reason.

New Submarines

The article below may indicate the new Labor government is serious about defence but I'm still cautious. The decision is to only continue with planning a replacement for the Collins not to actually build anything. There won't be any cost for years yet. We will have to see if they proceed with the Super Hornets , the new Destroyers and the LHDs. That will show their true color.


Collins Class Submarine

Navy's new lethal subs

Cameron Stewart | December 26, 2007

AUSTRALIA will build the world's most lethal conventional submarine fleet, capable of carrying long-range cruise missiles and futuristic midget-subs, to combat an expected arms race in the region.

New Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has ordered planning to begin on the next generation of submarines to replace the Royal Australian Navy's Collins-class fleet with the aim of gaining "first pass" approval for the design phase from cabinet's National Security Committee in 2011.

The 17-year project will be the largest, longest and most expensive defence acquisition since Federation, potentially costing up to $25 billion.

It comes at a time when regional navies such as Indonesia's, China's and India's are seeking to drastically expand their submarine fleets, potentially altering the balance of naval power in the region.

"There is widespread agreement that submarines provide a vital military capability for Australia," Mr Fitzgibbon told The Australian.

"The development of new submarines requires long-term planning and needs to progress quickly, and that's what I have asked for."

Defence planners have examined two key studies this year - one by independent think tank the Kokoda Foundation - which have concluded that strategic shifts in the region will make submarines a more vital cog in Australia's defence than ever before.

Defence will study a wide range of futuristic options for the new submarines, which will be built in Adelaide and will replace the six Collins-class submarines when they are retired in 2025.

The new submarines will almost certainly be built by the builder of the Collins-class fleet, the Australian Submarine Corporation, once the government-owned ASC has been privatised.

"South Australia is the only credible location for the construction of Australia's next generation of submarine," Mr Fitzgibbon said.

The aim will be to create the world's most deadly conventional submarine fleet to allow Australia to maintain its strategic advantage over fast-growing rival navies in the region.......

Canadian Muslims want Steyn gagged

Through the Internet I'm able to read articles and opinions from writers who normally would be unknown to me including the Canadian columnist Mark Steyn. I don't always agree with him, but he is witty and interesting and often hits the nail on the head. But not everyone likes free speech so some Canadian Muslims are trying to shut him up:

On December 4, the Canadian Islamic Congress announced that it had filed a complaint with three of Canada’s “human rights commissions” over an October 2006 article that Steyn had published in Maclean’s, Canada’s leading news weekly. “This article completely misrepresents Canadian Muslims’ values, their community, and their religion,” said Faisal Joseph, an attorney representing the complainants, in a press release. “We feel that it is imperative to challenge Maclean’s biased portrayal of Muslims in order to protect Canadian multiculturalism and tolerance.”

The article in question was adapted from Steyn’s recent book America Alone, which argues that Western society may be irrevocably altered — and not for the better — by unassimilated Muslim immigration. It’s no surprise that this thesis is controversial, probably in part because Steyn makes his points so well. But the real threat to tolerance here is the CIC, which would have the state impose penalties on those whose writings it disagrees with.

In doing so it only provides evidence for Steyn’s thesis. Another group of Canadian Muslims — the Muslim Canadian Congress — has said as much, denouncing the CIC’s complaint for affirming “the stereotype that Muslims have little empathy for vigorous debate and democracy.” But at the moment, the CIC’s push for censorship advances. Of the three human-rights commissions to which it submitted its complaint, two have agreed to hear the case. (The third has yet to decide.).......

This is just an outragerous attempt to muzzle people who have controversial views and shows what a danger to democracy human rights commision can be. Theres a website dedicated to support Steyn here.

4 ingredients

My favorite book this year was not a novel, nor a non fiction history, science or political book. It was a cook book (and this comes from a bloke who used to own a science fiction and fantasy bookshop).

Kim McCosker and Rachel Bermingham's 4 Ingredients is simply the most useful cook book you can get. I'm using it weekly because its so easy and theres so many delicious recipes. It covers a full range of dishes from breakfast to cocktail food. Here's some of the dishes: meat loaf, cheese cakes, pineapple cake, Bacon stuffed mushrooms, beef patties, Moroccan Salmon etc. Over 340 easy recipes and all with no more then four ingredients. The book is obviously aimed at busy mums, but blokes like me , who have to occasionally cook for themselves will love it too.

Remember the book was written by a couple of blond chicks so you know it can't be too difficult.

WorkChoices Undead

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has declared WorkChoices dead. Not everyone likes this. Back bencher Russell Broadbent has come out strongly against the decision. Sid Maris thinks the decision is cowardly and weak. To me its a perfectly sensible move. The Liberals ARE weak, after all they are in opposition, to have WorkChoices hanging around would see them constantly attacked and painted as big , bad worker-bashing monsters. They can’t take such an unpopular policy to the next election.

The Liberals should be about freer labour markets, not about something called WorkChoices. The Australian electorate is conservative, people are wary of radical change. Governments were able to introduce unpopular policies in the 1980s and 90’s such as privitisation and the GST because times were tough. The public was willing to swallow the bad tasting medicine. Thanks to Howard the good times are rolling and people see no need for scary change.

Yet change has occurred and even after the Rudd governments changes should still be a lot freer then they were in 1996. Sid Maris outlines the Labor changes in his article:

Rudd Labor has accepted the fundamental legal and constitutional change that WorkChoices wrought on Australia’s century old industrial relations system.

A legislated set of national minimum conditions, based on the corporations powers of the Constitution not the document’s arbitration powers, will remain. (They will be effectively lifted from 5 to 10 terms).

This means that emphasis at law that a workplace deal is a contract rather than a dispute that needs to be settled continues.

True, Labor is putting more of an emphasis on a collective bargaining and awards will be more often the guide to minimum pay and conditions.

But even Labor is not completely going back to the 1994 system of the previous Labor industrial relations minister Laurie Brereton.

Common law individual contracts, already 30 per cent of agreements, may increase under the new Government with special awards based on the 10 legislated minimum conditions that Labor will introduce.

It’s a case of two steps forward one step back The task of the Opposition is to try to prevent any further backslide and to come up with acceptable policies that can take us forward that extra step.

Dumb idea

David Barnett and others think there’s a good chance the Nationals and the Liberal Party will merge over the next year or two, at least in some states. Brendan Nelson has said he would support such a move as long it was imposed from the top. However Ted Malone’s idea of including One Nation and Family First is just plain dumb. One of the good things about our political system is that it allows minor parties to get a few people elected. By doing so there’s an outlet for political extremist and radicals. If those parties didn’t exist the fringe element would infect the major parties. The last thing the opposition needs is One Nation xenophobes or Family First Christian fundamentalist. The non socialist forces have to appeal to conservative centre, as John Howard did. A union with One Nation or Family First would be suicide.

Iraq: We are winning

As this Bill Roggio’s graph above shows the situation in Iraq is improving. Attacks are down, Al-Qaeda appears to be in retreat and the Iraqi version of democracy seems to be working. The US Democrats have not been able to stop funding despite controlling both the Congress and Senate. Australian troops are likely to stay in Iraq in some capacity for some time, despite a new government. Now, before we start planning the victory parade, I’ll state the obvious, winning is not the same as having won, nor is losing the same as lost., but there is grounds for cautious optimism.

More here and here.

Afghanistan: we are losing

Good to see that the new Australian Minister of Defence is taking a serious interest in whats happening in Afghanistan.

NEW Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says the war in Afghanistan will be lost unless NATO and its close allies change tactics, overhauling military and civil programs designed to bring stability to the country.

Mr Fitzgibbon's blunt warning was delivered to a closed-door meeting in Scotland of eight defence ministers, from the US, Australia and six other NATO nations with military forces in Afghanistan.

His comments reflect the classified intelligence assessments presented to the former Howard government in recent months, which have painted a bleak picture of the military situation facing NATO and its allies as they battle Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

"The previous government would have us believe that good progress is being made in Afghanistan. The reality is quite a different one," Mr Fitzgibbon told The Australian last night soon after returning from the meeting in Edinburgh.

"We are winning the battles and not the war, in my view. We have been very successful in clearing areas of the Taliban but it's having no real strategic effect."

Labor came to power with a promise to withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq but to continue the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

NATO and its allies have about 33,000 troops in Afghanistan. Australia's military contribution now totals about 1000 troops, including special forces and RAAF personnel, mostly stationed in Oruzgan province.

Mr Fitzgibbon has ruled out lifting Australia's military commitment in the absence of a greater contribution from NATO member countries to the International Security Force in Afghanistan. But he also signalled that Australia would be prepared to consider a larger military commitment if NATO members bolstered their own forces...

The US is also reassessing its strategy in Afghanistan, as the current commitment in Iraq is wound down I expect to see greater activity in Afghanistan by Coalition forces.

CityRail

One of the biggest headaches for the New South Wales government has to be CityRail. It requires a billion dollar a year subsidy on running cost alone, not to mention the requirement for capital injections to upgrade equipment and service. Yet despite the money spent trains are late and the service mediocre. The need for reform should be obvious to anyone and to its credit, the NSW government is talking of privatizing maintenance and other services. While such reforms are to be welcomed I’m doubtful they will really remove this albatross from the necks of taxpayers.

Think of CityRail is as a failed business. If it was a proper commercial business, rather then a government run make work program, it would be declared bankrupt, the shareholders would absorb the loss but importantly the assets would be released to be reused by other investors.
The government needs to do something similar with CityRail.

Sell it to whoever wants to buy it. New South Welshmen would need to cop the the debts and still pay them off but we are doing that anyway. At least the debts will eventually be paid off.
Sell it all, rolling stock, tracks and importantly, the real estate. Don’t do the mistake the Brits did of having different companies run competing trains on the same track, that didn’t work. Sell it as one big unit. It would properly be purchased at a small fraction of its real value but that’s ok, that’s what happens to bankrupt companies. We are not trying to raise capital for the government here , we are trying to liberate assets for better use.

To make it politically possible, tell the new owners there will be a price cap on raising fares and they will have to maintain a minimum service. However do NOT tell time how that service will be provided. If they want to replace heavy rail on some routes by light rail, buses or something else they should be able to do so.

Entrepreneurs with new thinking can see business opportunities that current management can not. People generally see CityRail as a train business, but is it? Its an organisation that owns large strips of land and earns cash flow from moving people up and down that real estate. How about building shopping centres on train stations.? What can be done with the air space above the tracks? Consumers want transportation not train rides, so can some services be replaced by other type of transport such as light rail, buses or something else?

Unless radical steps are taken I expect the continual decay of our public transport system.

Jessica wants to be serious

Apparently Jessica Simpson want to appear nude in a movie to be taken more seriously. How thats supposed to work I don't know, but heres the story:

BLONDE stunner Jessica Simpson is reportedly eager to do a
full nude scene in a movie - because she thinks she will be taken more seriously
as an actress.

The curvy singer, whose last hit the big screen in Dukes of
Hazzard, has even set her sights on winning an Oscar.
A source told Britain's The Sun newspaper: "Jessica is in the running for a role that, if she gets it, will put her right on the map in terms of acting.
"The only hitch is that the script requires a number of quite graphic scenes including a full-frontal nude scene."Jessica is so desperate to land the role and get
the industry's respect that she's ready to go against her better judgement, and
her family, by agreeing to bare all."
The news won't go down well with Simpson's dad Joe, who recently made his girl turn down a potentially Oscar-winning role as a porn star.
He said: "The last script that came to us was for Jessica to be a porn star. We were promised we would win an Oscar with that.
"I told them, 'I think we'll just buy a statue of a little man and keep
our clothes on.' " Simpson needs a good movie - and fast. Her last attempt
Blonde Ambition is going straight to DVD in the US.

Personally, I didn't mind her role in Dukes Of Hazzard, have a look at this little clip.

A response to Why I'm not Sorry

Diet Simon has sent me an e-mail regarding my recent post Why I am not Sorry post. He has given me permission to post it so I have , in full. My reply is also included.

**********

Ralph,

you are able to live the good life because of what was done to Aborigines. You are living off the loot, not least of which is the plot of land you probably own from which Aborigines were driven and possibly murdered. The country's first wealth base came from farms that used Aboriginal slaves.

If your ancestors were here around the middle of the 18-hundreds, chances are you've probably got some Aboriginal blood through the consent or rape of an Aboriginal woman because there weren't enough white women here.

You probably don't even want to be reminded that anything bad was done to them at all.

Well, they won't go away and they'll be - and should be - in our face as our guilty conscience for ever unless we acknowledge what our forebears have done and make an honest and decent peace with them that lifts them from the misery we've locked them into and has them sharing this land and all its bounty equally with us.

Few Germans are left who had anything to do with the war and the holocaust. But collectively that nation has mourned and continues to acknowledge those horrors and where it was possible has made restitution. It commemorates them with dates and places. It teaches them in schools. In fact, is is a crime on the statute books to deny that the holocaust happened, as neo-Nazis keep doing. I wish we had the same law here.

That is the way to go, not your and this nation's denial which will keep this sore open forever.
Diet Simon
German-born Australian,
journalist,
friends with an Aboriginal leader

My Response:

Deit, Europeans may have done bad things to Aboriginals in the past but I and a majority of Australians haven’t. If you want to remind people of past abuse, that fine by me but I have no remorse for something I had no control off. If there are people abusing Aborigines now they shouldn’t be just made to fell sorry, they should be charged with a criminal offence. Sadly, as the case of the 10 year old pack rape victim has shown, Aboriginals themselves are often the problem and the law is letting then get away with it.

What you need to remember is that the girl was in proper foster care but was sent back into a dangerous environment because a couple of social workers didn’t want to be accused of of participating in another “stolen generation” . Its becoming increasingly obvious that the stolen generation should be more properly called the rescued generation. This whole “sorry” thing is a hindrance not a help to Aboriginal welfare, something that Noel Pearson has noted. The Howard government’s intervention policy is something the Liberals should take great pride in and Rudd is to be commended for supporting it and hopefully will expand the policy.

As to the German problem, I don’t believe the current generation of Germans should feel sorry for what their parents and grandparents did either. Also it says something about the German people if the only way to stop them descending into anti-Semitic hate is to ban books. As an Australian, I believe in the great Anglosphere tradition of free exchange of ideas and debate. Wrong, racist ideas need to be exposed for what they are not banned.

Ralph

PS. My parents migrated to Australia from Malta after the war, not that’s relevant.

Pope attacks global warming hysteria

His Holeniss is 80 years old and I'm sure has seen a few scams in his time. I'm not surprised he is warning us on the dangers of scaremongering.

The
Pope condemns the climate change prophets of doom

By SIMON CALDWELL -

Pope Benedict criticised
climate-change prophets of doomPope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack
on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global
warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.
The
leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made
emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters
were nothing more than scare-mongering.
The German-born Pontiff said that
while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community
based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist
movement.
His remarks will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day
on January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world
convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks.
The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment but
not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given a greater
priority than that of mankind. ....

Computer problems

Blogging will be light for several days as my main computer is very ill.

Why I'm not sorry

Prime Minister Rudd is apparently preparing some sort of official apology to "stolen generation" of Aboriginals. Well, sorry Mr Rudd but I'm not sorry. Not only do I think its ridiculous for anyone of my generation to apologise for something that may have happened decades ago, (an Andrew Bolt is still trying to find 10 Aboriginals kids actually stolen for racist reasons) but I refuse to support something that is doing deadly damage to the current generation of indigenous children.

Remember that 10 year old girl who was packed raped? She was found to have been sexually abused at age seven and placed in foster care. She was latter sent back to her indigenous community to be packed raped. The reason:

A senior departmental official (said) the child involved was sexually abused at age seven and, as a safety measure, was put with various foster families, eventually ending up in 2005 with a non-indigenous family . . .

“These non-indigenous people were fantastic—ensuring she went to school, and the father actually took a year off his work to personally supervise this girl,” he said.

“But two new social workers were appointed to the north and they expressed the view, which was repeated many times to the investigating committee, that putting an indigenous child with white foster parents was another stolen generation

Its good to see Andrew Bolt keeping on top of this story.

Carbon Tax

I'm sceptical that government action can influence climate but Mr Rudd has signed Koyoto so we will be getting carbon targets. That being the case we might as well have the least harmful carbon reducing system possible. John Humphreys has proposed a Carbon Tax which has the advantage of cutting petrol prices by about 30 cents a litre. From the press release:

“A better solution is to introduce a low carbon tax of about $30/tonne of CO2-e (carbon dioxide or equivalent) as a replacement for our current range of fuel taxes.

“In effect we already have a high environment tax called the fuel tax. However, the transport sector only contributes ¼ of our greenhouse emissions. It would make more sense to have a lower tax on a broader base. This would simply be good tax policy.

“This would mean an increase in electricity prices and a decrease in petrol prices of about 30 cents per litre. The impact of this change would have little or no net economic cost. It would also be roughly neutral on the government budget and neutral on most household budgets, as the changed cost of electricity and petrol offset each other.

“And it would introduce a price on the use of high emission energy, such as ‘dirty’ coal. This will make alternative energy comparatively more attractive and increase the amount of investment that goes into new technology.”

I hope Mr Rudd and Mr Nelson take notice.

Electricity Privatization?

Its good to see Premier Iemma got his electricity privatization plan through Cabinet. Lets see how far he gets with the unions.

THE New South Wales Government may have a fight on its hands as it moves to sell off state-owned electricity retailers and lease its generators in a move worth up to $25bn.

Unions have vowed to fight the proposal, saying it will mean higher power prices and job losses, and have rejected as "bribes" proposed payments to workers for switching to the private sector.

The NSW Government Cabinet and caucus today voted in favour of a proposal that would result in the Government leasing out its current power stations and selling all but the poles and wires assets of Energy Australia, Integral Energy and Country Energy.

The sell-off and leasing agreements will enable the private sector to build the new baseload generator, either gas or coal, required to meet demand by 2014 – saving taxpayers $15bn over the next 10 to 15 years.

The sale of the retail assets could also generate about $10bn, the report commissioned into the industry by the Government has suggested....

Doctor wants to tax babies

This kook wants to save the Earth by taxing babies. I wonder if he has any pets?

10 year old "gives consent"

This is just disgusting.

QUEENSLAND'S Attorney-General Kerry Shine says he will appeal sentences handed down against nine males who gang-raped a 10-year-old girl in 2005.

Cairns-based District Court judge Sarah Bradley did not record convictions against six teenage attackers and gave three others aged 17, 18 and 26 suspended sentences over the incident at the indigenous Aurukun community on Cape York.

The girl had "probably agreed" to have sex with the youths, Judge Bradley said during her sentencing remarks, The Australian newspaper reported today.

Mr Shine today met with Director of Public Prosecutions Leanne Clare for urgent advice, and determined the October sentences would be appealed, even though the deadline had passed.

"I am truly horrified by the circumstances of these offences," he said in Brisbane today.

"The law should be consistent in its application, whether it be in Aurukun or Clayfield."

Premier Anna Bligh has ordered all Cape York sexual offence sentences to be reviewed, to ensure there was not a trend of leniency......

I'm 100% behind Brendan Nelson's refusal to say "sorry" to the so called stolen generation , or separated generation, as both Nelson and Rudd are calling them. There must be no apology for removing children from such depraved situations. No hesitation, no apology, just instant action.

Muslim school closed

Just whats going on here? What ever the full story is it sure doesn't help the group wanting to start a Muslim school in Camden.

A MUSLIM school in Perth has been raided by police and shut down by WA Education Minister Mark McGowan. The school's head faces a stealing charge.

Mr McGowan said he had taken the extraordinary step of closing Muslim Ladies' College in Kenwick because of allegations, including fraud and the use of unregistered teachers who were focusing mainly on religion, rather than the WA curriculum.

The school's acting director, Zubair Sayed, appeared in East Perth Magistrates Court charged with stealing.

The court was told the charge related to an alleged theft offence - of $355,934 - in April, when Mr Sayed, of Sarah Close, Canning Vale, was a company director of Muslim Links Australia Ltd.

It is alleged the school was overclaiming for state and federal government funds for students. Police prosecutor Sgt Scott McCormick told the court that detectives had discovered the money had been sent to Pakistan.

"This is a matter which is of extreme seriousness, whereby Mr Sayed obtained public money from the commonwealth by deceit," Sgt McCormick said. "The state wishes to put on the record that this is a very serious charge.".....

So the funds went to Pakistan. Who too? Pakistan is a well known Islamist centre. I don't like the sound of this.

Another Iemma stuff up

This time its the Epping to Chatswood tunnel.

TRANPORT Minister John Watkins and RailCorp chief Vince Graham have confirmed that one in 12 CityRail trains have been banned from using the Epping to Chatswood tunnel because of a design bungle.

It also appears that the 12.5 kilometre tunnel was designed and was well underway to being built years before the problem was known.

The Daily Telegraph exclusively revealed the design bungle, which was initally met with denials from authorities.

However Mr Graham today admitted the Tangara trains - around eight per cent of the CityRail fleet - could not be used on the tunnel because the 4km incline from under the Lane Cove river would cause the train's traction motor to burn out too quickly.

Instead the tunnel will be serviced by trains up to 30 years old and special outer-suburban trains intended for inter-city routes.

So we are now getting a $2 billion tunnel that only some trains can use. Great planning Premier!
Also, why is it only the older trains that can use it? Are modern trains inferior?

No wonders theres speculation Iemma will go. The talk is Police Minister Watkins will get the job. Why he should be any better I don't know.

My candidate is the Treasurer Michael Costa, he properly be just as hopeless as the rest of the tired ministers but a global warming sceptic neocon as Labor Premier would be hilarious.

Narnia: Prince Caspian

My wife and I really enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie when it came out so we are looking forward to Prince Caspian:

Caution Mr President

So far President Bush has had the good sense not to take military action against Iran's nuclear program. This report seems to support his caution.

Iran nuclear revelation 'will help defuse crisis'

VIENNA: A new US intelligence review that concludes Iran stopped developing a nuclear weapons programme in 2003 is consistent with the UN atomic watchdog agency's own findings and "should help to defuse the current crisis", the organisation's chief said yesterday.

"The agency has no concrete evidence of an ongoing nuclear weapons programme or undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran," International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohamed ElBaradei said.

Iran welcomed the report and demanded Washington change its policies seeking new sanctions....

My concern is the reliability of any intelligence report. How do we really know that the Iranians aren't developing nukes? Previous information has been wrong in a big way. I hope we don't wake up one day to find a city has been turned into radio-active ash by some country no body expected to have WMDs.

Considering the reliability problem, containment, deterrence and isolation make sense but direct military action? No. That requires proof.

No smoking in parks

This is just ridiculous. Not only can we not smoke in pubs and clubs, now they want to ban smoking in public parks! Supposedly to protect children. Now if the kids are running around playing in parks how are they supposed to be harmed by cigarette smoke? Further more the person nearest to them who is most likely to be smoking is a parent or guardian, who would be smoking at home anyway. I'm a non smoker but they can stick these regulations up nanny (state) jumper.

SMOKING while children are playing sport or enjoying recreational time in parks and public places could soon be banned.

Two NSW councils are considering a no-smoking policy in council-owned parks and sporting grounds in a bid to protect young people's health.

The move follows smoking bans on Manly, Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches in Sydney.

Wollongong Council is also considering putting up signs in public parks asking people not to smoke where children are playing.

Last night Shellharbour Council on the South Coast met to consider a smoking ban within 10m of all council-owned sports fields from January 2009.

"Council can increase community protection against second hand smoke, promote positive health messages . . . and significantly reduce the amount of cigarette litter," the minutes of the council meeting said....

Nelson's Poll Problems

According to todays Newspoll results Malcolm Turnbull is twice as popular as Brendan Nelson. Whats more, Kevin Rudd is rated a better Prime Minister, 61% to Nelson's 14%. But thats not the problem. The problem is the media making comments like this: “ And in another worrying sign for the Opposition, “

Worrying sign? The bloke has been Leader of the Opposition for less then a week, after an election which saw Kevin Rudd win by a land slide and they expect him to match the Prime Minister? Fair go !! Kevin Rudd is going to have a honeymoon period of a year or so. The reality is Brendan Nelson won't get a fair go from the media. Their focus will be on the drama of possible leadership challenges, not any policy proposals he has. He has to find ways of bypassing the establishment and go directly to the people.

Dr Nelson, please get yourself a decent internet presence. See what the US Presidential candidates are doing. Start making regular short Youtube film clips and radio podcasts. Get on Facebook and Myspace. Start a blog and let us know what you think. Surely theres enough money in the kitty to employ a full time webmaster. Hell, you could properly get a bunch of volunteers to do if for nothing.

Please Dr Nelson put this on the top of your must-do list.

Wowsers

Here we go again, another bunch of wowsers telling us we can't have our fun. This time the problem is those evil one armed bandits.

Pokies rob $1.7bn from the broke

EXCLUSIVE by Clare Masters, Political Reporter

December 03, 2007 12:00am

SYDNEY's richest pubs earn more than $6 million a year each from poker machines - and rake in about $220,000 profit from each device.

But the hotels' pokie riches have come at the expense of Sydney's poorest residents, with the highest profits overlapping areas where mortgage stress is greatest.

Exclusive figures show local government areas that are being blitzed by gamblers match up with the mortgage belt, where struggling working families are losing their homes.

The records reveal NSW hotel revenue in June 2007 topped $1.699 billion - up from $205 million in June 1997.

And The Daily Telegraph has learned the skyrocketing profits have sparked anger among government officials amid concerns the Iemma Government may increase the number of machines allowed into hotels.....

So does Clare Marsters really believe the $1.7 billion comes from people who are broke? If they are really broke they wouldn't have any money to gamble would they Clare? You think the reason people in those areas are losing their homes is because of gambling? Evidence please Clare, evidence.

Look, I seldom gamble, but what wowser refuse to accept is that gambling is good clean fun to most people as well it offers something priceless- hope.

Photogenic couple

I realise its very shallow, but the Liberal leadership duo do make a good looking couple. Considering the importance of TV thats not a bad thing.

Compare:

Nelson & Bishop



Rudd & Gillard.

I also like Nelson's views on gay rights. He backs equal rights for gay couples but opposes gay marriage, pretty much my view.

Have the Libs lucked out and got themselves a fair dinkum conservative libertarian? I not getting my hopes too high but their policies on tax and spending will be important. Will they stick to Howard type big government conservatism or come up with lower tax policies? Turnbull is the shadow treasurer so lets see what happens.

Update: Bolty :likes Nelson too.

Fixing Sydney

Sydney City is just horrible, noisy, polluted and far too crowded. I hate having to work there. I hope the council will implement Jan Gehl's visionary plan.

THE centre of Sydney would be returned to the people under a radical plan to push out cars, create public squares at Town Hall and Circular Quay, and ultimately tear down the Cahill Expressway and the Western Distributor.

The Herald has obtained the blueprint for the biggest transformation yet envisaged of the city centre. The acclaimed international planner Jan Gehl will unveil it for the City of Sydney on Monday night........

Upon completing his report, Public Spaces, Public Life For The City Of Sydney, Professor Gehl asks: "We have one question for this city: what do you value more - your people, or your cars?"

His plan does not require tearing down the city and starting again. Rather, it could be transformed in stages. But for it to succeed, the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, will need the financial and political support of Kevin Rudd's newly elected federal Labor government and of Morris Iemma's State Government.

Transforming George Street into a "vivacious" promenade and shopping strip is critical to Professor Gehl's vision. Its 2.5 kilometres would be closed to private vehicles and dedicated to public transport and bicycles. It would be punctuated by three public squares - at Central Station, Town Hall and Circular Quay.

At the quay, the Cahill Expressway would be demolished and the railway station put underground to make way for a public square that would allow the half-million people who visit and work in the city every day to appreciate Sydney Harbour.

At Town Hall, the Woolworths headquarters would be demolished to create open space. The city council has already bought this and neighbouring buildings, and has long had such a plan. Pedestrians would no longer need to press a button at traffic lights. No one should have to "apply" to walk across the road, Professor Gehl says. It is a human right.

Walkers would no longer take a stop-start journey along George Street, the smog-filled thoroughfare that he says should be Sydney's main promenade. They should not even have to step down to the road at intersections with traffic crossing the city. It is the cars that should wait, he argues. Parking would be restricted to the edges of town.......

A quick way to reduce city traffic would be to introduce congestion charging. Drivers would be required to pay a fee for driving through Sydney centre. The rate would vary and be more expensive during peak times. That would certainly reduce traffic. The funds raised could be used to support public transport, perhaps Mayor Clover Moore could come to an agreement with the private sector to expand the tram service.

Turnbull, the Liberal's Latham

Crikey, this bloke wants to be Prime Minister? He's as erratic a Mark Latham.

MALCOLM Turnbull stormed into the new Liberal leader's parliamentary office within an hour of Thursday's leadership vote, tearing into Brendan Nelson over his "funereal speech" and urging him to toughen up.

Surrounded by cardboard boxes and his staff in a temporary office, Brendan Nelson looked up.

The Liberal Party's campaign director, Brian Loughnane, was in the room offering congratulations, as was Nelson's press secretary, former journalist Nigel Blunden, and his senior adviser, Simon Berger.

Nelson's newly elected deputy, Julie Bishop, had just left the room to freshen up her makeup for the leadership team's first press conference, leaving the Liberal leader in his cramped new office with his staff when Turnbull stormed through the door.

Nelson, touched by the support of his colleagues earlier that day, who backed him over Turnbull, had been moved to tears in the partyroom and was humbled by this moment of Liberal Party history.

Turnbull was not. "That speech was funereal," the multi-millionaire MP exploded, attacking Nelson's rather sombre acceptance of the Liberal leadership. "You can't do that again. You have to sound like the coach at half-time talking to a grand final team. You've got to toughen up."

Nelson has been charged by the party with rebuilding the shattered Liberals, taking the leadership after John Howard's humiliating defeat on Saturday and Peter Costello's refusal, one day later, to step into the role. But less than 24 hours into his leadership victory, which split the party in a tight vote, 45 to Nelson and 42 to Turnbull, the post-ballot clash between the contenders was the talk of Liberal circles....