Water in Victoria

Below is an Article from The Age newspaper today outlining the problem with the current water plan.

Woof.

Utilities are wasting our precious water

ACCORDING to conventional wisdom, Victoria's government-owned or regulated institutions are frantically conserving water for a growing economy in a record drought.

The canard concludes that we need a $3.1 billion desalination plant.

In reality, Victorians are saving lots of water but the responsible utilities waste it faster.

The desalination plant is intended to serve Melbourne but its Wonthaggi location demands an extraordinary 85-kilometre pumping system to deliver the water.

The plant will consume enough electricity to run a town and produce an estimated 1 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon each year. It will be greenwashed by robbing every iota of wind energy now produced in Victoria.

The desalination plant is designed to produce 150 gigalitres — 150 billion litres — of drinking water each year. It will extract about 400 gigalitres of sea water and return about 250 gigalitres in a plume of concentrated brine. Each day the plant will also produce about three semi-trailer loads of contaminated salt for burial.

Consumers will foot the bill, but the plant's public institutional proponents are not compelled to reciprocate with innovation or accountability. Discarded water volumes could potentially double planned water augmentation without going near a desalination plant.

For example, 116 gigalitres of drinking water is used to cool Latrobe Valley electricity generators each year, when sea water or air coolers could provide alternative solutions.

The Melbourne Water Corporation sends almost 300 gigalitres of partially treated waste water into Bass Strait each year even though the water could be recycled for Melbourne's industry belts. Discarding this treated water is akin to sending all of Melbourne's bottles, cans, papers and cardboard to landfill instead of recycling them.

It is thinking that belongs to the era when the Yarra was a sewer and the Maribyrnong River flowed red beyond the meatworks.

In Melbourne, rainfall run-off is channelled straight into the Yarra and Port Phillip Bay, wasting more than 200 gigalitres each year.

Melbourne's water retailers rigorously enforce household water restrictions, yet the water companies themselves are losing nearly 50 gigalitres of drinking water each year. Last year, Yarra Valley Water lost about 22 gigalitres but still advertises itself in a monopoly market.

In Bendigo, the state education office recently wasted 2½ million litres of water from a leaking pipe. This equalled nearly 10% of daily water consumption for Bendigo and surrounding townships.

Meanwhile, ordinary consumers shower with buckets while their gardens wilt and water prices rise.

An elderly Sydney gardener is alleged to have been killed recently in the first case of "water rage". Shocking, but hardly surprising, because the tension is all being focused on consumers.

Some influential water industry leaders are now predicting that the proposed desalination plant and the new Goulburn Valley pipeline will leave Melbourne awash with expensive drinking water.

Even Victoria's utilities regulator has flagged the potential glut. The Essential Services Commission recently questioned a proposal to introduce a "fourth tier" pricing escalation, saying "such a strong disincentive to use water may be questioned".

The desalination plant will be built as a public-private partnership and its owners will pay about a third more interest on their loans compared with government borrowings. The cost of operation and investment return could reach $500 million a year, in a contract that would typically bind taxpayers for 30 years or more.

Such contracts usually operate on a take-or-pay basis. The owners might even demand compensation if water consumption is reduced by government strategies, and this will see new and spurious justifications for buying water.

Desalination costs will rise as arid nations compete for expertise, and as Victoria fights a bidding war with the oil kingdoms of the Middle East. Foreign water corporations will be drooling at the prospect.

The desalination decision was made by former State Government leaders apparently seduced by big spending rather than big thinking around demand management.

Ironically, Australians are highly amenable to the cultural shifts demanded by the climate crisis. A recent Lowy Institute survey showed that 92% of Australians want to see the climate change tackled seriously and almost 70% of Australians are accepting of the necessary investment. If provided with knowledge rather than propaganda, Victorians are capable of embracing a strategy that better captures rainfall, reduces squandering by utilities and provides industry with an option to use recycled water.

In the interim, Victorians should take a leisurely drive to Wonthaggi and prepare for the delight of a lifetime as they crest the gentle hill at Kilcunda. Here, the drab grazing land gives way to a seascape that is simply glorious. From 2009 that scene will be violated by bulldozers building a de facto carbon factory.

It is an ecological blasphemy that will plague us for a lifetime.

Tony Cutcliffe is a director of policy forum and consultancy The Eureka Project.

Economists

Economists have a lot to answer for. Over the past decade here in Australia, our governments of both persuasions have tried to sell off everything that was owned by the people. They have also encouraged the population 'To Go For Growth' As the Liberal party ran as one of it's election slogans said.

The answer to the economists dream is to have a bigger population, consuming more products, while travelling as many kilometres as humanly possible on or in whatever carbon guzzling machine is most appropriate.

Now as we are being told by scientist from around the world in one large collective voice we have to become green and lean. Buy local is the new slogan, we have known this for ever and a day. Not economists they have asked us to buy global. Allow Brazilian farmers to sell us their orange juice, no matter that it puts our farmers out of business, if they can't compete then they shouldn't be in the market place.

In fact the whole emphasis has been to consume more of just about everything, except maybe water and that is because we have had a drought for 10 years. I'm sure it was the economists that told the state governments that it didn't matter that they would have to double the price of water, building a desalination plant [the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere] was an economic miracle. Because governments tend to believe 'Experts' and 'Experts' have said build it.

We need to clean out this current mob of economists and money men. They will be the ruination of us all. Even Carbon is worth trading in. Don't for a minute think it will make an once of difference to our carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It will become another piece of paper to trade and make wealthy financiers wealthier.

I wonder which economist told the airlines of the world it makes economic sense to fly twice as many flights around the world some at such low costs per passenger it wouldn't even cover the pilots drinks tab. I read recently that a flight from Australia to Europe is equal in carbon consumption to an average Australian household for two and half years.

Scientist will finally win these debates about carbon and renewable energy. But not before a handful of economists will cost as billions in lost opportunities to be Lean and Green.
Woof.

Goodbye and Good Riddance

Goodbye Mr Howard and your right wing politics. As I had predicted and hoped for John Howard's government were decidedly beaten in the weekends election.
The reason I could see it coming was that the outer suburbs of our major cities where Howard had been elected at each previous election over the last 11 years, had turned against him. The voters out there are Mums and Dads with Mortgages and by and large employed in small to medium size businesses. The work place laws introduced by Howard were not popular, so they deserted him. Two other factors may of helped the Labor cause. John Howard was very slow in accepting Climate change and that is a big worry for many people now, and they don't want an old fart with all the privileges of high office telling them it is better to give tax cuts to millionaires than put money into alternative energy creation.
Howard along with his treasurer Peter Costello, have managed to waste 10 years of economic good times. They lauded their achievements but didn't plough the surpluses they so happily took through consumption taxes back into longer term policy. That is why I say good riddance. I hope the Liberal party learns from this drubbing and thinks about the future of this world next time they are elected and not some stupid right wing agenda to feather the nest of aspirational greedy millionaires.
Best of luck to Kevin Rudd
Woof

Cricket and Polls

Cricket and Opinion Polls, two things I could say who gives a flying fig about at this very moment.

We have had two test matches this summer, Australia versus Sri Lanka, the first ended in a massive defeat to Sri Lanka and likewise the second even if the end score looks closer, the Aussie declared at some unlikely score of 2 for 210 in their second innings. What is the point of having these test matches. Australia I think is the only nation that has this incredible appetite for winning at cricket. I know other nations like India [touring here this summer] and Pakistan, West Indies etc. all have 'Proud Traditions', but none of them have this military type approach to winning.

So what happens, we have these one sided test series that leave a lot of cricket fans and potential cricket fans, with boring days of cricket with no suspense what so ever. Even the commentators have become geriatrics, maybe because, no younger guys want the gig. I have no idea what to do about it except to turn off the coverage which I have done for a number of years now.

Opinion polls the panacea of the masses. Feed them another opinion poll, get the electorate excited, this age long election is being held together by endless polls. No matter, that they all say the same thing [A win to Labor] a small deviation here or there, up a percentage point for 'preferred prime minister' down a point in two party preferred swing. Hey cut it out there are too many variables to know exactly what you are talking about and you only tell us the sexy bits.
Time to put away the papers and turn off the news flashes we need an election free zone. And did you know that in the long and short of it all, neither side have the answers they are by and large reacting to things out of their control with the illusion of being in the driving seat making all the right decisions. They couldn't lie straight in bed, god bless them, dear born agains that they are.
Woof.

John Howards Time in Office

Have a look at this article from The AGE by Ross McMullin. It outlines the deceit and lies that have surrounded John Howard's time in Office.
Woof

Spend

The two major parties in this election are promising billions of dollars in hand outs, much of which is aimed at buying a vote. However the biggest vote buying, 'spend' came in the first week of the election. The 32 billion dollar tax relief proposed by Mr Howard. I have already commented on how I find that intolerable. I have thought some more about it in the light of election promises, and just the way elections can focus the mind.
The main thing we need to be doing over the next 10 years is to reduce greenhouse gases by making our world less dependent on fossil fuels. We need to make, solar, wind, tides, etc our main source of energy. We need our reliance on petrol/diesel cars to end. And an added thing we need to do here in Australia is find ways of supplying safe water in a what has become a much drier continent.
We want our politicians to consult with the public to work together to find solutions. Not to tell us that with expert advise they have found the one and only solution and we have to live with it. There are often many ways to skin a cat and we need to debate some of them. The Howard government has promoted a get rich approach to lifestyle and it is going to come home to bite us all in the arse. It has made us complacent and encouraged us to bury our heads in the sand over climate change and the future. Up until a year ago you would hardly of thought that we had a crises of this magnitude looming. I put a lot of that down to John Howard and his approach to leadership. If you look back over his 11 years it has all been about running surpluses and giving tax relief to the wealthy. He has done this by selling the crown jewels, spreading the tax base, [GST] and cutting services. No forethought what so ever, just that wealth creation, will in some way magic it's way into all the households. I don't think.
Some of the advisers are economists, they seem to think the only way to get things done is to make it attractive financially, for enough, for them to initiate change. Driven by profit, well it only works to a certain extent. As shown by big business. They stop being inventive and look purely for profit.
We need our politicians to commit to changing the way we do business in Australia, get rid of the status quo and find green ways of seeing our future.
Very soon now it will be the people speaking up not the lobbyists for big business. People will demand their councils provide the correct infrastructure to sustain our consumption. It will be people who say, 'forget the tax cut give us a break on installing and running alternative hot water services and solar panels.
Why these issues are barely being questioned in this election, says heaps for the current way of doing business as a government. Get elected and then rule by executive power. And only listen to the lobbyists from big business or political donors. Enough is enough let the people be heard.
Woof.

Climate change, An Election. Denial.

It's all here in an article from Kenneth Davidson in The Age. If we don't get our head out of the sand as far as global warming and Politicians start telling the truth about what we need to do to adapt then we are fooling ourselves and depriving future generations.
Have a read of THIS
Woof.

Melbourne recycle your water

The local council at Swan Hill has passed a motion asking the Premier of Victoria to make Melbourne recycle it's water, then it wouldn't have to take water from the Swan Hill area.
Here is the article. And reproduced below. I have been saying this for a few years now.

Woof.

Call for recycling instead of pipeline

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Royce Millar
October 30, 2007

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MELBOURNE should recycle its water rather than piping fresh water over the Dividing Range from the drought-stricken communities along the Goulburn River.

That is the view of Swan Hill's council. This week it will ask the Municipal Association of Victoria's state conference to back its call for the State Government to invest in recycling for Melbourne instead of building the north-south, or Sugarloaf, pipeline.

The Swan Hill motion notes that water recycling works well overseas and that purification technology is advanced and "could offer long-term solutions" to Melbourne's burgeoning water demands.

It also doubts the Brumby Government's guarantee to limit the volume of water diverted from the Goulburn to Melbourne to 75 gigalitres a year. "Unfortunately, political history demonstrates such guarantees have a limited life," it says.

The council's motion is likely to get wide rural backing but it is not clear whether it will secure the metropolitan support necessary for success at the association's meeting.

Senior local government figures are understood to be anxious that a successful resolution could embarrass the Brumby Government.

Municipal association president Dick Gross could not be contacted yesterday.

Some Melbourne councillors have already backed the Swan Hill campaign. Moonee Valley Mayor and Greens member Ben Opie said he supported the motion because much more needed to be done to boost levels of water re-use and harvesting in Melbourne.

Cr Opie said local councils were introducing recycling and other water measures but projects were limited.

"Local government budgets don't stretch far enough," he said.

Swan Hill Mayor Gary Norton said his council supported irrigation upgrades to reduce water seepage and evaporation "but we don't like the trade-off", meaning the pipeline.

He said it was not clear whether he would have the numbers to get his motion up on Friday. "But win or lose, we've got the message out there," Cr Norton said.

The State Government backed the pipeline as part of a two-pronged, $4.9 billion water strategy announced this year that also includes the controversial desalination plant at Williamsons Beach, near Wonthaggi.

Under the pipeline plan, up to 450 billion litres of water would be saved through a $2 billion upgrade of the 80-year-old Goulburn irrigation system, including the lining of open channels and installation of automated channel control.

Melbourne would receive 75 gigalitres of the water and the remainder would be shared between the environment and agriculture. The water would be piped 70 kilometres from the Goulburn River, near Yea, to Sugarloaf Reservoir, north-east of Melbourne.

Revolution

Over the last 500 years or so there have been a number of revolutions. In this context the main aim for human kind has been to free themselves from enslavement and oppression. The biggest of the revolutions have been to free the populous of oppressors like Kings and Emperors. Who in turn have extended their power via hierarchical power bases with brutal regimes in place to make them work.
These types of thoughts got me thinking about the present need for change. Climate change is going to impact on our lives like the Kings and Queens of yesteryear. There are in place big organisations that are trying to preserve the status quo for their own good. Our politicians have also become the lackeys for these powerful Organisations. They lobby and pollies listen. Elections are fought on the favours of big business.
So for the revolution to happen we need to sideline big business and find a new way of deciding what is important for our future. Because we are not going to get the answers from self interested large businesses that only want profits for their shareholders.
Woof.

Soar Panels ????

Here is an Article in The Age about Australia loosing it's solar panels.

Woof.

Tax Cuts

Why has Howard announced such large tax cuts. Does he want to buy my vote? If so he is going about it the wrong way.
There used to be a saying about a government that gives large tax breaks, it has either over taxed you in the first place, or isn't giving you value for money in providing services, such as Health, Education, etc.
Some of the most pressing needs at the moment are climate change, water, and alternative energy sources. If as a government you can't find ways of spending those tax cuts on improving those areas, you are bereft of ideas.
This election should be about the next 10 to 20 years a crucial time in our history. If you looked at the governments, 'steady as you go,' approach you wouldn't believe there was a problem.

So buck up Mr. Howard get with the message, Solar panel plan, Alternative energy base load plan, A water plan for the Southern states of Australia, reduce our carbon footprint plan. ETC ETC.

We don't want you to run this election on your past, you have been a conservative 1950s man. Step up or ship out.

In fact I hope you loose your seat to Maxime Mckew. You didn't know when to retire, and you have shown yourself to be really dirty when it comes to politics.
Woof.

John Howard's Road to Damascus

John Howard's road to Damascus, started yesterday when he woke up to the fact that indigenous people of Australia have been wronged, how wronged and how he will deal with his awakening is yet to be seen.

A cynic may say that with only two sleeps, before he calls a general election is a bit opportunistic, but Gerard Henderson [ a political commentator] says no. It is the real John Howard saying he wants the constitution to acknowledge the Aboriginal people. He hasn't accepted the stolen generation report and done nothing to advance Aboriginal causes in Australia. In fact he has hindered any real advancement. Now he brings it up on the eve of an election.

On another religious subject. The Health Minister Tony Abbott is getting into a stouch with the church leaders over work place reform, and whether it is christian to have laws that favour the employers over the employees. Have a read from The Age article.
Woof.

Governments on the wane

Governments that are on the wane can behave in strange a weird ways. The current crop of ministers, who are in the dying days of the Howard government are doing the same.

Firstly there is the Joe the Workplace Minister he his criticising a report into workplace agreements a big issue in the peoples minds at the moment, and all he can do is rubbish the author and researchers for the report. In fact he
The treasurer Peter thinks his opponent Wayne to be an unlikeable person so therefore a non starter as a treasurer, this personal opinion is supposed to be important. It is a bit like a school yard comment.
The Health minister tries to link running and funding of hospitals to a spurious Union link, and doesn't make much sense at all.
Lastly, Kevin the immigration minister says no more Sudanese refugees, because they can't assimilate into Australian life. But when he tries to justify his decision he just sounds racist.

The way that politics is played out has some traits to it that make you wonder.

One is that it is portrayed as bigger than it actually is. so we have an over blown sense of its relevance.

Two the mix of governance and political survival is blurred in many areas, including funding of political parties and the spending of public money on quasi Government information.

Here is the Link to the Age article that outlined some of the above.

Woof.

Footy it's the same the world over

Footy in an election year. What pisses me off is that politicians become footy fans on or around grand final time. Especially in an election year.
John Howard has announced he intends to go to both codes of grand final this year. Firstly the Australian Rules footy. AFL that's today Saturday here in Melbourne. And tomorrow he heads off to Sydney for the Rugby League NRL grand final. Whether he has any true interest about the outcome, is neither here nor there, it is seen as a, must be seen at, event. So I imagine the Leader of the opposition, Kevin Rudd will also be seen somewhere in public making his predictions and giving his support.

One wise spark wrote in the letter page of The Age, that he wondered if it was tax payers money that will pay for the airline tickets and accommodation, I think the Prime minister should pay for his own ticket. Cause really who wants to be bothered with a senior pollie at a footy match.

On another note. We need to reuse our rain water as a community and stop using tap water to water the gardens.
Woof.

Are you Experienced

Are you Experienced was the question Jimmy Hendrix asked us all back in 1967, 40 years ago. Well that is the line coming out of the coalition parties here in our election year that is truly upon us.
Of course, it is as usual, a load of old bollocks, on behalf of the seasoned old farts known as the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

I don't remember it being a prerequisite, to being a member of parliament or a cabinet minister, that you have experience in the job. In fact you often can't have experience because you have to be elected at a parliamentary election before you can sit as a politician.

I don't have any statistics on how many cabinet ministers were ministers before they were ministers or prime ministers, if you understand what I mean. It is very easy to say, especially when you have been in office for 11 years. The opposition wont of been in power and therefore no experience in office. [Where's that rocket scientist when you need him?]

John Howard was asked a question about the cut in interest rates in America and immediately launched into a political spiel about the need for experience in times of financial uncertainty.

You can just tell the mantra that will be pushed out every time the government is asked to comment on anything. From the oppositions policies, [supposedly bereft of any substance] or broader issues like the financial woes of the U.S.A. or the decline in the share market. The government ministers will say, 'It will all be a lot worse under a Labor government, because they are a bunch of inexperienced ex Union officials.'

[Watch out lock up your sons and daughters, ex union officials worse than communists]

As I said awhile back, I just want them to call this election and get it over with. It is going to be so dirty [especially from the prime minister]. He is now a desperate man fighting for his last gasp of political air. Even his own parliamentary seat is in doubt. He could be the first prime minister in 80 years to loose his seat.
Woof.

Maggie Thatcher had it too.

Why is it that politicians are the last to realise they are on the nose and should step aside? Around the time that Maggie Thatcher was rolled someone commented that politicians are the last to see that they are no longer wanted. It is like a tide of change has to build a head of steam for it to wash back to the politician.

It goes a bit like this.

Firstly and few members of the public start to say things about the prime minister, just chatting away in the pub. What a dork he/she is couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery sort of thing. This becomes a nightly event. Every time their head comes on the TV there are calls to get him off! etc. Then maybe a year later perhaps months depending on the electoral cycle, a journalist, probably not strictly a political journalist. Writes a piece criticising the prime ministers autocratic way or lack of policy or bias, whatever the criticism it starts a ball rolling, and before you can say, jack knife, the serious journos are in on the act, and they can really lay the boot in. Where as for 2 to 3 years they have been considered in their reporting, they all of a sudden pull the plug on fair play and reveal private conversations and the rot has started.

Finally some back benchers in the prime ministers party start to whine about their leader.

He is out of touch, he can't win the next election, looming up on the calender.

Even then the stubborn, weary, not so wise prime minister, doesn't get it. He says he is going to work harder, he will win on his record, experience over inexperience. ETC ETC.

By then the change has already happened, it is only a matter of time. The bulk of the swinging electorate have swung away and made their decision so no contest.

Why prime ministers have to be pushed I really don't know. Except to say, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Now lets have the election we have to have.
Woof.


Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Petrol Prices

Here in Melbourne like most mainland states in Australia, the price of petrol goes up every week and down again. And guess what, all the petrol outlets go up together and down again. When they have been accused of collusion, they say, 'they don't price fix and they are just discounting fuel to benefit the consumers.' But of course they have to put it back up again to make money. They also say the price of fuel is based on the Singapore crude price.

Having set the scene, we have an enquiry by the Australian Competition Consumer Commission (ACCC) that started a week or so ago, for the government, into fuel pricing, it is an ongoing enquiry and it hasn't reported yet.

The NRMA a motoring body like the RACV have released their own findings that show since the announcement of the enquiry, the major petrol companies have actually reduced the cost of fuel, and the typical cycle of high to low pricing has stayed in the low zone much longer.

[This is despite a rise in Singapore crude, which normally produces an immediate price rise at the bowser.]

The NRMA draws the conclusion that the petrol suppliers have been ripping us off [we all knew that, but couldn't prove it] and are now deliberately keeping the price lower to look good in the eyes of the enquiry. In fact the NRMA have called for the price of fuel to be regulated like, gas, electricity and water. That is a big call for a motoring organisation.
I have heard that if big business is allowed to control over 60% of the economy we would have real problems to contend with. Governments are there to, in part, protect us from the excesses of big business. Are the Shells and BPs of the world making smaller profits since the price rise in world oil? I don't think so.
Woof.


Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Citizenship Test

• Recently the Federal government has devised a citizen test. It has met with some disapproval. Below is an article from The Age giving one persons opinion. If you want to see it on line go to The Age article.
  

For much of my life I have had to deal with tests or the lack of them. What I mean is, I have never been happy sitting an exam or test. I don't like the idea of being assessed by people who I have never met and may not like to meet. We have all heard of inappropriate testing from Hitler and his Aryan race to the more benign 11 plus exam they had in the U.K. that could determine a persons schooling and work choices at age 10-11 years. Now the Australian government want to test migrants on things like who was Australia's first Prime Minister. Duh.
Read On.
Woof.

Catherine Deveny

It's time for a real test that requires real Australian qualities.

YOU can shove your citizenship test up your poxy date. No one has the right to decide what being Australian is. I was born here and I have no idea. But I do know what it isn't, and what being Australian isn't is testing people on what they know about some white pen-pusher's idea of Australia. This is the country whose citizens pride themselves on not knowing the words to their own country's anthem.

If I wanted to be an Australian citizen and I was told that I had to pass a test first, I'd bugger off to New Zealand.

Who are we trying to keep out with this test? How will knowing the name of Australia's first prime minister or the date of Federation keep out terrorists, wankers or bludgers? The citizenship test questions are irrelevant and offensive. Here's my citizenship test and if you don't like it you can rack off and go back to your own country. You know what the most un-Australian thing in the world is? Migrants. And we don't want them coming here with their fancy food, classy culture, rich traditions and willingness to contribute.

LANGUAGE

1. Do you understand the meaning, but are unable to explain the origin of, the term "died in the arse"?

2. What is a mole?

3. Are these terms related: chuck a sickie; chuck a spaz; chuck a U-ey?

4. Explain the following passage: "In the arvo last Chrissy the relos rocked up for a barbie, some bevvies and a few snags. After a bit of a Bex and a lie down we opened the pressies, scoffed all the chockies, bickies and lollies. Then we drained a few tinnies and Mum did her block after Dad and Steve had a barney and a bit of biffo."

CUSTOMS

1. Macca, Chooka and Wanger are driving to Surfers in their Torana. If they are travelling at 100 km/h while listening to Barnsey, Farnsey and Acca Dacca, how many slabs will each person on average consume between flashing a brown eye and having a slash?

2. Complete the following sentences: a) "If the van's rockin' don't bother … b) You're going home in the back of a …

c) Fair suck of the …

3. I've had a gutful and I can't be fagged. Discuss

4. Have you ever been on the giving or receiving end of a wedgie?

5. Do you have a friend or relative who has a car in their front yard "up on blocks"? Is his name Keith and does he have a wife called Cheryl?

FOOD

1. Does your family regularly eat a dish involving mincemeat, cabbage, curry powder and a packet of chicken noodle soup called either chow mein, chop suey or kai see ming?

2. What are the ingredients in a rissole?

3. Demonstrate the correct procedure for eating a Tim Tam.

4. Do you have an Aunty Myrna who is famous for her tuna mornay and other dishes involving a can of cream of celery soup?

5. In any two-hour period have you ever eaten three-bean salad, a chop and two serves of pav washed down with someone else's beer that has been nicked from a bath full of ice?

6. When you go to a bring- your-own-meat barbie can you eat other people's meat or are you only allowed to eat your own?

7. What purple root vegetable beginning with the letter "b" is required by law to be included in a hamburger with the lot?

CULTURE

1. Do you own or have you ever owned a lawn mower, a pair of thongs, an Esky or Ugg boots?

2. Is it possible to "prang a car" while doing "circle work"?

3. Who would you like to crack on to?

4. Who is the most Australian: Kevin "Bloody" Wilson, John "True Blue" Williamson, Kylie Minogue or Warnie?

5. Is there someone you are only mates with because

they own a trailer or have a pool?

6. Would you love to have a beer with Duncan?

The people to be granted citizenship are the ones who call it a crock and cheat.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Public Transport

If you are interested in public transport especially here in Melbourne have a read of this article by Kenneth Davidson in The Age

Yet again he has hit it on the head. We should have some Nuremberg style trials for the politicians both state and local, that think privatising public assets and wasting our common wealth on international companies who want to run our Utilities at rip off rates is good policy cause we just can't have governments getting their political toes wet anymore.

And Secondly

If the wallies out there who think they can be carbon neutral, cause they drive a diesel car and carry a green shopping bag. Beware we are being conned, lets start by using less of everything, to consume is to waste.

Woof.


Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

ABC Discussion

I heard a panel discussion on Radio National this morning, with Michael Kroger [Liberal party heavy weight] involved. Of course taking up the cudgel for the Liberals in a discussion re the party political leaders and how they are faring in the pre-election bun fight to win office.

Michael at every opportunity said the Labor leader and his team had no experience in running a country and therefore should not be entrusted with the opportunity to do so in the future. If he said it once he said it 10 times, at every twist and turn he would refer back to their lack of experience.

It wasn't until another member of the panel a woman [sorry can't remember her name] told him that Peter Costello [now triumphed as our greatest treasurer] didn't have any experience before he too was elected to government. Kroger jumped in with,

"No I was talking about the prime minister John Howard. He was the Treasurer in the Fraser government."
Woman replies "And not a very good one at that", so if this is the type of experience one needs, to be a, 'minister with experience', so be it.

We are definitely in for a very dirty campaign and I foresee John Howard's credibility will be tarnished by it, it already is.

Woof.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

News

Kevin Rudd our opposition leader visited a strip club, why that sort of news is news worthy I have no idea. 3 years ago to boot. I used to eat lovely meals at 3 am in Paris when I worked there back in the 1970s in strip clubs. It is just not a newsworthy event.

The money markets around the globe have gone crazy. Well I be it is a bit like hearing a guy has blown a million bucks down the casino. Who gives a fig. Here in Australia just about every news segment is proceeded by a financial update, which usually means a run down of the top stocks traded up and down. I have argued for a long time that for most of us we have no interest in stocks and shares and those that do will know in any case. It is a bit like sport who needs to know if player A hit player B and is being penalised for it. Which ever which way we get to hear this crap. And somehow we care.
Go read a blog or a book.
Woof.


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Liar Liar pants on fire

I knew this was going to be a hard few months. prior to our next general election.

Now we have holier than thou politicians proclaiming innocence when it comes to quotes of dissent and subterfuge. These men and women are potentially the most influential people in our society.

If the Treasurer speaks we are all told about what he says. A wrong word in the wrong ear can push interest rates up and put money markets in a spin. So they are skilled in the art of non speak and evasion. It is Yes Minister all the way.

If I had a 65 year old plus colleague telling me he is going to step aside and then doesn't I think I would be pissed off. Especially if you can't talk about it or canvas your intentions with out causing a political storm.

I don't blame Costello I blame Howard he should of stepped aside and made way for a new leader. In the world of politics, I would expect them to lie about there ambitions cause if you admit to every conversation you have you'd be like the rest of us and not be the treasurer.
Woof

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Health Care

Here is an article in The Age re private health funding.

Woof.


Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Mr Howard's age

About a year ago, I was wondering about the Liberal party keeping John Howard as their leader.
I thought it was a mistake to let him choose when he retires, he had apparently made a deal with Peter Costello a year before to stand aside and then he reneged on it.
Now their own polling is telling them, the electorate see John Howard as too old to be Prime minister, and that he lies.
Well would you put up as your best candidate to lead your party, and the country, and old fart who lies?
Johns response to this criticism " You collect a bit of baggage when you have been in office for a decade or more."

Can't any of them see that selling politics is like selling a brand. Many in the electorate want their prime minister to appear to be relevant, and not an embarrassment, and that is how older people are perceived when they continue to act younger than their age.

We all know he wont be prime minister for long. The Libs just want to keep him on, to try and win the un-winable election. It has already back fired. They would of been better off breaking in his successor Peter Costello.

Treasurers are usually disliked [taxes, fiscal etc] but leaders can win the electorate over. Give it away John and your supporters. Give a younger man a turn.
Woof.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

John Howard time to redress

Now that John Howard has shown he is capable and willing to act unilaterally. Read Tasmanian Hospitals. I thought I would make a list of things I would like him to address.

1] Get rid of negative gearing on investment properties. It is making home ownership prohibitive in Australia.
2] Make private equity take overs and Overseas companies pay capital gains tax, and in fact make them much more accountable for their actions. We don't want them taking our commonwealth to make a few individuals mega rich at our long term detriment.
3] If he wants to step on states rights, stop the desalination plant here in Victoria and come up with a recycling plant.
4] Remove the now 6 billion dollar health rebate for private health insurance, it is doing nothing to improve our health. It is really just putting money into private health funds. In fact sack the economist that came up with that idea.
5] Acknowledge the indigenous people of Australia and work with them to improve their lives in a positive inclusive way.

There are many more things and I will probably add them as the election gets nearer.
Woof


Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Medicare being crippled

Below is an article from The Age about our the private health subsidy that is now costing us 6 billion a year.

The likes of Tony Abbot [Health Minister] and John Howard should be in public office if they think the wants of big business and this includes health insurers, should influence health funding. Go back to practicing the law and let people with compassion for the poorer members of our society run the government. Governing is not about making surpluses and pandering to big business. It is about providing a fair go for the lower paid members of our society.

So have a read or go to the Article here.

Woof.

The $6 billion "corporate welfare" paid to subsidise private health insurance each year is putting Medicare under threat, a former top bureaucrat says.

A summit in Canberra on Monday heard that major health system reform was necessary to make sure all Australians had access to affordable health care.

Almost half of the population had missed out on health services they needed because they could not afford them, while another 15 per cent suffered financial pressure after paying for health care, figures presented at the National Health Reform Summit showed.

Centre for Policy Development chair John Menadue said government subsidies for private health insurance (PHI) were approaching $6 billion a year, including $4.8 billion for the private health insurance rebate, lost tax from the Medicare levy exemption and TV advertising.

"The trend to a two-tier health system in Australia is a serious threat," Mr Menadue, a former head of three government departments including Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam, said.

"When the government subsidises wealthy people in PHI to jump the queue, we are on the way to crippling Medicare.

"(Health Minister) Tony Abbott says that the Howard government is the best friend Medicare ever had. Words are one thing. Actions tell a different and alarming story."

Mr Menadue said the money would be better spent directly on mental, indigenous, preventative or dental health.

"Administration of the $6 billion annual subsidy to PHI should be transferred to Treasury, who would quickly recognise it for what it is - corporate welfare and not a health program," he said.

More than 40 health groups - including peak bodies for GPs, rural doctors, nurses and physiotherapists - are attending the meeting to push the government to reform the health system.

Mr Abbott was originally listed as speaking at the forum but declined to attend.

Mr Menadue said the health minister and his predecessors had been too timid to undertake a major redesign of the health system.

He said the government should set up a national independent authority to drive health reform, and call a public inquiry into the health system.

"Tony Abbott speaks of health as a 'dog's breakfast', but has made no serious effort to fix the mess," he said.

"Our health leaders lack the will for health reform because they are strongly influenced by the vested interests that abound in health."

Melbourne's Health Issues Centre CEO Centre Tony McBride told the forum that community consultations held across four states had found cost prevented 45 per cent of people accessing essential health care in the past 12 months.

Another 15 per cent had experienced financial hardship as a result of paying for care.

"Now it's not a representative sample, but even so these are very, very high figures, figures that I think would be concerning any health minister," Mr McBride told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

The private insurance subsidies meant wealthier Australians could access services such as dental care, but those who could least afford to pay for dentistry were getting nothing, he said.

Mr McBride added that many surveys showed people were willing to pay more for health care if the service was of good quality and equitable.

"So I think there are some good grounds for increasing the amount of money we give," he said.

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Steiner in our state schools

Yep there is Steiner education going on in our state school system. I have known about this for some time. Someone I knew did the course and became a Steiner teacher.
I first met them back in the 1970s and they were off with the fairies quite literally. Well they are still off and have brought their mad ideas to main stream schooling.

Rudolf Steiner had some very strange ideas, including thinking white people were more intelligent than black, and that there are fairies.

I used to see an image of a Germanic boy scout [Grown up] with hairy knobbly knees singing mad tunes and talking rubbish.

If you want to hear more about Steiner being taught in our Victorian State school system try the ABC Religion report.

Woof.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

A couple of quickies

Our Autorney General Philip says that the Tampa affair, which cause such a stink a few years back wasn't illegal and this was confirmed by the High court. May I remind the minister that Hitler made sure that all his deeds were legal. It ain't hard to make your actions legal when you are the government. It doesn't make it morally o.k.

John Howard is looking old and worn out. And now we have the biography to confirm many of our suspicions about the power behind the man. Jannette. Maybe he should stop listening to her and take a long holiday. I suspect that not only will the coalition be beaten at the next election and thus put them in the political wilderness but that John Howard may loose his seat too. I suppose that isn't too bad a thing. It saves us from having a bi-election soon after the general election.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

It's raining where is all the water going?

Melbourne is awash with rain. With all the hard surfaces, roofs,
pavements, roads etc. it all runs off into the drainage system pretty
efficiently. From there it travels to the streams and rivers, taking
it to the bay [ocean].

Once it goes into the ocean it becomes salty and undrinkable.
But not to worry in a few years time the Brack's
government will be desalinating it and pumping it back to the city.

The big draw back to this system is it will cost billions of dollars
and double the price of water. Why have the government told us this is
the best/only way to deal with our water problems?

There must be a reliable reasonably priced low tech way of saving our
own rainwater, before it goes into the bay. Creeks and rivers are
traditional sources of water for reservoirs. Surely we can utilise our
rainwater run off and avoid the horrendous expense of a desalination
plant with it's energy, environmental safe guards, and pumping requirements.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Middle East

Here is an extract of a speech given by a former top CIA officer about the wests involvement in the middle east.
He says at one point that,

"We in the West are fighting an enemy we have woefully chosen to misunderstand and to whom we are losing hands down and on every front,"

He goes on to say,

"the US and its allies continually became involved in Middle East wars because of their reliance on Arab oil supplies and had little other interest in the region."

When the Iraq war started and I marched with many others here in Melbourne, we knew that oil was at the bottom of this conflict. And now at last it is coming out from senior cabinet ministers [Australia's Defence Minister Brendan Nelson] that the oil of the middle east is all important.
Wise up this ain't no practice run we have to find alternative types of energy now and make our planet safer, cleaner, and sustainable.

Woof.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Premier Water Wallies

Here is an article by Kenneth Davidson in The Age. I couldn't of put it so well.

Premiers need to stop tilting at windmills and back effective water plans

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Recycled water, not desalination, is an answer to our shortages, writes Kenneth Davidson.

MELBURNIANS are going to pay a heavy price for their reluctance to drink recycled water. It beats me: the same people who would turn up their nose at recycled water in their home town willingly travel to London and other European cities where the water that comes out of the taps in their expensive hotel rooms includes recycled sewage.

The only reasons the Labor governments of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland have foreshadowed expenditure of some $5.3 billion on desalination plants are their irrational fear that the existing water storages will dry up completely and their belief that Toowoomba's reaction to the 2006 referendum on recycling — an overwhelming victory for those opposed, despite bipartisan support for the move — reflects the attitude of the population at large.

It is possible that existing storages could run dry if drought persists and we insist on wasting potable water. But only 20 per cent of water consumption needs to be potable: the water we use to drink, cook and wash in. The other 80 per cent — which we use in the laundry, to flush toilets, water the garden and wash the car — doesn't.

The rainfall on greater Melbourne is seven times our present wasteful consumption in an average year and three times average consumption in the drought conditions experienced recently.

If we understand both these points, it becomes clear that there isn't a shortage of water but a problem with how we use it. This flies in the face of the crazy policies being foisted on the electorate by state premiers.

By using a judicious system of taxes and subsidies, households and businesses can be persuaded to recycle grey water, supplemented by tanks to harvest rainwater. Harvesting minimises stormwater run-off, which generates most of the pollution in the Yarra and Port Phillip.

Black water from toilet flushing can be recycled for the watering of parks, street trees and sports fields through the introduction of sewer mines, built on sewer mains around the city. Production of black water can be avoided by the introduction of dry composting toilets, which are now being installed in northern Europe.

If climate change led to existing water storages drying up despite an 80 per cent cut in consumption of reticulated potable water, as per the above reforms, a desalination plant would not save Victoria. The remnant population would be in retreat past Tasmania to the poles.

It is more likely that global warming will be associated with extreme weather events, including violent storms and flooding such as that seen in Gippsland and Newcastle recently. According to Melbourne Water chief executive Rob Skinner, the desalination plant could be forced to shut down within 10 years if Melbourne's water storages fill. Is Victoria so profligate that it can write off $3.1 billion in spending on infrastructure that produces water at a cost six to seven times that from existing storages?

Then there are the environmental costs. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), the combined consumption of electricity to operate the desal plant and pump water from Wonthaggi to Melbourne will generate 946,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually if the electricity comes from brown coal. This is equivalent to putting another 240,000 cars on Melbourne's roads.

Victoria's baseload generating capacity is already up against supply constraints during peak demand, thanks to the proliferation of air-conditioners in poorly designed and insulated houses permitted by bad planning regulations.

The Bracks Government sidesteps the environmental issue, claiming the desal plant will be carbon-neutral because the Government will offset its emissions by building wind farms. According to the ACF, to balance the emissions would require an additional 150 turbines — doubling the state's existing wind farm capacity.

If Australia is to meet its share of global greenhouse gas targets by 2050 (to prevent warming of 2 degrees over pre-industrial levels and avoid the tipping point where warming becomes uncontrollable), it will have to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent. Those who think that business-as-usual growth can be sustained by carbon offsets are living in a dream world or have no concern for the future.

What is needed is a batsqueak of political courage to confront the electorate with the real choices. The Labor premiers could do worse than join Kevin Rudd, who is proposing a $500 subsidy for households to install water tanks or grey-water recycling.

It's not enough, but at least it is not taking us backwards like Steve Bracks, who has promised to overhaul Victoria's green building rules by scrapping the requirement for either tanks or solar panels in new homes.

Kenneth Davidson is a senior columnist.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Howard is misdirected

John Howards attempt at making changes to the indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. Is both misdirected and dangerous.

Misdirected because he has come to it after 10 years in power during which he has not done very much to help the aboriginal community. He stopped the reconciliation process, he has ignored the fundamental areas of concern, and now wants us all to focus on these failing areas in aboriginal life. I don't buy the idea that it is better late than never. If he had come up with a 10-20 year plan at the beginning of his term as prime minister, the problems he now describes as "Our cyclone Katrina" would of been identified and a programme of rebuilding would be in-acted.

Dangerous, because if this heavy handed approach goes wrong, which I think is quite likely. Then the matter becomes even worse. It will be very hard to garner public support for billions of dollars for a second or third wave of assistance.

Aboriginal people cannot be treated like a social experiment that can be re-adjusted by our interventions that come without consultation or consent. So the next time Mr Howard wants to divert our attentions from a popular leader of the opposition, lets hope he finds a different type of distraction, maybe drug abuse in AFL football stars???

Woof.

Post Script: Here is an article about this subject from The Age newspaper.



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Our Leaders

Just a couple of quick comments.

1] I realised the other day that the political leaders are by and large lawyers. It has depressed me no end. I don't think the legal brain is the best suited to solve the practical problems that concern us most in our world.

2] John Howard our prime minister [who is also a lawyer] has decided to send in additional police to clean up the Aboriginal settlements in the outback. I read in todays paper that even the man who produced the report that initiated this response is not happy with the prime ministers approach.

John Howard is quoted as saying,

"I believe in my heart it is absolutely right."

I think I heard him say something similar about the reason to go to war with Iraq.

Of course the cynics amongst us could see this initiative as a distraction and a bit of grandstanding by the prime minister as we head towards an election.

Woof.




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10 years in the job

John Howard has had 10 in the job as Prime Minister and in the closing months of as prime minister he decides he needs to take the bull whip out to Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.
Here is an article in The Age newspaper throwing some light on this blatant political stunt. He has used race and fear before, here he goes again.

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Desalination continued

An article in The Age 'Pass on the Salt'

When you read the article you will see we are going to pay on average $1000 per annum for water, going from the cheapest in Australia to the most expensive. And this is to pay for just one desalination plant that will only supply a fraction of Victoria's water needs. Using Brown Coal, to power it. [Off set by wind turbines].
The article also mentions that a $1 billion plan to reuse rain run off has been shelved because it is too long term, whatever that means.
What a joke these so called experts are.
Woof.
P.S. The politicians wont have a problem paying their water bills, the federal pollies are getting another 6-7% pay rise a year after the last.
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Desalination not the solution

From the BBC an article referring to a report from WWF. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6767533.stm Desalination 'not the solution'

r Turning salt water into drinking water is not a solution to tackle global water scarcity, the WWF has said. A report by the environmental group said a growth in the energy intensive technology would increase emissions and damage coastal and river habitats. More attention should instead be paid to conserving supplies, it suggested. The study was published as Australia announced plans to build one of the world's biggest desalination plants to supply drinking water to Melbourne. "Desalinating the sea is an expensive, energy intensive and greenhouse gas emitting way to get water," said Jamie Pittock, director of WWF's global freshwater programme. "It may have a place in the world's future freshwater supplies but regions still have cheaper, better and complementary ways to supply water that are less risky to the environment." The report called for greater emphasis on managing existing supplies before the go-ahead was given to major water projects. It added that new desalination plants, which were primarily located in coastal areas, should also be subject to tighter impact assessments to minimise damage to the marine environment. Advances in technology meant that it was also possible to develop alternative "manufactured water" systems, such as treating waste water, the authors wrote. Securing supplies Desalination plants already play a major role in providing water for drinking and irrigation in areas such as the Middle East, where freshwater supplies are scarce. But many other nations, including the US, China and Spain are turning to the technology to meet growing demands. "Water supply, on a global basis, is a problem," commented Richard Bowen, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. "Desalination is set to become more important because the demand for water is going to increase, and a large percentage of the world's population is situated in coastal areas." Professor Bowen, from the University of Wales' School of Engineering, Swansea, said the environmental impact of desalination was well understood by the industry. "The basic problem is that by taking sea water and producing fresh water, you are going to get a stream of fresh water, which is what you want, but you also produce a concentrated salt stream," he explained. "You have to be very careful what you do with that concentrated stream and where you put it back into the environment. "There have been quite careful studies into the effects of this, so it is a consideration in the development of a new plant." The government in the Australian state of Victoria on Tuesday announced plans to build one of the world's biggest desalination plants near Melbourne. The project, which is expected to be completed by 2011, is part of a scheme to "drought-proof" water supplies to the nation's second largest city. Southern Australia has been in the grips of a six-year drought, the worst on record. The WWF report acknowledges that the technology had a "limited place in water supply", but each project should be assessed on a case-by-case basis, it argued. It recommended: "Desalination plants... should only be constructed where they are found to meet a genuine need to increase water supply and are the best and least damaging method."

So There you go. I am not alone in my concerns.
We will need to see a lot more information on this proposed
Desalination plant.
Woof.

Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Desalination Plant

Here in Victoria our Premier has just announced a Desalination plant to provide 150 billion litres of water per year, at a cost of $3.1 billion. This in turn is going to double the price of water to the consumer over the next five years.
I thought desalination plants were a complete no no. Environmentally unfriendly, big CO2 producer. It must be the most expensive way of making clean water. In Saudi Arabia they can afford to get their water this way, but here where many users are on low incomes I don't think it will be fair to ask everyone to pay twice as much for their water.
I hope we can see an comprehensive plan for this project. It's not good enough for the Premier to say. "I'm confident we have the right plan for the future," we all need to see what outcomes we can expect from a large desalination plant.
Have they considered collecting rain run off, or recycled water plants?
And when we have above average rain fall again, [like the floods in NSW at the moment] and we are awash with water again. How will the people of Victoria react to higher water prices and cost over runs. As our experts tell us it is the best plan. Just dig deeper in your pockets to pay for it.

Woof.



Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Dalai Lama

Yep the Dalai Lama is over here, not his first trip, he is relatively well known here and well liked. Over the years he has probably been a bit of an embarrassment to the government, because he hasn't always had nice things to say about China, one of our biggest trading partners.

We all know that human rights in China since the 1950s hasn't always been good. He has told it how he sees it and the people of Tibet have been hurt by the occupation of their country by the Chinese.

The fall out from this is our politicians don't necessarily agree with his views [in regard to china]. Especially in an election year when, leaders on both sides of the political spectrum could be in power in the near future.
The current foreign minister is Alexander Downer. He has come out and attacked the leader of the opposition for playing politics with seeing the Dalai Lama, calling it a political stunt. A direct quote from the Downer states that,

"I think it just is a reflection of the fact that Mr Rudd just plays politics the whole time."

And then goes on to deny that the Prime Minister has played politics at all on this issue.
Now let me get this right; They are all politicians, that is the name of the game. If I went to see a doctor of medicine and he stopped being a doctor while he performed his examination, I would not be too happy.

"A round of tiddly winks on your belly while I listen to your heart beat". I don't think so.

So of course he is playing politics, maybe that is why Downer [a failed party leader] just isn't up to the job. On issues like trade and foreign affairs it has always been and always will be a matter of diplomacy which is the language of politics. If you don't get that much you oughtn't be a politician.
Woof.


Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

The John Howard years

I have just read David Marr's piece in The Age on the John Howard's years. He starts the article with this paragraph.
The Howard Government has been the most unscrupulous corrupter of public debate since the Cold War was at its height. Our passivity and trust have let this happen.

It is compulsive reading for anyone who believes in free speech.

Here is David Marr's piece.


Woof


Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

Banks and Postings

At last the Macquarie bank is being publicly questioned about it's methods. I have said for a long time it is ethically not a good look. Now the man who told the world about Enron has come out publicly and questioned Macquarie. Last night on the Telly here, 4 Corners [documentary show] looked at their take over of Thames water in the U.k. and their attempted take over of Qantas. I think it is a case of greed and very clever corporate lawyers. It is disgraceful that our government gave the go ahead for the failed Qantas bid. They are either blind or worse to the realities of Macquarie.

The state government is being asked to lay more train tracks. They were asked to do that 30 years ago. Now they have sold off the railway network they will have a much harder job to achieve this. I don't think the modern day economists have thought through their economic modeling very well.

The future fund set up from the funds raised from the 50% sale of Telstra and made really to pay the super annuation of retired public servants. [a dishonest joke] is now being questioned as to it's mandate being appropriate in a world of carbon trading and climate change.

We are certainly entering a new world on so many fronts. I reckon that soon it wont just be a carbon tax on airline tickets, it will be a case of show a need to travel by air and it will have to be legit for x number of flights per year. Has anyone considered alternative fuel to av gas for aeroplanes. Electric, Nuclear, Solar?????

A program on the idiot box the other day dealt with Crude Oil and was frightening in it's assessment of how long we have left for oil, and just how much we use of it every day. No wonder the Americans are fighting over in Iraq.

Woof.


Any additional comments can be sent to mark_brickel@hotmail.com

John Howard

Below is a statement showing that interest rates under John Howard when he was the federal treasurer were at 21%. The foreign debt we now have is at record levels. The now Treasurer has played the short term money market over the last ten years and by and large lost. They have sewn up billions of our money derived from asset sales and over taxation in the form future fund which is already looking like a white elephant. They have manipulated the Australian public for 10 years making fools of thinking fair minded people. And they still think they should be reelected, on what grounds? That they are better financial managers. I don't think so. They have been incredibly lucky with world growth and low interest rates. But still they felt a need to over tax and abuse the luxury it gave them. I would like to see John Howard go to The Hague and be tried for war crimes along side Blair and Bush. Based on the fact they have waged an illegal war in Iraq. Lets call an election now so we can be rid of these politicians. Woof JOHN HOWARD is continually and deliberately
deceiving the Australian people by chanting that
‘interest rates will always be lower under a
Coalition Government’ when he knows the
opposite is the case.
The Reserve Bank of Australia's historical
interest rate data shows that the highest 90 day
bank bill interest rate of 21.39% occurred in April
1982 during the Fraser Government’s last term in
office and when John Howard was Treasurer of
Australia.
John Howard’s record 21.39% interest rate level
was not fully reflected in home loan rates because
in those days there was an upper limit of 13.5% on
home mortgage rates