Politics

Tasmanian politics......scary. Here are some of the reason why I sometimes get a little worried about the future of the State. Yes, I stole this from one of the local rags in Tassie, but it does prove that I am not alone in my concerns. Reminds me a little of Papua New Guinea......

The top six reasons to be a concerned tax payer in Tasmania:

Police Commissioner Jack Johnston voluntarily stood down pending an inquiry into whether he improperly disclosed official secrets linked to a police investigation.

Former deputy premier Bryan Green being charged with the crime of attempting to interfere with an executive officer of the Crown in October 2006. The charge related to an agreement the then infrastructure minister signed with John White, head of the builder accreditation firm Tasmanian Compliance Corporation.


The decision to abort the Resource Planning and Development Commission assessment process for the planned Gunns pulp mill in favour of fast-tracking legislation through parliament.


Steve Kons becoming the second deputy premier to quit in as many years when he admitted lying to parliament in March this year.


Premier Paul Lennon resigning unexpectedly in May after four years in charge of the state, forcing another Cabinet reshuffle and the promotion of Mr Bartlett.


The Government facing possible legal action from a former ministerial driver who had an affair with Economic Development and Tourism Minister Paula Wriedt.

Conspicuous Silence.....

A bit concerned that there is a significant and foreboding silence about the Pulp Mill of late. There is a rally on the 23rd August 2008 at City park which I will be attending which should be interesting. My sources keep saying that they are just in the dark as everyone else and that they are just waiting in limbo (these are people who have significant money tied up in the contracts). I know the State are a bit pissed about being left in the lurch (Bartlett not being told about Scottsdale despite meeting with John Gay two days before the announcement of the redundancies left a bit of a sour taste I would beleive). I know if a contracting company that have sign lengthly leases for interstate and international contributors to the Mill that are also in limbo and slightly concerned that this is dragging on.

So much for the "absolutely must start construction September 2007" and rushing through Parliment to bypass the RPDC. Costing a million a day if construction not started then was my recollection of the statement made....must coming close to 365 million in the red by now (at least). Couldn't be the best senario for shareholders surely.

Can anyone else see the irony of bulldozing a local soccor field to build a head office and placing plastic cows on the grass......aka - Gunns head office in Tasmania.

Perhaps Gunns are just holding off the announcement that the Pulp Mill is scrapped until Spring so that the those having parties celebrating can be held in some warmth!!!!

Ting Tang.......

Well he came down to earth and he lit in a treeI said Mr. Purple People Eater, don't eat meI heard him say in a voice so gruffI wouldn't eat you cuz you're so tough.

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eaterOne-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eaterOne-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eaterSure looks strange to me (One horn?)

.......My partner recently performed in the musical SHOUT! and one of the songs was Purple People Eater. I cannot get this BLOODY song out of my head....someone please shoot me.

Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day.....

.......No Dull Days here my Pink Floydian devotees.

Oh, to only be frittering away the hours in front of a fire with a good book, or nibbling some cheese next a glass of Pinot, to watch a good movie that I have never seen before (becoming an extremely rare event!). Perhaps a week away at a beach house or a couple of days in a mountian hut with just my lady and a guitar.

Just not enough hours in the day, days in the week etc etc. Wake up, get school lunches ready, check back up tapes, email, daily news, update business blog, dress kids, take to school, day care, check what in stock for meals, plan dinner, go to work, work butt off for eight hours, pick up kids, cook dinner, bath kids, check clothes ready for next day, washing, see lady off to rehersals, update bsuienss blog, check emails, plan weekend visit from inlaws, prepare for move to new office, arrange babysitter for performance night, check ebay auction, pay for ebay purchases, check Real Estate Agent (because nobody bloody rings us!!!!), see what is happening with the Empire (Gunns and the Pulp Mill saga), go for a hour walk (weight is comming down...that is working!!), make sure there is power money in the meter.....etc etc.

No different to anyone else I guess, but felt like a vent!!!!

Cheers y'all.

Scared.....

......you should be.

Seen the petrol pump lately. Had a look at what is made from petroleum products lately (is that a plastic mouse in your hand?). Ever wondered how those groceries got to the supermarket. How do the scientists get to the lab to study alternative fuels.

Iran. Israel. United States of America. Russia. Saudia Arabia. Share....what do you think.

Biofuel........sure, what is Africa going to eat?

Surely someone is working on something else and working hard. Please let us know that something is happening out there as quite a few people are taking this all for granted.

Comments anyone?

Ummmmm

I have logged in a few times of late and find myself trying to come up with something to write and end up deleting what I have written due to it not sitting right with me......not this time, I am just going to write a bit of stuff, whatever pops into the head and see where it ends and then click post without reading it....why not hey?

Cluster bombs, good news is that most of the world have signed a treaty banning them, bad news is that USA, Isreal, Russia and a few other wantabe world leaders find themselves above such treaties and have refused to sign. Getting very disappointed in world affairs.

Lennon, our now ex Premier. Not quite sure what to say here as the rammifications are still to be seen. On the outside it seems that a new leadership may be the thing needed for Tasmania, and fromt he last week Bartlett (the successor) seems to be sayign the right things....quite inpressed with his stand on protecting farm lands against plantations. High hopes I have for Mr Bartlett and his team and I blow out the candles and wish for the smart and caring state that he is promoting as his soap box...time will tell.

Real Estate Agents...........We have a new one that seems to be doing ok........so they tell us.

One of our friends have split from each other. It is a shame as they were a great couple and we were just getting to know them. They have a daughter the same age as my son. They seemed so tight these guys and although eccentric (a quality that I admire) they seemed like they had it together. New job, new study direction, new house.....all normal signs of a healthy go ahead relationship and future....then out of the blue we hear that they have split up. If you guys are reading this and you know who you are, don't become strangers, drop in and say hi whenever, however, whyever...no reason required!

Ebay. I have been a bit of a e bay addict of late. A buyer, not a seller. I have been looking for an orrery and settling for some old documents that I would liek to get framed. I sit and watch these items for three or four days and put a bid on them early and get excited that no one else has discovered these treasures and then in the last 20 seconds (I am not joking for those that do not know the ebay thing) the price seems to go up until I lose the item....sometime the price goes up hundreds of dollars in the last ten seconds! I am a e bay loser.

Tasmanian pinot is good. I had the good fortune to attend a function a little while ago that have around 60 pinots for taste. I managed to taste all of the wines and then go back to the best to ensure I made my decision correctly (you had to enter a judgement at the end). Besides from being quite pished, I managed to pick the top two wines (not in the correct order though) that wont the day. The Sunday was a bit of a right off, but well worth the experience to taste some great wines.

Brrrrrr - winter is kicking in. The house we are living in is quite cold. It can be warm, but with electricity going up some 17% (!!!!!!) the cots to keep warm is get quite high. It is a worry when you have to pay so much to keep warm. We are lucky that we are doing well with our income stream, I feel for those that are not as it must be a real struggle to survive today.

In keeping with the aformentioned theme, I reached a new record in filling the car with petrol the other day....one hundred and twleve dollars (A$112.00). For one tank of fuel. This of course was for the premium fuel that we use because our car calls for it but also it helps reduce the emmissions (higher octane...best we can do until someone can mass produce hydrogen engines). Definately a culture change comming up. No longer can a family just go away for the weekend without considering the very high fuel portion of the equasion. Looking forward to that magnetic or hydrogen invention that will be good for everyone and not be reserved for the movie stars. I still think that the magnetic field has something there for us........

Well off for my run now. Sorry for the ramblings.......

Later.

Some good GM discussion from ABC Country Hour

Tasmanian Country Hour
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
GM Technology Forum - the farmers' perspective
Report: Cameron Wilson
The Tasmanian Farmers' and Graziers' Association supports the removal of a blanket ban on GM technology.It says crops should be assessed on a case by case basis.Ian Whyte is senior officer in charge of policy with TFGA and he says the forums are impartial"Our objective very much in this series of forums is to have more information on the table.""This is a deliberate exercise to that end.""While by and large the speakers did express the benefits of GM they weren't the only things, they also expressed disbenefits and the problems of communication that lie at the heart of all this."

In this report: Ian Whyte, senior officer in charge of policy,
GM Technology Forum - the ethics of GM technology
Report: Cameron Wilson
What are some of the biggest ethical questions when it comes to GM technology?Dr Lucy Carter is a research consultant with he University of Queensland and she specialises in questions of ethics. She says the benefits outweigh the risks of GM technology as long as the risks are looked at on a case by case status."The first one probably would be health concerns and the implications of eating or consuming GM crops. That is a labelling issue primarily. As far as I know there are no health concerns, there is no data to show it is harmful in anyway to consume GM crops.With respect to labelling people feel they ought to be given the choice to purchase GM food... and here in Australia we have mandatory labelling laws to ensure that genetically modified food ingredients are labelled as such.

In this report: Dr Lucy Carter, research consultant, University of QueenslandListen: GM Technology Forum - what the scientist says
Report: Cameron Wilson
The Tasmanian state government is reviewing its GM policy to determine whether it should maintain the existing moritorium on GM crops.Alan Richardson from the CSIRO, is a principle research scientist involved in GM research, explains what is happening in Australia."At the moment in Australia we have three GM commercial crops, the first of those is a carnation produced by a bio-tech firm in Victoria and that's for flower colour and long vase life. The second one is GM cotton which is largely being produced by CSIRO and that GM cotton has inbuilt insect resistance."He says that particular cotton strain was introduced into Australia in 1996 and now accounts for 90per cent of all cotton grown. He says the strain has resulted in an 80per cent reduction in the need to use pesticides. "Canola has caused a little bit of controversy... State governments have seen a need, because it is a food crop, of imposing moratoriums and those moratoriums have been lifted in Victoria and New South Wales.""In the next generation of GM crops we do have traits that will be of more significant benefit to the consumer. And I can give you one example. At the CSIRO we are developing oil seed crops like canola that have inbuilt production of Omega 3's. Omega 3's have tremendous health benefits, there's widespread community acceptance of omega 3's and to produce them in plants will be a tremendous technology and breakthrough that his very large benefits to the consumer."Mr Richardson says there are some risks involved in GM technology. "The important thing is that we identify the risks and where are risks are identified we appropriately manage those risks. And GM technology, like all technology... does come with some risks but as long as we identify those risks and appropriately manage those risks then they do offer tremendous opportunities to go forward for the future."He says risks to human health is not a major issue because Australia has a very safe food supply.

In this report: Alan Richardson, senior principle research scientist, ABARE faces inaccuracy and GM bias accusations
Report: Jane Bardon
The Federal Government's agricultural forecaster has answered criticisms of inaccuracy and bias by saying it sometimes can't tally its modelling with the real world.The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics has been accused of misleading over oil supplies and genetically modified crops.A series of unequivocally pro-GM crop reports from ABARE has raised eyebrows among opponents.Now ABARE has admitted to a Senate committee that some of its reports are based on research peer-reviewed by other scientists, and models which can't factor in real world scenarios.Greens Senator Rachel Siewert questioned ABARE head Phillip Glyde about the latest, which said regional Australia will lose money if it doesn't adopt GM crops.She said when factors like climate change, market resistance, segregation costs and weed problems hadn't been considered, conclusions were likely to be wrong.Mr Glyde replied: "What you are talking about in terms of describing the real world is often not amenable to the modelling. You can't often factor in the real precision of the real world, so what we do is describe an illustrative scenario. We make abundantly clear in the document where the assumptions are."ABARE analyst Dr Jammie Penm denied assumptions that GM crops will increase yields were based on any field trials run by GM crop companies.But they weren't run in Australia."Quite a large number of the reports are published... are internally renowned professional journals. Naturally I can not give a guarantee that they are all 100% unbiased."Nationals Senator Fiona Nash asked ABARE's Phillip Glyde whether anyone in export markets had actually been asked about attitudes to buying GM crops from Australia.He replied: "I'm pretty sure we have had no discussions with the export market. What we are talking about here is a desktop study."That didn't satisfy Senator Nash:"You need to take on board that you need to be much clearer about the fact that you are using desktop studies, modelling, that you are using a whole range of assumptions, when what you have in print, clearly has a leaning towards that we will be worse off if we don't use GM canola. That is the impression that it gives."ABARE was also accused of grossly underestimating looming oil shortages.Phillip Glyde said there are many factors behind the rising oil price.Greens Senator Christine Milne wasn't impressed."Rural and regional Australia depends on your forecasts for all sorts of reasons, and you've got it fundamentally wrong. That's why people are now feeling really angry now about this because they can't make the changes fast enough to relieve themselves of high prices because we're not ready for it, now don't you accept some responsibility for that?"Philip Glyde replied: "I don't accept the responsibility for laying out the assumptions behind our forecast, doing the best possible job we could in ascertaining the information and the data behind those and putting it forward."I am also very pleased to hear that all of rural and regional Australia is hanging off the forecasts of ABARE."Perhaps less so, in future.
In this report: Phillip Glyde ABARE executive director; Christine Milne Greens Senator; Rachel Siewert Greens Senator; Fiona Nash Nationals Senator; Dr Jammie Penm ABARE analystListen:

Greenpeace recruits famous chefs
Report: Will Ockenden
New South Wales' and Victorian farmers are sowing the first commercial genetically modified crops. But this hasn't stopped Greenpeace. Its latest campaign against GM foods will use famous chefs to influence consumers.The chefs will sign a GM-free charter, agreeing not to use GM products in their restaurants. Neil Perry, head chef at one of Sydney's most exclusive restaurants, said he supports the campaign because Australia is viewed internationally as a "green" producer."I travel a lot around Australia and the world, and one of the things that comes through about people's perceptions about Australia is that it's a green experience. I just think losing something that you're able to pin to yourself as a good catch cry to make some noise about, seems to me to be losing something."Mr Perry said he doesn't use canola oil in any of his ingredients anyway, but hopes the government will amend labelling laws so consumers can choose what they're eating.Greenpeace was asked for an interview, but said they don't want to comment until the campaign's launch on Thursday.
In this report: Neil Perry, Rockpool Restaurant in Sydney