Hello and welcome to the blog...and to our friends in the USofA, France, Syria, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, etc...no need to worry anymore because Australia's unelected Foreign Minister Bob 'Uncle Bobo' Carr is on the way...and he's bound to have just the right Classics reference to sort everything out...and failing that he can just do late night impromptu 'stand over' press conferences like he did with Indonesia's Foreign Minister Mr Natalegawa.
We (Australia) are about to take up the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council...(next week I believe-Ed)...well believed Ed because that is correct, and Uncle Bobo has rushed over there to offer his profound wisdom on how the world should be run...of course he doesn't need to worry about our quaint little local Federal election because he's 'safe' within the Labor party structure...
Remember that Uncle Bobo was not duly elected but appointed by Julia Gillard and Co from outside parliament utilising their Senate vote distributions in New South Wales...and can you imagine Hezbollah or Hamas or Syria's President Assad or any of these people giving a damn what he or anybody else from Australia has to say about their politics...to all of these peoples we are an ally of America and our 'opinion' is Americas' opinion...(even we know that-Ed)...well, yes we do...that's why we just wrote it...
Not a word of a lie, I was given to a wry smile when, after posting yesterday my official complaint to the Ombudsman re Mt Gambier City Council, I read that there are to be tough new laws re Councils and their behaviour and that this will fall under the auspices of the Ombudsman.
It is a complete coincidence that I lodged my complaint on the same day
that the alleged Independent Commission Against Corruption commenced,
and that these new Code of Conduct provisions are announced...honest...
To quote The Advertiser newspaper Monday 2nd September 2013;
"It will replace dozens of different codes of conduct used by Councils across the state and
allows the elevation of serious misconduct claims and unresolved internal disputes to the
Ombudsman...(and) sets out behavioural standards for Councillors, including that they act
with "honesty" and "generate community trust" in local government."
This follows on from the recent announcement of, and calls for submissions to, an Inquiry into Development legislation and Conflict of Interests within Planning law and bureaucracies, eg, local Councils....(I'll check those details and post Tomorrow).
Can't help wondering how either of these affects (or even produces any action on) the Rann/Weatherill Labor government's wholly self-focused awarding of the Adelaide Oval Redevelopment contract to Baulderstones...(following of course the wholly Adelaide focused sale of the South East Forestry Estate to pay for the bloody oval-Ed)...well, quite...
The Auditor General Simon O'Neil has made several very specific criticisms of the contract process about circumventing of appropriate scrutiny criteria and the acceptance of Baulderstones' 'cheapest, quickest' Tender apparently without consideration of other Tenders..and the apparent obvious motivation that is being cited is the March 2014 state election where the 'newly completed' Oval will be relentlessly spruiked as a positive achievement of the Labor government...(go on-Ed)...ta'...bollocks...
But I digress...the burning issues...(ooo, is this about your rash?-Ed)...oh hilarious, and no readers I do not have a rash...although I have been accused of behaving in said manner...(whaaa?-Ed)...rashly...
Bio-Energy: I am not in anyway an expert on Forestry or Energy Production, but I've got a fair idea where we're headed with the focus on a proposed Bio-Energy facility at Tarpeena or thereabouts...paying what's left of the local milling industry for their waste products, to then burn that waste for electricity.
The term Bio-Energy is exactly the same sort of pseudo-scientific linguistic manipulation of the truth as seen with Wind Turbine Industrial Estates being described as 'Farms'...throw 'Bio' into the name and it becomes all organic and earthy...(not unlike bullshit-Ed)...nice...
And I would suggest that this 'income stream' for those who now control the log supply will drive the decision process in support of the Bio-Energy option, rather than it being arrived at as the most efficient method of generation.
I also suggest, again, that City Council's decision to purchase a $300,000+ 'Bio-mass Furnace' to heat the part-time city pool is entirely about whom that sawdust fuel will be purchased from, and not a decision based on efficacy or efficiency or environment.
And also again, we as a region are headed toward an economy of minimal timber-based manufacturing and rather the wholesale exporting of logs via Portland...and then paying for the residue and waste to be burned to produce electricity.
All due respect to those whom locally support Green aspirations and/or the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, but I completely reject assertions that funding for the proposed massive Bio-Energy project at Tarpeena by the CEFC is in anyway a good thing...
The CEFC is a perpetual rort set up by Federal Labor to 1) garner the Greens support Labor needed to govern, and 2) direct taxpayers money into uneconomic projects that the market won't support, and 3) force Labor/Green objectives onto the impending Liberal government by furiously signing contracts now.
Bushfires: Nobody in Regional SA needs to be told of the potential problems coming out of a wonderfully wet Winter, via a warm Spring, into a long, hot Summer...these are all the conditions for promoting extensive growth which then becomes fuel load for bushfires.
City Council is to be congratulated for their actions in recognising the bushfire threat potential around and therefore to Mt Gambier, an issue that was brought into sharp focus with the Canberra fires a decade ago where fires took hold in adjacent farmland and/or Forest Estates before surging into Canberra suburbs and destroying many homes and taking several lives...
(Hang on...did you just congratulate Council for something?-Ed)...yeah...(but don't you hate them and just gouge and abuse?-Ed)...I dislike several of them, yes, and where appropriate, yes, indeed I do gouge and abuse, but I am always trying to be balanced and appropriate...(fair enough-Ed)...
But I am disappointed...(ah, that's better-Ed)...that they seem to have 'minimised' the one most likely area for a large fire to enter the suburbs, namely out here on the North East corner of Mt Gambier...(in Crappoville I believe it's called-Ed)...well yes, if you're a gutless, anonymous, 'Comment' writing stuffpig...
Prevailing weather conditions on the worst days, Catastrophic category days, usually mean strong winds from the North East coming down off the inland deserts...that makes the NE corner arguably the most critical point fire wise for Mt Gambier...and given this land is still largely in the Grant District Council area is also their responsibility...
Today's The Border Watch Tuesday 3rd September 2013, lists the areas that Council have identified all around Mt Gambier but doesn't seem to cover the NE corner specifically, only identifying nearby Attamurra Rd and Conroe Heights as being an issue.
All efforts must be made to liaise and negotiate to reduce the fuel load all around Mt Gambier...and I'd suggest that all concerned must look at the massive fuel load developing within the 'Crater Lakes Precinct' and address that as another immediate priority...there's a lot of cut timber lying around up there...
Here's to a long, cool, boring Summer...and support your local Country Fire Service Unit.
Tomorrow: Panning The Planned Planning Plan
Also, following the advice of Family First's Rob Brokenshire...(on the ABC Local Radio this morning) I encourage everyone to go onto the SA Health website to contest the proposed changes to PATS (the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme) that simply reduce the number of people who can even apply for the already grossly under-funded scheme, eg, 16c per kilometer, $30 per night, etc...refund rates that were set nearly 2 decades ago.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
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