Fracking in the South East

Hello and welcome to the blog...and I can only apologise for the flat-line, white noise predictability of my content, that has slowly become (to my mind) devoid of humour or inspiration...but I do not apologise for reaching a personal saturation point exacerbated by the undeniable reality that after 9 months of discussing the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, still it goes on...

Still the Australian Broadcasting Corporation treat me like the problem, and Premier Jay Weatherill continues to lie and deny or at the very least try...and I'm still waiting for my recent letters to even be acknowledged, let alone the issues therein addressed and resolved...shrek me...

Quick Digression: I combined two of my great loves by 1) going on talkback radio (with the ABCs Peter Goers last evening) to discuss 2) my second fav movie, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, which has the 'bad guy aliens' escaping the Eighth Dimension during a 'dimensional accident' at Grovers Mill, New Jersey on October 30th 1938...which is of course when Orson Welles did his famous 'War of the Worlds' radio play broadcast...

In TABBAED, the aliens brainwashed Orson into saying the news reports were a play, and they had spent the subsequent 40+ years building a new escape ship at YoYoDine Propulsion Systems...and the 'good guy aliens' are Rastafarians...hilarious...PS, today is the 75th anniversary of that original WOTW broadcast and I just rang to mention Buckaroo 'off-air', but the producer politely insisted that I go on, even after I identified myself as 'Nick from Mt Gambier', and there was no politics involved, so I said sure...End Digression. 

And I know that the Education Department's reading the blog and they've got the time and motivation to have my initial post about Head of Schools Gary Costello...(now retiring Chief Education Officer-Ed)...pulled down, but can't touch the revised 're-post'...and every member of the highly corrupted Teachers Registration Board hearing (previous posts) that exonerated teacher Glyn Dorling were Education Dept employees and/or Teachers Union members...

I'll say it again...what is wrong with us as a society, as a shrekin' species, that the St Martins Abuses occurred at all, let alone that as a community we have allowed it to happen and go unpunished and unaddressed...what sort of community is Mt Gambier that our glorious Civic Leaders know about the abuse of a class of 7 year olds, but rather than hold the Lutherans to account for it, they either turn away or turn on me and the other parents.

What sort of human being is former MP Rory McEwen that he would betray us and our children with a view to profit from that betrayal?...and the Weatherill government's commitment to the St Martins Cover-up is absolute and undeniable...and I post and post and post and write polite letters and try and get on the radio, etc, etc, etc, and absolutely shrekin' nothing...and still I'm the problem...but I digress...

Confusing: that reports that the New Ambulance Station works had been stalled indefinitely, as I also commented on in a recent post, have been followed by a surge of activity on the site, that has now become a 5 foot deep hole and several large piles of earth...I take it all back, whatever it was I said, because I have no idea what's going on there...
  
Also, I recently questioned the lack of response to plans for 'Unconventional Gas Exploration' in the Penola area...(UGE being a polite, some might say devious, way of saying 'Coal Seam Gas Fracking'-Ed)...quite...and I note that there was a page of articles in The Border Watch Friday 25th October 2013 about the recent meeting at Penola and meetings scheduled tonight, and next month, here in Mt Gambier.

And I'm happily at least a bit wrong because it appears that at least some people, eg, Community Action for Sustainability, are concerned enough about this issue to convene these meetings...the Penola meeting was organised by CSA to address concerns stemming from Beach Energy's presentation earlier in the month...and I note that Beach Energy had a big write-up in The Advertiser newspaper today that mentioned 'Fracking'...but not one mention of Penola...

Cynicism Alert: this 'Penola' omission may well just be completely innocuous, but it doesn't sit well with me as possibly another example of the sort of 'Regional Deceits' that The Advertiser is notorious for, eg, their woeful coverage...(bordering on non-coverage-Ed)...indeed...of the Forestry Sale protests, processes, and economic fall-out for the South East and SA in general...

Ask yourself, how Adelaide readers, clearly being encouraged by this article to think that Beach Energy are great, might react if it were explained to them properly that this company was 'Fracking in the Coonawarra'...and all the potential problems associated with that...or would it still fall on deaf ears concerned only with their own immediate wants and needs?...(fair question that is itself a statement...it asks as well as tells...nice-Ed)...   

At the risk of sounding like a complete dick, I don't need to go to any meetings to make up my mind about and/or be informed as to the potential problems with 'Fracking'...for years this issue has been covered extensively across many forums, eg, ABC TV Landline program...and it's fairly straight forward...if you pump large quantities of mostly un-tested chemicals into the ground, there's going to be contamination and pollution...particularly of ground water...

Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and Regional Development Minister Gail Gago is quoted (TBW) as saying that everything is just super, and sure there's been some problems elsewhere but hopefully we can utilise that knowledge to avoid those issues...bollocks...the problems stem from pumping toxic chemicals into the ground in an 'open process', and that's what 'Fracking' is...you can't 'Frack' without causing contamination..

These meetings are great, but I'm still sceptical that this will change anything...Premier Jay Weatherill has stated that this 'gas resource' must be exploited to finance his ludicrous 'Future Fund', and Minister Tom Koutsontonis recently flagged the removal of "Green Tape" restrictions on development, and mining in particular.

As in previous post, "cutting Green Tape" means shelving, axing, withdrawing, marginalising, whatevs...the very limited environmental restrictions on developments that currently apply...'open slather' is not an alarmist summation of the exciting new age promised by Labor in South Australia...  

During recent testing in the South East there was a noticeable drop in the aquifer, but it can be argued that this could be a natural result of drought, or someone drawing more water than they're supposed to, etc, because there's no proper base line testing and a basic lack of knowledge/information about how this drop might relate to 'exploration testing'...but it doesn't look great...

Any appropriate pre-testing would take a long time, and there are no guarantees that even if testing is done, that these assessments would be adhered to by industry. 

Credit Where Credit's Due: the ABC interview this morning covered many issues re 'Fracking', and the guest (?sorry) was asked, 'have you been employed by mining companies'...no...'if you were, would they take heed or just proceed'...and the answer - the reality is that government supports industry to the detriment of the environment and almost always give approval...which is the current attitude even before "cutting Green Tape".

Ultimately the best advice...(and sage advice it is-Ed)...that the guest could offer, was to keep your own records about bore levels, water quality, etc, whatever you can reasonably test and record, and keep that information for your own use...and I'll say it, for potential compensation claims when your water is fouled and your air thick with Methane, etc...and in closing...

Romp Compo Stomped: I concur that it is a commonsense decision (High Court I think?) that a public servant will not get compensation for an injury sustained during sex on a 'work trip'...apparently she or her partner pulled the light fitting off the wall and it hit her in the head, causing minor injuries to her eye and nose...(has anyone done a 'blow on the face during sex' joke-Ed)...probably...I'd be surprised if they haven't...

Absolutely workers should receive adequate and appropriate cover whilst in the service of an employer, and fair enough if the fitting was faulty and just fell off and hit her...but that clearly shouldn't cover 'recreational activities', including rooting your hotel room into a pile of rubble...(how about...not paid to be 'on the job' whilst on the job?...no?-Ed)...

Tomorrow: Bread and Butter Issues

The Warnambool bunfight and bumper cereal crops...massive income potential but does that make it right?

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...thanking you for your patience and patronage...laters...