From the Front line

Cairns veteran protester and Peace by Peace activist Bryan Law, is on a family holiday. He took his partner Margaret and son Joesph on a journey southward.

However, deciding to camp alongside 17,000 military troops from the USA and Australia, armed and running around the coastline of Rockhamption and Yapoon for three weeks, wouldn't be everyone's idea of a picnic. This is no ordinary family when it comes to communicating the unjust and the wrongs they see about our society.

Bryan writes from the front line.




Hi to all CairnsBlog bloggers!

I finally got time to write a piece on how things are going at Shoalwater Bay, and how we’re going in preparing for our interventionary nonviolent actions starting next week. Plus I’ll send some photos.

It’s day 10 of the journey, and today we saw our first arrests. Ciaron O’Reilly and Jim Dowling blocked Rasberry Creek Road, 50 kilometres north of Rockhampton, near the Bruce Highway. For a little over an hour we stopped military traffic, including five semi-trailers loaded with jeeps and trucks that belonged to the US Marines. We also stopped seven or eight smaller 4WD vehicles with Australian and US military personnel.

Rasberry Creek Road runs for about 20 kilometres to the “Green Gate” of the Shoalwater Bay military exercise area, and is know in military parlance as the “Green Route”. The “Green Route” is the most heavily used access road to Shoalwater Bay, but there is also a Brown, Yellow, and Blue route. We’ll address each in turn.

Eventually some 15 Queensland Police officers, including an Inspector or two, directed us to leave the roadway, and arrested Ciaron and Jim – both in their early fifties, and both Catholic Workers for the past 30 years or so. They were transported back to Rockhampton, charged, and put in front of a Magistrate during a special sitting of the Court at Midday.

They refused bail, and were remanded in custody until 12 August. Ciaron and Jim strongly believe in what they call “prison witness”, which involves resolute resistance both to war/injustice, and to the social/legal institutions which support it. So refusing bail and staying in prison signifies the lengths to which citizens of conscience might go in opposing these war games, and the wars in which Australian and US troops are involved.

While these are our first arrests, they are the third “action” of Christian nonviolence protestors in the past five days, and part of an ongoing series of events and news articles that have been running in Rockhampton for eight days now. The public debate was kicked off last Wednesday 1 July, with a front page story in the Morning Bulletin about the intentions of our group, and a beautiful photo of media tart yours truly, pinched from the Cairns Post.

However, unlike the Cairns Post where their reporters call me a "serial pest" and stifle debate on the issues, in Rockhampton there were follow up stories on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There were symbolic actions on Sunday and Monday, and we scored good coverage on Monday, and another front page photograph on Tuesday.

We’ve been subjected to three editorial cartoons and two opinion pieces, and yesterday the non-News Ltd Morning Bulletin published an opinion piece I wrote...

• My opposition to Exercise Talisman Saber is based on a desire to end war and the preparation for war.
  
  I draw my inspiration from Jesus' sermon on the mount, and Martin Luther King Jr's vision of a world where peace and social justice include all peoples everywhere.
  I'm horrified by the killing that happens every day in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
  
  I'm appalled at the waste of $300 million on fuel, ammunition and ordinance that will be spent during these war games. I'd like that money to be spent on schools and hospitals.
  
  I don't expect that everyone will agree with my point of view, but I did expect that Rockhampton and districts would proudly display the best qualities of Regional Queensland, and would show tolerance, friendliness and a willingness to engage in rational discussion.
  
  I've been surprised and disappointed by the virulence of some local reaction to me, and my friends, family and colleagues. “Idiot”“moron”“terrorist” and “pest” are some of the labels put on me by your readers. Not one had addressed the issues of war and peace.
  
  Many have cited “the money” that soldiers and the war machine will spend in the local economy. Many have told me to “go home” or “go away” and your former town Councillor Bruce Simpson has gone so far as to claim I've somehow insulted his dead father.
  
  For Bruce's information my late father, John Law, was born in Rockhampton in 1920 and fought with the Australian Army during WWII in New Guinea. He was then a member of the occupation forces in Japan. He became a life-long member of the RSL, and he taught me that our democratic society was worth defending. He taught me that any citizen worth their salt would stand up for what they believe in.
  
  I'll bet that my father and Bruce's father would have easily become mates had they met.
  Any time Bruce wants to have a civilised debate based on facts, in any forum, before any audience, I'd be happy to accommodate him.
  
  If all he can manage is to hurl prejudice and insults at me because my beliefs are different from his, well, I'm sorry but that's how I behave, and I really think Rockhampton can do better.

CairnsBlog commentors like Bryan Outlaw, Headless Horseman, and America Sucks My Cock, even the Cairns Post, may go ballistic at the idea, but the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin seems to have the idea that genuine community debate is a good thing.

This week we also went electronic with WIN, 7, Hot FM, and ABC radio and television running headline stories about our actions. The scene is set.

For the next three days we go quiet in the media as the “mass” secular peace movement runs a “Peace Convergence” program of mainstream actions aimed at informing and persuading the general population about peace and environmental issues.

There’ll be public meetings, a mass hokey pokey, a vigil at the Rockhampton military depot, and concert/cultural events. Our mob will leaflet and speak to the wider mob about how to deepen “protest” into “resistance”. It’s my hope that the community discussions we’ve helped start will continue with extensive coverage of the Peace Convergence.

During this week, the actual Talisman sabre exercise has been focusing on force integration, deploying the equipment, and testing/de-bugging the command, control and communication systems. From Monday 13 to Saturday 25 July the actual exercise – an amphibious invasion of Darumbal land – takes place with live-firing and armoured vehicle deployments (plus apache helicopters, missiles, bombs and all the deadly toys of modern warfare).

Coincidentally, Monday 13 July is when our mob starts up its program of trespass into key exercise areas. If Air Commodore Meier was telling the truth to the Australian Senate when he testified there on 4 June this year, our presence will force that exercise to halt (and/or be re-organised) until they track us down and haul us out.

Also entirely coincidentally a military map of the area has fallen into our hands which shows the live fire zones, the sentry posts, the communications repeaters, transfer ramps and sector names – along with roads, trails and all the information needed to navigate one’s way through Exercise Talisman Sabre.

When speaking with Jade, from Defence Minister John Faulkner’s office earlier this week, she was adamant that we “can never get into the exercise area”. With 90 kilometres of land border, guarded by a three strand cattle fence, I can’t see how they’ll keep us out.

They can make it harder I suppose. Queensland Police are now maintaining three separate road blocks, each staffed with 6 – 10 officers, 3-4 vehicles, and aerial-laden command vehicles 24 hours a day, seven days a week until 25 July. That’s a big commitment of Police resources, but each road block can be by-passed by track, or on foot.

Indeed, Queensland Police have a four sergeant team of negotiators/liaison officers who are in touch with many of the protest groups – and they are very keen to maintain safety for all. We are keen to work with them. I just received a call from that team to say that the Australian Army are reporting that unauthorised people are on the site right now.

It’s not us. We think next week is better for disruption. But the military are certainly keyed up, perhaps even paranoid, about our intentions. Tee hee hee!

It’s late, and it’s been a long day. Time for bed.

If even a small number of committed peacemakers really put their minds and hearts into it, we can make Australian participation in war much, much harder. I know that some of you think I’m a whacker, but I feel the spirit move within me, and I wouldn’t trade places with the apathetic for all the industrial espionage in China.

Cairns dot com dot au gets a muck over

"Cairns' favourite online news source comes of age," exclaims the Cairns Post headline.

And the creative journalism doesn't end there. Oh no.

"Kids - they grow up so fast! One minute they're learning how to walk, and the next they're smashing their own records for daily page hits," the nameless article states.

In a deliberate decision, the Cairns Post has redesigned the front end of their website. There's now almost no news on the main page, you need to go hunting for it - a bit like the print edition.

Unlike its parent site News.com.au, where the news and stories written by churnalists feature front and centre, the decision to hide stories in the depths of the Cairns Post website, is a mystery.

There was a very good reason why the local tablewd purchased Cairns.com.au, registered under Cairns Digital Media, a couple of years ago. In preference to CairnsPost.com.au, which many locals cringed typing into internet browser each morning, the new name was to capture international web surfers, therefore the website was totally refocused for the tourist, not the locals.

Under Mark Alexander's business leadership, the former editor reputedly convinced News Ltd to pay over $100,000 for the domain name. The strategy, like all websites, is to attract hits and gain visits. When there's precious little online written content, besides a raft of tourist information, tons of repeated reader pix to fill the photo galleries, and a handful of sanctioned and moderated reader comments posted below the few stories posted, usually from the same folk that call Mackenzie for a moan every other day, you go hungry for more.

Gaining the "Cairns" domain name was to drive hits, there's no doubt about that. But do visitors stay and explore and read what the local rag has to say about our community? Not really. Talking with some of the folk inside the Abbott Street bunker, web visitor trends is substantial, but they stay for less than two minutes, and the over-whelming number hit the site from outside Cairns. They like clicking on the pretty pictures.

"The Cairns Post's own little bundle of joy, cairns.com.au, turned two years old only a few months ago and is already undergoing a significant re-development," the online editorial says. "We're tearing a few things down in order to build them back up again," the Cairns Post says. "We're developing new features and sections across our real estate, visitor information, entertainment and advertising sections to deliver our local audience and advertisers a website they can proudly continue to call their own."

There's no mention of the news.

The clear focus is now on revenue and commercial advertising. The real estate section has halved in size over the last year as many surf the net themselves. The Cairns Eye has gone from weekly to monthly, staff cuts have occurred, and Gavin King has left. Blog-lover Damon Guppy is the new Chief of Staff, a great improvement.

When you have six full page adverts in the first few 'local pages' you now where their focus is. And two days in a row we get a full page advertising bananas! They are heavily discounting the usual $3,500 per page cost.

"Today's only the beginning," the Post claims, "over the next few months we'll be introducing new and improved features, but for now you can continue to enjoy all the best news, photo galleries and visitor information you've come to expect from the world's favourite source of Far North Queensland information," the sycophantic pr spin signs off.

You can repaint the front door, move the furniture around, but it will take a lot more than a digital Richie Stevens to provide real local opinion that represents our diverse region and welcomes debate that our community feels is transparent, honest, and open to differing viewpoints. When the Cairns Post ceases to slander community leaders and residents and act like a responsible contributor to the region in which we all reside, then and only then, can they be welcomed as part of our community.

2 degrees

A great Kiwi advert for the new 2 degrees mobile network, set up by former All Black Bill Osborne.

Ya gotta love the accent, you know ya do!

Bring on the North Qld strikes

The AAP reports that New South Wales police have begun a week of refusing to issue on-the-spot fines for traffic infringements and other offences after wage negotiations with the State Government broke down.

Hat Tip KiwiBlog

We really are the dumb State

Anna Bligh has admitted that she's purchased www.queensland-the-dumb-state.com, among a heap of other web names.

Yesterday in fire-fighting mode in Parliament, the State Labor government said it was to protect them from cybersquatters.

It was former Premier Beattie's idea to call Queensland a "Smart State", a move bound to attract ridicule.

A quick domain check, and the following are available, as low as $0.99 a year...

• www.queensland-the-really-really-dumb-state.com
  www.beauitiful-one-day-dumb-the-next.com
  www.anna-bligh-is-really-a-man.com
  www.70-billion-debt-is-ok-for-queensland.com
  www.cairns-yacht-club-was-destroyed-by-labor.com

Any more ideas?

Deadman's Regional Council

Deadman's Creek has become an environmental disaster for the Cairns Regional Council. It was once a beautiful waterway, with many North Queensland wildlife amongst its eco-system. Not any longer.

In the last few weeks, Council allowed the developers on the adjoining land to excavate this natural protected waterway, and pave it with rocks like a parking lot. They were hoodwinked by GlenCorp that Deadman's Creek is a drain.

Today, the developer will yet again ask for more approvals to ruin this waterway, to accommodate the will of a developer. On this development, GlenCorp have continually put up whole apartment buildings without approval and, built below the Q100 flood line, breached the riparian corridor, and flout the wishers of the local community.

Council own planner has recommended to refuse today's request to change conditions of approval for the multiple dwellings, known as Clifton Views, however Councillor have consistently sided with the developer in majority, ignoring the community.

See the stunning transformation from a natural creek to a river system that has been ruined here.

It will be another test on Val Schier's leadership, in convincing her Council that approval further excavation is not the wish of the community.

"Our community remains aggrieved at the utmost contempt shown by the Council in allowing the Glencorp developer to destroy this natural waterway and wildlife corridor," Fiona Tulip of the Combined Beaches Community Association says.

Tulip's says the concerns of the community remain.

"We witnessed flooding in March last year and again in January this year, in which homes, properties and cars downstream and adjacent to this development had up to 1m deep of water through them," Fiona Tulip said.

The residents say that further opening up of this waterway will fast track the storm water down the channel to a bottleneck.

"This will happen at the Yule Avenue bridge and culvert drains, and the remaining narrower and natural part of Deadman’s with the potential to cause greater flooding now downstream," Fiona Tulip says.

"It remains to be seen if the first floor units of these (Clifton Views) buildings will remain above the next flooding episode. Not many locals believe that they will be," Tulip says.

"We do not see why the developer should get any more dispensations, including an early release of the Stage 2 Survey Plan in advance of completing the now required changes under the conditions imposed in April 2009 for this waterway," Fiona Tulip said. "The earthworks and required landscaping are clearly not finished."

• PROPOSAL: REQUEST TO CHANGE CONDITIONS –
  MULTIPLE DWELLINGS
  APPLICANT: CLIFTON BEACH VIEWS PTY LTD
  C/- CONICS (CAIRNS) PTY LTD
  PO BOX 1949, CAIRNS QLD 4870
  LOCATION OF SITE: 22-26 & 40-62 CLIFTON ROAD, CLIFTON
  BEACH
  PROPERTY: LOT 6 ON RP728049 & LOT 1 ON RP7

GlenCorp are applying for:

• The proposed changes are primarily aimed at securing an early release of the Stage 2 Survey Plan in advance of completing all the works required in the waterway that runs through the site. Currently conditions of approval require that all these works be completed prior to Stage
  2 survey plan endorsement.

There are a number of strange comments in this document.

Firstly, Council are refusing the recommendation on the following grounds:

• That Council refuse the request to change conditions for Multiple Dwellings (Maximum 3 Storeys) over land described as Lot 6 on RP728049 on Lot 1 on RP736317, located at 22-26 & 40-62 Clifton Road, Clifton Beach on the following grounds:
  
  1. Stages 2 and 3 have frontage to the waterway/drainage corridor. It is considered appropriate to complete the works required within the waterway/drainage corridor prior to any further survey plan endorsement that will facilitate the occupation of dwelling units adjacent to the waterway.
  
  2. The completed waterway/drainage corridor is required to contain any
  flooding from any potential significant rainfall event.

Strange comments include...

• “This latest request to change conditions follows numerous previous requests to amend plans and conditions that have been presented to Council over the past couple of years.
  It is recommended that the latest request be refused.”
  
  “We note that discussions have recently occurred between the developer and various Divisional Councillors, and between Conics and acting Chief Executive Officer with
  respect to the issue of timing for completion of drainage works. The discussions have centred on the fact that strict compliance with the requirement to complete all drainage
  works prior to endorsement of Stage 2 plans is likely to have serious financial implications for Glencorp and is likely to result in job losses for many involved in this
  project.”

This comment should be regarded as a veiled threat made by the developers to Council.

If they do not get it, that they will go under. There are also serious questions need to be asked as to who were the Councillors being lobbied and was the Divisional Councillor one of those?

• “Currently, drainage works are progressing well, with all bulk earthworks completed and landscape plans approved. While it is expected that works will be finalised within 3 – 4 weeks, delays in the sealing of Stage 2 plans until this occurs will require the cessation of works on Stages 3 & 4 due to the unwillingness of GlenCorp’s financiers to fund the continuation of works on these stages until Stage 2 is settled, and debt reduced.
  
  With approximately 180 persons currently involved in this project, the prospect exists for significant layoffs.”

This indicates that Glencorp are struggling with acquiring finances to finish this project.

• “The subsequent changes to conditions:-
  
  ● have changed the configuration of the reserve;
  ● no longer require the reserve to be transferred to Council;
  ● permitted Stage 1 use to commence in advance of the remaining stages,
  
  The above changes are considered to be significant concessions made by Council in regard to the completion of this development. Fundamental to these concessions is a
  desire to see works in the creek completed as soon as possible, particularly in light of the concerns regarding potential flooding to dwelling units along the length of the waterway/drainage reserve.
  
  The dilemma associated with keeping a workforce engaged in this project is acknowledged. However, Council did not create the problems associated with this particular development’s non-compliance with the original conditions of approval”

Council are actually acknowledging the concerns about flooding to dwelling units along the length of the whole waterway.

Another comment, where flooding is acknowledged...

• “Finally, whilst it is acknowledged that the flooding/drain issue has a long history and various matters have contributed to the current situation.”

On page 212, there is this amazing admission...

• “ The third change to conditions was lodged on the 16th April 2008 to recognize a change in the configuration of the units on the land (as being constructed as opposed to as approved).”

The conditions imposed on the Clifton Views site on the 8th April 2009, should be allowed to stand.

GlenCorp has already been given a great number of dispensations and granted requests to change conditions of approval. There is widespread community and resident anger over the recent flooding events involving this site and serious inundation of properties downstream of Yule Avenue and adjacent to this site.

These are a direct consequence of Council allowing this development to proceed on a recognised flood area, and the subsequent and continual interference of a natural waterway by this developer. The blatant disregard for previous conditions of approval, have now rendered Deadman’s Creek nothing more that a concrete drain.

At the April 2009 Council meeting, it was Councillors Bonneau, Blake, Cochrane, Gregory, Lanskey, and Cooper, that voted to allow Glencorp to destroy Deadman’s Creek.

Three weeks paid leave, nice for some

The Mayor has never seen the $17,000 Henry report, so we're told. I have it on good authority that she indeed has seen the report and been made fully aware of its contents.

However the fiasco the engulfed the Cairns Regional Council from late April for over two months, is about to deliver its second head on a platter.

The $130,000 pa Corporate Communications Manager, Kerie Hull, has enjoyed the last three weeks away from the office, all at our expense.

Over the weekend, I received three emails saying she was seen heading to Port Douglas with Councillor Alan Blake, her co-conspirator in the Cash for Comments scandal.

It was Kerie Hull, and Hull alone, that negotiated to pay 4CA $250 a week. She, nor the failed former CEO Noel Briggs, never informed the Mayor about the deal.

Mayor Schier has said on numerous occasions that she would never had agreed to this occurring. Both previous Mayors, Tom Pyne and Kevin Byrne, never had to pay to go on the John Mackenzie talkback show, that has had to tighten it's belts under the Advertising Authority's investigation.

The acting CEO has stated that he is not going to release the now infamous Henry report because of legal advice. However, a number of Councillors including Diane Forsyth, Robert Pyne and Julia Leu are all asking for the Executive summary to be made public.

Hull was only appointed in the role last September, having survived less than 10 months in the role that is meant to enhance and build community relations.

Following a meeting with Acting CEO Peter Tabulo yesterday, Kerie Hull will probably get her marching orders to leave her position this week.

Rockhamton Army depot blocked

A blockade of Rockhamton Army Depot successfully delayed supplying Talisman Saber with arms.

The gates of Australian Army at Rockhampton Airport were blocked yesterday by a group of Christian anti-war activists. The depot is presently deploying US and Australian military personnel to the Talisman Saber exercise, taking place at nearby Shoalwater Bay.

There was Melbourne activists Rev. Simon Moyle (Baptist, Urban Seed, Insipiral), Jacob Bolton (Jahworks), Craig Farrel (Salvation Army) Phil and Leanne Yew (The Cave) lay blocking the gate.

They were joined by Catholic Workers Jim Dowling, Ciaron O’Reilly and Cully Palmer holding a large banner "In the Name of God Stop the Wars".

Military security responded to the blockade by closing, locking and guarding the gate while the 14 anti-war activists read the names of Afghani civilians, Australian and US soldiers killed in the ongoing war on Afghanistan Rev. Simon Moyle said.

"This morning we spent an hour and a half blockading one of the gates to the Western Barracks in Rockhampton. In an act of repentance for our own complicity, five of us lay prostrate on the ground before the gates while others held a banner saying 'In the name of God stop the wars', and others prayed the rosary," he said.

Police stayed back this time and were going to direct protesters to move when they decided to move on voluntarily.

"A lot of media attention was gained and directed towards what is going on inside," Rev Moyle said.

Bryan Law and a 406 MHz personel location beacon

Cairns activist Bryan Law, along with wife Margaret Pestorius and son Joseph, and family friend Trisha (all Catholic nonviolent activists) have arrived in Rockhampton, Yeppoon, heading to Shoalwater Bay, for a four week holiday camp and anti-war programme, 1068 kms South of Cairns.


Shoalwater Bay is land of the Darumbal people. 454,500 Hectares of military exercise area with mountains, swamps, beaches, forested and open terrain, 80 kilometres north of Rockhampton.
The Commonwealth Government “acquired” the area for Defence training purposes in 1965.

Between 6 and 26 July, the US and Australia will run a “joint” command military exercise called Talisman Sabre ’09. The exercise will combine the use of air, navy and ground forces to amphibiously invade the Darumbal people again, and fight battles against their cities. 5,500 Australian troops and 22,000 US troops will fight together, one well-integrated force, to accomplish this new victory over the Darumbal.

Exerxise Talisman sabre will cost Australia $43 million, and the US $212 million. Not counting regular wages and costs to maintain 27,000 troops in operational mode.

Exercise Talisman Sabre will be commanded by the Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 7, a US officer based in Hawaii. His deputy will be Air Vice Marshall Skidmore, the Air Commander of Australia. From there downwards the chain the command will be twinned US/Australian. Command, control and communications systems will all be tested and integrated during the exercise, with full satellite coverage.

Call him perverse, or call him a serial stirrer (as our illustrious organ the Cairns Post recently did), Bryan Law believes that we don’t need to invade the Durambal people again, and most certainly not as agents of US empire.

Just like he did before the famous Citizens’ Inspection of Pine Gap, Bryan has written a letter to the Defence Minister, Senator John Faulkner, about Exercise Talisman Sabre and Shoalwater Bay.

In his letter, Bryan explains his conscientious object to preparation for war, with reference to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and then tells the Minister about a gathering of Christian peace activists during the Exercise, and says...

• “In 2009 we expect that several affinity groups will form to carry out civil disobedience actions which attempt to obstruct and interfere with the military aspects of Operation Talisman Sabre. Some of those will enter the training area.
  
  Please appreciate that the details of our actions will be constructed through a weeks-long process of prayer, analysis, inspiration, and material boundaries. I expect that civil disobedience actions will also address convoys, staging areas, airfields, and other elements of the training exercise. Each group will organise its own communication with authorities, and lines of responsibility for actions taken.
  
  My own particular interest lies in entering the training area in ways which maximally frustrate the conduct of the exercise. I am called to, at an appropriate time, (immediately before a planned exercise would be good) enter those areas set aside for live firing exercises. We may set off emergency beacons to confirm our presence there. Exposing ourselves to potential harm so as to arouse the conscience of the community, is one key element of Christian nonviolence”.
  
  Would you halt the live firing exercises to preserve the safety of peace activists at risk under those circumstances?
  
  Or would the death or injury of such activists constitute an acceptable level of collateral damage for the privilege of studying war?

So the Minister for Defence, Senator John Faulkner, has been formally notified that Christian nonviolence activists will attempt to enter the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area and disrupt the conduct of exercise Talisman Sabre ’09.

Bryan says at least a dozen experienced activists will build and carry out a program between 6 and 26 July.

"As part of my own space-based technological revolution, I've acquired a GME MT410 406 MHz Personal Location Beacon, and intend to set it off inside a live-firing area of Shoalwater Bay," Bryan said. "The retail price is $469, so I'm looking for anyone who'd like to donate towards the cause."

Air Commodore Meier, in the Senate Defence Committee earlier this month told Greens Senator Scott Ludlum that...

• “Air Cdre Meier —Your final question was the contingency plans for trespassers getting into the live fire exercises in Talisman Sabre. Essentially, if we know there is an unauthorised person into the Commonwealth land at Shoalwater Bay, Bradshaw or any of the other exercise areas, the exercise is stopped. It is then passed over to either the Federal Police or state police to deal with. For Shoalwater Bay, in the vicinity of the training area it is an issue for the Queensland police. Once they cross into Commonwealth land, it is an issue for the Australian Federal Police.
  
  Senator LUDLAM —Your automatic response on learning that somebody has trespassed inside or close to a live fire area is you would stop the clock?
  
  Air Cdre Meier —Yes.”

So using a $469 piece of technology, a band of nonviolence activists can frustrate a quarter billion dollar program for how long?

Bryan has some concerns for his health in taking on a bush walk, and says he will have to pay attention to his medication and go steady. When asked whether he should defer from direct action he says he feels “compelled to do what is available to end war, and to end this preparation for war.

The war in Afghanistan is eight years old now, and no further along in “protecting” us from Terrorism. The war, and al Qaida, has spread into Pakistan and Iraq”. “Ask yourself: Who are the US training us to invade at these exercises around Shoalwater Bay? When Australia acts as “Deputy Sheriff” to the USA, we disgrace ourselves and besmirch our good name.”

“It’s time to face the truth that the USA are the biggest and worst terrorists on Earth, and they need to be disarmed”.

As well as Pine Gap, Bryan nominates training exercises like Talisman Sabre ’09, and port visits by warships USS Essex in Cairns last week, as key enablers of US military aggression.

Bryan says “as a Christian nonviolence activist I’m compelled to seek disarmament and fulfil the plowshares prophecy. It’s quite simple really, we simply musn’t study war any more”.

Bryan reckons we should study nonviolence instead.

GMaps shows for sale now

Google Maps was an Australian IT invention, just over two years ago.

It's way more a map tool, but you can find a local plumber or chemist; Councillors can get driving directions to a friend's place at Trinity Park; check out a restaurant in Port Douglas on the weekend before making a booking with Street View.

You can even view terrain and satellite data and travel using public transport in some cities in Australia. The Sydney maps now have Monorail and Light Rail.

Now you can search for properties for sale or rent on Google Maps. You can check it out by entering a search like 'real estate White Rock' and clicking through to search real estate listings.

Happy Birthday Mr Treasurer

Cairns Regional Councillor Alan Blake has just turned 58 (and so has Sno Bonneau, but we'll leave him for another day).

I snapped this lovely photo whilst at lunch at Banana Leaf with Alan before the last election.

The team at the CairnsBlog office thought we'd acknowledge this occasion, and would like to thank those readers that emailed

A reader sent in this wee ditty, to honor the city's most talked about keeper of the purse...

Good-looking young Councilor Blake
Has a name as a bit of a rake
He likes to meet nightly
(It helps keep him sprightly)
Let’s hope that his wick doesn’t break

After two months of ridicule about his covert involvement in the infamous Cash for Comments scandal, Alan Blake made some rather astonishing revelations this week.

"I feel the Council has failed to deliver in openness and transparency in the past six months and said it was time the Council stopped dreaming about 'warm and fuzzy' projects and delivered basic core services at an affordable price," Alan Blake said on Monday.

I doubt I'm alone in seeing the hypocrisy of this outrageous statement, given the questionable ethics. Transparency is something that we all want from this Council, and our elected members after the circus we've all seen played out from Bonneau and Blake since the beginning of Val Schier's mayoralty. If Mr Blake wants to talk transparency, then he should front up to the public and answer the serious concerns of conflicts that I've raised last month.

Now, before all my readers analyse what Blake means by 'warm and fuzzy', and I would like some restraint when commenting below on this story, you don't have to search far on CairnsBlog to realise this statement is laughable. As a lover of texting during meetings, Blake needs to remember that when you take public office, people have a right to criticise and critique their city Councillors.

I've also learnt that Blakie may have found a new friend in God. Alan Blake has been connecting with the Rt. Rev Dr Jason Gregg from St Michael's Divinity School, a Syrian Orthodox church, called Church of Antioch.

Maybe he wants to learn the 10 commandments? Does he need to straighten his moral compass?

And what did we get Councillor Blake for his birthday? Well, you'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out.

Go Tom! Go! Go!

Local finance commentator Mark Beath, who runs the ever-excited Kitchen Slut, writes on the downfall and destruction of Tom Hedley's Cairns construction empire....

• "...anyone who has followed and understood some of the goings on in here on Hedley it's worthy of a book! So to begin somewhere if not the beginning .....
  
  1) The Courier-Mail and Business spectator reported the representative of receiver Korda Mentha had blamed the collapse on Hedley's margin loan over his HLG holding and the GFC market slump. From the nation's most prestigious receiver, if correctly reported, this is the biggest crock of deluded or lying bullshit I have almost ever heard in finance!
  
  It may have been a factor however the margin loan itself was initially an undisclosed loan in apparent breach of Hedley's escrow provisions under the IPO. The margin loan was for just $8 million in respect of 20 million securities out of a total holding of $77 million. It was minor compared to Hedley's supposed wealth and reported debts.
  
  The problem was that it got caught up in an embarrassing transaction related to the Opes Prime collapse when Tricom, for whatever reason, tried to snatch the holding back out of the Opes wreckage. Tom disclosed last July that he had repaid the loan and ANZ released the stock, yet now we are told it is pivotal to the collapse? Utter BULLSHIT which is a disgrace to the reputation of Korda Mentha if correctly reported."

How can someone with $650m suddenly be bankrupt? With Tom Hedley in receivership, the Cairns Post headline is again in typically heroic terms.

"I'm curious about the NLG transaction last week to repay Tom’s mezzanine loan," author of Kitchen Slut Mark Beath says.

Beath networks with a number of senior national financial journalists and believes many aspects of Hedley are of concern.

"Most particularly the report early this year that CFO Donnelly had departed after HLG revealed an inappropriate unapproved $1 million+ transaction from the public to private entity which had been subsequently reversed?" he says. "What are the implications regards ASIC or have people stuck their head in the sand? This story doesn’t wash, Cairns deserves better."

Even the fake Twitter account that the Cairns Regional Council have failed to close down, posted yesterday that Hedley's legacy is "shitty ugly buildings with cheap falling apart units." They announced "tradies dudded [sic]; assets hidden, damage to Cairns for years to come!"

I have to agree that there's a trail of horrible high-rise apartments that have sprawled into the suburbs from Woree to Clifton Beach, and it's not only Byne's former Council that have endorsed and approved these ghettos. The current Council have signed off on a raft of these Hedley, CEC and GlenCorp high-density complexes in the last 12 months.

Some current Hedley constructions will continue to trade and finish projects, the fallout will be widespread and have a drastic effect of those employed.

Moments with Charlie

Charlie McKillop is back at ABC Far North, filling in occasionally for Fiona Sewell on the morning programme.

The other morning she was having a natter to a lovely lady from Animal Welfare.

Animal Welfare, who have been around since 1987, help those on low income to care for their pets.

"In the current economic climate, the need for an organisation such as Animal Welfare has grown to encompass peoples from all walks of life, from older pensioners to the unemployed, to the disabled and those who have for company only their pet," Valerie Smyth says.

However, Cairns Regional Council has removed funding support this year for the Welfare's hugely popular desexing programme.

Charlie was talking about the stray animals and the impact they have on the community. She was talking about the valuable work Animal Welfare and YAPS do in the community, when she confused her acronyms.

"The RSL have a lot of pets, I mean YAPS," Charlie quickly corrected her slip up. The RSL do indeed have many old pets. Maybe she was thinking about those that needed early euthanizing and de-sexing?

Animal Welfare is entirely run through donations and sales from goods sold at their second hand store at 382 Draper Street. Their charity shop in Sheridan Street was closed recently because the rent was too much to sustain.

Media Mix at Salt House

This month's Media Mix drinks and fun will be at the new Salt House tonight at 6pm.

Originally a forum for all those connected with media and the arts, it's now open to friends and a wider audience.

The dynamic Mark Lindgren is the co-ordinator behind this Queensland Media Award winning social networking.

Here's a line up of scallywags at June's event: Dale Shultz from the Commonwealth Bank and some Blogger, with Councillor Di Forsyth. There's also a couple of opportunistic celebrity hunters that pushed their way in to the photo.

I want my children back

Just when you thought it could get worse, it did.

Debbie Rowe is after her kids and says she'll fight all the way to get the two children she gave birth to for Michael Jackson.

"I am the biological mother to the children," Rowe said after nearly a week of silence.

Rowe who says she's willing to undergo a DNA test to prove the case, also announced that she is seeking a restraining order on Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, to keep him away from the children.

I love how all the so-called mainstream media are referring to bloggers, Twitter and the celebrity gossip websites when putting their reports to air. Sunrise on 7, WIN Today breakfast show and even the ABC, have all referenced TMZ and a variety of independent online writers over the last week.

"We're going to look into how these websites seem to get the scoop of these stories," WIN's breakfast news presenter Georgie said today.

Maybe it's because they go hunting and digging out the news? Maybe it's because they are hungry to discover the story? Maybe it's because most 'reports' in today's newspapers and TV sit behind the desk and email and wait for the news to arrive via press releases?

The trend of things to come.