Saturday 12 June 2010

Family First candidate slams WIN TV reporting as "tokenistic"

Family First candidate for Leichhardt Yodie Batzke, has called WIN TV's reporting of her Party's indigenous sea rights symposium "tokenistic" and "discriminatory."
The Family First party held a symposium on Thursday at Cairns Rydges Esplanade to discuss the alarming situation of turtles and dugongs being killed, following calls for a ban on hunting, within the designated enclosure areas no use of hand lines, nets.

"Indigenous people of Far North need to take time and see the other benefit of a 12 month moratorium," Yodie Batzke said.
Batzke has worked with many in Indigenous elders to come to the agreement, of a 12-month moratorium.
"However it is amazing the tokenistic reporting by WIN TV. Mind you Carrie Kay did not even want to ask me any questions," Yodie Batzke said. "You have to remember reporters [Carrie], people you interview may be very discerning and do know how to read body language and facial expressions - profiling personalities is part of my business," she said.

"You may not be the one on camera but the person you interview can read and see whether or not you really want to be there. Send someone else next time WIN, Maybe Adam Marshall," Batzke said.

Yodie Batzke however praised the Post's Daniel Bateman.
"He did a very objective story on this issue. You researched this particular issue well."

Coverage of the event by WIN TV news excluded any mention of Family First, even though Yodie Batzke was filmed. WIN aired comments from the indigenous who were present, even talked about dugongs, but didn't mention Yodie or her comments.
Dugong campaigner Colin Riddell was also ignored.
"I used Yodie's name as well, to talk about the brave stance she and her Family First party have taken. It was disappointing what they did," Riddell said.
Yodie Batzke says that if Indigenous people put a hold on hunting, and support existing and new sustainable management practices being developed by traditional owners, they will see benefits.
"With TUMRA's or ILUA's, lobby both federal and state for for resources for more man-power to police," Batzke says. "[They should] lobby for more dugong enclosures on both west and east coast of Cape York Peninsula for similar enclosure to the one in the Torres Straits between Friday and Boobie Islands where no hunting is allowed."
"There should be no use of hand lines, hand spears, or nets are allowed at all. We need to develop better cultural awareness programs, specifically about hunting and gathering methods of Indigenous Australia dependant on the sea," Yodie Batzke says.
"I am really pursuing not only a 12 month moratorium in order for sustainable management to be developed across the board, but in addition to this, protected specific enclosure areas that will still remain when the 12 month moratorium ends."
"We support Traditional owners on the east coast who are wanting a consistent approach and lobby for the establishment of a land and sea management unit to be located at Lockhhardt River."

WIN TV News...

29 comments:

Peter Portlandroads said...

Thanks Mike. This stinks of the various levels of neglect we experience from contemporary government bodies. Win TV is more than likely a puppet and about as interested in real issues as is the government.
The extinction of turtle and dugong is a very serious consideration for our Indigenous folk. Traditionally these creatures are part of ceremonial rituals. With the current slaughter and governments couldn't care less attitudes, it is pleasing to see our Elders standing up and having a say. After all, this needless illegal slaughter is going to effect Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders more than other Australians.
I challenge WIN TV to re-interview Yodi Batzke about the issue of Federal, State and Local governments neglect in monitoring endangered species slaughter, and gathering statistics by way of a monitorium.

Troy Williams said...

What was WIN TV doing wasting their time on FF anyway?

Conned said...

Could it be that WIN TV reporters could see through the Family First facade of riding on the back of a topical issue such as this to promote their own extreme political views a la Fielding style?

Val's Mortition said...

she speaks well, sounds like a better alternative than jimmy boy or stentch to me ... i'm happy now i have someone to vote for.

W. Siaten said...

You're easily pleased Val's "Mortition". I personally think we deserve something better than any of them - especially right wing fundamentalists like Family First. Keep learning stuff like spellin' and punctuation (and wit) and you might feel the same one day.

Val's tittie said...

you're right W. Jackass if this was a spelling test, however I get the feeling that's about all you have to contribute.
In typical leftie style you critise but offer no real alternative. So basically other than offering a simple spell check you contribute nothing. Why did you even bother getting out of bed this morning ? Move back to Melbourne jackass, we don't need your commie politics up here

KitchenSlut said...

Is this the same Family First party that demanded before the last election that candidates in Leichhardt declare their sexuality as being critical to family values? What sort of profiling does whatsername do again?

Maybe those dugongs were gay and so not quite as good as the real god fearing family dugongs?

Janice Skipp (via Facebook) said...

Great report Michael, love it

Yodie Batzke INDEPENDENT said...

In response to 'kitchenslut' the type of profiling my husband and I do covers a number of areas to assist long term unemployed clients of a Job Service provider here in Cairns. You never know who might be employed in the restuarants you promote in your blog. Thank you for taking the time to read Michael's blog.

Mick Mighell said...

How much will running racist campaigns (most Indigenous communities are voluntarily monitoring dugong take in order to manage the remaining population which has been devastated by non_Indigenous activity related to habitat destruction), and homophobic agendas, and promoting grotesque social policies based on an ultra-conservative religious agenda help the long term unemployed in Leichhardt? About as much as profiling, I suspect....

Janice Skipp said...

This is a free country Troy & everyone has a right to be heard

Troy Williams said...

Janice, thanks for stating the obvious. Yes, even the lunatic fringe has a right to embarrass themselves.

colin riddell said...

Mick mighell
I hope you are not calling my campaign a racist campaign and your comments are directed elsewhere.
Object of the my campaign is to save the loggerhead ,leatherback and olive ridley and the dugong,
Of the seven species of marine turtles in the world, six occur in Australian waters:

Flatback turtle vunruable means that they may become endangered if threats continue
Green turtle
Hawksbill turtle

Leatherback turtle endangered become extinct if the threats to its survival continue
Loggerhead turtle endangered
Olive Ridley turtle endangered
Female Dugongs give birth underwater to a single calf at three to seven year intervals. The calf stays with its mother, drinking milk from her teats and following close by until one or two years of age. Dugongs reach adult size between 9 and 17 years of age.

Internationally, dugong are listed on Appendix I of the Conservation of International Trade in Endangered SpeciesAustralia is a signatory to both these conventions

Dugongs are protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999, which lists dugong as marine and migratory species

Population supposed to be 85,00 how many have you seen?
And fact is some communities have a self imposed ban, true the mamu people of innsfail and lochart river people ,but what we need is a combined study by indigenous and government people to see what is left ,then if sustainable continue as before ,but unless peter Garrett has a crystal ball on his shoulders and not just a bald head ,he has no system at present to know the numbers.

colin riddell said...

these are the facts not mine but jcu
1 Dugongs

Dugongs are hunted in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Hunters generally stalk them from dinghies, harpooning the dugongs when they come to the surface to breathe.[37] The harpoon is aimed mid-way up the animal’s back, embedding the barbed metal head a few centimetres into the flesh. Sometimes a second harpoon is used ‘for insurance’. A long rope, attached to the harpoon head at one end and to the boat at the other, uncoils as the dugong swims away, dragging the boat with it. The animal is ‘played’ on the line until it tires and is ‘subdued’. This may take from 15 to 20 minutes for pregnant females to several hours for large males. The dugong is then drowned by holding its head under water for several minutes.[38] Alternatively, it may be asphyxiated by plugging its nostrils with fibres or be keelhauled until death occurs.[39]


Another method consists of pursuing the dugong in shallow water for 10 to 15 minutes until it is too exhausted to dive. The animal is then tied up or harpooned, and drowned.[40] It is said that it takes years to become an expert dugong hunter, so one can presume that a number of animals are struck but manage to escape, injured. Although the back is the favoured target, the dugong may be harpooned in the face if it surfaces head on.[41

colin riddell said...

More facts not mine but jcu again .

2 Sea Turtles


Turtles, also, are hunted in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, but the following information relates to methods used in the Torres Strait. When approaching a turtle with a dinghy, the hunter jumps on the animal and loops a rope around a forelimb or hooks the animal’s neck with a steel hook.[42] Alternatively, the turtle is harpooned from the boat. To assess the condition of the animal, an incision is often made at the inner base of the hind leg. If it is not fat enough, the turtle may be rejected. If fat levels are adequate, the animal is then hauled into the boat.[43]


Turtles are kept alive until it is time for them to be consumed.[44] To avoid their escaping, turtles may be kept in enclosures, or one of their flippers may be tethered or cut off. More commonly they are turned on their backs. They can be left upturned in the shade for weeks and survive, but if kept in the sun they are rapidly subject to dehydration, sometimes fatally.[45] Upturned turtles experience pain from increased blood pressure in the brain after a few hours.[46]


In some communities, cultural beliefs are said to prohibit the stunning or killing of the turtle prior to butchering. The turtle must be conscious at the time of butchering to ensure its spirit is returned to the sea, thus ensuring replenishment of the waters in the future.[47] Butchering is therefore done while the animal is still alive and commences with the severing of the front flippers at the shoulder joints to avoid injury to the butcher. Then the hind legs are cut, followed by an incision to lift the plastron. The animal dies at some time during the butchering.


Few details of the killing methods used outside the Torres Strait are available. It has been reported, however, that in some communities, turtles are killed by one or more blows to the head as soon as they are landed.[48]


Video footage[49] of turtle hunting in Western Australia viewed by the author showed a turtle killed by a dozen blows to the head with a hammer.


A less common practice euphemistically called ‘spaying’ involves catching a female turtle at sea, slicing open the abdomen to remove the eggs and then releasing the animal.[50] The chance of survival for such turtles is very low.[51]


AND FOR THE RECORD YODIE BATZKE DID AN AMAINGLY BRAVE THING AS A TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER WOMAN.

Family first ideals are another matter , not related to the issue of unproven unsustainable killing.

Mick Mighell said...

Q: What corpulent, usually-torpid creature dwells in the half light and distorted sound of an environment alien to human life, and surfaces regularly and noisily, belching vast quantities of hot, grassy-smelling breath to the discomfort of those in the vicinity?
A:Colin Ri....a dugong.

KitchenSlut said...

Wow! MIck Mighell has previously been my vicious hater and here we are in agreement? What heppened Mick?

Ummm .... does your post comment mean that while that while standing for a Fderal position most of your incoome is ultimately derived from federal sources FFP candidate?

Thats certainly what it seems to indicate?

Janice Skipp said...

Thanks for your input Troy. Maybe it's time that people started to look at the individual candidates & not just the party, because a few choice things could also be said about the LNP & the ALP.

Unlike Jim & Warren who are puppets doing only what the party tells them, Yodie Batzke is actually representing the people of the far North. We are living in North Qld & we don't want to be dictated to by the South, which is what you get with Jim & Warren.

in the Cairns Post today it says 100% of the people of Cairns don't want the hunting of dugong & turtle to continue the way that it is at present. Peter Garrett & Jim have said they won't support a ban on hunting. Don't know what Warren has said, he's silent. Yodie has called for a ban, like I said she's speaking for the people.

I ask you Troy, did you read the story with your political blinkers on?

Mat Moloney said...

Dear Ms Skip, thanks for your perspective. The State Shadow Minister for the Environment Glen Elmes has made several media releases and questions in parliament about this issue seeking a compromise between hunting rights and cruelty. A moratorium on hunting has even been discussed. Regards the major parties not representing this constituencies, it is not as if every Family First candidate would agree with every Family first policy, but they toe the line. What is the difference?

Mick Mighell said...

Yes, Kitchenslut. Don't wait for a reply from the candidate (who, after a curtsey to the blogmaster, has gone underground again) but yes, she's snouting the Federal trough.

And you will not be surprised to hear she's riffling through the State trough too. She accepted an appointment in November 2009 to the Cape York Regional Scientific and Cultural Advisory Committee. With whom does she consult and what valid input does she have when she's so out of touch with TO's efforts to conserve dugongs and turtles?

Just because two Labor governments pay her doesn't mean the ALP will preference her, but she wouldn't want to whinge...

However we are entitled to wonder why two governments are happy to pay good money to a homophobe, a nutter, and a profiling spiv masquerading as a small business operator...

Mick Mighell said...

Don't disappear just yet, Yodie. Just a couple of quick questions....

ABC news reports today that: "Family First Senator Steve Fielding has been condemned by other senators for suggesting women might have an abortion after 20 weeks to try to claim paid parental leave.

The paid parental leave legislation, which is being debated in the Senate, allows for women who have stillbirths to claim the payment.

During debate, Senator Fielding raised concerns that some "drug addicts" or "welfare cheats" could deliberately fall pregnant, then have an abortion after 20 weeks and rort the system in order to be eligible for payments."

Would women in Leichhardt do that? Do you support your leader's comments? On this issue, do you follow your leader and your party, or do you have a different view?

Yodie Batzke INDEPENDENT said...

Dear Mick Mighell

Thank you for your comments. It is obvious you have done your research. Yes I have held ministerial and elected positions in the past which also includes CYPRSCAC. You have assisted greatly in letting the public know whether or not I have the ability to hold a ministerial position. For those who would like to know what I have done just google my name. To help some areas I have been involved in included housing, health, human rights, women's issues, child safety, autonomy, native title, land and sea rights, cultural awareness, aviation and law and order just to name a few.
Kind regards
Yodie Batzke

Mick Mighell said...

There were a few questions in there Yodie, which you have overlooked.

Would women in Leichhardt do what Senator Fielding says: have an abortion after 20 weeks to claim paid parental leave? Do you support your leader's comments? On this issue, do you follow your leader and your party, or do you have a different view?

And what "ministerial? positions have you held?

Mick Mighell said...

Yodie - isn't 24 hours a reasonable time for a candidate to respond to questions of policy?

I asked: "Would women in Leichhardt do what Senator Fielding says: have an abortion after 20 weeks to claim paid parental leave? Do you support your leader's comments? On this issue, do you follow your leader and your party, or do you have a different view?"

Please let us have your response to those questions - don't worry about explaining your previous "ministerial " experience...

Mick Mighell said...

Yodie, you "amazingly brave" Family First candidate, you...where is your response, what are your views on your leader's comments?

Do you, you "amazingly brave" person,intend us "to be dictated to from the South" (by the likes of, say, Senator Fielding) or do you represent the people of the Far North?

Interpreting your lack of response, your body language, or "profiling you" if you like, I think you have knocked over the first hurdle in the accountability and honesty stakes.

Tell us "amazingly brave" Yodie: Would women in Leichhardt do what Senator Fielding says - have an abortion after 20 weeks to claim paid parental leave? Do you support your leader's comments? On this issue, do you follow your leader and your party, or do you have a different view?

Which people of the Far North do you claim to represent? Or is your campaign just as dishonest, as "tokenistic", as unaccountable as the rest?

Mick Mighell said...

Janice/Colon - do you know where your candidate Yodie has gone? Must be embarrassing for you that she won't state where she stands on issues and, by her silence, just toes the party line...

Colin Riddell said...

How good is this vote lnp for the animals sake.
The Hon Greg Hunt MPShadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and HeritageWarren EntschLNP Candidate for Leichhardt Friday August 13 2010 COALITION’S DUGONG AND TURTLE PROTECTION PLAN The Coalition will move quickly and constructively to implement a Dugong and Turtle Protection Plan. The Plan will work to protect the majestic dugong and turtle populations of Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait Islands from the threats of poaching, illegal hunting and marine debris. These magnificent animals are under stress from practices which threaten the relationship between such animals and the traditional communities that have been their natural conservators. As part of this important environmental and marine conservation task, the Coalition will maintain existing funding and will additionally provide a total of $2.6 million for dugong and turtle protection, comprising: · $1.6 million for specialised Indigenous Ranger Programs for marine conservation along the Far North Queensland Coast and for strengthened enforcement and compliance through supporting additional officers on the water and on land to crack down on dugong and turtle poaching and the illegal trade in dugong and turtle meat. · $1 million towards helping to clean up marine debris along the Far North Queensland Coast, the Torres Strait Islands and in the Coral Sea. Marine debris - especially ‘ghost nets’ - provide significant risks to dugongs and turtles and we will take steps to clean these threats up. We will consult, support and work with indigenous communities in dealing with these threats. These positive measures would build on the Coalition’s 3-point plan for the protection of dugongs and turtles through which we have already committed to: · Work with Traditional Owners and help them to put an end to poaching and the commercial sale of illegally-caught dugong and turtle meat. · Create local jobs for local Indigenous people to preserve and protect dugongs and turtles.· Ensure enforcement and prosecution for the illegal hunting and poaching of turtles and dugongs. The Coalition’s $2.6 million Dugong and Turtle Protection Plan would initially run for two years and be subject to extension based upon its success. These measures would be designed in conjunction with traditional owners and indigenous communities. The Program would be administered in consultation with Indigenous communities and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Media contact: John Deller on 0400 496 596

Thaddeus said...

Ho, hum more "indigenous ranger" programs. No doubt they can join the ranks of indigenous rangers employed with the GBRMPA, the Cape York Rangers Program, Dept of Natural Resources, the Cape York Turtle Rescue, the Trustees for LamaLama........

colin riddell said...

Alliance to Save Hinchinbrook Inc.
Commonwealth must stop dugong killing NOW
Hinchinbrook dugong supporters call on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) to declare a moratorium on all deliberate dugong slaughter and all netting in dugong habitat along the Southern Great Barrier Reef coast (approximately Gladstone to Cooktown).

from Cairns to Canberra, centred on the fate of the dugongs of the world-renowned Hinchinbrook region and secured from the Commonwealth and State governments the first partial steps in dugong protection. These steps were:

· the Australian Governor General's 1994 Proclamation over part of the Hinchinbrook Channel (to secure direct Commonwealth control over coastal development),

· the Commonwealth Government's 1997 declaration of the Dugong Protection Areas (to limit dugong drownings in fishing nets), and

· the first ever Queensland Regional Coastal Plan 2004 and interim arrangements 1996 (to protect dugong habitat from development impacts).

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area is managed by the GBRMPA for the Commonwealth Government on behalf of all Australians.

Five years ago, despite the above dugong protection measures, the GBRMPA obtained expert scientific advice: Historical Marine Population Estimates: Triggers or Targets for Conservation? the dugong case study. In Ecological Applications 15 (2), 2005. This report concluded that the small Hinchinbrook herd, which travels and feeds along the Southern GBR coast was still under threat of extinction and that the only safe management target for human-caused dugong deaths is zero.

To achieve this target, further dugong protection measures were clearly needed. Instead, under GBRMPA management, the past year has seen a flood of deliberate and negligent dugong deaths.

The GBRMPA portfolio budget statement for 2008-2009 (see notes below) lists as "achieved" the objective that dugong populations are "stable or recovering" and also that new "collaborative relationships" and "effective partnerships" had been established to manage fishing and indigenous take.

Ms Moorhouse, representing the Alliance to Save Hinchinbrook (ASH), said: "It is not enough to merely ask collaborators and partners to kill fewer dugongs. The evidence shows that these new "collaborative relationships" and "effective partnerships" have been followed immediately by a shocking spate of dugong-killing; some deliberate, some negligent, and all of it inhumane. The killing must stop, now".

"This is extinction in the making, carried out by citizens of a wealthy country, under the informed eye of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. No-one in Queensland will suffer starvation if no dugongs are killed, whether for meat or in the pursuit of fish."

"This one year of heartless, reckless slaughter may well have destroyed forever the genetic variability and herd structure that might have led to dugong recovery and long term persistence as a species."

"Through the GBRMPA's "collaborative relationships" and "effective partnerships" the Commonwealth government has evidently relinquished control to entities (including the Queensland Government"s Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, part of the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation) which have utterly failed to conserve the one dugong population that might have had a chance of long term survival."
"Although the guilt is shared by every group and individual who has contributed to this catastrophe, the Commonwealth Government remains accountable and must resume direct responsibility. The present delegations must be replaced by dedicated policing of the Great Barrier Reef coastal waters."
Margaret Moorhouse
Alliance to Save Hinchinbrook Inc
PO Box 2457 Townsville Q 4810
hinchinbrookalliance@gmail.com
mobile 0427 724 052