Greens not up to it

The Courier Mail reports that that three days after securing a Greens preference deal, Anna Bligh said that they are unworthy of being considered an "alternate" government.

Bligh was responding to a question about the Greens on social networking site Twitter:

• "they're certainly not an alternate govt (sic)".

However Premier Bligh immediately tried to erase her comment, deleting the post less than three minutes after it went public.

On Friday afternoon, Bligh's campaign team said that, "unless Twitter messages or 'tweets' from the account were specifically tagged otherwise, they had been personally written by Ms Bligh."

"No secret - Premier's personal tweets are unmarked, tweets uploaded by the team marked Anna4QldTeam," the Twitter message said.

The Courier Mail reported...

• If you visit Anna Bligh's official Twitter page the comment sledging the Greens will not be seen, but the offending post can easily be found in a search. Posted Twitter messages can be deleted, but they will only be erased from the user's page; messages posted on Twitter live forever in Twitter Search.
  
  This is not the first time Anna Bligh has been caught out deleting messages on Twitter.
  The premier was in Mt Isa on March 5 and tweeted: "I'm in Mt Isa. It's looking very green and the river is flowing".
  
  Bemused Twitter user Joshua Withers replied: "which Mount Isa are you at?"
  Without acknowledging Mr Withers or referencing her previous tweet, Ms Bligh deleted the first message and posted a second , identical except for the words "and the river is flowing".
  
  While Ms Bligh's campaign team have been active on Twitter since their first update at noon on February 18 , they have routinely ignored questions from the public, and news organisations, on the social networking site.

The preference deal for 14 electorates was announced by the Greens on Thursday last week. It's an odd endorsement following a scathing environmental report criticising Labor's last 10 years in Queensland.

Meanwhile, Traveston should be named the 'Ronan Lee Dam' if Labor wins LNP's Shadow Environment Minister David Gibson says.

Damming the Mary River at Traveston was a priority of Labor - so they should name the dam after Ronan Lee should they win government on the back of Greens' preferences, Gibson says.

Gibson says many were rightly disgusted by the hypocrisy shown by Ronan Lee and the Queensland Greens.

"They are angry they have been used as a bargaining chip by Labor and the Greens," Mr Gibson said. "Last Wednesday, as south east Queensland's worst environmental disaster was unfolding Ronan Lee was locked away with his old Labor Party mates doing a deal to save himself rather than the environment."

"Like a watermelon, Mr Lee has a green skin but maintains his red Labor core. If Ronan Lee is prepared to bargain away the Mary River, what other important environment issues is he prepared to sacrifice for his own benefit?"

Roadmap for a sustainable Far North

CAFNEC (Cairns and Far North Environment Centre) has released its prescription for sustainable development in Far North Queensland.

"During this election CAFNEC urges voters and politicians alike to embrace the protection and better management of the Far North environment," Campaign Director, Steve Ryan says.

He says that good environmental management underpins economic prosperity and our way of life. "Urgent action on a range of areas is required to safeguard a sustainable future," says Ryan.

CAFNEC's roadmap has been collated from views and advice of a wide variety of community groups and individuals. Inappropriate development and its effects on our remaining habitat and wildlife remain a paramount concern, CAFNEC says, and also for many communities across the region.

"The disaster of False Cape and the current development frenzy in the Innisfail area threaten the coastal habitats of the endangered Cassowary, as well as our regional character and lifestyle," Steve Ryan says.

"For far too long successive State Governments have overseen a decline in our natural landscapes of the Far North. Long term Cairns residents can remember when Cassowaries could be seen on suburban rainforest trails. Now these great birds are gone from Cairns and we see Wallabies trapped by run-away development in the Northern and Southern suburbs of Cairns."

"Across the region we see Cassowaries dying on our roads and pushed out by ongoing development of their habitat. Until State Governments place habitat protection at the centre of sustainable development we will continue to lose precious wildlife that symbolise our region in the eyes of our communities and the world," says Ryan.

CAFNEC predicts that the Wet Tropics and the Great Barrier Reef will suffer significant damage from climate change impacts, despite any measures able to be taken today.

"In order to secure a future for these two world-class pillars of our regional environment and economy we must ensure these systems remain healthy and can continue to sustain the region," Steve Ryan said.

Here's CAFNEC's policy document, and the key policy recommendations...

Climate change

• Commit to the inclusion of regional greenhouse gas reduction strategies and targets within an appropriate statutory instrument, such as amending the newly released FNQ Regional Plan 2009-2031 accordingly

Preserving ecological function and improving landscape scale resilience

• Provide dedicated statutory protection of wildlife corridors identified in the FNQ Regional Plan 2009-2031, triggered by development assessment and environmental planning processes.


• Implement appropriate conservation management arrangements for private land holders including conservation covenants, cooperative management and other agreements, land for wildlife, Nature Refuges.


• Local governments be proactively supported in providing rates-based incentives for voluntary conservation measures on freehold land


• A commitment to actively promote and fully resource voluntary conservation measures for all privately held tenures in the Wet Tropics, Gulf and Cape York.

Coastal protection

• Protecting local icons:
  Buy back and rehabilitate Ella Bay


• Support strong local government plans for coastal communities with high projected growth rates or where threatened species impacts are escalating - e.g. Daintree, Innisfail.


• Reform the Integrated Planning Act 1997:
  Cancel or sunset (after a fixed period not exceeding two years) all pre-IPA approvals, re-assess under current standards of environmental and coastal protection if there is a wish to proceed with the development.


• All new and uncommenced development proposals must be subject to the same current standards of regulatory controls and environmental protection, regardless of tenure, zoning or unused historic approvals.

Water

• No commitment to new dams in the FNQ Water Supply Strategy. In particular the proposed Nullinga Dam on the Walsh River.


• No dam on the Gilbert River, or other Gulf rivers.

Mona Mona: a better story

CairnsBlog columnist Syd Walker, a long-time local commentator in the diverse Kuranda region, critiques Cairns Post's Gavin King's view of Mona Mona and wonders why he simply doesn't get it.

Gavin King writes opinion pieces, mostly about politics, for the Cairns Post, one of Rupert Murdoch’s innumerable regional newspapers in Australia. His column in the Post appears under the pretentious title ‘The King’.

King seems to revel in cynicism. One suspects he’d rather be in Canberra, covering the spiteful wrangles of national politics and writing about egos as big as his own. But perhaps he can’t stand cold weather, or maybe he has parking ticket warrants outstanding in NSW? At any event, it seems he’s stuck in Cairns. And we, who live in Far North Queensland, seem to be stuck with him, along with his pretensions, crass opinions and naff attitudes.

Last week, a media release from Sarah Isaacs of the Barron River Greens began with the words “The Greens usually welcome new National Park initiatives but find themselves in the ironic situation of opposing the formation of one on the old Mona Mona reserve”.

It’s true, there is irony in The Greens support for a better deal for local Aboriginal folk in this case, because it led them, uncharacteristically, to oppose a National Park expansion. The reasoning was that while new National Park additions are welcome, this would have been a case of taking away land previously promised to local Aboriginal people. That would be a dirty trick on folk who are already, to say the least, long-suffering. That’s why the Greens’ media release used the word ‘ironic’.

But King writes his story about this as though he personally invented irony. It’s a typical hit piece, in which he rubbishes his usual targets: woolly-headed greens, bleeding-heart pinkos, good-for-nothing natives and naïve locals. Perhaps it never occurs to him that there’s more to life than cynicism? Maybe, in his case, there isn’t?

Mr King accuses the local Barron River member Steve Wettenhall of “politics at its purest and scummiest level” for getting the cabinet decision reversed so all the Mona Mona land can become Aboriginal-owned.

Now, I have my ups and downs with Steve Wettenhall and I’m certainly not his apologist. But in this case, Steve saw a problem and moved fast to correct it. He recognized that continuing injustice to the local Aboriginal community would taint future relationships in his electorate. He acted fast and got a result.

What’s more, to the credit of local candidate Wendy Richardson, the LNP seems supportive too. The Aboriginal people are pleased. No-one (apart from Gavin King?) seems upset – and why would they be?

This might be ‘scummy politics’ to a jaded hack, but to those of us who actually live in the Kuranda community and would like it to be more happy, united and prosperous, it’s remarkably akin to ‘consensus politics’. Of course, ‘consensus’ may well be anathema to King as well. He probably thinks of hippies when he hears the word: hippies who snigger at him around the campfire, looking like they have more fun than he does. Reach for the deodorant, Gavin!

Having lived in the Kuranda area for a decade, I’ve been lucky enough to befriend some of the Aboriginal folk, visit Mona Mona at their invitation and hear some of their accounts of the remarkable and quite tragic history of the area.

140 years is beyond a human life span, but it’s not such a long time. That’s how long it is since history – in the narrow sense of human affairs documented by written record – began in this area. Before that, continuous Aboriginal occupation of this region over tens of millennia, in an environment more stable than many other parts of the world, gave rise to one of the most ethnographically and linguistically complex quilts of related cultures in the world.

During the 1860s, European settlers who had arrived on the coast in the preceding decades began to make inroads into the Tablelands. They soon began dispossessing the Aboriginal people. Sometimes invaders were resisted. There were massacres of indigenous people and a population collapse, probably caused in the main by introduced diseases. It’s also true the full narrative of contact wasn’t all doom and gloom. There were friendships, inter-marriage and positive stories to tell. All this has become part of our local history, which FNQ historian Dr Tim Bottoms has studied and written with loving care.

By the first decade of the 20th century, the Queensland Government, now part of the Federation of Australia, took steps to ‘protect’ the remaining Aboriginal people of FNQ. Its policy was to round up surviving Aboriginals and confine them to a few settlements, run by religious orders. Mona Mona was one of these Missions (there were others in the region too, such as Yarrabah and Hopevale).

In pre-invasion times, the Aboriginal people of FNQ spoke many languages and – despite complex inter-locking kin relations – considered themselves many different peoples. But these nuances were lost on the new overloads, who probably regarded all indigenes as ‘blacks’. In any event, Aboriginal people from many districts, speaking many tongues, were confined to the same Missions. The people sent to Mona Mona were a mixed group. To make things easy (for the managers) and in keeping with the paternalistic assumptions of early Australia, residents of Mona Mona were permitted to speak only English. There was a systematic attempt to eradicate local indigenous languages and cultural traditions. It nearly succeeded…

Mona Mona was opened as a Mission run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1910. Three decades later, young men from Mona Mona were sent off to fight Australia’s war. So, there was occasional escape from the Mission – but not much. These days, we might call an institution like that a concentration camp. It was not unmitigated brutality. It was not a place of extermination. But it was a system of rigid control, in which Aboriginal residents had few rights.

On a visit to Mona Mona last year, I was told a story by an elderly man about his childhood in Mona Mona. He described his childhood as a happy time in many respects and spoke without bitterness. Even so, the harshness he had experienced as a child was shocking to me.

On reaching puberty, along with the other boys of Mona Mona, he was required to move out of his parents household and sleep in a dormitory. Amazingly, he wasn’t allowed to speak to his parents after that if he met them in the street!

As a young man, he was sent away to work on large cattle stations distant from the rainforests of his childhood. The stations were desperate for labour and recruited widely. Many co-workers were non-Aboriginal. But although the boys worked together and sometimes played together, there was a big difference. The non-Aboriginals were paid wages. Aboriginals, by contrast, worked for their keep and their wages were remitted direct to the authorities.

By the early 1960s, the anachronism of places like Mona Mona was probably too much for even the Bjelke Petersen Government, which decided on a new approach. Eyeing up the Flagge Creek, which runs close to Mona Mona, as the site of a major new dam, it closed the Mission and dispersed the Aboriginal inhabitants. They mainly moved to places such as Kurowa and Mantaka in the Myola valley – small pockets of temporary housing, without adequate sewerage, water supplies or other services.

Within a few years, the village of Mona Mona – a well-constructed settlement until 1961, complete with community facilities – was wrecked. Local landowners pillaged just about everything they could find. Today, what was the old Church is a stone slab. Everything movable, of any value, was stripped.

The Government soon changed its mind over the Flagge Dam, which was never built and is no longer on the drawing board. So the dispersion of Mona Mona’s Aboriginal community - and the destruction of their village - was for no good reason. As usual, the indigenous people bore the brunt of policies into which they had no input. They were treated not much differently from livestock, really - moved at will from one paddock to another.

Happily, since that time, attitudes in Australia have changed a lot. There is much more goodwill in the local community now and reconciliation is on the national agenda. Modern Australians have much more appreciation of Aboriginal culture and what it has to offer the nation and the world. The didgeridoo is found in shops from Toledo to Tokyo. Aboriginal art is a global success story. Even so, we are really just enjoying fragments of what’s left. Most of the pre-1788 Aboriginal culture is lost for ever. Most of the languages are extinct.

No Aboriginal people that I know spend long hours bemoaning the past. Like most of us, they want to move on. They’re more interested in a better future. But they retain a sense of indigenous identity and feel themselves custodians of their ancient culture. That culture, of course, was inextricably connected with the land.

Mona Mona is not an Aboriginal sacred site. It’s a historical site. It’s where many of the locals recent ancestors are buried. It’s a place with childhood memories for the elders. The young know its stories. And slowly, but inexorably, Aboriginal inhabitants have drifted back to Mona Mona.

There have been more recent betrayals. In the early 1990s, millions was promised by the Keating Government to help rebuild Mona Mona. Most of this money was unspent. The Howard Government was unsympathetic to supporting ‘remote communities’ and favoured assimilation. If money was to be spent on Aboriginal housing, better to spend in Smithfield, Kuranda, Mareeba and other local suburbs. Until very recently, it seemed the new Labor Government in Canberra would go along with this agenda. The State Government fell into line.

Now that’s changed. Mona Mona will be Aboriginal land – not just the minimalist 100 hectares agreed in last November’s State cabinet decision, but an additional 1,500 hectares of the surrounding area that was also Mission land in the old days. It will provide a strong basis for the rejuvenation of Aboriginal culture in this area. Crucially, at long, long last, the Aboriginal people are about to regain some real power over Mona Mona. They have campaigned long and hard for this and deserve congratulations.

With power comes responsibility. As a conservationist, I’m concerned that the natural values of the region are protected – by all landowners and land managers. I hope that adequate wildlife surveys will be undertaken of the Mona Mona area (perhaps they have already exist?) If it’s anything like the rest of the native forests around here, it’s rich with rare and endangered species. I believe the Aboriginal people would be wise to negotiate conservation agreements to help protect the natural values of their land. Ultimately, it’s their decision.

‘Green extremists’ might have supported the transfer of the 1,500 hectares to National Park against the Aboriginals’ wishes – on the basis that would give the greatest protection to that area from activities such as logging and mining, which can all-too-easily destroy those values forever.

But in this area, most conservationists I know support the principle that justice for the Aboriginal people should not, yet again, be at the bottom of the agenda. A National Park against the wishes of the indigenous people would be a hollow victory for environmental protection. We cannot build a better future on foundations of continuing injustice.

As equals, conservationists have the right to ask Aboriginal people to respect the natural values of their land and live sustainably. They, in turn, are equally entitled to inquire how we are getting along ourselves on these fronts?

The dreadful truth is that, until now, none of us have been doing very well. The culture and way of life of the last people around here to live sustainably was largely obliterated over a century ago. Living sustainably in Far North Queensland is rather like Gandhi’s famous quip about Western Civilization. It’s a good idea – but who’s doing it?

The vision of a model, sustainable community at Mona Mona is inspiring. But no one should imagine it’s going to be easy. It’s a project that must run in parallel with developing a sustainable Kuranda, sustainable Cairns… and sustainable world society. This is all unfinished business – indeed, the work has barely begun.

But at least, at Mona Mona, there’s now the prospect of establishing foundations in which all the community can share a sense of pride.

That’s a good basis for a better future. You'd think even a King might appreciate it? It seems to make sense to ordinary people.

Woman like Bligh pollute their face with botox

‘Woman Like Bligh Pollute Their Face With Botox, Their Water With Fluoride And Their Minds With Fear And Loathing - And Usually Die Young Of Cancer’

So goes the claim from the anti-Fluoride campaign circulating around Cairns from former City Councillor Annette Shephard and others.

"If you want to die young then do what Anna Bligh does - become a spokesperson for the chemical industry, build up your self esteem by plastering chemicals onto your face and drink
fluoride straight-up in the quest for whiter teeth," says the latest propaganda.

Infamous Cairns Post letter writer Werner Schmidlin agrees.

"To all those bird brains who suggest that I should drink rain tank water... Are you mad?" he says. "Then I get bat and bird shit which would be worse than ingesting fluoride."

The Anti-Flouride press release goes on to say that only "very desperate people stoop to such extremes in their efforts to ‘look good’. The chemical companies have succeeded in brainwashing an entire generation of woman, who inject botox to build their self esteem because they have no care for chemical wastes they add to the environment."

Botox pollutes the waterways, they claim. And I thought the sediment run-off was enough to deal with?!

But wait, there's more. They say that Anna probably loves to eat fruit and veggies from China, loaded with DDT - because "the veggies ‘look nice.’

• Our society is so consumed with ‘looks’ that we’ll pollute our homes with the most toxic chemical substances to have our kitchens and bathrooms looking clean and fresh. And women pollute themselves with synthetic perfumes to make themselves smell ‘nice.’
  What a sad, sick, artificial society we have become.
  
  Yes, go ahead Anna, just keep telling yourself botox will keep you happy. And drink more
  fluoride, and eat more DDT. Don’t stop there. There are hundreds more chemicals you can force on the community in your mad quest to force chemicals into every corner your world. But guess what? Not everyone is as neurotic and suicidal as you are
  madam. Some of us, get by without our chemical life support systems.
  Anna, you’ll never make it to 60 my dear. Not a hope in the world. Not
  a chance. Skin cancer is your destiny.
  
  FYI - Skin Cancer rates to soar with fluoride skin contamination!
  Fluoride at levels as low as 1 part per million in the drinking water give rise to an irregular formation of collagen in the body. Collagen, which makes up about a third of our bodies, is a major component of skin, ligaments, tendons, muscles, cartilage, bones and teeth.

State election CAFNEC debate - Friday

This Friday CAFNEC will put candidates running for the State election under the environmental spotlight.

• WHAT Candidate Forum
  WHEN Friday 13 March 12:30 midday – 1:30 pm
  LUNCH OPTION $15 menu from midday
  WHERE Shenannigans, Cnr Sheridan & Spence Streets, Cairns

Questioned posed will be:-
What are the priority areas for the candidates’ environmental policy?
What will the candidates do to address these problems ?
How will their environmental policy deliver a sustainable economy in Queensland?

Confirmed to date...
Steve Wettenhall, Desley Boyle (Labor)
Joel Harrop, Wendy Richardson - (LNP)
Janice Skipp (Family First)
Steve Brech, Hugh Whitehouse (Greens)

Hard waste collection should happen

With the 582 Dengue fever cases recorded in Cairns, rising by 10 to 15 every day, and the first recorded death, Councillor Robert Pyne wants more action from Cairns Regional Council.

Last month he tried unsuccessfully to get a motion passed for a hard waste pick up, but Council officials debunked the proposal because of costs.

"I maintain this is something Council should do at the end of every dry season, Councillor Pyne says. "It addresses, in a positive way, cyclone preparedness, dengue fever and electric ants."

"At the time there is no indemnity on tip fees, other than the exception on dumping old car tires," Pyne said.

He is angered by Council's lack of support for such a clean up, with contradicted the advice from Queensland Health's Tropical Health Population team.

"I spoke to some of our team and yes, for dengue control they think a hard waste collection would be of more benefit that a green waste collection," Heather Robertson of Tropical Health Population said.

"It would have to be managed well because if hard waste was left to accumulate, waiting for pickup, it would become a increased dengue mozzie breeding risk."

In an email to all Councillors yesterday, Pyne urged Councillors against advising people that a hard waste collection would be of no benefit in addressing the dengue outbreak.

A recent meeting between Queensland Health and Cairns Regional Council's Environmental Health staff, a total indemnity on all waste dumping was discussed.

Civil disobedience congratulated

Diane Forsyth's actions have not gone un-noticed.

Her protest actions of civil disobedience was based on her conscience, while a Councillor on the Cairns Regional Council.

"Often when people get into public office they start to limit their behaviour and decision-making to conform to general public expectations rather than follow their convictions and conscience," said Geoff Holland on the Cairns Coev network this week, an online forum about environmental, community and sustainable development issues.

"We all need to compromise and horse-trade to some degree. But public leaders also need to LEAD and this sometimes requires personal social risk," Geoff said.

"Di had the courage and sense of leadership to take that risk. What we need right now is a range of community leaders to come out in public support of Di's actions - not necessarily agreeing with her views, but supporting her right to civil disobediance in accordance with her conscience and moral convictions."

He says that the media may try to pigeon-hole Di as a marginal extreme public figure, who is not really fit for public office, when the opposite is true.

"If it can be widely recognised that Di's actions were heroic, particularly because she held public office, then we might see a small shift in the cultural-political consciousness of the Cairns community. Civil disobedience is appropriate for anyone on occasion. We each should stand up for what we believe in. Then we would have real participatory democracy."

"Thankyou Di Forsyth!" Geoff says.

NIMBY's of Stoney Creek - part 2

Barron River MP Steve Wettenhall didn't like the Stoney Creek NIMBY's when I spoke to him about the proposed Youth Centre last year. Nor did I.

I wrote about this clash of cultures last June.

The State Government were going to build the facility, a badly needed Youth Intervention centre in Cairns, for up to 50 teenagers, in the idyllic community of Stoney Creek, across the Karumunga Bridge.

Wettenhall held two public meetings to tell the locals about the Youth centre, although it is disputed about the type of community consultation that took place. The MP was determined to deliver the facility, however the second meeting, forced by the local close-knit community, only allowed people to attend if they had written a submission.

Some never heard about the consultation process, even though leaflets were distributed around the community. Wettenhall later admitted there was an "error in some of the delivery".

However, as soon as the election was called this week, in one of his 22 press releases, Wettenhall says he will now 'represent' the locals of Stoney Creek and recommend to not go ahead with the project, even though he still believe it should be built.

The Minister of Corrections has jumped in as well, and announced that the facility will not go ahead at that site. Amazing the things this Labor Government seems to be able to do in 'caretaker' mode.

The study I did at the time of the debate last year, led me to believe that there would have been little disturbance to the community. There was concerns about 'hundreds of extra vehicles' and 'offenders running through the neighbourhood', all spread to put fear around. I chatted with Steve Wettenhall and the Government agencies involved, about various objections at the time. Having worked in youth education before, I agreed with him that there would have been minimal to nil disruption to the surrounding residential community.

The youth that were to be placed there were going to be of a very low risk, and the outdoor setting, once transformed, would have been magnificent environment for education and training. You only have to hear of the huge crime rate in our city that we need a facility like this urgently.

So this afternoon I wandered around the posh streets of Stoney Creek Estate, where there is wide skepticism in the community of the flip flop. Jackie, who didn't want her last name printed, said that although she and her neighbours were pleased with the latest decision, they see it as an election stunt.

"Yes, we saw it for what it is, when all along our MP has ignored us and not even allowed us to speak at the meetings," she said. "Now as soon as an election is coming along, they change their mind. He won't get my support for not advocating and listening to us in the first place."

Another resident of Stoney Creek, who lives 500 meters from the old Scout Camp, where the youth facility was to be built, is cynical about the political announcement.

"It's clearly time for a MP to go when he only reacts to the will of the community when he knows his job is on the line," he told CairnsBlog.

However, LNP's candidate for Baron River, Wendy Richardson says that the proposal was never properly discussed with the community. "Here we are, three weeks before an election, and the MP says he still believes it should go ahead, and at the same time, changes his mind."

At last June's community meeting, the residents voted to have no confidence in their MP. I wonder if they would now, after this election turn-around.

Real change needed in Legislative Assembly

CairnsBlog columnist, Syd Walker, shares his observations on Premier Bligh's snap election.


The Queensland State election has been called. Election day is March 21st.

This is not a comprehensive round-up… just a few personal thoughts.

I’ll start at the ‘top’. I rather like the current Premier, Anna Bligh. I’ve met her only once, for a very brief one-to-one discussion at one of the former Premier’s moving cabinet meetings. I was impressed. She struck me as a politician capable of actually listening, even to an unpopular message. She didn’t just give a rote response. She gave a thoughtful response. That’s worth a lot in my book.

I’ve never met Opposition Leader, Lawrence Springborg of the Liberal National Party, but he’s been around a while. Actually, it’s his third Queensland election contest as Opposition leader.

I have heard Springborg on the radio and watched him on TV many times. He does not impress me. If he’s more than a reactionary opportunist, he does a good job covering it up. But I’ll keep an open mind and hope he can contribute to raising the level of debate in this State. Surely it’s his last chance to do that as Opposition leader?

Those are the two main party leaders. What of the political parties in general?

I shall likely vote for The Greens and give a preference vote to progressive independents (if any). Beyond that, with an optional preferential voting system which allows voters to number as many boxes as they wish (from 1 to n), I’ll keep my own council for now. Let’s see how the debate pans out and wait for the policy rollout.

The Labor Party, while less reactionary than its LNP opponents, is a rather gruesome machine. A lot of Labor’s MPs are rank opportunists and few seem to have much vision. Typically, they’re ‘business as usual’ managers, with grey suits and green, pink, blue and brown ties, depending on the occasion. This has not been a party of bold and imaginative new initiatives towards sustainable development.

But would the Liberal-Nationals be any better? I haven’t seen any evidence of that so far. Would they be worse? I have my fears.

It’s best to keep an open mind early in the election campaign, allowing plenty of blue screen for pleasant surprises. But if Mr Spingborg and his crew have serious proposals that might appeal to voters with my interests, they’d better share them and fast.

Incidentally, outflanking Labor on environmental policy and other issues of concern to progressives is not an impossible task for a right-wing coalition in Australia. Under Malcolm Turnbull’s able leadership, the Federal Opposition is coming close to doing precisely that.
Queensland needs a credible State Opposition. Above all, the State needs some radically new policies. In Far North Queensland, an isolated geographical enclave some 2,000 kilometers from the State capital, we need a visionary regional approach to develop a resilient, sustainable economy and way of life.

The previous Beattie-Labor Government set up a new planning process for FNQ, which produced its final report a fortnight ago. The plan is a statutory document and represents a major change in the regional planning regime.

When the new regional plan came out, it was barely noticed by most of the community. That’s probably just what the government hoped. No noise means no political damage. Most of the squeakiest wheels had been assuaged in the plan. It was a fix that normalized business as usual, c. early 2009.

The problem is, we need a lot more than that now. We don’t just have a State in ecological crisis; we have economic recession as well. The former could be – and was – repeatedly brushed under the carpet; the public won’t stand for that on the economy.

A State Government with real vision would provide coherent, integrated solutions to both major crises. We’d have a major roll-out of new, low-emissions technology and infrastructure. We’d be taking the first real steps towards a sustainable way of life.

I may be wrong, but I suspect Anna Bligh would not be averse to such policies. Unfortunately, most of her rank and file MPs seem to be a mundane and rather visionless lot. Without energetic, progressive politicians supporting innovative policies at a local and regional level, they don’t get on the Government’s agenda.

Labor is broadly competent to manage business as usual. But in 2009 - more so than before - doing better is an urgent priority.

To do better, we need real change in the Legislative Assembly. From my perspective, the best conceivable outcome at this election would be Greens and progressive independents holding the balance of power. A minority Labor Government forced to negotiate with more enlightened politicians would not be plain sailing. But it would be a sea-change.

It would revitalize politics in Queensland – and might also bring out the best in Anna Bligh. She’s needs more talent in her team.

Queensland’s economic summer wasn’t so difficult to manage. Winter will be more challenging.

PS: I just got a ping-back from Qldelection09.com, which is maintaining a daily list of blog postings on the Queensland election. A great service!

De-Amalgamate Briggs Now

It's amazing how the Chief Executive Officer of Cairns Regional Council has so much time on his hands.

In between missing the boat on the Dengue outbreak, he finds time to criticise issues that are not within his job description.

Noel Briggs' role, as the CEO, is to manage his staff and implement the policies as decided by the elected Councillors. Nothing more.

However, he has the Cairns Post on speed dial, only to waste time, trying to yet again put a Councillor in their place. It is not the CEO's job to be involved in politics. Let me repeat that: It is not the CEO's job to be involved in politics.

His sights are again aimed at Julia Leu, for the grand felony of putting a 'De-Amalgamate Douglas Now' bumper sticker on her Council-funded car. Amazingly the sticker has graced Julia's vehicle for nearly a year, yet all of a sudden a 'Council staffer' complained.

This Councillor is doing what she said she'd do, when she took the mighty oath - to represent the people. It's a sad day when a Councillor or MP stops doing this. I wish Mr Briggs would get on with the job we all pay him the massive salary to do. He has around 900 staff and a myriad of pressing issues from appalling environmental management to killing some damm mozzies.

Soon after Councillor Forsyth jumped on the roof of the historic Yacht Club building late last year, Noel Briggs spent thousands of ratepayers dollars to commission one of his mates on the Tablelands to write a 10-page report on why the Councillor was guilty of the Code of Conduct. It was not objective nor balanced. I've seen this so-called investigation, which is the most poorly written documents you could ever set eyes on. We will be asking how much was spent of this report. It is also believed that the Mayor is not keen to pay for this trashy piece of deliberate dirt digging by the CEO.

This morning we see yet another 'investigation' by Briggs, this time into Councillor Lesina's Facebook profile. You can post all kinds of things here, it's a digital scrapbook. The Cairns Post reported that Kirsten is a 'member' of online groups like "come the f--- on bridget" and "1 million strong against Labor".

"I wonder why the Cairns Post would think that [I'm] in a group called 1 million strong against Labor when [I'm] in about 600 other labor fan groups," Kirsten Lesina said this morning on her profile page.

CEO Briggs says he will suggest Lesina change her profile to private. Kirsten should not take her marching orders from the CEO, someone paid three times that of the first term Councillor. She dragged this Council into the online era and is making strong in-roads for young people having access and involvment in local government.

I find the Mayor getting dragged into this latest debate about car stickers, on the coattails of the CEO's statement, is awkward, odd and a little dis-loyal. Julia, along with Diane Forsyth, are both on the same political leanings as our Mayor, and such attacks do little to strengthen and cement her position and the agenda of politics she so proudly and passionately stood for just over a year ago.

Breed mozzies and get bitten with a $400 fine

The Cairns Regional Council, who I proved were too slow to act in the first month of the Dengue outbreak back in December, will now start issuing $400 on-the-spot fines if they find breeding mosquito larvae on a property.

Queensland Health has taken legal advice from Crown Law, that will allow local Councils to encourage residents to keep their property free of mosquito breeding sites.

"The $400 fines will be issued where evidence of mosquito breeding exists," Council CEO Noel Briggs says. “This means at the discretion of the Health Officer, if mosquito larvae is found, a fine will be issued.”

“This stringent measure is really a final alternative for Council to clamp down on those residents who are not paying attention to the many public warnings that have been out there for months,“ Briggs said.

Now whilst I agree with this action, I have to say that the CEO and Council owe some answers to the Cairns community:

• Why did they fail to act when presented with specific information on 3rd December last year about Gatton Street, North Cairns?
  
  
• Why did Council's Senior Environmental Health Officer Gilbert Farrow lie to his manager when questioned last Friday, saying that he never had a conversation on December 5th with the complainant?
  
  
• Was Council therefore negligent and allowed hundreds of mosquito to breed in Gatton Street, North Cairns?
  
  
• Will Council reprimand, terminate or demote this senior Council officer because of his blatant inaction, causing the danger to hundreds of local residents, at what we now know as the 'Ground Zero' of the Dengue outbreak? They should at the very least slap him with with a $400 fine. Then just slap him again.

Today, another 5 cases were added to those who have contracted Dengue, up to 407 in Cairns, with another 66 in Townsville. Queensland Health can also issue on-the-spot 'health orders', which also carry a penalty of $400.

Kier gets Dengue fever

This morning at the crack of dawn (why does Dawn deserve all these wise cracks?), I ventured into ABC's Sheridan Street studio to share the Dengue story.

Kier Shorey has always been supportive of independent bloggers like me, you only have to listen to his breakie show, to realise he has a bent for news that no one else dares to run.

Before I launched in and shared with his listeners the appalling Council and Queensland Health response back in December, Kier interviewed Amy Yorston, from Inverness Medical Innovations to talk about vector borne diseases. She stressed the dangerous environment created when more than one Dengue type was circulating, as it is in Cairns presently.

"When re-infection occurs, a person that has the virus, complications and outcomes can be very bad," Yorston said.

There are four types of dengue viruses that cause dengue fever: 1, 2, 3 and 4.
A person infected with one type of dengue will subsequently only be immune to that type, they will not be immune to other types of dengue and will, in fact, be at risk of developing severe symptoms if they contract another type of dengue.

"There is no early chance of a vaccine for Dengue, the only cure is to avoid getting bitten," Amy Yorston said.

At 4:30pm Wednesday afternoon, the total Dengue infection cases notified to Queensland Health, climbed to a staggering 379, since December 1st. These are made up of Type 2 and Type 3. There are 64 cases in Townsville.

Here's the local transmissions: Aloomba 3, Bayview Heights 6, Bungalow 31, Cairns North 102, Clifton Beach 10, Earlville 5, Edge Hill 9, Edmonton 1, Freshwater 1, Holloways Beach 2, Kewarra Beach 10, Machans Beach 23, Manoora 7, Parramatta Park 28, Smithfield 4, Trinity Beach 1, Westcourt 10, Whitfield 67, Yorkeys Knob 16.

I will continue with part 2 of the story in the next day.

Dengue, our sleeping bushfire - Part 1

It's difficult to know where to start on this one.

I come across many stories I like to share. Some just for the heck of it. Some that enrage you. This is one such story.

This tale is up there with Syd Walker's epic The Death Throes of Mareeba Shire story, when he exposed serious conflicts of the Mareeba Mayor's final days in office last year, leaving a dark grim cloud over Borzi's tenure.

We all know know that this Wet season's Dengue outbreak in Cairns, is one of the worst for a long number of years. I, like many, have been somewhat lapse at preventive measures, although have always emptied gathered water in my yard, and religiously (not in a Catholic way) lit citronella and coils to ward off the pesky biting menaces.

Not until we interact closely with someone who's been infected, do we often genuinely take notice. We can see numerous reports about infections and how the virus is spreading, yet in an era of mass media, it seems far away, or someone else's problem.

So let me tell you my mozzie story, and it has plenty of bite.

I wrote the cover story in this month's Cairns Bulletin. It was all about Yorkeys resident, Sasha McGrath. I wanted to write a human interest piece about the Dengue outbreak and allow someone who'd been infected, to tell everyone how it felt and what the symptoms were. All we were hearing before this was the same old stuff about emptying water containers, and the numbers were being pumped out over the radio and in the paper. We may have been becoming immune to it somewhat?

I met Sasha through her neighbours, Janine Aitken and her partner, Marty. He told me his experience, that made me discover a pattern of complacency, lack of co-ordination, confusion and poor appropriate response from both the Cairns Regional Council and Queensland Health's Tropical Population Health Services, in the early days of the Dengue mosquito outbreak - a crucial time for local authorities to act.

On Friday December 5th last year, four days after the first Dengue notification in Cairns, Marty came across something that shocked him.

He was checking out a vacant North Cairns property in Gatton Street, that his Perth friends were moving into shortly.

"I wandered around the rear of the house and saw one of those old outdoor concrete washtubs. It was full of stagnate water with hundreds of wrigglers - breeding mozzie larvae," Marty said. "These tubs are really heavy, so I couldn't move or empty it by myself, but know something had to be done urgently."

On the way back to his workplace, he dropped into Cairns Regional Council's Spence Street office, to report his gruesome discovery, and get some action from the Environmental Health team. This group is headed by Council's Senior Environmental Health Officer, Gilbert Farrow.

Marty knew this was important to report and be dealt with promptly as he'd heard about the initial Dengue infections being reported in the first week of December. We now knows that these early notifications were coming from North Cairns, and could most probably be traced to the vicinity of this property in Gatton Street.

This is not the first year that Council has teamed up with the local Health authority to combat Dengue, but there appears serious flaws in the system.

Upon arriving at Council's 'customer service area', Marty filled in the form to record what he wanted done, however before he left, he asked to see the head of the Dengue Response Unit. Gill Farrow came down hand engaged in a nervous and what appeared, distracted four minute conversation with Marty.

"He wasn't interested, nor was he paying much attention to what I was saying," Marty recalls. "I told him that someone should go down there straight away and deal with the situation. He looked at his watch and really wasn't taking in the severity of what I was telling him."

The conversation ended after Marty offered his services for surveillance work, as his current work may be coming to a end. "He asked me what qualifications I had, and that didn't seem to please him when I shared my background in bio security issues and previous work."

Frustrated, Marty left Council, armed with his 'Customer Complaint' number, hoping that something would be done about the mozzie breeding party in Gatton Street.

Two and a half weeks went by and one morning in late December, Marty got a telephone call. "Hi, is that Martin? We're at that property in North Cairns. We're attending to that mozzie problem in the washtub," the field officer exclaimed. "That was over two weeks ago," Marty said.

The offending wash tub has since been planted with tomatoes by the new tenants.

It's clear that in the first three weeks of December, a slow response by Cairns Regional Council, in the early days of the Dengue outbreak, has caused this nasty disease to spread faster than anyone expected.

It is so very easy to prevent and reduce breeding sites. We now know, that just under a third of all reported Dengue infections originated from North Cairns, around 100.

Last Wednesday, I sought answers from Council about this particular case, and why it wasn't dealt with more swiftly. Council's Environmental Assessment Manager, Laurie Phipps, was asking to investigate. He looked into the complaint and questioned his Dengue team leader, Gilbert Farrow.

However, Farrow now says that no conversation took place at all with the original complainant on Friday 5th December.

It appears that on last Friday, not knowing what had been done, at the Gatton Street address, Phipps ordered someone to go back and "make sure it was done."

Marty received another telephone call on Friday afternoon. "Hello Martin. We're at this address in North Cairns, dealing with your complaint. We can't seem to see where you were talking about?" the Council officer said. Marty explained that this was reported on the 5th December, and had been dealt with, albeit late, in late December.

"There was a pause on the phone, he didn't acknowledge what I'd said," Marty says. "Well we want to make sure it's done," the Council inspector said as the phone call was concluded.

"This highlights the lack of coordination and systems in place," Marty says.

Why would they not know that this site had been cleared, or was someone covering their backs soon after a Councillor started asking questions about a specific complaint that wasn't dealt with appropriately at the time?

It's unforgivable that this Council can put up rates, donate $150,000 in 'our' budget for some horse race, yet fail to act with promptness after clear information was provided about a potentially deadly virus breeding ground.

On Friday morning, Council's Laurie Phipps telephoned Marty, but gave him no assurance that his compliant had been dealt with properly. "He said they get lot's of complaints to deal with and had only so much resources," Marty said. This was in the first few days of the outbreak and there were hardly any staff assigned to trawling the streets. It would have been a quick response that could well have alleviated the breeding of hundreds of deadly Dengue mosquito in North Cairns.

We can now say that with around 100 confirmed cases of Dengue infections in North Cairns, that this was our Ground Zero. As the first reports came in on December 1, Council along with Tropical Population Heath, should have reacting swiftly on any notification that came to them. It's now obvious that they didn't.

I know many residents have asked Council and Queensland Health to visit the old abandoned Herries Hospital, left vacant in McLeod Street. "It's an awful breeding site for mozzies," a caller told me, who wished to remain anonymous. "They [Queensland Health] gave me the run around, and said call Council. Council said they couldn't do anything because they don't have authority to go on the property." Residents seem to get angry when no one will act or take control of a specific complaint.

Queensland Health's Tropical Population Service manage the Dengue Action Response Unit - aptly named DART. They work with Council's Environmental Health unit, and give them direction and daily updates of the Dengue spread.

Whilst residents need to take responsibility, and preventative action is relativity simple, we expect a local authority to support and react appropriately when asked.

It's clear that this case, and at least three others that I've uncovered when Council and/or the Tropical Health Unit was advised, mirror each other. A lack of response not only frustrated the complainant, but probably contributed to the Dengue mosquito breeding and infecting more residents.

You can also lodge a complaint or a request for service to Council via the online form, however this is not working properly. You should be provided with a receipt number, and this does not always happen. A number of people who have spoken to me, say their complaint is often never followed through, or they never hear anything back.

I don't doubt for a minute, that those officers on the ground, visiting hundreds of properties, are doing a tremendous job. However the system that supports and directs them, appears to be falling down.

There is more to this story, and I'll explore this in Part 2. I will show that the relationship between Cairns Regional Council and Queensland Health's Tropical Population Health unit is far from co-ordinated nor effective.

Premature ejaculation

The marriage of Bligh and her questioning Queensland public, have hardly been consummated, yet there's talk everywhere this weekend that she will come, I mean go. early.

As those getting ready for the onslaught of a Labor massacre from Coolangatta to Cairns, and Kurumba to Kuranda, the speculation has increased that Premier Anna Bligh is likely to call an early state election. According to the trusty source of right-wing propaganda NewsLTD, it would also leave "a September window for Kevin Rudd to go to the polls nationally."

Just this afternoon, Bligh announced Queensland's Speaker Mike Reynolds' retirement, paving the way for a likely election of Saturday March 28th - just six weeks away. The Courier Mail reports that Bligh might delay calling it until March 1 or 2, to "give her another sitting week in Parliament," meaning the minimum 26-day campaign.

The Courier-Mail poll of over 2,000, strongly weights against Labor.

There's been questions about the lack of visibility of local LNP candidates. However Joel Harrop, running for the seat of Cairns against the grandma of local politics Desley Boyle, has been door-knocked hundreds of houses since early January.

"People are pleased to see someone, ask questions and find out about their local MP. So many tell me they've never heard from the current MP," Joel Harrop says.

A local LNP (Liberal National Party) party insider, says it's an issue of getting noticed by the 'Big Mac Media'.

"Wendy Richardson, running for Barron River against Labor's Steve Wettenhall, has taken a well-researched look at the question of the Arnold Street lights at Aeroglen," the insider told CairnsBlog.

"She spoke to the residents and business owners, went down at peak hour with her camera, searched Government papers, looked at what Wettenhall and Pitt had said on the issue, and then went into bat for the speeding up of the already recommended installation of traffic lights as the safest solution to a dangerous situation," the LNP source said. "Wendy sent the call to the Cairns Post who promptly advised Wettenhall and Pitt in the interest of 'journalistic fairness'.

It was obvious that the Cairns Post did nothing with the information for several days, but then reported the announcement that Wettenhall and Pitt had got the 'green light' for the traffic lights.

Last Tuesday in Parliament, Steve Wettenhall spoke about the Cattana Wetlands at Smithfield. He implied that LNP was supporting placing residential developments on this unique wetland site, that will be connected to the proposed Smithfield Beaches Town Centre. I don't know where he gets these ideas from, but I know he's aware his 5.1% margin isn't much to hold onto.

Following the big wet we've all endured over the last month, Wendy Richardson, who has her own farm and an eco-tourism venture on the Tablelands, has been out to inspect creeks and washouts, many alongside poorly managed and policed developments. I've highlighted these on CairnsBlog over the last two years, that have sustained appalling damage under Labor's mis-management of the environment. Look no further than the major report last year stating that Queensland's environment is in decline under the last 10 years of Labor at the helm.

Richardson also visited the Clifton Beach high-density development, thirsty for first-hand information.

"All of us want a roof over our heads; our own space, to do that we do need to build accommodation for a growing population," the LNP source said. "So the issue is the need for a balance, lifestyle verses environment."

With a $59 billion debt in Queensland, how can you vote that lot back in?

I'm back

Mum told me never to start a letter with an apology.

With that in mind, I won't say sorry for not being very active on CairnsBlog over the last couple of weeks. I note that Byrne's right-hand soldier Dennis Quick's Cairns Watch has been offline for some time now. "Just wait a day or so. I’ve been taking a sabbatical," Dennis told me a week ago.
I've been distracted with other priorities - like some urgent wet season preparation around my properties. Building awning and attending to a raft of other wet season band aids, that should have been completed prior to 2008 - however I was distracted somewhat back then, with some professional mud-slinging for the Council election. We got Val in. Remember her?

Like almost every other resident, there's been a lot of water under our bridge of late. The weather has been causing havoc. Flooding like we've not seen for many years all over Queensland. Bush fires beyond belief in Victoria and New South Wales.

Local self-appointed environmental policeman, Terry Spackman, has been busy filming various dodgy developments around the region. I'll get these up on the CairnsBlog Tube channel to share shortly. There's still lot's to be kept an eye on after Council took over the environmental protection responsibilities from the EPA. So far, we're not impressed.

The newly formed LNP is slowly starting to emerge from the shadows, just wish they got a new leader with an inch of charisma. The jewel in the Far North's political crown, the prized seat of Cairns, held by Labor for 33 million years, is being contested by Joel Harrop, who's already knocking on doors across the electorate. He's also got a website up and running. Just bring back your videos Joel, we miss that dimple.

It's more than I can say for Wendy Richardson who is running for Barron River and Vic Black for Mulgrave. Craig Batchelor will contest Cook, against Labor's Jason O'Brien.

It's going to be the match of the year, without question. Promise not to leave you alone for too long.

Another reason to leave Townsville

Townsville Engineering Industries need to keep their perverted eyes out of the bog.

They state that they "have adopted a pro-active approach to management of Workplace Health & Safety." This seems to mean that the follow their workers to the toilet to see how they do their business!

So it was late last week that one of their workers, 43 year old Amador Bernabe was followed to the staff toilets by management, to "see how he used it".

According to his cultural habits, Amador uses water to clean himself instead of toilet paper. So? This is a European tradition as well.

The Townsville Bulletin reports that Townsville Engineering Industries sacked him yesterday for "not going to the toilet the Australian way."

• "I went to go to the toilet and I took a bottle of water when my foreman saw me and he said `you can't bring the water in there'," Mr Bernabe said.
  
  "I asked why and he said it wasn't good but I said it's our way and he followed me into the toilet. I said it's my personal hygiene. I didn't break any law, I didn't break any rules of the company, why can't I do this, and he said he would report me to the manager.
  
  "The next morning when I came in I went to punch my time card and he told me the manager wanted to talk to me in his office. He asked me what had happened and I explained to him and he said if I didn't follow the Australian way I would be immediately terminated and I said `sir, then you better terminate me'."

"Our Workplace Health & Safety is continually under review and pursued at all levels," the company profile says. "New employees are inducted into our work environment."

Amador has a working visa from the Philippines, so it seems that this company likes to hire staff from overseas, no doubt at a cheaper rate. I think that this is rather 'un-Australian'.

They should be ashamed of themselves.

Happy 2009

Just weeks after open heart surgery, veteran community campaigner and activist Bryan Law, is ready to continue to battle and raise issues for our community.

Here, he looks back at the tumultuous year that was 2008.

2008 was pretty trippy for me.

It started real well with a legal victory in the Court of Criminal Appeal at Darwin. A nice and very capable lawyer, retired Federal Court Judge the Hon Ron Merkel QC, made some compelling arguments for us in relation to the Defence (Special undertakings) Act 1952 – and the miscarriages of justice that had occurred during our trial of June 2007. You can read one lawyer’s account here.

Before the legal argument in Court, the four of us served out some time in Darwin’s Berrimah prison, a barbarous and decrepit hole some 15 kilometres north of the city. 83% indigenous. I spent 10 days on a package stay. It’s been ten years or more since I was last in prison, but like riding a bike, it doesn’t take long to get used to it again. Anyone who thinks prison is a doddle has never been there.

So on Wednesday 20 Feb I’m being escorted to cells under the court-house and guarded by three or four security officers all day. On Thursday 21 I’m in the court-house coffee shop getting a toasted sandwich and cappuccino. On Friday 22 I’m acquitted, the Act has been interpreted to our satisfaction, the government is unable to use its heavy legislation against us, and we are free to enjoy a few days rest and recreation in Darwin - which can be a fairly pleasant spot, even in February.

The legal victory, and the jail time, came out of nonviolent direct action I’d taken at the Pine Gap spy base with Christians Against ALL Terrorism (CAAT) in December 2005. It was a citizens inspection, based on work I’ve done around US warships in Cairns with Margaret Pestorius and Peace by Peace. It was a terrific action, and CAAT made some real achievements for peace and nonviolence. It’s a good group. Here’s a photo of us all together in Brisbane in November 2008 where we had a yarn about the Talisman Sabre war-games in Shoalwater Bay, Queensland in July 2009. Left to right: Adele Goldie (Mt Nebo), Sean O’Reilly (Brisbane), Jim Dowling (Mt Mee), Jessica Morrison (Melbourne), Donna Mulhearn (Sydney), Bryan Law (Cairns)

By February 2008 I was on a promise from Australian Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, to meet and discuss Pine Gap. (“I respect your position and I will be happy to discuss with you after the Federal election” Joel had written to me in October 2007, when the ALP wanted support from the peace movement). In January 2008 the newly elected Labor member for Leichhardt, Jim Turnour (for whom I’d campaigned) promised me he’d follow up my letter to Minister Fitzgibbon, and ensure we got a meeting.

Being a political realist, I maintain pretty low expectations of the Labor Party. But I started 2008 fairly optimistic, firstly that nonviolent activism is enjoying something of a resurgence in Australia, and secondly that we might get some useful discussion with government around defence and security policy. The resurgence is real. The ALP is not.

In April I experienced some difficulty breathing, and went to Cairns Base Hospital for a couple of weeks with a condition called heart failure - which put a temporary hold on my activist agenda for Pine Gap. Apparently I’d had a heart attack without noticing. I spent a quiet winter coming to terms with life’s little changes, and preparing for surgery through Queensland Health.

While I was waiting for surgery I got involved with PADYC (People Against Demolishing the Yacht Club) when Wendy Richardson from the Liberal National Party declared she would chain herself to a bulldozer with union organiser Stuart Trail if she needed to, to save the Cairns Yacht Club building. CairnsBlog's Michael Moore, facilitated the introductions, and my old china plate Warren Entsch attended the first meeting. In the event, Wendy chickened out of NVDA (non-violent direct action), but Labor Councillor Di Forsyth climbed up on the roof in a safety harness.

In September 2008 half a dozen citizens stepped forward to have a go at civil disobedience. Terry Spackman had a good go at staying on the roof for days, but was foxed by Police. Sharon, Wendy and John all pushed it past the point of arrest as well as Di. I spent six or seven hours in the Cairns watch-house. Around the campaign were maybe 50 real nice folks who wanted to preserve a little bit of their heritage and values in modern Cairns. Bloody Cairns Ports. Bloody Labor Party. Good on ya Di Forsyth. Good on ya Wendy.

For me it’s always a privilege to know people who are willing to act on their beliefs. The bunch around PADYC came mostly from circles I don’t usually move in. Older, whiter, and more conservative (and of course a scattering of crazies). It was good to show them how a direct action campaign works. We’ll complete the program when Anna Bligh calls the election in 2009. That will be the time to target Desley Boyle and Steve 'Wet ‘n No Balls' for their seats in Parliament. Bloody Labor Party.

In February 2009 Di Forsyth will need a display of support as she confronts the real Court, as well as the kangaroo Court of her fellow Councillors. More about that later.

In November 2008 I did the surgery thing, with a triple coronary by-pass which is a traumatic thing to do to the body but generally provides an extension of life. They cut the chest open, stop the heart, deflate the lungs and keep you alive on the heart lung machine while they graft leg veins to augment the coronary arteries. If you’re at all lucky you survive the operation. Sort of ouch but good on ‘em. I’ve spent the past seven weeks basically hanging at home and healing the wounds of surgery. It’s a trip.

So my time and attention for politics was limited in 2008, but not entirely absent. I now have little projects around local, state, and commonwealth issues. All the actions are planned out of my experience and vision of strategic Nonviolence - latterly Christian Nonviolence. (I’m busy joining the biggest Christian church on planet earth) Here’s my little plan for local, state, and federal NVDA.

LOCAL

I’ve enjoyed nine months of Val Schier as Mayor. My experience has been limited, but I have my concerns, and I’m aware of a general feeling that folks would like a stronger performance from Val and her administration. She’ll be Mayor for around another four years.

My plan on a local level is twofold. First and most important is to organise and show support for Councillor Di Forsyth’s act of civil disobedience re the Yacht Club. Di showed personal courage and political commitment to get up on that roof and represent the thousands of her constituents, and the thousands of other Cairns and Queensland signatures collected on the PADYC petition.

I think Di deserves support for her actions. The best way we can show support is by creating substantial public rallies whenever Di fronts Court or the Regional Council as they consider her civil disobedience action.

But it’s not just a matter of support for Di Forsyth. It’s also about preserving civil disobedience as a vital ingredient of our Parliamentary democracy. The Suffragettes, the Civil Rights movement, the ATSI movement, the trade union movement and all the social movements have relied on civil disobedience to achieve their democratic aims. In Cairns the Police and the Courts have recognised the Yacht Club actions as nonviolent civil disobedience.

Within the Cairns Regional Council there are moves afoot to conduct star chamber hearings against Councillor Forsyth, and equate nonviolent civil disobedience with terrorism. CEO Noel Briggs is one player threatening our democracy. Councillors Cochrane, Gregory and Blake share his desire. In defending and supporting Councillor Di Forsyth we proclaim a standard of democratic representation that we wish to see in our Cairns Regional Council.

My second action will be to try and facilitate a small process of community engagement through which those passionate about Cairns development/environment can play a significant role in improving it. We’d be looking for ways to communicate with, and coordinate with, Mayor Val Schier and key Councillors about significant environmental and development projects over the next few years.

I believe that community input and support can be orchestrated in such a way that Council policies and operations work to provide a much better and more cost-effective amenity for all city residents. I see the invitation being open to all Councillors – at the same time recognising that some Councillors are hostile to community participation in Council business. I’m hoping that CAFNEC will play a sponsoring role.

I haven’t given up on Val Schier yet, and I don’t plan to anytime in the next three years. Anyone who’d like to propose electoral action against Val, if they want to convince me, will have to come out and say who their alternative mayor is, and demonstrate the reality and value of that alternative. I’m happy to listen.

STATE

Unless something truly remarkable happens I’ll be using the Queensland election to hammer ALL the local ALP MLAs because they’ve been so pathetic. I don’t want a “better class of manager” as my political representative – a spin doctor, or a representative of Cabinet.

Call me bitter, call me twisted, but the yacht Club issue convinced me that the ALP has once again forgotten that its job is to represent the community and engage with its values and desires. Imposing “solutions” on an unwilling population just doesn’t do it for me – especially when the “solutions” involve such an incompetent, unimaginative and expensive failure such Cairns Ports Inc.

COMMONWEALTH

Minister Joel Fitzgibbon went from a position of “respect” to one of simply not acknowledging or answering my correspondence. MP for Leichhardt Jim Turnour turned out to be no use whatsoever. Instead of a dialogue about Pine Gap and Security, the Rudd government introduced into Parliament amendments to the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act which plugged the holes we went to so much trouble to disclose. Pine Gap noe receives more support and protection from the Rudd government than it did from John Howard and Philip Ruddock.

According to Minister Fitzgibbon’s first reading speech I and my friends are either “mischief makers” or someone altogether “more sinister”. This according to a government that effectively supports the commission of war crimes by Israel in the Middle East and USA around the world.

In July 2009 the Rudd government is conducting exercise Talisman sabre ’09. Some 8,000 Australian troops, and 15,000 US troops will practice the sea-borne invasion of the Shoalwater Bay Training Area near Rockhampton – where they will conduct urban warfare against a city built around a walled market square. There’ll be a nuclear Aircraft Carrier Battle Group, plus Marines and amphibious Landing Craft, Live Firing, and all the fun of modern warfare.

As a humble citizen I’m compelled to accept that my betters (Jim Turnour, Joel Fitzgibbon and Jan McLucas) have better things to do than talk with rabble like me.

However as a proud member of the rabble element I see no reason to stand idly by and let these fuckers practice mass murder and invasion unchallenged. With my family, and with Christian nonviolence activists from around Australia, I’ll be going to Shoalwater Bay in July and trying my level best to interfere with the war-games. At this point I’m planning to enter the live-firing zone of the exercise area and compel the defence forces to search me out before they can proceed with their stupid and barbarous wankery.

I’m planning on a happy 2009 because I’ve learned through practical experience that life is sweet, and government/policy merely transitory. If any one of us truly stands for what we believe, we make a difference. If enough of us stand for what we believe, we change the world. To echo a black man from the other side of the world who takes office next week as president of the USA “Yes, we can”.

I hope you all have a happy 2009 as well.

Can you see the sign?

Those sneaky dodgy developers are at it again.

This time at the end of Escape Close, Clifton Beach, a public notice appeared recently, advising of the Development Application before Council to extend the Clifton Shopping Centre.

They've hidden the Public Notice sign, not only at the back of the Shopping Centre, at the end of a no exit road, but in the bushes!

Pete Johnston is a nearby neighbour in Escape Close, which is at the rear of the Clifton Shopping centre. He says that the sign should be placed on the developer's property in full public view.

"The public notification of the Development Application is clearly not in compliance with the Integrated Planning Regulations," Pete says.

He is absolutely correct. They state:-

• 18 Requirements for placing public notices on land—Act, s 3.4.4
  (1) This section prescribes, for section 3.4.4.(1)(b)1 of the Act, requirements for the placing of a notice on land.
  (2) The notice must be—
  (a) placed on, or within 1.5m of, the road frontage for the land; and
  (b) mounted at least 300mm above ground level; and
  (c) positioned so that it is visible from the road; and
  (d) made of weatherproof material; and
  (e) not less than 1200mm x 900mm.

The developer is not ignorant of the Public Notification requirements. It's reasonable to suggest that they do this rather deliberately, to avoid as much scrutiny as possible from the public.

"I can only conclude that the placement of this sign is mischievous and vexatious," Pete Johnson says. "I have asked Cairns Regional Council to officially inform the Applicant that the Public Notification requirements of IPA Sect 3.4.4 (b) have not been complied with."

Pete Johnston, who is also a member of the Combined Beaches Resident's Association, has also asked Council, in light of this breach, to revise the closing date for submissions once the requirements of the Act are met. "Unless this occurs, I will submit the Application has not been 'properly made'."

Pete also says the disgraceful state of the 'landscaped buffer' and screen fence are of concern. He says that they were to be maintained to the satisfaction of the CEO. "This was a development condition, which has never been policed," he says. "This now constitutes a cyclone hazard."

"Also look at the destruction of the Council-installed watering system and damage to the verge area. This is caused by the installation of the 'overflow drain' [white strip of concrete], and the concrete waste and rutted soil that makes it impossible, and dangerous, for the residents to maintain this garden area as we have done in the past," Pete Johnston says.

"We have given up complaining about this development and lack of Council action, I am now saving my time and energy to register my submission and if the Clifton Shopping centre owner thinks that hiding this sign away in the bushes will stop this ending up in the Planning and Environment Court. They have another thing coming," Pete Johnston says.

Our land warriors celebrate

L-R: Denis Walls, Terry Spackman, Mark Buttrose, Steven Nowakowski, Steve Ryan, Brynn Matthews, Nev Ridley.

Some of Cairns most influential environmental warriors gathered for a quiet and reflective balcony drink recently at Cominos House, home to CAFNEC.

Mark Buttrose and Steven Nowakowski were there, lucky to be alive after their private chartered helicopter crashed on False Cape, during a photographic survey. They were attempting to expose environmental violations to the huge development site at the East of Trinity Bay. Their documenting, contributed to closing down of the site and intervention by Hon Peter Garret, the Federal Environment Minister. It followed an extensive five year battle to get the local Council and State Government to take action against serious runs off into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Steven Nowakowski has since opened a landscape photographic gallery at the Pier Shopping Centre.

Nev Ridley also contributed to the Save False Cape team, and was the very real gate-keeper to the scared development site.

Steve Ryan has for another year been the lead advocate for our region's unique environmental lobby group, CAFNEC. Steve shared his expertise with numerous causes and community groups during the year.

Besides jumping on the 100 year old Cairns Yacht Club roof and getting arrested, Terry Spackman was also celebrating after another year exposing dodgy developers and Council's inaction to prevent unlawful sediment runs off from building sites. There's no doubt that Terry forced the new Cairns Regional Council to act and monitor development sites. His CairnsBlog videos made it to local TV, and Council saw they similar had to act.

Yacht Club campaigner Bryan Law was also there. The camera-shy serial-non-violent protester, made a significant contribution during the year. Through a series of significant public and media-orchestrated events, Law highlighted the vile heritage destruction by the Queensland Labor government and the former Cairns City Council. Just a few weeks ago, Bryan under-went open heart surgery.

There was much to be happy about for these defenders of all things green, but the fight continues. It's a dirty world out there.