Blogger's Blues: Censorship, Militarism and FNQ's fairytale information superhighway

CairnsBlog columnist Syd Walker never fails to get readers enraged, talking and hopefully thinking about the world around them.

Today he raises questions about the Federal Labor government's plans to introduce a national broadband network, militarism and FNQ's fairytale information superhighway. Hang on for the ride, again.


I blogged intensively for a year or so, then stopped when I was unable to invest the huge amount of time needed, on a daily basis, just to keep abreast of the complex topics I was covering.

But occasionally I get drawn into CairnsBlog debates. I made one such contribution back in late April – a brief comment on a story about our local Federal MP Jim Turnour. Editor Michael Moore, elevated my comment to the status of a standalone article, coupled with a photo depicting me flooded-in during the sodden 2008 local council elections. I presume he then stepped out for a few hours. A day at the Blues Festival perhaps?

That was last Saturday, May 1st. By the evening, when blog comments were approved for publication, the notion I might be running at the forthcoming Federal election had a currency I never planned or intended. It was already drawing howls from a handful of appalled readers. Had this happened exactly a month earlier, it would have made a great April Fools prank.

I posted my comment on the article about Jim Turnour on April 31st, the previous day.
I now know that was a much more interesting moment in Australia's internet censorship saga than I ever imagined at the time. But I hadn't kept abreast of that particular debate for some weeks. Nor had I done the research required for a 'feature article'.
This update is, in part, an attempt to remedy the omission.

On April 29th, Murdoch's Australian newspaper had reported “Rudd retreats on web filter legislation”:

• KEVIN Rudd has put another election promise on the back burner with his controversial internet filtering legislation set to be shelved until after the next election.
  
  A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday the legislation would not be introduced next month's or the June sittings of parliament.
  
  With parliament not sitting again until the last week of August, the laws are unlikely to be passed before the election....

So - was the shelving of Internet Censorship urged in my CairnsBlog post already in the bag?

Well, not exactly. Later the same day (April 29th), Ben Grubb reported in ZDNet:

• Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today said he had "no advice" to suggest that the Federal Government's plans to implement a mandatory internet filter would be delayed until after the federal election, despite a report saying it would.
  
  At a press conference announcing the Federal Government's "anti-smoking action" this morning, ZDNet Australia asked the Prime Minister about a report that appeared in The Australian today saying that the introduction of the legislation required for the filter would likely be delayed until after the federal election.
  
  The Prime Minister said he had "no advice to that effect". He later said when questioned if the legislation would be introduced this year: "Look, can I ask that you put that to the relevant minister. I don't have any other advice to what I put to you earlier" ...
  
  When the minister's office was asked again whether the report in The Australian, which said the legislation would not be introduced in the May or June sittings, was correct, the office said that the legislation would be introduced once the processes mentioned in the original statement were complete. Since then the office has said it is unlikely to be heard in the May sitting.
  
  So what's the deal? Has the filter been ditched because it's a political lemon? And why won't the government talk?

Good question. What is the deal on Internet Censorship Mr Rudd? It's a question many Australians would like answered. Quite a number of IT companies are interested too. It may well influence their investment plans. Who'd want to be inside a firewall run by utter incompetents if you have a better option?

Ross Fitzgerald's article, published in the May 6th Australian, does nothing really to illuminate us, although it provides interesting commentary on the issue.

So is Conroy's Internet Censorship Folly on or off? Is it off until it's on? Or on until its off? Is Conroy such a twit he can't even orchestrate a successful pre-election back down?

The mind boggles.

Before the last Federal election, I spoke on the phone with Jim Turnour. I was desperate for an upgrade of my internet connection so I could get broadband (As a footnote, it later transpired that I could actually have had ADSL at the time – but Telstra misinformed me about my potential access on several occasions for over a year due to a 'database error' It had me listed under the wrong exchange, would you believe?!)

Jim Turnour's desperation was of a different kind. He was desperate for votes.

Talking to Jim about telecommunications did not instill much confidence – but he certainly tried hard to convert me to his faith.

“It'll be better under Labor” was his only real take-home message. He pleaded for acceptance that a Rudd Government would try much, much harder than its opponents to bring affordable broadband to country Australia. But he could provide no detail.

Nearly three years later, it's not obvious to me that Labor has any more 'detail' about how this laudable objective will be delivered than it did then.

Huge uncertainties remain over the ambitious proposal for a National Broadband Network (NBN). Will it cost more than 40 billion dollars - or just a fraction of that vast sum? Will Telstra be in or out? Rather significant questions such as this hang in the air. But this is not 2008. It's mid 2010. Isn't it getting rather late to be thrashing out the basics? Where's the fibre-optic cable?

Meanwhile, Labor's Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has made Australia an international laughing stock in IT networks. His public appearances to defend the Rudd Government's obsession with censoring Australia's Internet cause embarrassment or mirth, depending on the temperament of the audience. Surely even supporters of censorship squirm too?

THIS is the man we are seriously expected to believe will oversee the successful creation of the NBN - which it ever happens would indeed be national infrastructure building on an epic scale?
Only a real true believer could believe that.

It's getting close to three years since Labor won the 2007 election.

Three years is a long time.

In a similar period of time in Iraq – a country that had been an excellent trading partner to Australia prior to 2003 - it was sufficient time to destroy that nation's infrastructure, allow its intelligentsia to be decimated, trigger civil wars, create millions of refugees, destroy irreplaceable cultural heritage and plunge the society into chaos and despair.

Incidentally, that policy of illegal invasion and subsequent illegitimate occupation - rationalised via a pack of rather obvious lies - was carried out with full bi-partisan support in Australia, cheer-led by every single Murdoch newspaper. So was the Rudd Government's early 'lock-in' of 3% annual growth in military expenditure - a pledge of exponential growth in aggressive capability, whatever happens to the rest of the economy...

A few constructive years, on the other hand, are sufficient for a lot of creative accomplishment.

So what of Jim Turnour's pledge back in 2007 that telecommunications will be better under Labor?

From an FNQ perspective, I can't see the Rudd Government has accomplished anything at all so far. A Perhaps schools have benefited significantly from the Government's recession-busting package? I hope so. It would be good to hear directly from students and teachers. Certainly, if Labor has done anything at all to improve FNQ's telecoms, its supporters might do a better job selling the story here, lest the rest if us never notice.

Three years on from 2007, Telstra still owns all the core telecoms infrastructure in my rural area. There is no NBN roll-out in FNQ. There isn't even a start date for this region - not as far as I'm aware.

Parts of two suburbs in Townsville were recently listed as 'first release sites'. They'll be subject to feasibility studies "to test network design and construction methods". I can't spot anything tangible north of Townsville.

The grand alternative offered by the Coalition, apparently, is to scrap the NBN entirely: kill it stillborn.

That's not much of an option either, from the idiots who first handed Telstra-as-a-newly-privatised-corporation effective monopoly over most of Australia's communications infrastructure - in the name of 'competition policy'.

A quick check today on the Liberal Party's website gives me no other insight into what else the Coalition's telecoms policy might be, if it has one at all.

It's beyond annoying, really.

Enough to make you feel like blogging.

Syd Walker: A warning to the Australian Labor Party

Long-time Kuranda environmental activist and writer Syd Walker, escapes from the shadows with his view about the fate of Australian politics.

The likely humiliation of the Labour Party at the forthcoming British election should serve as a warning to the ALP in Australia's forthcoming Federal election.

Australia's 'Labor' party also:

• - supports blatant US imperialism, - right or wrong
  - keeps Australia engaged in illegal overseas wars
  - toadies for the segregationist, nuclear-armed State Israel on practically every conceivable occasion
  - supports yet more illegal wars against nations nominated as enemies by Zionist supremacists
  - fails to investigate the obvious falsehoods used to justify recent wars, most notably the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq
  - slavishly follows the prompts of media magnates and behind the scenes elite interest groups
  - boosts the powers of our ever-expanding police state apparatus
  - fails to take serious action on crucial environmental issues (including - but not limited to - climate change)
  - promotes a censorious, intolerant 'holier-than-thou' culture of hypocritical moral prudery and conformism...

I could go on, but my point, I trust, is made.

Why should any genuine progressive vote for a Party that has sunk so low? Why should it even get our second or third preference?

Is the argument that the Tories might be even worse Labor's only pitch to those of us who care about building a fair, free, peaceful and sustainable planet earth?

According to the mass media narrative, the Rudd Government is now clearing the decks for an election, dropping unpopular polices (to date, that means junking polices on which it has failed to show any real commitment or leadership, such as climate change amelioration).

Here's my challenge to Labor. It should help establish whether or not my dark suspicions are accurate. Is the ALP merely a cipher for a behind-the-scenes cabal? I believe so – but I'd very much like to be proven wrong.

If Federal Labor is truly keen to drop vote-losing polices, how about ditching plans to censor Australians access to the internet?

The free internet is the one means Australians have of obtaining accurate, up-to-date information about the world, given the biased and corrupted state of the western mass media. The great majority of net users don't want censorship. Why is the Government foisting this on a reluctant public?

Censoring the Internet may well lose the Government a few percentage points at the coming election. To my knowledge, no opinion polls have shown majority support for this unprecedented intrusion into the online lives of Australians.

No-one - except for spooks and ex-spooks, the companies that make internet censorship technology and a handful of incoherent political operatives such as Stephen Conroy – seems to speak out strongly in support of this outrageous policy.

So why not junk it Mr Rudd? And hey - why not speak out against it Mr Turnour?

In the latter case, we probably know the answer already. Jim does what HQ tell him to do. No more, no less.

So what gives Mr Rudd? How about ditching this divisive and unpopular policy - at least for another three years? Have those who truly make policy in this country foisted this lousy plan on you as (yet another) condition for their 'support'?

If so, why should the electorate give you another term in office to deliver outcomes specified, not by us, but by partisan control-freaks and war-mongers?

Sydney University report rubbish QLD asset sales

Bligh's $15 billion asset sale plans has "no credibility, could cost millions and is based on poor economic advice and manipulated Treasury figures," says a union-commission report, by Sydney University Professor Bob Walker.

"It would be fundamentally foolish," Walker says who co-wrote the paper with his wife, Betty Con-Walker, a former NSW Treasury boss, reports the Courier Mail.

They say the strategy is a "magic pudding" which could somehow reduce debt and build infrastructure with the same money, and also claims the Government manipulated figures to provide an economic picture that was far worse than in reality.

"It was this trashing of the finances that played a large part in the credit downgrade by Standard and Poor's that will cost the state millions," Walker says in the report. "Despite gloomy claims in the most recent Budget, the State actually recorded a cash flow surplus of $3.57 billion. Queensland's finances were substantially better off than presented."

"While at first glance these Budget deficits appear alarming, particularly the deficit of 2008-09, the major components were write downs that simply reflect the short-term deterioration in asset values."

Walker exposes how the Queensland Government had broken standard accounting rules to make the economic outlook look worse than it was. "Had the Budget accounting been done correctly, the $88 million deficit in the last Budget would have turned into a healthy surplus."

The Courier Mail reports that the authors say there are 10 misleading claims made by the Government to support the need for privatisation.

"They include claims of a $15 billion black hole, that the assets targeted for sale would cost $12 billion in capital investment if not sold, proceeds of the sale would fund infrastructure and pay debt, the downgrading of the credit rating would cost $200 million, the sell-off would save $750 million, a year in interest repayments and $30 billion in total.

"None of these claims can be taken seriously," Professor Walker says.

"Treasurer Andrew Fraser's claim that Queensland would have to pay an extra $200 million in interest because of the Standard and Poor's downgrade was wrong and the real cost was likely to be between $833,000 and $2.5 million," Walker wrote. "It is unfortunate that these exaggerated claims insult the intelligence of MPs and their constituents."

Are you paying attention?

Hat Tip: Syd Walker

Calling out Syd Walker

CairnsBlog contributor Bryan Law, or as the Cairns Post insists, a 'serial protester' (a mis-guided and cheap adjective at best), wants Syd Walker, a well-known local Blogger and prolific local writer on international issues, to come clean.


Anyone reading recent exchanges between myself and Syd Walker about Wild Rivers, World Heritage, and Greens preferences will know we have a strong difference of opinion.

I like to consider facts, and find out about what I don’t know. Syd appears to have his answers ready, based on ideological assumptions which rely at best on a limited selection of facts that suit his argument.

Like a broken clock, Syd will tell the right time twice a day.

So I can agree with Syd that folk ought vote Green. Unlike Syd, I see some deep-seated problems fixed in the Queensland Greens. Unlike Syd, I want accountability from the ALP, and think the LNP is worth talking to.

I can also agree with Syd that the militarist policies of Israel give rise to human rights abuses, terror, and the increased frequency of war in the middle east. But I do not agree with the manner in which Syd invokes conspiracy theories, false flag theories, and grotesque caricatures of Israelis and Jews in reaching his conclusions. I feel that Syd and his ilk expose the wider peace movement to charges of anti-Semitism and peculiar thinking.

So I want to reprint here a recent e-mail by Associate Professor Jake Lynch from the University of Sydney, where he refers to his own recent column, and a recent study by the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa. Here is the kind of research and action program that allows global citizens to exercise influence and build a more peaceful world. It’s a gold-mine of credible information and analysis.

The e-mail comes through the Catholic Worker network of peace activists that I and my family belong to:

• From: Jake Lynch
  Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 12:03 PM
  To: Jake Lynch
  Subject: Why I'm joining the academic boycott of Israel
  
  From this week’s column:
  
  There is no suggestion that individual contacts should now cease. Discussions about peace journalism have been considerably enhanced by the participation of wise and clever Israeli academics, and that should continue. At an institutional level, however, universities are deeply embedded in the system of occupation and militarism.
  
  I’ve led a call for the University of Sydney to cancel institutional arrangements with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Technion University, in Haifa. Though small in scale, these contacts are symbolic of a commitment to help Israel enjoy normal relations with the outside world, despite its record. For this to cease now would be our contribution, however minor, to raising the social, economic and political cost of militarism as an alternative to dialogue and negotiation. (More info here.)
  
  In the column, I summarise some of the principles of international law at stake in assessing Israel’s behaviour towards the Palestinians. It is timely, then, that a superb new research study, examining such arguments in great depth, has just been published in electronic form. Titled, Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid, it is the work of a team of international experts convened by the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa. Both the full text and an Executive Summary can be downloaded from the page stored here.
  
  Best wishes,
  Jake
  
  Associate Professor Jake Lynch, BA, Dip Journalism Studies, PhD
  Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
  The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006
  AUSTRALIA

Memo to Rupert

CairnsBlog columnist and local blogger, Syd Walker was up at the crack of dawn, checking out the Cairns Post online edition this morning. He nearly choked on his peach and pecan muesli.


I checked to see how Rupert the War-Mongering Bear is getting along with his Grand Plan to make News Corp's 'web product’ so scintillating that the masses pay in droves for the privilege of visiting, thus returning NewsCorp to its former profitability.

I looked first at the ‘Opinions’ page. This week, there’s an op-ed by a senior police person about crime, a brief retrospective about some local gigs and an item about being a young teetotaller.

I scanned for news. Eventually, I found some. It turns out the Post is also covering the local ‘Council scandal’ that has engrossed CairnsBlog readers in recent days.

Yesterday’s article – ‘Schier issues council warning’ by Thomas Chamberlin – is online for all to see. Here’s an extract, reproduced on a fair use basis:

• CAIRNS Mayor Val Schier has put dissenting colleagues and staff on notice, warning she intends to make good use of new powers that enable mayors to deal with bad behaviour.
  
  The warning – and criticism of several of her colleagues – came in the unusual format of an email to a reporter that was also forwarded to all Cairns Regional Council staff. The Cairns Post had submitted an email to chief executive officer Noel Briggs seeking to discuss matters dogging the council about a seemingly distracted and divided leadership group. The email was also copied to Cr Schier as a courtesy.
  
  Her prompt reply was unexpected, as was her decision to send the email to the council’s estimated 1300 staff and all her council colleagues.
  
  In the email, Cr Schier said she was confident she had fulfilled her role as leader.
  
  "(I have) not allowed trivial matters that seem to distract some councillors to divert me from trying to deliver on the policies that people voted for when I ran for council," she said.
  
  "Unfortunately, the breaches of confidentiality and behaviours of a couple of councillors have created a perception that this council is not functioning well.
  
  "Disagreements are natural and robust debate is encouraged; however, I have an expectation of professional conduct that is not always met and have been working to improve this."

The article then discusses changes to the Local Government Act which would give the Mayor more power when bringing down the Budget and dealing with behaviour in meetings.

I viewed the published comments. Six so far (after a day) – none with full names. All cranky Val haters. I decided to have my own say and submitted the following:

• Judging by the comments so far submitted to this absurd article, it's clear that few local progressives (remember Val Shier was elected with a majority of the region's support) bother to read this rubbish rag anymore.
  
  I'll see if I can drum up some business for you over at CairnsBlog.
  
  Syd Walker, Kuranda

Later in the day I’ll check to see if someone on staff has woken up and approved it.

Memo to Rupert: Your 'Award-winning' Cairns Post website is likely to thrive if visitors are paid at least $10 per visit. Anything less would not adequately compensate most of us for the opportunity cost.

PS. If you pack a ten dollar note into each printed edition, we may start buying that too.

**UPDATE:

just received this email...

• From:
  To: Syd Walker
  Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 9:16 AM
  Subject: The Cairns Post - Article Comment Approved
  
  Dear Syd Walker,
  
  Your comment on the Cairns Post website has been approved, to view the article and comments you may use the link below:
  http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2009/05/22/43475_local-news.html
  
  Kind Regards,
  The Cairns Post

**UPDATE 2

After receiving the unexpected, but very welcome, approval email from the Cairns Post (above), I checked the article again on the Cairns Post website and was impressed to see my comment listed – unedited - as Comment No. 8.

It seemed Glasnost had finally arrived at the Cairns Post. Permission to criticize the comrades was granted… for one precious, brief moment. How I wish I’d taken a screenshot of my comment while it was still up on their website. Who knows, I could have printed it and sold signed copies on eBay?

Sadly, it didn’t last long at all, and it was removed. Now they're back to seven comments, all snotty anti-Schier grumbles.

Have pro-Mayoral sentiments been banned at the Cairns Post? Or is it just that the Supreme Editors don't like jokes at their expense, for a change?

We Report. You Decide.

Budget review: Syd Walker

I asked a few local commentators, from various political persuasions, to write their observation of the Federal budget, just handed down by Treasurer Wayne Swan.

Syd Walker is a local political writer and commentator on world issues. He is an active environmentalist and a member of Friends of the Earth Kuranda. Walker ran for Tablelands Regional Council in 2008.

Last evening, Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan presented the Rudd Government’s 2009 budget in Parliament House, Canberra. This early report in Bloomberg.com - Australia Budget Deficit Grows to Record on Recession - summarizes the budget’s main initiatives and most of the key assumptions.

Swan announced the largest Federal budget deficit in history. The deficit is projected to decline only by 2011-2, by which time it’s assumed high rates of economic growth will have returned. Restoration of a Federal surplus is not expected for six years - and projections are the accumulated deficit will spike at around $120 billion!

A prompt and sustained return to global economic growth is therefore the crucial assumption in today’s budget.

The prospect of returning to surplus within a few years - and paying off the national debt in the foreseeable future – is entirely dependent on the resumption of rapid growth, worldwide and in Australia.

This assumption is problematic. I want to highlight one problem that almost certainly won’t be mentioned in tomorrow mornings’ newspapers.

Israel is pushing for another war in the Middle East. Its new, even more extremist government is chomping at the bit to pummel Iran. Few governments in the western world – certainly not the Australian Government, judging by its record – have the guts to demand that Israel halts its murderous plans.

Ifthere’s an attack on Iran in the next few years, expect oil prices to rise to at least $200 per barrel - plunging the already ailing world economy into a tail-spin. Other commodity prices would probably plummet as growth contracts even more sharply; in that scenario, Australia would be pushed towards implementing savage cuts in social benefits.

The man in cabinet with the toughest job of all, in my opinion, is Foreign Minister Stephen Smith. He has to tell yahoos like Netanyahu and Lieberman to pull their horns in – without upsetting Kevin’s insidiously powerful chums such as arch-Zionists Frank Lowy and Rupert Murdoch. Alarmingly, there’s no indication he’s even trying.

Let’s hope Mr Smith - and his counterparts in the USA, Britain and other countries - succeed in pursuing peace in the Middle East. In practical terms, that means getting the Israelis to stop attacking other countries - at minimum. If Israel starts another major war, the following Australian budget would be like a funeral for our national prosperity.

I’m also concerned about the nature of the growth in the Australian economy that’s projected for when economic expansion returns. I fear large components in the government’s growth projections are exports of coal and other minerals. If so, the Government is effectively banking on rising greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a short-term solution similar to giving plenty of heroin to an addict. It avoids cold turkey, but the underlying addiction is untreated.

Beyond that, the most shocking comment I heard in the ABC’s post-budget commentary was when Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey claimed the dollar value of the government’s cash handouts exceeds all infrastructure components of the stimulus package. I’d like to hear more analysis on that. If true, it does seem grossly excessive emphasis on sustaining the consumer economy in the short term, as opposed to laying the foundations for long-term success and sustainability.

I read elsewhere that some 80% of the South Korean stimulus package is being invested in green technology. The same statistics put the equivalent figure for Australia at around 10%.

Instead of listening so intently to the Lowy institute, the Rudd Government should send a fact-finding delegation to Seoul. It must learn how to fashion polices that advantage the long-term interests of all Australians, as opposed to the short-term profits of shopping centers.

• You can email Syd Walker

Regional Failure

Far North Queensland's boom is over – and statistics indicate our recession may be worse than the rest of the country.

CairnsBlog columinist Syd Walker argues that lack of visionary leadership in this region is squandering key opportunities to kick-start investment in a more resilient and sustainable FNQ. He believes jobs in Cairns and the region will suffer as a result of backward-thinking, unimaginative planning.

It’s less than a year ago since the ink dried on a new regional plan for Far North Queensland. The plan assumed more or less constant growth in the region over the next 25 years: growth on population and growth in the economy. No other scenario was considered: just one growth trajectory, that amounted to population growth of nearly 2% per annum. Now that estimate seems long short of a good bet.

Is FNQ 2031 already out of date?

I think so – or more accurately, I don’t believe it ever defined or addressed the region’s real problems. It is a planners’ treatise based on politicians’ fantasies. The only surprise is how quickly the latter have been exposed.

The fundamental assumption of FNQ’s recent regional planning process was growth. Population growth and economic growth were considered more or less certain. The only job of planners was to channel and accommodate the growth – to find places to put the extra people with a modicum of environmental protection, given the 'fact' that region's economy is permanently on steroids.

I don’t know how many others felt this agenda was absurd. Friends of the Earth Kuranda certainly did; I helped co-author the submission FoEK made to the regional plan’s terms of reference. This is what we submitted to government in March 2007 (it seems so long ago!)

• “…at some time FNQ must learn how to have a successful economy without a rising population. FNQ’s population cannot grow for ever!
  
  Moreover, factors beyond our control in FNQ may cause a decline in this region’s population. If the global tourist industry goes into sharp recession – something that could well occur as a consequence of wars, economic depression, sky-rocketing fuel prices, tight global emission controls or a combination of these factors – people may well move out of FNQ faster than others move here.
  
  This region’s economy is heavily reliant on the tourist industry. Consequently, it is not resilient in the event of external economic shocks. We believe FNQ’s current reliance on tourism is excessive and exposes the community to great risk. We also believe it is irresponsible to encourage more people to live in this region, unless and until we diversify the economy...
  
  We do not oppose further growth in population as such, but growth should no longer be encouraged via deliberate government policy unless and until we implement a realistic plan for sustainability…
  
  The region’s economy must kick the population growth habit. It should not need a population growth fix each year to stay healthy. We should – and can – find other and more sustainable ways to maintain a healthy economy."

None of this input, as far as I can see, bore fruit in the planning bureaucracy. Such ideas are heretical. ‘Sustainable’, for these folk, is a word to play games with; the main trick is to weld it to unlikely partners such as ‘growth’. (If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the oxymoron ‘sustainable growth’, I’d be very well off).

This is what FoE Kuranda had to say about Climate Change in the same submission, written in March 2007:

• "(Climate Change)… cannot be treated as a side issue. It is a CENTRAL issue for long term planning.
  
  It is increasingly likely that in the next few years, global targets will be agreed for greenhouse gas emission reductions requiring significant changes to our way of life. The well-known British economist Nicholas Stern has estimated a 2050 target for developed, high-emission countries such as Britain and Australia of 60-90%. In our view, any plan that assumes ‘business as usual’ in per capita greenhouse gas emissions is not likely to have a long life.
  
  To achieve the requisite level of greenhouse gas emission reductions, existing industries, settlements and transport systems will need to be ‘retrofitted’ to reduce emissions. This retrofitting will be costly...
  
  The ultimate goal – achievable within a generation or two – is to develop ‘carbon neutral’ human economies. We need to live in such a way that the atmosphere stabilizes. It may even be necessary to revert to pre-industrial atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases...
  
  We believe that any long-term plan that does not take full account of climate change - and face up squarely to its many challenges - will be outdated before it is published.
  
  FNQ 2025 must embrace ecologically realistic targets for greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that any new settlements and other infrastructure are suitably located and built to appropriate standards."

Now in fairness, FNQ’s new (2031) plan didn’t completely ignore climate change as an issue, in the manner of its notorious predecessor FNQ 2010. When published, ‘Climate Change’ featured prominently in the text. But there’s no plan to deal with it! As FoEK feared, the regional plan embraced no emissions targets. It didn’t really consider the new infrastructure needed to achieve a low emissions future. That task was left for future processes.

I fear that was a grave mistake – a classic example of feeble thinking - and the ordinary folk of FNQ are about to pay the price.

We're about to pay, because just over two years after those words were written, key assumptions in the politicians’ ‘vision’ have come unraveled. Economic growth is not inevitable. It has stalled. Growth in tourism is not inevitable. Population growth in FNQ isn’t inevitable either. A plan that didn’t aim for resilience - a plan that didn't show how to stimulate economic activity pursuant to the achievement of long-term sustainability - was the wrong plan at the wrong time. It was an opportunity squandered.

Suppose - as FoE Kuranda argued at the time - FNQ 2031 had contained specific, well-thought out proposals for new regional infrastructure. Suppose it had endorsed the state-of-the-art rail system that (I believe) will clearly be needed eventually to limit greenhouse emissions and facilitate less car-dependent, village-style development.

These infrastructure proposals could now be under consideration in Canberra and Brisbane – the subject of intense lobbying from our region’s MPs, with a united community behind them.

FNQ could be ahead of the game in implementing a stimulus package that’s focused on appropriate long-term investment.

Instead of that, our economy suddenly appears beached like a sick whale – while the region’s politicians wring their hands and blame factors beyond their control.

They’re right, in a way. Steve Wettenhall, Desley Boyle, Jason O’Brien and Jim Turnour didn’t create the global economic crisis. But they did, in my opinion, squib the chance when they had it to make serious plans for the next stage in refashioning our region’s economy. That plan could now be the foundation of FNQ’s stimulus package. Thanks to the failure they oversaw – it still doesn’t exist.

There are at least two immediate economic opportunities that visionary FNQ politicians would be pushing for like fury. The first is the recently announced national broadband rollout. The regions that will benefit the most are those regions that get the new infrastructure first. It will give them a competitive advantage – and ensure there are plenty of jobs installing the new infrastructure sooner rather than later.

Tasmania, I understand, is first in the queue for the rollout (It helps having plenty of Senators, per capita, in the national Parliament). Where is FNQ? Are we anywhere at all on the rollout list? Has anyone even asked the question?

Hello, Jim Turnour – are you there? You can always use the comments button below this story...

The second opportunity relates to expenditure on greenhouse-friendly infrastructure. Some of this is ‘big ticket’ expenditure (e.g. light rail and heavy rail). Some is not (e.g. retrofitting houses for energy-efficiency).

The need for counter-cyclical economic stimulus packages on a massive scale provides literally the opportunity of a lifetime to spend big now to build a sustainable futrure. The smartest countries are doing it. Fully 80% of South Korea’s stimulus package, for example, is in emissions reduction technology. The comparable figure for Australia is a pitiful 10%.

The Australian Government has blown Australia surplus and is fast turning it into a large long-term deficit. That’s a shame – but may well be inevitable at a time of massive recession. But the greatest shame is that most of the money is being spent keeping the existing economy on life-support. We’re going into massive national debt – but we’re not investing most of the funds were borrowing in long-term resilience and sustainability. That’s more than a shame. It’s sad.

Given this rather dismal national context, FNQ politicians would have a harder task than their counterparts in other more enlightened nations to get big bucks for immediate expenditure on new infrastructure in this region. But are they even trying?

This may have been a recession that FNQ ‘had to have’, but it doesn’t have to be as bad as all that. This is still a marvelous part of planet earth – blessed by high rainfall, marvelous nature assets and resourceful people. But our political leadership does leave a lot to be desired – as does the mass media where opinions are fashioned and our community can come together and debate.
The still-influential print media is monopolized by News Corp, which seems to care more about the latest and greatest overseas wars than FNQ.

That’s tragic.

Footnote: See also Serious Scepticism on Wong Climate Change Policy in which Syd Walker discusses in the 'direct spend' approach to tackling the climate change crisis. It differs in emphasis from 'economic instruments' strategies that have dominated debate in recent years - although could well be used in conjunction with them.

Zipping around Cairns' Blogs

Here's a quick whip around some of our local Cairns' Blogs...

• Paul at The Cairns Roast gives a top ten list of things you should say when a telemarketer calls. "Ask what colour their panties are; speak only in dog barks pretend you once dated them - what do ya mean you don't remember?"
  
  
• Gavin King talks about the Root of all evil in his Weekend Post edition, comperes himself to Jesus, "While others were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ by raising a beer in salute to the heavens, I was wielding a shovel to dig a hole into the proverbial depths of hell. Jesus ended up with holes in his hands during the Easter long weekend, and by the end of it so did I.," writes King.
  
  
• Henry at Fosnez talks about the stupidity of the Alchpop tax. "Well, I have to hand it to the government, just when you think they have finally moved on from a ridiculous piece of policy, they dredge it back up again, apply some spit and polish and chant "Hail! It is new and shiny!".
  
  
• All's quiet at Not the Cairns Post, with nothing happening for nearly a month. With a mantra of "accountability for the Cairns local media - independent news for Far North Queensland," they can't tell me there's noting to talk about from our beloved daily? Wake up?
  
  
• Lance Royce at the Northern Truth says that Federal Indigenous Minster Jenny Macklin must have real disdain for the Howard Government's Work for the Dole program. "The local aboriginal community Yarrabah would be the first in axing the program. Could this be foretelling the complete closure of the Work for the Dole program nation wide? The same program that Labor fought against, then adopted when it was proven to work effectively?," writes Royce.
  
  Lance also gets my support, as yet another independent commentator comes out against the Cairns Regional Council's charade and sham investigation into Council Diane Forsyth's Kangaroo Court Code of Conduct. "Live free or die - Cr. Di Forsyth is my hero!" Lance writes. "Politically and ideologically Cr. Di Forsyth and I don't see eye to eye on most issues, but when Di stood on the roof of the old Yacht Club that all changed," Royce writes. " the question should be why do Council bureaucrats have so much time to spend on trivial crap? Di, congratulations for having backbone and resolve. The community could use more Di Forsyths and this world is better place with your forthright stand against oppression!"
  
  
• Barry from Residents Against Crime highlights police, who are defending the use of tasers. They'll never convince me these things are fit for human consumption.
  
  
• Local photographer, Paul Dymond's active blog, talks of his latest expedition to Mali, West Africa.
  
  
• Syd Walker says he seems to be the only blogger in the world with a good word to say about the well-publicized dinner conversation of diminutive French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in calling a spade a spade.

Pink elephants

What Syd Walker is doing trawling Polish websites, is beyond me.

However, he pointed me to a rather interesting story after a Polish politician criticised a local zoo for acquiring a gay elephant named Ninio. It turns out that Ninio prefers male companions. Local media report that he will probably not procreate.

"We didn't pay 37 million zlotys ($15.4 million AUD) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there," Michal Grzes, a conservative councillor in the city of Poznan said. "We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?" Grzes says.

However, the Zoo keeper says that 10-year-old Ninio may be too young to decide whether he prefers males or females as elephants only reach sexual maturity at 14.

Readers may, or may not, be surprised that many animals have homosexual behaviour. Many mammals, birds, and even fish are gay. Bruce Bagemihl in Biological Exuberance showed that indeed they are.

I recall National MP John Banks, at the height of the 1984 homosexual law reform debate in New Zealand, infamously claimed "You wouldn't get sheep doing it!"

Have a giggle at Ricky Gervais, talking animals.

Mona Mona: A stable base

When CairnsBlog columnist Syd Walker wrote about Mona Mona just before the March State election, he presented an historical and contemporary history of this remote and often ignored, Aboriginal community.

I tried to give an honest account of what was happening in my previous account of Mona Mona.

I now know it was a much more partial account than I’d imagined at the time. I correctly wrote there was strong pressure on the ALP to change policy over Mona Mona from indigenous people and The Greens. But I neglected to mention pressure from the political right. The omission was not deliberate. I simply wasn't in touch with the Liberal National Party.

I now better understand the broader picture. Working with local members of the Liberal National Party, Barron River LNP candidate Wendy Richardson engaged in serious dialogue with Aboriginal people over Mona Mona before the election announcement. Moves were already underway within the LNP to take a fresh approach on Mona Mona, much more supportive of indigenous autonomy, eventually culminating in the direct involvement of then opposition leader Lawrence Springborg.

In the first week of the election campaign, therefore, the Labor Party found itself squeezed from both sides on the issue. With polls indicating a very close race in Barron River, the pressure was on local ALP MP Steve Wettenhall to get previous cabinet policy reversed.

To Steve's credit, he did it. When there's a will there's a way.

Now, for the first time, there's something resembling multi-party consensus on Mona Mona.

In the Kuranda area – if not the rest of Australia – there’s a general sense that we want more than a minimalist approach to reconciliation. The wounds of a very recent dispossession run deep and recent injustices should be redressed. Fortunately, the last ten years of policy drift and broken promises over Mona Mona can now be viewed as an historical aberration - not the ultimate betrayal.

Returning Mona Mona in its entirety to the Aboriginal people is a basic gesture of good faith on the part of this community.

At the recent State election, all major political forces within the local electorate – in the end – came to the party.

That’s a good basis for the future.

Politically correct Garage Sale this weekend

This is easily the biggest, and best, garage sale to be seen at in the history of Far North Queensland.

Former Cairns LNP candidate, Joel Harrop invites you over to unload your stimulus package at his place this weekend.

We aren’t talking junk, good quality stuff at bargain prices. Economic models indicate my comprehensive sale will have more economic impact than the federal stimulus packages. In fact, come along with your $900 and give it to me. Economic modeling provided by Treasury has forecast that this garage sale will create 60,000 Queensland jobs over the next three years.

From TVs to Dishwashers to household trinkets, kitchen appliances and baby gear, there is something for everybody... all in perfect working order. If I listed all of the bargains, your head would probably explode*! If you were to be anywhere else this weekend, you would be insane**.

During the garage sale, all power will be generated through renewable energy***, with the activity achieving a negative carbon emission. Unfortunately, the ETS isn’t in place yet, so that doesn’t really help me much, but it is saving the planet. Data provided by CAFNEC forecasts a decrease in global temperature by 2c as a direct result of this garage sale****.

This garage sale is a bicycle friendly activity with a spot on the front lawn specifically for pushies. Out specially designed garden hose is connected to our un-fluoridated water source, which is not part of Nullinga Dam project. However, anyone who wants water should be aware that this garage sale has a strict demand management practice in place, and mild levels of dehydration are deemed acceptable in order to save our Wild Rivers.

This garage sale signed the petition to stop the destruction of the Yacht Club, and Di Forsyth actually carried a copy of this advertisement with her when she scaled the building.

Throughout the conduct of the garage sale, movement corridors for cassowaries will be maintained. Furthermore, this garage sale is doing its bit to protect our bio-diversity, with a beautiful sensitive weed bloom occurring throughout the property.

The Greens were going to preference this garage sale over all other garage sales, but at the end of the day preferenced Labor in 14 other garage sales.

Unfortunately, not everyone supports this garage sale. Councillor Kirsten Lesina opposes it, but doesn’t know why. Syd Walker is concerned that it is sponsored by the Israeli government, and Barry Daniels believes that it is a National Party conspiracy. Whereas Stuey Traill is expected to attend the sale, but will be protesting on behalf of a Union he is not a member of.

See you at 6 Tradewinds Close, Redlynch this Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th. Only Australian bananas will be served.


NOTES & LEGAL DISCLAIMERS:
*Heads may not actually explode. 6 in 10 people participating in controlled studies, including a placebo test group, suffered head explosion. None from the placebo group suffered explosive side effect.

** Actual levels of sanity may vary. A psychologist will be available on the day, but as the insane people won’t be at the sale, that isn’t really much help.

*** Power provided by sun.

**** CAFNEC oppose this garage sale due to it contributing to the new phenomena of global cooling.

An open letter to ABC Far North

In an open letter, CairnsBlog contributor Syd Walker asks ABC Far North radio, why they didn't do more homework before talking with Clive Williams this morning.

(Please note, the photograph of Mr Walker is used in violation of the Geneva Convention on Cruelty to Civilian Populations.)

• Fiona Sewell
  ABC Far North
  Cairns, Queensland
  Copy: Bruce Woolley (Manager)
  
  Dear Fiona,
  
  I refer to your interview this morning with Clive Williams, visiting fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.
  
  Had you provided any of the following background about Mr Williams, which his own webpage presents as his 'Career Highlights', your listeners might have been better able to evaluate his comments in context. Instead, as I recall, you introduced him with words such as 'academic' and 'expert'. It's true, as far as it goes, but they are rather bland terms in the circumstances:
  
  Career HighlightsDefence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) Attaché in Washington 1990-1993; Head of Imagery Exploitation Centre 1993-1994; Director Major Powers Section, DIO 1994-1998; Director of Security Intelligence 1998-2002. See this link.
  
  Yes, Clive Williams is an expert. He's expert in rationalizing open-ended military occupations based on a bogus initial pretext.
  
  I'd be grateful if you could take two minutes to watch the video featured on a recent post on my blog, produced by The Guardian.
  
  THAT is the war that Clive Williams wants us to keep fighting for AT LEAST another TEN years. Another DECADE, for heavens sake!
  
  I believe most Far North Queensland locals do not want our local ABC station serving as a part-time propaganda wing of the military-security establishment. (I'm aware that the national ABC performs this role more or less as a matter of course, but surely there are limits!)
  
  However, as ABC Far North has now chosen to enter the minefield of Afgani/Pakistani affairs -presumably to help better inform local listeners on these weighty matters - I trust you will follow up soon with an interview about the Afghanistan war in which an informed advocate of an anti-occupation, pro-reconciliation approach to resolving conflict in that region is granted at least an equal amount of airtime as Clive Williams.
  
  Otherwise, the local public in this part of the world have a right to ask why ABC Far North chooses to help push a minority view held by those Australians who support our continuing involvement in this war.
  
  Please now give at least least equal voice to the substantial MAJORITY of Australians (70%+ according to statistics cited by Williams himself) who seek a rapid end to Australia's involvement in the occupation of Afghanistan. Please ALSO give voice to those of us able to present compelling evidence that the 2001 assault on Afghanistan was a war launched on false premises - evidence which the ABC, to its shame, never deigns to report fairly in its current affairs coverage, see for instance.
  I understand that the rest of the mainstream Australian media insists on treating the public like idiots. But ABC Far North need not do the same. So, if you want to raise the issue of Afghanistan, why not also interview a prominent 9-11 sceptic on the topic? Perhaps Professor David Ray Griffin would be amenable to the opportunity? See this if you haven't already heard of Griffin; I have other suggestions if he isn't available).
  
  A declining number of well-informed people believe any longer that fanatical Muslims, led by 'Al Qaida' based in Afghanistan, managed to effect the free-fall collapse of THREE steel-framed Manhattan skyscrapers into dust and molten steel on 9-11. After all, such a phenomenon has never been observed before or since in history, absent pre-planned controlled demolition... Recall also that the Taliban Government of the day offered to extradite Mr Bin Laden if it could be presented with evidence of his guilt; that perfectly normal and reasonable request - a request any sovereign nation makes in the event of an extradition request - was dismissively treated as a casus belli by the Bush Administration.
  
  'NATO's' war in Afghanistan is being waged a long way from the North Atlantic. Afghanistan is a long way from Australia too. Even Clive Williams admitted the conflict poses no direct 'threat' to Australia. This war, launched on the basis of demonstrable lies, is being waged against an increasingly popular resistance movement. The chief beneficiaries of the post-2001 conflict have been drug barons, arms merchants and profiteering military contractors. Ordinary Afghanis have been and remain the principal victims.
  
  Australians are right to reject this foul war. It's a war based on outrageous deceptions that our own publicly-owned mass media is too conformist and cowardly (and/or complicit?) to investigate. How shameful is that!
  
  If you must interview war-mongering academics with 'Defense Intelligence' (double misnomer?) connections, please at least question them critically and balance their pro-war spin with opposing views.
  
  With regards to you and all at ABC Far North, on this fine sunny day in relative paradise.
  Syd Walker
  Kuranda
  -------------------------------------------
  PS. As I have little remaining confidence that the mainstream media in Australia provides an opportunity for meaningful discussion of topics such as those raised above, I intend to publish this letter on my blog. I will, of course, publish any replies received from yourself and/or Mr Woolley.
  
  There is nothing personal in this. I respect you and ABC Far North in most of your endeavours. But when you play a role - even a minor role - in helping to promote unjust and murderous wars, I believe you cross a line.
  
  Ventilation of these issues in the public domain, in my opinion, is very much in the public interest - within this region and everywhere else. It's past time.

Around our Blogs 2

• KitchenSlut reports about Cairns employment vulnerability and the release of a new index of employment vulnerability by COFFEE (Centre of Full Employment & Equity). Cairns is generally skewed to higher risk categories although, KitchenSlut says it may surprise some that Palm Cove fits in the highest risk category and Mt Peter - on the South of Cairns, is the only suburb in the lowest risk category.
  
  
• News Port Daily, a new Douglas-focused website. Today they look at a heated meeting between residents and the EPA about the removal of bats to be removed. "There is no guarantees the animals will disperse and if they do they will be someone else's problem" the EPA said. Residents were simply encouraged to learn to live with them.
  
  
• Northern Truth, on his continued anti-LNP crusade, says that the Liberals are unhappy with Nationals and are having Election-eve tensions. Lance cites the dumping of truckloads of files and memorabilia from the former Queensland Liberal Party office. This is the respect the Nationals are showing to the proud history of the Queensland Liberal Party, he says. "From day one this was a takeover now the Nationals and their Liberal Party traitors (you know who you are) are wiping out the heritage of our once great Party! This is disgusting and very sad,this farce of a merger must be ended ASAP."
  
  
• Henry's Fosnez Blog is back from Japan and is pissed off with Earth Hour. "It really annoy me," he says. "Instead of doing something for the enviroment (sic) once a year, and only for an hour - here's a thought, change your *daily* impact on the enviroment (sic)." (I'm not sic of Henry's blog though)
  
  
• The Cairns Roast critiques the media's behaviour to the nude Pauline Hanson pics. "They have displayed real taste and integrity when they chose to purchase and display [these]" The Roast warns the pics were heavily censored and are about as thrilling as a packet of wet biscuits.
  
  
• Not The Cairns Post says The Cairns Post is getting confused about Barron River's Steve Wettenhall's position.
  
  
• Syd Walker is disappointed on many fronts, but says there are intelligent and capable Labor politicians in Queensland. "One of them is Environment Minister Andrew McNamara. This is what he said on Wednesday about the Labor Government’s ban on shooting flying foxes."
  
  
• Janine Aitken, former Council candidate and JCU President and my favorite neighbour, says Lawrence The Borg is like Mr T, ready to show people at the Mater’s Children Hospital he’s got no time for da jibba jabba! "But before his press conference could even start he was flanked by those annoying protesters from the Public Sector and there non stop claims that he was going to cut their jobs and put them at risk. The Borg knew he needed help, he looked around, none here could make those nasty protesters go away so he looked deep inside and channeled the voices of the past."

ABC candidate interviews online

ABC Far North, with a little pressure from Syd Walker, have put up online a series of interviews with all the candidates standing in this weekend's State election.

Fiona Sewell spoke with all candidates over the last week:

• Barron River with Steve Wettenhall, Wendy Richardson & Sarah Isaac


• Cairns with Joel Harrop, Desley Boyle & Steve Brech


• Cook with Jason O'Brien & Craig Batchelor


• Dalrymple with Shane Knuth, Rosa Lee Long & Jason Briskey


• Mulgrave with Curtis Pitt & Victor Black


• Hinchinbrook with Michelle Macklin & Andrew Cripps

These are excellent interviews, and I recommend everyone take some time to listen to their local candidates.

Thanks to Bruce Wooley at ABC Far North for making this happen. Click the sound icon above or this link.

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.

Trolls and anonymity

Mark at KitchenSlut pointed me to John Quiggin, a prominent academic ‘left wing’ economist, who is debating the way in which people comment and engage in debate on his blog.

He highlights Clive Hamilton's piece on Crikey attacking the state of discussion on the Internet, an interesting read.

Many times on CairnsBlog the subject has been raised by myself, Syd Walker, Andrew Griffiths, to name a few. And you couldn't get three more different commentators than us. I wonder what we would talk about if we ever got together for dinner?!

I have a comments policy on this blog, and encourage everyone to stick to the subject under debate, and also use their name, or at least a nickname. Many opponents of the subject I raise, rarely use their name. There's a clear pattern there.

As Hamilton says, maintaining a productive discussion isn’t easy, and a lot of blogs and other sites don’t even try. However, John Quiggin doesn’t think that’s enough to support the conclusion that...

• If free speech means encouraging a free-flowing dialogue that draws the public into an exploration of alternative ideas and enriches civic culture, then the Internet is its enemy.

He says that anonymity is the central problem when making public commentary. Unlike Quiggin, my experience is the opposite in that the worst and most persistent trolls are those people posting under fake nic names.

I would encourage anyone, to engage in this forum provided, but stand up and be counted.

ABC: Letting Down Democracy

Syd Walker wants the ABC to act like a publically-funded broadcaster.

The election process in this country – at State and Federal levels –often reminds me of a lift. It’s rather small lift, and there’s only really room for two. The first candidate out wins.

In this coming Queensland election, only two major parties – the ALP and the LNP – are inside the lift. They have the resources, dollars, organization and contacts to ride the escalator to power. Other candidates have a hard job getting any traction. The chance of an upset – in which neither the ALP nor the LNP are elected - is slim.

But what if a candidate from outside the two major parties is a candidate of quality – someone whom many find a more attractive representative than the major party offerings? Surely quality powers through?

In theory, that’s true. But most people in the electorate will, in all likelihood, never even hear alternative candidates speak. They get so little media coverage there’s a good chance you’ll miss them. Occasions when all the candidates debate together – so you can compare and contrast their arguments and policies – are few indeed.

There was one such opportunity this morning on ABC radio, which is running a daily series of interviews with candidates for each of the six FNQ State electorates. Today, Day One, was the turn of Barron River candidates. It was an interesting debate.

Did you hear it? Statistically, that’s unlikely. You would have needed to be listening to the ABC between 9.30am and 10am. Most folk in the electorate, I suspect, missed the program – even if they were interested.

Yet in this modern era, it’s easy to catch such audio recordings at your leisure: just download them from the ABC website. It’s an easy service for the public broadcaster to provide – and in a case like this, ensures that no-one who’s interested misses out.

I was keen to obtain a copy of the recording and called the ABC shortly after the interview ended – only to be informed that ABC Far North has no intention of putting the audio files on its website. I was told people should try to listen live. When I made a fuss, I was referred to Media Monitors.

Media Monitors is a private company. I called and asked for an audio file of the interview. I was told that would be fine. The price tag? $200!

I then wrote a letter of complaint to the local Manager of the ABC, pointing out this debate was – to my knowledge – the ONLY time in the election campaign when any of the mass media interview all three Barron River candidates at once. Yet the public, if they missed it, are expected to pay $200. The ABC, I pointed out, is publicly funded. If it won’t cover elections adequately it is failing, in a most basic way, to serve as a public broadcaster.

I have yet to hear back from the ABC. My letter of complaint is below. You may like to write one too?

The interview this morning was not perfect. The format was rather stilted and there was no real engagement between the speakers. Even so, I think a clear idea of the respective qualities of the candidates emerged for those of us who listened.

If you didn’t hear it, you missed out. If the ABC behaves like this as a matter of routine, our democracy misses out. My letter to that worthy organization follows…

• Mr Bruce Woolley,
  Manager,
  ABC Far North
  Cairns, FNQ
  9th March 2009
  
  Dear Mr Woolley
  
  This is a formal request that ABC Far North does its most basic job without delay, by providing basic information to help inform the Australian public so our democracy is sustained and strengthened.
  
  According to the Charter of the ABC, the functions of the Corporation are:
  
  (a) to provide within Australia innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard as part of the Australian broadcasting system consisting of national, commercial and public sectors and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, to provide:
  (ii) broadcasting programs of an educational nature;
  
  There can be few matters of such crucial educational value to the community as a whole as accurate and thorough reporting about the candidates who will represent this community in our Parliaments.
  
  Today the candidates for the electorate of Barron River in the forthcoming Queensland State election were interviewed on ABC Radio Far North. It is one of six debates between election candidates in the six electorates due to be broadcast by local ABC radio. No repeat debate is scheduled, as far as I'm aware.
  
  Also, as far as I’m aware, there are no plans for debates between candidates on local TV or on any other radio channel. The debate that just tool place, therefore, is the ONLY media debate between candidates for the electorate of Barron River planned during the entire election campaign.
  
  I just called ABC Far North to obtain a copy of the audio tape, which I’d like in digital format. I was told it wouldn’t be possible. I asked again and was referred to 'Media Monitors'.
  
  As an Australian citizen I do not find it acceptable that the ABC fails so abysmally to fulfill its obligations to further the democratic process in this country.
  
  I thoroughly object to being referred to a fee-charging private company in this case. If I am to pay a fee at all, I wish to pay the public broadcaster. I object to enriching a private monopoly on a matter pertaining to Australian democracy. What have we come to, for heavens sake?
  
  How much effort does it take to make this interview available as a downloadable file on the ABC Far North website - so all locals can hear it if they so wish at a tie of their convenience? How much cost is involved? Would you like volunteers to help?
  
  If the ABC can’t afford to perform this utterly basic service, free of charge to listeners, I question the value that the public obtains from the local ABC.
  
  Perhaps the opportunity to broadcast on these wavelengths should be tendered out, so other organizations willing to meet basic standards for reporting elections in a modern democracy can have a go?
  
  Yours sincerely
  Syd Walker
  Far North Queensland
  

PS. I just called Media Monitors to establish the cost and availability of the audio file. I was told it may be available later this morning. The price was $200.

Democracy privatized? Traduced? Just for the rich? Or all of the above?