CairnsBlog is a courageous one-person blog that provides occasionally brilliant independent coverage of local issues in this region of Australia.

This morning it ran a strongly-worded anti-war article by Werner Schmidlin, a local peace activist, with the self-explanatory title: The futile and costly Afghan war.

The Michael Moore of Cairns isn't a Hollywood-promoted left-gatekeeper

It’s a fine article, not exactly what I’d have written myself, but thank heavens for diversity in the peace movement. Thank heavens that there is a peace movement in this country! You’d never guess it from the mainstream media.

The (latest) war against Afghan resistance fighters has now been going on for nearly twice as long as World War One. It’s a war going nowhere fast – unwinnable, futile and utterly destructive for Afghans and invaders alike.

The way forward is clearly to negotiate peace. The ‘west’ has a duty to offer reparations for an illegal invasion based on lies, followed by nearly a decade of bloody occupation. If we really want to help ‘womens rights’ in Afghanistan – or other equally noble objectives – our Governments could negotiate the terms of payments to the next Afghan Government and apply pressure that way, with carrots and not sticks.

Western troops in Afghanistan: opium production has soared since their arrival

A beetle needs to own six boots
Or go barefoot instead
Some beetles gnaw away at roots
While others munch on bread.

Lophostemon grandifloris: a local beneficial beetle (Source: Ken Walker, Museum Victoria)

Though beetles ride on lizards’ backs
If given half the chance
They do resent surprise attacks
Preferring sweet romance.

In many ways, you’ll find your life
Is like the life of beetle
So if you ever take a wife
Don’t lose her in the treacle.

Perhaps I’m getting too grumpy?

If so, it’s not without provocation.

This morning I switched on the local Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio channel (ABC Far North) to catch up on regional news. Presenter Fiona Sewell was on deck. All fine.

Clive Williams: at least he didn't have the gall to mention Bin Laden!

Then I learnt she was to interview Clive Williams of the Australian National University after 9am, on the topic of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is not in Far North Queensland, but I decided to listen anyhow.

The softball, reventential tone of her interview raised my hackles from the outset. Williams was introduced as an ‘expert’; the ABC up to its usual tricks…

This is Cairns, for God’s sake.  We’re not even close to Canberra, let alone Kabul. If the local ABC is going to cover Afghani affairs, how about balance? And how long will this publicly-funded institution continue to churn out war propaganda while lying by omission on subjects such as 9-11? It really is beyond a joke.

Hence my letter, which is self explanatory. I’ll publish any reply received. Watch this space…

Attention Fiona Sewell
ABC Far North,
Cairns, Queensland,
Australia

Dear Fiona

I refer to your interview this morning with Clive Williams, Visiting Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.

Spectacled Flying Fox: under the gun again?

When Governments change in Queensland, the consequence can be dramatic. There’s no House of Review. It’s winner takes all in the Legislative Assembly.

There’s a vibe in this election that the Bligh Labor Government will fall and that may well occur. Many people feel the ALP does not deserve re-election. They have a point.

But does the ‘Opposition’ deserve to be elected? Some LNP candidates are more attractive than their Labor counterparts. That’s a reason for putting LNP above Labor. An effective local member is worth a lot. But what matters most of all, in general, is the quality and approach of the State cabinet. It will drive most new policy.

The ALP has disappointed on many fronts, but 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:

“The crop losses that were reported over this season were relatively slight, I acknowledge that some particular growers had heavier losses than others but it’s simply a matter of in the 21st century we have to go with smarter methods rather than blasting away at night with a shotgun”

Compare that with what Shadow Agriculture Minister Ray Hopper said, in the same report, when explaining that the LNP would re-introduce shooting permits.

This is a local story, published first in CairnsBlog. It’s my attempt to make sense of some of this area’s history and politics, but concerns broader issues such as the justice for indigenous people and nature conservation, the coming Queensland election and News Ltd journalism at its most excreable…
_____________________________

King of the local hacks?

Gavin King writes opinion pieces, mostly political tittle-tattle, 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.

Sarah Isaacs of the Barron River Greens

Last week, a media release from Sarah Isaacs of the Barron River Greens in the forthcoming Queensland State election 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”.

Premier Anna Bligh: a cut above most politicians

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.

Lawrence Springborg: lots of blue sky, but vision?

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?

Insect Surprise

Stick Insect

When first I saw an insect stick
I thought that it was just a trick
I’m older now, and must insist
Stick insects really do exist!

_________________

This photo, spotted on Photobucket (photographer Sasquatchpilaf), was taken at the Daintree River in Far North Queensland.

This morning I listened to a couple of interviews on local ABC radio.

The first was with a representative of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce. The second interview was with a local union representative (from the AWU). The context for the discussion was the global economic downturn. How may it affect Far North Queensland? What can we do to keep our region’s economy afloat?

Both contributors, I have no doubt, are nice well-meaning people. But what struck me was the utterly vacuous nature of their analyses and proposals. As business is the base of the Coalition Parties – and organized labor the bedrock of the ALP – our apparent inability to take swift, intelligent, interventionist action for our future benefit becomes explicable.

If our local political elites had half a brain, they’d be busting with proposals for significant Federal investment in this region.

We need major projects to stimulate the economy. We also need to develop a more sustainable way of life. BOTH are urgent priorities. Projects that deliver BOTH will enjoy very widespread support.

So where is FNQ’s ‘ready to go’ list of sustainable development projects which our local politicians could be selling – right now – in the corridors of power down south?

Here are a few suggestions:

· Upgrading the region’s sewerage systems to world best practice
· Systematic remediation of te region’s toxic sites
· Large-scale forestation to reestablish riparian and wildlife corridors
· Building a new, high-efficiency rail system for the region
· Upgrading the region’s infrastructure for disaster amelioration
· Establishing more state-of-the-art eco-tourism visitor facilities on public lands

Kevin Rudd: a somewhat better view of the world

In its first year, the Rudd Government has been the kind of disappointment I expected.

There are bright sides to the picture. The demise of Howard and his mean-spirited club was certainly a breathe of fresh air. Canberra’s environmental policy is now more progressive – although not in any fundamental way. Appalling abuse of the human rights of would-be immigrants has subsided. Some of the more hard-nosed brutality of an incipient police state has receded, for now at least – although as far as I’m aware, all the 20+ anti-Terrorism laws passed by the Australian Parliament earlier in the decade remains in force.

But in too many respects, as expected, it’s been business as usual.

I’ll focus here on just one policy area here: ‘Defense’.

First, a disclaimer.

I use terms such as ‘Defense Budget’ and ‘Defense Minister’ under protest. In more honest times, ‘War’ was the word. But War has morphed into Defense, a term more palatable for the post-modern masses. We are yet, as Orwell suggested, to see the war machine run by a ‘Ministry of Peace’. But we’re heading that way. Real peace itself, of course, remains an elusive dream – mainly because of incessant war-mongering by ‘allies’ in the ‘free world’.

Anyway, back to ‘Defense’… Did anyone notice, shortly before the world’s money markets dived, that Mr Rudd gave an extremely generous funding guarantee to ONE specially favoured area of expenditure?

Following the howls of anonymous outrage that followed my earlier article on this topic, after it was republished on CairnsBlog, I was lucky to have a chance to speak with someone who actually knows what he’s talking about.

Yesterday I had a phone conversation with Dr Jon Brodie, a water quality scientist based at James Cook University in Cairns. In what follows, I have tried to combine his information with my own commentary. Any errors in interpretation are my responsibility.

A knowledgeable man, Brodie has worked for more than a quarter century researching water quality issues. He has a grasp of what information on this topic is – and isn’t – available in FNQ.

Brodie was not effusive, but he was not reticent either. He was willing to answer questions and to mention relevant work undertaken by others.

I asked him quite specific questions about pesticide levels, possible conseqences, techniques for removing pesticides from drinking water, water quality guidelines and new work in the offing.

It appears there isn’t any data about pesticide concentrations in the Barron River – not in the public domain, at any rate.

Brodie believes the Barron is likely to contain traces of a wide range of pesticides, reflecting the diversity of cropping and other land uses in the catchment.

Organochlorines were banned in 1987. The newer generation of pesticides tend to be more short-lived, with half-lives in the order of one year. Some breakdown products, however, are also toxic and have their own breakdown pathways. The combined effects of different chemicals in this complex brew are another unknown.