Monthly Archive for February, 2009

Australian Military Three Times As Obese As US Military

Published on February 23, 2009 in Facts About Australia. 0 Comments Tags: , .

It looks like the claim that Australia is the world’s fattest nation is now beginning to carry over to the Australian Defence Force:

THE Australian military has revealed 7500 of its 53,000 troops are now classified as obese.

Official figures show one in seven members of the defence force is overweight – more than three times the ratio recorded last month by the US military.

The ADF has admitted obesity has become “an issue” for personnel and has commissioned its specialist research centre, based at the University of Queensland, to investigate possible causes.

The study will look at the impact of changes to recruiting standards in 2006, when fatter recruits were admitted to “broaden the selection pool”.  [The Sunday Telegraph]

Nation Mourns 209 People Killed By Bushfires

Published on February 22, 2009 in Victoria. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

It was a national day of mourning this Sunday to remember the victims of Victoria deadly 2009 bushfires:

VICTORIAN communities devastated by bushfires will rebuild and Australia will never forget the dead, a memorial service for the Victoria fires victims, in Melbourne has been told.

Bells sounded across Victoria to open the ceremony, and dignitaries laid flowers at a wreath to honor the 209 people who died in Australia’s worst natural disaster.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said people had experienced unspeakable suffering in the fires and vowed that every year on February 7 Australian flags would fly at half mast.

“In recent days we have witnessed unspeakable suffering. We have lost mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers. We have lost brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, the tiniest of children, family and friends and neighbours,” Mr Rudd said.

“All these are precious lives. No words can provide solace for grief so personal. But simply know this. You who suffer are not alone.  [News.com]

Baby Bonus Increases Birth Rate in Australia

Published on February 18, 2009 in Facts About Australia. 1 Comment

To me it is not surprising the baby bonus increased the birth rate:

FORMER treasurer Peter Costello’s baby bonus could have delivered almost 12,000 extra births, accounting for the surprise jump in Australian fertility rates between 2004 to 2006.

A Melbourne Institute study has found that the controversial bonus succeeded in convincing at least some parents to follow Mr Costello’s exhortation in 2004 to have “one for mum, one for dad, and one for your country”.

Study co-author Mark Wooden said analysis of intentions to have a child and of reported births suggested the baby bonus had increased the fertility rate by 3.2 per cent, The Australian reports.

However, who are the people having most of these kids? 

Are they teenagers?:

Australia has the third highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the developed world, following the United States and the United Kingdom. However, rates in Australia have plateaued since the mid 1970s and in the past four years rates have begun to fall. The majority of teenage pregnancy occurs in 18 and 19 year old women. However, in very young women, aged 11-15 years, teenage pregnancy can have detrimental physical consequences as well as life long social and economical sequelae for the mother and child.  [Professor Julie Quinlivan]

Or they people like this?


FOURTEEN malnourished children have been hospitalised and a pregnant mother has been charged with neglect after up to 21 starving children were found crammed into one suburban house.

An emergency hearing of South Australia’s Youth Court will this afternoon decide on their custody, amid allegations of neglect.

The children’s plight was uncovered after one boy, aged five, was taken to hospital suffering hypothermia and malnutrition.  [The Daily Telegraph]

Is the baby bonus worth these types of pregnancies?  

The bonus isn’t popularly called the the “plasma bonus” for nothing.

Princess to Attend Bushfire Memorial

Published on February 18, 2009 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments

It is good to see the British royalty sending a representative to mourn the victims of Victoria’s devastating bushfires this month:


PRINCESS Anne will travel to Australia to attend Sunday’s national day of mourning for those who died in the Victoria fires
.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said Anne was cancelling other engagements to personally represent her mother, the Queen, in Melbourne.

“She’s personally representing the Queen, who has asked her to go,” the spokeswoman said.

“The following day she will make some sort of visits to see for herself the devastation.”

It was yet to be decided which communities Princess Anne would visit.

Thousands of Victorians will gather in Melbourne and a string of bushfire scorched townships as part of the memorial events for at least 201 people who died in the February 7 infernos.

A National Day of Mourning – Together for Victoria – will be held at Rod Laver Arena and surrounds at 11am (AEDT) on Sunday to honour the victims and to recognise the courage and efforts of emergency service workers.

It will be hosted by ABC journalist Ian Henderson and televised live on the three commercial networks as well as the ABC.  [AFP]


You can read more about Princess Anne here.

Floods Continue to Plague Australia

Published on February 18, 2009 in Australia in the News and Queensland. 0 Comments

Large parts of Australia continue to be effected by recent flooding:


Nowhere to go … stranded dairy cows on the Bellinger river downstream of Bellingen. Picture: Nathan Edwards

EVEN while firefighters are still battling bush infernos in scorched Victoria huge amounts of Australia are under floodwaters.

Rains have eased, but more than 4000 people remain isolated by flood waters in parts of northern New South Wales, the State Emergency Service (SES) says.

Heavy rains falling since Friday have soaked large parts of the state between Bourke and Sydney, but began easing last night, SES director general Murray Kear said.

“We’ve got about 4,000 people still isolated along the Bellinger River

“Those communities are isolated by the Bellinger River, which we are monitoring and has showed a slight lowering.

“There have been no signs of an increase overnight, with no further rain, and the river is steady at about 5.3m currently.”

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a further 100mm of rain in the area today, but Mr Kear said satellite images showed the rain falling over the Pacific Ocean.

At Bourke in the state’s central north, where a natural disaster zone has been declared, 200mm of rain has fallen in the past few days, equivalent to two-thirds of the city’s annual rainfall.

Between Bourke and Sydney and stretching to the coast, the SES has received more than 2000 calls for assistance since Friday.

“We’ve conducted nine flood rescues across the north coast – people stranded in vehicles, et cetera,” Mr Kear said.

Last night and early today, the SES received 100 calls for help in the greater Sydney area from people beset by water inundation.

Bellingen resident Patricia Reed was among many people trapped in town by the rising water.

Ms Reed, who has lived in the area all her life, said she had never seen such constant, heavy rain.

“The problem is we’ve got people stranded who can’t get out of town and people who can’t get in,” she said.

To read more go to The Daily Telegraph

at the communities of Bellingen, Darkwood and Thora,” Mr Kear said.

Queensland Boy’s Remains Found in Crocodile

Published on February 18, 2009 in Queensland. 1 Comment Tags: , .

This is just a horrible story to read about:

HUMAN remains found in a crocodile caught near where a five-year-old boy went missing in the far north Queensland Daintree River are those of the child.

Jeremy Doble disappeared on February 8 after he followed his dog into the river where his parents run a tour company Daintree Rainforest River Trains.

Jeremy’s seven-year-old brother, Ryan, told police he saw a crocodile in the water moments later.

The trapped crocodile was taken to a veterinary clinic in Cairns on Friday to determine if it was the one that took the boy.

Police tonight  confirmed material found in the reptile’s stomach during a surgical procedure and examined at the John Tonge Centre forensic laboratory in Brisbane, were those of the young boy.  [AAP]

My condolescences to the family because this is extremely sad.

Australian Milk Commercial from 1976

Published on February 17, 2009 in Facts About Australia and Victoria. 0 Comments

I like the Australian milk commercials from back in the day:

Could you imagine what the reaction would be today if such a commercial was aired?

Via Tim Blair

A Look at the Realm of New Zealand

Published on February 17, 2009 in New Zealand. 0 Comments Tags: .

I guess it is fitting that one of my favorite blogs, Coming Anarchy has just posted an article about The Realm of New Zealand after I just finished writing my series of posting about my trip to New Zealand:

Actually, although the human population of New Zealand is barely four million, the territorial expanse of greater New Zealand, known as “The Realm of New Zealand” (defined below), is actually quite large, both in the area of the surface covered and its longitudinal coverage.

Read the rest here.

Of course if you want to read even more about The Realm of New Zealand complete with pictures, then make sure to check out my New Zealand Holiday Journal.

Australian Bushfire Arsonist Identified as Brendan Sokaluk

Published on February 16, 2009 in Australia in the News and Victoria. 7 Comments Tags: , , .

One of the arsonists from the deadly Victoria bushfires has been named and has failed to show up for court because of fears for his safety:


Accused arsonists lawyer arrives at court.

A VICTORIAN magistrate this morning lifted the supression order on a man accused of lighting the Gippsland fires.

Brendan Sokaluk was due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning but chose to remain in custody and not be in court due to fears for his safety.

The 39-year-old has been charged with arson causing death, intentionally lighting a bushfire and posession of child pornography.

His lawyer Helen Spowart told the court her client and his family were at risk because of the level of community anger over the horrific bushfires.  [The Australian]

Oddly enough Sokaluk was a volunteer firefighter himself:

THE man accused of starting one of the deadly Victorian bushfires was a country fire brigade volunteer and a loner.

Hours after allegedly lighting a bushfire that killed 11 people, Brendan Sokaluk climbed on to the roof of his single-storey house and watched flames raging on the steep hills behind Churchill, neighbours say.

The Advertiser has learned local CFA officers reported Sokaluk to police earlier that day. He was questioned but it would be another five days before the single man, 39, was arrested on Maple St, midway through his twice-weekly paper round.  [Adelaide Now]

Read the rest of the article, but this guy was considered “slow”, was a loner, and lived in a pile junk.  

Sokaluk also has a MySpace page that makes some rather strange claims such as worshipping “Mother Earth”:

Sokaluk maintains a MySpace page that given what he has done is spooky.

Sokaluk was clearly bitter on a couple of fronts. A failed relationship with someone called Alexandra resulted in a profile comment of “my interest are to enjoy life to the fallest [sic] and not with alexandra because she roots behind your back and lies a lot.”

The page is scattered with appalling spelling, suggesting that Sokaluk may have been illiterate, or had suffered a learning disability.

In the hero section, Sokaluk writes ” my heroe [sic] is mother earth with out her we all would be dead.”

His MySpace profile also suggests that Sokaluk has an affiliation to a US religious group by the name of “The Truth of God,” a group known to hold extreme views against women clergy and gay people.  [The Inquisitir]

The Inquisitir was also able to dig up the MySpace profile and picture of the girl Sokaluk may have been angered at:

Brendan Sokaluk, the man accused of lighting a fire that killed 21 people in Victoria may have been acting out after being jilted by his possibly firefighter ex, The Inquisitr has learned.

In our earlier post, we noted that Sokaluk was bitter about an ex called Alexandra, writing “my interest are to enjoy life to the fallest [sic] and not with alexandra because she roots behind your back and lies a lot” on his MySpace page.

With thanks to @cravenjade on Twitter, we can reveal that person may be a volunteer bush firefighter, although we don’t yet have her last name.

Alexandra is 31, lives in the Gippsland area, and works in age care as her full time position.

Notably, her profile picture, and other pictures on her MySpace page show her in a CFA (Country Fire Authority) uniform. [The Inquisitir]

A court order in Australia has been released banning Sokaluk’s picture in the media, but that hasn’t stopped Facebook users from joining together to show his picture across the Internet:

Facebook users angered by a court order suppressing details of the man accused of starting one of the deadly bushfires that devastated Australiasocial networking site.

At least three Facebook groups have been created to name the alleged arsonist, who it has emerged was a volunteer firefighter.

At a Victoria court hearing today, magistrate John Klestadt lifted the suppression order on Brendan Sokaluk’s name but ordered that his photograph and address should not be released.

Sokaluk, who has been in protective custody since his arrest on Friday, was in the court precinct but did not appear because of security concerns.

The 39-year-old has been charged with “arson causing death” over the bushfire in the Churchill area, in which 21 people were killed.

Facebook users called for him to “burn in hell”. One wrote: “Tie the bastard to a post and put a ring of fire around him … let the fire make its way to him and make him suffer like the other 100′s of people had to endure.”

Another posted: “He should be thrown into his creation and left to burn”.

Authorities contacted social networking sites seeking the removal of the details and urging people to allow the police to do their job.  [The Guardian]

Out of respect to Australian authorities I have altered the picture of Brendan Sokaluk above, but anyone wanting to see his picture can simply go to Facebook and see it.  Seems like a hopeless fight to me by the Australian authorities to try and stop his picture from spreading on the Internet. 

Anyway as despicable as what Sokaluk did is, he is still entitled to a fair trial and hopefully the system plays out and he is sentenced to a very long time in jail.

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New Zealand Holiday Journal

Published on February 15, 2009 in New Zealand. 1 Comment Tags: .

Listed below are the postings about my wonderful journey through the beautiful country of New Zealand.  The holiday my wife and I took covered both the North and South Islands where we both had a fabulous time exploring this diverse and scenic nation.  I hope everyone enjoyed reading about our trip and inspires you to want to visit this great country if you haven’t already.

New Zealand’s North Island:

New Zealand’s South Island