Archive for the 'Australia in the News' Category

Eco-Alarmists Hype Damage Done to Great Barrier Reef By Ship Grounding

Published on April 13, 2010 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

It is good to see that the environmental damage to the Great Barrier Reef has been minimal after the grounding of a Chinese ship on the reef:

A Chinese coal carrier that ran aground and leaked oil on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef cut a scar the length of 10 city blocks into the shoal and may have smeared paint that will prevent marine life from growing back, the reef’s chief scientist said Tuesday.Even if severe toxic contamination is not found at the site, initial assessments by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority indicate it could take 20 years for the world’s largest coral reef to recover, said scientist David Wachenfeld.

“There is more damage to this reef than I have ever seen in any previous Great Barrier Reef groundings,” Wachenfeld told reporters on Tuesday. The Shen Neng 1 ground into large parts of the shoal, leaving a scar 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) long and up to 820 feet (250 meters) wide.

The 755-foot (230-meter) vessel veered into protected waters and slammed into a shoal on April 3. Coral shredded part of its hull, causing a leak of about 3 tons of fuel oil, which was later dispersed by chemical sprays and is believed to have caused little or no damage to the reef. Small amounts of oil, however, have begun washing up on beaches near where the ship ran aground, according to Maritime Safety Queensland.  [Associated Press]

You can read the rest of the article at the link, but it is just more eco-alarmism by the usual suspects.  This ship damaged 10 city blocks on a reef that is 1,600 miles long.  To put that into comparison it would be like 10 city blocks in Washington, DC damaged between there and Miami, Florida. 

Here is what Walter Starck had to say about this latest eco-alarmist scare:

Oil floats, coral doesn’t. The damage to reefs from oil spills is minimal and recovery is rapid. Follow-up studies of oil spills have repeatedly found that environmental recovery has invariably been much faster and more complete than predicted with the worst affects being inflicted by clean-up efforts. The use of dispersants, as was done in the current event, is only a PR stunt by government wanting to be seen to be doing something. For the reef, it is the worst thing to do.

- In the First Persian Gulf War in 1991, the largest oil spill ever occurred when 6-8 million tonnes was dumped into an area of shallow water and reefs. With a thousand oil well fires to contend with, no effort was made to do anything about the marine spill. Follow-up studies found that within 4 months most of the oil had been degraded naturally and within 4 years even the most heavily affected areas had largely or completely recovered. This spill was about 10,000 times larger than the total carried by the ship now on the reef.  [Quadrant Online]

Read the rest of the article because it is highly entertaining. 

I also highly recommend reading Andrew Bolt’s article which further puts into perspective this latest eco-alarmist scare. 

While the alarmists hype ship groundings and global warmng as reasons for the near term destruction to the reef, what is causing real environmental damage to the reef goes on largely unnoticed.

Christine Nixon is Australia’s Equivalent of Mayor Ray Nagin

Published on April 9, 2010 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Last year’s “Black Saturday” bushfires in Australia were the near equivalent to the Aussies as Hurricane Katrina was to the US.  And just like with New Orleans’ Ray Nagin, the Black Saturday fires were made worse by governmental incompetence:

CHRISTINE Nixon was hired as our police chief not because she was a great leader.  She was hired first of all because of her politics – and with the added advantage of her gender – and on Black Saturday it showed. Showed disastrously.

As she was hired, so she failed, in an emblematic indictment of these Days of Seeming, not Doing.

To be brutally honest, she seems to have panicked. When this burning state needed saving through action, not group hugs, she realised she was useless. Unneeded.

And so she fled, first to her office, where she hid for 90 minutes doing unrelated paperwork, and then, minutes after being warned many people would die, to a restaurant.

“I had to eat!” she’s protested.

So as Kinglake burned, she went to dinner. And by the time she pushed away her plate, Marysville was in ashes, too, and most of Black Saturday’s 173 victims were dead.. [Andrew Bolt]

You can read more about this police chief’s incompetence at the link, but the bushfires destroyed a number of communities I am very familiar with since I lived near these small towns.  It just amazes me that while the citizens of these small towns were being burned alive the state’s police chief decided to go out to eat with friends and call it a day afterwards.  As incompetent as Mayor Nagin was when Hurricane Katrina hit at least he didn’t just call it a day and go home, which makes Nixon’s incompetence that much worse.

Chinese Cargo Ship Threatens to Create Oil Spill On Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

Published on April 5, 2010 in Australia in the News. 1 Comment Tags: , .

This is some really bad news coming out of Australia:

A BULK coal carrier leaking oil in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is grinding against the shoal it’s stuck on, causing more damage.

Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) says salvage experts have boarded the Chinese-registered Shen Neng 1 and will focus on stabilising the vessel amid fears it could break up.

The ship’s owners, the Cosco Group — China’s largest shipping company — could be fined more than $1 million and its captain $220,000, Ms Bligh said.

MSQ says a tug boat is at the site of the grounding, 70km east of Great Keppel Island, trying to stabilise the ship.

A second tug is due to arrive this afternoon.

“One of the most worrying aspects is that the ship is still moving on the reef to the action of the seas, which is doing further damage,” MSQ general manager Patrick Quirk said today.

“A second tug is due to arrive in the early afternoon to assist the specialised tug already there to stabilise the vessel”.

The MSQ sent up aircraft this morning to monitor oil leaking from the ship, which is carrying 975 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and 65,000 tonnes of coal.  [AAP]

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef and the location of the world’s great diversity of sea life.  The spilling of oil and coal into the reef would be a staggering environmental disaster.

Northern Territory Fisherman Survives Crocodile Attack

Published on March 16, 2010 in Australia in the News. 1 Comment Tags: , .

When I was visiting the Northern Territory to include a brief stop in Arnhem Land, I used to be amazed by the fishermen standing in the water oblivious to all the crocodiles that live in the waterways there:

A professional fisherman has been attacked by a crocodile while fishing in the Northern Territory.

The 45-year-old man was in the water when he was attacked off the Cobourg Peninsula in Arnhem Land, near Black Point, about 200 kilometres north east of Darwin.

Police said the fisherman was collecting trepang in the water just after noon when the crocodile attacked.

He has suffered injuries to his head and shoulders but they are not life-threatening.

The crocodile is believed to be two to three metres long.  [ABC News]

92 Year Old Australian Woman Charged With Murder

Published on March 15, 2010 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

I guess this just goes to show that you are never to old to kill someone:

Police in Australia have charged a 92-year-old woman with killing her 98-year-old husband.Clare Tang is due to appear in court Tuesday on a murder charge after her husband was found dead in their apartment in downtown Sydney on Friday night.

New South Wales state police said in a statement that C.Y. Tang was found in the lounge room and that he had suffered head wounds. The cause of death was still being determined.

Clare Tang was arrested at the scene.

Family friend George Tsoi said the couple were from Shanghai, China, and owned restaurants in Singapore.

He said they had been married for about 70 years, and that Clare Tang appeared to love her husband deeply, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.  [The Star Online]

Australians Ignore Warnings As Tsunami Nears

Published on February 27, 2010 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Apparently Australians are not taking the recent tsunami warnings to seriously:

BEACHGOERS have ignored official warnings of a tsunami hitting Australia’s east coast after a devastating underwater earthquake struck Chile.

The 8.8 magnitude quake struck near Chile’s central coast at about 5.43pm (AEDT), toppling buildings and killing at least 147 people.

The ocean quake has triggered tsunami warnings as far off as Australia, with the possibility of dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and foreshore flooding hitting coastal areas.

In French Polynesia, huge waves have struck the Gambier archipelago, the high commissioner’s office in Papeete said, as the tsunami races across the Pacific.

The Marquesas islands, northeast of Polynesia, were hit by a series of two-metre waves that damaged some boats but no one was hurt, officials said.

A four-metre wave hit Hiva Oa in the Marquesas, officials said.

Back in Australia, swimmers and surfers at Bondi Beach have treated this morning like any other even though effects of the tsunami are due to hit the NSW coast from 8.45am (AEDT) today.

Live cameras at Bondi show lifesavers have since ushered people out of the water.

The State Emergency Service (SES) has issued official warnings for people to stay away from the state’s coastal areas.

“Do not go to the coast to watch the tsunami, as there is the possibility of dangerous, localised flooding of the immediate foreshore,” the SES warning states.  [News.com.au]

Rescue of Cliff Climbing Drunk Man Costs Taypayers $10,000

Published on February 26, 2010 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Here is another example of wasted taxpayer money:

A NIGHT of drunken skylarking has left a Ukrainian tourist with a hangover he will always remember – and taxpayers with a huge bill.

After a night on the drink, the 19-year-old man scaled down a cliff at Sydney’s northern beaches suburb of Manly but got stuck half way and passed out, The Daily Telegraph reports.

After being alerted by a fisherman, rescue workers found him asleep on his back on a ledge 30m above sea level at North Head early yesterday morning.

The rescue operation will cost taxpayers at least $10,000.

But the man will only be charged the cost of the road trip to hospital – likely to be as little as $700.  [The Daily Telegraph]

Drug Abusing Mom Gets Second Taxpayer Funded Liver Transplant

Published on February 25, 2010 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

This is jacked up especially when the tax payers have to foot the bill for such irresponsibility:

TAXPAYERS may have to foot the bill for a dying drug user’s flight to New Zealand for life-saving surgery.

Claire Murray, a 24-year-old mother-of-two, has been told by doctors that she only has months to live if she does not receive a liver transplant.

It would be her second transplant after years of drug abuse, including heroin and amphetamines, PerthNow reports.

She has admitted to taking drugs after her first liver transplant last year – but has pledged to make the most of her second chance at life after being told she could not be considered for a second transplant in WA.

Health Minister Kim Hames said there were seven other people in WA who were waiting for their first liver transplant.

He said it would be “patently unfair” for Ms Murray to jump the queue for a second liver.

But Dr Hames said the State Government was prepared to pay for her and her father to travel to New Zealand so she could be considered for a “live” liver transplant.  [PerthNow]

I don’t understand why the state is allowing her to jump in line ahead of other people waiting for a transplant?  The state at least should make her or her parents pay for this transplant.  She can afford to buy enough drugs to destroy two livers, but can’t afford enough money to at least pay for a plane ticket to New Zealand?  I wonder if such cases like this goes on with MEDICAID in the US?

Islamic Terrorists Sentenced for Australian Terror Plot

Published on February 15, 2010 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

For those wondering, Australia has there own Islamic terrorist problem as well:

Five Sydney men convicted of terrorism-related offences have been sentenced to maximum sentences ranging from 23 to 28 years in prison.

In October last year, at the end of Australia’s longest terrorism trial, a jury found them guilty of conspiring to commit a terrorist act or acts.

During the sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court in Parramatta today, Justice Anthony Whealy said the men regarded their imprisonment as a badge of honour.

The judge referred to the chemicals, weapons and ammunition they stockpiled.

He said one of the men told a shop assistant he was buying hydrogen peroxide for his grandmother.

The judge said the men had material that glorified Osama Bin Laden and graphic images of violence involving hostages.

“One particular feature of this trial was the fact that a considerable volume of extremist material was held by each offender in common with the other conspirators,” he said.

He gave the men non-parole periods ranging from 17 to 21 years.

The men smiled at each other after the judge left the court.

Two of their supporters at the back of the public gallery shouted in Arabic, “Be patient, Allah is with you”.  [ABC Online]

I was living in Australia when these terrorism arrests happened and it was big news back then.  It is good to see these guys put away for good.

South Australian Government Censors Internet With New Election Law

Published on February 3, 2010 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Could this law eventually make its way to America by the 2012 election?:

  • Anonymous comments banned for SA election
  • Michael Atkinson says speech still free
  • Media says censorship is ‘draconian’

SOUTH Australia has become one of the few states in the world to censor the internet.

The new law, which came into force on January 6, requires anyone making an online comment about next month’s state election to publish their real name and postcode.

The law will affect anyone posting a comment on an election story on The Advertiser‘s AdelaideNow website, as well as other Australian news sites.

It could also apply to election comment made on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The law, which was pushed through last year as part of a raft of amendments to the Electoral Act and supported by the Liberal Party, also requires media organisations to keep a person’s real name and full address on file for six months, and they face fines of $5000 if they do not hand over this information to the Electoral Commissioner.  [AdelaideNow]

I want to see how the government plans on censoring Facebook and Twitter?  Apparently the South Australian premier is losing in the polls and is getting bashed on the Internet and in response created this law.  For those that don’t know, think of Adelaide which is the capitol of South Australia as the San Francisco of Australia.  It is a very nice town, but filled with liberals.