The Newcastle Gerald and Energy Innovator's Advocate

Fig Trees, Towers, Insurance and Public Endangerment - Open Letter

2011-07-21T13:34:00.000+10:00

The Minister for Local Government
Donald Page MP

Mr Ross Woodward
CEO The Division of Local Government

Dear Minister Page and Mr Woodward

We write as a matter of considerable urgency with regard to the need for the sacking of Newcastle City Council.

Please note that we are forwarding to you the following email interchange between us and Councilor Bob Cook of Newcastle City Council where Councilor Cook refers to our 'paranoid analysis'. We are copying this communication to you to the office of the NSW Ombudsman hopefully for their continuing operational intelligence. We suggest that you read our original email to which Councilor Cook was responding while you gauge the appropriateness of his response.

We believe that this email from Councilor Cook has no place in any public democratic discourse with regard to perceived public risk, council negligence and public endangerment. We do not accept that the arguably apparent lampooning of ratepayers or constituents who are expressing genuine and well-founded anxieties about the safety of their lives and property has any place within behaviour required under the Local Government Act. This should be especially so in a situation where ratepayers are asking elected representatives to make representations to the insurance company concerned. In seeking such representations residents are keenly aware that no insurance company on the planet can genuinely compensate for loss of life or physical injury due to arguably apparent council negligence.

Councilor Cook's email may or may not yet prove to be further evidence that the current council administration may be not fully briefing councilors as to the unfolding revelations via ABC Radio concerning a complete lack of compliance certification documents and related construction irregularities in a development whereby Newcastle City Council enabled an inexperienced developer, working 'on behalf' of council, utilising volunteer labour of unknown skill set to construct four-storey-high metal structures, some within falling distance of residential properties.

Council's current position, as we understand it, is that NSW planning legislation grants council the apparent legal right to effectively breach their duty of care under the Local Government Act and thus arguably endanger the lives and property of the public.

We do not accept that a legal right to endanger the public exists within NSW Local Government instrumentalities and we urge you gentlemen to intervene in this matter immediately in the interests of preserving public safety.

Considering that Newcastle City Council has adopted an apparently hypocritical and diametrically opposed position regarding duty of care with respect to the Laman Street Fig Tree fiasco (see today's front page Newcastle Herald) the operational integrity of Newcastle City Council is now firmly in public question. Councilor Buman is quoted in the Herald today as saying: 'We're becoming a dysfunctional council because of this issue.'

As you gentlemen should be aware from previous correspondence from us it is our view that the council was effectively dysfunctional before this issue confirmed the matter.

It is also our view that Councilor Cook's regrettable email may be but a window into arguably apparent widespread dysfunction within the council chamber. It is our continuing concern that this apparent dysfunction in the chamber coupled with arguably dangerous maladministration within council administration may be contributing to a situation where the public has lost faith in the democratic process from the top down.

Since council has not been able to credibly refute or respond to our many previous code of conduct complaints within a six month period we believe that the Minister for Local Government should intervene now to bring Newcastle City Council back within the parameters of its own code of conduct and the Local Government Act.

Our primary continuing concern is that the current fig tree fiasco and the ongoing Novocastrian Park debacle may be but signs of a wider dysfunction based on a new organic norm of administration and governance arguably existing outside proper legislative frameworks.

We can only urge that you take immediate action with regard to Councilor Cook's email and the level of dysfunction it may be revealing with respect to Newcastle City Council.

We urge that you sack this council now before the matter worsens and appoint an administrator, perhaps with judicial experience, to sort the matter out. To paraphrase Albert Einstein: 'a problem is rarely solved within the parameters that created the problem in the first place.'

In the interim, we urge that you move to protect the historic fig trees in Laman Street from destruction, a potential destruction which we argue would be a function of council's dysfunction. We also urge that you take whatever steps are required to remove the suspect uncertified towers in Novocastrian Park, some within falling distance of residential properties, immediately.

And we further urge that you establish a genuine and rigorous independent investigation into arguably dangerous maladministration within Newcastle City Council.

We note with democratic alarm the following quotation attributed to Newcastle City Council's Director Liveable City in this morning's Newcastle Herald regarding declaring an exclusion zone in the city patrolled by police and security guards: 'The patrols will also help us manage the safety of the community and council staff, given the threat of protests.' This massive and arguably inflammatory overreaction is yet further evidence in our opinion of democratic dysfunction, lack of administrative discernment and proper oversight and dangerous maladministration.

Any council that feels the need to declare exclusion zones patrolled by police and security guards to protect itself from the democratic protests of the community it is instituted to serve does not deserve to remain in existence within our Australian democracy. There is a worrying authoritarianism here in the face of potential peaceful protests that seems out of place with current events around the globe and our city's proud egalitarian traditions.

We await your responses

Susan Harvey
Australian Reconciliation Award
The Premier's Award for Community Service
The Gold Serif Award for Event Media

Paul F Walsh OAM
The Medal of the Order of Australia
Australian Reconciliation Award
The Premier's Award for Community Service
Newcastle Citizen of the Year 2001
The University of Newcastle's Newton-John Award
The Gold Serif Award for Event Media

----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Cook
To: Susan Harvey & Paul F Walsh
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 10:09 PM
Subject: Re: Fig Trees, Towers, Insurance,and Public Endangerment

Susan and Paul,
Thank you for being consistent, 'at risk'. Objective by degree.

It's a remarkable world, and you make it more so!    I would be interested in the names of councillors that slightly agree with your paranoid analysis of the lighting tower matter.

Without dissecting your persistent monotonous dialogue, it is simply worth indicating that though I understand your point of view, particularly regarding who is in charge, I disagree with you totally.

I assure you that councillors who act appropriately do have good working relationships with all staff, participate in setting directions, and are well informed on proposed actions.

Perceptions of maladministration are always in the mind of those who have a grievance, rightly or wrong. I know the reality.

You are entitled to your opinion and I am happy to hear it, but I will not be engaging with you.

Regarding the trees, look at my video on YouTube, it provides a clear description of the issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3zq7d4DhjA

Regards,
Cr Bob Cook
The City of Newcastle
Ph 49261117
Mob 0419241731

PS A majority council decision is not an 'attempt'. The decision is made, once the obstacles are cleared it will be implemented.

On 20/07/11 1:34 PM, "Susan Harvey & Paul F Walsh" wrote:

Dear Councilors


We write as 'at risk' ratepayers.

We note that a majority of your chamber last night attempted to persist with the removal of arguably healthy, much-loved and historic fig trees in Laman Street, Newcastle, on the disputed basis of insurability, structural integrity and viability of the trees.

We note that the same arguably dangerous maladministration within council that led to the continuing Novocastrian Park debacle appears to be underpinning the fig tree controversy.

It seems remarkable to us that a majority of your number appear to feel personally comfortable in resisting attempts to have that arguably dangerous maladministration independently investigated while blindly accepting advice that may be the poisoned fruit of that arguably apparent maladministration.

It is truly remarkable that neither council administration nor a majority of councilors appear to perceive any whiff of hypocrisy in wishing to retain structurally uncertified towers on Novocastrian Park while trying to remove arguably healthy trees in Laman St on the basis of supposed structural viability issues. If the trees are not insurable, (which we do not believe for one minute), how could four-storey-high towers, some built within falling distance of residential homes, built with the aid of volunteers of unknown skill set, amidst observed and photographed construction irregularities and no observation of compliance certifications, be insurable?

It is clear that we have apparent documentary evidence that council administration was aware of apparent construction irregularities on Novocastrian Park, documentary evidence that we argue further compounds council's potential culpability and potential negligence issues. All of this evidence will eventually be presented to council's insurers and other interested regulatory agencies.

We are also deeply alarmed at council's apparent breaches of its duty of care to ratepayers under the Local Government Act. Arguable council administration attempts to hide or justify such arguably apparent breaches on the basis of planning legislation of any kind is not only embarrassing but a leap through the looking glass beyond the boundaries of common sense. We do not accept that council has any legal right whatsoever to endanger the lives and property of ratepayers. It should be noted that residents are currently experiencing stress and anxiety as a direct result of council's arguable negligence in this matter.

Could it be that the unelected council administration is effectively in charge of your elected chamber by default?

We request that each of you as our democratic representative make representations to council administration and to council's insurers in order that each of you might explain to us the meaning behind council's apparently hypocritical 'structural integrity' stances vis-a-vis the towers and the fig trees.

We request specifically that this email be sent by you to council's insurers so that the latter may be fully informed without that information being 'filtered' by council administration. We request also that you as our political representatives request that council's insurers open up direct dialogue with us with regard to their views on the insurance viability of the towers.

.We can only urge you as an elected body to retain the fig trees in Laman St, remove the towers in Novocastrian Park immediately and regain proper democratic and oversight control over council administration.


Susan Harvey and Paul F Walsh OAM
'At risk' ratepayers of New Lambton

Energy executives reap bonus bonanza

2011-06-09T22:00:00.000+10:00

Out with the nuclear, in with the solar

2011-03-15T08:50:00.001+11:00

With nuclear power industry stocks falling across the world yesterday in the wake of the unfolding Japanese catastrophe, it was time for Australia's prime nuclear industry advocate, Dr Ziggy Switkowski, to sound the conch shell to his fellow advocates to rise and spruke the benefits of a nuclear future for Australia and the world.

And yesterday on Newcastle's 1233 we heard the arguments coming through that there is nothing to fear, we live in a sea of radioactivity, its a natural part of the world, that the Japanese reactors had stood up to the catastrophe really well, that people would soon stop being 'emotional' and come to a more reasoned conclusion that nuclear energy is good. When asked about the bogey of 'Chernobyl', oh, Chernoby shouldn't have been built, they say, trying to dismiss the elephant in the room as a collective delusion.

While we respect their right to free speech, I do not respect their right to advocate for an industry that creates a waste that is toxic to life, and an industry that has no plan for the catastrophic consequences when things go belly up.

We are fortunate enough to live on the only liveable planet in our solar system. We should be fed up with people who advocate the destruction of this planet for profit at all costs, while they continue to foul up the water, land and sky with their dirty industries.

Clean up your act. There are wonderful opportunities that we should be investing in. One such opportunity is University of Newcastle's Professor Paul Dastoor's solar paint technology.

This is the real future of Australia, this invention is the basis of the new industry. Imagine, every single surface a generator of solar energy? Clean green and very exciting.

Newcastle Premiere Screening "Hope"

2010-10-23T02:45:00.001+11:00

Suspension cafe, 3 - 5 Beaumont St, Hamilton

Wednesday 27th October 7pm

Brought to you by the Refugee Action Network Newcastle

Download flyer here

Click here to learn more about SIEV-X

Come along and help Newcastle stand up for asylum seeker rights

Put an end to the shameful bipartisan policy

Fix Our Newspaper

2010-08-27T14:39:00.002+10:00

The shock announcement this week that retail developer giant GPT would abandon its plans to replace the Hunter Street Mall with a Charlestown Square-like megamall has been received with a mixture of outrage, relief, and (in all likelihood, given the nature of many Australians) apathy. Much of the outrage has been directed not at GPT, who has been threatening to pull out of its development unless the State Government demolished Newcastle's rail line, but at the local ALP member of state parliament, Jodi McKay.

There is little reason to discourage anger at Jodi McKay. McKay's top promise to voters in going into the 2007 election was improved public transport, a promise which she has addressed only with window-dressing. McKay told public transport campaigners not to focus on increased investment in buses, but rather to support yet another re-arrangement of the timetabling, which would somehow lift patronage, help the bus system make money from fares and create a stronger argument for more investment. Fares contribute only 17% of Newcastle Buses' revenue and would not help the bus system make profit, unless either patronage or fares multiplied by a factor of six. However, lifting patronage would require substantial increases in service, and multiplying fares to over $20 an hour would be grossly unfair and unrealistic. In fact, the cost of collecting fares on Newcastle buses (including machine maintenance, tickets, time delays and enforcement) is more than the revenue that fares create, and the system would actually be cheaper if fares were abolished (as well as creating savings in the health and roads budget, and creating environmental benefits). McKay demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding both of public transport, which is not a profit venture but a public service, and NSW politics, by ignoring the political forces at play.

McKay's chief contribution to public transport in Newcastle has been to pressure the Government to cut the heavy rail line to Newcastle, rather than increase accessibility across the rail line through level crossings. In doing this, she has been fully backed by the Hunter Development Corporation, the local business lobby and the big developers. In community forums attended by hundreds of residents, McKay would occasionally show up with a corporate representative from HDC and slip up by saying "we" when referring to the Hunter Development Corporation, and "you" when talking to her constituents. Tragically, the Government now seems committed to cutting the heavy rail line even without corporate pressure from GPT. How did this happen?

Several years ago, public opposition to cutting the heavy rail line was so strong that the Government was forced to back down on its stated anti-rail policy. Since then, public opinion has essentially reversed to the point that residents are getting up in arms to try to get the government to cut the rail line. Given the social and environmental benefits of rail over other forms of public transport, as well as the underinvestment in public transport in Newcastle over decades (as well as growing concerns about climate change), grassroots campaigning to cut the rail line seems hard to understand. There is in some quarters an assumption that the "Fix Our City" campaign is about more than just cutting the rail line, that it's just one essential part of a broader strategy to develop the centre of the city. The assumption is false - Fix Our City's campaign centres around just three demands, including cutting the rail line, expanding the University into the city (which is happening in any case) and creating a new justice precinct for the city centre (which is also happening in any case).

The reality is that Fix Our City is not a grassroots campaign, but a populist campaign run by elite business interests and backed by Newcastle's powerful tabloid, the Newcastle Herald. The Herald is owned by the multi-billion dollar Fairfax media empire, which shares an almost complete stranglehold of the Australian newspaper market with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Cross-media ownership laws introduced by John Howard have allowed Fairfax to acquire other media as well, such as radio.

As Newcastle's only mass-produced newspaper (apart from "free" newspapers, some of which are also owned by Fairfax), the Herald shows an astonishing lack of investigative journalism (apart from a handful of standout journalists, such as Greg Ray) and diversity of views. Fairfax uses the Newcastle Herald essentially as a manifesto, often devoting its front page to particular business-interest causes that the Herald wants to pursue, often aggressively campaigning against community organisations not just through its editorial pages, but also through its news articles (sometimes devoting four or five pages to one particular cause), and through the censorship of letters to the editor and its online blog. Comments that run contrary to the Herald's position are less likely to be published, and comments critical of the Herald are barred altogether, to an extent that Pravda would have been proud of. Former journalists from the Herald have spoken about meetings where the editor-in-chief would sit down with senior journalists and determine the Herald's line on political issues.

When government, business and media interests align against community-led campaigns, it can be extraordinarily disheartening. However, the rise of the blogosphere, including your very own Gerald, is likely to loosen to some extent the ideological control that media empires like Fairfax exert.

As far as the pull-out of GPT is concerned, Newcastle residents have options. They can either continue to whinge and complain about what the government should do, as if an anonymous piece of paper in a ballot box once every few years meant that the government worked in the interests of the people, they can continue to believe that big developers creating megamalls would create net jobs, growth and community benefits (an argument that has been debunked time and time again by decades of economic studies and social research), or it can decide to do something different.

It's time for Newcastle to come together and decide what we want to do with the centre of the city, how we want to create the space that we live in. Once we've created our vision and have engaged the community to work on the project we can get down to doing it instead of waiting for the government to act. (sort of like what Renew Newcastle is doing, but with even more public participation). Once we stop complaining about politicians and start ignoring them, anything becomes possible!

Newcastle Politics: Tweedledum and Tweedledee

2010-07-16T14:55:00.001+10:00

Once again, Cr Tate just doesn't get it (Herald, 16/7).

When the Laman Street fig trees are eventually removed in an orderly and staggered fashion, they
should be replaced by Hill's Figs, planted in accordance with modern arboriculture practice and Council's policy for replacing trees (with a similar species).

I'm not surprised by his out of touch idea to create kitsch statuary from the tree bases. I well recall him once declaring that Kooragang was Newcastle's Kakadu wilderness (while supporting heavy industry
there).

However, there may be novelty tourist value in, after eventually replacing the 2 figs at the Darby Street entrance with nearby specimens, creating statues of Tate and Jody McKay from the bases. They could be facing each other with their tongues pointing out and we could call the artwork "Newcastle Politics: Tweedledum and Tweedledee".

Perhaps even Tweedledum and Tweedledummer", leaving the community to decide which is which.

Keith Parsons
Newcastle.

Refugee Action Network Newcastle (RANN)

2010-06-18T03:46:00.000+10:00

RANN streetstall for world Refugee Week

Saturday 18 June

Hamilton Clocktower 10am-Noon

petitions, information-

come along and help us talk to

people about asylum seeker issues

http://refugeeactionnetworknewcastle.blogspot.com/
contact niko 0406296141 or email niko@idl.com.au

Why politicians should lie about their sex lives

2010-06-03T23:19:00.005+10:00

Over recent years, we've been witness to a number of sex scandals that have either brought down or come close to bringing down a number of politicians. From the recent scandal about former NSW Transport Minister David Campbell's visit to a gay sex club to Kevin Rudd's visit to the New York strip club Scores, to Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky or Portland mayor Sam Adams' relationship with a junior male staffer, the mass media's obsession with politician's sex lives often seems to take issues like war, poverty or climate change completely off the public agenda.

Let me say outright that I do not necessarily support any of these politicians, and I think that embarrassing politicians is a fantastic social pastime. But the parading of politician's private lives before the cameras is insulting to the public, distracting, perverse and can easily degenerate into moral crusading and at its worst, outright queerphobia.

There doesn't seem to be any good solution to this problem. Writing letters to newspapers or blogs doesn't stop scandals reaching the front pages, restraint from the media is unlikely (given that sex sells), avoiding the question tends to fuel more speculation, and regulating what the media can publish is an infringement on free speech.

So the only good solution I can come up with is this: politicians should lie about their sex lives, and repeatedly. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not just saying that politicians should deny allegations of raunchy episodes under the covers when asked about it. I'm going a lot further than that - politicians should make lying about their sex lives a personal mission. Embarrassing the tabloid editors should be the goal.

Barnaby Joyce should put out a press release every second Tuesday laying out in sordid detail the story of a new orgy he had had the previous Friday night. Lee Rhiannon should claim to have made out with Pamela Anderson. Penny Wong should come out as straight. Julie Bishop should claim to have three husbands. Wayne Swan should reveal his late-night visits to see Blossie, the Ringtail Possum at Taronga Zoo. Steven Fielding should claim that he never had sex before his committed relationship of 24 years. Every politician should try to outdo each other with more fantastic tales of romps and flings until the mass media finally gives up trying to satisfy our "right to know".

And let's not limit this to politicians. Media personalities, sportspeople, religious figures and workers at corner stores should be allowed to get in on the fun as well. Perhaps all the members of the Rotary should claim to be in a group relationship and publicise swingers nights.

Of course there are some cases where relationships are non-consensual, abusive or involve corruption, and this should never be tolerated. Sex and gender are political subjects, and should continue to be. Politicians shouldn't lie or deceive the public, except where their sex lives are concerned. But if you are sick of hearing about what the Member for Gernagery gets up to at night and would rather find out what she thinks about new coal-fired power stations or the state of the country's hospitals, join in the fun and suggest it to your local pollie today.

Newcastle Post Office - Get it back into Public Hands

2010-04-22T08:59:00.000+10:00

In this Macquarie 2010 year our Federal State and Local representatives have an opportunity to restore Newcastle's iconic Post Office back to the people of Newcastle and region. It would make a fantastic welcome visitor centre and historic presentation space of Newcastle and the Region's historic accomplishments. As well as boutique shops. Under the custodianship of the Lockup Museum it and the RSL memorial will be assured of the ongoing care, restoration and respect that it deserves.

Soliphilia and Citizen Power

2010-03-13T11:44:00.000+11:00

Soliphilia and Citizen Power

Proposal to revise & relaunch Refugee Welcome Towns Declaration

2010-03-05T09:27:00.000+11:00

Invitation to attend a TAmil refugee support address to Lake Macquarie City Council, please circulate:-

Proposal to launch revised Refugee Welcome City Declaration

Address to Lake Macquarie City Council
Council Meeting Monday 8 March 2010 at 7.00 pm
126–138 Main Road, Speers Point, (02 4921 0333)
-----------------------------------------------------
Dear Councillors,

I ask for your interest and support re the following brief for public access application (currently being processed):

"Reaffirming LMCC Declaration (2002) of Lake Macquarie as a Refugee Welcome City

1. We are seeing the divisive refugee race-card being played again- each major party vying to be meaner than the other, this is against a back-ground of media fuelled racism. We had a flurry of this in 2004. It subsided as civic & political groups took action- eg Refugee Welcome Town, rallies & public meetings.

Recent attacks on international students here means our communities are at risk of falling prey to racism. No council wants that. Understanding the issues surrounding refugees is important in preparing for them. If the community is starting to self-organise itself towards this, then its only sensible for council to be aware of and facilitate it.

2. Changes to the LGA councils’ charter require them to show community leadership, actively promote the principles of multiculturalism, social justice and engage in long-term strategic planning. Recalling and reflecting on the significance of refugees to Australia, and reaffirming the Refugee Welcome Town Declaration of LMCC in 2002 is a valid application of the charter.

The Newcastle No War Collective is a group of people from across the social, political and economic spectrum, who meet occasionally to plan and carry out actions such as public meetings and rallies opposed to militarism.

****

What do we want the council to do about it?

1. Revise the original Refugee Welcome City Declaration. Reaffirm it as a symbolic gesture and deepen our commitment to it in practice.

2. Support the proposed relaunch of the revised Refugee Welcome City initiative at the benefit dinner** to be held at the ‘Freedom from Fear’ refugee exhibition (curated by Dept Immigration & Citizenship Adult Migrant Education Program.
3. Put on the agenda for community partnership type meetings with faith groups, unions, NGOs, State & Federal members.
4. Help co-ordinate & publicize donation drives- Anglican & Catholic churches have shown interest in this, with a particular focus on the refugees on the boat at Merak (who were en route to Australia)
5. Support Ncsle U’s interest in organizing educational outreach to Tamil refugees in Christmas Island and Indonesia
6. Acknowledge that its likely we will seen an influx of refugees from the Indian sub-continent & start to liaise with community organisations to head off racism.
7. Seek to involve other councils in developing Regional approaches to refugee issues.
8. Poise itself to reap the benefits refugees bring- youth, vitality, skills- on the Merak boat there are: Air Condition repairmen, accountants, businessmen, aluminium fitters, electricians, carpenters, bakers, brick layers, plumbers, drivers, teachers, goldsmiths, graphic designers, hardware engineer, steel fitter, sales executives, land surveyor, lathe operator, welders, UN staff, painters, labourers, etc.

**Dinner details are:
Date: 6:30pm Thursday 25th March
Location: 'Freedom From Fear' Refugee photographic exhibition, TAFE Front Room Gallery Hunter St Newcastle (formal invitations will be sent out soon).
Cost: $50 /head (waived for speakers).
Speakers: one local from LMCC or NCC, Ian Rintoul and Saradha Natham (refugee advocates to give historical and contemporary picture).
Description:There will be Tamil food, Sudanese dancing & singing (as the most recent arrivals),

Dr Niko Leka
Newcastle No War Collective.
0406296141

How Long Does Our 'Queen Victoria' Post Office Need to Rot?

2010-02-18T10:16:00.001+11:00

Premier Keneally (DT, 17/2) must be desperate for heritage good news or indeed, good news of any kind.

In June last year, as Planning minister, she announced in the media, the listing of the Queen Victoria Building and Luna Park on the State Heritage Register (SHR).

Now she’s announcing it again.

The QVB was listed by the National Trust back in 1975. The SHR began in 1999. If it takes over 10 years to list two “icons”, I pity other items on the waiting list.

What difference does it make anyway?

Newcastle’s much loved former Post Office was listed on the SHR in 2000 and for a decade it’s been empty, neglected and vandalised. This State government and its heritage-heretic planning ministers have stood by and watched it rot, despite pleas for support from Novocastrians. How about some genuine heritage good news, rather than spin, Premier?

Keith Parsons.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree is our birth rite

2010-02-05T05:18:00.000+11:00

The Larrikin Music people should be ashamed of themselves. They did not write the song, they simply exploit the 'right' in the work of the dead creator to punish people through the Law. Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree is a charming part of our Australian culture and it should be every Australian's birth rite to sing it in which ever form they like. Prime Minister Rudd should stand up against these Larrikins and sort them out!

Democracy

2010-02-04T23:50:00.000+11:00

Councillor John Tate
Lord Mayor of Newcastle

Dear John

I write as a citizen and ratepayer of Newcastle.

I note your continuing inability to speak or communicate directly with me.

As a citizen, a ratepayer, a voter and a fellow resident of New Lambton I respectfully ask that you advise me as to whether you personally support the General Manager's use of an exemption clause in State planning legislation that effectively prevents the people of Newcastle from having a say in their own affairs. Since I am aware that you are a busy person a simple yes or no answer signed off on by yourself by return email would suffice at this stage.

I advise that I am seeking urgent meetings with the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition and Sonja Hornery, our local MP, to call for a review of the General Manager's questionable interpretation of the Act concerned. I am seeking further legal advice to clarify what appears to be a significant ambiguity in the Act. I am also concerned about the constitutional underpinnings of the Act as interpreted by the General Manager of Newcastle City Council.

I believe that any legislation that is being interpreted in such a way as to deny the people a say in public affairs needs to be urgently reviewed and amended.

You are further advised that I am investigating the correct procedures as to how this matter within Newcastle City Council can be correctly and independently investigated. As Lord Mayor I seek your advice on the latter as a matter of urgency.

I am deeply concerned about the lack of transparency in the relationship between Newcastle City Council and the sports association involved. Yesterday, I was advised by a New Lambton business owner of an approach by a soccer association attempting to sell advertising space along residential fences in Novocastrian Park. If this advice proves to be correct, is this too supposedly allowed by virtue of the exemption clause?

I am not alone in feeling that I am being discriminated against as a ratepayer and resident of New Lambton in favour of members of a soccer association who may or may not be ratepayers and residents of New Lambton.

Yesterday, I received a suggestion in New Lambton for a 'people power' style protest.

I am now working on the broadening of our initial Novocastrian media response to the State and national level.

I, and I suspect others, John, will go a long way to oppose a legislation, or the interpretation of a legislation, that appears to be unjust. That being the case, I believe you must ask yourself just how far you and your fellow councillors are prepared to go to oppose the genuine democratic outrage of citizens who have elected you.

It would seem to me as a citizen of Australia an unwise course to darken our democracy to light up a park.

I can only urge that you call for an immediate halt to the development on Novocastrian Park immediately in the interests of justice for all Novocastrians.

I await your prompt response

Yours sincerely

Paul F Walsh OAM
Medal of the Order of Australia
Newcastle Citizen of the Year 2001
The Premier's Award for Community Service
Australian Reconciliation Award

Newcastle fundraiser for Haiti

2010-02-04T09:07:00.001+11:00

A fundraiser for the Haitian Emergency Relief Fund

6.30pm Wednesday 10th February
at the newly revamped Resistance Centre
472 Hunter St Newcastle

A night of good food, music and drinks from the resistance centre's new bar with all proceeds going to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. Haiti needs our solidarity and support more than ever.

The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund is a grassroots organisation made up of labor unions, women’s groups, and human rights activists and has been directing aid to where it's most needed since its inception in 2004.

Stuart Munckton, co-editor of progressive newspaper Green Left Weekly, will be speaking about the history of exploitation that has made Haiti one of the poorest countries in the world but also its inspiring history of struggle.

Organised by the Socialist Alliance

Contact: Simon 04382975552

Why a new secretly hatched Coastal Masterplan?

2010-01-25T13:58:00.000+11:00

Minister Jodi McKay MP promotes a Masterplan for the Newcastle Coast (Letters The Herald 25/1/2010).

Parks and Playgrounds Movement warns the people of Newcastle: Beware!

The Coastal Masterplan MOU was signed by the Newcastle Council over twelve months ago but never officially adopted by full Council. The Masterplan has been hatched outside the normal transparent and open planning framework that has protected Newcastle beaches and its foreshore since statutory town planning began.

It is especially worrying when it is clear that alienation of coastal parkland is proposed.

Our coast is a scarce and priceless resource held in trust by our councillors for all the people of NSW. Newcastle Council already has a fully researched an openly adopted Coastline Study and all its parks and reserves are subject to official plans of management with open processes for change.

Why is this covert masterplan being promoted by the State at the unnecessary cost to the people of Newcastle?

Doug Lithgow President
Freeman of the City of Newcastle
Parks and Playgrounds Movement Inc.

The letter above refers to a MOU between the Department of Lands, The Newcastle Council, the Surf Club industry.

The Masterplan for the Newcastle Coast will be out next month but it has been covertly prepared in accord with the MOU.

The trick is to alienate public land for special interest groups or private operators using a non statutory process that creates expectations for vested interests.

They then do the work of breaking the planning laws. That is what is left of the NSW planning laws which as we all know have been well and debauched by ponzi speculators.

You would not know that Council already has a fully researched coastline management plan 2003 and all parks and reserves are subject to official Plans of Management.

Documents can be viewed through our Blog http://parksandplaygroundsmovement.blogspot.com/

Every one should read:

Section 7.4 The output : one new coastal crown reserve covering the Newcastle coast with a new Governance model.

Section 9. Communication : Parties shall not undertake communication with public, media and others pertaining to this project.

Doug Lithgow
Parks and Playgrounds Movement

A litte girl asks: "Why can't you take us?"

2010-01-21T12:14:00.002+11:00

Report from Rally in support of Tamil refugees in Merak- the high point was the question that Brindha, a 9 year old girl asked, after describing how the boat was shaking so much they were afraid for their lives- hear it (one minute)

To read the report you can download here -it includes links to photos from the rally

Rally for Refugees in Merak- Global Day of Action

2010-01-14T20:02:00.000+11:00

International Day of Protest in support of Tamil refugees in Merak:

Clocktower
Beaumont St
Hamilton
Monday Jan 18th
4:40-5:30 pm

The situation for the 254 Tamil refugees in Merak is becoming worse, as the 100th day nears. They are being threatened with deportation by force back to SL. Since our PM asked Indonesia to detain them, Australia bears responsibility.

See report from Australian refugee advocates (including Ian Rintoul) in late December, download

Download poster for the rally
Contact: Newcastle No War Collective 0406296141

Bye Bye Bogey Hole - Let's Support Our Landmark

2009-12-26T23:11:00.007+11:00

The Newcastle Herald identified the Lands Department’s real agenda for Crown Land Reserves when it stated that “authorities would be unwilling to spend money on repairs (at the Bogey Hole) with no prospect of financial return” (NH, 24/12/09).

The Department uses spin and PR terms like “tourism, revitalise, attract investment,” but it’s all part of a strategy for a massive sell-off across the State that’s been occurring since the Carr Government days and it has accelerated since the 2007 election.

Ironically only about a week ago a Sydney newspaper magazine featured the Bogey Hole as one of the State’s iconic ocean pools and a tourist attraction.

The selloff ranges from high conservation value natural areas to playing fields and urban parks; and including Coffs Harbour, Wollongong (Killalea State park), Leichhardt, Port Macquarie and many other places. Commitments to add land to national parks have also been reneged on.

The coastal plan for Newcastle includes high rise apartments on Tramway Reserve, a pocket park and breathing space between high rise and the Ocean Baths in historic Newcastle East(what’s that got to do with tourism?); and the commercialisation of part of Empire Park. Public open space areas are soft targets.

Since the last election, Lands Minister Kelly has reneged on his commitment to consolidate Merewether Surf House’s (MSH) land tiles to offer a long term lease with a heritage agreement. Now this sensitive site is targeted for a massive commercial redevelopment.

The Bowling Club site adjacent to King Edward Park is to have a restaurant/reception centre on land Newcastle Council asked to be returned to parkland in 2002. They were ignored.

The Lands Department claims any income will be used to fund other Crown land management/improvements in the region. I’ll wager, however, that none will be used to help maintain King Edward Park or the Bogey Hole.

In essence, this State Government is flogging off to private developers, land that the community values and uses for social, cultural, recreational, environmental reasons.

What a disgrace!

Keith Parsons.
Newcastle 2300.

Innocide and the Future

2009-11-19T10:56:00.005+11:00

The Apology to Young and Future Australians

From Glenn Albrecht, Citizen, 17 Wanliss Street, Jarrahdale, Western Australia.

My fellow Australians,

We have reached the point where we must come together to acknowledge a severe injustice being perpetrated on current and future citizens. We must say to you; the recently conceived, newborns, infants, young children, youth, young adults and all future generations in Australia, that we are sorry that your future is being put at risk.

The callous abuse and mistreatment of the earth and its climate is a source of deep shame. In particular we need to offer you, the innocent and non-consenting parties to this destruction, a profound and deep-felt apology for failing to consider your interests. You are not responsible for the mess we are making of your future.

To all those who will be disadvantaged and who will have their life potential cut short by climate chaos … we say sorry for the innocide.

To avoid a warming and unpredictable climate you, the occupants of the future, need right now to be represented by well informed people with wisdom and ethical courage. Instead you have political and other leaders, who, in their denial or inaction on the reality of a warming world are putting the nation, families and whole communities at risk.

It is an unfolding tragedy that leaders are risking the future of the Earth for dubious benefits in the here and now. The so-called representatives of the people of Australia must be seen and judged for what they are … intellectually and ethically bankrupt. We must apologise for their lack of wisdom and their failure to look after those they ought to represent.

For this gross lack of integrity, for putting children and families last and for the abuse of those in science who are the messengers about our warming world … we say sorry for this tragedy.

It is a dark period in our history when critically important decisions about a genuinely sustainable future are being unduly influenced by those with vested interests. The time has come for us to stand up to such selfishness and egocentricity. To continue to abuse the earth and bring suffering to its future inhabitants is an ethical failure of the highest magnitude.

We must apologise in advance for the massive hardship that will occur to every facet of life as the climate gets hotter, disease, heat stress, drought and fire frequency increase, agriculture collapses, sea level rises and powerful storms wipe out our coastal communities. For all these things and more that will happen in the foreseeable future ... we say sorry.

My fellow citizens, we must care about the future. We must make a rapid transition to an ecologically sustainable economy, one that is in harmony with our environment and climate. With courage and hope we can right a future wrong in the here and now.

2009-11-19T07:44:00.001+11:00

Speakout in support of Tamil refugees

2009-11-15T21:46:00.004+11:00

Newcastle No War Collective speakout in support of the Tamil refugees

Friday 20th November

Noon to 1pm

outside Federal member Sharon Grierson's office

cnr Hunter & Auckland st, Newcastle

Download a leaflet with the main points you'll never get from the mainstream media:

page one- http://tinyurl.com/yzjxqhr

page two- http://tinyurl.com/yjtlzkw

Enquiries- niko 0406296141 niko@idl.com.au

Newcastle Premiere of "Capitalism: a love story"

2009-10-23T08:04:00.003+11:00

Capitalism, a love story, Friday 6 November, 6.45pm for 7pm

In Newcastle, with its array of activist organisations, this film should go down well.... at the:

Greater Union Theatre, King St, Newcastle

Light supper afterwards

Green Left Weekly benefit showing- please invite your friends, family, etc.

$20 / $16 concession Contact : Steve 0409 878485 Niko 0406296141

Mike Moore's new film explores the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default the rest of the world)

Download a flyer for printing-click here

The latest bit of junk TV advertising...

2009-10-12T19:50:00.003+11:00

about coal is hilarious. I nearly fell off my chair when they pointed to the line of coal ships, with those poor sailors from far-away lands being ripped off by vessels under flags of convenience. On a more serious note, here's an excellent response from the Getup Crew:

Have you seen what the coal lobby is up to? Right now they're blanketing the airwaves in coal country marginal seats with a new ad campaign, in an attempt to undermine our transition to a clean-energy economy and strong-arm politicians into giving them extra handouts.

We need to expose their ad campaign for what it is: a highly-paid rebranding exercise. The good news is we have just the ad to do it. Once people see it, every time they see the coal lobby's ad they'll think of our parody. That means you could make every marketing dollar the coal lobby spends work against them.

In just weeks the Government will decide how much extra tax-payer assistance the coal industry will get - can you chip in to get this ad on air before Parliament resumes next week?

www.getup.org.au/campaign/SameOldCoal

The coal lobby has brought out the big guns - the same man behind 'Kevin07' is running their campaign. And there's already signs it may be working - with key politicians dancing to the coal lobby's tune. They want to further weaken the Government's woefully inadequate emissions trading scheme with even more exemptions for the coal lobby.

You can show Labor and Liberal leaders alike that there's something more powerful than the polluting lobby: everyday Australians, like yourself, who are fed up with weak action on climate change and are willing to do something about it.

If we can raise $50,000 in the next 48 hours we'll buy ads on TV spots like Meet the Press and Sky News, as well as in the areas that the coal lobby are running their ads, so that Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull can see that Australians are not buying the coal lobby's line:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/SameOldCoal

As part of our ReEnergise Australia campaign, GetUp members have been going door by door, block by block in targeted marginal seats across the country. They've been telling their friends and neighbours about the importance of renewable energy to Australia's environmental and economic future.

Don't let the coal lobby undermine the grassroots efforts of your fellow GetUp members and volunteers with their slick marketing tricks. Watch this ad and donate to stop the coal lobby in its tracks.

Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The GetUp Team

PS - GetUp members are taking the story of clean-energy jobs to Australia's doorsteps. But in order to get that message out, we have to counter the marketing ploys of well-resourced lobby groups like the Australian Coal Association. Watch our ad and donate to send the message that cutting emissions creates jobs.

----- 'end of Getup's response. I reckon its a great idea. Below Above is a pic from the action at Woronira dam- protest against plans to mine underneath Sydney's water supply. Zane Alcorn (drily) remarked (somewhat acidly) "maybe Tillegra Dam was proposed to replace Woronora"...

Niko.

----

2009-10-06T10:12:00.002+11:00

AFGHANISTAN: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

THURS OCT 8

5.30-7.00pm
Sydney Town Hall, George St Sydney

Speakers:
JOHN KAYE, Greens NSW MLC
PAUL McALEER, MUA (Sydney Branch)
JIM CASEY, FBEU
Professor JAKE LYNCH, Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies
RIZ WAKIL, Afghan refugee...

End the War Now!
Bring the Troops Home!

Save Mayfield Pool (Australia) Goes Solar

2009-08-26T00:34:00.001+10:00

On the 19th August 2009 Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) donated $15,000 to the Save Mayfield Pool campaign, representing the community contribution to the solar heating initiative and basketball half court upgrade of Mayfield Pool and grounds. This is probably the very first initiative in Australia where a coal company has financed the installation of renewable solar infrastructure to a community facility.

Port Waratah Coal Services donates $15,000 to Solar Heat Mayfield Pool

2009-08-19T15:12:00.004+10:00

Out the front of the Mayfield Swimming Pool, pointing to one of the new signs.
L-R: Libby Delgatto (PWCS); Liam Phelan (SMSP Campaign); Lord Mayor John Tate (NCC); Graham Richardson (PWCS); unidentified (NCC); Susan Denholm (NCC).

Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) has this morning (19/8/09) donated $15,000 to the Save Mayfield Pool campaign, representing the community contribution to the solar heating initiative and basketball half court upgrade of Mayfield Pool and grounds.

Solar heating is scheduled to be operational in the week before 3 Oct 2009 when the pool opens. They expect the water temp could be up around 18-19 on opening day.

Plant upgrade works are underway with additional new signage out the front of the Pool, a shade structure over the new kids playground, and even the bins have been painted.

Save Mayfield Swimming Pool acknowledges Port Waratah Coal Services' (PWCS) support for Mayfield Swimming Pool for improvements at Mayfield Swimming Pool.

Graham Davidson, General Manager of Port Waratah Coal Services, presents cheque to Liam Phelan of the Save Mayfield Swimming Pool Group. Also pictured are members of the Save Mayfield Swimming Pool Campaign (from left to right) Mel Nelson, Lisa Hyde Mills and Kate Conner with son Ned.

SMSP Campaign spokesperson Liam Phelan said “We are pleased that Newcastle City Council and PWCS are working together constructively to support important community infrastructure. The support of PWCS is appreciated and underscores the responsibilities and opportunities for businesses to contribute to wellbeing of the communities in which they operate.

“Our local neighbourhoods and community assets are important to us. The local community – in Mayfield and beyond – has shown overwhelming support to save and improve Mayfield Swimming Pool. The support of PWCS and Council recognises the value of Mayfield Swimming Pool to our community.”

Pigs May Fly

2009-07-29T13:02:00.002+10:00

On the Newcastle Herald’s front page (Saturday 25/6/09) we read of the ‘Super Port’ that will triple our coal exports to 300 million tonnes per year and issue in an era of prosperity. But for how long?

On page 12 the other side to this story is buried in a political quagmire known as the Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme (CETS).

Our Governments make only token approaches towards this country’s transition to a clean energy economy. Like all addicts they profess to be kicking the habit, only to invest huge sums of our money in the long term viability of their addiction.

Peter Lewis’ cartoon was excellent. There is no difference between Mexico and its drug money addicted cartels and Australia with its fossil fuel money addicted Governments.

Opponents to change say ‘pigs may fly’ before Australia moves away from coal. And they can rest assured that billions of our dollars are being spent on such delusions as coal sequestration to enable those ‘pigs to keep flying’.

But be aware that everything that goes up must come down, and when these ‘pigs’ start falling we had better have a secure roof over our heads (preferably solar panelled) to break their fall.

Burying our Convict Lumber Yard

2009-07-14T11:45:00.004+10:00

(Overlay of Convict Lumber Yard site on present day landscape in Google Earth from the 1830 Armstrong Plan)

There is currently before Newcastle City Council a development application for part of the Convict Lumber Yard site.

DA 08/1160 SECTION 60 APPLICATION-CONVICT LUMBER YARD STOCKADE SITE, 90-88 SCOTT STREET NEWCASTLE SHR 01537

The Convict Lumber Yard should remain open space and free of development.

The Convict Lumber Yard was established at the inception of the Penal settlement at Newcastle, between the years 1805-1808, and was fully functional by 1820.

The historic site was identified by distinguished archaeologist Damaris Bairstow in the 1989 Excavation Report (1989) as “the only known site in Australia to retain evidence of early convictism on a broad scale”. (p.7)

We have a strong concern for this Region’s heritage and actively work to research, document, investigate and celebrate its history, which is so important to the Australian national identity.

It is a potential world heritage site, and as a community, we should be strategically working towards having it recognised as such.

With specific regard to the proposed development we are concerned that important archaeological features and relics of the Convict Lumber Yard site will be built over in the ensuing development.

These archaeological features and relics identified in June 2007 in the test excavation by Archaeological & Heritage Management Solutions Pty Ltd (AHMS) are of State significance.

The Coal River Heritage Precinct (of which the Convict Lumber Yard forms part) is on the NSW State Heritage Register and should be protected for future generations. No building should be allowed to overshadow it, or bury it.

The proposed development, and amended plans put forward, does not in any way enhance or protect the heritage values of the site. Rather, they bury our heritage under their development.

In addition, a 500mm buffer zone is completely unacceptable. It is recommended that any construction should be at such a distance as not to disturb the integrity of the archaeological site.

The development site is within the Archaeology Zoning Plan area. The 1989 Conservation Policy strongly argued that the Convict Lumber Yard site should be a prominent feature in the Newcastle landscape, and any new structures and plantings, which might impede the view of the site, were to be avoided.

This proposed construction would therefore destroy the authenticity of the historic site, and will in all probability ruin this City’s chances of attaining world heritage status for our iconic site.

The Convict Lumber Yard is also arguably the site where Australia’s first autobiography and dictionary was compiled.

The convict James Hardy Vaux (1782 – fl.1841) wrote his book containing an account of his life up until the end of his sentence at Newcastle’s penal settlement and vocabulary of the ‘Flash Language’ in Newcastle during the years 1811-1814 under the reign of Commandant Thomas Skottowe. His biographers affirm that his work was the first full-length autobiography ever written in Australia, and his Vocabulary of the Flash Language the first dictionary ever compiled in Australia. In addition the Convict Lumber Yard is also the site where two important colonial treasures, namely the two Chests constructed for Governor Macquarie (and now held in the State Library of NSW in Sydney), were constructed.

So it is not only an important and unique early colonial industrial site, birthplace of colonial industry in the Colony, but also a literary and cultural centre of national importance as well.

This site is therefore a potential world heritage site, and so this proposal to build over the top of it will certainly be viewed as a retrograde act towards our future tourism potential and opportunities and national identity.

Our ultimate goal is to ensure that Newcastle’s historic places achieve world-class distinction and recognition.

To do this its history has to be properly researched, documented and safeguarded for future generations so that people can continue to recognise and be inspired by this Region’s significant achievements.

The Convict Lumber Yard is a ‘Nominated Place’ as part of the Coal River (Mulubinba) Cultural Landscape National Nomination and is currently under consideration by the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

We must ensure that The Convict Lumber Yard heritage site, that has forged the most important developments in this Nation’s history, is properly accorded the respect it deserves.

Burying such achievements should not be an option.

The Virtual Convict Lumber Yard circa 1840 [An Interactive Presentation by George Drewery c.1990s] prepared as a 360 Quicktime. Be sure to view with the Quicktime Viewer for 360 effect and click on convict arrows for 3D views of Convict Lumber Yard. (11 MB Mov File]

They are killing innocent people

2009-06-22T17:04:00.004+10:00

She was innocent , she had dream , she dreamed in freedom ,Neda was young girl with heart fool of hope.Basij militia snipers hunted her saturday20-June 09 while the world was asleep.Iran, Tehran.

What they wanted was just a quantum of freedom! Iran Saturday 20-June-09

2009-06-22T16:44:00.002+10:00

THURSDAY19-06-09: HUNDRED THOUSENDS IRANIANS CONTINUED THEIR DEMONSTRATIONS IN SILENCE.

2009-06-19T10:23:00.001+10:00

IRAN's Tragedy

2009-06-19T10:07:00.001+10:00

Iran morns for its heroes

2009-06-18T12:14:00.004+10:00

Today Thursday Iranian people morn for 8 dead people killed by direct shot in demonstrations against the Ahmadinejad's cheat in election.Ahmadinejad's Government continues violence against peoples protest.There are reports about attacking to students in university campuses in Tehran, Tabriz , Isfahan and Shiraz. Although ahmadinejad's government has limmited news channels and foreign broadcasters. BBC persian confirms death of 8 people and several casulties including girls and students.

Police shoot people in Tehran

2009-06-18T12:04:00.002+10:00

Iran in blood and fire

2009-06-18T12:02:00.003+10:00

Stop Sri Lanka’s genocide of the Tamil People

2009-05-19T22:01:00.002+10:00

Public meeting
Speaker: Dr Brian Senewiratne, Physician & Human Rights Campaigner.
Held as part of the 23 May National Day of Action to oppose the genocide of Tamils
* Time for a liberated Tamil homeland
* War criminals must be tried
* Medical aid, independent observers, and media into government-controlled camps
* Freedom of movement

Hamilton Station Hotel, Beaumont St, Islington

Click here to download high-resolution copy of poster suitable for printing.

Info : Zane 0401 466831 Niko 0406 296141
Organised by Newcastle No War Collective

2009-05-17T22:02:00.001+10:00

screening of The Carbon Connection
plus 3 short films featuring local climate activists:

Bayswater Eraring Flotilla 2007

$5 or &10 (solidarity)
Fri 5th June
7pm
at Suspension Espresso Coffee Lounge
3 Beaumont St. Hamilton

Download a high-quality copy of the poster for printing by clicking here

Urgent Rally

2009-05-08T17:36:00.002+10:00

Venezuela : 10 years of the Bolivarian Revolution!

2009-05-01T08:41:00.002+10:00

Public meeting with Nelson Davila, Head of Mission, Venezuela Embassy.

Tuesday 5 May 6.30 pm

Joy Cummings Community Centre, 61-63 Scott St, Newcastle East.

Click here to download high-quality flyer to print 'n paste up

Hear about how Venezuela is creating a new society and the work of the Australian Venezuelan Solidarity Network, including its brigades to Venezuela.

Organised by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network contact Steve on 0409 878485

Also: Venezuela’s alternative Tuesday 5 May 12:00 noon

Room V107 Mathematics building, University of Newcastle, Callaghan. Talk by Nelson Davila, Head of Mission, Venezuela Embassy. Sponsored by NewcastleUniversity Students Association, Resistance, Australian Venezuela Solidarity Network.

MAY DAY in the Newcastle

2009-04-20T08:49:00.002+10:00

Anti Capitalist Ball!

Friday 1 May 2009 - 8:00pm

Lass O’Gowrie Hotel Railway St Wickham.

Come as your favourite revolutionary or the most despicable capitalist scumbag. Bands: Fuji Collective, Dhopec and Doubting Thomas. Benefit for Green Left Weekly. Contact Zane on 0401 466831

Newcastle May Day March Down Hunter St from Pacific Park to Civic Park

Sat 2 May 2009 - 10:00am

Down Hunter St from Pacific Park to Civic Park

Themes: Preserving Workers Rights, International Solidarity and our Environment.

Enquiries: 4929 1162.

healthearth ... healthearthealthearthealthearth: Soliphilia

2009-04-04T10:13:00.000+11:00

healthearth ... healthearthealthearthealthearth: Soliphilia

Have your say on emissions trading

2009-03-27T19:11:00.001+11:00

Dear friend,

The Senate wants to hear what you think about the Rudd Government's emissions trading scheme.

The Greens have established a Senate Inquiry into Climate Policy, which will report on the environmental adequacy of the Government's scheme. You can directly address Senators – before they vote on the scheme – by making a submission.

Have your say on emissions trading.

The best the Government itself can say about its so-called 'Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme' is that it is better than nothing. The Greens disagree. It is worse than useless.

The Government's plan will undermine existing policies to move Australia to renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean transport. It will pay polluters billions of dollars in compensation and use the voluntary emissions reductions you make to free up even more permits for polluters. Worst of all, it will lock Australia into a weak 5% emissions reduction target and close off the option of achieving the much deeper cuts in greenhouse emissions we need to prevent climate catastrophe.

Have your say on emissions trading.

If you want an emissions trading scheme that makes polluters pay instead of paying them to keep polluting, a scheme that creates new green jobs and stimulates investment in clean industries, a scheme that will see Australia play its fair role in preventing climate catastrophe, then please tell the Senate you don’t want a scheme that’s ‘better than nothing’ – you want the best emissions trading scheme there is.

Have your say on emissions trading.

Thank you,
Christine Milne
Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens

Earth Hour: Breathing Life into our Community

2009-03-21T22:37:00.002+11:00

Media Release

16th March 2009

As part of World Earth Hour, a new environmental network is being launched in Newcastle. Transition Town Newcastle is part of a world-wide movement responding to the twin pressures of Global Warming and Peak Oil in an inclusive and integrated way.

A spokesperson for the group, William Vorobioff said, “We need to start planning for a community that is less reliant on oil. We can’t wait for governments to legislate the change. For our children and for our planet, we need to start breathing life into our own communities now. We need to build resilient, sustainable ways of living together.”

To celebrate Earth Hour, Transition Town Newcastle is being launched with a forum “Breathing Life into Communities”. The forum begins at 5 pm just before Earth Hour on Saturday 28 March 2009 at Hamilton Baptist Church, Lindsay Street, Hamilton. While the adults are being engaged in the community forum, children can take part in “Earth Ticklers”, a creative drama workshop about caring for our planet. The group will also launch the new Australian edition of The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins, the co-founder of the Transition Initiative.

Agenda and flyer for the workshop can be downloaded here

After the forum and workshop everyone will move across the road for a picnic in Gregson Park at 7pm followed by the Earth Ticklers performance, wandering minstrels, a lantern parade and observing Earth Hour at 8.30pm.

William Vorobioff said, “Through the forum we want to explore the many ways in which people living in Newcastle are helping create an environmentally sustainable community. We want to bring people together and explore what motivates them to take action and to think about how we can work together”.

“The Transition approach not only recognises the need to reduce our greenhouse emissions but also recognises the threat of pending resource depletion particularly through a reduction in oil production. Rather than focusing on the threat, however, we are focusing on creating a dynamic, resilient vision for the future. We believe that sharing a creative, inspiring vision can help bring about powerful change. We are looking forward to sharing people’s ideas and enthusiasm so that together we can breathe life into our community”.

The forum is being organised by Transition Town Newcastle and is sponsored by Osmosis Creative, Climate Action Newcastle, Hamilton Baptist Church and Newcastle City Council.

For interviews: William Vorobioff on 4967 3231 or 0414 408 956
Geraldine O’Connor on 4926 1606 or 0417 292 414

Community Bank® campaign launched

2009-03-11T17:17:00.003+11:00

Mayfield Community Bank® Steering Committee • media release • Wednesday, 11 March, 2009

Invitation to support the establishment of a Mayfield Community Bank® Branch of Bendigo Bank.

A Community Bank® branch is a locally owned and operated company, which functions as a franchise of Bendigo Bank. Bendigo Bank and the community company are each entitled to agreed portions of the revenue of the local Community Bank® branch and the local company is responsible for paying branch running costs.

When the local company begins to make a regular operating surplus, after the payment of branch running costs, and Bendigo Bank’s share of the revenue is received, the remaining funds are available to be reinvested back into the community through dividends to shareholders and grants to community groups and projects.

The local committee and Bendigo Bank will officially launch the campaign – the first stage in a process to gauge community interest in the concept. Those who feel passionately about the establishment of a branch are also encouraged to join the steering committee.

Steering committee spokesperson Niko Leka urged people interested in the Community Bank® model to attend a meeting on Sunday, 22 Match at the St Columbans Church Hall, 39 Church Street, Mayfield, beginning at 4pm.

Committee members and senior Bendigo Bank staff will be available at the meeting to answer any questions local people may have about the Community Bank® model and the Mayfield campaign.

Bendigo Bank currently supports 229 Community Bank® branches throughout Australia. The number of Community Bank® branches has doubled in the last four years and in the same time frame, customers have tripled their commitment of banking business to the community network, increasing it to more than $11 billion.

More importantly, in excess of $21.7 million in Community Bank® branch profits has been returned to community projects and $12 million has been paid in dividends to more than 50,000 local shareholders.

Add to those contributions the employment of more than 1000 staff members and daily expenses in the local economy and you have a truly meaningful contribution to those communities and to local prosperity.

Mr Leka said behind those numbers are hundreds of stories of Community Bank® branches making a real difference to the lives of local people.

“Last financial year, the North Richmond Community Bank® Branch returned more than $118, 000 back to the community and paid a 11 cent dividend to local shareholders.
“That’s a great contribution and it’s time Mayfield benefitted too,” he said.
Branches also have extended trading hours, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 12pm on Saturdays.

Click here to download a good quality copy of the poster to distribute as widely as you can! The more people there are, the sooner we get local banking up & running....

Media enquiries: Anne Rooke-Frizzell 4968 3648 or Niko Leka 0406 296 141 •

email: niko@idl.com.au • Visit blog: http://mayfieldcommunitybank.blogspot.com/

If you're interested in helping to organise, join the e-list:

http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/mayfieldcommunitybank/

Grafitti wall Re-Launch Sth Newcastle Beach Skatepark

2009-02-26T22:19:00.002+11:00

This Saturday, 28th Feb 2009.

10:00 Aerosol art... & then:

12:00 - 18:00 - live hip hop acts & DJ's
12:00 - DJ
12:30 - Laird & lomas
13:00 - Soul purpose
- Aerosol art area Finishes.
13:30 - Tunz-1
14:00 - Dhopec
14:30 - Urban Freeflow
15:00 - Mojos Lab
15:30 - Nameless
16:00 - Nikkita
16:35 - Blades
17:20-17:25 - (changeover)
17:30 - Thats Them
18:00 - stage closes.

"Check it out!

Make sure you come down for relaunch... support legal graffiti culture" -Zane Alcorn

Whacky councillors and the Herald need to

stop the war on graffiti,

start the war on

climate change!

Gaza: End the Silence & Make YOUR voice heard

2009-01-31T21:38:00.005+11:00

... because the media won't. Download this email from Sonja Karkar, Australian Friends of Palestine, explaining how out of 35 letters to the media in Melbourne, only one was published. Download the 35 letters and decide for yourself if they were unpublishable.

END THE BLOCKADE OF GAZA

END MEDIA SILENCE ON ISRAELI WAR CRIMES

BREAK TIES WITH ISRAEL

Please come to Charlestown this coming Saturday- the more bodies, the more impact and the more chance that our voices will have an influence.

Go to the GETUP survey https://www.getup.org.au/ and take opportunity to request that Australia break ties with Israel until it respects meets UN resolutions and International Law.

Have you sent a letter re Gaza to the Ncsle Herald & not had it published? Send it to niko@idl.com.au and NoWAR Collective will display it during the action in Charlestown

Download printable copy of the flyer (3 per page) from here (colour) or (black n white)

From Protest to Campaign this Saturday

2009-01-28T15:19:00.002+11:00

Its not over yet

Hi all
As Israeli tanks re-enter Gaza, even more important that you make it
to Saturday's meeting 2pm Suspension Coffee Lounge Beaumont St Hamilton to work out longer term protest/campaign.

Re delegations to Gaza- see below:

1. From Australians for Palestine, Kamahl Mashni is being sponsored to go with the George Galloway delegation- download details here.

2. Another delegation, Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network, go to this link

" Hi All,

Some of us are involved in organising a delegation to Gaza. Assuming we get permission we will be leaving soon. We are trying to get Trade Union members along if possible and representatives from other groups. If any comrades are able to come or have contacts who might be interested please contact me ASAP 0406 402 401.

The program will involve the following:

The departure will be in mid February, depending on arrangement with Egypt;
The trip will be 7-10 days;
We will visit destroyed areas, hospitals, meet with the injured and NGOs;
We will witness the effect of war and siege on 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza;
All transportation and accommodation will be covered;
We have limited resources to help with some flight costs.

If you are interested in attending please let us know ASAP as we are trying to get permission within the next 10 days.

Regards,
Ema Corro"

Niko
Moderator

Nobbys should not be privatised for profit

2009-01-24T16:38:00.001+11:00

The inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America
appears to herald an attempt to change the culture of that country.

The decision of Peter Garratt to throw away sovereignty of Nobbys heralds the
return of the Commonwealth of Australia to obeisance to feudal benefice.

I intend to spend some time today mourning my country's loss of vision.

Helen Smith

All Aboard The 73rd Study Into Newcastle Rail

2009-01-20T12:51:00.002+11:00

Minster David Campbell MP.,
NSW Minister for Transport,
Level 35,
1 Farrer Place,
Sydney 2000

Dear Minister Campbell,

A member of the Premier’s Task Force to study Newcastle rail explained to me in 2005 that he must study the previous 70 reports on this subject to make the 71st report. In 2006 then NSW Transport Minister John Watkins told me;

“You have won! Rail services between Newcastle and Sydney will not be cut, however for political reasons I’ve had to authorise a study into electrification to Warabrook”.

So in 2006 the ALP was re-elected on that mandate. $500,000 later in October 2008 the 72nd report declared that the Warabrook proposal wasn’t feasible.

A month later an unelected developer, General Property Trust demanded a 73rd report. Hunter Development Corporation CEO Craig Norman is now proceeding with the developer’s demands.

Also, Minster for the Hunter Jodi McKay tells us:

“She expects the community will be consulted”.

But she didn’t enlarge on who would consult whom.

The last national survey reported that most commuters using Newcastle rail services come from Lake Macquarie, then Maitland, then Newcastle. All the previous studies despite their various titles of ‘Lower Hunter’, ‘Hunter Regional’ ‘Newcastle rail’ etc. have considered nothing but the 5 km from Broadmeadow to Newcastle. Can we expect the 73rd study to pretend to consider the effects on the people who use the rail? Can we be confident in expecting this seventy third study will be conducted by transport planners rather than real estate planners?

In 2006 NSW Democrats politician Arthur Chesterfield-Evans lamented that there were 23 reports on Newcastle Rail still being held by the government as ‘confidential’ for no obvious reason. At least that still leaves fifty more reports for the public to peruse. But at what cost? We were told $500,000 was set aside for the Warabrook electrification inquiry. If all the studies are of that order then the NSW taxpayer has paid out something like $35million so far for studies that achieved almost nothing. I hope that the government is not involved in that type of expense all over NSW.

Minister Campbell, it would restore a great deal of confidence to see the government take control of this situation, and put a stop to these eternal expensive developer initiated studies and let the government and the people put their energies into more useful pursuits.

Thank you for your time and considerations.

Yours faithfully,
George Paris

2009-01-18T14:53:00.004+11:00

NEXT GAZA RALLY

Wens 21st

Hammo clocktower 5_30 pm - pls download and print off flyer at top to put up around the place or give out to people.

Dont be deceived by the fake ceasefire just announced. Jo Trainor reported from the Sydney Rally on Sunday, that John Pilger spoke of the timidity of the media & the Australian Labour party's support of Israel. He said “The media has built a wall between the massacres in Gaza and the truth of what has happened there” (Download her report here with useful links).

War is Over ! (Find Something Else to Sell)

2009-01-17T13:03:00.001+11:00

Australian Solar Institute Launched Today

2009-01-15T16:09:00.003+11:00

A new Australian Solar Institute was launched today at the CSIRO facility at Mayfield, New South Wales.

The institute will fund solar energy research projects and create export opportunities for Australian businesses.

The Energy Innovation Fund, which was set up by the Australian Government to support research and development in clean energy technologies, is providing $100 million for the establishment of the Australian Solar Institute.

The chief of the division of energy technology at the CSIRO, Dr David Brockway, says the research will initially focus on solar thermal technology and photovoltaics (PVs).

"The principal objective is to reduce the cost of energy from solar technologies, in the solar thermal area," he said.

"What we're using is sunlight to produce high temperatures and to generate electricity and in the PVs it's direct electricity production from photovoltaics - the project is designed to make the technologies as cost competitive as we can in the future."

Key objectives of the Australian Solar Institute include:

advancing and accelerating innovation in solar thermal and solar photovoltaic technologies in Australia
driving research that will have a major impact on the efficiency and cost effectiveness of solar technologies
increasing the competitiveness of solar technologies
retaining local and attracting international expertise in solar energy research to Australia
establishing Australia as a key player in the development of solar energy technologies in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Australian Solar Institute was officially launched at its Newcastle headquarters on 15 January 2009 by the Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP, Minister for Resources and Energy.

A fact sheet [PDF, 55KB] has been developed to provide greater detail on the Australian Solar Institute and its planned operations.

The majority of the Institute's research funding will be allocated through a competitive grants program. A smaller proportion of research funding will be provided to core Institute projects and activities. The Institute's competitive grants program will be designed to encourage any Australian researcher in solar photovoltaic and concentrating solar thermal technologies to apply for funding. This includes researchers from the public and private sectors.

Guidelines for the competitive grants program will be developed over the coming months, with the allocation of these grants occurring through an open, competitive and transparent process.

An Establishment Committee and an Interim Executive Director have been appointed to begin work immediately on bringing the Institute into operation. The Committee and Interim Executive Director are developing the Institute based on consultations with stakeholders and the directions set out in a scoping paper [PDF, 110KB]. The scoping paper, released in late 2008, was prepared by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism following consultation with stakeholders.

A governing board and permanent Executive Director will later be appointed to allow the Institute to commence full operations by July 2009.
Further information on the Institute will be made available later in 2009. An Australian Solar Institute website is currently under development. Once the website is launched, a link will be provided on this webpage.

Any queries or comments relating to the Institute should be forwarded to:

Denis Smedley
Manager
Solar and Clean Energy Innovation
Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism
P: 02 6213 6401
E: Denis.Smedley@ret.gov.au

Red Cross - Alex Thomson (Channel 4) interviews Mark Regev

2009-01-11T23:19:00.001+11:00

Alex Thomson (Channel 4) interviews Mark Regev (Israeli Government Spokesman) over why Israeli soldiers prevented Red Cross officials from reaching dead and injured Palestinian civilians.

GAZA - Rally Wens 14th Jan 5:30

2009-01-10T19:42:00.004+11:00

Even if the Israeli army were to succeed in killing every Hamas fighter to the last man, even then Hamas would win ... in [the] face of the mighty Israeli military machine, it will look like a fantastic victory, a victory of mind over matter.

What will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster, ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints. -Uri Avnery.

For full text of this important analysis go to web page or download Word copy

Protest against the brutal Israeli invasion of Gaza and demand an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal!

Wens 14th January 5:30pm

Hamilton Clocktower

Beaumont St Hamilton.

Download flyer from here (not from the image)

Please write emails, letters, or phone Australian, Israel, US & UN parliamentarians & key figures from the addresses available in here (in Word format)

Free Palestine? Yes we can!

2009-01-08T16:08:00.004+11:00

These are the decisions from the 50-strong rally at Hamilton Clocktower on Jan 7th:

Ncsle NoWar Collective meeting in the beergard
Hamilton Station Hotel
4pm Saturday 10th Jan
to decide What we'll do next Wens-

The rally was deliberately optimistic in the face of the brutal and inhumane carnage wreaked by Israel upon the citizens and their children in Gaza. It opened with the chant:
Free Palestine? Yes we can!

Beginning with George Burchett's proposed "two word solution"
The emphasis was upon solidarity and collective action. This means continuing to protest publically and organising and conducting a boycott against apartheid Israel.

Actions taken included signing of the letter to Sharon Grierson that was also circulated at last week's rally, a petition to trade unions, and a contact list. The overwhelming conclusion by the majority of speakers was that Israel is embarked on a programme of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The implication of this is that even if Israel does call a ceasefire, that it will only be a further ploy. This makes a continuing boycott even more necessary, as an effective form of protest that will not end with a mere "ceasefire".

Audio is available of some parts-
Intro (Niko, Chair)
Roger Markwick
Dennis ?Siedel
Kerry Vernon
Phillippa Parsons
Zane Alcorn
Conclusion (Chair)

It is vital that you join the Newcastle NoWAR (niko@idl.com.au) or the Facebook group"Protest Against Israeli Actions in Gaza"
-thats the best way to not only be informed but also to participate in decisions regarding these actions.

Nobbys Privatisation Back on the Cards

2009-01-03T17:06:00.011+11:00

The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts is inviting comment regarding the new plans for Nobbys headland submitted on the 22 December 2008.

The original proposal was rejected by Minister Peter Garrett on the 19 May 2008.

The new plan shows 7 units and a 46 seat restaurant, the proposed new 'Managers residence' of the last proposal is exactly the same but renamed Units 6-7. The open space has been left around the lighthouse.

Even though the proposal looks better, with the lighthouse free of obstruction, the plans are still of great concern as the problems with servicing the proposed restaurant and units are still present, especially the excessive vehicle traffic that will be required along the historic Macquarie's Pier to service the facilities. It's a huge improvement in terms of massing of buildings, and good to see that the light house tower is remaining a free-standing 'object'.

However, according to UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Urban Development for Asia and the Pacific Chair, School of Architecture and Built Environment Professor Steffen Lehmann, the crucial question remains:

How do they envisage to organise the access? The vehicular traffic (guests, staff, garbage collection, kitchen delivery, etc etc etc) will destroy the precious quality of the pedestrian walk! The immature idea to run a hourly bus will not work - we know this already.

Best would be to totally skip the over-night stay component, and to limit access by vehicles. There are all arguments for a good cafe up there, but none for a small 'boutique hotel'.

Most people would agree that the prime objective is to allow safe community public access to the Nobbys Headland, without compromising the security of the Port installations there.

Again, as with the original proposal, the prime objective for such a culturally and important iconic site should not be financial.

The Gerald asks will the community be freely allowed to wander around the units? How much vehicle traffic will there be along the historic Macquarie's Pier breakwater?

Why is this proposal on Newcastle's most important heritage and cultural icon, on public crown land in the hands of a private developer?

It is also misleading that the development is referrd to as 'Proposed Adaptive reuse of Nobbys Headland' , when it includes a new development (Units 6-7) there will be no interpretation of the history of the site and the signal station will also be made into a 3 story accommodation unit, there will not be a focus on interpretation, future research or educational aspects of the site.

The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts is inviting public comment on the latest proposal by the 8th January 2008. Documents are below. (Reference Number: 2008/4672)

Title of Referral: Nobbys Lighthouse Pty Ltd/Tourism and recreation/adjacent to Nobbys Lighthouse, Newcastle/NSW/Nobbys Headland Redevelopment Date Received: 22 Dec 2008 Reference Number: 2008/4672
Notification from EPBC Act	Date of Notice	Documents
Invitation for Public Comment on Referral	22 Dec 2008

The Citizen Card

2009-01-03T16:49:00.003+11:00

I believe Aaron Buman’s idea of a “Newcastle Card” is poorly argued, divisive and discriminatory (H, 29/12). It would place Newcastle residents into two camps; ratepayers and the rest. Non-ratepayers have rights( and they vote in Council elections).

Most tenants may not pay rates directly, but rates are factored into rents that they pay. Most are relatively low income earners.

Would his idea include libraries, the new museum, beaches, Merewether Baths , parks and ovals?

The possibilities are endless. Why not charge to use public toilets, children’s playgrounds, cycleways or to promenade on the Foreshore? Then there are non-rate paying residents who don’t have off-street parking. Why not charge a fee to park in the street?

Many suburban pool users are low income earners with families, who pay rent and don’t have the luxury of a back yard pool.

Do ratepayers’ partners get one if the property is listed only in one name? Would each child receive a card?

Blackbutt is not, as Cr Buman alleged, a “zoo”. It’s a regional park and reserve. And you already pay a fee to visit the animal enclosures. Further, there is no “entry fee to access Fort Scratchley”, though there is one for the tunnels.

And what would motivate local retailers to give “bonuses” exclusively to ratepayers, as with NRMA cards?

Novocastrians are very reluctant to pay to use Council facilities. There is no point in having them if they are not used or underused.

For instance, the year after I successfully moved in Council in 1996 to remove the museum entry fee, the attendance figures soared by over 400%. If non-rate payers feel discriminated against, they will feel even less inclined to pay a fee.

Cr Buman’s card idea does not accord with Newcastle City Council’s objective (which he supported in 2004) of a caring, compassionate community.

Keith Parsons.
Newcastle.

Rally for Gaza... again!

2009-01-02T03:51:00.002+11:00

#fullpost{display:none;}

Rally for Gaza

Wens Jan 7th

Hamilton Clocktower

Beaumont St Hamilton4pm

"Join the dots: from Gaza to GITMO"- the 7th is close to International Shut Down Guantanamo Day (11th) and it would be appropriate to also speak out against the regimes of terror around the world.

Download flyer to print & circulate

On Dec 31st, 20 people gathered at the Clocktower to condemn Israel's action in bombing Gaza as an act of ethnic cleansing. The key demand emerging from the speakout were for an unconditional immediate ceasefire on Israel's part. An open letter to Sharon Grierson MP was read out and signed. An electronic copy in Word format is available here, and will also be sent to her. We also resolved to become more informed regarding the boycott of Israeli goods and services.We need to keep the pressure up- especially as the Israeli PR machine dominates the mass media!

Protest massacre in Gaza at Hamilton Clocktower Wens 31st @ 4pm

2008-12-29T18:49:00.002+11:00

Speakout against the massacre being conducted in Gaza by the IDF
Join the world in condemning this hideous crime

At Hamilton Clocktower, Beaumont St
4 pm, Wednesday, 31st December

Here are some links:

Slaughter In Gaza

The BBC Video Report

Israeli F-16 bombers have pounded targets across the Gaza Strip, killing more than 200 people, according to local medical workers. Click to view

Eyewitness: Chaos in Gaza

By BBC

We can see from our office here in Gaza, in the middle of Gaza City, ambulances are still evacuating the injured from buildings and school kids are trying to find secure places.

Enquiries: Niko Leka, 0406296141
Newcastle NoWAR Collective

Sixty people occupy Sharon Grierson's office

2008-12-18T12:09:00.004+11:00

Sixty people marched into and occupied Sharon Grierson's office on Tuesday, in an immediate and angry reaction to the failure of the Rudd government to deal with climate change.

The protest, organised by Climate Action Newcastle, was organised after Ms. Grierson had repeatedly ignored requests to meet with the group in the lead-up to what spokesperson Duncan Jinks called the most important white paper in Australia's history.

Australian climate scientist, Professor Barry Brook, said in his blog on Monday that "the scientific reality of the physics, chemistry and biology of climate change and climate feedbacks [is] a process which cares nothing for these bold ambitions or how hard we might be trying."

Australia has received international condemnation for the weakest 2020 target in the developed world, which amounts to a 13% increase on 1990 levels, worse than the US 0% increase on 1990 levels, and far worse than the 25-40% on 1990 levels recommended by scientists.

Churches in the Pacific Islands, some of which nations are already looking for evacuation plans due to rising sea levels and crop salinity, immediately lashed out at the government, saying that "Australia has just outdone the minimum!"

South Africa, India and China also criticised Australia in Poznan for its expected failure to meet the 25-40% commitment generally agreed to at Bali. 49 of the world's Least Developed Countries (LDCs), called on the world to aim for greenhouse concentrations of 350ppm, which would commit developed countries to much higher reductions.

The sit-in at Sharon Grierson's office, which coincided with 10 other office occupations around the country and rallies of hundreds of people in every major Australian city, demonstrated that Australians would act on climate change even if the government did not, and even if it meant breaking the law.

A small hope for the planet.

Rudd gives up on climate

2008-12-15T14:13:00.004+11:00

The Rudd government has officially given up on an effective climate action strategy in an announcement at the National Press club today.

The Prime Minister announced that Australia would emit 95% of its current emissions in 2020, and would only go down to 85% if pressured by the rest of the world.

In either scenario, the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would rise indefinitely, making the complete melting of the Arctic ice cap very likely.

As Mr. Rudd made the announcement, three Newcastle women interrupted him, yelling "No! You have given up on the Great Barrier Reef. We will never walk away from climate change!"

The gallery, filled with senior journalists, cabinet members and Greens parliamentarians, appeared stunned as they heard the news.

It is unclear what science Rudd is using to back up his targets.

Five minutes after the announcement, 15 people occupied Rudd's Brisbane office and 50 people converged on Wong's Adelaide office, calling on the government to halve carbon emissions by 2020 and indicating that they would continue to take direct action if the Government failed to address the science.

It is expected that waves of people from community climate action groups will stage similar protests over the next week.

World to Australia - don't wreck negotiations again

2008-12-09T11:42:00.004+11:00

China and South Africa are among countries at the international climate talk-fest in Poznan pleading with the Australian government not to block consensus on binding short-term emissions reduction targets yet again.

Although it is widely known that Australia helped to wreck climate negotiations all through the denialist Howard years, it is less widely known that at the UNFCC in Bali, one month after the Rudd government's election, Australia yet again teamed up with the US, Canada and Japan to block consensus on binding short-term targets.

Instead, Australia committed to an aspirational target of 25-40% by 2020, a promise which they are expected to break when Penny Wong announces Australia's target next Monday.

China, whom Rudd and Wong routinely blame for climate change, has now called on Australia to keep its promise and not to pull a Bali again.

Scientists are unsure that a 40% reduction by 2020, if implemented universally, will be enough to prevent humanity from completely melting the Arctic ice cap and tipping us into a dangerous runaway climate zone.

However, new hopes emerged at Stansted airport this morning, where 57 people from the action group Plane Stupid have put their freedom on the line by blockading the runaway and leading to the cancellation of 50 flights, saving 2300 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The activists were protesting against the hypocritical approval of an airport expansion intended largely to service short-haul "love mile" flights, even as the UK has adopted a stricter 80% by 2050 emissions reduction target.

"We're afraid of what the police might do to us, we're afraid of going to jail but nothing scares us as much as the threat of runaway climate change. We've thought through the consequences of what we're doing here but we're determined to stop as many tonnes of CO2 as we can," said spokesperson Lily Kember.

Support Oz's progressive independent paper, Green Left Weeky

2008-12-01T12:53:00.015+11:00

David Rovics (USA) and Alistair Hulett (Scotland) will be playing for our major Green Left Weekly fundraiser at the Croatian Club, Wickham, from 8:30pm on Wednesday 17th December.

It will be a night of revolutionary political music opening with local political songwriter Paul Spencer, and closing by dancing to Newcastle chunky hip hop underground band DHOPEC.

David Rovics is called the musical voice of the progressive movement in the US. He spends most of his time on the road,. playing with musicians like Billy Bragg and the Indigo Girls. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, and he will make the revolution irresistible.

Alistair Hulett founded the Oz folk punk band, Roaring Jack in the 90s. He’s played with the likes of Billy Bragg, The Pogues and lately with Dave Swarbick (Fairport Convention). Although he presents his material in a relaxed way, his hard edged social and political commentary will grab you.

So grab your friends 'n family 'n party animals and come along. $15/$13, licensed venue and food available. Contact Niko 0406296141.

Coal-fired power station blockade on the eve of international climate negotiations

2008-11-27T13:31:00.001+11:00

This morning, four people entered the Munmorah Coal-Fired Power Station on the NSW Central Coast, attaching themselves to conveyor belts carrying coal. It is the fifth time that people have shut down a coal-fired power station in Australia this month.

Spokesperson Ann-Marie Rohlfs says "In two days, the Rudd Government will go to the United Nations climate change meeting in Poland. Instead of showing leadership, they are set to announce weak and ineffective domestic emissions reduction targets.

"With the upcoming release of the Climate White Paper, the Rudd Government will hand tens of billions of dollars in compensation and free permits to polluting industries. Public money would be better spent investing in a green renewable future for Australia."

Spokesperson Nicky Ison says, "This week we witnessed the closure of the BP solar plant in Homebush Bay. Australia is missing out on tens of thousands of new jobs by continuing to prop up the coal industry and preventing the transition to a renewable energy economy.

"In September, Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore said 'I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants.' We are taking him at his word. Today's blockade at the Munmorah Power Station is part of a huge community effort to kick Australia's coal habit.

"We are facing a climate emergency, but our emissions are still rising. We call on the Rudd Government to ensure 2010 is the year Australia's greenhouse emissions peak and begin to rapidly decline.

"If half of the homes in NSW had solar hot water systems, there would be no need for Munmorah Power Station. We would save 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 annually. As the oldest power station in NSW, Munmorah Power station must be the first to go in the new green economy."

THE GREAT RAIL DEBATE

2008-11-19T15:45:00.002+11:00

Hunter Business Chamber CEO Peter Shinnick (H, 8,11) argued that “The Newcastle rail line was built to service industries now vanished” and “the development of rail in the Hunter is linked to the growth of the coal industry” to imply that the passenger service was a minor sideshow.I believe he is wrong. Many of the vanished colliery lines into the city were never part of the Broadmeadow to Newcastle line he wants removed.For example the Burwood line to the coal staiths east of Honeysuckle.

The first passenger line (the birth of the Great Northern Railway) ran on this line from Newcastle (Honeysuckle) to Maitland (Victoria Street) and celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. It was commemorated with great fanfare, including the presence of the NSW Governor, Professor Bashir.

The passenger service from Newcastle was extended to Singleton in 1863; Murrurundi in 1872; Tamworth 1878;Armidale 1883, Wallangara (Qld) 1888 and south to Gosford 1887

Newcastle Railway Station, one of the great and historic passenger stations in the state, indeed Australia, was constructed in 1874-78 (although it existed in a primitive form from the late 1850s).It was extended in the 1890s, with overnight accommodation for passengers. It wasn’t built to service a minor branch line. Broadmeadow Station was only completed in 1887

The Great Northern hotel, built in the 1860s was constructed partly to service rail passengers and continued to do so until the 1970s-80s decline of the CBD.

I recall the marshalling yards at the east End in the 1950s-70s with many coal vans, most of which serviced Zaara Street Power Station, but just as many passenger carriages. The carriage shed preserved at Foreshore Park was a passenger carriage cleaning shed.

As an aside,Mr. Shinnick claimed Zaara Street Power station ceased operating in 1959 but it continued to brought on line for emergencies until the 1970s.

The great significance of the Newcastle heavy rail passenger line cannot be diminished by using red herring arguments about our industrial past.

Habib speech & book available

2008-11-10T17:54:00.004+11:00

About 40 people heard Mamdouh Habib explain his story- it is an incredible tale of deception by Australian government so-called 'security' agencies. It shocked me to find out just how disgraceful and unprincipled the behaviour of these agencies, and the extent of their influence over the process and execution of law is.

Download Habib's main speech from here: link
Details of his book can be found by here
Photograph and link to Newcastle Herald story here

Click here to download full audio (1 hr) with

Introduction- Niko Leka, Socialist Alliance
Julia Collingwood- Habib's co-author, gave an excellent crisp speech beginning with the particulars of how she came to meet and work with Habib less than a year ago, and ending with drawing some chilling generalizations.
Habib's talk (available separately as well)
Question and Answer session.

Habib also brought a copies of the pamphlet produced by Australian-Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network in Arabic as well as English outlining the provisions of the anti-terror legislation and citizen's rights, it also can also be downloaded from the link

Habib explained the key issue is humanity, asking what is the meaning of the law when you can no longer even prove in court what the truth is. He is not allowed to identify ASIO officers in court, so how can he prove his story is true? He emphasised the point of the law is to keep you scared. He went into the details of how he had been asked by Australian security agenices to work for them on the basis of his extensive contacts overseas and linguistic abilities. He always refused these offers. What is stunning is that these security agencies had records of his phone conversations with his wife, dating back to 1993. It goes to show, that anyone can become a "person of interest" in Ruddocks dry phrase... at any time, and well before they know it.

But buy his book. Copies are available at the Resistance Centre, 472 Hunter St Newcastle.- and, think, how can we force an inquiry into the role the Australian Government played in this disgraceful affair?

Third power station shut down in five days

2008-11-06T11:50:00.004+11:00

A third power station has been shut down by protesters in Victoria, one day after a similar action in Western Australia, and five days after a similar action in the Hunter Valley.

Two people have stopped and attached themselves to conveyors at the Hazelwood power station in the La Trobe Valley, and a large group of people walked onto the site early this morning.

Spokesperson for the group, Emma Russell said that the government has shown neither the will nor the ability to make the decisions necessary to prevent a climate disaster.

“We need to move on from coal, leaving no one behind. We offer our support to the workers of the Hazelwood power station. We believe it is critical that clean, renewable based industries are set up to provide new livelihoods after coal, such as renewable energy co-operatives and re-localised economies.”

In a public blog dedicated to the action, Ms. Russell linked the group's action to similar actions around the country.

“With direct action against coal infrastructure we wish to break the illusion of corporate control of our environments, creating space for community solutions for change. As this last week has shown with similar actions at Collie and Bayswater power stations, this sentiment is shared right across the country.”

Ms. Russell did not indicate whether she knew of other actions around the country but encouraged others to take similar action.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that electricity production is run by those who are interested in long-term sustainability, not those driven by short-term profits. We need to take our power back from privatised industry. This is our future, this is our responsibility; together, we should take action.”

Hunter residents have planned a vigil at Eraring power station on November 22, office occupations in December to occur simultaneously around the country, and a flotilla of kayaks to prevent coal from leaving Newcastle harbour next March.

29 arrests at Bayswater power station

2008-11-02T15:19:00.007+11:00

Around thirty protesters from climate action group Rising Tide walked onto the site of the Bayswater power station yesterday, preventing the delivery of coal to the station for six hours.

Bayswater power station is New South Wales' equal biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, along with Eraring power station.

29 people were arrested on the coal piles while four were arrested inside the power station. The group inside had chained themselves to both conveyors with a lock-on pipe and had to be cut off.

Spokesperson for the group, Georgina Woods said that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions were continuing to increase as a result of Australia's dependence on coal-fired power, leading to the slow death of the Great Barrier Reef.

“Where is the plan to phase out facilities like these? Why are we twiddling our thumbs?” Ms Wood asked.

“The nation and the world are watching and we will not get another chance. The people that are here today are parents and grandparents, professionals and tradespeople. We are demanding a commitment from the Government today: Australia’s greenhouse emissions must start dropping from 2010, we must do whatever it takes to save the Barrier Reef from wipe-out and the world from devastating runaway climate change.”

Workers onsite reacted in an overall positive manner to the protest, with some taking photographs and thanking the activists.

The large group had offered to leave the site without fuss once they had made their point, but police insisted upon processing all of them for trespass. A recent report has suggested that the effects of climate change will lead to an increase in crimes such as carbon accounting fraud and domestic violence, tying up resources for police.

The group inside have been charged with both entering enclosed lands and refusing to leave enclosed lands.

Ms. Woods said that more and more people would take action if the Government continued to allow greenhouse gas emissions to increase.
Photos by Conor Ashleigh (top) and Damien Baker (bottom)

2008-10-27T16:40:00.001+11:00

A: Waiter, waiter, there's a poo in my ice-cream!
B: Quiet down, or everybody will want one....

Milk of Human Kindness

2008-10-26T22:06:00.003+11:00

dear editor,

I am dissapointed that in the bastion of free speach the public forum my letter was changed to the point that the words were not my own but an editors personal opinion of what he or she though i said.wether it was an idividuals opinion or a collective opinion that is for each and everyone to decide their own opinion on this matter, this is what is called free will.

to make light of this point the statement i made "apparently that only works for american whales"was sarcasim, the statement"i believe there have been some successes overseas in this regard" implies something different.The statement"I argee"when i did not make such a statement.Sandra appeared to be of the opinion that their was worse.The point i was making i think it is a statement of fact that we witnessed the worst.for outcome focused burecrats, well the whales dead. If they tried their best i would have applauded but since it appears to me that that they didn't i am appalled that they call it their best.You slipped in " no doubt" infront of my statement about np and gov doing their best, i think that by all the other letters in the press sandra included have doubts as well. using the word "our people"implied i was somehow part of the effort to save the whale.i used the words "those people"pointing to the individuals whose names i did not know, who tried to do better.you changed the word i wrote "usurp"to undermining thus taking away peoples freedom to form their own opinion of the word.the addition of "baby" whale although a fact is also an emotive word and my letter was a statement of fact from the point of veiw that np and gov have lost sight of one of humanitys best traits to have a go.the original letter was because of my love of gods creatures great and small.

i have written in all honesty i have done this to make my thoughts clear to the public to the best of my ability on this matter.

what was done is the true meaning of subversion of free speech and will.

i would appreciate printing this letter in full unedited,with my original letter and saturdays printing of the letter so people can form their own individual opinions.

vocatus atque non vocatus, deus aderit .

terry ford

The Billion Dollar Bailout

2008-10-14T21:39:00.003+11:00

Dear Prime Minister,

Thank you for your fast action on the world financial crisis, and we do not want to begrudge any one an increase in pensions or extra cash to spend. But this evening we are worried that we might be missing an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone here.

This world crisis might be a blessing in disguise. The billions that are being spent on bailing out our 'old' economy should be directed to laying foundations to the 'new' one, that will deliver us from our collective climate change peril.

Why not invest this money in renewable energy innovation and kick start a new economy based upon a clean world? These billions could put a water tank in every yard, and solar panels on every roof, reducing our water and power bills during the tough times ahead.

The old world economy is in collapse because it has been based upon corruption, war mongering and enslaving the world for our energy and power. We have acted like fossil fuel junkies. It has to change.

Let's nation build for a new cleaner greener world that is free of this anguish.

REZONING BLUNDER MUST BE CORRECTED

2008-09-29T20:44:00.003+10:00

Newcastle’s Convict Lumberyard and Enterprise Park were wrongly zoned for mixed commercial and residential use in the Newcastle City Centre LEP 2008.

The Parks and Playgrounds Movement has written a welcome letter to the newly elected Newcastle City Councillors wishing them well and indicating that they believe that probity and good management are the hallmarks of a successful Local Government.

The Convict Lumberyard provides a unique openspace setting for important historic buildings and is an especially important part of Newcastle’s convict past. It is of National significance and was Gazetted as 7(d) Environmental Protection Heritage Site Zone by the Minister for Planning in 1992. Under the modern planning scheme the Convict Lumberyard and Enterprise Park should be zoned 6(a)Openspace the same as Fort Scratchley.

They have also brought their attention to the Convict Lumberyard and Enterprise Park at Scott Street in Newcastle. The historic Convict Lumberyard was vested in the Newcastle Council by the Honourable Nick Greiner in 1989 and Enterprise Park is a Crown Reserve R97943 with the Council appointed Trustee notified in the NSW Government Gazette 23/11/90.

The last Newcastle Council unintentionally initiated the wrong zoning of these two properties when drafting the City Centre Local Environmental Plan 2008. This error was only discovered at the end of their term and it is now the new council’s problem to rectify. This may be done by an amendment to the City Centre LEP 2008 and we therefore have asked Councillors to resolve “that Council prepare an amendment to the City Centre LEP 2008 that will restore the openspace zonings that reflect the land use that these properties perform for the community”.

The most appropriate zone to comply with the current zoning template is Open Space 6(a) the same as Fort Scratchley.

The Convict Lumberyard and Enterprise Park are landscaped as public parklands and provide a setting for important historic buildings and the protection of archaeological relics. The Convict Lumberyard is a State Heritage Listed site and is managed by a Plan of Management.

Enterprise Park was the first part of the Newcastle Harbour Foreshore Park completed in 1986 to mark the Centenary of service to the Newcastle Region by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry 1886 - 1986. It was zoned for open space in 1960 and the Open Space 6 (a) Zone should be restored as the appropriate zone for the Park.

Climate activists disrupt Senate

2008-09-27T13:38:00.002+10:00

A dozen activists from Newcastle climate action group Rising Tide disrupted Question Time in the Senate on Monday, unfurling a banner and calling on Climate Change Minister Penny Wong to peak carbon emissions by 2010.

Shortly after 2pm, the group unfurled the large banner that they had smuggled into the public gallery, which showed pictures of reefs, forests and ecosystem and the word "UNLESS". A Rising Tide member jumped onto the barrier separating the chamber from the public gallery and began an impassioned plea to Penny Wong.

"Senator Wong, we need urgent action against climate change," he said. "Greenhouse pollution must stop rising, and start falling; you must peak carbon emissions by 2010; you must stop the expansion of the coal industry." The protester continued this refrain from the ledge until dragged out by Parliamentary security officers.

The activists were led out of Parliament House and banned from re-entry for 24 hours.
Source: http://www.risingtide.org.au/node/790
Commentary from Bob Brown: http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/content/greencast/parliament-climate-protest

Against Marohasy on Climate Change

2008-09-08T00:49:00.004+10:00

Originally posted by Dr. Glenn Albrecht at his personal blog.

We need to take a good hard look at the type of ‘facts’ Jennifer Marohasy (JM) presents before signing on to her view of the world. Also, take a good hard look at the above photo supporting the article. It shows a river with many dead trees (river red gums?) on its edges. The caption says “Salinity levels in the Murray have halved, but you won’t hear that from global warming zealots”. Is Marohasy and her paymaster (The Australian) actually suggesting that the landscape in the photograph shows a system in recovery? It looks more like a catastrophe to me.

Click here for the complete pdf version of A Case of Fuzzy Thinking?

Glenn Albrecht 07/09/2008

Panoramic Visions of Newcastle on the Coquun Hunter

2008-09-05T15:39:00.005+10:00

Sophia Campbell 1818 Panorama from Nobbys

Newcastle Gerald readers are invited to view a beautiful display of early panoramas of Newcastle recently installed at the Maritime Centre at Honeysuckle.

Entitled "Newcastle on the Edge: Panoramic Visions of Newcastle on the Coquun Hunter", the outdoor exhibit is The University of Newcastle's contribution to History Week, whose theme this year is ‘At the Water’s Edge’.

The exhibition is sponsored by the University of Newcastle’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences and is a collaborative event involving the University, the Maritime Centre and the History Council of New South Wales.

The beautiful panoramas of early Newcastle will be officially launched tomorrow September 6th 2008 by Phil Ashley-Brown Head of 1233 Radio at 10am at the Maritime Centre Honeysuckle.

Two of the panoramas have been re-photographed by Associate Professor Allan Chawner from today's perspectives to give viewers a clear view of how the Port has been transformed over time.

Newcastle on the Edge will be run at the Maritime Centre during History Week from Saturday 6 - Sunday 14 September 2008.

For more information consult the "Newcastle on the Edge" Blog: http://newcastleontheedge.blogspot.com/

Universe implosion to avert election

2008-09-04T00:25:00.003+10:00

Next weekend's council elections could be overshadowed by the end of the universe next Wednesday morning, in a move likely to work to the advantage of Greens candidates.

So far, pundits have identified two possible outcomes for the Newcastle local government elections: an increase in power of the Labor and centre-right Buman independent blocs, or a protest vote to work in the favour of the Greens and possibly the Socialist Alliance, whose star candidate Zane Alcorn could pick up votes for the left.

What few commentators have considered is the one in a million possibility that the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator designed to emulate conditions at the beginning of the universe, could suck all of the universe into a tiny space and end life as we know it, thereby avoiding the need for an election at all. There is a small risk that the LHC could produce micro black holes, strangelets, and vacuum bubbles.

While there is considerable uncertainty as to what these things are, let alone what cosmological and electoral effects they may have, there is little doubt that, should the universe come to an end, the chances of outright Labor control of the council would considerably diminish.

Neither Greens candidate Michael Osborne nor Socialist Alliance candidate Zane Alcorn were available for comment at the time of publication.

However environmental advocates were said to be pleased by the news, stating that if local councils failed to make the social shifts necessary to address peak oil and climate change (such as local food production, independence from the grid, fast, frequent and free public transport and smart housing design), the implosion of the universe would avert the need to address these twin crises.

Arctic sea melt

2008-09-02T14:29:00.006+10:00

For the first time in human history, it is now possible to sail a ship all the way around the Arctic ice cap, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

The melting of the ice caps is expected to have significant impacts on climate change, including the loss of oceanic insulation, the loss of the albedo effect, and the acidification and algification of the oceans. If the Arctic ice cap melts by 2013 as predicted, it could produce runaway climate effects which are impossible to control and endanger human life on Earth.

Shipping companies have already announced plans to run their ships through the newly opened North-East passage.

Former Premier of NSW Nick Greiner has just completed a report to Ports minister Joe Tripodi recommending that the world's largest coal export port in Newcastle be doubled by 2013 and ultimately tripled, in a move set to be disastrous for the Earth's climate.

Picture by Ansgar Walk 2004. May be reproduced or altered only with attribution and under the same license.

Costa and Iemma Must Go

2008-08-31T20:34:00.003+10:00

The Gerald suspects that the reason Messrs Costa and Iemma are in such a diabolical rush to sell our power industry is because they have in effect backrupted the State of New South Wales.

The litany of unsustainable planning decisions and their arrogant refusal to 'serve' and abide by the will the people that elected them to power has created a tyrannical shambles that is obvious for all to see. Our land is being screwed over, our roads are crammed with cars and our future is full of empty craters.

And as Michael Costa becomes eligible for his Parliamentary Superannuation pension next month he will certainly aim to privatise himself right out of Government at our continued ongoing expense. He doesn't give a damn.

And neither should we give a damn for the fossil fuel dictatorship they both preside over that will certainly soon fall.

Exclusive:Fairfax strike over

2008-08-31T14:30:00.002+10:00

Striking journalists from the Newcastle Herald have told the Gerald that they will be returning to work tomorrow.

"It looks like we may have won," one of the workers told the Gerald, before the workers broke into applause.

Workers from the Newcastle Herald, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Illawarra Mercury, the Financial Review and others have been on strike since Friday after a Fairfax plan to axe 550 jobs, including that of popular reporter Mike Carlton.

Their union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, have set up a website for supporters of the journalists, arguing that the cuts will lead to a decline in the quality of the newspapers.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard spoke in support of the journalists.

"I am someone who is concerned about the quality and diversity of our media market," she told the Australian.

The meeting in Newcastle, on the corner of King and Newcomen Streets, followed a banner protest in Hunter Street Mall.

Media Release: Let’s get Newcastle off the grid

2008-08-28T19:38:00.000+10:00

Socialist Alliance candidate for Lord Mayor Zane Alcorn, and fellow Ward Three candidates Laura Ealing and Thomas Cameron are advocating the implementation of a radical new scheme to cut Newcastle’s carbon emissions and make the city completely energy self-sufficient.

At a recent candidates forum organised by the Newcastle Alliance, Alcorn argued that with the Arctic likely to melt by 2013, council couldn’t afford to ignore climate change. But current Lord Mayor John Tate’s response was to deny any responsibility, arguing that the onus is on individuals to make changes at a household level.

To prove that council can and should be leading on climate action, the Socialist Alliance candidates have proposed that Newcastle use Woking, a town in the UK, as a blueprint to get Newcastle off the electricity grid altogether.

“Woking has reduced its carbon emissions by 77% since 1990. There’s no reason why Newcastle council can’t do the same thing here,” Alcorn argues.

“We can cut Newcastle’s emissions dramatically by utilising solar and wind power and supplementing this with combined heat and power plants (CHPs). About 70% of the energy from coal-fired power stations is lost in heat or transmission. CHPs are highly efficient as they capture this heat and can exist within city centres, minimising energy wastage.” says Alcorn.

“We can choose whether we want to take the initiative and do something to safeguard the future of our planet, or we can sit back and watch passively as things disintegrate,” warns Cameron. Cameron noted that London council also plans to cut its emissions by 60% over the next 20 years.

And claims that council can’t afford to implement the proposal won’t wash with the candidates either. Ealing stresses that “If anything the transition that Woking has made has strengthened their local economy - Woking council has reduced its annual energy bills by almost a million pounds, and the energy bills for council residents are lower too.

“Newcastle council can afford to do this, and what’s more, it can’t afford not to. Climate change is happening at a speed that no one predicted, and anyone who tries to claim that it’s not their responsibility is simply unfit for leadership”.

Newcastle's Going Solar

2008-08-27T21:46:00.003+10:00

Climate Action Newcastle have acted while government dithers: read edited email received from them below.

-----

We have a fanstastic 1kW solar offer for you!

Newcastle's Going Solar! - project information. This gives you information on the offer and what to do next. We are holding a meeting on Friday 5 September** to explain the offer in more detail and to complete paperwork. You will need to bring a number of things to this meeting, so please read this document carefully.

--- and---

Solar PV FAQ's

Please RSVP to can@climateaction.org.au by 3rd September.

Kind regards

Vicki Brooke
for Ian Wilcox and all of us at the Newcastle's Going Solar! team
http://www.climateaction.org.au/

Alcorn to address Getup Climate Torch Relay today

2008-08-22T09:40:00.003+10:00

Socialist Alliance candidate for Newcastle Mayor, Zane Alcorn will be addressing the Newcastle leg of GetUp’s ‘climate torch relay’ at Newcastle's Civic Park Friday 22nd August at noon.

Zane will also be attending a Mayoral Forum at City Hall on Monday August 25 commencing at 5:30pm.

The Socialist Alliance is running a youth team in Ward Three for the Newcastle City Council Election. They are (L to R) Tom Cameron, Laura Ealing and Zane Alcorn. Click here to read more. Photo courtesy of J. Trainor.

Climate Action Now: national climate torch relay

2008-08-15T20:34:00.004+10:00

The GetUp crew are inviting you to take part in the National Climate Torch Relay. GetUp is also urging all Mayoral candidates to join.

The latest research shows that Arctic sea ice could disappear by 2013. The incoming council will have to deal with emergency conversion to clean energy and transport. Do we want a Council who will stick their head in the sand or do we want a Council who will work with us- because now is the time, to GetUp

Newcastle and the Climate Relay
Due to its unique climate significance, Newcastle has been selected as one of the Relay’s major stops. The Torch will arrive at:
Civic Park (in front of Newcastle Town Hall)
Midday - Friday the 22nd of August

For more info, click here to go to our Climate Action Council blog.

- Zane Alcorn, Mayoral Candidate, Councillor Candidate (Ward 3)

For a Climate Action Council...

2008-08-14T22:50:00.006+10:00

People and planet before profits

Socialist Alliance is running three candidates in Newcastle Council – Ward 3*.

The Socialist Alliance says that the planet and future generations are more important than profits. What we have outlined will need to be fought for by an informed and active community that can challenge the interests of polluting industries and big developers. We need a council that takes climate change seriously and supports community campaigns for real action.

Click here to read more.

*Ward 3 includes Waratah, Jesmond, Lambton, New Lambton and Kotara.

Youth candidates for council: Save the skate park

2008-08-13T08:52:00.001+10:00

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

***MEDIA RELEASE***
12^th August 2008

Open-air press conference at South Newcastle Beach skate park

10.30am Wednesday 13^th August

Three candidates running in the September 13 Newcastle council elections, aged 19-24, are outraged at proposals to close down the South Newcastle Beach skate park and graffiti wall. The candidates say attacks on the skate park by Lord Mayor John Tate and state member for Newcastle Jodie McKay show their disregard for young people.

Youth candidate for Lord Mayor, Zane Alcorn, 24, and a member of Socialist Alliance, said: "Rather than demonising young people and cracking down on graffiti the council should be tackling the real issues for us in Newcastle, like youth unemployment, affordable housing and climate change."

"We're not going sit back and watch the skate park pushed out to make way for another eyesore of a development that young people can't afford to live in"

"Tate and McKay are totally out of touch. They stand at Newcastle Beach and only see the supposedly hideous skate park. We see the world's biggest coal port and that's what we think is ugly – climate vandalism."

Alcorn is a local hip-hop artist and climate change activist and a graduate of Newcastle University where he studied architecture.

"As someone who has studied both architecture and hip hop culture - which includes graffiti - I am actually more offended by a lot of the crass air conditioned boxes that get built in this city than a bit of graffiti."

Alcorn is also running for the Socialist Alliance in Ward 3 alongside Laura Ealing, 21, and Tom Cameron, 19.

All three will be available for interview and photos on Wednesday. Graffiti artists will be doing a piece at the site to defend the skate park.

Contact Zane Alcorn on 0401 466 831.

Hirsohima: never again

2008-08-04T19:18:00.001+10:00

George Burchett, artist, translator, editor, author and son of famous Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett will speak on his father’s experiences in being the first westerner to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6 1945.
Also screening of Public Enemy Number One David Bradbury’s documentary of Wilfred Burchett’s life and work as a peace activist and anti war journalist.
Joy Cummings Community Centre, Scott St, Newcastle East Saturday 9 August 2pm.

Organized by Newcastle No War Collective. Ph: Niko 0406296141.

Christians for Peace Hiroshima Day Ecumenical Service, 6.45am Wed 6 August, Outside Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle
Download leaflet PDF Format
Download leaflet JPG Format

Monbiot's film on Lunar Rockism

2008-07-26T15:20:00.001+10:00

Reposted from the Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/24/channel4.climatechange

A proposal to Hamish Mykura, head of documentaries, Channel 4

Dear Hamish,

Until I read your response to my article yesterday, I had decided not to make any more programmes for Channel 4: I did not want to work for people whose editorial standards were so lax that they were prepared to broadcast 90 minutes of total bollocks. But now that you have exonerated yourself of all charges of inaccuracy, I have changed my mind. I have a proposal that's just up your street.

The lunar conspiracy
1 x 90 minutes
Presenter: George Monbiot
Producer/director: Martin Durkin

They told you it was made of rock.
They faked a voyage to prove it.
They "lost" the samples they took.
And buried the real data.
They covered up the truth they don't want YOU to hear.
The whole thing stinks. Why? Because it is made of blue cheese.

Lunar rockism is no longer just a theory about the moon; it has become a belief system so rigid that it can no longer be challenged. Scientists say the time for debate is over, that any criticism of rockism, however rigorous, is illegitimate, even dangerous. But this film will show that the evidence does not support the theory that the moon is made of rock. The rock theory is dressed up as science. But it's not science. It's propaganda. You are being told lies, and I can redraw the graphs to prove it.

I can bring together a group of the world's leading astronomers who, through creative editing, will confirm that the moon is made of blue cheese, probably stilton or possibly gorgonzola. I have also lined up Piers Corbyn, Philip Stott, Nigel Calder and others who, though they know nothing about this subject, are prepared to talk about it. I hope they will say that lunar rockism is the result of scientific fraud cooked up by terrestrial cheese monopolists. Big Cheese has such a tight grip on science funding that astronomers who question the theory are terrified of stepping out of line, in case they have their stipends cut off.

Worst of all, the rockists are deliberately keeping people hungry. All we need to do to solve the global food crisis is to set up a number of lunar cheese mines, but Big Cheese and the astronomers it funds have been lobbying against it, and spreading lies and disinformation to create the impression that the mines would produce only rock.

I know that Channel 4 will love this idea, as it is edgy, noisy and provocative, and it will get right up the noses of the scientists trying to kill debate on a matter of vital public interest. I am sure that, like Martin and me, you have devoted a good deal of time to scrutinising Ofcom's guidelines, and have worked out that it cannot and will not rule against films like this, because it has no provision for assessing the accuracy of factual programmes. This, as you have pointed out, means that everything we say is correct, even though we have just made it up.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope that this can be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

With my best wishes, George

Is Newcastle Council Selling Out Our Open Space?

2008-07-16T19:45:00.004+10:00

It emerged this week that Newcastle City Council recently rezoned Enterprise Park, the Foreshore and the Convict Lumberyard in the City Centre Local Environment Plan 2008. In addition, areas of heritage significance such as the Convict Lumber Yard were classified as 'Operational' instead of 'Community' land as required under the NSW Local Government Act.

The people of Newcastle expect their Council to act in their best interests, and not be part and parcel of selling out the community's open space and public domain areas of cultural and heritage significance. Why do we pay our rates?

The Gerald hopes that this has been an error, rather than a concerted effort to undermine our community's public domain areas.

Councillor Keith Parsons yesterday requested Council for a detailed briefing outlining the reasons for:

1. The classification of the Convict Lumberyard site as Operational,
rather than Community Land, as required under the NSW Local Government Act
(1993) in c1994.

2. The classification of the Lynches Prawns site as operational in c1994.

3. The zoning as B4 (Mixed Use) in the City Centre LEP in February, 2008 of:
(a) The Foreshore
(b) The Convict Lumberyard
(c) Enterprise Park

Coal... and Costa

2008-07-14T15:31:00.004+10:00

On Sunday 13 July community rally of some 500 in Newcastle halted coal shipments to the Port Waratah Coal Loader. See photos of the protest here.

Click here to view pics taken by The Newcastle Herald presented as fantastic slideshow .

Protestors marched from the Climate Camp in Wickham, along the railway track, to the entrance to the coal loader. A number of people were arrested when they entered the rail line, some locked themselves onto the coal wagons while others stood aloft the fully laden coal wagons. A huge banner, saying 'Danger Climate change ahead' was dopped onto the tracks. No trains moved during the protest.

Today Monday 14 July protestors rallied outside Michael Costa's office. The rally was jointly chaired by Zane Alcorn of Soclaist Alliance and Jasmine of Solidarity. With over 200 people attending there was a good representation of unionists and the broader community. The rally decided to march through Newcastle city centre. Later that afternoon the Climate Camp’s Resistance team banner got yet another drop, this time on Nobby’s beach. Photos here.

Climate change actions on Saturday, Sunday, Monday

2008-07-11T21:02:00.003+10:00

JOIN THE GIANT HUMAN SIGN:
On: Saturday, 12th July, 9.00 am
At: WickhamPark, Albert St, Wickham
As many people as possible are needed to help create a giant ticking clock, and the words:

"CUT CARBON - NOW OR NEVER"

... then ...
PEACEFUL DIRECT ACTION PROTEST:
Sunday, 13th July, 10.00 am
Begin at IslingtonPark (off Maitland Rd, Islington) - and
March to Carrington Coal Terminal

The protest begins with a colourful rally and march, and you don't need to be willing to be arrested to come along. We will march to Carrington coal terminal where members of the community will walk onto the coal rail line to stop coal exports in their tracks.
This protest is your chance to take direct action against the reckless coal export industry and to call for Australia to move away from coal reliance and begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the next two years.

Monday July 14th at 1pm: protest at Costa's office!

Stop Electricity Privatisation Green Jobs Now Expand Renewables not Coal

Where: 26 Honeysuckle Drive Newcastle

Speakers include:
John Kaye, Greens MLC
Graeme McNeill, PSA anti-privatisation rep Liddell Power Station
Graham Brown, ex-coal miner and climate activist
Joan Dawson, Hunter Power to the people, Vice Pres. Ncsle ALP State Electorate Council
Michael Osborne, Newcastle City Council
Scott Ludlum, Greens Federal Senator (WA)
Representative from the Camp for Climate Action

Contact: Jasmine 0405317787 Simon 0438297552 www.stoptheselloff.org.au www.climatecamp.org.au

Anti-coal forum held in Singleton

2008-07-04T16:13:00.003+10:00

Over 150 people attended a public meeting organised by the Rivers SOS Alliance in Singleton yesterday to learn about the negative health and environmental effects of open-cut and longwall mining.
After a screening of the Rivers of Shame 2 DVD, which features ex-coal miner Graham Brown, the residents shared personal stories of asthma, heavy metal poisoning, thyroid diseases and cancers.
Two local doctors presented anecdotal evidence about the disproportionate number of health problems in the Region which could be attributed to the poisoning of rivers and soils from mining dust.
The residents expressed anger at the failed promises of the NSW Government to commence comprehensive health and environmental studies of the region, and indicated that they would be submitting their children to blood tests to determine whether they had been poisoned by lead and other heavy metals.
The doctors expressed their support for the proposal after several residents revealed that they had been victims of lead poisoning.
Graham Brown, who was arrested that morning at a Greenpeace action shutting down the Eraring power station, was not in attendance. Several councillors from Singleton and Maitland councils attended the event.
The meeting unanimously passed a motion calling for comprehensive health and environmental studies in the region.
The meeting came several days after a report from the University of Newcastle's Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) revealed that thousands of jobs could be created by shifting to a renewable energy economy.
About a dozen Upper Hunter residents indicated that they would be attending next week's Camp for Climate Action.

Nobbys privatisation back on the cards

2008-07-04T15:55:00.002+10:00

A local newspaper has revealed that developer Neil Slater's failed attempt to privatise Nobbys Lighthouse could be reconsidered after a meeting with the Department of Environment and Heritage.

The Gerald reported in May that Environment Minister Peter Garrett had decided to preserve the heritage icon after widespread community opposition to the development.

The local newspaper has been running front-page advertorials for the developer, with heavily emotive language, ever since the privatisation was proposed last year.

Nobbys supporter Doug Lithgow, from the Parks and Playgrounds Movement, was not available for comment today.

The local newspaper also included a biased reference to the Nobbys development in an article about a reconsideration of the controversial Anvil Hill coal mine.

After Garnaut, the big questions will remain unanswered

2008-07-04T15:45:00.004+10:00

This is an extract from an opinion piece republished with permission of the author, David Spratt, and ABC online.

Read the full article here.

David Spratt is the co-author of Climate Code Red: the case for emergency action, published by Scribe in July.

The Garnaut Review's deliberations have been frustrated by an incapacity of the government's computer models to even deal with the sort of emission reductions Garnaut thinks are necessary, an indication of the bureaucratic timewarp in which climate policy in Australia is trapped. And constrained by frustratingly narrow terms of reference, the review has been asked to recommend only an appropriate market-based means of reducing emissions, but not on the broader questions of substance.

Garnaut knows that climate science is demanding emissions reduction much faster than the government appears willing to contemplate, noting "the diabolical nature of the policy challenge", and the "widespread view, based on the science, that the risks of 'dangerous' climate change and the risk of abrupt climate change, are already at unacceptably high levels at this point".

In contrast to Garnaut's acute observations that the issue may be "too hard for rational policy-making in Australia" because "the vested interests surrounding it [are] too numerous and intense, the relevant time-frames too long", the government is caught in a policy fog, unable to find its way out of a bureaucratic framework that is now out of date. The Rudd government's current policy target of a 3-degree rise would destroy the Barrier Reef, the tropical rainforests, cause widespread desertification, a mass extinction, and a sea-level rise of perhaps 25 metres, amongst many impacts. Most worrying, the government seems unaware that this would be the consequence of a 3-degree target.

There is little indication that governments understand what is now being said by the world's leading climate researchers: significant climate "tipping points" have already been crossed, and our world is already at the point of failing to cope. Sir John Holmes, the UN relief coordinator, warned that 12 of the 13 major relief operations in 2007 were climate related, and that this amounted to a climate-change "mega disaster".

Take the Arctic, for example. The north pole has until recently been covered by an area of sea-ice in summer as large as Australia. Now it is disappearing fast, likely to be gone entirely within five years. Scientists' well-founded fear is that rapid heating as a consequence of the sea-ice loss will trigger the unstoppable melting of most or all of the Greenland ice sheet, an event which would raise sea levels by five to seven metres, in as little as a century.

When he was a young man, Jay Zwally hauled coal for work. Now a NASA climate scientist, he told a gathering of fellow climate experts at the end of 2007: "The Arctic is often cited as the canary in the coalmine for climate warming ... and now as a sign of climate warming, the canary has died. It is time to start getting out of the coal mines."

WIckham Park to host Climate Camp

2008-07-03T16:22:00.005+10:00

Camp for Climate Action has announced that the site has now changed to Wickham Park, on the corner of Maitland Road and Albert Streets.

The Gerald reported last week that organisers had decided to select a site after delays from authorities.

Authorities have now allowed the Camp to take place at Wickham Park, from July 10-15.

Further information at http://www.climatecamp.org.au/

Puppy rescuer jailed

2008-07-02T12:43:00.002+10:00

Yesterday prolific British author and activist Sarah Whitehead was sentenced to two years jail for rescuing a puppy.
The beagle had been kept muzzled in a wooden cage and regularly beaten by its owner before being moved to a safe home by Ms. Whitehead.
The puppy is reportedly living happily in hiding from the police.

Mayfield East Public School win National Trust Competition

2008-07-01T11:36:00.006+10:00

At a ceremony held on the 30 June at Ervin Gallery Sydney the Mayfield East Public School won the National Trust Schools Competition 2008.

With over 400 entrants including those from private and church schools, this award is quite an outstanding achievement for the children of Class 3/4 P and their teachers Ms Sue Pryor and aide Vicki Robertson.

The annual competition inspires students to celebrate their local heritage, along the theme of ‘Our Place’, and encourages students to explore their suburbs and towns, getting to know the people and places that make them unique.

Mayfield East Public School, who are celebrating their 150th anniversary of the birth of their school, invited local identities to be interviewed. The interviewees were each asked around 10-15 questions relating to the early history of the school and environs including Aboriginal history. Then the children drew their subjects as part of their drawing class. The guests included former student Mrs Vera Deacon and University Archivist Gionni Di Gravio.

The children created a replica of their original school house from the 1850s, and explored historical identities such as the late Daniel F. Cooksey, who reported on some finding of aboriginal artefacts on the site of the school in 1925. The University of Newcastle's website relating to the Cooksey Collection is located here:

http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/archives/mayfield/dreaming.html

The kids were very excited and chased down the original artefacts held in the Australian Museum and invited Dr Stan Florek to bring them along to their school for 'Show and Tell'.

They even tracked down two of his grandsons and invited one, Mr Ian Cooksey, to speak to them as well, along with a former academic in the French Department, Col Whitehead, who has a great interest in Aboriginal stone implements and had made copies of Cooksey's reports in the 1980s.

The web blog for the school's history is located here:

http://uoncc.wordpress.com/2007/09/28/mayfield-east-public-school-150th-anniversary-2008/

The Gerald congratulates Mayfield East Public School for this great success and in particular the staff and students of Class 3/4P for their great achievement.

Link to Convict Settlement – James Fletcher Hospital

2008-06-24T16:36:00.004+10:00

Demolition has already begun, with all roofing removed from Reception House, Kirkwood House and some outbuildings behind Reception House, at James Fletcher Hospital. Kirkwood House is a direct and tangible link to the convict-built Parsonage and nearby Anglican Church buildings, while Reception House is significant as a purpose-designed mental health facility which marked an innovation in mental health care. As Kirkwood House was built as a 1880s extension to the 1820s Anglican Parsonage before the Parsonage was demolished
It is thought that some fabric from the Parsonage is incorporated in the structure of Reception House. A full archaeological assessment should be undertaken.
The precinct of James Fletcher Hospital is a significant historic site relating to early European and settlement and convict history, and part of the Hill Heritage Conservation Area.
The site falls within the Archaeology Zoning Plan detailed in the James Fletcher Hospital Conservation Management Plan. The Conservation Management Plan assesses that the site has High Archaeological Potential to discover remains from the 1819-1820 Parsonage and its outbuildings. Such remains might reach the threshold for state significance as items relating to the convict period (pre-1830) are rare in NSW, noting the potential to find remains of high significance. The assessment should include a program of archaeological test excavations and geo-sensing scans.
Any archeological remains should be properly assessed and if possible conserved.
Further, there would be high archaeological potential to find deposits relating to the convict era below the current footprint of Kirkwood House (and Reception House) perhaps evidence of paths or gardens or outbuildings pertaining to the Parsonage - or simply occupational debris such as discarded bottles (altar wine of course), broken ceramics,etc.
If convict-era fabric is discovered, it would be rare in Newcastle. The earliest visible fabric in Newcastle dates from 1839 or 1840 (a single courthouse column in Parnell Place, and the medical superintendent's cottage at James Fletcher.) Sub-surface examples of convict era fabric are also rare with the only known examples limited to footings well beneath the convict lumberyard surface. Examples of convict Newcastle outside the Coal River Precinct would be highly significant and rare. Further, the whole complex sits in a corner of the James Fletcher Hospital Complex (SHR), close to the former Officer's Mess and Barracks, dating from 1839. The site also formed a corner of the Commandant's farm from 1804 to about 1820.

Notwithstanding the failure of Hunter New England Health to incorporate Kirkwood and Reception Houses into the new facility, the potential disturbance of state-significant archaeology should be of great concern.
An Interim Heritage Order is unlikely to be attained because this can only be initiated by Minister Sartor, who intervened in the process to order the demolition.
(Courtesy of the Archives of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle held in the University of Newcastle Cultural Collections)

Site announced for Camp for Climate Action

2008-06-22T10:30:00.003+10:00

After weeks of stalling from local police and council authorities, the logistics working group of the Camp for Climate Action has announced that the camp will be held on public land on the corner of Mangrove Road and River Road, in Sandgate.

The working group had requested several different sites, and at various stages over the past month, authorities had given and withdrawn permission for all of the proposed sites.

With less than three weeks to go until the site, the working group realised that they could not wait any longer and decided to pick a site and promote it.

Up to 1000 people are expected to participate in the Camp for Climate Action. In late May, the actions working group announced that the highlight of the camp would be a mass blockade of the rail line which delivers coal to the world's biggest coal port.

According to the Gerald's sources, authorities are now tripping over themselves to find a different site for the camp.

The camp was promoted yesterday at a flash mob at Westfield Kotara, where up to 60 people who met each other via the social networking site Facebook froze for five minutes to demand a freeze in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.

It was also promoted in Parliament by NSW Treasurer Michael Costa on Wednesday and Thursday, in response to questions by Greens MLC John Kaye. The Treasurer misled Parliament into believing that the camp was organised by the NSW Greens in order to divert attention from a question asked by John Kaye. Mr. Kaye asked the Treasurer whether failure to privatise the electricity industry would lead to his resignation, as he promised in early February.

Crude coal mining: Mountain Top Removal

2008-06-03T09:58:00.002+10:00

The local Herald run a story 'How mining is taking its toll on the Hunter' last Friday. It reports on a secret NSW Government document which admits that coalmining in the Hunter causes massive environmental damage. The
Government, of course, won't endorse the document.

To mark World Environment Day this Thursday (June 5) Socialist Alliance and Green Left Weekly supporters will screen "Mountain Top Removal".

"Mountain top removal" literally means the removal of the mountain tops to get at the coal below. It is the crudest form of environmental violence. Even after strip mining, some trees might grow back. But you can't grow back
a mountain.

It will be the first screening in Australia of this new documentary from the US. The film won this year's Reel Current award selected and was presented by Al Gore at the Nashville Film Festival.

Screening Thursday June 5
7pm
Resistance Centre
472 Hunter St Newcastle
Info: 49265328 or 0406296141