Not voting due to religious reasons in Australia

According to Australian law one is required to vote.

Validity of the Act aside, voting is compulsory according to the Commonwealth Electoral Act (1918) Section 245,

as detailed in the attached pdf:


However, one is able to not vote according to religious beliefs as stated in item (14):

(14)  Without limiting the circumstances that may constitute a valid and sufficient reason for not voting, the fact that an elector believes it to be part of his or her religious duty to abstain from voting constitutes a valid and sufficient reason for the failure of the elector to vote. 

Townsville officer accused of racist comments implicated in death inquiry

INDIGENOUS leader Gracelyn Smallwood has called for the immediate sacking of a Townsville police officer implicated in the investigation of the death of an Aboriginal woman in Hughenden. 

(illustration: Prof. Gracelyn Smallwood)
 
Senior Constable Leanne Rissman escaped the sack earlier this year for a series of racist posts on the Facebook page Boomerang Justice under the pseudonym “Sharia Anne” where she called Aborigines “oxygen thieves” with a “disgusting aversion to work”.

The Hughenden officer was instead transferred to Townsville to undertake cultural training. Now she has been interviewed as part of an internal investigation into the death of Hughenden’s Adelaide Riversleigh, 37, who died on May 10 after she was allegedly beaten by her partner twice.

Sen-Constable Rissman had allegedly handled the domestic call-outs.

“If it was handled a different way she would probably have survived today,” Prof Smallwood said.

“I call for an investigation into all the people incarcerated with that police officer’s ­evidence.

“If she’s got an attitude like that (displayed in her Facebook posts) what evidence has she been giving to courts? I am calling for this woman’s ­sacking.”

Acting Assistant Commissioner Paul Taylor said he could not comment on the investigation in the death of Adelaide Riversleigh.

“The Queensland Police Service is unable to comment in relation to other matters as they are currently the subject of an internal investigation,” he said.

“All matters relating to this officer are being investigated by a senior member of the QPS from Northern Region with overview by the Ethical Standards Command.”

But he defended the decision not to sack Sen-Constable Rissman.

(illustration: Sen-Constable Leanne Rissman)

“The complaint was investigated by a senior officer and the officer was subsequently required to undertake a number of training programs relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People race relations and social issues as well as professional practice in the QPS and information security obligations,” he said.

Prof Smallwood said that was not good enough.

“There are people in the public service that are getting the sack for having a bit of a joke in emails,’’ she said. “It’s a terrible crime committed and she got a smack on the hand.

“What sort of image is this projecting on the QPS just as they started to get some relations to us after the Mulrunji case?” she said, referring to the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee.

townsvillebulletin.com.au 1 Aug 2014

Another disgusting action by police.

Lets see how the government handles the killing of person by police.

Another cover up?

Australia truly the police state.

Mobile phone myths busted

No longer live in fear of your mobile blowing up petrol stations or frying your brain. We debunk the biggest mobile myths. Source: ThinkStock

 

WE still overhear people wrongly telling others what they should and shouldn’t do with their mobiles. Here are the hard facts, people. 

A mobile phone can cause a petrol station to explode. Wrong.

It’s not gonna blow! Mobiles have never caused a petrol station fire. Source: ThinkStock

 

You have seen the warning signs at the pumps forbidding you to use your mobile on the forecourt. You may have even been shouted at by one of the attendants. Despite the fear there has not been one event where a mobile has caused a petrol station fire as they have virtually no capacity to do so.

A hoax report appears to be the cause of this myth, where three incidents of fires caused by mobiles were sent to Shell and then erroneously passed around the company. In reality, not one mobile has been the fire starter. There have been numerous studies and tests that all came up with this same conclusion. Even Mythbusters tried their hardest and failed.

The worry comes from the idea a phone battery could cause a spark — something you don’t want around flammable liquid. However, unless the battery was inexplicably faulty, mobile batteries do not spark so this won’t happen. If safety boards were worried about batteries near the pumps, what about that massive one sitting under your car bonnet? The more likely cause of petrol station fires come from a build up in static electricity, often from the material from the seat as you exit the car.

A mobile phone can cook an egg. Wrong. 

Ever since phones became mobile there have been people running for the hills from fear it’s emitting some sort of invisible ray that’s slowly cooking us. This cracking hoax about how a couple of mobiles could cook an egg surfaced on the internet and people fell hook, line and sinker. It showed an egg wedged between two mobiles and with one handset calling the other for 65 minutes it was hot and ready to eat.

Cooking an egg with a mobile

Yes, mobiles do emit radiation but it’s a fraction of a fraction’s worth of power (mobiles typically only can produce 0.25W) needed to cook an egg. It certainly couldn’t produce the 70 degrees or more to have you getting your soldiers ready. It’s been proven that not even a 100 mobiles all piled on top of an egg calling each other could warm an egg more than a degree.

What’s more ridiculous about this myth is that mobiles don’t even directly transmit to each other. They have to call a nearby relay first, so putting the egg between them makes no difference

Mobile phones cause brain cancer. Wrong (so far). 

Sleep easy in the knowledge mobiles have not been found to be linked to cancer. Source: ThinkStock

 

Much like the egg myth, the fear of radiation from our phones can make us a bit uneasy especially when we put them to our heads to use and sleep right next to handsets on bedside tables. Scientists have been studying the effects of mobile use and links to cancer for almost 20 years and have found no conclusive evidence they do. The Cancer Council explains that mobiles are ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) devices and this low-powered radio and microwave radiation doesn’t not have the right frequency or energy to ionise molecules and change DNA. In short: while there is still some uncertainty due to the lack of long term study, evidence thus far suggests there is no link between mobiles and cancer.

Excessive charging kills the battery. Wrong. 

To charge or not to charge is no longer the question. Source: ThinkStock

 

No, you don’t have to let your battery completely drain before you recharge. Back in the day, old NiCad batteries found in our early handsets would have a memory where by repeatedly charging when half full, for example, would result in unspent cells effectively dying. But modern day Li-ion batteries will come of no harm whatever the percentage of power you’ve got left.

So if a know-it-all tries to tell you otherwise if you’re plugging your mobile in everyday, you can politely inform them it’s actually the preferred method of charging.

Also, if you leave your phone on charge and it’s reached 100 per cent you don’t have to worry there. Smartphones are smart enough to stop juicing once it’s full.

Closing all your apps will save battery and make your phone run faster. Wrong. 

While this sounds like it should be right, the fact is by closing all those apps it takes it out of the phone’s memory (RAM). Again, this sounds like something you want to do to but it means when you open the app again it takes more processing effort for the phone to reload than it would have to just leave it.

Unless you’ve got background app refresh turned on (which does drain battery, especially for the Facebook app) apps freeze right at the very place you left them. They do not continue to drain memory or data. In the case of Apple’s iOS it will close apps for you if it requires more memory.

news.com.au 31 July 2014

7 ways technology is making you stupid

Why won’t this banana get on the internet!? Source: ThinkStock

 

PEOPLE assume that iPhones, laptops and Netflix are evidence of progress. In some ways, that’s true. A moderate amount of Googling, for instance, can be good for your brain, and there are apps that can boost brain function and activity. 

Yet tech advancements also come with some unintended consequences. Our brains being “massively rewired” by tech, says neuroscientist Michael Merzenich in The Shallows: What The internet Is Doing To Our Brains, a Pulitzer-nominated 2011 book by Nicholas Carr. Merzenich warns that the effect of technology on human intelligence could be “deadly.”

That got us thinking. How exactly is technology messing up our brains?

1. Tech Is Screwing Up Your Sleep.

Is your phone stopping you from getting into a deep sleep like this? Source: Instagram

 

Studies have shown that blue-enriched light, which is emitted by gadgets like smartphones, tablets and laptops, can suppress the body’s release of melatonin at night. Melatonin is a key hormone that helps regulate your internal clock, telling your body when it is night-time and when to feel sleepy. Blue light can disrupt that process, making it impossible for you to stick to a proper sleep schedule.

Losing sleep has a number of negative effects on your brain. If you’re not logging seven or more hours of sleep each night, you might suffer from increasingly bad moods, decreased focus at work and problems with memory, not to mention a loss of actual brain tissue — all of which makes you less than a joy to be around.

2. You’re Easily Distracted.

 

There can be problems when you are distracted just by using technology. Source: Supplied

 

You don’t really need science to know this, but technology makes it much easier to get distracted, whether that’s stepping away from an important project to check your smartphone or flipping between multiple browser tabs without really focusing on any one. It has been proven that toggling between multiple tasks at once doesn’t actually work — in fact, you just wind up performing all your duties even worse.

Teens in particular are more distracted than ever. A 2012 Pew Research Center survey of more than 2,400 teachers found that most educators feel students are more distracted than previous generations. Some 87 per cent of teachers agreed with the statement, “today’s digital technologies are creating an easily distracted generation with short attention spans,” while 64 per cent agreed with the idea that “today’s digital technologies do more to distract students than to help them academically.” Yikes.

3. You Can’t Remember Much...

Technology’s tendency to butt into whatever else you’re doing makes it more difficult to form new memories. As Nicholas Carr explains in The Shallows, memory comes in two types: transient working memory and long-term memory, which is more permanent. Information needs to pass from working memory into long-term memory in order to be stored. Any break in the processes of working memory — like, say, stopping to check your email or send a text message in the middle of reading an article — can erase information from your mind before that transfer occurs.

There’s also a limit to how much information your working memory can take in at once. Taking in too much information — which happens a lot online — is like “having water poured into a glass continuously all day long, so whatever was there at the top has to spill out as the new water comes down,” productivity expert Tony Schwartz told The Huffington Post last year.

4. You’re Much More Forgetful Than You Used To Be.

Millennials are actually more likely to forget what day it is or where they put their keys than people over the age of 55, according to a 2013 Trending Machine survey. In a press release for the survey, family and occupational therapist Patricia Gutentag called out technology as one of the main culprits: “This is a population that has grown up multi-tasking using technology, often compounded by lack of sleep, all of which results in high levels of forgetfulness,” she said.

5. You Can’t Concentrate On What You’re Reading.

Pretty much. Source: Supplied

 

Even if you’ve shunned all distractions, you still won’t absorb information you read online as well as you would if you’d read it in a book. And you can blame hypertext for that. Those colourful little links scattered throughout online articles (including this one) make your brain work harder than it would otherwise, leaving less brain power to process what you’re reading. Even just reading on screens, like a laptop or iPad — links or no links — has been shown to diminish comprehension.

Research has shown that reading linked text “entails a lot of mental callisthenics — evaluating hyperlinks, deciding whether to click, adjusting to different formats — that are extraneous to the process of reading,” Carr wrote in “The Shallows.” And giving your brain more work to do makes it harder to absorb information. Text that’s peppered with photos, videos and ads is even worse.

6. You Can’t Find Your Way Around Without GPS.

Completely lost without one of these? Source: Supplied

 

People who rely on GPS to get around have less activity in the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in both memory and navigation, according to a series of studies presented in 2010. Using spatial memory — which involves using visual cues to develop “cognitive maps” that remember routes — instead of operating on GPS-induced autopilot can help avert memory problems later in life, the studies found.

A 2008 study from the University of London even found that taxi drivers had more developed hippocampi than non-taxi drivers — perhaps because they are so accustomed to navigating cities using spatial memory, rather than relying on GPS (though that may no longer be true of smartphone-equipped taxi drivers).

7. You Have The Brain Of A Drug Addict.

No, “internet addiction” isn’t just some BS term parents throw around to terrify youngsters who spend too much time playing Candy Crush. Spending too much time on the internet can actually cause changes in the brain that mimic those caused by drug and alcohol dependence, according to a 2012 study.

Internet addicts — most notably gamers who shun food, school and sleep to play for days on end — have abnormal white and grey matter in their brains, which disrupts and cripples the regions involved in processing emotion and regulating attention and decision-making. Alcoholics and drug addicts have strikingly similar brain abnormalities, the study found.

“I have seen people who stopped attending university lectures, failed their degrees or their marriages broke down” because of internet gaming addiction, Dr. Henriette Bowden Jones, who runs a British clinic for internet addicts, told The Independent.

Now that you’re properly terrified of the effects of technology on the old noggin, let us remind you that you do have the power to prevent brain drain and time-suck. Just log off every once in a while!

news.com.au 28 July 2014

Australia in the grip of a ‘new stolen generation’, indigenous children forcibly removed from homes

Beverly Whyman, a Stolen Generation mother, with photos of her two boys, Russell and Kelvin, who were removed from her care. Source: News Limited

 

THE rate of indigenous children being taken from their families has become so rife, more are being removed today than at any other time in Australia’s sordid colonial history. 

Figures reveal the number of indigenous children being forcibly taken from their homes has risen almost 400 per cent in 15 years, prompting Aboriginal Elders to condemn what they are labelling a ‘new Stolen Generation’.

Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children represent 4.6 per cent of the Australian population, and a whopping one third are in ‘out of home care’.

According to the Federal Government’s 1997 Bringing Them Home report, the number of indigenous children removed from their families at the time was 2785.

Fast forward fifteen years to 2012, where a report by the Federal Government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare recorded the instance of removal had risen almost 400 per cent to 13,299.

“More than 14,000 Aboriginal children are in what they call ‘out of home care’ in any given night in Australia,” said Paddy Gibson, a senior researcher at the University of Technology, Sydney.

“That is a far greater number of children removed in any year over the Stolen Generations
period.”

 

The NT Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation (NTSGAC) commemorated 100 years since the opening of the Kahlin Half Caste Children’s Home, where removed children were placed. Source: News Limited

 

 

Marie Allen, Wardaman (NT) traditional owner and member of the stolen generation. Source: News Limited

 

 

On the eve of the first anniversary of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008, a group gathered in Redfern to commemorate the historic occasion. Picture: Phil Rogers Source: News Limited

 

According to Mr Gibson, Australia has essentially returned to an “assimilation policy” where mass removal of Aboriginal children is being used as a strategy to “deal with questions of Aboriginal disadvantage, just as it was in the Stolen Generations era”.

For Ray Jackson, the issue is as prevalent now as it was when he was taken as a child in 1943.

Mr Jackson was just two years old when he and his two siblings were removed. His non-indigenous father died in World War II, and his Aboriginal mother was deemed unfit to care for the family due to her ethnicity.

“The number of children being taken these days is horrendous. I’ve read about this. I’ve seen it,” Mr Jackson told news.com.au.

“I’ve tried to help families who’ve had their children taken, but you’re fighting a behemoth.
“To take the coppers on is bad enough, but to try and take on a government and its policies, no one out there will listen to you.”

But the Federal Government has washed its hands of the problem, with the Minister for indigenous Affairs, Senator Nigel Scullion, telling news.com.au “Child protection is the responsibility of the states and territories. At all times and in all circumstances, the best interest of the child is paramount.

“However I do encourage states and territories to work harder to find solutions, where possible, within the wider Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family. Experience has shown that where issues can be resolved, the extended family is at the centre of the solution.”

In NSW nearly 6300 indigenous children are wards of the state. That’s nearly 10 per cent of the state’s Aboriginal children. Meanwhile, only 1.6 per cent of white children have been removed.

According to the Northern Territory Children’s Commissioner’s annual report, indigenous children were 395 per cent more likely to be put into care than non-indigenous children.

In the year to June 30, 2013, 624 indigenous kids were removed in the Northern Territory, in comparison to 126 non-indigenous children.

“Some communities don’t even have running water,” said Mr Gibson.

“There are massively overcrowded situations, there’s no sealed roads for the community. The idea that these people get more than average Australians get is farcical.
 
“Governments don’t provide resources to the people who need it most.”

 

Margie is still looking for her brother who was taken as part of the Stolen Generations policy in 1962. Source: News Limited

 

 

Daisy Archer, 99 years old, member of the stolen generation and still looking for family. Source: News Limited

 

Member of the stolen generation Mark Beach, with his son Zaydan Cummings-Beach. Source: News Limited

 

Child protection services have denied having an unfair focus on indigenous communities, claiming it is beyond the Department’s control and that the health and welfare of the child was at the core of the department’s interests.

“The NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) has a statutory responsibility to protect children, and will only remove a child or young person as a last resort when court order finds there are serious concerns for their safety or wellbeing, said a spokesman.

“The decision to remove a child from its family is not taken lightly by the Children’s Court, which treats all cases equally, no matter what the racial or social background.”

FACS pointed news.com.au to the 2014 Report on Government Services, which stated NSW had the highest percentage of indigenous children in out of home care placements with relatives or kin (63.6 per cent of indigenous children as compared to the national average of 51.5 per cent).

But Mr Jackson remained unconvinced.

“Yes we do have drunks, yes we do have druggies, some of them are mothers even, but in the wider family, not all of them are drunk or drug-affected,” he said.

“When you walk into an Aboriginal house, the first thing you see is a wall covered with photos. “Photos of family of those who have gone, those have just come and those who are in between and growing. Walk into the kitchen, the fridge is covered with children’s drawings. That is a normal home.

“That is pride in your family and children, and that is not being recognised.

“These people need assistance, they need help; they don’t need their children taken from them.”

- Do you have a story to share on the issue? Email youngma@news.com.au

 

Eunice Wright was one of the Aboriginal Elders chosen to accept the apology for the stolen generations from Kevin Rudd. Source: News Limited

news.com.au 2 Aug 2014

The (criminal) Australian authorities are at it again.

What the majority of Australians are unaware of is that from 1933 anyone born in Australia is property of the 'government' or to be more specific a corporation commonly known as the government.

This fact is far from a 'conspiracy theory'.

The so called 'apology' from the ex prime minister Kevin Rudd is NOT for the 'stolen generations' are perceived by many but for the taking of the last bit of Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory.

Australia is originally named Kamerra by the Indigenous population pre (armed) European invasion.  

Robyn Lawley’s naked protest against Adani Group’s Carmichael Coal Mine approval

A NAKED selfie from one of Australia’s most successful models has turned the spotlight on a federal government decision to approve the country’s biggest coal mine. 
 
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved the massive Carmichael project yesterday, two months after the Queensland government ticked off its environmental approvals.

So is the decision a sellout that Australians will live to regret?

Model Robyn Lawley certainly seems to think so, posting a naked selfie with the words “stop coal mining” scrawled on her stomach.

“I’m shocked and feel powerless so I decided to get people to read this one way or another, we have to stop them ... before its too late”.

She’s not the only one, with many green groups worried about Australia’s water supply and a Hollywood star concerned about the future of the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Robyn Lawley  

 

 

 

Instagram photo of model Robyn Lawley. From Instagram @robynlawley1 Source: Instagram

 

WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT?

If it is built the Carmichael Coal Mine will be one of the largest in the world and will help unlock Queensland’s Galilee Basin for more development.

The mine is owned by Indian mining giant Adani Group and could eventually produce and transport enough coal to power homes for about 100 million people in India, about eight per cent of the population.

The mega mine will cover 200 square kilometres and will include six open cut pits and five underground mines. It is forecast to produce 60 million tonnes of thermal coal a year for export.

 

What an open-cut mine looks like from the air: The Boggabri Coal and Whitehaven mines on the edge of Leard State Forest. Picture by Peter Lorimer Source: News Corp Australia

 

One of the major impacts of the mine is that it will open up the resource-rich Galilee Basin to development, which has been hampered so far by its remote outback location 500km from the east coast. Adani will need to provide rail access, water and power to the area in order for a mine to be viable.

This would likely benefit other mines proposed for the basin in central Queensland. There are eight other mines proposed for the area and three of these have already been approved. Aussie mining magnates Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer both have mining interests in the area.

The Carmichael mine proposal includes a 200km rail line to connect the mine to the coal port at Abbot Point. This will enable the coal to be shipped overseas.

IS THIS A ‘TITANIC’ MISTAKE?

The Abbot Point coal terminal has been controversial because of its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has expressed concerns about the impacts of dredging to create the port, which could see vast amounts of dredge spoils dumped into waters 20km from the reef.

 

Concerns about the impact to the Great Barrier Reef. Source: News Corp Australia

 

About three million cubic metres of material will be dredged from the seabed so freighters can dock.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef, stretching for 2300km, and is home to more than 100 species of jellyfish, 3000 varieties of molluscs, 1625 types of fish and more than 30 species of whales and dolphins.

UNESCO says Australia is not doing enough to protect the reef and has threatened to place it on the List of World Heritage in Danger if problems are not addressed within a year.

Its concerns are mainly related to the dumping of sludge as part of a dredging project for the major coal port expansion.

Even Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has waded into the debate, saying he had witnessed first-hand the “environmental devastation” of the reef.

At risk is the estimated $5.68 billion that the reef contributes to the Australian economy each year. A report commissioned by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority, found the reef also generated almost 69,000 jobs in 2011-12.

At full capacity the Carmichael Coal Mine would add another 480 ships crossing the reef, Australian Marine Conservation Society campaigner Felicity Wishart told the Guardian.

“In an area home to humpback whales, sea turtles and dugongs,” Ms Wishart said.

 

 

Humpback whales frolicking on the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns. Photo: Deep Sea Divers Den Source: Supplied

 

The Queensland and Australian governments have also approved the new mine despite concerns about potential effects on endangered springs and the Great Artesian Basin, which were raised by the government-appointed Independent Expert Scientific Committee.

The Great Artesian Basin is one of the largest underground water reservoirs in the world and lies underneath about 22 per cent of Australia, including parts of Queensland, NSW, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Environmental consultant Tom Crothers, who previously managed environmental water allocation for the Queensland government, said approval for a fourth mining project in the Galilee Basin could threaten the local water supply.

Another 750 gigalitres of water could be taken from the Great Artesian Basin for the mine.

“That’s equivalent to three-and-a-half Sydney Harbours,” Mr Crothers told AAP.

“Bear in mind, there’s potentially another five mines on top of this.”

In total the four mines already approved could take a total of 1770 gigalitres of water from the system, environmental reports have shown.

 

Great Artesian Basin’s open bore drains on a property. Source: News Limited

 

Greenpeace has estimated that the mine will require 12 gigalitres of water each year from local rivers and underground aquifers.

“That’s enough drinking water for every Queenslander for three years. Even 10 kilometres away, water tables are expected to drop by over one metre,” a Greenpeace statement suggests.

It said Hunt had “laid out the red carpet for a coal company with a shocking track record to dig up the outback, dump on the Great Barrier Reef and fuel climate change”.

Adani has been fined in India for violating environmental conditions on its port development in Gujarat.

According to an Indian government review, it failed to monitor groundwater for pollution and was also criticised for destroying mangroves.

The Australian Conservation Foundation said the approval of the Carmichael mine would also destroy part of the remaining habitat of the endangered black-throated finch.

“While some of the conditions imposed by the environment minister are welcome, they cannot stop this mine from being an environmental disaster,” said campaigner Ruchira Talukdar.

 

Charleville children running through the sprinklers at Graham Andrews Parklands. The State in the grip of a severe drought yet the township is drought proof due to the Great Artesian Basin. Photo: David Martinelli. Source: News Limited

 

PROPOSED SAFEGUARDS

Environment Minister Greg Hunt told ABC this morning that Adani would return a minimum of 730 megalitres of water to the Basin every year for five years. He said that final water modelling had also yet to be done.

“According to the federal environmental laws, we have still put 36 of the strictest, toughest conditions that have ever been imposed,” Mr Hunt said.

Mr Hunt said his conditions complemented those imposed by the Queensland government, which established 190 conditions to protect landholders, flora, groundwater resources and air quality, as well as controls on dust and noise during construction and operation.

When asked about the impact to the reef, Mr Hunt said the Carmichael mine was almost 500km inland in a dry, sparsely vegetated area.

“If you see the site from the air you realise this is the middle of deep outback Australia. It is nowhere near the coast,” he said.

 

Graziers on their property near the small central Queensland town of Alpha, as residents and surrounding farmers brace themselves for giant coal mines opening in surrounding Galilee Basin. Source: News Limited

 

He has accused Greenpeace of being politically motivated in its opposition, and that it was less critical of the mine’s predecessor, the Alpha Mine, which was approved by Labor governments.

“I think all that was said by Greenpeace was ‘unfortunate’, so it appears there is one rule for a Labor decision another rule for a Coalition Government decision,” Mr Hunt said.

But Greenpeace program director Ben Pearson hit back, saying: “A quick google search with ‘Greenpeace AND “Alpha Mine”’ shows Greenpeace was in fierce opposition to Alpha coal mine.

“A total of 2,190 google results come up with those exact words,” he said.

WHAT ARE THE STAKES? 

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said the nine new mines in the Galilee Basin, would create a total of 15,000 construction jobs and 13,000 operational positions.

The Adani project alone is estimated to contribute $2.97 billion to the Queensland economy each year and to generate 2475 jobs during its construction phase. Another 3920 jobs would remain during mine operation.

“It’s going to boost our economic growth and royalties will come back to this state for many, many years,” Queensland Premier Campbell Newman told reporters on Monday.

Across its 60 year life, the Carmichael Coal Mine would have a resource value of $5 billion a year.

 

A refurbished shiploader at the Abbot Point Coal Terminal. Source: Supplied

 

Australia’s exports are heavily dependent on mining, and Federal Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the project demonstrated the potential for the resources sector to drive economic growth.

“It will help support the opening of Australia’s first new mineral province in 40 years,” Mr Robb said, adding that the commitment from major global company Adani was a welcome foreign investment.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said the approval wouldn’t compromise “world-leading environmental standards”.

“Regional communities including Alpha, Clermont, Emerald, Bowen, Moranbah, Mackay, Rockhampton and Townsville are all expected to benefit from the development of the so-far untapped resources in the Galilee Basin,” he said.

WILL IT ACTUALLY HAPPEN?

It remains to be seen whether the $10 billion coal mine will get built. There are investor concerns about a downturn in coal prices and a global supply glut of the commodity.

Thermal-coal prices are near five-year lows. This has coincided with increased supply but reduced demand from China.

It has made many new coal projects uneconomic and creates difficulty in raising financing for the big projects.

The Carmichael mine was proposed in 2010, at the height of the mining boom, a time when investors from countries such as India, Japan and China wanted to ensure their future coal supply.

 

A humpback whales waves goodbye to a coal ship leaving Newcastle Port. Photo: Peter Lorimer. Source: News Corp Australia

 

India is unable to produce enough coal to keep up with demand and its strict environmental regulations and difficulties in securing land for mining has led to its reliance on imports.

But in order to see the mine built, Adani will need to invest significant funds into building the rail, water and power infrastructure and will also have to address legal challenges to its plans.

The state and federal government approvals so far cover the mine and the start of the rail link, however, the full rail plan has not yet received the go-ahead.

The plans to dredge Abbot Point to develop the port, is also being challenged.

It seems unlikely that the mining giant will actively pursue funding for its new mine until all approvals are in place.

news.com.au 29 July 2014

Watch how cheap Indian labour gets imported from overseas.

The Australian government is NOT a de jure government, but a CORPORATION subservient to the best interests of other corporations.

It is a fascist government falsely in power, where its people are under Martial Law.

The Debt Paradigm - Workshop (Melbourne)

Swear an Oath

Many police have been caught out lying in court, providing false information, signing false statements or affidavits with little or no consequences.

At one point in time, in Australia the court system erroneously provided the "Good News" bible, where one would swear on or make the oath.

The correct bible that must be used in Australian courts, is the King James (Version) bible.

Swearing an oath is forbidden.

See illustration below, Matthew 5: 33-37

Recording in court

Authorities, courts and police would have you believe that recording them is 'illegal', and use all sorts of threats and intimidation in order so that you do not record their 'unlawful' actions, which can be used in a 'court of law' against them.

So,

Q: Can you record in a court (in Victoria, Australia)?

A: Short answer, Yes.

Explanation:

Listening Devices Act 1969

Version No. 011

Act No. 7804/1969

Version incorporating amendments as at 1 July 1997

Section

4.  Prohibition on use of a listening device

(1)     A person shall not—

(a) use any listening device to overhear record

     monitor or listen to any private conversation

     to which he is not a party; or

(b) except in the course of any legal proceedings

     or in accordance with the provisions of sub-

     section (2) communicate or publish the

     substance or meaning of any private

     conversation overheard recorded monitored

     or listened to by the use of any listening

     device, whether he was a party thereto or

     not—

without the consent express or implied of the

parties to the private conversation.

Penalty:

(a) if the person is a corporation—500 penalty

     units;

(b) in any other case—40 penalty units or

     imprisonment for a term of 2 years or both.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in paragraph (b) of sub-

      section (1) it is not an offence for a person who

      was a party to a private conversation to

      communicate or publish the substance or meaning

      of the private conversation which he has recorded

      by means of a listening device if the

      communication or publication is no more than is

      reasonably necessary in the public interest or in

      the course of his duty or for the protection of his

                      lawful interests. 

Comment to the above mentioned content in the Act:

• A court is a place 'in the public interest'.
• You are protecting your 'lawful interests'.

Ref: http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/LTObject_Store/LTObjSt2.nsf/DDE300B846EED9C7CA257616000A3571/29B405DC920E680BCA2577610022C9A8/$FILE/69-7804a011.pdf