Lobbying, politics and influence

Its not often that I catch myself agreeing with magnates such as Clive Palmer, but when listening to today's Background Briefing (ABC Radio National ) on the role and regulation of political lobbyists, I do.

We all have been worried by the shenanigans of MP's like Craig Thompson, union influence on the Labour Party let along corruption such as in the Health Service Union and other non-disclosures of conflict of interests in quite a few politicians of all political persuasions.

We are also very aware that a 'retired' politician often becomes an influential lobbyists and pop-up as chairpersons of commissions etc such as the review of Queensland Finances by ex-treasurer Peter Costello.

It seems the Queensland Liberal National Party has been trying to reduce the conflict of interest potential of professional lobbyists (on behalf of third parties) in the ranks of high officials of the party. They also tried, but failed to do the same for the Federal Liberal Party according to the Radio report. Labor has also failed to reduce or control lobbyists and union power.

Commonsense dictates that experts should be used for their expertise. When does a conflict of interest become corruption and how do we pick this up?
Open and honest government, disclosure of conflict of interest and proper procedure helps. as does a vigorous media presence. Governing for the people of your country helps but in some cases the governments have to lead the people, take unpopular decisions and make policy that will improve the country as a whole. Honest people as our politicians are what is needed and an interested,informed population.

We shall see how well the Liberal/National Parties fare in both State and I suspect Federal Politics.
The Labor brand is well and truly tarnished in NSW and now Federally.

A good family clean up

Living in a house with 3 other adults, two of whom are your adult children takes a bit of getting used to. Gone are the days when I could 'order' them to clean up their room and they would obey. Not that they 'obeyed' very much bit at least a token amount.
But joy of joys, my house got a good clean out this week owing to several fortuitous events.
Youngest and messiest son had a week off work so had time to completely eviscerate his wardrobe as well as to pick everything off the floor of his bedroom.

The 'Mad Scientist' managed to pick his papers off the floor and 'hide' them somewhere in the roof space!

The weather was fine and windy so I could wash and dry three loads of clothing, bedding etc on the Thursday Anzac day holiday.



And lastly, I asked a real estate agent for a valuation on the house, so we all cleaned up those annoying piles of paperwork, advertising and bits of information we must file at some stage.
So the filing ( ie move to rubbish/recycle bin) went on apace.

For the first time in a year we actually have a full rubbish bin and a full recycle bin.

I'll just have to wait for a week to empty the recycle bin (only happens each fortnight).
The house was looking lovely, clean and tidy in the warm (25 degree C ) autumn sunshine yesterday.
The next job is to weed the garden again, all the autumn rain ( not much but some) has helped the weeds grow strongly. My garden waste bin is nearly full but so are my compost bins.
On the bright side, my spring bulbs are sprouting and the camellia's are flowering.

Head in the Sand Approach- New Climate Change Report

This photo says it all:

Thanks to tropical.pete, Flickr, Creative Commons.
On Monday 22 April,  ABC Radio National reported on a 'new' study of proxy data covering 2000 years showing that the warming being experienced by the whole globe is unprecedented. Note the emphasis on the whole globe - this is designed to indicate the 'medieval warming period' so beloved of skeptics and deniers was not reflected throughout the globe. The devil of course is in the detail and the reliability and coverage of the proxy data may be where there is legitimate discussion to be had. But I look forward to reading this report, if I can get access. This is where having scientists as friends becomes useful as I can get access to this report via their greater access to the scientific literature.http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1797.html is the link.
While browsing the Net, I came across an interesting blog Earth Matters written by Amy Huva.Reporting on Climate Denial in Australia to audiences in Vancouver, Canada. Good luck convincing Australians if and when you come back down under Amy.

Autumn Sunshine

Although our weather has been fabulous this autumn, the shorter days and increasingly cool nights and mornings herald the approaching winter.
So now is the time to change over my summer wardrobe to the winter one. Packed away are the bright summer skirts and short sleeved tops/t-shirts that I wear to work and at home.
Melbourne is the capital of black so out comes the black merino turtle-neck sweaters, black trousers and black jacket.
The LBD is a summer concoction so away it goes to be replaced by a bright fuchsia pink suit in winter weight. First bought by my mother a number of years ago and hardly worn, it now graces my winter wardrobe.
Now what does that say about me? With each visit to my elderly mother, I come back with some beautiful, barely worn clothes which now fit me. Recycling its called!!
I'm very thankful to get these clothes as Mum is somehow able to afford better clothes than me!
Must work harder on that superannuation rainbow.

Boston Bombings & Library

I awoke this morning to the news of several bombings occurring near the finish of the Boston Marathon. The news media in Melbourne (and elsewhere) are also reporting a possible bombing/fire at the Boston JFK Memorial Library, which may or may not be associated with the other bombings.
While looking for information I came across the Atlantic with Photos of the Boston Bombings and Boston.com with live footage (warning there are some confronting images).

My greatest sympathies to the people injured in the various blasts and to those who were killed. But also to those around the world who suffer these horrendous violent acts daily.

I'm interested in the significance of the Library as a possible attack site, having done various fire and bomb threat evacuation training. Our training is done fairly regularly, but it always annoys me at how reluctant people are to be dragged from their 'important' tasks - reading, studying, checking email.
Lets hope I never have to be part of a real incident such as was reported today.

Other bombings reported today include "Bomb Attacks Across Iraq kill 24, Injure 200", while the TV News last night showed a refugee camp (Zaatri)with 100,000 Syrian Refugees in Jordan.
Of concern to Australians was the report of Australian born young men fighting with the Syrian Rebels. Just waiting to come home with skills in violence newly honed and thinking this will solve their problems.

Time for another practice evacuation perhaps.

Autumn bit speed- Broadband Aussie style

As another beautifully warm autumn day winds down towards sunset, I turn on my laptop to see what friends and family have been up to today. Turning on the internet is a daily phenomenon, often with the laptop kept on all day, checking email, looking up information and uploading photos to my flickr account.
How did we survive before the internet and social media?
Last night as I was struggling to upload 6 photos to Facebook, my youngest arrived home from work. As he works at a major ISP we turned to discussing the National Broadband Network and the various political parties policies.
Surprisingly I have had a couple of friends and colleagues ask me to explain the options-
Labor's Optical Fibre to the house (faster, simpler, costlier) vs the Coalitions "Fast, affordable,sooner" hybrid policy ( Optical fibre to the node and copper to your house, unless you want to order and pay for the last bit yourself -$3000-$5000 anyone?).
This immediately brought to mind the history of another major Australian infrastructure project. Railways in the late 19th Century and 20th Century turned up a hodge-podge of different gauges and procedures in various parts of Australia. The Melbourne to Sydney rail line was "joined" through a platform, in 1883, but the gauge not standardized until 1962. For all those years, travelling from Melbourne to Sydney mean't changing trains with all the inconvenience and inefficiency this entailed.
This time though we can choose to have a huge, costly project done properly. Or we can choose to do a bit now and then pay more for it to be done later.

Old fashioned living - Aussie Style

I wonder how long it will take in this vast, harsh country? Hopefully not as long as the rail link.
Many of Australia's current inefficiencies result from decisions made more than 100 years ago and not changed in time. Education systems, transport, environmental policies and too many politicians to name a few.

Lets not add Broadband into the inefficient mix - we deserve better, particularly regional Australians.

The Checkout and Green Vehicles

To add to yesterday's post:
Try http://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au for more information on environmentally friendly cars, etc.

I also enjoyed "The Checkout's" entertaining look at Electric Vehicles on ABC TV 1 last night (loved Craig and the Stib). Except for too much gratuitous violence with Julian Morrow's piece on Consumer Rights it was all good stuff, including Helen Welling's F U Tube Segment. (For younger reader, Helen Wellings was the ABC commentator on the last Consumer Show on the ABC, quite a few years ago.)
Go the Chaser Boys!

Green Envy & Sadness

I was ashamed to say when I visited my close friends on the weekend, I was more than a tad green with envy. Having had the misfortune of having both their cars being put out of action recently, one with old age and the other with a freeway bingle, both have been replaced with brand new cars!
A Hybrid Camry was the pick for one and a fuel efficient diesel people-mover/SUV for the other. For those of us who can't use public transport (kids, work locations etc) having a good car is essential.
Having checked out the Holden Volt over the weekend, I am personally waiting until the prices drop to

Holden Volt - $60,000 worth!

something I can afford but its good to see more hybrids and fuel efficient cars on the road.
While I applaud the manufacturing of these hybrids and electric vehicles, the time taken to provide carbon-neutral or friendly fuel, infrastructure and fleet turnover may be too long for the environment.

The Climate Commission has released another report, The Critical Decade: Extreme Weather, warning that Australia's Climate has already changed. However, it will be interesting if many other reports are published if the Commission is merged with the Department of the Environment following a Federal Coalition (Liberal/National Party) election win.
According to the Age Newspaper, Tony Abbott has said he will abolish the new big bureaucracy, along with the Carbon Tax. 
And if the current State Liberal/National Party Governments actions are any guide, wind back Feed-In-Tarriffs (to suit big business interests), perhaps change building codes to provide choice to not have energy efficiency building measures, and perhaps change the Renewable Energy Targets.

The Labor Party is not much better on all this stuff.
So much for real choice.
Its OK, Australia can dig up more coal, frack for Coal Seam Gas all through-out the South Eastern States, mine the Oil and Gas in the West, and use all that CO2 producing electricity for the air-conditioning needed. After all we only provide a small part of the problem and none of the solutions!

Printed Book vs Digital- Which Footprint Should I Pick?

While in NZ I came across an article comparing the ecological footprint of a Tablet eReader with the printed Book. I've found another article by the New York Times. It seems the book comes out ahead unless you read lots of books, then the tablet might just have the advantage. 40 books equate to just over 3 a month so I might just qualify in needing an Tablet eReader!
The last line in the article pleased me no end
"The most ecologically virtuous way to read a book starts by walking to your local library!"
The article can be found at https://smartairmedia.com/content/blogs/blog-sections/digital-media/item/book-ereader-enviro.

I wonder what the comparison with an eInk Reader might be? That might definitely give the book a run for its ecological footprint - enough to justify a couple of eReaders over 2-3 years perhaps??

This is always supposing we in Australia get appropriate laws regarding recycling of eWaste and not sending it OS to India/China or another third world country.

For seniors there is a definite benefit to buying a tablet eReader - flexible print sizing. See this article also in the NY times blog.

Unfortunately for us Aussies, buying books from Book Depository/Amazon and sending to Australia would also be regarded as a bad ecological idea.
Perhaps that's why its cheaper in $$ and human designed economics. 
Its a pity as I rather like browsing online and sending books to my house. After a day at the library my feet are too sore to drive to the nearest large bookstore. And my bookshelves are far too full already which is another good reason to borrow from my library and not buy.