Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

admin

Expensive Water Still in Dams: Barnaby Joyce

By

Media Release

850 billion litres of water purchased through Federal Government buybacks has not been used according to an Australian Audit Office report, Commonwealth Environmental Watering Activities, released today.

This is despite the Federal Government not expecting to acquire even half the Murray Darling Basin water it has deemed necessary for environmental watering purposes.

The Australian Government has bought an asset with borrowed money that the government does not know what to do with. This is a business plan very similar to that of the NBN. We are borrowing money from overseas to put people out of business, to make it harder to repay the money that Labor has borrowed.

850 billion litres is more water than what is in Sydney Harbour and was bought at taxpayer expense for billions of dollars. This unused water has simply served to deplete the economic base of rural communities, cut jobs and food production.

It begs the question of whether the Federal Government will attempt to find ways to utilise this water. Will consideration be given to ensure this water is used for the most environmental and economic benefit and not exacerbate flood events?

Regardless, for the Murray Darling communities deprived of billions of dollars worth of productive capacity, this water is just another example of Labor Government waste.

Barnaby Joyce

Open Thread

By

“NO one can deny that aspects of the environment are predictable. Day follows night, summer follows winter, most of us sleep when it’s dark, eat at midday and watch the 6.00pm news. Random events are for the most part whimsically quaint, as when the phone rings and it turns out to be the person you were thinking about. Oh, you exclaim, I must be psychic. But there is also a likelihood that between your and your friend’s life, some parallel pattern exists unaware to you both…”

from Ken Ring’s book entitled ‘Predicting Weather by the Moon’

Why to Avoid Asbestos at All Costs: Faith Franz

By

LATE last year, Jennifer Marohasy posted an article offering her opinion on why asbestos use has a place in modern society [1]. We recently reached out to her about offering another perspective, and she graciously opened the floor up for us at The Mesothelioma Center to explain our dissenting opinion.

As advocates for those who suffer from asbestos-related diseases, The Mesothelioma Center certainly has a different position than Dr. Marohasy. The more that we connect with patients suffering from debilitating asbestos-related diseases, the more we believe that there is no place for asbestos use in an enlightened era of educated decisions and non-carcinogenic alternatives.

The International Labor Organization estimates that 100,000 workers worldwide die each year from asbestos-related diseases. Yet the asbestos industry continues to have help in its fight for survival, thanks to the backing of lobbyists and industry-funded researchers who insist that the fibers can be safely mined and processed.

[Read more…] about Why to Avoid Asbestos at All Costs: Faith Franz

More Politics from Ross Garnaut: A Note from Des Moore

By

LAST November Ross Garnaut was commissioned, for an unknown fee, to produce an Update of the Review of climate change he completed in 2008. Garnaut is an economist who describes himself as an independent expert but he acts like a believer in a greater role for government and has worked closely with Labor governments. As one commentator put it yesterday, “his work has been a key feature of Labor’s campaign to introduce a carbon trading scheme”. Indeed, his first Update and associated comments present a blatantly political perspective in portraying all developments since the Review as supporting the need for emission reducing action by government and dismissing or ignoring the reality that those developments have clearly heightened the uncertainties about the so-called science and whether there will be any agreed international political action.  

[Read more…] about More Politics from Ross Garnaut: A Note from Des Moore

Save Lake Eucumbene’s Frogs

By

ANGLERS fishing Lake Eucumbene in late October 2010 were pleased to see that the rising waters of the lake had created perfect spawning conditions for the frogs. 

Frogs were in abundance and their future was assured through this massive spawning event, or so we thought.

By early November the water in the lake ceased rising and began to fall, yet the State was in flood and the rains continued, how could this be? 

More importantly anglers watched as the frog spawn was left high and dry.  The baby tadpoles yet to hatch suffered a miserable death by dehydration.  Caring anglers scurried around the lake margin; lifting spawn blobs and putting them back into the water, only to see the whole miserable cycle continue as the waters relentlessly receded. 

How many frog larvae died we will never know, but the receding waters killed far more frogs than any number of trout possibly could – even the deadly chytrid fungus would have been hard pressed to match this slaughter.

For the whole of November an early December the rains fell, the State flooded but Lake Eucumbene continued to fall. 

[Read more…] about Save Lake Eucumbene’s Frogs

City Deal That Led to Water Waste: Ross Tyson

By

“AN ARCHAIC agreement hatched in the air-conditioned suites of a Sydney office block has exposed the kind of chronic mismanagement at government level that is driving local farmers to the point of despair.

“The revelation this week that Snowy Hydro is sending millions of litres of water downstream every day into overflowing dams and flood-affected towns along the Murrumbidgee River has left irrigators dumbfounded.

Read more at Area News.

  [Read more…] about City Deal That Led to Water Waste: Ross Tyson