Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Opinion

Excuses, But No Good Reason for Murray River Barrages

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I have received a barrage of excuses as to why the Lower Lakes at the bottom of the Murray River should remain fresh rather than removing the barrages and letting the area fill with seawater, as suggested in ‘Basin barrage of bad ideas” (The Land, November 4, pg. 26). 

And I’ve made a few enquiries, to understand why, for example, the government and the opposition remain silent on the issue.

Advisors to both major political parties tell me that the barrages are far too contentious an issue, even for discussion, and that advocating the removal of the barrages could cost them important votes in South Australia.  

[Read more…] about Excuses, But No Good Reason for Murray River Barrages

Mann Promotes Rio Tinto

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Most people know that the stock market is a volatile place and that the price of Rio Tinto shares has fluctuated significantly both up and down over the last thirty years.  But this is how at least one modern climate scientist might go about promoting Rio Tinto shares…

The first graph shows how the price of Rio Tinto shares varied over a 30 year period up until Feb 2009.

Note that the price ALWAYS goes up.

Note that the long term linear average rise is close to $1 per year over 30 years.

The second graph tells us that over the past year the rate of increase is now about thirty times the long term average.

On this basis Mr Mann, the stockbroker, advises all his clients to sell everthing, borrow as much money as possible and buy Rio because:

Rio shares NEVER go down AND they are now going up 30 times faster than ever before.

The values used to plot the graphs are genuine.

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If a broker in Australia actually did this the would probably end up in jail for misleading and deceptive conduct, even though the points used to construct the graphs are all genuine.

No Sydney Audience for Williams: Marohasy Debate

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THE planned debate on Monday at the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) in Sydney between John Williams from the Wentworth Group and Jennifer Marohasy from the Australian Environment Foundation on ‘Saving the Murray’ as advertised here has been cancelled due to lack of interest.

We hope it has nothing to do with Totschweigtaktik.

The word means “death by silence” and it’s an effective tactic for killing off ideas or news reports or contrary opinions that don’t fit the prevailing and fashionable mores according to Shelley Gare[1] writing for Quadrant.

Read the article by Gare here:  http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/7-8/death-by-silence-in-the-writers-combat-zone

Update from the CIS:

MANY thanks for your booking to attend our discussion on The Future of the Murray Darling Basin with Dr Jennifer Marohasy and Dr John Williams, scheduled for Monday, 15 November 2010. It is with regret that we advise the need to postpone this event until 2011. We apologise for any disappointment and inconvenience caused, and will refund any monies paid.    You will be contacted when a new date for this event has been established. In the meantime, we thank you for your understanding.

Best regards, Meegan Cornforth l Events Manager, The Centre for Independent Studies
www.cis.org.au

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[1] Shelly Gare was educated in Perth then trained as a cadet journalist there. She moved to Sydney and in her early 20s, Gare was appointed editor of Cleo magazine… moved to London to work as Features Editor at The Sunday Times, returning to Australia in 1985, where she was the first woman deputy editor appointed to The Australian newspaper. Gare was responsible for all newspaper features. Gare was also a consultant editor on the start-up of WHO magazine…  Gare was a founding editor of The Australian’s Review of Books, for which she won a Walkley Award. She is now a freelance journalist and regular contributor to a variety of publications.  [From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelley_Gare ]