articles / essays / commentaries
The current South Australian Government could learn some lessons from long-serving Premier Thomas Playford who took bold action to wrest control of the state’s electricity supply from a profit-driven monopoly, writes Nigel Carney.
Continue reading “Playford’s lessons in power for the current SA Govt”
The prospect of the South Australian Government entering treaty negotiations with the aboriginal traditional owners is, on the face of it, a progressive and exciting development. The Minister, however, is opening Pandora’s box promising the long-awaited examination and reconciliation of the fundamental flaws in South Australian founding, essential and inherent to its success, writes Nigel Carney.
Everything that you need to know but were too afraid to ask.
On March 19, 2015, Governor Hieu Van Le issued Letters Patent to command Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce to ‘investigate’ the potential of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in South Australia. Shortly after stepping down as Governor, Kevin Scarce queried: ‘Why we haven’t looked at the nuclear option much more systematically I will never understand’. (The Australian December 13, 2014)
MARCH 9, 2013
This article asks the question ‘who really owns Adelaide City’ in light of startling evidence the city and surrounding land was illegally appropriated from the denied occupiers, the Kaurnu people, who occupied the Adelaide Plains, and the adjoining coastal area.
Continue reading “Adelaide City – The Question of Rightful Ownership”AUGUST 10, 2009
The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, has welcomed Australia’s largest long-term LNG contract with India, following yesterday’s signing of a Sales and Purchase Agreement between ExxonMobil and Petronet LNG.
Another Disturbing Announcement From Martin Ferguson:
The Announcement:
‘MINISTER WELCOMES GORGON GAS DEAL’
Continue reading “Gorgon Gas: 100% Sellout of Australia’s Energy Future”AUGUST 31, 2008
In a quiet corner of the Flinders Ranges South Australia, Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, a massive cleanup of low-level radioactive waste is about to begin. 30,000 bags of sample core waste and mining refuse were dumped strategically close to a major floodway in a sanctuary of world significance alongside Mount Gee. While the whereabouts of stolen fluorite deposits remain unknown, the peculiar Marathon Resources toys relentlessly with the concept of continuing this onslaught on Mount Gee. But why? With low yield deposits and sharemarket statements claiming no open-cut mining would occur, nothing short of a project matching the London Underground would see any yellow cake brought to the surface, despite twenty-eight drill holes and regular buoyant statements to the sharemarket faithful who must be shrugging their shoulders, as this is one share market scam that has already been mined.
Continue reading “Mining the Share market, not Uranium”A ‘bottler’ – Australian colloquialism – “something exciting admiration or approval”. I’m not sure of the origins but may stem from the early convict days of Australia, thus someone known to be a bottler of rum or sly grog would “excite admiration and approval” (open to challenge on this one! ) Interesting to note that UK slang is quite the opposite “A person or group, especially a sports team, that doesn’t meet expectations, particularly prone to failure when success is expected.”
Many Australians would have fond memories of scavaging bottles for pocket money or to cover a trip to the cinema. It all made graceful environmental sense, kept the neighbourhood tidy and provided income for scout clubs and other not-for-profit associations. I always wondered if the scratched glass green coke bottles had twice or maybe three times returned to quench my thirst. All this dramatically changed when the packaging and bottling industry, like most other things, drifted out of the reach of governance and became a law unto itself, one use consumption with high embodied energy costs, and litter lining the streets for want of any incentive from bottler or consumer to ‘do the right thing’. It comes then as a pleasant surprise to see Family First Senator Fielding getting down to brass tacks and demonstrating the obvious to Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett who are struggling to win points on the greenhouse or the environment. His proposal is for a 5 cents refund scheme but the Greens would like to see this pushed up to 20 cents which from memory was the departure point prior to such schemes terminating in the early eighties.
Continue reading “Family First launches a ‘bottler’”