Senator BARTLETT (2.48 p.m.)—My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. I draw the minister’s attention to the growing boycott of Australian wool by retailers in Europe, following on from a number of US based retailers who have taken similar boycott action against Australian wool because of consumer concerns about the cruelty involved in the mulesing of sheep in Australia. Does the ...
Senator BARTLETT (2.50 p.m.)— My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Minchin. I draw the minister’s attention to the motion agreed to without dissent by the Senate this morning supporting the establishment of a royal commission into the sexual assault and abuse of children throughout Australia. Can the minister advise the Senate if and when the Prime Minister will be responding to ...
Senator BARTLETT (2.51 p.m.)—My question is to the Minister for Community Services. Noting the minister’s comments during a number of question times, including today’s question time, about ‘the complete failure of state governments in regard to public housing’, why is the federal government choosing this moment to defund the community housing program for Indigenous Australians, which will shift most of those Indigenous Australians in community housing in urban ...
Senator BARTLETT (2.32 p.m.)—My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Can the minister confirm that the government has been endeavouring to immediately deport a Chinese man back to the People’s Republic of China, despite the fact that the United Nations Human Rights Committee have requested that deportation not occur until they have completed an investigation into this case? Is it the case ...
Senator Bartlett (Queensland) asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 9 May 2007: (1) Have any flyovers and/or bombing runs been conducted over the Northern Territory by planes taking off from the United States of America base in Guam; if so, how many. (2) Of the bombs that have been dropped over the Northern Territory: (a) are any of the bombs ‘bunker busting’ bombs; and (b) is tungsten or uranium a ...
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. I remind the minister that in 2005 a regional agreement was adopted in Far North Queensland between the Wet Tropics Management Authority, the rainforest Aboriginal people from the region and the federal Department of Environment and Water Resources along with various Queensland government agencies. The agreement included a commitment by the government to ...
Senator Bartlett (Queensland) asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, upon notice, on 29 January 2007: With reference to the Government’s water policy— (1) In Australia, is the water that falls on a person’s roof, the property of that person or the property of government. (2) If it is not the property of the individual person, under what legislation in Australia, are rights to water that falls ...
Senator BARTLETT (2.31 p.m.)—My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Minchin. Does the minister accept that there is a crisis in housing affordability in Australia? Does the government accept that there are very significant increases in the cost of renting a home in the private rental market which are causing serious financial stress to a growing number of Australians in many regional ...
Senator Bartlett (Queensland) asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 9 May 2007: (a) What is the total number of Australian Defence Force personnel who have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001; and (b) Of these personnel, how many have been discharged as a result of physical and/or psychological conditions. Answer Senator Ellison (Western Australia—Minister for Human Services)—The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to ...
Senator BARTLETT (2.50 p.m.)—My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Defence. Is the minister aware that field training exercises for Talisman Sabre 2007 have commenced and will continue until 2 July in Central Queensland’s Shoalwater Bay and that the Department of Defence website states that ‘environmental management is the No. 1 consideration’ during these defence exercises? Can the minister outline what measures the government has ...
Senator BARTLETT (2.42 p.m.)—My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. It relates to the issue of sexual assaults on children. The minister would be aware of the recently tabled report, Little children are sacred, on the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory and of the very first recommendation of that report, which calls on the Territory ...
Senator BARTLETT (2.41 p.m.)—My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Earlier in question time the Minister for Finance and Administration outlined some of the recent economic indicators that had come out since the Senate last sat. I noted that the minister neglected to mention the housing affordability index. Is the minister aware that this economic indicator shows housing affordability is at its worst ...
Senator Bartlett (Queensland) asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, upon notice, on 22 February 2007: (1) Does the department provide funding to non-government organisations whose objectives or activities include the culling of either native or introduced animals living in the wild; if so, can details be provided of the: (a) names of the organisations; (b) amount of funding; and (c) names of the ...
Senator BARTLETT (2.51 p.m.)—My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer. Does the minister acknowledge that the crisis in housing affordability in Australia is now more serious than ever for both home buyers and many people in the private rental market? Is the minister aware of the latest proposals released by housing groups calling for a national affordable housing agreement that includes increased investment in public and ...
Question Senator BARTLETT (3.15 p.m.)—My question is to Senator Ellison, the minister representing the ministers responsible for veterans and Defence personnel issues. I refer to media reports that 121 Australian Defence Force personnel who have recently fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have been discharged as being unfit for further service due to mental illness—including anxiety and depression—with 23 of those people reported to have serious psychological problems as a ...
Senator Bartlett: My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Environment and Water Resources. I refer to the report by Laura Tingle in today’s Australian Financial Review which details an assessment by people within the Murray-Darling Basin Commission of the government’s National Plan for Water Security, which says that the plan: ... neglects crucial questions of land title, resource management and environmental water flows and could be ...
My question is to Senator Kemp, the Minister representing the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. As the minister would know, the government recently changed the Northern Territory land rights act to allow 99-year leases on Aboriginal land and gave the reason for this change as enabling increased economic development for Indigenous communities in the Territory. Could the minister explain why the Indigenous affairs minister has ...
Senator Bartlett: My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell. I refer to his upcoming decision regarding the processes to be used to assess the environmental impacts of the Traveston and Wyaralong dams in south-east Queensland. The minister has indicated in correspondence to me and to others that ‘the environmental assessment must be carried out in accordance with procedures outlined in the ...
Senator BARTLETT: My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, and it relates to the water summit being held tomorrow. I note that the Queensland government has now, also, belatedly, been invited to that summit. My question goes to the approach the federal government is taking into the summit. Does the federal government believe that water is currently seriously over allocated—and is it prepared to do ...
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister. It relates to the Prime Minister’s comments that ‘we would lose something of our identification as Australians if we ever allowed the number of farms in our nation to fall below a critical mass’. Can the minister indicate what number constitutes a critical mass of farms? Government senators interjecting— Continue Senator BARTLETT—Will the government be using taxpayer funds to ensure that ...
Next,
This line from David Marr is one of the best descriptions I’ve ever read of the farcical sound and fury which is Question Time in the House of Representatives:
It’s a bit like an RSPCA pound: never free of the spectre of being put down, the dogs bark and howl to attract attention.(0)
For those interested in basic facts about temperature trends in Australia and globally over recent decades, there is a great post over at Lavartus Prodeo by Brian Banisch, who has been following the data and the various scientific reports on this issue for a long time. Very much worth having a read of for those who are just wanting some facts.
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Many not for profit and charity groups have got a lot smarter over the years in tapping into some of the large amounts of money that get spent over Christmas. Christmas catalogues full of gifts for good cause groups have become widespread. In recent times, that has extended to bypassing a present all together, and giving someone a donation which actually goes direct to the good cause. This form of fundraising is now also tapping into social media, so much so that even my humble blog gets occasional requests to promote a cause from people who specifically target the avenues of social media to widen their reach. Here’s one example I recently received on behalf of World Vision.
More... (4)I’ve posted a piece over at The Stump about the links between global hunger and climate change, and the unfortunate parallels between the less than successful climate change summit in Copenhagen and an even more dismal outcome at the recent Hunger Summit in Rome, which received far less attention.
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Following are links to some items I’ve had published on other sites
More... (0)Disclaimer: The inclusion of a blog or website in this list should not be taken as an endorsement of its contents by me.
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