Agmates

Freelance Journalist and Agmates member John Mikkelsen writes:

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John Mikkelsen

Shopping gives me the China Blues. A rare shopping trip turned out to be the China Syndrome revisited for me recently.

But that wasn’t until I tried on the new T shirts with Bundy Rum and Pink Floyd logos in my regular ‘L’ size and found none fitted. The tag revealed all -- Made in China -- so back to the shop to exchange for ‘XL’. It’s not me that’s grown; the sizes keep shrinking.

Are we becoming a Chinese satellite state by stealth? How many Australian jobs have been lost or put at risk because of cheap Asian imports flooding our markets?

China is an important trading partner for our resources industries, but maybe we are taking things too far by allowing their electrical, clothing and food items an open door to compete against Australian-made items.

The local products can’t compete as Australian manufacturers have to comply with more stringent controls and higher wages. Australian made goods  are not often subject to the safety recalls we have seen for various Chinese goods including toys, textiles and dairy products.

China Blue

So, have the Blues got it right this time? No, not the State of Origin team, Premier Nathan Rees and his  NSW Government, which has just introduced a virtual ‘Made in China‘ ban.

Almost $4billion worth of NSW government goods and services will now have to be sourced from Australian companies, including stationery, uniforms, cars, even trains and building contracts.

To make local tenders more competitive, a 20 per cent discount will be applied when up against overseas bidders.

This is bound to cause some international friction, putting NSW Labor at odds with its Queensland counterpart and the Rudd Government, which makes no secret of plans to strengthen ties with China.

It’s a huge contrast to what we have seen in Queensland, where the State Government recently rejected a local bid and awarded a $45 million contract to supply glass for its new supreme and district courts in Brisbane to a Chinese firm. The job would have been a lifeline for local firm, G James Glass, which reportedly sacked 100 workers in March because of a drop in orders.

Their shattered hopes followed those of a Gold Coast firm which also lost a contract for work on the $32 million Southport Broadwater Parklands project to a US firm.

It’s hard to reconcile such decisions with Premier Anna Bligh’s election promise of creating 100,000 new jobs, reaffirmed again after this week’s State budget.

The government plans to plunge a massive $85 billion into the red over the next five years to support infrastructure spending and employment. But more than 50,000 Queenslanders are still expected to lose their jobs over the next two years.

Despite the growing jobless queues, Ms Bligh said her government was committed to meeting her election jobs promise by 2012.

The government is apparently pinning a lot of hope on our fledgling gas industry, with forecasts that 10,000 construction jobs will be created through the development of a liquid natural gas hub in Gladstone.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are already upset over the snub by Rio Tinto in rejecting the $27 billion Chinalco offer for a big slice of the company and its resources, as reported last week. They have claimed the proposed BHP -- Rio iron ore joint venture will represent a monopoly, which could push up prices and cause them to look elsewhere.

Their concerns have been echoed by European steel makers, who are calling for a European Union probe. Both have found an unlikely ally in WA Premier Colin Barnett, who has warned the proposed joint venture could end up in the High Court.

Fair shake of the sauce bottle mate, at the end of the day our workers just want jobs and I just want to buy a shirt that fits.

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Have Your Say!

Freelance Journalist and Agmates member John Mikkelsen writes:

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John Mikkelsen

A fog of uncertainty still surrounds Gladstone’s Rio Tinto workers after the company last week finally rejected the Chinese bid to acquire a $27 billion slice of the action.

On face value, it seems the best solution to Rio’s financial woes. The formation of an iron ore production joint venture with old rival BHP Billiton, combined with a rights issue to shareholders, should raise enough to meet Rio’s scheduled repayments on its $57 billion debt following its costly merger with Alcan in 2007.

There had been widespread opposition to the Chinalco offer, which would have delivered the Chinese Government – owned company 18 percent of Rio.

More significantly, it stood to gain 50 percent of the Yarwun alunina refinery plus significant stakes in Boyne Smelters Ltd, Queensland Alumina Ltd and the Gladstone Power Station, which collectively employ more than 3000. It would also have gained control of the company’s bauxite leases in northern Australia.

Chinalco was also scheduled to decide whether it would finance the $2 billion Stage 2 expansion at Yarwun by June 15, also the date the Foreign Investment Review Board was expected to reach a decision on the Chinalco offer.

If all that sounds confusing, that’s because it is. And unfortunately at this stage, the Gladstone workers seem to be the meat in the sandwich in what otherwise could be seen as a good deal.

When Rio was actively promoting the Chinalco offer only a few months ago, it warned there could be up to 3000 job losses if it did not proceed. Gladstone had seemed largely immune up until mid- April, when the axe suddenly fell on 600 Rio workers and contractors.

In a letter to shareholders last week, Rio chairman Jan Du Plessis said the expansion would proceed under the proposed new arrangements, but

“at a slower pace than previously announced”.

Who knows what that means? In the wake of the last job cuts, the company had already announced the expansion would be delayed by two years, rather than dropped. Last weekend a company spokeswoman told the Observer the Gladstone operations were not in the clear yet.

“We are facing challenging economic times and keeping a close eye on the market.” she said.

Back on April 25, I wrote,

“Naturally there is a concern there could be further cuts if the Chinalco bid is rejected.

However, Rio recently hinted of a Plan B …..This could involve selling shares, bonds, assets and rescheduling debt repayments; and BHP Billiton is watching…”

Obviously, they were watching very closely and the rising markets seem to have played into their hands, with Rio shares now about twice their value when the Chinalco offer was first raised. This would have made the offer less attractive and less likely to receive a final nod of approval from shareholders even if it had been passed by the foreign investment watchdog and Treasurer Wayne Swan.

The Federal Government has also dodged a political bullet by not having to reach a decision on the controversial Chinese bid. There are still some review processes in relation to the proposed BHP – Rio joint venture, but it seems likely to be a done deal.

As a Rio contact told me this week,

“What’s not to like; it’s a win/ win situation for the company and shareholders”.

(He was rubbing his hands in anticipation of what is basically a one for two share offer at the heavily discounted price of $28.29 per share.)

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce, Greens leader Bob Brown and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon will also applaud the move to keep ownership of Australian resources out of Chinese hands.

But the Chinese Government is not happy. It claims the new iron ore joint venture by the two former rivals will create a monopoly, which will drive up prices and may force it to look elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the Queensland Government has copped some flak for awarding a $45 million contract to a Chinese company to supply glass for its new Supreme and District Courts building in Brisbane, rather than struggling local company G. James Glass.

“Sources said the windows job on the $600 million Supreme and District courts building would have been a lifeline for G. James, which sacked about 100 staff in March because of a downturn in orders.”

Interesting times, Grasshopper.

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Freelance Journalist and Agmates member John Mikkelsen writes:

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JUST a couple of months ago, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told us we had to have an early election to provide business and economic stability.

She promised us 100,000 new jobs; she promised there were no plans to dump the State’s 8.35 cents a litre fuel subsidy when we went to the polls six months early.

The LNP’s then-leader, Lawrence Springborg, had warned there would be a move to have the fuel subsidy scrapped at the State Labor conference this weekend. He was wrong, but only just – Ms Bligh announced on Tuesday the decision had already been made.

According to media reports, that will mean a fuel price rise of more than 9 cents a litre when GST is factored in, costing average motorists an extra $300 a year on top of scheduled increases in vehicle registration.

But that’s not all. The government also plans to sell off key State assets including Queensland Rail’s coal freight business, the Port of Brisbane, Queensland Motorways Ltd, Forest Plantations Queensland, and the Abbot Point Coal Terminal, to raise $15 billion.

(Coincidentally, Abbot Point has just been named as the export port for Waratah Coal’s huge $6 billion thermal coal project in the Galilee Basin near Alpha).

The Premier’s announcements on the eve of the conference where such controversial moves are usually debated, has practically everybody fired up, including the unions among her key backers during the election campaign.

Businesses, producers, transport companies, the RACQ and the unions are practically united in their protests about increased costs which will flow through to all consumer items, and the increased threat to jobs.

Labor’s state president and union leader Andrew Dettmer said he was shocked by the decision and promised the State Government would face a showdown at this weekend’s ALP conference.

He accused the Government of dealing with a short-term economic downturn with a solution which would create long-term problems. These included giving major mining companies complete control of regional economies.

“Would you want Rio Tinto or BHP in charge of everything to do with your economy from pit to port?” he asked.

Mr Dettmer said the government was certain to face a series of resolutions from the floor of the State conference condemning its action.

Not surprisingly, Ms Bligh has blamed the global financial crisis and the huge black hole in projected income for such radical action.

“These are tough decisions for tough times,” she said.

When the State lost it’s AAA credit rating just before the election, critics pointed out that after years of boom times, Labor had kept nothing in reserve. Now the Premier plans to sell off the equivalent of the family silver and raid the kids’ piggy banks to bail her government out.

Back on February 28 I wrote:

“So you could say it’s a brash move by Ms Bligh to provide Queensland with the early opportunity to elect a government ‘with a mandate, it needs economic stability, it needs political certainty…’ But she knows she is on a slippery slope, so standing up for judgement now rather than later is probably a shrewd, cynical move.”

It’s history that a majority of Queenslanders took her at her word – not the discerning voters of Gladstone though, who returned our strong independent Liz Cunningham with a vastly increased majority.

Had she waited until after this week’s shock announcements or next month’s budget, the proverbial snowflake in hell would have stood a better chance of survival.

I’d imagine things will get pretty hot at this weekend’s Labor conference too.

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Agmates member and freelance journalist John Mikkelsen writes:

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John Mikkelsen

I JUST don’t get it.  Well, I don’t get lots of things, but it’s the way we are developing what to me seem strange standards and attitudes that has me scratching my head lately.

Why are many of us so obsessed with the whole celebrity thing that a girl with big,wide eyes and a matching space between the ears, can gain instant fame for her account of a Sydney street shooting?

Clare Werbeloff, 19, has become an overnight internet sensation for her “eye witness” story on Channel 9 News. Judge for yourself:

“There were these two wogs fighting. The fatter wog said to the skinnier wog, ‘Oi bro, you slept with my cousin.’

“And the other one said, ‘Nah man, I didn’t, for shit hey’ and the other one goes, ‘I will call on my fully sick boys,eh’ and then pulls out a gun and went, ‘chk, chk boom’.”

To me, that’s rascist, cheesy and packed with clichés which could have come straight from some late night B grade telemovie. It probably did, because when interviewed by police, she admitted she made the whole thing up.

But the footage was posted on Youtube where it has attracted several hundred thousand hits. A day later, coffee mugs and T shirts emblazoned with her image and “Chk, chk boom” slogan went on sale.

But shooting victim Justin Kallu, 27, is unimpressed by her instant fame.

“I’m just a bit upset about the fact I’ve been shot and that I almost lost my life, and there’s this girl all over the news getting popular all because she has no brains,” he said.

Naturally, ‘Bogan Clare’ now has an agent to manage her fame, but I imagine it will be short-lived, just like that other overnight teenage sensation Corey Delaney (or was it Worthington? He used both names after his brush with stardom).

In case you’ve forgotten already, Corey was the tough- talking kid in a fur-fringed hood resembling an Eskimo cross-dresser, who hosted a party which trashed a Melbourne street.

Again, his TV image made him an instant celebrity but just this week his agent said he was unemployed and looking for a job. Why am I not surprised?

There are thousands of genuinely talented young Australians, including many in our own community, finding that real success generally has to be earned the hard way.

Meanwhile, has this sick obsession with stardom and celebrity status taken society’s focus away from those who really are sick?

Residents at Doonan on the Sunshine Coast are objecting to a cottage in their area being operated as a free hospice for the terminally ill, even though it will only accommodate two patients at a time.

One of the residents objecting is actually a palliative care nurse who says she:

“supports the concept but doesn’t want it in her neighbourhood”.

The address in Redwood Road, was already being referred to as ‘Deadwood Road’

“What effect will that have on house prices?” she asked.

Well, that wouldn’t happen in your town, you say? Maybe; I wouldn’t be too sure.

To me, the underlying problem runs much deeper. The Observer’s front page on May 21 carried the headline, “Govt to cut back cancer funding – $30 million saved on chemotherapy drug scheme”.

The report claimed cancer patients would be required to re-use opened chemotherapy drug vials and may be forced to pay more, travel further and wait longer for treatment.

You would expect that would have sparked widespread outrage but no, most of us were more caught up with the Matty Johns celebrity footy sex scandal, judging by the opinion pages.

Calliope resident Mrs P Nutley questioned the link between football funding and cancer funding.

“What sort of government do we really have, and what sort of society, to not have more empathy and dismay for those suffering?” she asked.

A very good question, Pauline, but don’t expect an early answer or a cure.

*****

See Little Haven Palliative Care Business manager Sue Manton’s article:

Talking about dying and death is not something that comes naturally to Australians

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Agmates member and freelance journalist John Mikkelsen writes:

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THE build-up to this week’s Federal Budget reminds me of the hype over swine flu – it was going to be a shocker but turned out to be a bit of a fizzer as far as horror stories go.

A deficit of almost $58 billion instead of the $20 billion surplus forecast in last year’s budget is no cause for celebration, but the leaks before Treasurer Wayne Swan’s delivery on Tuesday night made sure any shock value was lost.

So if you tuned into Auntie to watch the presentation live in the hope of seeing the fiscal facsimile of Wolf Creek or the Blair Witch Project, you would probably have been a bit disappointed. Instead of a Canberra Chainsaw Massacre, we saw something more in tune with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Not that it was all good, there was some bad news and belt-tightening mainly for higher income earners, and for those in their forties or younger who had hoped to retire at 65.

Sorry, you’ll have to be nice to your bosses for at least another couple of years before you can tell them what you really think.

There was good news for single pensioners with $32 a week more, couples gain an extra $10, carers an extra $600 a year, workers receive some small tax cuts, but those on unemployment or single parent benefits miss out.

The $22 billion approved for major infrastructure is good news, even though it had been earmarked the previous year. But the devil is in the detail and most local residents will want to hear if a sizeable allocation will be made for the Gladstone airport upgrade. Don’t hold your breath.

It’s interesting that this “third stimulus package” is about equal to the cash handed out in bonus payments. (Critics claimed these did more to stimulate the pokies or the economies of countries such as China, churning out their plasma TV’s).

Cutbacks to private health insurance rebates are bad news but again we knew about those weeks in advance.

Now fired-up Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has challenged the government to swap the health cuts for an extra three cents tax on cigarettes, which he said would raise the same amount and lower the strain on health services. Go Malcolm!

The biggest criticism of the budget is its sugar coating of forward income estimates and a return to a budget surplus position as soon as 2015, which many analysts, even punters, see as over optimistic. And there are suggestions the government would really like the Opposition to trigger a double dissolution election before they have to frame next year’s budget, when the really bad news would hit the fan.

Centrebet has described this week’s effort as “A Journey into Neverland” and its odds on a Rudd government being returned next election have taken a blow.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon labeled it ” A Harvey Norman budget – Buy now, pay later.”

Reminds me of a story I heard which could hold an answer:

“Holiday season is in full swing at a small seaside town but it’s raining so there is not much business. Everyone is heavily in debt.

A rich tourist arrives at the small hotel. He asks for a room and puts a $100 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room on the third floor.

The hotel owner takes the banknote and rushes to his meat supplier, whom he owes $100.

The butcher races to his supplier to pay his debt. The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay $100 he owes for pigs.

The farmer gives the $100 to a local prostitute who had supplied her services on credit. The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel and pays the $100 bill for her hourly room use.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down to reception and informs the hotel owner the room is unsatisfactory, takes his $100 back off the counter and departs.

There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the small town people look optimistically towards their future.”

Hmmm, has to be a catch. Or you could say, the benefits of ” Buy now, pay later” depend on good luck and good timing. I wonder if Wayne Swan had heard that story?

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Have Your say!

Agmates member John Mikkelsen writes:

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IT’s good to see sanity prevail with the deferral of the Federal Governments controversial Emissions Trading Scheme for 12 months in light of probable further job losses.

You could see the backflip coming, with mounting opposition from all sectors even though Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Environment Minister Penny Wong kept insisting it would be introduced as planned in July next year.

Mr Rudd finally saw the writing on the wall and announced a deferred and modified plan last Sunday. Oops, did he forget to tell Ms Wong? Her letter promoting the urgent need for the ETS to actually  save  jobs, under the heading of  ‘Can’t sit on our hands on climate change’ was published in The Observer on Monday.

A footnote from the editor stated the ministers letter had been received on the previous Friday, May 1.

Ms Wongs letter pushed the familiar claim stated as fact, that ‘carbon pollution’ was causing climate change, which was threatening jobs.

But she didn’t use the often-repeated term, ‘the science is settled’ , possibly because it is becoming increasingly clear it is not settled at all.

Let me make this clear – I hate pollution in the form of poisonous chemicals, litter and noxious emissions. Who wouldn’t? And I don’t deny ‘climate change’ is real.

Neither do the growing ranks of international scientists questioning any link between the atmospheric trace gas carbon dioxide and climate.

You would have to be a real dill not to acknowledge the obvious fact climate has always been changing since the days of the dinosaur.

The scientists questioning the role CO2 emissions play in all this are certainly not dills. Their ranks include one of Australia’s leading geologists Professor Ian Plimer, Queensland’s own ancient climate expert Professor Bob Carter of James Cook University, and Dr David Evans, who actually spent years working with the Australian Greenhouse Office developing carbon modelling projects such as those the ‘true believers’ in man-made global warming rely on.

Dr Evans recently described himself as ‘the rocket scientist’ who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia’s compliance with the Kyoto Protocol. But further research and knowledge has made him change his mind.

“The world has spent $50 billion on global warming since 1990 and we have not found any actual evidence that carbon emissions cause global warming. None.”

Now that it matters, we should debate the causes. Townsville’s Prof Carter has been speaking out on the topic for years:

‘Climate change has always occurred and always will, the appropriate action is to have in place reactive response plans to manage the change when it occurs.’

He recently told the Senate Select Committee on Climate that the ETS would cost Australian families an estimated extra $3,500 a year to gain a theoretical temperature reduction of less than one-thousandth of a degree C.

Adelaide’s Prof Plimer has just released a book ‘Heaven and Earth: Global Warming,  The Missing Science‘ which has been hailed as the sceptics Bible. He said that to link carbon emissions with climate change would require ‘many non-scientific leaps of faith.’

There are now thousands of international scientists joining the ranks of the sceptics. Noted UK botanist and TV presenter David Bellamy, claims he has been banned by the BBC for his outspoken views that climate change is part of a natural cycle.

‘The world is now facing spending a vast amount of money in tax trying to solve a problem that doesn’t actually exist,’ he said.

So no, the science is far from settled, despite what we have constantly been told. And repeating a non-proven, hotly disputed claim doesn’t necessarily make it a fact.

Now the ETS has been deferred, a proper public inquiry should be conducted to allow scientists on both sides of the climate debate to present their views.

The truth is out there. We deserve to know if climate change is real problem or just political hot air.

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First published as a comment by John here.

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Agmates member John Mikkelsen writes: (Click on Video at end of article to listen to some great music while you read Johns article).

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I’VE decided I’m cursed, probably by the ghost of a Chinaman I’ve never met, who has been systematically sabotaging anything electric I touch.

Most likely, this is revenge for a recent article I called The China Syndrome, but it’s too late to change that.

Now there’s the TV set that only turns on when it wants to, the hot water system that stayed out in the cold for a week, the shonky near-new DVD player and the computer that refused to work.

But it hasn’t ended there -- the curse is still with me. Take the day Mrs Mikko chose to invite her work colleagues and their families around for a barbecue.

Any other day would have been fine (literally), but she chose the one day when Noah would have realised he hadn’t been slaving in vain over God’s secret plan to save the planet by drowning most of it. Fortunately we remained high and dry despite the deluge and gale force winds which didn’t deter the guests, whose ages ranged from about four to 74, with a couple of teenagers thrown in.

In fact, everything was going swimmingly until I attempted to play some music -- insert the disc, wait a few seconds and then … the sounds of silence. No, I’m not talking about the Simon and Garfunkle classic, just the sound that didn’t come from the hi-fi speakers. So I take out the disc, wipe it on my shirt and try again.
Nothing. So I try poking the player in the laser “eye” with a cotton bud, while a female guest asks,

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“Is that the latest gadget to have joined the strike, John?”

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Laughter from some of the other guests.  So I tell her the damn thing worked fine yesterday, and it must be the humidity. I also tell her that down in the garage (Mrs Mikko won’t allow it upstairs) lurks an ancient hi fi set which still plays my old vinyl records and sounds great, with a huge thumping bass, 40 years after I brought it home.

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“This modern stuff is crap,” I rant. “You don’t get things fixed anymore, it’s cheaper to toss them out and buy a new one.”

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So I’m sitting back enjoying another beer and ignoring the girl talk, when out of the blue the stereo comes to life.
Stevie Ray Vaughan starts belting out the guitar blues as only he can and the lyrics to “Texas Flood” drown out the rain on the roof.

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“It’s flooding down in Texas, all  the telephone lines are down …” Stevie laments.

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Couldn’t be more apt, but if any of the guests thought I’d orchestrated the whole thing, it was done by a force outside my control -- a poltergeist with a sense of humor. But I’m philosophical about it by now … just relax and go with the flow.

Later after the guests have all gone, I’m in a mellow mood and pondering the enigmatic lyrics to the haunting Led Zeppelin classic, “Stairway to Heaven.” Part of this goes,

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” And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune, Then the Piper will lead us to reason. And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, And the forests will echo with laughter… … And it makes me wonder… “Yes there are two paths you can go by, But in the long run there’s still time to change the road you’re on..”

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Those words were first heard on the album Black Dog released in 1971, but I’m thinking there could be a message for the major political parties in an election aftermath. So as we “wind on down the road”, only time will tell if we are on the right path or if the piper will lead us to reason once more.

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Originally posted by John here, includes video of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood”

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Agmate and Gladstone QLD local John Mikkelsen [pictured] writes:

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Workers engaged on Gladstone’s Rio Tinto sites are hoping the 600 job losses about to take effect are not just the tip of the iceberg.

The worst part for employees who have not already been informed if they still have a job, is waiting for the axe to fall.

Several hundred of the people affected will know by this weekend as contractors and Rio implement more of the cull on workers announced a couple of weeks ago. But many of their colleagues still won’t know if they will be next to go, as the ranks of jobless in Queensland mining industries exceed 5000 this year.

The current cuts reflect a downturn in the aluminium industry, not directly linked to the controversial move by Chinese Government- owned Chinalco to acquire a $27 billion stake in Rio.

Thousands of workers in the aluminium capital of Gladstone and some far-flung mining communities have been nervously waiting as the clock slowly ticks down to Judgment Day on the Chinalco bid.

But it could take another couple of months before the smoke finally clears on the Chinese move to grab a big slice of their employer and its Australian resources.

Rio’s ambitious $55 billion merger with Alcan in 2007 is now an albatross around its neck, with major debt reduction a priority.

Collectively the Rio operations in Gladstone employed more than 3000 workers and contractors, many of whom have been waiting in limbo since the company first announced last year it would be axing 14,000 jobs world-wide. Earlier this year it foreshadowed a further 1100, but up until a couple of weeks ago, Gladstone had not felt any major effects.

Suddenly, all that has changed with the latest round of cuts biting deep and sending a clear message the company was not making idle threats.

Who knows how many more jobs could go if the Chinalco bid is rejected? Who knows how far the ripple effect will spread through the entire community?

There had been speculation the $2 billion stage 2 expansion at the Yarwun alumina refinery would be in the firing line; the latest announcement that completion would be delayed by two years rather than dropped, may offer some breathing space.

But there is much uncertainty about the Chinalco bid. Concerned Gladstone resident and long-time clean air campaigner, Ian Woodhouse, recently took a protest sign to some of the city’s busiest roundabouts, calling for a halt to foreign ownership of Australian resources. He is not alone, judging by several SMS text comments published in The Observer.

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“Three bowls of rice a day, coming soon to a workplace near you,” was one message.

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Another may have echoed the thoughts of some workers:

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“Instead of wasting our federal surplus on the great unwashed, who not buy up Rio Tinto… Before we all become refugees in our own country?”

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There has been strong opposition voiced on the national scene, including former treasurer Peter Costello, Greens Senator Bob Brown and Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce, who has also launched a protest petition on his website.

Ultimately a decision will be made on the Chinalco bid by Treasurer Wayne Swan after the Foreign Investment Review Board finally announces its finding. It will also have to be approved by shareholders in Australia and Britain, where there has been some strong opposition.

Meanwhile there are huge industrial projects in the pipeline to keep Gladstone firing in the future. At least three Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) plants are proposed, plus a nickel smelter, steel mill and pig iron plant, the combined costs of which would rival Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s controversial combined stimulus packages.

But none of that offers immediate hope to the hundreds of workers suddenly about to join the dole queues, or their nervous co-workers.

END

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Have Your Say!

Agmates member John Mikkelsen writes:

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IT’S been hailed as the possible final solution to Australia’s greatest biological menace and attacked as too cruel to contemplate, depending on where you stand.

I find it pretty interesting that scientists are finally following up on some practical research I did as a school kid, going where many would fear to tread.

I’m talking about the latest idea by research scientists to use the native meat ant to attack advancing hordes of cane toads, which have reportedly been found as far south as Melbourne.

The toads were introduced to Queensland in 1935 as biological warfare against the sugar cane beetle but the plan soon came unstuck in a big way. The beetles lived near the top of the tall cane and the warty foreigners couldn’t jump that high, so they just started eating almost anything else that moved and crawled including many native birds, frogs, reptiles and small mammals.

Uh-oh, bad idea. What makes it worse, the poisonous toads have no predators other than humans behind the wheel of trucks, wielding golf clubs or plastic bags destined for the freezer.

That was until researcher Rick Shine saw the light when he discovered the ugly amphibians don’t hop away too fast from anything silly enough to try to eat them. Being poisonous, they just tend to wait for their attacker to die by heart failure.

Enter the meat ant, also a voracious eater, a day-time hunter, and best of all, no heart as such.

(more…)

Posted by Agmates member John Mikko [pictured] :

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A few weeks ago I wrote an article asking why some of the stimulus money to be spent on infrastructure projects could not be spent on a Bradfield type scheme. That article was also published by the Courier Mail.

Here is Roy & HG Nelson discussing it on The Dump. I think like me you’ll get a good laugh out of this.

Bludging Rivers

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(Posted by John on yesterdays Readers Forum)

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