Agmates

The QLD Liberal National Party have today announced they will move to protect Iconic farmland in Queensland.

It beggers belief that any State Political party could differentiate itself by promising to protect prime farming land and hence a state and the nations food security.

As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen [pictured] has observed:

“There is no such thing as an apolitical food problem.

While drought and other naturally occurring events may trigger famine conditions, it is government action or inaction that determines its severity, and often even whether or not a famine will occur.

The 20th century is full of examples of governments undermining the food security of their own nations - sometimes intentionally.

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LNP Shadow Minister for Food Security & Agriculture Ray Hopper [pictured] announced today:

“A LNP government would use legislation passed today (Mines and Energy Legislation Amendment Bill) to protect prime farm lands including the Felton Valley, Jimbour Plain, Pittsworth and the Lockyer Valley from being lost to mining.

I’m not against mining and certainly not against the financial benefits that mining brings to Queensland, but I am committed to preserving our best and most productive farm lands for future generations.

However, we need to protect our best farming land in the same way as they do in Europe. We’re very lucky in Australia because we’ve always been able to produce enough food …we’ve never starved ….we need to ensure that never happens.”

Ray is dead right. For those of you who don’t believe Food security will ever be a problem here in Australia lets just have a look at the USA the worlds superpower, cradle of democracy and capitalism.

Food insecurity has been described as “a condition in which people lack basic food intake to provide them with the energy and nutrients for fully productive lives.” (Hunger Task Force)

In 2005, 35.1 million Americans, which includes 22.7 million adults and 12.4 million children, lived in households that were unable to afford the food they need for the year.[19]

Households that are more likely to experience food insecurity are female-headed with children, those with incomes below the poverty line, and those that reside either in principal cities or within rural areas.[20]

The top three states ranking in prevalence of food insecure households between 2003-2005 were New Mexico (16.8%), Mississippi (16.5%), and Texas (16.0%).”

Do those figures stun you - they do me, and that was before the global financial crisis. No doubt it will be worse now.

With the worlds population expected to grow by another 3 billion people between now and 2050 food security will become the issue of national significance. Food insecurity in a nation causes political and social upheaval.

Ray Hopper and the LNP have demonstrated great wisdom in todays announcement and for that he receives a converted Agmates “Onya” award.

A huge Thumbs up from the Agmates Community. Ray is the first State Politician to receive an “Onya”

“Onya” Ray.

See All “Onya” recipients Here.

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Rural and regional Australia is once gain a winner as Prime Minister KEVIN Rudd moves boldly to bolster economic activity and insulate Australia against the worst effects of the Global credit crisis.

On the back of announcing last weeks $10.4 biilion cash stimulus of which 2.9 million rural and regional Australians will pocket $4 billion the PM last night announce $600 million will be fast tracked into spending on small local infastucture projects.

The Commonwealth will pump $600 million into local councils to deliver small projects that are set to go in a bid to boost rural & regional economies and shield local communities from job losses that may happen as the impacts of the Global credit crisis hit.

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“Australian Local Government Association president Paul Bell [pictured] said local governments could get started on the backlog of public works projects almost immediately.

“We have got the plans, we have got the designs, we know the priorities,” Mr Bell said.

“In many cases, this is spending we have had to continually defer, so this money could hit the ground very, very quickly.

Body: “It would boost local economies and replace and maintain the kind of infrastructure that really provides the glue for these communities.”

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The new funding program will be targeted at public infrastructure, such as sports grounds, libraries, transport systems, community halls, bridges and local roads. None of the money be available to private business as it was under the Howard governments much criticized Regional partneship scheme.

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In 2006, the Australian Local Government Association commissioned a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers that found there was a $14.5 billion backlog in necessary spending on local government infrastructure.

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The Howard government for the large part left rural and regional Australia to ‘die on the vine’.

So for moving boldly to begin to address the neglect of infrastructure in local communities the PM wins his second Agmates “Onya” in last 7 days.

A big Thumbs up from the Agmates community.

“Onya” Kevin.

I must say the PM’s bold actions over the last two weeks have me feeling better about my decision to vote Labor at the last election.

Thats not to say I’m smart - I mean I’m ashamed to admit it but I did vote for Hansen in the Senate. All that achieved was helping her get a $200,000 tax payer funded cheque.

As I was to discover after the election, she’d been too distracted by a relationship to do any serious campaigning - but happily took the cheque because mugs like me were duped into believing she was busting to get into the Senate and work for rural & regional Australians.

As it worked out we have ended up with two Independent Senators, Fielding and Xenophon who are doing a tremendous job looking after the interests of rural & regional Australians.

As far as Hansen is concerned - Never again.

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Federal treasurer Wayne Swan is the man born for these times.

Earlier this week we awarded Prime Minister Kevin Rudd an Agmates “Onya” award for stepping up and taking National leadership with his historic announcement that the government would guarantee all bank deposits for 3 years to calm the nation.

The Federal treasurer Wayne Swan returned from New York last week, where he was at ‘ground zero”, Wall Street as world economies teetered on the brink of collapse.

Under his guiding hand yesterday we saw the Labor government announce a $10.4 billion dollar stimulous package as a preemptive strike to ward off a recession.

The last time we saw a stimulus package anything like this was in 1992 when in the grips of “the recession we had to have” with unemployment at 10% Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating announced his economy pump priming “Working Nation” package. He was way to slow in introducing it and the economy was in terrible shape when he did.

My ALP connections tell me that while Wayne Swan is not at his best in front of the media, he thrives with a challenge like we are facing, with a tremendous focus and determination. He was born for exactly this challenge.

I think that he and Prime Minister kevin Rudd, the boys from Nambour High School, have shown tremendous leadership this week.

So todays Agmates “Onya” award goes to treasurer Wayne Swann.

A big thumbs up from Agmates over the stimulous package.

“Onya” Wayne

Rural & Regional Australia to get $4billion of $10.4billion Stimulus Package.

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Photo from the Australian Newspaper web site. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra yesterday;

Photo Ray Strange.

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Leadership is never given, its always taken.

Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday stepped up to the plate and took national leadership with announcement to guarantee the savings and bank deposits of all Australian

If you missed it you can watch the speech here.

Well done Prime Minister, yesterday you moved from being the Prime Minister to our Nations leader with your bold actions to calm Australians jangled nerves and showing we have a steady set of hands at the national wheel.

For that you’ve joined the prestigious list of Agmates “Onya“ awards winners.

From the Agmates community a big thumbs up.

“Onya” Kevin

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Got a tip off, article or have you seen a video or item you’d like to be seen by the Agmates Community? If so please email it to us at news@agmates.com

QLD Senator Ron Boswell [pictured] has written to Agmates about Ross Garnaut’s fanciful suggestion that Australian farmers graze Roo’s instead of cattle and sheep.

This article has earned Senator Boswell our latest Agmates “Onya” award.

In the article he demonstrates a particularly deep understanding of how the Australian Farming industry works. This understanding is something that Garnaut and the green brigade supporting this fanciful idea obviously lack.

KANGAROO FARMS - A EUREKA MOMENT FROM GARNAUT

The Garnaut Review suggests that Australia takes 9.1million hectares out of current land use to grow trees and that we run 240 million kangaroos instead of 7 million cattle and 36 million sheep. This is a daft proposition totally removed from reality.

On Page 547 of the Garnaut Review, it says:-.

“They conclude that by 2020 beef cattle and sheep numbers in the rangelands could be reduced by 7 million and 36 million respectively, and that this would create the opportunity for an increase in kangaroo numbers from 34 million today to 240 million by 2020. They estimate that meat production from 175 million kangaroos would be sufficient to replace the forgone lamb and beef meat production …”

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It reads more like a sci fi horror movie than an intelligent policy proposal.

Firstly, taking 9.1m ha to grow trees will savage agricultural food production, hurting domestic food security as well as that of our overseas buyers.

Secondly, the idea of running kangaroos on such a massive scale beggars belief.

• All the fences would have to be trebled in height for starters.
• New investment in saleyards, kangaroo trucks and abattoirs would be required.
• Even tagging poses problems if the National Livestock Identification Scheme applied.
• I don’t think the Australian people would like to see their national symbol branded with a branding iron.
• Producers would have to establish stud breeder criteria and registration, artificial insemination procedures and so on.
• Kangaroo stewards at Royal Agricultural Shows would need to be trained and appointed and probably protected as they led the Show Champion Kangaroo around the ring.

Woolworths could re-badge themselves as ‘The Fresh Roo People’.

We would have to invest in new advertising to market our product overseas, perhaps along the lines of ‘Put another roo on the barbie’ or ‘Where the bloody hell are roo?’

Seriously, can you take this report seriously?

How do we sell the need to adapt to climate change when the leading advice contains this fantasy?

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For that great piece of common sense Senator Boswell joins out prestigious list of Agmates “Onya’ Recipients.

In fact this is Ron’s second “Onya” award. (to date the only person to have won two).

So “Onya” Ron from the Agmates community. A big Thumbs up.

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Got a tip off, article or have you seen a video or item you’d like to be seen by the Agmates Community? If so please email it to us at news@agmates.com

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Family First Senator Steve Fielding has earnt himself an Agmates “Onya” award after negotiating an exemption for farmers from the Labor Governments “Luxury Car Tax”.

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After voting against the bill two weeks ago, Senator Fielding has managed to squeeze $40 million worth of concessions out of the Government that will see tourism operators and farmers able to claim back the tax after buying four-wheel-drives.

“The amendments negotiated with the Government provide refunds to farmers and tourism operators so they can claim back the extra 8% car tax from the Tax Office once they have purchased their four-wheel-drive vehicle,” Senator Fielding said.

“The amendments allow claims up to $3000 per year for primary producers and $3000 per vehicle per year for tourism operators.”

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Senator Fielding Voted with the coalition to pass the bill the second time it was presented after the amendments were made. Fielding and the coalition understand that owning a four wheel drive vehicle for farmers is a safety issue not a luxury.

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“Farmers are also dependent on heavy-duty four-wheel-drive vehicles … which offer reliability and safety in regional and remote areas.”

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Farmers when they leave their properties must negotiate unsealed roads many of which are only suitable for four wheel drives. They must also negotiate the dangers livestock on unfenced roads and the perils of native fauna including Kanagroos, Pigs, Emus etc.

Apparently those in the labor party have no concept of driving on bush roads and as usual have no quarms in screwing our farmers any time they can.

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So a big “Onya” to Senator Fielding from the Agmates community and farmers across Australia.

A big Thumbs up from us.

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Got a tip off, article or have you seen a video or item you’d like to be seen by the Agmates Community? If so please email it to us at news@agmates.com

Brisbanes Courier Mail newspaper and the online media Crikey are the shared recipients of this weeks Agmates “Onya” award.

It has been over 2 weeks now and they have not ran one anti farmer, anti rural Australian article.

Their last efforts were:

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Courier Mail 10th Sept - Land Clearing to Turn QLD into a Desert.

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Crikey - 4th September - QLD Farmers Illegally land Clearing.

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In fact the Courier mail wins a double thumbs up. They were relentlessly running BS articles about Climate Change and Global Warming principally spoon fed to them by WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

The Courier Mails last Global Warming rubbish story was over a month ago when they ran this:

Homes at Risk from Rising Seas. on the 20th of August.

Nothing since. So well done to both media organizations for tidying up their act, especially the Courier Mail.

It would certainly appear that the Courier Mail now understands that there are about 3 million people (potential readers) in Queensland who live outside of Brisbane in Rural & Regional areas .

Its a delight to see they have abounded their anti farmer, anti rural bias.

Onya Guys.

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A big thumbs up from the Agmates online community.

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Got a tip off, article or have you seen a video or item you’d like to be seen by the Agmates Community? If so please email it to us at news@agmates.com

The QLD government might have sold them a dump by downgrading their hospital but even that won’t stop this progressive north Queensland community.

Richmond Shire Council is selling housing blocks in the town for $1. The 600 sq metre housing blocks are fully serviced with bitumen road frontage, power , water and sewerage.

The land grab happens on the 6th of October.

Richmond Council CEO Michelle Clarke [pictured] is no dummy. Michelle has a Bachelor of Law and Administration, Newcastle University NSW.

Speaking about the promotion she said:

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“We’ve decided that we want to help people out for $1 in the hope that in return they will build a home and move to Richmond and maybe offer some skills in the town.

Ideally it would be good to get some people with some skills - we don’t have a vet, we don’t have a hairdresser, and we’re always looking for truck drivers and people with trades.”

Michelle and the Richmond Councilors Mayor John Wharton, Cr Joan Harris, Cr Rob Ievers, Cr Stephen Singles, Cr June Kuhl are worthy winners of todays Agmates “Onya” award.

“Onya” for this great innovative idea and in the true Aussie spirit - having a go.

For more details on the land sale contact the Richmond Shire Council on (07) 4741-3277

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Isn’t this a wonderful idea and example of a rural community making things happen?

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Got a tip off, article or have you seen a video or item you’d like to be seen by the Agmates Community? If so please email it to us at news@agmates.com

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Federal Water Minister Penny Wong [pictured] is to be congratulated for instigating the purchase of the giant outback irrigation property Toorale.

Wong is the recipient of today’s Agmates “Onya” award.

However the Federal government has come under heavy criticism from some quarters and that is to be expected as there are no easy solutions to the Murray Darling River System crisis.

Rural Press Canberra based reporter Lucy Skuthorp takes particular exception with the purchase in her syndicated article in the companies rural papers, The Land, The Country Life, The Stock Journal, The Stock & Land, The Farm Journal and the North QLD Register.

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“Federal Minister for Water, Penny Wong, and her new NSW counterpart, Carmel Tebbutt, might be celebrating their purchase along with the media and conservation organisations which campaigned long and hard for the Government to buy the property.

None of this purchase makes sense, apart from keeping some Greens and city-based journalists happy.

If they’d taken just a day to have lesson 101 in “how the rivers flow” they would have found this property does not achieve what the Government wants it to.

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Skuthorp is wrong. In my working life I have lived on the banks of the Warrego river at Cunnamulla upstream from Toorale and in the city of Broken Hill which draws its drinking water from the Darling river at Menindee down stream from Toorale. I have also lived and worked on the banks of the Bulloo river at Quilpie.

The purchase of Toorale has zero affect on anybody on the Warrego river upstream from Toorale which is at the very end of the river. Downstream the purchase it is a god send for all those between Toorale and where the Darling meets the Murray at Mildura in northern Victoria.

In the summer of 2000-2001there was particularly good rain in Northern NSW which caused the Darling river to flood for a good 5-6 weeks. From memory in late January 2001 the Darling at Menidee receded back into its banks after running a complete banker for that 5-6 week period. I had assumed such a prolonged run of a great volume of water would ‘flush’ the system and return it to great health.

I was wrong. Just a couple of weeks later when I crossed the Darling at Menindee heading to Ivanhoe to see that the water in the river was a putrid green with fish floating dead on the surface.

It was at that point that I realized just how sick the Darling river system was/is.

When I inquired with the Department of Primary Industries at Broken Hill as to what was going on they said that it was a result of the high concentration of nutrients in the water, combined with the summer heat had sapped the river water of oxygen, hence the dying fish. The nutrients I was told came from run off from higly fertilized irrigation properties upstream.

Skuthorp has no concept of how these ancient western river systems work. These rivers do not flow from high Alpine regions as do the rivers of the Southern portion of the Murray Darling.

They are actually the low drainage section of a vast and flat landscape. If you look at any topographic map of these regions particularly the lower ends of the Warrego, Paroo and Bullo rivers they are just a series of water courses not rivers as Urban people like Skuthorp might imagine them.

When excess rain falls over a large area and the soils become saturated the water runs off into the rivers via usually dry gullies and the odd dry creek. That is why when you see pictures of the Darling, Warrego, Paroo or Bulloo rivers the water is an earth brown colour.

In the long dry periods between these exceptional rain periods that is the ‘norm’ in the outback the bottom end of these river systems are just dry water courses.

The Warrego river heads in the Augathella district of QLD which is a 24 inch (600mm) annual rainfall but by the time it travels just 100kms to Charleville is is back to 18 inch rainfall (450mm) and at Toorale a further 350kms south the rainfall is just 14 inches (350mm).

Graziers downstream are happy that the weir that blocks the Warrego from entering the Darling at Toorale will be removed releasing an immediate 14 gigalitres into the Darling.

I spoke to Hamish Halcombe, the Chairman of the Australian Floodplains Association and he said that the association viewed the purchase as a ‘positive’ move.

Speaking to Mog Etheridge from ‘Kalyanka’ Station on the Darling river downstream from Toorale and just above Wilcannia, she also thought it was a positive outcome for the river.

In January this year following good rain at the top end of the Warrego saw substantial amounts of water flowed downstream with minor flooding at Cunnamulla [pitured below].

However graziers downstream from Toorale on the Darling saw virtually no water from the run in the Warrego at a time the Darling desperately needed it (still does). I have been told me that down stream graziers believe up to 80% of the Warrego water was trapped at Toorale weir and never made it into the Darling System

There has been much made of the impact of the closing down on the outback rural community of Bourke. Whilst it is true that there will be some impact, it has been grossely over exaggerated.

Toorale was owned by a British company which owns 18 Rural properties (745,000hectares or 1.86 million acres) across Northern NSW and Southern Queensland, a Cotton Gin at Bourke and has its own Stock and station agency business which looks after 1 client - Clyde Agriculture.

Across that entire conglomerate they employ up to just 120 full time staff.

The rest as with all large scale corporate Agricultural businesses are seasonal contractors, most of whom don’t live anywhere near Bourke.

From Clydes web site:

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Clyde Agriculture Limited is owned 100% by John Swire & Sons Pty Ltd, the Australian holding company for the UK based Swire Group.

Clyde has two subsidiaries: Darling River Cotton Pty Ltd, which operates the cotton gin at Bourke, and Wesbeef Agencies Pty Ltd, a licensed stock and station agent which operates only on behalf of the parent company.

The Company normally employs approximately 120 permanent staff.

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I congratulate Federal Water Minister Penny Wong and the Rudd government on the purchase of Toorale.

For that Minister Wong gets the ‘thumbs up’.

She is added to the list of receipients of the Agmates “Onya” award. Onya Penny.

There has been no under handed ‘taking’ by resumption. A willing seller in the form of Clyde Agriculture has meet a willing buyer in the form of the Australian public through the Federal and State govertnments with $24 million dollars changing hands in a totally transparent transaction.

Outrage and criticism from journalist like Skuthorp who know nothing of the real plight of the Darling River system but yet espouse to do so is pathetic.

Skuthorp should stick to writing pseudo Federal National Party press releases drip fed to her in her Canberra office and not pretend to have any idea of what is actually going on with our treasured outback river systems.

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Agmates “Onya” award today goes to Queensland Nationals Senator Ron Boswell.

Senator Ron Boswell has spoken out after Conservation group WWF has blamed climate change for the coldest August in Sydney for more than 60 years.

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“The freezing temperatures are proof of the urgent need to cut carbon pollution, according to WWF development and sustainability program manager Paul Toni.”

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Now wait a minute, commonsense would tell us that Labors Carbon Emission Reduction Scheme is being forced upon us to cut CO2 emissions that is causing Global warming? Ron Boswell thinks so too and is brave enough to state the bleeding obvious.

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“I thought we were concerned with the perils of global warming, that we had to act immediately to stop temperatures and water levels rising and inflicting untold disaster,’

Now the WWF wants us to believe that manmade carbon emissions are responsible for colder temperatures.

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It did not take Labor long to vilify Boswell over his comments. Victorian Labor Senator Gavin Marshall a former Victorian assistant secretary of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) yesterday accused Senator Boswell of being a “redneck”.

This is typical of the GW “alarmist”. No sustance just a personal attack on anybody who dares to speak the obvious truth.

Senator Boswell speaking on a Bill amending greenhouse gas reporting by companies went on to say;

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“The governments green paper is a recipe for colossal damage to our ket competitive industries.”

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Senator Boswell wins an “Onya” from the Agmates community for common sense and the courage to speak out.

“Onya” Ron.

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