Agmates

The Senate inquiry into the Murray Darling is due to report later this week and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young [ pictured] have laid it on the line to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Labor.

You have to love the new balance of power that the Senate has. Last week we saw Family First Senator Steve Fielding winning the practical and much needed exemption for farmers from the “Luxury car tax”. This week we’ll see enormous pressure on the government to in the words of Senator Hanson-Young “pull the states into line”.

The Greens Senator from South Australia said the federal Government had to step in and remove Victoria’s 4 per cent annual limit on the amount of water that can be traded from its irrigation districts.

Echoing those sentiments, Senator Xenophon, also from South Australia, told The Australian: “

“The Rudd Government has lacked the political backbone, to use that Paul Keating phrase.

The Rudd Government, when it comes to taking on Premier Brumby, has been a shiver looking for a spine.“

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The main reason that the Crisis is happening is because of years of bloody minded political State parochialism.

The “we are fine, so stuff you Jack” attitude of Victorian Premier John Brumby [ pictured] in relation to the Murray again sparked a verbal war between the states on Friday when he declared Victoria was doing all the “heavy lifting” when it came to saving the Murray River.

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Senator Xenophon summed it up when he said,

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“When Mr Brumby tries to lecture us about responsible water policy it’s a bit like Osama bin Laden calling for world peace.

The Government doesn’t have the numbers in the Senate and I think that they need to heed the need for using their powers,”

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So at last we might see the Senate force a federal government to take control of the Murray Darling System. As long as management of the basin is divided between the Governments of four States - (Victoria, New South wales, Queensland and South Australia) it will be what it always be as it has been - a disaster.

The sooner we get rid of state governments altogether, will be for the better in my book.

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Have your say!

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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

If you still have doubts about whether man made climate change is real, stop it because according to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:

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We must prepare for a low-carbon economy, to delay any longer, to stay in denial as the climate change skeptics and some members opposite would have us do, is reckless and irresponsible.

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The Prime Minister made that statement in an unexpected and impassioned speech yesterday near the end of a long parliamentary debate on a government bill that clears the way for millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide to be stored under the sea.

Throughout the speech Rudd emphasized the need for URGENT action:

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Expert analysis points to severe global and national consequences including rising sea levels, more severe weather events, water shortages, large-scale migration, increased threats to border security, loss of infrastructure and regional conflict over increasingly scarce resources.

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He finished up with the following emotion call to action (more about this later):

“For our generation, for our kids and future generations, we must act now.”

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The Prime Minister has continually maintained that he takes his advise from the IPCC science on this matter.

But who are these expert analysis?

From the Prime Minister’s agenda and language it would appear that his adviser on the science is none other than James Hansen. Hansen is the father of the Global warming alarmist movement since the 1980’s and just happens to be AlGore’s science adviser.

A personal letter written from James Hansen written to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on the 27th of March 2008 is most revealing. You can click through and read the letter in full at the Crikey web site, but here are some extract that show Rudd parroting what Hansen has written:

In the letter Hansen urges Rudd to act - just notice how he plays to Rudd’s ego and his ambition to be a major player on the world stage. Hansen lays it on with a trowel.

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I recognize that for years you have been a strong supporter of aggressive forward-looking actions to mitigate dangerous climate change. Also, since your election as Prime Minister of Australia, your government has been active in pressing the international community to take appropriate actions.

We are now at a point that bold leadership is needed, leadership that could change the course of human history.

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Hansen then goes on to say the situation is URGENT, NEAR critical tipping points and then spells out what COULD happen:

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“Global climate is near critical tipping points that could lead to …. progressive, unstoppable global sea level rise, shifting of climatic zones with extermination of many animal and plant species, reduction of freshwater supplies for hundreds of millions of people, and a more intense hydrologic cycle with stronger droughts and forest fires, but also heavier rains and floods, and stronger storms driven by latent heat, including tropical storms, tornados and thunderstorms.

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Funny that’s exactly what Rudd has been telling the Australian Public, almost word for word. Then Hansen goes on to chronicle the dangers of coal and recommend the development of the very thing that Rudd unexpectantly spoke so passionately about in Parliament yesterday, carbon capture. -

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“Due to the dominant role of coal, solution to global warming must include phase-out of coal except for uses where the CO2 is captured and sequestered.

Yet there are plans for continuing mining of coal, export of coal, and construction of new coal-fired power plants around the world, including in Australia, plants that would have a lifetime of half a century or more.”

Then Hansen lays it on with a trowel again. Note the word COULD

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Your leadership in halting these plans COULD seed a transition that is needed to solve the global warming problem.

If Australia halted construction of coal-fired power plants that do not capture and sequester the CO2, it could be a tipping point for the world. There is still time to find that tipping point, but just barely.

I hope that you will give these considerations your attention in setting your national policies. You have the potential to influence the future of the planet.

Prime Minister Rudd, we cannot avert our eyes from the basic fossil fuel facts, or the consequences for life on our planet of ignoring these fossil fuel facts.

If we continue to build coal-fired power plants without carbon capture, we will lock in future climate disasters associated with passing climate tipping points. We must solve the coal problem now.

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To finish Hansen recommends 7 Australian scientist who are his disciples, for further reference.

I commend to you the following Australian climate, paleoclimate and Earth scientists to provide further elaboration of the science reported in my attached paper (Hansen et al., 2008):
Professor Barry Brook, Professor of climate change, University of Adelaide
Dr Andrew Glikson, Australian National University
Professor Janette Lindesay, Australian National University
Dr Graeme Pearman, Monash University
Dr Barrie Pittock, CSIRO
Dr Michael Raupach, CSIRO
Professor Will Steffen, Australian National University
Sincerely,
James E. Hansen
Kintnersville, Pennsylvania
United States of America

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Oh don’t forget the references to the little children.

Hansen said:

Prospects for today’s children, and especially the world’s poor, hinge upon our success in stabilizing climate.

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Or here from Hansen’s report on his lobbying trips to the UK, Germany & Japan in July

If we continue to ignore obvious geophysical facts about the magnitude of fossil fuel reservoirs, our children and grandchildren will have little reason to forgive our obtuseness.

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Kevin Rudd in Parliament yesterday:

“For our generation, for our kids and future generations, we must act now.”

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Or Here from his appearance on 60 minutes.

Look at your kids in the eye tonight and ask yourself this question - “If we have this much evidence available to us now “on climate change and just refuse to act, “then what are the consequences for them?”

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It’s comforting to know that an American NASA professor who cannot convince his own government to sign the Kyoto protocol is driving Australia to leading the world into a carbon constrained future.

It appears that on the advice of a one US professor Kevin Rudd is about to launch Australia into the greatest shake up of our economy the nation has ever seen. By the time the Kevin Rudd / James Hansen agenda is in place we will be poorer as a nation, but at least we’ll be cleaner.

Oh sorry I forgot because we only represent 1.3% of world CO2 emissions, cutting our Greenhouse gas emission will actually have zero impact on world emissions.

But its important to be seen on the world stage as a visionary leader and savior of the planet, when you spend as much time overseas as Kevin Rudd does. Isn’t it Kevin?

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Have Your say!

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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

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Murray Darling Basin chief executive Dr Wendy Craik are adamant that the drought and water crisis in the Murray Darling Basin is caused by climate change.

Rudd & Craik have both stated that the science proves the link between the current drought and global warming. But are they telling the truth?

Recently Rudd mocked opposition leader Brendan Nelson for saying that it had nothing to do with climate change.

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BRENDAN Nelson was yesterday accused of being “blissfully immune” to the effects of climate change after he said the crisis in the Murray-Darling Basin was not linked to global warming… “You need to get with the science on this,” the Prime Minister said. “Look at the technical report put together by the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.”

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Dr Wendy Craik [pictured below] says the current drought affecting Australia’s largest river system has the fingerprints of climate change all over it. …

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“from the Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO and places, there are elements we’re seeing in the current water shortage availability that are relevant to climate change.

“The reduction in late winter and autumn rainfall is linked by the Bureau of Meteorology to the intensification of the subtropical ridge and that’s linked to global warming.

“There are features of the current phenomenon that we find ourselves in - water shortage, drought, whatever you want to call it - that are linked to climate change.

“CSIRO scientists … say this drought has the fingerprints all over it.”

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Agmates has on a number of occasions pointed out how dodgy the science is that Kevin Rudd and Wendy Craik are relying on.

Now Associate Professor Stewart Franks [pictured below] , a hydroclimatologist and an associate professor at the University of Newcastle School of Engineering, very clearly & precisely explains to Prime Minister Rudd and MDB chief Dr Wendy Craik what the science in fact does say:

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“IS the ongoing drought in the Murray-Darling Basin affected by climate change? The simple answer is that there is no evidence that CO2 has had any significant role…

In fact, the drought was caused by an entirely natural phenomenon: the 2002 El Nino event… In short, the drought was initiated by El Nino, protracted by further El Nino events and perhaps more importantly, the absence of substantial La Nina events…

A key claim is that the multiple occurrence of El Nino is a sign of climate change. This is speculative at best. Recent analysis showed the nine-year absence of La Nina was not unusual…”

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Fanks then goes onto deal with Dr Craik’s statements:

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“Indeed, Wendy Craik, the chief executive of the Murray Darling Basin Commission has stated that temperatures were warmer, leading to more evaporation and drier catchments.

This is disturbing to hear from the head of the MDBC, as it is completely at odds with the known physics of evaporation… [ Franks explains the science in detail here]

Craik is not alone in her desire to view CO2-induced climate change as proven and affecting the drought.

Numerous politicians, environmentalists and especially scientists have made spectacular leaps of faith in their adherence to the doctrine of climate change over recent years, too many to document here.”

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Then Stewart Franks delivers a stingy rebuttal to the Prime Minister:

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However, the most literally fantastic claim on climate change must go to Kevin Rudd, who has guaranteed that rainfall will decline over coming decades; one can only assume he’s based his view on deficient climate models and bad advice.

There is no direct evidence of CO2 impacts on the drought, nor is there any rational basis for predicting rainfall in 30 years time.

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Franks last statement will put a chill up the spine of each of us that live and work in rural and regional Australia.

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One just hopes that sensible and sustainable management from our leaders will enable struggling rural communities to weather the vagaries of climatic and political extremes.

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So folks, that is what the science actually says. So why does Kevin Rudd and his long serving Public Servant Dr Wendy Craik keep churning out this global warming alarmist hype?

Are Rudd & Craik deceiving the public or are they just hopelessly ill informed by the 100% Government funded CSIRO and BOM ?

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Have Your say!

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The last 6 weeks has seen above average winter rainfall raise the level of the Murray’s lower lakes in South Australia.

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170mm of rain that has fallen around the lakes since Kevin Rudd visited them in early July

We’ve had exceptional rains in the last six weeks, which have really raised the water level by about six inches (15cm),” Mr Davis said. “We’re really stoked about that.”

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But we should not worry because Kevin Rudd is back from his Pacific Island jaunt.

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Mr Rudd yesterday again to tried assuage public anger about the delay in taking action over the Murray River, saying his Government was working “as fast and as hard” as possible to deal with the crisis.

“I’ve said before that we’ll be back and back again working on the challenges of the Murray-Darling, and this is for me a huge priority,” he said.

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Despite those assurances Federal Water Minister Penny Wong is still playing political games rather than taking action:

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“THE Greens were last night standing firm against Rudd government attempts to soften the proposed Senate inquiry into water availability across the Murray-Darling basin.

Federal Water Minister Penny Wong has proposed a series of changes to the Greens’ terms of reference which would widen and possibly slow the inquiry.

It remains unclear whether the Government will support or oppose the investigation in the Senate tomorrow.”

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Have Your say!

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What a mess the State governments of QLD, NSW, Victoria and South Australia have made of Australia’s greatest river system and food bowl - the Murray Darling Basin.

It is an acknowledged fact that the lower Murray is in crisis because of idiotic state governments of all political persuasions putting state parochialism in front of the good of the rivers themselves.

In the latest storm it has been revealed that in the past 12 months Queensland irrigators have pumped a record 1,014 Gigalitres from the river system as the lower reaches of the river run dry.

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Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water figures show Queensland irrigators took 1,014 gigalitres of water from the river this year, surpassing the previous record of 815 gigalitres in 2003-04.

Federal Water Minister Penny Wong said people who lived downstream were “understandably pretty unhappy” about the situation, as the federal government vowed to buy up more of Queensland’s water for the environment.

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The federal Government has set aside $400million to buy back water allocations with $350million of that being earmarked for Water in Queensland. That has created more angst with controversial irrigation property Cubbie Station set to reap a $100million windfall from new QLD government legislation.

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“A STATE [QLD Gov't] plan to issue a water licence to the Cubbie Group that could be worth as much as $100million to the giant cotton station has been embraced by the Rudd Government.

The federal Opposition said the move was disgraceful.

Queensland Water Minister Craig Wallace (pictured) said plans were proceeding to convert Cubbie’s water allocations — which allow the property to store more than the capacity of Sydney Harbour — to a tradeable licence.

About 25 per cent of the record 1.014 million megalitres diverted from the Murray-Darling system to Queensland irrigators in 2007-08 went to Cubbie storages.

Cubbie, which has been trying to raise $200 million from overseas investors after a succession of losses in recent years, would get a licence for 94,655 megalitres, which could be sold for as much as $1000 a megalitre.

“The plan enables landholders, should they choose, to engage in water trading without having to sell part of their land,” Mr Wallace said.

Mr Wallace said the Bligh Government had not advised Senator Wong about whether the Cubbie Group, which is headed by former state Labor treasurer Keith de Lacy, should be included in allocation buybacks.

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Bill Heffernan labels the move a disgrace:

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NSW Liberal senator Bill Heffernan (pictured) said it was disgraceful that Queensland was proceeding with the licences plan.

“Australian taxpayers ought to be alert to the fact that licences are about to be issued, which will then have to be bought back at their expense,” Senator Heffernan said.

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Meanwhile the federal opposition, the Greens and independent Senator Nick Xenophon have forced the Government into a full Senate inquiry into new ways to save the devestated lower Murray.

But Federal Water Minister Penny Wong is not happy:

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“My view is that what Australians want on the Murray-Darling Basin is action, not another inquiry,” she said.

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Meanwhile those at the bottom of the river system are frustrated by the lack of action as the politicians ‘fiddle’ while the river dies.

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On the shores of the lower lakes yesterday, farmers and townspeople told of their frustration with the lack of action.

Grain and dairy farmer Clem Mason said the water allocation system was defective upstream, and no one seemed in a hurry to fix it. “If you do own water, you are allowed to do what you like with it. That’s our problem: we need a national body that makes the river flow.

Without a national body independent of every government, you do not have a river that will be able to flow because it will be run by votes.”

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Federal and state Politicians have know since 1995 that the Murray Darling system is terminally over allocated through State Legislated water licences.

It is a bloody disgrace that State & Federal Political ineptitude is killing a once great river system.

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Have Your Say!

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Question: What happens when a cash strapped farmer with years of experiences meets government bureaucrat with $50 million in cash but no experience? Answer - the farmer leaves with the money and the bureaucrat leaves with the experience.

Cash strapped drought stricken struggling irrigators have improved their financial position by selling zero allocation water licenses to the government.

Federal Water Minister Penny Wong’s department for has spent $50million tax payers dollars buying zero allocation water irrigation licenses that will return just 10 mega litres of water to the Murray Darling river system - thats just 10 olympic sized swimming pools compared to the promised 23,000 megs.

The department bought the licences because they were cheap. Buying secure water licenses (which would actually return water to the river) would have cost the department $2,300 - $2,500 a meg. General security Licenses (that would only return water to the river when it is full anyway) are just $500 - $600 a meg because the only time they are of any (water) value is when there is huge amounts of water in the river systems.

Federal Opposition water spokesman John Cobb said the Government had bought water from places where it had no chance of being returned to the Murray. He said 40 per cent of the water the federal Government bought was in the Lachlan, Macquarie and Gwydir rivers.

Even in a good year, the Lachlan doesn’t join up (to the Murray River system), so write that off for a start, he said.

Anything in the north isn’t going to get there. They obviously bought the cheapest water they could buy without caring where it came from.

They didn’t buy water, they bought airspace in dams.

Senator Wong has spent $50m of tax payers money for zero result. This is the Senator that Labor touts as one of it’s best and brightest.

Score Card - Whiley farmers +$50m, Government 0/0, Environment 0/0, Tax Payers - $50m.

Honestly how incompetent is this government?

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Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce last night launched a scathing attack on Labor governments that worship market forces yet allow resources to be drained from regions.

Senator Joyce, was speaking at a dinner in Bendigo Victoria (Location) at the invitation of Nationals member for Northern Victoria Damian Drum. They are pictured below at the dinner.

He accused the Rudd and Brumby governments of neglecting rural Victoria and extracting its most valuable resources, without offering anything in return.

The Bendigo Advertiser was there and quoted Senator Joyce as saying:

“The key issue is that we have Labor governments who are continually putting the regions at a commercial disadvantage.

The regions are suffering higher power and petrol costs, and now the north-south pipeline will shift water from productive lands to service metropolitan Melbourne as part of a commercial deal.

If you say, let’s divide everything by market principles and expect farmers in the bush to pay the same amount of money for water as those in Melbourne, then I say get ready to starve.”

Mr Joyce has also called on Prime Minster Rudd to promote a version of the 2020 summit for regional Australia.

Mr Joyce also stuck by a single desk wheat marketing system, in spite of contrary Liberal Party policy.

“The single desk system was the best protection for small grain growers, particularly in Victoria where harvests are later.”

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Have your Say! Do you feel your rural or regional community is under threat by recently introduced Labor policy?