Possible hiccup in VEC data system

Source: Sykes Media Release

Over recent weeks it has come to the attention of Nationals Member for Benalla, Dr Sykes, that something may be amiss with the way the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has processed voting papers in the 2008 Benalla Rural City Council Elections.

“I have been contacted by a number of constituents concerned about the issue of Infringement Notices by the VEC for ‘Invalid Response to Apparent Failure to Vote Notice’,” Dr Sykes said.

The ‘Invalid Response to Apparent Failure to Vote Notice’ is issued following a reply by the constituent to an ‘Apparent Failure to Vote Notice’ and comes with a $57.00 Infringement Notice.

“The circumstances behind each case that has come to my attention appear to be similar in that constituents state that voting papers were returned by mail in the VEC envelope provided, albeit in some cases included in an envelope provided for another member of the same household,” Dr Sykes said. “I have raised the issues identified by my constituents directly with the VEC.

“This raises some doubts about the accuracy of the data upon which the VEC is operating, particularly in view of my own personal experiences with inaccurate information being used by the VEC in relation to whether or not I voted at a State Election and a Melbourne City Council Election,” Dr Sykes continued.

“Within any system, particularly where data entry is computerised, there is always the possibility of error – the VEC should resist having implicit faith in the reliability of its system and therefore assume that the voters are at fault in all cases,” Dr Sykes said. “I call upon the VEC to check their system in light of a number of apparently legitimate concerns raised by voters in the Benalla electorate,” he concluded.

No ‘dam commonsense’

- source: Wangaratta Chronicle

MP criticises governments, cites ‘major doubts’ over water savings as a reason to enlarge local storages

NATIONALS member Ken Jasper (MLA, Murray Valley) has accused state and federal governments, and water authorities, of lacking ‘practical commonsense’ in their approach to North East water issues.

He yesterday re-itereated calls on the State Government to change its policy and fund the extension of water storages in the North East to underpin supply of water, given ‘major doubts’ now cast on so-called water savings from irrigation infrastructure upgrades in the Goulburn system.

"It is ludicrous the government is spending $8 million to strengthen the wall of Lake William Hovell, but will not extend the storage," he said.

"Lake William Hovell, which holds a mere 14,000 megalitres, must be extended to stage two as was originally proposed.

"This storage is ideally located to capture water when rain falls and it fills rapidly."

He said consideration must also be given to the building of Big Buffalo Dam by investigating the current costings for the project, which would increase storage from the current 24,000 megalitres to over one million megalitres

Despite years of lobbying, governments refuse to extend both existing dams and consider the construction of new dams.

"These could store water when rain falls, to be used when needed, for irrigators, town supplies and the environment," Mr Jasper said.

He said Water Minister, Tim Holding, said the Victorian Government continues to be of the view that increasing the capacity of existing dams in northern Victoria is not the solution to improving the security of supply, with Goulburn Murray Water in agreeance.

"It is interesting that the only people who support this policy are the state and federal governments and the water authorities, the ‘so–called experts’," he said.

"Practical commonsense is what is needed.

"Wherever I go, people recognise the need for new and extended storages and call on me to continue fighting.

"Are we all wrong? I don’t believe we are.

"Why would you continue to oppose the extension of storages, recognising there has been no dams built in Victoria since 1983, the growing demand for water, increased population and climate change.

"Surely it is practical commonsense to extend our water storage capacity.

"Logic tells us that with the current drought conditions, dams must be high on the State Government and water authority agenda to underpin water supplies for the future, together with water conservation measures."

Twittering for Swine Flu - Live Feed

Less, but good (King Valley Vintage)

King Valley Wines CEO sees benefits in challenging vintage

Written by STEVE KELLY. - source: Wangaratta Chronicle

KING Valley Wines has finished processing a 2009 vintage two-thirds the size of last year’s production.

It processed 4000 tonnes of fruit this season after beginning on February 5, and although down on yield, company chief executive officer and chief winemaker, Garry Wall, believes it will correct an overhang of stock generated out of the 2008 vintage.

"The vineyard yields have been significantly smaller and demand out of the region has been slightly smaller as well this year," Mr Wall said.

"This is driven by bigger industry demand and supply issues after a large production and a significant overhang of stock in the industry.

"My personal belief is that this vintage will correct a lot of that overhang and certainly not add to it.

"In the longer term it will be very good for the industry that yields are up to 25 per cent below normal."

Last year was up to 25 per cent above average production, and Mr Wall said it needed to balance itself out because there were some very low prices being offered to grape growers this year.

He said almost all the grapes have been sold this year because of lower yields, an aspect that will keep the prices buoyant.

"The industry needed to take a pause after good growth over the last 10 to 15 years - it has done that - now it’s going quite well," he said.

Mr Wall said yields were down due to climatic reasons, as it was a very dry spring and there was some minor frost damage.

He said berry size has also been very small and the fruit set was not as good as last year.

"This is all weather related and it has also been very dry during the growing season," he said.

Mr Wall said it has been a reasonably spaced vintage for King Valley Wines, which takes fruit from all over the Ovens and King valleys.

"It has all worked very well this year and we’re very happy with the outcomes and the quality of the wine which has been produced," he said.

"This region is cooler, and although we did get some very high temperatures, we didn’t get the extremes suffered in South Australia or some other parts of Victoria and New South Wales.

Due to phylloxera, a pest which is very destructive to grape crops, the company processes the fruit in the region exactly the way each vigneron wants it made.

King Valley Wines has been in operation since 2000 and can process 300 tonnes of red grapes through the vinematics at a time.

It is able to achieve this production rate, as the company has spent several hundred thousand dollars over the last 12 months to upgrade equipment.

"It has got to a point (with the new equipment) where we have almost doubled the amount of white grape production over a 24 hour period," he said.

"We process for some of Australia’s wine companies and we make the wine the way they would make it in their own winery - we’re simply the arms, legs and equipment to them.

The company employed 170 people this season and it will drop to six in the off season, including a fulltime employee to maintain the equipment.

Bogong High Plains Road open

source: Sykes Media

Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes, attended the opening of the newly sealed Bogong High Plains Road on Friday, 24 April and said the magnificent drive is a welcome addition to North East Victoria’s year-round tourism.

The road, which runs 36 kilometres between Falls Creek to the Omeo Highway, was completed one month ahead of schedule and creates a key link between North East Victoria and Gippsland.

“The road is an important tourist loop between Falls Creek and Omeo,” Bill Sykes said. “Visitors now have year round access to the spectacular scenery of the Alpine National Park. The sealing of the road also opens up tourism opportunities to local business operators.”

The project is the culmination of ongoing collaboration and commitment between State and Federal Governments, local government and business organisations.

“The surfacing of the road has not come about by chance,” Bill Sykes said. “It is the result of the persistence and determination of the Alpine Shire, in particular previous Mayor Julie Carroll and CEO Doug Sharp. The Falls Creek Resort Management Board and Falls Creek Ski Lifts Pty Ltd were quick to contribute as was the Shire of East Gippsland.

“AGL’s donation of in excess of $3 million of rock spoil from its Hydro tunnelling project is what made it all possible,” Bill Sykes continued.

In attending the opening Bill Sykes said he was pleased to have been instrumental in the lobbying process which has had such a positive outcome.

Bill Sykes also welcomed the important contribution the new road will make toward tourism in the region.

“The all weather road opens up the area for tourism and provides another foundation for local businesses to grow their tourist based income,” Bill Sykes said. “I met with the Mt Beauty Chamber of Commerce last week who expressed their concerns in relation to ongoing tourism in the area. Something like the Bogong High Plains road should provide year round benefits for the tourism industry.”

“The weather on Friday may have been wet but that not dampen the beauty of this pristine landscape. I encourage everyone in the Benalla electorate to take time out and witness for themselves this impressive region of Victoria,” he concluded.

An audio tour can be downloaded from www.parkweb.vic.gov.au onto a CD or MP3 player and listened to on a car stereo. Audio tours are available in Visitor Centres around the Victorian Alps. The audio tour takes in the Bogong High Plains and Mount Hotham as well as smaller townships.

Ozone hole - is it good or bad?

• Global warming 'slowed by pollution' - Telegraph

  • 
  • The first study found that the hole in the ozone layer, caused by the use of CFCs, has prevented the melting of Antarctica even as the rest of the world warms.

    • I am confused! I think it might be an assumption that the hole in the ozone layer was caused by the use of CFCs. If it has prevented the melting of Antarctica even as the rest of the world warms, then where is the problem? - post by gnaylor

  • The ozone layer absorbs heat in the atmosphere, but the emergence of the hole – almost the size of North America – has cooled temperatures, resulting in more ice.

    However following a ban on CFCs the hole in the ozone layer is expected to repair, causing temperatures in the South Pole to rise again.

    • If Antarctica has more ice as a result of all this, surely it is nothing more than nature healing itself. Who are we to try and control nature? - post by gnaylor

Public Land Firewood Strategy must be practical

Source: Sykes media release

“The proposed new Victorian Firewood Strategy for Public Land must remove impractical and unnecessary restrictions imposed on firewood collection by the Brumby Government in recent years,” Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes said this week.

In a statement issued by the Brumby Government, Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings said the development of a new statewide strategy would;

1. ensure firewood collection from public land has a sustainable future
2. that people could conveniently access firewood
3. ensure an efficient and practical system for the pricing and distribution for commercial and non-commercial firewood sourced from public land
4. review the firewood sales system and make it easier to purchase licenses and permits
5. consider better ways to manage the collection of firewood from roadside reserves; and
6. consider the impacts on the environment, particularly the value fallen trees and branches hold as habitat for native species

The Victorian Firewood Strategy for Public Land is to be developed in collaboration with firewood managers, representatives of interest groups (government and other organisations). Firewood collectors and users and the broader public will be given an opportunity to input and identify issues during the development of the strategy. It is proposed a discussion paper will be released before the end of June for public comment and that the strategy will be completed by the end of 2009.

“I never cease to be amazed by the lack of forward thinking in relation to this issue,” Bill Sykes said. “The State Government proposed a Victorian Firewood Strategy back in 2002 and produced a discussion paper, with regional strategies developed within the North East and Bendigo regions. The outcome has been the implementation of impractical and unnecessary restrictions which should never have been enacted in the first place,” Bill Sykes continued. “Now this new strategy is looking at ways to address shortfalls in the current system.”

“One of the biggest issues raised in the aftermath of Black Saturday is fuel load reduction along roadsides. My office has received copies of a lot of submissions to the Bushfire Royal Commission from many areas of the Benalla Electorate and beyond, including Marysville, Goughs Bay, Mt Beauty, Boho, Tawonga, Lima East, Euroa, Strathbogie (and I could go on) – which identify major concerns with the lack roadside clearing in relation to fire safety,” Bill Sykes said.

“It is vitally important the statewide strategy provides a no-nonsense means of accessing wood from public land including roadsides,” he concluded.

For more information on the Victorian Firewood Strategy for Public Land visit www.dse.vic.gov.au or call 136 186 or email firestrat.publicland@dse.vic.gov.au.

Bill Young working with Michael Leunig

Written by TRISH GALLAGHER. - source: Wangaratta Chronicle

Cartoonist Michael Leunig is just one of many renowned artists who make their way to Bill Young’s King Valley studio to print their works.

Bill, a master printmaker, has worked with Leunig off and on during the past 15 years, and is about to embark on a new collaboration - once Leunig finds the time.

"We had an intensive four-year period a while ago when he made an engraving tool by attaching a nail to a piece of dowel and scratching out marks on cement sheet," Bill said.

"That way, he was master of the medium and didn’t have to rely on me to do all the work with acid that etching requires."

Leunig is one of 27 artists in a current Albury Art Gallery exhibition called ‘Bill Young: Printer’s Proof’.

The concept came from the gallery, but when staff went to select work in Bill’s studio, he pulled so many prints out of drawers, they were blown away by the volume and left it up to him to chose which work to hang.

"I guess it’s a selection of my favorites because I’ve worked with a lot more than 27 artists," said Bill.

He has printed all 75 limited editions in the exhibition, big and small, during the past 33 years.

One of his heroes was Louis Kahan, who came to him at 72.

Bill continued to etch all his plates until the artist died at 92.

"I’m very much involved with plate making with the artists and have worked in collaboration with many of them," Bill said.

Other artists in the show include Barbie Kjar, John Neeson, Graeme Peebles, Alick Tipoti, Geoff Ricardo, Treahna Hamm, and older work by Bill’s wife, Anita Laurence.

The exhibition remains at the gallery, 546 Dean Street, Albury, until May 17, weekdays 10am-5pm, Saturday 10am-4pm, and Sunday noon-4pm.

Sykes: on school violence

Coalition supports school principals to combat school violence

Source: Sykes media release 20 April 2009

Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes, has welcomed the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition policy to given principals the necessary powers to keep their school safe in the face of rising school yard violence.

Dr Sykes said, “Whilst the vast majority of students are well behaved, regrettably there has been a dramatic increase in violent incidents at schools with many offenders aged between 10 to 14. Victorian principals, teachers, students and parents need support to stem this upsurge in violence.

“On one hand the Premier claims to be tough on violence and on the other hand he is making it much tougher for principals to expel and suspend students. The rights of the offending minority are being put ahead of the best interests of the vast majority of students.

“The Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition will give power back to school principals because schools, teachers and parents need support in stopping violence in schools”, Dr Sykes said.

Dr Sykes said the Coalition’s Safe Schools plan included:

• Giving principals the right to suspend or expel students at their own discretion. The Coalition will give principals more flexibility to manage poor discipline by giving principals the right to expel and suspend students for the appropriate length of time at their discretion. Labor is currently seeking to remove principals’ right to expel and suspend students following changes by the Department of Education that will cut the total number of days a Victorian student can be suspended from ten to three. Removing this power creates a bureaucratic barrier to schools enforcing discipline and reducing violence.
• Granting principals the right to ban dangerous items from school grounds and introducing legislation to support this right. Knives and other weapons are being used in Victorian schools to bully students and disrupt classes. Principals have a serious lack of clarity in their powers to control the introduction and use of dangerous items on school property. The Coalition will develop legislation confirming the right of principals to ban or confiscate items considered harmful or dangerous.
• Increasing punishment for offences such as assault and vandalism committed on school property by students or others. Increasing violence against students and teachers means a stronger approach to school violence is necessary. The Coalition will direct the Sentencing Advisory Council to immediately explore the introduction of stronger punishments for offences that occur on school property, including assault, vandalism and property damage.
• Investing in professional development for teachers to help maintain discipline in schools. Victorian teachers need help in dealing with difficult, disruptive and violent students. The Coalition will establish a $2 million professional development program to help train teachers, conducted by local and international experts in non-violent dispute resolution. This world’s-best-practice professional development will give teachers additional training and support to establish and maintain discipline in the classroom.

SCHOOL VIOLENCE: BACKGROUND

There were 1,227 reported assaults in schools between January 2006 and August 2008, an average of more than 12 assaults per week. The number of assaults in and around schools increased by more than 150 per cent between 2000 and 2005. Since 2000, the number of violent offenders aged between 10 and 14 has increased by more than 80 per cent. (Source: Victoria Police crime statistics)

Most available school disruption indicators increased substantially between 2007 and 2008, including aggressive behaviour (up 33 per cent), anti-social behaviour (up 11 per cent), student disappearances (up 46 per cent), school intrusions (up 13 per cent), school lockdowns (52, or an average of one per week) and sexual assault (244 reports).

Making hay while the sun shines

Valley farmer thankful for a ‘good’ season

Written by STEVE KELLY. - source: Wangaratta Chronicle

ALTHOUGH many farmers in the North East have been battling the affects of drought, Whitfield’s Robert Gaspari is thankful he lives in "God’s country".

"We’re always getting a little bit of rain and the season has been quite good to us," he said last week.

"We certainly need the rain for the environment and everything to go right and the recent rainfall has been like ‘waving the carrot’ in front of us all the time."

Mr Gaspari will cut his last crop of lucerne for this season next week at his Whitfield property.

But the agricultural contractor since the mid 1980s has been busy recently ploughing land off Peipers Lane.

Mr Gaspari has 124 acres near Gentle Annie Camping Reserve and makes a living out of growing lucerne and pasture, including triticale, perennial ryes, oats and a variety of clover.

It’s a process which is helped along by making sure the ground is prepared correctly before the first seed is sown.

He specialises in ground preparation, pasture renovation and hay contracting right throughout the region - something which has been made a lot easier with his recent purchase of a multi-disc plough.

He was at a Peipers Lane property last week running the plough through soil, which hadn’t grown a crop before.

The land will be used to sow straight oats, which will supply a Shepparton dairy farmer keen to buy the crop.

Mr Gaspari finds the multi-disc machine to be handy to clean up land so when he does bailing, raking and cutting - the job is made a lot easier.

"We want to get the ground fairly flat so it’s easier to cut and prevents you from going through blades," he said.

"Having level ground also produces a better, more even crop."

Edi Upper Paddy's Market Day

Edi Upper Paddy's Market

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Whitfield hit with stage 4 water ban

- source: Wangaratta Chronicle - 17 April 2009

WHITFIELD residents were hit with stage four water restrictions on Wednesday.

North East Water executive manager of business services, John Morris, said the bans were triggered by a lack of water flow in Musk Gully Creek.

"Although the town’s water storage (Whitfield Reservoir) is full, without any inflow from the creek, stage four restrictions are necessary," Mr Morris said.

"We are hoping for good rain over winter and we will monitor and judge the situation in Whitfield accordingly."

For Adam Pizzini, chef at Rinaldo’s of King Valley Restaurant in Whitfield, the harsh bans will prematurely end his garden produce.

Mr Pizzini has been maintaining his garden and bringing freshly picked vegetables to diners for years, but his zucchinis, radiccios and capsicums will dry out as a result of the harsh restrictions, which prevent watering at any time.

He makes a flavorsome zucchini chutney out of his home-grown produce, but will again be forced to buy the vegetables to meet customer demand.

"Last time these sort of restrictions were enforced we just let the garden go and bought in fresh vegetables for the restaurant, so it looks like we’ll have to do this again if we don’t get substantial rain," Mr Pizzini said.

"The garden is looking a bit drab as it is, and I’m hoping my father-in-law will be able to spruce it up when he moves to the area."

Elsewhere, Springhurst also went on to stage two water restrictions on Wednesday. For information on water restrictions go to www.nerwa.vic.gov.au.

Moyhu on fire at CFA titles

Australia needs real infrastructure, not virtual reality

Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release  16^th of April 2009

Craig Isherwood‚ National Secretary
PO Box 376‚ COBURG‚ VIC 3058
Phone: 03 9354 0544 Fax: 03 9354 0166
Email: cec@cecaust.com.au
Website: http://www.cecaust.com.au
 

Australia needs real infrastructure, not virtual reality

The $43 billion Kevin Rudd plans to spend on a high-speed broadband network would pay for enough large-scale water infrastructure projects like the Bradfield Scheme, and the Clarence River Scheme, to drought-proof most of Australia and fully replenish the Murray-Darling Basin, CEC leader Craig Isherwood pointed out today.

“Real infrastructure creates real wealth and generates real jobs through real industries,” Mr Isherwood said.

“Australia is in a real economic breakdown crisis, and we desperately needs real infrastructure to fix it: we need visionary, Snowy Mountains Scheme-style water projects; railway projects like a Melbourne to Darwin fast-freight train line, an Australian Ring Railway and a super-fast, magnetically-levitated rail link between our major cities; nuclear power generators taking advantage of our own huge reserves of uranium and thorium, and utilising the modern, meltdown-proof, modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor technology (MHTGR).

“This kind of infrastructure will enable us to re-industrialise our economy by creating more opportunities for agricultural and manufacturing production.

“Building the projects will create hundreds of thousands of jobs directly, and set up industries that will employ millions.

“Compare this kind of infrastructure, to Rudd’s broadband scheme,” Mr Isherwood continued.

“Broadband has its place, but in the context of the current crisis it is only virtual infrastructure, to speed up virtual communication in our increasingly virtual economy.

“The only people who could compare it to the Snowy Mountains Scheme are the disturbingly growing army of virtual reality zombies, for whom the world is comprised of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the financial markets.

“Our Prime Minister is running Australia like a virtual reality zombie.

“This is behavioural economics garbage, and as a nation we must drop it, and retreat back into reality.

Mr Isherwood concluded by calling on Australians to look into the CEC’s plans for 18 major water projects, and other great infrastructure proposals, first published in the 2001 New Citizen special report, “The Infrastructure Road to Recovery”

“This is how we’ll get out of the depression,” he said.

Tatong set a new Good Friday Appal record

Source: Weekly Times

GOOD causes don't come much better than the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal. And per capita fundraising for the Appeal does not get much better than at the small town of Tatong in north-east Victoria.

With a combined district community of about 200 people, this year Tatong raised $22,000 for the worthy cause. A highlight of the Tatong fundraising effort is the annual Good Friday auction of donated goods held in the grounds of the local pub, the Tatong Tavern.

The Tatong community started officially collecting for the Good Friday Appeal about 28 years ago.

Three years ago it was decided the auction would be moved outside at the Tavern. It proved a successful venture and this year the auction raised $10,865.

Good Friday Appeal area manager for Tatong Jade Kirk said it was a true community effort.

"While the auction held last Friday is the main event, fundraising is a year-round activity and the support of the community is fantastic,'' Ms Kirk said.

"We have regular raffles and the cow poo lotto held at the recreation reserve is also a fun day.

"In fact this year, we passed the $100,000 mark since we started collecting almost 30 years ago,'' Ms Kirk added.

Typical of the community support was the food stall at the auction last Friday. Run by the local Tatong Young Bloods, all produce was donated by district retail businesses. The food stall raised $1100 for the day.

At the auction, the number one member's ticket for the Tatong Football and Netball Club fetched $200 and the top priced lot was eight hours work from a local earthmoving contractor that sold for $500.

"It's all for such a good cause,'' Ms Kirk said.

"Several kids from the local area have needed the services of the Children's Hospital, so it's nice to know we are doing our bit.''

Wangaratta Town Square ready for use

city square Wangaratta

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Let's get some decency back into AFL football

• AFL players Adam Simpson and Daniel Pratt admit role in chook sex film | Herald Sun

  • SENIOR North Melbourne players Adam Simpson and Daniel Pratt have admitted their leading role in producing a tasteless video condemned as degrading to women.

    The four-minute video shows a condom-clad rubber chicken performing sex acts on a chicken carcass, which is meant to depict a woman.

Today, AFL players are professional athletes and are paid accordingly.  As part of their contracts, they should be held accountable for professional misconduct both on and off the field. 

So, they are young men who get up to the stupid things that young men get up to ... but that is no excuse.  They should have their contracts revoked immediately

Wangaratta Greyhound track to close

April 2, 2009 (read original here at Millers Guide)

PROHIBITIVE re-building costs have been cited as the main reason behind the intended permanent closure of the Wangaratta greyhound track in less than two months time.

A Greyhound Racing Victoria board meeting on Monday was shown a report that detailed upgrades needed to the infrastructure at Avian Park would cost in the vicinity of a staggering $6,300,000.
The GRV also took into account statistical information on participant and patron figures at Wangaratta meetings.

After studying the information and the costs involved the GRV elected to cease racing operations at Wangaratta as from June 26, 2009.

The track will be maintained as a trial track only until at least December 29, 2009.
After June 26, the meetings that had been scheduled for Wangaratta will now be transferred to the Shepparton track.

GRV chairman Jan Wilson said: “The GRV Board fully understands the disappointment that such decisions may bring. However, it is our sincere hope that the WGRC and its local participants can take a whole of industry perspective when considering the Board’s overall need to provide for industry sustainability and participant returns.”
Comment:

See "Wangaratta Greyhounds Finished" for a critique of Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) Chairman Jan Wilson and some pointed questions such as:

Why did the GRV commit to a large spend at Avian Park as recently as 2002, with out tying the development partner Harness Racing Victoria to a binding agreement? Harness Racing Victoria walked away from Wangaratta as a harness racing venue in 2005. Just 3 years later.

I suspect we well hear more about this one in The Chronicle

The “Golden Rule”

Media Release  2^nd of April 2009

Craig Isherwood‚ National Secretary
PO Box 376‚ COBURG‚ VIC 3058
Phone: 03 9354 0544 Fax: 03 9354 0166
Email: cec@cecaust.com.au
Website: http://www.cecaust.com.au
 

The “Golden Rule”—whoever owns the gold (or iron-ore, coal, aluminium etc) makes the rules

“Australia must reject all foreign ownership of raw materials companies, and complete Gough Whitlam’s and Rex Connor’s mission to ‘buy back the farm’ by nationalising our raw materials,” Craig Isherwood, leader of the Citizens Electoral Council said today.

Mr Isherwood responded to the political drama surrounding the attempt by Chinalco, the Chinese government-owned mining company, to buy a $28 billion slab of the Queen’s own mining company, Rio Tinto, by renewing his July 22, 2008 call for Australia to “Nationalise our oil & gas, raw materials.”

He explained: “Since the great mineral booms in the 1960s we have allowed our country’s mineral wealth to be squandered at the behest of a few large, foreign-owned, multi-national companies like Rio Tinto. We have failed to develop the value-adding processing industries that we could have.

“Whilst we don’t support everything the Whitlam government did in the 1970s, his government’s attempt to wrest control of our raw materials wealth from foreign interests was spot on the mark.

Mr Isherwood cited a 1966 address to the University of New South Wales by then Deputy Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam, who said, “The government is condoning and encouraging the sale of our richest resources to overseas interests. Some of the most amazing mineral discoveries in our history are now in foreign hands. Foreigners do Australians the honour of employing them to dig up their own wealth, to be exported overseas… the whole of our production potential in aluminium is controlled by overseas interests. Almost all the new and rich iron ore discoveries, particularly in Western Australia, have been taken out of our hands... The new coal deposits in Queensland are controlled by overseas interests. Three quarters of the mining and treatment of copper is controlled by overseas interests. Already 70 percent of the mining of zinc is outside our control.”

(No company more represented the foreign control of Australia’s resources than Rio Tinto, then Conzinc RioTinto Australia [CRA], in which the Queen of England herself was “the largest non-institutional shareholder”, as reported in The Bulletin of October 19, 1999, “Diamonds are for ER”; it was the Queen’s toady, Governor-General Sir John Kerr, who sacked Whitlam for his “buy back the farm” assault on her own company’s control of Australia’s resources.)

Isherwood said, “Nothing has changed after 42 years, except we now have permanently exported huge volumes of valuable minerals. The so-called wealth the mining industry has brought to Australia over these years, is nothing in comparison to what we have given away to foreign owned corporations.”

“Will we go another 40 years, before actually taking control and responsibility for our God-given resources?”

Mr Isherwood called on the Government to resolve the Chinalco/Rio Tinto issue once and for all by:

• Adopting the CEC’s policy of nationalising Australia’s entire resource sector;
• Reassuring China, and our other trading partners of our intentions by negotiating long-term supply contracts that are fair to both nations, but which remove the price extortioning of the Rio Tinto/BHP cartel, and guarantee supply;
• Expanding resources processing in Australia, to increasingly export only value-added products, as well as supply growing domestic requirements of steel etc. for nation-building infrastructure projects.