Bushfire inquiry covers up fuel reduction failure

“With the interim report from the Bushfires Royal Commission now out, the most stark revelations are those which are not stated,” CEC Leader Craig Isherwood said today.

Back in February, Mr Isherwood said that Victoria doesn’t need a Royal Commission, as it has had two Royal Commissions before, by Judge Stretton, into the Victorian bushfire disasters of 1939 and 1944, and the result was crystal clear: the bushfire disasters then, as now, were caused by what the Judge called “ridiculously inadequate” prescribed burning of the forests, and he mandated “fire prevention must be the paramount consideration of the forester”.

“Guess what was left out of this interim report?” Mr Isherwood asked.

He restated, “For forty years, fuel reduction burning was practiced as a scientific forestry management measure, until the intervention of, first, radical greenies in the Cain/Kirner Labor Government, and then, radical economic rationalists in the Kennett Government.

“Environmental concerns for ‘biodiversity’ etc. were increasingly cited to stop fuel reduction burns in the Cain/Kirner years, and then Kennett slashed the Department’s budget and staff, and gutted its ability to do prescribed burns.

“In 1992 the Auditor-General found that the Department of Conservation and Environment [now Sustainability and Environment] had cut expenditure on fire prevention by 23 per cent over five years, and in 2003 the Auditor-General found that the amount of prescribed burning had never met the Department’s targets.”

Mr Isherwood continued, “As I stated in February, prescribed burning doesn’t stop bushfires, but it dramatically reduces the intensity of the type of wildfires that erupt on extreme fire danger days like Black Saturday.”

He pointed out that last December, two months before the Black Saturday bushfire disaster, the Brumby government had already rejected the idea of tripling the area of prescribed burning from 130,000 to 385,000, stating that “the government supports a move away from focusing on hectare-based targets, which may lead to inappropriate planned burning programs.”

Mr Isherwood blasted the government: “This is pollie-code, for ‘we don’t want to spend the money’, to fund the personnel, machinery and infrastructure (which was dismantled in the 90s), and have a crash programme to expand our capacity to ‘triple’ the area we can safely perform controlled burns.

“Well, the reality is, that with the government now issuing warnings that the approaching fire season will be worse than the last, currently only 503 prescribed burns over 113,000 hectares have been completed.

“Given that national parks alone have increased from 276,343 hectares in 1975 to 3,230,741 hectares in 2005, more than a ten-fold increase, even controlled burning targets of 385,000 hectares per year, is a small target for bushfire control.”

Mr Isherwood concluded, “The government continues to be criminally negligent, when it comes to bushfire control.”

Citizens Electoral Council of Australia
Media Release 25^th of August 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

Continuing education for Sykes

Being Principal for a Day at Benalla East Primary School gave local MP Bill Sykes an insight into the efforts made by local teachers to provide the best possible educational opportunities for young people in Benalla.

Whilst the thought might strike fear in the hearts of his former teachers, Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes said he was proud to be a part of the ACER Principal for a Day program on Tuesday 25 August.

Dr Sykes, whose three children attended Benalla East Primary School said, “The school’s commitment to providing children with the best available support was most impressive.

“Principal Hazel Bell led by example – during the day Hazel interviewed parents of new students, counselled students about bullying and met with School Council representatives.

“I was particularly interested in the restorative justice program which strives to be proactive in the management of misconduct. Emphasis is on the offender’s understanding that their actions had hurt or offended someone and that they need to apologise as well as ‘mend their ways’.

Dr Sykes continued, “The assistance given to students struggling to keep up academically was provided in a friendly and supportive way. The look of pride on one little girl’s face when she spelt a difficult word was heart warming.”

Dr Sykes also sat in on a Junior School Council Committee meeting which provided a good example of young people being encouraged to develop their leadership skills.

At the end of the school day Dr Sykes joined staff from all of Benalla’s State Schools for a forum on Benalla’s Education Regeneration Project.

Again Dr Sykes was impressed with the passion and commitment to the children’s well being demonstrated by the 160 teachers at the forum.

Dr Sykes said, “Whilst the Benalla Education Regeneration Project is still in its early days it is clearly something that the wider Benalla community should embrace and support.

“With full community support we have the opportunity to redefine the education outcomes for our children and to recommend to the State Government the best means of delivering these outcomes.”

Dr Sykes concluded, “The families of Benalla are fortunate to have a committed group of principals and teachers available to help educate their children. I call on all families to make sure that they do their bit to help educate their children by helping with homework and to support the principals and teachers in their work.

“After such a positive experience I encourage local businesses and community leaders to sign up for the 2010 Principal for a Day program.”

Further information is available at www.acer.edu.au/pfad.

Bill Sykes MP, State Member for Benalla
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture & Water
2/55 Carrier Street, Benalla 3672
Ph: 03 5762 2100 Fx: 03 5762 4478 Mobile: 0427 624 989
Email: bill.sykes@parliament.vic.gov.au

Initial response Bushfire Royal Commission Interim Report

Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes, makes initial comment on the Bushfire Royal Commission Interim Report, which was delivered today, Monday 17 August 2009.

It’s a pity that we had to have a tragedy of these proportions for a Royal Commission to investigate and make recommendations for actions which the Brumby Government should have taken years ago in response to previous reports and experience from the 2003, 2006/07 mega fires in particular.

Having read the Executive Summary I note and support:

• The call for more detailed early warnings providing people with more information upon which to decide whether to stay or go keeping in mind the fire risks, the physical and emotional demands of staying;
• The recognition of a role for sirens for early warnings;
• Greater use of commercial and community radio;
• More flexible management of road blocks; and
• Establishment of refuges/’safer’ places.

I remain concerned that:

• The problems of centralised and bureaucratic management and lack of local input has not been adequately addressed; and
• The problems of inadequate basic communication infrastructure, eg: mobile phone coverage, land line maintenance, CFA internal communication coverage, has not been adequately addressed.

The Commission’s Final Report is due to be completed by 31 July next year.

Bill Sykes MP, State Member for Benalla
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture & Water
2/55 Carrier Street, Benalla 3672
Ph: 03 5762 2100 Fx: 03 5762 4478 Mobile: 0427 624 989
Email: bill.sykes@parliament.vic.gov.au

U.S. revolt part of global mass-strike: CEC media

U.S. health care revolt part of global mass-strike; Rudd beware!

Every government in the world is facing a popular mass-strike revolt, similar to the current uprising in the United States, as populations being smashed by the global economic breakdown explode in rage at their leaders.

In the U.S., popular rage at Obama’s continuation of Bush’s multi-trillion dollar bailout of Wall Street and the City of London, has now spilled out onto the streets. (Click here to view video footage)

Americans voted for Obama for “change” from the disaster years of Bush and Cheney, but are now turning on him, after seeing that he not only continued the bailout, but intends to pay for it by slashing health care funding for the elderly and disabled.

Obama and his fellow Democrats, riding high on public opinion only a few short months ago, have been driven into virtual hiding by constituents who’ve descended on public health care reform meetings in droves, to put their representatives on the mat.

Last week, Obama cancelled a series of public meetings scheduled to discuss health care, and read a three-minute statement from his teleprompter instead, before fleeing to a “holiday”, to regroup, and emerge to address a carefully-vetted audience in New Hampshire on 11^th August.

The media, which seduced Americans to vote for Obama’s empty rhetoric through a massive PR campaign, is now falsely typecasting what is a spontaneous outpouring of popular anger, as an organised right-wing campaign, to further isolate Obama from the consequences of his betrayal.

U.S. Democratic Party senior-statesman and physical economist Lyndon LaRouche observed today that the U.S. leadership is behaving like Louis XVI of France, who, when confronted with a mass revolt triggered by widespread poverty and hunger, brought in 100,000 Austrian troops to put it down.

This declaration of war on his own people only further fuelled the uprising; Louis and his government then fled into hiding, which provoked the bloodbath of the French Revolution:

“This is a crisis, like that of the French Revolution, in which, in a vacuum, created by the absence of competence from the Executive—only panic and stupidity from the Executive! —and the lack of competence from other elements of government, has created a vacuum, which can lead to the most terrible consequences,” Mr LaRouche said.

Citizens Electoral Council leader Craig Isherwood today warned Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that he too risked a mass-strike revolt:

“Australians are being smashed by the global economic breakdown crisis, and Rudd is doing nothing to fix it,” Mr Isherwood said.

“Instead, he has committed the nation to hundreds of billions of dollars in debt, to fund bank guarantees and stimulus packages which are only about bailing out the financial system, and pushed ahead with a ‘carbon trading’ and ‘health care reform’ agenda, which will kill people.

“He has not only rejected LaRouche’s and the CEC’s solution of a bankruptcy reorganisation of the system, but he has rubbished the national banking and debt moratorium policies of his own party’s heroes, John Curtin and Ben Chifley—leaders who truly fought for the common good.

“Rudd better change his policies, and go back to ‘old’ Labor’s people-first economic policies, or it will soon blow up in his face,” Mr Isherwood concluded.

Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release 13^th of August 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

Energy Concessions ease winter bill pressures

Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes is urging eligible people to apply for the 2009 Non-Mains Winter Energy Concession program.

Applications are now open for concession cardholders who are dependent on non-mains energy.

Dr Sykes said, “It is a useful rebate available to concession cardholders including pensioners, Centrelink Health Care Card holders and Department of Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card holders who are reliant on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), alternative fuel such as heating oil, and/or non-mains metered electricity for domestic heating and cooking.

“In some cases a rebate is also available for people when they have had to purchase firewood for heating and cooking.”

Dr Sykes said the concessions are particularly important for low income residents throughout the Benalla electorate who are still unable to connect to natural gas due to the Labor Government reneging on its promise to extend the natural gas network.

Dr Sykes said that these residents must use the more expensive LPG.

“The concession program opened on July 1st and if people get in quick they will be able to get some of their money back as soon as possible,” Dr Sykes said.

A fourth tier has been introduced for the rebate this year. The amounts available are:

• $38.00 rebate for concession cardholders who spend from $95 to $213.99 on non-mains energy
• $113.00 rebate for concession cardholders who spend from $214 to $641.99
• $188 rebate for concession cardholders who spend more than $642 to $1,069.99, and
• $268.00 rebate for concession cardholders who spend more than $1,070.

Application forms are available from a number of outlets, including LPG suppliers, caravan park proprietors, local councils, rooming houses, financial counsellors and by contacting the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521.

The program will run until the end of January 2010.

Dr Sykes said that if people were struggling with immediate payments, they may be eligible for further assistance through the Non-Mains Utility Relief Grant Scheme. Information about that program is available through the Concessions Information Line, 1800 658 521.

Fire Services Levy increase to 84% outrage

Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes has described the Brumby Government’s increase in the Fire Services Levy (FSL) for country Victorians to 84% as outrageous.

Speaking in Parliament today Dr Sykes moved a motion condemning yet another increase.

Dr Sykes called on the Parliament to condemn the Premier for:

• increasing the cost of insurance for bushfire victims;
• increasing the cost of insurance for farmers and country businesses battling the effects of 13 tough years; and
• exacerbating the inequitable situation whereby only those who insure their property contribute to the cost of fire services.

The FSL for country businesses is currently 68% which is already a steep increase on much lower rates in previous years.

The FSL on country homes will jump from 26% to 31% whilst the FSL on metropolitan homes will decrease to 20%.

Dr Sykes said that what is particularly galling about this massive tax hike on country people is that the same people who pay the FSL then turn out free of charge to fight fires as CFA volunteers. This service has been conservatively valued at over $500 million per year and much, much more in years with the big fires such as 2003, 2006/2007 and 2009.

Whilst Premier Brumby repeatedly denies that the FSL is a tax the Federal Government views it differently.

Peter Ryan, Leader of the Nationals and Shadow Minister for Bushfire Response has been successful in getting the FSL investigated as part of the Federal Government’s Standing Review on Australia’s Future Tax System.

A petition opposing the FSL is in circulation and available from http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sykes/.

Dr Sykes said, “I encourage people to access petitions either from my office or website and sign and return them to 2/55 Carrier Street, Benalla for tabling in Parliament.”

Dr Sykes concluded, “I and my Liberal National colleagues are committed to a fairer system of funding fire services and we will not give up until we have achieved it.”

What's on around Wangaratta - 14 August

Climate change crusaders are genocidalists—are you?

The hot-off-the-press August/September 2009 edition of the New Citizen rips the mask off the climate change crusaders behind carbon trading, as genocidalists, enacting the long-term British imperial agenda to reduce the world’s human population to 2 billion people, or less.

Read, in their own words, the British eugenicists who invented the lie of overpopulation—Thomas Malthus, Charles Darwin, Lord Bertrand Russell, Sir Julian Huxley, Prince Philip, Sir Crispin Tickell et al.—and ask yourself, “Do I agree with them?”

Adolf Hitler did, as all greenies do, whether they are too stupid to know it or not.

If you don’t agree with genocide through depopulation, join the CEC’s fight to kill this genocidal garbage off, and return government policy to ensuring a future for humanity, through economic development and scientific endeavour.

The New Citizen also documents:

• Kevin Rudd’s murderous health care reform proposals, modelled on Jeff Kennett’s gutting of Victoria’s public health system in the 1990s.
• Lyndon LaRouche’s stark warning of an economic blowout by mid-October 2009, as well as LaRouche’s ideas of a new credit system, a Four Powers agreement between the United States, Russia, China and India, and a manned Mars program, to save the economy.

• Click here for a PDF copy of the New Citizen;

Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release  11^th of August 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

You've got to love a prediction.

Economic collapse by October 12-15

Lyndon LaRouche will present a webcast presentation from Washington D.C., live at 3am Australian Eastern Standard Time on 2^nd August, on his latest economic warning that the world economy will collapse by mid-October, triggered by the bankruptcy of the state governments, and federal government, of the United States of America.

“Although we can say, contrary to all wishful thinking, that the system is doomed, by no later than October 15, and therefore, immediate action is required weeks, even two months before October 12th of this present year,” LaRouche explained. “We must cancel the $24 trillion bailout immediately during the weeks just ahead, and put the system through an orderly bankruptcy reorganisation, as specified under our Federal Constitution. The entire Federal Reserve System must be put into receivership. There is no way that the Fed can honour those intrinsically fraudulent bail-out efforts underlying the still cancerous growth of current nominal financial obligations. Reducing the obligations of legitimate national and state chartered banks to the magnitude of Glass-Steagall standards, either will be done, through bankruptcy reorganisation now, or the United States itself will soon cease to exist. Without such a proceeding in bankruptcy as I specified during the period from July 27, 2007 into that September, there is presently no hope for the continued existence of the U.S.A. or any among the nations of Europe, in their present forms.”

LaRouche has titled his presentation, “The Coming Fall of the House of Windsor”, which will address the necessity of installing an anti-British-imperialist world economy:

“Only the sudden and thorough scrapping of the monetary systems which have reigned over the world since the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, could provide humanity today an escape from a New Dark Age whose character would bring the entire planet rather quickly from a level of about 6.7 billions individuals, to probably something near the goals, of no more than two billions, demanded from pro-genocidalists such as the late Bertrand Russell and the sheer evil of the World Wildlife Fund of Prince Philip and the now deceased Prince Bernhard.

“While it is necessary to continue the use of money as a medium of exchange within the microcosms of the social process of economy, any useful definitions of the role of money must abandon those old, systemically failed, definitions, which have been formerly taught in schools and universities, and as presently official accounting practice; there must be sudden and sweeping installation of a new form of an anti-British-imperialist world economy, that among cooperating, perfectly sovereign nation-states. That urgently needed change, will come into existence on the battleground once occupied by the preceding reign of the now hopelessly failed existing nation-states of the former monetary systems.”

For a full rundown of the CEC’s warnings about the present crisis, and our solutions, click here to receive a free copy of the DVD documentary, the Homeowners & Bank Protection Bill—The Only Solution.

Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release 31^st of July 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

It’s not Labor, it’s fascism

Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release 30^th of July 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

Rudd policies on people’s bank, free trade, health:

The CEC issued the following statement, as the ALP National Conference commenced in Sydney on 30^th July. The statement was distributed by the LaRouche Youth Movement to conference delegates.

The Rudd Government’s policy response to the global economic collapse is the dead-opposite of the general welfare policies of the old Labor Party of John Curtin, Ben Chifley and Jack Lang. Rudd’s policies on free trade, a people’s bank, and health care are in fact the same as Labor’s historical enemies, such as the banker-backed fascist New Guard in the 1930s, which planned a paramilitary coup against NSW Premier Jack Lang for putting NSW residents ahead of British bondholders during the Depression, or the modern fascists in the Mont Pelerin Society and their various Australian fronts, such as the Centre for Independent Studies.

People’s Bank: The Australian Labor Party established the Commonwealth Bank in 1911, as a people’s bank. In the 1930s, a big business-dominated private board controlled the bank—not the government, and the board refused the Labor Government’s request for funds to build public works to alleviate unemployment in the Depression. Labor leader John Curtin stated, in 1937, that the Government’s powers over the bank must be restored, because unless the Government controlled monetary policy, “it cannot govern, except in a secondary degree”. In his election ads, in 2007, Rudd took the opposite position: “I’m an economic conservative. I believe in the independence of the Reserve Bank.” [i.e. private control] When major economists in early July called for a new people’s bank, Rudd’s Labor government showed they were now the enemies of the idea and dismissed it outright.

Free trade: In March, Prime Minister Rudd told an American audience, “Protectionism is intrinsically evil.” On the global stage, Rudd is one of the leading British-allied politicians, who are holding the line against the rising impulse for protectionism worldwide, in the face of the economic crisis. Free trade is a British East India Company invention, which it used to smash any nation that resisted its trade in slaves, drugs, tea and sugar, most notably in the two Opium Wars against China. The real economic growth and prosperity post-WWII was underpinned by the protectionist regulations of the Bretton Woods system, all of which was scrapped in 1971, and once again national economies had their domestic industries smashed by a revival of British free trade, this time called “globalisation”. Rudd’s well-publicised attack on “neo-liberalism” is a fraud: free trade lies at the foundation of the neo-liberal philosophy.

Health: Rudd’s health reform inquiry, the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, betrays his fascist intentions. The Age reported on 28^th July, “Australia’s health-care system is one of the best in the world [sic], but as the final report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission says, it could be better.” How? “Medicare could be radically transformed into a more market-driven scheme as part of a sweeping overhaul of the national health system to be considered by the Rudd government.” [Emphasis added.] Specifically, the Commission proposes that Australia adopt a form of America’s murderous managed care—i.e. HMOs—under the classic behavioural economics label, Medicare Select.

Don’t be fooled by Rudd’s noncommittal response to the Commission’s report. He picked the Commission, including Commissioner Stephen Duckett, the architect of Jeff Kennett’s assault on Victoria’s public health system in the 1990s, specifically the “casemix” funding model, which emphasised efficiency over care, and gutted the state’s health system. Kennett’s reforms in Victoria were written and directed by the British economic warfare unit, the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS), which revived the fascist economic policies of Hitler and Mussolini, and implemented those policies in Pinochet’s Chile, Thatcher’s Britain, New Zealand, post-Communist Russia, and in Australia through the Tasman Institute and Institute of Public Affairs—the co-authors of Kennett’s reforms—and Bob Carr and Kevin Rudd’s favourite, the Centre for Independent Studies.

The world economy has collapsed, after almost 40 years of free trade looting by private corporate interests in the City of London and Wall Street who have become more powerful than national governments, thanks to the policies championed by Rudd’s modern Labor Party. Old Labor called these global corporate interests the Money Power, and fought for the common good of all Australians, against them. Will modern ALP members continue to prostitute their souls, and stick with Rudd’s sell-out to fascism, or are they going to honour Labor’s true heroes, O’Malley, Curtin, Chifley, Lang et al., and join the CEC and Lyndon LaRouche’s fight against fascism, and for the common good?

Common sense at last for native vegetation management

Source: Sykes Media Release

The easing of native vegetation management regulations to allow fuel reduction around homes has been welcomed by Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes.

Dr Sykes said, “At last we have signs of the Brumby Government applying some common sense to the management of native vegetation.”

The new regulations revealed in The Age on Saturday, 1 August 2009, include

* residents to be allowed to clear trees within 10 metres of their homes without a permit;
* shrubs and scrub up to 30 metres from houses will also be able to be cleared; and
* collecting fallen trees on roadsides to use as firewood will be made easier.

Dr Sykes continued, “As always, the devil will be in the detail but at least this is a step in the right direction.

“It is now essential that the Brumby Government extends this common sense approach to native vegetation management to broad acre land holdings and in particular, along fence lines between private land and Crown land.

“The stupidity of the current regulations has frustrated many land holders trying to re-fence after the Black Saturday fires.

“Land holders have only been allowed to clear a strip of 3-4 metres wide even though large trees beyond this cleared strip will inevitably fall on the new fence lines, possibly even during construction.

“This stupidity puts lives at risk and damages fences causing considerable expense, extra work and frustration for fire affected land holders who already have more than enough on their plates.”

The timing of the Brumby Government’s announcement is intriguing according to Dr Sykes who said it is only a couple of weeks before the Royal Commission hands down its first report. It follows on from a range of announcements regarding building requirement changes and more recently communication system improvements.

“So rather than have one complete package of announcements after the Royal Commission report, we have a progression of disjointed, often poorly thought through announcements by a Government trying to ‘spin out it’s “good news” stories’. Sadly, as is often the case it’s not all good news.

For example, the building requirements in some high fire risk siituations require the use of materials which are not available. And in nearly all cases the cost of replacement buildings has been increased substantially.

“Now that the Brumby Government has finally acknowledged that fire risk can be reduced by prudent removal of nearby trees and shrubs there may be a strong argument to re-visit the building requirements released a few months ago.”

Dr Sykes concluded, “This is a step along the road back to common sense but I won’t ease up on my campaigning until I’ve seen the fine print and achieved a common sense approach across the whole issue of native vegetation management.”