Saturday 28th of December 2024
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The rape of the last wilderness

 

From the ABC and the wind vane

Antarctica ripe for mining, says Joyce
National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce says Australia should consider mining the rich resources of Antarctica, before other nations do.

Senator Joyce visited Antarctica in April on a month-long mission in his role as a member of the federal Parliament's External Territories Committee.

He has told Australian Story that Australia's claim to 42 per cent of the frozen continent is not recognised by a lot of countries.

"There's minerals there, there's gold, there's iron ore, there's coal, there's huge fish resources," he said.

"What you have to ask is: do I turn my head and allow another country exploit my resource or do I position myself in such a way as I'm going to exploit it myself before they get there?"

He says he fears that Australia does not have any real power to stop other nations exploiting Antarctica.

"They're whaling in our area, we can't stop them, we don't have the economic or military power to be a threat to them, so what are we to do?" he said.
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read more at the ABC

...and see all the cartoons on Joyce on this site... The little big man who's been doing the "conscience" illusion vote-dancing for Howard's benefit

Rape it before someone else does it...?

In the 1980s we has echoes of our forefathers who set up the Royal National Park, south of Sydney. Their foresight led them to proclaim what has been recognise as the second National park in the world after Yellowstone in the US. The fact of being second was only a question of signing the deed rather than proclaiming a NP, which had been done first on the Royal National Park... But this is not about being first, second or last, this about being true to the concept of conservation. In the 1980s, it was agreed by all nations with a right mind that Antarctica was not to be mined but preserved in its pristine natural beauty apart from a few "observation" stations... Now the greed of humanity has taken over its heart... The Joyces of this world are poxes on its surface. They think with their arse attached to their purse-strings. They are the go-with-the-flow-because-anything-else-is-too-hard people... They are the bend-over people... and those who only see our planet with a price tag attached to it. If aliens came with a large enough wad of cash they would sell it, with the moon as a bonus sat. Sad... sad... sad...
Stand up and defend Antarctica: it is about to be raped... and by you if you're not careful... and doing it won't stop wars either...

Re-focusing the ABC

The Joyce family junket to the Great South Land is a production of 'Australian Story'. Just how are the producers contracted to the ABC? Are they all full-time employees, ie, public servants, or are they privateers? If they are simply on contract, what are their other financial linkages? Do any of them do other work, for, say, merchant bankers?

Andrew Denton sells his flim-flam to the ABC, as 'Enough Rope'.

These two outlets seem to be about re-defining Australian values. I'd like to see an exploration of Aussie emotion. The general response to any event is on a wide spectrum, if talkback is a guide - from "absolutely devastated" to "absolutely miraculous". I counted 23 'absolutely' on Jon Faine in his first 30 minutes today, and that was only the presenter. The emotional range is vast, but there isn't anything between the extremes. Newcomers shouldn't have difficulty fitting the pattern. The main trouble with the paradigm is that it legitimises extremism. Don't blame the ABC if some nut burns down the MCG because his football team lost a game - he was entitled because he was so devastated.

'Australian Story' and 'Enough Rope' seem to consist of bread, circus and a chunk of Tory agenda. Will Denton invite someone who is likely to say "Drill into Antarctica? You must be mad!"?