We will regret it if we give the Greens the balance of power in the Senate!

If Labor is re-elected and the Greens attain the balance of power in the senate, adjectives like “lucky” Country will become distant memories of the past. But brace yourself, you have seen nothing yet. This is one of the most crucial elections ever in Australia; it is in your hands, whether you want an Australia you have known from the past or one that will be dramatically changed with Labor and the Greens having the legislative power in Australia. If this would happen you can kiss your lifestyle goodbye. Handing the balance of power to the Greens means it would result in unbalanced outcomes for Australians. Your vote is your voice; use it wisely. Click on picture to enlarge.

Since we have been predominantly governed by Labor governments in Australia, the cost of living has gone through the roof, which is more severely felt in regional areas than in metropolitan regions. I’m talking about food prices, local government rates, water, and electricity, just to name a few. A lot of low income earners, especially our pensioners, cannot make ends meet and are becoming increasingly despondent and feeling like second rate citizens, especially when they see how the federal government provides the illegal boat arrivals with food and luxury accommodation with the compliments of the Australian tax payers. Just think about the millions of dollars that could be saved and spent on Australians instead.

One thing is for sure, the ETS will be revisited. We all remember the Copenhagen conference and Rudd taking 114 Australian delegates there, wasting a lot of money for absolutely nothing. Nobody knew then or even now what the Rudd & Wong ETS plan entailed for us in Australia, but the plan will be the same under a Gillard government, with the willing assistance of the Greens.

Following is an interesting article that was written before the Copenhagen conference by the owner and editor of the community based 16 page weekly newsletter, “Northern Herald,” which circulates on the Atherton Tableland, North Queensland. This article is still relevant for today and especially so if Labor and the Greens have the upper hand in Australia. The editor, Elisabeth Warwick, went into the “small print” of the draft treaty and analysed it. It will frighten you when you see how Rudd wanted to sell us out. You can rest assured Gillard and the Greens have no compunction about selling us out as well. In the following article you can now replace the name Rudd with Gillard, both have the same spots. – Werner

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Time to think for ourselves.
By Elizabeth Warwick

Mr Rudd has made his views quite clear and it is obvious that he can't wait to sign our country's future autonomy away for his fifteen minutes of fame.

Do any of us know anything about the proposed treaty? What has our government actually told us about what they are so keen to sign? So far it is just a 181 page draft, but shouldn't our government's first action have been to let us know what's in it? Us being the people, the one's they supposedly work for (you remember; when democracy used to be government by the people for the people.)

I have read the draft treaty; as it is couched in convoluted legal-speak it wasn't easy, but there is no doubt that there are some pretty scary things hiding in there that no one in power has bothered to tell us about.

Let’s start with money: Clause 33, page 93 states, “By 2020 the scale of financial flows to support adaptation in developing countries must be at least USD 67 billion per Year”. And Clause 17 states that developed countries should “(a) Compensate for damage to the LDCs' (least developed countries) economy and also compensate for lost opportunities, resources, lives, land and dignity, as many will become environmental refugees; (b) Africa, in the context of environmental justice, should be equitably compensated for environmental, social and economic losses arising from the implementation of response measures.”

And get this - Australia will have no control over how this as yet unnamed body spends our money.

This leads us to power: The "scheme for the new institutional arrangement under the Convention" that starts on page 18 contains the provision for a "government." Christopher Monckton, former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, has said: "This is the first time I've ever seen any transnational treaty referring to a new body to be set up under that treaty as a government. But it's the powers that are going to be given to this entirely unelected government that are so frightening. Monckton says the aim of this new government is to have power to directly intervene in the financial, economic, tax and environmental affairs of all the nations that sign the Copenhagen treaty.

Probably the most worrying part of the draft treaty is the beginning, where it bases the need for all this money and power shifting on “developed countries (having) a historical responsibility for their disproportionate historical use of a shared global carbon space” and that “warming of the climate system as a consequence of human activity, is unequivocal.”

Since when? To the best of my knowledge there are several theories on global warming, none of them “unequivocally” accepted.

Mr Rudd's deafening silence on any negative aspects of the draft treaty speaks for itself. Despite no final scientific data and a new survey showing that 38 percent of Australians believe the legislation should be shelved until after the conference; Rudd recently vowed to press ahead with his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation before the UN meeting. This scheme will add even more financial burden on all of us. Multimillionaires like the Rudds and Turnbulls will scrape through, but it won't he so easy for everyone else.

Luckily there's not much chance of any agreement being reached at this particular meeting, but this may be the time for everyone to find out a few facts for themselves, before consensus is reached. Don't take my word for anything, I'm still making up my mind as I learn more, but at least I'm trying to make an independent decision. Read the draft - it's online. Do the research, read everything you can find, both for and against your beliefs.

Then actually stand up and let our government know what you think – we are still, at least in name, a democracy. Unquote.

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My thought for today. – Werner
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have. - Thomas Jefferson

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Click on picture to enlarge!