The Agonist - Oceania

Angry Aborigines seek ban on Uluru tourists

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:02:30 -0700

Barbara McMahon | Sydney, Australia | June 22

The Observer -

Australian Aborigines have threatened to stop tourists from climbing the iconic rock formation Uluru in protest at government intervention in indigenous communities.

In protests held in Sydney, Canberra and Tasmania yesterday, Aborigines said they had been unfairly targeted by the measures, which included bans on alcohol as well as restrictions on welfare payments. They said the intervention was racist and demeaning and argued that instead of sending armed officers into remote communities, the government needed to finance long-term measures to improve housing, build schools and improve health.

Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, is one of Australia's biggest tourist attractions. Vince Forrester, an elder from the Mutitjulu people who are Uluru's traditional owners and have the power to ban climbing on it, said closing the site would help highlight problems caused by the intervention.

Australia vies with Pacific, U.S. to be fattest

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:53:51 -0700

Rob Taylor | Canberra | June 20

Reuters - Australia is on track to become the fattest nation, although experts questioned on Friday whether it had overtaken the United States and small Pacific countries for the unenviable title.

Around 4 million Australian adults, or 26 percent of the population, were obese, eclipsing the 25 percent rate in the United States, a study by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute released in Melbourne said.

"If we ran a fat Olympics we'd be gold medal winners as the fattest people on earth at the moment," Institute preventative cardiology head Professor Simon Stewart told the Age newspaper.

The report, Australia's Future Fat Bomb, to be presented to a government inquiry into the nation's obesity problem on Friday, said 70 percent of men and 60 percent of women aged 45 to 65 were technically overweight or obese.

Energy: Turn lights off, New Zealanders told, as drought hits power plants

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:38:44 -0700

Barbara McMahon | Sydney | June 10

The Guardian - New Zealanders are to be urged to wash dishes by hand and turn off some of their household lights as the country teeters on the brink of a power crisis caused by drought.

After two years of dry weather the low level of water in lakes that drive New Zealand's hydroelectric power plants is causing concern. The energy minister, David Parker, yesterday denied claims that the country was facing rolling power cuts, but said that unless there was significant rainfall soon households would be asked to cut electricity consumption by up to 15% during the peak early evening time.

Tighter Australia-China ties worry Asian neighbors

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:47:28 -0700

Nick Squires | Sydney, Australia | June 8

CSM - India and Japan are wary as political, economic links strengthen amid a mining boom.

It is a match made in heaven – China's ravenous appetite for raw materials and the billions of dollars' worth of minerals lurking beneath the rust-red dirt of Australia's vast outback.

Australians are growing rich, in large part because of the Chinese economic juggernaut, which has sent property prices soaring, propelled the stock exchange to new heights, and plunged unemployment to its lowest level in more than 30 years.

But as economic and political ties between Canberra and Beijing strengthen on the back of the mining boom, alarm bells are ringing across other parts of Asia. India and Japan, in particular, feel that the Australians are paying far too much attention to China. Japan is acutely aware that last year it was eclipsed by China as Australia's top trading partner. And while Australia had strong trading ties with China under former Prime Minister John Howard, ties have ratcheted up under Kevin Rudd, the only Western leader who speaks fluent Mandarin.

Paradise lost: climate change forces South Sea islanders to seek sanctuary abroad

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:42:00 -0700

Kathy Marks | June 6

Independent -

After years of fruitless appeals for decisive action on climate change, the tiny South Pacific nation of Kiribati has concluded that it is doomed. Yesterday its President, Anote Tong, used World Environment Day to request international help to evacuate his country before it disappears.

Water supplies are being contaminated by the encroaching salt water, Mr Tong said, and crops destroyed. Beachside communities have been moved inland. But Kiribati – 33 coral atolls sprinkled across two million square miles of ocean – has limited scope to adapt. Its highest land is barely 6 feet above sea level.

Kiribati – a former British colony called the Gilbert Islands – is home to 97,000 people, most of them squeezed into the densely populated main atoll, Tarawa, a chain of islets surrounding a central lagoon. Along with other low-lying Pacific island nations such as Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Vanuatu, it is regarded as one of the places most vulnerable to climate change.

** Kiribati likely doomed by climate change: president(pic2)
** Endangered Pacific islet facing mass relocation(pic1)

A party fit for a king – but not needy Tonga

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:38:26 -0700

Kathy Marks | June 4

Independent - It will be the party of the century when George Tupou V is crowned King of Tonga in August – and it will be his impoverished countrymen in the tiny South Pacific nation who will bear the expense.

The lavish ceremony, to be attended by foreign royals and celebrities including, reportedly, Sir Elton John, Sir Mick Jagger and Sir Sean Connery, will cost £1.6m – one-third of Tonga's annual aid budget. The regal robes, which are being tailored in London, will set the country back £230,000, while a gold sceptre similar to the Queen's is being cast, at a cost of £20,000.

The Tongan Prime Minister, Felete Sevele, defended the expense yesterday, saying that "enormous benefits" would flow to the country as a result of the coronation. "It will be a joyous celebration of culture, custom and kingship in the only Polynesian kingdom," he said.

Civil Disobedience Dawns Down Under

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:22:22 -0700

The deputy Mayor of Alice Springs is organising a protest against what he says is neglect of the Northern Territory's regional areas by the Labor Government.

Murray Stewart insists he is acting as a private citizen, but wants the town council to join his protest by ignoring all correspondence with the State Government in Darwin.

read more, and more:"Hate Darwin day" and more

As sharks prowled, forgotten divers waited ... and waited

Sun, 25 May 2008 02:54:36 -0700

Sydney | May 25

The Observer - In open waters off Australia's Great Barrier Reef, British diver Richard Neely and girlfriend Allyson Dalton tied themselves together as they drifted, trying desperately to be seen by spotter planes and searching ships. Barbara McMahon in Sydney reports on their dramatic rescue

East Timor coalition loses majority

Mon, 05 May 2008 03:12:46 -0700

May 5

ABC.net.au - East Timor's ruling coalition government has lost its majority, with a key partner switching sides to join the opposition.

The ASDT party was a key force in helping Xanana Gusmao's AMP Coalition win the numbers to form government at last year's elections.

But the party has now signed an agreement to side with the opposition Fretilin party - citing corruption and nepotism within the government.

Fretilin spokesman Jose Teixeira says the party is not planning to challenge for power, but hopes to force the government to an early election next year.

Report reveals resentment of foreigners in Solomons

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:46:11 -0700

April 28

ABC.net.au - Resentment is reportedly growing in Solomon Islands over the presence of well-paid foreign soldiers, police and bureaucrats. An Aidwatch report has found the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is pushing up prices for locals without contributing much to their incomes.
____________________________
Meanwhile the Solomon Islands Police Minister is in Australia for talks.

The Solomon Islands Police Minister Samuel Manetoali is in Australia to meet various senior officials involved with the deployment of personnel to the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, RAMSI.

NZ signs free trade deal with China

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:15:12 -0700

So, New Zealand has signed a free trade deal with China.

Curiously enough when Bush threw a few sops in Australia's direction for supporting him in Iraq, NZ big business wailed and gnashed their teeth.

Now a far larger deal has been signed with China, and Big Business is curiously quiet.

It's a curious marriage, the entire population (not counting sheep) of NZ fits several times over into just the city of Beijing.

Almost nothing I buy ever comes from the US, almost every manufactured item comes from China.

A little of what I make can get into the US, it's a fairly hostile a market. Most goes elsewhen in the world.

Teens Rampage Through Australian School

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:22:08 -0700

Rohan Sullivan | Sydney | April 7

AP - Five teenagers brandishing baseball bats and machetes rampaged through a suburban school Monday and hit a teacher over the head, police said. Eighteen students were treated for minor injuries.

The drama unfolded as hundreds attended an assembly in an outdoor area of Merrylands High School. As the attackers moved in, teachers rushed the students back to class, where they sought refuge behind locked doors, under desks, even in a cupboard.

"I find it very difficult to believe the brazenness of how they entered the school," Police Detective Inspector Jim Stewart said. Such school violence is rare in Australia.

The teens, between the ages of 14 and 16, were arrested and likely would be charged with assault and other crimes, Stewart said.

Australian wrestles 8-foot saltwater crocodile to save wife from its jaws

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:17:10 -0700

Kathy Marks | Sydney | April 4

Independent - A woman grabbed by a crocodile as she stood on a riverbank in Australia's Northern Territory was rescued by her husband, who wrestled with the reptile and poked its eyes, forcing it to release her from its jaws.

The attack by the 8ft saltwater crocodile was the first ever in Litchfield National Park, south-west of Darwin, where the man-eating "salties" rarely venture. Wendy Petherick, 36, escaped with puncture wounds to both thighs and a severe cut to one finger, thanks to the prompt action of her husband, Norm Moreen.

Ms Petherick, who lives in Woolaning, a nearby Aboriginal community, was washing her face in shallow water on Wednesday when the crocodile lunged, seizing her by both legs and pulling her into the river. She tried to prise open its jaws as she shouted for her husband to help her.

Scientists find giant marine life and potential new species in Antarctic sea survey

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:21:37 -0700

Ray Lilley | Wellington, NZ

AP -

Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish.

A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks.

It's "exciting when you come across a new species," said Chris Jones, a fisheries scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "All the fish people go nuts about that — but you have to take it with a grain of salt."

The finds must still be reviewed by experts to determine if they are in fact new, said Stu Hanchet, a fisheries scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

But beyond the discovery of new species, scientists said the survey, the most comprehensive to date in the Ross Sea, turned up other surprises.

Hanchet singled out the discovery of "fields" of sea lilies that stretched for hundreds of yards across the ocean floor.

NZ dolphin rescues beached whales

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:45:02 -0700

March 12

BBC - A dolphin has come to the rescue of two whales which had become stranded on a beach in New Zealand.

Conservation officer Malcolm Smith told the BBC that he and a group of other people had tried in vain for an hour and a half to get the whales to sea.

The pygmy sperm whales had repeatedly beached, and both they and the humans were tired and set to give up, he said.

But then the dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales, and led them to safety.

The bottlenose dolphin, called Moko by local residents, is well known for playing with swimmers off Mahia beach on the east coast of the North Island.

"I don't speak whale and I don't speak dolphin," Mr Smith told the BBC, "but there was obviously something that went on because the two whales changed their attitude from being quite distressed to following the dolphin quite willingly and directly along the beach and straight out to sea."

He added: "The dolphin did what we had failed to do. It was all over in a matter of minutes."

Very cool