Coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef in record cold snap

Hey! Wasn't coral bleaching supposed to be caused by global WARMING?? And what's this about record cold? Another case of heads I win, tails you lose, it seems



A RECORD cold snap across southern Queensland has triggered coral bleaching normally associated with the extremes of hot weather linked to climate change. Scientists say the bleaching has been caused by a combination of cold waters, winds and air temperatures hitting exposed reefs around the Capricorn-Bunker group of islands at the southern end of the reef.

While other sections of the reef appear to have been spared by being fully submerged or far enough north to avoid the worst of the cold snaps in June and July, bleaching has been recorded by University of Queensland researchers on Heron Island, near Rockhampton. The area is regarded as having some of the most pristine sections of accessible reef. Coral expert Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, from the University of Queensland's Centre for Marine Studies, warned researchers along the reef to look for bleaching after Townsville experienced one of its coldest days on record, on June 20.

Strong and sustained southerly winds that brought heavy rain to much of southeast Queensland in June and July exacerbated the chilly conditions for coral exposed at low tide and weakened the algae on the coral needed to keep it healthy. Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said the comfort zone for coral was between 19C and 27C but temperatures had fallen to 8C. While bleaching from extreme heat affects entire reefs, the cold bleaching appears to be isolated to the tips of wide areas of coral exposed to the chill. Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said the extreme variation in temperature might be more common as climate change caused hotter summers and colder winters. [Really? Funny warming then. Sounds like no warming at all on average]

CSIRO oceanographer David Griffin said the only noticeably cold currents were further south, around Fraser Island, suggesting water was being cooled at the surface by the air temperature.

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The Australian far-Left still preoccupied with their old obsessions while blacks suffer

Kevin Rudd's support for the Howard intervention to combat child abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities faces a major challenge from growing opposition within Labor's Left faction. The rumbling in Labor ranks came as Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said yesterday that the health checks conducted on Aboriginal children in the past month had led to a small number of referrals to child-protection authorities.

Numerous Labor Left MPs told The Weekend Australian yesterday they could not back all elements of the legislative package and would press Mr Rudd for change when parliament resumed next week after the winter break. While Mr Rudd has backed John Howard since he launched the intervention in June, Labor critics raised concerns about two of its tenets: the temporary acquisition of title and the abolition of the permit system controlling entry to indigenous land.

Territory Labor senator Trish Crossin could not vote for the changes to the Land Rights Act. "I may not cross the floor but I won't be in the Senate chamber voting for it," she said. "I could not face my indigenous constituents again if they knew that I had voted for something I knew they were so passionate about." She said nobody was convinced that "taking the title of the land off people and compulsorily removing the permit system will actually stop the child abuse".

A Labor MP, who did not want to be named, urged the ALP to take a stand on title. "We know it's not right and we know it has nothing to do with child abuse. I'll be raising it in caucus and I know others will," he said. Another MP said Mr Rudd's caution on the issue had been initially respected. "We can support the health checks and extra police but the changes to land rights don't stack up," she said.

Their concerns follow those expressed earlier this week by shadow parliamentary secretary Warren Snowdon, who holds the Territory seat of Lingiari. Mr Snowdon had been swamped by concerns about the five-year acquisition of title and the abolition of permit, which he will raise in caucus.

Mr Rudd said on Thursday he was concerned at the time the Government was taking to draft the legislation. With the Government yet to reveal the legislative underpinning of the intervention, Mr Brough offered the Labor leadership a briefing on Monday.

The Weekend Australian understands the intervention will be dealt with in three bills with welfare reform -- the sequestration of payments for food and rent -- being dealt with separately from the land issues.

Opposition indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said Labor would not declare its hand until it had seen the legislation. Pressure was exerted on Mr Rudd from the other side of the argument by Northern Territory Emergency Response Taskforce chairwoman Sue Gordon, who challenged Labor to commit to the intervention. "The federal Opposition has said they've given bipartisan support but ... here in the Territory Warren Snowdon said he is not overly keen," she said.

In response to Dr Gordon's call, Ms Macklin said federal Labor was absolutely determined to fight rampant child abuse in the communities. "We are in this for the long haul because children deserve an innocent childhood."

Labor vice-president Linda Burney, the first Aboriginal minister in the NSW parliament, was concerned child abuse was being used to "mask" a "land grab". "I personally don't see the connection between the scrapping of the permit system and changes to what is the most iconic piece of land rights legislation in the country. I don't see the connection between that and addressing child sex assault," she said.

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An unusual Leftist politician -- a food realist

LABOR'S push to banish cartoon characters from promotions of food to children have given one of the party's candidates a mild bout of indigestion. George Colbran, who is standing for the ALP in the Queensland electorate of Herbert, operates nine McDonald's restaurants, making him one of the fast food chain's biggest Australian franchisees. He argues that childhood obesity has been over-simplified by those who blame "junk" food. "Junk food: I get upset about that," Mr Colbran told the Herald. "How can a piece of meat put into bread with lettuce and cheese, eggs and muffins and so forth, be considered junk?"

Mr Colbran says voters in the Townsville electorate are far more concerned about the parlous state of local roads and poor access to broadband. He reckons plans by the Opposition health spokeswoman, Nicola Roxon, for restrictions on advertising food to children will never become Labor policy. This week Ms Roxon expressed concern that the character of Shrek was being used to sell everything from yoghurt to chocolate eggs as a marketing tool to get children to pester their parents into buying the products.

Mr Colbran said obesity was a complex issue. "There is a propensity for kids to be bigger now than they were when I was growing up, and there are a lot more reasons for that than McDonald's. "It's to do with lifestyles, kids in front of television and computer screens, kids being driven to school and picked up rather than riding their bicycles."

Herbert is important for Kevin Rudd's chances of winning the federal election, which hinge on whether the ALP can make electoral gains in Queensland. Labor has sought to improve its chances by selecting more candidates with business backgrounds like Mr Colbran. Labor believes a crackdown on food advertising will be popular among parents. But Mr Colbran's remarks suggest the plans may alienate another demographic, owners and employees of the estimated 11,000 food retailing franchises around the country.

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Your medical regulators will protect you -- again

The regulators are a useless lot in South Australia, too

The Health Department will investigate how a privately run public hospital employed an overseas-trained forensic pathologist as a specialist. The inquiry was launched yesterday after State Coroner Mark Johns found the Iraqi-trained doctor failed to order tests on a patient who died from a brain aneurism despite a written request for a CT scan from the man's doctor.

An inquest into the death of Peter Roy Gillam, 44, of Tea Tree Gully, heard Dr Al-Khalfa had not practised medicine for almost 20 years before he was employed by Modbury Hospital in December, 2004. His curriculum vitae revealed he graduated with a medical degree from Baghdad University in 1984 but only served as a medical intern before studying to become a full-time forensic pathologist. Mr Johns said it was "therefore open" to find he had not practised medicine "in a clinical sense between 1984 when he worked in a Baghdad teaching hospital and 2004 when he commenced working in Modbury Hospital in South Australia". "If that is correct, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that he was a relatively inexperienced clinician when he saw Mr Gillam," he said.

Mr Johns said that, while forensic medicine "is, of course, a most highly skilled discipline, it involves a quite different set of medical skills from those required in dealing with patients in an ordinary clinical setting". "I have considerable reservations about the adequacy of Dr Al-Khalfa's experience as a clinician to perform the role assigned to him at Modbury Hospital," Mr Johns said. He said coronial police officers had been unable to find Dr Al-Khalfa to question him about Mr Gillam's death.

Modbury Hospital did not keep records on doctors' movements after they resigned. "It has been assumed by Modbury Hospital that Dr Al-Khalfa is no longer in Australia," he said. "I believe that is a reasonable assumption. "It is most unfortunate that Dr Al-Khalfa was no longer in Australia and could not be called upon to explain why he acted as he did on 17 December, 2004."

The inquest heard Mr Gillam first was taken to Modbury Hospital by his father, Thomas, after 5pm on December 16, 2004, after he had been to his GP, who wrote a note requesting a brain scan. A male nurse, however, told the pair the X-ray department was closed and they would have to pay for it to be reopened or return the next morning.

Mr Gillam returned to the hospital and was seen by Dr Al-Khalfa who, rather than ordering a brain scan, told him he was suffering from depression and said he should see a psychiatrist. Mr Gillam saw his GP again on Monday, December 20, before collapsing the following day in his bedroom. He was again taken to Modbury Hospital before being rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He died there following emergency surgery for internal brain damage.

Mr Gillam's father last night said the recruitment procedures for overseas-trained doctors needed to be overhauled. "This bloke had many qualifications but, unfortunately, they weren't the right ones to be working where he was," he said. "All doctors have certain basic training and it doesn't matter which field they follow, they are still doctors. "But 20 years as a forensic pathologist isn't the type of person who should be working in the emergency department of a public hospital. "He just shouldn't have been in that job."

Mr Gillam said he had received a letter from Modbury Hospital detailing changes it had implemented following his son's death. A Health Department spokeswoman said Dr Al-Khalfa had been employed at Modbury Hospital when it was operated by a private contractor, Healthscope. "Given that the employment of this doctor occurred when the hospital was run by the private operator Healthscope, the SA Health Department will need to investigate the reasons behind Healthscope employing the doctor, as recommended by the Coroner," she said.

The adverse findings against Dr Al-Khalfa come amid intense national scrutiny of the recruitment of overseas-trained doctors following last month's detention of alleged terrorism suspect Dr Mohamed Haneef in Queensland.

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