A Leftist bushfire story

We have read in the papers in recent days many stories about various acts of generosity towards bushfire victims and firefighters.  Chris Graham, Publisher/Editor of the Leftist webzine "New Matilda" has a story up at the moment  about such an act of generosity that he describes as "very close to my heart". 

What makes it so close to his heart appears to be that it has a racial angle.  Leftists never cease obsessing about race. The story is that a Black Family Offered Their Home To Bushfire Victims.

All very nice of course but Chris plays down certain facts, the most salient of which is that the family is NOT Aboriginal except in a legal sense.  They look white.



So whatever motivates their generosity can most economically be ascribed to their WHITE ancestry.

Secondly, the home being offered is one that the family vacated some time ago.  They own it but it is not their current home.

Thirdly, the home is located in a place far away from the bushfires so is not likely to be of help to most of the victims.

Nonetheless it is of course a generous offer but that it "vindicates" blacks in any sense would be a large stretch.  If Chris thinks it does the story is closer to his anus than his heart.

Read it here






2019 was Australia's hottest year on record – so is global warming behind the fires?

Global temperatures have been inching up ever since the little ice age a couple of hundred years ago, meaning that a hotter 2019 is no surprise.  And it is also no surprise that extra heat favours fires.

What is not at all clear is that increased levels of CO2 are involved.  That increased CO2 causes increased temperatures is the theory behind "climate change" but for the theory to be correct there should be a close correlation between CO2 levels and temperature levels.  There is not.  They rise in different ways at different times. So the theory is grounded in faith, not fact.  It cannot in fact explain anything.

Northern English expat Graham Readfearn makes a living out of writing stories that boost the "climate change" faith so his latest piece in the Guardian (below) is no surprise.

He has done some homework and interviewed climate scientits about Australia's present bushfire problem in an endeavour to find out why the problem is much bigger this year.  Bushfires are a normal seasonal event in Australia but the problem this year is unusually severe.

The people he interviewed all identified various climate influences on the fires -- such as the Indian Ocean dipole, the Southern Annular Mode etc -- but all agreed that "climate change" was a "contributor" to the fires

But that's just a statement of faith.  They have no data that would enable them to dissect the various "contributions" to the fires.

That becomes particularly clear when we note that 2019 temperatures differed from several previous years by only tenths of one degree.  2019 was hotter but only by a tiny fraction.  So if temperatures similar to those of the present did not cause bushfires in the past, how can we know that they contributed this year?  We cannot. The probablity has to be that global temperatures had a negligble "contribution".

The actual causes would appear to be the drought and a long period of fuel buildup after the Greenies and their bureaucratic allies systematically obstructed backburning.  Without that fuel there would have been no fires


The year 2019 was the hottest on record for Australia with the temperature reaching 1.52C above the long-term average, data from the Bureau of Meteorology confirms.

The year that delivered crippling drought, heatwaves, temperature records and devastating bushfires was 0.19C hotter than 2013, the previous record holder.

Climate scientists told Guardian Australia that climate change pushed what would have been a hot year into record territory, driving heat extremes and the risk of deadly bushfires.

The Bureau of Meteorology data shows the average temperature across the country was 1.52C above the long-term average taken between 1961 and 1990. The second hottest year was 2013, followed by 2005, 2018 and 2017.

The data, from the bureau’s long-term ACORN-SAT data, will be used as part of the bureau’s annual climate statement due for release on 9 January.

Prof Mark Howden, the director of the ANU Climate Change Institute, said the continued rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, caused mainly by burning fossil fuels, was the underlying driver of the heat.

He said: “It’s very clear that greenhouse gas emissions are changing the radiation balance of the Earth. Other contributors are minor in comparison.”

He said two other climate systems had also played a role in delivering the record hot year.

The Indian Ocean Dipole system had drawn moisture away from the centre of the continent, causing extra heat to build there. Another system known as the Southern Annular Mode had also contributed to the heat.

The data also shows that 2019 was the hottest year on record for New South Wales, with temperatures 1.95C above the long-term average, beating the previous record year, 2018, by 0.27C.

Western Australia also had its hottest year, with temperatures 1.67C above average, beating the previous 2013 heat record by 0.58C.

The Northern Territory and South Australia both had their second hottest years, with 2019 coming in fifth hottest for Victoria and sixth hottest for Queensland, according to the data. Tasmania had a relatively cool year, but was still 0.41C above the long-term average.

The previous summer of 2018-19 was the hottest on record. The spring of 2019 also delivered the worst bushfire weather since at least 1950, when the Forest Fire Danger Index data began.

On Wednesday 18 December, Australia experienced its hottest day on record with an average maximum temperature of 41.9C (107.4F), beating the previous record by 1C that had been set only 24 hours earlier.

Dr Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a climate scientist at the University of New South Wales specialising in extreme events, said 2019 had started hot, with the previous summer being the hottest on record.

She said: “The extremes have been seen in lots of heatwaves and, of course, the bushfires, that are a consequence of the very hot and dry conditions.”

She said while natural climate cycles had pushed temperatures higher, “climate change has given them a boost”.

“2019 would not have been pleasant anyway, but climate change has made it worse. We are focusing now on the bushfires, but the underlying heat has been driving these conditions for much of the year.

“Climate change isn’t the outright cause, but it’s an undeniable contributor to this extreme year on all accounts.”

A bureau spokesperson said it would provide official comment on the 2019 temperatures in its annual climate statement on January 9 that would include a “comprehensive analysis of the year’s weather events and climate context, including any records of note”.

SOURCE  






Concern over 'viability' of dairy farms and milk supplies as Australian bushfires spread

Warning fresh milk supply could be curbed as East Gippsland in Victoria and NSW south coast brace for fires

Dairy farmers were racing to shore up supplies of fodder and fuel on Friday as they prepared for a hot weekend that could see the return of fires that have already ravaged much of Australia’s east coast.

Two key dairy areas, East Gippsland in Victoria and the New South Wales south coast, were heavily burned during fires over the new year, adding to the woes of an industry already suffering from a crippling drought and persistently low milk prices.

Supermarkets say the fire crisis has not curbed the supply of fresh milk but the head of NSW farmers’ body Dairy Connect, Shaughn Morgan, said it could do so if it continued.

“It could have an impact, depending on the amount of milk that’s not collected,” he said. He said it was hard to get information but the fires were “impacting quite heavily on the south coast from Nowra down”.

“These guys aren’t able to get the milk from their farms, they’re spilling their milk,” he said. “We’re very grateful to the processors, who are continuing to pay the farmers.”

He said he hoped the declaration of a state of emergency by the state government on Thursday would allow roads to open and farmers to bring in fodder. “If there’s no fodder to feed them [the cows],” he said. “It raises serious questions about the viability of their farms.

“Saturday’s a real concern because it is another flashpoint – it’s going to be something that we need to monitor really closely. “The people down there are at their wit’s end and have been under enormous pressure for days.”

The president of the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria, Paul Mumford, said there had been reports of pasture damage and some stock losses in East Gippsland and up into the state’s north-east, but information was “still reasonably sketchy coming out of both areas”.

“The big problem farmers are having is fire damage not only to pastures but infrastructure – but more importantly getting services back on to the farm.”

He said farmers needed fodder to feed their cows, and fuel to power milking equipment.  “The cows have to be fed and the cows also have to be milked,” he said. “Some farms may not have been able to milk their cows since the fire went through their district.

“Because tomorrow and Sunday are going to be such problem days for heat, from what I understand today no fodder or services will be allowed in or out of those districts until the worst of the danger has passed.”

Max Roberts, the chairman of milk processor Bega, said it had been difficult to collect milk. “If they’re not on fire, we can’t get to them,” he said. “There’ve been a number of farms that haven’t milked for up to 50 hours, 60 hours, and that’s an issue for cow health.”

He said the company was working on getting fodder and diesel to farms, while emergency services were helping to get milk tankers out to dairy farms. “It’s highly unusual to get a milk tanker turning up with a police escort but that’s what’s happening.”

He was “not sure” how much it was costing Bega to pay for milk it could not collect.  “It’d be a bigger cost if the farm went broke,” he said. “You take a longer-term view on these things.”

Production at the company’s factory in Bega will grind to a standstill over the weekend. “The factory will close down all but a skeleton operation all through Saturday and Sunday to allow people to stay home and look after themselves,” Roberts said. “There will be milk tanker pickups but again the instruction is that, if it isn’t safe to do it, don’t.”

Steve Guthrey, a former dairy farmer who now grows fodder and agists livestock at his property near Bega, said the community was bracing for the weekend. “Pretty much everybody’s just watching and waiting for the moment,” he said. “We know we’ve got a pretty serious day tomorrow. “We’re all on tenterhooks, preparing our houses and farms as best we can.”

He said he feared fires to the north-east and north-west could join together.

“We haven’t gotten any aircraft down here to help us,” he said. “A lot of the vehicles down here are really limited in what they can do.

“We’ve run out of irrigation water now. The dams are virtually empty … We’ve still got a long summer ahead of us now.”

SOURCE  






Morrison government rules out visa-free travel between Australia, UK

 The Morrison government has baulked at expanding a new post-Brexit trade pact to include visa-free work and travel between Australia and the United Kingdom, arguing any special deal that circumvented existing immigration caps could be deeply unpopular in both countries.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that some changes to work rights would be proposed and accepted by both sides but said he “can't imagine full and unfettered free movement” will be on the table during negotiations.

“We're not into full negotiating mode and we will have to see what the UK aspires to, but noting that work rights and movement of people in the UK has been a big part of the European Union debate, I would be surprised if complete liberalisation around migration and labour rights was on their agenda,” Senator Birmingham said during an interview in London.

Australia already has a free movement deal with New Zealand but Senator Birmingham said the Morrison government would not use the Brexit trade talks to propose a similar scheme allowing British citizens to work and live in Australia visa-free, and vice-versa.

UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss floated possible talks on free movement during a visit to Australia in September, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson also advocated for the creation of a special visa-free zone when he was mayor of London.

Mr Johnson once said opening the borders would end “absurd discrimination” facing expats in the UK and aid the Australian economy because the “unspoken reality is that Australians are actually quite keen to encourage more immigration from Britain”.

A largely foreign concept in Australia, free movement could unleash significant economic and social consequences, including a possible exodus of highly trained workers to the UK and influx of unskilled Brits to Sydney and Melbourne.

While Australians can visit the UK for less than six months without a visa, British tourists need one to enter Australia. Some 636,000 UK nationals were granted tourist, business or temporary work visas last financial year.

Unrestricted European migration was a major factor behind the push for Brexit. The Coalition has also moved to ease fears over congestion and employment in Australia by cutting the permanent migration cap from 190,000 to 160,000 a year.

Senator Birmingham said he expected possible tweaks to existing immigration rules to allow “more flexibility”, but stressed his priority was sealing a free trade deal focused on giving Australian exporters easier access to the lucrative British market.

He pledged to canvass public opinion on any changes to “kinks” in the existing migration regime.

“How you draw the line around rights to access work visas and other visas is a different question, that has an entire spectrum of grey, between the black and white of no movement and unfettered movement,” he said.

The UK’s departure from the European Union means it must seal new free trade terms with major economies, including the United States and Australia.

The UK is Australia’s eighth-largest trading partner, with two-way trade valued at $26.9 billion in 2018. Britain is also the second-largest source of total foreign investment in Australia.

Britain will formally leave the EU on January 31 but the existing economic, customs and migration relationship will remain in place for one more year while the two parties thrash out a new trading and security pact.

Senator Birmingham met his UK counterpart over Christmas and hopes a deal can be struck and ratified by the December 2020 deadline that Britain has set itself to finalise a new post-Brexit relationship with Europe.

Mr Johnson’s legislation makes it illegal to extend the one-year transition window, making a “hard” Brexit a possibility in December 2020 if the negotiations collapse or take too long to complete and ratify, as some experts have predicted.

Senator Birmingham said the UK and EU were in “uncharted waters” but expressed confidence a deal can be struck in such a short timeframe. He predicted this would give Australian businesses and investors final confidence and certainty.

“Those uncharted waters also mean unprecedented outcomes can probably be achieved,” he said.

“The incentive to get a deal done has got to be significant given how much is at stake, so I expect given how much clarity and certainty the UK election provided, that goodwill exists on both sides of the Channel to nut out out a deal.”

SOURCE  

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here