Australia

[Michaelangelica]

Skippy
Hopping one day, delicious the next
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo - Australia's First Superstar! (ABC TV)

ABC TV: Documentary

Documentaries - ABC TV

[Michaelangelica]

ABC TV
Two things few Yanks will know about, to their loss.
Australian Story - The President's Man 1 An inspiring show. Interesting men- both of them
Australian Story

The President's Man 2 or Pm's? -the new Australian Ambassador to Washinton /USA.
The 7.30 Report - ABC
(need 21 Sept program)

[Michaelangelica]

News _________________________________________

First Ausralian woman wins Nobel
Tuesday, 06 October 2009
By Fiona MacDonald

Elizabeth Blackburn has become the first Australian female Nobel prize laureate.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Tasmanian-born US scientist Professor Elizabeth Blackburn has become Australia's first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

The discovery of an enzyme that keeps chromosomes eternally young and could help scientists to treat cancer earned Professor Blackburn the Nobel prize for medicine, along with two of her colleagues, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak.

"Elizabeth Blackburn is an exceptionally talented Australian cell biologist who has made important contributions to our understanding of how cells in each new generation renew their potential to grow, develop and live for a normal lifespan," said Professor Bob Williamson from the University of Melbourne, and Secretary for Science Policy of the Australian Academy of Science.

The work on telomerase, which earned Professor Blackburn science's top prize on 5 October 2009, also provides insight into cancer and other diseases, and may give rise to new treatments, according to Professor Williamson.

"It is now known that telomerase is an enzyme that 85 per cent of all cancers depend on for their continuing growth. This discovery may make it possible to treat most cancers by developing anticancer drugs that block the activity of telomerase," said Professor Roger Reddel from the Children's Medical Research Institute, Sydney.

"The research also has implications for ageing, and for a number of inherited diseases," he added.

"Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider showed amazing insight in predicting the existence of this enzyme and then setting out to find it. Their work, along with that of Jack Szostak, is also a beautiful illustration of the potential value of basic research in model organisms," said Associate Professor Tracy Bryan and Dr Scott Cohen from the Children's Medical Research Institute.

“What an excellent choice...all of us at the Australian Academy of Science are proud she is one of our Fellows,” said Professor Williamson.

Professor Blackburn was born in Hobart and graduated with a BSc from the Univeristy of Melbourne. She is currently the Morris Herztein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco.
Editor's Note:This article can be reproduced with proper attribution to ScienceAlertThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ScienceAlert Pty Ltd
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20090510-19939.html

[Michaelangelica]

It is predicted that Australia's population will rise 65% to 35 million people by 2040. Mostly by immigration.
Yet we can't take a few thousand refugees from war torn parts of the planet-- Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka.
War torn in part because of our policies and our guns.
Come to Australia (make sure it is by plane and not a leaky boat)
The USA,with all its illegal immigrant problems, is able to compassionately take a whole town-population of racial-refugees from Russia.
The last lot that came to Oz in leaky boats from a war- torn state were Vietnamese--they haven't done too badly and our culture has been enriched by them.

The British Royal Institution (or in a county that abbreviates everything Ri) Comes to Oz.
Catalyst: Royal Institution Australia - ABC TV Science
(Where kangaroos were invented!)

[Michaelangelica]

Australia a global leader in biodiversity

Media Statement - 29th September 2009
Peter Garrett - Minister for Environment, Heritage and The Arts



Environment Minister Peter Garrett today released the only report in the world to document the planet's known animal and plant species - all 1,899,587 of them.

. . .

. . .

"For example, the figures in this report, updated for the first time in 20 years, show 87 per cent of our mammals and 93 per cent of our reptiles are found nowhere else in the world.

"The report shows that the science of species discovery is alive and well - in the past three years in Australia, we've discovered 48 reptiles, eight frogs, eight mammals, 1,184 flowering plants and 904 spiders, mites and scorpions.

"But we have a long way to go - we have discovered and named only about a quarter of Australia's estimated number of flora and fauna. We need this essential information to do a better job of managing our biodiversity against the threats of invasive species, habitat loss and climate change.

. . .



"This work will add value to the CReefs project, a four-year quest to discover new species at three Australian tropical reefs: Heron and Lizard Islands on the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia," Mr Garrett said.

. . .

Australian Labor Party : Australia a global leader in biodiversity

[Michaelangelica]

Some of my recent Email

Australian Human Rights Commission releases Christmas Island report

Legitimate concerns about people smuggling should not cause Australia to depart from its international human rights obligations to treat asylum seekers humanely and with fairness, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission Cathy Branson QC said today.

President Branson made the comments when releasing the Commission’s Immigration detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island report, following the Commission’s visit to the Christmas Island immigration detention facilities in July.

“The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomed the federal government’s decision to close the offshore detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island, but we remain concerned about the mandatory detention and offshore processing of asylum seekers on Christmas Island,” President Branson said.

“The detention of asylum seekers in a place as small and remote as Christmas Island means detainees have limited access to essential services such as legal assistance, health care, torture and trauma counselling and religious support.

“The lack of local infrastructure also makes it difficult for the Government to comply with key aspects of its own New Directions policy, particularly in relation to using immigration detention centres as a last resort, and the presumption that asylum seekers will be released into the community once their health, identity and security checks are completed.

“We are particularly concerned that some children, including unaccompanied minors, are held in a closed detention facility on the island, known as the ‘construction camp’, which is claustrophobic, lacking in open grassy space and an inappropriate place for children.”

Ms Branson said the Commission was also concerned that asylum seekers arriving in excised offshore places like Christmas Island were barred from the refugee status determination system that applied under Australian law. Instead they went through a ‘non-statutory’ process with no access to the Refugee Review Tribunal and very limited access to Australian courts.

“These asylum seekers must rely solely on Ministerial discretion in order to be permitted to apply for a protection visa,” Ms Branson said.

“This policy should be abandoned and all ‘unauthorised arrivals’ making claims for asylum should have those claims assessed under the refugee status determination system that applies under the Migration Act.

“Under the Refugee Convention, asylum seekers should not be penalised because of their method of arrival,” Ms Branson said. “Regardless of how or where they arrive in Australia, all people are entitled to have their fundamental human rights protected, including the right to seek asylum.”

Ms Branson also said it was important to recognise the efforts made by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to manage the detention operations on Christmas Island in a humane and positive manner, particularly given the considerable constraints they were working within.

Immigration detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island can be found at: 2009 Immigration detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island

Media contact: Louise McDermott 0419 258 597
""
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Amnesty International Australia

Forward to your friends


Tell Kevin Rudd: respect refugees’ rights

Dear Michael,
Tamil asylum seekers are seen aboard a boat intercepted by the Indonesian Navy en route to Australia, with spokesman 'Alex' speaking to the media.
© AAP Image/Adam Gartrell

They make up less than four per cent of people who come to Australia seeking asylum, yet never fail to generate an astonishing political and media storm.

So here are some facts: more than 96 per cent of asylum seekers arriving in Australia step off planes, not boats. Furthermore, the vast majority of boat arrivals are typically found to be genuine refugees – those fleeing for their lives and safety, not simply seeking better lives in wealthier nations. Far from being "illegal immigrants" they are exercising the right to seek asylum under international law.

Yet right now our Government is actually considering paying Indonesia, a country which has not signed the UN Convention on Refugees, to swoop in on people desperately seeking refuge in Australia before we’ve even had a chance to hear their claims.

Tell Kevin Rudd it’s time to rise above sinister politics and uphold fundamental human rights.

We're part of Amnesty International because we believe in upholding human rights. Not just when all sides of politics are feeling noble. Not just when the abuses are happening somewhere else. Australia currently takes less that a tenth of one percent of the world’s refugees. Blame, fear-mongering and demonising vulnerable people will never replace our need for informed, compassionate policy that’s grounded in the real world. We must stand up to ask our leaders to rise above the politics of fear.

Asylum seekers, are not, as the Prime Minister wrongly stated, "illegal immigrants". Ensuring the right to seek asylum is the entire reason the Refugee Convention was created in the first place, in the aftermath of Jewish persecution and genocide during World War II.

The reality is, no matter how politically inconvenient no government of Australia can simply wish away the victims of war, abuse and conflict. Nor should any government congratulate itself for offloading some of the world’s most vulnerable and traumatised people onto other countries.

If you don’t want this brand of politics representing you any longer, speak up now.

Thank you for standing up,

Graham Thom
Refugee Coordinator
Amnesty International Australia
Email Kevin Rudd now

Refugees' Human Rights, Amnesty International Australia - Working to Protect Human Rights

So this is my letter (I am pretty cranky about this)

Dear PM Rudd,
I did not vote for you so you could carry on Howard's xenophobia.
I am very disappointed-- again refugees fates being traded for votes.

We created this problem by supporting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and by our inaction to human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.--Just as we did in Vietnam.
Has the Vietnamese immigration hurt Australia?
Quite the contrary, they work harder and are more appreciative of Australia than most native born Australians.

We do not need Indonesian mercenaries..

We expect a 65% increase in Oz population in the next 10-20 years. A few thousand scared, destitute, frightened, desperate people will make little difference.

How many children are on Christmas Island?
How long are refugees taking to "process."

Perhaps you could advise 'illegal immigrants and 'people smugglers that they would be better using their money to come to Oz by plane not leaky boat?

Stop treating us like brain-dead, racist mushrooms and fix this! There has to be a better way.!

Micha. . .

he response to the first "Boat People".
Things have not changed?
http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/episodes/episode-4