How can we help?

I think this editorial, which appeared in today's Australian newspaper, says it all really. How on earth are we, the greater community of Australia meant to repair our indigenous communities if we don't know the full extent of what is going on?

Blind eye at Wadeye
Permit system remains a barrier to indigenous reform

IF the federal Opposition leader were to visit one of the country's most dysfunctional Aboriginal communities and no press were allowed to report it, would he make a sound? Apparently not. For when Kim Beazley went to Wadeye, 300km southwest of Darwin, yesterday he was forced to leave behind his usual retinue of reporters and photographers due to objections of the local "community". This is not the first time Wadeye, whose residents were recently compelled to clean up the place on pain of losing government funding, has tried to keep the press from reporting local goings-on. In 2002 Paul Toohey, then a journalist for The Australian, was prosecuted for visiting Wadeye without a permit. More recently another journalist for this newspaper, Ashleigh Wilson, was barred from the town during the gang warfare that racked the community in May. Curiously – and the reasons and details behind the deal that orchestrated her permit may never be known – Fairfax's Lindsay Murdoch has received access to the community and is presently there.

The moral of the story is that monsters live in the dark. Over the past year a series of stories highlighting the condition of Aborigines living in remote communities has shamed all Australia, starting with the report of a judge who initially sentenced an Aboriginal elder to just four months in jail for kidnapping, bashing and raping his 14-year-old "promised bride". Outrage reached a crescendo with the appearance of Nanette Rogers on ABC's Lateline during which the Northern Territory Crown prosecutor detailed a culture of physical and sexual abuse against women and children. For a moment it seemed the entire nation seemed determined to fix the horrific conditions within many Aboriginal communities. Yet across the country a rigid permit system controls access to remote Aboriginal communities and allows those with the most to gain from barring outsiders to say who is allowed in. State and territory bureaucrats likewise have an interest in the system as it keeps meddlesome journalists from reporting the negligence of governments. And as always, it is the weakest members of the communities who pay the price.

Opal fuel & Petrol sniffing - is Opal the answer?

The question of Opal fuel came up this morning. Specifically, the octane levels and possible problems with using Opal in one’s vehicle.

For those of you who are unaware, petrol-sniffing is a big problem amongst the indigenous communities.

Sniff petrol and you get high on the aromatics in normal petrol (or gasoline if you’re American). Sniffing can lead to brain damage and death.

So, in response our government and fuel companies did some experimenting and Opal fuel is the result.

The federal government is trying to get Opal fuel into all parts of the Territory. However, in the Alice, whilst we can buy Opal fuel, regular unleaded and premium unleaded fuels are still available.

At The Rock (Uluru or Ayers Rock Resort), only Opal fuel is available to visitors. This is an effort by the small village to reduce the petrol sniffing problems in the nearby Aboriginal community of Mutijulu.

As a person who only uses Premium or Ultimate Unleaded fuels with their octane levels of 95 and 98 respectively, the prospect of having to suddenly fill up with Opal’s 91 octane fuel did not impress me.

My fuel range was greatly reduced on the tank full of Opal. So much so that I will not be using Opal again unless I have no choice.

It is difficult to find specific or technical or even hearsay data on the potential problems of using Opal fuel. Given that 2 of the major roadhouses on the Stuart Highway are refusing to become "Opal only", there are obviously problems.

 May I recommend making the Pigs Will Fly website regular reading? I discovered this gem of a blog when researching Opal fuel this morning.

Testing

Just testing the email to blogger thingy.

Petrol sniffing & BP Opal fuel

This post is in response to the post on Pigs Will Fly regarding Opal fuel and the petrol sniffing issue and is a copy of my comment. For those who are unaware, Central Australia has a petrol sniffing problem amongst its indigenous communities. BP responded by producing Opal fuel, which doesn’t give sniffers the high associated with regular fuels. However there’s a resistance in the greater community to buying and using Opal. Myself included.

BP markets its BP Ultimate fuel using the following phrases:

Give your engine a power boost

BP Ultimate delivers power benefits compared to ordinary fuels

Upgrade your engine with BP Ultimate

Driving a vehicle fuelled with BP Ultimate can be like driving with a bigger engine ...

BP Ultimate can take you further

BP Ultimate can help you achieve extra kilometres per tankful

On the issue of extra mileage, on another page BP says the following:

BP Ultimate really can help you get more kilometres out of your tank than regular unleaded.

Independent tests in a range of vehicles have shown that using BP Ultimate can reduce fuel consumption by up to 5.8% compared to cars using regular unleaded. Some customers may achieve larger improvements.

Although the benefits of BP Ultimate can be achieved almost immediately, the full effects become evident after continuous use. More mileage is derived from a cleaner engine, higher octane and reduced engine friction. Mileage benefits can increase or decrease depending on driving style and distance travelled.

As far as BP Unleaded 95 fuel (formerly BP Premium) goes, BP states on its website that this fuel is “… seasonally blended to help cars start easily, and because of the higher energy content, gives the potential for a reduction in fuel consumption all year round.” [my italics]

Admittedly BP does state Unleaded 95 is “designed to bring high octane and knock free performance to unleaded vehicles with a high octane requirement.” [my emphasis].

It could be argued that my vehicle (Mitsubishi Magna) does not have a high octane requirement. However, BP markets the product in its service stations as being good or even better to use in my car than regular unleaded.

And, as a person who has constantly filled up with Premium (Unleaded 95) or Ultimate, I have to say these fuels do increase my mileage. And I am very pleased with this aspect. I’m also pleased with the fact that my engine runs cleaner. My mechanic thanks me for using the product, he believes the higher octane fuels are extending the life of my car. Great. Fantastic. And being unleaded, it’s doing a little bit for the environment too.

Now we come to the petrol sniffing issue and the roll out of Opal fuel in the NT.

I am glad to hear that BP is working on a premium grade of Opal. However, what is the timeline for this product? My local BP servo says it’ll be a long while yet.

I’ve read and understand BP’s guarantee that Opal will not harm my vehicle.

But what about the decreased mileage from using Opal after years of using BP’s own higher octane fuels? In this era of rapidly increasing fuel prices, using Opal means my fuel costs actually increase as I have to fill up more often.

Which brings us to the ethical debate about Opal and petrol sniffing. Should those of us living in Alice Springs change over to Opal permanently in order to do our bit to help reduce petrol sniffing in our wider community?

Honestly? Unless the government makes Opal mandatory for the NT and removes access to other fuels completely, then whilst I have the choice of fuels I will continue to buy Premium grade unleaded or Ultimate fuel for my car.

Would I be happy if the government made the NT “Opal only”? No, but I would accept the decision. And I can’t help but wonder why this decision is not being made if the petrol sniffing issue is so bad – how do the petrol companies feel about this idea? Or would they stand to lose money?

Presumably due to its proximity to the Aboriginal community of Mutijulu, the tourist village of Yulara down at the Rock is an Opal only village. Sort of.

If you’re a resident of the village (e.g. you work at the resort and live on-site) you can apply to have access to Premium unleaded fuel at the Mobil fuel station (the only fuel station in the village). Isn’t this a bit risky? The black market trade in petrol in some of the indigenous communities is said to be rife. I cannot comment on that, but it does not surprise me that such a trade exists.

If Opal is as good as BP says it is, why then does Mobil in Yulara allow residents special permission to buy Premium unleaded?

I am just seeking to understand. Has BP failed in its marketing to convince Mobil Yulara and the Stuart Highway roadhouses of Erldunda and Kulgera of the benefits and profitability of Opal? Or is it simply recognition that Opal may be considered by many to be an inferior product, good fuel perhaps, clean fuel, but the other fuel types are so much better?

Wiki birthday meme

I read this fun and informative Wiki meme on Curiouser and Curiouser, who got it from Lunatic Ramblings, who I see got it from Geeky Dragon Girl…

Type in your date and month of birth into Wikipedia and come up with

· 3 events· 2 important birthdays

· 1 interesting death and

· 1 holiday or observance (if any)

Here are my results:

Events

• 1531 - Henry VIII was recognised at the supreme head of the Church of England
  

• 1752 – America’s first hospital opens. It was the Pennsylvania Hospital.
  

• 1978 – the Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran
  

Births

• 1799 – Father Basil Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Catholic organisation devoted to education.
  

• 1938 – Panamanian General and dictator Manuel Noriega
  

• 1962 – American singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow entered this world … if it makes you happy …

Death

• 1503 - Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of Henry VII, and mother of the infamous Henry VIII died on this day in 1503.
  

I mention Elizabeth’s death as being interesting, because not only did she die on February 11, she was born on this day too, back in 1466!

Happy 37^th Birthday Elizabeth?

Observance

• Professor Leet’s Day - I had no idea …

GERD - another recipe

Alice Springs, Central Australia, late July. And the weather’s turned almost warm. Winter may be coming to an end. We have a warm breeze blowing and generally kicking up leaves and dust. And I’ve been able to remove the big, fluffy polar fleece sweater.

The home-made pumpkin soup cooking on the stove has been taste tested and is going to be delicious! And all cooked from scratch. It’s another GERD friendly recipe and shouldn’t upset anyone’s indigestion.

Pumpkin Soup with potato, carrot & sweet potato
½ butternut pumpkin (squash) – peeled and diced into chunks
1 potato – leave the skin on, chop into chunks
2 carrots – why bother peeling these, just chop into small chunks
1 medium sweet potato (gold flesh) – peeled & diced into chunks
1 onion – diced
Garlic clove – finely chopped or squashed, or use minced garlic from a jar
Salt & pepper to taste
Basil and parsley, fresh or dried, again to taste
1 tspn minced chilli (or 1 small chilli) (OMIT this if your heartburn is bad)
Cumin & Sweet paprika
1 litre of vegetable or chicken stock.

Saute onion and garlic till soft. Throw in cumin, paprika and chilli and sauté for further few minutes. Toss in all other vegetables, turn heat up high and fry for about 5 minutes. Add stock. The liquid should just cover the vegetables. Add salt, pepper and herbs to taste. Bring to boil. Turn heat down and simmer for about 20 minutes or until all vegetables are tender.

Let soup cool. Then puree using your blender. Serve with crusty Italian bread.
Bon appetit!

Have your CAKE & eat it too!

CAKE was started in 2000 by feminists, Melinda Gallagher and Emily Kramer as an educational and interactive website.

Women from all around the world can discuss everything from politics to porn.

Soon enough, the duo began teaching sexual health workshops and throwing the infamously provocative CAKE parties in nightclubs all over NYC and London.

Their first co-authored book, "A Piece of CAKE - Recipes for Female Sexual Pleasure" was released in November 2005 and has been selling off the charts ever since.

Today, CAKE is striving to empower women and to entertain them worldwide.

To learn more about CAKE, click here.

The CAKE team are currently running a survey on women’s sex lives. I’ve already submitted my survey. Time for you to submit yours. Click here.

More Sex

Busy day today. Busy, busy.

THE adult entertainment industry is pushing the Federal Government to allow pornography on new digital television channels. The Eros Association has asked for a meeting with the Communications Minister, Helen Coonan, to discuss setting up a porn channel. See here for more details.

No doubt a porn channel would be a money-spinner, and likely to be the most popular channel, I just can’t see the government letting it happen. Can you?

I guess I’ll have to stick to surfing the net for my porn for now.

Have I mentioned the CAKE association? The sex-positive, female-positive women’s group that’s out to empower and enlighten women on matters sexual? They’re conducting a survey this year. It’s 7 pages long, and the questions do require fairly detailed answers if any decent knowledge is to be extracted from the results. But I believe it is worth it. Yes ladies, you can use a pseudonym if you choose.

Once I’ve finished typing up my own answers I will post them here for the world to read. Many bloggers use their blog to write anonymous erotica or detail their sexual adventures, many of them use their blogs as a forum in which to explore the philosophies behind women, feminism and sex. Why should I be any different?

Another totally gorgeous day here in Central Australia.

SEX!

Let’s talk about sex.

‘Cause it’s fun.

Or, as the CAKE team phrase it, “Why is sex so great anyway? Because it feels fucking great. In this crazy world of ours the moments of sexual expression, exploration, letting go and release are the most pure sense of humanity going.”

CAKE is a New York based women’s sexuality enterprise. Formed in 2000 to give women a forum in which to express their sexuality and the importance sex plays in our everyday lives.

Whilst CAKE may be predominantly a heterosexual group, I am sure I am not the only bisexual woman to find something uplifting and inspiring from the whole CAKE philosophy:

THE CAKE PHILOSOPHY

Women like to initiate sex
We get turned on every day of the week
We are visual
We fantasize
We know how to get ourselves off
We like sex
We know how our bodies work
Sex isn’t over until we orgasm

Their website goes on to state:
We know our bodies more accurately than ever before, masturbate as a daily ritual, realize our own sexual fantasies, see orgasm as a part of intercourse, ask our partners to explore vibrators, create visual stimulation that doesn't objectify women, and demand sexual equality in the boardroom and the bedroom.

I recommend the CAKE website to ANY woman, young or old. Read this page for background.

And try to get hold of a copy of their wonderfully sex-positive book “A Piece of Cake”. (Australian readers you need to order the book from either CAKE or Amazon – maybe it’s a bit too rad for our book stores?)

Wind Farms

What do Australians have against wind farms? What do they fear so much that they react with vehement protests to any proposal to build a wind farm in their area?

Australia’s federal minister for Agriculture is Peter McGauran and he is known for his vociferous opposition to the idea of wind farms.

Mr McGauran’s quote on the 7.30 Report pretty much sums up his feelings on the matter – “They go in, divide communities, devalue properties, scar the landscape. There's no justification for them.”

McGauran said if the Australian wind farm companies chose to take their business overseas then that was fine by him. He is all for pursuing clean coal technology.

Then we had the recent hullabaloo over the veto of a wind farm in Victoria, vetoed on the grounds that it allegedly may endanger the lives of the endangered orange-bellied parrot.

Which would have been fine IF there really had been orange-bellied parrots in the area. As today’s Australian newspaper reports, “federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell ignored explicit advice from his own department that stated a $220million wind farm posed no obvious threat to the parrot.

Senator Campbell vetoed the project despite warnings from one of his top bureaucrats that using the orange-bellied parrot to stop the wind farm could have widespread ramifications for coastal development in four states.”

I wonder, if any of these people who oppose wind farms have ever visited the magnificent wind farms of Western Australia? I’m thinking specifically of the wind farms at Albany and Esperance in the state’s southern region.

The companies running these farms producing renewable energy for their towns are to be congratulated. For they have utilized the tourist potential of their wind farms to promote understanding.

The renowned walking trail, the Bibbulmun Track, meanders close by the wind farms near Albany. Hikers have the option of taking a break from their journey at the farm and to use the toilet and shelter facilities the company has provided.

Tourists arriving by car need only drive a short distance out of town towards Frenchmans Bay to access the wind farm. They can read the information signs in the shelter, do a 1km walk around the tall turbines and through spectacular coastline scenery.

And visitors can walk right up close to one turbine and even touch it.

And they can hear for themselves how little noise the farms make, and what noise there is, is rhythmic and peaceful.

The wind farms outside of Esperance are set up similarly.

And the beauty is that Esperance’s wind farm provides nearly 75% of the power to the town. Surely that is worth the expense?

As for “scarring the landscape”, I look at coal-fired energy stations and I think they scar the landscape and the environment with their pollution and noise and bright lights burning all night, chewing up electricity.

I look at wind farm turbines and I admire their magnificence and simplicity in harnessing the power of the air. Standing tall, no lights, just the whoosh of the blades turning in the wind.

Might I suggest that owners of wind farms and those politicians who do actually support this form of renewable energy adopt the WA wind farms’ policy of making them a bit of a tourist attraction?

Water problems

Water, water everywhere. But it’s not. In fact Australia is facing a water crisis.

Peter Beattie, head of the Queensland government is rethinking a proposal to build a 1200km pipeline to transport water from the Burdekin Basin in the far north of the state to Brisbane.

In Queensland’s south-eastern corner, the rural city of Toowoomba is to vote on a referendum about using recycled purified sewage. And this issue has divided the city. Even the Prime Minister John Howard weighed into the debate – he’s all for recycling our waste water, cleaning it up and pumping it back out to be re-used by the community.

There’s a salinity problem over much of our country’s riverlands. And many, if not most, of our towns, cities and states have now implemented strict water restrictions. For example, not being allowed to use hoses or sprinklers on the garden – if you want your garden watered you do it with a watering can or bucket. Or wait for rain. There’s a thriving business boom in supplying plastic trees, plants and lawns now. All in the name of preserving the “perfect” garden.

The NSW city of Goulburn is in a terrible way with its drought problem.

Here in the Alice, we get our water from a finite resource under the ground.

And people here continue to water their gardens at a prolific rate of consumption, our water usage is far higher than the national average – around 1000 litres per person per day compared with the national average of just 620 litres per person. All in the name of turning Alice Springs into an oasis in the desert.

Western feminists - why are they silent?

Here’s a thought provoking article from Paul Sheehan in today’s SMH. As one who has lived part of her life in the middle east and has observed what life is like in an Islamic nation, I echo Sheehan’s question – where are our prominent Western feminists? And why the silence?