Dear Wayne Swan - Please POSTPONE the NLink

Wayne Swan

Federal Treasurer

Australian Federal Government





Dear Mr Swan,



The Lord Mayor of Brisbane is determined to sign contracts with a consortia: Transcity, comprising BMD, Ghella and Acciona and commence construction of the Northern Link Road Tunnel before the end of 2010.



It would appear that the Lord Mayor has failed to take into consideration the financial failure of the Clem7 and repeated warnings from the Queensland Treasury Corporation that building the Northern Link Road Tunnel might limit the Brisbane City Council's "ability to fund other capital expenditure and could result in deferral of projects".



I would much rather see the deferral of the Northern Link Road Tunnel, than a deferral of other walking, cycling or Public Transport projects or fabulous initiatives such as the purchase of renewable energy and more efficient litter prevention programmes.





Would you please delay or postpone any Federal funding for the Northern Link Road Tunnel until the Brisbane City Council and/or the Queensland Coordinator General can provide a current assessment of the financial, social & ecological risks?



regards,



Rowan Barber



30 Normanby Terrace NORMANBY Q 4059

Was Tunnels all "Can-do" could do? (to the tune of All I want is You)

apologies to Paul Hewson;Dave Evans; Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen Jr for stealing their melody

You say you want
Tunnels & a rings of roads
You say you want
Your TransApex scheme to behold

But all the legacies we leave
From the history books we’ll read
Was tunnels all “Can-do” could do?

You say you'll give me
Northern Link with no one in it
Toowong to Normanby in seven minutes
Though the planet pays the toll!

You say you'll offset
the tunnels by planting trees
A river of green wash Eze
A bikeway network still in fragments
But all the legacies we leave
From the history books we’ll read
Was tunnels all “Can-do” could do?

You say you want
Your tunnel vision to prevail,
Even if it makes more sense to build rail

You say you want
Tunnels on a ring of roads
Your TransApex scheme keep cars in mode
Despite signing up the City Mayor’s Code

All the Codes of ethics we break
From the history books we’ll read
Was tunnels all “Can-do” could do?


Do...all “Can-do” can...
Do...all “Can-do” can
Do...all “Can-do” can...
Do...

this election held in twenty ten

one, two, three, four

tell me who you're voting for?

Climate Elephant,

who they choose to ignore.

both parties want processing offshore

dog whistling, vulnerable and poor.

oh, oh, oh, you're swinging your vote.

oh, oh, oh, football with the boats.



Abbott, Gillard

I cannot tell you apart.

cash for clunkers

sell your soul

gambling on cleaning coal.

local candidates,with promises and lies.

elephant in the room,

will not compromise.

oh, oh, oh, you're swinging your vote.

oh, oh, oh, football with the boats.



one, two, three, four, five, six, nine, and ten.

pork barrels can't buy, if you deny

this election held in twenty ten.



one, two, three, four, five, six, nine, and ten.

pork barrels can't buy, if you deny

this election held in twenty ten.



oh, oh, oh, you're swinging your vote.

oh, oh, oh, football with the boats.

oh, oh, oh, you're swinging your vote.

oh, oh, oh, football with the boats.

my letter to Lord Mayor Campbell Newman asking him to be an advocate for the people of Brisbane

Dear Lord Mayor,

Sorry I have not written for a while. I note that we are in a Federal election campaign and I have also been distracted by the State Government's failure to regulate the coal seam gas development and underground coal gasification industries.

Again I would like to commend Brisbane City Council and your administration, for having a better response to address the causes and the consequences of climate change than your opponents and colleagues at a Federal level.

Since I sent you the correspondence below on the 14 July 2010, I have had two letters from you and a phone call from one of your staff, informing me that you are considering your response.

My question is really quite simple. Would you please re-consider your strategy to provide more & more infrastructure for individual cars as proposed by the "TransApex"?

You have done a great deal to address the issues of traffic congestion in the city of Brisbane. Perhaps it is time for you to focus on advocacy for the people of Brisbane with the State and Federal Governments to provide us with the iconic, rapid, mass transport systems that we need.

kind regards,

Rowan Barber
30 Normanby Terrace
NORMANBY Q 4059

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 9:49 AM, Rowan Barber wrote:

Campbell Newman
Lord Mayor
Brisbane City Council

Dear Lord Mayor,

I find myself needing to commend you once again for Brisbane City Council's green initiatives.

Last night, I observed you launching the EzyGreen programme in the "Green Street Mall".

I have signed up to EzyGreen and I will be encouraging my friends, neighbours and personal and professional contacts to do the same.

EzyGreen and purchasing of renewable energy for the Council are commendable and practical actions. EzyGreen will help your constituents address their personal behaviours which lead to excessive generation of Greenhouse gases.

However, your relentless pursuit of the "TransApex" projects sends a mixed (conflicting) message. Providing more infrastructure for motor vehicles will only encourage people to continue to drive.

You have stated that "TransApex" has widespread support and two electoral victories and the conditional approvals by the Coordinator General, demonstrate a "mandate" to procede with the "TransApex" strategy.

I would ask you to reconsider your "TransApex" strategy in light of the following recent developments (which have not been considered previously):
* the failure of the Clem7 to attract the predicted traffic flows and toll revenues;
* the impact of revenue losses on the viability of the Northern Link Road tunnel;
* the impact of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on the perception and reality of reliance on motor vehicles;

If these matters are not considered, then I can only assume that EzyGreen and the purchase of GreenPower are simply attempts to GREENWASH and provide some sort of guilt offset.

This is akin to being unfaithful to your lovely wife - Lisa and then believing that paying others to be refrain from infidelity would somehow compesate Lisa for your behaviour.

I apologise for the personal nature of this letter. The Northern Link Tunnel has deeply personal impacts on the amenity of my precinct and the future for my 11 month daughter. I also have grave concerns for vulnerable people and species we share this planet with.


Regards,

Rowan

the race to the bottom

Did I ever tell you that PM Gillard
Called an election and played the race card.
Well, she did and it wasn't a wise thing to do.
You see, she took her dog whistle and blew and she blew!
Escalating racial tension doesn’t encourage debate.
Mandatory detention fuels ignorance & hate!
This makes things quite difficult seeking consensus
As you can imagine, with so many fences.
in a race for climate inaction she opened the gap,
Just like Tony Abbott’s, it was absolute crap.
She matched him on processing asylum seekers offshore.
A previous mandate on climate, she chose to ignore.
She forgot about Stern. She ignored Ross Garnaught.
She suggested a people’s assembly was the way to go.
She caved into miners on super profits taxes.
She extended the fictional Bush evil axis.
With an internet filter she sought to persist.
Same sex marriages weren’t on her list.
She took cash back from solar,
To fund cash for clunkers.
And Aussie troops in Afghanistan
Were left in their bunkers.
She left us no choices, her hands covered in blood,
And now that he’s gone, I sure miss Kevin Rudd.

Australians have moved beyond a people's consensus

Arch Bevis
Member for Brisbane

Dear Arch,

I would like you to remind Senator Wong and Prime Minister Gillard
of the Green Cross Australia's people's assembly, addressing the
humanitarian consequences of climate-induced sea level rise in Asia
Pacific and Australia’s response. A report has already been
presented to Senator Wong on 30 August 2008.

http://www.greencrossaustralia.org/our-work/the-national-peoples-assembly.aspx

I would also like you to remind our illustrious Prime Minister
Gillard, that the Laws of Thermodynamics do not negotiate. According
to the Garnaut Review, one cannot choose a CO2 equivalent target of
450 ppm, without compromising the Murray Darling Basin and the Great
Barrier Reef. Our Prime Minister is seeking a people's consensus
without anybody to represent future generations or the other species
which share our biome.

Is the Gillard Government moving forward or just idling in neutral?

Rowan Barber
30 Normanby Terrace NORMANBY Q 4059

My request to my Federal MP to ask cabinet to undertake every action possible to halt & reverse climate change

Arch Bevis
Federal Member for Brisbane

Dear Mr Bevis,

In 2007, I celebrated like it was new year's eve, when the Labor Party won enough seats to form Government. The previous Government, led by the former Prime Minister: John Howard, failed to respond to the challenge of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. For >10 years the former Australian Government was in denial of the need for action to address climate change.

I concede that Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong attended UN Climate Change Conference in 2009, with the best of intentions. However, in reality, there has been very little effective action internationally or domestically to address the causes and the impacts of climate change. The proposed (and since postponed) emissions trading scheme (ETS), was so compromised that it became a Carbon Pollution Rewards Scheme (CPRS).

I read in Andrew Morton's Article in the Age that cabinet will meet on Tuesday 13 July will be discussing the Federal Labor Party's policy on climate change.

As my elected representative, would you please ask Prime Minister Gillard and her cabinet, to undertake every possible action at a National and International level, to halt and reverse climate change? I still believe that Australia has a moral obligation to protect the world’s most vulnerable people from the effects of climate change.

In my humble view, action on climate change at a National level has to include a price on carbon and/or greater incentives for generators, distributors and consumers to switch from fossil fuels (including coal, crude oil and natural gas) to lower emission sources of energy. I am looking forward to the release of Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan on Wednesday the 14 July 2010.

This cutting-edge plan, the culmination of over 12 months and thousands of hours of pro bono work by engineers, scientists and postgraduate students, is a collaboration between the climate solutions think tank Beyond Zero Emissions, and the University of Melbourne Energy Institute.

This plan is unique in Australia. It is a detailed and costed blueprint for transitioning our stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy in ten years. The technologies utilised in this plan are commercially available now. It has been put together in a collaborative way involving over 50 technical experts. The full report will be made available for the first time on 14 July 2010, free to download from the Beyond Zero Emissions website or hard copy for purchase.

http://beyondzeroemissions.org


Sincerely,

Rowan Barber
30 Normanby Terrace NORMANBY Q 4059