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

Rowan's questions to Lord Mayor Campbell Newman concerning the budget

Campbell Newman,
Lord Mayor
Brisbane City Council


Dear Lord Mayor,

I have been trying to make sense of your recent budget speech - http://www.thewebconsole.com/process/link.php?lId=845398&cId=1037596

I would like to commend you on initiatives like:
$895k in 2010-11 to help fund a home energy reduction program through the CitySmart, EasyGreen program in partnership with the State Government and private enterprise to assist Brisbane residents slash their power bills, reducing home energy consumption and carbon emissions.

I am particularly pleased about the allocation of $11.25 million to fund a Brisbane-wide litter prevention program including another two general maintenance "flying gangs" to boost the work being done to keep our city clean and green.

You have been particularly generous with half a million allocated for a 15 year plan to restore and rejuvenate the environment of Norman Creek.

I applaude the portion of the $1.23 billion which will go to improve public transport and make it easier for people to walk and ride around our city.

It is the estimated $1.8 billion Northern Link tunnel that has me concerned.



In light of the spectacular failure of the CLEM7 tunnel to attract the projected traffic flows (and projected revenues), would you please advise me how this would impact on the Northern Link Road tunnel project?

I understand that the CLEM7 is a public/private partnership. The risk for financial losses of the CLEM7 lies with the Rivercity Motorway Group. However, I am led to beleive that the financial risk for the Northern Link Road Tunnel rests with Brisbane City Council. Please correct me if I am wrong.

If the Northern Link tunnel fails to attract the projected traffic flows (and projected revenues) by the same margins as the CLEM7, what would be the impact on the ratepayers of Brisbane? How much would our rates increase or what community services would be cut back?

regards,

Rowan Barber

World Mayor project: The Code of ethics and the Northern Link Tunnel

Dear Lord Mayor,


As a nominee for the 2010 World Mayor Prize, are you going to sign up to the City Mayors and the World Mayor Project Code of Ethics, which were established to promote, encourage and facilitate good local government?


Article 1 states that:
Mayors shall execute the office of mayor for the common good of their communities while refraining from actions that may harm other communities or the wider world. They shall take full responsibility for any acts performed by themselves or by members of their administrations.

If you proceed with the Northern Link road tunnel it will:
harm the community of Normanby;
emit an estimated greenhouse gas emissions at 32 000 tonnes of CO2e for construction of the project;
emit an estimated annual GHG emissions for the operation of the project of18 120 tonnes CO2-e (averaged over a 12 year period from time of opening).
This will contribute to the harm of other communities and/or the wider world.

What is the legacy you wish to leave for Brisbane and the wider world?

How do you wish history to treat you and how will you be remembered?

regards,

Rowan Barber