BUGGER THE APPLES, WHAT ABOUT THE BOFFINS?

Australia has finally cleared New Zealand apples for export ending a 90 year trade battle. But, (and you heard it first here), sources have revealed to us that the Australian Government is considering excluding New Zealanders and other foreign boffins and bureaucrats from government job opportunities in Canberra.

SICKLY BROWN AUSSIE LIBERALS GET A SERVE

We blogged yesterday on the powerful story brewing in Australia between Bess Price a rural Aboriginal woman who supported the state intervention aimed at increasing the social status of Aboriginal women and reducing sexual abuse.

Aboriginal academic Larissa Behrendt made a foul comment about Bess on twitter and the rage of Australia exploded. Behrendt is Labours little darling who is about to head a review on Aborigine education, a job that now looks in jeopardy.

Today Marcia Langton of the Australian sheds light on the growing differences between Aboriginal haves and the "have nots"

BLOODY RIGHT COBBA

A great rendition of a true Aussie Classic.. for Te Thorpie for Xmas....

MINING BOOM BOOM

We are confident that New Zealand can follow the lead of Australia when it comes to looking at what ancilliary businesses can compliment mining.

Seems as there are some openings in the outbacks

The idea that a mining boom was attracting sex industry entrepreneurs to Alice Springs came as no shock to NT Resources Council chief executive Scott Perkins.


"Well, the mining industry has a long history of supporting local businesses," he said.


"On top of mining, there are many drilling operations."

We think that Great Barrier could see a rise in  a new type of tourism  with the advent of mining there. Maybe the development of a Love Boat business. Staffed with  women who know what men want and are good enough at it to command a high price for their unique services.

And a well appointed Winnebago could provide  love bus services to weary  miners.

Lisa Lewis  heres your chance......

ITS URGENT - REALLY.

The Aussie Rock says this is funny... He is right it is..

WHY WE LOVE AUSTRALIA

They dont like soft cocks.....

BACK OUTBACK WITH DOGS AND CATS

We have been in Aussie for a few days - on the fringes of the outbacks - up Wilpena way. It was a fantastic trip - 2300kms of driving and two trips in light aircraft. It was the holiday we needed and gave us a better understanding of the vastness of the great land. Wilpena Pound is worth a visit and we thank the communist firefighter for the tip on that one. Clare is a beautiful valley bursting with 24km of Riesling grapes. We visited the extraordinary Seven Hill Monastery and vineyard and saw the heart of old Catholicism and the mark it made on the small hamlets and towns that pepper the area. We visited ruins of the old stations that stood at attention along the old Ghan railway. We drank and we ate. There were DOG days ( Days off the Grog) and CAT days - Consume Alcohol Today, days. Coopers pale ale, Padthaways finest bollocksy reds. and some emerging sauvignons like Mojo, all peaches and gooseberries.

We visited Aborigine sites and tread the same path as the old people.

We saw a land at its greenest and probably finest - soaking in the rainfall that has ended 10 soul destroying years. We joined with Aussies and mourned the loss of fellow countrymen at the hands of terrorists in Jakarta - united in disgust and sorrow. Days later we revelled in the competition on Edens lush field where the All Blacks played with some grit and made us proud.

We spent days without a computer or blackberry and felt better for it.

We celebrated a birthday of a baby born at 26 weeks with 150 farming aussies and marvelled at the sameness of our lives.

And today we have spent 49 years on this earth and are comforted by a life that that has been richly lived and made better for walking in the shoes of others.

AUSSIE LABOUR PICTURE DOESN'T CUT THE ICE

Climate change is an argument of two sides as this story in the Australian shows and we are squarely on the side of the non believers. Yeah, things may be hotting up (a bit) but we are not convinced that the human element is the key driver.

But the Australian has a lovely bit about how ex Midnight Oil frontman and now Eco Minister for the Rudd Government Peter Garrett has been caught bullshitting.

<--------Its all to do with this pic of the Wilkins Ice Shelf

So Garrett has now pulled back on claims that we will be swamped by a sea rise of 6M. He used the break up of the Wilkins Ice shelf to prove his point that global warming was dramatic.

Mr Garrett claimed the break-up of the Wilkins ice shelf in West Antarctica indicated sea level rises of 6m were possible by the end of the century, and that ice was melting across the continent.

The Environment Minister later sought to distance himself from his comments.

A study released last week by the British Antarctic Survey concluded that sea ice around Antarctica had been increasing at a rate of 100,000sqkm a decade since the 1970s.

While the Antarctic Peninsula, which includes the Wilkins ice shelf and other parts of West Antarctica were experiencing warmer temperatures, ice had expanded in East Antarctica, which is four times the size of West Antarctica.

British newspaper The Observer this month published prominently a story with a photograph of breaks in the Wilkins shelf.

"A huge ice shelf in the Antarctic is in the last stages of collapse and could break up within days in the latest sign of how global warming is thought to be changing the face of the planet," the story began.

In March last year, US news agency msn published the same photograph with a similar story that began: "A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming's impact on Earth's southernmost continent." The photograph was published by numerous other outlets, including The Australian.

A spokeswoman for the British Antarctic Survey said the photograph in both stories was taken in March last year.

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said the misuse of the photograph and the similar story lines 13 months apart reflected how the Wilkins ice shelf break-up was being recycled annually to fuel global warming concerns.

Senator Joyce said Mr Garrett's entry into the debate demonstrated how it was being hijacked by misinformation.

He is a bloody liar. Lying is common in lefty political circles - Remember the H Fee story ?

KEYS ECONOMIC APPROACH BEING WATCHED IN OZ

John Key and Rudd appear to get on pretty well - there is an air of the sophisticated geek about both of them. However their differences in style and approach to the global financial downturn are significant.

The Australian takes a look a the differences here

We particularly like this bit - Key makes it clear that the government cant provide all the solutions.

New Zealand benefited from "huge reforms, leaving it as a small, open, flexible economy, driven by Roger Douglas" -- the Labour finance minister in the late 1980s, recently returned to parliament as an ACT Party MP -- "but I am not claiming to be another Roger Douglas".

He said: "We just don't need that level of reforms, because the economy is quite open. But we can free up the process" of reform, which had stagnated. This will include a greater involvement by the private sector, as in a jobs summit Key held recently.

He is reintroducing greater flexibility to the labour markets, he said -- for instance, through a proposal for a 90-day probationary period for new employees.

"And we're not afraid to use the private sector in the provision of health and education services. The success of the nation doesn't rise or fall on the efforts of government alone. The strength of our country is that of our 4.3million people."

Yip we agree - All for one and one for all.

FISHY

Ma and Pa have the near perfect life. They live in Alexandra and when the want takes them, they head for the highway in Bugsy's Burrow, their beloved motorhome.

They meet all sorts of people and some of them have become life long friends. A couple of weeks back they met up with some Aussies in a Hire Motorhome at the canals near Omarama, who were heading to dads place of birth, Stewart Island. As people do, they soon worked out they shared a common ancestor Rob Roy McGregor. Bonds were cemented.
As they prepared to fish together, the Aussie brought out his pride and joy. It was a travelling set of fishing rods reels and stuff that fitted in a plastic container the size of a cake tin. Dad was envious. Everyone was deeply impressed. Dad helped the Aussie set up his lines and they caught fish, lots of fish.

Soon the Aussies departed and headed their motorhome south, bound for Stewart Island. That night as dad packed up Bugsy's Burrow he spied the plastic container full of his distant relatives fishing gear.

They called up the " nephew" Vaughn Fisher star of the TV3 series Million dollar catch who lives in Bluff.

They didn't have much to go on - Dad told Vaughn to leave a message with the Stewart Island Ferry for "An Aussie called Dave who was a descendant of Rob Roy McGregor who had lost his fishing gear." 24 hours later mum and dad got a call.

Dave the Aussie, was stunned and ecstatic to get his very expensive fishing gear back.

Anyway, mum told Dave everyone was curious, as in amongst the mini rods and reels was a small bright purple thing about 4 inches long that hummed. The consensus was that it was some sort of fish attractant.

Er, no the Aussie said, it was his wife's vibrator. Seems that on their worldly travels he and his missus had copped a bit of flack from Customs over the vibrator. So he hid it in the fishing gear.

Mum reckons that the look on the old mans face when he heard what it was, has her wondering if he didn't try it out on the trout. He aint talking.

BEHAVE JOHN!

Lordy, the Aussie Rock, BB's bloke, is always dismayed about the never ending rivalry New Zealand has with Australia and now John Key has gone and made it worse. He has made the equivalent of a Trans Tasman Treaty claim for the rights of such strategic indigenous assets as Pavlova and Phar Lap. We are still bickering with the Rock over who owns what. BB doubts if there will be a thaw in Trans Tasman relations tonight. Thanks John-Not.