Kristy Fraser-Kirk:

Anthony McClellan of AMC Media writes: Re. “Charity in $37m DJs s-xual harassment case doesn’t actually exist” (yesterday, item 4).  As the spokesperson for Kristy Fraser-Kirk, I am disgusted at the headline and snide implication in your story.

That headline, and the deliberate use of the word “actually”, is clearly meant to imply that there is something dodgy about her public commitment to donate 100% of any punitive damages, if awarded by the court, “to a charity assisting persons in the area of sexual harassment and bullying nominated by the Applicant [Kristy]”.

That charity can actually be an existing one or a new one to be set up, or a combination. The quote is from the court documents, which your journalist admitted to me that he actually hadn’t even read. The documents have been available at the court from late Monday morning; all you had to do was ask, as many media actually did.

Snide value judgements based on a totally false premise affect people’s reputation and lives. As a subscriber, I thought Crikey had gotten over the old Stephen Mayne days of “near enough is good enough, and never let a fact get in the way of a good story.” Obviously, I was wrong.

Cartoon correction:

First Dog on the Moon writes: In Tuesday’s First Dog On The Moon cartoon entitled “Corazon Salvaje! (Wild Heart)” the text in panel two accurately stated that Leonarda, the Hot Chips, (played by Mariah Carey) was in love with Rodrigo Montes de Oca, a potato cake (played by “Julio”).

However the image in the panel depicted Leonarda as being romantically interested in Juan de Dios San Roman, the Hotdog (played by Stanley Frammn). This is incorrect and Crikey apologises for the error which was made in translation. This has been corrected in the cartoon.

Furthermore, in panel seven of the same cartoon, the text stated correctly that Leonarda advised Rodrigo Montes de Oca that María del Rosario, a chiko roll (played by Laura Flores) had passed away when she was in fact insane and locked in a dungeon basement. However the image accompanying the panel suggested that Leonarda was in fact informing Juan de Dios San Roman which was incorrect.

Once again, Crikey apologises for the error.

This has been corrected in the cartoon.

Solar research:

Gary Moorhead, Chief of Staff, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, writes: Re. “Australian solar research slashed by $25 million” (Tuesday, item 16). Claims from Anna Rose that the University of NSW Centre for Excellence in Photovoltaic Research has had its capacity “to undertake ground-breaking second and third-generation research” weakened are misleading and do not take into account the wider field of research in this area committed to by the Gillard Labor Government.

The $1.5 billion solar flagships program is the first investment in large scale solar in Australia and the Gillard Labor Government is committed to ensuring the program delivers a long term benefit for Australian renewable energy generation.

Federal Labor remains committed to the original funding envelope for the $1.5 billion Solar Flagships program.

Only the timing of expenditure has changed.  This reflects the realities of project timelines as more information is obtained through the feasibility process and means we have been able to redirect funding across the forward estimates, to fast-track initiatives that reduce Australia’s emissions by modernising our vehicle fleet.

By redirecting the funding over the forward estimates we are able to reduce emissions earlier and provide more assistance to households preparing for a low carbon future.
The Government continues to support the UNSW Centre for Excellence in Photovoltaic Research through the Australian Solar Research Institute. UNSW is represented on the Institute’s board and received funding in the first round of research and development grants. UNSW has confirmed today that is has no intention of closing the Centre.

The Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme (REBS) will be reduced to an extent to reflect funding no longer required. The Government is able to reduce the number of rebates to be paid under the REBS due to lower than expected take-up. This will reduce the budget for the scheme by $75 million in 2010-11 and 2011-12 however we expect that this will still be enough to meet demand in both those years.

The fact is that Federal Labor has invested record amounts in solar.

In its first term, Federal Labor has invested more than $10 billion in energy efficiency, renewable and clean energy technologies. Federal Labor has just legislated the enhanced Renewable Energy Target – which will help drive $19 billion worth of investment and a market for solar installations. A Gillard Labor Government will also invest $1 billion over the next decade in our electricity networks to connect Australia’s rich renewable resources to Australian homes.

The election:

David Thackrah writes: Re. “It’s your fault (part two): politics sucks because you outsourced it” (Tuesday, item 1). Bernard Keane is right in that political parties are now populated by party apparatchiks and the public have “stood aside” from political involvement.

The banality of the offerings from the Canberra spectrum is quite horrifying. Failures such as the Murray Darling Agreement and the inattention to our military and defence applications defines how Canberra can hide the real use of taxpayers’ funds. We should also be reviewing our capacity to produce food.

A classic  example of the Canberra Creep was the GST withholding effort by then PM Kevin Rudd in respect of the Health Budget.

The payment of political parties for providing election entertainment is dis-affecting the Australian democracy whereas it may be more important for people to stop watching gormless TV offerings and join a political party and actually present their political beliefs to the hustings.

The citizens of Australia don’t seem to realize they have job ensuring our elected representatives spend the annual  Federal $400bn inflow and should be told at elections how much is spent on welfare, defence, industry development, land usage, infrastructure applications — the big ticket items. What we get is a statement about $90  million over four years which is morning tea money!

The housing crisis:

Niall Clugston writes: Re. “The housing crisis that’s invisible to politicians, the media” (yesterday, item 1). The fall in housing approvals discussed by Bernard Keane has already impacted on local government, which derives a proportion of its revenue from development approval.  A domino effect is emerging…

The Libs and the Dems in Tasmania:

Mark Duffett writes: Brian Mitchell (yesterday, comments) said “How then do the Dems justify preferencing the Tasmanian Senate Libs ahead of Labor and the Greens, given … Eric Abetz heads the Liberal ticket…”

They don’t, as can be clearly seen here.  At least in Tasmania, the Democrats are preferencing the Greens first, followed by Labor marginally ahead of the Liberals, with Abetz pointedly the last of these.  In other words, Mitchell has it exactly wrong.

Gareth Perkins writes: Brian Mitchell  is incorrect, the Tasmania Democrats have not preferenced the Libs before the ALP and the Greens. In fact, their preferences flow almost directly to the Greens, with Senator Abetz preferenced number 20 out of 24.

Climate change:

Tamas Calderwood writes: Re. “Russians learning about warmth”, “Richard Farmer’s chunky bits” (yesterday, item 15). As proof of man-made global warming Richard Farmer lists a bunch of “record” temperatures from Russia (based on 140 years of observation from Earth’s 4.5 billion year history, 80% of which was warmer than the ice age we currently live in). But no one ever said we aren’t in a long term, intermittent warming trend.

Earth’s lower atmosphere has warmed by around 0.4C in the past 31 years.  The latest satellite data show July was 0.49C above the 31 year average and Dr Roy Spencer calculates we need to average +0.466C for the remainder of the year to break the 1998 peak.

However the Sea Surface Temperatures have been falling rapidly with the end of El Nino and the atmosphere usually lags by about three months, so it’s unlikely we will set a “record” this year.

Thus the 12 year flat line looks set to continue, but why assume the current 300 year warming trend is man made? Earth’s temperature does not hover in perfect equilibrium.

As prima facie evidence that humanity’s puny actions are insignificant compared with natural variability, below is a graph of temperatures recorded by Greenland Ice cores over the past 8000 years.

tamas

The scale is four times greater than the scare-charts that are usually bandied about to play up the “crisis” of global warming.  Note our current temperature and ponder the variability of just the past 8000 years — then decide if the 140 year “records” being set are due to humanity’s gasses.