Wednesday, June 7, 2017

ADANI GASSED UP PARADE : QUEENSLAND INFLICTED WITH PAINFUL COAL-ITIS

During his effusive Townsville speech   welcoming the announcement  by  Adani  that it intends to  go  ahead  with  its  Carmichael mine ,   former  chief  of  staff    to Babbling Barnaby Joyce ABC   badmouther,  Greens  basher   and  Minister for  Resources and   Northern Australia ,  Senator   Matt   Canavan  , assured  the  gathering that they were   safe   from  protesters  outside , thanks to the police (giggle , giggle  ) , and  said  this wonderful  event  was  taking  place  on  the  158th  anniversary of  Queen Victoria  signing  letters patent  for the separate  colony  of  Queensland  from  New South Wales. A most unfortunate  allusion   in  the  circumstances .
ET  pee(p)ing out  of   crashed  saucer on  dry  planet .
A short  distance  away , at the   Anzac Memorial   Park, the  fountain erected  in Townsville to mark the centenary  of  Queensland breaking   away from   New South Wales   was  not playing  and almost   bone  dry , in this unexplained state    for many months . It is not  due to  water restrictions , pipe  relaying , but a  deep , embarrassing  personal  problem with its   waterworks, like   painful  colitis. Naturally, the  local media  has not  picked up this story, which involves first noticing  the  fountain  is  not  working  and  then  asking  why .

Although the  water  supply has  been turned  off  , it  is  still incontinent  , leaking  small amounts of  fluid.  So  why   hasn't   an expert been called in to remedy this  problem ? Townsville City Council   short of money?  Nobody capable of  doing the job in the  city ?  Waiting for a second  opinion from a urologist  ?     
  
When Little   Darwin  did  an X-ray examination of the fountain  , the      main cistern  was   dry , but  there  was  a  shallow circling  pool   in  the lower  intestine  and  floating  in  it  were three  empty gas  lighter  refills , two pictured . Gas  sniffing  in   the memorial    fountain ?  It could  explain  the numerous  questionable  statements   about the "bonanza " said  to  flow from  the  Adani  coalmine .    

MURDOCH   MEDIA  TREATMENT

The  Townsville Bulletin , of course, gave   the announcement   front page favourable  treatment and  also highlighted  the paper's  "cheeky " bumper sticker campaign   against    coal mining "naysayers" : Don't take my coal job and I won't  take   your  soy latte "...  which included   Senator's Canavan  and  Ian Macdonald  photographed  displaying  a  handful  of  stickers, very classy .   The editorial, however, instead of  going into an orgasm of  delight , strangely ,  was  headed: This could  be  the  spark (hopefully not near full  cans  of  lighter  gas in  the  fountain  ) we've  all  waited for .
 
The Brisbane  Courier Mail  gave more coverage to  the  mayor of Ipswich being   found   by  Australian  Commonwealth Police  with  $50,000  in a bag  at Melbourne Airport  than   the Adani announcement which is supposedly going to benefit not only Queensland , but the  whole of Australia , boost  trade and investment between Australia and  India ,  help  bring light  to millions in  the sub continent , etc. Its editorial  , while getting  into "green activists " , still acknowledged  that  while Adani has given itself  the "green light " to go ahead - that's all - it still  has to raise  $3.3billion    for the scaled back  first stage , which  it stated  would  "be no mean   feat."
 
Was the paper referring  to the fact  that 19 banks   have refused to finance Adani ? if  so, it   should  surely  have said  so .   Over latte, this writer  perused  the Murdoch  flagship, The Australian   on Wednesday  but  nowhere was   there   mention  of   Adani , which  is  hard  to  fathom . 
 
  RAIN   DAMPENS    RAJA'S  PARADE, LITTLE TOOT  
 
 During all the  cork popping , backslapping  , gladhanding and  extravagant claims in Townsville on  the  day ,   Channel 7 evening  local  news  reported  that  an online poll it  carried out  resulted  in  a  majority of   people in Townsville  against  Adani .  There appears to be  a large ceremonial  elephant  in  the  room  which  the  cheer  squad  have  not  noticed , or don't  want to , and  could be trampled underfoot . The  Bulletin , of   course,  did  not  mention   this  poll .  >>>> Correction : The Bulletin did briefly mention  the  television poll , not  by name ,  but in doing so  also  revealed  Adani  Australia projects director Peter  Thomas ,  who questioned the   vote ,    kept a close watch on  protesters  . Those  protesters, he  said,   held up signs asking motorists   to "toot " if they were against Adani  . He  claimed to  have counted  100 cars and only 11  toots-" so  89 per cent   of  Townsville is in favour of  the  project"... a well  based, scientific  assessment  which  shines  through  the  Adani  proposal .  

QUESTION:  Did anybody in the media pack in   Townsville ask  Adani the obvious question : how it is going  to  pay  for  the  project?  If  so , what  was the reply ? Please explain .