Australia a free republic ?

Governor-General Quentin Bryce, the Queen's representative, says she would like Australia to become a republic one day.

Ms Bryce, delivering the final Boyer Lecture of the year, said she hoped Australia might become a nation where "people are free to love and marry whom they choose" abc 221113

Image:
Graffiti on urban walls of a representative democratic republic

Update:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has brought back the titles of knights and dames for "pre-eminent" Australians abc 250314, Guardian

In the 1999 republic referendum, 55 per cent of Australians voted that Australia should remain a monarchy. SMH 2013

Campaign to end celebrity royal worship in Australia  0614 Courier Sun

Scottish referendum: Yes vote to independence could leave Australia without head of state, expert says abc 26082014 

It's unbelievable that we are going back to property based voting! So 18th century @Wendy_Bacon 

Australia is one of the few remaining western democracies whose citizens and residents lack any significant, constitutionally declared rights. Bill of Rights 

Aust Republican Movement says awarding Prince Philip Knight of the Order of Australia is a sign of cultural cringe abc 012015

Don't forget, it's Tony Abbott who approves Australian Knighthoods.... Twitter 012015

Severe storms on mid north coast unusually consistent

"The Weather Bureau says consistency of recent severe storms on mid north coast is 'unusual'

The Bureau of Meteorology said it is unusual to have so many severe storms on the mid north coast at this time of year....Afternoon thunderstorms have struck parts of the coast every day for the past week....Many parts of the region have already exceeded their average monthly rainfall for November....Forecaster Michael Logan said storms at this time of year are to be expected but not quite as many...."But to have every afternoon for a week back to back to back without a break is pretty rare."...The Dorrigo Plateau was covered in a blanket of white after a severe hailstorm yesterday afternoon."  abc 191113

Sawtell Hail Storm 161113
Hail storm in Bellingen 131113

Bellingen

This iconic dwelling in Bellingen could stand for our only habitable home that is being vandalised by the addiction to burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

Sawtell Hail Storm

Toormina and Sawtell battered by mid-afternoon hailstorm 16.11.13
Severe weather: alert for Coffs Coast and eastern seaboard. Golfball-sized hail has been reported at Bellingen. (again!) 16.11.13
Massive hail buckets down on Queensland's Sunshine Coast abc 16.11.13 
Hail damage to Coffs Coast worst outside metropolitan area 17.11.13 
Weekend hailstorm on the Coffs Coast causes millions of dollars worth of damage 18.11.13 
Hail at Sawtell November 16, 2013, 18.11.13 
Dorrigo's town centre has been blanketed in hail as a severe thunderstorm continues to track over the coast. 18.11.13
Dorrigo hail storm - 181113 
Sawtell hail,16.11.13 video

And here we go again 21.11.14 
Brisbane hail: "We had to run to get out of there, the speed of the hailstones were like bullets. The place looked like a warzone." 281114 

2021:"Apocalyptic" hailstorm. Hail up to 30cms deep in the Coffs Harbour region. The roof in Toormina mall collapses and turns into a waterfall. Any link to climate disruption?

Hail storm in Bellingen

A severe storm brought a lot of hail to Bellingen at 5.30 pm. The land at the feet of Dorrigo Mountains was hit with approx. 2-3 cm hailstones and carpets of graupel.

One could imagine the typhoon arms of 315 km/h Typhoon Haiyan reaching over to the Pacific and articulating its rage here.

Yesterday Sawtell, Toormina and Boambee East were hammered by hailstones the size of golf balls.

Updates:
Climate change makes super typhoons worse, says UN meteorological agency, abc 141113 
Super storm wreaks havoc in Guangxi, Hainan, xinhuanet 131113
Annual losses from disasters quadruples as World Bank links typhoon to climate change 191113 
Typhoon Fuels Call for Global Warming Compensation Funds, Bloomberg 191113
World Bank Says Natural Disasters Cost $3.8 Trillion Since 1980 Bloomberg 191113
Hornsby was hit by a tornado, Bureau of Meteorology confirms 191113 
People around the world are feeling the "wrath of a warming planet",U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 201113

Graupel and Eucalyptus leaves

Hailstones and teaspoon

Bats and birds increase crop yield in tropical agroforestry landscapes

"Ecology Letters": Bats and birds increase crop yield in tropical agroforestry landscapes. Abstract
 
"We found that bat and bird exclusion increased insect herbivore abundance, despite the concurrent release of mesopredators such as ants and spiders, and negatively affected fruit development, with final crop yield... Our results highlight the tremendous economic impact of common insectivorous birds and bats, which need to become an essential part of sustainable landscape management."


Insect-munching bats spare the chemicals. abc 240305

"Farmers can reduce the need to spray their crops with insecticide by encouraging insect-eating bats to roost in old hollow trees in their properties...There are about 90 species of bats in Australia, three quarters of which subsist solely on insects and spiders...The smallest species of bat in south-eastern Australia is the little forest bat (Vespadelus vulturnus), weighing in at just four grams. It gorges itself on mosquitos, while the southern free tailed bat (Mormopterus) feasts on the destructive Rutherglen, or seed bug ( Nysius vinitor)."

"Many farmers are unaware of the benefits of insect-eating bats... and often don't even know they have the tiny nocturnal mammals on their properties. Dr Lindy Lumsden "is encouraging them to preserve old dead trees on their properties so that bats can roost and breed in their hollow trunks...People often see a dead tree as just being good for firewood or a bit of an eyesore and cut them down...The main thing that farmers can do is maintain the remnant vegetation on their properties so the bats can breed themselves up....It takes around 80 to 100 years for tree hollows to develop, so farmers need to revegetate to ensure the trees that fall down and die, leaving bats homeless, are replaced in years to come."

Images:
Pisanello, Detail of Madonna of the Quail, 1420
Kaki Persimmon fruit, (Diospyros kaki)

Updates:
Native birds provide crop benefits, but Australian farmers treat them as a pest, abc 022014 

"Effects of land use on bird populations and pest control services on coffee farms” Railsback, S. F. and M. D. Johnson. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1320957111.  042014

Downturn in shade-grown coffee putting forests, wildlife, people at risk, mongabay, 07.2014

Shade coffee is for the birds 05022015

 Why shade-grown coffee is good for birds and farmers, The Conversation 26.02.2015

Snippets

No lawn without fossil fuel

Climate
Science-denying -  production of ignorance and the public right to know.
Big Australian media reject climate science. It is not surprising therefore that levels of acceptance of anthropogenic climate change have dropped in Australia, where we have the highest emissions per person in the world.  The Conversation  011113

Mega footprint, fossil fuel turf

Sprawl
A 200 lot sub-division was approved at the site near Woolgoolga in 2010, and the developers now want to expand it to 280 lots. They also want to see a restriction on domestic cats and dogs lifted."It's a delicate ecosystem in Hearnes Lake, because it feeds into the Solitary Islands Marine Park, into an area near Flat Top Rock" abc 041113

Bushfires
threaten World Heritage wilderness west of Kempsey. The Racecourse Trail and Dungay Creek fires have now burned across almost seven thousand hectares of mainly public forest."The conditions are that dry that it's just burning through all of those normal good containments. "There are no properties under threat but there is of course World Heritage listed areas in there and the environmental impact is quite serious." abc 041113

Slash & Burn
New arson laws could see farmers charged with criminal offences. Farmers involved in approved fuel reduction burns could be charged with arson if the burns get out on control and cause unforseen damage. abc rural 041113

Meat
Growth promotants (HGP) in beef. "I've worked in the meat packing plants for many years and when beta agonists first came on the market I started seeing problems I'd never seen before, stiff sore footed cattle that kinda hurt all over, just don't want to move." China, Taiwan and Russia have also banned US beef that's been treated with beta agonists. abc rural 041113
Rural
Higher death rate for rural cancer patients. Rural patients lagging behind city counterparts on cancer treatment abc, 041113