Manningham Council, Mechanical Parking, Owners Corporation, Townhouse Development 6 comments

RESIDENTS RALLY AGAINST CAR STACKER PARKING

By on February 15th, 2019

MECHANICAL PARKING PROPOSED TO ENABLE MORE UNITS

A developer of a town house development at 15 Glendale Avenue, Templestowe wants to install car stacker parking in 8 single garages so that the space saved can be put towards extra units on the land. Stacker parking in new developments is only acceptable where normal parking cannot be achieved and is not environmentally friendly since they draw a lot of electricity at a time when Melbourne is already experiencing blackouts. This is in direct conflict with Manningham’s own 2020 climate action plan.

Typical Two Car Stacker  Click to enlarge

The land is of a sufficient size to satisfactorily accommodate double garages. There is no demonstrated reason why parking cannot be met in a normal parking arrangement.  Mechanical parking installations such as car lifts, turntables and car stackers are usually permitted for residential and non residential development where: The topography or lot size does not allow a simpler parking arrangement, an existing building is being refurbished and there is no land available for additional parking OR refurbishment does not include extension of the building so as to increase site coverage or any other works to increase site coverage, all of which have the effect of reducing site area which could be used for conventional parking arrangements.

In the case of Continue reading RESIDENTS RALLY AGAINST CAR STACKER PARKING →

Bureaucrats, Manningham Council, Panels Victoria, State Planning 17 comments

HIGH DENSITY PLANNED IN MANNINGHAM STREETS

By on January 28th, 2019

HIGHER BUILDINGS IN COURTS AND SIDE STREETS

New regulations will now require council to address the uncertainty and confusion created by its stubborn refusal to prescribe the number of storeys to be achieved within its mandatory height limits.

Residential Density           Click to Enlarge

This is welcome news for community groups, whose previous requests for similar reform had been ignored by Council, but there is a catch, if the new Reformed Residential Zones are applied as proposed it could mean higher density buildings in Areas Surrounding Activity Centres and Along Main Roads (Side Streets  and Courts) formerly sub-Precincts A and B. This area is now referred to as the General Residential Zone, where three storey buildings, possibly apartments, will have a height limit of at least 11 metres and could now be built on reduced minimum land areas. Continue reading HIGH DENSITY PLANNED IN MANNINGHAM STREETS →

Aboriginal Community, Federal Government, Nuclear Power, Public Safety 9 comments

WORLD NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP SITE IN AUSTRALIA

By on January 2nd, 2019

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK FINAL DESTINATION FOR NUCLEAR WASTE

Viability analysis undertaken has determined that a waste disposal facility could generate more than $100 billion income in excess of expenditure (including a $32 billion reserve fund for facility closure and ongoing monitoring) over the 120-year life of the project (or $51 billion discounted at 4 per cent).

Safe Waste Disposal       Click to Enlarge

Given the significance of the potential revenue and the extended project time frames, a Commission has found that were such a project to proceed, it must be owned and controlled by the state government, and that the wealth generated should be preserved and equitably shared for current and future generations of South Australians. This presents an opportunity that should be pursued.
Social consent is fundamental to undertaking any new nuclear project. Social consent requires sufficient public support in South Australia to proceed with legislating, planning and implementing a project.

Local community consent is required to host a facility. In the event that this involves regional, remote and Aboriginal communities, consent processes must account for their particular values and concerns.
Political bipartisanship Continue reading WORLD NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP SITE IN AUSTRALIA →

Caffeine, Health, Pesticides, Tea and Coffee 4 comments

A NATURAL INSECTICIDE IN BOTH TEA AND COFFEE

By on December 28th, 2018

A MORNING CUP OF COFFEE MIGHT ALSO BE YOUR MORNING CUP OF PESTICIDE

Caffeine is a natural pesticide that protects plants by paralyzing and killing the insects that feed upon them. According to one study a known pesticide combined with a small amount of a synthetic caffeine compound was 10 times more potent than the pesticide itself, and raised the possibility of developing caffeine-based insecticides that would be harmless to animals and humans for spraying on food crops.

Coffee Nature’s Own Pesticide  

There are mixed opinions on whether caffeine is good for humans or not. It can do many things, including sharpening your attention, stave off Alzheimer’s disease, and decrease your risk of cancer. It also cranks up your blood sugar, interacts adversely with your prescription medication, and can cause Stomach problems like Gastric Reflux and Gastritis.

According to one of the first articles on the subject, appearing in the New York Times October 1984,  reported that Caffeine and related compounds were potent, natural insecticides that helped plants to ward off damaging pests and the findings could lead to a new way to fight insects.

In a report published Continue reading A NATURAL INSECTICIDE IN BOTH TEA AND COFFEE →

Arson, Bush Fires, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Fire Safety, Global Warming 8 comments

BLACK FRIDAY WAS NOT DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING

By on December 11th, 2018

“THESE FIRES WERE LIT BY THE HAND OF MAN” – JUDGE  L STRETTON

Raging Firestorm                        Click to Enlarge

According to Forestry Management Victoria, Black Friday, 13th of January 1939, was the culmination of a long, dry and hot summer following  a long drought period  that had lasted several years. Many creeks and rivers had dried up and people living in Melbourne were on water restrictions. Dry heat and hot winds had sapped much of the moisture from the ground, leaving forest floors and the open plains tinder dry.Prior to January  13, many fires were already burning. Some had started as early as December 1938, but the majority had  started in the first week of January 1939. Some of the fires could not be extinguished while others were left unattended, or as Judge Stretton wrote, “fires were allowed to burn under control as it is falsely and dangerously called”.

The fires of Continue reading BLACK FRIDAY WAS NOT DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING →

Australian Government, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Climate Change, Overpopulation, United Nations 5 comments

AUSTRALIA WON’T SIGN UN MIGRATION COMPACT

By on November 24th, 2018

“The Compact fails to adequately distinguish between people who enter Australia illegally and those who come to Australia the right way, particularly with respect to the provision of welfare and other benefits. It is inconsistent with the management of Australia’s strong and orderly migration program. It is not in Australia’s interest and will not add anything to enhancing our capacity to control our borders”. Govt.

Population Growth 
Click to enlarge

No mention of any measures to limit the world’s population growth at the UN conferences, the only mention is on their their website which states the obvious.    “Overpopulation refers to the exceeding of certain threshhold limits of population density when environmental resources fail to meet the requirements of individual organisms regarding shelter, nutrition and so forth. It gives rise to high rates of mortality and morbidity”.  You would have expected it to be high on the UN agenda particularly in the two compacts but it is not even mentioned. Trillions of dollars are being spent on trying to control the world’s climate, besides health care, they should be directing funds toward the limiting of the rampant population growth in developing countries…the main contributor to global warming.  
PREAMBLE
We, the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives, meeting in Morocco on 10 and 11 December 2018, reaffirming the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and determined to make an important contribution to enhanced cooperation on international migration in all its dimensions, have adopted this Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration:

Continue reading AUSTRALIA WON’T SIGN UN MIGRATION COMPACT →

Federal Government, Immigration, Overpopulation, Public Health, Refugees 7 comments

UN GLOBAL COMPACT ON WELFARE OF REFUGEES

By on November 18th, 2018

   MOROCCO GLOBAL AGREEMENT NOT BINDING

The first Forum will be convened in 2018. Subsequent Forums will be reviewed every four years, unless otherwise agreed by the General Assembly, in order to ensure sustained momentum and political will. Forums will be co-convened and co-hosted by one or more State(s) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, with an invitation to the United Nations Secretary-General to participate. Forums would, in principle, take place in Geneva to facilitate the participation of all States. In the years in which Forums take place, there will be no High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges.

Refugees a World Crisis          Click to enlarge

  1. The achievement of international cooperation in solving international problems of a humanitarian character is a core purpose of the United Nations, as set out in its Charter, and is in line with the principle of sovereign equality of States.1 Similarly, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention) recognizes that a satisfactory solution to refugee situations cannot be achieved without international cooperation, as the grant of asylum may place unduly heavy burdens on certain countries
  2. It is vital to translate this long-standing principle into concrete and practical action, including through widening the support base beyond those countries that have historically contributed to the refugee cause through hosting refugees or other means.

Continue reading UN GLOBAL COMPACT ON WELFARE OF REFUGEES →

Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Climate Change, Electric Cars, Fossil Fuels 17 comments

A THIRD OF HOUSEHOLDS TO OWN ELECTRIC CARS?

By on October 30th, 2018

NOISE REDUCTION AND IMPROVED AIR QUALITY IN OUR CITY

Manningham Council had planned to develop and implement a green electric car program on Doncaster Hill to achieve 15% adoption of green electric vehicles – with the aim to have 1 in 3 households owning an electric car by 2025. It will be our most  efficient way of reducing emissions while improving air quality and reducing traffic noise. But we are a long way from being prepared for the wave of electric cars  that will soon arrive in Australia because we simply don’t have the infrastructure to support them. 

Electricity from Renewables    Click to enlarge

More than one million electric vehicles were sold globally in 2017, mainly due to their cheap running costs and low impact on the environment. The greatest challenge, apart from creating the facilities, is to make them affordable. Currently there are 16 different electric vehicle models currently available for purchase in Australia and most of them are priced upwards of $60,000 — making them out of reach for the average driver.

Automobiles contribute about 30% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Electricity production generates Continue reading A THIRD OF HOUSEHOLDS TO OWN ELECTRIC CARS? →

Climate Change, Global Cooling, Global Warming, Goupthink, Greenhouse Gases, IPCC 21 comments

IPCC REPORTS BASED ON CORRUPT WARMING DATA

By on October 11th, 2018

“FREEZING TROPICAL ISLANDS AND BOILING TOWNS”

The Audit could scarcely have come at a more embarrassing time for the IPCC who have just released its 2018 Summary for Policy Makers claiming that the global warming crisis is more urgent than ever. McLean’s audit strongly suggests that these claims are based on data that simply cannot be trusted. HadCRUT4 is the primary dataset used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to make its dramatic claims about “man-made global warming”, to justify its demands for trillions of dollars to be spent on “combating climate change” and as the basis for the Paris Climate Accord.

This report makes more than 70 findings about areas of concern with the HadCRUT4 temperature dataset. These cover the entire process from the measurement of temperatures to the derivation of HadCRUT4 global average temperature anomalies. They relate to the inclusion of data that is obviously in error, inappropriate procedures, poor data processing and significant assumptions about a range of matters including basing conclusions on very little data. Most of the findings increase the uncertainty in the data and therefore increase the error margin. One however shows that a common but flawed method of data adjustment creates a false warming trend from the adjustments alone. Another finding points out that when stations were closed rather than relocated any distortion in the data remains in the record. Errors are also identified Continue reading IPCC REPORTS BASED ON CORRUPT WARMING DATA →

Cycle Paths, Cycling, Pedestrians, Public Safety, Road Safety, VicRoads 8 comments

PUSH TO ALLOW BIKES ON FOOTPATHS IN VICTORIA

By on September 21st, 2018

Parking in residential streets is blocking bike lanes and forcing cyclists to swerve out into traffic or take the safer option by riding on footpaths. One of several reasons why the cyclist’s lobby want laws changed to allow anyone to ride on footpaths in Victoria and NSW. The two states are the only ones that don’t allow riders on footpaths and cyclists are pushing for a change ahead of the Victorian state election.

Cars Block Cycle Lanes           Click to Enlarge

However, according to the current rules in Victoria it is an offence for anyone over the age of 12 to ride a bicycle on a footpath.

In NSW children can ride on footpaths until they are 16 years old.

The Australian Road Rules allow Councils to create shared bicycle paths and invite all cyclists to ride upon them.

Pedestrians hit by a cyclist on a shared bike path have no claim against the Motor Accidents Authority as they would if they had been hit by a motor-vehicle.

Cyclists are not required to display number-plates or be licensed and are almost impossible to recognise especially when most are wearing helmets and sunglasses.

Manningham Council Continue reading PUSH TO ALLOW BIKES ON FOOTPATHS IN VICTORIA →