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Ethanol Fuel is not so Green The Australian Department of Parliamentary Services has released a research paper on "The economic effects of an ethanol mandate". Published on 22 January 2008, it is available from the Parliamentary Library website. Paul Syvret, in the Brisbane Courier Mail article Ethanol fuel is not so green, expressed his view on ethanol and summed up the paper by saying: ETHANOL is not the answer for Australia's future fuel needs.It is not green, it is not economically viable, and any move to mandate its inclusion in fuel would have enormous repercussions for other sectors of Australian...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

On the night of Wednesday, August 27, two men dressed as computer technicians and carrying tool bags entered the cargo processing and intelligence centre at Sydney International Airport. The men, described as being of Pakistani-Indian-Arabic appearance, took a lift to the third floor of the Charles Ulm building in Link Road, next to the customs handling depot and the Qantas Jet Base. They presented themselves to the security desk as technicians sent by Electronic Data Systems, the outsourced customs computer services provider which regularly sends people to work on computers after normal office hours. After supplying false names and signatures,...

Qantas is resisting pressure to install new systems to defend its fleet against terrorist missile attacks, throwing the responsibility for protecting its aircraft back onto government. The airline's CEO, Geoff Dixon, rejected suggestions that it deploy expensive decoy systems against surface-to-air missiles, saying these would would cost nearly $700 million to protect the international fleet alone. Mr Dixon also questioned the effectiveness of the systems and said the best way to deal with the missile threat would be for governments in Australia and the region to identify potential launch sites near airports. His comments came after the Prime Minister, John...

A colony of rare dugongs, or sea cows, is under threat because of a natural gas plant being built on the harbour at Darwin in northern Australia, marine scientists have warned. The dugong is an endangered species whose numbers are in sharp decline worldwide. Australia has the world's largest remaining population, including a sizeable colony in Darwin harbour, which is home to abundant marine life, including man-eating saltwater crocodiles. The dugong, a herbivorous mammal the size of a small whale, is noted for its shyness and grace of movement. Sailors supposedly mistook the creatures for mermaids. Fishermen say they cry...

<p>Crawford, Texas, May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Australia and the U.S. may by year's end reach agreement on a free trade accord and submit it to the U.S. Congress for approval, U.S. President George W. Bush said.</p> <p>Bush, after his first meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard since the start of the Iraq war, said he is ``firmly committed to'' to the treaty. The two leaders also discussed Middle East peace, operations in Iraq and North Korea's efforts to develop nuclear weapons, they said at a joint news conference.</p>

Prime Minister John Howard was a good friend and "a man of steel" and ties between the US and Australia were at an all time high, US President George W Bush said. After a 20-hour stay by Mr Howard and his wife Janette at the Bush ranch in central Texas, the president described the prime minister as a good friend, a source of advice and a good Texan. Referring to Mr Howard's steadfast support for the US-led war in Iraq, Mr Bush said Mr Howard had exhibited behaviour that proved he was not only "a man of steel, but a...

Australia to stand firm over 'racist' sign By Kathy Marks in Sydney 26 April 2003 The Australian government is preparing to flout a demand by the United Nations for it to intervene to remove the word "nigger" from a sign on a sports stadium in Queensland. The ES Nigger Brown Stand at the stadium in Toowoomba, near Brisbane, was named after the town's first international rugby league player, Edward Stanley Brown, who toured Britain in the 1920s. He was nicknamed Nigger Brown not because he was Aboriginal – in fact, he had fair skin and blond hair – but because...

CANBERRA — Australia, keen to protect its commercial interest in one of its largest wheat markets, will send a team of agricultural experts to work with Iraqi officials and a senior US nominee to rebuild Iraq’s agriculture sector. The Australian team will be led by Trevor Flugge, the former high-profile chairman of Australia’s monopoly wheat exporter AWB Ltd, and advise on agriculture reforms and food security issues, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said this week. “Mr Flugge will make an early visit to the region to assess conditions on the ground and to identify immediate priorities for Australian assistance,” Downer said...

THE ROAD TO WAR Australia became part of a planned military strike against Saddam Hussein long before the United States even admitted he was in their sights. National Affairs Editor Tony Wright pieces together our long and secret involvement in the 'War on Terror' and our role as a founding member of George W. Bush's coalition of the willing. In the new world, which is to say the world dominated by a single superpower, the United States, the big things begin at MacDill Air Base in Tampa, Florida. This is the home of the US military's Central Command. The Americans,...

Australian CH47 Chinook helicopters from the Townsville-based 5th Aviation Regiment provide Coalition Forces in the Middle East with medium lift capability transporting troops, vehicles and equipment. The aircraft has proven itself working with the Australian Army's 3rd Brigade by providing essential support to deployed elements. While the Chinook has been in service since the Vietnam war, this variant remains one of the latest additions to the Australian Army's aviation capability. Australian Defence Force photo by Darren Hilder Aussie Naval Gunfire Destroys Artillery Battery, Bunkers By Gunnery Sgt. Charles Portman, U.S. Central Command CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, QATAR, March 24, 2003...

The delivery of humanitarian aid to Iraq is likely to be delayed for days as Australian and other allied divers work frantically to clear mines from the port of Umm Qasr. The aid, which is desperately needed in the besieged southern city of Basra, includes a large consignment of Australian wheat waiting near Oman. Australian navy divers yesterday worked in muddy waters at depths of up to 20 metres to clear the approaches to Umm Qasr's two ports. According to defence spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mark "Pup" Elliott, the 25 divers are working above and below the waterline to remove mines...

Australian special forces have taken out two of Saddam Hussein's command and control centres and killed some of his most elite soldiers, they said today. The 500-strong Australian Special Forces Task Group includes commandos, specialist troops trained to deal with weapons of mass destruction, Chinook CH-47 helicopters and an SAS squadron operating deep inside Iraq. They were flown to a forward base by C130 Hercules transporters and have already fought groups from Saddam's Special Security Organisation and the Iraqi Intelligence Service. Two Iraqi command and control centres for ballistic missile systems and anti-special forces operations were destroyed. Australian F/A-18 Hornet...

Australian forces captured Iraqi soldiers and dropped the first Australian bomb of the campaign, Australian Defence Forces chief General Peter Cosgrove said in a briefing today. Speakging to reporters in Canberra at 11am today, General Cosgrove confirmed Australia's SAS troops gave first aid to Iraqi soldiers injured in a skirmish in the opening stages of the war in the Gulf. He said Australia's special forces had been involved in four battles since the war began and there had been no Australian casualties. "A few days ago, when the operations started, our special forces had a brief skirmish and as a...

By PETER O'CONNOR, Associated Press Writer CANBERRA, Australia - Elite Australian commandoes have penetrated deep into Iraq, fought with Iraqi forces and may have destroyed weapons of mass destruction control centers, the commander of Australian forces in Iraq said Friday. His comments come as a new opinion poll Saturday suggests a big rise in the number of Australians supporting the war now that hostilities have started. Speaking to Australian reporters Friday at coalition headquarters in Qatar, Brig. Maurie McNarn said Australian Special Air Service commandos had been moving deep inside Iraq for several days. "Their primary role is strategic reconnaissance,...

POLL-Australians evenly divided over Iraq war CANBERRA, March 21 (Reuters) - Australians appear almost evenly divided over the involvement of their troops in a U.S.-led war on Iraq, and a majority support the U.S. role, the first poll released since the start of the war showed on Friday. The Morgan poll showed 46.5 percent of 1,067 respondents approved of Australian participation in the Iraq war, while 48.5 percent were opposed -- a marked contrast with other polls which have shown two-thirds of Australians against the war. The poll was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday nights, the night before and the...

PRIME Minister John Howard will address the nation tonight to explain to the Australian people his reasons for committing troops to a pre-emptive war against Iraq. The address is due to be broadcast more than seven hours after the deadline set by United States President George W Bush for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to leave his country. Mr Bush's deadline expires at midday AEDT today, with many expecting war to break out almost immediately. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said war could start today. "I think there's every chance that that's going to happen," he said.The attack could start just as...

An Islamic group notorious for its raids on Jakarta nightspots has told Australians, Americans and Britons to leave Indonesia before allied forces enter Iraq.The Front Pembela Islam (FPI) has labelled citizens from countries who have joined the allied forces kafir harbi, an Arabic term for non-Muslims who can be legally killed. And Anshor, the youth wing of Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, threatened to force US and allied diplomats to leave Indonesia, and also said it planned a national boycott of US products.The Front Pembela Islam declaration marks a return of the FPI, founded in 1998 and then disbanded...

SOON after midday tomorrow, Australian commandos will be within Iraq's borders as advance units of a military campaign to disarm and remove Saddam Hussein. US President George W. Bush at noon yesterday (Sydney time) gave the Iraqi dictator 48 hours to leave his homeland with his sons or face "the full force and might" of the US military and her Australian and British allies. Mr Bush said in a 13-minute live televised address, also broadcast on Iraqi radio, "the tyrant will soon be gone". "It is too late for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. All the decades and deceit...

SAS force 'already in Iraq' By John Kerin 19mar03 AUSTRALIAN Special Air Service forces were now almost certainly operating in Iraq, military analysts said last night. "Commanders may have been waiting for the green light from the Prime Minister. It's fair to say that if they (the SAS) weren't there, they are in there now," Australian National University defence analyst Alan Dupont told The Australian. "They are almost certainly operating in either the northern or southern no-fly zones doing the job they are trained to do," he said. "The 48-to-96-hour window before a war is precisely the time when special...