AUSTRALIA DAY 26 JANUARY 2014

by Betty Luks: As just one ordinary Australian I want to celebrate and give thanks on this Australia Day – for all the blessings that are ours – whether it be God’s abundant providence and/or the grit and determination of those who went before us – thereby leaving we Australians of this 21st century with a bountiful inheritance. Yes, I know there are many who do not share in the bountiful inheritance but that is a problem for we of 21st century Australia to resolve.

The First Fleet entering Port Jackson January 26, 1788 by E. Le Bihan (Wikipedia)

Some historical background: In England in the 1800s the landed aristocracy had forced the poor labourers off the village commons, having by various devious means, ‘enclosed’ the land as their property. The landless poor drifted to the industrial towns and where possible found work – others had to survive by whatever means they could find. Read further here…

When Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in 1788, 751 convicts and their children disembarked, along with 252 marines and their families. They made the eight-month voyage from England, where the social conditions had made life for the ordinary person very difficult with much poverty and increasing crime rates. People could be deported for crimes such as vagrancy (being homeless and landless) or robbery of goods less than a shilling (about $50 today), while stealing goods worth more than a shilling meant death by hanging. Between 1788 and 1868, 165,000 convicts were transported to Australia and for the first few decades formed the majority of the population of the colonies.

Michael Flynn, ‘Dickensian Characters: Real and Imagined Convicts’ (Convict Love Tokens Wakefield Press 1998) thought that the fictional character Magwitch in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations “probably owes something to the story of a real convict named Joseph Smith (c1773-1856) who sailed on one of the hell ships of the Second Fleet in 1790 and later spoke bitterly of the starvation and sadistic mistreatment he had suffered.) An 1845 interview with Smith by the philanthropist Caroline Chisholm was included in Samuel Sidney’s widely read book The Three Colonies of Australia 1852.” The 1967 Australian paper $5 note (reverse) featured Caroline Chisholm.

MY CHOICE FOR AUSTRALIANS OF THE YEAR: BESS AND DAVID PRICE

Bess Price and her husband David first came to our attention through Andrew Bolt’s Blog: He wrote of the plight of remote-community aboriginal women and children: “Northern Territory MP Bess Price, one of a number of Aboriginal conservatives now being heard, made this brilliant, brave and shocking speech in the NT Legislative Assembly. I urge you to read it. Learn of the new racism that shields those who bash, rape and kill Aboriginal women and children in particular, and which punishes those, like Bess, who speak out against it: Why this deadly silence when our women are dying? asks Bess. Article link here

In Black and White: Australians All at the Crossroads Bess and David ask: “Good Culture Bad Culture, where do we go from here? We believe that we belong to not only different cultures, but literally the most different on Earth, or at least our parents did. We have both adapted enough to keep our marriage together for more than three decades. That has been a mighty but very worthwhile struggle; Bess enough to acquire a bachelor degree and to be elected to Parliament”.

They both firmly believe: “Thanks to modern genetics and evolutionary psychology we know that racism based on physical difference is so as to be a form of mental illness. We need not be afraid, the cultural differences that form our world-views, challenge every day of our lives. What we look like doesn’t matter at all, what we think and value matters critically…

Around one-third of the population of the Northern Territory is Indigenous. The problems faced by one-third of us face us all. We cannot solve them without calmly and rationally debating the issues and identifying that which is preventing us from dealing with them properly. There must be open debate and a willingness to find some truths worth expressing and defending. We have to rid ourselves of both racism and political correctness - neither of which is interested in truth. They are two sides of the same coin…”

There are echoes of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s words in what Bess and David are saying: Joseph Pearce interviewed Solzhenitsyn for his biography of the great man, Solzhenitsyn: A Soul In Exile (HarperCollins Publisher 1999) and wrote that Solzhenitsyn did not believe a nation should be based on race – but in Rebuilding Russia he does lay out the need for a Russian Federation allowing all the ethnic groups within the Russian Federation their own cultural identities and freedoms, etc., but it has to be lived on a higher plane of consciousness as Solzhenitsyn explains.

It is to the eternal verities we must look to: “Our life consists not in the pursuit of material success but in the quest of worthy spiritual growth. Our entire earthly existence is but a transitional stage in the movement toward something higher. Material laws alone do not explain our life or give it direction. The laws of physics and physiology will never reveal the indisputable manner in which the Creator constantly, day in and day out, participates in the life of each of us, unfailingly granting us the energy of existence; when this assistance leaves us, we die. In the life of our entire planet, the divine spirit moves with no less force…”

Our Old Law Has No Tools To Solve the Problems – Bess Price “Things are much worse now than the old days because of the grog, the drugs and the awful welfare dependency that is sucking the life out of us. There are elements of our culture that are really good and should be kept, but we should be prepared to do what everybody else in the world has done and change our ways to solve the new problems we have now and that our old law has no tools to solve…” https://alor.org/Volume49/Vol49No21.htm

The long-term answers to resolving this terrible situation?
It seems to me the keys to where they may be found are in the characters of these outstanding Australians, husband and wife David and Bess Price.

The Border Mail: Was the Council ‘Sack Act’ Valid?

This year is memorable for the attention drawn by the federal election to the case for the appointment of an electoral ombudsman. Nationally the media drew attention to the need for a new election for the Senate in West Australia and a recount of votes for the Queensland federal seat of Fairfax. This was won by Clive Palmer MP who presented a policy for electoral reform. Across the nation in many electorates, including lndi, concern has been expressed about the administration of pre-poll voting, postal voting and supervision of vote counting.

The Australian Electoral Commission is not accountable to anyone but the Governor General once that official issues the writ which authorises it to hold an election or referendum. An independent ombudsman for parliamentary elections in Australia is an urgent necessity. On October 15, 2013 G R Brouwer, Ombudsman Victoria, under the Ombudsman Act 1973 presented a section 25(2) report to the Victorian Parliament concerning the constitutional validity of aspects of Victoria’s new integrity legislation. The report questions the whole of the Integrity Accountability Legislation Amendment Act 2012 not approved at a referendum and this is invalid. Legal opinion is given that this should be legally challenged through to the High Court.

My question is - is the Victorian Local Government (Rural City of Wangaratta) Act 2013, which was used to dismiss our elected council, valid? After reading this act I question if it is a “template or blueprint” of an act that can be used to abolish all elected local governments in Victoria?
Look back to the 1994 dismissal of Victorian local governments, appointment of commissioners and amalgamation of municipalities which created the Rural City of Wangaratta. The Hume Regional Growth Plan was published by the department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure in September 2013. We need an explanation from our elected representatives of this document. - - Alison G. Walpole, Whorouly South. 1 January, 2014

ICC RECEIVES ‘DEVASTATING’ DOSSIER ON BRITISH WAR CRIMES:

The League has republished Felicity Arbuthnot’s articles before and her words after visiting hospitalised victims of the Iraq war are engraved on many minds: “I left the ward, leaned against a wall and prayed that the ground would open and swallow me. I wrote at the time, "I now know it is actually possible to die of shame." - - Felicity Arbuthnot, Iraq, 1991

Devastating Dossier on British War crimes by Felicity Arbuthnot, 15 January, 2014: A “devastating” two hundred and fifty page document: “The Responsibility of UK Officials for War Crimes Involving Systematic Detainee Abuse in Iraq from 2003-2008″, has been “presented to the International Criminal Court, and could result in some of Britain’s leading defence figures facing prosecution for “systematic” war crimes” the (London) Independent on Sunday has revealed.(i)
The dossier charges that: ‘ “those who bear the greatest responsibility” for alleged war crimes “include individuals at the highest levels” of the British Army and political system.’ Among those named, states the Independent, are two former Defence Ministry supremos, Geoff Hoon and Adam Ingram, Defence Secretary and Minister of State for the Armed Forces, respectively, under Tony Blair’s premiership, during the planning and invasion of Iraq and for most of the UK’s occupation. General Sir Peter Wall, head of the British Army is also named.

Shocking allegations have been compiled from the testimonies of four hundred Iraqis: ‘representing “thousands of allegations of mistreatment amounting to war crimes of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” The document, lodged with the International Criminal Court at the Hague on Saturday (11th January 2013) “calls for an investigation into the alleged war crimes, under Article 15 of the Rome Statute” and is the result of some years of work by Birmingham based Public Interest Lawyers and the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR.). The submission: “is the most detailed ever submitted to the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor on war crimes allegedly committed by British forces in Iraq.”

In 2006 the ICC opined that:
“There was a reasonable basis to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court had been committed, namely willful killing and inhuman treatment.” However, since the claims were less than twenty cases, prosecutors declined to mount an investigation. Subsequently: “hundreds of other claims have come to light, prompting consideration of the complaint now. It is the start of a process which could result in British politicians and generals being put in the dock on war-crimes charges.” The: “pattern of abusive treatment by UK services personnel in Iraq continued over almost six years of military operations.” When is a crime not a crime, one wonders, when it is “only” in double figures?
Evidence is presented of: “systematic use of brutal violence, that at times resulted in the death of detainees, while in the custody of UK Services Personnel.”

The two law bodies claim: “there is evidence of brutality combined with cruelty and forms of sadism, including sexual abuse, and sexual and religious humiliation”, with widespread use of “hooding”, prisoners forced in to excruciating: “stress positions, sleep deprivation, noise bombardment and deprivation of food and water.” All such techniques were banned under the government of Edward Heath in 1972, after being used in Northern Ireland. Claims are that these legally outlawed techniques were used: “in a variety of different UK facilities (in Iraq) … from 2003 to 2008.” (Incidentally, after September 2007, the British stated that only had a small military contingency remained, assisting in training Iraqis.)
Alleged tortuous treatment was compounded, seemingly, by: “failures to follow-up on or ensure accountability for ending such practices became a cause of further abuse. The obvious conclusion is that such mistreatment was systematic.”

The Independent quotes Professor William Schabas, human rights law expert: “What this application does is throw down the challenge to the court to show there are no double standards. There is definitely a case for an investigation by the ICC.” He suggested that “there’s no doubt” of war crimes committed by British forces in Iraq. “People should be worried.” (i) Article link here...

IF GOLF REVEALS CHARACTER, THEN WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT OBAMA?

by Chris Knight: Golf, it has been said, does not build character, but reveals it. So, what does President Barak Hussein Obama’s golf skills reveal about him? This “obsessive” golfer plays slow, real slow, sometimes taking six hours to complete a round. The average golf plodder takes about four hours. (The Australian 6 January 2014, p.7). As well as this Obama watches a lot of crass TV shows and reads popular books. No evidence of advanced text on US constitutional law being written in his “ample leisure time”. However all of this makes sense if we see Obama as not being there to solve America’s problems and to build it up once more but rather to tear it down. Obama really does believe in equality: that all of humanity will be equal on the bottom!

THE ILLOGIC OF RICARDO’S COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE

by James Reed: With the closure coming of the Australian car industry some are asking: there must be something we can make. (The Australian 13 December 2013, p.10) Jewish economist David Ricardo (1772-1823) justified ‘free trade’ by the comparative advantage argument: countries should trade that which they think they can produce relatively more efficiently. The argument had many, usually unstated assumptions, such as no capital and/or labour mobility. But I have wondered since my teenage years – what if a country, say Australia, has a relative efficiency in nothing? The logic of Ricardo’s argument is that our economy dies. That, to me, is a reductio ad absurdum of globalism and free trade.

“Grain Advice Stays Secret” headlines in Stock Journal, 16 January 2014:
Comment on media report by activist: “Treasurer Joe Hockey won praise for preventing the sale of Grain Corp to the US Company ADM. However when Fairfax media sought a copy of the advice given to Hockey by the Foreign Investment Review Board, the request was declined. My guess is that the advice was to allow the sale but strong political pressure within the coalition from rural Liberals and the Nationals, caused Joe to stop the sale. Note where one of the reasons for not releasing the report was that it contained “material provided to FIRB in confidence”. What a joke!! As if the report to the Treasurer would have contained all submissions - it would have been a summary reached after considering all submissions. Considering most cases before the FIRB would include some evidence given confidentially, we can expect no releases, even under FOI rules, of any future FIRB advice.

TIMELY REMINDER: ANTHONY TROLLOPE’S ‘THE WAY WE LIVE NOW’
The main character, the 1870s financial ‘wheeler and dealer’ Augustus Melmott, also believed in the ‘free trade’ policies now destroying this nation. The Way We Live Now, a satirical novel by Anthony Trollope, published in London in 1875. It was inspired by the financial scandals of the early 1870s; Trollope had just returned to England from abroad, and was appalled by the greed and dishonesty those scandals exposed. This novel was his rebuke. It dramatises how that greed and dishonesty pervaded the commercial, political, moral, and intellectual life of that era. A BBC film version of the novel was made and is worth watching. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_We_Live_Now

EVER-GROWING DISPARITY BETWEEN FINANCIAL INCOMES AND PRICES

From Wallace Klinck, Canada: I do not know who the writer of the article “Cumulative Effects of Resource Development” is, but he most certainly is correct in his analysis. People can go on debating these various social, economic and environmental issues, ad nauseum and eternally, and the problems will only multiply, so long as we maintain a financial costing system that creates an ever-growing disparity between available financial incomes and ultimate financial prices. We are compelled under such circumstances both to become increasingly financially indebted by need for a growing mortgage on future production and incomes, but also, evermore subject to an inexorable pressure to produce increasingly so that we can generate financial incomes allowing us to access goods, physically paid for, and currently emanating, from the production line.
Every advance in labour-saving technology, which beneficially increases physical efficiency and abundance of goods and services, simultaneously and destructively increases the capital/labour component ratio in financial cost, making us evermore dependent upon expanding financial debt and wasteful production, the ultimate form being perpetual warfare.

There is no actual need for booms and busts bringing alternate “prosperity” and “depression”. Prosperity should mean an abundance of real consumer wealth with falling financial prices, and an increasing opportunity for leisure - with growing economic security for all citizens. Under current circumstances, attempting to distribute all financial income through “employment” is both impossible and sheer folly. As a society, we should always be able to do anything physically and psychologically possible and desired, i.e., whatever is physically possible should always be financially possible. The financial system is simply accountancy and we must provide an accurate system of accountancy which reflects, rather than controls, chosen human activity. Attempting to carry on, by means of accelerating financial debt and incomes derived from increasing waste, is hardly an intelligent way for a so-called “civilization" to conduct its affairs.

CUMULATIVE EFFECTS OF RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

by Peter Ewart 13 January, 2014 (Article link here) We see it all around us. Northern British Columbia is undergoing huge changes in terms of natural resource development. As Greg Halseth and Marleen Morris of the Community Development Institute at UNBC point out, the scale of the changes are comparable to the industrial transformation that happened after the Second World War in British Columbia where, like today, natural resource mega-projects and initiatives played a key role.

What kind of natural resource development is taking place today in northern BC? The list is a long one. Mining (coal, metals, minerals), oil & gas (conventional and unconventional such as that derived from fracking), proposed Site C dam, run of river projects, wind and solar power projects, transmission lines, seismic lines, pipelines, proposed LNG plants, forestry harvesting and processing, recreational tourism, and so on.

But what are the cumulative effects and impacts of all of these developments on the environment, communities and health of the people who live here? That was the topic of a two-day event organized in Prince George on January 10 & 11 by UNBC and funded by the BC Oil and Gas Commission. Speakers included representatives from First Nations organizations, municipal government, and three UNBC research institutes: Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institute (NRESI); Health Research Institute (HRI); and Community Development Institute (CDI).

Resource development can, of course, bring a wide range of positive things such as jobs, higher incomes, and vital economic development for communities in the region. But there can also be unanticipated, sometimes negative impacts, as a result of “cumulative effects” that creep up unnoticed or unaddressed.

Speakers at the two-day meeting dramatically brought home the importance of these “cumulative effects” by displaying maps of specific territories in northern BC. For example, in one instance, a researcher showed a topographical photo of a forested area in the north east region which, on the surface, looked relatively undisturbed. Then he laid down a grid showing forestry cutblocks where clearcutting had once taken place. This was followed by another grid showing logging, as well as oil & gas roads. Then grids showing well sites, seismic lines, transmission lines, pipeline corridors, and other industrial projects.
By the time he finished laying down the various “grids” of disturbance, the forested area was transformed into an unrecognizable scramble of lines, squiggles and dots that would clearly have a significant effect on wildlife, water, and other features of the landscape.
The point was not to speak out against any or all of these natural resource developments in themselves, but to show that when combined they can result in overall cumulative effects that, unless planned for or mitigated in some way, can reach thresholds or “tipping points” beyond which irreversible change takes place in the environment, communities, and the quality of health in human populations.
Glaring examples of thresholds being reached include the mountain pine beetle infestation and the decimation of the Oolichan fish run on the northwest coast, both of which were the unintended result of a number of cumulative factors in natural resource industrial development.

But this development can also have cumulative effects and impacts on communities and the health of individuals. For example, resource development can mean jobs for First Nations communities, but also can result in major disruption of their land base and traditional occupations like hunting and fishing. As a First Nations speaker from Fort Nelson pointed out, one of the cumulative impacts of oil and gas activity is that her people no longer feel welcome on their own land, one of the reasons being that private security guards from oil and gas companies stop them and demand identification. In addition, they no longer drink the water in the bush or utilize plants for traditional medicine because of the pollutants from shale gas, fracking and other industrial activity.
In her estimation, in the last 7 years, 80,000 km of roads, pipelines, and seismic lines have been laid down in their territory (which is under Treaty 8), along with hundreds of wells.

Resource dependent communities often experience dramatic boom and bust cycles that result in cumulative effects and impacts. These can take on different forms whether the community is undergoing a boom (housing shortage, pressure on health and other infrastructure) or bust (unemployment, poverty, loss of tax base, shut down of services). Problems are exacerbated because communities have few avenues to access the large amount of resource revenues generated through royalties, stumpage, rents and taxes, as control of these revenues lies with the provincial government.
One particular example is transportation. Taking into account that highways and roads in many parts of the north are not equipped to handle increased large truck traffic (limited to two lanes with narrow shoulders), coupled with ice and snow conditions, wildlife hazards, and so on, the cumulative impact is more serious accidents and increased pressure on health services.
Another example are fly-in work camps which pose new problems, such as pressure on the services of nearby communities without necessarily contributing to the local tax base or increased social problems such as problematic substance use or disruption of families, which again put pressure on services.

One of the ideas coming out of the two-day meeting was the need for researchers, governments, communities, resource workers and corporations to collaborate and take a more holistic approach to addressing the effects of natural resource development in the north.

The environment, communities, and health of residents are not areas to be “siloed” off from one another, but must be looked at in their interaction and combined cumulative effects. This approach aims to mitigate the impact of these cumulative effects and minimize their unanticipated outcomes so that the mistakes and disasters of the past can be avoided.

For its part, the provincial government has undertaken some pilot projects looking at cumulative effects in certain areas of the province. However, from what the government has said so far, some questions are left hanging:
(1) Who will decide and monitor cumulative effect “thresholds”?
(2) Will action be taken beforehand to avoid unintended consequences?
(3) What role will northern communities, First Nations, researchers and scientists have in making these and other natural resource decisions?

Peter Ewart columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca

THE UN TELLS THE U.S. ‘TO BE MORE LIKE CHINA’

Craig Rucker, CFACT: Imagine the UN telling the U.S. to be more like China.
• The Chinese suffer under one party government.
• China is the world's number one emitter of CO2.
• They build a new coal plant every week (not that CO2 is the demon the UN would have you believe).
• China created eco-disaster areas to obtain rare earth metals for wind and solar, then subsidized their production to corner the market on selling "renewables" to the guilt-ridden West.
• China led a walkout at the Warsaw climate summit of developing nations demanding handouts of climate cash.

President Obama held a summit meeting with the Chinese Premier in California not long ago. In CFACT's analysis we quoted China Scholar David Shambaugh who wrote: "China is, in essence, a very narrow-minded, self-interested, realist state, seeking only to maximize its own national interests and power. It cares little for global governance and enforcing global standards of behaviour."
President Obama and UN climate Executive Secretary Figueres should wake up to reality. China uses global warming as a ruse to benefit China. The free world can learn nothing about global warming or civil rights from China. Perhaps what China can teach us, is to stand up for our national interests.

CHRIS ESSEX TO VISIT AUSTRALIA – GUEST OF GALILEO MOVEMENT

From Case Smit, Director, Galileo Movement.
Presenting the Facts of AGW: The public’s belief in man-made global warming (AGW) is fading, but it has a long way to go before our politicians realise that Australians don’t accept that we should lead the world in trying to stabilise the global climate. It is of the utmost importance that expenditure of taxpayers’ money on futile schemes designed to reduce usage of fossil fuels is stopped asap. One way to expedite this cessation is to try to educate the many journalists who have so far been uninterested in the facts, and the many gullible politicians who believe that the IPCC reports are equivalent to Moses’ tablets.

It is planned to bring to Australia one of the world’s leading educators on climate issues, Prof. Chris Essex, to make some public presentations and speak to journalists and politicians in small groups so that they receive factual information from an expert source. Prof. Essex is Chairman of the Permanent Monitoring Panel on Climate of the World Federation of Scientists, and Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Western Ontario London, Canada.
The visit is to take place in February to coincide with the first 2014 sitting of Parliament when climate issues will be a current topic.

One point of focus would be to have our presenter highlight the developments on climate change since the Abbott government assumed office last July. These, we believe, provide additional strong support for changing existing government policies. The cost of this project has been budgeted at $100,000 and your generous support is requested to achieve this level of funding.
Contributions can be made via a direct credit into the bank account (see below), or click the Paypal “donate” button on the web site (www.galileomovement.com.au ); reference “Essex visit”. All surplus funds will go to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Des Moore, Director IPE, former Deputy Secretary, Treasury Case Smit, Director, Galileo Movement
P.P.S. As time is short, could we please have your response by January 27th. Galileo Movement Pty Limited, National Australia Bank Ltd. BSB: 084855, Acc. No. 191696855

THE MACHINE STOPS Series

by Arnis Luks: I have been asked to provide details about the Moringe tree, or, as it is sometimes called, ‘the Miracle Tree’.
The following details are from http://enviro.org.au/article_moringaTree.asp

Beating the drum for the Moringa tree! The Moringa tree provides 7 times the Vitamin C in oranges, 4 times the calcium in milk, 4 times the Vitamin A in carrots, 2 times the protein in milk, and 3 times the potassium in bananas.

MORINGA TREE, MORINGA OLEIFERA, IS CALLED MOTHER'S BEST FRIEND
That is one way they sometimes refer to this tree in the Philippines where the leaves of the malunggay, as they call it, are cooked and fed to babies. Other names for it include horseradish tree and drumstick tree (India) and benzolive (Haiti). Moringa tree leaves, pods, and roots are eaten; flowers are loved by bees; and seeds are powdered and used to purify water from murky rivers. The leaflets can be stripped from the feathery, fern-like leaves and used in any spinach recipe. Small trees can be pulled up after a few months and the taproot ground, mixed with vinegar and salt and used in place of horseradish. Very young plants can be used as a tender vegetable.
After about 8 months the tree begins to flower and continues year round. The flowers can be eaten or used to make a tea. They are also good for beekeepers. The young pods can be cooked and have a taste reminiscent of asparagus. The green peas and surrounding white material can be removed from larger pods and cooked in various ways. Seeds from mature pods (which can be 2 feet long) can be browned in a skillet, mashed and placed in boiling water, which causes an excellent cooking or lubricating oil to float to the surface. The oil reportedly does not become rancid. The wood is very, very soft, though the tree is a good living fencepost. It makes acceptable firewood but poor charcoal.

It is an extremely fast-growing tree. Roy Danforth in Zaire wrote: "The trees grow more rapidly than papaya, with one three month old tree reaching 8 feet. I never knew there would be such a tree." The tree in our organic garden grew to about 15 feet in 9 months, and had been cut back twice to make it branch out more. It is well to prune trees frequently when they are young or they will become lanky and difficult to harvest. Where people begin breaking off tender tips to cook when trees are about 4 or 5 feet tall, the trees become bushier. There is more good news. The edible parts are exceptionally nutritious!

Frank Martin says in Survival and Subsistence in the Tropics that "among the leafy vegetables, one stands out as particularly good, the horseradish tree. The leaves are outstanding as a source of vitamin A and, when raw, vitamin C. They are a good source of B vitamins and among the best plant sources of minerals. The calcium content is very high for a plant. Phosphorous is low, as it should be. The content of iron is very good (it is reportedly prescribed for anaemia in the Philippines). They are an excellent source of protein and a very low source of fat and carbohydrates. Thus the leaves are one of the best plant foods that can be found."

In his Edible Leaves of the Tropics he adds that the leaves are incomparable as a source of the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cystine, which are often in short supply. It responds well to mulch, water and fertilizer. It is set back when our water table stays for long at an inch or two below the surface. We planted one right in the middle of our vegetable garden for its light shade. The branches are much too brittle to support someone climbing the tree. It is not harmed by frost, but can be killed to the ground by freezes. It quickly sends out new growth from the trunk when cut, or from the ground when frozen. Living fences can be continually cut back to a few feet.

ABC Gardening Australia have a Fact Sheet to download Presenter: Josh Byrne, 23/04/2005: “If you wanted to invent a tree you’d battle to come up with one as versatile as the drumstick tree Moringa Oleifera. Originating from northern India, the leaves, flowers, pods and roots are edible. And it's the drumstick-like pod shape that gives the tree its name…” Ebay would have supplier contacts for those who want to purchase seeds to grow.
For further details of the tree go to https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1345822.htm
Also a video is on Youtube here… www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDSksjGNCA‎

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LETTER TO THE PRESS:

To the Editor of The Australian, 11th January 2014
The banning of the Nantes show of Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala ('Last-gasp win keeps comic ban', 11-12/1/14) is bad news for those of us who care for human liberty and free speech. The Holocaust is a sensitive subject, but it should not be treated as an intellectual sacred cow. Revisionists should be allowed their day in public forums, including theatres. It is hard to believe that a comedy show represented 'a serious risk to public order'; and the judge's finding that it affronted 'French values and principles' including 'human dignity' is at best a subjective claim. The comedian may or may not be the victim of 'a Jewish plot', but he is certainly being punished by obtuse authoritarianism. He may yet have the last laugh, however. It's very risky banning comedy. - Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic