The Season to Reflect. Chill and Enjoy

Well it’s nearly Christmas, another year draws to a close. Time for end of year break up meetings, AGM’s and all that - it causes one to reflect.

- the cat's called Holly-

To reflect on the past year and question everything all over again, like: How did we perform? What did we achieve? What were our failures? Why as volunteers do we do what we do? How good it would be if we didn’t have to do what we do? etcetera.

The frustrations, the things you see - the greed, the injustice, the corruption, the cover-ups, the personal attacks, the threats, and all the dirtiness we see would I think, drive the best there is into the depths of depression.

Is it time to call it a day? Is there anyone else to take over? Will they be able to handle it? Will all the effort over the past 12 years be lost?

More of a personal life would be nice, spending more time with loved ones, family and friends. Working longer and harder for no financial reward wouldn’t be missed, the simple things in life like being able to watch what you want on TV when you want, like the evening news for example, instead of working/attending night meetings etc. would be a nice change.

It will soon be Christmas and then it will be another New Year.

Over the holiday/festive period the state’s major hazardous and polluting industries keep running, the proposals keep coming, government’s do not change their ways (there is just less of them around). Life in Kwinana goes on.

But really dear readers, I’m excited. I do enjoy Christmas and getting into the Christmas spirit, putting up the lights (yes I have the ladders J ), the decorations, the bringing together of family and friends and of course drinking more Jim Beam.

One thing I will really miss this year are Cigars, yep No Cigars! Then again would one or two really hurt? Ok Anne - NO CIGARS!

Oh yes… I admit it, he did it again, Dave’s post today once again prompted a post by me.

Sad State of WA Politics

Dave's blog post of today, reminded me that I have failed to blog about politics since before the State election... Sadly I haven't missed it at all...

-from the West Australian-

I was once a political junkie but for the last year or 18 months I have lost all interest in the subject. Why? Probably because I saw too much, I saw the corruption. I saw what a disgrace politics in this state in particular had become. Labor had become all too much the same as the Liberal Party, the Carpenter Government had totally lost the plot, which actually started as soon as Geoff Gallop left. Thanks to default Premier Carpenter Corruption was alive and well.

The Greens seemed to forget they were a grass roots environmental party and appeared to get lost in the other stuff. Environmental and more importantly Environmental Health disappeared from the radar before and did not surface again during the election campaign.

When the election was over and the results started to become clearer I became even more depressed about politics, some results such as independent (because he was sacked from the Labor party) John Bowler winning the seat of Kalgoorlie - just blew me away.

What on earth is wrong with people today? Can they not see past the $ signs?

Locally we have an ardent new Labor MP which currently doesn't seem like a bad thing, time will tell.

Colin Barnett is now Premier, albeit Premier by default, but I think he needs to be reminded often that the Liberals did not win the election.

Here is something to ponder - Is the liberal party any less corrupt than Labor was? Does anyone really need to answer that?

Update on Yet Another Kwinana Industry Emergency

We still don't know the full story of what happened this time. Apparently a fire and at least one worker gassed.

To answer some comments : It's good news week - every week, every day every hour in Kwinana Industry hey.

I guess there have been 6 or 7 serious incidents that we know about at Tiwest over the past 6 months with gas releases and people gassed with dangerous chemicals such as Chlorine Gas - Cl2, and Titanium Tetrachloride - TiCl4and who knows how many we didn't find out about.

Whatever happened to Community Right To Know? It HAS disappeared in Kwinana. With regards to Kwinana Industries Emergency Community Communication/Information service - It sounds good, it looks good, but has it ever worked when we needed it? Will it ever work when we really need it?

Come on Kwinana Industry - Is it really that difficult to fix? or is it a case of Kwinana Industry doesn't think those of us living alongside these major industries have any rights?

Now would probably have been a good time for me to explain how industry divides and conquers the community, how it buys support/silence from certain sections of the community etc. etc. but maybe later because that will be a long one, thus probably should be done on its own.

Yet Another Kwinana Industry Emergency

Right on cue Tiwest strikes again.

Details are sketchy, because as usual it seems the Kwinana Community is being kept in the dark over serious incidents in Kwinana Industry, but apparently Tiwest had ANOTHER emergency incident this morning with evacuations etc.

By 3:30 pm this afternoon the authorities (DEC) had still not been informed of the incident by industry.

I was not in Kwinana at the time of the incident, but other Community Group Reps report that as usual the emergency communication service was not used.

Much of the usual really.

I have lost count of the incidents (gas releases etc) at Tiwest over the last 6 months.

More later as we try and uncover the details.

In the mean time read more on Tiwest here, here and here.

Remembering Bhopal

Fire a blowtorch at my eyes, pour acid down my throat.

Strip the tissue from my lungs.

Drown me in my own blood.

Choke my baby to death in front of me.

Show me her struggles as she dies

- From a Survivor's Poem -

"The Bhopal disaster has no parallel in the history of mankind. It all began on the night of December 2/3, 1984, when 40 tonnes of lethal gases leaked from Union Carbide Corporation's pesticide factory in Bhopal, India.

People just did not know what had hit them. There was no warning. Before anyone could realize the full impact of the disaster an area of about 40 sq. km., with a resident population of over half a million, was engulfed in dense clouds of poison. People woke up coughing, gasping for breath, their eyes burning. Many fell dead as they ran. Others succumbed at the hospitals where doctors were overwhelmed by the numbers and lacked information on the nature of the poisoning.

By the third day of the disaster, an estimated 8,000 people had died from direct exposure to the gases and another 500,000 were injured. Today, the number of deaths stands at 20,000."

Anil Sharma, a Bhopal-based senior journalist, who has covered the tragedy and its aftermath for several newspapers in India, from the Greenpeace publication "Exposure: Portrait of a Corporate Crime."

Read more about the Bhopal tragedy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

www.bhopal.org

www.greenpeace/international.org

www.corpwatchindia.org

www.corpwatch.org

www.essentialaction.org

www.indiatogether.org

Let us not forget those affected by the Bhopal Disaster

Admit it you want me...

Completely Off Topic...

Kittens - Free to good homes

A frightened, pregnant and starving cat turned up at my place, I brought her back to health and she now even likes people again and doesn't mind some attention. She had probably been dumped at the golf course.


Nearly 7 weeks ago - five healthy, cute little kittens were born . We have found good homes for 2 - so 3 more to go, so if you know of anyone who will give one a good home please put them in contact with me ASAP.



Thanks.

Kwinana Industries Emergency Communication System FAILS AGAIN

On Sunday (9-11-08) at 11:23am Hismelt had a massive explosion of gases and coal dust, apparently from the emergency relief valves or pressure relief valves (whichever you prefer to call them).

This explosion was heard and felt throughout Kwinana, Rockingham and parts of Cockburn, The subsequent black mushroom cloud over Kwinana industry could be seen from a great distance.

By 11:26am my phones were going off, people from as far as Wellard, Parmelia, Rockingham ringing to tell me of the explosion and/or try and find out what was going on. Some workers from the strip also rang as they weren't sure what was going on. At first I thought it must have been BP Refinery, so went down to the strip and checked with Security and BP and Wesfarmers LPG and determined it came from Hismelt direction. Security at Hismelt confirmed it was an explosion, flames and cloud of smoke from the plant.

It was confirmed that the Kwinana Industries Mutual Aid (KIMA) emergency notification system was not used... ie. Each Kwinana Industry has at least one two way radio tuned to the emergency KIMA channel, in the event of an incident such as this industry is meant to notify each other via this emergency radio system.

It was also confirmed that the incident was not recorded on the emergency community information hot line # 1300 304 346 until over 24 hrs after the incident. So the community like those in surrounding industries where also kept in the dark.

This happens just about everytime something goes wrong in Kwinana Industry, the emergency communication systems fail, but as happened last time Kwinana Industry will probably attempt to shift the focus back to the community reps that are airing the concerns.

As a part of Hismelt's license it is required to report incidents to the DEC - This incident was not reported to the DEC by Hismelt, the community reported the incident to the DEC on Monday morning and the DEC had not been contacted by Hismelt.

It is my belief (feel free to correct me if I am wrong) That Hismelt is required to report incidents to the DOCEP - This incident was not reported to the DOCEP by Hismelt again the community reported the incident to DOCEP.

Will this company be held accountable for the above probable breaches - Probably Not - Why? Because it is another multinational mining giant that seems to me to be above our law.

Does this make you feel comfortable that Kwinana Industry is keeping you informed and safe? What will happen when the Big One occurs? I suggest it would be absolute chaos and no-one will know what is going on.

Is it really to much to ask for an emergency communication system that works and is used? Or is it easier for Kwinana Industry to once again play divide and conquer tactics and claim it is only a minority of the community that are affected/concerned?

Update 14-11-08: Paragraphs 7,8 and 9 have been changed slightly due to a request from Kwinana Industry. Kwinana Industry claims Hismelt did report the incident to the DEC and that they are not required to report incidents to DOCEP. For now we will have to agree to disagree on those opinions because it is still my belief that the community actually reported the incident to the DEC first thing Monday morning and until then the DEC knew nothing of it. It is also my belief that industries that come under the mines act regulations are required to report to DOCEP