News: South Pacific Rim
» 2007
December 8, 2008
And now for a world government
I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US . I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible. A “world government” would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force. So could the European model go global? There are three reasons for thinking that it might.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)
Comment: Democracy in the European Union has now been almost completely subverted by corporate interests. As such, exporting the European model of government to the rest of the world would effectively turn the planet’s system of governance into a global dictatorship.
December 3, 2008
4000 kids under 10 on mood drugs
UNPUBLISHED figures show that nearly 4000 children under the age of 10 were prescribed anti-depressants last financial year, including 553 children under five and 48 babies. The commonwealth Department of Health statistics give an alarming, although most likely conservative, age-by-age breakdown of the national use of anti-depressants. Leading pediatricians and psychiatrists can offer no reason why infants would be given the drugs. Depression expert Gordon Parker said the numbers were "beyond comprehension" and urged the federal Government to ask doctors responsible for supplying scripts for young children to justify their actions.
Read article in The Australian online newspaper
November 4, 2008
Labour’s Silence Is Deafening - Eroding Trust
Prime Minister Helen Clark announced to a group of Hamilton Students that “we will push ahead with this Bill (The Anti-Vitamin Bill). We need a trans-Tasman regulator. We intend to proceed ” but has remained deafeningly silent to the media, considering this was a favourite Bill of the Government who failed to get numbers for its passing at second reading. “This Bill has been unpopular from it’s inception with the majority of New Zealanders, political parties and select committees opposing it. The Prime Minister’s party is campaigning on trust this election yet has omitted to make a clear stand on what has been one of the party’s pet Bills over the past 9 years. One has to ask what is going on in the background and can we really trust her government on this issue?” Nicola Grace spokeswoman for Health Freedom NZ says.
Read press release on the Health Freedom New Zealand website
Comment: Health Freedom New Zealand (HFNZ) is a non-partisan, non-profit, consumer health rights advocacy and action group dedicated to reinstating, protecting and defending the rights of consumers in New Zealand to make their own health decisions. To learn more about HFNZ, click here. To make a donation, click here.
November 1, 2008
Probe into anti-depressants being conducted 'in secret'
THE Therapeutic Goods Administration is investigating the adverse effects of SSRI anti-depressants, a widely prescribed group of drugs that includes the well-known brands Prozac and Zoloft. The TGA confirmed in a statement to The Weekend Australian that it had established a special expert panel of psychiatrists and epidemiologists to review a number of cases involving patients who had had adverse reactions to these drugs. It is believed hundreds of cases will be reviewed.
Read article in The Australian online newspaper
October 29, 2008
Australia to implement mandatory internet censorship
AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government. The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy. The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter.
Read article in the Herald Sun (Australia)
September 19, 2008
Charges against Pan's Selim dropped
THE Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has dropped four criminal charges against former alternative medicine tycoon Jim Selim. Mr Selim, the founder of Pan Pharmaceuticals, had been charged with failing to disclose material information relating to four separate board meetings. Last month, Mr Selim won a $55 million compensation payment from the Federal Government over the collapse of his company. Pan Pharmaceuticals went into liquidation in 2005 after a decision in 2003 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to suspend its licence and withdraw 219 of its products. Outside the court, Mr Selim said he felt vindicated by today's decision and he would push ahead with preparations for a $200 million class action against the TGA over the collapse of the company in 2003.
Read article at news.com.au (Australia)
September 14, 2008
1 in 3 SA girls have refused cervical cancer vaccine
ALMOST a third of girls are shunning the free cervical cancer vaccine being offered in South Australian schools. Health Department figures show about 50,000 girls in Years 8 to 12 were offered the Gardasil vaccine last year but about 16,000 - or 32 per cent - opted out. While 2008 data is not yet available, the vaccine will be offered to at least 8200 Year 8 girls this year. In New South Wales, it was recently reported that more than 40,000 of 173,607 schoolgirls offered the vaccine - or 23 per cent - chose not to have it.
Read article on the news.com.au website (Australia)
Comment: Gardasil is already reported to have been responsible for 3,461 adverse reactions, including eleven deaths, in the United States alone. In Australia, meanwhile, reports suggest that dozens of teenage girls have been sickened by Gardasil. In one case being investigated, a girl was left temporarily paralysed and unable to talk.
August 23, 2008
Govt may face class action over Pan collapse
A natural health care consultant says at least 100 people have expressed interest in suing the Commonwealth Government for compensation over the collapse of Pan Pharmaceuticals. Earlier this month, the Government agreed to settle with Pan's former head Jim Selim. Mr Selim claimed that the Therapeutic Goods Administration acted vindictively in the 2003 recall of hundreds of complementary medicine products and the removal of Pan's manufacturing licence.
Read article at ABC News (Australia)
August 19, 2008
Annette King Called Upon to Resign Immediately
In 2003 the then Health Minister Annette King ordered a class 1 recall (death eminent) of all Pan Pharmaceuticals natural products in alignment with the Australian TGA recall. This recall, instantly recognised as illegal by industry, has now been confirmed as illegal by the NSW Supreme Court in Australia in a court case between Jim Selim, the owner of Pan Pharmaceuticals and the TGA. Jim Selim then sued the TGA for $141 million dollars according to the documents lodged at the Federal Court. Friday 18th of August the ‘Australian’ reported that Selim was awarded $55 million in damages, a figure the Australian taxpayer will have to pay. The Australian Government does not plan to investigate the TGA’s illegal behaviour despite demands for an inquiry. A class action suit against the TGA involving some 100 businesses that went under because of this recall, is likely to ensue and the ticket may just include Minister Annette King. “We are glad for the New Zealand taxpayers and natural product users that we were able to halt our Government’s plans to allow our regulator to be absorbed into this unaccountable and out of control agency. The fact that the TGA is able to emerge unscathed without even an inquiry after their malfeasance, which has landed the Australian taxpayers with a $55 million dollar penalty, speaks volumes to the ‘sacred cow’ status it enjoys. One has to ask why the Australian Government is happy to give away $55 million dollars without asking why,” says Health Freedom spokesperson Nicola Grace.
Read press release on the Health Freedom New Zealand website
Comment: Health Freedom New Zealand (HFNZ) is a non-partisan, non-profit, consumer health rights advocacy and action group dedicated to reinstating, protecting and defending the rights of consumers in New Zealand to make their own health decisions. To learn more about HFNZ, click here. To make a donation, click here.
August 20, 2008
Drug body's bitter pill
IN late April 2003, days after the Therapeutic Goods Administration ordered the world's biggest recall of complementary medicines, consumers were busily throwing out their bottles of Pan Pharmaceuticals' vitamins and packets of pain relievers and pharmacists were clearing their shelves. Pan products could not be trusted, the TGA warned; test results had been manipulated and manufacturing processes were not up to scratch. But in New Zealand, Europe and the US, regulatory bodies were perplexed. The TGA had issued a red alert, informing its international counterparts of the risk of Pan products. Except that many of those countries did not think there was sufficient evidence to recall Pan's products and, as it turned out, not one European country or the US withdrew Pan's products from sale.
Read article in The Australian
August 15, 2008
Pan chief's $50m settlement
JIM SELIM, the founder of Pan Pharmaceuticals, who yesterday settled his court case against the Federal Government for $50 million, wants a public inquiry into the withdrawal of Pan's licence by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in April 2003. The complementary medicines manufacturer went into liquidation after the TGA's decision, four months after concerns that its anti-travel sickness drug Travacalm had caused hallucinations in some people. The case had alleged the TGA abused its power in withdrawing Pan's licence, and misled the company and the Government about its plans and the dangers to the public.
Read article in the Canberra Times (Australia)
Comment: Many commentators believe that the real reason why Jim Selim’s company had its license withdrawn was because it supplied around 75% of Australia’s complementary healthcare products such as nutritional supplements in the form of vitamins, minerals, omega oils, and herbal products. To learn the full story behind what was arguably the largest, quickest and most comprehensive recall of health care products in world history, read Eve Hillary’s in-depth article.
July 31, 2008
'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution
Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system
In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.
Read article on the MIT website (USA)
Comment: Liberation from the tyranny of the oil cartel continues to draw closer.
July 7, 2008
Health Freedom Calls on Labour to Bury the "Anti-Vitamin" Bill
Health Freedom New Zealand (HFNZ) calls on Labour to do the right thing by the New Zealand voting public and get rid of the Anti-Vitamin Bill (Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill) from the legislative agenda, thereby removing the threat of untold misery for New Zealand citizens. "The government needs to admit that the Bill is dead and must be finally buried," says HFNZ spokesperson Nicola Grace. The exceedingly unpopular "Anti-Vitamin Bill" has failed to attain the numbers for parliament support. It has been rejected by two Health Select Committees, an Administration Select Committee, Maoridom, National, Greens, Maori Party, Act, New Zealand First and independents Taito Phillip Field and Gordon Copeland as well as hundreds of thousands of New Zealand voters. Deplorably, instead of dumping the bill, Labour are claiming the Bill has been "put on hold" until they can coerce voting levels to its favour. Health Minister, David Cunliffe has confirmed Labour will go ahead with ANZTPA and are currently in negotiations with the Australian Government.
Read press release on the Health Freedom New Zealand website
July 6, 2008
Massive jump in cancer jab reactions
THE new cervical cancer jab is believed to be behind a huge jump in the number of women and girls suffering bad reactions to vaccinations in NSW. The first annual State vaccination statistics to include Gardasil reveala 1600 per cent surge in reported adverse side-effects among young females who were immunised last year. These include allergic reactions, collapsing, dizziness, nausea and unexplained illnesses.
Read article in the Sunday Telegraph (Australia)
July 4, 2008
Judge orders Google to give YouTube user data to Viacom
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - A US judge has ordered Google to expose to Viacom the video-viewing habits of everyone who has ever used YouTube in a decision condemned by the Internet giant and privacy advocates.
Read AFP news story at google.com
Comment: The ruling, which could have serious privacy implications for internet users worldwide, orders Google to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses.
June 5, 2008
EU vision for Asia-Pacific
KEVIN RUDD has outlined an ambitious vision for Australia and the other nations of the Asia-Pacific to form a community modelled on the European Union by 2020. In a speech to the Asia Society in Sydney last night, the Prime Minister said the new body would share a "comprehensive sense of community" in security, trade, economics and politics.
Read article in the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Comment: Democracy in the European Union has now been almost completely subverted by corporate interests. As such, Rudd's proposal here should clearly be viewed with great suspicion.
June 2, 2008
Premier urges halt to GM food approvals
West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter has called for an immediate halt to the approval of all genetically-modified (GM) foods in Australia. Mr Carpenter also is asking for federal government support to enforce better labelling of foods containing GM ingredients. He wants Australia's national food regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, to stop approving any more GM foods for human consumption until independent scientific trials prove their safety. "I find it unbelievable and unacceptable that the national food regulator relies principally on the say-so of the GM companies when assessing GM foods as safe to eat," Mr Carpenter said.
Read article in the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
May 19, 2008
Democracy and the Web
Users of the Internet take for granted their ability to access all Web sites on an equal basis. That could change, however, if Internet service providers started discriminating among content, to make more money or to suppress ideas they do not like. A new "net neutrality" bill has been introduced in the House, which would prohibit this sort of content discrimination. Congress has delayed on this important issue too long and should pass net neutrality legislation now.
Read editorial in the New York Times (USA)
Comment: To learn more about the need for net neutrality and internet freedom, click here.
April 25, 2008
Malaysia's ex-PM Mahathir wants Iraq war leaders on war crimes charges
LONDON (AFP) - Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for an international tribunal to try Western leaders with war crimes over the war in Iraq, a spokesman for the organisers said. In a speech at Imperial College, London, Mahathir called for a tribunal to try US President George W. Bush plus former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim group the Ramadhan Foundation, which set up the event. Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq told AFP that Mahathir, who was in office from 1981 to 2003, wants to see the trio tried "in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq.
Read AFP news story at yahoo.com
February 13, 2008
Govt promises action after apology
The Federal Government has promised practical measures will follow the symbolism of today's apology to the Stolen Generations. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this morning delivered an emotional address to Australia's Stolen Generations in federal Parliament, in which he spoke of the "profound grief, suffering and loss" experienced by Australia's Indigenous people. Mr Rudd used the word "sorry" on three separate occasions in his formal apology and Opposition leader Brendan Nelson echoed his sentiments. The Prime Minister also called on the Opposition to join in a "war cabinet" to deal with Aboriginal housing issues and matters of constitutional change and spoke of moving into the future with "arms extended" rather than with "fists still clenched".
Read article on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website
February 11, 2008
How the spooks took over the news
In his controversial new book, Nick Davies argues that shadowy intelligence agencies are pumping out black propaganda to manipulate public opinion – and that the media simply swallow it wholesale.
Read article in the Independent (UK)
February 5, 2008
Warning over popular fungal treatment Lamisil
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has warned of adverse side-effects from oral Lamisil, a pill formulation for ringworm and nail fungal problems. It is prescribed for people who do not respond to fungal creams but the TGA says it can cause liver failure. The TGA has received 722 adverse event reports on Lamisil, known generically as terbinafine, including 70 liver reactions, 61 implicating the tablet form as the sole suspected drug.
Read article at news.com.au (Australia)
January 7, 2008
Australia 'no' to compensation for Indigenous children
The Australian Government has ruled out setting up a billion dollar compensation fund for the 'Stolen Generations'. The Stolen Generation refers to Aborignal children taken from their families by the state and institutionalised - a practice that continued until 1970. Indigenous leaders have renewed calls for compensation as the new Australian Government, under Kevin Rudd, prepares to apologise for the forced removal of thousands of people from their families. A decade-old inquiry into the Stolen Generation recommended reparations for the Stolen Generations.
Read article on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website