‘A bridge too far’: local anger at dismantling of historic bridge for Bezos boat

DutchNews, February 3, 2022, Senay Boztas

The Hef is an iconic part of Rotterdam’s skyline. Photo: elm3r via Wikimedia Commons

The Rotterdam branch of political party GroenLinks has called an emergency council debate over the fact that an iconic bridge will be temporarily taken apart to allow passage for a mega-yacht for Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos. 

The news that a section of national monument De Hef would be dismantled (and then put together again) to allow passage for the 127m long, three-masted, aluminium and steel schooner swiftly voyaged the world. 

But the story, broken on Wednesday by local broadcaster Rijnmond, sparked fury amongst history lovers, the Dutch public and some local councillors. 

GroenLinks councillor Stephan Leewis told Rijnmond that he took a dim view of the permission, particularly in the light of Amazon personnel policies and tax andregulation avoidance battles. 

‘Now, we have to break apart our beautiful listed monument?’ he reportedly said, in calling an emergency debate. ‘This really is a bridge too far.’ 

Heritage 

According to Dutch media, next week Rotterdam city council will debate the planning permission given to dismantle the middle section of the 1927 bridge, and reconstruct it – reportedly, at the cost of shipbuilder Oceanco and Bezos. 

Project leader at Rotterdam city council Marcel Walravens previously defended the decision as a pragmatic one. ‘It is about a ship with high masts which cannot pass through the bridge. The only alternative is to take out the middle section,’ he told Rijnmond. 

Walravens hoped that with proper preparation, the middle section of the bridge would only be removed for a day and pointed out the economic and jobs benefit to the region, plus the boost to its international shipbuilding reputation. 

However, some history experts were unimpressed. ‘Jobs are important, but there are limits with what you can and should do with our industrial heritage,’ said Ton Wesselink of the local history society Historisch Genootschap Roterodamum to Rijnmond. 

‘Inequality’ 

On social media, commentators also pointed out the apparent inconsistency in strict, Dutch listed building policy and the privilege apparently afforded to an American billionaire to take apart a bridge which the council had previously promised would no longer be touched. 

On social media, the story inspired humorous comment as well as outrage, particularly in the light of the bridge’s historical destruction during the 1940 Nazi bombardment. A commenter called ‘Marky Mark’ suggested: ‘Can’t we simply dismantle Jeff Bezos and have Rotterdam pass through him?’ 

Jeroen Stet commented: ‘Mega-yachts are a symbol of greed, inequality, and all that is bad about capitalism and the impact it has on the world. If you think you need something like this, it says a lot about you.’ 

Ophef 

Others pointed out that the bridge would be repaired again, and that the shipyard was a huge local employer. Meanwhile, Paul Peeters, podcast host at DutchNews.nl, noted that this was a scandal, or ophef, with a ring about it: ‘De Hef/Jeff-ophef.’ 

At 127 metres long, Bezos’ yacht is set to be the largest sailing yacht in the world when delivered at some point this year, according to Boat International. It is reportedly being moved from one shipyard to another for final fitting. 

A spokesman for Rotterdam council told DutchNews.nl. ‘The municipality of Rotterdam only gives permission to the maritime sector to take a ship to sea. The municipality does not build ships, so we have no further information about this.’

Big cruise ships banned from Venice centre from August: govt

MSN – AFP, 13 July 2021 

Scenes like this will soon be a thing of the past in Venice (Miguel Medina)

Large cruise ships will be banned from sailing into the centre of Venice from August 1 amid fears they are causing irreparable damage to the lagoon city, Italy's government said Tuesday. 

a large ship in the water: Scenes like this will soon be a thing of the past in Venice© Miguel MEDINA Scenes like this will soon be a thing of the past in Venice

"The decree adopted today represents an important step for the protection of the Venetian lagoon system," said Prime Minister Mario Draghi in a statement following a cabinet minister that approved the law. 

Instead they will be diverted to the city's industrial port of Marghera, although this is viewed as only a temporary solution, with ministers calling for ideas on a new permanent terminal. 

Campaigners have for years been calling for cruise ships to be banned from sailing past the iconic St Mark's Square, saying they cause large waves that undermine the city's foundations and harm the fragile ecosystem of its lagoon. 

The debate was reignited by the return last month of cruise ships after months of quiet in the city during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The UN's cultural agency UNESCO late last month recommended Venice be put on a list of "World Heritage in Danger" sites ahead of a meeting of its World Heritage Committee in China starting Friday. 

Infrastructure minister Enrico Giovannini said the ban was a "necessary step to protect the environmental, landscape, artistic and cultural integrity of Venice". 

The ban will apply to ships which fulfil any of four criteria: weighing more than 25,000 tonnes, measuring more than 180 metres long, more than 35 metres high or producing more than 0.1 percent sulphur. 

Ships that do not fulfil one of these criteria -- notably smaller cruise ships with around 200 passengers -- are "considered sustainable" and will continue to be able to dock in Venice centre.

DiCaprio unveils free technology to spy on global fishing

Yahoo - AFP, Kerry Sheridan, September 15, 2016

US actor and environmental campaigner Leonardo DiCaprio has turned his focus
 on illegal fishing, which accounts for up to 35 percent of the global wild marine
catch (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

Miami (AFP) - American movie star Leonardo DiCaprio unveiled Thursday a free technology that allows users to spy on global fishing practices, in a bid to curb illegal activity in the oceans and rebuild imperiled fish stocks.

The technology, known as Global Fishing Watch, was officially released to the public during the Our Oceans Conference hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Thursday and Friday.

"Today, this unprecedented technology is available to everyone in the world. I encourage everyone to go check it out," DiCaprio told the conference.

"This platform will empower citizens across the globe to become powerful advocates for our oceans."

Available at GlobaFishingWatch.org, the technology aims to offer a crowd sourced solution to the problem of illegal fishing, which accounts for up to 35 percent of the global wild marine catch and causes yearly losses of $23.5 billion, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Overfishing is also a growing problem worldwide, with about two thirds of fish stocks in the high seas either over exploited or depleted, said the FAO.

Some of the planet's largest fish, including tuna and swordfish, are below 10 percent of their historical level.

Using satellite technology combined with radar aboard boats, the platform allows people to zero in on areas of interest around the world and trace the paths of 35,000 commercial fishing vessels.

"It gives the public an opportunity to see what is happening, even out in the middle of the ocean," said John Amos, president and founder of SkyTruth, one of three partners in the project along with Google and Oceana.

"We need the public to be engaged to convince governments and convince the seafood industry that they need to solve the problems of overfishing," Amos told AFP.

"If you can't see it and can't measure it, you are not going to care about it and it is not going to get solved."

Overfishing is a growing problem around the world, with about two-thirds of fish

stocks in the high seas either over exploited or depleted (AFP Photo/Fred Tanneau)

DiCaprio-funded

The project has cost $10.3 million over the past three years to build, with $6 million of those funds contributed by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in January.

In order the make the data available for free, Oceana and its partners negotiated a deal with the satellite company Orbcomm to use its three-day old data, which is described as "near real-time," along with historical records.

Although the delay means that any criminals won't be nabbed instantaneously, advocates say the technology will open the world's waters to public watchdogs in a way that has never been done before.

"We think it is going to have a lot of impact, first of all just the deterrent effect of vessels knowing that we could see them if they are doing something they are not supposed to be doing," Savitz said.

"You can look at an area you are interested in, zoom in and see what data we have."

Possible uses

For instance, users could zero in on a marine protected area and see if any boat tracks have crossed into waters where they should not have been.

One could scan the map for any evidence that large vessels are fishing in areas that are reserved for small-scale fishermen.

Vessels can be tracked by name or by country, or by traffic inside exclusive economic zones.

The paths of ships are visible, including zigzag paths that could indicate vessels are avoiding shore to offload their catch on to other ships undetected, or that other illegal operations or human rights abuses may be under way.

GlobalFishingWatch.org allows people to trace the paths of commercial fishing

 vessels and make sure boats haven't strayed into marine protected areas 

(AFP Photo/Cris Bouroncle)

Savitz said some capacities may be beyond the ability of the average Internet user, but that experts are available via the website to help with specific questions.

Future versions of the technology may even include tagging data for marine animals, so that the paths of whales and sharks and other fish might be visible alongside the vessel activity, she said.

Currently, Global Fishing Watch does not include every vessel, only those that broadcast data from the Automatic Identification System, collected by satellite and terrestrial receivers and meant mainly as a safety mechanism to avoid collisions.

Many of the world's largest fishing vessels are required by the International Maritime Organization to use AIS.

AIS can be turned off if the boat operator is doing something illegal, but Savitz said that such an on-off action would likely be apparent by tracing the boat's appearing and disappearing tracks.

Already, the government of Kiribati has used Global Fishing Watch data to unmask illegal fishing in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, declared off-limits to commercial fishing on January 1, 2015.

The owners of the vessel had to pay a $1 million fine and also made a "goodwill" donation of another $1 million grant, Oceana said.

Related Articles:

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New Zealand crowdfunding campaign 'saves' remote beach

Yahoo – AFP, 26 February 2016

Awaroa inlet is an 800-metre stretch of golden sand adjoining the Abel Tasman

National Park at the top of New Zealand's South Island (AFP Photo)

Wellington (AFP) - A New Zealand man behind an ambitious crowdfunding campaign that raised millions of dollars to buy a privately-owned South Island beach said on Friday he was stunned at its success.

Duane Major's push to take Awaroa beach out of private hands and make it a national park quickly went viral, attracting 40,000 donations to raise a total of NZ$2.3 million (US$1.6 million).

Major, a pastor who describes himself as "an ordinary bloke", called the response to his givealittle.co.nz page as heartwarming.

"I always thought we could do it but I didn't anticipate what a crazy, heartwarming ride it would be," he told AFP.

"It's really tapped into a community spirit among New Zealanders. I've been getting poems from schoolkids talking about our beach. It gives me goosebumps."

Awaroa inlet is an 800-metre (2,600-foot) stretch of golden sand adjoining the Abel Tasman National Park at the top of South Island.

Accessible only by boat or helicopter, it came on the market late last year, with real estate agents marketing it as "the best beach on the planet".

Major decided after discussions with relatives over the Christmas period that a crowdfunding page was "certainly worth a shot".

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders agreed, and Givealittle said it had become the country's largest ever crowdfunding effort, raising more than NZ$1.0 million in a single day.

Accessible only by boat or helicopter, New Zealand's Awaroa inlet came on the 

market late last year, with real estate agents marketing it as 'the best beach on

the planet' (AFP Photo)

"It's the largest campaign we've facilitated by a long way," a spokeswoman told AFP.

Major said donations ranged from children giving a dollar to corporations pledging tens of thousands.

The government chipped in NZ$350,000 earlier this week to get the campaign over the line and the tender offer was formally accepted on Wednesday.

Major said he was overjoyed at preserving "a slice of paradise" for future generations and was already considering more crowdfunding conservation campaigns.

"We were celebrating last night and I was yakking (talking) to a guy with a big beard called Mike and he said 'wouldn't it be good to do it again?'," he said.

"I told him I'm just trying to catch my breath now, but I could feel the energy coming back."

Australian hospital refuses to return asylum baby to Nauru

Yahoo – AFP, Glenda Kwek, 14 February 2016

Greenpeace holds a #LetThemStay banner on Sydney's harbour calling for the 

asylum-seekers, who are set to be deported after being brought to Australia 

for medical treatment, to be allowed to stay (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

An Australian hospital has refused to return an asylum-seeker baby to detention in Nauru, as momentum built across the country on Sunday against offshore Pacific camps for processing refugees.

Under the government's tough immigration policy, asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are sent to detention camps in the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

They are blocked from being resettled in Australia even if found to be refugees.

The hospital's move came as state governments, churches and activists stepped up their efforts to stop the return of some 267 refugees to Nauru following a High Court ruling.

On Sunday, campaigners from ActionAid, Amnesty International, GetUp! and Greenpeace unfurled a #LetThemStay banner on Sydney's iconic harbour calling for the asylum-seekers, who are set to be deported after being brought to Australia for medical treatment, to be allowed to stay.

People hold placards at a protest outside an immigration office in Sydney on February 4, 

2016, as Australian church leaders say they would offer sanctuary to asylum-seekers set to be

deported to Nauru to defy the government's harsh immigration policy (AFP Photo/William West)

The #LetThemStay campaign, which has been trending on Twitter, has also seen hundreds of people maintain a vigil -- now in its third day -- outside the Brisbane hospital where the baby is being cared for.

The 12-month-old infant, who is called Asha and the child of Nepalese asylum-seekers, was brought to the eastern city of Brisbane for treatment in late January after being scalded with hot water at the remote Nauru facility.

Following the High Court's ruling earlier this month in favour of the government's policies, Asha and 36 other babies born in Australia are among the asylum-seekers facing removal.

But a spokesman for Brisbane's Lady Cilento Children's Hospital said Asha "will only be discharged once a suitable home environment is identified".

Growing political, community support

Their stance was supported by Queensland state's Health Minister Cameron Dick, who said in a statement Sunday that he "strongly support(s) doctors in our hospitals to make the right clinical decisions".

"Doctors must expect to advocate for their patients," Doctors For Refugees co-founder Richard Kidd, who has joined the vigil outside the hospital, told AFP.

People protest outside an immigration office in Sydney on February 4, 2016, as 

Australian church leaders say they would offer sanctuary to asylum-seekers set to

 be deported to Nauru, to defy the government's harsh immigration policy (AFP 

Photo/William West)

"We have... overwhelming evidence over many years now that detention does terrible harm to babies and children, particularly their mental health but also physical health."

Australian church leaders in early February vowed to defy the federal government, offering sanctuary to the asylum-seekers.

Several state government premiers have said they would help settle in their communities those facing deportation if they were allowed to stay.

There have also been numerous community-led protests. Thirty-seven cots -- one for each of the Australia-born babies -- were set up on Sydney's Bondi Beach, while two campaigners abseiled from a Melbourne bridge with a "Let Them Stay" banner.

"I think the case of the 267 people has just really spoken to the hearts of the people across Australia," GetUp! organiser Sally Rugg told AFP.

"It's people from all walks of life. We are seeing churches and hospitals and teachers and premiers, it's a whole movement."

Canberra has long defended its policy, saying it has prevented the deaths of asylum-seekers at sea and secured its borders.

But rights groups have criticised the measures and detention conditions, while the government-funded Human Rights Commission has found that children who lived in the Nauru centre had high levels of mental illness.

"This offshore detention policy is being operated by the Australian government in secrecy and there's a severe lack of transparency and that's obviously not how people of Australia want their taxpayers' money being spent," Amnesty's Ming Yu Hah told AFP.

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 12, 2015

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"The New Human P1" - Sep 19-20, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)
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Shell agrees €70m compensation deal for Nigerian village hit by oil spills

DutchNews.nl, January 7, 2015

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has agreed to a $84m (€70m) out of court settlement with a village in the Niger Delta as compensation for oil spills in 2008 and 2009.

Lawyers for 15,600 Nigerian fishermen whose livelihoods were ruined by the spills say their clients will receive $3,300 each.

The remaining $30m will go to the community. Thousands of hectares of mangrove swamp were polluted by the spills, ruining drink water supplies and forcing the fishermen to find other jobs.

‘From the outset, we’ve accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo,’ Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of the company’s Nigerian subsidiary SPDC said in a statement. 

Shell says that both spills were caused by operational failure of the pipelines. 

More on this

An oil spill on the shores of the Niger Delta swamps. Shell has

said the recent oil spill is likely to be worst in a decade.

Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

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Libyan rebels agree to reopen two oil terminals

BBC News, 6 April 2014

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Two Libyan oil terminals are due to reopen after the government and rebels reached an agreement.

Libya's justice minister said the terminals of Zueitina and Hariga would reopen on Sunday.

Two other ports, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, will be reopened after two to four weeks of negotiations.

Oil traders have been watching the talks closely, keen to know when Libyan oil is going to re-enter the market after eight months of disruption.

Zueitina is located to the south of the city of Benghazi and Hariga is east of the city.

Potentially the two ports could increase Libya's crude oil exports by about 200,000 barrels per day.

That would be a big boost to the nation's output, which is currently running at around 150,000 barrels per day.

"The ports Zueitina and Hariga will be handed over to the state with the signature of this agreement.

"The protesters are banned from returning or obstructing work at the ports," Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani said.

Negotiations with the government have been difficult and previous agreements have broken down.

Rebels have been demanding a greater share of Libya's oil wealth and more regional autonomy.

Rogue tanker

Last month US forces returned a tanker that had been loaded with oil by the rebels to the Libyan government.

The North Korea-flagged ship Morning Glory had been loaded at the port of Sidra and evaded a naval blockade before being boarded by US Navy Seals south of Cyprus.

Its evasion prompted parliament to sack Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

On Friday the benchmark price of Brent crude closed at $106.59 a barrel, up 44 cents.

Bitterness over Exxon Valdez lingers, 25 years on

Google – AFP, Gregor Waschinski (AFP), 22 March 2014

Oil spill cleanup workers board a small boat off Naked Island on Prince

Williams Sound on April 2, 1989 (AFP/File, Chris Wilkins)

Washington — On a cold March night 25 years ago, the supertanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef off the coast of Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into the sea.

Images of oil-soaked birds and fouled beaches horrified the United States, leading to tighter regulation and greater environmental consciousness.

The Exxon Valdez grounding on March 24, 1989, has since been replaced by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as the worst oil spill in US history.

Yet local communities in the formerly pristine Prince William Sound are suffering.

John Thomas, Betty Bang and Fred Weltz

(L-R) bag up dead oil-soaked sea otters to

be shipped via helicopter on April 3, 1989

from Green Island in Prince Williams

Sound to Valdez for autopsy (AFP/File,

Chris Wilkins)

"There is a lot of bitterness still to this day," Steve Rothchild from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council told AFP.

The council was created after the spill to oversee oil transportation and provide a voice for the communities that were struggling after the collapse of the fishing industry.

Rothchild complains that Exxon did not fulfill its promise to "make the people whole."

"When the court case was finally adjudicated, the people got pennies on the dollar they really deserved," he said, using an expression meaning they were short-changed.

Dwindling salmon population

The oil giant, which changed its name to ExxonMobil after a merger in 1999, was originally ordered to pay $5 billion to more than 32,000 Alaska Natives, landowners and commercial fishermen.

After a lengthy legal battle, the Supreme Court limited the punitive damages in June 2008 to about $500 million.

Exxon also spent more than $2 billion on the cleanup effort and reached a settlement with the US government that included $900 million in payments, a $25 million criminal fine and $100 million in restitution.

Angela Day's husband was a fisherman in the small port town of Cordova before the dwindling salmon and herring populations forced him out of business.

The oil tanker Exxon Baton Rouge (L)

continues to offload crude oil from the

crippled tanker Exxon Valdez (R) in

Prince William Sound on March 28,

1989 (AFP/File, Chris Wilkins)

"He's been fishing there for about 30 years, he grew up in the fishing industry and had two vessels at the time of the oil spill," Day said.

"It was really hard on the community," she recalled, adding that the disruption of the local economy led to "more drinking, some suicides, more divorces."

Exxon hired some fishermen to help the cleanup effort but many lost their livelihoods as the value of their boats and fishing permits plummeted.

"My husband did not even get back a quarter of what his two fishing vessels were worth at the time," said Day, author of the recently published account "Red Light to Starboard: Recalling the Exxon Valdez Disaster."

'Got people thinking'

During that fateful March night in 1989, the captain Joseph Hazelwood diverted the Exxon Valdez from the normal course to avoid icebergs before he left the bridge.

With an unlicensed and possibly overworked third mate in charge, the 986-foot (300-meter) tanker failed to return to the shipping lanes and ran aground.

Witnesses saw Hazelwood drinking vodka in a local bar before the departure and a blood test showed alcohol several hours after the accident, but a jury found him not guilty on the charge of operating a vessel while under the influence of alcohol.

The toxic crude polluted 1,300 miles (2,000 kilometers) of shoreline and took the lives of an estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals and as many as 22 killer whales. The cleanup efforts went on for four summers.

"There was a sea change in environmental consciousness," Day said.

"The disaster got people thinking about how we are getting our energy."

New legislation required that all tankers transporting oil through Prince William Sound must have double hulls and be escorted by two tugboats. Contingency planning was ramped up.

But even a quarter century later, remnants of the spill linger on the shores of southern Alaska.

A smaller vessel pulls a containment boom, lower left, as the tanker Exxon

 baton Rouge continues to offload crude oil from the crippled oil tanker Exxon 

Valdez, background, on March 29, 1989 (AFP/File, Chris Wilkins)

A recent study found hidden pockets of oil on remote rocky beaches.

"We have learned that certain kinds of beaches with boulder are hard to clean up," said lead researcher Gail Irvine from the US Geological Survey, stressing that the mousse-like oil can "persist for decades" once it is in sheltered positions.

'Cleanup artist'

A report by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council identified in 2010 approximately 50 beach segments with lingering oil, representing a total shoreline length of about 1.5 miles.

"You can dig a hole a foot down and find liquid oil," Jeep Rice, a retired longtime researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told AFP.

"The oil that's below the surface declines very slowly. It's probably gonna be there for another 50 years."

At least most species have recovered from the environmental disaster.

"Prince William Sound is a functioning ecosystem. The water is clean," Rothchild said.

"Nature is a wonderful thing, nature is its own cleanup artist."

Tony Abbott: Broadcaster ABC on 'everyone's side but Australia'

BBC News, 29 January 2014

Tony Abbott said the ABC should not "leap to be critical" of Australia

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Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has criticised national broadcaster ABC for "taking everyone's side but Australia's".

Mr Abbott said the publicly-funded broadcaster should show "some basic affection for the home team".

The ABC has been at the forefront of reports on abuse claims from asylum seekers and reports that Australia had spied on Indonesia.

The ABC had no immediate comment on Mr Abbott's statements.

However, the opposition said that the government should welcome media scrutiny.

'Benefit of doubt'

Mr Abbott made the comments during an interview with radio station 2GB.

He said he was "worried and concerned" by the ABC's role in reporting spying claims in documents leaked by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden.

The documents appeared to show that Australian spy agencies named the Indonesian president and other senior ministers as targets for telephone monitoring.

The reports led to a diplomatic row, with Indonesia suspending military co-operation with Australia.

Mr Abbott also criticised the ABC's coverage of allegations that Australian navy personnel had mistreated asylum seekers.

Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said it was right that the
ABC scrutinised government

Footage obtained by the ABC showed asylum-seekers being treated for burns that they said had been caused when they were forced to hold on to a hot boat engine.

Indonesian police said some asylum-seekers had burn marks on their hands, but they did not know who had inflicted them.

The claims were strongly rejected by both the Australian military and government, which has offered to co-operate with an Indonesian investigation.

"If there's credible evidence, the ABC, like all other news organisations is entitled to report it," Mr Abbott said.

"[But] you can't leap to be critical of your own country," he said, adding that the ABC should be prepared to give the Australian navy "the benefit of the doubt".

'Welcome scrutiny'

Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said every government had "been subject to the close scrutiny of the ABC, and we should all welcome that".

"From emergency broadcasts in times of trouble to coverage of the events that shape our nation, the ABC is there, free for all Australians," she said.

The number of asylum boats travelling to Australia from Indonesia rose
in 2012 and the beginning of 2013

"[Mr Abbott] should stop complaining about media coverage and start behaving like a prime minister," she added.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said: "We need strong voices in parliament to stand up for the public's right to an independent national broadcaster".

Critics have accused the government of secrecy over asylum policy.

The government has refused to comment on reports that the navy are towing asylum boats back to Indonesia. It has however recently issued an apology to Indonesia for "inadvertently" violating its waters on multiple occasions.

The government has also limited information on asylum arrivals and vessel-related incidents to a weekly e-mail, citing operational needs.

The ABC charter describes the corporation as "the provider of an independent national broadcasting service".

In December, ABC managing director Mark Scott defended the ABC's coverage of the spying allegations.

"We are an independent media organisation and of course sometimes we will publish stories that politicians won't be happy about," he said. "That's the role we have to play."

Related Article:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth..