There's a good reason this is a $420BN industry.

It's because of sucker governments like Turnbull's.

Governments that borrow money to spend on pipe dreams and pork barrels.

Anyone checked the debt clock lately?

http://www.australiandebtclock.com.au/

Australian space agency to employ thousands and tap $420b industry, Government says

Australia will create its own space agency in an attempt to cash in on a $420 billion aeronautical industry and create thousands of new jobs.

Most developed nations have a space agency, including New Zealand, and there are concerns Australia may be not be capitalising on the growing industry.

The Federal Government will detail the long-term plans at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, where the Opposition will also reveal its own plan.

Acting Industry Minister Michaelia Cash said the sector was growing fast globally, and Australia needed to be a part of it.

"A national space agency will ensure we have a strategic long-term plan that supports the development and application of space technologies and grows our domestic space industry," she said.

"The agency will be the anchor for our domestic coordination and the front door for our international engagement."

Six reasons Australia needs space agency

Space exploration is just about the purest expression of humanity at its glorious, brilliant best — and it makes sense for Australia to be part of it, Andrew P Street writes.

Senator Cash's office said the feedback from a review into the industry had overwhelmingly showed the need for a national space agency.

Astrophysicist Alan Duffy said he hoped the announcement would be a boon for the number of Australian jobs in space.

"We have longstanding ties with NASA, exploring space together and generating all of these jobs. And that's the key point of both the Government's and Labor's plans, it is a jobs industry-first agency," he told ABC News Breakfast.

"It's designed to create satellites and new uses for the images that come from those satellites, and I don't mean giant, bus-sized satellites of the '60s and '70s.

"Thanks to smart phones something the size of a toaster has the same capabilities as some of these historic launches. So we get to space cheaper and we can do more when we're there."

SA set to benefit

PHOTO: A domestic agency would reduce Australia's dependence on overseas bodies like NASA. (Kenny Allen: NASA)

The Government has not announced where the agency will be based, but South Australian senator Simon Birmingham says the state will benefit.

"Given our unique geography, we can be confident that South Australia will be central and a key beneficiary of any growth related to space agency-type activity," the Government frontbencher said.

Last week, South Australian Labor Premier Jay Weatherill announced a space industry centre for his state and hinted the creation of a national body could be imminent.

"We know that the space industry in this country and around the world is growing at about three times the rate of growth [of] the rest of the growth in the world economy," he said.

Labor welcomes announcement

Federal Labor will today announce plans to double the size of Australia's space industry within five years of building an Australian Space, Science and Industry Agency.

Labor's science and research spokesman Kim Carr said the new agency would oversee the creation of thousands of new jobs in Australia.

Will people return to the moon?

It's inevitable that mankind will return to the Moon, but the arguments for going there have changed dramatically since the Apollo missions, experts say.

He told the ABC the domestic industry has the skills and technology to cash in on the multi-billion dollar industry, but risks being left behind by other nations.

"We are dependent on other countries who can choose their own national interest over and above ours," he said.

"We certainly need to be able to protect our domestic interests, we need to build our industry capability and we need to secure the jobs of the future for Australia.

Senator Carr welcomed the Government's space announcement but said it was "belated", pointing out that many in the science community have been saying it's overdue.

Prominent scientists, including Australian-born astronaut Andrew Thomas, have also called for the establishment of national space agency.

The industry has grown by about 10 per cent each year since the late 1990s.

Australia already has significant involvement in national and international space activities, but a dedicated agency would help shape the development of a cohesive space program and provide a stronger platform for collaboration.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, science-and-technology, space-exploration, australia, adelaide-5000,sa

First posted about 3 hours ago

SSM: Tanya Plibersek defends Yes campaign after thousands receive same-sex marriage texts

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek has defended an unsolicited text message campaign urging people to vote Yes in the same-sex marriage survey.

Thousands of messages telling people to "help make history and vote yes for a fairer Australia" have been sent this weekend, prompting many to ask how the campaign got their phone numbers.

Alex Greenwich, co-chair of Australian Marriage Equality, said the text messages were sent using a "technology platform" used by political parties during elections campaigns for years.

Mr Greenwich said the campaign was trying to reach millions of Australians and would be matched with more traditional campaigning.

He did not reveal the costs of the campaign, but said that would be disclosed "as appropriate".

"The campaign has a responsibility to encourage every Australian to post their survey and we have done this through doorknocking, media, advertising, social media and SMS messaging," he said.

The text messages, sent through a randomised computer generator, have sparked some concerns about privacy and whether mobile phone numbers had been kept on a database.

PHOTO: The text message received by thousands of Australians this weekend. (Supplied)

Former NSW deputy privacy commissioner Anna Johnston said "spamming was a sure-fire way to get undecideds to distrust your campaign, like they distrust politicians".

PHOTO: The text message contained a link directing people to the vote yes website. (Supplied)

But Ms Plibersek defended the text message campaign on Insiders this morning, saying it paled in comparison to some techniques being used by the "no" campaign.

"One of the things that is most irritating about this is people who are getting their goat up about the SMS messages coming out urging a Yes vote," she said.

"I mean, we didn't want this postal survey to happen, we have said all along this is a $122 million waste of money."

Ms Plibersek said she was nervous about the outcome of the debate and said the biggest threat to the Yes campaign was people assuming it would succeed.

"When the yes campaign actually goes out and campaigns, like it would in a general election, the no campaign says, 'Oh, its really unfair that people are urging a yes vote'.

"It's ridiculous, we didn't want this but we've now got to campaign for it."

The yes campaign has also pointed to reports the no campaign is using robocalls to suggest same-sex marriage could lead to changes to sex education and threats to religious freedom.

.@billshortenmp and @SenatorWong are flying to South Korea and Japan today for crisis talks. #NorthKorea #7News pic.twitter.com/7q2scny4zD

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) September 23, 2017

Delightful creature.

The failure of those other persons present when Mr Green suffered his injury to more positively act to assess his health state could well therefore have contributed to his death.

Record of Investigation into Death

Coroners Act 1995
Coroners Regulations 1996
Regulation 14
Form 4 

I, Stephen Raymond Carey, Coroner, having investigated the death of

Mark Leslie GREEN

WITHOUT HOLDING AN INQUEST

Find That:

Mark Leslie GREEN ("Mr Green") died at 9.25 pm on 27 December 2009 at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Mr Green was born in Cessnock, New South Wales on 19 April 1980 and was aged 29 years at the time of his death.

Mr Green was a married person who was employed as a kitchen hand.

I find that Mr Green died as a result of blunt trauma of the head that resulted from a fall down stairs. A significant contributing factor was mixed drug intoxication (alcohol, ecstasy and cannabis). At the time of his death Mr Green was being attended by a medical practitioner.

Circumstances Surrounding the Death :

On the evening of 25 December 2009 Mr Green was present at an apartment occupied by Mr George Falconer, a friend of Mr Green. Also present were Ms Meg Collins, Mr Astro Labe, and Mr Jonathan Daniels. The group sat outside on a balcony area of the apartment and were drinking alcohol from approximately 6.30 pm and possibly some or all were consuming illicit drugs. It is apparent that the group all became significantly intoxicated. At some stage during the evening, estimated to have been between 10.00 pm and 10.30 pm, Mr Green has fallen down some concrete steps leading from the balcony area to the footpath below. The male persons present upon being informed by Ms Collins that Mr Green had fallen, then proceeded to check upon his condition then carried him back up to the balcony and laid him out on a bench in that location. Apparently some cursory inspection was made of him and no obvious injuries were discerned and save for checking that he was breathing, he was left in that location. The response by this group of people was obviously less than what was reasonably called for in the circumstances, given the significant fall that Mr Green had taken. Some attempts were made to wake him and this was unsuccessful but he was noted to be snoring and so he was left on the bench whilst the group continued to socialise.

Messrs Labe and Daniels left this residence shortly after 2.00 am and there is no indication as to whether or not they further checked upon Mr Green’s condition at any time between when he was placed on the bench and when they left the residence. Mr Falconer had gone to bed at some stage after Mr Green’s fall and he awoke again at approximately 2.00 am finding Messrs Daniels and Labe waiting for a taxi. He then left the residence and went for a walk, returning to his unit at approximately 2.40 am when he noticed Mr Green still lying on the bench in the balcony area at the top of the stairs where he had been placed earlier. He noted that Mr Green was having trouble breathing as he was lying on his back and was gargling. He rolled Mr Green’s head to the left to clear his airway at which time Mr Green coughed blood. He then retrieved pillows and a blanket to make Mr Green more comfortable and immediately telephoned for an ambulance to attend. According to Tasmanian Ambulance Service documentation the initial call was received at 3.09 am and the ambulance arrived at the residence at 3.18 am. After carrying out preliminary examination and some treatment, Mr Green was conveyed to the Emergency Department of the Royal Hobart Hospital, arriving at 3.48 am. Upon arrival his temperature was low at 32.8 degrees, heart rate 90, blood pressure 210/120, respiratory rate of 14 and

Upon arrival his temperature was low at 32.8 degrees, heart rate 90, blood pressure 210/120, respiratory rate of 14 and ⁰² saturation of 100%. Mr Green was intubated and placed on a ventilator. Two 10mg boluses of hydralazine were given to lower his blood pressure with good effect. He was actively warmed and was kept sedated with morphine and mydazolan infusion.

Mr Green was taken to the CT scanner and a non contrast CT of his brain was performed. The verbal report by the Radiology Registrar given at the time was a "severe picture" with a large subdural haemorrhage and 15 mm of midline shift, with associated subarachnoid haemorrhage. There was also noted to be a large parenchymal haemorrhage centred within the posterior fossa involving the brain stem, and skull fracture. Mr Green’s situation was discussed by Dr Marcus Yong, the Registrar of Emergency Department, at the time with the on-call Neurosurgery Registrar who, after viewing the CT scan results and discussing the case with the Neurosurgery Consultant, provided advice that the prognosis was very poor and that surgery was not an option.

Mr Green was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit.

When initially reviewed at approximately midday on 26 December by Dr Turner, Director of Critical Care Medicine, there was an absence of brain stem reflexes, however brain death could not be confirmed at that time because Mr Green was hypothermic and had elevated blood alcohol. On 27 December he was noted to have low blood alcohol level, a normal body temperature and had no metabolic issues. At that point two sets of brain death testing were performed which confirmed brain death. He was pronounced brain dead by brain death testing at 11.30 am..He was withdrawn from treatment and allowed to suffer a cardiac arrest at 9.25 pm on 27 December 2009.

Comments and Recommendations :

Due to the intoxicated state of all persons on the night of 25 December 2009 when Mr Green had his fall, insufficient attention was given to the possibility that he had suffered a significant injury, although Mr Green’s injuries were severe and quite possibly fatal regardless of medical intervention. However this was by no means certain had there been a rapid neurosurgical intervention. Dr D Ritchey, the Forensic Pathologist who conducted the autopsy upon Mr Greens explains that Mr Green had a skull fracture and a large subdural haematoma (SDH). The skull fracture was not displaced and had not directly injured the brain. The SDH produced a mass effect displacing the brain and caused it to swell. This happened over time, and it was this swelling of the brain in response to the SDH that caused the brain herniation (shifting of the brain between compartments) resulting in death. Timely neurosurgical evacuation of the SDH may have altered the outcome. The failure of those other persons present when Mr Green suffered his injury to more positively act to assess his health state could well therefore have contributed to his death.

This tragic case once again highlights the social and personal effects of alcohol abuse. 

Before concluding I wish to convey my sincere condolences to the family of Mr Green.

This matter is now concluded.

DATED : The 5 day of July 2010 at Hobart in the state of Tasmania

Stephen Raymond Carey
Coroner