Wednesday, August 3, 2011

ASEAN Meeting

1. The goal of the ASEAN meeting is to improve and harmonise trade and investment policies as the bloc pursues an integrated regional economy by 2015.
2. The ERIA is the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia and they intend to draw up plans to aid in the bloc's plans to integrate policies.
3. The AEC is the ASEAN Economic Community and they plan to merge economic policies.
4. The three major areas are trade, transport services and investment facilitation.
5. The group plans to meet once every year.
6. They plan to establish a knowledge bank on possible tools members can use to pursue effective reforms and also a data bank of all regulatory reforms ASEAN members have made.
7. The Chairman of the meeting was Dato Lim Jock Hoi who is the Brunei Minister for Foreign Affairs. Brunei has a population of 400,000 and the GDP is $49711 per capita. Australia has a higher population compared to Brunei but GDP is $36642 per capita in Australia. This means that Brunei population is much richer per capita than Australia.
8. Economic integration refers to trade unification between different states by the partial or full abolishing of custom tariffs on trade taking place within the borders of each state.
9. I think this will not be beneficial for Australia as Brunei is not a developing country and they do not need the coal we would make money from as they have high levels of oil. As Australia is in such close proximity to the Southern Asian area that is where we would make a lot of money from so abolishing any tariffs or trade would definitely not be beneficial for the Australian economy.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Asylum Seekers

1. An asylum seeker is any person compelled to leave his/her country owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality
2. The reasons they would have left their home country are:
Fear of political persecution or the prospect of such persecution in hishome country, i.e., a person seeking a political asylum.
Poverty and no prospect of overcoming said poverty in his home country, i.e., a person seeking an economic asylum.
A natural disaster.
If they are formally granted a political or economic asylum by a country other than his home country.
3. An asylum seeker can be approved if the refugee's life or other human rights are in danger
4. Australia's refugees are predominantly coming from the Middle East or Sri Lanka. Australia is trying to have 1/3 of refugees coming from Middle East, 1/3 from Asia and 1/3 from Africa

Australia-Malaysia Refugee "Swap"

1. The deal between Australia and Malaysia says that Australia will "swap" 800 asylum seekers for 4000 genuine refugees.
2. The asylum seekers will be treated with dignity and respect protected by human rights
3. Malaysia has a record of violence and ill-treatment of illegal immigrants
4. Yes
5. They will be processed in Australia and sent to Malaysia
6. Refugee advocates worry that there is no way the Australian government can guarantee the upholding of human rights
7.  The goal of the program is to stem the constant flow of asylum seekers.
8. No, as there is no way that the Australian government cannot, as said above, ensure that the human rights are obeyed and there is no guaranteed way in which this will insure that the flow of refugees will be 'stemmed'.

Monday, July 25, 2011

North Korea's Threat to Australia

1. Kevin Rudd is the Foreign Minister for the Labor Government. A foreign minister is in charge of the foreign affairs of said nation, they must form foreign policies and are the main spokespeople on international affairs or issues.
2. Kevin Rudd's concern is that North Korea's development of a long-range nuclear weapon is a threat to Australia's national security and also the idea that North Korea has blamed the other nations in the region on the security problems in the North Korea area.
3. Kevin Rudd was able to express his views at the ASEAN regional forum.
4. North Korea's bombing of civilian South Korean homes, torpedoeing of a South Korean frigate and its defiance of 2 UN security council resolutions of proceeding with an enriched uranium weapons program.
5. North Korea's long-range nuclear missile, the Taepodong-2,  is a direct threat to Australia according to Kevin Rudd
6. By calling out the North Koreans, Kevin Rudd is hoping that more nations will take his side for the wellbeing of the nation. He can therefore make Australia a real power in the Asia-Pacific region. If the other nations of the region do take his side, his relationships with them will grow and Australia will take on a greater role.
7. As a result, major allied nations will take note of Australia's international concern and this will then add to Australia's potentiality to add to the UN Security Council and become a mojor world player.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Urban Renew and Decay

  • Define the following terms and include an example of each and explain how your example relates the word:
  • Aesthetics: The way a place or area looks, whether or not it is pleasing to the eye. If an area is aesthetically pleasing, it tends to have been carefully, and neatly, planned out. An example of a place like this is Canberra.
  • Canberra, Australia
  • Safety
  • The risk or danger of injury in a certain area. This concept covers the sturdiness of the building around the infrastructure etc. or any construction being undergone in an area.
  • Slums
  • A run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security.
  • Decay
  • Urban Decay is a process in which an area of a city/town falls into a state of disrepair.
  • Reconstruction and renewal
  • After 'Urban Decay' has taken place, then Rescontruction and Renewal may be necessary. This is the process of rebuilding any structures or infrastructure that may be unfit for their original or required purpose.
  • Transport
  • Transport in urban areas can pose several issues. Several  forms of pollution are existant in areas of high transport density such as, environmental and sound (light). The value of an area can also be judged on its access to public transport like trains and buses, but being too close to these utilities can be a negative.
  • Suburbanization
  • The modern urban trends are that people migrate from the bigger cities to live a simpler, smaller life. This then results in country areas being "suburbanised". This is the process of less populated areas being 'upgraded' so that they can support large quantities of people.
  • Environmental factors
  • The environmental factors of an area is the 'environmental footprint' an area has. The amount of pollution and resources an area produces/uses are the environmental factors.
  • Light and sound
  • Some densly populated areas need large amounts of light, and because they are densly populated, sound is generated. These two factors can greatly affect the value of an area.

Monday, March 7, 2011

7.8 Dune Revegation Questions

1. Stuarts point in coastal mid-north NSW
2. 1893 (the Stuarts Point spit separates the river from the sea) May 1965 (seedlings were introduced to the area to restabilise the area) August 1965 (grazing cattle ate the seedlings and prevented restablilisation) 1970 (the government introduces one of the country's largest revegation project) Now (the dunes have been successfully restabilised)
3. The community put up fences and signs to stop people, and cattle, from destroying ot delaying the revegation process
4. Tourism and Fishing Industries make this area a valuable aspect to the local community
5. The gradual introduction of stronger and more stabilising plants in the essential parts make the revegation process so successful.
6. The roots move down into the dune, holding the sand in place meaning the wind cannot move the sand dune anymore
7. The cattle grazing stopped the initial seedling plantations as the cows then ate the seedlings before they were big enough to stabilise.
8. Fences put up would have stopped cattle getting at the seedlings but the lack of vegetation could mean the movement of the dunes due to wind and water etc.
9. The local community, Australian and NSW governments and tourists.
10.  Assess, Evaluate, Tractors were used to create the foredune, essential for the regeneration, planting trees was the next stage.
12.

7.5 Coastal Management on the Gold Coast

7.5 Coastal Management on the Gold Coast


Refer to the topographic map and aerial photograph on pages 164 and 165 to answer the following questions.
 
7. Express the scale of the map as a statement: One centimetre on the map represents 25 kilometres on the ground.
8. The contour interval on the map is 10 metres.
9. a) 175 m
    b) 300m
    c) 200m
    d) 275m
    e) 120m
    f) roughly 15 minutes
10. The lighthouse at Point Danger at 32m
11.  25:30... not too sure about that one...
12. 30m
13. a) a bridge
      b) roads/built up area
      c) Point Danger Lighthouse
      d) Border Park Raceway
      e) Caravan Park
      f) Jetties
14. a) Boyd Islands (mangroves)
      b) Terranora Inlet
      c) Kirra Beach
      d) Mount Murraba
      e) Inter Tidal Flat
      f) Tweed River Mouth
15. GR 521842
16. Very low, only building is the sand dredging station.
17. AR5282 because much of 5281 is taken up by water and sports fields wheres, despite there also being much open, natural space in 5282, there is less than that of 5281
18.a) N
     b) ENE
     c) SSE
     d) NE