New Market for Turnbull's Castrated Cattle
Without any mention by the Townsville media ( what's new ?), the livestock carrier Ocean Ute , above, slipped into port in the last week of the election and departed with a whole pen full of bellowing Coalition politicians . True . Hand on heart, true.
The fact that the media did not pick up this innovative export drive is stunning . What is also odd is that the alert scribes failed to cover the arrival in port and future movement of the vessel seeing as there had been an outcry over shocking footage of Australian animals being killed with sledgehammers in Vietnam and the revelation that government vet Dr Lynn Simpson was removed from the Department of Agriculture's position on ASEL, the body charged with setting standards for exporting live stock because her illustrated report on the appalling conditions on some livestock carriers in the past had accidentally become public .
The report showed cattle covered in faeces, eating out of troughs in which there was faeces, a waterfall of urine from one level pouring down into another level, injured animals , over crowding . All hell broke loose .
As live export of cattle is a hot issue in Townsville , more cattle boats than cruise ships using the cruise ship berth , you would think there would be a close watch on all carriers coming into port , reporter type questions asked of shippers , a response to Dr Simpson's sacking due to industry pressure , etc., etc. Nope .
Endeavouring to find out where Ocean Ute was headed with its latest load of cattle , Google was searched and maritime traffic and movement websites viewed. Some website's would only supply info if you agree to have their cookies inserted up your blog . No way Jose. In olden days in ports, shipping movements were run in newspapers which gave details of vessels in port, those due, cargoes and destinations of departing vessels .
Shipping movements in Townsville, it seems are now top secret , as the Port authority warns that all information is copyright and no info can be used or passed on to a third party without permission in writing . Makes you wonder if radioactive bulldust is being shipped in / out .
( When the colourful Darwin diver ,Carl Atkinson, of Drs Gully , who at one stage owned most of the wartime wrecks in Darwin Harbour , was refused permission to use land at Myilly Point , near the military Larrakeyah Barracks , he upset the brass by asking if the Army was developing "radioactive crabs" there as a secret armament . Naughty . )
( When the colourful Darwin diver ,Carl Atkinson, of Drs Gully , who at one stage owned most of the wartime wrecks in Darwin Harbour , was refused permission to use land at Myilly Point , near the military Larrakeyah Barracks , he upset the brass by asking if the Army was developing "radioactive crabs" there as a secret armament . Naughty . )
In the search for the seemingly top secret info about shipping movements in and out of Townsville , nautical type websites suddenly , unexpectedly produced advertisements on Friday July 1 , authorised by T. Nutt of Canberra , showing smiling PM Malcolm Turnbull urging voters to support his government and various Coalition candidates - Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Andrew Laming, Luke Howarth , Scott Buckholz ...
Obviously, this was part of a desperate Coalition Funk Bunker drive to open up a new export market in beefy Tories and also capture the votes of sailors , one-legged great white whale hunters and tipsy beachcombers who spend hours carving penguin teeth , in the process hacking off a digit or three .
