I find it hilarious that Sydney's Daily Telegraph is having conniptions because the University of NSW refers to the white settlement of Australia as an 'invasion' rather than a 'settlement.'

Mustn't upset the delicate sensitivities of the Murdoch tabloids' brilliant investigative journalists such as Bolt, Blair, Devine, Akerman etc.

Just one point of pedantry, I'm not sure it was Cook that 'invaded' anything, at least no more than Abel Tasman or William Dampier. That honour surely belongs to Arthur Phillip and the first fleet.

Which leads me to ask a cheeky question - was Papua New Guinea 'invaded' by the white folks?

At least the Tele got one thing right. The front page headline is "WHITEWASH"

http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2016/03/30/outrage-university-teaches-history-correctly

Seriously, Paul, think of it: solid-liquid separation, filtration and sedimentation, microbial degradation with gas collection, oxygenation and plant detoxification.

It will take a few months, but we'll have the waste cleaned up pretty good.

The good stuff will go back into the system - the bad stuff is fertilizer.

And we can talk about cost savings through value-added changes and management advantages too, apart from current governance problems and poor policy implementation.

The streets of Sydney were much cleaner back in 1998 when I spent a holiday there with my fellow PNGean students. I believe the city still retains its cleaner sidewalks and shopfronts today as it did back then. We traveled to several well known locations and visited the popular Sydney landmarks.
We had a wonderful time there under the supervision of our Queensland boarding school masters.
I didnot visit the Mitchel Library though. Unlike the accumulation of filth nowadays on the streets of the old colonial administration built PNG towns, streets in the Austraian towns are really cleaner and healthier by comparison.
Another form of filth which is presently posing a health risk for the urban residents in PNG is the careless disposal of the disposable diaper popularly known as bumbums. Mothers and baby sitters must be conscious of where they dispose of the diapers.Interestingly, dogs add to this proliferation of filth by transporting the sodden material from one smelly location to another, thus earning a name for themselves as transporters.

No, Phil, we're planning to build an entirely new waste recycling facility for that event.

Aw... Michael. You're all heart. It sounds like an offer too good to refuse.

Spot on Daniel. Some towns and cities insist of dog owners picking up their animal's droppings and in some places like Britain there are actually special dog poo bins provided at beaches and parks.

However it still comes down to a case of taking responsibility for your animal's as well as your own actions.

That goes for political BS as well. Unfortunately the necessary bins for that particular commodity appear to be conspicuous by their absence.

In Rob Mundle's recently released book on 'Flinders, The man who mapped Australia', I am moved by Flinder's obvious respect for his cat. This feline sailor reputedly could beat the fastest Topman up the rigging when it come to trimming the sails, hence the cat's name.

If you visit Edinburgh castle, there are numerous graves belonging to the pets of previous military personnel stationed there. 'Tinker' features a number of times. Much the same in the garden at Longleat stately house near where George the Third planted a huge old oak.

The real problem is one of responsibility and accountability. People who own pets often start treating them as if they had human attributes. Some people are now confusing pets with children and the population of some European countries was in decline as pets were so much cheaper to look after than children and they don't answer back. Even the Pope started to get worried and spoke out against this phenomenon. This population paradigm has now changed somewhat with the recent millions of displaced persons in the Middle East who don't want to fight or take responsibility for their country and instead want to emigrate without invitation.

On the other hand, the Japanese have the pet game all sewn up. They promote pet rocks. Definitely cheaper and you don't have to kill off millions of wild and domestic fish and animals to feed them. Whaling however is s different matter.

I'm somewhat ambivalent about cats. I happen to like them but their owners often mistake a love of them as sufficient reason why they idolise them. Just look at the TV ads about cat food. I even known some pet owners who start looking like their pets. I've even seen a sarcastic graph about the more lonely a person is, the more cats they own.

When I owned two cats they were always desexed and locked away at night and steps taken to protect native animals. Given the numerous poisonous snakes and Wedgetail eagles we have around the farm, a domestic moggie wouldn't last too long but that doesn't apply in the cities and towns.

We now have an estimated 20 million feral cats that are destroying our native animals and yet some people like the French actress Bridget Bardot, who doesn't even live here, have the temerity to attack the Australian government's initiative to try and control this pest since clearly the past owners won't or can't take responsibility.

Like wise with the owners of dogs and I used to own a dog. But when some domestic dogs in a pack started to attack our cattle I rang the owner and told her and her son that if I saw the dogs again I would defend our cattle in a very precipitous way. Read a DB 'bang gotcha'. The woman had the hide to say "Oh, but they don't chase our cattle."

Dog owners have now helped contribute to a feral dog problem where the their unchecked and non desexed dogs have bred up with the local dingoes.

Of course the real problem is that when you take on responsibility you should be held accountable.

Kinda reminds me of a similar situation involving certain political leaders doesn't it?