Come clean on base jobs
The political debate over whether or not job cuts are planned for HMAS Albatross is heated and is not going away. Last week in parliament a blowtorch was put on the issue when Ann Sudmalis claimed that she had a confidential document that proved job cuts are not planned for HMAS Albatross. She ended her parliamentary statement by calling the opposition member who raised concerns (Stephen Jones) a liar. Our federal MP has called someone a liar based on a document she says she cannot show the person she has accused, or the Australian public.
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The best person to clear up the mess and determine just who is lying is Ann Sudmalis. Surely she can ask Defence to redact any sensitive information from the document she has used to claim job cuts are not planned. “Cleaning up” confidential documents, so they are suitable for public consumption, is common practice within government. If Ann Sudmalis does not show us what she claims proves job cuts won’t happen it seems she has something to hide.
J. Glyde, Mollymook
That orchid explained
I am writing this article to inform people who just simply know nothing and obviously care nothing about Cryptostylis hunteriana (Leafless Tongue Orchid) and that group has many members.
Firstly, Cryptostylis is a genus of five species, four of which occur in the eastern states and the other occurs only in Western Australia but is pollinated by the same wasp which also occurs in that state.
As all five species are pollinated by the same wasp, botanists and entomologists wondered why there were no recorded instances of natural hybrids, which might be expected. They first thought the physical shape of the wasp would make contact with the pollinia of the orchid on a different section of the body of the wasp and therefore not physically match the position of the stigmatic surface of another species, thus negating any chance of fertilisation occurring.
To put this theory to rest the normal hand pollination method was used. This method is used worldwide to cross pollinate orchids to produce the hybrids available at orchid nurseries. This is called self-pollination and in both instances a toothpick is used to remove the pollinia from one plant and place it in contact with the receptive stigmatic surface of another species or hybrid.
This method was tried with all species within the Cryptostylis genus but no successful seed capsules resulted from many efforts over several years. The scientific conclusion was that all species of Cryptostylis contained a chemical inhibitor to prevent a hybrid being created.
It is a well-known fact that in the world of orchids there is one only pollinator for each species. Insects are attracted to an orchid, primarily by a specific pheromone (scent) which is produced by each orchid, although given the fact natural hybrids occur, some pheromones must be similar for the insect to make a mistake.
None of these details were known to any person connected to the Yerriyong development and none had any idea of the habitat requirements of the wasp and all of these details were produced by me in submissions presented in person to the JRPP. I also have personal contact with all persons with the available wasp information and named these persons in my submissions. One was Professor Rod Peakall of the ANU for whom I had collected several orchid flowers for his pollination experiments. Another was Dr Mark Clements, currently head of the Australian Plant Biodiversity Research Centre.
None of these details were known to the SCC General Manager, Councillor Joanna Gash, any council employee who presented to the JRPP, Ann Sudmalis, BIOSIS, Motorcycling NSW, Cowman Stoddart. In fact, everything BIOSIS learned about the orchid, they learned from this unqualified person.
