Australia/US alliance

1. Stephen Smith is the defence minister in the Australian government and is in charge with matters relating to Australias defence and armed forces
2. The Brookings institute is an American organisation made to find ways to strengthen American democracy, foster economic and social welfare and secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system
3. Austrlia's security arrangements rely heavily on the US for the nations defence against any invasion or large war. Strategicaly the US needs Australia to back it in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places in the Middle East as well as giving it a base of operations in South East Asia.
4. Australia is in the perfect spot for America to set up navy stop off points bridging the gap between the Pacific and the Indian oceans. It is also a good spot to keep an eye on developing powers like China, India and Indonesia in a stable environment
5. In the past 50 years Australia has supported this alliance by fighting in the Korean war, the Vietnam war, the first and second Gulf wars as well as giving them access to various test ranges and bases.
6. There are 9000 companies who work within the US and have an average wage of $63490
7. He uses this to highlight the point that Australia helps the US as much as the US helps Australia economically
8. America is the superpower supporting Australias interests in the region and is a large deterant to anti-Australian regimes in the region
9. Australia is trying to foster closer ties with the US which will help with Australias global goals
10. As Australia is an important Western democracy in the region its ties with the worlds most powerful democracy and largest economy will help us foster relationships with other countries and protect us from attack

1. The US wants to build military bases in Northern Auustralia and have more access to Australias military ranges. This will help build the relationship between Australia and the US as well as working as a deterant to other nations
2. The agreement will help with training exercises between our forces and will help battlefield coordination in places like Afganistahn and Iraq

Immigration

1. Australia and Malaysia have signed a deal in which 800 asylum seekers in Australia will be sent to Malaysia in return for 4000 UN approved refugees
2. They will have access to education, work and will not be caned
3. Illegal immigrants in Malaysia are normally not allowed to work and can be jailed
4. They may not be sent but it is still possible and the government aren't giving any promises
5. The Asylum seekers who have arrived after 7th May 2011 are to be processed in Australia
6. Refugees advocates are afraid the asylum seekers may not be given full human rights in Malaysia as they have not signed the UN resolutions and may be caned
7. It is designed to slow down the amount of boats arriving in Australia as they may be sent to Malaysia instead
8. The deal may not work if people decide that they may as well go for it and see what they get or they might see the 500+ asylum seekers who are staying and think they can make it

Diplomatic relations

1. Kevin Rudd is the Foriegn Minister and is responsible for Australias diplomatic relations with other countries
2. Kevin Rudd is concerned that North Korea'a long range nuclear missile campaign is a threat to Australia and that North Korea needs to re-engage with reality
3. He expressed his concerns in the ASEAN regional forum where countries from South East Asia come to discuss relations
4. Recent events like North Korea torpedoing a South Korean warship, shelling a South Korean island and continuing with a nuclear program prohibited by the UN security council
5. The threat of North Australia being in range of North Koreas long range nuclear missiles is a direct threat says Kevin Rudd
6. By doing this he is trying to put pressure on North Korea to calm down and aligning our selves with our allies the USA and South Korea over the matter. It is also promoting Australia as a more dominant country in the region by taking more of a leadership role
7. By blaming North Korea for the stability problems in the region he puts us on the side of our Allies the USA, South Korea and Japan over the matter, and tells them whose side were on if further acion is needed.

Australian Aid

Article summary

• by 2015 we will be spending $8 billion a year on aid
• spending money on aid may not be a good thing as world poverty is decreasing rapidly
• the developing world now has some of the worlds largest economies
• giving money to Indonesia for schools isn't needed as their GDP is larger than ours and they can afford it
• instead of being happy about Indonesia no longer needing our aid we choose to ignore it

The writer makes many valid points about Australias aid program, though world poverty is decreasing the aid we give to other countries is increasing. There are some points though that he misses, when he talks about Indonesia's GDP he must remeber that this doesn't reflect the amount of money put on schools and that even if Indonesia didn't spend money on schools it doesn't nessesarily mean they're spending on less important things. Also when he talks about PNG and says even though we've been giving money to PNG for 40 years they are still no closer to economic sustainibility. The aid we give to PNG isn't meant t make PNGs economy stable but to help the nation's population which a lot of live in small self sustaining villages not used to making money for themselves. I agree that giving too much aid without enough thought doesn't neccessarily cure poverty but aid is still an important thing to do to sustain people not as fortunate as ourselves.

3. Giving more aid to countries like Indonesia and India help us maintain close relations with these countries especially as they are becoming major players on the world stage. Indonesia especially as they (along with China) are our biigest rivals in the region.
Other countries like PNG and islands in the pacific lack a means for many of the population to making a sustainible income. Many other rich nations look after poorer ones in their regions and it could damage our relations with them if we didn't do the same. PNG was part of Australia until 1975 and if we don't look after them then many would see it as a breach of trust and wouldn't trust us later on. Islands in the pacific may aline themselves with Indonesia and may be more hostile to Australian buisness interests.
Giving more aid will help with all these things with only a minor cost to an already rich nation.

1. There is a high pressure system over Australia which means it will most likely be sunny in the capital cities over the next 4 days
2.  City                             Day1   Day2  Day3  Day4
     Sydney/Canberra         1016   1020   1016  1017
     Melbourne                   1024   1027   1016  1016
     Brisbane                      1016   1016   1017  1016
     Perth                           1016   1024   1024  1016

1. the conour interval is 20ft which is roughly 8m
2. 1.5cm=1mile   1.5cm= 1.605km
3. 3.6 degrees

Sarajevo

The city I have chosen to do is Sarajevno which is 560 years old and is the capital of the relativel new country of Bosnia and Heregovina which formed in 1992. It's population according to Wikipedia is 310605. I chose this image to introduce Sarajevo as it gives a sense of how historiacal the city is and shows its religious demographics with many mosques, orthodox churches and synogogues.

Sarajevo geography situates it in between several mountains with the Miljacka river flowing through it as seen in this image. Sarajevo is 500m above sea level and has an average temperature of 9.5C year round.

Sarevo's position in a valley means it is very compact with few highways. The streets are usually very narrow and primarily used by pedestrians. Sarajevo has a tram system (seen above) that has been operating since 1885 as well as numerous bus routes. The cities transportation infrastructure is currently having major upgrades.

Sarajevo was besieged from 1992 to 1995 during the Bosnian war. During this time the city was witness to huge amounts of destruction and large population shifts. The above is a picture of the Bosnian parliment after being hit by Serbian tank fire. During the war the city lost almost 100,000 from its population. The surrounding hills are still covered in mines and unexpolded munitions.

Sarajevo is now almost fully recovered from the war and is fast becoming a tourist destination for its culture and attrations such as this the Avaz Twist Tower. The skie slopes near Sarajevo have recently been cleared of all explosive ordnances. It is one of the richest cities in the region and is a highly recommended travel location by Lonely Planet. The average GDP in Sarajevo is 133% the Yugoslav average.

Draft 2

Urban consolidation can cause large hostility from the locals in the area being consolidated. At the moment Kuringai in Sydneys North Shore is being heavily consolidated by Meriton apartments. Places that used to be suburban houses have turned into huge apartment complexes to the anger of locals. The locals in the area have even started their own protest group "Not So High In Kuringai". They are against the proposed 10,000 dwellings to be built by 2031 and want to stop the developments at 6000. They have staged rallies and have sent a list of demands to their local MP. They continued protesting for several years but the planned developments are still going ahead.

Other planned consolidation developments in Warriwood valley have been opposed by both the residents and the council. Though the developments have been approved by the State government and highly recommended by the Planning and Development Comission the locals don't want their area to become medium or high density.  Warriwood Valley has already experienced large housing developments but several 4 storey apartmant blocks have been approved. Warriwood Valley was mostly swamp 15 years ago but has changed from a semi-rural area into an area containing the housing development. Locals ans the council are holding several meetings on the matter and it is believed that the development may be stopped now that the Coalition is in power.

The effectiveness of urban consolidation in Kuringai is succeeding in its goal of housing more people in that area and the apartments are being filled with people almost as soon as they are built. Though the locals are greatly against these highdensity areas the consolidation of the area is working. Warriwood is may not have it's flats but the housing development have greatly increased the population of the area though this could be called sprawl. It becomes a balance between the locals wants and the citieis neeeds for more homes.