“The New Year has arrived for Parliament and the Bogong moths, so prevalent in Canberra's Parliament House, catching on fire in lights, setting off alarms and generally disturbing the dignity of proceedings, have finished their migration north; dropping in at my office in their thousands to get the quinella of both Canberra and St George.

“Surprisingly enough they only appear in large numbers in St George on our building, very discerning moths indeed. The political migration south must be imminent and, in the process of watching the moths being consumed by the birds from the office window, it is time to consider what is imminent in the year ahead.

“The Senate shall be crucial in the coming term as the only mechanism able to force mitigation to the effect of one party rule in Australia. I hope the commitments given by Labor in amendments moved to the Trade Practices Act in the final weeks of Parliament last year are honoured in the current year and also that Telstra is held to its promise not to withdraw CDMA until the Next G network is equivalent or better.

"Most importantly, it will be vital that Labor's rhetoric on economic management matches, in some fashion, its capacity. The economic world appears to be entering a period of turmoil. Australians have relied upon the Coalition's management. Confidence in the Coalition brought higher debt levels because people could rely upon lower interest rates. A change in this fundamental of economics will have a catastrophic effect upon the personal wealth of Australians and the economic base of our nation. Australia is geared for stability and the management of instability will be crucial.

“Fuel shall drain the budgets of working families because of the complete lack of motivation to proceed with cheaper alternatives such as ethanol for fear of offending the inherent oil company oligopoly. The oil companies are making a fortune out of their control of our total reliance upon the products only they produce and market. The only real competition to the oil companies is the family budget's inability to pay for fuel so that families can no longer afford to drive.

“Finally if Iran provokes a fight with the US then all else, as a problem, will pale into insignificance.” Senator Joyce said today.



For photos of the moths in St George, please follow this link.

http://www.barnabyjoyce.com.au/gallery/default.aspx?gid=43

Research Brief no. 6 2006–07
Bogong moths and Parliament House
Bill McCormick
Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Section
18 December 2006
The Bogong moth (Agrotis infusa) is one of the few species of moth or butterfly which migrates annually to a specific destination and then returns to the original breeding area six months later. It starts and finishes its life cycle on the slopes and plains west of the Great Dividing Range, generally in New South Wales. The adults migrate to the Southern Alps (Snowy Mountains) where they spend the hot summer. Bogong moths migrate to avoid the harsh environmental conditions of their breeding areas. This enables them to maintain relatively high populations.
The moths migrate to the highest peaks in the Southern Alps where millions spend the hot summer months in deep, dark crevices in rock caves among granite boulders. During this time they ‘aestivate’ (that is, they remain dormant; their activity and metabolism slows). Predators of the adult moths in and around the caves include bats, pygmy possums, foxes, Australian ravens and currawongs.
It is not known exactly how Bogong moths navigate on their journey to and from the mountains. The light of the horizon appears to play a part in maintaining flight elevation during their night flights, rather than the stars or the moon. Artificial light may distort the moth’s view of the horizon, making it fly in a circular pattern around the light. Canberra is on the flight path of the Bogong moths, and Parliament House built on Capital Hill with its floodlit flagpole and extensive lighting acts like a giant light-trap for the moths migrating through the Canberra area during October and November.
The infrastructure managers of Parliament House have been wrestling with the Bogong moth problem since the building opened in 1988. The immediate response in 1988 was to trial turning off the lights. This appeared to be successful, enabling most of the moths to escape the confines of Parliament House. The moths that didn’t escape left after-effects that lasted for months. Dead moths continued to be discovered in offices throughout Parliament House. These carcasses provided a food and breeding source for carpet beetles and clothes moths.
Bogong moths have been found to transport arsenic from the grazing and cropping areas in the inland plains of eastern Australia to their resting sites in the mountains. Higher levels of arsenic were found in the soil and grasses in the outwash areas of some of the caves where the moths spend summer, than in the soils and grasses in adjacent areas without moths. ENDS