Hi, nationalmaverick, thanks for sharing and welcome to ATS:
The title of the article is extremely speculative, while its content clarifies it all, IMHO:
THE State Government has rejected claims the true reason for the closure of the Simpson Desert Conservation Park is "the presence of aliens".
But Environment Minister Jay Weatherill told Parliament yesterday that he could not entirely rule out the existence of aliens in the park".
Online forums are running hot with conspiracy theories of a Government cover-up after the Environment Department on Tuesday announced parts of the Simpson Desert will be closed from December 1 to March 15.
The official reason is "a risk assessment identified that extreme temperatures constitute a very high safety risk" to local businesses, tour operators and other people in the area.
But bloggers to one website, Adventure Rider, claimed "something smells very funny indeed".
One contributor to the online discussion board wrote: "Aliens I tell ya, aliens man. They have found them and don't want us to know about it. Just like Roswell. I tell ya man, it's a conspiracy."
However, Mr Weatherill told an amused Lower House of Parliament during Question Time yesterday that there had been no close contact with extra-terrestrials - as far as he knew.
"I wish to assure the House that, in fact, no aliens have been detected in the park. But I will qualify that," he said.
"This is Parliament, and it is important that I do not mislead the House. They (aliens) have not been detected, at least by officers of the Department of Environment and Heritage.
"When we made the decision to close the park, we did not even suspect that there were aliens in the park . . . of course, I cannot entirely rule out the existence of aliens in the park."
Clearly enjoying himself, and egged on by Premier Mike Rann who called out "first contact", Mr Weatherill said he has no plans at this stage to send "investigators to establish that there are no aliens in the park".
www.news.com.au...
the substance is that of course he can't rule out the presence of aliens in the desert park, as well as i can't rule out that Putin is a Reptilian shape-shifter, since i really can't prove the contrary: Jay Weatherill's tone sounds sarcastic to me
The rest looks to be speculations based on
claims made on a discussion forum, unless i'm missing something. I've checked the discussion in question and yet I don't know whether someone
provided some corroborating evidence supporting the claim of some alien presence. BTW, I find it strange that they quote comments from a discussion forum, i wonder what would they would be able to do if they'd come accross ATS
Here's an article about it, from Reuters
Desert park closed to stop summer deaths
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's harsh Simpson Desert conservation park will be closed during the southern hemisphere summer to prevent tourists dying in the outback, authorities said on Tuesday.
Temperatures in the Simpson Desert are forecast to reach 40 to 50 degrees Celsius (104-122 Fahrenheit) and authorities said it would be too dangerous for people to try and cross the desert.
The Simpson Desert Conservation Park and Regional Reserve, covering more than 3.6 million hectares (8.9 million acres) in the middle of Australia, will be closed from December 1 to March 15, said the South Australia state department for environment.
"During this period, dunes are soft and constantly changing shape, increasing the chance of vehicles becoming bogged and people becoming stranded. High temperatures also lead to an increased chance of vehicle failure," said Trevor Naismith.
The Simpson Desert has no official roads, just tracks which criss-cross some of the world's longest sand dunes.
(Reporting by Mchael Perry; Editing by David Fox)
www.reuters.com...
www.environment.sa.gov.au...
I think that sadly there's a weighty situation, and that the decision has some more mundane (and sad) explanation, but hey, i could be wrong.
Did you check the thread in the forum in question? Did you find anything interesting?
Thanks again for sharing
[edit on 24/11/2008 by internos]
