A sure sign that it's a slow news day is The Sydney Morning Herald's decision to give two codgers whose names resemble those of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition another run in today's paper.
Honestly, they add nothing new to the Herald's election coverage, so why were they given another appearance?
C'mon, Granny Herald, readers deserve better than having to sit down to a second serving of tripe. Read more »
Citizens Electoral Council leaflet understood to have been authorized
by R. Barwick on behalf of Craig Isherwood
I'm more than a tad tired of all that nonsense about Oz Prime Minister Julia Gillard being an unmarried, childless and godless sheila, so I was glad when Crikey's Bernard Keane took a scalpel to the mainstream media: Read more »
Overheard some of the gentle gender at a local coffee shop:
"Tony Abbott loves strong women ? Yeah, when they're wearing leather, stiletto boots and carrying a whip!"
"I don't know - perhaps he is likeable. I like watching his bald spot grow bigger and bigger each day. It's sort of like watching Pinocchio's nose."
A conversation between two older women overheard on the local bus:
"Tony Abbott is just a lair.... He's a sneaky b@stard."
"The man hates women." Read more »
In 2007 Nationals candidate Chris Gulaptis did not live in (and therefore could not vote in) the Page electorate he was contesting.
In 2010 it seems the party has not learned from past mistakes - Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan also does not live in (and therefore cannot vote in) the Page electorate he is contesting.
Interestingly both have blamed redistribution for this state of affairs - on shaky ground there.
Simon Kinny of Lismore had a letter to the editor in Saturday's Daily Examiner.
Funnily enough, Kinny forgot to mention that he's Dr Simon Kinny and he just happens to be the Nationals' Page Electorate Council Chairman and features on National Kevin Hogan's web page
Kinny can be contacted at St Vincents Hospital in Lismore at Suite 11, Level 3, St. Vincent's Specialist Medical Centre,
20 Dalley, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia
Ph: (61 2) 66 21 4177
Fax: (61 2) 66 21 4186
Kinny can also be contacted via his email address at ski66335@bigpond.net.au Read more »
SANE Australia has released the findings of a recent survey in Research Bulletin 12 Social inclusion and mental illness - hopefully in time to assist with mental health policy responses from the major parties contesting the Australian Federal Election on 21 August 2010: Read more »
"And so today I announce that if we are re-elected, I will develop a dedicated process – a Citizens' Assembly – to examine over 12 months the evidence on climate change, the case for action and the possible consequences of introducing a market-based approach to limiting and reducing carbon emissions." {'Moving foward together on climate change' speech on 23rd July 2010}
That rumbling sound followed by a slight tilt to the floor which you experienced after Prime Minister Gillard finished her climate change policy speech was caused by thousands of Aussies running towards The Green's camp. Read more »
This exchange in The Sydney Morning Herald letters column on 20 July 2010 was emailed to me this week:
List of never-to-be forgiven wrongs
There are three things I can never forgive:
1. The Greens voting with the Coalition against the emissions trading scheme.
2. The Labor Party giving in to the mining giants.
3. Mick Keelty and the Australian Federal Police letting Scott Rush get on that plane (''Rush writes as his last-ditch appeal is lodged'', July 17-18).
Kay Rocavert Drummoyne
I move, as an addendum to Kay Rocavert's crimes and misdemeanours motion (Letters, July 19), that the name Steve Fielding be indelibly marked in reverse print on the foreheads of all Labor Party machine personnel.
Col Shephard Yamba Read more »
Yet another Aussie Steve wants to enter federal politics. Why am I not surprised?
A chunk of Stephen Mayne's announcement emailed out in the early hours of this morning:
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says that an election promise which will change the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to remove an obligation set out in Fair Work legislation is not changing the Fair Work Act, so he wasn't lying to the Australian people 5 days ago when he said "an incoming Coalition government would not seek to change the Fair Work Act at least for the three years of the next term of Parliament."
Today's effort was a clumsy sophism; "This is a savings measure and it will be achieved by amending the electoral act. It does not require any change to the Fair Work Act." Read more »
FOWARD! ACTION! PROTECT! VALUES! TRUST! TOGETHER!
He said......She said......They said........
Cartoon from FotoSearch Read more »
Out of the blue last week MailScanner, a software project run by the University of Southampton, started to identify all emails I send as possible spam and, those containing links to North Coast Voices or Google searches as possible fraud.
Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Clarence Coast knows that somewhere between Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter comes Hunt the Developer Season.
Maud up the Street couldn't wait to tell me - she's just spotted her first Boycott Maccas t-shirt parading past the site where McDonald's Australia is busy preparing the lot for its new eat-in and drive though hamburger joint in Yamba.
The Nationals Luke Hartsuyker (incumbent in the marginal seat of Cowper on the NSW North Coast) has been relentless in his pursuit of column inches in the local print media as he prepares to defend his seat at this year's federal election.
Recently he turned his eye to schools with this press release on 11 July 2010; Government must address broken promises at North Coast schools and apologise to students, parents and teachers. Read more »
Nuff said!
If ABC News is correct Oz Prime Minister Julia Gillard is presently in the car on her way to meet with the Governor-General and once she exits Yarralumla the 'official' campaign period of the 2010 federal election will be underway, with formal writs to be issued later.
Media conference at noon today. Read more »
Leader of the Coalition Opposition Tony Abbott is well known for snarling "That's bullsh*t" at Nicola Roxon when he thought the microphones wouldn't pick up his temper tantrum and this week NSW Opposition Leader BarryO'Farrell was caught using a derogatory term for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, but it seems they are not alone in expressing a very masculine distain.
Electioneering behind a password protected Facebook account the Nationals candidate for the Labor-held seat of Page, Kevin Hogan, obviously allows insulting and sexist terms free rein when he thinks he is hidden from the view of average NSW North Coast voters.
Read more »
The bets are starting to be laid down on individual seats in the Australian federal election and Page on the NSW North Coast featured in Possum's probability calculations based on where the money was going last week.
Page was calculated on a two party preferred basis at 52.36%, with a win implied probability according to Sportingbet at 53% and Sportsbet at 49% - combining all comes in with an overall implied probability of a Labor win at 51% for Janelle Saffin.
It seemed that local money mebbe riding almost neck and neck as the horses approach the barrier. Read more »
Ever since medical doctors such as John D'Arcy first began to appear on television screens, be heard on radio and be quoted in the print commenting on social, economic and political aspects of Australian life it became apparent that medicalisation of the media and everyday life was well underway in Australia.
All behaviour commonly thought of as unacceptable (and even some behaviours previously falling within 'normal' ranges) quickly became defined as some form of deviance, psychopathology or physical illness. Nevermore so than when applied to those without a large measure of social or political power ie., children and the poor, which had previously only suffered under moral labels such as "lazy" and "bad".
Read more »
In response to "So What": the face of not-so-good governance on the NSW North Coast.
The Clarence Valley community is entitled to be concerned in regard to the process adopted by the Clarence Valley Council to reduce public budget submissions to a précis form, then respond to the précis.
It is not unreasonable for our elected council representatives to be pressed for time, so one can understand the beneficial logic behind such process. Unfortunately it has not taken long for Council's unelected bureaucrats to exploit the foibles of this process.
Read more »
Forests NSW is once more in the news - this time over allegations that it is improperly harvesting trees within endangered ecological communities in Doubleduke State Forest. Including areas containing koala, sugar glider and giant barred frog habitat.
Doubleduke, Grange, Yabbra; the list of forest habitat under threat from mismanagement by the very agency designed to protect old growth and threatened species in these working forests is growing.
Federal Minister for Environment Protection Peter Garrett, along with his department, needs to intervene on the NSW North Coast.
Read more »
From those whose forebears were either convicts forced to migrate by the Crown or Irish and Scots landless poor who were among our earliest economic migrants, right though to World War II refugees and others seeking a better life in the years since that tumultuous era.
Catch the Fire Ministries - oh so predictable on 6 July 2010:
As you all know by now I tell people, 'what they need to hear and not what they like to hear.' Let's give credit where it is due. Unlike Kevin Rudd, at least PM Gillard has been honest in telling the people that she DOES NOT BELIEVE IN GOD. However, is this the beginning of the end for Australia ?? This will depend on how you vote at the next election which could be anytime between now and November 2010...... Read more »
Sometimes a tweet or two will say it all......
From David L. Morris: @JuliaGillard "Conroy will get the filter into shape"? We recognise that shape. So does the ACL. It is a crucifix. #openinternet via web
From Kristen Obaid: Senator Conroy: "I'm not into opting in to child porn." -- Neither are we, you obtuse ignorant excuse for a Communications Minister. via web Retweeted by 51 others
North Coast Voices is looking for a person living on the NSW North Coast who is interested in arts & entertainment and, who would enjoy blogging about our local artists/musicians/events etc., with an eye to a little gentle promotion of the Northern Rivers region.
This offer is open to those living in the following shires:
Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Clarence Valley, Richmond, Tweed and Kyogle.
There is no wage, expenses or compensation attached to this offer - it would be done just for the love of blogging.
All our current contributors are enthusiastic amateurs so inexperience is not a bar to acceptance.
Contact NCV Admin at northcoastvoices at gmail dot com to apply to join the team.
Please use a legitimate return email address so that you can be reached easily to discuss details.
The West Australian on 5 July 2010 reports on McDonald's Australia in 2010 - the same multinational championed by a majority of Clarence Valley shire councillors in the face of significant opposition from residents in the small NSW North Coast town of Yamba:
A major union wants maternity leave for migrant workers, labelling allegations that a McDonald's assistant manager was sacked after refusing an abortion a "disgusting abuse of human rights". Read more »
Maud Up The Street is hopping mad - this week she found her letter box stuffed with advertising even though a "No Junk Mail" sign was clearly displayed.
What makes her even more annoyed is that of the 5 separate bits of bumpf lobbed at her by Woolworths, Aldi, The Reject Shop, Crazy Clarks and Cellarbrations - only one of these stores is in her local area. The rest are over 50 klms away.
They beat us to the post on universal suffrage in 1893, their All Blacks regularly give Oz a pasting on the sports field, they successfully invaded Bondi without using an army, navy or airforce and now New Zealand has beaten us to the punch by passing a national emissions trading scheme into law on the 1st July 2010.
Last weekend a copy of Clarence Valley Council's June 2010 Budget Submissions Summary was doing the digital rounds much to the enjoyment of local cynics.
Of particular note was this answer to one concern raised about the fact that after 6 years council still had not reconciled a $1.2 million deficit brought into the amalgamation process by Grafton City Council: "So what".
But what really had locals opened mouthed was this answer to concerns about lack of transparency and accountability:
"As the 'senior administrator' who recommended that CCRT funding be used for lifesaving services, I (Rob Donges) have taken responsibility for including Iluka and will take responsibility should a higher authority determine that this funding arrangement is grossly negligent or some such thing."
That last line comes after a previous entry which goes: Read more »
According to one NSW North Coast mayor:
"The State Government’s waste and environment levy is $20.40 a tonne to dump rubbish at the tip – charged on top of the council’s fees. Read more »
How sweet it is watching former Oz prime minister John Howard bark his shins against the reality of his personal and political reputation.
On any day you can go to The Northern Territory News online and this is a slice of what you'll bring up from the archives concerning Unidentified Flying Objects:
"But highly-qualified UFO-ologists said they believed the bright lights were space ships on a pre-attack scouting mission.
Darwin-based UFO expert Alan Ferguson said the flares were obviously aliens. "This all sounds like UFO activity," he said." Read more »
Rumour round the water cart is that now McDonalds has its Yamba development consent safely tucked under the arm, the North Coast Nationals are looking to create a little mischief by encouraging locals to bombard the NSW Minister for Local Government with letters complaining about Clarence Valley Council's conduct. Read more »
With little likelihood of the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council handing on its final report of the Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy before the federal election this year, I imagine that the biotech industry in Australia is feeling confident that it will not come under real scrutiny during the election campaign.
Read more »
I have to admit that I wasn't exactly crying tears as Kevin Rudd was taken down by his own party.
The best thing about his prime ministership was his Apology to the Stolen Generation and his leadership during the global financial crisis.
As well as his earlier support (during the 2007 election campaign) of Northern Rivers communities in their fight against that mindless water grab attempt by Howard and Turnbull and, his determination to lift pensioners out of the poverty trap in which the far right of the Liberal and National parties had kept them.
However, that silly 2020 Summit clearly showed a man out of touch with the ordinary voters who had backed him at the polls and one who really had no idea why he had been elected. Read more »
I clicked onto Computer World and saw this:
Err.....it's almost mid 2010 now for starters and the next NSW state election is not due until 26 March 2011 or thereabouts.
But Computer World can take heart - it could have been worse. Read more »
As the annual road toll on the NSW North Coast leg of the Pacific Highway steadily mounts, local mayors and the media are still waiting for Premier Kristina Keneally or her designated ministerial representative to undertake an inspection by car along the worst of this route.
Read more »
I was talking to one set of Queensland relatives who live on a squatter selection that has been in the family since well before Federation.
When the selection was taken up in the late 1800’s the family arrived on site with bee hives, the only reliable sweetening agent that could be produced in the area.
Photograph of Afghan war orphans from Flickr gallery
Remember when the media was full of concerns raised about the legitimacy of the war in Afghanistan and whether Australia should even be part of Operation Enduring Freedom or the War on Terror? Read more »
this is one of those times............
The Daily Examiner 16 June 2010 Read more »
A friend of mine has a holiday house in another town and she told me of her experience with her neighbours, or more precisely her neighbours' dogs.
The house has no front fence so the property is delineated by a white pebble boarder which the neighbours' dogs have been using as toilet facilities.
Since she doesn't visit that often there is a build up of dog dumps which she has to deal with when she arrives. Read more »
For the last six weeks or so the Coalition Opposition has been trumpeting what it calls Kevin Rudd's failure to implement a national emissions trading scheme in Australia:
"TONY Abbott portrayed Kevin Rudd as a leader who lacks the "guts" to fight for his political convictions today after the Prime Minister shelved the emissions trading scheme. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong today blamed political realities for Mr Rudd's decision to delay the scheme until the end of 2012, citing opposition in the Senate and slow global progress on climate action. Ms Wong also said today that Mr Rudd would not go to a double dissolution election on an ETS because he wanted to serve a full term." Read more »
The Daily Examiner letter to the editor on 14 June 2010:
Insulated from good news
IT may be unpopular.
It is never mentioned.
But ... I had insulation installed under the Federal Government scheme.
Two efficient workers did a great job and the results are absolutely fabulous.
It's cooler in summer and now that winter is here our heating is much more efficient. Read more »
* A plague of locusts is due to hit Australia in time for the next federal election according to Bloomberg:
"Locusts are expected to hatch from August to October in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia states, according to the commission. The first-generation spring hatching alone could occur over a total area of 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres), the commission's Adriaansen said."
Read more »
The last couple of months I've have been lost in a mind fog.
I'm finding that I have the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimer's. Nice rock....nice rock....[thunk]....where did that big hard thing come from?
My vagueness was brought home to me when I went to get a mug for my morning cuppa. There were only three mugs facing me.
Since I usually have about eighteen mugs in the cupboard I had to wonder where all the other mugs had got to?
I've never seen mugs migrate north for the winter before. Was this a new phenomena? Something to do with global climate change? Read more »
Click on Pollytics graph to tumefy
Two party preferred trend as we approach the 2010 federal election.
Will it be curtains for Rudd or the long drop for Abbott?
I'm flabbergasted - about one in ten Aussies eligible to vote have not bothered to enrol and around 400,000 of these are 18 to 20 year olds. Read more »
Australian Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy was quick off the mark to deny any suggestion that his referral of Google Inc to the Australian Federal Police over its StreetView cars collecting digital information which they had no right to access.
Still, it's easy to imagine that he was filled with gleeful anticipation as he set the train in motion, against what he refers to as the "creepy" IT giant.
However Stevo appears more interested in getting his own hands on what he believes this data contains:
"(If) you were doing a banking transaction, or transmitting personal information, they could have hoovered it up, sucked it up into their machine," he told ABC TV yesterday.
"What we want to ensure now is that we get access to the information that's been collected. Read more »
It's Going To Ruin Us YouTube video
Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer has been making much of the fact that Kevin Rudd is mentioned in the same breath as Marx and Engels when one does a Google search for the term "super tax".
However the first mention of this 'trio' appears to have been Palmer himself - starting initially as a general charge of "communist" to a Bowen LNP audience on May 19 before refining to a specific association with Marx and Engels by 2 June this year in front of a National Press Club audience.
Coincidentally, the latter reference does not turn up 'independently' until 2 June, when Wikipedia finally makes mention.
When looking for references I stumbled upon this comment attached to an online Sydney Morning Herald article on 3 June 2010:
Read more »
Letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner on 5 June 2010:
Who does CVC represent?
FIVE Clarence Valley Councillors need reminding of who they represent.
I would like to make a comment in regard to Cr Pat Comben's McDonald's opinion and the general McDonald's issue. Read more »
It's always a bridesmaid and never the bride for Kevin Rudd when it comes to hosting a visit Down Under from U.S. President Barack Obama and naughty Ned the Bear takes full advantage of the situation. :-D
"He's cranky. He's orange. He's a cartoon bear." And he's here.
NSW Police report that a man has been charged after allegedly being caught driving a golf buggy whilst intoxicated at Yamba on the state’s Far North Coast. Read more »
Cousins Cameron Pilley and Donna Urquhart have been selected in the Australian squash team that will compete at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Read more »
Rumbles without sound
Auroras rain down
Vortices swirl
plasma a'twirl
Richter predicts
a magnitude six
This month NASA decided to explain spacequakes
with information, graphs and
a little poetry.
It all started on the second day of the Federal Election campaign. I woke to find the world bathed in a strange half light and eerie music playing tinnily in my ear.
"Caller Lorraine says Julia Gillard was featured in the Launceston weekend paper doing a Nazi salute and that this is not the first time she has done this". {Quote from Crikey news email on 19th July 2010}
"She's a secret NAZI. When she thinks nobody will notice she heils." {Chain email 18th July 2010}
ABC News online 19 July 2010:
On Saturday, as the election was being called, Mr Abbott moved to neutralise that scare, promising that WorkChoices was "dead, buried and cremated" and to make sure a Coalition government would keep Labor's law, The Fair Work Act, in place for its first term in office.
"The Coalition won't change the Fair Work Act, at least for the duration of the next parliament, at least for the three-year life of the next parliament," he said.
On Saturday Mr Abbott told Melbourne radio 3AW he will put the death of WorkChoices in writing if it will help.
"Give me a bit of paper, I'll sign it here. Dead, buried, cremated," he said. Read more »
Beware! Rampant baby snatching underway across the nation as I write.
These are some of the Oz pollies to look out for........... Read more »
.....they knew that we knew, but it was nice to have it confirmed when Clegg rose to his feet on 21 July 2010!
Nick Clegg was tonight forced to clarify his position on the Iraq war after he stood up at the dispatch box of the House of Commons and pronounced the invasion illegal.
The deputy prime minister insisted he was speaking in a personal capacity, as a leading international lawyer warned that the statement by a government minister in such a formal setting could increase the chances of charges against Britain in international courts. Read more »
For years an inaccurate and nastily xenophobic email has been circulating around the world and, adapted for Australia, it has turned up in Inboxes on the NSW North Coast from time to time.
Here is one version posted on a blog in May 2020 as If you cross the US border...
Now that the Australian federal election campaign has begun, the editor of the Tweed Daily News should exercise some care, because that same piece of arrant nonsense is turning up within that newspaper's pages.
From the Tweed Daily News letters to the editor published on 19 July 2010:
Read more »
On 19 July The Daily Examiner reported on a comment, containing personal abuse of sitting Labor MP Janelle Saffin, which could be found on Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan's Facebook page for the past month:
The Daily Examiner on 19 July 2010 Click on image to enlarge Read more »
In the heart of the Cowper federal electorate The Coffs Coast Advocate frequently runs stories quoting sitting member the Nats Luke Hartsuyker.
However, Luke doesn't always impress the locals.........
Posted by vallaben from Valla Beach, New South Wales
16 July 2010 8:45 a.m. Suggest removal » Post reply » Read more »
Letter from Loughnane to Bitar
Click to enlarge
The Gillard Government's re-election team appear intent on starving Tony Abbott of oxygen in the federal election campaign now underway in Australia.
Read more »
Viscount Monckton is not amused and this is the commentary which had him so hot under that ermine collar: Abraham presentation.
Opposition Leader and black ops meister Tony Abbott:
"I expect this to be a filthy campaign from the Labor Party but as far as I'm concerned it will be hard, but it will be fair and it will be clean."
The Nats Barnaby Joyce gives an undertaking about Prime Minister Gillard:
"I'm not going to go chasing her around the bedroom....."
A case of he said 'n' she said on the Lib campaign trail...... Read more »
A man appeared in Maclean local court last week seeking an annulment of his conviction for not holding a valid fishing licence.
Earlier this year the man was convicted in absentia and required to pay a fine and professional costs totalling approximately $3000.
Last week the man told the court that he did not attend the court on the day of his conviction because he suffered an illness that caused him confusion about the date on which he was due to appear and answer the charge of fishing without a licence.
The State, represented by a local solicitor, told the court it was opposed to the granting of an annulment. Read more »
Not hard to guess which is the legit Julia Gillard Facebook site out of 691 results....
Read more »
This is what Leader of the Opposition and aspirant to the office of Australian prime minister,Tony Abbott, said in his Address in Reply to the 2010 Budget:
We'll seek to take the unfair dismissal monkey off the back of small businesses which are more like families than institutions.
We'll make Labor's transitional employment agreements less transitional and Labor's individual flexibility agreements more flexible. We have faith in Australian workers who are not as easily pushed around and exploited as the ACTU's dishonest ad campaign is already making out.
If elected, we will be faithful to the liberal conservative tradition...... Read more »
Did you know that 1.8 million Aussies (11% of the adult population) account for 51% of all alcohol consumed in this country?
That's a hellva lot of booze over a lifetime!
Sometimes one has to wonder which century the Catholic Church thinks it is living in when media reports such as this are published: Read more »
One has to hand it to the Australian Labor Party - it certainly knows how to destabilise its own political agenda in an election year.
First it ditched many of the policies which saw it garner strong electorate support in 2007, then it changed leaders in a somewhat spectacular fashion.
Looked at the sky early yesterday morning and decided it mightn't be a bad day to wet a line.
Imagine my surprise on returning to shore to discover it wasn't only the fish that had been taking the bait - NSW Lib leader Barry O'Farrell had also been swiftly reeled in by the Twitterverse.
Read more »
This is what you are anxious about?
Hat tip to Venessa Paech for first finding and then tweeting this graph displayed on Robert Corr's weblog:
A Yamba man’s adventure in his golf buggy whilst intoxicated on a Friday night last month had its sequel in the Maclean Local Court on Tuesday, July 13. Read more »
Like some other political tragics that I know (and quite a few pollies' staffers that I don't) - as we inexorably creep ever nearer to a federal election I have created a small handful of Google Alerts to keep abreast of the debate.
Imagine my surprise when (instead of news of the doings in Canberra) down the digital highway comes a post about the new Australian Prime Minister's genitalia.
More than a little taken aback I did a quick Google and found that I was not alone:
"Who in God's name is searching for pictures of 'julia gillard's tits', 'julia gillard upskirt', 'dirty pictures of juilia (sic) gillard' and 'julia gillard porn' in general? Seriously! Read more »
From "Isn't a vote for the Greens a wasted vote?" over at An Onymous Lefty on the 5th July:
"Several of my friends are Labor voters, despite disagreeing with 90% of what the party actually does in office. "Why waste my vote by voting for the Greens?" they ask. "They'll never be in power!"
For progressive ALP voters there's a very simple answer to this question: because voting Greens will make the ALP a more compassionate, humanitarian party. Read more »
Animated map from NASA
While the NSW North Coast and the rest of Australia sleeps the Sun will be giving a spectacular light show for those lucky enough to live elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean on 11 July 2010 according to ABC News:
The Moon's umbral shadow will cross the South Pacific Ocean making landfall on the Cook Islands at 8:22am local time on Sunday morning (4:22 am Monday AEST). It will then travel over Easter Island and end soon after reaching Patagonia in southern Chile and Argentina. Read more »
Sometimes it's hard to believe just how far the ALP will go in order to lose seats in this year's election unless you track Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's chatter about plans to censor the internet.
Having slipped this scheme under the radar in 2007 he is now afraid to introduce it into law before the election in case votes walk, but intends to run yet another rigged investigation and then erect the Great Firewall by 2012 secure in the knowledge that he won't have to face the voters himself for another six years as a senator.
Read more »
Looking unnervingly like Dr. Who's crack in the universe, this composite picture of nearly 14 billion year-old remnant light from that big bang thought to have created us all. Produced by the Planck telescope.
Click on image to enlarge
Roy Morgan Research has its annual Image of Professions Survey out for 2010.
Here is a basic ranking given professions by 672 Aussies over 14 years of age showing who we might be likely to consider to be on the side of angels:
1 Nurses
2 Pharmacists
3 Doctors
4 School teachers
5 Engineers
6 Dentists
7 State Supreme Court Judges
8 High Court Judges Read more »
According to The Climate Group's weekly assessment of greenhouse gas emission levels in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, the latter state is still streets ahead in its response to the need to reduce these emissions.
Read more »
Female, redheaded, unmarried, childless, self-declared non-believer and a former students union leader - one knew it wouldn't be long before the seriously strange inhabitants of Wingnut Land came out against new Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
This is the opening salvo on a Facebook group Julia Gillard Is A Communist, A Traitor And A Threat started by one Paulus in 2007 and now assisted by 236 followers as of last Monday:
Read more »
?
Frank_Tireur?: Tony Abbott saying there's "something fishy about the numbers" makes me think he might've made Barnaby the Finance Minister again.
Twitter
Read more »
Image of O'Farrell and Cansdell from Steve Cansdell MP's Clarence Chronicles, June 20120
From Clarence Valley Review letters to the editor on 30 June 2010:
Expecting a lot
Ed, Read more »
At 6.30pm on Tuesday 6 July 2010 Professor Garry Willgoose is giving a talk on "Climate change, its consequences, and us" at the Yamba Bowling & Recreation Club by invitation of Clarence Ahead .
Read more »
According to the Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy as reported by ZNet:
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has reiterated the government's support for its mandatory internet filter policy after the change in Prime Minister and has slammed proposed amendments by Senator Kate Lundy that would allow Australians to opt in or out of the technology...... "We have got an election commitment to deliver," Conroy told journalists in a doorstop interview in Sydney this afternoon. "Just because [Greens Senator] Scott Ludlam says it's been shelved, doesn't mean it's true." Read more »
One of the most amusing things to observe over the last week has been how Julia Gillard becoming Australia's first female prime minister sucked all the air out of the political debate and left Opposition Leader Tony Abbott beached az 'n' gasping.
Desperate for some positive air time poor Tones has had to resort to an outright gimmick and then tweet about it in case some missed his silly stunt with old bathers and a bonfire on the Matt & Jo Show: Read more »
Ever since the news broke that Kevin Rudd had been removed as prime minister by the parliamentary wing of the Australian Labor Party there has been noise about him being the only PM to be deposed in a first term without being able to 'go to the people' and, about Julia Gillard rolling a first term leader, not being elected by the people, being unmarried, having no children, being a migrant. As well as constant chatter about how 'unique' this is.
Of course Abbott, Bishop, Joyce and the entire Coalition chorus are attempting to hammer many of these points as political negatives.
However, an Australian prime minister is always elected by the party not the people. Further to that - with the exception of her gender - little else is unique about Gillard. Or unique about Rudd for that matter.
Dear Red,
I voted for Labor at the last federal election:
1. To get rid of Howard and his rightwing gang of idiots - PASS
2. In the belief that Labor would address climate change - FAIL
3. Hoping that pensioners would get a fairer go - PASS
4. Sure that public hospitals, community health services and dental care for the poor would improve - FAIL, CONDITIONAL PASS, FAIL Read more »
The reactions are coming thick and fast to Julia Gillard's elevation to the position of Australia's Prime Minister.
Predictably many are focussed on gender, marital status, religion, family and hair colour while some think of the political impications for one Anthony Abbott.
Running the gamut from the pig ignorant and inaccurate Red Barren tag (turning up in The Punch comments section slinging off at her childless state in fairly obvious code) and the wilfully mischevious though to the witty and acute.
Here's a scatter of these in no particular order: Read more »
One rather felt it would be the case, but still it was disappointing that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott barely paid lip service to the historic moment for Australian society and federal politics last Thursday before trying to paint new Prime Minister Julia Gillard as one of the worst of the worst.
Following his vitriolic lead in a closely orchestrated attack were Julie Bishop and Warren Truss.
Badly done, Mr Abbott.
Although I have to admit his constant talk of Sussex Street death squads is giving me a good belly laugh at his expense.
In that I'm not alone. Twitter has a tag just for this: Read more »
The Daily Examiner reported on 22 June 2010 that a new native title claim may be lodged over the Clarence Valley coastal zone from Woody Head to Red Rock.
Best wishes for the future to all New Matilda
management, staff, journalists & assorted others
from all of us here at North Coast Voices
Back in the 1950s I'd never have thought it possible.
We New South Walers now have a female head of state (Her Maj), a female representative of the Crown (teh G-G), a female Prime Minister (all hail Gillard!), a female State Governor (hat tip to Marie B) and a female Premier (K-K-Keneally acting on behalf of her hair).
This has to be the ultimate hat trick.
Celebrating 25 Years of Marine Mammal Rescue
MEDIA RELEASE
ORRCA Annual Whale Census Day 27 June 2010
"
Come and help us count whales" Read more »
Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Japan reports on support for commercial whaling, 31 May 2010:
When the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets for a general assembly in June, it is set to discuss proposals to further cut down on whale catches. While Japan stopped commercial whaling in the face of strong opposition by anti-whaling countries, Masayuki Komatsu, a former senior official of the Fisheries Agency who represented Japan in past IWC negotiations, urges Japan to act on scientific data in the negotiations. He also argues that Japan should increase its catches to supply whale meat at lower market prices. Excerpts from an interview with The Asahi Shimbun follow........
So who's winning at the opinion polls this week?
Bottom line is that Labor is slightly improved on first preference votes compared to last week (but not nearly enough to gladden the hearts of its backroom boys) and holding steady on two party preferred numbers.
While the Coalition is basically holding steady over the same week on both counts.
When is comes to confidence in the person - both Rudd and Abbott are on the nose with the electorate and although Rudd's fall from grace has been the more spectacular over the last few months it appears that Abbott remains the most unpopular of the two.
And who would win if an election was called tomorrow?
With The Greens growing stronger and their preferences still up for grabs, it's nothing more than a guessing game right now despite what some mainstream media pundits might say. Read more »
Robert Tickner, Chief Executive Officer Australian Red Cross writing in The Daily Examiner on 21 June 2010:
Read more »
One thing they definitely agree on is that Yamba needs a McDonald's and are both keen to see KFC follow is the gratuitous last line in a Page Two short article by The Daily Examiner journalist Marsha Neville on 19 June 2010. Read more »
This month the International Whaling Commission meets to decide if the global moratorium on commercial whaling remains in effect.
In the past the Commission has often considered the 'right' to hunt whales, but appears to pay little attention to the spiritual and cultural position of the whale in many societies such as the coastal/saltwater peoples of Australia. Read more »
Antony Green
On Saturday night {tonight} I will be providing full analysis of the Penrith by-election results. Tune in after 6pm on Saturday night at for analysis of the results, including detailed booth by booth analysis.
I will also be twittering results using the #penrith tag from @AntonyGreenABC, probably being repeated by @ABCNews and @ABCElections. Read more »
Senator Steve Fielding, that born-again political nong from Victoria, appears to think that pregnant women on welfare payments would be eligible for paid parental leave from a full-time job that they don't actually have; similarly that drug addicts would deliberately get pregnant to get paid parental leave for which most would be ineligible anyway; women locked away at the pleasure of Her Maj are in full-time employment; that sex-workers are not entitled to benefits paid to other workers because of their job description; and that all late term abortions are obviously some form of fiscal fiddle.
Stevo's a good example for the argument that political candidates should prove mental competency before their names go on a ballot paper.
Mrs. Fielding - how about doing us all a favour and lock your boy in the back shed whenever Parliament is sitting. Read more »
On 20 May 2010 the NT News reported:
LABOR backbencher Marion Scrymgour has once again spoken out against her own party's policy by attacking a decision to continue welfare quarantining.
Ms Scrymgour criticised Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin's dismissal of a recent report that revealed income management was not working.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson this week backed the Commonwealth's decision but said the report by the Menzies School of Health Research needed to be examined.
But Ms Scrymgour lashed out at the Federal Government by making an online post on the Crikey website. Read more »
In light of the Clarence Valley Council Famous Five's stubborn insistence that they had to take the advice contained in a flawed council officer's report on the McDonald's Australia development application for an eat-in and drive through fast food outlet in Yamba on the NSW North Coast, this outcome a world away shows that councillors don't have to follow 'bad' advice like so many sheep:
Judge makes landmark fast food ruling
Michael Donnelly, PlanningResource, 14 June 2010 Read more »
Whales and Dolphins: 'resource' or 'right'?
2010 started with a physical clash between whalers and activists in the southern ocean, sparking a global conversation about how we regard whales and dolphins – are they a resource for the human race, or do they have an inherent right to their life, their liberty and their wellbeing? Read more »
Margaret Hodgson, artist and illustrator of Copmanhurst; Jon Riordan, philanthropist from Yamba; Phyllis Pearson, musician from Nambucca; Tony Miller Dads in Distress founder from the Coffs Harbour district; these are just four of the many singled out in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2010.
The complete list can be found at The Australian Honours Secretariat:
The following was posted on Menu Mate at the webpage titled
McDonald's Family Restaurants (Ballina)
on 25 May 2010 and a copy sent to me:
Reviewer Name: EK
Title: McDonald's stay away from Yamba!
Comments: Dear Mr Campbell, I know a McDonald's restaurant in Yamba was approved last week by the local Council but the majority of Yamba residents DO NOT want it. Why do you want to come to Yamba when it is quite clear you are not wanted here. Please take back your application as most people will be boycotting it and you will not make any money.
Read more »
SMH online polling A.M. (above) and P.M. (below) on 10 June 2010
According to ABC News on Thursday, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission has given a timely reminder to mining companies that their rhetoric needs to be in line with their advice to the stockmarket, institutional investors, shareholders and creditors:
Charlie Kemp, a no frills blogger from the Old Dart, has just returned home after 129 days on the road.
Charlie, who blogs at Nap Year Diaries, listed the the Top Ten Places he visited. They are (in chronological order): Delhi, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Panjim, Arambol (India), Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An (Vietnam), Siem Reap (Cambodia), Yamba (Australia).
Other highlights from Charlie's journeys include:
Best country - Vietnam
Best beach - Booti Booti, NSW
Best hotel - Hotel Siddartha, Agra, India
Best breakfast - bagels at Café Stir, Christchurch Read more »
David Bancroft, editor of The Daily Examiner, pens some well-deserved praise of reweavers on 8 June 2010:
IN about 1900, former US president Theodore Roosevelt wrote how he had been impressed with an African saying: "Speak softly and carry a big stick."
He believed people who followed the adage would go far.
It is an adage that would apply to virtually all the people who attended a modest dinner in Grafton on Friday night.
I was honoured to accept an invitation to attend the annual dinner of the Clarence Valley's reweavers group, a group committed to 'reweaving' the tapestry of society. Read more »
Whilst our friends on the western side of the ranges might encounter emus on a regular basis, it is not so for those of us on the coast. The number of Coastal Emu is extremely low. There is one small isolated group to the north, but the core population is only found in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />ClarenceValley.<?xml:namespace prefix = o />
No wonder the Über Mensch of the Liberal Party like Australian mining magnate, rich listee and generous political donor Clive Palmer - he has the same take on 'truth' as Lib leader Tony Abbott. Read more »
Anyone else notice how many times NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is angry these days? Read more »
Why is it that people who belong to certain long-established religions want to rule the world?
Here they are - at it again. And don't be fooled by the picture or the plea.
What this European group is really after in the long-term is for all ISPs around the world to keep records of every website you visit, page you open and image you download - then hand info it over to government on demand.
Of course they're not the only ones busily trying to create easily identifiable cyber profiles where none existed before. Read more »
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NAIDOC WEEK IN YAMBA 
Pic from article in The Northern Star on 10 June 2010
