This letter to the editor published in The Daily Examiner, Grafton, says it all.
NSW local government election time has rolled round again and local candidates are beginning to come out of the woodwork.
I see that the Nationals Jeremy Challacombe has publicly put up his hand and declares that almost obligatory commitment; "Mr Challacombe singled out the Clarence River for special attention. "I believe our river is the focus of our Valley," [DEX online,5 August 2008].
Unfortunately for Mr. Challacombe, many in the Clarence Valley have a longer memory than he obviously gives credit for and, it doesn't take long to hunt up his real attitude to the river catchment and our economic dependence on its continued health.
For instance in "The Daily Examiner" a couple of months back, Mr. Challacombe was careful not to mention how he voted (or if he voted at all) on the motion passed by that Nationals NSW party conference, a conference which coincidentally saw him installed as vice-chair of the state party [DEX,June 18,p.3].
In this article he apparently sought to misdirect the reader to the dissenting vote by his wife on the motion to "support greater efforts to reduce the amount of eastern water lost to the ocean and campaign for more in-depth investigations into finding ways to turn this water inland." [ibid]
This motion was nothing more than another bite at the Howard Government's 2006-07 proposal to rob the Clarence River catchment of its vital freshwater flows.
Despite Mr. Challacombe attempting to portray it as "more about better water management than about river diversion." [ibid]
Something he would have known was not the true story given his past employment by North Coast Water.
As vice-chair Mr. Challacombe has an obligation to support this successful Nationals state party resolution on water diversion and, his candidature at the forthcoming Clarence Valley local government election is a clear case of a conflict of interest given Clarence Valley Council's longstanding and well-documented resolve to protect the Clarence River and its tributaries from both further damming and diversion.
If it's any comfort to Mr. Challacombe, I'm not too impressed either by local Anglican Reverend Pat Comben thinking it might be a good idea to marry church and state by being elected to local government. [http://graftondiocease.org.au,7 August 2008]
I would have thought the dismal showing of faith-based parties at the November 2007 federal election might have indicated to the good reverend just how disenchanted the electorate might have become to priests in politics.
Judith M. Melville
Yamba
NSW local government election time has rolled round again and local candidates are beginning to come out of the woodwork.
I see that the Nationals Jeremy Challacombe has publicly put up his hand and declares that almost obligatory commitment; "Mr Challacombe singled out the Clarence River for special attention. "I believe our river is the focus of our Valley," [DEX online,5 August 2008].
Unfortunately for Mr. Challacombe, many in the Clarence Valley have a longer memory than he obviously gives credit for and, it doesn't take long to hunt up his real attitude to the river catchment and our economic dependence on its continued health.
For instance in "The Daily Examiner" a couple of months back, Mr. Challacombe was careful not to mention how he voted (or if he voted at all) on the motion passed by that Nationals NSW party conference, a conference which coincidentally saw him installed as vice-chair of the state party [DEX,June 18,p.3].
In this article he apparently sought to misdirect the reader to the dissenting vote by his wife on the motion to "support greater efforts to reduce the amount of eastern water lost to the ocean and campaign for more in-depth investigations into finding ways to turn this water inland." [ibid]
This motion was nothing more than another bite at the Howard Government's 2006-07 proposal to rob the Clarence River catchment of its vital freshwater flows.
Despite Mr. Challacombe attempting to portray it as "more about better water management than about river diversion." [ibid]
Something he would have known was not the true story given his past employment by North Coast Water.
As vice-chair Mr. Challacombe has an obligation to support this successful Nationals state party resolution on water diversion and, his candidature at the forthcoming Clarence Valley local government election is a clear case of a conflict of interest given Clarence Valley Council's longstanding and well-documented resolve to protect the Clarence River and its tributaries from both further damming and diversion.
If it's any comfort to Mr. Challacombe, I'm not too impressed either by local Anglican Reverend Pat Comben thinking it might be a good idea to marry church and state by being elected to local government. [http://graftondiocease.org.au,7 August 2008]
I would have thought the dismal showing of faith-based parties at the November 2007 federal election might have indicated to the good reverend just how disenchanted the electorate might have become to priests in politics.
Judith M. Melville
Yamba
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