Where the past....
Meets the future.....
Photograph from The Northern Rivers Echo
This blog is open to any who wish to comment on Australian society, the state of the environment or political shenanigans at Federal, State and Local Government level.
Images of McDonald's litter from around the world including Australia
Despite numerous media releases promising a responsible approach to the waste it produces McDonald's Corporation fast food outlets around the world manage to produce large amounts of branded litter in and around the building.
Local government sometimes tries to curb the litter-making machine by insisting that McDonald's undertake daily 'litter patrols' as one condition of a development consent.
However, this and other measure do not appear to be very effective if this article in the U.K. Daily Echo on 23 April 2010 is any indication:
IT was a mountain of rubbish that had left him McFurious.
The growing mound of burger wrappers along Dave Elgram’s street had not been cleared for so long that he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Armed with a litter-picker the dad of three collected a bin liner full of McDonalds rubbish and tipped it on over the restaurant floor in front of shocked staff.
Now the 44-year-old is vowing to return to the store in Burgess Road every Monday with a fresh bag of rubbish until staff clean up his street.
Likewise, the fact that one NSW councillor could collect a backpack of McDonald's rubbish to show his fellow Wollondilly Shire councillors just last year is hardly reassuring:
``I went to four different McDonald's outlets the other night and was horrified by the rubbish thrown everywhere,'' he said. ``I know it's not McDonald's fault, it's the people who dumped it there but we live in a catchment area and I don't want to see this rubbish in our drinking water.''
In 2008 Choice magazine reported:
Branded litter, such as packaging from McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Cadbury and other retailers, accounts for 24% of the overall waste stream, with highways a major dumping ground, according to an Australia-wide study by Keep Australia Beautiful. The study, released in late September, also reveals that the two biggest culprits are Coca-Cola and McDonald's, which contribute close to 10% each of the branded litter.
These national figures broke down to 14.7% of all branded litter in NSW being McDonald's litter, which was the highest percentage for any branded fast food, drink, or confectionery/snack food items in that state at the time.
In 2010 a two-day litter survey of ten British cities found that McDonald's litter made up 29 percent of all gutter share.
In Litter We Trust could almost be this foreign multinational's official corporate legend.
However this is only a small part of the problem for regional areas such as the Clarence Valley, because eat-in customers at the proposed McDonald's fast food outlet in Yamba will add considerably to local government's landfill waste disposal needs in ever decreasing site options.McDonald's Australia, which oversees almost 800 franchised restaurants around the country, reported a 6 per cent rise in sales revenue to $898m during the 12 months to December 31, on the strength of restaurant refurbishments and introduction of a premium range of products and healthier menu choices.
Overall revenue for the group rose 40 per cent to $1.7 billion, bolstered by a $308m payment for the sale of intellectual property rights to a related entity, McDonald's Asia Pacific.
This is how McDonald's Australia achieves those profits........
Commissioner Donna McKenna rejected a deal between the company and the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, saying it fails a no-disadvantage test. The deal would have seen standardised conditions imposed in all states and territories, including rules for rostering, penalty rates and entitlements.
The no-disadvantage test states that employers may remove certain entitlements from work agreements but these must be offset by other benefits.
While McKenna wrote in her ruling that the agreement, which is 111 pages long, contains both advantages and disadvantages, it ultimately poses no net benefit for employees. She also suggested workers could have been underpaid, referring the matter to the Ombudsman.
"I have concluded the agreement would represent an emphatic diminution in overall terms and conditions for the employees who would be subject to its proposed operation," she wrote in the judgement.
"The Agreement not only fails to satisfy the no disadvantage test, on various levels it significantly compromises industrial standards that would be expected for agreement-reliant employees – considering, in particular, that these employees are mostly young and mostly casually employed."
Specifically, the judgement referred to situations that would have seen employees in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland receive pay rises below minimum pay deals over the three-year period of the proposed agreement.
61% think Australians pay too much tax and 28% think Australians pay about the right amount.
72% of full‐time workers think we pay too much tax but there were no significant differences by income level.
Labor and Liberal/National voters also gave similar responses.
...those opposed to increasing the GST outnumbered those in favour...
Increasing GST to pay off national debt was strongly rejected (66%).
Yamba in flood in May 2009
West Yamba shown in the top half of the photograph from The Daily Examiner
Walking in Grafton can be dangerous
I WAS recently visiting a family member in Riverdale Court, Grafton, when I could not believe my eyes?
In this completely brand new homes-built area, I had to wait to park my car. Why?
Because there was an elderly lady walking herself (and her dog) with the use of her 'walking frame' for assistance, that's right, a walker come chair on wheels, on the road because some idiot forgot to include footpaths in this new development area.
Is this now common practice for the new-age CVC (Clarence Valley Council) members?
The grassed 'home fronts' are not 'walker' friendly, and how long will it be before someone sues the CVC for such a bungling oversight?
In this 'new century', the CVC has neglected to include 'pavements' for pedestrians on which to walk.
One can understand older parts of Grafton that do not have 'pavements' for pedestrians, but brand new subdivisions without pavements, it's very hard to believe in 'today's day and age'.
What exactly are those in the CVC responsible for when it comes to OH&S with regards the safety of pedestrians, and why does the CVC spend ever-increasing income from rates on 'superficial' gardens and street gardens that are 'not essential' to the care and well-being of Grafton citizens/folk?
JOSEPH GOLDEN, Summerland Way
[Letter to the Editor, The Daily Examiner, 20 April 2010]
Despite the rather colourful name of the now defunct mining company and associated court case, Sons of Gwalia v Margaretic, the Rudd Government's legislation has the rather dun-colured title of Corporations Amendment (No.2) Bill 2010.
Anyone wanting to have their say on the exposure draft of this bill can do it here.
Sons of Gwalia Limited has a rather fascinating early history and a very complicated one since. There is apparently some $1.2 billion in claims admitted by Sons of Gwalia administrators. About a third of these claims were lodged by shareholders and this legislation may cause them some angst if it muddies the legal waters.
McDonald's Australia has a development application before Clarence Valley Council for a 24 hour a day eat-in and drive-through store in the small coastal town of Yamba which has a permanent population of around 6,000 residents and no 24/7 food outlets.
McDonald's recently announced that its Ballina licensee Scott Campbell will also be the licensee for its proposed Yamba fast food store.
Needless to say the ambient temperature in Yamba has risen considerably as a result of McDonald's move on the town and many are not looking forward to increased traffic, more litter and a focal point for anti-social behaviour after the pubs close.
Apparently Mr. Campbell is aware of the general drift of public opinion and is said to be avoiding Yamba at the moment as he fears being "crucified".
A letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner on 19 April 2010:
McDonald's? Spare us
CELESTE WARREN, Yamba.
A Facebook NO to McDonalds in Yamba entry:
Michelle Smith It's not about the food for us, it's simply that we love Yamba as a quaint and peaceful holiday place free from chain-store fast food and commercialism. We have raved about the fact that the town is full of small local businesses, cafes and coffee shops and that we really feel like we've "escaped the city" when we are there. I'd like to say "no" simply so Yamba can keep this identity for us and many many more travellers and visitors who go for the same reason. Yes McDonald's plays a huge role in our Australian way of life, but surely they don't need to [be] quite everywhere?
Meanwhile elsewhere in Australia..........
The Northern Star on 7 January 2010:
POLICE are appealing for witnesses following an assault on a 50-year-old Byron Bay man and a 43-year-old man from Alstonville at McDonald's in Ballina. The incident happened at 4pm on Tuesday when a group of three males were asked to leave the restaurant, and then the grounds, after consuming alcohol and abusing staff and customers. A staff member who asked the group to leave was punched in the face and knocked unconscious momentarily. Another male customer came to his aid and tried to stop the group from leaving the scene, but was punched repeatedly in the face. Both victims were taken to Ballina Hospital, where one of the men was admitted. He was later released.
"DISGUSTING", is how Magistrate Dennis Beutel described the behaviour of a drunken teenager at Gympie's McDonalds recently.
The Canberra Times on 5 February 2010:
The Canberra Times on 26 February 2010:
.... pleaded guilty to low- range drink driving and operating a vehicle so the wheels lose traction after he was caught with a blood alcohol reading of .060 in Queanbeyan McDonalds car park at 11.45pm.
The Queensland Times on 22 December 2009:
The Chronicle on 25 November 2009:
Current national emissions targets can't limit global warming to 2 °C, calculate Joeri Rogelj, Malte Meinshausen and colleagues — they might even lock the world into exceeding 3 °C warming.
Summary
HISTORICAL DATA: P. BROHAN ET AL. J. GEOPHYS. RES.111, D12106 (2006
Click on graphs to enlarge
If there was an award for questions from the floor after a National Press Club Address, this one should get first prize:
You little bewdy, Sue!
From Census of Hard-To-See Marine Life
Track the geographic locations of the Census of Hard-to-See Marine Life here.
Census of Marine Life website here."WALL STREET POWERHOUSE ACCUSED OF FRAUD: The government says Goldman Sachs & Co. sold mortgage investments without telling the buyers that the securities were crafted with input from a client who was betting on them to fail. Goldman denies the civil fraud allegations."
{Google News}
The Commission brings this securities fraud action against Goldman, Sachs & Co. ("GS&Co") and a GS&Co employee, Fabrice Tourre ("Tourre"), for making materially misleading statements and omissions in connection with a synthetic collateralized debt obligation ("CDO") GS&Co structured and marketed to investors. This synthetic CDO, ABACUS 2007AC1, was tied to the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities ("RMBS") and was structured and marketed by GS&Co in early 2007 when the United States housing market and related securities were beginning to show signs of distress. {SEC versus Goldman Sachs & Co. and Another}
I know I had a grin from ear to ear when I heard that the financial anaconda had finally been caught out and I think I'm not alone in that. I'm not sure who demanded trial by jury but I'm willing to bet that there will be few in any American juror pool who will be unaffected by the sub-prime debacle and it aftermath.