First in series Clarence Valley Council "roundtables" to discuss a special rates variation is to be held in Iluka on Thursday, 1 June 2017

Clarence Valley Council, media release, 30 May 2017:

Rates roundtables kick off on Thursday

THE first of a series of “roundtables” where people can discuss a possible application by the Clarence Valley Council for a special rates variation is to be held in Iluka on Thursday (June 1).

Council is considering making an application for an 8% rate rise each year for three years (cumulative impact of 25.9%) but is keen to consult with the community to see if there are other proposals that would help it meet the NSW Government’s Fit for the Future financial benchmarks. If adopted, the rate increase would apply only to a portion of people’s total rates notice.

The first of the roundtables is to be held at the Iluka Library from 5:30-7:30pm on Thursday.

Further roundtables will be held at the Maclean Council Chambers from 5.30-7.30pm on Friday, the New School of Arts Neighbourhood House South Grafton from 4-6pm on Saturday and the Treelands Drive Community Centre Yamba from 11am-1pm on Sunday (June 4).

To help council with staffing arrangements, RSVPs are required. For Iluka, RSVPs will be required by 3pm Thursday. All other RSVPs will need to be submitted by 3pm Friday. Contact Karlie on 6643 0200 to register.

People with questions about a possible special rates variation or who cannot make a written submission can call 6643 0230.

Release ends.

As utility bills get harder and harder to manage for those on low incomes, this comes as a slap in the face

In roughly five to six weeks time electricity prices are expected to rise for many people in Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.

Households are expected to pay up to $300-$400 more a year, with the rise in wholesale electricity prices making up est. 45 per cent of a domestic supply bill.

As low-income renters, pensioners and the unemployed struggle this winter with the choice of trying to stay warm without heating or face an impossibly large electricity bill, they might like to remember that all this was very avoidable.

First Prime Minister Abbott and then Prime Minister Turnbull (along with all their MPs and senators) had the chance to keep energy costs lower - but blinded by ideology they refused to do so.

This was The Sydney Morning Herald reporting the Turnbull Government's failure on 8 December 2016:

The Turnbull government has been sitting on advice that an emissions intensity scheme - the carbon policy it put on the table only to rule out just 36 hours later - would save households and businesses up to $15 billion in electricity bills over a decade.

While Malcolm Turnbull has rejected this sort of scheme by claiming it would push up prices, analysis in an Australian Electricity Market Commission report handed to the government months ago finds it would actually cost consumers far less than other approaches, including doing nothing.

It finds that would still be the case even if the government boosted its climate target to a 50 per cent cut in emissions by 2030.

Depending on the level of electricity use and the target adopted, modelling by Danny Price of Frontier Economics found costs would be between $3.4 billion and $15 billion lower over the decade to 2030.  Costs would be $11.2 billion lower over this time assuming average electricity use and the existing climate target.

Just one more thing that is fake about Donald Trump

It’s not just his 'orange' tan or his self-reported degree of personal wealth which is fake - it seems Donald J. Trump’s Twitter numbers are not what they seem either.

At least 12.9 million fake followers last week and 14.7 million followers without a pulse this week. 

Wonder how long it actually took the White House 'communications' team to amass that many proofs of his social inadequacy? Creating an extra 1.8 million little Twitter bots to boost that king-sized ego must have his minions' thumbs working frantically.

twitteraudit.com:

Each audit takes a sample of up to 5000 (or more, if you subscribe to Pro) Twitter followers for a user and calculates a score for each follower. This score is based on number of tweets, date of the last tweet, and ratio of followers to friends. We use these scores to determine whether any given user is real or fake. Of course, this scoring method is not perfect but it is a good way to tell if someone with lots of followers is likely to have increased their follower count by inorganic, fraudulent, or dishonest means.

TwitterAudit is not affiliated with Twitter in any way.

Liberal National Party Senator for Queensland, Ian Macdonald, acting badly in Senate Estimates

This is what happens when a government senator with an inflated sense of his own importance and few manners is chair during a Senate Estimates hearing........

The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 2017:

      3:26pm

Senator Macdonald tried to order Greens senator Nick McKim to leave the committee, which he doesn't have the power to do.

"I will not be leaving," Senator McKim says.

"You can't make me leave, mate. I'm not going. What are you going to do?...You are a tyrant and a dictator."

​Senator Macdonald said he would then refuse to recognise Senator McKim for the rest of the hearing which means he won't let him ask any questions. This is the political equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and singing "la la la la la la" until the other person just goes away.

       3:31pm

Senator Macdonald threatens to evict Senator Wong and Senator Murray.

Again - he can't do this.

He takes some advice and offers the muttered, cross "sorry" a thwarted toddler sometimes offers: "I've been advised by the clerk that I do not have the power to evict anyone or prevent them from asking questions."

Senator Ian Macdonald trying to kick @NickMcKim out of #estimates is amazing, but not as amazing as his realisation that he can't. #auspol pic.twitter.com/p1weKP6ANQ

— David Sharaz (@DavidSharaz) May 25, 2017

Coastal regions should note that last month saw second warmest April on record & also saw record-low Arctic, near-record-low Antarctic sea ice

“The average global temperature for April 2017 was 1.62 degrees F above the 20th-century average of 56.7 degrees, according to the analysis by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. This was the second highest for April in the 1880-2017 record, behind last year by 0.31 degrees.” [US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), May 2017]

The Northern Star, 24 May 2017:

INUNDATION THREAT: Areas in dark blue show the impact of a 0.74m seal level rise, while areas in light blue show a 2m rise.

NEW modelling has escalated the threat of sea level rises to the North Coast putting many more homes and valuable public infrastructure at risk.

Just four years after an initial report predicted a worst-case 0.74m sea level rise, rapid melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets have prompted scientists to publish a new report which predicts a 2m rise, although the chances of this worst-case scenario occurring are just 2%.

The research data provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been mapped into an interactive website published by Coastal Risk Australia, which puts the 2013 and 2017 predictions side by side.

Dark blue represents a 0.74m sea level rise and light blue represents the inundation spread with a 2m seal level rise, based

on US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calculations

The Australian national mean temperature for April 2017 was 0.09 °C above average, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

With the continuation of warm conditions contributing to the sixth warmest January to April period on record.

IN MATES WE TRUST: that all too familiar stench begins to drift across Parliament Drive once more

Prime Minister John Howard with Bob Day then a Liberal donor and party figure

The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 September 2008

On 17 May 2017The Guardian reported on the matter of the eligibility of Family First’s Bob Day¹ to sit in the Australian Senate:

A majority of the court found that Day was ineligible from 26 February 2016. He was paid close to $130,000 between then and his November resignation.

Ryan said Day had been warned he was required to repay the salary and superannuation he earned as a senator, and similar letters had been sent to former One Nation senator Rod Culleton.

Barely eight days pass and then……

ABC News, 25 May 2017:

The Federal Government has agreed to waive debts owed by former senator Bob Day, after receiving advice that he may not be able to repay the money.

Special Minister of State senator Scott Ryan told a Senate estimates committee he decided to waive the debts in line with decisions made in similar cases in the past.

In April, the High Court ruled Mr Day was not validly elected to the Senate last year, due to a complex arrangement involving a building previously owned by Mr Day being leased by the Commonwealth.

It was recently revealed the Senate and Department of Finance were pursuing Mr Day and fellow disqualified senator Rod Culleton, seeking the repayment of their salaries and other allowances.

Both men received letters informing them of the situation, potentially owing hundreds of thousands of dollars between them.

Senator Ryan told the estimates hearing Mr Day took up an option to formally request the debt be waived.

The Minister said he was advised pursuing the debts may not be fair.

"It may be seen to be inequitable for the Commonwealth to recover the debt, given Mr Day performed his duties as a senator in good faith," he said.

"The [advisory] committee also noted Mr Day's personal financial circumstances."

Remembering of course that the Liberal Party and its financial backers have a history of propping up Mr. Day…….

The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 February 2017:

A wealthy fundraising body linked to the Liberal Party has quietly begun bankrolling the organisations behind two of the Coalition's biggest crossbench supporters in the finely balanced Senate.

The Cormack Foundation has donated more than $40 million to the Liberal Party over the last 18 years – including more than $3 million in 2015-16 – making it one of the party's biggest benefactors.

The foundation is an investment company and "associated entity" of the Liberals that donates dividends from its share portfolio. It has stakes in a number of blue-chip companies – including the big four banks, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Telstra and Wesfarmers – raising about $3.9 million last year.

But for the first time in its 30-year history, the foundation last year donated to parties other than the Liberals – giving $25,000 each to the conservative Family First and the libertarian Liberal Democrats, according to the Australian Election Commission annual returns released this week.

The foundation has eight listed shareholders, who are also the company's directors. They include Rupert Murdoch's brother-in-law John Calvert-Jones, former Reserve Bank board member and Business Council of Australia president Hugh Morgan and former ANZ chairman Charles Goode.

The donations came in a year that the Abbott and then Turnbull governments were highly reliant in the Senate on the votes of Family First's Bob Day and the Liberal Democrats' David Leyonhjelm….

It's believed to be the first occasion an "associated entity" has linked itself to more than one political party at a time.

ABC News, 2 November 2017:

The Abbott government ignored the advice of its own bureaucrats when it approved the lease agreement with former Family First senator Bob Day regarding his Adelaide electorate office in 2014.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information reveal the Finance Department advised the Government not to allow Mr Day to relocate his electorate office from the Adelaide CBD to a building he owned in Kent Town, warning it had "concerns about how such a transaction might be perceived"……

Despite this advice, the then special minister of state, Michael Ronaldson, wrote to Mr Day in March 2014 telling him he was willing to consider the arrangement as long as the Kent Town property met Commonwealth standards and that no rent would be charged to the Commonwealth until the lease ended on the CBD office space.

Mr Day sold the building to Fullerton Investments and last December, the company entered into a lease agreement with the Commonwealth under which no rent would be paid……

Mr Day's company loaned Fullarton Investments money to make the purchase — and are ultimately liable for a National Australia Bank mortgage on the building.

Between 2004 and 2006 Bob Day’s company Homestead Homes donated $9,937 to the Liberal Party in South Australia. It is understood that the donation tally may be higher as Day owned more than one company and at least one trust which may have contributed to party coffers.

NOTES

1. Robert (Bob) John Day AO “was a long-time member of the Liberal Party of Australia (1987- 2008) occupying various roles including Federal Electorate Committee (FEC) President, Hewson for PM Campaign Committee (Industry) Chairman, Delegate to the Party's State Council and was a recipient of the Liberal Party's Meritorious Service Award in 2006.

[In 2008] Day resigned his membership of the Liberal Party citing '"manipulation of the pre-selection process to ensure the pre-selection of one particular candidate" over the other candidates. Day's allegations were backed up by other Liberal Party members.

Immediately following his resignation, Bob Day was invited to join Family First as its candidate in the Mayo by-election receiving 11.4% of the primary vote. Day was elected Party Chairman in November 2008 and in April 2009 was endorsed as Family First's Lead Senate Candidate for the 2010 Federal election. In 2013 he stood as the Party’s lead Senate candidate in the Federal election and was elected as a Senator for South Australia.”

In April 2017 it was announced that Family First has joined forces with former Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi, to boost his fledgling Australian Conservatives party.

The Ladies Who Bake (and organize, lobby, raise funds & volunteer) come out against coal seam gas exploration, mining and production

The Country Women’s Association (CWA) of New South Wales came together for its annual conference on 22-25th May 2017 for the 95th time and debated policy.

Photograph: The Land, 25 May 2017

At this conference the CWA passed the following motion:

Maules Creek Branch (Namoi Group):

Preamble: The results of hosting unconventional gas on farms are properties devalued, mortgages refused, insurance covers rejected, destroys families, divides communities, drains aquifers and turns land into dead zones, sick children, suicide and mental breakdowns.

“That the policy of CWA of NSW shall be to support a ban on unconventional gas exploration, extraction and production”.

With the largest women’s organisation in Australia now having this policy endorsed by one of its founding chapters, NSW Nationals leader and MP for Monaro John Barilaro’s statement that he saw no reason why the coal seam gas industry should not be supported in areas of the state where it would not affect prime agricultural land is not looking as robust a proposition as he perhaps thought two weeks ago.

Pictures that tell a 1,000 words - Part Two

Left to Right: 
Ivanka Marie Trump, Melania Trump (née Melanija Knavs), 45^th U.S. President Donald John Trump with 266^th Catholic Pope His Holiness Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio), Apostolic Palace, Vatican City, 24 May 2017

Holy See Press Office Communiqué

The Pope's enthusiasm for this official visit is apparently underwhelming.

Pictures that tell a 1,000 words - Part One

Former sceptic tells climate change denialists to put up or shut up

US WRAL TV meteorologist and weatherman on Facebook:

Greg Fishel

21 May at 18:18 · 

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

You know everybody reaches their breaking point and quite frankly I have reached mine with the folks who post all over the internet about the scientific fallacies of man induced climate change. All of them are guest bloggers or essayists. None of this stuff has ever been published in a peer reviewed atmospheric science or climate journal. But we live in an age today where higher education and research are no longer respected. Heck, think of all the money my parents wasted on my education when I could have waited for the age of twitter and Facebook and declared myself as an expert in the field of my choice. That's sarcasm to illustrate asininity.

But wait! Let's say one of these guest essayers is a modern day Galileo, and has that critical piece to the puzzle that no other scientist has. Then they should submit their findings to one of the American Meteorological Society's peer reviewed journals for publication. If they are rejected, and the author feels unfairly, then make public each and every one of the reviewers' comments for the entire world to see. If there is bias and corruption in the peer review process, everyone needs to know about it so this flawed process can be halted and corrected. But ya know what? I doubt any of these folks has the guts to do this, and they'll continue on with their pathetic excuse for science education.

So prove me wrong bloggers and essayists. Submit your work the way real scientists do, and see where it takes you. Uncover that bias and corruption you're so convinced is present. If you end up being correct, society will owe you a huge debt of gratitude. If you're wrong, stop muddying the scientific waters with ideological trash.

BACKGROUND

Indy Week, 21 October 2015:

You might assume that your local meteorologist believes in climate change.

Certainly if he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from Penn State in 1979 and began working at WRAL-TV as the station's first meteorologist in 1981. Especially if he was promoted to chief meteorologist in 1989, a post he has held ever since. And without a doubt, if your local weatherman was the first American

Meteorological Society-certified broadcast meteorologist in the United States, who then chaired the board that developed the 100-question exam used for broadcast certifications, he'd have to embrace the overwhelming scientific consensus. Right?

For Greg Fishel, accepting that reality took time. An avid churchgoer and Rush subscriber (that's Limbaugh, not the band), Fishel has been slower than most scientists to recognize the fact that the planet is warming and we're to blame. Last week, the meteorologist penned a blog post titled, "Choose science, stewardship in understanding climate change," a public admission of his previous ignorance and a plea for people like him—Republicans, churchgoers, Fox News fanatics—to approach the topic scientifically rather than ideologically.

Australian case law has a Minties Moment

The applicant appeared in person, having declined the opportunity to be represented by a solicitor funded by a grant of legal aid. Her stated reason for having done so is that as “a Druid (Celtic Pagan Priest) … being represented by a solicitor in Court is not an option.” According to Strabo, druids were once held in such high regard that they could quell any private or public dispute, including a stand-off between opposing armies: Geographica at 4.4.4. Their jurisdiction was divine and limitless. By contrast, and fortunately for the applicant, the jurisdiction of Australian inferior courts is statutory and limited. [Morgan v District Court of New South Wales [2017] NSWCA 105, 23 May 2017]

Quotes of the Week

Why do so few make it out of poverty? I can tell you from experience it is not because some have more merit than others. It is because being poor is a high-risk gamble. The asymmetry of outcomes for the poor is so enormous because it is so expensive to be poor. Imagine losing a job because your phone was cut off, or blowing off an exam because you spent the day in the ER dealing with something that preventative care would have avoided completely. Something as simple as that can spark a spiral of adversity almost impossible to recover from. The reality is that when you’re poor, if you make one mistake, you’re done. Everything becomes a sudden-death gamble. [Christian H. Cooper writing at Nautilus on Why Poverty Is Like A Disease, 20 April 2017]

The total rate paid by a high earner on $200,000 is nothing like 50 per cent. The first $18,200 isn't taxed at all because of the tax-free threshold, the next $18,000 is only taxed at 19 per cent, and so on, meaning the total tax taken works out at $71,232 including levies – a rate of 35.6 per cent. [Economic Editor for The Age, Peter Martin, writing on 24 May 2017]

Trump offers proof of 'no Russian ties'

And here it is…………….

Images via Twitter

ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART, 26 May 20017

ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART

We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.

This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.

How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?

With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.

Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.

We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.

In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

26 May 2017

Australia is the only Commonwealth country that does not have a treaty with its Indigenous peoples.

Quadrant's post-publication editing does not erase its bitter, tasteless and potentially destructive blunder

Snapshot from Quadrant magazine article “The Manchester Bomber’s ABC Pals” by editor of Quadrant Online Roger Franklin, published 23 May 2017:

via @JoshButler on Twitter

The article then concluded:

Mind you, as Krauss felt his body being penetrated by the Prophet’s shrapnel of nuts, bolts and nails, those goitered eyes might in their last glimmering have caught a glimpse of vindication.

A blast of Manchester dimensions must surely knock over the studio’s lunchroom refrigerator.  Allah only knows how many innocent lives that shocking incident might claim.

The ABC response was appropriate and in the circumstances relatively restrained.

Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) transcript of letter sent to Quadrant magazine editors, 24 May 2017:

Dear Sirs,

Quadrant promotes itself as “the leading general intellectual journal of ideas”. Those words ring hollow in the wake of last night’s vicious and offensive attack on the ABC, its staff and its program guests.

To take issue with our programming and our content is one thing. But to express the wish that, if there were any justice, the horrific terrorist bombing in Manchester would have taken place in the ABC’s Ultimo studio and killed those assembled there is a new low in Australian public debate.

Your subsequent attempt to make amends by changing some of the wording (without acknowledging or apologising for the original article) has done little to undo the damage. The article continues to state that if a blast occurred in one of our studios, none of the likely casualties “would have represented the slightest reduction in humanity’s intelligence, decency, empathy or honesty.”

Like many others, I am appalled at your willingness to turn an act of terrorism in the United Kingdom into a means of making a political point against those you disagree with. One of the immediate results of this behaviour is that while our staff both here and in Manchester were working long hours to provide extensive coverage of this unfolding tragedy, we were also forced to reassure worried staff who had read your article and call in our own security experts to assess any possible impact flowing from your inflammatory words.

I ask that this response be posted prominently on the Quadrant website, and I also ask that the article, which continues to contain entirely inappropriate comments about possible bombings at the ABC, be removed and apologised for.

Michelle Guthrie

ABC Managing Director

ENDS

The Clayton's apology from Quadrant followed swiftly even if the promised takedown didn't - the full article (along with its comments section) still being available in Google cache (snapshot 24 May 2017 15:25:33 GMT) late on 25 May - and yes, before anyone asks Google would promptly remove cache at the magazine's request. 

via Twitter

NSW nurses & midwives stand with Pilliga-Narrabri communities against Santos coal seam gas project

“Santos expects to build 850 production wells over the next two decades” within the mining lease. ABC NEWS, 10 April 2017, PHOTO: An aerial shot of the Santos CSG exploration project in the Pilliga. (Audience supplied: Dean Sewell)

Echo NetDaily, 19 May 2017:

Local nurses are voicing their concerns about the threat to health in a submission to the government objecting not only to the Santos Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project, but to all CSG mining across NSW.

It was following a successful motion put forward by the Lismore Base Hospital branch of the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association that the a submission was lodged.

‘As nurses and midwives we believe that an ecologically sustainable environment promotes health and wellbeing. We are greatly concerned about the health of communities impacted by CSG’, said Heather Ryan Dunn, midwife and Vice President of the Lismore Base branch of the NSWNMA. ‘We also know that climate change is the biggest threat we are currently facing and that decisions made today will impact greatly on future generations.’

The 20 page submission which includes references to CSG well accidents and risks to human health via contaminated water and air pollution, is one of approximately 12,000 already submitted in response to the EIS, a record breaking and resounding ‘no’ from objectors to the project.

One Nation back in the news again because of staffing choice

It seems it is not only her Chief of Staff James Ashby who keeps thrusting Pauline Hanson’s One Nation into the news……

The Courier Mail, 25 May 2017:

KEY One Nation staffer Sean Black has been arrested by detectives in the latest scandal to engulf the party this week.

His arrest follows explosive tape recordings released revealing party figures discussing ways to “make money” out of the state election.

Black, 39, a senior adviser to Queensland One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts, was taken through the Roma Street watch-house just before noon yesterday. He had flown into Brisbane from Canberra on Tuesday night.

He is facing a number of historical charges, three counts of common assault and three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm assault, but The Courier-Mail cannot publish more details for legal reasons.

Complaints were made to the Queensland Police Service late last year.

Black was one of the early recruits to One Nation Senate staff when they were swept to power in last year’s election, taking up his position in September.

He appeared before the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday afternoon, where it was revealed some of the allegations dated back to 2007….

Mr Black is a media adviser to Queensland Senator Malcolm Roberts……

The case will return to court on June 19.

Mr Black was one of the early recruits to One Nation Senate staff when they were swept to power in the 2016 election, taking up his position in September.

The former real estate agent has a long history in politics, as well as volunteering in former LNP MP Michael Pucci’s 2012 election campaign.

He served as a Logan City Councillor for four years, from 2008, and was previously married to fellow councillor Hajnal Ban.

BACKGROUND

The Courier Mail, 6 February 2017, p.14:

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has given his "full support" to a senior staffer who had domestic violence concerns raised about him.

Senator Roberts' policy adviser Sean Black was swept up in a complaint to the Crime and Corruption Commission after it was alleged confidential information may have been given to him.

The complaint alleged Logan councillor Darren Power was told about protective measures put in place to safeguard Mr Black's former partner after she approached council with domestic violence concerns about him.

Cr Power strongly denies being told about the protective measures, claiming the complaint was payback for opposing a controversial development in his council division.

Despite repeated approaches, Mr Black declined to comment on the allegations. In a Facebook post, Senator Roberts defended Mr Black, saying he was a "personal friend" who was a "great asset to our team". "I have seen no evidence of the caricature he is painted to be," Senator Roberts wrote. "He loves his family, has a great sense of humour and is extremely well liked by all those who associate with him."

The Courier Mail, 5 February 2017, p.3:

The CCC refused to confirm a complaint had been received. But a spokeswoman for Logan Mayor Luke Smith declined to comment because of the "involvement" of the CCC.

Mr Black, despite repeated approaches, made no comment for this story but stopped it running in last week's Sunday Mail by applying for an eleventh-hour injunction that prevented its publication.

Those orders were revoked during a closed court application hearing on Monday in Brisbane's Supreme Court.

Cr Power, according to a document obtained by The Sunday Mail, was called into Mayor Smith's office in December for a conversation about the domestic violence concerns against Mr Black.

"I found this unusual as Cr Smith and I have a difficult relationship and we rarely talk in private," Cr Power writes in the document, dated January 22 this year, which was given to Mr Black.

"Cr Smith then told me that he had heard that Sean Black has a habit of domestic violence, that he 'bashed his former wife' and that 'it was just a matter of time before it catches up with him and that the papers are aware', and that 'is (sic) all about to explode' in the media." The long-time councillor, who has been repeatedly elected since 1997, claimed he believed Cr Smith had heard this information directly from Mr Black's former partner: "Cr Smith led me to believe that the story that was about to break in the paper would 'mean Sean Black would be one of the most politically maligned individuals in Australia'," the document says. It was supplied to the CCC as part of the complaint.

The Border Mail, 11 December 2016:

He was forced out of the ALP for his role in a vote-rigging scandal detailed in the Shepherdson corruption inquiry – although he was never charged – and subsequently gravitated towards conservative politics.

In 2008, he was elected to the Logan City Council, where he was accused of bullying and flying into fits of uncontrollable rage.

At one stage, he was banned from entering council chambers or dealing with staff after a string of complaints of intimidation.

The mayor at the time said he had a "sad history of unacceptable behaviour" and ordered special security arrangements for any meetings he attended. Colleagues said he was disruptive and chaotic.

At the time Mr Black admitted to raising his voice and swearing but said the ban was a result of his political enemies trying to silence him.

With One Nation on track to make big gains at the next Queensland election, sources say Mr Black is in the frame as a potential state leader.

While his four years on Logan City Council were tumultuous, he is one of the precious few One Nation figures with experience in elected office….

On his Facebook page, Mr Black has admitted to struggling to control his temper, including last year when he launched into a foul-mouthed rant and threw a coaster at a man wearing an offensive T-shirt about Tony Abbott.

"So today I snapped," he wrote. "Our greatest prime minister, Tony Abbott, is being taunted, derided and dis­respected. I've had a gut full of pansy conservatives who won't stick up for freedom, Tony, or our nation. Time to grow balls and pick some fights folks."

The Courier Mail, 27 February 2015, p.19:

A T-shirt bagging Prime Minister Tony Abbott has sparked a beer-coaster blue involving a former Logan councillor.

In one of the more bizarre political battles of the year, former Logan councillor Sean Black and his mother aimed an outburst at a fellow diner at a suburban restaurant.

The pair threw coasters at a patron at the Beach House restaurant at Garden City, before launching into a foul-mouthed rant and being asked to leave….

Behind his keyboard, Mr Black launched into a tirade to defend Mr Abbott. "Our greatest prime minister, Tony Abbott, is being taunted, derided and dis respected," he wrote. “I’ve had a gut full of pansy conservatives who won't stick up for freedom, Tony, or our nation. Time to grow balls and pick some fights folks."

The Courier Mail, 31 August 2011, p.12:

The State Government has hired private investigators to find out whether a land deal involving married Logan councillors Hajnal and Sean Black was shady.

RISQ Group has been employed by the Department of Local Government and Planning to investigate a conflict of interest over the multimillion-dollar property sale at Park Ridge, south of Brisbane, after claims the couple should have declared a pecuniary interest.

Cr Sean Black said they had "co-operated fully with the department's inquiries".

"The ALP has attempted to have these private family matters investigated for quite some time," he said. "The department, to my understanding from a conversation this morning, will not be prosecuting on any of the matters referred by (Logan MP John) Mickel."

The investigation related to the Blacks' involvement in the sale of a $2.25 million property belonging to an old, sick friend, of whom Hajnal Black (nee Ban) was the power-of-attorney. The Courier-Mail has been told it is still ongoing….

Local Government Minister Paul Lucas said the process was completely independent and challenged Cr Sean Black to take the matter further if he thought it was politically motivated.

"Sean Black has been in more political parties than I've had hot dinners and has managed to cultivate enemies in all of them," Mr Lucas said.

"If Cr Black has issues with process, he is more than welcome to follow other processes, but he won't - he'd much rather sling mud."

ABC Premium News, 31 March 2009:

A Logan councillor insists he will still be able to do his job despite being banned from face-to-face contact with council staff.

Logan Mayor Pam Parker says Councillor Sean Black will only be allowed in council buildings under strict supervision.

Councillor Black will continue representing Logan's Division Four but will be supervised by security when attending Council meetings.

The decision to restrict his movements came after numerous complaints from council staff of abusive behaviour and harassment.

Councillor Parker says there has also been a workers compensation claim lodged for bullying against Councillor Black.

"He has been apologetic for this, he's been apologetic many times for his behaviour," she said.

She say his behaviour cannot be tolerated.

"It's not every day you get a councillor yelling screaming, swearing and showing displays of uncontrollable anger in the work force," she said.

"We have a duty of care and legal liability to protect our staff from this sort of behaviour."

Councillor Black says he did get frustrated and yell and swear at his colleagues but denies he bullied staff.