Tuesday 9 December 2014
The NBN roll out debacle continues on the NSW North Coast
Sunday 15 June 2014
That political buffoon masquerading as the NSW Nationals MP for Clarence strikes again
Wednesday 11 June 2014
NSW National Party must look after regional interests in proposed energy infrastructure sell-off, says Greens
Monday 17 March 2014
#MyBroadbandvReality: turning an online survey into an effective political tool
Along the way Noely et al demonstrated to the Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network that the Internet is not just used for downloading movies, playing games or looking at funny cat videos and, that ordinary people across the country use it in increasingly sophisticated ways:
Friday 6 December 2013
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK: Keeping copper wire in ground on coastal flood plains
Wednesday 23 October 2013
Sunday 15 September 2013
One petition signature every 3.5 seconds. Are you listening Malcolm Turnbull? We want Labor's NBN!
Sunday 25 August 2013
Australian Federal Election 2013: the hypocrisy is galling
Wednesday 14 August 2013
Hollow promise - Abbott announces $12M funding promise for Penrith Sports Centre which has already received this money from the Rudd Government
Wednesday 26 September 2012
Dowell, George and Saffin call for Telstra to invest in digital infrastructure for Lismore
Thursday 9 August 2012
One of the painful truths many on the North Coast and the rest of NSW have to live with
It is very clear that working Australians, pensioners, the sick, the aged, people who need the most help, the people Labor Governments are elected to represent. These are the people who are feeling the most pressure.
Meanwhile, some states, like New South Wales and Queensland, are doing very well out of this financially and their revenue from some electricity assets is growing much faster than in the private sector.......
Or in this state, New South Wales – nearly seventy per cent increases.
With half the extra cost due to increased network charges.
People are paying much more for the so-called “poles and wires” – not to produce electricity but just to move it around the system.
Sunday 22 January 2012
Pacific Highway upgrade at Urunga to start in 2013
Construction of a by-pass of Urunga is now expected to commence early next year.
Friday 12 August 2011
NBN mapping for NSW North Coast
Friday 17 June 2011
Saffin invites Inquiry Into The Operation Of The Insurance Industry During Disaster Events to hear evidence on the NSW North Coast
Media release from the office of Janelle Saffin, Federal Labor MP for Page, on Thursday 16 June 2011:
PAGE MP Janelle Saffin has welcomed a new inquiry into how the insurance industry responds to natural disasters, including floods, storms and bushfires regularly experienced by Northern Rivers residents.
Ms Saffin has wasted no time in inviting the House of Representatives Standing Committee Chair, Graham Perrett MP, to hold public hearings in her electorate during the second half of this year.
“Our region is frequently affected by floods, storms and bushfires, sometimes several times a year, and there always is a mountain of paper work and phone calls for policy-holders to navigate,” she said.
“Some of my constituents have been less than satisfied with their insurance companies’ handling of claims or unacceptably long delays in having those claims assessed and finalised.
“This new inquiry will provide the insurance industry and consumers will an opportunity to make submissions on how the system can be streamlined or improved.”
The inquiry will examine the insurance industry in respect to extreme weather events, which due to Climate Change, are becoming more common.
It will consider:
· The information provided to consumers about claims processing arrangements.
· The timeliness of claims processing.
· The impact of third-party consultants on timeframes for claims processing, and
· External and internal dispute resolution processes.
Ms Saffin urged policy-holders who had made a disaster-related claim in the past five years to participate in the Committee’s on-line survey by visiting www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/spla/insurance/index.htm
Full terms of reference for the inquiry can also be found at this website. Individuals and organisations are invited to make submissions to the inquiry by Friday, July 15, 2011.
----------------------------
This Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry is also conducting an online survey:To gauge community concerns relating to this inquiry, the Committee is conducting an online survey. The survey is targeting members of the community who have made a disaster-related claim on their insurance policies in the last 5 years.
Tell us about your experience of dealing with insurance companies in relation to disaster-related claims here.
Friday 20 May 2011
Oakeshott and Saffin tell O'Farrell it's time to get busy on the Pacific Highway upgrade
The Federal Government is committed to completing the job on the Pacific Highway by 2016 and, in fact, on 21 October 2010 during question time the Prime Minister gave that commitment. We will work with it every step of the way to finish the job—this missing link—on the Pacific Highway. [Andrew Stoner, NSW Nationals Leader, NSW Hansard 9 May 2011]
That O'Farrell post-Budget dummy spit on 12 May 2011 and Hartsuyker's recent silliness over federal funding for the Pacific Highway upgrade finds two NSW North Coast federal politicians less than amused.
Independent MP For Lyne Rob Oakeshott in the House of Representatives Hansard 12 May 2011:
This $1 billion of extra and new money into the Pacific Highway project does lay down a challenge. It reaches out to New South Wales to match that commitment in what has been traditionally a fifty-fifty funding agreement for what is a very important nation-building project. The challenge is there for the New South Wales government in its first budget after campaigning heavily on this issue, visiting sites such as the site of the Clybucca bus crash and making plenty of noise that it would commit to a 2016 completion date. It will not get there unless it matches the funding that was in the Commonwealth budget. Unless an extra $2 billion goes into this project, the Pacific Highway dual carriageway will not be completed by 2016......
Personally, I have done all that I can at my level to ensure full completion of this project by 2016. We should not sneeze at $1 billion of extra money. I have read comments over the last 48 hours from members of this chamber who are local members on this highway not only sneezing at this money—
I know the member for Page is not,is not, but there are some who are really trying to bag this project and the money going in. They should be focusing on the importance of this money to getting the job done......
I reach out to Barry O'Farrell to do the deal—let us get this project done. Through cooperation, let us do what former governments—state and federal, Labor and Liberal—have failed to achieve.
Labor MP for PageJanelle Saffin in a medai release on 19 May 2011:
I would have thought the State Government would have been cheering about this substantial new investment in the highway, but instead they appear to be baulking at the request for $750 million in matching NSW funding..
Just before the State Election, Nationals MP Andrew Stoner, then shadow Roads Minister, said ‘The NSW Liberals and Nationals would immediately fast track the upgrade of the Pacific Highway if elected in March.’
Just last month Mr Stoner, now Deputy Premier, said on ABC Radio: “Barry O’Farrell and I want to make sure that the State Government is a help and not a hindrance to finishing the job.....
The State National Party MPs must get their Liberal coalition partners to honour the commitment to this vital infrastructure.
This is not the time for hesitation from the State Government.
Tuesday 19 October 2010
Saffin tells Parliament 'Not a drop' from the Clarence River
Bravo to Federal Labor’s Janelle Saffin who really is in tune with her electorate in this 18 October 2010 media release.
Saffin tells Parliament -- ‘Not a drop’
PAGE MP Janelle Saffin made it clear on the first day of the Parliamentary session that she would be vigilant on protecting the Clarence River against water raiders.
Ms Saffin today told Parliament that a lot of people are talking about wanting to get their hands on water from the Clarence River.
But she said the message from the local community in response to those looking at river diversion under the Murray-Darling Basin plan is this – “Not a drop”.
“Engineering-wise, we can do anything -- we can do marvels -- but in terms of the environment and also the viability of the Clarence, it would be a disaster.
“The catchment area of the Clarence River falls within 100 kilometres of the New South Wales coastal strip.
“Our industries are fishing -- we have a huge commercial fishing industry -- and agriculture, and the economy is heavily underpinned by that commercial fishing.
“There is also forestry and tourism. It is all worth a lot to us.
“This debate is one of those debates that come up ever now and then.”
Ms Saffin said that right across her electorate thousands of cars display the ‘not a drop’ bumper stickers, part of a Daily Examiner campaign against Coalition water policy in 2007.
Following her statement in the House, Ms Saffin said she did not want to alarm people but she wanted to be up front on the first sitting day on this important issue.
“I also want to thank the local people who sent me good information on the issue this morning,” Ms Saffin said.
“The idea of diverting the Clarence River inland won’t stand up to closer public scrutiny.”
Monday 9 August 2010
Has Abbott joined the coastal river water raiders?
This is Tony Abbott speaking at the Official Coalition Election Campaign Launch on 8 August 2010:
NSW North Coast residents will no doubt recall that in 2006-07 the Howard Government (with Malcolm Turnbull as Water Minister) was actively exploring the possibility of damming and diverting fresh water from the Clarence River catchment and then piping this water into either the lower part of the Queensland section or the upper part of the New South Wales section of the Murray Darling Basin river system, with a view to providing water to inland irrigators, mines, power stations and, as an afterthought, to increase environmental flow.
Other North Coast rivers were also being considered by Howard, Turnbull and Anderson.
A brief history of proposals to raid the Clarence River catchment:
Clarence Valley Council Mayoral Minute CLARENCE RIVER DIVERSION, April 2007
Dam the Clarence? No Way? June 2007
Dam the neighbours, April 2007
Clarence River dam proposal slammed as deceptive, August 2009
Thursday 24 June 2010
As the road toll mounts we're still waiting, Kristina..........
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.
Photograph of 2007 Coffs Harbour area fatality at The Sydney Morning Herald (top left ) and 2010 Tabbimobile area fatalities at The Daily Examiner (bottom right)
Thursday 29 April 2010
Saffin and Page stay on track
Although one has to wonder if a wider regional rail service will ever come to pass given the lack of political will prevailing in the NSW Parliament.
The Northern Star on 24 April 2010:
A NEW train line linking Ballina with the Casino-Murwillumbah branch line will have to be built to help the Northern Rivers cope with its booming population, Ballina MP Don Page has said.
Mr Page said he would like to see a new train line running from Byron Bay to Ballina, taking in Lennox Head along the way, and then from Ballina to Lismore, taking in the plateau communities of Alstonville and Wollongbar, to help the region cope with massive growth expected between now and 2036.
The idea has won the support of Federal Page MP Janelle Saffin, who said she wanted itincluded in the integrated transport plan being developed for the region.
She said regular, affordable public transport, already a sore point in the region, was going to become critical as the region’s population grew and aged over the next 26 years.
“Transport is such a critical issue and I see it as becoming more important with the increasing of our population and of our senior population,” Ms Saffin said.
Government figures predict the Northern Rivers’ population will grow by about 70,000 between now and 2036, mostly between Ballina and the Tweed. At the same time, the population is expected to age dramatically, with the number of people aged 65 and over set to nearly treble in some areas, while the number of children aged 14 or under declines slightly.
Monday 12 April 2010
Daily Examiner editor issues another public invitation to NSW Premier Kristina Keneally
Last Friday The Daily Examiner editor, David Bancroft, expressed an opinion shared by many on the NSW North Coast:
IT'S a pity NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell had not arrived on the North Coast a little earlier yesterday to inspect the section of Pacific Highway between Ballina and Coffs Harbour that we believe needs urgent and major upgrading.
If he had, he would have been able to see for himself the carnage that happens all too regularly on this section of highway.
Sadly, another person lost their life on the highway yesterday and lives will continue to be lost until the entire section of the highway is divided carriageway.
Currently the NSW Government has no plans - at least for the next five years - to make any large sections of the highway in this area divided.
And while it remains undivided, vehicles will continue to crash head-on and innocent people will continue to die.
Mr O'Farrell missed his plane yesterday and arrived hours late for his tour. But at least he arrived.
The same cannot be said of the Premier, Kristina Keneally, who is still to accept an invitation from four North Coast mayors to join them on a tour of the highway.
Yesterday Mrs Keneally was in Dubbo opening the headquarters of the State Water Corporation.
There is no doubt the Premier is a busy woman and that there may have been a long-standing commitment to open the headquarters.
But the mayors have left their invitation completely open-ended and will agree to meet the Premier anytime that suits her.
Being Premier involves more than smiling photo opportunities ... sometimes it means getting out and facing some of the more problematic issues in the community.
And there can't be anything that is a greater problem then people dying needlessly on our roads.
Come on Mrs Keneally, it's time to come and have a look at the highway for yourself.
Man dead after car, truck collide The crash happened on a straight section of the Pacific Highway on an overtaking lane near the Iluka turn-off last Thursday.