Saturday 23 January 2010
Friday 22 January 2010
The Nationals Murray Lees gone after four DUI convictions
In the Tweed Daily News yesterday: MURRAY Lees has resigned from his position as Tweed National Party chairman after being convicted of his fourth drink-driving offence at Murwillumbah Local Court yesterday.
Read the rest here.
Well, that's one blessing in an election year - Mr. Lees' style of election campaigning was always one of the more annoying aspects of NSW North Coast politics.
Lismore Community Garden is underway and wants to help you learn how to produce a bumper crop
The Lismore Community Garden at 50 Brewster Street is a joint project of Rainbow Region Community Farms Inc and the Northern Rivers Social Development Council, funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health & Ageing and land supplied by Lismore City Council for the establishment of an urban community garden benefiting all Lismore residents. Ground was seriously broken at the beginning of December 2009 and numerous training events will be held this year.
So if you live in the Lismore area and are interested learning about healthy food and sustainable productive gardening, here is the timetable for on-site training from early February to early July 2010:
For more information contact Linda 02 6620 1815 or Carla 0400 680 300 or Donna 02 6620 1800.
Vegetable & Fruit photograph from Google Images
Journalist discovers that Tony Abbott is a living example of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
I once read a very simple explanation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle applied to quantum mechanics which went something like this - you can make predictions about how x will behave over the long run but you can never say how x will behave over the short run.It looks as though Jacob Saulwick from The Sydney Morning Herald is discovering that about Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
I split my sides over "Pole-asked: Why Abbott gets in a muddle about middle Australia":
"Abbott, therefore, spokesman for John Howard and now Leader of the Opposition, tells us that if you are a certain type of person, he will not be informing you that you are in the wrong. You could be up a pole, starving yourself, on an argument of dubious merit. You could be convinced that rising carbon dioxide emissions are good for the environment. But if you broadly identify as ''Middle Australia'', you'll mostly hear what you want to hear.
A corollary in much of what Abbott says is that if you are that certain type of person, you will not be imposed upon. You will not be hit with taxes or restrictions on living the life that you want. No, if the government does intrude into your life, it will be to entice you with incentives and encouragement.
This argument sets the Coalition up to harangue any suggestions for tax reform that come out of the Henry review in the coming months. It also begs the question of how it will pay for its incentives and encouragements.
And the third, and related, idea is that if this pitch to middle Australia throws up internal contradictions, then let's not spend time worrying about them........
But don't you want to plant more trees to soak up carbon dioxide? Isn't that going to be part of your climate change policy? Never mind."
Yep, there's no doubt about it - teh Mad Monk is set to say and do anything (go in four different directions at once if necessary) to get himself into Australia's driving seat. But in the long run he's bound to revert to all those regressive 1950's values and discredited political strategies he shares with John Howard and the country will be stuft.
Thursday 21 January 2010
Australia Day celebrations on the NSW North Coast 24-26 January 2010
Clarence Valley Australia Day 2010 Awards CeremonyEvent Begins at: 10:00 AM
Event Ends at: 12:30 PM
The Event is on: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
The Event will be Held at: Nip Welsh Park, Minnie Water
Event Type: Awards & Presentation, Citizenship Ceremony, Family Fun Day, Food & BBQ's, Music & Entertainment, Novelty Events, Official Ceremonies
This Event is Suitable for: Matured, Family, Disabled Access
Best Vantage Point is: Minnie Water
Getting there: Parking located close by
Event Web Site: http://www.clarence.nsw.gov.au/
Coffs Harbour - Australia Day 2010 Celebrations
The day commences at 8.30 am with a Flag Raising Ceremony at the Cenotaph in Vernon Street. Morning tea is being held from 9.00 am in the Blue Room at the Coffs Harbour Ex-Services Club in Vernon Street. New citizens registration takes place during this time. The Citizenship and Award Ceremonies commence at 10.00 am in the Grand Auditorium of the Coffs Ex-Services Club.
Event Begins at: 8:30 AM
Event Ends at: 12:30 PM
The Event is on: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Event Web Site: http://www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/
Richmond Valley - Australia Day 2010 Celebrations
Event Begins at: 9:45 AM
Event Ends at: 4:00 PM
The Event is on: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
The Event will be Held at: Ellengowan
Event Type: Art & Exhibitions, Awards & Presentation, Competitions, Family Fun Day, Flag Raising , Food & BBQ's, Music & Entertainment, Novelty Events, Official Ceremonies
This Event is Suitable for: Kids (6-9), Teenagers (14-18), Children (10-13), Adults, Matured, Family
Best Vantage Point is: Paddocks around hall
Event Web Site: http://www.visitrichmondvalley.com.au/
Tweed Shire - Australia Day 2010
Main Event Begins at: 10:30 AM
Event Ends at: 1:30 PM
The Event is on: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
The Event will be Held at: Burringbar Primary School Event Type: Awards & Presentation, Citizenship Ceremony, Official Ceremonies
This Event is Suitable for: Tots (<5), Kids (6-9), Teenagers (14-18), Young Adults (19-30), Children (10-13), Adults, Family, Disabled Access
Best Vantage Point is: next to Burringbar Sports Grounds
Getting there: past the Burringbar Village
Event Web Site: http://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/
2010 Tweed Village Celebrations
Event Begins at: 7:00 AM
Event Ends at: 8:00 PM
The Event is on: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
The Event will be Held at: Villages across the Tweed Shire
Event Type: Family Fun Day
This Event is Suitable for: Tots (<5), Kids (6-9), Teenagers (14-18), Young Adults (19-30), Children (10-13), Adults, Family, Disabled Access
Event Web Site: http://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/
Bellingen - Australia Day 2010 Celebrations
Event Begins at: 7:30 AM
Event Ends at: 3:00 PM
The Event is on: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
The Event will be Held at: Dorrigo
Event Type: Art & Exhibitions, Awards & Presentation, Citizenship Ceremony, Family Fun Day, Flag Raising , Food & BBQ's, Music & Entertainment, Novelty Events, Official Ceremonies
This Event is Suitable for: Family, Disabled Access
Best Vantage Point is: Hickory Street
Getting there: Free Bus from Urunga, Mylestom, Bellingen
Event Web Site: http://www.bellingen.nsw.gov.au/
Lismore - Australia Day 2010
Citizenship Ceremony
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Time: 8.30am
Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre, 50 OLIVER AVENUE
Beginning with a Welcome to Country by local Aboriginal elders.
Other activities include Flag Raising, Address by Australia Day Ambassador Craig Foster, presentation of Australia Day Awards and musical entertainment.
The celebrations will be followed by Morning Tea when you will have an opportunity to meet Craig Foster.
For further information contact Council on 1300 87 83 87
Kyogle - Australia Day 2010 Celebrations
Kyogle & Woodenbong Celebrations will be held at Woodenbong Hall on 26 January 2010.
Formal proceedings commence from 9.15 am, presentation of awards together with a showcase of local students performing.
Free lunch available including spit roast rolls, sandwiches, cakes, tea coffee & cool drinks.
Weather permitting, a fun afternoon of Cricket at the Woodenbong Recreation Ground—all welcome.
Contact Chris 66305900.
West of the Range Celebrations will be held in Tabulam at the Racecourse commencing 10.00 am.
Lots of fun for the family with jumping castles, street stalls, sumo wrestling,
BBQ and award ceremony
Ph: Neville O’Malley 0427 285 144 for more information.
Byron Bay - Australia Day Paddle 2010
The Australia Day Paddle January 26 2010
Wategos Beach at 10am Two courses – the original 2.2km course as well as a 6.5km course for the more serious paddler.
Seven divisions for men and women:
Nipper paddle boards
Surfboards up to 7'
Surfboards 7'1" to 9'
Surfboards 9'1" to 10'
Open divisions:
Stand-up paddle boards
Racing skis
Ballina - Australia Day Celebrations 2010
Fawcett Park, Ballina at 9am January 26
Ballina Shire Concert Band performing and East Ballina Lions Club serving a barbecue breakfast.
Official proceedings will begin at 10am with the flag-raising ceremony, followed by the Citizenship ceremony and the Australia Day award ceremony.
Bangalow - Flickerfest 2010
19th International Short Film Festival
22rd - 24th January 2010 - A&i Hall, Bangalow
Screening: International 1 on Friday night
International 2 on Saturday night
Best Of Australian Shorts on Sunday night
Doors: 7.30pm each night - Films start: 8.30pm Tickets(available @door):
Friday: $20/15conc includes Opening Night Party with Jameson whiskey, Coopers beer, Rosnay organic wine & Phoenix drinks.
Sat or Sun: $15/10ea
Festival Pass: $35/30con
www.flickerfest.com.au
Say again - you did what??
A friend sent me a link to Just Answer Law (Ask an Australia Law Question, Get an Answer ASAP!) which had me wondering where on earth some people park their common sense as they grab the keys and decide to take a little ride on the NSW North Coast.
I was riding my un-registered, unregisterable mottorbike with no bike lisence. I was pulled up by a police officer on yamba rd and he let me off with a warning. One month later I received 3 fines in the mail, all adding up to over $1500. All fines stated that I was done riding on "Angourie rd". All i know is that I was pulled over by an officer on yamba rd and given a warning, I get fines saying I was riding on "angourie rd", when i was never pulled over by an officer, let alone ever riding on that angourie rd. I have sent the fines back so the matter can be resolved in court. Please let me know what you think.
Who's driving drunk on our roads?
When the subject of driving while on the turps comes up at my local watering hole quite a few fellow greybeards immediately start pointing a finger at young drivers.Now if there's one thing northern NSW is known for it's the imbalance between age groups in the local population - with the number of older people steadily growing over the years and those in the late teens to twenties thin on the ground in towns and villages because many are moving away to get steady work .
So who exactly is responsible for the high number of drink-drivers on our North Coast roads?
Well a clue or two can be found in The Daily Examiner piece on 17th September 2009 when it reported that the Coffs-Clarence Area Command district had twice the state average of recorded driving under the influence nabs by police.
That works out as about 1 in every 75 drivers pulled over clearly testing positive for over-the-limit alcohol consumption.
But are they mostly youngies?
Nup and they're not tourists either.
Of the 49 drink-drivers mentioned in that newspaper since the very end of August 2009 up to last Monday, a whopping 33 of these drivers were between 30 and 68 years of age (half of these were middle aged and older).
They clearly trounced the young when it came to being caught with a skinful and accounted for all the high range PCAs highlighted.
Only 8 of the 49 drivers could be definitely tagged as tourists.
So the next time a mate at the bar starts mouthing off about the trouble with the young generation - tell him to pull his head in and watch how much he's knocking back himself.
Pic from Google Images
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Like a bad smell on the bottom of your shoe some editors continue to reek long after
When Peter Chapman resigned as editor of The Daily Examiner at Grafton on the NSW North Coast to move to a similar position with the Frazer Coast Chronicle in Queensland, the Clarence Valley almost seemed to echo with a collective sigh of relief.Still, when one leaves a job after less than fifteen months, with more than a few locals giving you a here's-your-hat-what's-your-hurry send-off, it would appear that there is an intermittent urge to revisit - like an itch you just can't satisfactorily scratch.
Therefore every so often, rather like that sudden bad smell on the bottom of your shoe, the former editor unexpectedly turns up on a page in The Daily Examiner.
This time in a letter to the editor on 16 January 2010, bemoaning the fact that his favourite small time developers did not have costs awarded to them in the NSW Land & Environment Court and using his letter to lobby against the re-election of five Clarence Valley shire councillors.
Chapman's huge ego knows no bounds.
Perhaps he should return to complaining about local government in the new home town, his weight, past hangovers, the price of a good steak, or upsetting the locals as he has been doing in the Fraser Coast Chronicle since at least 12 September 2009 and cease taking defensive pot shots elsewhere because he can't make a editorial sow's ear into a silk purse no matter how hard he might try.
When Japan hunts adult whales in the Southern Ocean this is what can be left to die
Photograph taken by Kate Westaway & found in The Sun
This is a very young Humpback Whale still reliant on its mother.
The Government of Japan is yet to give an unequivocal assurance that its whaling fleet operating in the Antarctic does not leave calves like this to die when it takes their mothers for meat.
- Background article The Japan Times: Whaling — for nationalism or science?
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Australia's 2009 greenhouse gas emissions report card shows good intentions are never enough to drive meaningful change
Although government and the media are inclined to place a very positive spin on these figures from The Climate Group's Greenhouse Indicator Annual Report 2009:Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia and Australian Petroleum Use and Emissions Annual Report 2009, one has to wonder what Australia's total greenhouse gas emission levels are given that two states and one territory are missing from the electricity calculations (the Australian Capital Territory appears to be included with NSW).
What the national petroleum and electricity production and consumption profile suggests is that Australia spent 2009 merely marking time in relation to her total national greenhouse gas emissions, given that this year's figures come off the back of a national estimated increase of 553 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or 1.1 per cent, in 2008 and an energy sector increase of 42 per cent from 1990 to 2007, and by another 1.5 per cent in 2008 according to the Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water in June 2009 and the east coast's total 2008 greenhouse gas emissions were 19 per cent higher than in 2000.
Excerpts from the aforementioned The Climate Group documents:
2009 Results
Across Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia annual emissions were 5.3 million tonnes lower in 2009 than in 2008.
This is a fall of 1.8 per cent for the year.
The decrease was not uniform across all states.
Annual emissions in Victoria and Queensland registered the smallest relative reduction, with falls of 0.5 per cent (543,500 tonnes) and 1.1 per cent (852,210 tonnes) respectively.
Emissions in NSW and South Australia declined more substantially, down by 3.1 per cent (3,201,360 tonnes) and 4.2 per cent (730,210 tonnes) respectively.....
ElectricityAcross the four states the total electricity generated during 2009 was 1.9 per cent lower than 2008. Coal was responsible for 87.8 per cent of all scheduled electricity generation, down from 88.9 per cent the previous year.
The share of gas‐fired generation rose from 8.4 to 9.3 per cent and the share of renewable generation increased slightly from 2.7 to 2.8 per cent.
The overall greenhouse intensity of scheduled electricity generation remained virtually identical to 2008.
In 2009, greenhouse intensity of electricity generation was 0.9267 tonnes CO2e per MWh. In 2008, it was 0.9282 tonnes CO2e per MWh.
In Victoria, electricity demand fell by 2.0 per cent in 2009 compared with the previous year.
Generation from brown coal‐fired generators increased by 1.1 per cent, while 27 per cent less electricity was produced from gas.
A fall in demand combined with a smaller decline in generation meant that Victoria's net export of electricity to other States was 73 per cent higher in 2009 than in 2008.
About 4.6 per cent of electricity produced in Victoria was exported in 2009 compared with 2.6 per cent in 2008.
In NSW, electricity demand fell by 1.2 per cent in 2009.
Generation from black coal‐fired generators in NSW fell by 6.1 per cent with gas‐fired generation achieving a 191 per cent growth due to new power stations being commissioned.
However, this was coming off a very low base of 0.6 per cent of total generation in 2008, rising to 1.7 per cent of generation in 2009.
Net imports from other states grew by 61 per cent compared with 2008 levels representing 5.6 per cent of overall electricity demand in 2009, up from 3.4 per cent in 2008.
In Queensland, electricity demand grew by 1.5 per cent this year compared with 2008.
Generation from black coal‐fired generators fell by 3.0 per cent while gas‐fired generation increased by 16 per cent.
The net export of electricity to other states from Queensland was 24 per cent less than the amount exported in 2008. In 2009, Queensland exported 8.1 per cent of the electricity it generated, down from 10.5 per cent in 2008.
In South Australia, electricity demand increased by 0.1 per cent in 2009.
Generation from coal‐fired generators fell by 2.8 per cent while electricity produced from gas‐fired generation was 11.5 per cent lower, meaning that total generation fell by 4.3 per cent in 2009.
Subsequently, South Australia went from being a marginal net exporter of electricity in 2008 to a net importer in 2009.....
Petroleum
Total emissions from petroleum‐based fuels were 95.630 million tonnes across all four states.
In contrast to the previous year, 2009 has seen a decrease in sales of petroleum‐based fuels across all states, except in SA.
Victoria was the state that had the greatest fall in emissions from petroleum, with emissions falling by 2.1 per cent or 540,000 tonnes.
NSW and Queensland only recorded slight reductions of 0.2 and 0.3 per cent respectively.
South Australia was the only state to register and increase – a marginal rise of 3000 tonnes or 0.3 per cent.
These reductions in petroleum sales come despite positive population growth in each of the states, and growth in Gross State Product in each state.
Across the different types of petroleum‐based fuels, results were mixed. Diesel sales were up across all states except for in Victoria were they fell.
Petrol sales fell in Victoria and Queensland, remained the same in NSW and increased in South Australia.....
National Overview of Petroleum
During the 12 months from October 2008 to September 2009, the use of petroleum‐based fuels across Australia produced 120.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
This represents around 20 per cent of the Australia's total emissions.
This was a reduction of 1.6 million tonnes or 1.3 per cent on the previous 12 months and went some way to reversing a 2.9 per cent rise in emissions from petroleum based fuels between 2007 ‐ 08.
This decline in petroleum emissions occurred despite a rise in population of 2.1 per cent across the country.
The use of and resulting emissions from LPG, petrol, diesel and other fuels all fell this past year with the exception of aviation fuel, emissions from which saw a small growth of 0.1 per cent to 16.1 million tonnes .
It is likely that the fall in overall petroleum use and emissions is largely due to the global financial crisis, which has curtailed business and industrial growth, especially in heavy industry and resources sectors.
The GFC also affected consumer confidence....New South Wales emissions for the week ending 14 Jan 2010*:
1.972 million tonnes CO2e
This year to date: 3.808 million tonnes CO2
Last year to date: 3.699 million tonnes CO2
* NSW’s emissions from energy grew by 13% or 136,000 tonnes due mainly to an increase in emissions from coal-fired generation. Emissions from coal-fired electricity, which accounted for 85% of electricity generation in NSW this week, grew by 11% or 118,000 tonnes with a number of generation units coming online to meet the higher demand. Electricity demand grew by 14%. NSW imported 6% of its electricity demand from other states, compared to 11% last week. Emissions from gas grew by 25% or 24,000 tonnes. Emissions from petroleum products fell by 0.8% or 5,000 tonnes. This week’s Indicator is 3.8% higher than the same week in 2009 and total emissions to this stage of 2010 are 3.0% higher than the similar stage last year. This week’s Indicator is 29% above the average equivalent 1990 weekly emissions and 11% above the equivalent 2000 weekly average.
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