Windows Error Message #2008

Who's got the power?

Australia at night from a NASA perspective.

Taken from a composite of images called Earth Lights

Compared to the rest of the globe, Australia appears to use a relatively small amount of night lighting.

However, considering that only 21 million plus people can be seen so clearly from space in this way, it seems that Australia is still using far too much electrical power.

Have you turned off the lights yet?

Full Earth image here.

Things really must be crook in Tallarook if Rees and Borger are ripping off pensioners to this degree

The NSW Government budgetary bottom line really must be crook, if Premier Rees and Minister for Housing David Borger are turning a blind eye while Community Housing parts pensioners from a big slice of their meagre Centrelink benefits.
All in the name of propping up the government's own underfunding of the public rental sector.

In October this year I posted news that rent for community housing pensioner tenants living alone might increase by up to $33 minimum a fortnight.
Because according to the NSW Federation of Housing Associations:
"The government rent policy determining how community housing rents are set has changed. Community housing rents for new tenants have risen from July 1. Most of this increase will be offset by an increase in the tenant's entitlement to Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA). Existing tenants' rents will increase following their next scheduled rent review.
The new rents will be calculated based on a combination of 25% of 'assessable' household income, 15% of Family Tax Benefit, and 100% of Commonwealth Rent Assistance Entitlements (as long as the new rent is not more than market rent).
The new rent will mean a net increase in housing costs (after taking the increase in CRA into account) for most current tenants. This will be phased in over a number of years.
While the Federation welcomes the general approach to ensure stronger income streams which will allow associations to provide more housing opportunities for future tenants, we have expressed strong concerns to government about the impact on current tenants."

Seems pretty straightforward doesn't it?
However there is a small problem with such a plan and it quickly became evident - greed on a large scale.

According The Greens MLC Sylvia Hale:
"A pensioner contacted me today. He had received a letter, saying
that a change in Government policy means his rent will go up by $32 a
fortnight from July 1.
On the NSW North Coast the news is worse - it is leading to a December 2008 rent increase for some single pensioners of at least $105 a fortnight.

How is this coming about?
One has to imagine that the North Coast Community Housing Company doesn't realise that it can't arbitrarily decide to artificially inflate a pensioner's current total income (in some cases by between $79-$100 per fortnight) thereby inflating rent calculations.
Just so that further down the line the company can hopefully get its avaricious hands on the maximum amount allowed for individual Commonwealth Rent Assistance entitlement.

The wheels really fall of this greed wagon when single pensioners find that Centrelink will not always pay them the maximum rent assistance - yet North Coast Community Housing is still expecting them to find an additional $23-79 per fortnight out of their own threadbare pockets to meet any shortfall between what Centrelink will pay and the company's own strange rent assistance calculations.

Of course, for many tenants, this over-the-top rent increase comes just four days after the Federal Government's one-off Centrelink payment to retirees, returned servicemen, old age and disability support pensioners, families, carers etc.
Co-incidence? I wouldn't bet on it.
It seems this Christmas will not be as flush and worry-free as Kevin Rudd had planned for those living on or under the poverty line.
At least not in New South Wales while Scrooge Rees and Co. reign.

The Office of Community Housing (OCH) accepts complaints about:
"A community housing organisation or a resourcing agency (including conduct of staff, policies, procedures and processes, the board or employees)."
I'm told that the complaints have already begun and if community housing tenants in the region realise that they are being used in a clumsy corporate attempt to 'diddle' the Commonwealth, I expect that OCH may see a higher level of complaints in the next few months.
Especially when it is borne upon tenants that the daft mental arithmetic used by their community housing 'landlord' leaves them in many cases receiving less rent assistance than has been calculated on paper to inflate their rents.

The jungle drums are beating along the Northern Rivers and I'm told that in the 2007-08 financial year North Coast Community Housing paid out over $20,000 in Board expenses and at least $12,400 in directors fees - the seven board members granting themselves about $200 for every time they turned up at monthly meetings.
It seems they are a lot more understanding of their own financial circumstances than they are of the circumstances of the company's many pensioner tenants.

Office of Community Housing rental policy here.
Brotherhood of St. Lawrence poverty line August 2007 update here:





Click on image to expand

Cheezburgered!

Now that young cat looks a lot quieter than the possum in industrial work boots that is currently tap dancing across my patio in the early hours of the morning.

It's just like the movie - we've got cows!

Photo from the Byron Shire Echo

For the first time in at least thirty years a dairy opened on Big River farm at Southgate in the Clarence Valley and a Herdshare dairy co-op has been established at Byron Bay.

It has been along time between milkings for the NSW North Coast, with dairy farm numbers steadily shrinking since the 1970s and the river butter boats an even more distant memory.

The Nationals are revolting!

We've seen how Truffles Turnbull has managed to turn a positive outlook pear-shaped before now.
The last attempt to get a republic up and running being a case in point.
So it did nothing but place a silly grin on my phiz when I read that Turnbull was at it again, and that the Nationals (supported by the Libs) were revolting against his political stage direction.

Kicking over the traces on cabon sinks and infrastructure.

An unnamed Coalition senator unburdening to The Australian placed a finger on the problem:
‘’He’s trying to run things too much like a business, giving out an order like a CEO and then expecting it to be followed,’’.

What all this shows is that his colleagues have finally woken up to the fact that there is nothing for which Truffles will die in a ditch, unless it affects his own ego or personal income.
And someone has to be prepared to contemplate dying in that metaphorical ditch, if rural and regional Australia (and areas like the Northern Rivers) are going to avoid being shoved aside by the big cities and their sprawling suburbia.

So the last word goes to the Nationals Senator Boswell:
“Last night’s Senate vote shows that rural Australia remains a force to be reckoned with on the national political stage,”“Those who ignore the interests of the bush will pay a political price."

Saturday's look at 2008 JADA art acquisitions

John Philippides has taken out the major prize with his drawing entitled Portrait 2. The work is a portrait of the artist’s mother who has been the subject of many of John’s works. The artist lives and works from his home at Leura in the Blue Mountains of NSW.

The $15,00 in acquisitions were Peter Bellew, Tuncester Track, Godwin Bradbeer, Man in a Squared Space, Sussie Heymans, Sequence, Anne Judell, Zone and Gosia Wlodarczak, Crumpled.

The winning work and acquisitions will join the Grafton Regional Gallery JADA Collection which contains an impressive selection of Australian drawing and is added to exclusively through the award every two years. This years winner also has the added prestige of winning the award on its 20th anniversary.
JADA will be on exhibition from 24 October to 5 December at the Gallery followed by a tour to eight regional and metropolitan galleries throughout 2009 and in early 2010.

Click to enlarge

A bloke's gonna be sorry he said that

A link to last week's media release from Monsanto Australia was sent to me the other day.

In it this daft farmer from Borowa, Geoff Mason is quoted at length, in fact the entire release is all about Geoff and his luuurv for GM corn.

"It's stems are as strong as tree trunks. I'm impressed with the way it stands up. It'd take a cyclone to blow it down."

Yeah mate, and out Borowa way the flyers are so big that a horse and rider will travel 3 days before getting back out of that pouch they accidentally rode into.

Pic comes from Wikimedia.