A now defunct Port Macquarie newspaper gets caught out in yet another conflict of interest

The Port Paper shutdown with suspicious alacrity once its connection to The National Party of Australia began to surface.

However, even the quoted paragraph below by The Poll Bludger  on 27 August 2011 and the earlier 
allegations of push polling do not explain why the newspaper’s owner/s folded their tent so quickly or why there appears to be deliberate obfuscation over the company name.

In other poll news, a fortnightly Port Macquarie-based publication called The Port Paper has published results from an automated phone poll conducted by ReachTEL in Rob Oakeshott’s electorate of Lyne showing support for Rob Oakeshott at just 14.8 per cent, against 55.3 per cent for the Coalition and 17 per cent for Labor. This has raised eyebrows on a number of counts. Firstly, the question on voting intention was the last of three put to respondents, after attitudinal questions on carbon tax and pokies reforms (both of which were strongly opposed), which is commonly recognised in the polling caper as the wrong way to get an accurate response. Secondly, the principals behind The Port Paper are very strongly associated with the Nationals. And thirdly, Bernard Keane in Crikey today relates that ReachTEL “proudly announced it was an associate member of Clubs Qld, which has this year been campaigning aggressively against the Andrew Wilkie-led poker machine reform push. The Port Paper story fails to disclose that.”

Perhaps that grave acronym ICAC being publicly coupled with a certain NSW O’Farrell Government Minister (who joined the Solar Bonus Scheme at the then optimum kilowatt hour pricing and whose own electorate abuts Port Macquarie) is what routed this supposedly independent publication - given an associate of the newspaper is also reportedly a policy adviser to this same minister.

The close proximity of yet another Nationals MP (whose electoral office is only approximately four street corners away from the newspaper office and who is a Facebook friend of The Port Paper editor and its website registration contact person aka ministerial policy advisor) probably didn’t smooth the feathers of the publishing company’s handful of unidentified shareholders either.

One has to wonder if they are also connected to the National Party in some manner, as The Port Paper paper often reads like those political campaign leaflets or MP newsletters not uncommonly found in NSW North Coast letter boxes.

At least one of the newspaper's advertisers (also quoted in a prominent anti-Oakeshott article) may possibly be one of these shareholders.

Sunday Snaps

Debrah Novak Untitled

Anna Calvert Clarence River Grafton NSW

John Nalder Reflective Sunset Hat Head NSW

Pet Census

Are you disappointed that the latest census didn't ask about your furry, feathery or scaly friends?
Pet Census 2011 enables some pet owners to provide their loved ones' details, but lovers of goats, handlers of snakes and riders of horses will be disappointed to know they are excluded from the census and can't fill out the form at www.petcensus.com.au .
Sadly, only cats and dogs are included in the census.



The Pet Census is commissioned by Petplan Australasia Pty Ltd which states the census seeks to explore four main areas relating to human-animal relationship, namely, health, finance, social relations and family life. Whilst Australians are already known to be a nation of animal lovers, the findings may show that pets actually play their part in a 'big society' with proof that pets make us more compassionate, happier, healthier and more sociable.

Reminder: Monday 5 September is the last opportunity for people to submit that other Census form online using eCensus. That Census is compulsory for everyone who was in Australia on Census night, Tuesday, 9 August 2011.

Been wondering why Tony Abbott appears to be enthusiastically treading the Republican Tea Party path? Well wonder no more...

He may not quite have the full hang of it yet, but the not-so-honourable Tony Abbott MHR has obviously caught sight of a Tea Party aktion cheat sheet and for months has been happily whipping up angry wingnuts wherever he can find them.

Perhaps his decision to turn political debate into a mindlessly ugly experience can be found among those U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks.

In September 2006 Liberal Party Federal Director Brian Loughnane was considered a Protected Source by the U.S. Embassy in Canberra and was busy telling with the Yanks that; “the close ties between President Bush and Howard where reflected in the similarly strong ties between the Australian Liberal and U.S. Republican parties.”

Yamba is invited to Playing for Change community busking event on 17 September 2011

PLAY A SONG. BUILD A SCHOOL.
CHANGE THE WORLD.

The 1st annual PLAYING FOR CHANGE DAY – on September 17, 2011 – is a global day of action where musicians of all varieties perform on stages, cafés, city squares, and street corners worldwide and raise money to bring music into the lives of young people.

This year's event carries the theme Power to the People, drawing its inspiration from the spirit of John Lennon's activism, thanks to the gracious support of Playing For Change's mission by Theatre Within and Yoko Ono. Proceeds raised will support the work of the Playing For Change Foundation and Theatre Within – to help build music schools, strengthen music and arts education, support teachers and performances, purchase instruments, and connect schools to promote cross-cultural learning and conflict resolution.

Debrah Novak has invited every local with music in their hearts to participate:

I would like to personally invite Yamba to participate in the inaugural global event ‘Playing For Change’ on the 17^th of September simply because the Lower Clarence oozes extreme talent! You know we do…………well you all know how musical I am with my SAMBA shakers!

It is a global day of action using music.

This event will be for one hour and I am inviting musicians of all shapes and sizes to turn up an play. I have spoken with council and I have the responsibility of taking out a buskers license and calling it Debrah Novak & friends. This covers us for insurance! (Thanks CVC)

It will be an un plugged music jamming session where everyone is welcome to join in.

There will be a hat for people to through money into. Money raised goes to the ‘Playing for Change Foundation’. Money raised goes to third world countries to buy kids musical instruments.

Here are the two websites about the event.

http://playingforchange.com/

http://www.playingforchangeday.org/

Venue: Yamba Fish and Chip corner

Time: 7pm till 8pm

Date: 17^th September 2011

Wet weather venue TBA.

This is the first heads up. The only reason I have put my hand up to run this event was when I looked at the number of global events celebrating this day there was only one in Australia and that was in Brisbane. We are the lucky country with amazing talented people, we can do better than that!

Debrah Novak Photography & Media Services  

p: 0266 46 1 174 | m: 0419 272 621 | e: dnovak@phonestar.net.au

Even more publicity for John X Berlin

A community service notice

For the benefit of its readers, especially those who missed last week's papers, The Daily Examiner's free weekly paper Coastal Views gives Maclean identity John X Berlin another prominent mention in an opinion piece on page 2.

Source: Coastal Views, 2/9/11

'Nigerian' email scam with a twist

There's no doubt about those scamsters. You have to take your hat off and acknowledge the lengths they are prepared to go to in order to assist good folk being fleeced.
The latest one to cross my desk didn't ask me to provide my details
(you know, all the important stuff like my bank account and drivers licence) via email.
Oh, no, this one provided me with their phone number so I could call them and hand the details over directly. That's what I call courtesy with a capital 'C'.

See scam email here.

The Australian Press Council has released preliminary data about the numbers and

outcomes of complaints considered by it during the year 2010-11.

Highlights include:

• The number of complaints considered by the Council rose by 7% to a total of 437 (excluding 129 which were outside its jurisdiction or were referred elsewhere).

• Mediation or adjudication by the Council achieved remedies for complainants in 194 cases.

• Mediated remedies included 98 apologies, retractions, corrections or similar action. In another 36 cases the newspaper agreed to publish a response by the complainant.

• Where mediation failed and the matter went for adjudication by the Council, 71% of complaints were upheld.

• This proportion of upheld complaints compares with 43% in the previous year and an average of 46% over the preceding decade.

• All adjudications by the Council were published in the newspaper or magazine to which they related, although not always with due prominence.

Further details are available on the Council’s website.

Information about types of complaint and other aspects will be provided in the Council’s Annual Report later this year.

For further information or comment by the Council's Chair, Prof Julian Disney, contact:

Derek Wilding (Director, Standards)

02-9261-1930; 0425-242-401; derek.wilding@presscouncil.org.au

A chat room lesson for the inner 3 year-old

The Power Index on 31^st August 2011:

“chat room user has managed to force mining company Voyager into a trading halt. User Ronny2011 reported a fake drilling result for one of the company's projects in Mongolia on internet forum HotCopper, forcing the company into a trading halt last Friday. On Monday this week, the company released a statement confirming the announcement was false and unauthorised……What could have been a little joke for Ronny2011 could now result in him or her being charged with fraud – their IP address has been forwarded by HotCopper to ASIC for further investigation.”

Good riddance of bad rubbish

The Port Paper is closing its doors today ... how sad! Not too many tears will be shed over that bit of information.
The paper, which paraded under a banner of so-called independence, has been nothing but a mouth piece for local National Party stooges.

North coast employer steals employees' superannuation

Warning to employees:
Check your payslips and contact your super fund

Sadly, yet another group of workers have discovered their boss hadn't been forwarding their superannuation to their super fund. The boss used the old trick of showing workers' super payments on their pay slips but then not forwarding those amounts to their super fund. Hmmmm, the ATO moves quickly to ensure taxation payments arrive promptly but (and this is speaking with first-hand experience) it doesn't give a flying fig about ensuring super payments are always sent. And the ATO does have that responsibility!

Today's Northern Star reports
Former staff of the We 'R' Kids childcare centre in Casino are furious their former employer had not paid their superannuation for up to five years.

In a further blow the workers appear to have lost all their entitlements.

Gathering in Casino yesterday to meet with employment advisers and others to consider their next move, the former staff said they were still in shock following the sudden closure of the centre on Friday. The centre was placed into liquidation with parent company, 888 Aust Investments Pty Ltd, racking up debts totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Marlene Agresta was a former assistant at the centre who said although superannuation payments were reported on her pay slips, the funds had not been transferred to her superannuation fund since the company took over the business in 2006. She also said former staff were owed two weeks pay, which was due next Tuesday.

"We could have had two weeks pay to keep us going, but we didn't even get that - it's really slack," Mrs Agresta said.

Former employee Liz Parry said she had no idea what her next move would be, but said she would consider applying for a Centrelink payment until she found another job.

"But that is something I will leave as a last resort. I want to work, I am not the kind of person to sit around doing nothing," she said.

The whereabouts of former 888 Australia Investments Pty Ltd director James Zhang was unknown. Mr Zhang returned to China last year and has been virtually out of contact since.

Calculating the emotional and mental health cost of global climate change

Excerpts from The Climate Institute’s August 2011 twenty-eight page report A Climate of Suffering: The Real Costs of Living with Inaction on Climate Change:

Scientists warn that a failure to reverse rising carbon pollution levels will see Australia’s inherently moody climate become even more volatile. With inaction or delay on pollution comes a sharp rise in the frequency, intensity and extent of heatwaves, bushfires and drought, as well as more torrential downpours, and tropical storms with increasing ferocity.2

The damage caused by a changing climate is not just physical. Recent experience shows extreme weather events also pose a serious risk to public health, including mental health and community wellbeing, with serious flow-on consequences for the economy and wider society.3 ……….

·         Following a severe weather event, a significant part of the community—as many as one in five4—will suffer the debilitating effects of extreme stress, emotional injury and despair. Unabated, a more hostile climate will spell a substantial rise in the incidence of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression — all at great personal suffering and, consequently, social and economic cost.

·         The emotional and psychological toll of disasters can linger for months, even years, affecting whole families, the capacity for people to work and the wellbeing of the community. Higher rates of drug and alcohol misuse, violence, family dissolution, and suicide are more likely to follow more extreme weather events. Evidence is beginning to emerge that drought and heat waves lead to higher rates of self-harm and suicide, as much as 8 per cent5 higher.

·         Mental illness is already the second largest contributor to the disease burden in Australia. In any given year, one in five Australians suffers from a mental disorder of some kind, potentially making millions of people more vulnerable to mental ill-health in an increasingly hostile climate.6

·         The treatment and management of mental health problems already costs taxpayers over $5 billion per year,7 while the cost in lost productivity is estimated at another $2.7 billion8—costs set to rise in a changing climate. Mental health problems also tend to coalesce with economic and social ones, meaning that the overall toll is likely to be larger still.

·         Employment and cost-of-living impacts usually precede a mental health toll: in the recent drought, for example, 2004 figures indicate that around one in four rural workers had lost their job—about 100,000 agricultural workers, contractors and those employed in allied businesses.9 By 2007, prolonged dry conditions had eroded Australians’ quality of life, in dollar terms, to the tune of approximately $5.4 billion.10 At the same time, the cost of the average grocery bill for all Australian households rose 12 per cent;11 stark evidence of the affect on the cost of living by extreme weather events and a foretaste of worse to come without action on climate change.

·         Rural, regional, remote and peri-urban communities are particularly exposed in a deteriorating climate. Climate change compounds the chronic difficulties and inequities that already face many communities—Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous. Already, many parts of the country find it hard to recruit dedicated health care and social service professionals. Climate change will almost certainly increase the demand for social support and mental health services and, at the same time, make it harder to sustain them in affected areas.

·         Climate change will render already stressful resource-use conflicts—like those in the Murray-Darling Basin—even more volatile and damaging to the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

·         In the long term, there is a heightened risk of stress and tension amongst both newcomers and their host communities as people are forced to move permanently and en masse in response to a rapidly shifting climate. The loss of a sense of place—particularly for Indigenous peoples—may magnify and complicate the mental and emotional pressures.

·         Children, in particular, are vulnerable to pre-disaster anxiety and post-trauma illness. Adults’ failure to act on climate change may, like the indecision that perpetuated the Cold War, lead to long-lived insecurity and anxiety in young people.

·         Even for those not directly affected by an extreme weather event, news of loved ones lost or property damaged, together with the sheer the enormity of disasters like the Queensland floods—often magnified by media coverage—can be distressing and debilitating.

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Download Summary (PDF, 220KB)

Andy's back with his flight feathers clipped

Snapshot from The Herald-Sun on 31st August 2011