Is 'The Daily Examiner' the Voice of the Clarence Valley?

The less than totally frank account of Clarence Valley Council's 2009/10 rate structure by the Grafton-based news publication, The Daily Examiner, casts serious doubt on its claim that it is the voice of the Clarence Valley.

For the second year in succession Clarence Valley Council has reduced Grafton's rate levies, leaving ratepayers in the rest of the shire to make up the service cost difference.

But instead of recognising this burden, The Daily Examiner reported on a move to "ease the burden of Grafton and Junction Hill ratepayers..." claiming "Their rates remain the highest in the valley" [DE 8.5.09].

Were they?

Unfortunately this Grafton-based news publication omitted from its list Grafton's average rate, despite giving the average rates of all the other centres of population within the Clarence Valley for 2009/10:-
Farmland avg rate $1036.71
Coastal villages avg res rate $992.23
Yamba/Wooloweyah avg res rate $960.48
Iluka avg res rate $738.65
Maclean/Townsend avg res rate $681.59

Gulmarrad/Woombah etc avg res rate $671.14
Lawrence avg res rate $641.69

The truth is the average Grafton rate is $879.14 and that certainly does not "remain the highest in the valley".
In fact perusal of Clarence Valley Council's past rate structures show that they have never had the highest average rates in the valley.

A news publication with any integrity would have included the average residential rate in Grafton along with the rest of the list provided by Clarence Valley Council.

Therefore any claim by The Daily Examiner that it is the voice of the Clarence Valley must be greeted with scepticism.

The subject of Grafton's rates is not new to The Daily Examiner.

Prior to forced local government amalgamation, The Daily Examiner's 30th November 2001 headline read "COUNCIL CRISIS" reporting Grafton City Council's spending commitment blowout had reduced its working capital from $500,000 to $32,000.

On the 18th June 2003 The Daily Examiner 's headline "Hip pocket nerve" reported Grafton City Council as signing off on a rate hike of 3.25% above the pegged rate 3.60 per cent to fund its lavish abundance of services.
By that time Grafton City Council already had the second highest average rate ($662.00) of local government areas in the region and this further increase above the pegged rate propelled it to the top.
Maclean Shire Council's average rate at that time was lower at $552.00.

Grafton City Council had no-one to blame for its high level of rates but itself.
It had the opportunity to reduce its level of services in line with its income, but chose instead to increase its rates.

However despite its increase in rates, its auditors reported that Grafton City Council was still unable to meet its massive service costs and after raiding its internal reserves of some $900,000 it came into forced amalgamation $412,000 in deficit leaving the Maclean Shire Council surpluses to subsidise it.

But not a word of this situation from the supposed voice of the Clarence Valley, the Grafton-based Daily Examiner's sabres were silent.

The amalgamated Clarence Valley Council's subsequent budgets reveal a rates increase for all population centres except Grafton with no additional services included.
While Grafton received a less proportionate increase with no decrease in services.

The Daily Examiner's omission of Grafton's average rate from its article of the 8th May 2009 and its incorrect claim that Grafton rates "remain the highest in the valley" was not just a failure to be totally frank with its Clarence Valley readers, it left an obvious impression that it is parochially biased and is pushing its own agenda.

As the only daily news publication in the Clarence Valley, The Daily Examiner must surely have an obligation to act responsibly, report facts accurately, be impartial and display the utmost integrity.
Otherwise it has no right to refer to itself as The Voice of the Clarence Valley.

RAY HUNT
Yamba

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.

Blue Dolphin Holiday Resort mystery

The Blue Dolphin Caravan Park Holiday Resort mystery.

Image from HomeHound

There had been rumours drifting on the wind for some time that current and planned Mitchell family partnered developments on the Clarence Coast were not as sought after as was previously anticipated by investors.

Now comes confirmation that all is not rosy in the garden and the possibility that sell-offs are in the air:

In June 2008 we anticipated that there would be some pick up in the residential market but no further sales have been forthcoming for the Stage 1 development. After a number of reviews with the Mitchell family the decision has been made to place the development of Blue Dolphin on hold, since it is unlikely there will be significant demand for coastal resort style residential property for some time. We have therefore not taken possession of Stage 1 of the site or increased the debt facility as originally envisaged in our June 2008 Investor Update.
There have been a number of parties interested in acquiring Blue Dolphin, however the Responsible Entity (RE) has determined that current offers are not in the interests of unitholders. There are five years left on the Freespirit lease, and there is a substantial concept plan approval on the site. The concept plan approval has another 3.5 years to run before a construction certificate will be needed for a substantial commencement of the first stage, and it is expected that the residential market should pick up by mid 2010.

Selling off individual Blue Dolphin cabins does not appear to indicate confidence in the way ahead, but many Yamba residents will welcome the news that the NSW Government-approved proposed overdevelopment of this waterfront site is delayed.

As for other Mitchell interests - according to Mariner Coastal Land Fund (the unlisted property trust) Yamba Waters has unsuccessfully been offered for sale.

It is also understood that, due to the global financial crisis, Babcock and Brown is seeking a buyer for its percentage of the Angourie Rainforest Resort which it apparently accquired in 2006.

Best political image found on a blog this month

Scott from over at GrodsCorp offering someone's $900 economic stimulus cheque, because "Even ideologically confused rabbles deserve a treasury spokesperson".

The economy has gone to the dogs ...

Yes, things are pretty crook ...

but why do cats have to be so dramatic?

Click on image to enlarge

Source: Unknown

Australia may be down but it's not out

Only two more sleeps until the Federal Budget for 2009-10 is revealed.

With most people expecting the worst and mainstream media and Coalition heavies stoking this expectation, it's worthwhile looking at the nearest thing to an unbiased assessment available.

The Reserve Bank statement on 8 May 2009:

"Indicators of domestic activity, information from the Bank's liaison program and business surveys all suggest that the economy has been contracting since late 2008. A significant contraction in GDP is estimated for the first half of 2009, with the peak-to-trough contraction in GDP a little smaller than during the recession in the early 1990s. The economy is forecast to begin to grow from late 2009, although the recovery is expected to be gradual, partly reflecting the slow recovery in global demand (Table 16). In year-average terms, GDP is forecast to decline by ½ per cent in 2009/10 before growing by 2¼ per cent in 2010/11. Factors that would suggest a less severe recession here than in many other countries include the bigger decline in interest rates to end-borrowers, the healthier state of the financial sector, Australia's export mix (a relatively low share of exports of capital goods and high-value manufactures, where global trade has fallen most), the recent recovery in the Chinese economy, and the exchange rate depreciation in the second half of 2008."

Complete statement can be downloaded here.

Pensioners - be prepared for another rash of social discrimination

After the unemployed, people on a pension often get the most negative feedback from the media and community at large.
Unless pensioners are frail aged or returned servicemen, people who have more in the bank look sideways at them and mutter about where their own tax dollars are going.

When the Rudd Government 2009-10 Budget gets handed down pensioners will have to steel themselves for an increase in the passive-aggressive hostility they frequently face once their welfare recipient status becomes known.

Because even if the media reports are incorrect in matters of fact or nuance, the damage has been done and those still making superannuation contributions will feel that they have been robbed; Rich to pay for pension rises in federal Budget.

It may be human but it is certainly not fair, that ordinary people who were denied a full education by the Great Depression, had their young adulthood ruined by world war or who suffer from a long-term chronic illness are to be blamed for accessing the social and economic safety net that Australia provides for all its citizens.

Are NSW Health electronic patient records vulnerable to criminal hackers?

This was posted on Wikileaks on 3 May 2009:

On Thursday, April 30, the secure site for the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) was replaced with a $US10M ransom demand:
"I have your shit! In *my* possession, right now, are 8,257,378 patient records and a total of 35,548,087 prescriptions. Also, I made an encrypted backup and deleted the original. Unfortunately for Virginia, their backups seem to have gone missing, too. Uhoh :(For $10 million, I will gladly send along the password."
The site, https://www.pmp.dhp.virginia.gov/pmpwebcenter/login.aspx appears to have been entirely disabled and is presently unavailable.

On 8 May The Wall Street Journal confirmed this ransom demand but details of patient data vulnerability are unclear.

Reports which leave an uncomfortable feeling behind when I recall that the data centre and software which run NSW Health electronic patient records have experienced extensive systems failure recently.

Mick Keelty: a little reminder of why he won't be missed by the ordinary punter

Mick Keelty announced that he is resigning as Australia's top cop, effective September 2009.

Let's hope he now fades into obscurity. Heaven forbid that government would offer him a consultancy or two. He was dangerous enough to the national health when he was supposedly fully accountable.

In case any Aussie company was thinking of offering this man a responsible job - a little reminder of Keelty and his inability to cope with either the job or the general public.

The Sydney Morning Herald September 2007:

"Eleven members of ABC's The Chaser have been charged and granted bail following their arrest in Sydney today.
Julian Morrow and Chas Licciardello, two of the stars of the satirical show, were among those detained by police today, after staging a fake motorcade through Sydney as part of an APEC week stunt.
They were charged under new APEC laws with entering a restricted area without justification.
The crew members were in a convoy of three cars and two motorbikes, which was reportedly ushered through two checkpoints in Sydney's APEC security zone."

* Police bungle sees Chaser charges binned

ABC News 30 January 2008:

"Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has called for limitations on the criticism of Federal Police and government security agencies.

He had also criticised some sections of the media over its coverage of terrorism cases.
Commissioner Keelty told the Sydney Institute last night that there should be no public comment made about terrorism investigations until each matter has been finalised in court.
Commissioner Keelty says the criminal justice system should be left to operate free from ongoing public discussion.
"I understand it can be difficult to wait for the chance to freely express ourselves but I do believe to best serve the public interest and to attain the full enjoyment of all our rights we must sometimes delay that expression," he said.
He also says criticism of the AFP and other government agencies should be limited.
"We've just got to call a halt to criticising public institutions when it's the same public institutions that we rely upon to keep good governance," he said.
Journalist Hedley Thomas from The Australian won the Gold Walkley for his coverage of the Mohamed Haneef affair.
He says Commissioner Keelty's argument is contradictory.
"On the one hand he was saying that defendants and suspects deserve a much better go in the court of public opinion and that the media should treat them more kindly," he said.
"But the facts are that in the Mohamed Haneef case and others, it's been the police and security agencies and the politicians using police information that have smeared the character of the suspects before they've even been charged."

Crikey 25 March 2009:
"Keelty is remarkable in his capacity to blame others for the AFP's mistakes. After the Haneef affair, Keelty blamed everyone else  — the media (whom he proposed to prevent reporting such cases), Haneef's lawyers, Haneef himself, Scotland Yard, the DPP  — for the debacle when his own officers were the ones responsible for leaking material against Haneef, fabricating evidence and demanding he be charged without any basis. The AFP also later tried to avoid cooperating with the commission established to investigate what happened.
Not that Haneef was the only beneficiary of the AFP's particularly inept form of persecution. The false imprisonment and illegal interrogation of Izhar ul-Haque by ASIO agents  — another breach of an individual's most basic rights that has escaped appropriate redress — occurred with the concurrence and participation of the AFP.
Now there's the weekend's events at Sydney Airport.
Thankfully they were only bikies intent on attacking one of their own. Terrorists could have killed hundreds and been heading off in a Silver Service cab before Keelty's Keystone cops arrived, the only threat being those sinister chauffeurs who try to foist rental cars on you when you walk through Departures. The CCTV system wasn't even working properly."

Dodo duds again, ACCC pounces and ISPs have started to filter the Australian Internet

On 7 May 2009 Computer World reported:

Dodo has been ordered to refund customers after charging almost double fees for plans advertised as free.
The discount telco was slapped with the penalty following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) of its '"Free $29.90 Mobility Cap Plans" which promised customers a free Eee-PC, fuel or cash.
The regulator found the telco had deceived customers by advertising the gifts as free when comparable standard plans were up to $30 a month cheaper.......
Dodo has been blamed for a record spike in telecommunications complaints to the industry regulator, and was slapped with a $147,000 fine last last year for breaching the Do Not Call register.

According to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman 2008 Annual Report:

• We received 149 742 complaints, an almost 50 per cent increase on the year before.
• Each complaint raised one or more issues. This year we dealt with 268 645 issues
– a 61.0 per cent increase on the year before.
• Landline service issues increased by 77.7 per cent.
• Mobile service issues increased by 58.3 per cent.
• Internet service issues increased by 32.3 per cent.
• 91 per cent of the people who complained were consumers.
Eight per cent were small businesses.

Trying to decide on your next Internet provider?
Whirlpool hosts a number of forums and a Broadband Choice ISP Directory.

ISPs you might want to avoid just now because they are gearing up for the Rudd Governmnet live trial of its mandatory national censorship scheme:
Nelson Bay Online, OMNIConnect, Primus Communications, Highway 1, Netforce, Webshield, Optus and Tech2U (most will be starting to filter by 8-11 May 2009 and last already filtering).

An idea whose time has come?

After chocking on fumes behind an old slow ute on the road this week, my thoughts turned to new vehicles.

I was pleased to note that US Democrats are considering a cash for clunkers program.
The US House proposal doesn't go far enough but the Senate version is much better in that the replacement car must get 25% more mileage for fuel consumed than the clunker it replaces.

Australia does not appear to be giving serious thought to a buyback of old energy inefficient cars scheme.
Instead the Rudd Government plans to give billions to the big car manufacturers in the hope that they will increase the production of green cars.

For every litre of petrol used in a motor vehicle 2.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide is released from the exhaust according to an Australian Energy Web Fact Sheet.

Perhaps it is time that the Federal Government considered a true consumer-driven response to greenhouse gas reduction and ran a pilot program of 'cash for clunkers' in Australia.

Here is an NRMA list of fuel efficient car makes and models based on a 5.5 litre per 100kms threshold:

Make	Model	Variant	Body Style	Engine Displacement	Year
Audi	A3	Sportback 1.9 TDi e (8P)	5 door hatchback	1.9TD	2008 - current
Citroen	Berlingo	II HDi (M59)	2 Door Panelvan	1.6TD	2008 - current
Citroen	C3	HDi Exclusive	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2007 - current
Citroen	C4	SX 1.6 HDi	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2006 - current
Citroen	C4	SX 1.6 HDi EGS	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2007 - current
Daihatsu	Charade	All	3 door hatchback	1.0L	2003 - 2005
Daihatsu	Sirion	All	5 door hatchback	1.0L	2002 - 2005
Fiat	500	Lounge	3 door hatchback	1.3TD	2008 - current
Fiat	500	Pop	3 door hatchback	1.2L	2008 - current
Fiat	500	Pop	3 door hatchback	1.3TD	2008 - current
Fiat	Punto	Dynamic	5 door hatchback	1.3TD	2006 - current
Fiat	Punto	Emotion	5 door hatchback	1.9TD	2006 - current
Honda	Civic	Hybrid (7th gen)	4 door sedan	1.3L hybrid	2004 - 2006
Honda	Civic	Hybrid (8th gen)	4 door sedan	1.3L hybrid	2006 - 2007
Honda	Civic	Hybrid (8th gen MY07)	4 door sedan	1.3L hybrid	2007 - current
Honda	Insight	Hybrid	3 door hatchback	1.0L hybrid	2001 - 2004
Hyundai	i30	SX CRDI (FD)	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2007 - current
Hyundai	i30	SLX CRDI (FD MY09)	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2007 - current
Hyundai	i30	SLX CRDI (FD)	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2007 - current
Hyundai	i30	SLX CRDI (FD MY09)	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2007 - current
Hyundai	i30cw	SX CRDI (FD)	4 door wagon	1.6TD	2009 - current
Mercedes-Benz	A180 CDI	Avantgarde	5 door hatchback	2.0TD	2008 - current
Mercedes-Benz	A180 CDI	Classic	5 door hatchback	2.0TD	2008 - current
Mercedes-Benz	A180 CDI	Elegance	5 door hatchback	2.0TD	2008 - current
Peugeot	207	XT HDI	3 door hatchback	1.6TD	2007 - current
Peugeot	207	Le Mans HDi	3 door hatchback	1.6TD	2008 - current
Peugeot	207	XT Touring HDi	4 door wagon	1.6TD	2007 - current
Peugeot	307	XS HDI	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2005 - 2008
Peugeot	307	XS HDI 1.6 Touring	4 door wagon	1.6TD	2005 - 2008
Peugeot	307	XSR HDI	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2005 - 2005
Peugeot	307	XSR HDI Touring	4 door wagon	1.6TD	2005 - 2005
Peugeot	308	XS HDI	5 door hatchback	1.6TD	2008 - current
Renault	Kangoo	Integral (X76)	2 door van	1.5TD	2008 - current
Skoda	Roomster	1.9TDi (5J)	4 door hatchback	1.9TD	2007 - current
Smart	City Coupe	Pulse	2 door coupe	0.7TP	2003 - 2004
Smart	Cabriolet	Pulse	2 door cabriolet	0.7TP	2003 - 2004
Smart	Fortwo	Coupe	2 door coupe	0.7TP	2004 - 2008
Smart	Fortwo	Cabrio	2 door cabriolet	0.7TP	2004 - 2008
Smart	Fortwo	451	2 door coupe	1.0L	2008 - current
Smart	Fortwo	Turbo (451)	2 door coupe	1.0TP	2008 - current
Smart	Fortwo	Cabrio (451)	2 door convertible	1.0L	2008 - current
Smart	Fortwo	Cabrio Turbo (451)	2 door convertible	1.0TP	2008 - current
Smart	Roadster	All	2 door convertible	0.7TD	2003 - 2007
Toyota	Prius	Hybrid	5 door hatchback	1.5L hybrid	2003 - current
Toyota	Prius	I-Tech Hybrid	5 door hatchback	1.5L hybrid	2003 - current
Volkswagen	Beetle	TDI	3 door hatchback	1.9TD	2005 - current
Volkswagen	Golf	1.9TDI Comfortline	5 door hatchback	1.9TD	2004 - 2008
Volkswagen	Golf	1.9TDI Trendline	5 door hatchback	1.9TD	2004 - 2008
Volkswagen	Golf	1.9TDI Edition	5 door hatchback	1.9TD	2008 - current
Volkswagen	Polo	TDI	5 door hatchback	1.9TD	2005 - 2008
Volkswagen	Polo	Pacific TDI	5 door hatchback	1.9TD	2008 - current

Conroy's brown shirts are at it again............

Last Monday from Electronic Frontiers Australia*:
"Today EFA’s hosting provider received a Final Link Deletion Notice from ACMA, requiring us to remove a link to a page that contains images of aborted foetuses from our website. We have complied with this notice because it exposes our host to fines of up to $11,000 per day that we do not remove the link."
Advice to EFA on Twitter is to create another page with a new link to this essentially political content website, as the received Link Deletion Notice only applies to the EFA page specifically mentioned in that Australian Communications and Media Authority notice.

Whack a mole, whack a mole, whack a mole..........

* Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc (EFA) is a non-profit national organisation concerned with the protection and promotion of the civil liberties of users of computer based communications systems and of those affected by their use. EFA was established in 1994, is independent of government and commerce, and is funded by membership subscriptions and donations from individuals and organisations with an altruistic interest in promoting civil liberties

Even in paradise housing is a problem

Whenever visitors to the NSW North Coast talk about their holidays here they speak of how lucky we are to live in all this scenic diversity and of course we are.

However, the beautiful settings often hide from view realities that we share with other parts of New South Wales.

Although homelessness is relatively low compared to the metropolitan centres, by December 2008 rents were between $195-$285 per week for a 2 bedroom flat and between $300-$370 for a 3 bedroom house, with Richmond-Tweed separate house rents being the highest in the state outside of Sydney and Northern Rivers vacancy rates being comparable with Sydney.

Housing stress continues to be an issue according to the Northern Rivers Social Development Council, with around 40,000 people in the Page and Richmond electorates having disposable household incomes below the NSW median point.










Northern Rivers Social Development Council Dec 08 regional housing data
Click on graph to enlarge

Housing affordability is a big issue for many North Coast pensioners and the rising number of unemployed.
One has to hope that in Tuesday's federal budget, the Treasurer has taken note of concerns that any increase in the pension base rate may be eaten up by immediate rent increases.

Turning full circle........

The Daily Examiner is developing a bit of a reputation for having an erratic approach to what letters to the editor it actually prints in its letters column.

Some regular correspondents get to bore on and on with the same inevitable punchline, while other more infrequent letter writers sometimes can't get a word in for long periods.

One such writer was contacted by the newspaper recently and asked to give a quote or two about his recent sporting successes.

I'm told he took great delight in telling the journalist that when The Daily Examiner started to publish his letters he would talk about his own sporting activities.

A politically incorrect look at Influenza A (H1N1)....

David's humour found at Care2

Waving a flag for the good economic news

A fall in unemployment, 237,300 new jobs in April and fairly decent overall retail trade figures since December last year.
Am I allowed to wave a flag in celebration? For a steady-handed Australian government and a sensible business sector which for the most part ignored the media hype about our imminent destruction in the global financial crisis and Opposition hysterics about stimulus packages.

Maudie's Ex
Yamba

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.