On threatened frogs, rare snails, small hills, public land and developers

In the Tweed Valley:

* A bunfight over the identity of a frog’s mating calls and the extinction of a rare snail population provide an insight into a long running legal dispute involving Tweed Shire Council and the shire’s biggest landowners, Gales Holdings.
The frog-and-snail imbroglio centres on just one parcel of Gales’s extensive holdings between Kingscliff and Chinderah which have been the subject of rezoning battles ever since the company acquired them seven years ago.
Conflicting claims about the frog’s identity and the fate of the snails typifies the complexities involved in a string of court cases initiated by the company in a so far failed bid to rezone the bulk of their land for a district shopping centre.

* Tweed Shire Council’s general manager, Mike Rayner, braved a crowd of more than 300 people protesting against the proposed closure and sale of part of Bay Street on Saturday to deny that any secret deals were involved.
Rally organisers invited Mr Rayner to stand on the back of a tray-top truck parked in the Chris Cunningham Park to speak to a bigger-than-expected turnout of people upset over the sale and possible loss of up to 4,000 square metres of parkland and dozens of trees.

In the Clarence Valley:

* AN impending rescission motion against the sale of the Maclean car park may be made all the more interesting with Clarence Valley Council set to decide on the expansion of the area to include more parking spaces.
Council's civil and corporate committee will tomorrow consider recommended approval of the reconfiguration of the car park and Centenary Drive, following a public consultation period.
Despite all the interest that has been aroused with the car park and possible sale to build a new supermarket complex, only four submissions were received in relation to the concept.
If accepted, the car park will increase in size by another 84 car parks, with three car and caravan vacancies to be included.
It will also signal the loss of about 240m² of green space, another gripe from those opposing the sale of the land to private developers.

In Byron Shire:

* Suellen Watson started an avalanche. When she heard that the north face of Mt Chincogan was up for sale she decided to write to The Echo and encourage the community to join together to buy this iconic piece of North Coast history.
‘I just thought there had to be something the community could do,’ says Suellen. ‘If you keep talking about it and communicating, something’s got to happen. If we can save some local history, particularly aboriginal history, then it must benefit the community.’
Now it seems the idea is beginning to take hold with missives from the vendor and Rainforest Rescue (see letters pages) encouraging locals to take the opportunity to return the mountain to the community and enable access to its walking tracks and dizzying heights.
Mt Chincogan looms large in Mullumbimby history. The town’s name is thought to derive from the language of the Bundjalung people with ‘muli’ said to mean ‘hill’. The full name has been interpreted as meaning ‘small round hill’ – a reference to the mountain beneath which the town is situated. Even the road to Mullum was carefully designed to frame Mt Chincogan on entry and exit.

How to recognise a North Coast property developer:

1. Wears jeans, a business suit or an akubra hat, depending on how he wants to present his 'image' to the community and local councillors.

2. Is observed on occasion to suddenly develop an intense interest in the future career prospects of council town planners.

3. Only believes in democratic methods if he feels the vote is going his way and throws tantrums in the local media if he doesn't get what he's after.

4. Sometimes promises potential objectors to his plans a 'sweetener', such as an all-expenses paid holiday on the quiet.

5. Brags about successfully altering development consents eg., by exchanging the promise of a couple of park benches, picnic table and a concrete path for the return of a few million dollars worth of waterfront land.

6. Secretly considers local government an impediment and often makes large political donation to state government.

7. Has a history of cultivating candidates at local government elections or encouraging a business partner/close friend to stand for election.

Steve shrilling.....and Nick pontificating

Sometimes a glimpse of Family First's Senator Steve Fielding breaks a fella out in hives and sometimes it just brings on a burst of laughter.
His shrill impotence in the Senate last Wednesday was a joy to behold; "I am deadset serious about this. This is just a joke. I may not be the best negotiator. I am just a kid from Reservoir, but, sure as all heck, I know when someone is stuffing around.....We need a stimulus package. It is just a shame that the government think that they need no other ideas except their own. It is very sad. It is a very sad day."
Yer - you tell 'em Little Stevie. Twist and shout, drum your heels into the carpet while the adults look the other way.
Fair dinkum, it's a joke.

At the same time Independent Senator Nick Xenophon tried and failed not to sound pompous as he threw his political weight around; "Do I support the package? My biggest concern about the package has been not simply what we are spending but also what we are buying. I do know that targeted infrastructure spending will serve generations to come, which is important because, if future generations are going to pay off this debt, the deal we do now must benefit them too. When faced with complex global crises and equally complex economic responses as we deal with this response package, it is important to be clear about what we know, what we do not know and what we cannot know. I believe this is an important point to make even if I risk sounding a little like Donald Rumsfeld."
And then later smug when interviewed on the 7.30 Report.

What is amusing in all this is that the Senate Inquiry into the Nation Building and Jobs Plan (on which both these men sat as participating members) recommended in its final report that the Senate pass those 6 bills immediately.
As the Committee hearing evidence was evenly balanced between Labor and Coalition senators whose votes along party lines cancelled each other out, then some of the remaining 6 minor party/independent senators must have voted to recommend that the Senate pass the second stimulus package post haste.
I wonder if somebody was overcompensating here?
Of course the plaintive mewing gave him away - it was bound to be Fielding.
However, Xenophon is by far the more cynical pollie of the two.
He honestly thinks that no-one will dare utter so much as a peep when he repeats the supposed rational for his blatant money grab ie., that throwing water buyback money at irrigators in the Lower Murray Darling (for water that doesn't yet exist) and similar measures will make the skies open and the rain fall.
He is happy to blackmail the country and can't hide the frisson as he contemplates the power he has greedily grabbed with both hands.
Yup, the man sounds and acts a lot like Rumsfeld.

* Possum over at Pollytics hopes that Xenophon will come to his senses later today Friday 13th;
"In 15 hours we’ll know whether Australia passes a package that minimises the economic and human costs from the GFC induced slowdown, or whether these blokes [Xenaphon, Turnbull and Joyce] become the 3 Stooges of the Recession.
Parochial Stooge, Political Stooge and from watching the Senate committee on this package, a bloke not too far removed from a bag of hammers.
I’m flabbergasted - let’s hope Xenophon comes to his senses tomorrow or he will carry a very heavy burden.
The real irony here is it’s the bloke in the middle that’s probably the one completely sh*tting himself, because if this package fails to get through the Senate, the fallout against Turnbull by the public will be enormous. Every piece of bad news will become his fault in the mind of a huge chunk of the public - Labor will make sure of it. That better economic manager series we looked at earlier might become a nostalgic golden age for the Coalition."

UPDATE 1.10pm:

The Federal Government's $42 billion economic stimulus package will pass the Senate after a deal was struck today between Labor and the independent Senator Nick Xenophon.
Senator Xenophon said he would vote for the package after winning $900 million in extra funds for the ailing Murray-Darling basin and other water projects.
It involves bringing forward an extra $500 million over the next three years for water buybacks, $200 million in grants to assist local communities save water and to better manage water and $200 million in stormwater harvesting projects.

Friday the 13th

A sop to superstition from Photobucket

Paid good money for a gig and been denied entry?

If your answer is "YES", then this should be of interest.


inthemix.com.au reports that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) are said to be investigating claims made by disgruntled punters following the Laneway Festival in Melbourne earlier this month. The Age report that the ACCC are following up on accusations made against the event’s organisers after several hundred ticket purchasers were left stranded outside one of the festival’s stages, unable to gain entry to see artists they’d paid up to $100 to see.

At 7.30pm access to the Little Lonsdale Stage was closed for “safety reasons”, meaning many festival goers did not get the chance to see headline acts Girl Talk and Architecture In Helsinki. Following the event, organisers laid blame on a small number of punters who were causing trouble, as well as on an eleventh hour issue which forced them to greatly reduce capacity to the area. Complaints lodged with the ACCC contend that it was not noted on tickets that there would be limited access available.

In the days following the event groups began appearing on Facebook, with many irate punters demanding a refund on their ticket purchase. One group in particular, named ‘Cheated by St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2009 – I want a refund’, has almost 800 members and included direct links through to the ACCC website for disgruntled fans to lodge complaints.

Laneway’s directors, Jerome Borazio and Danny Rogers, were understandably upset by the unfortunate incident at their Melbourne event, and are said to have promised a ‘personal phone call’ to any punter who complains to them direct. “Danny and I have read every single complaint,” Mr Borazio told The Age. “We care about what has been said and we’re looking at the reality of what we can do to restore faith in the festival. We’re devastated.”

Send your emails to :info@lanewayfestival.com.au

Image above from http://www.lanewayfestival.com.au/main#l=news/15