GOOGLE: "I know everything!"
FACEBOOK: "I know everyone!"
INTERNET: "Without me you're all nothing!"
ELECTRICITY: "Keep talking, bitches."
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Tweed News going to Saturday only, Coffs Advocate being stripped down to giveaway - which APN masthead is next?
About the only advantage coming out of APN’s surgical strike on its NSW North Coast newspapers is that the online presence still remains for those pale print ghosts, the Tweed Daily News and Coffs Coast Advocate.
mUmBRELLA 21st November 2011:
“Tweed’s 123-year-old Daily News and the 104-year-old Coffs Coast Advocate will both move to reduced frequency, while free titles the Gold Coast Mail and Robina Mail will be closed in a move that will lead to 35 redundancies.
In the latest set of Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, the Daily News was selling just 3,689 copies. The paper started life in 1888 as the Tweed and Brunswick Advocate. It became The Tweed Daily in 1914. At one point it was one of only two daily newspapers in Australia to have an offset printing press.
Instead the Daily News will sell a print edition only at the weekends with a cover price of 50 cents instead of the current $1.30. It will go on offering readers online updates via the mydailynews across the week….
the free weekly Tweed Border Mail will continue to be distributed during the week to 30,000 households in the Tweed/ Coolangatta/ Murwillumbah region.
APN has also swung the axe in the Coffs Coast market with the 104-year-old daily Coffs Coast Advocate, which covers the NSW mid north coast, becoming a twice weekly freesheet, circulating on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On its paid for days it had been averaging 2,959 sales.
In a statement, Warren Bright, CEO of APN Australian Regional Media said: “In each of these markets, although the audience for paid daily newspapers has been declining there remains very strong demand from both advertisers and the community for the twice weekly newspapers that we are retaining.
“We also have strong digital audiences in each market so it makes sense to combine a constantly updated digital news service with this modified print offering.”
APN said there were no further plans to make closures in its other markets.”
Granny Herald on 22nd November 2011:
“APN recorded a $98 million loss in September.
The Coffs Harbour mayor, Keith Rhoades, said the job losses would be felt in communities already reeling from hundreds of job losses in Grafton.
''The disappointing part would be for … particularly the elderly community who may not be fully conversant with online.''
Well, what did you expect?
Nothing surprising in this move by NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell – he’s a Liberal Party MP and leads a Coalition government after all. L'état, c'est moi is their motto and their business model.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Calls for Metgasco's Stuart George to stand down from local government roles fall on deaf ears
Metgasco land administration officer Stuart George, son of Lismore MP Thomas George and failed Nationals' preselection candidate in Clarence, has ignored calls for him to stand down from Richmond Valley Council and Rous Water.
Today's Northern Star reports:
Stuart George will not be standing down from his roles on the Richmond Valley Council (RVC) or Rous Water, despite calls for him to do so.
Mr George, son of Lismore MP Thomas George, commenced work at Metgasco this month as a land administration officer, a role which sees him liaise with landowners for the purpose of gaining access to their land for CSG mining.
Groups opposed to CSG mining have called for Cr George to stand down from his civic responsibilities because of a perceived conflict of interest.
Founder of the Casino Group Against Gas, Dean Draper said Cr George should go because his role at Metgasco put him in conflict with his constituents who were increasingly concerned about the industry.
Other Northern Rivers groups against CSG mining have backed Mr Draper's call.
However, in a statement released to The Northern Star yesterday Cr George said he would not be standing down.
"I will not be resigning from my positions as Richmond Valley councillor as I was elected by the Richmond Valley Council community and I will be carrying out my duties for the full term," the statement read.
Mr George said if there was a matter which came before the council in relation to Metgasco he would declare a conflict of interest and deal with the matter as he was required to do so.
He said he would respond in the same way on Rous Water.
Rous Water is the regional water supply authority. Its chairman Phillip Silver said just because Mr George worked for an organisation some people were opposed to it did not disqualify him from holding a position on the council.
Mr Silver said there were processes in place to deal with situations where councillors held a conflict of interest.
The current Model Code of Conduct for NSW Local Councils prescribes standards of conduct in relation to conflicts of interest.
Under the Local Government Act there are two types of private interests: pecuniary and non-pecuniary.
The Act defines a pecuniary interest as one in which there is a reasonable likelihood or expectation of appreciable financial gain or loss to the person.
Non-pecuniary interests are personal interests where there is no financial gain.
RVC mayor Col Sullivan backed Cr George's stand saying there would be no problem with his new role providing he declared an interest when required to do so.
Cr Sullivan also said issues relating to Metgasco rarely came before the council as they operated under the State's jurisdiction.
Councillors themselves are responsible for identifying a conflict of interest.
If members of the public are concerned a councillor may have breached the code of conduct they can write to the general manager requesting the matter be investigated.
Source: The Northern Star, 22/11/11
Commonwealth moves to ensure coal seam gas projects are subject to scientific evidence - but will the states comply?
The Australian Government has moved on the issue of coal seam gas mining by creating an independent panel to provide Commonwealth and state approval agencies with scientific advice on mining licence applications for large-scale coal seam gas mining projects.
Because this federal government does not have the outright constitutional power to ban coal seam gas mining or significantly limit its expansion and its current plan is dependent on state co-operation, now is the time to pressure National Party MPs on the NSW North Coast to support this panel.
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities:
Federal environment minister, the Hon Tony Burke MP, has approved the appointment of an expert panel to advise him on coal seam gas water management, for Queensland coal seam gas projects approved and conditioned under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.Those projects include the Queensland Curtis LNG project, the Santos Gladstone LNG project, and the Australia Pacific LNG project. The expert panel will provide advice on the adequacy of water management plans which the companies must submit under the conditions of approval.
The members of the expert panel are:
- Professor Paul Greenfield AO, Vice Chancellor, University of Queensland
- Professor Chris Moran, Director, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland
- Dr Richard Cresswell, Sinclair Knight Merz
- Ms Jane Coram, Geoscience Australia
- Associate Professor Heather Chapman, Griffith University.
Several major gas/petroleum companies are pursuing projects to extract CSG from the Bowen and Surat Basins in Queensland, and other CSG producing areas in NSW. The Queensland projects would feed export-oriented LNG plants in the Gladstone area, the majority on Curtis Island off the coast opposite Gladstone. The projects involve significant capital expenditure and would operate over a long period……There are uncertainties of groundwater and surface water impacts from the extraction of significant amounts of CSG water including the risk of impacts to aquifers and groundwater quality which may lead to impacts on matters of national environmental significance protected under the EPBC Act.
The Government has listened to community concerns, and will:
· * Provide $150 million to establish a new Independent Expert Scientific Committee that will provide scientific advice to governments about relevant coal seam gas and large coal mining approvals where they have significant impacts on water; oversee research on impacts on water resources from coal seam gas and large coal mining projects; and commission and fund water resource assessments for priority regions.
· * Establish a new National Partnership Agreement with the states through COAG, agreeing that the Commonwealth and states have to take into account the advice of the Committee in their assessment and approval decisions.
· * Provide $50 million in incentive payments to the states to deliver this outcome.
· * Mandate that the Independent Expert Scientific Committee publicly disclose its advice to ensure local communities have all the best information available to them.
Page MP Janelle Saffin today welcomed the Federal Government’s move to ensure that all future decisions about coal seam gas projects are based on the most rigorous scientific evidence available.
“I’ve made many representations to Federal ministers and the Prime Minister on CSG, about what can be done at the Federal level to address community concerns. It is not an easy area, as so much is under the power of the states.
“I had asked the Minister for the Environment, Tony Burke, to explore the nature and extent of his power vis-à-vis the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) and the Federal Water Act.
“I’m pleased that the Government has listened to the representations and the concerns of the community, particularly in regard to the impact of CSG on our water.
‘The Government recognises that the community can only have confidence if all environmental approvals and licensing decisions are made on the basis of transparent, objective scientific evidence.
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