For those who just can't keep away from politics on a Saturday night: NSW Penrith by-election links

Antony Green

On Saturday night {tonight} I will be providing full analysis of the Penrith by-election results. Tune in after 6pm on Saturday night at http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nsw/2010/penrith/ for analysis of the results, including detailed booth by booth analysis.

I will also be twittering results using the #penrith tag from @AntonyGreenABC, probably being repeated by @ABCNews and @ABCElections.

The Liberal Party needs a swing of 9.2% to win Penrith, larger than the swing it needs to win next March's state election. Will we see a repeat of the Cabramatta and Ryde by-elections in 2008 when there were swings of more than 20%? If we do, it will confirm the deep antipathy by the electorate towards the current state government.

Larvatus Prodeo

The first by-election since Kristina Keneally became NSW Premier will be held {today}, for the seat of Penrith, vacated by Karyn Paluzzano after she admitted lying to ICAC over irregular payments of staff allowances.....

This is an open thread for predictions, links, reports and analysis.

William Bowe has some further interesting background at The Poll Bludger.

Young Nats take their bat 'n' ball and go home but Young Libs battle on....

Now according to the Australian Electoral Commission:
"On 10 June 2010, the delegate of the AEC determined that the application by the Young National Party of Australia for voluntary de-registration be accepted and that the party be removed from the Federal Register of Political Parties."
Which left me wondering how their companions the Young Liberals were doing, so using the search term "young liberals aec" I sought further information and I came across these:

http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&source=hp&q=%22young+liberals%22+aec&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=%22young+liberals%22+aec&gs_rfai=&fp=1

http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=9176

Is something afoot in that political camp or has VexNews just gone too far?

Senator Fielding proves once more that he is barking mad

Senator Steve Fielding, that born-again political nong from Victoria, appears to think that pregnant women on welfare payments would be eligible for paid parental leave from a full-time job that they don't actually have; similarly that drug addicts would deliberately get pregnant to get paid parental leave for which most would be ineligible anyway; women locked away at the pleasure of Her Maj are in full-time employment; that sex-workers are not entitled to benefits paid to other workers because of their job description; and that all late term abortions are obviously some form of fiscal fiddle.
Stevo's a good example for the argument that political candidates should prove mental competency before their names go on a ballot paper.
Mrs. Fielding - how about doing us all a favour and lock your boy in the back shed whenever Parliament is sitting.
Here's OpenAustralia record of the Senate second reading debate on 16th June 2010:
Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Hansard source
I believe we should be increasing the assistance we give to families with children, because having children is expensive and families need all the help they can get. But the Rudd government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme goes about doing this in the wrong way. The scheme is a long, long way from perfect. Instead of having a policy that benefits all families, such as the baby bonus, the government has come up with a scheme that discriminates against parents, depending on how they choose to raise their children. It is a scheme that places higher value on mothers who leave their children in child care, to quickly return to the workforce within a few months after having a baby, and devalues mothers who want to spend more time at home looking after their children. It is a policy that gives money to prisoners and prostitutes but ignores stay-at-home mums and the important unpaid work that they do. Mums who stay at home and look after their kids will be about $2,000 worse off because of the decision than those mums who rush back to the workforce.........
Another huge flaw in the bill is the fact that people who have late-term abortions would still be eligible to receive paid parental leave payments. That is right. Under this bill drug addicts and welfare cheats can rort the system and get paid parental leave money for nothing. Drug addicts and welfare cheats can get pregnant, then after 20 weeks have an abortion and still pocket the government’s cash. It is absolutely ridiculous and it makes you wonder whether the government is making policy on the run again.

Danger! Dogs do doo

 

A friend of mine has a holiday house in another town and she told me of her experience with her neighbours, or more precisely her neighbours' dogs.

The house has no front fence so the property is delineated by a white pebble boarder which the neighbours' dogs have been using as toilet facilities.

 

Since she doesn't visit that often there is a build up of dog dumps which she has to deal with when she arrives.

Because one dog is quite large and the other is small there is no trouble identifying which present came from which dog.

 

She was busy sorting the sh*t and piling the offending articles into neat heaps in the corner of the neighbours' yards so they could depose of the material when she was confronted by one of the neighbours who started to protest about the boomeranging doggy doo doo.

I think they must have seen the murderous look in her steely eyes and decided that she did have a good point and it would be the right thing to assist her in removing the evidence of months of night time dog visits.

 

This was not the thing that fascinated me - that happened when she told me about the light attached to one of the dogs collar so when it did its night time visit it could see where it was going.

Obviously the owner did not want the dog to be confused and do its business in its own yard, after all why go to the trouble of opening the gate if Fido never made it out.

 

This started me thinking of other aids that could be used so the owner could tell if the mission was accomplished.

I thought of a small device that could be attached to a dog's hips, so that when the dog squatted to do the deed it would sound a warning. The beeping noise you hear when dump truck's reverse I think would be appropriate.

 

Then I thought of a aid for a caring neighbour to warn the unwary of their dogs dropping. It came straight out of an old sci-fi TV show, Lost in Space. There was a robot in the show that at the sign of trouble use to shout "danger Will Roberson danger".

Wouldn't it be great if a small vibration sensitive disk could be dropped from the dogs collar after it finished it nightly visit. So the next morning when you walked out to pick up the morning paper if you stepped to close the pile the warning would sound; " Danger {insert neighbours name} danger".

I am sure someone could convert the little speakers you find in birthday cards.

And the Rudd Government wonders why its reputation is in tatters....

On 20 May 2010 the NT News reported:

LABOR backbencher Marion Scrymgour has once again spoken out against her own party's policy by attacking a decision to continue welfare quarantining.
Ms Scrymgour criticised Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin's dismissal of a recent report that revealed income management was not working.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson this week backed the Commonwealth's decision but said the report by the Menzies School of Health Research needed to be examined.
But Ms Scrymgour lashed out at the Federal Government by making an online post on the Crikey website.
She said the Menzies report was based on "concrete sales data", but the Commonwealth was relying on its own "subjective anecdotal" study.
"It is time to revisit the hype and spin that prevailed back in mid-2007 when this measure was introduced," she said.
"To its great discredit, the Commonwealth Government has maintained the destructive combination of universal income management and the winding down of CDEP, asserting all the while that it sought to act on the basis of 'evidence'."
"The evidence compiled in the Menzies report speaks for itself."
Mr Henderson said Ms Scrymgour was "entitled to her view".

This very public spat was based on the finding of the Menzies Report which was published in the Medical Journal of Australia as Impact of income management on store sales in the Northern Territory.

The Australian Medical Association alerted the media in a press release:
Income management, introduced as part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response in remote Northern Territory communities in 2007, has had no beneficial effect on tobacco and cigarette sales, soft drink or fruit and vegetable sales, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Then Crikey followed up with The Government campaign against researchers who dared question income management on 11 June 2010 and then reported on an incredible piece of government spin on the basic card issue.

This spin included a 16 May 2010 media release from the Minister's office which addressed reducing sugar consumption in indigenous communities as its principal response to the research findings. However this particular release appears to have disappeared from the Internet and only this response from Jenny Macklin survives on the FaHCSIA website.

Now the original document exchange in this disagreement is on record:

The FaHCSIA Critique of the Menzies Report
Response from the Menzies researchers

A 70 year-old, 16 metre, 41,000 kilo* reason why ethical investors, responsible corporations and caring consumers should avoid Sigma-Aldrich

Sperm Whale photograph from The Telegraph U.K.

An adult male Sperm Whale can live to around 70 years of age, reach up to 16 metres in length and weigh-in at approximately 41,000 kilograms.*

This impressive cetacean species was overhunted in the past and is still on the ICUN vulnerable species index, along with pygmy and dwarf sperm whales.

Yet Sigma-Aldrich is defying Australia's ban on whale products and selling myoglobin taken from whale skeletal muscle in this country.

The Age on June 16 2010:

THE Australian arm of global drug company Sigma-Aldrich has confirmed it has sold a sperm whale extract, as a new European report warns of a second wave of commercial whaling.
Sigma-Aldrich's Sydney office said its call centre had handled limited sales of myoglobin taken from sperm whale skeletal muscle.
Myoglobin is used as a biochemical marker for diagnosis of heart attack. Sigma-Aldrich was yesterday advertising the product for sale at $475.86 a milligram on its website, but last night the price had been removed......
The sale of whale products is illegal in Australia under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Their importation has been banned since 1981.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society has recently released its May 2010 trade report Reinventing the Whale which suggests that: ..the real reason behind the whaling nations desire to lift the whaling moratorium – they have long-term plans to develop new commercial applications for whale oil including in pharmaceuticals and animal feed.

From the trade report:

As part of our research we searched patent registries in a number of countries for inventions listing whale oil, spermaceti, whale cartilage etc.

We were surprised to find thousands of approved patents for products or processes listing whales as a possible ingredient - from golf balls to hair dye; eco-friendly laundry detergent to confectionaries/candy; and health drinks to bio-diesel.

Many were for international use and approved recently.

This does not mean that the patented product is currently in production using whales; in most cases, the inventors will probably have replicated a list of potential ingredients from an earlier patent of a similar product without having tested whale oil themselves and with no plan to use it. However, in light of our other findings, we are concerned that in some cases the patent is a place-holder pending the resumption of international trade in whale products.

We include details of a mere fraction of the patents we found to illustrate what WDCS believes to be significant potential for the reestablishment of whales as an industrial ingredient.

We provide the number, date and country of issue of each patent noted in this report, but more details of all patents identified in our research can be found at http://www.wdcs.org/........

Numerous other patents issued in Japan for food products, or food production processes, refer to whales as a possible source of ingredients.

These include 'whale gelatin' for health drinks (patent approved in 1999) and products to relieve pre-menstrual symptoms (2003); 'whale wax' for jelly candy (1999); hydrogenated whale oil for breads (1991); and whale oil for confectionary coatings for ice cream and doughnuts (2000), melt-resistant chocolate (2008), as well as for use in conjunction with Coenzyme Q10 in dairy and a wide range of other products (2010).

Several of these inventions have also received patents in the USA. Indeed, despite the fact that the USA prohibits the sale, import, and export of any marine mammal part or product, the US Food and Drug Administration continues to list whale products, such as hydrogenated sperm oil, and spermaceti wax, as safe and allowable food additives and lubricants in bakery pans.

Sigma-Aldrich Corp share price.

Planning law and fast food outlets: in England the court sets things right

In light of the Clarence Valley Council Famous Five's stubborn insistence that they had to take the advice contained in a flawed council officer's report on the McDonald's Australia development application for an eat-in and drive through fast food outlet in Yamba on the NSW North Coast, this outcome a world away shows that councillors don't have to follow 'bad' advice like so many sheep:

Judge makes landmark fast food ruling
Michael Donnelly, PlanningResource, 14 June 2010

Planning approval for a fast food takeaway near a school with a healthy eating policy has been quashed by the High Court.

In a landmark ruling a judge declared that the London Borogh of Tower Hamlets "acted unlawfully" when it gave the go-ahead for "Fried & Fabulous" to open for business at 375 Cable Street, Shadwell, close to Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School.

The judge said councillors had voted in favour of permission after being wrongly directed that they could not take account of the proximity of the local secondary school because it was not "a material planning consideration".

The council will now have to reconsider any further planning application for a takeaway at the site in light of today's ruling.

Councillor Peter Golds, leader of the council's Conservative group, said later: "This is a very important High Court decision.

"It clarifies the law and sets a benchmark that will enable local authorities everywhere to take account of health and well-being - particularly of schoolchildren - as factors in determining planning applications." ...............

Today the planning permission - granted in April following a 5-1 vote in favour, with one abstention - was quashed by Mr Justice Cranston, sitting in London.

The judge said that when the application for a hot-food takeaway was granted by the council's development committee in April, an officer's report specifically advised council members that the proximity of the proposed fast-food outlet to the school could not be a material planning consideration.

Richard Harwood, appearing for the council, had argued that at the committee meeting itself the nearness of the school had in fact been treated as a relevant issue and taken into account.

Rejecting the submission, the judge said the officer's report was "a clear direction to the effect that the points about proximity could not be given any weight at all." ...........

There were indications that committee members who had voted in favour of the takeaway would have reached a different decision "if they had been properly directed".

The judge said: "I declare the council has acted unlawfully and I quash the grant of planning permission."

Just what does the Coalition believe about the postponed emissions trading scheme?

For the last six weeks or so the Coalition Opposition has been trumpeting what it calls Kevin Rudd's failure to implement a national emissions trading scheme in Australia:
"TONY Abbott portrayed Kevin Rudd as a leader who lacks the "guts" to fight for his political convictions today after the Prime Minister shelved the emissions trading scheme. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong today blamed political realities for Mr Rudd's decision to delay the scheme until the end of 2012, citing opposition in the Senate and slow global progress on climate action. Ms Wong also said today that Mr Rudd would not go to a double dissolution election on an ETS because he wanted to serve a full term."
The Opposition spin taken up by the media has been that Rudders has sqibbed it entirely and an ETS is off the books completely, but somebody hasn't told that to the NSW Nats who still believe the scheme is roughly on schedule.
Here's NSW North Coast Nats MP for Clarence Steve Cansdell still trying to scare the locals in his latest letterbox drop:

Stop the filter or sack the senator!

Victorians are revolting at Filter Stephen Conroy and this time it's personal for some.

They want nothing less than Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, consigned to the unemployment queue by Christmas.

An alternative view of the Rudd Government's home insulation scheme

The Daily Examiner letter to the editor on 14 June 2010:

Insulated from good news

IT may be unpopular.

It is never mentioned.

But ... I had insulation installed under the Federal Government scheme.

Two efficient workers did a great job and the results are absolutely fabulous.

It's cooler in summer and now that winter is here our heating is much more efficient.

Less energy is used to heat and cool the house, not just this year but into the future.

Workers employed during the economic downturn were keeping the wheels of commerce turning.

Best of all, instead of paying them unemployment benefits they were involved in a really productive energy-saving scheme that reduces our need to burn coal to produce energy to heat and cool the house.

But no one wants to hear that.

GRAHAM JESSUP, Grafton

Prideaux on Whales and Dolphins: ‘resource’ or ‘right’?

Whales and Dolphins: 'resource' or 'right'?

2010 started with a physical clash between whalers and activists in the southern ocean, sparking a global conversation about how we regard whales and dolphins – are they a resource for the human race, or do they have an inherent right to their life, their liberty and their wellbeing?

In January I asked this question on openDemocracy. At the time it seemed, to some at least, irrelevant and somewhat odd.

Now, with only one week to go before on the most fundamental wildlife protection decision in 25 years is taken – to resume legitimate and legalized whaling again or not, it seems more relevant than ever. The dialogue sparked by an eventful half year has also progressed.

An eventful half-year sparks a global conversation

In February, the 2010 Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science discussed whether the emerging scientific knowledge about the cultural and cognitive processes of whales and dolphins should influence international policy decisions concerning them. Their conclusions were that yes, it should.

Within three days of the conference, the orca Tilikum drowned his trainer. Unexpectedly, the media and the public didn't turn on Tilikum. Instead they openly asked if we should keep such mighty, complex and intelligent species in captivity.

In March the International Whaling Commission (IWC) met to discuss the details of a 'deal' about the future of whaling activities. Sharp debate erupted. And the political dance for positions began.

Within the week, The Cove, a documentary investigating the annual slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises around Japan, unexpectedly received the Academy Award for Best Documentary 2010.

By the end of March, a Los Angeles restaurant the Hump was closing its doors as a self-imposed penalty for serving whale meat.

In late April, an unprecedented US Congressional oversight hearing was held to review if there was education and conservation value of keeping marine mammals in captivity.

April also marked the second major oil spill in six months. Remarkably, people noticed that these spills were seriously threatening the habitats of whale and dolphin populations.

In late May another conference was being held in Finland to discuss question of whether whales and dolphins should be considered as non-human persons, concluding that all whales and dolphins have the right to life, liberty and wellbeing. The Declaration quickly went online for the world to adopt and signatures poured in nearly crashing the site.

Soon after Australia announced its formal intent to challenge to Japan's whale hunting in the Antarctic through the International Court of Justice.

Japan's rebuttal was to launch a fleet of five vessels to slaughter some 260 whales in the Northeast Pacific.

With six eventful months behind us, we now look towards the IWC meeting next week where Governments will formally consider the 'deal' to resume commercial whaling.

Taking the debate to the people, this weekend, Peter Garrett launched a YouTube campaign.

No longer is the Australian Government just speaking to Australians, now they invite the world to join them.

We have to decide now

This IWC meeting will in some ways conclude the six month conversation, and set the tone for our relationship with these animals for decades to come. Will our consideration of whales and dolphins be based on numerical calculations of abundance, or will we recognize whales and dolphins as highly evolved mammals living in complex societies, which we simply wish to respect?

That the discussion is even taking place, indicates we are on the road towards a position of respect, perhaps even rights.

No-one is suggesting that whales and dolphins be granted a right to vote, to hold a drivers license, or to receive a free and fair education. But, in this short half-year we have had enough examples posed to evoke a deep and thoughtful global conversation about our collective moral compasses.

Will we return to a world that accepts whaling? Will whales and dolphins, like Tilikum, continue to circle a pool for our entertainment? The conversation has evolved, and now the choice is ours to make.

Margi Prideaux, WildPolitics.net

* North Coast Voices would like to take this opportunity to welcome Margi Prideaux as a guest contributor and applaud her advocacy on behalf of all cetaceans.

I shouldn't laugh, but......

* A plague of locusts is due to hit Australia in time for the next federal election according to Bloomberg:
"Locusts are expected to hatch from August to October in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia states, according to the commission. The first-generation spring hatching alone could occur over a total area of 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres), the commission's Adriaansen said."

* One small mining company Metgasco is shooting itself in the foot. Assiduously lobbying federal government for regional infrastructure funding (which will help corporate development plans) while at the same time dissing the local MP over the new resources Super Profits Tax. Word is that Canberra is not amused.

* Someone locked a Labrador in the house - oh noes!

"MAX, the black labrador was accidentally locked inside a Daily Examiner reporter's house yesterday and decided to leave his mark in more ways than one. Not only did he wee in the master bedroom, he pooed in one of the kids' room, chewed up a nappy, raided the pantry and vomited after the debauchery."

* At least one dedicated reader of NSW State Library online offerings is threatening to cut that library card in half because it's becoming a bit of a lottery as to which webpage links actually work each day. Ah, life in rural 'n' regional Oz!

* Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata lets its slip show this month in that version of Teh Great Tax Fight:

"Mining company Xstrata Coal has revealed it will continue to buy up farmland within its Wandoan exploration lease area in Queensland despite last week suspending plans for the $6 billion project on the grounds the government's mining tax would make it uneconomic."

* Patrons at one Byron watering hole were overheard debating how long it would take a sheila to do a Corday if Tony Abbott became Australia's 27th prime minister.

* rod3000 Nothing perks you up like a 3 yr old's headbutt on the nose #wrestlemania

* The U.S. state which spawned Sarah Palin shows just how low dumb can go:

"The state of Alaska filed a lawsuit last Friday seeking to overturn the listing of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, home to the Port of Anchorage, as an endangered species."

* An oldie but a goodie from 2007 with an object lesson for Oz e-health proponents:

"An Italian woman who was mistakenly reported dead has won a yearlong battle to have her existence recognized by the government.
Pension agency INPS issued a formal apology to Maria Giuliani and reinstated her into its databank after removing her in January 2006 when another woman by the same name died, ANSA reported Thursday.
"But they only did it because the local media got hold of my case," Giuliani said of the apology.
Giuliani's removal from the databanks caused her pension rights to be revoked and she was removed from municipal and health computers.
"The first I heard about it was the following March when I went for a checkup."
"My GP fell back into his chair and said, 'But you're dead!'
"'No, I'm alive and kicking and I want to be examined,' I said. But he said he couldn't do it because officially I no longer existed."

* NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is staring down the barrel of massive electoral loss at the next state elections according to the bookies, :

"A specialist election punter from Sydney with leading bookmaker Centrebet has sounded a "death knell" for the NSW Labor government, outlaying nearly $25,000 on the Coalition at short odds to sweep to power next March! "The punter in two bets has taken just $1.15 and $1.14, with the Coalition now a red-hot $1.14 favourite to win, with Labor out to a whopping $5.35."

But she will never beat Sir Geoge Fuller's short 7 hour record as state premier.

* With all the media hoo-ha lately over Victoria Police, no-one's noticed a teeny weeny question surrounding the tale of two Garden State police commissioners having corresponded with a person convicted of serious offences.

When the Rudd Government decided that it wanted to first install and now extend ISP traffic interception, I bet it didn't factor in the possibility that some of this carefully saved info might be potentially embarrassing for future Labor governments if it 'leaked' onto the Internet.

Queen's Birthday Honours 2010: NSW North Coast recipients & full honours list

Margaret Hodgson, artist and illustrator of Copmanhurst; Jon Riordan, philanthropist from Yamba; Phyllis Pearson, musician from Nambucca; Tony Miller Dads in Distress founder from the Coffs Harbour district; these are just four of the many singled out in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2010.

The complete list can be found at The Australian Honours Secretariat:

• Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (29KB)

• Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (95KB)

• Officer (AO) in the Military Division of the Order of Australia (11KB)

• Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (A-L) (242KB)

• Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (M-Z) (206KB)

• Member (AM) in the Military Division of the Order of Australia (20KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (A-E) (203KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (F-L) (145KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (M-R) (134KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (S-Z) (145KB)

• Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the Military Division (21KB)

• Public Service Medal (PSM) (85KB)

• Australian Police Medal (56KB)

• Ambulance Service Medal (ASM) (15KB)

• Emergency Services Medal (ESM) (18KB)

• Commendation for Gallantry (10KB)

• Distinguished Servce Medal (DSM) (11KB)

• Commendation for Distinguished Service (14KB)

• Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC) (34KB)

• Conspicuous Service Cross and Bar (CSC and Bar) (10KB)

• Conspicuous Service Medal (CSM) (32KB)

Note: Biographical notes have only been provided where the recipient has allowed this information to be provided online.

Say no to whaling today over at WDCS International

Whale photograph from The Daily Mail online

Below is one online email which was sent from the NSW North Coast in support of the international ban on whaling.
You too can have your say through the International Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society email page here.
Emails are needed before 20 June 2010. This is your last chance to influence the vote at the next International Whaling Commission meeting in Morocco.
Given Sunday's report in The Times concerning alleged vote buying by the Government of Japan, a grassroots counterbalance is needed.

President Obama
The Hon. Dª Elena Espinosa Mangana
The Right Honourable John Key
Ambassador Christian Maquieira

I call upon you to oppose whaling, to ensure the International Whaling Commission's ban on commercial whaling stays and to act to stop all commercial whaling and trade in whale products now!
I fully support the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling. This ban should not be reversed or weakened in any manner.
Additionally, I respectfully ask that any further slaughter of whales under the guise of 'scientific' research be stopped.
Living as I do in a small coastal community dependent in large part on the fishing industry and tourism, I am very aware that a healthy and biodiverse ocean returns the most rewards.
Both in terms of food and cultural/aesthetic values.
Whales are an integral part of this healthy diversity; and reducing their numbers through non-subsistence/commercial whale hunts is not just an assault on cetacean species, it is an assault upon future human generations.

Yours faithfully
[redacted for privacy reasons]
Australia

Excerpt from The Times 13 June 2010 article:

The revelations come as Japan seeks to break the 24-year moratorium on commercial whaling. An IWC meeting that will decide the fate of thousands of whales, including endangered species, begins this month in Morocco.
Japan denies buying the votes of IWC members. However, The Sunday Times filmed officials from pro-whaling governments admitting:
- They voted with the whalers because of the large amounts of aid from Japan. One said he was not sure if his country had any whales in its territorial waters. Others are landlocked.
— They receive cash payments in envelopes at IWC meetings from Japanese officials who pay their travel and hotel bills.
- One disclosed that call girls were offered when fisheries ministers and civil servants visited Japan for meetings.

McDonald's versus Yamba: boycott calls continue

The following was posted on Menu Mate at the webpage titled
McDonald's Family Restaurants (Ballina)
on 25 May 2010 and a copy sent to me:

Reviewer Name: EK
Title: McDonald's stay away from Yamba!
Comments: Dear Mr Campbell, I know a McDonald's restaurant in Yamba was approved last week by the local Council but the majority of Yamba residents DO NOT want it. Why do you want to come to Yamba when it is quite clear you are not wanted here. Please take back your application as most people will be boycotting it and you will not make any money.

To date this post is failing to display on the webpage in question. Hhmm........
However, the call to boycott any McDonald's eat-in and drive through fast food outlet in the small NSW North Coast town of Yamba continues.
While planning issues and councillots' votes refuse to die in The Daily Examiner letters to the editor on 11 June 2010 (twenty-five days after Clarence Valley Council development consent):

Valley Watch on Maccas decision
THE issues addressed by Valley Watch were not anti-McDonalds per se - they were mainly based on the inappropriateness of the intensified use of this particular site and the resultant adverse effects on local residents.
The zoning allows some uses 'with consent', meaning planners and councillors must take into account all the issues; it does not mean mandatory approval, a fact, which escaped five of the seven councillors voting on the DA.
A "refreshment room" is allowed in the zoning.
The definition does not include drive-through facilities, which the applicant claims is an ancillary use.
An accepted definition of ancillary use is that the area is subordinate or incidental to the dominant use (example being: accommodation for nurses on a hospital site).
As the drive-through will operate when the restaurant is closed, we do not believe it meets the accepted definitions of ancillary use, and is therefore not allowed in the zoning.
The fact that this commercial zoning abuts a residential area, the extra traffic that will be generated in the already planned Community Health Centre and Performing Arts Centre opposite, the increased traffic in residential streets, the adverse effect of lighting on surrounding residences, and the increased noise generated by this development as opposed to a retail outlet operating normal trading hours, were totally inadequately addressed in the planning report and by the majority of councillors.
Crime prevention was mentioned in the application, but it was not properly addressed in the report.
Councillors and planners were given many instances of increased anti-social behaviour and litter problems at other McDonalds outlets, but the issue was not addressed in the planning reports (Cr Margaret McKenna suggested Yamba residents could pick up the rubbish on their walks).
We thank Crs Tiley and Hughes, who voted against the development, and express our disappointment in the other councillors' lack of understanding of the issues and the inadequate information provided to them in the planning reports.
RONWYN LOPEZ, Valley Watch Inc secretary

A poll just for laffs....

Click on poll results to enlarge

A whimsical poll from The Bureau Chiefs.

Not everyone loves a mining millionaire.....

SMH online polling A.M. (above) and P.M. (below) on 10 June 2010

According to ABC News on Thursday, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission has given a timely reminder to mining companies that their rhetoric needs to be in line with their advice to the stockmarket, institutional investors, shareholders and creditors:

The corporate regulator says mining companies need to ensure they comply with continuous disclosure rules, when making statements during the debate about the proposed resources super profits tax.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says the directors of resources firms need to work out whether they have enough information to form a view on the impact of the tax, when making statements to financial markets.
ASIC's deputy chairman Belinda Gibson says responsibility for compliance with the stock exchange's continuous disclosure rules ultimately lies with directors.
"The rules require that: a) that the market is fully informed; and, b) that the market is not misled," she said.
"Now it's up to directors when they make statements about their companies, whether it's in relation to the resources tax, that their statements are accurate and that all material information is given to the market."

Elsewhere it has been suggested that the Australian Electoral Commission also had some stern words about one of the anti-RSPT advertisements that the mining industry was running.

First Contact: a whale tale from the NSW North Coast

As more and more North Coast recreational fishers come into contact with migrating whales, here (with permission of the author David Bancroft) is one very personal encounter - first published in The Dailly Examiner on 4 November 2008:

SOMETIMES the most memorable events occur when you least expect them.

On Sunday, while fishing with a neighbour about a kilometre offshore from Minnie Water, we experienced something neither of us is ever likely to forget.

Having dropped my GPS before we set off, we were unable to find our usual fishing spots so we settled on some close-in reefs, in about 14 metres of water, in the middle of some other boats that had already settled.

We dropped anchor and that's where we stayed.

Things were quiet ... too quiet.

Then as I looked to the north from the back of the boat a whale surfaced about 15 to 20 metres away moving slowly and gracefully towards us.

Nothing unusual in that, it happens quite a lot now.

When it surfaced again – now only seven to eight metres from the boat – we could see it had a calf in tow.

We banged the side of the boat so they would be aware we were there, but there was no change in direction.

"Hang onto something," I said.

Then, when they surfaced again only a few metres from the back of the boat, the adrenalin started flowing.

We could see dark shadows under the water only about a metre under the boat. Then they surfaced beside us. We could have jumped from the boat and ridden them.

Then they were under again and, soon after, we started moving. Not violently or suddenly, but one of these two mighty creatures had collected our anchor rope and we were travelling with them.

Obviously frightened by their contact with the rope, the monsters gave a few almighty thrusts with their tails to break free. There was such power that the swell and chop disappeared and the whole surface of the water for about 40 metres became a whirlpool.

The boat swung around. They were free of the rope.

It might sound ridiculous, but this was more exhilarating than frightening, more a realisation of the power of these magnificent mammals than a reminder of your own mortality.

It was fantastic.

Saffin marches for equal pay for women and Hogan hides

Pic from article in The Northern Star on 10 June 2010

Maud up the Street asked me to mention that Federal Labor MP for the Page electorate on the NSW North Coast, Janelle Saffin, was out on the barricades marching for Equal Pay For Women.

Onya, Janelle!

Now I know there weren't any men in that march, but I didn't see any public support in the media from Kevin Hogan the Nats candidate standing against Saffin in this year's federal election.

Poor show, Kev. Half the world don't have dangly bits, mate. You're supposed to remember that and help the push for equality.

When 'Microsoft' calls..........

The international Support on Click scam (aka ITEZY.com and System Recure) has been around for a number of years as this suspect press release, media article, forum and post indicate.

Even Dell has a warning out about these scammers: We have recently received complaints from some Dell customers in relation to a company called Support On Click. We are informed that representatives of Support On Click have telephoned Dell customers and have indicated that Support On Click.com is in some way affiliated with Dell. Please note that Support On Click is in no way affiliated with Dell, nor is its controlling company, Pecon Software Limited.

This appears to be part of the standard spiel and one version that currently being used in the Northern Rivers area: He had me click Start-Run and type in eventvwr, and then click on Applications and tell him how many Error flags I had — well, there were hundreds, just from this past month. He asked for a little info about them, and started a spiel about how many people were having these kinds of problems. It sounded like the canned beginning of a sales pitch.

The Daily Examiner on 9 June 2010 reported on the latest manifestation:

A TELEPHONE-BASED computer scam, which asks computer owners to install damaging and invasive software on the premise of a remote repair session has been stepped up in Grafton and Coffs Harbour in recent weeks.

Though the scam has been operating for well over a year nationally, with sporadic instances occurring locally, Computer Troubleshooters, Grafton reported it had heard of at least 10 customers affected in the Grafton area in the past fortnight and about the same amount in Coffs Harbour prior to that.

According to a Queensland police statement, the scam, which is sometimes known as 'Support on Click', involves people taking a call from a person working at a foreign call centre.

The caller claims to belong to a software support company that has been requested by Microsoft to fix problems on the victim's computer.

The offender confirms the victim's computer has sent error messages to Microsoft regarding problems with their Windows Explorer before directing the victim through a process on their computer, ultimately giving the offender remote access to the computer to download Trojans or gain access to personal information.

Once the offender has gained access, they will then give or sell the victim software in order to prevent this problem in the future. The victim, instead of downloading anti-virus software, unknowingly installs a virus on their computer which may be used to gather credit card data.

Microsoft's Asia-Pacific director for internet safety, Julie Inman Grant, confirmed the company was not contacting its customers by telephone.

"Microsoft will never cold-call a customer and request access to their computer system. Nor do we direct third-party support companies to do so," she said.....

However, to date I can find no specific mention of this attempt to deceive on scamwatch.gov.au. Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy is apparently more interested in furthering his grand plans for censoring the Internet.