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Friday 21 October 2011
Shell targets polar bear's home for drilling. We're suing says NRDC
OMG! It's Judgement Day and I'm still here
Universal Doomsday for all the world's inhabitants? Well not if I'm any indication.
Sitting here very much alive and earthbound - munching toast and drinking tea without a care.
Thursday 20 October 2011
Please, in case I forget, remind me NEVER to contact this North Coast solicitor
Fair dinkum! So, it's government departments that are responsible for the predicament employees of Stuart Ramsey or whatever shonky bodgey employment mobs that have been orchestrated to be the workers' employer should carry the can, is it?
The solicitor representing Ramsey is, among other things, the chairman of the board of the major local private hospital in the Richmond valley.
Credit: The Daily Examiner, 21/10/11
The Greens candidate in Clarence by-election speaks out against mining risks
NSW Greens media release October 18, 2011:
The Clarence Greens today confirmed that Janet Cavanaugh would be running as their candidate in next month’s by-election for the seat of Clarence. A resident of the area for more than 20 years, Ms Cavanaugh was the Greens candidate for the March State Election.
“The Greens view this by-election as an opportunity for the electorate to cast a vote of ‘no confidence’ against both major political parties,” Ms Cavanaugh said.
“It is time to clean up NSW politics,” she said. “The Greens have a history of maintaining ethical stands across a range of issues. By acting with integrity, The Greens offer a better way of doing politics and this will result in better outcomes for the electorate.
“One of the key issues we are worried about is the threat posed by mining to our precious water supplies. There is the risk posed by antimony mining on the Dorrigo Plateau to the Coffs-Clarence regional water supply and our estuarine fisheries, and the potential for coal seam gas exploration to drain and poison groundwater reserves as well as wreck important farming land and wildlife habitat.
Stuart Ramsey ordered to compensate sacked workers
It has been a long time coming for those eleven South Grafton abattoir workers sacked in November 2008, but yesterday in Fair Work Ombudsman v Ramsey Food Processing Pty Ltd and Stuart Ramsey (19 October 2011) the Federal Court of Australia found in the workers favour and ordered compensation for termination without notice, severance pay or annual leave entitlements.
Full transcript of the judgment here.
Update:
The Daily Examiner today offers this summation:
In effect, the court found Mr Ramsey and his company Ramsey Food Processing established shelf labour-hire companies and used them as a mechanism to hire and fire who he wanted, while avoiding paying entitlements.
It found that when the company wanted to get rid of employees without paying entitlements, it moved the employees it wanted to retain into another labour hire company then starved the original company of funds. That company would then become insolvent, leaving neither money to pay the employees nor money to which they were rightly entitled.
That is what the workers claimed when they were sacked and their claims have now been vindicated.
It has not been a great week for Mr Ramsey. Last Thursday he was found guilty of contempt in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
Byron turned out to say no to coal seam gas mining
Byron Bay makes its views known on the subject of coal seam gas mining as part of the Lock The Gate /Defend Our Water National Day of Action on October 16 2011:
The O'Farrell Government is not listening as it endorses fraccing in its submission to the NSW Inquiry into Coal seam gas.
Best Tweet of the Week
Queensland Liberal MP Andy Laming successfully aping his leader The Rabbitt on Twitter this week:
Pic from The Age
Wednesday 19 October 2011
Clarence By-election: weeping with laughter in the first week of the unofficial election campaign
So it was to the accompaniment of helpless laughter that I read this article in The Daily Examiner today, in which he ends with an outright misrepresentation of his original statements and a bald untruth about the funding process, as well as omitting to mention the fact that the Commonwealth has already begun scheduled funding payments:
Dementia rates high in NSW and on the North Coast
Nature Conservation Council of NSW warning concerning O'Farrell Government coal seam gas policy
Government leaves significant wildlife habitat and natural areas open to mining and gas 15 October 2011:
The NSW government's proposed strategic land use policy will leave the state's most critical wildlife habitat and natural areas open to destructive mining and gas development, according to the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.
The proposed policy allows mining companies to buy their way into highly sensitive natural areas, by allowing mining and gas development to go ahead in these areas, provided that the destroyed habitat is 'offset' elsewhere.
"The policy proposals currently on the table will not deliver on the government's election promise to maintain critical environmental assets by placing sensitive areas off limits to mining and gas extraction," said Pepe Clarke, NCC Chief Executive Officer.
"Carefully mapping the most important wildlife habitat in the state, only to allow it to be destroyed by mining, is bizarre and totally unacceptable. The Government must recognise these are natural areas too precious to destroy and impossible to replace.
"The government's strategic planning proposal does not apply to exploration activities, despite the fact that exploration activities can have significant impacts on the environment in their own right.
"The NSW government's proposed approach to strategic land use planning does not reflect the balance between mining, agriculture and conservation promised by the Coalition in its election policy.
"We cannot accept a policy that does not provide certainty for mine‐affected communities and genuine protection for wildlife, forests, rivers and wetlands.
"Environmental and agricultural stakeholders have become increasingly frustrated with the government's strategic land use planning process, as their repeated calls for the government to honour its promise to place sensitive areas off limits to mining have fallen on deaf ears.
"The State government must not turn its back on its promise to protect natural areas and local communities from the destructive impacts of unprecedented expansion in coal and gas development.
"This policy proposal must be withdrawn immediately, and replaced with a commitment to provide real protection for local communities, farmland, water and natural areas," Mr Clarke said.
Front page image: This Eastern Pygmy Possum was found by scientists during a recent wildlife survey of the Pilliga forest. It is one of at least 22 endangered animal species under threat from a large-scale coal seam gas mining proposal in the Pilliga.
Here is the Eastern Star Gas 2007 Review of Environmental Factors for the Pilliga gas well sites, which somewhat conveniently only finds four threatened terrestrial vertebrate species occurring in the study area - none of which are the Eastern Pygmy Possum. This review also finds some of the segmented study area conveniently distant from at least five of the six identified core hole sites.
This same review stated across the Bohena and Bibblewindi project areas have found no evidence of any endangered populations, communities or habitat and
Same old, same old from the NSW North Coast Nationals
Former Clarence MP Steve Cansdell (who resigned after being outed as having made a false stat dec to avoid losing his driver's licence) greeting the new Clarence By-election candidate tipped to be his successor in the NSW O'Farrell Government after 19th November 2011.
A dubious case of mutual endorsement?
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Are your blog's visitors coming with additional political spam?
Saffin encourages increasing awareness of identity fraud
Monday 17 October 2011
Nats' candidate for Clarence ... business interests ...???
Click on image to enlarge
Punters left in dark about Nats' Clarence pre-selection processes
Leading up to the Nationals' big event yesterday all the reports were that seven hopefuls would face the starter's gun. However, today's Daily Examiner carries a page 3 report "Nats pick Gulaptis" accompanied by a photo of hopefuls. But one thing is missing from the photo, there's no Jason Cleary.
Local punters are asking, "Was he a late scratching? Was he nobbled?"
In 21st Century Australia the rich get richer and the poor lag behind
The wealthiest 20% of households have increased their average net worth 15% since 2005-06 (CPI adjusted), while the poorest 20% of households saw only a 4% rise, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
These wealthy households had an average net worth of $2.2 million per household, and accounted for around two-thirds of total household wealth. The poorest 20% of households had an average net worth of $32,000 per household, which accounted for 1% of total household wealth.
The average wealth of an Australian household in 2009-10 was $720,000, up 14% (CPI adjusted) since 2005-06.
There were differences in the average levels of wealth between the states and territories. Average net worth in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania were below the national average.
Household wealth was more concentrated in metropolitan areas. The average net worth of households located in capital cities was $772,000 as compared with $629,000 in areas outside of capital cities.
Owner-occupied homes were the main asset held by Australians. Mortgages on them were the main liability, with over two-thirds of Australian households owning their own home either outright or with a mortgage.
For households who owned their home outright (2.7 million households), the average value of the home was $541,000. For those households with a mortgage on their home (3 million households), the average value of the home was $521,000, and the average mortgage outstanding was $188,000, giving a net home equity of $333,000.
One in five households owned property other than their own home, including holiday homes and rental properties.
Superannuation was the main financial asset held by households, with three-quarters of all households having some superannuation assets.
For households with superannuation, the average value of their superannuation was $154,000, but for half of these, the value was less than $60,000.
More information can be found in Household Wealth and Wealth Distribution, Australia, 2005-06 (cat. no. 6554.0).
Media notes:
· When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
Canute Shire Council tries to turn back the sea
Sunday 16 October 2011
Clarence By-election: Nationals make the same mistake a second time
The Sydney Morning Herald 16 October 2011:
This man has the ability to take Clarence from an extremely safe Nationals seat to an almost marginal one in the space of weeks.
All that glitters is not gold for NSW North Coast communities
for the period 1995-96 to 2007-08
It's World Food Day Today, 16 October 2011
It is World Food Day today and it’s no surprise to find that this event is supported by the multinational biotech industry and agricultural sectors which promote GMO crops.
To counteract this I suggest……………………...
Send an email of support to Millions Against Monsanto here.
Sign up for Mothers Against Monsanto weekly newsletter here and join the network here.
Contact your Federal MP and tell him or her that you demand a review of the Australian Government’s position on GMO labelling. Contact details here and here.
Write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper stating how you feel about genetically modified crops and foods.
* This post is part of North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.
Who is Henry Ergas and why did he hop aboard Teh Rabbit's Fright Bus?
Prompted by a tongue-in-cheek Jeremy Sear tweet asking the questions “Where the hell is Henry Ergas pulling this "$1 trillion" figure for the carbon price from? And who is Henry Ergas anyway?” I went looking for answers.
This is Henry:
Pic from The Australian
This is what what Wollongong University has to say about Henry:
This is what Liberal Party hacks have been saying about Henry:
This is what The Prof tells the Murdoch meeja:
“the carbon tax will cost a year's national income: that is, $1 trillion.”
This is what the Liberal Party’s best mate told the Senate Carbon Tax Inquiry on 10th August 2011:
This is the conclusion he drew for the Business Council of Australia:
And this is how good an economist ol’ Henry is:
Extracted from ASIC's database at AEST 20:14:00 on 15/10/2011 |
Name | NETWORK ECONOMICS CONSULTING GROUP PTY LTD |
| ||
ACN |
|
| ||
ABN |
|
| ||
Australian Proprietary Company, Limited By Shares |
| |||
Registration Date | 27/07/1987 |
| ||
Next Review Date | 27/07/2010 |
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Deregistered Date Deregistered 21/10/2009 |
| |||
Locality of Registered Office | not available |
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Australian Securities & Investments Commission |
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Former Name(s) | ERGAS & ASSOCIATES PTY. LTD. |
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WATRON PTY. LTD. |
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Extracted from ASIC's database at AEST 20:41:54 on 15/10/2011 |
| |||
Name | CONCEPT ECONOMICS PTY LTD | |
ACN |
| |
Australian Proprietary Company, Limited By Shares | ||
Registration Date | 03/03/2008 | |
Next Review Date | 03/03/2012 | |
Deregistered Date Deregistered 08/05/2011 | ||
Locality of Registered Office | not available | |
Australian Securities & Investments Commission |
From Bloomberg Business Week:
Network Economics Consulting Group Pty. Ltd. provides economic and strategic advisory services.
Mr. Henry Ergas Managing Director
From Manta:
Henry Issac Simon Ergas Director
Inevitable conclusion – why on earth would I trust the carbon tax sums done by a Menzies House amigo who apparently couldn’t balance the books of two businesses?
Saturday 15 October 2011
Some advice for polluter: sell a couple of racehorses, pay your bills and get your house in order!
Read the full report in today's Daily Examiner here.