Abbott on Slipper in 2011 - "He's a mate of mine"

It is hard to see Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's recent statements concerning The Speaker Peter Slipper as anything other than hypocritical manufactured outrage, given he was still supporting this member of parliament during periods when other serious allegations had surfaced, including those mentioned in current court papers.

Abbott and Slipper posed photograph from Google Images

He’s a mate of mine

Abbott speaking at 7.32 mins on 2011 audio clip

http://youtu.be/kLP2MIggvLs

QUESTION:

Are you concerned that Peter Slipper last night issued a statement threatening to resign from the Queensland Liberal National Party?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, there are all sorts of issues at a local party level and they’re things that should be sorted out at a local party level.

QUESTION:

Will you be talking to Peter Slipper and Mal Brough to sort out their situation?

TONY ABBOTT:

In the end, they’re both loyal members of the LNP here in Queensland. Peter is a good, strong member of the Coalition down in Canberra.

[Tony Abbott Doorstop, 5 September 2011,transcript]

THE Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, is urging the Queensland Liberal National Party to show restraint amid a growing push for a quick preselection challenge against the federal Liberal MP and Deputy Speaker, Peter Slipper.

Mr Abbott and others in the Liberal Party feel that if Mr Slipper loses his preselection, he may quit the party and sit on the cross benches, costing the Coalition a precious vote in the finely balanced Parliament.

The Liberal Party federal director, Brian Loughnane, was making representations to the LNP state president, Bruce McIver, yesterday.

Sources said Mr Loughnane was trying to defuse the situation on behalf of Mr Abbott.

[The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 2011]

The leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott, recently came out in support of Peter Slipper in an on-air interview with 101.5FM - 4OUR.

Mr Abbott said Mr Slipper was a "good bloke" and was loyal.

"He has been a good loyal servant of the Liberal Party, and more recently the LNP," Mr Abbott told the Morning Magazine in an interview. (Listen to the podcast below)

[101.5FM, Morning Mag, 24 November 2011]

Mr Speaker, we have known each other for many years. We have shared good times and not-so-good times. You have been an extremely effective and efficient Deputy Speaker of this parliament. You certainly have the technical skills and the knowledge of this parliament to be effective in this chair. We congratulate you. We wish you well and we express the hope and the confidence that you will serve without fear or favour. [Tony Abbott welcoming Slipper as The Speaker, Commonwealth Hansard, 24 November 2011]

UPDATE:

When Peter Slipper became an independent Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Tony Abbott-led Opposition began ‘leaking’ damaging documents to The Australian:

SIX months ago when Peter Slipper was spectacularly reinvented by the Gillard government as Speaker, seething kingmakers in the Liberal Party organised a dump.

Slipper, the member for Fisher who had been begrudgingly tolerated by his party despite his penchant for stretching the public purse to accommodate premium travel and perks, was officially a turncoat. The gloves were off.

Among the documents provided to The Australian by political operatives last November was an email exchange dating back to 2003 when Julia Gillard was in opposition and Tony Abbott a minister in John Howard's government. In themselves, the emails are hardly explosive - they evince a warm relationship between two adults: the boss, Slipper, and his employee, Tim Knapp. They discuss plans for a private weekend meeting. It would be thwarted because, as Knapp wrote, "it may be awkward ... unless you want me to introduce you as my boyfriend to them all".

Slipper asked if "Sat night my place for dinner" would be OK. Knapp replied: "To be honest i am a little unsure of coming to your place for dinner i think we need to keep things within the workplace to keep suspicions at a minimum."……….

When this becomes common knowledge in April 2012, Abbott does not deny knowledge of the allegations or the leaks, but tries to spin the facts:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says complaints made to Howard government staff by the man accusing Peter Slipper of sexual harassment did not constitute a "formal" complaint.

Former aide James Ashby has filed a civil claim in the Federal Court, alleging Mr Slipper made unwelcome sexual advances towards him in January this year.

The documents also allege the Sunshine Coast MP misused taxpayer-funded taxi vouchers.

The only reasonable conclusion which can be drawn from this scenario is that the Liberal Party of Australia and Tony Abbott (both in government and opposition) concealed serious allegations from the Australian Parliament and voters in order that the Coalition could hold onto the federal seat of Fisher in Queensland, which was retained by Slipper in the 2010 federal election with a +2.28% swing.

Note:

Although Coalition political operatives were involved in approaching the media after Slipper became Speaker, Tony Abbott offers a carefully-worded denial of any Coalition involvement in preparing the Ashby sexual harassment case:

Mr Abbott says he has no knowledge of any coalition personnel helping to prepare the case against Mr Slipper.

Further update:

Slipper on Abbott via Twitter in April 2012.....

Peter Slipper MP‏@PeterSlipperMP

I have been a good friend of Tony Abbott even when he didn't have many. I even delivered him the key vote he needed to become leader!

Peter Slipper MP‏@PeterSlipperMP

#auspol Tony was an honoured guest at our wedding 6 years ago and it was great to have him and other friends and family there.

Peter Slipper MP‏@PeterSlipperMP

@AussiePlease#auspol That's true but if I had voted another way, he wouldn't have become Leader.

Dear Sol, How sweet it is to see another rich patriarch showing an Achilles heel

Dear Sol,

Yes, I freely admit it.  It’s class envy times infinity from someone who grew up in what could be classed an Aussie slum, the son of a man who grew up likewise, the grandson of a man who often went hungry and the great-grandson of a man who spent his life in abject poverty but managed to raise a family which endures to this day.

So I take a somewhat perverse please in seeing you, Solomon Lew, controversial billionaire, in the courts airing the family’s dirty but expensive linen in Lew & Ors v Priester & Ors 28 February 2012

Maudie's Ex
Yamba

* GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak AT gmail.com.au for consideration.

CSG Free Northern Rivers Rally & Concert, Riverside Park Lismore 10am 12 May 2012

Gawd 'elp us all if we grow old, frail and alone in the Land Downunder

This is part of the Gillard Government response to Australia's aged care needs:

"To make it easier for older Australians to stay in their home while they receive care, we will:
Increase the number of Home Care Packages- from 59,876 to almost 100,000 (99,669).

Provide tailored care packages to people receiving home care, and new funding for dementia care.

Cap costs, so that full pensioners pay no more than the basic fee." and

“care recipients with higher than average care needs, an indexed annual cap of $5,000 for single people on income less than $43,000”
A positive policy move. Except Maud Up The Street tells me you need at least six hours care in the home per week and a family member coming in, or living in, to pick up the rest of the care hours to take the pressure of the lack of available dementia-dedicated nursing home beds on the NSW North Coast.

Not every older person has the luxury of children and grandchildren or of having them live close by if they do. In fact, in some areas around 30% of the 50 years plus population is probably childless if ABS stats are any sort of guide.
The Prime Minister and Health Minister speak a lot about "older Australians and their families" - without recognizing that the norm is changing more than they realise and this welcome move which will allow more people to stay in their home as they receive aged care may accidentally exclude the elderly without families.
Even the announced extra aged care beds may not always materialise in regional areas such as the NSW North Coast, because nursing homes sometimes display a reluctance to take up available residential bed quotas.

Prime Minister and Health Minister Media Release 20^th April 2012

Dodgy $20 notes doing the rounds in Lismore area

NSW Police Force media release 22^nd  April 2012

“Detectives on the state’s north coast are conducting inquiries after a number of fake $20 notes were found in circulation in the Lismore area.

A number of business owners contacted local police on Friday (20 April 2012) after the counterfeit notes were used to pay for good and services.

The phony cash was detected by staff at a Lismore kebab shop, pub, convenience store and fast food restaurant, and by two taxi drivers.

Detectives have launched an investigation in a bid to identify who’s responsible for producing them.

The counterfeit notes, totalling $240, have also been seized for forensic examination.

Richmond LAC Duty Officer, Inspector Robert Cairnduff, warned local residents and business owners to be on the lookout for the notes.

“I would encourage everyone to be extra vigilant when handling their money and if you do notice something odd or that doesn’t look quite right, please contact us immediately,” Insp Cairnduff said.

“The counterfeit notes that we have seized are not of great quality; however, in poor light or to the unsuspecting eye they could quite possibly be passed off as the real thing,” he said.

Inquiries by local detectives are ongoing.

Anyone with information that might assist investigators is urged to contact Lismore Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”

Oh, Carole, I am such a fool or Click send and lose your job

One can’t help feeling that this particular LNP staffer is no loss to both the Queensland and Federal political systems. Senator Ian MacDonald must have cringed when Crikey published this on 17 April 2012:

Dear Carole,
I have just read your pathetic piece in the Courier-Mail. While I generally ignore the bleatings of sourpusses like you, your piece was so depressing and negative that I was moved to find your email address and simply say: Get a life.
The world would be a better place if people like you stood for political preselection and learned the hard way that ability is not measured by chromosomes.
Question: Why don’t you have a go? Answer: Like most women, you probably don’t possess the necessary drive, determination and decisiveness that men innately possess. It’s not a personal criticism; it’s a fact of biology. Where, for example, are the great female explorers, mountaineers, warriors, inventors, chefs? Blokes dominate most areas of human endeavour because Nature equipped them with something called testosterone. That was part of Nature’s grand design to enable men to be stronger, more fearless and more determined than their sisters. Sorry, Carole, fact not fiction.
Women occupy a special but different place in the world to that of men. I’ve been married to a wonderful woman - a proud mother of four successful adult children, not a nuclear physicist - for nearly 40 years. For yeras [sic] I’ve heard women like you ask my wife at cocktail parties, functions and dinner parties: And what do you do? The clear inference in the pregnant silence that follows my wife’s answer that she is a proud home-maker makes my skin crawl. Women like my wife are the life-givers, the embodiment of sacrificial love (the purest form of love), the primary keepers of the flame of civilisation that separates us from the animal world, and yet the Sisterhood frowns on them for not joining the anti-male club that you so typefy [sic].
The anti-male world of conspiracy theories in which you and the Sisterhood inhabit is the complete antithesis of the world in which positive women thrive. Women who can’t cut it in - what did you call it?, the boys’ club - can easily cover their inadequacies by claiming bias, sexism, misogyny, chauvinism etc. etc. ad infinitum. It’s so tiring to read such twaddle.
Face reality, my dear. Smell the coffee. Try to turn your sour, negative, anti-male view of the world into something more positive and productive. Demonising men may be your life’s quest but fewer and fewer people are listening.
I repeat: GET A LIFE.
Kind regards,
Max
Max Tomlinson

Article which raised Max's ire here.

Wot I didz wiv me down time at the taxpayer's expense

It will almost be a relief when Phelps gets back to doing those nothings recorded by Hansard on 1^st May  - these tweets are getting weird.

                                                 

Peter Phelps‏@PeterPhelpsMLC

Spent the last hour standing on a vacant, wind-swept, overcast beach doing nothing #mylifeisavirginiawoolfnovel

And this man wants to be the first Australian Pope.................

In the ABC Q and A debate on Monday 9 April 2012 between Cardinal George Pell and Richard Dawkins this exchange occurred:

GEORGE PELL: Well, science and religion are two different activities and in the Catholic Church you can believe, to some extent, what you like about evolution. I think Darwin made a great contribution. I remember talking with Julius Kornberg, a very distinguished biologist, and he's worked with ants for years and he said, you know, he's managed to change them by changing the conditions but there are a number of things that evolution doesn't explain. Darwin realised that. Darwin was a theist because he said he couldn’t believe that the immense cosmos and all the beautiful things in the world came about either by chance or out of necessity. He said, “I have to be ranked as a theist.” [my bolding]

RICHARD DAWKINS: That just not true.

GEORGE PELL: Excuse me it’s...

RICHARD DAWKINS: It’s just plain not true.

GEORGE PELL: It’s on page 92 of his auto biography. Go and have a look.

The brazen Dr. Pell was knowingly being a highly selective and dishonest debater in this instance, because The Complete Works Of Charles Darwin Online show that this is what Darwin stated between pages 90 through to 94 of his autobiography to flesh out his position on ‘God’:

At the present day the most usual argument for the existence of an intelligent God is drawn from the deep inward conviction and feelings which are experienced by most persons. But it cannot be doubted that Hindoos, Mahomadans and others might argue in the same manner and with equal force in favour of the existence of one God, or of many Gods, or as with the Buddists of no God. There are also many barbarian tribes who cannot be said with any truth to believe in what we call God: they believe indeed in spirits or ghosts, and it can be explained, as Tyler and Herbert Spencer have shown, how such a belief would be likely to arise.
Formerly I was led by feelings such as those just referred to, (although I do not think that the religious sentiment was ever strongly developed in me), to the firm conviction of the existence of God, and of the immortality of the soul. In my Journal I wrote that whilst standing in the midst of the grandeur of a Brazilian forest, 'it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, admiration, and devotion which fill and elevate the mind.' I well remember my conviction that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. But now the grandest scenes would not cause any such convictions and feelings to rise in my mind. It may be truly said that I am like a man who has become colour-blind, and the universal belief by men of the existence of redness makes my present loss of perception of not the least value as evidence. This argument would be a valid one if all men of all races had the same inward conviction of the existence of one God; but we know that this is very far from being the case. Therefore I cannot see that such inward convictions and feelings are of any weight as evidence of what really exists. The state of mind which grand scenes formerly excited in me, and which was intimately connected with a belief in God, did not essentially differ from that which is often called the sense of sublimity; and however difficult it may be to explain the genesis of this sense, it can hardly be advanced as an argument for the existence of God, any more than the powerful though vague and similar feelings excited by music.
With respect to immortality,¹ nothing shows me how strong and almost instinctive a belief it is, as the consideration of the view now held by most physicists, namely that the sun with all the planets will in time grow too cold for life, unless indeed some great body dashes into the sun and thus gives it fresh life.—Believing as I do that man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is, it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress. To those who fully admit the immortality of the human soul, the destruction of our world will not appear so dreadful.

Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.

This conclusion¹ was strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote the Origin of Species; and it is since that time that it has very gradually with many fluctuations become weaker. But then arises the doubt—can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animal, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions? May not these be the result of the connection between cause and effect which strikes us as a necessary one, but probably depends merely on inherited experience? Nor must we overlook the probability of the constant inculcation in a belief in God on the minds of children producing so strong and perhaps an inherited effect on their brains not yet fully developed, that it would be as difficult for them to throw off their belief in God, as for a monkey to throw off its instinctive fear and hatred of a snake.²
I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic. [my bolding]

Music as art

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) - official video

http://youtu.be/8UVNT4wvIGY

Daily Examiner goes all coy on name of Maclean Chamber of Commerce 'spokesperson' who actually said this......

The Daily Examiner on 17^th April 2011:

“The chamber will argue the Fisheries must be relocated to a more appropriate location with the levee wall in the central business district also moved and replaced with open gates so as to not impede the views.”

Yep, screw with a reliable levee. Just the thing to bring regular visitors into town – the threat of a flood easily breaching CBD defences.

And I’m sure locals in low-lying houses will be thrilled at the thought of the extra risk and maybe less time to evacuate to higher ground.

What did the study named by the journo actually warn about?

Ah, yes; “The integrity of the levee wall must be maintained to ensure flood mitigation measures are achieved for the town.”

So Uncle Joe wants Australia to have a welfare system more like those in Asia

This is what the Opposition Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey's less government intervention and more individual self-sufficiency looks like in China, India, Japan, Burma, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia - abandoned babies, the elderly, young, sick and disabled just trying to survive.
The stuff nightmares are made of the average Aussie. But not for the man who wants to be Australia's next prime minister, Tony Abbott or Uncle Joe.

All pics at Google Images 

Doing Evil: He said she said

Sergey Brin in Web freedom faces greatest threat ever, warns Google's Sergey Brin :

The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever,…...

Clarencegirl:

You are part of that threat, Google…………… Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Google Bypassing User Privacy Settings, etc; etc; etc.

A Twitter Titter

Lines in a DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter on 2^nd April 2012:

Reported Twitter account: @myaustinwhite

Description of original work: stolen pornagraphy belonging to our client

(Administator authorized to act on behalf of all Austin White - Copyright issues).

The End of the Age of Entitlement: Hockey's speech (link to full transcript)

In April 2012 the Australian Federal Opposition’s Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey delivered a speech to the Institute of Economic Affairs in London titled The End of the Age of Entitlement.

In this speech Hockey stated;

Entitlement is a concept that corrodes the very heart of the process of free enterprise which drives our economy…

The social contract between government and its citizens needs to be urgently and significantly redefined. The reality is that we cannot have greater government services and more government involvement in our lives coupled with significantly lower taxation…..

You will remember it was Margaret Thatcher who interpreted community entitlements as the right for our children to “grow tall and some taller than others if they have the ability in them to do so”. This broader and timeless conservative definition of our end game lays down some foundations for the role of government. Equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome is my preferred model for contemporary society.…..

Defined benefit schemes need to be phased out worldwide, including in Australia, whether they are for public servants or private sector employees. All government-funded pensions and other such payments must be means tested so that people who do not need them do not get them.

The first we heard about the Coalition’s plan to review Commonwealth welfare payments/tax concessions/other forms of government assistance with a view to reducing and/or eliminating some of these is found in an ABC TV Lateline interview on 18 April 2012.

Hockey told Lateline that:

Well, with an ageing population and an entitlement system that has seen extraordinary largesse built up over the last 50 years, Western communities, Western societies are going to have to make some very hard and unpopular decisions to wind back the involvement of the state in people's lives……

we need to be ever-vigilant. We need to compare ourselves with our Asian neighbours where the entitlements programs of the state are far less than they are in Australia…

Australia's heading in one direction, that's a reduction of entitlements and it's empowerment of people.

The full transcript of Hockey’s IEA speech can be found here.

Despite Hockey past protestations otherwise, he appears to be following the Liberal Party’s tendency to take its policy straight from Margaret Thatcher’s old playbook and the more conservative elements of the U.S. Republican Party and its Tea Party adherents.

Margaret Thatcher in October 1987:

I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.

One Tea Party leader Phillip Dennis in CNN Opinion, April 2010:

Welfare and unemployment benefits must be drastically cut.

Here is a statement on one right-wing public policy think tank, The Heritage Foundation, made in August 2010:

If we really want to get our nation back on track, one of our top priorities must be to end the age of entitlements.

Ohio Republican Rep Jim Jordan told The Washington Times in April 2011:

Unless we start looking at this fractured system as one unit, exploding costs will bring the whole thing down.

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan said in The Huffington Post on 20 March 2012:

We don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls able-bodied people ... into complacency and dependence.

'Push to add drama' (video)

http://youtu.be/qMMDaq3EWUY

The NSW North Coast scores a pass mark when it comes to crimes involving firearms - but not so good with murder

New South Wales is a big place when you think about it – all 809,444 km²  or so of it. About 7.3 million people live within state borders, which is around 32% of the entire Australian population. Almost 8% of all Walers live on the Mid and Far North Coast.

The bad news………………

“The offence of ‘discharge firearm into premises’ rose by 41 per cent (from 71 incidents in 2010 to 100 incidents in 2011) in the two years to December 2011, according to the annual crime statistics report released today by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

Around half of NSW recorded incidents of ‘discharge firearm into premises’ in 2011 were recorded in the three Sydney statistical subdivisions (SSDs) of Canterbury-Bankstown, Central Western Sydney and Fairfield-Liverpool.”

There were 410 robberies involving a firearm in NSW in 2011.

{BOSCAR Media Release on 17^th April 2012 on NSW Recorded Crime Statistics 2011 and NSW Recorded Crime Statistics 2011}

The good news………………

None of those ‘drive by’ shootings happened on the NSW North Coast. Only 10 robberies (from Bellingen right up to the NSW-QLD border) involved someone carrying a firearm – or just 2% of all robberies with firearms.

Something to think about……….

NSW recorded 75 murders in 2011. Only 4 murders are listed for the NSW North Coast but these make up 5% of all the state’s murders last year.

Best Media Photo of the Week

And only Turn Left 2013 put it out into the blogosphere on 15th April 2012:

Image: Fairfax
Tony Abbott’s press conference, the same time Bob Brown

announced his retirement on Friday 13th April 2012

NSWLC Government Whip Phelps parades his ignorance

Ever since the Hon. Dr. Peter Phelps MLC came to the notice of the Twitterati I have been finding him a hitherto untapped source of amusement.

This is vintage Phelps in Hansard on 2^nd June 2011:

The Hon. Dr Peter Phelps: Point of order: This is now the fourth time Mr David Shoebridge has referred to draconian legislation. He would, or should, be aware that "draconian" is the adjectival form of "dragon". There are no dragons involved in this legislation, and there are no dragons involved in the industrial relations situation of New South Wales. There may well be an argument for dracona-centric global warming, but that is something we will leave for another time. I ask that Mr David Shoebridge cease and desist from bringing the good name of dragons into disrepute by describing this as draconian legislation. [my bolding]

Sounds fair doesn’t it? A doctor of philosophy in history giving 'helpfu'l linguistic advice to a fellow member of the Legislative Council.

However, all is not what it seems. The “adjectival form of dragon” is in fact “draconic” – using a lowercase d.

A quick use of his Blackberry would have displayed the fact that the adjective “Draconian” or “draconian” refers to of, like, or pertaining to Draco or his laws and alternatively harsh, rigorous, severe as any good dictionary will tell you.

Although English is a dynamic language constantly changing over time, it is yet to catch up to Mr. Phelps’ fanciful interpretation – except perhaps in the realm of science fiction.

The new Daily Examiner editor is young enough to be an Internet Bairn, so.....

……all of us NSW North Coast WW2-ers and Baby Boomers can look forward to stumbling across candid photos such as this one from circa 2006-2008.

Welcome to the Valley, Jenna!

Abbott and Co out to emasculate the NSW Nationals?

All is not well between the Liberal-Nationals Coalition in the lead up to the next Australian federal election and strong language is the order of the day in this letter (originally published by The Australian) in reply from Nationals NSW President Christine Ferguson to Federal Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos on 5 March 2012. 
Nationals NSW President Christine Ferguson's Letter To Federal Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos

APN's Peter Chapman turns even nastier than usual on the Fraser Coast

Excerpt from the Fraser Coast Chronicle on 13 April 2012:

Which...

...high-profile candidate is so worried about Election Gossip that he has been digging for some dirt of his own?

This man has even gone so far as to make calls to certain people in Grafton, New South Wales, in a desperate attempt to find anything at all he thinks he could use as a shield.

If this candidate believes he can spare himself the scrutiny of the Chronicle, he had better think again.

Stay tuned...

...the Stealth Reporter hears all...

It doesn’t take a genius to see the visage of Fraser Coast Chronicle Editor, Peter Chapman, behind this ‘column’ which appears dedicated to anonymous and scurrilous gossip concerning mayoral and councillor candidates in the Fraser Coast Regional Council Election called for 28 April 2012.

The Clarence Valley would not tolerate the ugly side of Mr. Chapman’s editorship of Grafton’s The Daily Examiner and told him so early and often. He left the Valley after less than fifteen months at the newspaper and went north into Queensland – sped on his way by widespread community dislike of his divisive journalistic personality.

I suspect that the Fraser Coast is now paying the price for not following the Valley’s example.

* Graphic from The Fraser Coast Chronicle

How not to win friends and influence people in a NSW Legislative Council inaugural speech

When sly digs at a senior member of your own parliamentary party should not be a personal order of the day…………

As an aficionado of the Village People, Mr President, you, like me, will no doubt recall that they sang, "No man does it all by himself". {NSW Hansard,Hon. Dr. Peter Phelps MLC,2011,Inaugural Speech}

Developer's dream goes west in Yamba?

For years longtime Yamba residents have pondered the possibility that the ill-advised release of a large section of flood storage land for future urban development would be a graveyard for the speculative developers who currently own this land.

In 2012 they are perhaps seeing the first cracks in the Clarence Valley Council-NSW Government grand plan to eventually place over 2,000 new residents in flood prone West Yamba – with Lot 8 DP1062514 apparently coming onto the market in a forced sale.

This lot is subject to Stage Two of the Yamba By-Pass Road construction. Stage One is currently being progressed by Council.

22 Carrs Drive, YAMBA NSW 2464

Receiver Sale - Residential Subdivision - Yamba

- Potential for 172 lots
- 17.66* ha majority zoned residential (2C)
- 300 metres* to town centre and close to famous surfing beaches
For Sale by Offers to Purchase Closing Thursday 24 May, 2012 at 4pm

Extracted from ASIC's database at AEST 07:21:44 on 15/04/2012

Name EAST COAST PTY LTD
ACN 074 704 028
ABN 91 074 704 028
Type Australian Proprietary Company, Limited By Shares
Registration Date 03/07/1996
Next Review Date 03/07/2012
Status ** UNDER EXTERNAL ADMINISTRATION and/or CONTROLLER APPOINTED **
Locality of Registered Office Yamba NSW 2464
Jurisdiction Australian Securities & Investments Commission

Date Number Pages Description
13/03/2012 7E4331310 11 5011B Copy of Minutes of Meeting of Members, Creditors, Contributories or Committee of Inspection Under S.436e Or S.439a

'Troll' Phelps crying wolf on Twitter

The Hon. Dr Peter Phelps MLC tweeting on 5^th April:
Peter Phelps‏ @PeterPhelpsMLC
Yesterday, NSW Labor refused leave to allow me to move my motion on Free Speech in Australia (Motion No.599) #theipa http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/lc/lcpaper.nsf/0/D16FDBEB3231CD8BCA2579D5004ACF67/$file/Notice%20Paper%2076%20-%204%20April%202012.pdf

Peter Phelps‏@PeterPhelpsMLC

@BULMKT They can 'deny leave' for me to proceed, unless motion is set for debate. It would have been quick and easy, but they hate freedom.

Such a hard done by MLC – on that particular day he only got to rise to his feet for two of the four motions he had listed.

But what about the principle of free speech and the Opposition's supposed hatred of freedom? Well, this is where it gets interesting.

The February 2012 ANZACATT Bulletin tells us that; "On 12 October 2011, on a motion of the Leader of the Government, the House referred terms of reference to the Privileges Committee to inquire into and report on whether the conduct of Mr Shoebridge in relation to this matter constituted an abuse of privilege, namely the privilege of freedom of speech…..In its report, the Privileges Committee noted that the House has not identified and adopted appropriate principles to be applied in relation to the exercise of members' freedom of speech. In those circumstances, the Committee concluded that 'any finding of abuse of privilege under present circumstances could be perceived as an unwarranted restriction on members' freedom of speech'. The Committee was guided by this precedent in considering the statements made by Mr Shoebridge. In its report of November 2011, the Committee found that given the paramount importance of preserving the privilege of freedom of speech of members, and noting that the House has not adopted guidelines on what constitutes abuse of the privilege of freedom of speech, it would be unreasonable to adjudge Mr Shoebridge guilty of an abuse of the privilege of freedom of speech."

Now, Phelps took part in debating the 12^th October motion by way of points of order and unless he had ducked out for a pee just as the question was put he formed part of this – as did other Coalition MLCs and presumably all their Labor counterparts:

"Question—That the motion be agreed to—put and resolved in the affirmative.

Motion agreed to.

So it's a bit rich for him to be claiming to champion free speech, when he took part in what seems to be only the fourth attempt by the Legislative Council to compel a member into silence by way of formal sanction since 1989.

# For those interested in procedural minutiae, Phelps motion is recorded as "Notice given 11 October 2011—expires Notice Paper No. 64" on 23^rd February 2012 and as "Notice given 27 March 2012—expires Notice Paper No. 91" on 4^th April 2012.

Hansard Running Record displays "Obj. taken, item not considered as formal business" on 4^th April.

# Thanks to Clarencegirl for finding a pdf of the ANZACATT Bulletin for me.

Second National Rural Regional Law and Justice Conference, 18-20 May 2012 at Coffs Harbour, NSW

The Second National Rural Regional Law and Justice Conference is to be hosted by University of New England in collaboration with Deakin University School of Law.

This national conference has a triple focus:

• On sharing knowledge amongst attendees with different professional backgrounds and concerns, but a shared interest in the future of rural and regional Australia
• On critical analysis of issues and problems
• On practical strategies for delivering greater social justice for rural and regional communities

Dates: 18 - 20 May 2012
Venue: Aanuka Beach Resort, Coffs Harbour, NSW

Registrations:
Early Bird: $300 close 23 March 2012
Standard: $395 close 20 April 2012
Register for the conference today.

Keynote speakers listed here.

More information:
Visit the National Rural/Regional Law and Justice Conference website.

The mining boom is an unmitigated good in the eyes of many and further proof that Australia is indeed the lucky country. But it is not luck shared by all. Farming, mining and Indigenous communities are amongst those many Australians suffering its downside. Its economic benefits frequently fly over these communities, leaving them only with its adverse social and environmental impacts.

Several speakers at the 2nd National Rural and Regional Law and Justice Conference will take up these issues. National leader writer for The Australian and research scholar at ANU, Paul Cleary has subjected the impacts of the mining boom to the sternest scrutiny in his best selling 'Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia's Future' and the forthcoming 'Mine-Field: The Dark Side of Australia's Resources Frenzy'. His keynote address will look at the implications of the boom for rural and regional communities.

There will also be a ‘once in a lifetime’ chance to listen (and speak) to the leading US commentator on rural democracy and justice, Jim Hightower.  Author of 5 popular books, 2 times Texas Agriculture Commissioner, and one of the most informative and entertaining commentators on rural affairs in the USA, Jim brings a hard-hitting viewpoint that will make everyone think. Jim Hightower speaks for the interests of rural communities across the USA, and broadcasts daily radio commentaries that are carried in more than 150 commercial and public stations, on the web, and on Radio for Peace International.  Jim will be talking about challenges faced by rural communities in Australia and the USA, ‘fracking’ and farming, and the power games that impact on farming communities.

The program features a range of speakers who will explore issues concerning mining development in rural and regional communities, and the role of the law in managing such conflict. The justice and equity issues of mining developments, and the impact these have on communities, will be debated in several thought-provoking and engaging sessions, including:
·         Professor Kerry Carrington, Queensland University of Technology: The social and criminological impact of mining development on rural communities
·         Adam Edwards, University of New England: Grass v Gas: The role of private nuisance in agriculture / mining land use conflict
·         Tony Meacham, University of Southern Queensland: 20 Years after Mabo – Is there any more certainty for pastoralists, miners, and Indigenous people?
·         Dr Jacqueline Williams, University of New England, and Sue Higginson, Environmental Defender’s Office: Mining: Coming to a farm near you

[Email from Jacqueline Williams, BAppSc MAppSc PhD, Senior Researcher AgLaw Centre University of New England]