The best time to view this phenomenon is thought to be between 8.16am and 8.35am EST as it first moves onto the Sun's face.
Thursday 31 May 2012
A Special Event For Australia: Venus crosses the face of the Sun on 6 June 2012
The best time to view this phenomenon is thought to be between 8.16am and 8.35am EST as it first moves onto the Sun's face.
Forget Gina - Kev's better half finally made it into The Rich 200 in 2012
Go Razee! You’ve got more heart than Gina any day.
Wednesday 30 May 2012
What Chris said yesterday ...
"... the Australian public love the monarchy. ... The love of the monarchy has even extended to Pippa's derrière—we just cannot enough of it."
(Mr Christopher Gulaptis (Clarence) [6.34 p.m.]: speaking to the Constitution Amendment (Restoration of Oaths of Allegiance) Bill 2011)
Barham speaks out but Gulaptis keeps quiet on NSW Northern Rivers arts funding
The North Coast region is struggling. We are a long way from Sydney, but we have tried to be resilient by looking at opportunities that will benefit the area. The region's reliance on tourism is a matter of concern and the creative industries are seen as an area for jobs creation. The acclaimed author and academic Richard Florida, who writes on the rise of the creative industries, has identified that regions that protect their cultural identity and natural environment attract creative people, and that has certainly been the case on the North Coast. The North Coast has seen the fastest growth in the creative industries sector in Australia, outside the capital cities. The previous Government recognised that growth and provided support. The Tweed regional office has been very successful, with, for example, projects under the Creative Industries Brokers Project resulting in significant outcomes.
Arts Northern Rivers wrote to Mr Andrew Stoner, the Deputy Premier, and Minister for Trade and Investment, raising its concerns. The letter referred to 727 creative industries practitioners in the fashion, music and screen-digital sectors who are registered on the Arts Northern Rivers database. It referred to 416 practitioners who took part in sector-specific professional development and networking events. The letter also informed him about 20 businesses selected for intensive one-on-one business development support, 60 market linkage success stories and The Hive, the Northern Rivers creative industries website. The industry has been working on these projects in a strategic way, guided by evidence-based documents and research, so that in the future we will have an industry that can sit alongside tourism and grow opportunities in our region. That is one reason for the strong support for the rollout of broadband in our area.
The tragedy is that the Government has not recognised the flow-on effect. Often these groups seek support from government agencies, such as NSW Industry and Investment. If they do not receive that support, it may put in doubt their access to other support. I fear this is the case with a related project under NSW Trade and Investment. The reduction in the Regional Industries Investment Fund will have a great impact on the Screenworks organisation, which promotes the development of a screen industry on the North Coast. Filmmakers are flooding to the North Coast to set up their work and home base. The ABC series East of Everything was produced in the region. They said it could not be done, but nearly two years of lobbying resulted in the show being produced there. For many of the screen industry practitioners who are located in the area it was the first time they were able to work professionally and then go home and sleep in their own beds. Most of them have had to travel. It demonstrates that the North Coast has the capability in the screen industry, and Screenworks has been integral in promoting the professionals who are located in the region and attracting business to the area.
Why would the Government put all that at risk? After a decade of planning and working together, this is our future. Local government has been working with the State Government to grow the creative industries sector. This sector provides offsets to tourism and other industries and also supports cultural diversity in the area, an aspect much sought after by the tourism industry. I strongly support this motion. My community on the North Coast is shocked that funding sources and support services are being taken away, after so many years of government commitment. Unfortunately, this move demonstrates a lack of long-term strategic planning by the Government, as well as a lack of respect for the energetic commitment to the North Coast made by many organisations in the region. These organisations have worked hard to convince the Government of an alternative future for the North Coast. A minimal investment will return so much.
In a letter to Mr Stoner, Arts Northern Rivers states that it is very concerned about the decision to reduce activities by NSW Trade and Investment in the Tweed office and the impact it will have on the creative industries. I ask the Government to recognise the concerns that have been voiced. There is no shame in recognising that a mistake has been made. The Government should reverse the decision and work with the people in the region. The amount of money involved is minimal. I appeal to the Government to acknowledge the support for this motion and to reconsider its decision. This is a dangerous move that will have a dramatic impact in the future. Reconsideration of this decision by the Government is important to the people on the North Coast.
Tuesday 29 May 2012
The Coal Seam Gas Debate in May 2012
What one voter thinks of the Member for Clarence
A smoking gun in the Thomson vs Media saga?
In 2009 then Victorian ALP state secretary Stephen Newnham was one of the first people to start accusing Craig Thomson of alleged brothel creeping during his time at the Health Services Union.
Might it also explain why the veracity of this 2011 2UE954 News Talk image of Thomson's alleged credit card details (showing a misspelled surname on the face of this card imprint) is not being questioned? A set of 1st-8th April 2005 documents which appear to have been eventually handed over to VIC or NSW Police by HSU officials as evidence of Thomson's alleged 'guilt', if the accompanying interview with Kathy Jackson is to be believed.
Michael Smith: "The card was also used to pay for escort agency services.
I have a copy of one of the escort agency credit card vouchers. It’s the old style one, where you put the card on the plastic slider machine, put the carbon paper voucher on top of it and swipe the slider over the voucher.
The carbon paper makes a clear embossed impression of the card. You can plainly see that the credit card that was present on that night had this on the front of it – Craig Thomson, Health Services Union."
At best this is sloppy reporting. At worst the information in red bolding is a bald lie. Thompson is not Thomson, no matter how you spin it, and any reputable credit card agency would reject the slip in question - rightly worried about the possiblity of identity theft.
Monday 28 May 2012
100% Ready Clean Energy Forum, 6 to 8pm at Lismore on 12 June 2012
What: Lismore Clean Energy Forum
Scoop Teh Northern Territory News Missed!
Sunday 27 May 2012
The Thomson Saga: Just how unlucky can a person be?
83526612 ORG INTERNATIONAL IMMOBILIARE PTY. LIMITED. |
106620900 ORG INTERNATIONAL IMMOBILIARE PTY LTD |
146891778 ORG INTERNATIONAL IMMOBILIARE PTY LIMITED |
118001415 ORG INTERNATIONAL IMMOBILIARI (AUSTRALIA) PTY LIMITED |
The first company on the list was under a court-ordered liquidation which commenced in 2001 and was eventually deregistered on 1 October 2003.
At the same time one might characterize a journalist who found credit card documents pertaining to a long-defunct company strewn across his investigative path - records which at least two police investigations and a Fair Work Australia investigation apparently failed to find - as nothing less than an incredibily fortunate member of the Fourth Estate.
Indeed Lady Luck has been staggering across the public square in such a way as to make one suspect that she is more than a little inebriated.
However, not quite as inebriated as Channel Nine's A Current Affair which appears to be relying on the memory of a former sex worker, who allegedly met a union official once seven years ago (before he lost weight, his hair went gray and that bald patch developed) and was willing to indentify him this year from a photograph - in exchange for an undisclosed payment.
** The former owner of this escort agency apparently now resides near Mission Beach in New Zealand where he is still finding his way into the news and the New Zealand woman interviewed by A Current Affair is believed to be living in Cabarita Beach area on the NSW North Coast.
NEWS FLASH: CSG miners have HUGE bladders?
Saturday 26 May 2012
Baselines tell the real story on NSW main greenhouse gas emissions
- Emissions from energy grew by 1.7%, or 34,000 tonnes, with an increase in the use of coal-fired generation more than offsetting decreased use of gas and petroleum.
- Emissions from coal-fired generation, which accounted for 91% of electricity generation, grew by 4.6% or 48,000 tonnes.
- Emissions from gas fell by 4.3%, or 9,000 tonnes.
- Emissions from petroleum fell by 0.8% or 6,000 tonnes.
- Electricity demand grew by 2.3%.
- NSW met 10% of its electricity demand with imports from other states, compared with 9.0% the previous week.
- This week’s indicator is 12% lower than the same week in 2011.
- Total emissions to this stage of 2012 were 6.7% lower than at a similar stage last year.
- 1990: 22% above
- 2000: 4.5% above
Growing dirt pile is getting closer to NSW O'Farrell Government Resources and Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher - Part Three
It would appear that the Ashby virus is spreading……………….
The Sydney Morning Herald 19 May 2012:
POLICE are investigating a claim Senator Bill Heffernan assaulted an employee of Chris Hartcher, the NSW Energy Minister, in an alleged homophobic attack at a fractious Liberal Party meeting on the central coast.
Ray Carter, 67, has accused Senator Heffernan of assaulting him and, according to sources, vilifying him over his sexuality at a gathering of party members in the federal electorate of Robertson.
Senator Heffernan was acting as an emissary of Tony Abbott at the Breakers Country Club at Wamberal on May 3. A Liberal source said the pair had been seen to physically clash on two occasions during the evening and also alleged that Senator Heffernan had aimed ''homophobic slurs'' at Mr Carter. In a statutory declaration, Mr Carter alleges Senator Heffernan hit him on his shoulder, causing him to fall into his seat, and later saying to him: ''I didn't know you were a poofter.''……..
Mr Carter, who has been suspended from Mr Hartcher's electorate office over a donation scandal, waited nearly a fortnight to report the allegation to Gosford police.
Part One here.
Friday 25 May 2012
Yet another Craig in hot water on the Hill
Fractured Political Fairy Tales: Once upon a time in Clarence.............
Thursday 24 May 2012
Daily Examiner's leading opinion piece contains errors of fact
Without commenting on the merit or otherwise of the damages claims a number of persons have launched against the State of NSW in relation to the so-called 2010 Valentines Day Yamba riot, it needs to be pointed out that the local newspaper, The Daily Examiner, has started things off rather poorly with an opinion piece in today's paper. Written by Tim Howard, the piece contains errors that should be corrected.
According to Howard, the criminal trials were conducted "last year".
Wrong - the trials commenced in 2010 and concluded in 2011.
Also, according to Howard, the trials involved "a judge and his associate, the police prosecutors, eight barristers and two solicitors".
Again, wrong - the trials were conducted in the local court before a magistrate who did not have assistance of an associate. The adult defendants were represented directly by seven barristers and three solicitors. A fourth solicitor appeared as an instructing solicitor for two of the barristers.
Elsewhere in today's paper, Howard has a piece "Damages claims over riot arrests" where he wrote:
"Coffs Clarence patrol commander Superintendent Mark Holahan said he was aware a number of people were taking action against the police force.
He said, as the matters were the subject of legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for him to comment on them.
He said court was the best place for these matters to be dealt with."
Perhaps Howard should take the Superintendent's advice. Otherwise, Howard and the paper may have to answer to a case or two of their own.
Growing dirt pile is getting closer to NSW O'Farrell Government Resources and Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher - Part Two
Mr CHRIS HARTCHER: I seek to give a supplementary answer to a question I was asked earlier. My chief of staff, Andrew Humpherson, worked in his own consultancy business for seven months up to March of 2011. His website has been dormant and was not switched off due to an administrative oversight. He transferred his mobile phone number when he commenced as my chief of staff. His LinkedIn profile confirms that his government relations business discontinued in March 2011.
** Rather interestingly, Prattenmoore Pty Ltd with its registered office listed in Chatwood NSW is elsewhere described as an investment company. Waratah Advisory appears to be one of the business names under which this company operates.