Clarence Valley Council Election 2012 Candidate Scorecard: Week Five

Candidates standing for the nine councillor positions at the 8 September 2012 Clarence Valley Local Government Election are being rated on their individual campaigns to win over voters.

The score range is -10 to 10. Every candidate starts at zero (0)

Scoring began in the week ending 10 August 2012.

In this final week of the election campaign it’s all about how competent the candidates appear.

The week commenced with the Yamba District Chamber of Commerce meet the candidates forum, the last one before polling day.

Name          Designation     Running Score

Rod Morrison Independent 1 This candidate’s score remains static as he returns this week to the only matter he really understands – flooding at Brushgrove. While his good intentions are not doubted, his abilities are.

Margot Scott Independent 2.5 Margot’s score also remains the same as again she added little to the election debate this week which would convince that she has the knowledge and experience to be an effective shire councillor.

Paul Parkinson -10 If there was a way to mark this candidate down further than the maximum minus he now sits on one would be tempted to take it. His performance at the Yamba Meet the Candidates forum was a low point in the election campaign – more here. And yes, he is still claiming three terms as a Kempsey Shire councillor equals 14 years and not the 12 attributed to him by that very same council.

Craig Howe Independent 1 + 1 = 2 Craig’s score goes up a point on the basis of his commitment to local youth and the fact that he at least has experience in local government.

Andrew Baker Independent -10 This candidate cannot possibly score any lower as he continues to run what is essentially a pro-unfettered development agenda. His attempts to downplay his own poor business management skills as he promises to reform Clarence Valley Council management (in a way which obviously benefits his business interests) inspires little confidence. As does the fact that last Monday night he was telling voters that Council did not consider economic implications when making decisions, but by Thursday was saying that councillors were provided with  "economic assessments" before making decisions.

Ursula Tunks Independent 3.5 + 0.2 = 3.7 This candidate again inches forward on the back of the fact  that she at least understood the role of the general manager (0.2), but remains a worrisome wild card.

Joy de Roos 2 Joy marks time at the end of this final week as she added nothing to what she had said before.

Jim Simmons Independent 2 + 1 + 1 =4 Jim doubled his score because he admitted to the reality of Council budget constraints (1) and confessed that it had dropped the ball when it tore down the Yamba skate park and rebuilt it to a new design without any community consultation (1).

Greg Clancy Independent 8.5 + 1 = 9.5 This candidate increased his score again this week for pointing out the real benefits of not expanding the Port of Yamba. It was noticeable that the marine business owner at the Yamba forum openly agreed with him.

Jane Beeby Independent -4 + -4 + -2= -10 Jane is of the opinion that it is not her job to tell voters what she can do for [insert name of town] and happily told Yamba residents exactly that last Monday night  (-4). Her continual behind the scenes complaints about legitimate community debate in local newspapers earns her further demerits points (-2).

Sue Hughes Independent 7.5 + 1 = 8.5 Her score increases as she was brave enough to insist that money raised by the sale of council’s community assets should be spent in the area which had lost the use and enjoyment of a particular asset (1).

Karen Toms 8.5 + -1 = 7.5  Karen lost a point due to her open support for the idea that a reduction in the wages and working conditions of small business employees would benefit the community (-1). Although local government has no direct influence on such matters, councillors' opinions often affect the tone in small business employer-employee relations and such remarks are not helpful. 

Michael McIvor Independent 1 This candidate gains no new points as he fails to impress on any front. One cannot help wondering if his support of any ‘buy local’ policy is predicated on a vague hope that his own business would benefit in some way.

Jeremy Challacombe Independent -5 + -1 + -3 = -9 Jeremy manages a minus bonanza this week by failing to realise that the Island Trader no longer operates out of the Lower Clarence River (-1) and for his rather strange belief that Yaegl representatives might need to sit cross legged in the sand before they could discuss Dirrungun at the mouth of the Clarence River (-3).

Richie Williamson 3.5 + 0.5 = 4 Richie’s score crept up a notch due to the fact that he appeared to recognise that different areas within the Valley have different strengths and needs. The fact that as the most recent mayor his score is remains so low is due to his spotty past voting record.

Margaret McKenna Independent -10 Margaret did nothing to redeem herself this week as her passive-aggressive attitude to the Lower Clarence remained a feature of her utterances on the campaign trail. However, she did provide a moment of wry amusement as she strongly pressed her locally born and bred background to a room full of voters who had predominantly retired into the area from elsewhere in New South Wales.

Jason Kingsley Independent 1 This candidate remains something of an enigma and failed to make any real impression over the course of the election campaign.

Conclusion:

This local government election campaign has been one which has seen the business community set the debate agenda and therefore its needs have been a dominant preoccupation of the political discourse.

It was also a campaign which highlighted how ill-prepared many of the new candidates are for the office they seek, how bereft of original ideas the majority are, how little some of them know about the Clarence Valley and how proudly they wear this ignorance.

Disappointingly the uncritical approach by local media continues when reporting on local government elections. So even though this year the campaign coverage has been the most extensive in recent memory, it did little more than supply all candidates with a form of free advertising.

• Week Four Candidate Scorecard
• Week Three Candidate Scorecard
• Week Two Candidate Scorecard
• Week One Candidate Scorecard

Planning should be based on need and not greed, says Nimbin candidate in 2012 Lismore LGA Election

Letter to the Editor in Echonet Daily on 4 September 2012:

Planning for need, not greed

As we move toward the local government elections next weekend you will be asked to consider the claims of a range of contenders for local government office, but the system our newly elected councillors will administer on our behalf seems to barely rate a mention.

‘Individuals and markets are best placed to deliver diverse choices in all development outcomes including housing and local centres,’ is the claim made by the NSW coalition government in their recent discussion paper ‘A new planning system for NSW’ (p 69).

It’s a curious claim given that individuals and markets have a well-known tendency to look after themselves thank you very much and not the local community. Surely it is our democratic local government that should mediate planning matters in our local community toward the common or community interest away from self-interest?

If the Liberal/National Party coalition do bring in legislation in line with their discussion paper, the role of elected councillors in determining development applications is recommended to be removed. The real decisions will be left to a collection of private certifiers for so-called exempt and complying development, and decision-making panels appointed by the state government of the day for larger developments. You will have no say in what is built or mined, near you or next to you.

The Greens see this as a terribly unbalanced and developer-friendly set of planning laws that remove all community involvement in almost every development decision across NSW. Powers to local councils to certify development need to be strengthened, not removed, giving the community an equal say to developers in the assessment process.

The government’s plan also removes Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) as one of the key objectives of the NSW planning system.

In his address to city mayors at Rio+20, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, declared that by ‘building sustainable towns and cities, you will build global sustainability’.

Ecosystems are the planet’s life support. Human health and survival are dependent on them. Cities must be planned, designed to protect both the health of the ecosystems and the health of people, not the interests of developers.

The kind of suburbs and rural areas we live in are about to be transformed, and we won’t have a say in it. The best we can hope for is a local council who will fight the state government tooth and nail to defend what little say we have over planning what happens in our neighbourhood.

Wouldn’t it be good if we had a real say and planning was based on community needs rather than greed? The Greens are committed to doing this.

Susan Stock
Lismore Greens candidate, Nimbin

NSW Legislative Council Inquiry raises the issue of a Clarence River dam

From A Clarence Valley Protest on 6 September 2012:

NSWLC Standing Committee On State Development's Inquiry Into The Adequacy Of Water Storages In NSW, 20 August 2012 hearing

The Play:

The future of water storage in New South Wales.

The Sub-Plot:

That National Party fixation with the Clarence River.

The Scene:

Enter from stage right NSW Nationals MLC PETER R. PHELPS. Followed by DAVID ANDREW HARRISS, Commissioner, NSW Office of Water, Department of Primary Industries and, STEWART RICHARD WEBSTER, Principal Director, Investment Appraisal, Statistical Analysis and Economic Research, NSW Trade and Investment.

From the hearing transcript:

The Hon. Dr PETER PHELPS: Are there any rivers in northern New South Wales which sow significant outflows of fresh water to the sea which could be used for damming purposes?

Mr HARRISS: The only one that has been investigated over many years was the Clarence River and that has been shown that it would be both uneconomic and have significant environmental impacts as a consequence. One of the things that have been demonstrated for years is coastal diversions. It is all right in the Snarly because you have quite a substantial catchment area and you have a number of sites for dams—Jindabyne, Eucumbene, Talbingo, Bowen. In the coastal ranges further north around the Clarence to get that catchment area to fill the dam you have to have the dam located further down to get enough water so it cannot be at the top. Further down you locate that dam, the higher the pumping cost to get the water back over the top or the tunnelling cost to get it through the dam. For that reason it has shown that it would not be economically beneficial to construct a dam to divert water from the coastal side into the western side because there would be no activity currently which would generate revenue on the megalitre of water……..

The Hon. Dr PETER PHELPS: Presumably, given what Mr Harriss said earlier about us having dammed every river in New South Wales that it is economically viable to dam, those proposals would be only catchment augmentation.

Mr WEBSTER: What was economically viable 30 years ago might not be now because the value of water changes as an input into various primary production processes. While it appears that the large storage sites have been taken, there may be opportunities.

The Hon. Dr PETER PHELPS: Just not on the Clarence River.

Mr HARRISS: There are opportunities on the Clarence River. What was proposed during the drought—and Malcolm Turnbull promoted it—was to build that dam but then to pipe the water up to south-west Queensland, not to move it into western New South Wales, which was the original proposal. That might have been a bit more economically viable if we were recovering the cost through urban population charges as opposed to the rate charged per kilolitre. However, Queensland was not remotely interested in that. There are some sites, and we mentioned Birrell Creek dam, which is not a big site. There is also the Welcome Reef site near Braidwood. That proposal has been around for about 40 or 50 years. There are some sites. However, the point was made that where it was easy to build a dam 50 or 60—

The Hon. Dr PETER PHELPS: So the low hanging fruit is gone.

Mr HARRISS: Yes.

In Byron a local government election ad grabs the eye

http://byrongreens.com/2012/09/04/campaigning-in-byron-shire-heats-up/

Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

A trouble in River City musing: One candidate vying for a place on Clarence Valley Council this coming Saturday has a bit of a local government history. Apparently when down south someone found him divisive enough to warn him off in no uncertain terms. My little canine friend, Veronica Lake tells me that her hoomins were saying that the words “lest the public put a barrel of bullets in his chest” were used at the time.

A whozat? musing: Apparently things are getting antsey behind the scenes in the political campaign leading up to the 8 September 2012 Clarence Valley local government election. One particular candidate is rumoured to have banned another candidate from having any further interaction with the Grafton Chamber of Commerce. Surely no-one could possibily make such a foolish mis-step, or could they?

An omerta musing: There is a rumour about that Clarence Valley local government election candidate, Andrew Baker, is saying that he doesn't intend to spend any money on an election campaign. Which makes the mob gathered round the catnip patch wonder if he has the backing of the contruction industry mafioso whose workers just might be expected to toe the polling booth line.

A candidates need to chill musing: Amazed to hear my little canine friend Veronica Lake telling everyone who will listen that one of the genuinely interested single issue candidates at the September 2012 Clarence Valley local government elections chucked a hissy fit after reading one The Daily Examiner editorial. Ronnie reckons it's never wise to have a go at an editor this early in an election campaign and, candidates should focus their attention more constructively on the many problems facing local communities.

A what a hide musing: Property developer, real estate agent and Clarence Valley Council election candidate, Andrew Baker, has listed his email address with the NSWEC as littleaussiebattler@me.com . As if saying could make it so? Did he fall off his bank balance and hit his head on the way down?

A Degrees of Separation musing: I see that a former business partner and a former election campaign director of Nationals Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis (the developer Andrew Baker & the pro-development NSW Nationals former chair and now senior vice-chair Jeremy Challacombe) are both standing at the same September 2012 Clarence Valley local government elections in the electorate he supposedly represents. There are already two councillors (who happen to be card-carrying National Party members) standing for re-election. Is this a Nationals push to finally take control of Clarence Valley Council?

A Don't express an opinion of the candidates musing: Little Veronica Lake pricked up her fluffy white ears this week when she heard her hoomins discussing the fact that The Daily Examiner online is not allowing even mildly negative comments about new candidates at the September 2012 Clarence Valley local government elections. Of course that won't stop quite a few voters putting developers last on the ballot paper.

As Grafton Gaol in the Clarence Valley NSW closes a Gulaptis Sux musing: By bertson from Yamba, Shame O'Farrell! Shame Stoner! And shame Gulaptis! It's all very well for the local member to stand on the picket line when he's been shamed into it, but quite another to stand up for your constituents in the preceding months when the closure was being discussed in Macquarie Street. The electorate has a long memory Chris!!

Boy

# Boy's sidebar posts from 12 July to 5 September 2012 in reverse order

Stonewalling the media begins to backfire on Clarence Valley LGA election candidate, Andrew Baker

After spending much of his time over the last five weeks in what looks suspiciously like an attempt to misdirect Clarence Valley mainstream media with regard to the degree to which his companies are in significant financial difficulties (four are listed by Australian Securities and Investments Commission as under External Administration and therefore now not within his or his partners total control), candidate and property developer Andrew Baker was finally forced to publicly admit that these four local businesses are in trouble due to the borrowings/debts allowed to build up against their assets.

However, ever faithful to his particular brand of political spin; He said that he was unable to explain why ASIC’s classifications were different to how he described them.

A statement which defies belief and a version of the Clayton's explanation he has tried before.

Apparently Mr. Baker has trouble admitting that his election campaign - built on assertions of competence and responsibility - does not mesh well with his history of poor business management as documented by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) below.

Click on images to enlarge

UPDATE

Price Waterhouse Coopers liquidators/receivers have currently taken control of properties in River Street, Maclean.

This is a provisional list*:

20A River Street
24-26 River Street
28 River Street
34-36 River Street
221-223 River Street, Maclean

It is understood that The Palace Arcade may possibly also be part of the properties package being held by the liquidator/receiver. 

In addition Price Waterhouse Coopers have taken control of Lots 8 &  11 Dianella Drive, Gulmarrad, NSW and possibly any unsold lots in the subdivision known as Lot 1712 DP616116, McIntyres Lane, Gulmarrad.

* In the interests of accuracy the list has been changed to reflect property descriptions in ASIC documents.

UPDATE

In The Daily Examiner on 7 September 2012 Andrew Baker stated that he offered voters; the management skills and life experience to deliver that quality management if elected to serve on  Clarence Valley Council.

Truthiness in political reporting

Journalist Katherine Murphy writing in the National Times on 3 September 2012:

The sheer scale and ubiquity of ''truthiness'' in political discussion is gradually stirring journalism's pot, forcing decisions some outlets probably, in truth, don't want to make.

There is already so much conflict - posturing partisan hackery dressed up as news, brutal culture warfare and the like - that outlets that still cherish the principle of giving readers measured, balanced equivalence don't much fancy picking a club and swinging it lustily with all the other Neanderthals.

But balance can't be balance absent judgment. Sometimes statements are just wrong. Sometimes lies are just lies. Politics can't be allowed to manipulate voters by playing with journalism's best intentions to be fair. [my red bolding]

# A big thankyou to Anony-mice of Yamba for sending this quote to me.

Allan Jones and #destroythejoint

From Twitter and #destroythejoint - the memes keep coming.

On Facebook

Clarence Valley local government election candidates and cultural understanding in 2012

Leaving aside for the moment candidate Jeremy Challacombe’s rather odd expectation that members of the Yaegl community might need to sit cross-legged in the sand to discuss the future of Dirrungun at the mouth of the Clarence River, there was an even bigger surprise at the Yamba Meet the Candidates Meeting held on 3 September 2012.

Another candidate, Paul Parkinson, appeared to be labouring under the strong misapprehension that Australia’s court systems are clogged up with indigenous land claims which are primarily financial compensation claims.

According to Mr. Parkinson, native title claims post-Mabo have degenerated into something other than a desire to be recognised as traditional custodians of the land.

A view which somewhat surprised and confused this listener, so I went looking for answers.

All was not as this candidate apparently believes.

Compensation applications are made by Indigenous Australians seeking compensation for loss or impairment of native title according to the National Native Title Tribunal.

In January 2010 there seems to have been only three compensation applications listed across the entire country.

There are currently no notices of compensation applications for New South Wales. Nor are there any in the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia or Victoria. There is one listed in relation to a nature reserve in West Australia.

That is it – one lonely compensation claim notification on the books right now. Hardly an argument for unresolved claims piling up in the court system.

According to Justice Berna Collier as of 30 April 2011 the Federal Court had 471 native title claims before it nationwide, with only 17 in the ACT/NSW. The majority of these are not new claims. Again, hardly a number to bring the Bench to its knees.

Interestingly, native title claims usually only come before the Federal Court for formal determination if such claims are opposed – for example by government or mining corporations.

On any given day one is more likely to find the Federal Court's daily list filled with immigration, taxation or commercial litigation rather than native title matters.

What still puzzles me is why Paul Parkinson thought it appropriate to make that inaccurate  statement in the first place.

A map of native title claims in New South Wales can be found here.

Roxon, Super Spy

Granny Herald 21st July 2012

Australian Attorney General Nicola Roxon, not content with creating a national database for all Australians when she was Federal Health Minster which collates everything personal and intimate a government agency has ever known about each and every one of us in the riskiest way possible, now wants to keep copies of all our online browsing and phone conversations for a two-year period. And it looks as though we will all be personally paying for this gratuitous government spying.

Her obsession with digital data is becoming pathological. Will someone call her GP – urgently.

Petitioning Premier O'Farrell: Don't cut community organisations

Twenty-six vital community organisations, including the Welfare Rights Centre, Lifeline (Sydney and Sutherland), Redfern Legal Centre's financial counselling service and the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service and Twenty10, are at risk of having their funding cut by the NSW Government.

Megan Clement-Couzner of Woolloomooloo writes:

I'm a young woman who lives in Sydney. I know the value of community organisations. I recently had a young queer friend from Western Sydney approach me, asking for help to deal with issues of homophobia and severe depression. I knew she was at risk of self harm. Having community services in NSW meant I could help her access free counseling and a support group. She would never have been able to afford these services otherwise. Without organisations like the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service, I wouldn't have known how to help her.

Megan is calling on concerned citizens to sign the petition and have Premier O'Farrell not cut funding of community organisations.

Sign the petition here.

Premier O'Farrell is on Twitter here and Minister Pru Goward is here. Use the hashtag #BOFcutswebleed to tweet about this petition!

Vote One for Paul Parkinson, the candidate with the 'flexible' curriculum vitae?

This is what candidate at the 2012 Clarence Valley Local Government Election,  Paul Parkinson, had to say about his time at Kempsey Shire Council on his campaign website http://www.paulparkinsonclarencecouncil.com/:

Served 3 terms as a Councillor on the Kempsey Council (14 yrs)

He stated the same at the Maclean Meet the Candidates Meeting on 20 August and again in The Daily Examiner on 30 August 2012.

When Mr. Parkinson lodged his sworn statement with the NSW Electoral Commission on 30 July 2012 he also wrote:

This is what Kempsey Shire Council had to say about Paul Parkinson on 23 March 2004:

That Standing Orders be suspended to allow Councillor Parkinson to address Council prior to leaving this his last meeting in his term on Kempsey Shire Council.
At this stage Councillor Parkinson addressed the meeting concerning his 12 year term as a Councillor and the great privilege it has been for him in this role and thanked Councillors and staff he had worked with during this time.

It would appear that either Kempsey Shire Council keeps highly inaccurate official minutes standing uncorrected  for over eight years or Mr. Parkinson cannot count.

Somewhat magically, he has served three terms whose lengths were around 4.66 years apiece.

I leave it to readers to make up their own minds.

The Australian Minke Whale Project

The Minke Whale Project

Dwarf minke whales visit the northern Great Barrier Reef each austral winter, forming the only known predictable aggregation of these whales in the world. Growing up to eight metres and weighing several tonnes, they are exceptionally inquisitive and often approach boats, divers and snorkelers closely, sometimes interacting for extended periods.

The MWP (based at James Cook University, North Queensland Australia) conducts multi-disciplinary research into dwarf minke whale biology and behaviour, the social and economic values of the whales and the sustainable management of swim-with-whales tourism. The MWP research team works collaboratively with the GBR swim-with-minke whales tourism industry, Reef managers and wildlife conservation NGOs…….

More here.

Now the news is to be tailored?

Now the news is to be tailored to your age, gender, income and living arrangements to make it more 'relevant'?
Now I think I've heard everything from the MSM. Boutique news!

Or is this just another way to gain info which helps in targeting the advertising?

Scam Alert

Woolworths is advising that email, survey, website and Facebook scams are currently doing  the rounds using the Woolworths name & logo. Some of the scam attempts include a ‘Customer Satisfaction Survey to get $50’ and a Facebook competition to win $500.

The survey asks for information that should never be divulged - see the image below.

What this blog is not

There has been some discussion in the Northern Rivers recently about blogs versus mainstream media and, it is obvious that many people have contradictory expectations of regional blogs.

So this is what North Coast Voices both is and is not.

It is not a newspaper or a news aggregate website.

It is a group site which offers local opinion on issues usually relating to government, international affairs, society or the environment.

Its authors are all older residents of the NSW North Coast and they openly lobby for causes which are dear to their hearts or are matters of  concern.

North Coast Voices also seeks to inform and that is why its posts frequently contain links to publicly available primary sources and documents.

It employs no-one, has no journalists on its contributor list and has no money in the kitty for expensive research. Since early October 2007 it has posted seven days a week without fail – except between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.  

This blog was created at a time when Australian regional blogs were rare and those commenting on society and politics were even rarer still. It was meant to fill a perceived need for local voices to be heard on the Internet.

We here at North Coast Voices believe we have succeeded in this aim.

And banks wonder why their reputations are in the basement of world opinion

The Independent 1^st September 2012:

“Barclays has made as much as half a billion pounds in two years from speculating on food staples such as wheat and soya, prompting allegations that banks are profiting handsomely from the global food crisis.

Barclays is the UK bank with the greatest involvement in food commodity trading and is one of the three biggest global players, along with the US banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, research from the World Development Movement points out.

Last week the trading giant Glencore was attacked for describing the global food crisis and price rises as a "good" business opportunity.

The extent of Barclays' involvement in food speculation comes to light as new figures from the World Bank show that global food prices hit an all-time high in July, with poor harvests in the US and Russia pushing up the average worldwide cost of staples by an unprecedented 10 per cent in a month.

The extent of just one bank's involvement in agricultural markets will add to concerns that food speculation could help push basic prices so high that they trigger a wave of riots in the world's poorest countries, as staples drift out of their populations' reach……”

Source: International Monetary Fund at index mundi

Today is Equal Pay Day in Australia

Australian Government:

ABS statistics released in August 2012 show that across Australia, women's average full-time weekly earnings are now 17.5% less than men's earnings

The Age September 2, 2012:

Equal Pay Day is today - the 64th day of the financial year. It is held on the day women catch up to men's earnings of the previous year. This year, it took women 64 days, while in the previous two years it was 63.

Clarence Valley Review launches revamped website

http://cvreview.com.au/

News, entertainment, features, letters, sports, property sales and much more

Clarence Valley Local Government Election 2012: Dr. Greg Clancy

Dr Greg Clancy For Clarence Valley Council 2012

Clancy: "Chris Gulaptis, will now have blood on his hands after having the reduced speed limit on the Iluka Road reversed"

“The state local member, Chris Gulaptis, will now have blood on his hands after having the reduced speed limit on the Iluka Road reversed.  The blood will be that of the many animals that will now be killed as a result of this stupid decision” said Dr Greg Clancy Ecologist of Coutts Crossing.  Dr Clancy who narrowly missed hitting a Koala striding across the Iluka Road, 600 m east of the Esk River Bridge on Friday night, believes that a great variety of animals will be killed. “I was driving at 80 km and always look out for wildlife.  Just imagine if it was someone driving at 100 km per hour without wildlife awareness.  The koala would be dead now” he said.  I have driven the Iluka Road many times since 1978 and my casual observations indicate that since the 80 km speed limit was introduced the number of road kills has significantly decreased.  Over the years I have seen Swamp Wallabies, Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Red-necked Wallabies, Koalas, reptiles such as the Land Mullet and birds such as the Variegated Fairy-wren and Lewin’s Honeyeater and many more killed on the road.  A number of Coastal Emus were also killed in that time.  What is really sad is that this decision, which will shave a couple of minutes of the trip from the Highway, is being hailed as a triumph.  My contacts at Iluka say that the majority of residents were happy with the 80 km speed limit.  It was a mere political decision that will cost lives, not human lives, but lives of animals that don’t have a vote” Dr Clancy said.

Dr. Greg Clancy, Media Release, 20 August 2012

Sharing 30 years of a song......

http://youtu.be/UHYnkWjApiU

Telstra CEO gets a no nonsense letter from Saffin, George and Dowell over Lismore job losses

PARLIAMENT OF AUSTRALIA

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Friday, August 24, 2012.

REF: PE.24.08.12.

Mr David Thodey

Chief Executive Officer

Telstra Corporation Limited

Level 40, 242 Exhibition Street

MELBOURNE  VIC  3000.

Dear Mr Thodey,

We write as the Federal, State and local representatives for the Lismore district to formally request that you intervene and reverse Telstra’s ‘business decision’ to close its Goonellabah Call Centre on October 23 this year.

We maintain that the loss of an estimated 116 local jobs from such a closure is not only unnecessary but unacceptable, particularly when Telstra’s digital business streams are reported to be enjoying strong growth.

We seek a full explanation from you; the real reasons which led Telstra’s management team to arrive at such a cruel decision despite earlier public assurances that this particular call centre was safe.

This morning, we stood united on Lismore’s main street – Molesworth Street – to launch a community petition calling on you to intervene immediately to halt any plan to axe your highly skilled and loyal workforce in Goonellabah.

The petition further objects to Telstra abandoning its workforce in country Australia and moving jobs offshore, while recording massive profits ($3.4 billion) and awarding generous salary increases for executives.

Surely, there is a better and more respectful way to treat your Lismore staff, most of whom have to service mortgages or other financial commitments and whose families have strong ties to this community.

During this three-week consultation period regarding the closure decision, we stand ready to negotiate with yourself or your appointed executives on alternative proposals for keeping the call centre operational and profitable for Telstra.

We ask that due to the doubt and uncertainty which employees are feeling about their futures, that Telstra executives travelling to Lismore not intimidate or dissuade staff from seeking advice from CPSU officials.

We seek Telstra’s full co-operation in providing a Rapid Response Team of Federal and State agencies with immediate and unfettered access to the call centre to advise staff on various levels of support available to them.

We provide two points of contact for the Rapid Response Team being put in place:

Mr Terry Watson, Local Employment Coordinator, Richmond-Tweed & Clarence Valley Priority Area, Building Australia’s Future Workforce – 0412 320 077; email terry.watson@deewr.gov.au

Mr Craig Jenkins, Business Development Manager, NSW Trade & Investment – 0411 248 482 or 0266 226 145; email craig.jenkins@business.nsw.gov.au

Mr Watson and Mr Jenkins are experienced public servants who liaised with Telstra during the Grafton Call Centre closure in late 2010.

We are also of the firm belief that two or three weeks is not enough time for staff, who are grieving the potential loss of their livelihoods through redundancy or the upheaval of transfers, to cope with such transition.

Consequently, we ask that the consultation period be extended, in good faith, to several months to allow for a proper, more transparent analysis of all options for keeping these jobs in the Lismore district.

We understand that you have a business to run, but we are appealing to your corporate conscience to do the right thing by your staff and customers here on the Northern Rivers and avoid the kind of public relations disaster which accompanied your withdrawal from Grafton.

Yours sincerely,

Janelle Saffin MP

Federal Member for Page.

Thomas George MP

State Member for Lismore.

Cr Jenny Dowell

Mayor of Lismore City Council.