Dennis Shanahan finally loses any grip on reality

Mal Brough (top) and Dennis Shanahan (bottom)

 

Dennis Shanahan writing in The Australian on 12 December 2012:

 

FORMER Howard government minister and putative MP for Fisher, Mal Brough, is the latest political casualty in the ongoing scandals surrounding Peter Slipper….

But the real political victim is now Brough, who stands accused of working with Ashby and co-worker Karen Doane in an underhanded political scheme based on disloyalty, political preferment, duplicity, and lies - all aimed at bringing down Slipper and promoting Brough….

In the face of what is set out below, one wonders in what alternative reality this political editor now dwells if he can seriously apply the term “victim” to this man.

Justice Rares findings concerning Mal Brough in his Ashby v Commonwealth of Australia and Peter Slipper judgment of 12 December 2012:

 

135 Mr Ashby asserted to Mr Harmer that his justification for his disloyalty as an employee in providing copies of Mr Slipper’s 2009 and 2010 diaries was that he wished to place the material in the public domain. That was, his assertion went, because he “believed that the conduct was morally and legally wrong and he felt aggrieved that he had been placed in the situation of becoming, as he understood it, exposed to (and potentially implicated in) what he regarded as the wrongful conduct of a public official”: [116] above. The words I have emphasised were ambiguous. If they referred to Mr Slipper’s conduct on the days covered by the 2009 and 2010 diary entries he surreptitiously sent to Mr Brough and Mr Lewis, there is no evidence to support Mr Ashby’s description or that he had any knowledge of particular conduct of Mr Slipper that was morally or legally wrong prior to him or Ms Doane sending the diary extracts to Mr Brough and Mr Lewis.

136 …..Rather, Mr Ashby’s and Ms Doane’s conduct at that point indicated that he and she were anxious to supply information to Mr Brough and Mr Lewis so that they could use it to assemble an attack on Mr Slipper, if they could find sufficient material to do so, using the diary entries and other evidence…..

138 I am also satisfied that Mr Ashby and Ms Doane by about 29 March 2012 were in a combination with Mr Brough to cause Mr Slipper as much political and public damage as they could inflict on him….

141 Mr Brough was unlikely to have been offering to assist Ms Doane and Mr Ashby in seeing Mr Russell QC for advice or looking for new careers out of pure altruism. Realistically, his preparedness to act for them was created and fed by their willingness to act against Mr Slipper’s interests and assisting Mr Brough’s and the LNP’s interests in destabilising Mr Slipper’s position as Speaker and damaging him in the eyes of his electorate…..

142…. Certainly, the nature of the allegations that Mr Brough, Ms Doane and Mr Ashby had provided Mr Lewis in about late March and early April 2012 would have suggested to a political journalist that there would now be more than one news story about Mr Slipper to pursue….

146 Mr Ashby and Mr Lewis had planned that articles about Mr Slipper’s use of travel entitlements would be published shortly before these proceedings were filed. They both knew that Mr Lewis would be able to publish further articles on the subject matter as soon as it was filed in Court in the originating application. Ms Doane and Mr Brough had also discussed the timing and sequence of publication of stories by Mr Lewis. So much is clear from Mr Ashby’s texts to Mr Nagle of 10 April 2012, Glen of 11 April 2012 and Ms Doane’s email to Mr Brough of 10 April 2012: see [82], [90], [86]. The planning reveals that Mr Ashby calculated how he would attack, and use the press to attack, Mr Slipper.

147 Mr Ashby had planned with Mr Lewis, and probably separately with Ms Doane and Mr Brough, the sequence of publications so as to raise the more serious allegations in the originating process, after the stories of 16 April 2012 appeared. The timing of those 16 April stories was linked to when the originating application would be filed. Once Mr Ashby began seeing Harmers and went into “lock down”, Mr Brough and Mr Lewis became anxious to know when the proceedings would be ready to be filed. Hence their strenuous attempts to contact Mr Ashby once he began to act on Mr McClellan’s advice to filter media contact through him. Mr Ashby had emphasised in his text to Mr Lewis on 10 April 2012 that “We need to act fast mate”. And Mr Brough told Ms Doane on learning that, eventually, Mr McClellan would meet Mr Lewis “Everything will be fine”: [94].

196 Having read all of the text messages on Mr Ashby’s mobile phone, as Mr Ashby’s senior counsel invited me to do, as well as the other evidence, I have reached the firm conclusion that Mr Ashby’s predominant purpose for bringing these proceedings was to pursue a political attack against Mr Slipper and not to vindicate any legal claim he may have for which the right to bring proceedings exists. Mr Ashby began planning that attack at least by the beginning of February 2012. As Mr Ashby and Ms Doane agreed in their texts of 30 March 2012 what they were doing “will tip the govt to Mal’s [Brough] and the LNP’s advantage”: [66]. It may be a coincidence that Mr Ashby suggested to Mr Slipper the idea of becoming Speaker just as Mr Brough began to move towards challenging Mr Slipper for LNP pre-selection for his seat and Mr Ashby ended up in an alliance in late March 2012 with Mr Brough to bring down Mr Slipper after he became Speaker….

http://youtu.be/AEWfsUO7YZY

* Photographs found at Google Images

UPDATE:

Justice Rares found that Mal Brough had known in early April 2012 that an application was to be filed by James Hunter Ashby. Court records show that it was filed on Friday 20 April 2012.

This is what Oppostion Leader Tony Abbott told the media on 13-14 December 2012:

'I think that Mal Brough was perfectly and properly endorsed by the Liberal National Party. He's been quite transparent and upfront about his involvement and, as I said, the matter is now subject to appeal,'

Smoking the difference on either side of the Pacific Ocean

The difference between cigarettes from the US and Australia
@Illdrinn

How pro-development state and local government is whittling away at environmental protection on the NSW Mid & Far North Coast

 

The NSW Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority’s Regional State of the Environment 2012 report speaks volumes about the attitude of Richmond Valley, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey and Nambucca councils in relation to land outside of the national parks portfolio. All show reduced total areas for land afforded environmental protection under local planning instruments.

 

Across the entire NSW North Coast there has only been 4,618 hectares of additional land afforded environmental protection under the most recent local environmental plans.

Despite the existence of a well-established park and reserve system, effective habitat on the North Coast is now only classified as good through to very poor.

 

 

As 2012 draws to an end Abbott's chief propagandist is not happy with this joint parliamentary committee

 

Members of the Australian Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM):

 

Chair Mr Daryl Melham MP (Labor)

Deputy Chair The Hon Alexander Somlyay MP (Liberal)

Members The Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP (Liberal), Senator Simon Birmingham (Liberal), The Hon Alan Griffin MP (Labor), Senator Bob Brown (Greens), Ms Amanda Rishworth MP (Labor), Senator Carol Brown (Labor), Senator Helen Polley (Labor), Senator Scott Ryan (Liberal).

 

Following the inquiry into the conduct of the 2010 federal election, JSCEM tabled a report entitled The 2010 Federal Election: Report on the conduct of the election and related matters.

 

A bill is currently before the Australian Parliament which implements the Gillard Government’s response to seven of the thirty-seven recommendations in the JSCEM report.

It gives effect to recent amendments to the Electoral Act that enable the Electoral Commissioner to directly update or transfer a person’s enrolment without claim or notice from the person and to enrol an unenrolled person without claim or notice from the person.

According to the Special Minister For State the Australian Electoral Commission; would have to notify a person it intended to add to the electoral roll and give them 28 days to tell the AEC if they did not live at the address listed or were not eligible to vote.

 

In The Australian on 10 December 2012 Christopher Pyne gave vent to the far right’s ‘official’ line on this particular proposal:

 

THE Coalition has accused Labor of trying to "rort" the electoral roll to boost its standing at the next election on the back of law changes allowing automatic voter enrolment.

Manager of opposition business Christopher Pyne said it was “routine” for Labor to attempt to “tip the scales in their own favour if they can” when it came to elections and said eligible voters should be required to present identification to enrol and vote in elections.

“It's no surprise at all that Labor would try and find every trick in the book to increase their electoral clout,” Mr Pyne told Sky News.

“They are not supported in the electorate so they are trying to do things that they can to improve their chances with the electoral roll. The Greens are the same.

“Suddenly Labor thinks they are behind in the polls, why don't we do something to trick the voter, let's rort the roll, let's get an advantage over the Coalition, they've been doing it for decades and this is just their latest iteration.” ……

 

Readers may recall that the former Howard Government (of which Pyne was a member) changed electoral legislation seventeen months before the 2007 federal election, so that new enrolments closed at 8pm on the day that election writs were issued and enrolment changes closed three business days after the issuing of the writs - thus ignoring past practice and possibly denying the franchise to many caught unawares by the election announcement, including young people only recently reaching voting age.

 

In 2010 the High Court struck down the law that forced the closing of the electoral roll at 8pm on the same day the writ for the election was issued on the grounds it was unconsitutional.

Which makes Pyne's present histrionics laughable and, raises the possibility that if Abbott et al gain government in 2013 they will attempt to disenfranchise the young by other means, as they appear to believe the young predominately favour the Labor Party in spite of Abbott's relentless attacks on the Gillard Government.

Harmers produces an exercise in the pathetic

Statement by Harmers Workplace Lawyers
Wednesday 12 Dec. 2012
"Whilst of course we respect the court's decision, we are shocked and disappointed by it. We will argue strongly on appeal that the conclusions in his Honour'sjudgment made about our conduct of the case are simply not justified by the evidence. Neither myself, nor this firm, are part of any conspiracy.
Harmers Workplace Lawyers has over many years assisted thousands of individual,corporate and union clients to access justice.
We have assisted James Ashby in that same way, as an individual who could not otherwise afford to run very expensive litigation in our courts.
This is the sole reason we took on James Ashby's case. Politics played absolutely no role in the decision to take on James as a client. As I swore in my affidavit, and as recognised by his Honour in his decision, my political views are notconsistent with the conservative side of politics. We are a law firm, consciousof our professional obligations, and take no role in politics.
As a firm, we will be examining all avenues to have this decision, and its comments, overturned through due judicial process."
Michael Harmer
Harmers Workplace Lawyers
Michael is not available for further comment.
MEDIA CONTACT Anthony McClellan
AMC Media
Mob. 0433 122 360
anthonymcc@gmail.com
T: antmac9

Is this the end of Mal Brough's renewed political ambitions? ASHBY v COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA and PETER SLIPPER - 12 December 2012 judgement

Earlier this year Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had openly backed former Howard Government Minister Mal Brough’s attempt to return to Federal Parliament:

TONY Abbott has given a boost to former minister Mal Brough's campaign for Liberal National Party preselection in Fisher by declaring ''he would be a very welcome addition to our team''.

Now that Brough is linked to a political conspiracy to bring down the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, one wonders how Abbott will spin that sordid fact.

Excerpts from JAMES HUNTER ASHBY v COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA and PETER SLIPPER judgment:

132 Mr Ashby and Ms Doane had decided by 29 March 2012 that Mr Ashby would make allegations of sexual harassment in legal proceedings against Mr Slipper and would assist Mr Brough and Mr Lewis to damage Mr Slipper in the public eye and political arena with any information they could find including using the requested diary entries together with any proceedings. Mr Ashby referred to seeing or using lawyers in his texts from about this time. Accordingly, I have inferred that he, Ms Doane and Mr Brough intended that Mr Ashby would bring proceedings against Mr Slipper alleging at least sexual harassment.

133 Once they had decided on their course of action, Mr Ashby and Ms Doane did not go straight to see a lawyer to air any concerns about any legal wrongs that either may have suffered. Instead, Mr Ashby or Ms Doane contacted Mr Brough and they began working with him and Mr Lewis. That was an act of disloyalty that they both knew was antithetic to their continuing to work for Mr Slipper. But they did continue. They asked Mr Brough to help them find a lawyer. They used their positions on his staff surreptitiously to copy and provide extracts from Mr Slipper’s diaries for periods in 2009 and 2010 at the requests of both Mr Brough and Mr Lewis. There is no evidence that Mr Ashby ever provided any of Mr Slipper’s diary entries concerning the 2012 Cabcharge allegations to anyone. Mr Ashby met Mr Lewis on 4 April 2012 and Mr Ashby so enthused Mr Lewis that the latter wrote “We will get him!!” just before flying to Sydney.

138 I am also satisfied that Mr Ashby and Ms Doane by about 29 March 2012 were in a combination with Mr Brough to cause Mr Slipper as much political and public damage as they could inflict on him….

141 Mr Brough was unlikely to have been offering to assist Ms Doane and Mr Ashby in seeing Mr Russell QC for advice or looking for new careers out of pure altruism. Realistically, his preparedness to act for them was created and fed by their willingness to act against Mr Slipper’s interests and assisting Mr Brough’s and the LNP’s interests in destabilising Mr Slipper’s position as Speaker and damaging him in the eyes of his electorate….

167 …..In my opinion, Mr Ashby included the Cabcharge allegations in the originating application for the predominant purpose of injuring Mr Slipper and assisting a political attack on him to benefit Mr Brough and the LNP…

199...I am satisfied that the exceptional situation that enlivens the Court’s power to dismiss (or stay) proceedings as an abuse has been proved to the heavy standard required: Williams 174 CLR at 529. The duty and power of the Court to protect its own processes require that I give effect to the findings I have made by dismissing the proceedings under r 26.01...

Judgment transcript here.

Bet you won't read about this in the NRMA's Open Road

Which northern rivers NRMA worker was not on a roadside assistance call but doing other work-related tasks and driving a motor vehicle when he was booked for not wearing a seat belt?

And, remember, the offence of being an unrestrained driver results in the loss of 3 driving points (6 points in a double demerit period) and a fine of $298.

The driver escaped penalties this week when he appeared in a north coast local court and said there were mitigating circumstances.

After describing to the court the turn of events that resulted in him being caught by a highway patrol officer while driving in a built-up area the worker (who represented himself and was unaided by a legal beagle) had the charge dismissed under Section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedures) Act.

Not wearing a seat belt is definitely not a good look for the NRMA.

Eric Warner

Northern Rivers

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.

International Monetary Fund 2012: "Australian banks are currently among the most profitable in the world"

 

The Australia Institute

Media release 16 November 2012

 

IMF study confirms super profits of Australia’s banks

 

A new study by the International Monetary Fund shows that Australia’s ‘big four’ banks are the most concentrated in the world and are among the most profitable in the world.

 

The IMF today released its Financial System Stability Assessment for Australia. The following graph shows where Australia’s big four rank in terms of share of total industry compared to other countries.

 

 

“The IMF publication shows the absurdity of claims by the Australian Bankers’ Association’s Steven Munchenberg that Australia’s big banks are ‘fiercely competitive’,” said The Australia Institute’s Senior Research Fellow David Richardson.

 

In fact the IMF said Australian banks enjoy “pricing power” and are “highly profitable”. The IMF’s assessment also said “in fact, Australian banks are currently among the most profitable in the world”. That is clear in the following graph (overleaf) which shows Australia’s big four banks make up half of the eight most profitable banks in the world.

 

“The IMF study confirms the view that high concentration allows banks to extract very high profits from the Australian community. Super profits represent a major challenge for Australian policy makers,” said Mr Richardson.

 

 

An Australia Institute analysis recently showed that people taking out an average mortgage could potentially save $1,200 per annum by choosing a mutually-owned bank, credit union or building society, instead of one of the big four banks.

 

* International Monetary Fund report: Australia: Financial System Stability Assessment

National Indigenous Television (NITV) up and running on SBS4

 

News, movies, current affairs and much more

as National Indigenous Television goes to air

at midday each day on SBS4

at Channel 34.

Skinner: Now I'm Health Minister It's Not A Dumb Idea

The Northern Star asked a hard question which resulted in more than a petticoat showing on 11^th December:

“STATE Health Minister Jillian Skinner has been forced to defend a cost-cutting proposal to allow single-crew ambulance cars to transport patients to hospital during her visit to the Northern Rivers today.

The new proposal will allow single-crew ambulance cars currently in use to transport willing and able patients.

Ms Skinner said such cars were staffed by senior paramedics and often first on scene, but currently unable to transport any patients, even those with light injuries.

She stressed that the move would enable a more efficient use of resources without compromising patient care….

Mr Hayes also labelled the proposal as a backflip by Ms Skinner, since in 2010 she called a similar proposal by then Labor Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt as "one of the dumbest"…. “

Denmark is not a good global citizen and no friend of the whale

 

WDC Exposes Illegal Sale Of Whale Meat In Denmark

WDC has revealed evidence from its recent undercover operation in Denmark which clearly shows whale meat from Greenland on sale commercially in Denmark.

A WDC team found the minke whale steaks and blubber openly available to buy at a tourist shop in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, thus putting Denmark in breach of European Union (EU) laws which ban EU Member States from the killing and commercial sale of whales.

Ironically, the revelations by WDC also come just as Greenland has threatened to impose its own quotas regarding the number of whales that it will hunt for ‘local nutritional needs’ in 2013.

The sale of these whale products in Denmark also contravenes International Whaling Commission (IWC – the body that regulates whaling) regulations, and also those of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Earlier in the year, a separate undercover investigation by WDC revealed that Greenland (a Danish overseas territory) had been actively undermining the IWC ban on commercial whaling by selling whale meat to tourists visiting Greenland from whales that are allowed to be killed only for the nutritional needs of local aboriginal people.

This latest undercover operation by WDC in Denmark itself clearly shows that this form of illegal commercial whaling has now extended into mainland Europe and makes a mockery of Greenland’s requests to hunt more whales to feed native Greenlanders……2012-12-10

Coal Seam Gas: A David & Goliath confrontation for Northern Rivers communities

 

Much has been written about plans to establish coal seam gas production wells on the NSW North Coast.

 

One mining corporation exploring for gas in the Northern Rivers, Metgasco Limited, has recently been offered a production licence for its Casino project.

 

So how big is Metgasco and how small are the individual land owners who are likely to feel the impact of these coal seam gas wells?

 

Well, one could look at the estimated size of Metgasco's gas reserves or total value of shares issued and compare this with the property value of someone living next door or near to one of its drilling wells.

 

However, visual images often tell the story better than words…….

 

Home belonging to a Metgasco director and shareholder:

 

 

Home in general vicinity of Metgasco’s exploration site at Glenugie:

 

CSGFree Northern Rivers: 'Call to Action - the Time is Now!'

http://youtu.be/umHQbFA5mfM
 

Monday, 10 December 2012

UPDATE ON GLENUGIE CSG PROTEST 10-12-12

The number of community members outside Metgasco's Glenugie drill site increased this morning because of the expected arrival of the drill rig. The crowd continued to grow throughout the day. During the morning a truck carrying equipment and a number of other smaller vehicles approached the site. These were delayed for some time because of an accident with a bicycle and traffic congestion near the site. Community members entered into the spirit of the season singing carols around a Christmas tree which had been placed in front of the entrance to the drill site. The crowd effectively blocked the entrance so that around 4 pm the Metgasco convoy left the site. It is expected that they will return tomorrow - presumably with an increased police presence.

Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition

Will history repeat itself in 2013?

 

Photo from ABC North Coast NSW

 

Given his poor performance as the NSW Member of Parliament representing the Clarence electorate, I imagine that there are many who hope that Chris Gulaptis departs in 2013 as abruptly as he did in 2004.

 

The then Minister for Local Government, Tony Kelly, notified me as the mayor of Maclean by voicemail that the council and I as mayor were sacked.

[Chris Gulaptis MP speaking in the NSW Parliament on 23 October 2012]

Little Kevvie obeys his real master's voice?

The Age 8th December 2012:
“LIBERAL Party candidates have been gagged ahead of next year's federal election, with Coalition backbench MPs under pressure to close their Twitter and other social media accounts.Fairfax Media has learnt of a directive from the head office of the federal Liberal Party in an opposition bid to limit ''stuff-ups and scandals''. The directive to preselected candidates ''strongly advises'' against using Twitter and that tweeting on behalf of the Liberal Party is ''not encouraged''.Several backbenchers have confirmed the strict measure, which was decided at the start of last month. One MP said the party was sending a clear message ''that depending on your seniority, use a great deal of caution when tweeting, and it is preferred that most MPs closed our social media accounts…”
Little Kevvie the Federal Nats candidate hasn’t uttered a peep on Kevin Hogan For Page over at Facebook since 16th November and has played dumb on Twitter for even longer. Co-incidence, timidity or ever the faithful Coalition footsoldier?

The End is Nigh?

.

Looking back at this day in 1999

The New York Times

 

Memphis Jury Sees Conspiracy in Martin Luther King's Killing

By EMILY YELLIN
Published: December 09, 1999

A jury in a civil suit brought by the family of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decided today that a retired Memphis cafe owner was part of a conspiracy in the 1968 killing of Dr. King.

The jury's decision means it did not believe that James Earl Ray, who was convicted of the crime, fired the shot that killed Dr. King.

After four weeks of testimony and one hour of deliberation, the jury in the wrongful-death case found that Loyd Jowers as well as ''others, including governmental agencies'' had been part of a conspiracy. The jury awarded the King family the damages they had sought: $100, which the family says it will donate to charity.

The family has long questioned Mr. Ray's conviction and hoped the suit would change the legal and historical record of the assassination.

''This is a vindication for us,'' said Dexter King, the youngest son of Dr. King.

He said he hoped history books would be rewritten to reflect this version of the assassination.

The Story of Floss

 

David Bancroft may have moved from APN’s The Daily Examiner to its Rural Weekly, but he turns up from time to time on the newspaper website which was his old stomping ground.

 

This is his story of the faithful farm dog Floss in two parts:

 

POOR Floss loved to chase vehicles - tractors, cars, the milk truck - just about anything. Her downfall was she was very bad at it and despite incident after incident and hour upon hour of trying to teach her to stay away, she persisted and failed.We were aware of at least a dozen times when she was run over, but believe there were many more as she would often turn up with a surprise injury.Floss was of mixed breed, a mongrel, an ugly but loyal companion with enough cattle sense to be of help on the farm….Still, she became somewhat famous. An ABC television crew came to our place to do a feature piece on dairying. My father's face featured for about five seconds; almost all the rest of the footage was of the dog….

DESPITE being perhaps the ugliest dog I've ever seen, Floss was a great mother and companion.

We never knew her breeding, but from her shape and colouring, she may have been part dachshund, part whippet and part kelpie.

If you're going for appearance, it's not a promising combination.

Together with the multiple road traumas she experienced from chasing vehicles (described last week), the end result was not pretty.

But she was a brilliant mother. She had 13 pups in her first litter and never had fewer than that.

It was a mad scramble for them all to get fed but, ugly as she was, Floss was also perhaps the most patient mother I've seen.

It was a bit of a struggle giving that first litter away, but after that we had no problems. They were in demand.

She produced terrific working dogs, which, happily, looked very little like their mother.

But finding homes for the pups created a few problems of its own.

When the last of the pups from that first litter was rehomed, my mother started losing shoes.

My mother initially thought she was just being careless but as more went missing, she investigated.

And she found Floss had commandeered the lot and taken them back to her den.

She was only interested in my mother's shoes - they had become her surrogate litter.

Metgasco CEO Peter Henderson calls Lismore coal seam gas plebiscite "a fraudulent poll"

 

A region in northern NSW has overwhelmingly voted against coal seam gas mining.

[ABC Rural 10 September 2012]

Prior to the poll, the actual level of opposition to CSG could only be estimated.

It is now clear that the community is highly engaged in the discussion about CGS activity

and does not want it in our LGA.

[Lismore City Council Mayoral Minute 9 October 2012]
 

In the 8 September 2012 Lismore Local Government Area Election 30,197 people were eligible to vote, with 25,641 voting in the mayoral poll and 25,660 voting in the councillor poll, according to the NSW Electoral Commission.

At the same time Lismore voted in its mayor and councillors for the next term it also voted in a formal plebiscite on coal seam gas.

This was the plebiscite question presented at the ballot:

Question No. 1

Do you support coal seam gas (CSG) exploration and production in the Lismore City Council area?

This was the result of that vote recorded by the NSW Electoral Commission:

Question No. 1 was NOT PASSED on 15/09/2012

Voter Turnout: 84.38%
Informal Rate: 2.80%

 

Of those 25,595 voters who participated in this non-compulsory plebiscite 86.86% voted No.

Now if one looks at the number of voters who participated in these three polls, it is apparent that the polls all have a fairly similar participation level and one which is obviously accepted as legitimate by the state electoral commission.

However, this is not good enough for Metgasco Limited’s director, shareholder and CEO Peter Henderson who chose in an NBN News interview on 6 December 2012 to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the plebiscite, calling it:

A fraudulent poll.. in which.. a lot of people chose not to vote.

Such contempt for the democratic process is mind boggling.

UPDATE:

In his own misleading words.....

"a fraudulent poll" comment at 3min 58 secs

UPDATE

The Northern Star 10 December 2012:

Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell said Mr Henderson's comments were "quite odd."

"To claim the poll is fraudulent seems quite odd and casts a judgment on the voters of Lismore LGA who have clearly expressed their view.

"My question would be that if the poll produced a better result for CSG proponents, would Mr Henderson claim it was fraudulent?" said the Mayor.

Cr Dowell said that the positive and negative cases were prepared by the proponents and opponents to CSG mining, and that both sides believed their opposite side's case was questionable and unproven, but "the council did not modify or provide any input into the cases."

NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure told "This is not your future anymore this is my future"

 

 

 

Being sixteen years old and speaking out can sometimes be a hard thing to do, but Northern Rivers local Nicola Shipard held firm and publicly confronted the NSW Planning Minister during the state government's coal seam gas meeting at City Hall, Lismore on Wednesday 5 Dec 2012.

 

Brad Hazzard is visibly taken aback when told it is not his future which is under discussion but the younger generation's future.

Hazzard sent north to placate the locals while NSW Resources and Energy Minister Hartcher hides down south

 

Minister for Planning and Infrastructure Brad Hazzard addressing the Lismore meeting

Thomas George MP seated on his left

 

Yesterday the Hon. (Brad) Bradley Ronald Hazzard, BA, DipEd, LLB(NSW), LLM(Syd) MP, NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, and Minister Assisting the Premier on Infrastructure NSW, Leader of the House and Member of the Liberal Party was part of the O’Farrell Government response to growing concerns about the potential impacts of coal seam gas mining on Northern Rivers residents, communities and regional economies.

 

It should of course have been the Minister for Resources and Energy, Chris Hartcher, who fronted this ‘information’ meeting as it is he who has been scattering petroleum exploration licences across the Northern Rivers since the last state election.

 

It would be an understatement to say that local opposition to coal seam gas mining was expressed forcefully, however the minister’s audience was not violent in any way.

 

Mr. Hazzard, the MP for Lismore Thomas George and senior public servants from Mineral Resources, Office of Sustainable Agriculture & Food Security, Office of Water and the Department of Planning & Infrastructure left the Lismore meeting to a sustained chant of No Mean No!
 

Rather predictably, Minister Hazzard who apparently came north prepared to politely talk at rather than with the community chose to portray the meeting as having been taken over by people who organised a demonstration - rather than see the audience response as evidence of regional frustration with a coal seam gas mining policy which deliberately sidelines landowners and communities.

ABC North Coast NSW audio recordings of the meeting:

Download this mp3 file

CSG meeting part one

CSG meeting part two

CSG meeting part three

CSG meeting part four

CSG meeting part five

CSG meeting part six

CSG meeting part seven

CSG meeting part eight

 

All images found on Twitter and The Northern Star

Looking at energy consumption on the NSW North Coast in 2011-2012

 

The inaugural NSW Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority’s Regional State of the Environment 2012 report has been published for local government areas on the NSW North Coast, with electricity consumption showing mixed results .

 

On a per capita basis, it would appear that electricity consumption across all local government areas is still well above the 2001-02 national level of 2,761.2kWh per person.