Possum on Turnbull's political free fall

Because of late I have neglected that ex-merchant banker who leads the Federal Coalition Opposition, here is Possum Comitiatus in Tuesday's Crikey:

This appears to be one of those "Holy cascading waterfalls of public disapproval Batman!" type events.

If we head on over to the historical satisfaction ratings of Opposition Leaders ,the only previous example that seems remotely comparable to Turnbull’s performance in the metrics is that of his Lordship, Alexander Downer.

Ouch!

Well said Possum.

I suspect that the next viable leader of the party is still in nappies, because it will take that sort of generational change to revive the post-Howard corpse.

And who said it wouldn't go to his head.......

Barack Obama is President of the United States of America - arguably the most powerful political position going, backed as it is by America's military might.

However, there is a global financial crisis and America is suffering. In March 2009 the official U.S. unemployment rate reached a 25 year high and over 13 million people (reputedly the highest absolute number on record) are wondering where their next pay check will come from.

The U.S. federal government is not as popular as the Obama Administration had hoped when it came to power after the 2007 presidential election. Tea parties to demonstrate against the taxpayer-funded financial bailout of Wall Street are the order of the day.

So is President Obama taking note of the mood of the nation and exercising a little fiscal restraint at the White House?

Not if this media snippet in the Mail Online is anything to go by:

When you're the president of the United States, only the best pizza will do - even if that means flying a chef 860 miles.

Chris Sommers, 33, jetted into Washington from St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday with a suitcase of dough, cheese and pans to prepare food for the Obamas and their staff.

He had apparently been handpicked after the President had tasted his pizzas on the campaign trail last autumn.

The NSW North Coast Local Government Stakes winners of 2007 and bets laid

In that race for the mayoral seat just how did NSW North Coast mayors' campaign spending compare at the 2007 local government election of shire councillors?

According to their own disclosure declarations of political donations and campaign expenditure:

Clarence Valley Mayor Richie Williamson spend $1,263.03 of his own money (mostly outlaid on newspaper and radio advertising) and nobody else chipped in any cash or kind help it seems.

Ballina Mayor Phil Silver splurged $8,941.36 from his personal kitty (spending it for the better part on newspaper, radio and cinema adverts with the odd poster thrown in) and no-one gave him a single cent as a donation.

Byron Mayor Jan Barham declared that she spent nothing and received nothing, presumably because she was running on a Greens group ticket.

Kyogle Mayor Ross Brown who heads a council representing only a few thousand punters, spent accordingly at $100 from his own wallet (paid down entirely at the local newspaper's advertising department) and not a brass razoo was sent his way from any other source.

Tweed Mayor Joan Van Lieshout (who ran as part of a NSW Liberals group ticket) spent nothing to get elected to council and, despite a fundraiser event, received no individual political donations, but Peiter Van Lieshout gave a $12,425.40 cheque to the ticket campaign which was spent on almost every form of campaigning known.

Coffs Mayor Keith Rhoades was another candidate who spent and received no money in his own right, but the group ticket of which he was a part laid out $9,250 and received $1,700 in donations (most of which was spent on TV and newspaper adverts).

Richmond Mayor Col Sullivan managed to risk $6,068.56 of his private moolah on the group ticket, which was a big part of total group candidate contributions of $10,068.56 (mainly spent on newspaper ads and flyers as well as someone to distribute these).

Free TV fails bush viewers

Techno dinosaur Southern Cross Television's viewers don't rate

Channel Ten has been crowing about its fantastic new 24/7 sports channel, Channel One .

Fantastic?

New?

Well, it might be IF viewers live in metropolitan areas.

Channel Ten's programs in the bush are broadcast by the techno dinosaur Southern Cross Television, which reckons it will have things together by July.

Here's a tip: Given Southern Cross's track record, punters should take the odds that it will start showing One programs after Christmas ... perhaps!

How serious is local government about protecting against climate change impacts? Not very it seems, if it is Clarence Valley Council

On 17 April 2009 The Daily Examiner ran a front page article about Yamba at the mouth of the Clarence River on the NSW North Coast; Yamba Prone to Disaster?

Yesterday it posted online a letter to the editor on the same subject:

YAMBA is a town of approximately 6000 residents sitting on predominately low-lying land surrounded on all four sides by tidal bodies of water and tethered to the mainland by a strip of land approximately 1.25 kilometres wide, according to a scaled map.

On April 17, The Daily Examiner published a front page article Yamba Prone To Disaster?

This article pointed out that Yamba will have difficulties coping with the predicted bigger floods of longer duration and increasingly severe storms accompanied by storm surges.

Part of this difficulty is the limited evacuation options open to residents should Yamba Road be cut by floodwater in any of the three to four places it has been cut in the past, thereby denying access to high ground at Yamba Hill for a considerable number of residents and/or preventing movement inland towards Maclean or the Pacific Highway.

Floodwater in certain side roads or across Angourie Road will also cause problems for residents seeking high ground.

The Daily Examiner article went on to say that the State Emergency Service (SES) was concerned about this situation and that its submission to Clarence Valley Council regarding proposed large-scale urban development in Yamba recommended in effect that the Maclean Local Environmental Plan 2001 (LEP) amendment for West Yamba be deferred pending further study.

The SES were right to draw council's attention to the problems which may be experienced as severe weather events become more common.

According to Clarence Valley Council documents, Yamba flooding can occur because of a combination of high river flows, high ocean levels, wind-wave action along the foreshore or from intense rain over the local catchment (Webb, McKeown and Associates, 2009, 'Yamba Floodplain Risk Management Plan').

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a storm surge is a large amount of water pushed towards the shore, which combining with the existing tide and/or floodwater, raises the mean water level by 15 feet or more depending on the inclination of the underwater shelf leading to the foreshore.

Wind-driven waves are superimposed on this surge and the total effect is often swift and destructive flooding of coastal areas ( www.nhs.noaa.gov, April 18, 2009).

It is easy for the average person to recall that in the last decade storm surges have caused loss of life in America, India, South-East Asia and New Guinea.

It is also easy for Yamba locals to recall that severe 'east-coast lows' are sometimes preceded by days of rain and have been known to follow close on the heels of a Clarence Valley flood.

So here we have a town, with a large retiree population, two aged-care facilities and more than a few people without a car, faced with the probability that from now on it will be more vulnerable in floods and severe storms and, that there may be some risk to life as well as anywhere between $1.9 million to $113.7 million worth of property damage from any one severe adverse weather event (Webb, McKeown and Associates, 2009, 'Yamba Floodplain Risk Management Plan').

What does Clarence Valley Council do when faced with this risk scenario?

Does it look at the recent reports from reputable CSIRO researchers which state that sea levels are rising faster than was thought (University of Copenhagen, 2009, Climate Change International Scientific Congress) and move to protect existing residents by immediately beginning to organise a co-ordinated emergency evacuation plan? No, it does not.

What is does is decide to progress the proposed development of West Yamba (based on what appears to be 2007 predicted sea-level data), thereby eventually adding another 2000 to 2500 people to an already vulnerable population and taking away yet another section of local flood storage land, at the same time deciding that it will ask for money from a cash-strapped NSW Government to put together some sort of plan with the help of emergency services at some indefinite point in the future.

Why does it do this?

Well, on reading council's February 24, 2009 ordinary monthly meeting minutes and attachments, it appears that it has accepted the argument that to defer the LEP amendment would not be 'considered reasonable'. So intent are our nine councillors on appeasing a select group of property speculators and so determined are they to widen the Yamba rate base, that these same councillors are willing to ignore their duty of care and the risk to residents' lives in favour of being 'reasonable'.

Clarence Valley Council obviously has not taken note of the fact that should individuals in the expanded Yamba population experience property loss or loss of a family member as a result of predicted flooding/surges, it would be within the realms of possibility that council would face both individual litigation and a class action.

Our nine councillors should also remember that, in certain circumstances, they do not have full indemnity for the resolutions they pass. Or perhaps they do remember and that is the reason for the deafening silence on the subject of Yamba since they passed the West Yamba amendment?

JUDITH M. MELVILLE
Yamba

Biotech: the unmet promise of genetically engineered crops?

In the face of a review of GM crop yield studies which concluded that there was no appreciable difference between crops grown from conventional and genetically modified seed, talk of herbicide resistant weeds being associated with land used for GM crops and the banning of GM maize MON 10 by Germany on environmental grounds, the big biotech companies are pretending that is still business as usual.

And if you are a large multinational corporation like Monsanto, with lobbyist tentacles reaching into so many national or state governments around the world, I expect that it really is business as usual.

So usual that it is thinking of starting yet another court case in its pursuit of the 'golden' apex of a global agricultural food chain.

Still it doesn't hurt if you also create a slice of corporate propaganda like this:











View and Download this Ad
from Monsanto website











* This post is part of North Coast Voices' effort to keep Monsanto's blog monitor (affectionately known as Mr. Monsanto) in long-term employment.