Voted Liberal Party or Nationals in September 2013? This is how they treat you the following month

A majority of good people of Winmalee voted for an Abbott Government on 7 September 2013, as did many other Blue Mountains communities....

http://vtr.aec.gov.au/HousePollingPlaceFirstPrefs-17496-1816.htm

Then this roared towards their small town one month later....

Leaving a traumatised community in its wake....

The Abbott Government response....

ABC News 26 October 2013:

Fire-affected residents in the Blue Mountains have criticised the Federal Government for tightening the eligibility rules for disaster relief payments, as fires continue to burn uncontrolled....

Emergency services and Government officials briefed hundreds of fire-affected residents about the recovery effort at a community meeting in Winmalee last night.

Upset locals used the meeting to vent their frustration at the Federal Government for tightening eligibility rules for disaster assistance.

A disaster recovery payment is available for people who are severely injured or if their homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.

The payment is $1000 per adult and $400 per child.

However, the payment is only available for people who are severely injured or if their homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.

Unlike victims of the Tasmanian bushfires or Tropical Cyclone Oswald, the Government is not offering assistance to those who have been cut off from their homes or who are without electricity or water.

Locals say not everyone affected can get the help they need.

One resident, Leigh, said his mother lost her home in the fire and is eligible for the assistance.

But he is angry that funding will not be available for his sister, whose home was damaged, when she would have been eligible in the past.

"When I found out people were having entitlements stripped from them that they would have had previously, I was livid," he said.

"It's something I'll keep on until I get an answer from our local member Louise Markus who is supposed to be representing us."

* Hat tip to @vogrady2132 for pointing out the relationship between voting and outcomes for one community

** Photographs found at Google Images

Bunarm Bologaman wahl Bundjalung

An exhibition supported by Arts Northern Rivers
of new works by male Bundjalung artists

Date: 2 November - 23 November 2013

Time: Saturday 2nd Nov, 2pm

Place: Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Cooperative | 55-59 Flood St Leichhardt, Sydney

Artist Talk: Sunday, 3rd November @2:30pm

On November 2nd, Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative in Leichhardt, Sydney, will host the opening of  Bunarm Bologaman wahl Bundjalung, an exhibition of art by leading Bundjalung artists.

The Bundjalung nation are the original custodians of northern coastal areas of New South Wales, and this exhibition will present new works by 8 male artists; Noel Charlie Caldwell, Clarence Luke Close, Anthony (Tule) Gordon, Burri Jerome, Gilbert Laurie, Oral Roberts, Jai Walker and Lewis Walker.

Arts Northern Rivers assisted the group in applying for funding and assisting in other key management procedures, such as helping to source wholesale art materials, pricing and art courier services. The project was initiated by artist tutor Jan Levy from ACE North Coast Inc. for  artists who were at the mid-career phase of their arts practice.

The Governor of NSW, her Excellency, Professor Marie Bashir, AC, CVO will officially open the show, that will showcase artistic interpretations men’s stories and celebrate the culture of Bunjalung Country. There will be performances at the opening by Lewis Walker and Anthony Gordon, and an artist talk taking place the following day.

Community concern over the effect of CSG production on groundwater is valid according to surveyed senior oil and gas executives

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner, 23 October 2013:

Message is clear

I SEE that The Daily Examiner's letters to the editor section is still making heavy going out of one particular coal seam gas exploration/mining survey, whose respondents predominantly did not favour the industry in question.

However, there has been more than one Australian survey on the subject and these surveys, which have been conducted by Essential Research, Galaxy, Newspoll, Nielsen, MyOpinions Research and Southern Cross University over the course of the last three years, show that most of those surveyed recognise the potential adverse effects of such mining.

This one quoted below was conducted this year.

"Research undertaken for NSW landholder groups has confirmed that a massive 85% of people surveyed agree that the coal and coal seam gas industries are threatening our water supplies, including groundwater.

"The poll of 1100 people in New South Wales conducted by Essential Research also revealed that 81% of those surveyed agreed that the coal and coal seam gas industries threaten the state's farmland and agricultural industries.

"Also of concern, but not new to NSW Farmers was the finding that 81% of respondents to the poll agreed that coal and coal seam gas extraction offered short-term economic return to investors but at the expense of local long-term industries such as farming and tourism.

"NSW Farmers president Fiona Simson said these messages, which are strong and incredibly consistent across all areas of the state are still not getting through to the government." [NSW Farmers media release, June 20, 2013]

Hall & Partners Open Mind, on behalf of one national newspaper, also conducted a survey of senior oil and gas executives this year which found that "69% agreed community concern over the effect of CSG production on groundwater was valid."

Judith M. Melville

Yamba

Birdlife Australia’s NSW and ACT Twitchathon - 26-27 October 2013

NEWS RELEASE

 Birdlife Australia’s NSW and ACT Twitchathon  - 26-27 October  2013

Founded in 1901, Birds Australia, now Birdlife Australia, is Australia's oldest national conservation organisation, dedicated to the study and conservation of native birds and their habitats.   To assist the organisation in raising some of its funds, it conducts a Twitchathon on the last weekend of October each year.

Over the past sixteen years, birdwatchers all over NSW and the ACT have formed into teams and raced about NSW and the ACT to find as many species of birds as possible over the 24 hour Twitchathon period. Each member of the team has found sponsorship from friends, family, colleagues or corporations for each species of bird seen or heard by each team.  It has become an extremely competitive race and enormous fun!   Team members have won some fantastic prizes, which have been sponsored by very supportive corporations and individuals.  They have raised funds for projects associated with endangered species such as the purchase of trailer and watering units for the Capertee Regent Honeyeater Volunteer Operations Group, as well as equipment for both the Educational Units at Gluepot Reserve SA & the Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park.  Funds have been provided for the Hunter Shorebird Roost Site Protection Project, Gosford’s Friends of the Bush Stone-curlew, the Kangaroo Island SA Glossy Black Cockatoo Conservation Project and the Murray Valley Bush Stone-curlew Captive Release Project, and monitoring by volunteers of the NSW Important Bird Areas.  Last year we provided funds for a project to increase both the area and connectivity of native habitats in the Cowra District, which is located on the Central Tablelands of NSW, c.100 km south west of Orange NSW and 317 km west of Sydney.  In the last three years, approximately $24,500 was raised each year for the projects outline.

This year’s Twitchathon aims to continue the support given in the 2011 Twitchathon to the Powerful Owl Project.  It is intended that the additional funds will enable Birdlife Southern NSW to extend the project for a third breeding season.  The Powerful Owl Project features the Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua)  in the Greater Sydney region, with new information collected, analysed and displayed on the new, interactive Birds in Backyards (BIBY) website.  The Powerful Owl serves as a focal point for the collection of new information on all nocturnal bird species.  The aims of this project are to stimulate and harness community interest in this iconic Australian species so that, for the first time, an accurate assessment can be made of its population size, distribution and breeding success in the Sydney region.  Project Officer, David Bain, advises that the Powerful Owls are now well into breeding season with a number of owls known to be on the nest with eggs.  Chicks will be starting to emerge soon and with over 120 volunteers between Wollongong and Newcastle now involved with the Project, he expects that we should get a greater understanding of what is happening this season.  Excitingly the project is partnering with Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre and Taronga Zoo to provide a Powerful Owl education program to schools in the northern suburbs of Sydney.  In other exciting news there is a nestCAM up and running – check it out at http://birdsinbackyards.net/Powerful-Owl-NestCAM.

Twitchathon 2013 aims to raise about $30,000 to assist this project.

So watch out for your local Twitchathon team and follow them through this fun event – watch them “twitch” about in rainforests, swamps, grasslands, woodlands, sewerage works, backyards and river estuaries, intensely listening, and desperately searching, for the most or the rarest species.  Experience the excitement of “ticking” and “dipping” on the birds, the desperation to win, the thrills, the spills of this great weekend adventure!   The teams could be competing in 40° temperatures or during a thunder storm but they will stick firmly to the Twitchathon Rules! They’ll never give up the thrill of the chase during the race because so many $’s are at stake!  Teams are not just competing for the highest score, but for the most dollars raised prizes or even the Lucky Twitcher’s Prize. 

You can also sponsor a few dollars to your local team by contacting:

Alan Morris     Tel (02) 43342776  Email: a.morris42@optusnet.com.au

Your local Twitchathon team is the Black-necked Stalkers (Greg Clancy, Gary Eggins, Russell Jago).                  

Their local bird club is the Clarence Valley Birdos

See you on the Twitchathon trail???

For further information contact : Alan Morris, Twitchathon Coordinator

Birdlife Australia Southern NSW Group Sydney

Tel 02 4334 2776

Email: southernnsw@birdlife.org.au

A fat thumb classic in the middle of the NSW October 2013 bushfires

The Don Randall saga becomes ridiculous

The West Australian 18 October 2013:

The WA Liberal had gone into hiding amid revelations he billed the Commonwealth last year to fly to Cairns where he had taken possession of a four-bedroom investment property.

The West Australian can also reveal Mr Randall had charged taxpayers earlier for a two-night stay in the north Queensland city in 2007, just three days after he bought the land.

Parliamentary records show Mr Randall claimed $414 in living-away-from-home allowance in Cairns on July 2 and 3, 2007, saying he was there as part of work on a migration committee.

Land title records show Mr Randall bought the land in Cairns on June 29 that year for $148,000.

Mr Randall insisted last night the 2007 visit had been within entitlement rules.

ABC News 23 October 2013:

Meanwhile, taxpayers also paid for the Coalition MP and his wife to fly from Perth to Melbourne on Saturday September 15 last year at a cost of $5,203, for what a Department of Finance document says was "sittings of Parliament".

Parliament sat last year the week before that date and resumed on Monday September 17. That Saturday night, the West Coast Eagles faced Collingwood in Melbourne in an AFL semi-final.

On 11 July 2012 the WA Liberal Member for Canning Don Randall informed the Dept. of Finance that he and his wife had entered a contract to build a house on land they owned in Cairns Queensland and on, 26 November that same year he informed the department that they had taken possession of this house.

In between those two dates Mr. Randall and his wife took an overnight trip from Perth to Cairns, billing Australian taxpayers for the following on the dates in question:

Travel Allowance for Don Randall

18 Nov 12 18 Nov 12 Cairns Electorate Business $354.00 **

** Incorrect rate paid. Adjustment to be reflected in a subsequent reporting period.

Airfare Don Randall

18 Nov 12 - Perth to Alice Springs 
18 Nov 12 - Alice Springs to Cairns

19 Nov 12 - Cairns to Brisbane

19 Nov 12 - Brisbane to Perth

$2,388.20

Taxi 18 Nov 12 $90.91

Taxi 19 Nov 12 $109.09

Airfare Family Traveller

18 Nov 12 - Perth to Alice Springs

18 Nov 12 - Alice Springs to Cairns

19 Nov 12 - Cairns to Brisbane

19 Nov 12 - Brisbane to Perth

$2,388.20

Total: $5,330.40

Since then Don Randall ha said he will repay this money and Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Warren Entsch MP were reported by The Sydney Morning Herald as stating:

Yet Mr Abbott, speaking on Fairfax Radio on Wednesday, suggested the trip was justified.

"The gentleman in question [Mr Randall] tells me that ... he went from Perth to Cairns to have some very important discussions with the whip," Mr Abbott said. The whip at the time was Leichardt MP Warren Entsch, whose electorate takes in Cairns.

But when quizzed by The Australian Financial Review, Mr Entsch refused to divulge the content of those discussions and admitted he did not know if they constituted "electorate business" as Mr Randall had claimed.

By 24 October Mr. Randall had changed his story when speaking with the Armadale Examiner:

Mr. Entsch is right to be cautious when responding to requests for verification in the present climate – especially if he were to find that there is no diary entry covering this alleged 2012 meeting.

After all, voters might turn their gaze to his own travel claims and recall his past lavish spending on the public purse:

The figures emerged as the Opposition also targeted Liberal MPs in Queensland over alleged travel excess, including the member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, over a visit to a space launch in the US where he spent $6900 a day at taxpayers' expense....

According to Mr Entsch's official travel returns he spent $77,000 on an 11-day trip to the US in July 2005 "to attend the launch of the space shuttle program and to hold discussions regarding the Joint Strike Fighter Program". [Sunday Tasmanian,8 July 2007,p5]

To recap. Thus far we see a West Australian MP who has now given two different explanations of why he went to Cairns in 2012 (and none as to why he needed his wife by his side on this expensive overnight trip) and, who has committed to paying back over $5,000 in travel expenses he denies he had improperly claimed. While at the same time we have a Prime Minister who has asserted that this same MP was engaged at the time in werry, werry, ‘portant but unspecified party business which could not have been conducted over the phone and, a Queensland MP and Government Whip who is not wholeheartedly backing either Randall's or his leader’s version of events.

* Stop laughing – this is serious *