when it comes to evolution, "we're complete mongrels... Everybody was bonking everybody else."
* Photograph found at Google Images
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Thoroughly pee'd off
Ramble rave
Well now we know
what Mr Abbott means when he says “Stop the Boats” - Stop, {the Australian
public from knowing about} the Boats. This is the policy of an ostrich, what
you don’t know can't hurt you approach.
This is at the
start of his term, so I believe that is how the Government plans to continue.
It is also worrying
that faith has won over fact in an Abbott world.
Faith that the coal seam gas extraction is
perfectly safe and that us ignorant farmers are holding up the fracking progress of
those nice mining companies(busy making
millions of dollars for themselves) and denying the state government all
that royalty money.
I hope our new
member Kevin Hogan remembers his statement that he would cross the floor of the
parliament to vote against coal seam gas in this area. My fear is he will vote
with his new best mates and be sent back to his electorate with the task of
telling us how great this industry will be for us.
Fact that climate change is happening
and it doesn’t matter if you believe or not. It will still happen – even if Mr.
Abbott as a matter of faith dismantles the previous government’s policies.
A note to Mr
Abbott’s media people PLEASE do not publish any more pictures of him smiling -
his smile looks like a whip lash in wet cow shit. It is enough to put the
chooks of the lay.
Joey
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
Friday, 6 December 2013
Hospital mortality rates - not always good news for those living in rural and regional NSW
Bureau of Health Information (December 2013), 30-day mortality following hospitalisation, five clinical conditions, NSW, July 2009 – June 2012: Acute myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke, pneumonia and hip fracture surgery:
Acute
myocardial infarction - There were 91 hospitals (90%) with mortality
no different to expected. Three hospitals (Royal Prince Alfred, Royal North
Shore, Prince of Wales), had lower than expected mortality and seven hospitals
(Milton and Ulladulla, Cessnock, Bowral, Tamworth, Hornsby, St George, and one
not reportable*) had higher than expected mortality.
For ischaemic stroke - There were 57 hospitals (80%) with mortality no different from expected. Four hospitals (Concord, Prince of Wales, Belmont, and Manly) had lower than expected mortality and ten hospitals (Moruya, Tamworth, Dubbo, Lismore, Nepean, Coffs Harbour, Westmead, Royal Prince Alfred, John Hunter, and one not reportable*) had higher than expected mortality.
Haemorrhagic
stroke - There were 82 hospitals (94%) within the expected range of results. Two
hospitals (Fairfield, and one not reportable*) had lower than expected
mortality and three hospitals (Port Macquarie, John Hunter, and one not
reportable*) had higher than expected mortality.
Pneumonia - There
were 126 hospitals (89%) within the expected range. Seven hospitals (Canterbury,
John Hunter, Bankstown, St Vincent’s, Maitland, Shellharbour, one not
reportable) had lower than expected mortality and nine hospitals (Inverell,
Manning, Tamworth, Blacktown, Wyong and four not reportable*) had higher than expected
mortality.
Hip fracture
surgery - Results for 33 hospitals (87%) were within the expected range of
mortality. One hospital (St Vincent’s) had lower than expected mortality and
four hospitals (Tamworth, Orange, Gosford, and Coffs Harbour) had higher than
expected mortality.
Click on images to enlarge
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK: Keeping copper wire in ground on coastal flood plains
The Abbott Government intends that the last section of the National Broadband Network which enters an Internet users premises will remain the original copper wire installed by Telstra – unless the user is rich enough to pay for the laying of optic fibre between the street node box and their residence/business.
Giving evidence before the Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network last week, NBN Chairman and Acting CEO Dr Ziggy Switkowski on the subject of fault levels on Telstra’s copper wire-based telecommunications system:
I am certainly familiar with the issue in the sense that long periods of drought tend to be associated with lower fault levels than seasons that are very, very wet. The difference might be two or three per cent out of a 10 per cent to 15 per cent base. I am just guessing here or trying to remember.......
Northern Rivers communities will be alarmed at this statement, given the number of floods and heavy rain periods the region experiences.
Because what Dr. Switkowski statement indicates is that there is little hope that the Abbott broadband scheme will see any improvement in the rate of server dropouts or in upload/download speeds for Internet users on the NSW North Coast.
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Abbott Government debt
On 4 December 2013 Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey announced that; The Government has today agreed to the Australian Greens’ proposal to repeal the statutory debt limit and enhance transparency around government debt reporting.
On 4 December Abbott Government borrowings were averaging in excess of $203 million a day.
Now the fiscal brakes have been removed from Hockey's little red treasury wagon, I wonder how much further into debt he will drive the Commonwealth.
The Abbott 'Best Possible Christmas Present' That Isn't
best possible Christmas present for the Australian people
[Tony Abbott, December 2013]
Even if the Australian Senate voted to repeal the former Labor Government’s Clean Energy legislation before it goes into recess at the end of the 12 December 2013 sitting day, power bills will probably not see any decrease before late-2014 at the earliest as the Abbot Government does not intend to abolish the carbon price levy until 1 June that year.
By the Abbott Government’s own admission the carbon price levy only adds $9 to every $100 dollars of the average household’s energy bills so each household would be 'saving' a monumental $1.50 a day after May next year. By comparison state government-owned network poles and wires charges add $51 to every $100 dollars of the average bill and that part of the bill is not going away in the foreseeable future.
In addition, the Abbott Government has no date set to reduce the renewable energy tariff component of the power bill which also adds to the cost of power to the home or business, nor is it planning to abolish the most lucrative arm of the so-called ‘carbon tax’ – the levy paid by the off-shore oil and gas industry.
The Abbott Government also has no power to set electricity or gas retail prices. That is the purview of states and territories regulators and, in part, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). In NSW the state regulator is the Independent Pricing And Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) and its current prices are set until June 2014.
As the morning of 1 July 2014 dawns across the NSW Northern Rivers, can you be certain that your power bill will fall sometime in the next two years or will you find that it continues to rise and rise?
Either way, Santa Abbott is not reducing your power bill this Christmas.
Either way, Santa Abbott is not reducing your power bill this Christmas.
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