A little weekend pollie trivia....

Last time I looked (was about Wednesday) over at Twitter KevinRuddPM had 44,443 followers (181 updates) and TurnbullMalcolm had 10,301 followers (481 updates).
Sorta like the opinion polls isn't it?

Clarence River flooding 22.05.09

ABC North Coast Radio today:

Thousands of residents in northern New South Wales have been asked to evacuate, as the Clarence and Wilson Rivers threaten to flood surrounding towns.

At least 9,000 Grafton residents have been told to leave, with the town predicted to flood tonight.

However, there are differing reports about the number of residents being asked to evacuate, with the SES putting the figure at about 20,000.

Residents in villages north of Grafton around the Lower Clarence River have also been told to evacuate.

Earlier, more than 5,000 people left the city of Lismore over concerns the Wilsons River would peak.

SES spokesman Dave Mackey says the Clarence River in Grafton could reach 7.8 metres about midnight.

"Given the fact that we've had so much rainfall and it doesn't seem to be letting up too much, that prediction of 7.8 is very close to [the] levee overtopping," he said.

"At this stage we do not believe it is worth waiting until dark to make a call for an evacuation.

"This height water is below the levee but the following areas will be inundated: the town of Grafton and low-lying areas of South Grafton, except for Bent Street Hill and the high ground to the Armidale Road.

"Residents and business owners in Grafton and the lower parts of South Grafton are to activate their personal and business flood plans and evacuate as soon as possible."

Mr Mackey says an evacuation coordination centre has been established at the Coffs Harbour Showground.

He says residents who are able to drive themselves out should head south on the Pacific Highway.

Mr Mackey says residents in Grafton can expect the worst if the towns get flooded.

"Power supplies will need to be shut down. Telephone services will fail, which means people will not be able to call for help," he said.

"Sewerage facilities will fail with raw sewage possibly entering houses. Roads will become flooded and vehicle movement will be restricted."

Ulmarra and Brushgrove residents have also been ordered to evacuate.

The Pacific Highway is cut by water at Maclean and the only road inland from Yamba is cut by water.

The Wilsons River is beginning to recede, but Lismore residents cannot access their homes and businesses yet.

The Tweed, Byron Bay, Ballina, Lismore, Kyogle and the Clarence Valley local government areas have all been declared disaster areas by the NSW Government.

Who is Australia's worst boss?

A South Grafton abattoir owner has repeatedly made headlines for allegedly refusing to pay sacked staff their entitlements. Now he is coming under more fire from workers who claim he has banned them from taking toilet breaks.

Workers say boss banned toilet stops

(The Daily Examiner, 22 May 2009)

SOUTH Grafton abattoir owner Stuart Ramsey has repeatedly made headlines for allegedly refusing to pay sacked staff their entitlements.

Now he is coming under more fire from workers who claim he has banned them from taking toilet breaks.

Two workers contacted The Daily Examiner with concerns Mr Ramsey was penalising staff for leaving their work stations to visit the toilet.

The workers did not want their names published, but said Mr Ramsey told staff they could not leave their stations unless they were on lunch or smoko.

The workers said this ban included staff leaving their stations to visit the toilet. If true, this would mean abattoir staff were expected to work for almost three hours at a time without having to go to the toilet.

One of the workers said Mr Ramsey was punishing those who took toilet breaks by issuing them formal letters of warning and forfeiting their Over Award payment.

The payment is given when workers process above their quota. It can add more than $100 to their weekly pay.

Many staff received this payment regularly and had come to rely on it to meet living costs, the worker said.

Stuart Ramsey - owner of Ramsey Meats Processing - did not return The Examiner's calls yesterday. Mr Ramsey's business is being investigated by the Workplace Ombudsman after sacked staff were not paid their entitlements.

Ken Henry, I luv u....

One of the few pleasures left (when faced with the mountains of negative financial news which greets unwary readers each week) is to find that Secretary to the Treasury Ken Henry has spoken out again.

This time it was his Post-Budget Address to the Australian Business Economists last Tuesday:

This is story-telling of extraordinary complexity. And while it hasn't tested Ross, it clearly has exceeded the reading age of many.
Consider, for example, the reporting of the budget in the Wall Street Journal Asia last week. According to that reporting, in all of the decisions taken by the Government in response to the global recession, the only ones that will have any stimulatory impact on the economy are the 'tiny' personal income tax cuts announced in the 2008-09 Budget. The journal also informs its unfortunate readers that revenue downgrades alone would not have driven the Australian budget into deficit. And to cap it off, readers were told, in what is surely one of the most ironic sentences ever uttered in macroeconomic analysis, that '(t)his Keynesian revival comes at a particularly bad time, given that tax revenues are falling as the economy slows, a normal feature of economic downturns'. Apparently, the right time for a 'Keynesian revival', involving the spending of large amounts of public money, is when tax revenue is strong and rising, a normal feature of economic boom times.
As you know, I don't always agree with Australian commentators. But our newspaper readers can be thankful that they don't often have to confront material that is quite that bad.

Just love to hear that Taree boy's plain speaking.

Casino Beef Week Festival, Tuesday 26 May - Tuesday 2 June 2009

Feel like getting in touch with the farmer in your family tree?
Then come on up to Casino next week, join in Country Energy Casino Beef Week and enjoy the cattle judging, milking comps, country arts & crafts, bush poets, circus workshop, fashion parade, floral art display, masquerade ball, country races, street stalls and much more.

Programme here.

Dancing cows from Google Images

Flood warnings for the Tweed, Richmond, Wilsons and Brunswick Rivers 21.05.09

Radar Image loop here.

It's a trifle wet and windy here on the NSW North Coast right now and this level of wind and water may see some or all of this blog's authors somewhat preoccupied over the next couple of days.

So enjoy North Coast Voices coming scheduled posts, as we watch river levels and cross fingers over electricity supply.

NSW Severe Weather Warning 1,

Coastal Wind Warning 1,

Flood Warning - Tweed River,
Flood Warning - Richmond/Wilsons,
Flood Warning - Brunswick River,

Flood Watch 1,

Update:

Flood Warning - Bellinger River,
Flood Warning - Orara River,

Update:

Flood Warning - Hastings River,

Update:

Flood Warning - Clarence River,

Flood Warning - Nambucca River,

State Emergency Service PH: 132 500 - requests for immediate emergency assistance

The Public Information and Inquiry Centre PH: 1800 227 228 - information about displaced person, road closures, welfare assistance etc.,

Emergency NSW www.emergency.nsw.gov.au

Main stream media wants news blogs to pay for approval - now I've heard it all

It has been obvious for some time that the Mainstream Media is not only worried about revenue and profit margins, it is also worried about online competition from some of the larger blogs which carry a degree of credibility when it comes to political and social commentary as well as sometimes displaying an investigative element in presentation of news items.

The lure of money and wider readership has been used in the last couple of years to try and corral some well-known bloggers within the confines of 'old' media.

Now the MSM is casting its net wider and without the financial bait - it wants to invite certain websites to pay it for a credibility tick and an over the shouder policeman.

According to Mumbrella on 14 May 2009:

He also warns that the funding of the Press Council is "rapidly falling apart". This week, The Australian reported that its members were threatening to cut its budget by a third.
Kennedy suggests that a way to bridge the funding gap would be to invite news websites and other organisation to come under its remit.
He said: "For online publications, which don't have a high traffic flow, we could come up with a system similar to the Standards Association tick which is keenly sought by companies wanting to give their products credibility. We have 'street cred', built up over the past decade. For a fee, we could offer a Press Council tick, logo etc to online companies which subscribe to our principles and agree to be part of the complaints procedure. The selling attraction is that, as online news sites become more prevalent, they will be seeking some way to establish a point of difference between a credible site (Crikey.com.au, for example) and one drummed up in the garage of a bunch of anarchists."

If it wasn't so desperate a measure it would be funny.........

Image from The Wall Street Journal