Proud descendant of the Yaegl people is joint winner of inaugural Emerging and Young Artist Award

Jessica Birk

A young Indigenous artist living and born on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Jessica is a proud descendant of the Yaegl people, from northern NSW, on the mighty Clarence River.

Jessica's work was recognised on Wednesday night at the Australia Council's National Indigenous Arts Awards. At a ceremony at the Opera House, she and another printmaker, Fiona Elisala, from the Torres Strait Islands, were named joint winners of the inaugural Emerging and Young Artist Award.


Birk, 24, has exhibited her work with some of Sydney's most prominent indigenous artists, including Bronwyn Bancroft and Sally Morgan.


She met Bancroft as a child at Cromer Public School, when the artist helped the students with a mural.


"She was incredibly inspirational to me when I was a kid and when I met up with her in later life, she became a mentor," Birk says.


Like many artists, she uses her work to express her mixed heritage. Unlike many, she finds it easy to reconcile the two halves of her upbringing.


"You can belong to more than one place and more than one culture," she says.


"Belonging on the northern beaches is something I've grown into.

Belonging up there [in the Clarence Valley] was something I was born into - a gift from my ancestors and my family." SMH ( 27/05/2009)

pics: www.jessicabirk.com

One-off Federal Government cash payment for victims of May 2009 flooding on the NSW North Coast

The Federal Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin has activated the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment, which is a one-off immediate payment of $1000 to adults and $400 to children.

Victims of May 2009 flooding on the NSW North Coast will be eligible for this payment through Centrelink if:

• a person is seriously injured, or
• a person is;
  • the immediate family member of an Australian killed, and
  • the appropriate immediate family member to make a claim for the AGDRP for that deceased person in respect of the disaster (note only 1 person can be paid in respect to each deceased person).
• a person's principal place of residence has been destroyed;
• a person's principal place of residence has sustained major damage;
• a person is a principal carer of a dependent child, and
  • the Dependent Child is seriously injured; or
  • the Dependent Child is an immediate family member of an Australian killed and the Principal Carer is the only and most appropriate person to make a claim for the AGDRP in respect of the deceased Australian; or
  • the Dependent Child's principal place of residence has been destroyed; or
  • the Dependent Child's principal place of residence has sustained major damage.

For more information on eligibility or if you have any queries contact Centrelink on 180 2233.

AGDRP Storms and Flooding in South East QLD and Northern NSW - May 2009 Centrelink AGDRP claim form

According to Centrelink claims for this payment can be lodged until 25 November 2009.

A teeth grind about rural assistance

Yesterday I rang the Rural Assistance Authority to see if I could get some help in repairing a flood-damaged boundary fence. The internal fences I consider to be my problem.

I explained that the neighbour's section of the boundary fence had suffered terminal injuries. It was not all that healthy before this flood.

I had been down there as the water receded - taking all the rubbish off the fence and propping it up, joining up broken wire. The repair job is very shaky; a frog phart at forty paces will knock it over.

The helpful man on the other end of the line did point out that it was my neighbour's responsibility, and I agreed wholeheartedly, but since my neighbour has been placed in receivership by the bank I did not think that he could possibly help.

We then got into what the grant was all about. If you are eligible you can spend up to $15,000 on flood related expenditure; you present the receipts and the money is refunded.
This is great if you happen to have $15,000 on hand to spend, can get a loan or an overdraft that is not maxed out.
If I had that amount of money in the bank or on hand I would not have to ask for the grant.

Then we came to the eligibility for this grant. Over 50% of your income for the last 3 years has to have come from the farm. I wonder how many of the farms in this region would qualify, since most will have one partner working off farm to provide the security a family needs.

There did not seem to be any consideration of the past seasons or farming conditions in the area. The fact that most of the farms are too small to provide an income sufficient to properly support a family is also overlooked.

This seems to be a Claytons grant, the grant that you have when you are not having a grant.
Well done governments; another grant which plays out well in the media but with a very limited cost for the government.

NSW North Coast pension, benefit and allowance snapshot

The Commonwealth Department of Human Services did a breakdown of those receiving a government pension, benefit or allowance as of 1 January 2009.

On the NSW North Coast the recipient numbers for Age, Disability, Carer, Lone Parent, Widow, Wife, Partner, Newstart, Youth, Family Tax and Rent Assistance cash transfers are as follows.

Age Pension recipients, but not including those receiving Veterans Affairs pensions:

RICHMOND 17,226 PAGE 18,707 COWPER 19,586

Disability Support Pension figures are:

RICHMOND 7,143 PAGE 8,411 COWPER 8,335

Those receiving Carer Allowance or Carer Payment:

RICHMOND 4,816 PAGE 6,277 COWPER 6,608

Those lone parents receiving a Parenting Payment:

RICHMOND 3,220 PAGE 3,454 COWPER 3,972

Both categories of Wife's Pension:

RICHMOND 223 PAGE 324 COWPER 380

Newstart figures:

RICHMOND 4,659 PAGE 4,898 COWPER 5,707

Widows Allowance:

RICHMOND 336 PAGE 299 COWPER 341

Both types of Youth Allowance:

RICHMOND 2,195 PAGE 2,577 COWPER 3,064

Partner Allowance recipients:

RICHMOND 276 PAGE 326 COWPER 451

Family Tax Benefit A & B numbers:

RICHMOND 23,139 PAGE 24,085 COWPER 25,050

Rent Assistance received:

RICHMOND 13,567 PAGE 11,955 COWPER 13,030

* Not all those receiving these benefits had been assigned an electorate by Human Services so numbers may be slightly higher than those stated. Electoral boundaries are those in place in 2007.

Can 'Truffles' Turnbull ever lie straight in bed?

Australian Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has been named in the latest BRW Rich List with a cool $178 million beside his name.
However, this is what Truffles had to say to the media:
''They have no idea. It is a speculative figure,'' he told reporters in Canberra.
''It's flattering but there are many people in the parliament that have done well in their business lives.''
''Probably few have done as well as Mr (Prime Minister Kevin) Rudd and his wife Therese Rein. I wish them well for it, I applaud them for their success.''
Now the Rudd-Rein family may be wealthy but they are nowhere near entering this Rich List - something Truffles knows full well.
Just as we lowly plebs also realise that even during a global economic recession Truffles appears to have enjoyed a considerable increase in his personal wealth.
In a recent North Coast Voices post It's nice to be recession proof at the top of the political pile looking down his 2008 income was thought to be around $39 million dollars less.

Yamba in flood: from the air and on the ground

TOP: The Daily Examiner photograph of Yamba from the air showing a section of Crystal Waters, Oyster Cove and West Yamba.
MIDDLE: Fletchers Fotographics' Dave Brandon photograph of flooding during the night.
BOTTOM: Vicki James blog had this shot of Shores Drive, Yamba.

The Member for Page rises to her feet in praise of local emergencey services and residents during May 2009 flood

From OpenAustralia this week:

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Link to this Hansard source

I would like to give the House an update on the major flooding that has had a devastating impact on the cities, towns and rural areas across my electorate of Page this week and, indeed, in the neighbouring electorates of Richmond, Cowper and Lyne and in South-East Queensland. Our trade subcommittee, which I chair, was due to hold hearings in Melbourne last Thursday and Friday but I cancelled at the first hint of what was to come as I received briefings on and read the weather forecasts for the Northern Rivers and South-East Queensland, which showed a deterioration in the weather.

Even though we did not go on to a big flood alert I knew from experience, having lived in a flood-prone area for a long time, what was about to come. I wanted to do what I could to help the New South Wales State Emergency Services, all the local volunteers, the police, the local councils, the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter service, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and the fire brigades in what has been a magnificent flood coordination effort on the ground, in the air and on the water.

Tragically, the floods were fatal, claiming two lives: a 70-year-old man died in his submerged car in floodwaters south of Coffs Harbour last Friday night and another man died earlier in Queensland. I know that everyone in this House sends their deep condolences to their families.

Today's Northern Star newspaper carries a story of how four Bexhill residents, Allen Petty, Glenn and Kerri Nelson and Ben Saunders, used a canoe to save a backpacker, Jodie, from a near drowning just north of Lismore. While the foursome underplayed their heroic actions, they deserve the highest praise.

I really want to pay tribute to another small army of heroes: the 400-odd State Emergency Services volunteers in the Northern Rivers and the mid-North Coast who worked long shifts around the clock to prepare local communities for nature's onslaught and to execute evacuation plans. In the Clarence Valley around Grafton they doorknocked over 10,000 people, warning them and having them prepare. Everybody was brought into service to ensure that we were well and truly prepared.

We also had SES people there from all over the state, and I thank them. They have received an estimated 2,700 requests for assistance since last Tuesday and have performed more than 200 flood rescue operations, such as assisted evacuations, resupplying food and medical supplies to isolated properties and helping with stock as well. Regional SES controllers Richmond-Tweed's Scott Hanckel in the north and Dave Mackey in the south have kept me briefed on the flood situations, as have local mayors and senior police. I also had firsthand experience.

I would also like to personally thank my colleague the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, for flying to Lismore on Saturday to announce that the Commonwealth government would be providing financial assistance to communities affected by heavy rainfall and flooding. I also thank the Prime Minister for his announcement in this place today of additional assistance, because that will really help those people who have been devastated by floods, both the individuals and particularly our producers: our rural sector and small businesses. Those cash grants of up to $15,000 where they have to expend money getting themselves back in order through the floods will be very welcome indeed. In fact, I have had thankyou calls from farmers tonight for that.

The New South Wales Premier, Nathan Rees, and the state Minister for Emergency Services, Steve Whan, also came to the region and to Lismore to declare a natural disaster zone, pledge assistance and start working closely with the Commonwealth on a recovery plan for the region. The emergency services minister was originally there to open a fire station. The weather changed and he stayed and was there for most of the flood.

The New South Wales government have appointed former New South Wales police commissioner Ken Moroney as recovery coordinator for the North Coast floods, a welcome appointment. Mr Moroney, who was stationed as a police commander in Lismore from the early seventies until the early eighties and experienced the major flood of 1974, this morning held meetings with key personnel in Lismore and this afternoon flew to Grafton to make assessments.

I would also like to thank the ABC, who did a magnificent job yet again in a time of disaster. They stayed on air 24/7 and made sure that the whole community had reports that were up to date, timely and accurate. We gave the message over and over to everybody to have their ears tuned to the ABC. (Time expired)