Clarence Valley athlete comes first in his age group in 2009 Gold Coast ITU Aquathlon World Championships

File photograph from The Daily Examiner

Ray Hunt of Yamba NSW

Ray Hunt had a good meet when he participated in the IUT World Triathlon Championships on the Gold Goast last week.
A first and a fifth place in his age group is not to be sneezed at when competing against atheltes from around the world and shows what dedication to a healthy lifestyle in retirement can achieve.

An declaration of war on the Internetz and a Scientology call for censorship of the Australian media

If I were superstitious I would say that it was no accident that 9 September 2009 saw a moon which was around 83.8 per cent illuminated, because all that moonlight reflecting off monitors onto unprotected heads probably led to the fact that the Internet Storm Centre recorded a DDos attack which made http://www.pm.gov.au unavailable for a few minutes.

From somewhere strange on the Internetz 09.09.09.

Formal Declaration of War

To the Citizens and Netizens of the Internet:

On the morning of September the 9th, the Government of Australia, pursuing its course of internet censorship, have shown to us that they have no response nor intend to provide one concerning their plan. The long-known and the long-expected has thus taken place. The forces endeavoring to belittle and undermine the freedom of the internet are now moving towards their final goals. Never before has there been a greater challenge to freedom of information, liberty and civilization. Delay invites great danger. Rapid and united effort by all of the peoples of the world who are determined to remain free will ensure a world victory of the forces of justice and of righteousness over the covert powers of censorship and of oppression. Australia is not alone in this regard: countless governments from across the world can also be exposed as fascists and dictators in this regard. Therefore a state of war between Anonymous and the Australian Government, and between Anonymous and all other governments which find themselves so inclined to impose censorship upon the internet, will be recognized.

Our declaration of war is as follows:

Declaring that a state of war exists between the Government of Australia and aforementioned governments and Anonymous and making provision to prosecute the same.
Whereas, the Government of Australia and aforementioned governments have formally declared war against the freedom of information and speech which embodies the internet; and
Whereas, the Australian government is guilty of planning to force censorship of the internet and make it mandatory to their online users; and
Whereas, such acts continue to pose extreme threat to the security and freedom of the internet and its users; and
Such acts render it both necessary and appropriate that Anonymous exercises its rights and acts in defense of themselves and the supporters of net neutrality.
Therefore, be it Resolved by the united conglomerate that is Anonymous, that the state of war between Anonymous and the Government of Australia and aforementioned governments which has thus been thrust upon the Anonymous is hereby formally declared; and the conglomerate that is Anonymous is authorized and directed to employ the entire power and force of our collective to carry on war against the Government of Australia and other aforementioned governments; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the collective are hereby pledged by the united conglomerate of Anonymous. -

Anonymous

From somewhere ever stranger (with a hat tip to Slashdot).

A February 2009 Church of Scientology submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission complaining about Anonymous, the blogosphere, the media, as well as suggesting remedies including censorship of mainstream media 1931 Church of Scientology Australia:

Recommendation 1:
The implementation of Criminal and Civil Restrictions on Religious Vilification.
Recommendation 2:
Restriction on Anonymity on acts of Religious Vilification:
2.1 Websites created with primary purpose of inciting religious vilification shall be removed or their access to the Australian public restricted.
2.2 Creators of websites whose primary purpose is the incitement of religious vilification shall be prevented from concealing their identity.
Recommendation 3:
Restriction on Religious Misinformation and Misrepresentation known or reasonably known to be untruthful in the Media
Recommendation 4:
Include a form of Bill or Charter of Rights into the Australian Constitution, which prevents the Commonwealth from making any law, which 'directly, indirectly or incidentally' prohibits the free exercise of religion to the extent of such prohibition.

New South Wales has gone fishin'

Sometimes I come across an online mention which highlights a great Aussie lifestyle.
This 2000-01 DPI doc rated a blip on the radar.
Survey of Recreational Fishing in New South Wales which stated; "Almost 24% of the NSW male population went fishing while about 10% of females fished. The participation rate in NSW country regions was twice as high as the rate observed in the main metropolitan area".
Here are a graph showing the NSW North Coast is up there in the fishing for pleasure & food stakes, with a total of 124,000 anglers:

When is John Howard going to realise he's dead and lie down?

I'm getting sick and tired of the way former Australian prime minister John Howard keeps popping up in the media giving his totally useless views on current Australian politics and world affairs.

He lost the last federal election for the Coalition - if they don't shut him up he will lose the next as well.
This media tart's irritation factor is 100+.

Maudie's Ex
Yamba

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.

Is Turnbull concerned about Australia's productivity or his own support base?

This is Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull at the end of this week's media cycle in The Australian:

MALCOLM Turnbull is open to reintroducing individual workplace contracts, insisting that Kevin Rudd's "inflexible" industrial relations laws have reduced national productivity.....

"By reducing flexibility in the workplace they have put, we would say, real constraints on productivity growth," Mr Turnbull said. "We believe that flexibility in the workplace is of enormous importance."

Real constraints on productivity growth looks rather impressive at first glance.

Except.........................................................

Click on images to enlarge

Now I recall that the Work Choices regime was introduced about March 2006 and continued through beyond the November 2007 federal election until July this year. Although certain arrangements made under its provisons will not expire until 2010-14.

Looking at the graphs it seems that a) Australia had enjoyed a steady historical rise in productivity prior to the introduction of the Howard Government's Work Choices (heavily reliant on the idea of individual employment contracts) and b) experienced no high productivity surge after Work Choices began and productivity actually levelled off in 2006-07, with the last growth peak occurring back in 2003-04 and the highest average increase in multifactor productivity recorded between 1993-99.

Once more Malcolm Turnbull appears to have put his mouth in motion before he considered known facts as he courts the Liberal Party heartland.

Indeed he offers no proof that the Rudd Government's industrial relations policy is having a marked negative effect or is likely to have such a negative effect on national productivity.

First graph from Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian System of National Accounts, 2006-07

Second graph from the Commonwealth Treasury, Economic Roundup Winter 2007

Gulmarrad land clearing in the lower Clarence Valley

From The Daily Examiner letters to the editor on 9 September 2009

Gulmarrad land clearing

I found The Daily Examiner's report of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water's failure to prosecute those responsible for alleged illegal land clearing at Gulmarrad very disturbing.

Land clearing is a major contributor to global warming and the decline of virtually all native animal species in Australia and must be stopped.

However, while ever we continue to ignore the dollar value of the eco-services our forests provide, there are those who will continue to break the law for their own financial gain.

Ineffective government regulators who either let these breaches go unpunished or impose little more than a slap on the wrist are therefore complicit in the loss of biodiversity that, if not reversed, will threaten our own existence.

JOHN EDWARDS

South Grafton

Aussie business confidence up with employment prospects growing stronger - will the NSW Northern Rivers benefit?

Manpower Inc has joined Dun & Bradstreet in reporting some positive news for Oz on the business and employment front.
In fact both place this country in a pretty enviable position, with employers expecting profits to increase (Dun & Bradstreet) and the intent to hire employees still being weak but relatively strong when compared to the rest of the world (Manpower).
As zero growth was a common economic prediction at the beginning of 2009, it's good to see so many crystal ball gazers are so wrong.
Australian business confidence is now at a six-year high and job ads in the newspapers and online have started to increase.
Given that Kevin Rudd's popularity in the polls is still going strong, I guess the country credits Federal Labor and its economic policy with much of this good news.
The big question for us in the Northern Rivers is: will all this translate into more jobs in the region?
I suspect that national confidence levels aren't always mirrored locally and business is more likely to be asking if the present predilection for 'staycations' will result in more domestic tourism business in the hinterland and on the coast at Christmas 2009 and in the first quarter of 2010.

Manpower Inc press release
Dun & Bradstreet National Business Expectations Study article
Latest 8th September Newspoll graphic
NSW North Coast tourism industry facts & figures