Third world medicine on the NSW North Coast?

Premier Keneally needs to shift her focus from early electioneering and seriously address funding and service delivery failures in NSW North Coast public hospitals.

This report in The Northern Star last week is yet another pitiful example of how this region is being short-changed by the Keneally Government's management of NSW Health:

AN ELDERLY man suffering from asbestosis had to call Triple-0 from his hospital bed in Lismore Base to get help from a nurse.
Eighty-seven-year old World War II veteran Kevin Park called the emergency number after night shift failed to hear the brass bell he was given as a replacement to the electronic call system at the hospital, which is still not operational.
Yesterday a still angry Mr Park said after ringing the bell for 45 minutes, 'desperate times demanded desperate action'.
"This is like the Third World. We are being treated like dogs."
Patients in Lismore Base's surgical ward were issued with brass bells four weeks ago after both the emergency and nurse call systems failed.
North Coast Area Health last night offered the air force veteran from Iluka an apology 'for any distress that may have been caused to Mr Park and his family'.

The Hamburgler fights back against Yamba?

Yamba went public in the media last week about its opposition to the McDonald's Restaurants move to establish one of its fast food outlets in Treelands Drive.

A Facebook page was also created called NO to McDonalds in Yamba.

Shortly thereafter another Facebook page sprang up, YES to McDonalds in Yamba (snapshot above). This page looks suspiciously like it was created by the multinational food franchise, its publicists or a company employee or two - perhaps even their family members.

It has all the hallmarks; links to the official company website and multiple promos for McDonald's goods and activities.

However, like the Hamburgler, the page hides behind a mask and doesn't openly declare its creator's identity.

Update:

Just after the above post was published the YES to McDonalds in Yamba page posted this:

Noticed something so fun today, some people think this site (page) has been setup by McDonald's Australia......

I am a local who has lived in Townsend, Yamba and Maclean for plenty of years. I have family up and down the Clarence Valley and my Parents have been local residents for 13+ years.

So NO this isn't a corporate site. It's a personal FAN site which is pointing out all the POSITIVES!

The jury's still out on this claim.

Whaling: Japan doesn't have an exclusive right to claim cultural connection in southern waters

The Government of Japan and Japanese whalers have repeatedly made extravagant claims that they have the right to kill whales for their meat based on what is called a cultural tradition of eating whale meat.

Here in Australia a vital part of our society, tribal groups and traditional land owners on the coast, arguably have older and probably stronger cultural ties to whales.

Whale Dreaming © Y. Bundle 2007 This work arose from a dream Yaraan received. It is about the Whale Dreaming songline connected to Keerray Woorroong Country along the coast near Warrnambool. In her dream the Old People told Yaraan the story of the Southern Right Whale and their journey to our waters to give birth to their young. They told her the secret of the whales and the knowledge they bring. This work tells their story.

On gurrawul, the whale, according to the Yuin people of south eastern Australia:

MAX DULUMUNMUN HARRISON: We have our three markings which are so important - spiritual, physical and mental. That they must have the markings to participate in this particular kind of whale dreaming ceremony. The whales were elders once that walked the land and the whales then got permission to go out into gadu, the ocean, to look after the food and the medicines that are all out there in the ocean, because they're the fellas then, that we must respect. And, of course, every time that a whales beaches itself, to come in, it's regurgitating the law. And that is so important. If the law is not regurgitated, then our mob will roam this country aimlessly without culture. And for the eastern seaboard people, that's something I am trying to keep alive so that they can stand up and talk about culture. So that they can participate in a simple ceremony of respecting the whale that's out there in gadu, the ocean.

Federal Election 2010: so you like the idea of local hospital boards?

The Federal Coalition and their leader, Tony Abbott, may not have revealed much in the way of a national health policy for Australia to date, but the mantra they are all chanting as they move about electorates is local hospital boards.

So how does Opposition Leader Abbott see these boards functioning in a health system he describes (in his latest book Battlelines) as not needing "fundamental restructuring or gargantuan amounts of additional funding"?

Well, he sees these "hospital boards with clout" - apparently run by medical professionals, probably unqualified but prominent local business people and some community representatives - having an ability to vary public hospital staff wages in a two-tiered system if necessary (with newer staff being paid less as a budget-saving measure) and an ability "to contract out hospital management to a private operator" as another budget measure.

Possibilities which would more than likely horrify communities on the North Coast and in other NSW rural and regional areas.

Elsewhere Abbott claims; Boards would appoint hospital CEOs and, with the CEO, manage hospital budgets. Government would appoint boards and set hospitals’ funding levels but wouldn’t be able to cut funding when hospitals raise money from private patients or fundraising.

All in all, this sounds like a recipe for health service delivery disaster in the public sector.

Gawd 'elp us! Maccas wants to invade Yamba

It's bad enough that Yamba is going through a bit of a bad patch which sees a clutch of small businesses up for sale. Now those mum and dad operated food outlets in its second shopping precinct are under threat, as that giant plastic food producer McDonald's has lodged a development application with Clarence Valley Council.

If the bush telegraph holds true, many Yamba-ites are not amused. I can't wait to hear from Maud!

"McDonald's Australia Limited lodged a development application (DA) with Clarence Valley Council this week for a 112-seat outlet, complete with drive-through, playground and McCafe, to be built on the Treelands Drive Cinema site.

The development, which received strong opposition from the Yamba Chamber of Commerce, would require the demolition of the current temporary cinema shed and the removal of some trees. An extension of the Coldstream Street cinemas was approved by council last week.

A 10-metre high, 3.6 metre wide giant M sign is also proposed for the new Maccas site, which will also provide 32 car parking spaces with access from Treelands Drive.

Yamba Chamber of Commerce president Daniel Reeves said he was 'completely against' a McDonald's coming to Yamba and he believed most of the chamber's membership would feel the same way because of the increased competition and the loss of the small town culture.

"I don't think it's the right time for Yamba to have a Maccas – I can't see a market in their demographic," Mr Reeves said.

"We seem to have a different culture in Yamba – not so much a chain culture, with a couple of exceptions ... it's about protecting the businesses we've got.

"Change such as this, it changes the economic status – if a place is big enough to have a maccas it loses that small town feel." {From The Daily Examiner on 24th March 2010}

McDonald's in Yamba..........
Allowing a McDonald's in Yamba would be a huge mistake for the town voted Best Town in Australia in 2009 - we need to protect the culture of Yamba that brings us so many tourists - a small, slow-paced, beachside town with an amazing coastline, great people and excellent dining options.
Yes, a McDonald's would provide a few jobs for young locals but also be aware that McDonald's restaurants generally use no local produce such as meat, bread, fruit or vegetables.
No local companies will provide any of the packaging, cardboard or paper used.
Also the restaurant will create a mass of rubbish - I can guarantee we will soon be seeing the golden arches floating in and on our beautiful beaches.
Also with the premises intending on being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, this will provide another hot spot for antisocial behaviour.
If you feel strongly about fighting this proposal of a McDonald's in Yamba, then you must act now and submit an objection to council before it is too late. We must make a stand .

NAME, ADDRESS SUPPLIED, Yamba. {The Daily Examiner letter to editor on 26th} March 2010}

Online poll in The Daily Examiner on the day article was published.

Remember this? "On March 31st 1999 the Court of Appeal added to those damning findings. Lord Justices Pill, May and Keane ruled that it was fair comment to say that McDonald's employees worldwide "do badly in terms of pay and conditions", and true that "if one eats enough McDonald's food, one's diet may well become high in fat etc., with the very real risk of heart disease." {McSpotlight press release on 6th May 2004}

Graphic found at Google Images

Competitor Number 41 please return to the finish line - your party needs you!

Abbott's posed pre-race photograph

Australian Leader of the Opposition and self-styled fitness template, Tony Abbott, was competitor Number 41 in a field of 1,529 to 1,540 others entered in the Ironman Australia Triathlon on Sunday 28 March 2010 at Port Macquarie.

Fifty-three year old Abbott ranked 1,425 (div.pos. 120) in the 2.4 mile swim, 1213 (div. pos. 91) in the 112 mile bike ride and, 1170 (div. pos. 83) in the 26.2 mile run leg of the triathlon - subject to adjustment.

Despite his obvious enthusiasm for the chase perhaps he really should stick with his day job. Because it really was a chase - he was still manfully pedalling through the last stages of the bike leg while the front runners were three-quarters of the way through the final run stage of the event and his own run was still dragging on long after the leading pack had passed the finish line.

It may seem a hard position to take when viewing an event with a big field over a long course, one which saw some participants fail to finish the run before the triathlon results were called.

However this is a middle-aged politician with a history of using his bare chest and crotch physical fitness to pimp for votes and, much older men on the NSW North Coast competing for pleasure in similar events in the past managed to officially finish with very respectable times under their belts.

After all, when it comes down to the crunch, most people want to see economic, environmental and social policy rather than hairy pecs in an election year.

Here is Tony's official race record.

The McGrath Foundation public relations misstep

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. However in an election year charities should be more than a little wary about what those words might be saying if manipulative politicians are involved.

Shoulders back and best foot forward, as Opposition Leader Tony Abbott uses the McGrath Foundation to relentlessly promote himself in March 2010.

Image found at Brisbane Times