3 more sleeps until polling day and......

...the rollicking silly season has arrived so it's b*gger the real news for many on The Internetz.

This ran on BigPond News:

"Opposition leader Tony Abbott may be running for the country's top job, but he's at the bottom of the list of desirable hubbies for Aussie women.
A study has rated Mr Abbott alongside bad boys AFL footballer Brendan Fevola, golfer Tiger Woods and actor Russell Crowe, whose partner-appeal was in also the doldrums.
The 1,200 respondents, women living across the nation and aged above 18, were asked to rank 12 high-profile men on a scale of attributes they either look for, or avoid in a partner.
Mr Abbott scored two out of a possible ten points, on a par with actor Tom Cruise, who also appeared an unfavourable hubby for Australian women."

And this is posted on Tony Abbot Is Right:

Latest Essential Research poll shows Labor under threat in 3 out of 5 mainland states

Somewhat going against recent poll trends comes the Essential Report of 16 August 2010.
This report summarises the results of a weekly omnibus conducted by Essential Research with data provided by Your Source.
The survey was conducted online from 10th to 15th August and is based on 1,001 respondents.

Federal politics – voting intention

Q. The Federal Election will be held on 21 August - to which party will you probably give your first preference in the House of Representatives? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward?
Q. If don’t know – Well which party are you currently leaning to for the House of Representatives?

2,160 sample size

Click on images to enlarge

NB. The data in the above tables comprise 3-week averages derived the first preference/leaning to voting questions. Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results. The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2007 election.

CORRECTION:

In the state report which added figures over the last three weeks, there is an error which affects a number of the 2PP figures.
Corrected figures increase the 2PP for Labor by 1% in NSW, SA and WA.
2PP in NSW is then Labor 48 Coalition 52; SA is 54/46 and WA is 47/53.
National, Victoria and Queensland figures remain unchanged.

Zussino strikes out

It is rumoured that a NSW North Coast man of a many pseudonyms (who has for years written in both male and female guises to local editors and others) has finally come a cropper and it is alleged that he is currently the subject of police bail conditions which forbid him the use of some of his most persistent extra personae.

Who is Zussino? What is he

Zussino strikes again!

Tweeting political opinion: who go there?

The image posted here is from NMG (Newel Media Group) on Twitter. It lists its website as http://www.newellmediagroup.com/.
It has tweeted 1,646 times, is located in Sydney Australia, has 36 'friends', including LiberalAus which is an authorised account held by the Liberal Party of Australia, can be found on YouTube as newellgirl from the United States and on Flickr as a bit of a fan of the Sydney to Surf in 2010.
As one can easily see, the tone is unrelentingly hostile to the Gillard Government, the Labor Party and The Greens. The U.S. President is on the hot list as well.
All of which made me wonder if ithis Twitter account had a particular axe to grind......

So who exactly is NMG (Newel Media Group) and is it acting at the behest of the Liberals during this federal election campaign? Or is it simply a female member of the Newell family venting?

Personally I'm leaning towards it being the former media officer to former Liberal MP Peter King, the sitting member who lost Wentworth pre-selection to Malcolm Turnbull in 2003-2004. Who do you think it is?

Australia Votes is currently tracking election sentiment on Twitter. Over 200,000 tweets have been sent concerning candidates, policies and issues.

4 more sleeps to polling day and.....

.....Tony Abbott has visions of a batphone boatphone if he becomes the next Oz pie minister.
What next - a Boatmobile?


The twittersphere's been tittering at #boatphone & #ausvotes.
Twitpic passed on this from the MSM:

Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

A Politics 2010 - don't laugh this is serious musing:
Even the House of Lords recognises the value of a good cat.
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): My Lords, the administration is fully aware of the problem with mice in the Palace of Westminster and is taking all appropriate measures to minimise their numbers. We retain the services of an independent pest control consultant and a full-time pest controller.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: I thank the noble Lord for his reply. How many calls have there been to the mouse helpline? Has the accuracy of that information been checked, given that the staff report seeing mice on a daily basis at the moment in the eating areas? Has consideration been given to having hypoallergenic cats on the estate, given the history? Miss Wilson, when she was a resident superintendent in this Palace, had a cat that apparently caught up to 60 mice a night. The corpses were then swept up in the morning. Finally, does the noble Lord recognise the fire hazard that mice pose, because they eat through insulating cables? It would be a tragedy for this beautiful Palace to burn down for lack of a cat.
The Chairman of Committees: My Lords, I am well aware that there are still mice around. I saw one in the Bishops' Bar only yesterday evening. I do not know whether it was the same one that I saw the day before or a different one; it is always difficult to tell the difference between the various mice that one sees. We believe that the problem is getting better. Cleaning is one of the measures we are taking, as I outlined in my original Answer. As I speak here this afternoon, the Bishops' Bar and the Guest Room are being hoovered, so we can get rid of the food scraps from lunch. If you were a mouse, you would rather eat the crumbs of a smoked salmon sandwich than the bait. Therefore, we want to remove the crumbs as quickly as possible........... I rather hope that we do not have too many other ones. I was not going to advertise the existence of the mouse helpline, although it was advertised some time ago. Indeed, I invited Members of the House to telephone when they saw mice. The trouble is that when the person at the other end of the helpline goes to check this out, very often the mouse has gone elsewhere.

A catburglar musing:
Oscar from Hampshire in England and Johnny Fiasco from Five Dock in Sydney have been outed a catburglars par excellence. I thankz Ceiling Cat for letting me know that I'm not alone - there ARE other feline collectors!

Iz rife wiv rumour musing:
My little canine friend Veronica Lake is telling me that former Maclean Shire mayor Chris Gulaptis may be gearing up to run in next year's NSW state election and current Clarence Valley mayor Richie Williamson is giving serious consideration to diving into a bigger political pond than the one he now swims in.

A question of governance

The issues I raise concern Cameron Park and its adjoining Centenary Car Park, I make no allegation of misconduct on anyone's part, rather I consider the matters to reflect adversely upon the supervision of staff by Mayor and General Manager, a failing which can only serve to raise concerns as to due process in Council. All information quoted is from Council's own website.

Recently I browsed that website for content relevant to Cameron Park, Car Park, and super market. The history of this matter of course goes way back but we need only go as far as Council meeting of 19 November 2008, when item 09.207/08 features "Proposed sale of part of Council Car Park (and Cameron Park Maclean)" was tabled. A senior Council staff member within Civil & Corporate declared a non pecuniary interest in that he "Leases shop from tenderer in proximity to site". There were three tenderers, the Newcastle based Buildev Development, Woolworths, and the local entity – Holder Baker Enterprises. That staff member is placed in an awkward situation since Item 1. of his specific delegations affirms his appointment as an "appropriate person" for the purposes of opening and dealing with tenders under the Local Government (Tendering) Regulation 1993. Here tenders were certainly involved.

I consulted other records on the subject, the Council meeting of 22 June 2010 dealt with the matter of "Centenary Drive Car Park – petition received," item 13.095/10 but on this occasion the minutes contain no declaration of interest by that senior staff member, and his name is appended to the report. Was he involved in the preparation of that report? So do we assume that his pecuniary interest was merely intermittent?

We come to the meeting of 18 May 2010 "Cameron Park Maclean-Classification" item 13.062/10. The minutes show no declaration by that senior Council staff member neither is it known what participation if any he had in this matter. So, again we find no declaration of interest by him. Nor is the extent of his involvement known to us, again, was he involved in the preparation of this report?

Next we look at Council papers for 24 February 2009, item 09.002/09 "Reconfiguration of Maclean Car Park (involving some elements of Cameron Park)". Here we have a declaration of interest from that senior Council employee only now it becomes non pecuniary "Lease shop next to car park", we are left to wonder why the change from "pecuniary" to "non pecuniary"? Circumstances do not appear to warrant this.

I note that at its last meeting on 20 July 2010, item 13.103/10 "Centenary Drive Car Park – potential retail site" the same staff member within Civil & Corporate declared a pecuniary interest being a "business owner in proximity to site". He nevertheless assisted in preparing that report to Council. Would it not have been better to divorce him from the proceedings, entirely?

I wish to highlight the fact that appropriate controls, checks and balances along with recognised principles of staff supervision and segregation of duties appear to be largely absent. Mr. McPherson the General Manager as this officer's immediate supervisor should have ensured that he was never placed in a situation where questions of conflict of interest might arise. Nor do we know the extent of that employee's involvement in the matters to hand for we can only speculate as to what was the actual extent of his involvement out of session? I believe that the Mayor has an over arching responsibility where supervision of Council employees is concerned, I am not convinced that such supervision is adequate. I do not feel that the employee involved has been well served in this respect, neither I think have the people of Maclean.

JOHN HANCOCKS

Maclean

* 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 live.com.au for consideration.