What is it with these rednecks from over the range?

The Daily Examiner on the 5^th March 2012 ran with this:

“A PROPOSED two-way railway line from Moree to Yamba could ease the bottleneck experienced by coal exporters in north-west NSW, its proponents say.

Preliminary plans are afoot to build a two-way double-height railway line from Moree to Goodwood Island to speed the export of coal from the Gunnedah coal basin and overcome the congestion in the state's two major coal ports - Port Kembla and Newcastle.

According to one proponent, Inverell Shire councillor and civil engineer David Jones, it would require a 12m deep channel to be dredged from the river mouth at Yamba to a fully redeveloped Goodwood Island about 5km upriver.

The channel is around 4m deep at low tide.

The total cost of the ambitious project is estimated at $6 billion.

Though the proposal is in its infancy and has been touted and dismissed in the past, funding ($1-$2 million) is being sought by the northern inland committee of Regional Development Australia (RDA, NINSW) to complete a feasibility study on the idea.

It is being championed by RDA, NINSW chairman Mal Peters, who is also the head of the newly established Regional Institute, a former NSW Farmers president and mayor of Inverell…”

A 12m deep dredge field all the way up to Goodwood Island? In one of the best family tourism and fishing areas on the NSW North Coast? 
It's a safe bet that the Yaegl community won't be too impressed with this plan either as the Dirrangun Reef spiritual site is smack bang in the firing line.

What is it with these New England rednecks? First they want to steal our fresh water and now they want to permanently wreck the lower Clarence River.

Fair dinkum – it’s enough to make a bloke chunder!

I agree with Clarence Valley Mayor Richie Williamson - "In the words of Darryl Kerrigan (in The Castle), 'tell 'em they're dreaming' - it's not going to happen".

Steven Rhett Cansdell, retired NSW Nationals MP. The story so far....

In 2003 Nationals candidate Stephen Rhett Cansdell was elected to the NSW Parliament representing the Clarence electorate.

In 2005 he was caught on a Roads & Traffic Authority camera, driving in excess of the speed limit on the Pacific Highway at Woodburn NSW.

He subsequently made a false statement to a NSW Government agency in order to avoid losing his driving license. This false statement was made in a signed statutory declaration presented to that agency.

A part-time member of his electoral staff was allegedly induced to falsely agree that she had been driving the car when it was caught by the speed camera.

In 2007 he was elected to the NSW Parliament for a second time and in March 2011 he was returned as the Member for Clarence for the third time.

In between that time, he reportedly went on to lose his licence in 2009 after he was pulled over for doing 100kmh in an 80kmh zone at Clarenza. [The Daily Examiner,7 October 2011]

In April 2011 Cansdell publicly attacked a Local Court magistrate hearing charges relating to the Yamba riot, calling him pissweak and his decision a total travesty of justice. [North Coast Voices, 15 April 2011 and ABC North Coast NSW,13 April 2011]

On 16 September 2011 Steve Cansdell resigned his seat and, his position as Parliamentary Secretary for Police and Member of the Legislative Assembly Committee on Economic Development.

He left with the full financial benefits accruing to a Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly who had been in that position for eight years, five months and twenty-eight days.

On the morning of the day he announced his retirement, Mr. Cansdell was said to have attended Grafton Police Station and made a formal confession. Sometime later NSW Police commenced an investigation [The Daily Examiner,17 November 2011].

In the print, radio and television mediums Mr. Cansdell publicly admitted his wrongdoing.

He also admitted that he had avoided the driving license penalty because he wanted a "clean slate" in the lead up to the next election. [The Daily Examiner,7 October 2011]

He further admitted that he would probably never have confessed to his crime if a whistle blower hadn't drawn attention to it. [ABC North Coast NSW,22 November 2011]

So on one hand we have a former Member of Parliament who by his own admission broke the law and, as an undiscovered political miscreant twice successfully stood for re-election in part on a law and order platform. In the 2011 election campaign it was reported that Mr Cansdell said people were fed up with a system of law and order which failed to effectively demonstrate to people that actions had consequences. [The Casino Times,10 March 2011]

On the other hand we have an O’Farrell Coalition Government that did not suspend this government member when he confessed to the Deputy-Premier and, a parliamentary political party which did not expel him and continues to publicly support him despite his admitted wrongdoing.

A category of wrongdoing which is included in the Criminal Code and an act which a reasonable person might say brought State Parliament into disrepute.

Then in 2012 we have a NSW Director of Public Prosecutions who decides to ignore the fact that the false statement was made to a state agency in order to gain a benefit and refers the matter to the Commonwealth – because the statutory declaration form used was apparently one created under the C’wealth Statutory Declarations Act 1959 and not the NSW Oaths Act 1909. Mr. Cansdell apparently having elected not to use the form sent out with the NSW Office of State Revenue State Debt Recovery penalty notice. [NSW Attorney General and Minister for Justice in Hansard,7 March 2012 and NSW Office of State Revenue,2012]

According to The Daily Examiner on 7 March 2012; Late Wednesday the NSW Police Media Service released the following statement: "After receiving internal legal advice, the NSW Police Force will tomorrow hand over the brief of evidence in the Cansdell matter to the Commonwealth DPP. The office of the Commonwealth DPP declined to comment.

To be continued...........

STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959

Click on images to enlarge

Sources:

Commonwealth of Australia Statutory Declaration Form  at

http://www.ag.gov.au/Documents/StatutoryDeclaration200602.pdf

and Statutory Declarations Act 1959 - Section 11 at

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/sda1959280/s11.html

When government website filtering feels personal

ZDNet.com.au 29 February 2012:

A filter blocking access to .info top-level domains for senators and departmental staff has been lifted, following complaints from Greens communications spokesperson Scott Ludlam.
It was revealed earlier this month that the block of all .info top-level domains was enacted within the halls of parliament and its offices on the basis of advice from the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD). According to the Department of Parliamentary Services acting secretary David Kenny, a total of 35 million websites, including the .info sites, are filtered from view within the parliament.
In estimates hearings, Ludlam asked Kenny whether the block could be reviewed, telling the acting secretary that it had prevented him from viewing anti-war and peak oil websites. The department confirmed to ZDNet Australia this afternoon that following Ludlam's request, the block on .info sites has been removed.
At the time, Ludlam said that it was particularly ironic for Greens MPs, who are opposed to Labor's controversial mandatory internet service provider-level internet filter, to be subject to such a wide-spanning filter themselves.
"I spent two years campaigning against an internet filter for the general population, only to discover that now I am one of the only people in the country who is filtered, which is a little bit alarming," he said……..

Rain, rain, go away - Autumn begins on the NSW North Coast

Weatherzone’s calendar for March 2012 and the beginning of Autumn on the NSW North Coast.

'Greed is good. Trample the weak. Hurdle the dead'

Billionaire activists:
Clive Palmer, Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart.
Philip Norrish/Newspix Greg Wood/AAP Tony McDonough/AAP ©

The rising influence of vested interests is threatening Australia’s egalitarian social contract.

{Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan’s essay
in The Monthly issue of March 2012}

Go Swanee!

Despite numerous admissions of guilt Cansdell remains the Teflon Kid

The following article makes one wonder why former Nationals Clarence MP Steve Cansdell was not charged by the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions - when he has uttered numerous independent admissions of guilt to NSW Police and print, radio, television media, that he had made a false statement to a NSW Government agency to avoid losing his driving license.
A strong smell of buck passing appears to float in the air.

Channel 9 News 7 March 2012:

The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions does not expect to press charges against disgraced former Nationals MP Steve Cansdell, who quit parliament after admitting to signing a false statutory declaration.

Mr Cansdell resigned as the member for Clarence on the NSW north coast last September, over the statutory declaration signed in 2005 to avoid a speeding fine and loss of licence.

A camera had caught Mr Cansdell speeding on the Pacific Highway near Woodburn - however the false declaration laid blame for the offence on an unnamed third party.

In a brief statement to parliament, NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith announced Mr Cansdell would not be charged.

"The office of the NSW DPP has advised my that Mr Cansdell signed a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration, and therefore it is not expected any state charge will be brought," Mr Smith said during question time on Wednesday.

Brief background:

http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/nsw-police-steve-cansdell-and-those.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/are-nationals-are-creating-bizarre-and.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/are-boys-in-blue-dragging-their-feet-in.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/whistleblower-named-and-collateral.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/same-old-same-old-from-nsw-north-coast.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/severe-weather-alert-sht-storm-about-to.html
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/did-clarence-mp-steve-cansdell-do.html

UPDATE:

Later in the day NSW Police said they would hand over the brief of evidence to the commonwealth DPP on Thursday, "after receiving internal legal advice".

Opposition police spokesman Nathan Rees said the failure to charge Mr Cansdell over the false declaration was "a cover-up, inside 12 months of government, and it stinks".

"This man, a former member of the government, conceded that he had broken the law," Mr Rees said.

"More than six months later, not a charge laid."

Mr Rees said the opposition had legal advice that Mr Cansdell could still be charged under state law, despite his declaration being a commonwealth one.

"The actual breaches are of state law," he said.

"Trying to flick it onto the commonwealth is simply not on." [Channel 9 News 7 March 2012]