The many faces of Clive Palmer in 2012

Poor ol’ Clive – his billions can’t protect him from himself.

Courier Mail 31st January 2012

“Mr Palmer's China First company is launching an $8 billion lawsuit against rail operator QR National for competing with his plans to build a 500km rail link to carry coal.

On social network Twitter this morning, Mr Palmer said he would sue the Bligh Government over the decision.”

9 News 3rd February:

“Mining magnate Clive Palmer says he will consider a tilt at media ownership like his billionaire counterpart Gina Rinehart who has become Fairfax Media's biggest single shareholder.”

International Business Times 23rd  February:

“Mining mogul Clive Palmer sought this week to oust world-renowned hotel management firm Hyatt Hotels Corp from the Queensland golf resort that he had acquired last year.”

Bigpond Money 15th March:

“As it currently stands, Palmer has been stripped of his licence by Football Federation Australia (FFA), a legal stoush is in the making and heated words have been exchanged between him and fellow billionaire Frank Lowy.”

Yahoo! 7 Finance 15^th March:

“Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer has indicated there will be a High Court challenge against the carbon tax because he has advice the legislation is unconstitutional.

The legislation has passed both houses of Parliament and is due to come into effect in the middle of the year.

The Coalition has promised to repeal the legislation if it wins the next election.

Mr Palmer, who is a financial backer of the Coalition, first threatened to challenge the legislation last year and now says he is going to act on it.”

The Age 17th March:

“IT'S late Thursday night and millions of dollars in cash and a billion tonnes of iron ore are being traded in mining magnate Clive Palmer's name. It is enough to make a finance reporter weep.

Palmer's private company, Mineralogy, is seeking to buy 50 per cent of another private company that is wholly owned by a public company whose biggest shareholder is … Clive Palmer. As part of the deal, the private company that Mineralogy is pursuing has agreed to buy a fourth private company that is wholly owned by Mineralogy and therefore majority owned by … Clive Palmer.

Finally, emboldened by a hand-drawn diagram of the deal and a brief conversation with a worker (not Palmer) at one of the companies involved, your correspondent summons the confidence to declare that this is a deal between four companies controlled by the same man.

And while it isn't the most significant corporate play to hit the markets this week, the transaction neatly sums up the past few days in Australian life: no matter where you turn, Palmer is there.”

The Sydney Morning Herald 20^th March:

“Mining magnate Clive Palmer won’t seek a High Court injunction to stop the federal government’s mining profits tax.

Mr Palmer said the tax is bad for the national economy, but it won’t affect him directly.

‘‘It probably won’t cost me anything because I’m not mining anything that comes under the classification of it,’’ he told reporters in Brisbane today.”

News.com.au 20th March:

“BILLIONAIRE Clive Palmer has made bizarre claims the CIA is backing green groups in a bid to kill the Australian coal mining industry.

And he appeared to suggest that US President Barack Obama was directly briefed on the sabotage.”

Courier Mail 21st  March:

“BILLIONAIRE mining magnate Clive Palmer's failing luxury Sunshine Coast international resort was likely to run out of money to keep it operating by the end of next week, a court has been told.

The Supreme Court in Brisbane was today told an operating account funded by Palmer's companies and used by the Hyatt Group to run the Regency Coolum Golf Resort and Spa was likely to run out of money within a week.”

The Australian 21^st March:

“ACTIVIST group GetUp! will fund a legal suit against Clive Palmer after the billionaire linked environmentalist Drew Hutton to an alleged CIA plot to damage the Queensland coal industry.

Mr Hutton told The Australian Online he had been bombarded with offers of financial support and revealed GetUp! had made an offer this afternoon to finance his legal case for defamation.”

Dorrigo Environment Watch calls on international agencies to come and see what mining will place at risk on Dorrigo Plateau

From A Clarence Valley Protest on 20 March 2012:

UNESCO & IUCN invited to see what mining would place at risk on the Dorrigo Plateau

Dorrigo Environment Watch Inc.

Our mission is "To raise community awareness of risks to human and environmental health"

Press Release

Invitation to UNESCO & IUCN to visit the Dorrigo Plateau

By copy of this Press Release Dorrigo Environment Watch have invited the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) monitoring team (who are currently visiting Australia to monitor impacts of mining on the Barrier Reef) to also schedule in a visit to the Dorrigo Plateau.

The Dorrigo Plateau has 4 different mining companies with current exploration licences and recent drilling has been undertaken for gold and antimony across the Plateau. There is concern that the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area values could be compromised if any mining developments were approved on the Plateau.

Dorrigo Environment Watch will ask the NSW and Australian Governments to zone the plateau a ‘no go zone’ for mining to ensure that the world heritage values and vital ecosystem services (which underpin our food, fisheries, fibre and drinking water) are protected for present and future generations. Australia has an obligation to abide by our world heritage agreements to protect the Gondwana Rainforests. A ‘no go zone’ would serve as an appropriate Government commitment and celebration for the 25 year anniversary of the World Heritage listing of our Gondwana rainforests.

For more information or comment please contact Trevor Deane on 02 6657 4005.

Coal Seam Gas Non-Violent Direct Action and the Law - training day at Grafton 25 March 2012

 

Environmental Defender's Office
New South Wales (Ltd)
Weekly Bulletin 15 March 2012

Training in Grafton: Coal seam gas non-violent direct action and the law
The Clarence Alliance Against CSG has organised a non-violent direct action training day to provide information on non-violent direct action and the law.
EDO Senior Solicitor Sue Higginson will be one of the presenters on the day.
When: Sunday 25 March, 10.00am-4.00pm
Where: Grafton Community Centre, Duke St, Grafton.
Those attending are asked to bring lunch and a gold coin donation to assist with venue hire.

An embarrassing fan from Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr's past

In 2005 the $500 a head Ultimate Media Bob Carr Tribute Dinner was held celebrating Bob Carr’s 10^th anniversary as NSW Premier.

The Medich Property Group brought two tickets in order to rub shoulders with this pollie.

Not long after that dinner Carr announced his resignation from state parliament.

Five years later the Managing Director of the Medich Property Group was charged with conspiracy to murder Michael McGurk.

The director is currently on bail for this charge and has appeared as a witness before ICAC regarding that allegation and other matters.
Medich Property Group Pty Ltd was wound up in 2011.

Pacific Highway politics - now and then. According to NSW North Coast MPs and others

Recently Commonwealth-State funding arrangements for Pacific Highway upgrades have been in the news, with the NSW O’Farrell Government waxing eloquent about the alleged unfairness of the Federal Gillard Government.

Even though the NSW Premier has known for at least ten months that funding provisions in the AusLink agreement were going to be enforced by the Federal Government.

A tendency to point the finger, assign blame and pass the buck appear to be prominent character traits of Australian politicians of all political persuasions - as illustrated in the quotes below.

However current and past Nationals MPs Fraser, Gulaptis, Hartsuyker and Causley, both in and out of government, have raised this tendency to an art form - ignoring as they do the terms and conditions of successive AusLink Memorandums of Understanding between the Commonwealth and NSW, commencing during the initial terms of the Federal Coalition Government led by John Howard and the NSW Labor Government led by Bob Carr.

NOW

Here is the NSW Nationals Coffs Harbour MP and Assistant Speaker Andrew Fraser on 22 February 2012 according to that NSW Hansard:

I move:
That this House calls on the Commonwealth Government to agree to maintain the historic 80:20 Commonwealth-State funding formula to ensure the completion of the Pacific Highway upgrade by 2016.

This is NSW Nationals Clarence MP ‘Steve’ Gulaptis popping up in support on the same day:

…Those on the other side should be encouraging their cohorts in the Federal Parliament to agree to the 80:20 split so that we can meet that 2016 deadline. I commend the motion to the House.

While this is Federal Transport Minister Antony Albanese according to ABC Mid North Coast NSW on 1 March 2012:

The New South Wales government says it cannot afford a 50-50 split and the 2016 duplication deadline may have to be shelved.

It wants the Federal government to pay 80 per cent of the project costs.

But minister Anthony Albanese says that's not the deal that was agreed on.

"It's in writing, it's part of the Auslink agreement developed by the Howard government 50-50 funding.”

THEN

The Northern Rivers Echo reporting on NSW Nationals Clarence MP Steve Cansdell on 14 March 2011:

The National Party’s Steve Cansdell has also made a similar promise to have a major upgrade of the Pacific Highway completed by 2016.

On 27 October 2009 NSW Nationals Coffs Harbour MP Andrew Fraser was calling on the NSW Government:

The Pacific Highway is a state road that effectively causes the loss of one life a week. The state government should pour the money it receives from the increased registration charges for heavy vehicles back into regional roads.

While Federal Nationals Cowper MP Luke Hartsuyker was saying in the House of Representatives on 27 February 2006:

I move:

That this House:

(1)

notes:

(a)

that the Pacific Highway is a State road designed, built, owned, and maintained by the New South Wales State Government;

And again on 8 February 2006

The Pacific Highway, of course, is a New South Wales state government road, designed, built, owned and maintained by the New South Wales government. It does receive substantial funding under AusLink…..

With the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority stating in 2006:

The Pacific Highway between Newcastle and Brisbane forms part of the Australian Government's AusLink National Network.

This was NSW Labor Minister for Roads Joe Tripodi  answering a question in the Legislative Assembly concerning the Howard Government’s Auslink agreement on 14 September 2005:

The NSW Government was forced to sign up to the Federal Government s Auslink agreement on roads and transport funding or risk losing Federal roads funding altogether.

(1) and (2) The NSW Government had been trying to negotiate a better deal for the State, but the Federal Government had refused to budge.

The bottom line is that signing this agreement means NSW has to pay an extra $298 million for roadworks but not signing would have cost us $940 million. This is because Auslink means the States have to foot the bills for maintenance and safety works which used to be funded by the Commonwealth.

It was either sign up and get some funding or don t sign and get nothing.

Under the Auslink agreement, the Federal Government reduced funding levels for maintenance, and stops the funding of safety and urgent minor works.

Further back, this was the Federal Nationals Page MP and member of the Howard Government Ian Causley speaking at the Pacific Highway Summit on 13 May 2005 regarding federal government plans to create Auslink and implement the National Land Transport Plan:

Project costs will be shared with the State Government, 50/50 agreement has been requested.

GIVING WIKIPEDIA THE FINAL WORD

Pacific Highway:

The Pacific Highway was never part of the Federally funded system of National Highways. This appears to be because when the Commonwealth funding of the 'national highway' system began in 1974, the longer New England Highway was chosen rather than the Pacific Highway as the Sydney–Brisbane link due to its easier topography and consequent lower upgrade costs.
Yet the highway was undeniably heavily used by interstate traffic and its upgrade was beyond the resources of the New South Wales Government alone. The NSW Government and the Commonwealth Government argued for years about how the responsibility for funding the highway's upgrade should be divided between themselves, only coming up with a mutually acceptable upgrade package just after the 1996/1997 financial year. The Highway is now part of the AusLink National Network and new projects are funded 50/50 by the Federal and State governments.

Belligen Readers Writers Festival 23-25 March 2012

For further details
http://bellingenwritersfestival.com.au/

Click on images to enlarge

Quotes of the Week

From Tony Wright, National Affairs Editor of The Age on 15th March 2012:

“TAKE one pinch of asylum seeker, add a spoonful of smuggled handgun, stir with a good ladling of drive-by shootings and a cupful of border protection, and what have you got?

Why, the Abbott-Morrison Patented Elixir for a Pain in the Tax Policy. It might taste like offal and stink worse than last week's bottled carbon emission, but when you're short on ingredients you cook up what's on hand.”

From Bushfire Bill commenting over at The Poll Bludger on 16th March 2012:
Costello has done it again. He’s put himself and his preening expectations at the centre of a divisive shit fight, spitting the dummy one more time over not getting a job he had decided was his by right. Everywhere this bloke goes he causes trouble with his colleagues due to his implacable belief that he should be the boss.