An Australian political giant strides from the stage

Bob Brown during the Franklin River protests 1980s

The National Times Friday 13 April 2012:

Senator Brown, who is 67, made the announcement to his Greens Party Room colleagues this morning at 10am.

"I am sad to leave but happy to go. It is good knowing that the Greens have such a depth of talent and experience lined up for leadership - I could only dream about that a decade ago", Senator Brown said.

"It is prime time to hand over the reins. I offer a huge 'thank you' to the 1.7 million Australian voters who elected our Green team, and to my 9 colleagues: they have made each Green year in this parliament better than the year before - though the best is yet to come. For example, our policies for fairly taxing the resources boom and carbon polluters, uniquely enable the Greens to fund a national disabilities insurance scheme, the Gonski education reforms, Denticare, renewable energy businesses, as well as progress on High Speed Rail linking our major cities.

"I also thank my splendid staff, including my longtime friend, confidant, and fount of good political sense, Chief of Staff, Ben Oquist," Senator Brown said.

Senator Brown has called the Governor-General, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Tasmanian Greens to inform them of his resignation.

"I look forward to fresh green pursuits including writing, photography, music, occasional talks, bushwalking, and getting out with Paul to see Miranda Gibson who has been perched for 120 days 60 metres high, in defence of a giant tree facing destruction in central Tasmania," Senator Brown said.

Wikipedia entry for Bob Brown

Parliament of Australia entry for Senator Bob Brown

Photograph from powerhousemuseum.com

Friday the Thirteenth April 2012



Photographs found at Google Images

And now for the bad news - 2012/13 residential electricity pricing on the NSW North Coast

Independent Pricing And Regulation Tribunal NSW Draft Determination: Changes in regulated electricity retail prices from 1 July 2012 (PDF file)

Consumer Fact Sheet:

Electricity prices are increasing

Based on our draft decision, average regulated retail electricity prices will increase by around 16% across NSW from 1 July 2012 – or by between an average of 10.3% and 19.2% across different electricity supply areas. These changes follow average increases of 10% and 17% across NSW in 2010/11 and 2011/12 respectively.

Table 1.1 IPART's draft decision on regulated average retail electricity price increases from 1 July 2012 (including inflation, %)

EnergyAustralia	19.2
Integral Energy	10.3
Country Energy	17.6
NSW average	16.4

  

 Note: The increases in regulated retail electricity prices are based on forecast network price increases which are subject to approval by the Australian Energy Regulator in June 2012…..

This year, the increases proposed in our draft decision are primarily driven by:

 the continuing rise in forecast network costs, which contributes to around half of the average 16% price increase, and

 the introduction of the Federal Government's carbon pricing mechanism, which contributes to the other half of the average price increase.

The other costs that contribute to regulated retail electricity prices will decline slightly, or remain fairly stable…..

Independent Pricing And Regulation Tribunal NSW Media Release, 12 April 2012:  

Twitter offers up a political ghost to follow

Last week Twitter made this helpful offer to follow a ghost.

This is hardly Twitter's fault because disgraced former Nationals MP Steve Cansdell refuses to alter the profile attached to his inactive but visible Twitter account @stevecansdell.
No wonder that, almost seven months down the line, some voters in Clarence are confused about who represents them in the NSW Parliament.

If the shoe fits............

NSW Legislative Council Hansard on 3^rd March 2012:

Mr DAVID SHOEBRIDGE: …….The ugly right-wing ideology permeates the balance.

The Hon. Dr Peter Phelps {interjecting}: Are you talking about me again?

The Daily Examiner, Grafton NSW, gets new editor

From APN News and Media 1 April 2012:

Jenna Cairney has been appointed Editor of the Daily Examiner in Grafton. Jenna has been with APN since 2009 at our Warwick and Stanthorpe operations, most recently as Chief-of-Staff of the Warwick Daily News. Previously she worked in Scotland as a reporter for The Courier, The Evening Telegraph and The Sunday Post publications. She has covered music and the arts for Livingson Music Magazine in Scotland and the North Texas Daily in the city of Denton in the United States. Jenna is one of our rising stars and will bring considerable passion and energy to the Grafton role when she joins the team from April 16. As previous announced, current Daily Examiner Editor David Bancroft is taking up the new role of Group Editor for our Rural Weekly products.

Ms. Cairney comes with a very impressive resume and we wish her well in her new position.

She has big shoes to fill for the departing editor, David Bancroft, was one of a rare breed. A local Valley boy, born and bred, with both a passion for the region and compassion for his community. He displayed a knowledge of local, state and federal politics which translated itself into a real understanding of the problems, needs and aspirations of that diverse and geographically widespread community called the Clarence Valley.

The Greens Cate Faehrmann stands up for road safety in Iluka and the Minister for Roads and Ports disappoints

Question Without Notice in the NSW Legislative Assembly on 4 April 2012:

ILUKA ROAD, ILUKA, SPEED LIMIT

The Hon. CATE FAEHRMANN: My question is directed to the Minister for Roads and Ports. Currently the main Iluka Road at Iluka has a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour, which was put in place after lobbying by many locals to protect a sensitive wildlife corridor and to reduce the number of accidents that can occur as a result of hitting wildlife on that road. Given that the lower speed limit has reduced the number of animals injured and killed and, therefore, the number of accidents, will the Minister assure the House that the proposal of The Nationals member for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, to increase the speed limit to 100 kilometres per hour will not be approved?

The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: In case the Hon. Cate Faehrmann does not know: the Government has changed. She should have asked that question of the former Government. Under the new Government changes in speed zones go to the safety committee, which makes the decision. If it is appropriate for the speed limit to increase, the road safety group will approve it. If it is not appropriate, it will not.

It was good to see NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann ask a question about Iluka Road.

Equally it was disappointing to see the NSW Minister for Roads and Ports Duncan Gay decide to be less than honest about the speed limit review process.

The Staysafe (Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety) is not considering this matter. It is being progressed by NSW Roads and Maritime Services in consultation with the Clarence Valley Council Traffic Advisory Committee, with the Member for Clarence (who is pushing for an increase in the speed limit in an area in which he may possibly still have a pecuniary interest) sitting on this local “road safety group”.

In other words, state government influence is still a significant factor in this matter.