K-K-Keneally Kwits

Kristina Kerscher Keneally resigns as the Member for Heffron.

Well what did you expect from a show pony who had never spent time on the Opposition benches before?

Australian High Court: 1 Godbothers & Abbott: 0

Aunty ABC on 20^th June 2012:

“A Queensland man has won his High Court challenge to the Commonwealth's funding for school chaplaincy programs.

Toowoomba father Ron Williams had challenged the program on the basis Commonwealth officers are not allowed to be subject to a religious test under the Constitution.

The court dismissed that claim, but did find the Commonwealth had no power to enter the agreement which funded the program.

The national chaplaincy program was set up in 2007 by the Howard government to provide for the spiritual wellbeing of students.

It was later modified by Labor to allow schools to choose to employ either a chaplain or a non-religious student welfare worker.

Under the program, schools could choose to employ a chaplain for spiritual guidance although pushing religion was banned.

Today's decision against the program will affect around 2,500 chaplains across Australia….

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said it would be a "real pity" if the chaplaincy program was not able to continue.

"We invented the program, we support the program, we want it to continue," he said.

"Let's look at the court's decision and let's see what the Government has in mind."
To be continued............

Best Tweets of the Week

Ed West‏@edwestonline

Church of England says splitting from Europe would be a "travesty" http://t.co/TDt5dOzd 500 years too late!

Mulgabob‏@mulgabob

@TonyAbbottMHR @southwestvicdog The middle one is a Dingo cross #auspol

Dave Gaukroger‏@dfg77

I think that's a bit judgemental, especially for a school http://t.co/S9gX8a1K

Memo to Demographer Extraordinaire Bernard Salt

Hey Bernie,
Households in the Lower Clarence area will be without power from 10.00pm tonight until 6.00am on Sunday as a result of Essential Energy's planned outage while it installs a new 66,000 volt ring feeder which is supposed to greatly increase the security of electricity supply in the region.

While some are whingeing about not having the opportunity to see Aussie nag Black Caviar run in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, many others are thought to be planning on doing what many did in the good old days before the box in the corner of the lounge room became commonplace.

Apparently, health officials have already taken the red pen to next year's calendar and struck out a period of time when all leave will be cancelled. That action's required to ensure all hands are on deck when the boom in newborns is anticipated.

So, Bernie, make sure you factor in tonight's event when explaining demographic changes in 2013.

When unelected council officers decide that they know best.........

Letter to the editor (below) in The Daily Examiner today, which once again points to the dysfunctional nature of the information flow between Clarence Valley Council management and local government elected representatives.

Cycleway options

In Item (13-082/12 Clarenza Cycleway Options) listed before the CVC General Meeting 26-6-12, it discloses the recommended widths for shared pathways by Councils Pedestrian & Mobility Plan (PAMP) - Desirable width 2.5m - 3.5m depending upon use. Acceptable width 2.0m to 2.5m and at squeeze points 2.0m. The Clarenza Cycleway Plan recommends a general width of 2.5m.
But also listed before Councils General Meeting 26-6-12 is a diversion of the Yamba road cycleway (which complies with PAMP) to a shared use pathway which does not comply with Council's recommended safety standards as prescribed by PAMP. Its width never exceeds 2m and continually narrows in some places to 1.6m. It also has sign posts positioned on the pathway instead of 0.3m from the pathway as recommended by PAMP.
Despite divulging these narrow widths to firstly the Traffic C'tee and then the Civil and Corporate C'tee and tendering an alternative plan that enables the Yamba road cycleway to continue without a necessary diversion, at no stage has Council staff revealed to either the Traffic C'tee or the Civil and Corporate C'tee that its shared pathway does not comply with Council's own recommended safety standards. Instead the recommendation continues to request Council to erect more signs diverting cyclists onto its (unsafe) shared pathway which it has been made aware does not comply with its own recommended safety standards.
Should there be a serious injury, any insurer would be entitled to deny indemnity on the basis Council was aware its shared pathway did not comply with its own recommended safety standards, yet did not inform the insurer exposed to the risk.
It would be reprehensible if ratepayers were then asked to meet liability to any compensation claim.
The system prevents me from making any further deputations. It is an issue involving public safety yet can easily be overcome by a tape measure, integrity and initiative to continue the passage of the Yamba road cycleway to ease the loading on the unsafe shared pathway.

Ray Hunt

Yamba

Jericho points out why in the land of the blind a one-eyed Abbott is king

It took Greg Jericho over at Grogs Gamut on 19^th June 2012 (and Annabel Crabb on The Drum that night) to politely point out that the Oz mainstream media had been lying to us again by saying that Prime Minister Gillard had been given a very public and personal knockdown by European Commission President Barrosso.

I dips me lid to both Greg and Annabel because it took all day before some of the journos over at Fairfax and News Ltd began to dog whistle another tune.
This is Greg's take on the reporting....

http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=86307

The relevant bit start at the 36 min mark. It begins with a question from a Canadian journalist, David Akin.

AKIN: As you know President Barrosso, Prime Minister Stephen Harper [ie the Canadian PM] has indicated that Europe should not seek money outside of Europe. He believes that Europe has enough financial fire power, the Euro area is a tremendously wealthy area, that funds with the IMF are better used in developing countries that do not have the resources that Europe has. You’re in North America right now – and I think President Obama feels the same way – you’re in North America right now, please make the pitch why North Americans should risk their assets for Europe that many North Americans believe is wealthy enough to sort out its own problems?

Did you notice any mention of Australia or of Julia Gillard’s remarks or letter? No neither did I – but then I am not a journalist, so what the hell do I know. It is clear Akin is asking about North America, and especially Stephen Harper’s comments.

OK here’s the answer, which you can watch above, but I have transcribed in full:

BARROSO: Regarding the IMF, the IMF is an international financial institution and it should work for the common good. And if there is an issue that is recognized as important for the common good like financial stability, including in some European countries I don’t see any reason why that institution should not contribute. Let me tell you by the way that European states are by far the biggest contributors to the IMF. Even Euro member area states alone are the biggest contributor – bigger than the United States, certainly much, much bigger than Canada. [now that is a swipe!]

So the biggest contribution for the IMF all these years has been European Union member states. And it is quite interesting to know that even in times of crisis – now when we have decided to increase the funding for the IMF once again it is the Europe member states that have given the biggest part, the biggest share.

And by the way we are on time to do it. Others unfortunately are not on time.

So let’s put things in the right perspective. The European Union is the biggest economy in the world, yes we know that. Taken together the 27 member states, the biggest economy and the biggest trade partner (By the way we are trying to conclude an important on trade with Canada – why? Because all parts of the world look at Europe as a source of possible growth for them.) [another mention of Canada]

And in fact they also have an interest. The sooner the situation is stabilized in Europe, the better for them.

So that’s why my position and the position of the European Union has been to say , “Let’s work cooperatively for this. Let’s work together”.

By the way this crisis was not originated in Europe – since you mention North America – this crisis was originated in North America! And many of our financial sector were contaminated by… how can I put is… ‘unorthodoxed’ practice from some sections of the financial market. But we are not putting the blame on our partners. What we are saying is “Let’s work together, when we have a proble… little problem like the one we have today”.

And so that’s why I am expecting today the G20 leaders today and tomorrow to speak very clearly in favour of the approach that the European Union is following – understanding one thing that is very important is that in Europe we are open democracies. Not all the members of the G20 are democracies.[China of course is the biggest non-democracy in the G20] But we are democracies and we take decisions democratically, sometimes this means taking more time. Yes because we are a union of 27 democracies and we have to find necessary consensus. But frankly we are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy. Because European Union is a model that we may be very proud of. We are not complacent about the difficulties. We are extremely open. I wish that all our partners we so open about their own difficulties. We are extremely open and we are engaging with our partners, but we certainly are not coming here to receive lessons from nobody.

Barroso’s answer is mostly about IMF payments with a slap at the non-democratic members of the G20 (and last time I checked, Australia remains a democracy, despite all protestations to the contrary). And then he ends with a sentence that is directed at no one in particular, but given it comes off the back of statements about non-democratic states, could be more linked to them than any other country – although Barroso is looking at the journalist the whole time, so the Canadian/ North Americans aspect is also close to his mind.

Oi, Grafton! Now will you quit your endless whinging?

If there’s one thing that can be relied on when it comes to council rate setting time it’s that Grafton City habitués will cry poor and go on, and on, and on, in the letters section of the local rag about how the rest of the Clarence Valley should subsidize them.

Well the 2011 Census results are out and the community thumbnail sketches confirm what the Lower Clarence has always known – no matter how you slice it more Graftonites are younger, earn higher wages, have lower monthly mortgage repayments and pay less rent than the folks downriver at Maclean, Iluka and Yamba.

click on images to enlarge