Grafton-based GJ Gardner Homes franchisee ordered to pay $99,120.27 for defective building work

See the full details concerning Wood v Fischer Built Pty Ltd here at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWCTTT/2012/399.html

 

Breakdown of allowed claim in favour of the applicants on 18 October 2012:

 

Scott Schedule

Item 1 $960.00

Item 2 nil

Item 3 $18,090.00

Item 4 $5,427.50

Item 5 $39,507.27

Item 6 $1,180.00

Item 7 $9,500.00

Item 8 $6,966.82

Item 9 $4,220.00

Item 10 $11,215.00

Item 11 nil

Drain Cost $945.00

Cutting Table $599.00

Repair of paintings $509.68

 

61. The total of all these amounts is $99,120.27 and the respondent is ordered to pay this amount to the applicants within 28 days.

According to The Daily Examiner on 27 October 2012: 

 

Company director Rick Fischer confirmed he would be appealing the decision, adding he wasn't "prepared to say anything further at this stage."

Michael Moore tweets who he voted for in the 2012 US Presidential Election (photo)

Michael MooreVerified‏@MMFlint

pic.twitter.com/99NKKwxd

https://twitter.com/MMFlint/status/262291344268066816/photo/1

I didn't switch off the porch light and it's all Julia's fault!

 

THE FACTS

 

On 1 July 2012 NSW electricity prices rose yet again.

 

The NSW Independent Pricing and Regulation Tribunal set this price rise and produced this table outlining the cumulative causes of these increases:

 

SILLY RESPONSE

 

Samantha Lubke-Wood It's not the electricity company's fault, it's the governments fault for selling the company's off and privatising the section. Now it's owned by an overseas company so now they can charge as much as they like. Don't blame essential energy they just get paid to maintain the lines. Blame The PM.

Thursday at 12:29pm via mobile  (Someone obviously forgot that it was a state government sell-off of power assets, that the NSW Government still owns “the lines” aka network and actively lobbies for increases to its own charges, that Essential Energy costs do end up on residential bills and, that electricity pricing is a lot more complicated than 'It’s all Julia's fault!')

 

SENSIBLE RESPONSE

 

Julie-Anne Wiles Our bill came down $250. All we did was turn off the second fridge and not use the dishwasher. I was actually happy with our bill.

Friday at 11:42am via mobile (A mother of two who took the necessary action to avoid household budget stress)

 

FOR THE UNDECIDED SOME COMPARATIVE WINDOW SHOPPING

 

www.myenergyoffers.nsw.gov.au

 

http://www.myenergyoffers.nsw.gov.au/search-offers.aspx

First Dog wickedly takes on the Canberra Commentariat

From First Dog on the Moon at Crikey
 

Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham to visit the Orara Valley on 7 Nov 2012 to discuss CSG frack finding tour

 

 

MNC Greens Media Release:

An Hour in the Orara Valley With Jeremy Buckingham, Greens MLC

Jeremy Buckingham, Greens MLC, will be speaking about his recent frack finding tour to inspect coal seam gas in the United States and his Responsible Mining Bill (Protect land, water and communities) 2012 at the Upper Orara Valley Community Hall, Cnr Dairyville Rd and Upper Orara Rd between 12.00-1.00pm, November 7^th.

It is expected that many will travel from Coffs Harbour, the Clarence Valley, the Orara Valley, Bellingen and the plateau to hear the facts about mining in NSW. Those attending the meeting are encouraged to attend with posters and banners.

 

"The Greens Responsible Mining Bill will prohibit coal seam gas and mining in certain productive agricultural areas and other sensitive areas.  Additionally it will provide local councils with the power to prohibit coal seam gas and other mining in certain areas under their local planning provisions," said Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

 

A recent meeting in Coramba was attended by a large crowd seeking information. Altius Mining Limited is planning, according to announcements it has made to the ASX, to continue exploration in the area following the completion of its aerial magnetic survey in 2011.

 

It is reported that exploration targets include Mt Brown (directly south of Karangi), Illabo Mine north of Coramba (near Coramba Nature Reserve), and the Beacon Group of Mines halfway between Coramba & Central Bucca.

 

Download a map of EL 7332 from the  Dorrigo Environment Watch site

 

"Gold and antimony mines produce large amounts of pollution.  The sensitive environment, terrain and rainfall patterns in the Orara Valley mean it is not the place for such mines," said Mr Buckingham.

 

The forum will be of particular interest to property owners concerned about a drop in land values, visual pollution and river pollution, small business owners dependent on tourism and all users of local roads, especially parents of school children.

 

More information: http://mncgreens.blogspot.com.au

 

MNC Greens Media contact: John Vernon Ph: 0402 308 231

Media Contact: Max Phillips - 9230 2202  or  0419 444 916

UPDATE:

Wednesday November 7^th

• 10.30 to 11.30 am Coffee with Coffs Harbour Greens at the Happy Frog. Car pooling to travel to 12.00 to 1.00 rally-meeting at Upper Orara Community Hall cnr Upper Orara Rd and Dairyville Rd. All welcome.

• 5.00 pm Joint Coffs Harbour and MNC Greens meeting at the Alternatives Bookstore, Hyde St, Bellingen

• 6.30 pm Jeremy speaks at Lock The MNC event. Dinner included/Music/Bimblebox Film at 5 Church St, Bellingen ($20/head) Book at Kombu or No 5.

Thursday, November 8

• 10.00 -11.30 am Responsible Mining Forum (with video highlights of USA tour) at Dorrigo Memorial Hall (the Community Hall)

• 2.15 – 3.45 pm Responsible Mining Forum (with video highlights of USA tour) at the Seniors Citizens Centre Hall, Princess St, Macksville

• 5.00-6.00 pm Jeremy Buckingham Responsible Mining  Forum in Kempsey

Jeremy Buckingham will be sharing a ‘cuppa’. Hear how his Responsible Mining Bill can protect the Kempsey area from further destructive mining practices.

Where: The Oddfellows (Macleay Valley Arts Council) Cnr Kemps Street & Edinburgh Lane, West Kempsey

• 7.00 pm Three Rivers Greens Group Meeting in Wauchope (Wauchope Arts Society Hall - might also be called Wauchope School of Arts) with Jeremy.

How modest is the Member for Clarence?

The Member for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, has had a very big week in the Legislative Assembly.

Tuesday:  " I make a modest contribution to debate ..."  Hansard, 23/10/12

Wednesday: According to Hansard, Mr Gulaptis did not speak in the chamber. (Hmmm, perhaps modesty prevented him from doing so. Then again, perhaps he was too busy practising his lines for Thursday - see below.)

Thursday: " As a member of the Committee on Economic Development I will make a modest contribution ... "  Hansard, 25/10/12

CNN withdraws online article which suggests a woman's vote is ruled by her hormones

 

Right in the middle of the final half of the 2012 US Presidential Election CNN committed an editorial blunder by apparently giving serious consideration to the concept of biological determinism as a political reality.

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/24/do-hormones-drive-womens-votes/

 

Unfortunately CNN didn’t tell Fox2 Now in St. Loius which went to press with the very same article five minutes later.

 

It is reproduced here as part of the historical record of the U.S. political landscape in October 2012:

Study Links Women’s Voting Choices With Ovulation

Posted on: 8:20 pm, October 24, 2012, by Staff Writer
 

(CNN) — While the campaigns eagerly pursue female voters, there’s something that may raise the chances for both presidential candidates that’s totally out of their control: women’s ovulation cycles.

You read that right. New research suggest that hormones may influence female voting choices differently, depending on whether a woman is single or in a committed relationship.

Please continue reading with caution. Although the study will be published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Science, several political scientists who read the study have expressed skepticism about its conclusions.

A bit of background: Women are more likely to vote than men, other studies have found. Current data suggest married women favor Gov. Mitt Romney, in a 19% difference, over President Barack Obama, while Obama commands the votes of single women by a 33% margin, according to the study. And previous studies have shown that political and religious attitudes may be influenced by reproductive goals.

In the new study’s first experiment, Kristina Durante of the University of Texas, San Antonio and colleagues conducted an internet survey of 275 women who were not taking hormonal contraception and had regular menstrual cycles. About 55% were in committed relationships, including marriage.

They found that women at their most fertile times of the month were less likely to be religious if they were single, and more likely to be religious if they were in committed relationships.

Now for the even more controversial part: 502 women, also with regular periods and not taking hormonal contraception, were surveyed on voting preferences and a variety of political issues.

The researchers found that during the fertile time of the month, when levels of the hormone estrogen are high, single women appeared more likely to vote for Obama and committed women appeared more likely to vote for Romney, by a margin of at least 20%, Durante said. This seems to be the driver behind the researchers’ overall observation that single women were inclined toward Obama and committed women leaned toward Romney.

Here’s how Durante explains this: When women are ovulating, they “feel sexier,” and therefore lean more toward liberal attitudes on abortion and marriage equality. Married women have the same hormones firing, but tend to take the opposite viewpoint on these issues, she says.

“I think they’re overcompensating for the increase of the hormones motivating them to have sex with other men,” she said. It’s a way of convincing themselves that they’re not the type to give in to such sexual urges, she said.

Durante’s previous research found that women’s ovulation cycles also influence their shopping habits, buying sexier clothes during their most fertile phase.

“We still have the ovulatory hormones that have the same impact on female brains as across other species,” she said. We want sex and we want it with the best mate we can get. “But there are some high costs that come with it,” she said, particularly for women who are already in committed relationships.

This isn’t the first time hormones have been looked at in connection to voting. Last year Israeli researchers published a study in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology examined the stress hormone cortisol in voters in Israel. Levels of this hormone were higher in people right before they were about to vote than in the same people when they were not voting.

Durante’s study on women noted that liberal attitudes favor social equality and tend to be less associated with organized religion. Conservatism is more about traditional values and is linked to greater participation in organized religion.

The most controversial part of the study is not only that hormonal cycles are linked to women’s preferences for candidates and voting behaviors, but also that single women who are ovulating are more likely to be socially liberal, and relationship-committed women are more likely to be socially conservative, said Paul Kellstedt, associate professor of political science at Texas A&M University.

One of the major caveats this paper fails to address is that men also have biochemical changes, Kellstedt said.

“The reader may be left with the impression that women are unstable and moody in ways that extend to their political preferences, but that men are comparative Rocks of Gibraltar,” Kellstedt said in an e-mail.

Kellstedt does not study biology, but he has been involved in research suggesting that men’s political preferences are even more volatile than women’s.

“There is absolutely no reason to expect that women’s hormones affect how they vote any more than there is a reason to suggest that variations in testosterone levels are responsible for variations in the debate performances of Obama and Romney,” said Susan Carroll, professor of political science and women’s and gender studies at Rutgers University, in an e-mail.

Carroll sees the research as following in the tradition of the “long and troubling history of using women’s hormones as an excuse to exclude them from politics and other societal opportunities.”

“It was long thought that a woman shouldn’t be president of the U.S. because, God forbid, an international crisis might happen during her period!” Carroll said.

A better explanation for the divide in voting preferences between single and married women is the difference in economic status, she said.

One expert gave it a little more credence: Israel Waismel-Manor, a political scientist at the University of Haifa in Israel, who did the cortisol study last year.

He’s not sure that this hormonal effect Durante found among women isn’t real, but offered an alternate explanation too: Research has shown women prefer more “manly men” when they are in their most fertile phases of the cycle. Obama and Romney are both handsome, in good physical shape and could fit the type of “provider of the family,” so either could fit the ideal, depending on a woman’s preference.

Assuming there is some hormonal explanation, the effects could cancel themselves out, since different women will be on different cycles when they vote, and the candidates have a similar level of physical attractiveness, Waismel-Manor said. A more elaborate research design is needed to examine it further.

“Even if the finding is correct, there’s a chance that it won’t have a cumulative effect on the electorate,” he said.

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2012 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.