If this right-wing political party wasn't so dangerous to NSW communities, it would be a state-wide laughing stock

hunting holds profound cultural and spiritual significance to many who identify hunting as part of their culture

Shooters and Fishers Party website 4 March 2013

Robert Borsak in The Sydney Morning Herald 2 August 2010

This is Robert Borsak of The Shooters and Fishers Party posting on the party website on 4 March 2013. Apparently this member of the NSW Upper House believes that a good many people living in the Northern Rivers are conspiring to destroy the capitalist system of economic wealth and job creation.

Restore balance to the land

Shooters and Fishers Party MLC, Robert Borsak, says recent Party efforts to restore some balance, particularly to environment, land use and firearms debate in NSW are making some of the state’s extreme green groups more spiteful than ever.

“The Total Environment Centre says we have “excessive influence” on the Government and the Nature Conservation Council extends its criticism to the Game Council, which is a NSW Government statutory body administering licensed hunting in NSW, saying it has an “undue level of influence on government policy”.

“This from a pair that has been part of the unholy alliance of Greens, the Office of Environment and Heritage, leftist unions and fellow so-called conservation groups who lorded it over this state for two decades

“Private land rights and entitlements have been appropriated by government at the instigation of the Greens and ‘conservation’ groups who in truth are social engineers seeking to destroy the capitalist system of economic wealth and job creation.

“Instead of working to create more opportunities through Crown access to public land held in trust for the citizens of NSW, the power of government has been used to close access, divert state forests from timber production to national parks and state reserves, destroying local communities, jobs and land values. In turn, laws were extended to allow OEH governance over private land by usurping water rights and imposing land clearing prohibitions. Further, recent Labor rezoning of rural private land has taken the theft of private land and the ability to farm to new levels of Green depravity.

“It is now not only impossible to clear private land of woody weeds in NSW, but recent rezoning of private rural land as E2 or E3 effectively stops farming development on most of the rural land in NSW so zoned. If you are a farmer subjected to these zonings your days are limited.

“The Government should immediately repeal the Native Vegetation Act and all zonings of rural land that restrict private farming activities, land clearance and water licences. It should also remove any grants and subsidies to organisations such as the Nature Conservation Council, the Total Environment Centre, the NSW National Parks Association and other Greens-linked organisations seeking to destroy the rural economic and wealth creation in NSW.

“It’s time to get the NSW rural economy going again,” he said.

In a letter to the editor published in The Daily Examiner, 26 March 2013, John Edwards of the Clarence Environment Centre said this:

Borsak's tirade was also supporting the embattled NSW Game Council, a recruiting ground for the Shooters Party, and another legacy bequeathed to the people of NSW by ex-minister Ian Macdonald. That organisation was described by its former CEO as deeply flawed and rendered ineffective by infighting and self-interest, and has been subsidised by NSW taxpayers to the tune of more than $2 million a year for the past six or seven years.

I cannot speak for all environment groups, but can confirm that, to the best of my knowledge, our local Environment Centre has never received a cent of NSW Government money.

One thing is certain, the total moneys granted to green groups around NSW would pale into insignificance when compared to the millions of dollars granted annually to the NSW Game Council simply to administer hunting licences.

If this right-wing political party wasn't so dangerous to democractic processes and civil liberties (see its support of the abolition of the right to silence), it would be a state-wide laughing stock. All Borsak’s world view lacks is a cadre of brown-shirted enforcers.

The mindboggling Arthur Sidonis

This was in Granny Herald on 27^th February 2013:

The prominent federal Liberal Arthur Sinodinos was treasurer of the NSW Liberals when the party received more than $30,000 in donations from a company he chaired, Australian Water Holdings, which was bidding for state government contracts.

Despite this, Senator Sinodinos has said he cannot remember the donations made in his time as both chairman and party treasurer.

What Granny did not say is that this company was paying out to the Libs on behalf of all in the group, including – wait for it – Gasfields Water Management Pty Ltd from the sunny Queensland coal seam gas mob.

Now didn’t that little company which is 75% owned by Australian Water Holdings just get $3 million worth of dishonourable mention in a NSW ICAC hearing?

And what's with this pathetic entry in his declaration of interests that was well shy of the nine new entries he had to insert by 28th February 2013 when his original 25th November 2011 statement of registrable interests became, er, interesting to one particular journo.

Or this, which conveniently omits around $3,750,000 worth of shares held for him by Nick Di Girolamo under a under “gentleman’s agreement”. Di Girolamo  is yet another person ICAC invited to its little please explain party.

Forgetful doesn't cut it as an excuse Uncle Arthur and being Tony Abbott's parliamentary secretary won't save you in the court of public opinion when it takes a good look at what you told the Senate were "oversights". 



Pic from Google Images

Labor MP Janelle Saffin seeks federal flood mitigation funding for NSW North Coast

                                   

Wednesday, February 13, 2013.

REF: PE.13.02.13.

The Honourable Bill Shorten MP

Federal Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation

Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations

Suite M1 48

Parliament House

CANBERRA  ACT  2600.

Dear Bill,

With local communities in Northern New South Wales and Queensland recovering from the human misery and financial costs of record flooding, I write to raise some key policy and funding issues as you continue your leadership in the area of insurance and natural disasters.

Parts of regional Australia certainly have been hit by more frequent floods, bushfires and cyclonic storms in recent years, and with more awareness of climate change, perhaps we do need new pro-active frameworks for dealing with this reality, as per our conversation recently.

I am aware you have advanced options and that these are under consideration with the Insurance Council of Australia.

The Member for Hinkler, Paul Neville, gave a wonderful account of the Bundaberg floods, and while we had already discussed the idea of a bipartisan commitment to flood mitigation which I had intended to detail in my speech, Mr Neville did it so elegantly, I simply supported him.

Such a scheme would involve ‘doing many Granthams’ across Australia – relocating flood-prone homes or raising them out of flood, and levees being built – over the next 10 years.

I have said that it does need to be Federal, State and local government in a combined effort. One policy tool I have talked about in Parliament before is the use of no-interest loans for infrastructure, such as New South Wales has. Perhaps a system of interest rate subsidies for infrastructure by local government may achieve a similar outcome.

The Clarence River peaked as a flood of record at 8.08 metres with a 17-kilometre levee bank system just holding, mainly due to State Emergency Services and Clarence Valley Council sandbagging 300 metres of vulnerable sink hole areas around Dovedale.

In fact, there is local debate over whether the Grafton levee was breached in Fry Street.

This particular flood was fast and furious, and upstream at Copmanhurst and Upper Copmanhurst some families lost everything as several metres of floodwaters inundated their homes or rural properties.

The Governor-General, Her Excellency Quentin Bryce, AC, CVO, and I met with these folk when she made a Vice-Regal visit to the Grafton area on February 1. I know that her presence lifted the spirits of many locals that day.

Bill, I would like to formally invite you to visit the Clarence Valley to take a firsthand look at issues of concern which families, businesses and farmers have been raising with me in the wake of our latest natural disaster.

This flood also breached the levee bank at Ulmarra (Cowper electorate next door to me) and caused major flooding in the village of Brushgrove and small town of Lawrence in my electorate of Page.

It was also the dirtiest flood in living memory with a massive amount of flood debris washed down to places like Brushgrove and on to the popular surfing beaches of Yamba.

Local residents tell me they can live with a major flood every five years or so, but to experience three such events in the past four years is enough to test the will and endurance of the hardiest soul.

This is why the Brushgrove/Cowper Levee Action Committee is renewing its campaign for a 1:20 year flood levee to protect the village, at an estimated cost of about $3 million and built in stages, if need be. It is a matter that has been before the Clarence Valley Council and the former Maclean Shire Council for some time

Committee Secretary Kay Spurr, who holds Masters Degrees in Public Administration and Writing, has provided me with a study of the physical and mental health impact of a flood event on Brushgrove and an assessment of the social benefits of a 1:20 year flood levee.

Brushgrove pensioner Bruce Hancock emailed me on February 8 from ‘Mud Central’ about how insurance companies either will not issue flood insurance policies or charge huge premiums for same in the 2460 postcode area. His is a story repeated across the Clarence Valley.

I know it as well in my hometown of Lismore, where people are priced out of the market, therefore in effect there is no market to serve our needs.

Mr Hancock cited a recent report in The Daily Examiner newspaper of a man whose premium went up by 1010 per cent in one year. In Mr Hancock’s case, his own premium rose by $800 after the 2011 floods and another $600 a year, taking his monthly payment to $293.

Mr Hancock also says that now is the time to look at the concept of a National Disaster Insurance Scheme which would take over the flood/fire/cyclone liability of the insurance industry. I understand his feelings on this completely, but the pressure needs to continue on the ICA to deal fairly on this matter and to operate a super market, and to not price us out of the market.

Mr Hancock points to the New Zealand experience, where a scheme originally set up to cover war damage in the 1940s, now covers damage cause by earthquake, flood and volcanic eruption. I have visited New Zealand and had a firsthand look at their insurance schemes and the no fault as well.

It is, of course, easier in one small jurisdiction to have such a scheme work. I am more focused on moving the mitigation scheme forward, as I see that it has potential to work and work well.

The other issue is that of the opt out clause. It is time to reconsider this, as whilst some insurers have done it regarding floods – some have not and furthermore they are saying if you do not have the flood coverage, we will not cover you at all.  Again leaving no market for the people.

The Australian Government and state governments have Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements in place, and we have the Australian Government Disaster Relief Payment, which I was able to secure for the Clarence Valley Local Government Area as a special case.

While these different categories or levels of assistance provide a helping hand to many Australians, one anomaly is that some people experiencing hardship and stress can miss out on emergency assistance because their individual circumstances might not meet strict eligibility criteria as it is applied.

One way of overcoming this, and of making the entire system more cost effective, could be to quarantine a decent pool of national emergency management funding to upgrade and strengthen older flood levees, build new ones, or to raise or relocate homes out of flood.

State governments could make contributions to flood mitigation infrastructure, leveraging off a national fund, as required, and have local government factored in as well.

The Insurance Council of Australia’s chief spokesman Campbell Fuller is on record (SMH Weekend Business February 2-3) as encouraging a pro-active approach to properly built and properly maintained flood levees in order to reduce the cost of insurance premiums. He did not offer assistance though, which would also be welcome.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Janelle Saffin MP

Federal Member for Page.

Friday, March 1, 2013.

REF: PE.01.03.12.

The Honourable Bill Shorten MP

Federal Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation

Suite M1 48

Parliament House

CANBERRA  ACT  2600.

Dear Bill,

I write to congratulate you on the Australian Government’s new National Affordability Insurance Initiative which you announced in Queensland yesterday, and note there appears to be some $33 million as yet unallocated for flood mitigation projects nationally.

I want to ensure that my electorate of Page receives its fair share of this funding, starting with urgent projects like a 1-in-20-year flood levee for the village of Brushgrove in the Clarence Valley, which I alerted you to in recent correspondence. This long overdue project is estimated to cost about $3 million.

The Northern Rivers has always been an area prone to flooding, but during recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the frequency of these events and the ensuing damage bills. I will seek talks with our local councils and chambers of commerce on compiling a list of fully costed flood mitigation projects which could be considered by the National Insurance Affordability Council.

As you know, I successfully lobbied to have the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment activated for the Clarence Valley Local Government Area to provide flood aid after January’s record flood event. Centrelink has processed more than $11 million in these cash payments, helping hundreds of residents who could not access emergency welfare assistance.

I also thank you for keeping under consideration my invitation to visit Brushgrove and other parts of the electorate to see firsthand the potential benefits of new levees or reinforcing existing levees, and the great flood recovery effort by Federal, State and local agencies.

Yours sincerely,

Janelle Saffin MP

Federal Member for Page.

All about Jamie.....

On his personal website the MP for Mayo wears his Liberal Party membership with pride.
But not so over at a website registered by the WYS Group solely to bag Labor - at an IP listed as belonging to the Liberal Party of Australia.
There he's just a 'spokesperson'.

Ibbotson's proposal to dam the Clarence River fails to impress

From A Clarence Valley Protest 28 February 2013:
 

Hot on the heels of an unforgivably uninformed suggestion from NSW Governor Marie Bashir that Clarence River catchment freshwater be diverted into the Darling River system, the Northern Rivers now has this latest attempt to revive the dam debate.

Page One of the Ibbotson advertisement

Click on image to enlarge

On 22 February 2013 The Daily Examiner ran a four-page advertisement by former Murray-Darling Basin resident, self-styled Scientist (metallurgy & computing) - who also happens to be a US Heartland Institute endorsed climate change denying, enthusiastic supporter of damming and diverting the Clarence River to inland NSW – John Ibbotson of Gulmarrad.

Mr. Ibbotson has obviously decided that media reports of Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s ‘100 Dams’ draft document (which includes the Clarence and Mann rivers) gives him the opportunity to push his own dam plan once more.

This time the self-named Ibbo’s Dam still includes a hydro-electric scheme as part of the dam infrastructure, but is without the option to divert water into the Murray-Darling river systems.

However, Ibbotson happily suggests that placing a throttle on the flow regime of three major rivers (Clarence, Mann and Nymboida) by placing a dam at the top of the Clarence River Gorge (thereby also effectively destroying this gorge), permanently flooding the lower reaches of the Mann River, potentially compromising the last known wild population of Eastern (Freshwater) Cod, changing the water temperature in a section of the river below the proposed dam/hydro scheme, reducing annual inflows into the lower river and reducing the frequency of ‘freshes’ reaching the estuary (relied on by a local commercial fishing industry worth an estimated $92 million annually) are great ideas.

In this advertisement he fails to consider the impact his hydroelectric scheme would have on Essential Energy's existing hydroelectric plant on the Nymboida River or on existing tourism and farming businesses in the areas his scheme intends to flood.

Additionally, he entirely fails to explain how such a dam would help mitigate Clarence Valley flooding beyond wishfully asserting that it will.

This is a mock-up of a Clarence River dam posted on A Clarence Valley Protest in 2007:

This is the Clarence River Gorge in 2011:

 

http://youtu.be/DKRubtXrhY0

And here are letters to the editor published in The Daily Examiner on 25 and 27 February 2013:

Ads are 'light relief'

On 18 September 2012 I had a letter to the editor published in The Daily Examiner on the subject of a "specific call to dam and divert water from the Clarence River catchment area" and "general calls to harvest water from east coast rivers for use in the Murray Darling Basin" in submissions before the NSW Legislative Council Standing Committee on State Development's Inquiry Into The Adequacy Of Water Storages in NSW.

On February 22, 2013 I was amused to find this letter selectively quoted in an expensive four-page advertisement created by that ardent climate change denier and supporter of damming and diverting freshwater from the Clarence River catchment into the Murray-Darling Basin, John Ibbotson (Senate Standing Committee of Regional Australia, Water Proofing the Murray-Darling Basin, Submission No. 158, dated received 7 December 2010).

I chortled when I discovered Mr Ibbotson obviously believed that I read transcripts with my ears and was impressed by the contortions involved in trying to make it appear that my letter ignored the subject of inter-basin water transfer.

I thank Mr Ibbotson for pointing out to Clarence Valley residents that the O'Farrell Government has no policy to protect the Clarence River from being dammed, even if at the inquiry's 20 August 2012 hearing it was demonstrated that David Harriss of the NSW Office of Water was not in favour of building expensive new dams:

"The Hon. Dr Peter Phelps: Is there any need for new dam building or simply perhaps raising storage capacities of the existing catchments?

Mr Harriss: I think the issues we have tried to raise in our submission are the billions of dollars invested in major infrastructure now, with both public infrastructure and on-farm infrastructure. I think (the) priority (for) New South Wales is to use that infrastructure as effectively and efficiently as possible in the first instance rather than investing further in up to millions of dollars in capital expenditure."

In the middle of all that wind and rain, Mr Ibbotson offered some welcome light relief and I'll gratefully use his advertisement to wrap my kitchen scraps later today.

JUDITH M. MELVILLE

Yamba

No need for stirring

I am writing in response to John Ibbotson's 4 page "story" in the Examiner (22/02/13). I replied directly to his email (provided in the story), expressing my concern that his story was lacking figures of the dam capacity and flood flows to demonstrate how much a major flood could be minimised. I also expressed my environmental concerns.

John replied with, "I find that facts and figures in an article tend to result in people's eyes glazing over. This story was meant to be more of an emotive story..."

When reading his story, I found my own eyes "glazing over", as the "emotive" often tended to overshadow the substance. This issue has often been an emotional one, with people on both sides having strong opinions without many facts. The last thing it needs is another "emotional stirring" to cause people to feel they must be either for or against a dam. The issue needs an objective presentation of clear factual data addressing public concerns.

My concerns include the effects of the cold water releases on the ecosystem of the river below the dam, and all the way to the ocean.

John addressed environmental concerns in his story with "But it would ruin the river! I doubt it". Then he was sidetracked discussing Alaska and barbed wire.

With the help of Landcare, I had a flora and fauna survey conducted on our property (just below the Gorge), which demonstrated a diverse range of species including endangered and threatened species. John included a photo of one of our young cows with her vealer heifer calf in his story. He sarcastically referred to them as "rare native cowroos", attempting (I think?) to devalue the importance of the native wildlife, or to prove that the presence of cattle dramatically reduces the environmental value of the area?

Another concern is how a hydro-electric dam and a flood mitigation dam can operate at this site without being in conflict with each other. As locals know, we also have "dry periods'' where rain events contribute little to the river system. Electricity generation would require contracts to guarantee supply to the grid, and therefore need a minimum level in the dam to ensure this (and allow for dry weather). Calculations need to be made to show a flood event would not simply top the dam and flood anyway, like Wivenhoe dam did in 2011 in Brisbane. A dam could also turn floods into longer drawn out events, possibly impacting on lower areas (including Yamba) and beaches for longer. My great grandfather, Sir Earle Page, had detailed plans drawn up for a "Clarence river hydro-electric scheme" in the 1940s, but it calculated that many dams were needed to manage the flows and to guarantee supply.

ROBERT PAGE

"Heifer Station"

 

Did The Age Sabotage The 'New Look' Tony?

 

The Age 24 February 2013:

 

 

Now the Liberal Party wants you to meet a new, sunnier, Tony Abbott. Not the jaw-jutting, finger-pointing Dr No of old, but a smiling, constructive, positive Tony Abbott.

It wants you to envision Policy Tony and, ultimately, to dream of Prime Minister Tony….

Much of the reversal is being put down to the humanisation of Abbott - toning him down and knocking off the rough edges. A series of softer appearances, picture opportunities, and events…

The most obvious difference found in the ‘new look’ Tony has been his hairstyle which has reverted to 1950’s conservative male.

 

So the stern and glowering Leader of the Opposition in the left side photograph is the ‘new’ Tony circa February 2013 and, the smiling politician on the right with the toddler looks suspiciously like the ‘old’ Tony playing to the cameras during one of his may announcements concerning paid parental leave.

 

What do they say about leopards and spots?

About that stench in the Clarence Valley (No, not the flood mud!)

Today's Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Speed fine MP could be charged for lying on oath - barrister

A leading Sydney barrister has raised doubts about whether authorities properly investigated what criminal charges could be laid against the former state MP Steve Cansdell.

Greg James, QC, who is a retired Supreme Court judge, believes Mr Cansdell could be charged for making a false statement on oath under the provisions of the Crimes Act for his admission he lied on a statutory declaration to avoid losing his driver's licence.
Mr Cansdell, who was the member for Clarence and parliamentary secretary for police, quit the NSW Parliament shortly after the 2011 election after the admission. He said one of his then staff members, Kath Palmer, was driving when his car was caught by a speed camera in 2005.
NSW Police announced last October it would not lay charges against Mr Cansdell, stating Ms Palmer had ''declined to be interviewed''.
Ms Palmer's solicitor denied this, claiming that while Ms Palmer declined to be formally interviewed, she offered to make an ''induced statement'', which would protect her from prosecution.
In his opinion, requested by the NSW opposition, Mr James said that, subject to proof the statutory declaration was falsely sworn, there is ''a sufficient basis to investigate whether the staff member as a principal and Mr Cansdell as an accessory had committed offences …''
Mr James notes the police and DPP have the discretion not to proceed, but says: ''It is hard to see that those discretions have been properly applied … without a detailed consideration of what evidence might be available having been conducted.''
The shadow attorney-general, Paul Lynch, said the government had ''questions to answer about the lack of investigation''.

Source: SMH, 28/2/13