When a newspaper sets itself up as a quasi-court meting out punishment

Every so often the Clarence Valley’s largest newspaper catches a bout of righteous indignation and does this:

The Daily Examiner will resume publishing the details of drink drivers who front Grafton and Maclean local courts.

The paper will collate the names, age and town of residence of the offenders, the location, time and date of the offence, the PCA reading and the penalty handed down.

This list will appear in the paper after local court hearings at Grafton or Maclean.*

Obviously ignoring the fact that NSW courts have rightly imposed specific legal penalties (which cannot include further public 'naming and shaming'), it wants to punish drink drivers a second time by further stigmatising the offender and, in the Clarence Valley’s small communities also potentially penalising or socially isolating the now easily identifiable innocent parents, partners, siblings or children of these offenders.

If as suggested His Honour Magistrate David M. Heilpern supports this secondary victimisation of persons not before the court (who quite rightly have an expectation of privacy) then I am seriously disappointed in both the man and his office.

That any community interest in naming and shaming has a less than noble side is shown by this remark by a NSW North Coast resident last year when the Coffs Coast Advocate broached the subject of drink driving:

Who knows we might see some local identities and characters that are our neighbours.

Neither The Daily Examiner nor the magistrate appear to have considered that the newspaper’s actual print edition containing these name and shame reports is replicated on the Internet in perpetuity.

Additionally, I have yet to find any reputable study which demonstrates that naming and shaming drink drivers lowers the NSW drink driving rate or affects which convicted drivers reoffend, so there is no excuse for The Daily Examiner’s latest effort to boost newspaper sales.

I am not alone in believing that a return to primitive responses is no solution. Here is Dr Lauren Rosewarne from the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne:

Drunk drivers, of course, is a much more complicated problem. But to suggest that naming an offender in the paper is the answer is laughable. If a person is stupid enough to drink and drive at any time, let alone repeatedly, they are not someone who makes decisions with any clarity. If the thought of killing oneself or others was not enough to prevent them sticking their key in the ignition in the first place, their name in the paper will hardly guide them better next time.

Rather than serving as a deterrent, the name and shame will simply embarrass those people around the drunk. Humiliating children and parents and spouses. 

* 10 April 2013 issue

Looking back on Tony Abbott

Malcolm Turnbull in The Sydney Morning Herald 7 December 2009:

While a shadow minister, Tony Abbott, was never afraid of speaking bluntly in a manner that was at odds with Coalition policy.

So as I am a humble backbencher I am sure he won't complain if I tell a few home truths about the farce that the Coalition's policy, of lack of policy, on climate change has descended into.

First, lets get this straight. You cannot cut emissions without a cost. To replace dirty coal fired power stations with cleaner gas fired ones, or renewables like wind let alone nuclear power or even coal fired power with carbon capture and storage is all going to cost money.

To get farmers to change the way they manage their land, or plant trees and vegetation all costs money.

Somebody has to pay.

So any suggestion that you can dramatically cut emissions without any cost is, to use a favourite term of Mr Abbott, "bullshit." Moreover he knows it…..

Has the Australian small business community stopped listening to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's doom and gloom?

 

It would seem that by the first quarter of 2013 Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s scare tactics may have ceased cutting though when it comes to how people starting new businesses see the economy and their chance of success as they are still registering in high numbers.

 

These are the active Australian Business Numbers in 2013, of which 3,557,412 are individual/sole traders, 1,354,105 are private companies and 513,116 are family partnerships:

 

 

Here are the number of new business numbers registered so far this year, of which 74,574 are individual/sole traders, 24,596 are private companies and 3,578 are family partnerships:  

 

 

This is the number which also registered for the Goods & Services Tax for the first time:

 

Click on tables to enlarge

O'Farrell Government to launch CSG propaganda website in mid-April 2013

Should readers find misleading/inaccurate information concerning coal seam gas or broken links etc. on this new O’Farrell Government website www.csg.nsw.gov.au, coming online sometime in April 2013, then you can complain to the following:

Hon. Andrew Stoner MP

Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment

Level 30 Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
SYDNEY NSW 2000

Phone (02) 9228 5209

Fax (02) 9228 5970

Email office@deputypremier.nsw.gov.au

Mr Mark Paterson AO 

Director General

Department of Trade and Investment

MLC Centre
Level 47, 19 Martin Place
SYDNEY NSW 2000

Phone: (02) 9338 6600

Fax: (02) 9338 6950

Malcolm Rofe Digital Project Manager at NSW Trade & Investment

Phone: (02) 9338 6600
Fax: (02) 9338 6950

John Pavey Strategic Communications at Department of Premier and Cabinet
Phone: (02) 9228 3437
Email: domainadmin@dpc.nsw.gov.au

Andrew Callahan Digital Services

Phone: +61.0402849352

andrew.callaghan@business.nsw.gov.au

Whois Record

Domain Name: csg.nsw.gov.au
Last Modified: 24-Jan-2013 02:39:00 UTC
Registrar ID: Finance
Registrar Name: Department of Finance and Deregulation
Status: ok

Registrant: NSW Trade and Investment (DTIRIS)
Eligibility Type: Other
Registrant Contact ID: GOVAU-PAJO1213
Registrant Contact Name: Malcolm Rofe
Registrant Contact Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs
Tech Contact ID: GOVAU-PAJO1211
Tech Contact Name: Andrew Callaghan
Tech Contact Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs
Tech Contact ID: GOVAU-PAJO1212
Tech Contact Name: John Pavey
Tech Contact Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs
Name Server: maitproddns.dpi.nsw.gov.au
Name Server IP: 203.11.159.13
Name Server: oranproddns.dpi.nsw.gov.au
Name Server IP: 148.145.48.70

In the days when Rupert didn't pretend he wasn't about regime change

2. MURDOCK [sic], BY SWINGING HIS NEWSPAPER CHAIN BEHIND THE ALP, PLAYED A SUBSTANTIAL ROLE IN THE LABOR VICTORY OF DECEMBER 1972. HE IS SATISFIED THAT HE TOOK THE CORRECT POSITION AT THAT TIME, SINCE IT WAS ESSENTIAL TO HAVE A CHANGE AFTER 23 YEARS. LIBERAL/COUNTRY LEADERSHIP HAD BECOME INCREASINGLY WEARY INTELLECTUALLY. HOWEVER, MURDOCK IS DISAPPOINTED BY LABOR'S PERFORMANCE. HE EXPECTS TO SUPPORT THE OPPOSITION IN THE NEXT ELECTION.

Full U.S.Embassy cable text here.

What Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told his true believers at the Institute of Public Affairs

Click on image to enlarge http://bit.ly/ZbCzzN

The people of Ulmarra, Glenreagh and Iluka need to act now if they wish to keep their local public pools or establish a new pool

The Clarence Valley Aquatic Facility Strategy, a Strategic Leisure Group draft report commissioned by Clarence Valley Council, has been released and will be considered at the Civil & Corporate Committee Meeting (C&CC) on 9 April 2013.

This report recommends closing both the Ulmarra and Glenreagh public pools rather than upgrading infrastructure or continuing routine maintenance.

This would force Ulmarra residents to brave the Pacific Highway and travel to South Grafton if they want regular aquatic exercise or a dip on a hot day and, send Glenreagh locals into the next local government area if they want to use the closest public pool.

Iluka is not well served by this report either as it recommends that a public pool capable of servicing the community far into the future not be established there at this time. Instead it suggests that Clarence Valley shire councillors might either look at a smaller pool option or send residents on a circuitous drive to Maclean’s public pool to take advantage of vaguely proposed discounted entrance fees.

When it comes to Yamba, the report also missed the golden opportunity to put forward the idea of creating a competitive-level pool which would attract state and interstate sporting events to the Lower Clarence.

While across the board it would appear that; Pool patrons indicated very strong satisfaction with existing pool managers and staff. Recommendations in relation to future management arrangements have been made including continuation of the existing contractor model but with reconsideration of the revenue sharing process.

Which flies in the face of contrary opinions held by some council staff, who may have possibly been too vigorous in pursuing their personal views.

Departing staff members have made their feeling known about one pool in tomorrow’s C&CC business paper as it states; Unfortunately Ulmarra pool is already on the priority list for significant works (resolution 13.036/11) and has $150,000 identified in the Delivery Program as a starting point… [my red bolding]

While admitting that; Glenreagh pool, by contrast, has recently had significant refurbishment which places it in a favourable position for at least 10 years.

Anyone interested in swimming as a recreational or sporting activity needs to make their own positions known to councillors as soon as possible or by the end of any public exhibition period should Council decide to place the draft report on public exhibition.