Over 100 years ago a man half a world away nailed the conundrum facing us today

There once was a time in history when the limitation of governmental power meant increasing liberty for the people. In the present day the limitation of governmental power, of governmental action, means the enslavement of the people by the great corporations, who can only be held in check through the extension of governmental power. [Theodore Roosevelt, Address at the Coliseum, San Francisco, Sept. 14, 1912]

So how does Australian society fare if any extension of governmental power under an Abbott Government is primarily established to further the interests of corporations both great and small?

It must be something in the air.....

Google’s web page summaries can sometimes be mildly disconcerting when efforts to be concise have unexpected results.

Take this item from a recent search which appears to suggest that the Hon. Anthony John Tony Abbott lasted as Australian Prime Minister for less than three months:

Snapshot taken 29 December 2013

Or is Goggle Search accidentally playing into the hands of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire which was beginning to maliciously suggest Australian Labor Party leadership instability on 30 December 2013:

I'd like to be Man of the Year, even if it is no more than an award from a Herald reader, Lyn McGrath, of Bilambil Heights, and even if she has set the bar very low. Having revealed that I make my wife breakfast in bed and acquired pro-feminist credentials, Ms McGrath wrote to the Herald last week saying that all I have to do to be in the running for her award is to say one positive word about the ALP.

I accept the challenge. I offer two positive words: Tony Burke.

Tony Burke will be the next Labor prime minister. He is authentic, a crucial advantage in politics, and pragmatic, intelligent and decent. (I'm way over my quota here Lyn.)

However, I also point out he is, like most Labor MPs, yet another former union official and has thus not spent a day of his career in a wealth-creating business. The bulk of his career has been at public expense.

And by 4 January 2014 was lining Liberal Party ducks up in a row:

ALL governments engage in succession planning. Not necessarily in a formal sense, but the competitive juices of politics mean that ambitious individuals like to position themselves as the potential heir-apparent to the current leader, often well before their time is up.....

even if his polling numbers collapse my suspicion is that the Coalition government would not allow itself to let leadership instability dominate its time in power.

That doesn't mean that the informal positioning of ambitious future leadership candidates won't continue. Names such as Joe Hockey, Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull would all see themselves as viable alternatives to Abbott one day....

Race caller's double vision

TVN's race caller Terry Bailey had the lads at the table of knowledge in stitches on Saturday arvo. The lads, who don't mind a small wager on the nags, were counting their winnings when Bailey was calling the last race at Caulfield. 

Bailey had galloper Cosentino in the call all the way throughout the race and reckoned it finished 4th - that was rather good for the galloper, considering the gelding was first into the straight but then faded badly to finish 9th in a field of 12 in the previous race.

Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Climate Statement 2013

No matter how hard the Australian Prime Minister and Liberal-National Coalition MPs in the Abbott Government attempt to minimise the effects of climate change or deny outright the reality of global warming, the facts are increasingly evident.

http://youtu.be/ASnp8VO6n3E

* Summer 2012-2013 heat records

* Special Climate Statements
* Annual Climate Statement 2013

Quote of the Week

work is the best form of welfare

Australian Federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, speaking about Abbott Government’s 

intention to tighten eligibility/reduce payment rate for the Disability Support Pension,  

ABC News, 23 Dec 2013]

Will NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione risk another heavy handed political move against Northern Rivers anti-coal seam gas protestors in 2014?

Local landowners & others prepare for the arrival of Metasco at its Rosella-1 well site in early 2014

In 2013 Magistrate David Heilpern publicly took NSW Police to task over charges laid against coal seam gas protestors at Metgasco Limited’s Glenugie site.

Does NSW Police Commissioner Scipione want the world to see more media coverage similar to this because he was persuaded to do the bidding of a coal seam gas exploration company which to date has produced not a cent in profit for its investors or the State of New South Wales and is never likely to?

The Northern Star 6 November 2013

"In this case I find myself asking what could possibly be the reason for continuing on with such an innocuous charge in these circumstances? Why else would police risk cost orders against them, drive a prosecutor up from Sydney to run the matters, arrange police witnesses to travel from Sydney, all for an innocuous minor traffic matter. "It is in that context that the realistic suspicion of political interference arises," he said.....

Metgasco Limited is a mining exploration company which after fourteen years still has no social contract with local communities on the NSW North Coast, a spotty safety record and an unhappy shareholder base.

Clarence Valley Council management's 2013 missteps follow it into the new year

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner, 30 December 2013, Page 12:

Ranger out of range

It seems the position left vacant when the senior ranger was wrongfully dismissed by Clarence Valley Council is to be filled, but the position will now be based in Grafton instead of Maclean. It seems an odd decision given that the work load for the rangers is centred in the Lower Clarence and very much focuses on holidaymakers and tourists attracted to the Coast. There are a lot of questions begging answers from the council, but it seems even our elected councillors are being stonewalled. So who does the ratepayer go to for a response? "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable." (James Madison.)

John Catesby

Maclean

John Catesby is not letting go as he pens another letter (below) concerning Clarence Valley Council management’s expensive back down before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission in Smith v Clarence Valley Council, which was settled out of court presumably before any evidence was presented or argument heard.

Before that day at Murwillumbah Court House had ended rumour was circulating in legal circles that Smith was to be reinstated as a council employee.

This would mean that Clarence Valley Council will now be employing two persons in a similar salary range – with one new person to undertake senior ranger duties and the other to possibly twiddle his thumbs all day on full pay.