Farmers are not destroying this country, they are being destroyed by policies put in place by successive governments. This current government is among the worst, if not the worst, I have seen. When the farmers go, it won’t just mean cheap food imports, it will be a disaster for this country, except for maybe the big miners and multinationals. In the meantime, farmers are not the enemy, we fight for many of the same things you do. [Alison Parkes in No Fibs, 7 February 2014]
Saturday, 15 February 2014
March In March: Vote of No Confidence In The Abbott Government being held in Byron Bay, Lismore and Coffs Harbour, 15-16 March 2014
16 March 2014
Proposed March: 10:30am: Meeting Parklands Main Beach – Byron Bay (Opposite the Beach Hotel) 11.15am: Proceed down Bay street, right down Fletcher street, right down Byron street and finishing at the Railway Park on Jonson St.
We will have a guest MC for the day, as well as a selection of local performers.
We are promoting a peaceful, family friendly protest. This is of utmost importance.
Sunday 16 Match 2014 10.30am
Meet at the Foreshores
Assemble at Cavanbah Hall Park then proceed to do a lap or two around Brelsford Park, coming to rest under the shady trees next to the playground.
Saturday, 15th March 2014, 12pm, at Spinks Park.
Friday, 14 February 2014
February 2014 delivers a small mercy
DARREN DAVIDSON
FEBRUARY 10, 2014 12:00AM
THE ABC has struck off one of its longest-serving political commentators on the Insiders program following a review of remarks made during the federal election about former prime minister Julia Gillard’s partner...
News Corp Australia commentator Piers Akerman was not informed of the review or given a right of reply.
He has appeared on the program just once since the Mathieson incident despite having contributed to Insiders for more than a decade.
It has emerged in an email sent to a member of the public by the ABC that the public broadcaster undertook a review of the broadcast on Sunday, June 16, 2013, which concluded that the comments made by Akerman were “inappropriate”.
“ABC News will be reviewing when and under what circumstances any future invitations for Mr Akerman to appear on Insiders might be issued,” the email said.
.
That vote and the Hansard record
Twitter had it first as it happened on 12 February 2014:
Then the mainstream media picked it up in articles such as this in The Sydney Morning Herald the next day:
It's a brave thing for a politician to abandon his party and vote with the other side. But last night it was confusion, not bravery, that led the new Liberal member for Barton, Nickolas Varvaris, to unwittingly "cross the floor" and vote with Labor.
The Sydney MP walked into the chamber, took his usual seat and drifted off into his own world.
''He had just walked into the chamber so he couldn't have been asleep, even though I am told he had his eyes closed,'' Mr Perrett said.
While Mr Varvaris' state of wakefulness is a matter of dispute – and he has not yet returned Fairfax Media's calls to clarify – one thing is certain: he was sitting on the wrong side of the House when it switched over for the vote.
And as the Labor opposition MPs began filling the seats around him all declined to alert the Liberal MP to his mistake.
The doors closed and Mr Varvaris was counted as a Labor vote.
Liberal MP Craig Laundy, who like Mr Varvaris is a new member of Parliament, said he ''felt sorry'' for his colleague.
''We're new to it,'' Mr Laundy said. ''There but for the grace of God go I.''
Mr. Varvaris was recorded as being in the Chamber and voting at 5.10pm. He was also recorded as present for the 5.18pm vote.
However, don’t look for Nickolas Varvaris’ embarrassing vote during the 6.16pm division in question – it had been removed from the 12 February 2014 Hansard record by the next day.
UPDATE
Video found at realities of the world:
Tony Abbott gets kitten-ed
Stoptonymeow.com has arrived:
Are you someone who likes to keep up to date with the latest news, but can't stand the sight of Tony Abbott's weird looking face? This is the browser extension for you.
Stop Tony Meow does what it says on the box: Replaces any image it can identify as Tony Abbott with a cute kitten.
Stop Tony Meow does what it says on the box: Replaces any image it can identify as Tony Abbott with a cute kitten.
A bit of fun by @taybenlor, @dannolan & @mattro.
Here are some of the images being generated by this app.
Here are some of the images being generated by this app.
Sadly, there is nothing cute of cuddly about the real Tony Abbott - once a junkyard dog always a junkyard dog.
Australia Take A Bow: SPC baked beans 'n' spaghetti for hungry little human bea-ns will live on
Gucci & I are supporting SPC! Buy SPC, &
Joyously supporting Australian farmers and cannery workers.........
Stock and Land 10 February 2014:
CAN-OPENERS clinked into action en masse over the weekend as Australians voted with their feet in support of struggling food processor SPC Ardmona.
'SPC Sunday' echoed throughout the twittersphere and into the Nation's zeitgeist thanks to a conscientious Newcastle consumer Linda Drummond, who tweeted the idea of SPC Sunday to a friend on Thursday night.
The idea quickly snowballed on social media and was trending on Twitter in Melbourne by Friday afternoon.
According to SPCA, sales of their signature products skyrocketed by 50 per cent in major supermarkets over the past week; however the significance of the campaign has not yet been measured.
Photos of Victorian premier Denis Napthine, SPCA Managing Director Peter Kelly and Shepparton mayor Jenny Houlihan were among those posted on social media eating SPC products in support of the company.
"The Shepparton community and our workers have been overwhelmed by this amazing support and have expressed their heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been involved," Mr Kelly said.
"It means a lot to everyone at SPC who are all working so hard to turn things around."....
There are over
7 million households across Australia. If every household brought just one SPC
Ardmona product per fortnight - that's more than 182 million product sales to
boost the Shepparton cannery’s bottom line annually.
Yesterday the Victorian Government took note of this Aussie social media groundswell and dug deep to come up with a $22 million co-investment grant for SPC Ardmona.*
Well done everyone. Go out this weekend and buy more SPC fruit, beans and sauces to celebrate!
* As for Prime Minister Abbott saying that the news that SPC Ardmona has been rescued by a $22m injection from the Victorian state government proves it did not need a handout from the commonwealth - it proves nothing of the sort. What the renewed commitment of the board of Coca Cola Amatil to Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley proves is that the company responded positively to community support and determined to soldier on.
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Kevin Hogan MP is fooling himself, not the electorate
Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan appears to be having a bet each way when it comes to the subject of coal seam gas (CSG).
Last year when he wanted to be elected to the Federal Parliament he expressed his concerns about the gas industry and he even went to a rally as the local member in November 2013.
For most of 2014 he had nothing to say publicly about coal seam gas exploration and mining in his electorate and is said to be 'ducking and diving' when approached by the media.
However, he has apparently been sending out emails to some Northern Rivers voters, reminding them of a YouTube clip he has re-labelled the Kevin Hogan Kyogle Rally.
It doesn't count, Kevin, unless you stand up very publicly and push your local communities' interests all through this year on the floor of the House, in party meetings and in the media.
A private email is a bit like hissing a furtive Pssst! from behind the door.
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Rural Weekly 10 February 2014:
PAGE MP Kevin Hogan said he is waiting for the announcement of the federal government's CSG taskforce before commenting further on it.
"When the taskforce is formally announced I will use it as an opportunity to express the strong concerns the Page community and I have about coal seam gas in the electorate," he said.
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane acknowledged last week that he is working on the make-up and role of a taskforce to speed up coal seam gas development projects in New South Wales, despite the fact it is a state government responsibility.
Again Kevin, you are fooling no-one but yourself. Pathetic. An effective local MP would have stopped this taskforce in its tracks before now.
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