The McNeill's publish a court-ordered apology to NSW Police

An apology which was long overdue.......

Even if this apology was hidden away on Page 41 of a 48-page issue of The Daily Examiner on 31 May 2014.

Page One of The Daily Examiner on 15 May 2014:

THE family at the centre of the infamous so-called Yamba riot will be forced to publicly apologise to the NSW Police Force after a claim for damages backfired and exposed a sinister plot to damage the reputation of local officers.

Craigh McNeill, his wife Maxine and their two children Dylan and Codie will foot their own legal costs and take out two newspaper advertisements to say sorry to officers who were pelted with bricks the night a squad car was torched at a teenage party.

The McNeills had claimed police were trespassing the night hell broke loose at the Yamba Industrial Estate and that several of those arrested were victims of police brutality and reputational damage.

But just days into what was expected to be a lengthy trial, an embarrassing stint in the witness box left Mr McNeill and his family with little choice but to withdraw.

Coffs/Clarence Superintendent Mark Holahan said yesterday police had, from the beginning, agreed that they would "fight the case to the end" and despite years of setbacks, justice had finally prevailed.

"Let the games begin".

With those words, Craigh McNeill launched an attack on police which would have ramifications for years to come.

The arrest of the Yamba father, his son Dylan and several of his children's teenage friends on Valentine's Day, 2010 made headlines and shocked the local community but it would be another four years before the real court battle began.

Following a decision in the local court, all those arrested were acquitted and Mr McNeill and his family hatched a plan to sue the NSW Police Force for damages.

But when their day in court finally came, things didn't go to plan.

Mr McNeill had claimed that he had tried to extinguish the fire with a bucket of water but a video played in court showed that the contents of the bucket appeared to have caused the fire to flare, not go out.

He said he had tried to calm the revellers down and stop them from being destructive but the court heard that out of the 107 people who gave statements to police after the party, not one could recall Mr McNeill asking them to stop what they were doing.

In the statement of claim, Dylan alleged police had told him he was "going to be raped" at Grafton Jail.

In the early stages of his evidence, Mr McNeill denied having any conversation with his former co-accused about his plan to sue the police.

A recording played in court revealed Codie's boyfriend Robert "Robdug" Harvey can be heard saying to another "Craigh says, 'Just pretend you got raped ... you'll get an extra 100 grand on there'."

Asked why he would have given that advice, Mr McNeill replied he had only said it "as a joke".

The case was suddenly adjourned on Monday for legal argument and on Tuesday morning the McNeills confirmed they would not be pursuing the case……

Background

How a party became a riot and ended in a rout

Yamba police facing claims over 2010 riot

Yamba riot accused set free

Court backs police

Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

A mixed opinions musing: The battle of the legal opinions found in Clarence Valley Council’s May 2014 monthly meeting business paper & minutes has caused some comment in the valley. One local with a legal background who contacted Clarencegirl has formed an opinion that the administrative arm of council was “denying natural justice” when it recommended this change to the Privacy Management Plan: ‘Council is exempt from complying with this Principle (6) in situations where compliance is reasonably likely to detrimentally affect Council’s conduct of an investigation’.

Some others are just glad that the tussle over who controls formation of council policy – management or the nine elected councillors – for once is out in the open. Me? As one of many moggies living in the valley, I’m glad all I have to worry about is whether fresh fish will be on the menu today!

A troubled musing: Will social housing providers on the NSW North Coast evict tenants who are under thirty, lose their jobs and cannot get income support for up to six months?

A Eureka Moment musing: It was not a relaxed wake-up this morning. My two legs sat straight up in bed with “That’s it!” on her lips. Seems she thinks that perhaps the reason why Clarence Valley Council was so eager to settle Wayne Smith v Clarence Valley Council out-of-court in December 2013 was the possibility that the investigation report mentioned here would form part of the evidence presented.

An OMG musing: Look who has turned up again. Federal Court of Australia, Wednesday 21 May 2014 Law Courts Building Sydney (P) ACD24/2007 PETER JAMES SPENCER v THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA & ANOR.

A perturbed feline musing: My servant’s calculator fascinates me – because the shiny numbers often make her say a bad word. This week I found out what some of those bad words were about. Apparently there’s a dog called “Bluddy Abbott” who is going to make us do without to increase the number of $$$ he hoards to buy bones – except that in four years’ time he will only have as many bones as he has today and will still owe the butcher heaps of money.

An he thinks voters are stoopid musing: Tamara the Tabby's owner says you can tell a state election is less than 12 months away. The sleeping bewdy of NSW politics, Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis, has finally woken up and is peppering the media with suddenly discovered concerns such as this: Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis hopes his senior NSW Government colleagues will go one step further and cancel Metgasco's PEL16 following yesterday's temporary suspension of the company's petroleum licence.

A jungle drums musing: Rumour winging its way north from Sydney is saying that Craigh Jeremy McNeill v State of New South Wales (NSW Police Force) has abruptly ended. So is this finally the end of the Yamba Riot saga?

A money musing: As the coffee was poured and tidbits from the tea table came my way, I was listening intently to the hoomins in my family discussing the fact that since July 2011 Clarence Valley Council has attracted over $749k in legal expenses of various kinds. Of course lots of this money was probably paid out by council’s insurer and some of it would have been recovered as part of court judgments – but there’s no getting away from the fact that council apparently spent a cool $14.9k investigating one of its own.

A political donation musing: A NSW North Coast politician only had one registered donor in 2007. So it’s rather surprising to find that this donor, who apparently gave no other candidate a donation in that year, could mess up his declaration so badly. The declaration appears to have the wrong ABN number for the company listed as the donor and, the candidate is also listed as belonging to a party for which he did not stand at any election to date.

A muddying the waters musing: Troy Anderson, Clarence Valley Council's works and civil director, told The Daily Examiner in May 2014 that; people experiencing water discolouration should run their taps until the water cleared. Yarz, I can just see locals running taps for 30 minutes or more non-stop when council's base water consumption rate is$1.57 per Kl.

A chortle chortle musing: I was having a quiet nap when the sounds of mirth woke me. My two-legs was amused by the fact that Clarence Valley Council's general manager apparently takes umbrage if a resident or ratepayer dares to send correspondence addressed to him to the email address officially assigned to him, Scott.Greensill@clarence.nsw.gov.au. What's next I wonder?  Greensill is the gift that just keeps on giving.

A worried moggies and doggies musing: If in two and a half years’ time Tony Abbott intends to do as he is promising now and so leave pensions lagging behind the true cost of living, how many of our hoomins are going to be able to afford our food and vet bills?

Boy

Tony Abbott The Musical - sneak peek

The beginnings of what could be a wonderful musical experience J

http://youtu.be/AFWXGvFLq70

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is out of touch with ordinary people, arrogant, narrow-minded, superficial - but he's hardworking!

Essential Report 27 May 2014:

Leader Attributes – Tony Abbott

May 27, 2014

Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott?

	2 Sep 14 (as Opposition leader)	29 Oct 14	15 Apr		Total 27 May	Change
Out of touch with ordinary people	52%	51%	56%		67%	+11
Arrogant	52%	54%	58%		63%	+5
Narrow-minded	55%	54%	56%		61%	+5
Hard working	71%	67%	66%		57%	-9
Superficial	48%	49%	50%		57%	+7
Intolerant	47%	49%	47%		55%	+8
Intelligent	63%	62%	59%		52%	-7
Aggressive	47%	46%	45%		52%	+7
Erratic	43%	43%	43%		51%	+8
Understands the problems facing Australia	46%	51%	48%		42%	-5
A capable leader	46%	52%	50%		41%	-9
Good in a crisis	39%	45%	45%		35%	-10
Visionary	35%	33%	34%		31%	-3
More honest than most politicians	34%	39%	37%		30%	-7
Trustworthy	38%	40%	40%		29%	-11

Tony Abbott’s key attributes were out of touch with ordinary people (67%), arrogant (63%), narrow-minded (61%), hard working (57%) and superficial (57%).

Since April, the largest shifts have been for out of touch with ordinary people (+11), trustworthy (-11), good in a crisis (-10), hard working (-9) and a capable leader (-9).

Note: Possible that dates “2 Sep 14” & “29 Oct 14” should read “2 Sep 13” & “29 Oct 13”

The Lies Abbott Tells - Part Eighteen

THE LIE

“If you start a course under one system you will finish it under one system….. If you start next year your conditions of study won't change. It's only for those who start when these changes kick in in 2016 who will have the different conditions applying to them.” [Tony Abbott quoted in The Daily Telegraph 21 May 2014]

THE FACTS

A spokesman for the Department of Education told Fairfax Media: "Students who enrol in a Commonwealth supported place after 13 May 2014 will be charged under the existing arrangements until 31 December 2015. After this date they will be charged under the new arrangements, as determined by their university or higher education institution." [The Sydney Morning Herald 21 May 2014]

Clarence Valley Privacy Management Plan to be placed on public exhibition

The Daily Examiner 23 May 2014:

CLARENCE Valley Council is asking for public help to review its Privacy Management Plan.

On February 18 the council unanimously approved a plan based on the January 2013 Model Plan from the Division of Local Government.

But after debating a notice of motion from councillor Karen Toms on Tuesday, it has voted to put its Privacy Management Plan on public exhibition for 28 days to gather submissions.

Backgrounding her move, Cr Toms said she found a sentence in the final paragraph of Principle (6) in Section 10, the information protection section of the code, which worried her.

Principle (6) covers how the council should control and grant access to personal information it holds.

She said the words "council is exempt from complying with this principle in situations where compliance is reasonably likely to detrimentally affect council's conduct of an investigation" were at odds with the language in the model plan.

Cr Toms obtained legal advice, which said the clause was beyond the power of the council to deliver.

The advice from solicitor Stephen Nazarian concluded the clause had the potential to contravene the council's obligation to provide procedural fairness to councillors and staff.

"The risk is that the terms of the plan may be relied upon to deny councillors and staff their right to a fair hearing under the code," the advice read.

The council has countered with its own legal advice, which said Mr Nazarian failed to consider a direction from the Privacy Commissioner on December 23, 2013, under section 41(1) of Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act.

The direction gives a relevant agency exemption from compliance under a number of sections, including Section 10….

ACOSS: Under Abbott Government an est. 100,000 people under 30 will have no income support for six months of any year they are unemployed

Excerpt from an Australian Council of Social Service media release dated 21 May 2014:

The budget brings especially dire news for the 12 per cent of workers under 30 years of age who find themselves out of a job. They will have to wait six months for their first income support payment, then survive on no income for six months of every year of unemployment.

Despite talk of exemptions, ACOSS estimates that about 100,000 young people each year will lose income support through this measure. This budget measure risks creating a lost generation by depriving young people of the support they desperately need at precisely the time they need it most to set them on their way in life. We are still waiting to hear how the new rules to deny income support to young people up to 29 years for six months of every year will provide them with opportunity.

A six-month limit on social security for young people is a blunt instrument that is a kick in the guts for people who are simply struggling to survive and find a job. If the government believes that this many people are rorting the benefit system it should provide the evidence, and that must extend beyond anecdotes.