Tuesday, 12 August 2014

Metgasco shareholders vent their frustration


Some of the est. 5,000 shareholders (according to Hot Copper) in the coal seam/tight gas exploration company Metgasco Limited are venting their frustration on the Hot Copper MEL forum and trash talking the Northern Rivers in the process.

I particularly enjoyed the attempt to ‘prove’ that the Northern Rivers population, its communities, and economy are in terminal decline.

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The Greens are playing the third rate, bribe prone political swill that we have representing our interests in Parliament like headless fish with two hooks in their mouths.

This is the same way the Russians brought communism to Eastern Europe...start with telling enough lies enough times about an innocent unprotected party, get some thugs to run around flexing their muscles to subvert and flout authority, convince or coerce the unwashed uneducated and simple souls (yes, those same uneducated farmers, doctors and knitting noneties who think they know everything because they have swallowed the incessant cartload of lies to bloat their lazy mindless brains instead of doing their own unbiased research) to come out to "burn the witclhes.".. and then they seize authority slowly and insidiously.

Heaven help these uneducated puppets when they finally discover, too late, what they have so mindlessly done....when the Green genie that they have unbottled so trustingly morphs into the evil Red Devil it really is.

Those protesting farmers and knitting nannas are sadly going to realise that the farm they are trying to save is really Animal Farm......and the Pigs are already walking cock-a-hoop on their two wretched hind legs.

The Metgasco saga is not the beginning of the end, it is not even the end of the beginning, it is just the beginning of the beginning of a very great calamity that, if unchecked, is going to soon engulf Australia and everyone in it.

A gut wrenchingly realistic account and well researched.

I was thinking the lack of vocal protest thus far over AGLs Gloucester approved fracking program might be Greens baulking at taking on AGL, but a wise "old" soul pointed out to me this evening it was more likely that locals in Gloucester want CSG and actively work to exclude greens protestors.

Drew Hutton laments that it is hard to engage commercial farmers in protests but boasts that it was easy to mobilise "lifestylers" on sub-commercial land holdings in the Northern Rivers. What he means was that he played to the "alternative" demographic with misleading but appealing accounts of fracking and CSG.

What an incredible betrayal Drew, Aidan, Local Govts, the Greens have inflicted on the Northern Rivers by focussing their efforts on driving CSG and its economic benefits from the region ... and the NSW Lib Government has betrayed the region by caving in to save state seats ... a betrayal of families, the employed and the youth of the region.

There is no way the region will rise to deliver to a potential export boom as part of the talked about emerging agricultural boom and as you say, regional tourism is on the wane ... presently it is a region devoid of employment purpose ... commerial activities are experiencing death by 1000 cuts as population declines and as uneployment grows. I am dead set certain local unemployment, especially youth unemployment would be significantly higher in the Northern Rivers than elsewhere in coastal NSW.

We now know that Chris Gulaptis, like all the Northern Rivers politicians, has no concern for the greater economic good of his electorate. He is despised by employers who create jobs and panders only to those who create nothing. He is content to cower with the rest of his opportunistic, cynical party colleagues in the face of the threatening, intimidating and sometimes unlawful actions of anti-csg opponents.

We can take no comfort from the fact that his main electioneering ticket is removing a bat colony from Maclean.

How come AGL (AGK) gets approval in Glouchester which has a greater population in the vicinity? Yet MEL struggles with this. Same product, same state, same country

The NR excels in high welfare dependency and high youth unemployment. The biggest employers are government (Healthcare and Social Assistance, the University and Councils). NR private enterprise is failing.

Big retailers are closing down in every town and there are whispers about more to come:
https://www.facebook.com/LismoreRadio/posts/632736013489648
A foodbank has been established in Kyogle offering subsidised groceries. One wonders what effect this will have on the legitimate local IGA supermarket. Will this need to rethink its existence too?
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2014/06/24/4031770.htm?site=northcoast

It is suggested that tourism replace the Timber and Dairy industries, both in serious decline. With the drought, why not include Beef too?

The solution proposed is the Northern Rivers Rail Trail (a walking and bike trail between Casino and Murwillumbah): 
http://www.northernriversrailtrail.org.au/benefits/community
What does tourism give back? They leave their rubbish behind, littering our highways; and they’re profligate with their water use too.

Perhaps a better alternative is that a gas pipeline follow the Rail Trail to connect with the Tweed gas infrastructure?

Major Jenny Dowel knows that tourism is in decline in the Northern Rivers (-7.5% p.a.). As President of NOROC she released the Northern Rivers Social Profile 2013, comparing the Northern Rivers decline with the mid-North Coast’s increase:
http://www.nrsdc.org.au/regional-social-plan/3956-northern-rivers-social-profile-launched.html
With poor road maintenance and little tourism investment, tourists are likely to remain in the coastal towns. Lismore, Casino or Kyogle are not a destination – they’re a thoroughfare for travelers to more exciting destinations. 
Could Cr Dowel’s $300K expenditure on street sculpture (a Qld import) have been better spent on roads, for example? I hear a number of high street parking spaces have been sacrificed for this sculpture, upsetting retailers and the public alike. More closures to come?
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2014/07/16/4046963.htm
So, yes, we need the gas. The economy of the NR is in terminal decline. 

We are not the Hunter Valley. Vignerons and Bloodstock are protected because they are multi-million dollar investments, employing thousands.

I don’t know why the hairies are worried about sugar cane and macadamia. Just because a PEL has been issued, it doesn’t mean there is gas within it. 

The Hunter and the Northern Rivers share a similar land area, the Hunter has nearly 3 times the NR population because they have jobs and industry and we do not.

Finally, Tasmania is introducing new anti-protest laws. They’re jack of the Greens. NSW, where are you? Step up. Protect your industry and workers.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-08/unions-stage-an-anti-protest-protests-in-hobart/5658160

Yes The ABC will claim "it is all about Drew" but one must consider the subtext or context of the segment. Sadly, it is a left-wing (jam packed with rage-driven subtlety) attack on everything scientific and sensible.

As with all T.V (ref: Josh Fox and his "gaslands" drama) the bias is in the evoking of audience emotion one way or another.

The leftists behind this segment did well to exploit the drama.

It's a disgrace that the standards of a so-called "objective" government owned tv station are so low as to allow this to go to air.

Let 'em have it boys!

In the meantime, it is clear that Santos gets away with murder and gets the go ahead with whatever they plan to do without interference whatsoever from our State Government.

And they get the okay to proceed even if they have a very poor record in the drilling and production of CSG. Go figure!!

Obviously there is one law for the Majors and another one for the minnows. Or better still, the Parliamentarians will need all the help they can get to remain in Government, and when they eventually will loose their seats, they will be looking at a Board position in some of these companies. Most of the time, they will end up with Chairmanships positions. Just have a good look at where Mark Vaile ended up, and you will soon know what I mean.

Finally, who's interests and future will the Parliamentarian look after.?? Is it the shareholders of some minnow company, or is it their own.???

Good guess. And with only one option allowed.!!


I wonder who is making the decisions and who is pulling the strings on this issue of ours.

I am also wondering if it was STO, Origin, or AGL owning our tenements, and if they were to go/put through the loops like the ones that we are forced to go through!!!.

25,000 is still a minority in Clarence. The Rosella conventional well is not in the Lismore electorate. When going about its lawful business a company and its 5,000 plus shareholders should not have to demonstrate a single thing.

U got to be crazy saying sitt like that as most of us are in too deep to consider losses,the resource is proven and the time will come,accumulating is the only thing I know!,,,
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There was a least one happy shareholder on the forum this week:

I, and I presume many other shareholders, have this weekend received another campaign email from the local anti-everythings now resorting to trying to scare off individual shareholders.

My interpretation is that they are becoming more worried that ultimately their silly backward focussed campaign will lose and the modern world will finally penetrate the Northern Rivers with the advent of cheap gas for everyone. They, like the Luddites who tried to stop newly industrialising Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the communists in the twenty first century, and the extremist Islamists trying to stop the modern world from improving the lot of those in the Middle East & elsewhere, will eventually by consigned to the dustbin of history.

Time to accumulate more MEL shares methinks

At close of business on 11 August 2014 Metgasco Limited’s ordinary share price stood at 5.2 cents.

Jobs and unemployment under the Abbott Government


Snapshot from Tony Abbott's press release The Coalition's Job Pledge.

On 18 September 2013 Tony Abbott and his merry band of right-wing ideologues formally took up the reins of federal government in Australia and began relentlessly talking down the Australian economy.

During that September the national unemployment rate stood at 5.6 per cent (seasonally adjusted) and the number of job advertisements was only 5% above the lowest level reached during the Global Financial Crisis:
By October unemployment stood at 5.7 percent, in November 5.8 per cent and in December it mercifully held at 5.8 per cent.

Come the new year and in January 2014 the national unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) jumped to 6 per cent, in February remained at 6 per cent, in March fell back to 5.8 per cent and stayed at that rate in April.

By the month of May, in which the Abbott Government released it first budget papers, the unemployment rate still held at 5.8 per cent, but the actual number of unemployed people had begun to rise again and job advertisements had fallen sharply by 5.6% m/m.  

In June the rate was back to 6 per cent and the number of unemployed people increased by 20,300 to 741,700.

This week the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the July 2014 unemployment figures and the seasonally adjusted rate jumped to 6.4 per cent, with the number of unemployed persons rising by 43,700 to 789,000 and only an est. 142,600 job vacancies across the country:

Ten months have passed since Abbott was sworn in as prime minister and the first of those millions of jobs he promised are yet to surface - apparently jobs growth is not even keeping up with population growth.

The quiet desperation of the unemployed can be seen in the number of individuals vainly applying for the relatively small pool of jobs in 2013 - jobs for which employers believed most were not suitable:
Snapshot from Australian Government Dept of Employment Labour Market Research and Analysis Branch

The Abbott 'Christian' Mafia Strikes Again


Sex workers, table-top dancers, strippers – possibly even artists’ models – are being discriminated against under this Abbott Government policy.

The Australian 7 August 2014:

Sex workers and table-top dancers who lose their jobs will not be eligible for a reduction in the number of months they have to wait before they can get the dole, sparking accusations the Abbott government is imposing moral judgments on the social welfare system.

Even unemployed people who claim they have worked by running for public office will have to wait longer than others to get the Newstart Allowance.

Welfare Rights has written a submission to the government, declaring its outrage at the “moral judgments” being made in new rules.

Other concerns raised by Welfare Rights in its submission include new rules that make unemployed people spend their savings — before the six-month waiting period for the dole even begins. Welfare Rights says the treatment of the Liquid Assets Waiting Period (LAWP) is particularly unfair.

Under changes unveiled in the May budget, those younger than 30 will be cut off the dole for six months. If they enrol in a course, they can apply for a lower welfare payment to study.
The waiting period for New­start will reduce depending on past employment. The reduction will be a month for every year of prior work, except for school leavers; otherwise no income support will be provided. Part-time employment would also be recognised on a pro-rata basis.

In the explanatory memorandum for the bill circulated by Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, the waiting period for “gainful work” would operate differently for different categories of work.

“Gainful work is defined to mean any work for financial gain or reward,” it says. “As examples, the minister could provide that particular kinds of gainful work do not cause a reduced waiting period if the work: does not involve a substantial degree of consistent personal exertion; consists of domestic or gardening tasks in relation to the place of residence of the person or a member of their family; consists of the management of financial investments in which the person or a member of their family has an interest; involves nudity or is in the sex industry; or is for the purpose of achieving election of the person to public office.”

Monday, 11 August 2014

NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption Operation Spicer Inquiry witness list for week commencing 11 August 2014 - witness cheat sheet



NSW Independent Commission  Against Corruption Operation Spicer Public Inquiry witness list for week commencing 11 August 2014:

Monday 11 August 2014

Tim Owen – former Newcastle Liberal MP now sitting on the crossbenches due to ICAC allegations

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Hugh Thomson – Newcastle lawyer and former 2011 election campaign manager for Tim Owen MP

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Hilton Grugeon – millionaire NSW property developer and owner of the Hunter Advantage company

Thursday 14 August 2014

Jeff McCloy – Newcastle Lord Mayor and property developer
Keith Stronach – Newcastle-based property developer and managing director of the family business Stronach Property Pty Limited
Bill Saddington – managing director of the family business P.W. Saddington & Sons Pty Ltd building supplies
David Mingay founder of the Daracon Group which made political donations to Tim Owens 2011 election campaign
Michael Tyler - former chairman of the Newcastle Knights and father to DeanTyler

Friday 15 August 2014

Robyn Parker – NSW Liberal MP for Maitland and former NSW Minister for the Environment
Rolly De With Newcastle businessman and managing director of the Junction Hotel, former Newcastle Alliance board member
Paul Murphy – Newcastle businessman and chairman of the lobby group the Newcastle Alliance
Nick Dan – managing partner at Bilbie Dan: Solicitors & Attorneys, director Newcastle Knights' Members ‘Club Ltd and chair of its board, chair of Barrington Resources Pty. Ltd which holds magnetite licences for deposits in the Hunter, Tamworth, Scone regions
Tracy McKelligott – managing director at Eclipse Media and Newcastle Alliance board member

APN Newspapers: spot the fast disappearing news content


The Northern Star newspaper must have a death wish, because wall-to-wall advertorials replacing news content on "Local News" pages in its issues is not a good look and won't encourage readers to handover their money for a copy of this 138 year-old paper.

It's 155 year-old stablemate, The Daily Examiner appears to have a similar urge to alienate readers by filling pages with thinly disguised advertising. However, at least this newspaper placed this particular example in the business section.




* Thanks to Clarrie Rivers for supplying these e-paper snaphots


The Abbott Code Explained - Part Three


The Abbott Code

Dept of Social Services Commonwealth Home Support Programme:

Support at home is key to helping older people remain at home and in their community for longer.
From 1 July 2015, the Australian Government will launch the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, which is central to the aged care reforms, and will support the development of an end-to-end aged care system.
The existing Commonwealth HACC Program, the National Respite for Carers Program, the Day Therapy Centres Program and potentially the Assistance with Care and Housing for the Aged Program, will be combined under a single streamlined Commonwealth Home Support Programme to provide basic maintenance, care, support and respite services for older people living in the community, and their carers.
Please see the ‘Overview of existing programs’ information sheet for further detail about the programs that will form part of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.  This consolidation will create a nationally-consistent programme that continues to provide older Australians with the care they need in their own home and community, while being more efficient and easier to understand and administer.


In recognition of the challenges posed by this fundamental shift in the structure of our population, the Australian Government is pursuing a reform agenda - in partnership with clients and carers, aged care providers, workers and health professionals - that will reshape the aged care system to make it easier for clients and carers to access services that are high-quality, client-centred, maximise independence and are responsive to the changing needs of people as they age.

Decoded Message

We expect that amalgamating and streamlining the home support services available to older Australians will generate considerable savings.

In our 2014-15 Budget Paper No. 2 we stated that $1.7 billion in savings over six years from 1 July 2018 will be achieved by reducing the rate of real growth in the Commonwealth Home Support Programme funding from 6 per cent annually to 3.5 per cent annually. 

What we didn’t announce at the time (and what we hope older voters do not notice before the next federal election) is that user fees-for-service will increase from 1 July 2015 under our new nationally consistent fees policy. Going from a current national average of around five per cent collection to fifteen per cent nationally by 2017-18.

Currently the basic service fee for home care recipients is equivalent to 17.5 per cent of the single, full rate, basic pension (that is $60 per week) and, recipients with incomes above the threshold are charged an income-tested fee. 

Making sure the elderly realise that aging is a sin is our goal.

Sunday, 10 August 2014

The Abbott Government imposed autonomous financial & travel sanctions on Russia on 19 June 2014 and the Nationals are surprised that it reciprocated?


It would appear that the political class in Canberra thought they could have it both ways - impose financial, trade and travel restrictions on a total of approximately sixty-four Russian politicians, banks, oil companies, businesses (including a soft drink manufacturer) and certain Ukraine separatists on 19 June 2014 - yet still have access to the Russian market for Australian primary products.

These sanctions were quite properly a response to the attempted unlawful secession of the Crimea region from Ukraine undertaken by Russian-backed separatist forces.

Russia did not respond in kind to these sanctions until after Prime Minister Abbott began to grandstand in the media in relation to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine airspace on 17 July 2014.

His intemperate language and rush to judgement before any crash site investigation all but guaranteed the response our primary produces received this week, when they were included in the twelve month sanction period announced by the Russian Government which covers beef, pork, fish, fruit, vegetables and dairy product imports.

Abbott's subsequent kneejerk reaction threatening a tit-for-tat widening of his own sanctions will only lead to further economic pain for this country according to a former Australian ambassador to Russia, Cavan Hogue, who stated; "So I think we would have probably been better served by just keeping our big mouths shut.....Right from the beginning we've been attacking the Russians. Now, Putin is far from perfect. He's a very authoritarian character. But it's a very complicated situation....So public insults just doesn't seem to me to be getting anywhere, particularly from Australia."