Queensland Votes 2015: a preliminary guide to Newman v Jones for all those living south of the Rio Tweed

Sydney 2GB radio shock jock Alan Jones (born and raised in Oakey Queensland) on Brisbane radio station 4BC News Talk 19 January 2015:

"Campbell Newman told me in my house that if he were to become premier, there would be no Acland stage three," Jones said on air.

"Campbell Newman lied to me. I have no reason to believe anything he's promising Queenslanders today."…

"It's called prostitution ... what was the price that New Hope had to pay to get Acland stage three approved?"  Jones said….

"I couldn't back Campbell Newman to win a chook raffle," he said….

Jones said he would have more to reveal about the LNP government over the next two weeks, but refused to give any details.

Qld Premier Campbell Newman on 19 January 2015:

“Alan Jones is a bloke from Sydney who has made all sorts of comments in the past and there’s nothing new about anything he’s said,” Mr Newman said.….

“But I’ll say that everything that Mr Jones has said has been said before and I won’t be responding further.”

Alan Jones on 4BC News Talk on 20 January 2015:

“he and his party have simply lied to the electorate…..

would disturb 1,361ha of strategic cropping land. I’m simply saying no leader should be allowed to get away with that and some inquiry ought to be held into how much money New Hope has given the government. My information is that it’s at least $700,000….”

Full audio here.

Alan Jones on 21 January 2015:

“Campbell Newman’s flopping around like an octopus on a BBQ over his approval and Mr. Seeny’s approval of the Acland Stage Three mine. It’s a simple story. Campbell Newman told me in my own home that Stage Three would not be approved….Just before Christmas Campbell Newman announced the mine was going ahead…”

Full audio here.

Alan Jones on 4BC News Talk on 22 January 2015:

“Well as I’ve told you each day this week and I’ll keep telling you. Campbell Newman on the eve of the last election lied to me. He said there would be no Acland Stage 3….

I’m asking the question; Is lying endemic?...”

Full audio here.

Campbell Newman on 23 January 2015:

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney are suing broadcaster Alan Jones and Brisbane Radio station 4BC for aggravated damages over comments Mr Jones made in broadcasts this week during the state election campaign.

In a statement of claim filed yesterday in the Supreme Court in Brisbane and obtained by the ABC, Mr Newman and Mr Seeney claim each of them has been "greatly injured in his credit and reputation" by Mr Jones' broadcasts.

The pair are suing over three broadcasts, made on the mornings of 19, 20 and 21 January, in which Mr Jones said Mr Newman had lied to him about plans for the expansion of the New Hope coal mine at Acland on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland.

BACKGROUND

The Australian 12 January 2015:

A FINAL act of the Newman government before calling the Queensland state election was approval for a controversial coalmine development by a company that had donated $650000 to the Liberal National Party. Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney announced that the Coordinator-General had approved the Acland stage-three mine late on December 19, just as business wound down for Christmas and in the wake of the Sydney siege and multiple stabbing murders in Cairns…..

Local opponent John Gordon, of environment group Stop the Brisbane Coal Trains, said the LNP had attempted to “bury” the news before Christmas because the government knew the deal would “fail the pub test”.

Last year, SBCT released Australian Electoral Commission documents that showed the Acland mine’s parent company, Soul Pattinson, had donated $650,000 to the LNP over three years.

These were marked as being on behalf of Acland mine owner New Hope.

The donations were made in three instalments, two of $200,000 and one of $250,000, in the lead-up to the company’s submission of an environmental impact statement.

“The donations are not illegal but they fail the pub test on any measure,” Mr Gordon said.

“The problem with the donations is they were made during the election ­period when local state member Seeney and Premier Campbell Newman were saying the Acland stage three mine would not go ahead….

New Acland Coal Mine Stage 3 Project - overview

NSW Coalition Government reveals its political sensitivity concerning the Gas Plan

The NSW Baird Government reveals its political sensitivity concerning its Gas Plan via this exchange in the letters section of The Daily Examiner, a regional newspaper in the Clarence Valley.

The first brief letter by a Lower Clarence resident elicited a misleading official comeback within days.

Letter to the editor published on 15 January 2015:

Gas Plan an insult

IT WILL take more than a picture of a young girl testing the waters of what seems to be a pristine dam, to convince the NSW taxpayers that their money is well spent on these full page NSW Gas Plan advertisements.

Such propaganda will not work as people are far too intelligent to be fooled into thinking we don't need to worry about CSG mining now that the NSW Government has created a website.

It is an insult to the intelligence of the community who have overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to unconventional gas mining in the Northern Rivers.

The "NSW Gas Plan" does nothing to stop landholders and communities being forced into giving access to their land against their will and has no improved safeguards for human health in the plan.

Every council on the North Coast has now asked for petroleum exploration licences to be revoked. It is obvious the Government is NOT listening to the voters of NSW and spending huge amounts of taxpayers' money to advertise something they do not support is disappointing to say the least.

Annie Dorrian

Iluka

                         

Letter to the editor published on 19 January 2015:

Gas Plan defence

I AM writing in response to a letter published in your newspaper (15/1) headed: "Gas Plan an insult".

The author claims that an advertorial outlining the NSW Government's comprehensive Gas Plan is an insult to the intelligence of the community.

It is unfortunate that the reader has interpreted the advertorials in this manner. The aim is to raise awareness amongst the community that this State, for the first time, has a plan for the safe and sustainable development of our local gas reserves.

The advertorials will hopefully stimulate people to try to learn more about the plan, the debate and the evidence we have in relation to the risks, the science, the industry and the actions being taken across Government, as we try to balance the economic, environmental and social needs of our State.

This includes a range of actions, which contrary to what is claimed in the letter, cover water, environment, community and landholders' interests.

For example, the use of evaporation ponds and BTEX has been banned. New guidelines for community consultation practices have been set. New codes/standards for well engineering and fracture stimulation practices have been set and peer reviewed by the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, Professor Mary O'Kane.

Groundwater studies have been completed on the Gunnedah, Gloucester and Clarence- Moreton basins, and the list goes on.

In total, more than 30 measures were introduced before the Gas Plan, and the Gas Plan itself adds a significant number of additional measures, including the NSW Government's acceptance of all of Professor O'Kane's recommendations.

The plan also outlines new measures aimed at ensuring community and landholders can share more directly in the benefits of gas exploration and development in their areas.

Again, the plan builds on advances already made in this area, such as the review of the arbitration system for land access agreements and the public commitments made by Santos and AGL not to seek access to a landholders' property if the landholder does not want them on their land.

So much has been done in recent years to better balance the economic, social and environmental issues of this industry. The advertorials simply aim to raise awareness of this fact and encourage people to learn more.

Lastly, it is also important to note that it is not correct to imply all people in NSW oppose this industry.

As with all industrial activities, there are those who support it, those who oppose it ... and those who are not interested in the debate or have not yet made up their minds.

Hopefully, for those who are curious about learning more, the Gas Plan will be a helpful place to start.

For more information, please visit gasplan.nsw.gov.au

Kylie Hargreaves

Deputy Secretary, Resources & Energy, NSW Trade & Investment

UPDATE

Bite back at Gas Plan propaganda in The Daily Examiner letters section on 23 January 2015:

Gas plan hard sell

THE NSW Government is spending thousands upon thousands of taxpayer dollars in advertisements to try to sell their so-called NSW Gas Plan to the residents of the Northern Rivers.

This is an obvious attempt to shore up votes for the coming State election in those seats where National Party candidates are most likely to suffer voter backlash from many disillusioned members of the community.

It is not a genuine attempt to inform, educate and consult.

Many citizens would like the right of reply to these advertisements but we do not have the vast amount of dollars required to buy the necessary newspaper space and radio time to counteract the misleading statements in this patronising propaganda.

The main avenue for us, the voters, to have our say regarding our concerns, is by writing letters to the editors of our local newspapers. We are grateful for this opportunity; however, there is limited space in the newspapers to publish our letters - certainly not a full page plus one bonus advertorial half-page.

So it is unjust and inappropriate that Kylie Hargreaves, deputy secretary, resources and energy, NSW Trade and Investment, should write a 457-word letter (19/1) to The Daily Examiner to refute the written opinion of a member of the public (15/1).

The Government is already bombarding us with advertisements - we open a newspaper or other local publication, we turn on the radio or, worst of all, in the privacy of our own home we log into our Facebook page to connect to our friends, and up pops a NSW Government Gas Plan ad.

Please, Ms Hargreaves, leave us at least one forum where we can have our say without interference from the Government.

And while I have this opportunity, may I point out the NSW Gas Plan is not about "Keeping our water pure", "Securing farming future" or "Protecting future generations."

It is all about ensuring that the gas industry proceeds throughout NSW.

Rosemary Joseph,
Bentley

Preliminary investigation into proximity to natural gas wells and reported health status in Washington County, Pennsylvania

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/123/1/ehp.1307732.t003.html

A U.S. peer-reviewed preliminary investigation into Proximity to Natural Gas Wells and Reported Health Status, January 2015.

Referendum vote on establishing popular election of Clarence Valley Council mayor now unlikely to be held in 2015?

Arthur Lysaught in The Daily Examiner, 21 January 2015

On one level democracy lost out yesterday when the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) published the list of nominations for the one vacant councillor position in the Clarence Valley local government area by-election, because there was only one candidate on that list and therefore the election was cancelled.

That candidate is retired club manager and former one-year-and-a-bit councillor on the financially embarrassed former Grafton City Council, 62 year-old Arthur Francis Lysaught, (largely unknown along the Clarence Coast unless you like to bet on the horses) who by default now becomes a Clarence Valley councillor without facing scrutiny by the electorate.

Yet from another perspective democracy won, because the accompanying referendum on establishing that a mayor is to be elected by popular vote for four-year term may not go forward, because the NSWEC is highly unlikely to agree to proceed now there isn’t a by-election next month and the cost to council of a stand-alone referendum would be prohibitive.

Which means Clarence Valley voters will probably have more time to consider this question, as a new referendum cannot be scheduled until the general local government area elections in 2016 and, current mayor on a one-year term, Richie Williamson will not be able to run as a popular mayoral candidate until 2020.

Mayor Williamson has called an extraordinary council meeting for 27 January at which the status of this referendum will be discussed.

However, as one Lower Clarence resident remarked to me, it would not be a good look if councillors were to vote to still hold the referendum in 2015, with the very new, pro-popular election, councillor having no verifiable broad political support base within the electorate and also suspected of being a potential glove puppet of the mayor. 

When cafe advertising goes wrong

So Mark and Judy Hackett have moved a coffee shop into Yamba Fair with the comment:

"Quite a lot of people have come in already and we have been told it's nice to have somewhere to stop in for a while at this end of town."

Really? There's nowhere else to stop and have a coffee and toast at Yamba Fair? Never has been? 

So Yamba Fair Take Away and Cafe has just been a mirage all this time?  Couldn't have possibly been a mirage as I and many, many others have frequented this one and only coffee shop in the centre for many years.  Great coffee, food and service and people is what we know it for.

We are blessed in Yamba to have such a wonderful cafe culture here and are spoilt for choice in quality cafes and eateries.  The new Toast will have to really be on its game to equal the wonderful cafes here and the one already established there. 

So, establishing we are counting...that's two coffee shops in Yamba Fair now, two places to “stop in for a while at this end of town”.

Celeste Warren

Yamba 

Chris Davis publicly paying Queensland Premier Newman back or telling it like it is?

Former AMA Queensland President and former Liberal National Party MP Chris Davis - who quit the Queensland parliament in May 2014 and, subsequently the party, after being sacked from the ministry by Campbell Newman - delivers a blunt message during the state election campaign.

http://youtu.be/-3FrF7z76b8

Published on Jan 16, 2015

TV Ad featuring Dr Chris Davis, former Assistant Health Minister in the Newman LNP Government, expressing a scathing assessment of the LNP on several grounds, and calls for voters to not trust the LNP in the 2015 Queensland election

BACKGROUND

No Fibs 30 July 2014:

In March of 2014 he rose to prominence when he broke ranks with his government to defend public hospital doctors when new contracts were enforced with very little consultation. Initially seeking to be a go-between, he spoke at multiple rallies at which no other LNP MP dared to attend. Even during the most devastating of times when his daughter Jessica died in a road accident, Davis continued to front up at meetings to canvass doctor’s concerns and consult with one of the groups of Queenslanders he believed he could best represent.

Meanwhile, in the Queensland parliament, Premier Campbell Newman famously labeled these resistors “rabble-rousers”…..

By May of 2014 he’d been sacked from his assistant health portfolio but was battling his own party on a new front over the raising of the political donation declaration limit from $1000 to $12,400. Throughout his battles he’d always maintained a position of “judgement and conscience in the public interest”.

And then he was gone. A resignation on a slip of paper passed late one night to the Queensland Speaker of the House initiated a by-election for his seat of Stafford.....

Clarence Valley Council still ignoring water quality woes?

With the number of days with temperatures over 35°C predicted to increase and average Clarence Valley temperatures predicted to rise by up to 1°C commencing as early as five year's time, one wonders when Clarence Valley Council is going to face the fact that temporary flushing of street water pipes will not remain a solution for long - whether the cause is heat, loose sediment, low/slow river flow at the uptake site or high demand in urban areas.

Child's wading pool filled with 'green' tap water
Facebook

Three excerpts from The Daily Examiner on 17 January 2015:

THE discolouration of Clarence Valley's water in isolated areas has been a recurring hot topic of conversation for more than a year, and the ongoing problem has affected at least one business.

Local company GDC Water Trucks had to refund a water delivery last week and replace it with another load, after filling an above-ground pool with water from council stand pipes.

"The pool guy said dump it and start again," business owner Trudy Clydesdale said.

"The water looked clear when it was coming out of the truck, but in large quantities it looked like mud."

They filled it from a different stand pipe hoping that would fix it but it didn't make much of a difference……

"The first pool we filled this summer was an in-built pool with a good filtration system so he just filtered it out.

"But those little pumps that come with the above-ground (pool) filters just don't cut it."

Clarence Valley Council yesterday advised GDC Water Trucks it would amend the water meter so they were not charged for the job, but fuel and labour would be on them.

"We're pretty happy. (The council) explained it is an issue at this time with the heat," Mrs Clydesdale said.

"He said they would come back over summer and they'll just keep flushing if need be."

TWO years ago, Kelly Clark used to brag to her friends and family interstate about how great the water was in the Clarence Valley.

Now the Iluka mum won't drink it, and is hesitant to bathe her son in it.

Earlier this week, Ms Clark filled up a paddling pool from the tap for her three-year-old son to play in to find the water was a brown-green colour.

"I've lived in the area for six to seven years and we used to have great water here," she said.

"Two years ago I filled the same pool up with crystal-clear water; last year it was slightly discoloured.

"I want to know what's happened in the last 16months. Why has it drastically changed?"

When she posted the picture on Facebook, it became clear she wasn't the only one experiencing water problems. "I've had heaps of (comments in my) inboxes and people sending me photos," Ms Clark said.

Facebook users wrote of water-quality issues in houses at Chatsworth Island, South Grafton, Junction Hill, Yamba and Grafton.

Many of those were saying they had turned to bottled water in favour of the discoloured tap supply, despite council assurances their supply was fine to drink……

"It doesn't seem right that we live in a western society, pay quite a lot for water and we can't even drink it.

CLARENCE Valley Council has confirmed no long term solutions are being considered for isolated water quality issues.

Council's director for works and civil Troy Anderson said council's water quality was regularly tested against all required guidelines and standards, and currently complied.

A report to Council regarding additional water treatment barriers was presented last November, but no further action was taken.

Mr Anderson said only three dirty water complaints had been received since the start of the year, and that in each case the mains were flushed until they ran clean.

If customers are experiencing water quality issues, they are requested to call Council on 66430200 so that the problem can be attended to. Council does not monitor social media.*

BACKGROUND

All clear on dirty water | Clarence Valley Daily Examiner

www.dailyexaminer.com.au/news/all-clear-on-dirty-water/2250424/

May 7, 2014 - THE council says it's safe to drink, but the unappealing colour of tapwater in households across the Clarence Valley this week has left some ...

Users still dirty over brown water - Grafton Daily Examiner

www.dailyexaminer.com.au/news/users...dirty...brown-water/2257414/

May 14, 2014 - COMPLAINTS of dirty tap water are still trickling in from around the region and Clarence Valley Council expects to see more in the next week.

Yamba's water woes continue but Clarence Valley Council just shrugs its shoulders

northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/.../yambas-water-woes-continue-but-clare...

Sep 20, 2014 - Intermittent but persistent problems with the quality of drinking water in the Lower Clarence continue, with episodes of discoloured/dirty water ...

* WARNING: If you make a complaint about poor water quality to Clarence Valley Council be prepared to be receive a letter/email stating any or all of the following - there is no current water quality problem/there have been no previous reports of dirty water in your street/ implying you not telling the truth.
If you talk to the media expect that doubts will be sown concerning what you have said about water quality.