Pressure of community concerns sees National Party and Labor candidates joining The Greens in Page to oppose Yamba Mega Port plan

While not yet official party policy at either state or federal level for any of the major political parties, it was heartening to see the Nationals Kevin Hogan and Labor's Janelle Saffin join The Green's Kudra Falla-Ricketts in opposing Australian Infrastructure Developments' proposal to create an industrial mega port in the Clarence River estuary.

Both Ms. Saffin and Ms. Falla-Ricketts have a strong history of opposing inappropriate development in the Northern Rivers region.

Kudra Falla-Ricketts was active in the CSG Free Northern Rivers campaign and Janelle Saffin successfully lobbied NSW Labor to include a ban on coal seam gas exploration and mining within the Northern Rivers region in her party's official policies.

Clarence Valley Independent, 29 June 2016:

Click on images to enlarge

Excerpt from this article:

Australian Federal Election 2016: Liberals behaving badly and being found out right to the bitter end of campaign

The Liberal Party of Australia has been caught lying to Twitter in an attempt to manipulate mention of its campaign in the Higgins electorate on that particular social media platform. Polling earlier in June 2016 suggested Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer is in danger of losing her seat.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 June 2016:

Social media giant Twitter has launched an investigation into the Liberal Party after it faked a copyright claim to try and shut down a joke account that likened embattled assistant treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer to Sophie Mirabella.

Last week Fairfax Media reported that Ms O'Dwyer had taken the extraordinary step of forcing Twitter to dismantle the joke account @Kelly_dnuSophie, which compared her election campaign in Higgins to the disastrous 2013 loss of Indi by her friend and fellow Liberal Sophie Mirabella.

The joke account had barely more than 200 followers at the time – "a significant proportion of whom are pornbots" said one of the students who started it – but the public comparisons to Ms Mirabella's failed campaign seemingly irked Ms O'Dwyer.

As the "is Kelly the new Sophie" comparisons gained traction, an official complaint was lodged by Jennifer Freind (sic), who is described as the "social media advisor to the Victorian Liberal Party".  She issued a "Digital Millennium Copyright Act (USA) takedown notice", claiming the copyright to photographs used by the account was owned by Kelly O'Dwyer.

Twitter locked the account in response, however, most of the photographs on the site appear to be under copyright not to Ms O'Dwyer, but to Fairfax Media.

Twitter's latest determination of "Case #34662656" isn't good news for Liberal Party of Victoria or Ms O'Dwyer.

"Upon further review of the DMCA notice  . . we have determined that the notice is invalid," states the social media giant.  "The content has been restored and [the] account has not been penalised."

Twitter has also issued a please explain to the Liberal Party of Victoria, and wants to know why it faked a copyright claim over the photos in order to shut down the account. 

"We have requested additional information from the reporting party," read a statement from Twitter.

As part of the original complaint, Jennifer Freind [sic] had signed a statement declaring that "Kelly O'Dwyer" owned the copyright to the photos, and  "the information in this notification is accurate, and I state under penalty of perjury that I am authorised to act on behalf of the copyright owner"……

One senior Victorian Liberal told Fairfax Media there were real fears Higgins could be "the Indi of 2016", a reference to Sophie Mirabella's shock loss of the safe Liberal seat of Indi to independent Cathy McGowan at the 2013 federal election…..

WARNING: Baird's new tree-clearing laws will increase extinctions in New South Wales

This is what Australia Infrastructure Developments and Des Euen want the people of the Clarence River Estuary to be complicit in establishing **WARNING: Distressing Images**

On 2 June 20016 CEO of Australia Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd talked of the fact that his proposal for an industrial mega port in the Clarence River Estuary through the Port of Yamba would be capable of exporting live cattle for the Asian meat market.

Snapshot of part of power point presentation on 2 June 2016

Local media reported on the prospect on 4 June 2016:

NORTHERN Rivers cattle producers have welcomed preliminary negotiations for a live trade industry to Indonesia which could see the Port of Yamba revived as an export hub.

Exploratory trade inquiries, initiated by Australia-Indonesia Business Council executive member Welly Salim, has strong support from Richmond River Cattle Producers Association members, who sizzled rendang curry and satay sticks at their Casino Beef Week exhibit on Saturday in honour of the potential Indonesian market.

Mr Salim owns Oceanic Cattle Stations, a 15,800-head Tennant Creek station. He also has close business ties with Toowoomba transport tycoons, the Wagner family.

This week he was on a fact-finding mission, collecting data from brahman producers from Coffs Harbour to Tweed Heads.

It was hoped the Northern Rivers market could dovetail with the established Northern Territory live export trade industry, which shuts down over the wet season.

These are some of the live trade cruelties that would ruin the reputations of family-friendly, clean, green towns like Yamba and Iluka.

On the ship transporting cattle......

The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 June 2016:

ABC's 7.30 program on Wednesday night aired shocking footage and photographs taken by the experienced vet, Dr Lynn Simpson, who monitored the health and welfare of cattle on export ships.

The images depicted animals lying dead on floors centimetres-thick with excrement, which had also contaminated food troughs.

Other cattle lay injured, suffocating or bleeding and barely alive.

"It's just business as usual on these ships. I expect to see leg injuries, I expect to see pneumonia, I expect to see animals drenched in faecal matter," Dr Simpson told the ABC.

At some of the abattoirs which receive the exported Australian cattle.....

https://youtu.be/OiIeHMIkdeA

https://youtu.be/EwtFMq2tvHg

  https://youtu.be/le8Xh_38qKQ

Australian Federal Election 2016: 666 apprenticeships gone under Nationals in Page

Labor Candidate for Page Janelle Saffin, media release, 30 June 2016:

666 Apprenticeships gone in Page under the Nationals

New figures released by the Department of Education show that apprenticeship numbers in Page have fallen by 31.5 per cent in two years, with a loss of 666 apprenticeships in the Page electorate.

Janelle Saffin, Federal Labor Candidate for Page said disappointingly Mr Hogan and the rest of the Nationals have allowed this to happen, with these figures replicated across Australia, with 130,000 apprenticeships gone nationally.

The number of apprenticeships in Page dropped from 2,117 at 31 December 2013, to just 1,451 at 31 December 2015.

“The retreat from supporting apprentices and the vocational education and training sector started with Mr Abbott and Mr Truss, and it continues with Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce,” Ms Saffin said.

“I am serious about investing in apprentices, skills and training in Page.

“The Nationals have cut $2.75 billion from the skills portfolio, including $1 billion in cuts to apprentices by scrapping the Tools for Your Trade program and access and mentoring programs.

“How can they talk ‘jobs and growth’ and then decimate apprenticeships and the VET sector?

“It’s vital that we train and retrain our workforce to improve participation, productivity, and innovation. This is what will drive growth in our region.

“Kevin Hogan and the Nationals have been missing in action on apprenticeships and jobs.”

Ms Saffin said Labor had a comprehensive set of policies to help apprentices, skills and training, including among other policy measures:

• A TAFE Funding Guarantee.

• $8,000 cap on VET FEE-HELP loans per year and a VET sector ombudsman.

• A sector-wide national review to ensure vocational education is able to meet the

training needs of the nation.

• Establishing Commonwealth Institutes of Higher Education to deliver new technical

and education opportunities to areas where access remains difficult and participation is too low.

• Boosting apprenticeships across the country by:

- creating new apprenticeship opportunities through setting a quota of

apprentices on major federally-funded projects.

- reintroducing the Tools for Your Trade program at $3,000 per apprentice to

support them from commencement to completion.

- restoring support for Group Training organisations.

- creating pathways into apprenticeships for 10,000 young people unemployed

people through the Apprentice Ready program.

- piloting a National Skills Recognition Entitlement program with 5,000 places to

help mature-aged, retrenched workers turn their extensive work experience into

formal qualifications.

- connecting potential apprentices with jobs and training through an

Apprenticeships Connect search portal.

- appointing a dedicated Apprentice Advocate.

“Only a Shorten Labor Government will deliver the support for apprentices and TAFE that local residents expect and a vocational education system that delivers a skilled workforce for the future,” Ms Saffin said.

Australian Federal Election 2016: friends of the Liberal Party

It is wise to be careful who you lie down with, a lesson the Abbott-Turnbull Government chooses to ignore.....

The Age, 17 June 2016:

Members of an extremist Christian sect which has covered up child sex abuse have given secret, coordinated donations to the Liberal Party.

Dozens of Exclusive Brethren members - who practice a radical doctrine of "separation" and are not permitted to vote - donated more than $67,000 to the Liberal Party on the same day in December 2010.

The donations were revealed in documents tabled at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption during its inquiry into the source of funds flowing into Liberal Party coffers.

The Exclusive Brethren, recently rebranded the "Plymouth Brethren Christian Church", was described by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as "an extremist cult" which breaks up families. But the Liberal party operatives who accepted the en masse donations described them as "friends".

The church first came to public attention in 2006 when it was revealed the group had raised and spent $370,461 to influence the 2004 election on behalf of John Howard, with whom they were close……

Good Weekend today reveals that Mr Hales ordered that some victims of child sexual abuse be paid off to keep quiet. One victim was told his abuse was a "family matter," and nothing to do with the church, even though the church had placed the child with his abuser.

In 2003, the Brethren first excommunicated and then reinstated a man to the church despite overwhelming evidence that he had sexually abused two young girls who were living with him and attending the school where he was a trustee. The Brethren ignored the girls' letters, direct to Mr Hales, in which they begged him not to bring their abuser back. 

The man was later convicted and jailed for offences including sexual intercourse with a child under 10.

The Brethren have issued a number of legal threats in recent weeks to try to stop the Good Weekend story being published. In a statement it said it was "misinformed and plainly wrong" to suggest the church had a problem with sex abuse. The Church "considers any abuse of any member of society abhorrent," the statement said.

Documents tabled at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption's Operation Spicer show 62 separate donors, all known members of the Brethren church, sent donations to the Liberal Party's alleged slush fund, the Free Enterprise Foundation.

Each donation was in individual amounts of $1500 or less, and appeared on a document labelled, "Friends". 

According to the NSW Electoral Commission, the Free Enterprise Foundation was used to "channel and disguise" donations "by major political donors, some of whom were prohibited donors" to the Liberal Party. While individually the Brethren were not "major" donors, together their contribution was well above the legal disclosure threshold. It suggests they may have deliberately tried to avoid any need to disclose their collective contribution…..

Brethren members run highly successful businesses, a network of charities, and received $26.6 million in government funding for their private school system…..

Read the full article here.

The Canberra Times, 18 June 2016:

Malcolm Turnbull says he has "no criticisms or complaints" to make of the controversial Exclusive Brethren and is happy for the extremist Christian sect to continue donating to the Liberal Party…..

Mr Turnbull says he has no problem with the sect and religious groups are entitled to manage their own affairs….

"I've got no criticisms or complaints about that organisation," he said. "As you know, everybody is free to make political contributions."…..

The Exclusive Brethren - recently rebranded the "Plymouth Brethren Christian Church" - practice a radical doctrine of "separation" and are not permitted to vote.

Brethren members cannot eat or socialise with "worldly" people, and excommunicated members are usually prevented from seeing their families, including their own children.

The group's wealthy leader, Sydney-based Bruce D. Hales - known as "the Elect" - has told his members to maintain an "utter hatred" of the outside world.

He recently addressed a sermon to a mentally tormented young member of his flock saying it would be better to "finish yourself off" with poison than communicate with members of his own family.

Fairfax Media has revealed Mr Hales ordered that some victims of child sexual abuse be paid off to keep quiet…..

The Age, 19 June 2016:

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Wentworth electorate appears to operate an under-the-radar donations fund, with little disclosure of what it earns, from whom, or how it's spent.

A Fairfax Media investigation has revealed the Wentworth Forum, a fundraising vehicle that raised $1.4 million during Mr Turnbull's first stint as Liberal Party leader, appears still to be active, despite claims by a spokesman for the Prime Minster "the forum ceased to operate in 2009".

Other donors report putting cash into the "Wentworth FEC", although that body itself does not report receipts or distributions.

Australia's patchwork and opaque disclosure regime makes it virtually impossible to make sense of how much money is flowing in and out of Mr Turnbull's electorate's fundraising entities.

About 20 of Australia's richest 200 people, including billionaires Kerry Stokes and Frank Lowy, kicked in to the Wentworth Forum between 2007 and 2009, with membership then costing up to $55,000.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Wentworth electorate appears to operate an under-the-radar donations fund, with little disclosure of what it earns, from whom, or how it's spent.

A Fairfax Media investigation has revealed the Wentworth Forum, a fundraising vehicle that raised $1.4 million during Mr Turnbull's first stint as Liberal Party leader, appears still to be active, despite claims by a spokesman for the Prime Minster "the forum ceased to operate in 2009".

Other donors report putting cash into the "Wentworth FEC", although that body itself does not report receipts or distributions.

Australia's patchwork and opaque disclosure regime makes it virtually impossible to make sense of how much money is flowing in and out of Mr Turnbull's electorate's fundraising entities.

About 20 of Australia's richest 200 people, including billionaires Kerry Stokes and Frank Lowy, kicked in to the Wentworth Forumbetween 2007 and 2009, with membership then costing up to $55,000.

"The Wentworth Forum" maintains an active Australian Business Number and is a trading name owned by the Wentworth Federal Electoral Conference (or FEC, a structure that incorporates all party branches located within the Prime Minister's federal seat).

The forum's website remains live, listing former party treasurer Michael Yabsley​ as honorary chairman and linking to Mr Turnbull's and the party's websites. Its domain registration was updated by an employee of the Prime Minister's private company, Turnbull and Partners Pty Ltd, last year.

An email inquiry sent via the site was answered within hours, but, in his reply, Mr Yabsley said he had not been involved in party fundraising since 2010 and "the Wentworth Forum has not operated since 2009". Mr Yabsley recently told the ABC's Four Corners that he had known of illegitimate fundraising by the Liberal Party, and called for root-and-branch reform.

The Wentworth FEC – like the broader party itself – is an unincorporated entity, a structure not-for-profit experts say is risky for an organisation handling significant sums of money. They have no reporting obligations, cannot hold assets in their own name, cannot be sued and may not pay tax.

Neither the Wentworth Forum nor Wentworth FEC make funding disclosures to the Australian Electoral Commission as an "associated entity", unlike many other fundraising bodies associated with current senior Liberal ministers.

However, according to disclosures by donors to the NSW Electoral Commission, "Wentworth," "Wentworth FEC", "Malcolm Turnbull" or the postal address of Mr Turnbull's electorate office, received a number of political donations…..

Tasmanian Times, 9 September 2015:

See the full story here.

What Labor's Janelle Saffin promises to deliver and fight for when it comes to local community & telecommunication infrastructure in Page

Labor Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, media release, 18 June 2016:

SAFFIN ANNOUNCES COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM FOR PAGE

Janelle Saffin, Labor candidate for Page, today announced a Labor Government would provide a $2.9 million Community Infrastructure Program to build and upgrade sport and recreational facilities for local families on the North Coast and Northern Rivers.

Ms Saffin said the program was designed to allow more people to enjoy healthy, active lifestyles, and to build more connected communities.

“Modern technology means that people are spending more time on computers and electronic devices – and less time being physically or socially active – than ever before.

“This is having a pronounced impact on the way our communities function – with fewer people getting involved in local organisations such as sporting clubs or community groups.

“It’s also having an impact on our health, with the alarming rise of chronic conditions such as diabetes.

“That’s why it’s so important that we invest in facilities that encourage people to get out of their lounge rooms, being active and social, and participating in community life.

“The Community Infrastructure Program will not only improve regional sporting facilities, it will ensure local families have access to playgrounds, parks and trails.”

Page Community Infrastructure Program

o   Woolgoolga Surf Life Saving Club - $1.2 million

o   Rushworth Park soccer complex upgrade - $1 million

o   Broadwater Skate Park - $210,000

o   Casino to Lismore Rail Trail feasibility study – $65,000

o   Woodburn Riverside Adventure Playground - $250,00

o   Casino Showgrounds Canteen Facility - $180,000

o   Woodburn Riverside Pontoon - $110,000

o   Colley Park Sports Centre - $150,000

Ms Saffin said a Labor Government would continue investing in local infrastructure as a priority.

“Unlike the Nationals, Labor believes that investing in local communities is more important that giving tax cuts to multinationals.

“I will always advocate for our local needs, because modest investments can make a major difference to community life.

“Labor is delivering on health, education, skills, training, and jobs. Labor has announced important programs like Work Futures to tackle youth unemployment, and renewable energy hubs that will have a significant impact on our local economy.”

Ms Saffin said she would also fight to deliver funding support for a range of other important local projects, including:

o Alstonville Swimming Pool upgrade - $4m
o Albert Park Baseball Complex upgrade - $4m
o Oakes Oval upgrade (1.4m)
o Replacing wooden bridges in Kyogle - $5m
o Woolgoolga Multi-Purpose Centre - $2.5m
o Sustainable Economy Jobs Officers - to be employed within local councils $3m
o Small Towns & Villages scheme to upgrade local community facilities and encourage       use of solar energy - $3m
o Grafton Men’s shed - $350,000

Shadow Minister for Regional Communications Stephen Jones and Labor Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, joint media release, 28 June 2016:

Shadow Minister for Regional Communications, Stephen Jones, and Labor candidate for Page, Janelle Saffin, today announced that a Shorten Labor Government will provide funding to fix mobile blackspots in the Northern Rivers and North Coast region of NSW.

Fixing mobile black spots by building critical infrastructure will save lives and improve mobile communications for residents and businesses in regional NSW.

Stephen Jones said that only Labor was committed to improving the administration of the Mobile Black Spot program across Australia.

“Labor will not only match the Turnbull Government’s promises on mobile black spot funding, we will actually improve the administration of the Mobile Black Spot program and give priority to regional areas of Northern NSW prone to natural disasters, like bushfires and floods,” Mr Jones said.

“Mr Turnbull’s Mobile Black Spot program just isn’t up to scratch. There are some locations, such as Maclean, Wooli, Summerland Way and Woodenbong, that should have been funded but were not.

“We must do more to help regional communities when it comes to mobile black spots. This is vital infrastructure that people rely on,” Mr Jones said.

Labor candidate for Page, Janelle Saffin, said local communities have waited too long to have better or any mobile phone coverage.

“Mobile phone coverage saves lives in an emergency and is central to the daily life of our region,” Ms Saffin said.

“Many parts of our region are vulnerable to flood and bushfire, so these services are very important to the community.

“The lack of coverage is particularly problematic for the elderly members of our community who rely on these connections to stay in touch with family and friends.

“Of the 499 mobile towers funded in Round One of the Mobile Black Spot program, as of 4 May 2016 only 21 had been switched on.

“A Shorten Labor Government will ensure that the roll out continues and is focused on the getting better coverage for Northern NSW," Ms Saffin said.