Sunday 12 May 2019
Illegal net fishing on Clarence River costs fisherman $18,000
The Daily Examiner, 7 May 2019, p.4:
If you think illegal net
fishing is no big deal, you may be about to get tangled up in a very expensive
process.
The warning comes from
NSW Department of Primary Industries Fisheries on the North Coast as they
successfully prosecuted commercial fisherman from Iluka over seven illegal
fishing offences in two years.
And the cost to him?
More than $18,000 in fines and professional fees.
DPI director of
fisheries compliance, Patrick Tully said all matters in relation to the
offences were heard in court on April 10, with the offender convicted of all
charges.
“This offender has
incurred significant penalties related to the illegal use of nets in the waters
of the lower Clarence River on two separate occasions in 2017 and 2018,” Mr
Tully said.
“In November 2017, the
offender failed to stop his vehicle when requested by Fisheries officers who
then pursued him to his residence where they found him to be in possession of
an illegal net and a number of fish taken illegally by that net. Then in April
2018, the offender was found using a net by illegal methods.
“On both occasions the
nets and illegally taken fish were seized by DPI Fisheries officers.”
The man, a repeat
offender, was convicted on all six fishing-related offences and one of
obstructing fisheries officers. He was also required to pay the department’s
professional costs….
Anyone with information
on suspected illegal fishing activity is urged to contact their local DPI
Fisheries office, call the Fisher Watch phone line on 1800043536 or report
illegal fishing activities online.
Labels:
Clarence River,
fishing,
law
Saturday 11 May 2019
Bypass the Murdoch press and read Labor's policy costings for yourself
Going on the behaviour of Murdoch's News Corp mastheads during the 2019 federal election campaign to date, by 6am the headlines will be misleading at best.
Scott Morrison & Co have already begun their scare campaign in response to the policy costings Labor released yesterday.
Therefore I invite readers to bypass political posturing by both the Coalition and a large section of the media and look at the policy document for yourselves.
It is your judgement that counts because the responsibility to elect the next Australian Government rests with you, not with an elderly U.S. billionaire who rarely visits this country.
2019 Labor Fiscal Plan by clarencegirl on Scribd
Cartoon of the Week
Labels:
#ScottMorrisonFAIL,
elections 2019
Tweets of the Week
Lismore this morning: a PUBLIC READING OF THE FAILURES of the Coalition on climate. Our town crier read a list of 22 failures. Crown yelled ‘shame’ after each of them. #auspol #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/MVBh4DcCwW— Annie Kia (@AnnieKia) May 1, 2019
The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader both visited Agfest in Tasmania today. At the bar the guy pouring the beers says to Bill Shorten, "At least you paid Scomo didn't pay." pic.twitter.com/lwGxxmCAm4— David Sharaz (@DavidSharaz) May 2, 2019
Labels:
#PageVotes,
elections 2019,
Page electorate
Friday 10 May 2019
Memo to NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole & NSW Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance: Pull you fingers out and fix this!
Sportsman's Creek Bridge (1910) sited close to where the creek meets the Clarence River Image: GeoLink |
The Daily Examiner, 6 May 2019, p.1:
As he stood on the now
dismantled Sportsmans Creek Bridge approaches, Lawrence Museum and Historical
Society president Rob Forbes held a series of letters that appalled him.
For the past two years,
based on a positive relationship with Roads and Maritime Services, the society
had made plans to reconstruct a full section of the bridge, preserving its
memory at the museum.
Now, with a change in
management, that agreement made has seemingly vanished, with RMS offering a
‘take it or leave it’ approach to what will be preserved.
“I’m appalled to think
that a small local historical society trying to save one of the most historic
and important structures in Lawrence has to record every single conversation
made with every single person we talked to so we don’t get shafted,” Mr Forbes
said.
Mr Forbes said for the
first stages of planning, the rapport with RMS could not have been better, with
RMS employees regularly visiting the museum to see what could be done.
“They couldn’t do enough
for us,” he said. “They even organised a license from the EPA so we could take
some of the building that was removed for the bridge which had lead paint.
“It carried over when we
wanted a section of the bridge. I stood in the museum with the representative
and we looked at the model so we were talking about the exact same thing.”
Originally it was agreed
two complete ends of one span (both sides of the structure) could be
reassembled to create a good representation of the bridge.
“The engineer at the
meeting said we could have two complete ends of one span and ‘probably’ also a
large amount of the other bridge timbers ‘if we wanted it’,” Mr Forbes said.
After the bridge was
demolished recently, and with a change in management at RMS, these verbal
agreements made months earlier were disregarded, according to Mr Forbes.
“An email was received
stating we could now have only two ends of one truss (one side of the structure
only) and 150 square metres of decking – and that this was non-negotiable,” he
said.
“We’ve even had emails
saying if we had a problem with the quality of the timber they’ll sell the
whole lot to salvage... and we feel pressured to sign the new agreement or
it’ll best lost forever.
“There was no agreement,
but when they said yes for two years, as far as I’m concerned the deal was done.”
A spokesman said RMS had
worked with the Lawrence community, including the museum and historical
society, throughout the Sportsmans Creek Bridge project.
“Roads and Maritime has
provided a replica of the bridge to the society to commemorate this historic
structure, along with an agreement to supply timbers from the old bridge for
re-use as a commemorative structure,” the spokesman said.
“The agreement includes
providing 150sqm of bridge decking timbers to be used as a floor to support the
old Ashby ferry, two ends of one truss (each end of one single truss) and
supports for display purposes only and transport of the timber and truss to the
museum.
“This agreement has not
changed and Roads and Maritime will continue to work with the historical
society to commemorate the old Sportsmans Creek timber truss bridge.”
The Lawrence Historical
Society urges people to show support for the cause by either contacting Mr
Forbes on 0412 715 805, or leaving comments on their Facebook page.
“Welfare-to-work” is now a billion-dollar industry which consistently fails vulnerable jobseekers
The
Guardian, 4
May 2019:
“Welfare-to-work” is now
a billion-dollar industry. Providers compete for the lucrative contracts, worth
$7.6bn to the taxpayer over five years when the last round was signed in 2015.
Proponents for the
privatised system argue the model is much cheaper and boasts a better
cost-to-outcome ratio.
But myriad reports –
including recent findings from
a Senate committee and a government-appointed
panel – have found the most disadvantaged jobseekers are being left
behind.
In 2002, a
Productivity Commission report that was largely supportive of the
then-new privatised model still warned “many disadvantaged job seekers receive
little assistance … so-called ‘parking’”. That practice still occurs under this
name today, according to employment consultants who spoke to Guardian Australia
for this story.
When a person applies
for Newstart, they are assigned a Jobactive provider and placed into one of
three categories ordered by the level of assistance they might need: streams A,
B and C.
The outlook for the
most-disadvantaged jobseekers is bleak: only a quarter will find work each
year. Overall, 40% of those receiving payments will still be on welfare in two
years. While Jobactive has recorded 1.1 million “placements” since 2015, one in
five people have been in the system for more than five years.
New data provided to
Guardian Australia by the Department of Jobs and Small Business shows about 1.9
million people have participated in Jobactive between July 2015 and 31 January
2019. In that time, 350,000 – or 18% – have been recorded gaining employment
and getting off income support for longer than 26 weeks.
And of those 350,000,
only 35,852 – or 10% – had been classified as disadvantaged in Stream C.
Since Lanyon was placed
on Jobactive, he’s had eight job interviews and sent in about 150 applications.
Eighteen months ago he says he slept in his car and showered at a homeless
shelter after finding work close enough to take but too far away for a daily commute.
He knows his chances of
getting back into work diminish each day he’s out of the workforce.
Thursday 9 May 2019
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