Tuesday, 10 October 2023

Five days out from the Australian 2023 national referendum *WARNING this post contains examples of offensive language*

 

As Australia reaches five days out from the 2023 national referendum on including in its foundational Constitution the provision for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Voice to Parliament - for the record and in no particular order a window on the public debate via X/Twitter. 

In which those supporting the "No" position chose to repeat political lies, untruths, deliberate errors of fact, conspiracy theories and debunked urban myths, while Indigenous voices are speaking their truth sometimes with an edge of humour and "Yes" supporters struggling to be polite, on occasion failing but also displaying quirky humour, made their point:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Monday, 9 October 2023

Feels good to say "Yes". You comin'?

 

@banksyliveshere #voicetoparliament #voteyes #yes23 #dont #voteno #undecided #referendum2023 #ulurustatement #writeyes #everydayyes #youcomin #sayyes ♬ original sound - banksyliveshere

 

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Sunday, 8 October 2023

Surf's Up on NSW North Coast - but so are drownings

 

So Winter has turned to a warmer than usual Spring and a hotter than normal Summer is expected.


Here on the NSW North Coast it means that the number of people - locals and visitors - on the beaches and in the surf or swimming in quieter waters of river mouths and estuaries, is likely to be high this year.


However, it does well to remember that Australian Summer drowning deaths for 2022/23 were the highest for the last 3 years and we all need to take care that we don't become part of those statistics in 2023/24


In the three months between 1 December 2022 and 28 February 2023, 50 per cent of all drowning deaths that occurred across Australia were in coastal waterways (beaches, oceans, harbours and rocks) and 55 per cent of all drowning deaths occurred on weekends and public holidays.


The majority of drowning deaths from all causes in that three months were people aged between 0 to 64 years of age, with the average age for drowning deaths during the heatwave period being est. 52 years.


And it seems in New South Wales we need to take notice of every water safety rule we were ever taught. 


A worrying 40 per cent of all drowning happened in New South Wales as well as 31 per cent of all drowning deaths over the 9 day Christmas-New Year period 25 Dec 2022-2 Jan 2023.


A total of 55 coastal drowning deaths occurred in the state, with 45 per cent at the beach and 13 per cent off shore.


The Echo, 4 October 2023:


With the Surf Life Saving (SLSC) NSW season now underway (September 23, 2023 – April 25, 2024), the Byron Bay Surf Lifesaving Club are urging the community to be safety aware on beaches and waterways.


And both the Byron and Bruns Surf Lifesaving clubs are appealing for recruits to help make the beaches safe this summer.


‘Choosing a patrolled beach and swimming between the flags is the safest way to enjoy the ocean, and can save a life’, says Byron Club President, Paul Pattison. ‘Don’t forget to raise your hand if you’re in difficulty, so you can be seen.’


High drowning stats

‘In summer of 2022/23, there were 54 coastal drowning deaths, all of which occurred at unpatrolled locations. This equates to six drowning deaths every ten days of summer.


‘Byron Shire has recorded one of the highest numbers of coastal drowning deaths since 2013–23, and is now considered a blackspot (an area with a high probability/risk of ongoing reoccurrence).


‘Our coastline is a popular destination for tourists, and it’s essential to improve community awareness of our patrolled beaches.


‘We are hoping to recruit a further 20 patrol members to keep our beaches safe this summer. Members of the community who are interested in, or have previously held their bronze medallion are being encouraged to connect with their local surf club’, Pattison said.


To get involved, visit byronbaysurfclub.org and www.brunswickslsc.org.



BACKGROUND


ROYAL LIFE SAVING SUMMER DROWNING REPORT 2022/23


Every day one person died from drowning across summer, with a surge of deaths during the heat wave in February and a tragic Christmas – New Year holiday week pushing numbers up, the Royal Life Saving Summer Drowning Toll has revealed.


Last year flood-related drowning deaths caused a spike in deaths in February, but this year’s February death toll was even higher – with 31 deaths – despite there not being large-scale flooding in urban areas in 2023.


In total, 90 people lost their lives in Australian waterways and swimming pools between 1 December 2022 and 28 February 2023.


Tragically, 10 per cent of all drowning deaths this year were rescues gone wrong.


Royal Life Saving Society – Australia Chief Executive Officer Justin Scarr said the trends this year were deeply concerning.


“Last year was the worst year on record for summer drowning and we had hoped there would be a significant drop given there was fewer intense flood events this year, but drowning numbers are still too high,” Mr Scarr said.


“It’s supposed to be the happiest time of year, but between Christmas Day and January 2, when people gathered together across Australia 22 people drowned. That’s 22 families, friends and communities whose summer became a period of mourning.


“The heatwave in February also caused a spike in drowning, with 17 per cent of all drowning deaths over summer attributable to that six-day period.


“So many communities were affected by drowning this year, with significant increases in drowning in all states except for Queensland and Tasmania.


“Royal Life Saving continues to promote the need for local drowning prevention and water safety plans, targeting known drowning blackspots.


“We know that this is the tip of the iceberg. Many more non-fatal drowning incidents are likely to have occurred that aren’t recorded in publicly accessible data and so remain invisible.


“We need to get more people in our community getting back into their local pools brushing up on their skills, doing their Bronze Medallion if they’re planning to be at unpatrolled locations including rivers and lakes, and getting their children into learn to swim classes.”


For a full breakdown of NSW drownings in 2022, see: 

https://www.surflifesaving.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/2022-Surf-Life-Saving-NSW-Coastal-Safety-Report.pdf


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Saturday, 7 October 2023

Nickname of the Week


Tuberführer Dutton 

IMAGE: The Guardian, 14.01.23


AKA Captain Kipfler, sometimes officially styled Leader of the Loyal Opposition Peter Craig Dutton Liberal MP for Dickson (Qld) since November 2001. [Source: @KimCarrera007]

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Tweet of the Week

 

 

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Friday, 6 October 2023

Is social media platform "X" now a financial blackhole threatening to consumer its investors & 'inconvenience' its bankers?

 

Reuters, 4 October 2023:


NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - X is still worth something, but not for the people running it. Boss Linda Yaccarino is set to present her plans for the social network formerly known as Twitter to bankers holding nearly $13 billion of its debt, the Financial Times reported. Looming over talks is the likelihood that X’s value is substantially less than even that figure.


This week’s meeting with seven banks led by Morgan Stanley (MS.N) that supported Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the platform caps off a tumultuous first four months for Yaccarino, a former advertising executive at Comcast-owned (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal. That includes a contentious interview last week in which she seemed caught off-guard by Musk’s announced ambition to charge X users a monthly fee to combat bots.


Despite Musk’s big pronouncements about pushing into subscriptions, X has historically relied on advertising, which contributed over 90% of revenue when it was a public company. But that business is spiraling, and the platform’s shifting policies could threaten more branding deals. In July, Musk posted that cash flow was negative because of a 50% drop in advertising sales.


The apparent strategic disconnect between the company’s ad-focused chief executive and its subscription-hungry owner comes as valuations are falling. TikTok parent ByteDance was recently valued at $224 billion, down by about a quarter from a year ago, the Information reported. Disappearing messaging app Snap’s (SNAP.N) market value has slumped by more than 10% over the past year.


Put it all together, and X isn’t just worth less than Musk paid for it, but likely less than its debt. Assume that the company’s revenue last year was $4.7 billion, based on results before it was taken private. If advertising has dropped by half, then this year’s sales should be a bit over $2.5 billion. Put that on the same enterprise-value-to-sales multiple as Snap, which is down to a mere 3 times, and X is worth around $8 billion.


The company is so far covering its hefty interest payments of $300 million per quarter, and Yaccarino sees profitable days ahead. But between Musk’s impromptu product shifts and the need to woo back advertisers, her task is daunting. If things deteriorate further, the company’s bankers - already nursing billions in on-paper losses - face the prospect of taking back the keys to a diminished platform that is worth less than even their claim on it. Like a financial black hole, X threatens to consume most of whatever value it once had.


(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)



The seven banks which reportedly facilitated Musk’s US$13 billion loan arrangements so that he could purchase Twitter Inc/“Twitter” now known as X Corp/“X”:


Bank of America

Barclays

BNP Paribas - $6.5 billion term loan facility

Mizuho - $500 million revolving loan facility

Morgan Stanley - $3 billion secured bridge loans

MUFG - $3 billion unsecured bridge loans

Societe Generale. 

[Reuters, 7 October 2023]



BACKGROUND


USA Today, 4 October 2023, excerpt:


X, formerly known as Twitter, has lost most of the guardrails it once had. Massive employee cuts, in particular, to content moderation teams, more divisive content, the removal of state-affiliated media labels, and a blind allegiance to free speech by Elon Musk have made the platform much more susceptible to misinformation and disinformation. COVID, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the 2024 election are all vulnerable topics…..


Dana Taylor:


Pivoting to the 2024 US presidential election, there are quite a few nefarious forces out there including both state and non-state actors who are chipping away at American's confidence in election integrity and would like nothing more than to see the US democracy fail. Elon Musk also recently announced he was cutting X'S global election integrity team in half. Is it looking worse than 2020? And if so, how?


Josh Meyer:


For the story that I wrote, I talked to a lot of experts in, I do think there was a tremendous amount of concern that this could be the worst one ever. Hopefully that won't be the case, but we have a lot of state run actors now. We've got China, Iran, and, of course, Russia looking to meddle in the election. You've got a lot of right-wing extremist groups doing it. Some of the security information specialists that I talked to said you even have kids in their parents' basement who could manipulate things…..


According to Fiber in 2021 there were 5.8 million Twitter users in Australia.



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Thursday, 5 October 2023

The saying ‘start as you mean to go on’ has acquired a darker meaning under the new Clarence Valley Council Mayor


Clarence Valley Council Ordinary Monthly Meeting 
26 September 2023
Mayor Peter Johnstone in the Chair


 

The first order of business at the Clarence Valley Council Ordinary Monthly Meeting of 26 September 2023 was the mid-term election of a mayor.


So that quite sensibly, if there was a change as to which councillor held the office, the new mayor would chair the remainder of the monthly meeting.


Thus twenty-one minutes into the meeting by a margin of one vote Cr. Peter Johnstone became the new mayor. This was followed by election of the Deputy Mayor, Cr. Jeff Smith.


After these votes the meeting immediately became interesting.


It seems unbeknownst to the general public that morning as Cr. Johnstone, Mayor Johnstone had sent a notice to the other eight councillors that he intended to make a notice of motion rejecting the tender for Regional Aquatic Facility (Grafton Pool Redevelopment).


So when he as Chair requested that Item ITEM 07.23.184 RFT22/41 be brought forward to be considered as the first item of business, he appeared to do so on the pretext that there were a number of residents & ratepayers in the visitors seats who were there to hear council’s decision concerning this tender. A tender which council officers had formerly recommended be accepted as set out in the 26 September Business Paper.


Cr. Day called the item and Mayor Johnstone requested Day to put forward “his motion” which called for rejection of the tender for the Grafton Pool Redevelopment.


The Day motion was as follows:


That Council as Crown Land Manager of Grafton Westward and General Douglas MacArthur Park Reserve

(R540035):

1. Decline to accept the tender offers for RFT22/41 Regional Aquatic Facility (Grafton Olympic Pool) as

the tenders received were higher than anticipated.

2. Revise the Aquatic Centre project to begin with:

a. replacement of the 50m pool (stage 2),

b. demolition of the existing dive pool and 50m pool and importing fill as required to make the

ground flat,

c. the completion of the other works for which grant funding has already been received,

d. and any other matters that will need to be completed to ensure the operation of the new 50m

pool.

3. Defer commencement of the remainder of the project until after the election of the next council.

4. Prepare a report for the October Ordinary Council Meeting setting out the expected timescale and

recommendations for the completion of the project as set out in item 2.

5. Receive a report at each subsequent Ordinary Council Meeting on the progress of the project until

completion.


In the middle of reading of the motion there was some interjection from the gallery at the point where further consideration of full redevelopment of the site was to be deferred until after the next local government election in September 2024, with no direction to seek another tender for work in the interim set out in Point 2. 


Understandable, given the gallery was peopled by around 40 residents/ratepayers who mostly either firmly supported the Regional Aquatic Facility, had made deputations and/or organised a community petition seeking a positive council decision concerning redevelopment of the community pool site. 


Johnstone barked out “Order” in a best parade ground voice, followed by a somewhat inaudible sentence. Some minutes later he made a second request that the audience “keep silent please”.


After reading of the motion was completed Cr. Novak appeared to notice that the wording of Cr. Day’s motion closely resembled the notice of motion sent out that morning by Johnson and sought confirmation of this fact. Johnson confirmed it was indeed “the same motion” he had sent out.


Cr. Toms then fairly efficiently dissected what was essentially the Mayor’s motion and Johnstone refused to answer a question put to him by this councillor.


Cr. Pickering also called the Mayor out as to the late timing of the motion, but it was Cr. Whaites who called a spade a spade when she asked Johnstone did he wait to introduce the motion at this time because he anticipated using the mayoral casting vote “to not do what our community wants – yes or no”.


Johnstone refused to answer, ending the exchange with Whaites on the words “when the mayor’s speaking you will not speak”. Audible laughter could be heard from the gallery at that point.


Cr. Toms continued to question Johnstone’s understanding of the role of mayor once Council in the Chamber had already made a lawful decision to proceed with the full redevelopment of the Grafton Pool site.


As the formal debate of the motion played out Johnstone reminded the gallery that he could order its members be removed. Given the mild nature and short duration of gallery interjections during this monthly meeting Johnstone’s attitude was somewhat puzzling.


Before it came time to vote on what by then every councillor was accepting as being Johnstone’s motion not Day’s, the motion was called “a farce, a joke, and it’s making a mockery of the entire process” by one councillor and “it’s slow-minded and it’s short-sighted” by another councillor.


At times the ongoing debate became rather tense but remained essentially civil, nevertheless Johnstone accused Cr. Novak of something like an “act of disorder”. Again quiet laughter could be heard from the gallery.


A meeting recess was called which went on for about 5 minutes. After which the Mayor effectively gagged further debate, with the exception of himself. He spoke to his own slyly delivered motion.


In the end Mayor Johnstone’s motion was voted down five votes to three – only Johnstone, Day And Clancy supporting that motion to reject the tender.


Cr. Pickering having earlier foreshadowed the original council officers motion this was then put as follows:


COUNCIL RESOLUTION - 07.23.184

Pickering/Novak


OFFICER RECOMMENDATION


That Council, as Crown Land Manager of Grafton Westward and General Douglas MacArthur Park

Reserve (R540035):

1. accept the tender from Hines Construction Pty Ltd for RFT22/41 Regional Aquatic Facility (Grafton Pool Redevelopment) at a cost of $29,141,586 (GST Inclusive) to be funded in accordance with the funding strategy – Attachment B.

2. accept the schedule of rates submitted from Hines Construction Pty Ltd for the earthworks, total

cost to be calculated based on actual quantities as determined by a geotechnical engineer during the project works.

3. delegate authority to the General Manager to approve appropriately deemed variations to the Contract and those variations be reported to Council within the Quarterly Budget Review Statement (QBRS) once the Contract is finalised.


Voting recorded that motion carried as follows:

For - Johnstone, Novak, Pickering, Smith, Tiley, Toms, Whaites

Against - Clancy, Day.


One can be forgiven for suspecting that Clarence Valley Council may have chosen the wrong person to lead it for the next 12 months.



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