Links to 2009-10 Australian Commonwealth Budget Papers

Graphic from Google Images

The 2009-10 Commonwealth Budget will be released at 7.30pm, Tuesday 12 May 2009
To avoid potential delays accessing the Budget on 12 May due to heavy traffic on the Budget website, please bookmark one of our Budget co-host websites.
Co-hosts for the 2009-10 Commonwealth Budget are:
http://budget.australia.gov.au
http://www.finance.gov.au/commonwealthbudget
http://www.ato.gov.au/budget
http://www.aph.gov.au/budget

From http://www.budget.gov.au

Budget documents can be purchased from CanPrint Communications or state shopfronts.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g the truth for a dubious laugh

The Daily Examiner, 6 May 2009

Is it just me - or does this cartoon figure look suspiciously like Kevin 07 supposedly receiving that $900 cheque from the last economic stimulus package?

Someone needs to remind the cartoonist that Rudd's parliamentary salary alone precludes him from receiving this cheque.

Cap'n Clog to the rescue!

Nationals MP for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker is in the local media again.
This time pledging that he will fight for "the same payment for Coffs and Clarence flood victims that was given to Ingham residents".
Bravo Lukie!

Just don't tell the locals that the $1,000 for each person you are talking about was only for those caught up in a major disaster whose principal place of residence has been destroyed or significantly damaged, home was inaccessible for over 48 hours or more, as well as those who have been seriously injured and hospitalised as a direct result of the floods (according to Centrelink which distributed the funds as Disaster Recovery Payments).
Or remind locals that these Queenslanders were in 36 local government areas declared disaster zones in the one widespread flooding in 2009 and some had been inundated during similar flooding in 2008.
And keep very, very quiet about the fact that low-income earners whose homes has been damaged in the 2009 Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca and Clarence Valley flooding could apply for Personal Hardship and Distress Grants.

In early 2009 the Liberals Ian MacDonald got to his feet in the Senate and eloquently put the case for generous assistance for northern Queensland.
Even Malcolm Turnbull spoke in support of those in northern Queensland.
I can't find any record of Luke Hartsuyker rising to his feet in the House of Reps to plead for local flood victims this year.
Instead he puts out a couple of short press releases in April, writes a letter to Rudd and becomes indignant when it is fielded to the Minister for Community Services.
If he couldn't be bothered to tell Parliament, why would anyone think that he is serious now.
When are our North Coast pollies going to realise that their past inaction is on the Web for all to see at the click of a mouse?

UPDATE:
Over 15 hours after I posted this opinion, Luke Hartsuyker finally asked a question without notice about flood payments:
"My question is to the Prime Minister. Following the recent disaster recovery payments made to residents of Queensland affected by flooding, why has the Prime Minister not acted decisively to provide similar cash payments to victims of recent flooding on the New South Wales North Coast? Has the Prime Minister broken his promise to the Australian people that he will govern for all Australians?"

Is 'The Daily Examiner' the Voice of the Clarence Valley?

The less than totally frank account of Clarence Valley Council's 2009/10 rate structure by the Grafton-based news publication, The Daily Examiner, casts serious doubt on its claim that it is the voice of the Clarence Valley.

For the second year in succession Clarence Valley Council has reduced Grafton's rate levies, leaving ratepayers in the rest of the shire to make up the service cost difference.

But instead of recognising this burden, The Daily Examiner reported on a move to "ease the burden of Grafton and Junction Hill ratepayers..." claiming "Their rates remain the highest in the valley" [DE 8.5.09].

Were they?

Unfortunately this Grafton-based news publication omitted from its list Grafton's average rate, despite giving the average rates of all the other centres of population within the Clarence Valley for 2009/10:-
Farmland avg rate $1036.71
Coastal villages avg res rate $992.23
Yamba/Wooloweyah avg res rate $960.48
Iluka avg res rate $738.65
Maclean/Townsend avg res rate $681.59

Gulmarrad/Woombah etc avg res rate $671.14
Lawrence avg res rate $641.69

The truth is the average Grafton rate is $879.14 and that certainly does not "remain the highest in the valley".
In fact perusal of Clarence Valley Council's past rate structures show that they have never had the highest average rates in the valley.

A news publication with any integrity would have included the average residential rate in Grafton along with the rest of the list provided by Clarence Valley Council.

Therefore any claim by The Daily Examiner that it is the voice of the Clarence Valley must be greeted with scepticism.

The subject of Grafton's rates is not new to The Daily Examiner.

Prior to forced local government amalgamation, The Daily Examiner's 30th November 2001 headline read "COUNCIL CRISIS" reporting Grafton City Council's spending commitment blowout had reduced its working capital from $500,000 to $32,000.

On the 18th June 2003 The Daily Examiner 's headline "Hip pocket nerve" reported Grafton City Council as signing off on a rate hike of 3.25% above the pegged rate 3.60 per cent to fund its lavish abundance of services.
By that time Grafton City Council already had the second highest average rate ($662.00) of local government areas in the region and this further increase above the pegged rate propelled it to the top.
Maclean Shire Council's average rate at that time was lower at $552.00.

Grafton City Council had no-one to blame for its high level of rates but itself.
It had the opportunity to reduce its level of services in line with its income, but chose instead to increase its rates.

However despite its increase in rates, its auditors reported that Grafton City Council was still unable to meet its massive service costs and after raiding its internal reserves of some $900,000 it came into forced amalgamation $412,000 in deficit leaving the Maclean Shire Council surpluses to subsidise it.

But not a word of this situation from the supposed voice of the Clarence Valley, the Grafton-based Daily Examiner's sabres were silent.

The amalgamated Clarence Valley Council's subsequent budgets reveal a rates increase for all population centres except Grafton with no additional services included.
While Grafton received a less proportionate increase with no decrease in services.

The Daily Examiner's omission of Grafton's average rate from its article of the 8th May 2009 and its incorrect claim that Grafton rates "remain the highest in the valley" was not just a failure to be totally frank with its Clarence Valley readers, it left an obvious impression that it is parochially biased and is pushing its own agenda.

As the only daily news publication in the Clarence Valley, The Daily Examiner must surely have an obligation to act responsibly, report facts accurately, be impartial and display the utmost integrity.
Otherwise it has no right to refer to itself as The Voice of the Clarence Valley.

RAY HUNT
Yamba

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.

Blue Dolphin Holiday Resort mystery

The Blue Dolphin Caravan Park Holiday Resort mystery.

Image from HomeHound

There had been rumours drifting on the wind for some time that current and planned Mitchell family partnered developments on the Clarence Coast were not as sought after as was previously anticipated by investors.

Now comes confirmation that all is not rosy in the garden and the possibility that sell-offs are in the air:

In June 2008 we anticipated that there would be some pick up in the residential market but no further sales have been forthcoming for the Stage 1 development. After a number of reviews with the Mitchell family the decision has been made to place the development of Blue Dolphin on hold, since it is unlikely there will be significant demand for coastal resort style residential property for some time. We have therefore not taken possession of Stage 1 of the site or increased the debt facility as originally envisaged in our June 2008 Investor Update.
There have been a number of parties interested in acquiring Blue Dolphin, however the Responsible Entity (RE) has determined that current offers are not in the interests of unitholders. There are five years left on the Freespirit lease, and there is a substantial concept plan approval on the site. The concept plan approval has another 3.5 years to run before a construction certificate will be needed for a substantial commencement of the first stage, and it is expected that the residential market should pick up by mid 2010.

Selling off individual Blue Dolphin cabins does not appear to indicate confidence in the way ahead, but many Yamba residents will welcome the news that the NSW Government-approved proposed overdevelopment of this waterfront site is delayed.

As for other Mitchell interests - according to Mariner Coastal Land Fund (the unlisted property trust) Yamba Waters has unsuccessfully been offered for sale.

It is also understood that, due to the global financial crisis, Babcock and Brown is seeking a buyer for its percentage of the Angourie Rainforest Resort which it apparently accquired in 2006.

Best political image found on a blog this month

Scott from over at GrodsCorp offering someone's $900 economic stimulus cheque, because "Even ideologically confused rabbles deserve a treasury spokesperson".

The economy has gone to the dogs ...

Yes, things are pretty crook ...

but why do cats have to be so dramatic?

Click on image to enlarge

Source: Unknown

Australia may be down but it's not out

Only two more sleeps until the Federal Budget for 2009-10 is revealed.

With most people expecting the worst and mainstream media and Coalition heavies stoking this expectation, it's worthwhile looking at the nearest thing to an unbiased assessment available.

The Reserve Bank statement on 8 May 2009:

"Indicators of domestic activity, information from the Bank's liaison program and business surveys all suggest that the economy has been contracting since late 2008. A significant contraction in GDP is estimated for the first half of 2009, with the peak-to-trough contraction in GDP a little smaller than during the recession in the early 1990s. The economy is forecast to begin to grow from late 2009, although the recovery is expected to be gradual, partly reflecting the slow recovery in global demand (Table 16). In year-average terms, GDP is forecast to decline by ½ per cent in 2009/10 before growing by 2¼ per cent in 2010/11. Factors that would suggest a less severe recession here than in many other countries include the bigger decline in interest rates to end-borrowers, the healthier state of the financial sector, Australia's export mix (a relatively low share of exports of capital goods and high-value manufactures, where global trade has fallen most), the recent recovery in the Chinese economy, and the exchange rate depreciation in the second half of 2008."

Complete statement can be downloaded here.