The Clarence Valley Famous Five continue to suffer fallout after caving in to McDonald's Australia

Letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner on 5 June 2010:

Who does CVC represent?

FIVE Clarence Valley Councillors need reminding of who they represent.

I would like to make a comment in regard to Cr Pat Comben's McDonald's opinion and the general McDonald's issue.

First of all, congratulations to the three young men from Yamba, who along with the Yamba Chamber of Commerce, stepped outside their comfort zone and drove the "No McDonald's" campaign.

Community campaigns and lobbying at a grassroots level take great courage, time and effort and usually come with a steep learning curve. To the uninitiated who blindly believe we have numerous rights soon find out that a lot of those rights are, in actual fact, constantly being eroded away by our very own local, state and federal governments and corporate greed.

We also had the Yamba Chamber of Commerce, who represent the local Yamba business community and has an obligation to its members, also involved in this campaign. Nobody knows or loves the Yamba business community better than they do and council's "Yes" decision is a slap in the face to them. The chamber would have not gone down the campaign road unless it had the support of its own members.

What I find interesting from a community perspective is those people involved in trying to save the Grafton and Maclean hospitals must be shaking their heads and wondering how to harness the energy of those 6000 people who made their feelings known about McDonald's in Yamba when they can only muster a couple hundred for their issue.

The good news is we need to be reminded there are numerous examples from around the world and Australia that people power is still alive and well and can move mountains, stop wars, affect change and bring governments and companies to account. The trick is to inspire people to stop being armchair critics and apathetic and become involved in their community.

Now for Cr Comben's comment. A former Queensland Cabinet Minister in the Goss era, Cr Comben obviously hasn't read his own "councillor guide", published by the NSW Department of Local Government in co-operation with the Local Government Association of NSW and the Shires Association of NSW when elected to Clarence Valley Council.

Cr Comben's comment: "The view of some individuals that councillors or any elected representative must vote as the majority of the ratepayers or electors wish... is not a requirement of Australian democracy", maybe that is how Queenslanders think and do things, however, it appears that is not the preferred style within NSW.

Excerpt 2.1 - Roles and Responsibilities of a councillor: "To represent the interests of residents and ratepayers, provide leadership and guidance to the community, facilitate communication between the community and the council. A councillor's role as a democratically elected representative provides an essential link between the community and council."

In my humble opinion, CVC and the five councillors who voted "yes" have been negligent in their duty of care to the Yamba constituents and the Yamba Chamber of Commerce involved in this matter by not enabling the Local Government Act 1993, which contains important mechanisms to enable a council to more formally consult with its community.

For example, a council may conduct a poll on an important issue to get an understanding of the community's views on a matter. Consultation is a mechanism to assist councillors to understand and incorporate the public will and community concerns into decision-making.

From the outset, CVC knew this was a contentious issue. Surely it would have been in the public and community interest to conduct a poll, public meeting or at the very least an education campaign as to what legal framework was available that could have been adopted to assist the Yamba community to resolve this issue in a more amicable fashion.

DEBRAH NOVAK, Yamba

Chris Hazell wins another regional art prize

A LOCAL identity in the art scene, Chris Hazell, has won a regional art prize by painting a local icon, Wayne Whitney. Chris took out the inaugural Northern Rivers Portrait Prize People's Choice Award through the Lismore Art Gallery for her portrait, titled Unsung.

Last year Chris took out first prize in the Grafton Art Club's 41st Jacaranda Art Exhibition with Puppet Master.

Image and quote from The Daily Examiner

Ned the Bear does national emergencies

It's always a bridesmaid and never the bride for Kevin Rudd when it comes to hosting a visit Down Under from U.S. President Barack Obama and naughty Ned the Bear takes full advantage of the situation. :-D
"He's cranky. He's orange. He's a cartoon bear." And he's here.

Those bl@@dy godbotherers and the Barclay Bros are at it again

Why is it that people who belong to certain long-established religions want to rule the world?
Here they are - at it again. And don't be fooled by the picture or the plea.
What this European group is really after in the long-term is for all ISPs around the world to keep records of every website you visit, page you open and image you download - then hand info it over to government on demand.

Of course they're not the only ones busily trying to create easily identifiable cyber profiles where none existed before.
Take a look at the Barclay brothers latest effort which is being sent out to frequent and one-time commenters on the U.K. Tele's online pages:
"Today we have released a new system that makes it easier to follow conversations across the website and gives every reader a profile."

Driver of golf buggy really blew it

NSW Police report that a man has been charged after allegedly being caught driving a golf buggy whilst intoxicated at Yamba on the state’s Far North Coast.

About 8.50pm yesterday (Friday 4 June 2010), patrolling police saw a golf buggy being driven north on Clarence Street towards the Pilot Street intersection.

It will be alleged a 51-year-old Yamba male then drove the buggy to the kerb on the road’s northern side and attempted to mount the gutter. The buggy was not equipped with head lamps, brake lights, or turn signals. The man was stopped by police and breath-tested, returning a positive reading of 0.135.

He was taken to Yamba Police Station and issued a Field Court Attendance Notice (FCAN) for drive with middle range PCA, and use unregistered vehicle on road. Police also suspended the man’s driving licence.

Source: NSW Police

How we feel about privacy for politicians

Excerpt from the Essential Report on 31 May 2010:

Media Coverage of Politicians' Private Live

Q. There have been some recent situations where a politician has resigned from their position or their party after some aspects of their sexual behaviour were made public by the media. Is it appropriate for the media to reveal details of a political figure's private life?

A majority (54%) believe it is appropriate for the media to reveal details of a political figure's personal life in some or all circumstances. 12% think details should be revealed in all circumstances and 42% in some circumstances. 38% say details of a political figure's personal life should not be revealed at all. 64% of Liberal/National voters and 50% of Labor voters approved revealing details of political figure's personal life in some or all circumstances. Greens voters were split 50% some/all, 50% not at all. There were no substantial demographic differences.

If answered "in some circumstances" –

Q. Is it appropriate for the media to reveal details of a political figure's private life in any of the following circumstances?

The majority of those who approved revealing details in some circumstances agreed that details could be revealed where there is a public interest due to impact on the politician's work or taxpayers' resources (92%) or where the politician has acted in a way clearly at odds with their publicly expressed views (88%). However, revealing details where a politician's personal choices are unusual or not considered mainstream was only acceptable to 20%.

K-K-Keneally gets the snake eye

This ABC News piece is probably the kindest comment on NSW Premier Kristina K. Keneally's management style:

New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has defended her level of spending on privately chartered jets, entertainment and staff redundancies since taking the top job.

The Opposition has obtained documents detailing $4 million in spending within the Premier's office since December.

It includes $120,000 on flights around Australia, many of them privately chartered, as well as $1,200 on entertainment and $1.2 million on staff redundancies.

New South Wales Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell says it is an exorbitant figure.

"Well it's not justified to take two chartered aircraft at a cost of $40,000 to Armidale when there are scheduled services to those areas," he said.

But Ms Keneally maintains the spending is justified, especially the travel spending.

"I make no apology whatsoever for getting out across the length and breadth of this state," she said.

She has rejected suggestions the spending was designed to boost her public profile.

While The Herald Sun added some meat to the tale:

"The figures show Ms Keneally has spent over $120,000 flying around Australia, including on privately chartered jets and helicopters. By contrast, Mr Rees spent about $80,000 on flights, including less than $70,000 for chartered planes.

Other expenses have included more than $100,000 in rent for private car-parking in the Sydney CBD, $32,000 on mobile phones and $222 on books.

There was also a $72.50 laundry bill for towels in Ms Keneally's personal bathroom in Governor Macquarie Tower.

Another $1200 was spent on "entertainment" - mainly food at restaurants and in-house catering.

The bill also includes a $1.2 million payout to around 26 staff made redundant after Ms Keneally took the top job.

The staff, who worked for Mr Rees, included senior Labor media advisers Tim Gleason and Aaron Ross, policy hound Davina Langton and Labor political strategist Graeme Wedderburn.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal Mr Wedderburn's payout, estimated to be $160,000, triggered an investigation by the Auditor General's Office into ministerial payouts, and Government sources say the yet-to-be released report recommends future payouts be subject to greater tax."

By 2 June there was another hiccup for Ms. Keneally's hard-pressed PR team:

"NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has admitted she failed to declare free airline upgrades for her children during a trip to the US in 2008.
But Ms Keneally said she made no apology for failing to declare the upgrades, given by Qantas, saying the issue of free upgrades for politicians was a "grey area".

Photo from The Sydney Morning Herald

When a water spout becomes a tornado: spare a thought for Lennox Head on the NSW North Coast today

ABC News online:
Police say it is a miracle no-one was killed when a tornado smashed into the New South Wales north coast town of Lennox Head this morning.Twelve houses were destroyed and debris was sent flying when the storm, which one witness said hit "like a bomb", careered in off the sea about 7:30am.

Numerous caravans were also tipped over and an estimated 2,000 homes left without power.

The following images are from ABC News, The Sydney Morning Herald and Channel Nine News. All were apparently captured by local residents and holidaymakers on the spot. They deserve credit for keeping the 'new' in regional news and the 'current' in current affairs programs which mention the Northern Rivers area.

More tornado photographs courtesy of The Northern Star here.

Rio Tinto releases more RSPT spin and now I'm getting annoyed

Like many other observers of the political scene, I've been waiting on Rio Tinto releasing those figures it has been proclaiming would show that the proposed Resources Super Profits Tax was really the economic ogre the Coalition and mining industry said it was.

Well the media release is out and running across the mainstream media.
But the Rio Tinto wording is rather curious.......

"Corporate taxes amounted to A$14.6 billion and royalties were A$5.7 billion in the period 2000-2009. Rio Tinto's rate of taxation over the 10 years to 2009 averaged 35.6 per cent of its earnings before tax payments in Australia."

Huh? Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese and friends are calculating the tax rate on the mining multinational's global business enterprise, not the rate it actually pays in Australia?
A global business that earned around US$50.53 billion between 1999 to 2008 according to Rio's own 2008 financial statement and, had a combined profit after tax in 2007 & 2008 of US$12.35 billion on combined earnings of US$37.48 (before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation -restated) for the same two years.

Interestingly, at the time of writing Advfin Australia lists Rio's effective tax rate for the last twelve months as 26.4 per cent.

When it comes to its Australian mining interests we are told that its tax direct tax obligations were A$20.3 billion between 2000-2009 (across its 19 operating mines and smelters etc.) and that Rio Tinto has generated net profit after tax of A$37.4 billion in Australia in the 10 years to 2009.

Hold on - didn't the company write off that A$5.7 billion in royalties as business costs?

After all, Under the Total Tax Contribution framework, petroleum resource rent tax is included as a tax whereas extraction royalties are not treated as a tax. (Refer "Survey for the Business Council of Australia and the Corporate Tax Association").

And didn't the 2007 Business Council of Australia survey also find that Taxes Collected are negative for the mining industry group because as major exporters survey participants reported a significant GST refund which more than offset other Taxes Collected?

I'm sorry Mr. Albanese, I just can't dredge up any sympathy for the mining giant you represent.
Try as I might I can find no justification for the average 35.6 per cent tax figure you complain about.

The bottom line is that I'm more inclined to believe the Federal Treasurer's estimation that; "In Australia, wholly-domestic mining companies paid an effective tax rate of only 17 per cent and multinational mining companies paid an effective tax rate of only 13 per cent".
Because these are somewhat similar percentages to those my own calculator spits out (without benefit of Shakelford and Markle).

Nor do I believe all the gloom and doom Rio Tinto predicts; with regard to this week's annual general meeting it was reported that "China's demand for iron ore, copper, coal and aluminium is expected to continue to grow over the next 15 years, after which time we expect to see increasing commodity demand from India," Mr du Plessis said. Mr Albanese said industrialisation, urbanisation and increased productivity would double demand for iron ore, aluminium and copper in that time.

In fact the longer Rio Tinto and the rest of the mining industry continue this tawdry exercise in spinning figures the more irritated I've become and, that irritation may inform my federal election vote later this year.

Australian Securities Exchange graph of Rio Tinto monthly share activity over ten years: