The member for the Planet of the Apes interjects....

I opened the Clarence Valley Review the other day to find one of those dob-in-a-terrorist-or-the-neighbour-you-don't-like adverts taking up a good half of page 17 in the last issue.
This money wasting exercise featured a tag cloud in the shape of Australia which highlighted such gems as I know this person who has downloaded a lot of documents from suspicious websites and I can't shake the feeling something's wrong.
Well, I thought, what a yawn - the internet filters installed on Federal Parliament PCs seem to feel that half the political blogs written by Australians are suspicious and the President of the Senate and the Black Rod appear to think that all internet activity by elected senators is inherently dangerous.
But then I read the adverts' main blurb; So if you see or hear something that just doesn't feel right, please call the National Security Hotline and keep the information flowing.
Now there's a thought! It's hard not to see and hear things that aren't quite right in Canberra these days, so perhaps I should let my fingers do the walking and inform on...........
Luke Hartsuyker, Nationals MP for Cowper, for this inane remark demonstrating a waste of space; The member for the Planet of the Apes interjects.[House of Reps 29 May 2008]
Tony Abbott, Liberal MP for Warringah, for these bon mots; Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for Shortland is wasting our time raving on about people going surfing. If she has a question to ask the minister, she should ask it. and Mr Deputy Speaker, I am not making any personal aspersions against the member for Maribyrnong. [House of Reps 5 June] and Mr Speaker, I said that she was a liar and I withdraw that. [26 March 2007]
Wilson Tuckey, Liberal MP for O'Connor, for insulting peanuts; Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I want to refer you to standing orders 88, 89, 90 and 91 relating to disorderly conduct. If you want disorderly conduct in this place, let that peanut carry on with matters that have nothing to do with the question. [House of Reps 18 June]
Malcolm Turnbull, Liberal MP for Wentworth, for the crime of over-explanation; Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation. [House of Reps 19 June] and Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation [19 June] and again Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation [17 March] and yet again Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation. [12 March]
Julie Bishop, Liberal MP for Curtin, for copying Malcolm Turnbull's homework: Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation [House of Reps 19 June] and Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation. [18 June]
Brendan Nelson, Liberal MP for Bradfield, for his daffy ways and disrespectfully using the term "silly idiot"; Mr Speaker, just to assist you: if I have said anything at all which is in any way offensive to the Deputy Prime Minister, I withdraw. [House of Reps 18 June]

* A big thankyou to the four blokes and a sheila at OpenAustralia who have just made hunting political snipe that much easier! And quite seriously, have made Hansard searches a little less daunting when looking for your local member's contribution to debate.

Predator Tweed needs rubbing out

The Australian Government would do well to take a big stick to predatory share trader David Tweed and others whose actions suggest they possess morals akin to those of ally cats.

Tweed, who changed his name by deed poll from David Tschernitz, preys on shareholders who have little awareness of the value of shares they own.

Tweed's companies, which include Direct Share Purchasing Corporation (DSPC), obtain copies of companies' share registers that show the names and addresses of shareholders and then use a mass-mailing strategy and post unsolicited offers buy shareholders' stocks for less than market value.

The Australian reports Tweed has had a victory in the Federal Court with a ruling that he can buy copies of share registers for a fraction of the cost of producing them.

Tweed's DSPC took legal action against financial group Axa Asia Pacific Holdings, alleging Axa had overcharged for a copy of its share register.

Axa argued that it was merely passing on the $17,195.39 charge levied by registrar Computershare, but judge Ray Finkelstein ruled on Thursday that this was not a reasonable amount and that Axa could charge only $250.

Axa has been ordered to refund $16,945.39 to Mr Tweed and pay his legal costs.

The decision removes one of the few barriers between Mr Tweed and the small shareholders he regularly targets with unsolicited offers to buy their stock for less than market value.

A brief lesson in humility for our political leaders

"kevin rudd" "brendan nelson" "god"

With populism, political expediency, paternalism and pomposity continuing to be the order of the day in Canberra, Google Trends offers a different perspective from the perennial opinion polls.
Full worldwide breakdown here.

Iemma jacks up electricity price ahead of planned privatisation of NSW power industry and pensioners shiver

NSW North Coast low-income earners, retirees and pensioners can expect their household electricity bills to rise by between $31 and $90 a year on average depending on which power company supplies the house.
This represents a rise of around 4.8 to 8.5 per cent, commencing on 1 July 2008.

With the inevitable network charges/service costs rise which would accompany the Iemma Government's planned privatisation and the expected steep rise in actual cost of electricity per kilowatt hour when emissions trading comes into being, North Coast residents may soon find that this essential service is moving beyond the limits of their pocket books.

Water use costs have also risen, so that in another four years it is likely that the Centrelink utility allowance will make barely a mark on the average household electricity and water bills of the elderly or disabled.

Many North Coast residents are permanent renters and therefore cannot take advantage of renewable energy rebates for energy saving systems which their landlords currently have no incentive to have installed in the first place.
The only option, for many elderly or chronically ill people surviving on low incomes, will be to cease making themselves hot meals or heating their homes on those cold winter nights.

Thanks, Messrs. Iemma and Costa and, thanks in advance to Mr. O'Farrell as it is obvious that the Liberal-Nationals Coalition intends to join in selling us all down the river to assist those big business political donors.

Photograph from ABC News

Whatever happened to the Aquanator? The sad history of 'green' technology in the Northern Rivers

The Australian reported last Friday that the Ballina-based company Permo-drive, which is developing a hybrid drive system for trucks, may be going into voluntary liquidation leaving 1,900 shareholders in the lurch.
The company had apparently placed considerable reliance on receiving up to $5 million in a grant from government and blames the Rudd Government for its current financial woes.

This put me in mind of the Aquanator, another NSW North Coast 'green' venture developed by Atlantis Energy Ltd based in the Clarence Valley at Maclean.
This company received considerable assistance from the then Howard Government by way of tax deferral, but quickly fell off the local radar thereafter.
It was also given support by prominent North Coast Nationals.

The technology is now formally owned by the Singapore-based Atlantis Resources Corporation, which does not indicate that this particular form of wave energy technology has been commercially established anywhere.
However the Victorian Government has allowed a 5-year longer term trial of the Aquanator which started in March 2008.

Coincidentally, the Aquanator was also a project of Permo-drive inventor, Matthew Perry, who had a very different view in 2004.
Then he was reported in The Sydney Morning Herald; "Mr Perry's first job as an auto-electrician led to his first successful invention in 1998, a device known as the Permo-Drive, which can cut fuel consumption by up to 40 per cent by capturing and storing energy normally wasted in the hydraulic braking systems of heavy trucks.
The system is manufactured under licence in the United States, has been adopted by the US Army for its huge fleet of heavy trucks, and is at present being tested by the US Postal Service."

Although it's unfortunate that Kevin Rudd has so easily abandoned alternative energy development as a genuine national priority, the situation for local entrepreneurs is a lot more complex than simply one of the level of government support.
I think that Federal Labor MP for Page, Janelle Saffin is right - you can't blame the government for these problems.

Possum Comitatus nails it on the preferred PM nonsense

From Possum Pollytics today.

The Preferred PM rating is essentially a meaningless beauty contest which has no statistical bearing on the vote. It either moves with changes in voting intention and satisfaction ratings, or lags behind them, and the relationship between the vote and the PPM is pretty tight as far as polling relationships go.----

Nelsons PPM is where we would expect it to be with him leading a party currently experiencing a 19 point TPP vote gap.

 

Google Trends: Obama outranks God in 2008

A little bit of weekend silliness courtesy of Google Trends.
From Washington to Raleigh, English-speaking American internet users were more interested in Barack Obama than looking for God.
Whereas God did John McCain down every time.
Has Google predicted the outcome of the 2008 US presidential race?

*Obama *God