People power saves the day in the Lower Clarence

Lower Clarence residents (particularly those living in Maclean) were rejoicing this week as a grass roots campaign, to stop Clarence Valley Council selling a vital public car park and adjoining green space, proved successful.

On Wednesday of this week, by a vote of 5 to 3, Council decided not to go ahead with offering the land for sale.
Those five shire councillors who opposed the sale are commended for their good sense.

Cr. Ian Tiley deserves individual mention for his speech against the sale which had the visitors gallery break into spontaneous applause.

All who took part in this successful demonstration of people power deserve a pat on the back.
Meetings, letters to the editor, emails and phone calls to councillors, submissions to council - all played a huge part in the outcome.

In particular, Ian McLennan worked hard to gather support from the Maclean community, as well as conducting a survey over a 2hr period in the park - with 74 of 91 surveyed opposing the sale.

Congratulations also to Janet Purcell for her determined effort to get the word around.

See history here and here.
The Daily Examiner article here.

Possum Comitiatus on the national economy

Possum Comitatus writing in Crikey last Tuesday:

The economy is lukewarm to tepid, but not dead.

For a country supposedly in the middle of an economic crisis so grave that it cannot be described without the obligatory passing mention of the Great Depression, yesterday’s ABS retail turnover figures were hardly the stuff of nightmares.

At worst, the national economy appears to be treading water. At best, the national economy appears to be treading water. We might not actually be going anywhere, but it’s a pretty good outcome when you consider that expectations play a sizeable role when it comes to the willingness of people to open their wallets, and the last 6 months of media coverage framing those expectations has been the equivalent of some nutter standing on the corner banging on about the end of the world being nigh......

Retail turnover data is the least worst measure we have when it comes to the rubber hitting the road of the real economy in terms of how money is flowing out of people’s wallets and into the nation’s cash registers. What it shows at its most basic level is that some States are faring better than others as the financial crisis has increased the spread of retail activity between States, highlighting the disparity in economic activity driven by regional factors across Australia....

If NSW wasn’t such a basket-case, the national figures would be looking quite spiffy all things considered. We don’t so much have an economic crisis as we a NSW crisis.

It will be interesting to see if the Rudd Government's one-off payments to self-funded retirees, pensioners, familes and low-income earners (due in December) will actually lift NSW up to the 0.0 line on the graph.

Kevin Rudd discovers Blogotariat

So much to see, so much to do - sometimes a poor blogger misses the most exciting moments.

Fresh from his venture on Twitter, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd now has his KevinPM.com.au blog registered on the Blogotariat.

On 17 November he left a little calling card on his blog excitingly called; Message from the G20.

Days before that on 13 November he deposited; Kevin PM, "Welcome to KevinPM, where we can communicate about the big challenges confronting Australia".

Yep, Rudders is about as exciting as watching paint dry and his team of pithy ghostwriters is not much better.

Still there always the Twitter 'no clean feed' pixies gently protesting his tweets to amuse folk like me.

Saffin hosts climate change information night for Northern Rivers, Ballina 21 November 2008

From The Northern Rivers Echo today:

Page MP Janelle Saffin is holding a public forum on climate change to provide a local perspective on one of the biggest issues facing the Northern Rivers, Australia and the world.

The forum, Climate Change: A Regional Perspective, will be held in the Richmond Room, Regatta Avenue, at the rear of the Ballina Public Library on Friday, November 21, from 5.30pm until 7.30pm.

The keynote speaker is Southern Cross University's Head of the School of Environmental Science and Management, Professor Jerry Van Clay.

Ms Saffin said the forum would be an opportunity to hear a world-renowned expert on natural resource management and sustainability explain the possible implications of climate change for people living in the Northern Rivers.

She said Professor Vanclay would also discuss the Rudd Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper, which we released in July, and economist Professor Ross Garnaut's Climate Change Review.

Northern Rivers Social Development Council finds Rees mini-budget lacklustre

This media release more or less says it all about the NSW Government mini-budget. Lacklustre Budget Fails To Inspire

Northern Rivers Social Development Council has welcomed today's NSW Budget announcements on new infrastructure but expressed disappointment at the lack of spending on key priorities for the region. According to NRSDC President, Jenny Dowell, there are some positives in the Budget. 'The region will receive a $1Million increase in funding for community transport. This will go some way towards meeting the needs of older people and those living with disability,' Ms Dowell said. 'We welcome new funding for health infrastructure including the modest boost to acute mental health services – this is badly needed in our region,' said Ms Dowell. 'We are also relieved that the government will provide indexation of 3.3% to disability services and NGOs funded by the Department of Community Services. This will help vital community organisations maintain current services against high inflation,' Ms Dowell said. 'However, we are very worried that non-government transport and health services will receive indexation of only 2.5%. In real terms this is a cut in funding,' said Ms Dowell. NRSDC CEO, Tony Davies, points out that there is very little new money in the budget. 'Unfortunately, the claims of record spending on Health, Housing, Disability, Transport, Preschools and Community Services, are largely spin,' Mr Davies said. 'What the government has done is re-announce previous commitments. We are pleased that the government is investing in the services that help our community, but some of these initiatives have been announced four or five times. We would have liked to see more action to address new and emerging community needs,' Mr Davies said. 'There are significant gaps that this budget still does not address. Worryingly there is scant detail about projects to support regional areas with many of the big ticket infrastructure items going to metropolitan centres,' said Mr Davies. Areas where NRSDC would have liked to see greater investment include: Growth funding for non-government disability, aged and community services to meet the demands of a growing and ageing population. The Department of Community Services to meet the continuing escalation in demand for child protection services and to provide better and earlier support to vulnerable families. Youth services – despite a rapidly increasing population, there has been no real growth in funding for young people for the last decade. Transport – to support planning, coordination, public transport infrastructure and services [Northern Rivers Development Council media release,November 2008]

NSW forestry - not good enough Minister!

While fiscal difficulties and factional fights are driving the NSW Labor Government into the ground, here is yet another matter for the Northern Rivers (with its numerous forestry tracts) to worry about.

According to the North East Forest Alliance:

The forest management regimes along the entire eastern seaboard of NSW are currently up for review – in the form of five-year reviews of Forest Agreements and Approvals signed almost a decade ago.

This is an opportunity for major improvements in forest conservation, which are desperately needed in the context of a rapidly warming climate – but the NSW Government seems intent on ticking a box and continuing with business as usual.

The Government is almost five years late in undertaking these reviews, and legally required annual reports for the Agreements and Approvals have not been published since 2002. Numerous key conservation milestones have never been met.

• There have been no annual reports submitted on NSW Forest Agreements since 2002 despite a legal requirement to do so.
• The five-year review was legally required for the UNE, LNE and Eden forest Agreements in 2004 and is only now being commenced.
• The eight-year review of timber volumes required by the UNE and LNE Forest Agreements in 2006 was not conducted, and new long-term (20 year) wood supply contracts were signed without a review of volumes.
• There have been no threatened species prosecutions of Forests NSW by DECC for five years, despite numerous legitimate complaints by the community.
• There have been massive shortfalls and time delays in meeting the requirements of the National Forest Policy Statement.
• The Government has failed to meet many of the key milestones and targets set down in the NSW Forest Agreements.
• There is a clear bias in those milestones that have been achieved towards the interests of the timber industry and against conservation interests.
• Key conservation outcomes required by the Agreements have not been met – including proper protection of high conservation value Crown lands and assessment of the World Heritage potential of our northern and southern eucalypt forests.
• The Forestry and National Park Estate Act 1998 has a requirement for a five year review which has not occurred.
• Numerous key elements of the Commonwealth-State Regional Forest Agreements for NSW have also not been met, including the five-year review, the annual reports and other important provisions (including a timber review and world heritage assessment).
• The review of the FAs and IFOAs will be a case of the Ministers reviewing their own failings and shortcomings. An independent review is required.

If you wish to make a submission before 19 December 2008 on the five-year reviews or individual forestry agreements in your area, contact Camel Flint for more information at:

North East Forest Alliance

16 Roslyn Ave

Armidale, 2350

Ph 0267 724904

Mo 0400 521474