The Iced Vo-Vo War and how to survive it

ABC News gave us the good oil on that Iced Vo-Vo war between Arnott's Biscuits and Krispy Creme.
It's a case of duelling lawyers at dawn.
But before anyone starts to beat the patriotic drum and talk about Aussie icons - both these companies are U.S. clones.
Arnott's is owned by the multinational Campbell Soup Company and Krispy Creme is an international franchise.
The Iced Vo-Vo is now about as Australian as the doughnut and quality was substituted after 1997.
So go for each other's throats fellas, because in all this a dinkum Aussie has the neutrality of the Swiss (and those of us who remember when a local biscuit really was a cut above the Yanks best will look on with amusment as you fling money at law firms during this global recession).

Put the kettle on will ya, Darl and bring in a few of those bickies from the CWA.....

Pic from Nice cup of tea and a sit down

Is Clarence Valley Council being honest with NSW Planning Minister Keneally over proposed West Yamba development?

In February this year Clarence Valley Council resolved to accept the Maclean Local Environmental Plan 2001 (West Yamba Amendment) and sent this planning instrument down to the NSW Minister for Planning Kristina Keneally for her consent.

But was Clarence Valley Council completely honest with the Minister?

Nowhere in the West Yamba Amendment and accompanying documents does Council point out that most of the land directly below Sullivan's Lane in West Yamba is now privately owned land and has been since the late 1990s.

Clarence Valley Council is always at pains to refer to this land as "Other land, owned by Birrigan Gargle Local Aboriginal Land Council and land subject to a Land Claim, south of Sullivan's Road is not included in the Draft LEP" and words to that effect in other parts of the documents.

However, these documents also show that Council expects to funnel natural drainage/storm water/flood waters, displaced by West Yamba development landfill, onto this privately-owned environmentally sensitive land "south of Sullivan's Road" via a designated unfilled floodway/drainage corridor with a relatively narrow end point.
Thereby potentially increasing the amount of such water flowing across this land and possibly causing more damage than might naturally occur.

Section of the Draft West Yamba LEP Map showing the floodway/drainage corridor

The Clarence Valley Council map shown here clearly shows the floodway/drainage corridor (used to mitigate required landfill in the proposed large-scale development) is intended to deposit water onto Lot 201 DP729134, a 229.6ha lot owned outright by Birrigan Gargle Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Indeed if Council's own documents are to be believed, the development of West Yamba could not go ahead unless Yaegl land is used as a dumping ground for drainage and flooding problems associated with this proposed development.

The last time I noticed, Australian law still allowed a property owner to sue state and/or local government for that kind of arbitrary action.

Which may explain why Clarence Valley Council appears to be attempting to massage the facts in order to obscure ownership details in documents before the Minister.

Sometimes being that cute can backfire - especially when the ghost of Rylands v Fletcher still roams court corridors in Australia.

And now there are eight........

According to Computer World there is another ISP signing on for the Rudd-Conroy mandatory national ISP-level Internet filtering scheme 'live' trial:

Optus joins seven other ISPs in participating in the filtering - Primus Telecommunications, Highway 1, Nelson Bay Online, Netforce, OMNIconnect, TECH 2U and Webshield.

Well that makes eight ISPs that I'll be buying goods and services from when Hades freezes over.

Farming in a Changing Climate workshops at Casino and Grafton 5th & 12th May 2009

The NSW Dept of Primary Industires is running a three day workshop spread over 6 weeks to assist landholders prepare and adapt their property for climate risk, in Casino starting 5 May and in Grafton starting 12 May 2009.

This course is registered under the Commonwealth Government's FarmReady program.
Eligible primary producers can be reimbursed for the cost of this course.
See the FarmReady website for more details.

The course aims to:

• Encourage appropriate responses to climate change such as high flow pumping and appropriate on farm water storage.
• Provide training in strategies to improve rainfall utilisation which do not significantly impact catchment flows.
• Provide training tailored to landscapes and soils that will allow landowners to improve the resilience of their properties to climatic impacts.
• Promote measures that contribute to carbon sequestration and soil health.
• Integrate training with the Community Support Officers and available incentive funding to promote the maximal conversion of plans into on ground works.

Pre-registration is required. Contact Greg Reid on (02) 6626.1213 or greg.reid@dpi.nsw.gov.au

She who shall remain nameless baked some hash cookies.....

Shades of the 1960s and children of the revolution........

It was reported this week that a woman was arrested for selling cannabis cookies and chocs (as well as funny cigarettes) when police did a foot patrol of the Nimbin Museum on the NSW North Coast late last year.

This week the Lismore magistrate was obviously in a realistic mood.
He sentenced, then suspend this and put in place a short good behaviour bond for the hapless chef.

I hadn't realised that anyone still made hash cookies.
Well, live and learn.

What were those naughty little Nimbinites thinking?

Picture from Google Images

Annual Bangalow Billy Cart Derby, Sunday 17 May 2009

The Annual Bangalow Billy Cart Derby will be held on Sunday 17th May 2009 when the main street of Bangalow becomes a race track , for kids of all ages to have fun on Bangalow's big day.

A new attraction this year will be the Schools Billy Cart Challenge Race. This is probably the first ' schools challenge race ' ever to be held in Australia. It will be run as a separate race entry where all the schools entries compete against other schools.

All Primary Schools are invited to enter, and as an added incentive $1,500.00 in prize money will be given to the P.& C. Association of the winning and runner-up schools. The cart drivers ( boys or girls ) will be primary school students 12 years and under. Just imagine brightly painted Billy Carts with ' catchy ' names then add scores of kids cheering for their school, competing in traditional rivalries, such as Byron v Mullumbimby.
We are very keen to introduce these races as we feel that teaching children road safety can't start early enough. The NSW Police Dept., N.R.M.A., Youth Services, Local Community Groups, Shire Councils all support this event.

The day will commence with the ...' Blessing of the Carts ' followed by the Junior heats. There is a category to suit everyone, for boys and girls from age 5 through to ' opens '. There is Traditional, Homegrown, Novelty and Professional categories for the Carts. Race classifications are for age-groups 5-7 ; 8-11 ; 12-15 and open age. Also included are; Tag- team, Mothers and Celebrity races.

At 12-30 p.m. there is the Grand Parade which includes Community, Sporting, and other groups. Also participating over the years have been Pipe Bands, Vintage Cars and Motor Bikes, Fire Brigades and Samba Bands, schools, kindergartens, pony clubs, scouts and a few local heroes.
Everyone is invited to participate in this Award Winning, " not for profit " Community Event where all the proceeds are distributed to local charities and fundraisers. Start building your cart now to promote your business or group, we want to see lots of new entries and innovations, but make sure it has safe brakes and steering. This event is really well covered by T.V. Radio and Press so you will be able to see your cart flying down the main street of Bangalow and everyone having a great time.

Contact details : Tony Heeson
wallaby@nor.com.au

(02) 66 87 2580 or 0419 715 098

Go to www.bangalowbillycart.com.au for further details and entry forms

A word about national borders for the record..........

..........I'm not afraid of refugees in general or boat people in particular.
I don't hate the idea of these desperate people or wish to deny them safe harbour in Australia.
I take as much notice of Turnbull's little rants as I did of Howard's and I think Rudd's people smugglers are the scum of the earth line is simple-minded demonising which doesn't do a thing to address the problem of commercial smuggling.
So will both sides of the divide in Canberra just get over it.
Maybe then certain small minds in the mainstream media will quit their hysterics and we'll be able to avoid another boring earbashing.