Go the mighty Magpies! Come on United! NRRRL Grand Final today

Footy fever hits the Northern Rivers as its rugby league grand final gets underway and kicks off with welcome to country by Yaegl elder Mrs. Lillian Williams at 10.45am in the Maclean Showground.
Then on to the Under 18s Ballina v Kyogle followed by Reserve Grade Mullumbimby v Evans Head and finally to the match everyone has been waiting for Lower Clarence Magpies v Northern United.

Lower Clarence Magpies

Northern United

Click on photos to enlarge
Pics from The Daily Examiner on 19th September 2009

UPDATE: The Mighty Magpies are now the 2009 Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League Grand Final Champions with a 21-20 win over Northern United.
Well done to all players on both sides! It was a close game well played to a tight finish.
Evans Head (24-22) and Ballina (36-12) were the winners in their divisions.

Hungry green tree frog snacks on baby black snake

Snap taken at Yamba on Friday night (18 September).
The frog was approximately 10cm in length;
the black snake was approximately 40cm long.

What a difference a change of editor makes

Under former editor Peter Chapman The Daily Examiner at times indulged in barely concealed Koori bashing, so this opinion piece by new editor David Bancroft was a welcome read last Wednesday:

Click image to enlarge

Original The Daily Examiner article about young Kaleesha Morris (pictured) Grafton teen a future PM? by journalist Marsha Neville on 16 September 2009.

Australia - what's wrong with this picture?

Map fromwww.geographicguide.net

Australia has an estimated land area of 7,686,650 square kilometres.
It has a growing population which currently stands at about 21.9 million people.
The majority of Australians live within 100 kilometres of the coastline and, in that narrow strip more people live in major cities and surrounding suburbs than live in smaller towns and villages.
Only around ten per cent of Australia's land mass is arable land suitable for crops or grazing and most of that is in the same coastal fringe. The majority of this arable land is in private hands.

By 2049 it has been estimated that Australia's population will reach 35 million people.
This means that in fifty years time there will be one person for every 0.21 square kilometres of the Australian continent, but most of these people will probably want to live within a total area of less than 1 million square kilometres.

Coincidentally by 2050 the predicted negative impacts of climate change (including prolonged water scarcity and coastal sea water inundation) should be pronounced in this country.

The maths are not looking good and all levels of government are only paying lip service to sustainable planning.

What are you doing to stop your local council and state government from allowing the coast to be developed to death?