Oh dear! Dams on the Opposition agenda again

From A Clarence Valley Protest yesterday:

Barnaby's on the dam(mn) trail again with Abbott trekking in the rear

With the flood waters still making their way down the eastern length of Australia and so much of Queensland still under water, Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce is back on the dam trail again and, obscuring his intention to endorse proposals to dam and divert freshwater from the Clarence River catchment within broad sentences such as these:

The Coalition took to the last election a very specific strategy on the construction of dams….

CJ Bradfield was a Queensland engineering visionary for our nation. He designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Story Bridge in Brisbane and the inland water scheme in the 1930’s.Unfortunately the final and most important part of his vision was never constructed compromising the wealth of this nation that would have been delivered from this agricultural bounty……..

Australia not only can, but must have the vision to construct the infrastructure that gives us the capacity to create the agricultural, industrial and mining wealth for our future. If we don’t we only have ourselves to blame at the next drought, not climate change, just our lack of management and foresight. We can not afford a reliance on desalination, we must build dams and we must move water.

Never backward in coming forward for a swift political jab, his Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has joined Joyce for the media moment according to The Business Spectator:

Sensing that water policy will be a significant election issue stemming from the severe Queensland flooding and the controversial Murray-Darling project, opposition leader Tony Abbott says he will develop a plan to build a series of dams across Australia as part of the Coalition's next election platform, according to a report in The Australian.

Great Barrier Reef not immune from 2011 Queensland flooding

Look what's heading out to the Great Barrier Reef. A freshwater and heavy sediment plume which is likely to stress certain coral species.

NASA image of Queensland flooding on 4 January 2011

Click on image to enlarge

Australian Broadcasting Commission - anything but the whip!

When ABC Radio began a dedicated twenty-four hour news broadcast I was delighted and it is probably still my first preference for national news and current affairs over the airwaves.

When ABC Television announced it was following with a dedicated twnety-four hour news channel I expected at least the same level of immediacy and range of subject matter as that on the radio.

How wrong I was. ABC TV News24 is the most basic of news padded out by endless self-promotion and current affairs repeats of repeats of repeats over day after day after day.

If one tries to use this TV channel as a primary source of information one comes away feeling flayed. Thank heavens it’s free to air because no-one would possibly want to purchase access as it now stands!

Albanese talks with NSW North Coast mayors about flooding

The Federal Labor Member for Page, Janelle Saffin’s timely media alert, as the NSW North Coast and Mid-North Coast face a day of predicted severe weather and chance of flash flooding:

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese is on the NSW North Coast and will hold a doorstop following a briefing from local mayors about the impact of the recent floods.

The following mayors will be attendance: Jennifer Dowell (Lismore), Ernie Bennett (Kyogle), Phillip Silver (Ballina), Col Sullivan (Richmond Valley) and Richie Williamson (Clarence Valley).

Google Images photograph of Saffin and Abanese in less stressful times on the North Coast

Elmo visited Yamba

Brisbaneite Elmo hit Yamba in a big way recently. He, along with Delece & Victor and DJ, stayed in a caravan while holidaying in Yamba. More reports about Elmo's world trips can be read here.

Credit: Pic of Elmo and DJ from http://elmosworldtrip.blogspot.com/

A WTF moment coming off the back of larger political ambition

Clarence Valley Mayor and announced Independent candidate at the March 2011 NSW state election, Richie Williamson, told The Daily Examiner:

POPULATION growth in the Valley is bringing with it increasing demands on services and facilities. To help finance those extra demands, Clarence Valley Council is introducing Section 94 (developer) Contribution Plans. The State Government recently set a maximum threshold of $20,000 for developed areas and $30,000 for ‘greenfield’ sites.

Err….Section 94s have been in place across the Clarence Valley for many years, based on the ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT ACT 1979 - SECT 94.

A fact Clarence Valley Shire Council admits on its own website:

Planning policy in the Clarence Valley is defined through the Local Environmental Plans (LEP), various Development Control Plans (DCPs) and Section 94 Contributions plans…. Section 94 Contributions Plans enable Council to levy developer contributions to fund public facilities and services whose demand is generated as a consequence of new development.

Additional to this, it does not appear that Clarence Valley Shire Council has been approved to levy the mentioned higher amount of $30,000 yet.

In fact what the mayor seems to be re-announcing is a watering down of developer obligations to adequately compensate residents and ratepayers for additional impacts on local government infrastructure.”

Indeed, in June 2010 it was reported in the mainstream media that:

The NSW Government’s decision to cap developer contributions could see new home owners in greenfields housing estates left without adequate facilities and households facing steep rises in rates, according to the Planning Institute of Australia’s NSW division.
and
PLANNING experts have warned a government decision to cap the amount of money councils can charge developers to pay for infrastructure will increase the cost of new houses - the opposite effect to that intended.
The president of the Planning Institute of Australia, Tony McNamara, said he feared a government imposed cap of $20,000 on developer levies would force up housing prices because councils in growth areas would be reluctant to approve new land for housing subdivisions, exacerbating the housing shortage.
Councils in several growth areas on Sydney's fringe have announced they will refuse to process new development applications, saying they cannot pay for the shortfall in infrastructure that will result from the new rules.

While this move is part of a NSW Government plan to eventually reduce the cost of State infrastructure contributions.

Now I can understand Williamson getting carried away by his enthusiasm for higher office and vamping a mayoral media release of what is essentially old news canvassed twice in mid-2010 in newspaper articles It's a taxing argument and Developer cap not a concern for CV, but what I cannot understand is the local media accepting this recent political beat-up so uncritically and churning out what comes perilously close to misinformation.

Thinking of Yaamba in the January 2011 Queensland floods

Here on the NSW North Coast we share a number of similar area names with Queensland – Maclean and Yaamba being the more well-known.

Like Yamba in the Clarence Valley, theYaamba area to the north of Rockhampton is also a rural/regional holiday destination for many and the preferred home to a lucky few.

So, as radio reports begin to inform the nation that the flood gauge at Yaamba this morning reached a reading that just edged above the 16.65m 1991 flood level recorded for that part of the Fitzroy River catchment, I’m sure everyone here at North Coast Voices sends their best wishes to this small rural village and all Queenslanders affected by this massive flood.

Photograph of Yaamba flood makers from the Capricorn Coast Historical Society

Gunning for Twitter with DMCA bullets

Adult publisher Perfect 10 is trying to squelch fair use of copyrighted materials by Chilling Effects -- and EFF is fighting back. The online intellectual property resource Chilling Effects gathers and analyzes legal notices alleging online copyright infringement -- a vital resource for public education and study. But adult publisher Perfect 10 alleges that Google is infringing on copyright by sharing its notices. EFF joined other founders and participants in the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse in filing an amicus brief to urge the court to reject this attempt to block Google's contribution to the site. [EFFector,email news letter,4 January 2011]

In 2010 Chilling Effects saw more than 12,000 cease-and-desist notices reported. Over the next few weeks and into 2011, we will be doing preliminary analysis of patterns in those notices. We are also preparing the data to be more easily usable by other researchers.

According to Chilling Effects the principal senders of DMCA takedown requests were:

number Sender: type
1272 IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry): music
303 Clube do Hardware: articles
299 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation: film
257 MAGNOLIA PICTURES INC.: film
230 APCM - Associação Anti Pirataria de Cinema e Musica: music
221 Removeyourcontent, LLC: images and video (adult content)
203 RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America): music
166 Autodata Limited: technical manuals
158 Folkert Knieper: recipe photographs
122 Product Partners, LLC / Beachbody: fitness DVDs
117 SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT / EPIC RECORDS / ESTATE OF MICHAEL JACKSON: music
106 Stones Throw Records LLC: music
92 Chappell & Co: music
88 Microsoft Corporation: software and instructional material
88 Globo Comunicação e Participações S/A: video
85 The New York Times: articles
84 Deckers Outdoor Corporation (UGG Australia): images of UGG boots
82 Vivid Entertainment Group, LLC: video (adult content)
81 Digiturk: TV
81 The NBA - National Basketball Association: video streams

Its database is also uncovering an increasing trend to report Twitter accounts and particular tweets – 436 complaints by last Tuesday mentioned this form of social media.

Here is a brief sampling……..

Angry author blasts Australian blogger:

Twitter Rocket author blasts blogger

Atavar complaints:

Image DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Image DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Photo DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Photograph DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Image DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Privacy issues:

Photos DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Local Government gets upset about Twitter account using official council crest:

Logo DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

An example of one person who hunts the Twitterverse and reports every link he finds to his book:

Book DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

From beyond the grave:

Music DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Mark Twain Foundation objects:

Book DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Rutgers University objects to breach of ‘Sex, Etc’ logo copyright:

Logo DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter

Polling Keneally in the dying days of her government

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally continues to add to her disasterous reputation

This is one politician who, first as planning minister and then as premier, has shown herself photogenic but inadequate in a position of power.

One cannot help but feel that she would have been better to have stuck to organising happy-clappy 'happenings' for the Catholic Church.

Although online newspaper polls cannot be considered statistically reliable, this 6.30am 3 December 2011 snapshot probably does reflect the majority view of domestic and small business power consumers across the state after the questionable one minute to midnight sale of state assests.

Cartoon found at The Sydney Morning Herald

Migaloo speaks on behalf of the Whale Nation

Some presentations bear repeating as the Government of Japan is once again active in the Southern Ocean killing fields....