U.S. Embassy in Canberra brings forth a LOL

The do you know the truth or do you read Telegraph gets the thumbs up:

Reference ID 09CANBERRA335
Origin U.S. Embassy Canberra, Australia
Cable time Fri, 3 Apr 2009 00:41 UTC
Classification CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN

“The Murdoch-owned tabloid, "The Daily Telegraph", Sydney's largest selling newspaper…often an accurate gauge of what Labor's core working-class voters are thinking.”

Haven’t laughed so hard in weeks.

What do they teach in journalism 101 these days?

Remember the days when newspaper reporters told their readers the important bits of information about their stories? Well, could someone please remind some of the young newshounds at The Daily Examiner that its readers are not happy. This reader turned to the back page of today's paper to read about a football match played in Grafton yesterday (yesterday's paper had a pre-game report that took up the best part of a page).

The heading was "Uni Shield hopes are over", so I thought, "Gee, now I'll read the detailed account of the game."

But, what a shocker! The all-important piece of information, the final score, was nowhere to be seen.

The Great ABC Switch Off Threatens

Never thought that we’d see the day when The Great ABC Switch Off became a subject for discussion in our home.

At 9.30pm last night it happened ten minutes into “At Home With Julia”, so disgusted were we with a program which mocked the Prime Minister’s private life and cruelly held her non-politician life partner up to national ridicule.

There are some places media shouldn’t go and the intimacies of a public figure’s home life is one of those areas.

ABC1, ABC Executive Producer Debbie Lee, Quail TV Executive Producers Rick Kalowski and Greg Quail, Writers Amanda Bishop, Rick Kalowski and Phil Lloyd, Director Erin White, Series Producer Carol Hughes and ALP legal counsel Mr Anton Denby SC (yeah, we get the lol) all made a huge error of judgement as far as we’re concerned.

What on earth was Australia’s public broadcaster thinking?

Anony-mice

Yamba

*GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak AT gmail.com for consideration.

The Daily Examiner couldn't or wouldn't name company directors responsible for the illegal destruction of pristine natural habitat - why?

On 7 September 2011 The Daily Examiner reported:

A COMPANY which illegally cleared 38 hectares of native vegetation and may have displaced several koalas on a Halfway Creek property was fined $200,000 in the Land and Environment Court in Sydney on Thursday.

Judge Shaehan found Graymarshall Pty Ltd had breached the Native Vegetation Act by completely clearing six areas of the 170ha property of white mahogany, tallowwood and red mahogany.

One company director was found to have participated in the clearing, which was done on the instructions of both directors using a D6 bulldozer and a D65 excavator.

Neither director was named in the judgement.

Now, I have no idea if the company’s directors were not named in The Daily Examiner article because the newspaper knew their names and declined to publish or if it was too apathetic to search the public record – either way the Clarence Valley community is entitled to know all relevant facts surrounding Director-General of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water v Graymarshall Pty Ltd (No.2) [2011] NSWLEC 149 (1 September 2011).

The judgment in this case clearly stated that:

One director of the defendant participated in the clearing, done on the instructions of both directors, and under their supervision, using a D6 bulldozer and a D65 excavator….

I agree with the prosecutor's submission that the offence should be considered to be of high objective gravity.

This is what is previously stated about the company structure in Graymarshall Pty Ltd v Director-General of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water [2010] NSWLEC 54 in relation to the same illegal clearing matter:

Annexed to Mr Beaumont’s affidavit was a company search dated 15 March 2010, which listed Mr Murray Gray and Mr Darrin Marshall as the sole directors and shareholders Graymarshall. Mr Darrin Marshall is also listed as the company secretary. No other evidence concerning the company was, however, given. [my bolding]

Clarence Valley Shire Council Environment, Economic & Community Committee Tuesday, 9 March 2010 Inspections states:

Development Application SUB2009/0026 was lodged on 22 June 2009 by Peterson Consulting Group on behalf of the owners D. Marshall and M. Gray (Graymarshall Pty Ltd) for subdivision of land (boundary adjustment).

The applicant is seeking approval for boundary adjustments between 5 existing lots (Lots 20, 53, 54 and 105 DP751368 & Lot 3 DP816313) to reconfigure the lots to create 4 lots of 40 ha and one lot 195.6 ha in size.

The boundary adjustment will result in the creation of an additional three (3) dwelling entitlements.

The lots are located at the end of Gilmores Lane approximately 7.5 km south of Halfway Creek and 4 km west of Kungala. The lots are zoned 1(a) General Rural under the Ulmarra Local Environmental Plan (the LEP). Together the lots comprise approximately 356 hectares……

By letter dated 11 March 2009, Council was notified by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) that it was investigating potential illegal clearing of native vegetation on Lots 20, 53, 54 and 105 DP751368. At the time of writing this report, DECCW had not concluded investigations though the Department has advised Council that a direction to carry out remedial works was to be issued pursuant to Section 38 of the Native Vegetation Act 2003 for the revegetation of approximately 50 hectares of land on the lots.

This was extracted from ASIC's database at AEST 08:25:57 on 07/09/2011 and shows the only recorded change in company detalis since 2008:

Name GRAYMARSHALL PTY LTD
ACN 132 679 719
ABN 60 132 679 719
Type Australian Proprietary Company, Limited By Shares
Registration Date 11/08/2008
Next Review Date 11/08/2012
Status Strike-Off Action In Progress
Locality of Registered Office Coffs Harbour NSW 2450
Jurisdiction Australian Securities & Investments Commission
31/08/2011 6010 Application For Voluntary Deregistration of a Company

It took me all of fifteen minutes to search for, download and open files relating to this destruction of an estimated 38ha of pristine habitat (including part or all of a 2ha section listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995) in the Halfway Creek area and, it is very evident who the company owners/directors were during the relevant period.

It took me only a few minutes more to ascertain that two businessmen with identical names are listed in the Coffs Harbour local government area – one an earthmover and excavator, the other a medical specialist. These two men may or may not be the same Gray and Marshall.

I’m still wondering why the newspaper didn’t bother to identify the company directors in question. It is very quick to name and shame drink drivers and others coming before the local courts on the NSW North Coast. I would have thought environmental vandalism perpetrators should also be similarly shamed.

Ouch! That's gotta hurt News Corp

In a press release dated 10^th August 2011 News Corporation announced that from the beginning of the 30th June 2010 up to the Fourth Quarter 2011 it has paid out a grand total of US$165 million dollars in litigation settlement charges – and the litigation river is still in full spate due to Phone-Hackergate U.K.

Combine that amount with the 'forced' closure of British News Of the World which had 27% of the Sunday newspaper market share in May this year and it has to make shareholders unhappy.

The West Australian newspaper gets a well deserved rap on the knuckles

Press Council of Australia Adjudication No. 1502: Kate Swanton/The West Australian (August 2011)

Document Type:

Complaints

Outcome:

Adjudications

Date:

12 Aug 2011

The Australian Press Council has considered a complaint by Kate Swanton about an article in The West Australian on 17 March 2011 concerning the transfer of some asylum seekers from Christmas Island to Darwin after a “riot” on the island on 16 March. The article stated that “the transfer to Darwin of the core group of troublemakers” happened after “immigration officials caved in to their demands”.

Ms Swanton complained that the article was inaccurate and unfair. She pointed out that on the same morning as the article appeared the Immigration Minister denied that the transferred people were the organisers of the actions by asylum seekers or were “the core group of troublemakers”. He said that he would have made this denial earlier if he had been asked.

Ms Swanton also complained that a number of letters to the editor published on 21 March assumed the article to be true and made very strong criticisms of the transfer to Darwin, but the newspaper took no action to correct or clarify the article by mentioning the Minister’s denial.

The newspaper responded that the principal author of the report witnessed asylum seekers boarding a plane to Darwin and obtained the information from “sources in the Australian Federal Police and the Immigration Department that the people boarding the flight had been involved in the riots”. It added that the report did not describe those on the flight as “organisers” or “ringleaders” of the riot, but as “a core group”, and that the Minister had said some of them were possibly involved in the riots.

The Council has concluded the article’s assertion that the people flown to Darwin were “the core group of troublemakers” does not accurately reflect what the newspaper says it was told, namely that they “had been involved in the riots”. It notes also that the article gave the views of an official spokesperson for the Immigration Department on another matter but did not do so on this issue despite its central importance.
The Council has also concluded that the situation was aggravated when the newspaper did not report the Immigration Minister’s subsequent denial of its assertion but published several letters to the editor all of which relied on the assertion and protested that the transferred people had been "rewarded" for leading the “rampage”. In consequence, the newspaper’s coverage of the issue was unfair and unbalanced.

Accordingly, Ms Swanton’s complaint has been upheld.

http://www.presscouncil.org.au/document-search/adjudication-no-1502-the-west-australian-aug-2011/?LocatorFormID=677&FromSearch=1

Catholic Church accused of still hiding child abuse - why am I not surprised?

The accusations and excuses then..
"Claims by Salesian old boys that they were sexually brutalised by a few priests and brothers have rocked the order and sent the Australian leadership into a bunker.
Apart from a brief statement by the order's head, Father Ian Murdoch - who negotiated a number of financial settlements with alleged sex abuse victims
- there has been no comment from the Salesians.
Roy was paid $45,000 in 2000 from the Salesians for alleged sexual abuse by Ayers. The Salesians denied liability.
Ayers is now seriously ill and reportedly dying in Samoa, where the Salesians sent him allegedly after
he was accused of abusing children."
{The Age 3rd July 2004}
"Mr Jones became the face of disgruntled victims this week when it was revealed that Cardinal Pell had falsely told him a church investigator dismissed his sexual assault claim against Father Terence Goodall, and that there had been no other victims...
Cardinal Pell called it an "innocent error" and formed
a panel to review the case"
{The Sydney Morning Herald 12th July 2008}

The accusations and excuses now..
"A LEADING child protection expert has urged the Victorian government to hold a public inquiry into the handling of child-sex cases by a religious order after the Catholic Church suppressed a report it asked him
to write.
Sydney University law professor Patrick Parkinson yesterday wrote to Victorian Attorney-General
Robert Clark and Police Minister Peter Ryan seeking
an inquiry into the behaviour of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
In his letter, Professor Parkinson says the Catholic Church's actions have cast doubt on its commitment
to protect children before it protects itself."
{The Age 30th August 2011
"POLICE ditched an investigation into a Catholic
priest {Fr Jack Ayers}accused of abusing Victorian schoolchildren because they considered him too old
to bring to justice.
Victorian detectives have also not interviewed a second Salesian priest who is working at the order's headquarters near the Vatican, despite a fresh abuse complaint being made against him more than a year ago.
An eight-month Herald Sun investigation has discovered alarming claims that authorities failed to properly act on complaints of sexual abuse within the Salesian order.
Click here to see priests in the Salesian shame file
{The Herald-Sun 5th September 2011}

NSW Nats Steve Cansdell receives report card from one voter ahead of 2011-12 NSW Budget

From an online comments segment of The Daily Examiner, Grafton NSW:

By steve2473 from Evans Head on 6/9/2011 at 7:44AM

Promise: Grafton bridge to be built
Promise: Pacific H/Way completed by 2016
Promise: More Police on North Coast.
Promise: Dredging Clarence River
Fact: Liar Liar pants on fire!

UPDATE:

So how did NSW Nationals MP for Clarence Steve Cansdell's election promises (as described above above) compare with the realities of the first O'Farrell Government?

It would appear that:

• There is no commitment to building a new bridge for Grafton City in the Clarence Valley.

• There is a Pacific Highway allocation of $1 billion allocated in 2011-12 for various upgrades to increase length of dual carriageway, part of the current joint funded program with the Australian Government to improve travel times, road safety freight efficiency and traffic conditions on the Pacific Highway. With another $2.6 billion promised over the next four years.

• Infrastructure investment in the public order and safety policy area in 2011-12 is estimated at $440 million which is $46 million below or 9.5 per cent below the 2010-11 Budget. A total of 550 more police officers promised over the next four years, with no specific NSW North Coast commitment.

• No mention of dreging the mouth of the Clarence River or any of the smaller regional ports.

So on steve2473's scale, Cansdell probably scores 1 to 1.5 out of 4. With most of that courtesy of Federal Government funding programs.

Not an impressive performance for one who told voters that getting him into government would change the funding outlook for the Clarence electorate.

NSWhere.

Where does Andrew Fraser, Member for Coffs Harbour, stand on this matter?

A public school teacher in the Coffs Harbour electorate has challenged the local member in relation to the NSW government's hypocritical stance on teachers' salaries

I wonder if our local member Mr Andrew Fraser will be prepared to publicly condemn the teachers of our public schools for taking industrial action next week.

I ask this because I can get no answers as to why, on the eve of a very economically shaky service- cutting state budget, which follows legislation that will freeze all future public school teacher wage increases to below the rate of inflation and removes their access to an arbitration process, there is no such restriction on private school teachers.

I ask, because his supposedly cash-strapped conservative NSW State Government continues to allocate an amount of taxpayers' money each year to private schools which, depending on where they choose to direct it, would allow these schools to pay practically all the wages of their teachers.

I ask because his self-touted fiscally responsible government has imposed no restrictions on private school teacher unions seeking whatever wages they can obtain from their employers as well as assuring them continued access to the Industrial Relations Commission if they need to have their wage disputes arbitrated.

I reckon this is an injustice public school teachers must fight. It's utterly unfair and counter-productive and I'm sure most fair-minded readers would believe so too, or is this what our once egalitarian society has stooped to.

Dick McDermott

Source: Letters, Coffs Coast Advocate, 6/9/11