Political Quote of the Week

Federal Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin on the subject of former Oz rocker Angry Anderson’s political ambitions:

"Come election time in 2013 I am ready to run, even against Elvis if the National Party pre-select him,"

Coming soon - 'Getting the drift: a community guide to pesticides sprayed in the NSW Northern Rivers' (REVISED SECOND EDITION)

NSW Environmental Defender’s Office:

Want to know which pesticides could be sprayed near where you live, and what you can do about it? If you live in the NSW Northern Rivers, this booklet will help you find out. New, expanded edition published in September 2011 includes updated data, more crops, more case studies and a new section called ‘What are my rights?'
Free copies will soon be available for download from www.edo.org.au/edonsw

Rumour Mills: an interesting exchange

Well, this has to be a first. Rather wishy-washy allegations of Abbott The Pants Man…….

On an open thread over at Café Whispers on the 24^th September 2011:

Miglo

There’s a rumour going around that Abbott’s been kicked out of home after being caught having an affair with the daughter of a financial backer. Still only a rumour.

Sue

Min
Rumours are always nasty, there are plenty around. The trouble for Abbott is his continual comparison of himself as a “family man” and the jump therefore superior to the PM. Earlier this year there was the “bar maid ” in WA, quickly closed down.

Min

El gordo, so far the Abbott thing is just a bit of hot juicy gossip and I haven’t seen anything factual come to light as yet. I’ve had a look on some of the anti-Abbott sites and can’t find any mention.

Catching up

“That’s surprising, I didn’t think that Tony Abbott was in love with anything but his own image.”

Min, does the man have to be in love?

What Tony wants, Tony takes.

PS How would anyone know if he has been ejected from home, he is never there to make a comparison with.

Maybe that is why he is always on the road, promoting his “no” case. He has not a home to go to.

Water Wars: Not good enough, Richie!

“DANGEROUSLY high levels of arsenic and antimony in Mine Creek, which feeds into Wild Cattle Creek, has ignited debate about antimony mining in an area which leads into the water supply of the Clarence and Coffs Harbour regions.

Wild Cattle Creek is one of the major tributaries of the Nymboida River which leads into the Clarence and also supplies water to Shannon Creek Dam.

A map commissioned by Anchor Resources, the company which is licenced to explore, but not mine the site at Beilsdown, shows Mine Creek at one point had 377 ug/litre (parts per billion) of antimony which is 126 times the Australian and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council's (ANZECC) guidelines for drinking water.

Arsenic levels at the same spot were 85 ug/litre - more than 12 times the ANZECC drinking water guidelines.

The map is dated September 19, 2011.” {The Daily Examiner on 5th October 2011 in Significant threat to waterways}

This is a section of the map published alongside the quoted article (hat tip to Clarencegirl's friends):

Even I can work out that if past antimony and gold mining in parts of the Clarence River catchment have resulted in persistent pollution which is likely to remain for centuries, then it’s not a brilliant idea to sit back and let the O’Farrell Government in faraway Sydney agree to new mining in the area which can possibly stuff up Clarence waterways and increase health risks faced by local communities and the businesses which keep them afloat.

But lord luvva duck! Sometimes you have to wonder what happens to some men’s spines after they catch a glimpse of a golden chance – the right to strut down Macquarie Street and plant their behinds on the government pews in Parliament House alongside Bazza and his mates.

Faced with evidence from a report commissioned by the Chinese-owned mining exploration company, Anchor Resources, Clarence Valley Mayor and Nationals pre-selection candidate, Richie Williamson, had this to say in The Daily Examiner on 5^th October 2011; “Should the mine progress, council will not be taking a back seat on the issue".  

Gone is any hint of outright opposition – or heaven forfend, a proactive approach - to this latest threat to the quality and safety of fresh water flowing down the Nymboida River and on into the kitchen taps of Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour homes. Instead there is p*ss weak acceptance that what China wants China gets.

Seems the boys from Anchor really did a number on Richie at that last meeting with council.

The Australian gets caught out kicking at The Greens

No incentive for jobseekers to get off disability pension opined journalist Patricia Karvelas in The Australian  on 9 March 2011 with this opening shot at The Greens:

NEW social security rates reveal that the "payment gap" between disability pensions and the dole has risen dramatically to $127.20 a week, as welfare groups vow to ramp up the issue -- with Greens support -- ahead of the May budget.

They argue there is no incentive for people to get off the more lucrative pensions and into work……

This was the outcome of the inevitable complaint to the Press Council of Australia:

Adjudication No. 1511: Naomi Anderson/The Australian (September 2011)

Document Type:

Complaints

Outcome:

Adjudications

Date:

23 Sep 2011

The Australian Press Council has considered a complaint by Naomi Anderson about a report in The Australian on 9 March 2011 concerning the difference in payment rates between the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and the Newstart Allowance.

The headline of the article was No incentive for jobseekers to get off disability and, after mentioning welfare groups and Greens, the second paragraph read: "They argue there is no incentive for people to get off the more lucrative [DSP] and into work". Later paragraphs quoted a named representative from the National Welfare Rights Network and another one from the Greens. No other person was quoted or mentioned.

Ms Anderson complained that the article was inaccurate because the representatives did not say that there was no incentive to get off DSP or that DSP is "more lucrative" than Newstart. She said this inaccuracy was unfair to the representatives and to people receiving DSP. She also complained that the headline presented a matter of opinion as if it was a fact.

The newspaper said the second paragraph accurately and fairly summarised the quoted comments. It said that the headline was a fair summary of the opinions expressed in the article, not a purported statement of fact.

The Council has concluded that the second paragraph inaccurately described the quoted comments in the article because those comments did not assert that there was no incentive to get off DSP or that either the DSP or Newstart could be described as in any way "lucrative". Those misstatements were unfair to the quoted people and to people receiving DSP. Accordingly, this aspect of the complaint is upheld.

The Council has concluded that the headline presented as a matter of fact an assertion which is actually a matter of opinion. Accordingly, this aspect of the complaint was also upheld.

 Well done, Naomi.

Southern Ocean Sky 2011

Ocean Sky from Alex Cherney on Vimeo

It has to be a joke, Joyce

You’d think I would be used to the idiocy coming out of the Nats camp and the Coalition Gazette, but this takes the blue ribbon:

“ROCKER Angry Anderson is eyeing two federal seats in NSW as he plots a bid to represent the Nationals in Canberra.

The 63-year-old anti-carbon tax campaigner has the Labor-held seat of Throsby, based in Wollongong, in his sights, but could also make a run for the northern NSW seat of Page, at the suggestion of Tony Abbott.”

Angry Anderson representing Page? Fair dinkum – I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The eejit says he's "been reading the science" and doesn't believe it. He knows global warming doesn't exist because scientific opinions are "polluted by a wage", carbon dioxide is a natural harmless element, pollution is not new -its been around since the industrial revolution, it's all a U.N. conspiracy and he didn't design power generators so "it's not our fault".

Pic from Google Images

Water Administration Ministerial Corporation has to pay own costs after judgment in its favour

From the NSW Environmental Defender’s Office - a case of poetic justice as the the WAMC is left holding the legal bill:

With assistance from the EDO , the Snowy River Alliance (SRA) recently challenged the validity of the Snowy Hydro water access licence in the Supreme Court. The challenge was unsuccessful. The general rule is that the unsuccessful party must pay the successful party's legal costs. However, the Court can make an exception in public interest litigation so that persons seeking to represent the public interest are not deterred by the prospect of paying the other party's costs. But this exception only applies when the litigation is genuine public interest litigation, and where there is ‘something more' that justifies a departure from the general rule. In this case, Justice Hislop held that the proceedings could be characterised as public interest litigation because there is a wide public interest in the protection of the Snowy River , and because the plaintiffs were not pursuing any personal gains. There was also ‘something more' in these proceedings because they dealt with issues that were novel and important. Therefore, the Court ordered that the SRA did not need to bear the defendant's costs.

For more information, please click .

Judgment[PDF 3.08 MB]

Reading the tea leaves......

Between late March and early September 2004 the Australian Remuneration Tribunal had all but finished topping up parliamentary remunerations for that particular year. By mid-September the country was weighing up those candidates who were standing for the 9^th October 2004 federal election.

In October 2007 the Tribunal again increased Federal MPs’ wage and allowance packages and - in what could only be the wildest coincidence-  by the start of November that year a federal election campaign was in full swing.

In May 2010 federal pollies were granted a healthy pay rise to take effect just in time for the August 2010 federal election campaign to kick off in earnest.

In June 2011 those same pollies’ pay packets grew fatter yet again with a base salary of $140,910, and now we find that an MP’s wallet will probably grow positively obese sometime during the first quarter of next year.

Which makes me wonder if we will see a general election called in early August 2013.

Because if meeja speculation on the size of the 2012 pay jump is close to the mark then there is unlikely to be a further major pay rise in the following year - so going to the polls at the earliest opportunity will not be seen by Government MPs as the chance of a pay increase missed.