Why all the fuss about an eBay scam? Ask Australia's DoD what a real scam looks like

Is that a gun in your pocket?

The Sydney Morning Herald of 20 December 2011 made me quietly smile when Asher Moses breathlessly told readers that it was an Unhappy Christmas: $1120 for an empty box through eBay with Australian eBay customers lured by ultra-bargain priced TV sets and other electronics have shelled out thousands of dollars only to receive empty boxes in the mail.

Asher may be too young to remember that during the Viet Nam War Australian Defence Force personnel (were confidently rumoured at the time) to have opened carefully packaged boxes, which were supposed to contain an advanced weaponry component - only to find that each and every box merely contained a photocopied schematic of the very expensive item.

The Commonwealth Dept. of Defence, as procurer of these mythical components, was so embarrassed that its gullibility was hidden by creative internal accounting and never saw the light of day.

Now that was a $$$$$$$ scam!

One of the other perils of rock fishing - FEAR

A gaping Wobby at Julian Rocks, NSW

Many a keen fisherman will sympathise with The Daily Examiner’s editor over this salty experience he shared with the world last Tuesday:

“FISHING is supposed to be a relaxing activity, one where you can forget about the stresses of life, simply absorb the surroundings and be taken to another place.

It normally is for me, but not so on Sunday.

A friend and I headed to Woody Head to do a spot of bream fishing off the rocks. With not much happening on the fishing front, I decided to try another spot, but in the process managed to slip and put a small cut on the back of my leg on some oysters. There was a steady trickle of blood for the rest of the morning as the salty water stopped the wound from drying out.

As the tide rose we moved again, this time well away from the surf zone but where there was a collection of serious rocks and hazards. I lost a good deal of bait as I made my way out. I placed myself on a rock that had about half a square metre of surface above the water line and cast out. Small waves gently rose above the rock and up my calf muscles, keeping the wound wet and a drop or two of blood entering the water.

After about five minutes on the rock I looked down to see a wobbegong shark more than a metre long swimming beneath my feet, within a minute there was another, then another, then another.

I'm not sure I saw them all, but there were at least four, probably five, sharks milling around my feet.

They were so keen on what I was doing, they kept putting their heads onto the rock from which I was fishing.

This was disturbing.

I thought that in time they would pass. They didn't.

My only passage back to the mainland was by wading through the rock-filled water that was sometimes chest deep.

It wasn't a pleasant thought.

I know they are protected, but I stomped on the heads of a couple as they came onto the rocks and hit another couple with the butt of my rod. They would swim away for a few metres, then return.

I eventually decided to try to scare as many away as possible and take my chances through the rocks. I did and grabbed a few more bumps and grazes on the rocks on the way back, but thankfully the sharks left me alone.

I've seen what they can do to people when they latch onto someone.

My daughter told me last week one of the things on her bucket list was to swim with sharks. I'm going to cross that one off mine.”

'Steve' Gulaptis MP, fifth columnist?

Surfing the web I came across this little pearl from the mouth of the then Maclean Shire Mayor, now the NSW North Coast’s very own MP for Page, ‘Steve’ Gulaptis – which leads me to wonder if he joined the O’Farrell Coalition Government just so that he could help eradicate it?

ABC North Coast Radio live interview on 11th May 2002

Coal seam gas miners won't be putting any presents under the Chrissie tree

Royalties paid by coal seam gas miners in NSW are next to nothing so, as Janet Cavanaugh writes in today's Daily Examiner, don't hold your breath waiting for funds from those sources to amount to anything worth talking about.

Don't expect it any time soon
For those expecting Metgasco's royalties to fund the Pacific Highway upgrade, the second Grafton bridge or a 24-hour police station in Casino (DEX, December 17 "CSG could co-exist: Metgasco") - don't expect it any time soon.
The NSW Government's assistance to encourage the industry includes a five-year holiday on paying royalties for each and every well, and then discounted royalties for a further five years. In contrast, coal seam gas royalties in Queensland are a flat 10% each year.
Peak production of wells often occurs in the first few years of a well's life, with production dropping off significantly after that. In 2010, the total paid to the NSW Government in coal seam gas royalties was only $462,000.
Does Metgasco seriously think this can fund anything more than a fraction of the bureaucracy which is meant to regulate the industry?
Janet Cavanaugh, Whiporie

Source: Letters, The Daily Examiner, 22/12/11