Federal Labor MP Janelle Saffin on the subject of her state counterparts

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner 14 July 2012:

I write to express my feelings of shock and dismay at the loss of jobs and other impacts caused by the New South Wales Government's downsizing of the Grafton Jail.

At the picket line on Ramornie Day, I was both inspired by the strength of the community's support for the workers, their families, the families of inmates and for Grafton and Clarence Valley, and saddened as I knew the trucks were in transit to take remaining inmates away, the final act in axing local jobs.

The NSW Government and the National Party representatives, including, and I hate to say this, the local State Member, got everything wrong - the downsizing, the immediacy of it, refusing to talk to locals directly, and no plans put in place for the workers, their families, and the city.

On site at the picket I met with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, who were there protesting the jobs going and deeply worried for inmates, up to 70% of them Indigenous, being moved to Kempsey, Cessnock or other faraway jails.

Despite what we know from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which recommended inmates have regular contact with family members, there were no transition plans in place either.

There are many cruel impacts caused by this callous treatment; teachers who are offered a redundancy but then told they cannot go into teaching elsewhere for 12 months under some State Government rules. These rules could have been relaxed for them.

When the South Grafton Abattoir closed late last year, a State Government Rapid Response was deployed. Why couldn't there be a similar response for the jail?

We were told it cannot apply to the public sector, but this public service closure, is ripping the guts out of Grafton. Again, these can be fixed by political decisions.

Like all locals, the question we are asking is how much more can the Clarence Valley take?
Grafton is a great city and the Clarence Valley is stocked with solid and stoic people, who will rebuild and pick up the pieces, but this betrayal is hard to accept.

I know Grafton Chamber of Commerce president Jeremy Challacombe said we should not be political, and I understand where he is coming from, but I am political and proudly call myself a politician, and one who speaks up for us locals.

That is my job, nothing more, nothing less. This is political and it was a political decision of the NSW Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell and his Deputy, National Party Leader Andrew Stoner, to downsize Grafton Jail.

It could have easily been a political decision to not downgrade the jail to a remand centre, and at least, do what the local community kept calling for, 'to push the pause button'.

Where to from here? We must work together to ensure we attract whatever support we can to Grafton and the Clarence Valley, so that all can continue to not only survive but flourish.

We need to take advantage of all opportunities and openings, and go for them. This is what I shall be doing with the local community.

Janelle Saffin MP
Federal Member for Page

Are O'Farrell, Stoner and Gulaptis lying to the Clarence Valley again?

This was NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell on the subject of his under the radar April 2012 decision to close Grafton Gaol:

"In response to a request, a very forceful request from the Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis and in line with our commitment to devolving public sector jobs out of Sydney to regional areas, Andrew Stoner, who chairs the Rural and Regional Subcommittee of Cabinet has been asked to come back within eight weeks to identify public sector jobs that are suitable".

In the 2012-13 NSW Budget the Coalition Government committed itself to  a reduction in the size of the public service, predicted to eliminate in excess of 10,000 positions over the next four years in the primary industries, corrective services, legal/courts, education, health, aged care/disability, child protection, roads & maritime, industrial relations and environment sectors.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that; An internal email from a NSW Treasury official dated June 12, obtained by the Herald, says ''there is no floor or cap on redundancies'' and government departments should look to privatising more services.

On 13 July 2012 there were 313 government jobs across the state advertised by Jobs NSW in the previous 28 days.

Of these; 227 were positions based in the Sydney region and 48 were in regional NSW – only two of these (both area health service jobs) were possibly situated in Grafton.

Few of these jobs appeared to be of a category which were not location specific. In other words, most would not be the type of job likely to come into the Clarence Valley.

In fact, the O’Farrell Government’s previous attempts to encourage people to move to regional NSW have been monumental flops so far.

Less than 700 Regional Relocation home buyers grants have been taken up since July last year. What is obvious is that few (if any) people living in the Sydney region are moving to Northern NSW under this scheme.

So how many of these as yet to be identified jobs in the reduced public service pool will actually come to Grafton under the vague promise given by the Premier?

Do O'Farrell and Co. not understand that, as these are not vacant positions, what jobs may actually come will not give employment to local residents who lost their jobs at the gaol or lower the Clarence Valley LGA unemployment rate?

Is the Clarence electorate being treated like fools and lied to again?

Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

A kamikaze musing: Bruce the Cocky who lives in a local backyard has been squawking an alarm for days. He reckons that two voters crashing into cars holding the LNP Queensland Premier and Lib Opposition Leader points to a secret cadre of kamikaze voters determined to rid the country of political nasties. Tempting thought, but I think poor Bruce has been at the germinating seed again.

A just sayin' musing: Wonder which North Coast pair are rumoured to have taken a leaf out of the Vellar-Morgan play book?

An I can't believe they call this democracy musing: My little canine friend Veronica Lake says that locals are close to open revolt down Yamba way. Apparently the highhanded antics of Scotfree, Dodgy & Dessie are giving rise to kitchen table talk of ICAC complaints and damn the tender sensibilities of shire councillors prior to local government elections.

A Catfoodbreath musing: Don’t lick the toast. No paws in the cereal. Don’t drink the cream. Get away from the bacon. Do not put your tail in the coffee. Stop eating the eggs. Get off of the serving platter. You may not knock the muffins on the floor. Don’t get jam in your fur. The napkins are not to be used as forts. Do not stand on the croissants. Get away from the toaster. Raspberries are not toys, even though they roll. Do not push things off the table on to the dog. No kitties in the refrigerator. Don’t knock over the pitcher. Do not lay on the omelettes. No fur in the orange juice. You people really don’t know how to have a relaxing brunch, do you?

A Who can't take criticism? musing: My little canine friend Veronica Lake tells me that the latest bark on the block is a rumour that The Daily Examiner is editing online comments which point to holes and errors in its featured stories. Tsk, tsk, if this is true.

An ad aversion musing: Overheard my hoomin say that if BOM places advertizing on its website she'll go back to looking out the window to check on the weather.

A still giggling musing: Which NSW North Coast editor once wrote this in an online profile? Who I'd like to meet: French footballers, Swedish porn stars, binge drinkers, lost souls and artistic temperaments. Italian desperados need not apply. and Q: How will you be defined in the dictionary? A: A lewd street performer

A Get Smart musing: On 23 January 2012 the Liberals Deputy Leader Julie Bishop’s RMI listed the gift of a media pad from Huawei Technologies (Aust) Pty Ltd. This company also appears to have paid for her accommodation when she visited China in January 2012. Isn’t this an Australian subsidiary of the Chinese corporation that ASIO has warned the Gillard Government against? Radio New Zealand News: Huawei has been blocked from winning contracts to upgrade Australia's broadband network and from doing some business deals in the United States due to security concerns.

Boy

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's carbon price sums

 

This was Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in full flight on 11 July 2012:

The carbon tax is already having a significant detrimental impact on the tourism industry. It’s added up to $6 to every airline ticket. The cost of taking a family of four to Perth and back is $48 more thanks to the carbon tax. QANTAS will have $110 million carbon tax bill this year. That’s seven times their half yearly tax bill. Virgin will have a $45 million carbon tax bill. That’s twice their half yearly tax bill.

This is what Virgin Airlines is actually charging to cover national carbon pricing:

Zone	Distance (kms)	Surcharge
1	1 – 900	AUD$1.50
2	901 – 2000	AUD$3.00
3	2001+	AUD$6.00

This is Qantas Airlines carbon price schedule for domestic flights:

Zone	Distance (km)	Charge AUD including GST per sector
1	1 - 700	$1.82
2	701 - 1200	$2.79
3	1201 - 1900	$4.00
4	1901 +	$6.86

Jetstar calculated that domestic fares will go up by $5 for fuel and $2.80 for the carbon price for a total of $7.80 on a Melbourne-Sydney flight and by $6 for fuel and $6.86 for the carbon price for a total of $12.86 on a flight to Perth.

So the only time anyone is likely to pay a $6 or over carbon price component per domestic flight is if they are flying to Perth, West Australia or any other destination in the country which exceeds 1,900kms.

For millions of travellers each year, the cost impact of the carbon price on their ticket will be less than the cup of coffee they have at the airport.

At this point in time Abbott's relentless propaganda has begun to border on childish petulance.

A classic Bolta from First Dog

First Dog On The Moon excels himself over at Crikey:

Click on cartoon to make it gro-o-ow

We knew nothing! cry Stoner and Gulaptis

The Sergeant Schultz defence has been given an airing by NSW Nationals this week as they seek to hide from their decision to close Grafton Gaol and leave only a small 60-bed remand centre in its place.

This was NSW Deputy Premier and NSW Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner and the Nationals Member for Clarence Chris Would I lie To You? Gulpatis on the subject………

The Daily Examiner in Grafton

5 July 2012:

Chris Gulaptis: “I didn’t know about the closure of the gaol as it was happening….I was not involved in the process. I was not consulted about it”

14 July 2012:

NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner has said in a radio interview he knew nothing about the full extent of the Grafton Jail closure even though it had been in the planning since October last year.

However, it is not ignorance concerning the closure but convenient amnesia which both Stoner and Gulaptis are displaying. As this timeline indicates……

Country Labor November 2011

Leaked documents have confirmed Grafton Gaol heads the list of prisons the NSW Government has been advised to privatise – which would threaten dozens of local jobs and the local economy, Country Labor candidate for Clarence Peter Ellem said today.

NSW Attorney General Greg Hunt

8 November 2011:

Earlier this year the Government commissioned KPMG to conduct an independent review of Corrective Services NSW taking into account historical expenditure and providing funding models. In response, Corrective Services NSW provided advice on factors impacting those expenditures and models, which were further considered by KPMG and included in its review. In order to achieve the efficiency measures that the Government requires, a number of staff positions will be deleted across the whole of Corrective Services—senior management, commissioned officers, correctional officers, industries, offender services and programs, enterprise assets, clerical, administrative and corporate services. Every area of Corrective Services NSW is contributing, including its head office…..The positions at Grafton are representative of positions being deleted at every correctional centre.

14 March 2012:

Today I announce that an independent review into Corrective Services NSW has been finalised, which will ultimately recommend a new organisational structure. Knowledge Consulting, headed by Keith Hamburger, who is a former Queensland Corrective Services Commissioner, conducted the comprehensive review. Its aim was to identify a cost-effective business model for Corrective Services NSW that delivers effective and efficient corrective services in New South Wales while ensuring that the Government's strategic policy objectives, such as the reduction of reoffending, are progressed and realised.

The Daily Examiner in Grafton

27 June 2012:

He said it was part of the State Government's cost cutting drive and the jail's age was also a consideration.

"There are a number of other factors that are just as significant," Mr Gulaptis said.

The MP said the restructure would involve job losses, but he said he was working with the Minister to ensure these were kept to a minimum.

28 June 2012:

Responding to the rumour, Mr Gulaptis said he had been working with Attorney-General Greg Smith on a restructure of the jail that would entail job losses, but he and the Attorney-General would not say how many positions would go.

Didn't know? Don't think so!

Oh, Jeremy!

Jeremy Buckingham‏ @greensjeremy

Have one or two for me @johnkgreens At launch of Cruelty Free shop in Glebe Pt Rd. Vegan teats galore plus @clovermoore http://campl.us/kq7P

Think he meant treats, don't you?