Clarence Valley less than impressed by Stoner's jobs announcement

The NSW Nats just can’t take a trick since they failed to support an electorate which made the mistake of voting for one of their candidates.

The Daily Examiner Editor Jenna Cairney on the 21^st July 2012:

"YESTERDAY'S news of supposed new jobs was greeted with a wave of valid criticism from readers.

In the next seven weeks (one week is already up) I predict we'll be faced with a wave of creative accounting, press releases, spin and nonsense as the NSW Government tries to silence the courageous and dissatisfied people of the Clarence Valley.

Apart from the fact it seems the 30 jobs were already planned as part of the Pacific Hwy upgrade, the fact is the temporary positions do little for the long term and even less for the families of the jail workers.”

In June 2012 the NSW unemployment rate was 5.1%. Because Clarence Valley’s unemployment rate is usually 1 to 2% higher than the state rate, depending on where in the valley you live (youth unemployment is much higher and in double digits), many locals were also less than impressed with this jobs announcement.

Here are just a few quotes from the online comments:

"A state government listening to us"? These thirty jobs have not changed my view of how O'Farrell & Stoner handled the Grafton gaol affair. The 30 jobs on offer are in the thimble and pea group, that are there for a while and then just disappear.”

“This announcement is cheap government propaganda... the decimation of the public service in regional NSW is not over yet... don't forget Sydney is the centre of the universe and all services need to be within a comfortable 2 hours of this mecca. Bring on the election!”

“The Nationals scrambling to save face and trying to disprove the idea that a vote for the Nationals is a wasted vote. Not convinced.”

“These future jobs with the RMS are all very well to be bandied around with such spin; they probably were already in the pipeline pre the prison job cutbacks. However, how many displaced prison employees can fill the criteria for being a project manager, surveillance officer or engineer?”

“This piece of news from Stoner really is an insult to the intelligence of all those who call the Clarence Valley home.”

Will Clarence Valley Council follow where Coffs Harbour City leads?

MINUTES OF COFFS HARBOUR CITY COUNCIL ORDINARY MEETING June 14, 2012:

NOM12/2 GAME AND FERAL ANIMAL CONTROL

131 RESOLVED (Graham/Knight) that:

Council note that:

1. The NSW government has a proposal on the table which would see children

as young as 12, with their parents' permission, able to hunt unsupervised on

public land in NSW.

2. This would see children able to hunt using bows and arrows, pig dogs, and

bowie knives without any adult supervision.

3. Hunting wild pigs using dogs and knives is considered, even for adults, to be dangerous for the hunter and the dogs, and an unnecessarily stressful death for the animal.

4. It is irresponsible for any government to be proposing an activity which will be

dangerous for the children involved and others who use public land for

recreational purposes.

5. While feral animal control is an important activity, it is best done professionally and as humanely as possible for the animals involved.

Council:

1. Oppose this dangerous proposal by the NSW government; and

2. Make a submission to the Department of Primary Industries voicing that

opposition.

NOM12/3 OPPOSITION TO PRIVATE SHOOTING IN NATIONAL PARKS

132 RESOLVED (Graham/Arkan) that:

Council note:

1. The NSW Government is seeking to allow private shooting in national parks

and other conservation reserves.

2. The NSW Government proposes to allow private shooting in conservation

reserves in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area.

3. It is irresponsible for any government to be proposing an activity which will be

dangerous to members of the public and others who use conservation

reserves for recreational purposes.

4. While feral animal control is an important activity, it is only safe and effective

when undertaken professionally and as humanely as possible. This can only

be achieved through the resourcing of professional control programs

implemented by state conservation agencies.

Council:

1. Oppose this dangerous proposal by the NSW government; and

2. Write to the Premier and the Environment Minister in opposition to the

proposal to allow private shooting in conservation reserves.

ALL BUT 48 of the state's almost 800 national parks could eventually be opened up to recreational hunters, according to a Shooters and Fishers MP.
In a video posted online, Robert Borsak said hunting would ''eventually'' be declared in 751 parks.
''There are 780, 790 national parks in NSW, all of which, except about 40, will be eventually declared for hunting,'' Mr Borsak said in the interview, conducted at the government-sponsored Shot Expo for shooters and hunters.

O'Farrell, Stoner and Gulaptis to cut new Grafton Remand Centre staffing numbers

After closing Grafton Gaol ealier this month and removing prisioners, the notorious cost-cutting threesome NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, Deputy-Premier and National Party Leader Andrew Stoner and Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis have decided to reduce the new remand centre staffing numbers to just twenty-eight positions.

Disgusted Clarence Valley voters are now waiting for the other shoe to drop with an announcement that this remand centre will be privatised.

Moving Grafton Town

I may have a cunning plan to save Grafton before the NSW Government closes us down altogether; it came to me while watching an old episode of Monster Moves.

Why don’t we pack up the city and move it into Kuring-Gai National Park (on the northern border of Sydney).

This has many advantages:

·    Coalition politicians may know where this is, therefore they may visit and listen to us;

·    when the rest of the services in Grafton are shut down (public hospital etc.) we will already be living near alternative facilities;

·    when more jobs leave the town, we will all be closer to new sources of employment;

·    the state government saves money by not having to build a new bridge across the Clarence River, if in fact they ever were;

·    moving into such a centrally positioned park will create a great place for a new call centre or gaol to replace the latest jobs lost;

·    it opens the current site of Grafton for coal seam gas production, and as more and more people left the Clarence Valley there would be no-one to object to heavy metal contamination from antimony mining;

·    those now unemployed Grafton Gaol warders could collect bush tucker and hunt feral animals for food;

·     we would be in the electorate of the Premier of NSW Hon. Barry Robert O’Farrell and therefore(unlike our current member Mr Chris Gulaptis) it would be impossible for him to say that he didn’t know what was happening to us;

AND the very best thing

·    we could then vote Mr. O’Farrell out of office if he refused to notice our concerns.