Quote of the Week

“you don’t pick fights with blokes who buy ink by the tanker-load”
{The Conversation 27th July 2012}

After reading the documents it's hard not to think of this as a political conspiracy

ABC TV 7.30 Report 26 July 2012:

There’s mounting evidence of a concerted plot against Peter Slipper in the form of hundreds of pages of fresh evidence filed with the Federal Court based on emails and text messages between the key players. There've always been questions about whether the claims by Mr Slipper's accuser, James Ashby, were politically motivated. That's the basis of Peter Slipper's defence in a case that could have serious repercussion for the Federal Parliament. …..

Now in the Federal Court, hundreds of pages of evidence, emails and text messages that reveal a web of planning and prior knowledge by key political figures. The two Slipper staffers, James Ashby and Karen Doane, were in frequent contact with several players before the case blew up. The first is Mal Brough, former federal minister, arch enemy of Peter Slipper, rival for his seat. Karen Doane was seeking his help to line up a job with the new Queensland Government or with the mining magnate Clive Palmer….

Mr Brough also met with James Ashby and had many contacts via text and email. He told him to get a lawyer, a point he's acknowledged publicly….

But it's the effort to expose Mr Slipper's travel records that's one of the most intriguing aspects of the new evidence. Ashby and Doane secretly accessed their boss' diary…..

The diary extracts were sent to the journalist Steve Lewis and to Mal Brough. He replied ... "Can that be emailed, James? It is hard to read."…..

The next figure to emerge is the Queensland Government minister Mark McArdle. He too appeared to have inside knowledge of the Ashby complaint before it went public. He promised to keep it to himself and Ashby kept him in the loop…
JAMES ASHBY...."One day I'll ask you to don a shirt that says 'Vote 1 Ashby'."

On and on the alleged plot wends its way towards eventual publication the mainstream media.

The evidence has been made public by the Federal Court of Australia and can be found at Online file - Ashby v Commonwealth of Australia NSD 580 of 2012.

Tweeting Barry O'Farrell

no_filter_Yamba ‏@no_filter_Yamba

Please explain why names all NSW Cabinet ministers freely available but not names ministers who sit on Cabinet sub-committees@barryofarrell

This is one tweet NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell is sure to ignore, given it comes from Clarence Valley in the NSW state electorate of Clarence.

An electorate O'Farrell is attempting to keep in the dark about ongoing public service job cuts and, won't tell the media who is sitting on a committee which is allegedly looking to remedy this dismal situation as it plays out in Grafton.

Poor Ol' Andy Stoner

Life’s hard when you’re an unpopular pollie.  So much time has to be spent protecting your backside.

@AndrewStoner's account is protected.

Only confirmed followers have access to @AndrewStoner's Tweets and complete profile. Click the "Follow" button to send a follow request.

Here’s the list of Andy’s mostly sliced white bread followers.

Before everyone starts yelling Carbonageddon - here's what Caltex told the Australian Stock Exchange on 26th July 2012

Full transcript of Caltex Australia Ltd announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange heralding the excising of around 430 jobs in a Kurnell refinery restructuring package meant to stem ongoing financial losses.

Snapshot taken 26^th July 2012:

Gone to sea

Years ago the NSW Government was told that climate change effects would mean that many of the state’s beaches would disappear over time.

This is Yamba’s main beach in the winter courtesy of The Daily Examiner online. Notice the absence of any hint of sand at high tide.

Sadly at low tide the beach is a pale ghost of its former self as Coastalwatch's live SurfCam shows.

This is a foolish Clarence Valley Council trying to defy the might of the sea and changed ocean conditions:

“Mr Donges said early plans were underway to construct a new seawall at Main Beach to help protect the area from coastal erosion and severe weather events.

"We were down at Main Beach with some consultants last week with an excavator - we're designing a new seawall to go from the pool to past the clubhouse," he said.

"The consultants needed to dig a series of holes on the beach in order to find out what's under the sand - basically you've got half a metre of sand, then a gravel layer, boulders then a clay layer which is good news because we can possibly build the wall on that clay layer."

Mr Donges said it was too early to tell when the project would start.

"At the moment we're only engaged - us and the State Government - to get a design done for it - once we've got the design done, we can start looking at options for the wall to be funded."

 

Erosion at Turner's Beach, Yamba

Pic from The Daily Examiner

UPDATE:

In a 17th July 2012 media release Clarence Valley Council and Mayor Richie Willamson forget what the Federal Government, NSW Government and CSIRO have been telling them for at least the last five years about expected erosion of soft shorelines in the lower Clarence River estuary*:

"The eastern end of Yamba’s Whiting Beach has a new look with the construction of a stepped wall consisting of large sand filled geofabric bags.

Works were required to halt rapid erosion in the eastern corner over the last few months which damaged drainage lines and threatened underground service line, the footpath and eventually the road.

All that’s left is a bit of beautification and the replacement of a section of the footpath.

Mayor Richie Williamson said "in cases like this an impending disaster requires us to drop other works, find some money and get the job done as soon as possible. Our blokes on the job and contractors did a fantastic job in difficult conditions"

"Now we need to work out why large sections of Whiting Beach are eroding at a significant rate in order to see if there are affordable solutions to protect this popular location. We are seeking a funding partnership with the state government to engage experts to investigate the process at work".

Whiting Beach in the Clarence River estuary

* Thanks to Clarencegirl for reminding me that some of these reports specifically address issues in the Clarence River estuary. 

Recapping a telling political timeline....

Sometime between March and April 2012 the NSW Liberal-Nationals Government formalised its decision to close Grafton Gaol and leave a 60-bed remand centre in its place.

On 15^th May Nationals MP for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, addressed Clarence Valley Council and “gave an update on general NSW Government issues”. His presentation was on: gazettal of Clarence Valley Council’s LEP, new legislation regarding the dual role of councillors who are also members of the NSW State Government, plans for councils to be given the capacity to do spot rezoning, Community Building Partnerships projects, completion of Iluka sewerage facility, $70M Local Infrastructure renewal scheme, legislation for councils to jointly manage libraries, $7000 relocation grant, Destination 2036 and the planned review of the Local Government Act – not a word about severe job cuts in the Valley's only city.

By 8^th June it was known that the state government was planning to cut an estimated 10,000 public service jobs.

On 27^th June the Clarence Valley learnt that Grafton Gaol positions were to be among those public service jobs axed and Gulaptis admitted that he was actively involved in the so-called restructuring.

After long and careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that any assurance/promise/undertaking that Chris Gulaptis MP gives is....

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

The aggressive and prolific land and property developer Andrew Baker is apparently intent on standing as a candidate in the 2012 Clarence Valley Local Government elections.
His former business partner is the local NSW Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis.
Between the two of them they made a fair fist of turning great swathes of the Lower Clarence into a wildlife free, native treeless, urban nightmare.
Could things get any worse for the Clarence Valley community?