Clarence Valley Council Election 2012: Mr. Baker acts coy on financial situation

It will come as no surprise to find out that one of the candidates in September’s Clarence Valley local government election, land and property developer Andrew Baker, was a trifle economical with the truth when he announced that two companies in which he was a director and major shareholder had been placed in receivership by the National Australia Bank.

Yes, despite protestations to the contrary, it now appears that the Maclean Hotel Holdings Pty Ltd business had been placed in the hands of the receiver still owing money to businesses other than the bank.

The second ‘Baker’ company originally mentioned is allegedly involved to the extent that it holds assets which have been cross-securitised. The name and eventual fate of this company has not been made public to date.

Although Creditor Watch Express lists Maclean Hotel Holdings Pty Ltd, Holder Baker Pty Ltd, Gulmarrad Developments Pty Ltd and Lanai Pty Ltd as being Under External Administration And/Or Controller Appointed - effective on all four companies as of 20 August 2012.

Which makes one wonder about Mr. Baker's statement in the second newpaper article; While I have stated that two companies are in receivership, Maclean Hotel Holdings Pty Ltd is the only one.

However, what is also fascinating about The Daily Examiner interviews with Mr. Baker is the lengths he is prepared to go to in order that a fuller picture of his business interests are not published:

Can you please name the companies you remain involved with (to save me an ASIC search)? This really should be a matter of public record in any case so people can be assured that you register your pecuniary interest when these companies come before council.

I am aware of the need to register pecuniary interests and will do so if elected. The ASIC search approach will give you accurate, independent verification of the information you seek.

A somewhat inane response to the journalist in question, as the fact of the matter is that in the Lower Clarence many of the companies Mr. Baker is associated with are well-known:

Lanai PtyLtd

ABN 11 067 844 259

Narandbak Investments Pty Ltd

ABN 97 003 700 669

Yamba Maclean Landscaping Services Pty Ltd

ABN 63 103 591 742

Maclean Hotel Property Trust

ABN 19 122 431 577

Maclean Hotel Holdings Pty Ltd

ABN 67 132 925 985

Holder Baker Enterprises

Business Name

BN98083179

Holder Baker Pty Ltd

ABN 20 122 621 694

Holder Baker Property Trust

ABN 23 496 031 552 28

Holder Baker Partnership

ABN 79 748 42 977

Gulmarrad Developments Pty Ltd

ABN 60 131 904 026

Gulmarrad Village Pty Ltd

ABN 33 131 903 985

A.F BAKER & N.V BAKER & G.J HOLDER & L.A HOLDER

Trading Name HOLDERS AND BAKERS

ABN 16 114 678 578

Update:

Holder Baker Pty Ltd was also served with a notification of the appointment of a receiver and manager as trustee for the Maclean Hotel Property Trust.

The Daily Examiner: You voted. Reader: No I didn't!

On 23 August 2012 The Daily Examiner published an article in which it stated it was running an online poll asking this question: Which of the candidates for Clarence Valley Council would you vote for?

One Lower Clarence resident and regular reader of the newspaper contacted me with this concern.

He stated that not only did he not find the poll displayed online at the time, but when he finally discovered where it had been hiding on 28 August this statement was attached; You have already voted.

In his opinion this was a somewhat bizarre assertion as he assures me that he never had the opportunity to participate.

I can only suspect that this reader may not be the only phantom voter recorded and a software glitch is at the bottom of the Vote That Never Was, because it is unthinkable that someone at the newspaper was massaging the vote.

Which means this published poll is not worth the kilobytes it consumes:

*

Yamba residents have until 14 September 2012 to tell Clarence Valley Council that it needs to find somewhere other than Main Beach to dump its additional stormwater

Clarence Valley Council is considering routing surface run-off and storm water from at least ten private properties on Pilot Hill at Yamba onto one of the town’s principal tourist attractions, Main Beach.

Concerned residents have until 14 September 2012 to tell Clarence Valley Council what they think of this idea.

I’m sure no-one wishes the owners of these properties to continue living with the existing level of land slippage risk, but many would not see polluting the beach below as being an acceptable solution to the problem.

Attachment 13.081/12 outlining the stormwater options.

Minutes - Ordinary Council Meeting - 26 June 2012

According to Clarence Valley Council:

The draft Plan recommends Option 4. (Refer Item 13.081/12 from Civil & Corporate June meeting.)

The consultant and Council staff recently met with eight residents to present the draft Plan. It is recommended that the document now be placed on public exhibition for two months and submissions called for during that period. All affected landowners will be individually advised and discussions will be held with representative of the Crown Land Division as owners of the crown reserve.

Following the exhibition the draft Plan will be brought back to Council to determine the preferred course of action and timetable/costing aspects of that option.

The plan is now on public exhibition until 4.00pm, Friday 14 September 2012

To view plan visit Council's offices at 2 Prince Street, Grafton or 50 River Street, Maclean or download a copy below.

Make a submission in writing addressed to:

The General Manager
Clarence Valley Council
Locked Bag 23
Grafton NSW 2460

or

Email: council@clarence.nsw.gov.au

Clearly marked: Submission - Yamba Coastline Management Plan.

Further details can be obtained from Cassandra Hewat on 6645 0205 or via email cassandra.hewat@clarence.nsw.gov.au.

Will the Australian media finally admit that Tony Abbott is campaigning buck naked? or The Emperor's New Clothes {revised edition}

“OPPOSITION leader Tony Abbott has conceded the introduction of the carbon tax has not been "absolutely catastrophic" but warned Australians they will be $5000 worse off by 2050 unless it is abolished” reported News Ltd on the 26^th August 2012.

UH? How’s that again? I need to back Tones the Terrible’s race for The Lodge because the carbon tax will take $2.53 a week out of my pocket for the next 38 years?
Now how much is that cup of coffee I see before me?

Animated Gif

Northern Rivers Social Development Council launches survey on the impact of Tesltra closure

Northern Rivers Social Development Council invitation to residents and businesses: Please complete the Northern Rivers Social Development Council telecommunications survey. This survey has been prompted by Telstra’s decision to close the Goonellabah call centre. This closure comes on the back of the recent closure of Telstra’s Grafton call centre. Information gathered from the survey will be used to help inform the debate around the future of Telstra in the Northern Rivers; and to help our community to lobby for the jobs to stay in the region; and to come up with other solutions. We need as many people, businesses and organisations to fill this survey out as possible. Please complete the survey and forward the survey link to other people and organisations within the region. Participation in the survey will take no more than 5 minutes and is confidential. The survey can be accessed via the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SP7KB6X We want to find out how much income Telstra earns from business and individuals in our region; whether these customers are concerned by Telstra’s decision to close the Goonellabah call centre; if so, are they considering a shift to another provider; and whether there are issues, concerns or barriers that prevent people from changing providers. We are also interested in seeing whether there is a critical mass of people and organisations that are willing to back a local provider. There is a strong link between economic opportunity, jobs and community wellbeing across our region. NRSDC has become increasingly concerned about the impact on our region of the withdrawal of major employers, both in government and the private sector, from our towns and cities. We believe that it is important for organisations that earn significant income from our region contribute back to the community. We also need to ensure that proper support is provided to manage the long term social impact of these job cuts.

Those misogynist nut jobs on the Internet are found within the Liberal Party as well. WARNING: Offensive Image

When the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard referred to those spreading rumours about her on the Internet as misogynist and nut jobs, she could easily have included the Liberal Party’s Federal Member for Bowman Andrew Laming in that group.

The Liberal Party describes Laming as Australia’s most innovative user of social media in politics.

This is an Andrew Laming post on his Facebook page:

Slanted commentary on Gillard, but within the limits.

However, this is one of a number of crudely photo shopped images of the Australian Prime Minister also found on his Facebook page tagged Photos of Andrew Laming MP

 Fair and balanced political comment? I think not.

To make matters worse Laming has a history of supporting the type of sexist comment of which his party is obviously proud.

Challacombe doing and saying anything to get elected?

Sometimes a candidate, desperate to get a foot on the first rung of that political ladder which they are convinced will inevitably lead to a golden future as an Aussie overlord, will spout the most arrant nonsense.

This is NSW National Party senior vice chair Jeremy Challacombe who is a long-time supporter of disgraced Nationals MP Steve Yes I falsified a Stat Dec Cansdell, and in September last year was a local by-election campaign campaign director for that classic waste of space, Clarence MP Hapless Gulaptis:

“Though he didn't wish to bring party politics into local government, Mr Challacombe clarified his National Party connections, saying he had urged the party to split from the Liberal Party and even form an alliance with Labor if they were to create the right policies for rural NSW.”

Anyone less likely to hold Labor values in high regard it's hard to imagine - with his long history as a Nats party member. Along with his Federal Nationals candidature (Wakefield 1998) and his support of the Nationals agenda to turn east coast rivers inland when he last unsuccessfully ran for Clarence Valley Council in 2008, as well as his willingness to support nuclear options, runs counter to NSW Country Labor’s position but suppports both the NSW O'Farrell Government and the Nationals agenda.

So committed is Challacombe to the National Party, that it was only last month that he tried to blame the public service for the NSW Lib-Nats Government’s recent round of job cuts which rocked Grafton.