Liberal Party's Alex Hawke drinks the Murdoch Cool-Aid

News Ltd added more colour to the Abbott Government’s attempt to demonise GM Holden Ltd in this article in The Australian on 10 December 2013:

ONLY $150 million a year will save Holden? Rubbish. The Holden Enterprise Agreement is the document that has utterly sunk Holden's prospects. It defies belief that someone in the company isn't being held to account for it.

Holden's management masks a union culture beyond most people's comprehension. Employment costs spiralled way beyond community standards long ago. Neither "pay freezes" nor more money will save Holden, but getting the Fair Work Commission to dissolve the agreement and put all workers on the award wage might be a start....

It would appear that Liberal Party Member for Mitchell, Alex Hawke, drank some of that Murdoch cool-aid:

Leaving aside the rather dodgy stab at the actual amount GM Holden receives each year in subsidies, what would Mr. Hawke’s desire to trim wages mean to the weekly pay packets of ordinary workers?

The basic wage for non-trade employees at GM Holden’s Elizabeth plant ranges from $892.75 to $1,194.50 per each 38 hour week to be worked on the basis of 152 hours within a work cycle, according to the current Holden Enterprise Agreement 2011. While wages for cleaning maintenance workers range from $803.95 to $976.29 per week for 38 hours to be worked over the seven days of the week within the spread of twenty-four hours of the day, according to the current Resolve FM-Holden Enterprise Agreement covering its Elizabeth SA plant.

So it would appear that Mr. Hawke would like to see wages for these two groups of Holden workers reduced to between $267.98 and $398.16 per week. 

As the minimum award wage for workers engaged in manufacturing cars is from $484.40 to $822.50 per week, according to the Vehicle Industry Award 2000, he also seems to be advocating  a breach of industrial relations law.

Alex Hawke’s own base salary is $195,130 per annum or around $3,752 per week, having received a generous 2.4 per cent wage rise on 1 July 2013.

General Motors in Detroit was not amused by Abbott, Hockey and Truss

Apparently the three amigos pictured above had a plan to force General Motor’s hand – no increase in motor industry funding and get the bad news over before Christmas.

It worked.

So its Merry Christmas! to GM Holden workers at Elizabeth, Dandenong and Port Melbourne from an ungrateful Abbott Government they helped elect just 98 short days ago.

How it played out in the media........

The Australian 7 December 2013:

Holden sources said Mr Abbott's comments were an "extraordinary" attempt by the Coalition to "bully" GM into an announcement before Christmas.

The Sydney Morning Herald 10 December 2013:

Holden strategists suspect the Coalition wants the car maker to pull the pin as soon as possible to put as much distance between the announcement and the South Australian state election it is hoping to win...

Tony Abbott has already pre-empted his own Productivity Commission to some extent by declaring there will be no more money for Holden above that already on the table...

News.com.au 11 December 2013:

THE Prime Minister's flagship fleet of high-security Holden limos is expected to be replaced with bomb and gas proof BMWs after Government sources claimed Holden had failed to bid for a lucrative $4 million plus contract to replace the ageing convoy of armoured cars.

The Sydney Morning Herald 12 December 2013:

It was the text message that sounded the death knell for Holden as a manufacturer in Australia. 

''Are you seeing this question time attack on Holden?'' read the text message, sent by a company insider. ''Taunting [Holden] to leave. It's extraordinary.''

It was sent by one of the company's key strategists at 2.30pm on Tuesday, as Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss and Treasurer Joe Hockey were ripping the car maker to shreds during parliamentary question time...

While listening to the words of Mr Hockey and Mr Truss, the Holden boss was on the phone to Detroit, where it was after 10pm.

Mr Devereux informed GM headquarters of the events in Australia. The decision was swift. Detroit pulled the pin...

UPDATE

The Age 13 December 2013:

The top-of-the-line Holden Caprice was recommended by the Attorney-General's Department in 2012 as the preferred option for a fleet of nine specialised blast-proof VIP vehicles to be used by the Prime Minister and other dignitaries, according to confidential government documents.

The revelation appears to contradict reported Abbott government sources as saying Holden had not even submitted a bid in the tender because the car-maker simply ''was not interested''.

Holden viewed that claim, which appeared in a News Corp newspaper on Wednesday, just hours before the US-owned car maker announced its withdrawal, as part of a deliberate negative backgrounding campaign by Coalition ministers to make Holden look uncommitted to Australia.

The report also cited government sources revealing the multimillion-dollar contract to replace the ageing fleet of Caprices, was about to be filled with ''off-the-shelf BMW High Security 7-Series vehicles'', worth $525,000 each.

Part of a confidential ministerial brief from the Attorney-General's Department to then Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has been shown to Fairfax Media.

Dated 12-12-12, and headed ''Protected Vehicle Acquisition - an update on progress'', its summary advised Ms Roxon that after a lengthy evaluation process through 2012, a bid by BAE Systems in conjunction with Holden was successful - outpointing several European options.

It said the successful bidder had been chosen from a shortlist of four, which also included two German automotive manufacturers - Audi and Mercedes-Benz - and another Holden joint bid by a company called Integrated Design and Engineering Solutions. BMW, however, was not mentioned and it is understood from the documentation that the Bavaria-based auto giant had not even been shortlisted.
It remains unclear why the Holden-BAE recommendation was not acted on, but a government insider from the time said the then-prime minister Julia Gillard had been concerned about negative publicity if Labor was seen to be spending $7 million of taxpayers' money on limousines in the lead-up to the election. The internal departmental documents from December 2012 raise questions as to how BMW came to be considered given it was not shortlisted and was not the successful bidder....

Does Federal Nationals Member for Page Kevin Hogan start his political career with potential conflicts of interest?

The House of Representatives Register of Members Interests has been updated to reflect the composition of the 44th Australian Parliament.

Newly elected Nationals Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, has an investment portfolio which includes shares in two gold mining companies, Newcrest and Citigold.

His wife and/or young children have shares in these same companies, as well as in Lion Selection Group (specializing in direct investment in mining/exploration companies, including YTC Resources Ltd with interests in the Taronga Tin Project/EL 7348 in the Emmaville district of north-east NSW), Aurizon (a freight rail company specialising in QLD/NSW bulk coal & WA iron ore haulage), and Teltra (a telco currently re-negotiating with the federal government in relation to the sale of its copper wire infrastructure to the government-owned National Broadband Network) and a company whose name is indecipherable on the member’s submitted document.

I’m sure voters on the NSW North Coast will follow his parliamentary voting history with great interest.

Members Interests Statements can be found here.

Say hello to the Blick River Guardians

Protecting the high country of the Clarence River catchment....

Go to http://www.blicksriverguardians.org/ for more information.

Peta Credlin - loyal chief of staff, smart political operator, puppet master or control freak?

Peta Credlin as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s chief of staff is gaining more media attention of late – most of it very critical of her in that role.

There has been some fight back, with the Prime Minister publicly coming to her defence with ''Decisions made by my chief of staff and my office have my full backing and authority. Anyone who suggests otherwise is wrong”  and at least one journalist opining that this criticism may be a form of sexism.

However, the media rarely gives any history of this prominent member of Team Abbott with which to judge these criticisms.

This is as much as I have been able to collate from available articles published in the mainstream media (sometimes sourced from Credlin herself) and, I will let readers judge whether the charge of sexism is legitimate.

Peta Credlin admits to being in her early forties, so was probably born sometime between 1969-1971. She appears to have originally hailed from Wycheproof, a small rural community on the edge of Victoria’s mallee country where members of the Credlin family had lived since at least the late 1800s.

She was a pupil at Wycheproof P-12 College and went on to Sacred Heart College, Kyneton, after the family moved to the St. Leonards area. On leaving school she completed an Arts/Law degree at Melbourne University. By 2009-2010 she had completed a graduate diploma in legal practice, commenced a Masters of Law and been admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Credlin’s early employment history is unknown. However in 1999, aged around 28 years, she appears to have been employed by then Victorian Liberal Senator Kay Patterson. Later moving onto the staff of Federal Communications Minister Richard Alston, ending her term there as a senior adviser.

Sometime between 1998 and 2001 she was reportedly personal assistant to the head of the Department of Defence at a time when her soon-to-be husband was Defence Minister John Moore’s chief of staff.

In September 2001 she was known to be employed as director of public affairs, communications and publications at Racing Victoria, a position she resigned from in April 2005.

In December 2002 she married Brian Loughnane, who officially became federal director of the Liberal Party in February 2003.

By mid to late 2005 she was back in Canberra full-time; working first as a policy adviser to Defence Minister Robert Hill and, then as chief of staff to Communications Minister Helen Coonan in 2006.

After the defeat of the Howard Government in 2007 she appears to have accepted a position at the Australian Jockey Club in Sydney. It is uncertain as to whether she ever took up this position.

Credlin quickly moved on to become a senior adviser to the Opposition leader of the day, Brendan Nelson, in late 2007 or early 2008. When he gave way to Malcolm Turnbull in September 2008 she became acting chief of staff for the new Opposition leader, who declined to make her position permanent.

By the end of December 2009 or early January 2010 she was in her current position as Chief of Staff for Tony Abbott. Abbott became Leader of the Opposition on 1 December 2009 and Australian Prime Minister on 18 September 2013.

According to contemporary media reports during these years in Canberra, Peta Credlin has a well-established reputation for being dominant, out-spoken, aggressive, confrontational, obsessive,  a micro-manager, and a political game player who is capable of causing considerable friction within an office. She is often called the “Queen of No”. The prime minister’s wife, Margie Abbott, has been quoted as saying in 2011: "I'm scared of her".

Credlin is also reported to have actively participated in every federal election campaign since first coming to Canberra. Her husband was the Coalition's National Campaign Director for the 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013 federal elections.

In February 2012 she risked permanent expulsion from the House of Representatives after heckling Prime Minister Gillard and Leader of the House Anthony Albanese from the political advisers box during question time (allegedly calling Albanese “an idiot”) and, in September 2013 she plead guilty to a drink-driving offence in the ACT with no conviction recorded by the magistrate.

* 2013 photograph found at Marie Claire

What Prime Minister Tony Abbott knows about the Low Income Superannuation Contribution and why he will still rob the Australian working poor

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Coalition colleagues (including National Party MPs Hogan in Page, Hartsuyker in Cowper, Gillespie in Lyne, and Joyce in New England) have sent a bill to the Senate which will allow the potentially abolition of the $500 Low Income Superannuation Contribution. This is being characterised as a budget savings measure.

Not surprisingly the Senate Inquiry into the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 indicates that the business community is in favour of the abolition, as can be seen by the evidence given by Dr Burn representing the Australian Industry Group:..... we support the repeal of the minerals resource rent tax, we support the removal of the special accelerated depreciation facilities for motor vehicle write-off by small business, we support the repeal of the geothermal exploration measures, we support the pause to the superannuation contributions guarantee levy, we support the repeal of the low-income super measures and we support the repeal of the income support bonus and schoolkids measures. We do not support the repeal of the loss carryback provisions and we do not support the proposal to reduce the small business asset write-off threshold.

The Senate Inquiry was also told the following.

Mr Lyons (Australian Council of Trade Unions - ACTU): ....In respect of the low-income super contribution, let me put it this way: this bill proposes to restore the position where large numbers of low-income Australians pay more tax on their superannuation than they pay on their take-home pay. That is an absurd proposition for money which is compulsory and preserved and in contrast to the enormous tax concessions given to high-income earners. This bill will raise superannuation taxes on 3.6 million low-paid workers, 2.1 million of whom are women. Just as an example, about 360,000 retail workers alone will see an increase in super taxes. It is unjustifiable and unfair, particularly in circumstances where the government has chosen to not proceed with a very modest saving in respect of super taxes on high-income earners....

We could just add one or two points. The important point here, I think, is that the repeal of the LISC would leave those earning less than $37,000 per year as the only Australian wage and salary earners who do not receive a concessional treatment of their superannuation contributions. Everybody else in the economy except these low income workers would receive some measure of tax break, and as Mr Davidson has pointed out, at the top end there are very significant concessions.

Mr Cowgill (ACTU): If I could just add something to that, I would draw your attention to some analysis by the Treasury of the distribution of superannuation tax concessions. The Treasury analysis shows that in 2009-10 the top decile of income earners received 38.2 per cent of all superannuation tax concessions, which is more than the share of the bottom 70 per cent of income earners combined. To quote the Treasury, they find that the top one per cent of income earners received the most combined support, and by 'a combined support' they mean both the age pension and the superannuation tax concessions. So high-income earners receive greater support for their retirement than low-income earners, even when you take the age pension into account, and we feel that is a grossly inequitable situation....

Dr Denniss (The Australia Institute): Can I just add very briefly to that? To put these percentages into context, if a high-income earner were to put $1,000 into super, they would save $300 in tax. If a low-income earner were to put $1,000 into super, they would pay $150 more in tax....

The system is obscene. It is obscene and it is bizarre for the parliament to tell itself that this $50 billion a year tax concession for superannuation is 'taking pressure off the age pension system', when the demographic group that will rely on the age pension is penalised for participating, and the people who already have too much superannuation to be even eligible for the age pension when they retire are subsidised. It is obscene....  

I agree entirely. Let us be clear. In 2016-17 the cost of tax concessions for super will be $50,000 million a year, $50 billion, according to Treasury. As the ACTU pointed out, the vast majority of that $50 billion annual expenditure will accrue to the top 10 per cent of income earners, who are probably not even eligible for the aged pension. So if you are worried about the budget, I would not be taking tax concessions off the low-income earners, who will rely on the aged pension.  

Ms Campo (Industry Super Australia):... Of the 3.6 million Australians who will be impacted by this proposed measure, 2 million are our members. We would respectfully ask that this committee take into account their interests. I have a few comments on some of the demographic impacts. As others identified and as we identified in our submission, about two-thirds of those affected are women. We think that the LISC has been the single most important policy setting in the super system which helps to address the inequity in savings gap whereby women are currently retiring with about 40 per cent less than men, which is significant given that their longevity is greater.....

Three of the 3.6 million affected are from second-income earners. The largest single identifiable group is part-time earners in family households. The abolition of the LISC affects around 1.67 million female part-time earners, who constitute around 80 per cent of all part-time female workers nationally—so a very significant impact on women working part time in a family setting....

Ms Wood (Women In Super): Thank you for the opportunity to appear today before the committee. I am the National Chair of Women in Super, which is a national advocacy and networking group for women employed in the superannuation and financial services industries. Women in Super is concerned to ensure that the retirement savings system is fair and equitable and offers the prospect of greater comfort in retirement for all Australians. This is not currently the case for women. Women currently have only half the superannuation savings of men. The average retirement payment for a woman is $112,000 compared to $198,000 for a man. On top of that, women live longer than men, so their reduced savings must stretch over a longer period in retirement. The super savings gap is the result of many factors, including unequal pay, which is currently at 17.5 per cent. It is caused by breaks from the workforce, periods of part-time work, overrepresentation in lower paid industries and barriers to employment beyond age 45. Women in Super support policies that assist low-income earners as women make up the majority of this sector of the workforce.

We see the increase in the superannuation guarantee from nine to 12 per cent and the low-income superannuation contribution as crucial policies to deliver adequacy in retirement and to take the pressure off future taxpayers. These measures are doubly important for women who currently have such a marked superannuation savings gap. The LISC is not simply a mechanism to increase superannuation savings; it is fundamental to the equity of the taxation treatment of compulsory superannuation savings.

Repealing the LISC will impose a tax burden of up to $500 on the lowest paid on our community, and this will impact 50 per cent of the female workforce. Those earning under $37,000, if the LISC is repealed, will be the only Australians who will receive no tax benefit from compulsorily contributing to their superannuation. Those earning higher incomes will receive a tax break of up to 30c in the dollar. It is simply not equitable for our system to treat the low paid and the high paid so differently for making compulsory contributions to their super. The male and female workers who will be impacted by the repeal of the LISC span all age categories, with up to half of those who will be impacted and who will qualify for the LISC being over 41 years of age.

There is community support for the LISC, as Women in Super discovered. We have consulted, and we have received support from community groups, from business leaders and from public think tanks. However, I would say that there has not been a true public debate about repeal of the LISC. The issue has not been in the public arena, and I think reality will only hit for many low-income earners when they receive, on their superannuation statements, rebates relating to the most recent financial year and then understand that those rebates will not be there in the future if the LISC is repealed....   

Mr Davidson (Australian Council of Social Service):...With regard to the low-income super contribution: the contribution is a small step towards a fairer super system. The present system penalises those on the lowest incomes, the majority of whom are women, for saving and gives those on high incomes twice the subsidy paid to middle-income earners. So the tax system for super contributions is upside-down. Ideally, the Henry report reforms would be implemented whereby the flat 15 per cent tax on employer contributions is replaced by taxation at marginal rates offset by a rebate. Still, the contribution is a good start. It means the tax break for people earning less than $37,000 a year is increased from minus 15 per cent to zero. That is not fantastic, but it is a good start, and we think it should be retained....  

Rather unsurprisingly, in a Senate inquiry dominated by Coalition members, its report tabled on 2 December 2013 weakly recommended:

Recommendation 1

2.114         The committee recommends that the government revisit certain measures in the Bill, in particular incentives in superannuation for low income earners and taxation issues affecting small business, once the Budget returns to strong surplus.

Recommendation 2

2.115         The committee recommends that the government consider revisiting the question of incentives in superannuation for low income earners as part of its tax review.

Recommendation 3

2.116         The committee recommends that the Bill be passed.

There appears to be little hope that a Prime Minister who came from an affluent family, who has a more than comfortable lifestyle and, a generous superannuation pay out on retirement (in excess of  $371,000 per annum with additional retirement benefits), is going to revisit his proposed superannuation measures for low income earners.

Low-income workers and women in particular will rue the day that Tony Abbott took hold of the reins of government.

Workers earning over $37,000 annually will have to nervously live in hope that Abbott will honour his undertaking to only defer their scheduled superannuation increase by two years.

Hitler was a time traveller!

News.com.au commits an historic blooper on 6 December 2013:

This military hospital was built in 1989 to house tuberculosis patients, and Adolf Hitler recovered there after being injured in the 1916 Battle of the Somme. It was a busy hospital in the 1920s but after WWII the soviets took control of Beelitz-Heilstätten and used it to treat Soviet soldiers stationed in the area. Once they withdrew in 1994 it was left empty.

Where is Dr. Who when you need an infamous war criminal safely contained within the correct time stream? Obviously somewhere Rupert Murdoch could find him, because when I checked later that same day the paragraph had been emended by 91 years.

How do you know when the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association is not telling the truth? It posts on its web site

Excerpt from a Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) news and media web page dated 5 December 2013 :

Some commentators continue to grab the wrong end of the pineapple when assessing the impact of liquefied natural gas exports on greenhouse gas emissions.

Singling out LNG production with scant regard for Australia’s wider industrial processing and power generation sectors provides a remarkably narrow view of a big picture and one which ignores the role cleaner forms of energy, such as natural gas, play in helping reduce greenhouse emissions.....

The Dept. of Environment’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory March 2013 quarterly update states:

Annual emissions for the year to March 2013 are estimated to be 557.0 Mt CO₂-e. This represents zero growth in emissions when compared with the year to March 2012. For the year to March 2013, there was a decline in emissions from electricity (section 2.1), reflecting lower electricity demand and changes in the generation mix. This decline was largely offset by an increase in fugitive emissions (section 2.4), resulting from increased production activity in the coal mining and natural gas sub-sectors....

Fugitive emissions occur during the production, processing, transport, storage, transmission and distribution of fossil fuels such as black coal, crude oil and natural gas. Emissions from decommissioned underground coal mines are also included in this sector. In the year to March 2013, fugitive emissions accounted for 8% of Australia’s national inventory.

Fugitive emissions from fuel extraction have increased 3.8% in trend terms in the March quarter 2013.

Annual emissions in this sector have increased by 12.7% over the year to March 2013. This annual increase was driven by a 6.3% increase in raw black coal production and a 12.9% increase in production of natural gas...... [my red bolding]

Will the Abbott Government's headlong rush towards the TPP treaty result in Australia having permanent status as a minor client state?

There is a very important reason why Choice has positioned this advertisement in the national newspaper The Australian on 5 December 2013 - and that is this country's legal status as an democratic, autonomous sovereign state.

Choice has this petition online:

Dear Minister, 

We are concerned with the lack of transparency in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, and are calling on the federal government to release the text. 

We do not believe that the TPP should restrict the Australian Government’s ability to make decisions on public health, food labelling, energy and copyright. 

Consumers and the general public have the right to know what is on the table in the TPP. 
Please bring us to the table and release the text to the TPP before it is signed. 


Yours sincerely,

You can sign choices petition here.

The neo-conservative Abbott open for business Government's spin on the secretive TPP in 2013:

TPP Meetings 19-24 November 2013, Salt Lake City

Chief negotiators for the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement countries have reported significant progress after six days of intensive meetings in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Working with key subject-matter experts, the lead TPP negotiators resolved a substantial number of outstanding issues, including with regard to intellectual property, cross-border trade in services, temporary entry, environment, market access, state-owned enterprises, investment, financial services, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, government procurement, labour, e-commerce, legal issues, technical barriers to trade and rules of origin.

The work of the chief negotiators this week has significantly narrowed the number of issues to be addressed directly by the TPP Ministers at their upcoming meeting in Singapore.

Discussions among TPP negotiators will continue in the coming days to further set the stage for a productive meeting among the TPP Ministers on 7-10 December 2013.

Bandjalang People gain Native Title on NSW North Coast

Tears and cheers after the court judgment was announced

Photograph from Valley Watchdog

On 2 December 2013 two longstanding native title applications were finally determined by the Federal Court of Australia in Bandjalang  People No 1 and No 2 v Attorney General of New South Wales [2013] FCA 1278:

NSD 6034 of 1998

THE COURT DETERMINES THAT:

Existence of Native Title

1.           Native title exists in relation to:

(a) each of the areas of land and waters described in Schedule One, to the extent that each falls within the external boundaries of the claim area as described in Attachment B to the Further Amended Claimant Application in the Proceedings (which is reproduced as Schedule Three to this Consent Determination) ("External Boundaries"); and

(b) all land between the mean high water mark and the mean low water mark within the External Boundaries

(c) collectively the areas described at (a) and (b) above are the "Consent Determination Area".

Native title holders

2.            Native title is held by the Bandjalang People who are Aboriginal persons who are:

(a) the biological descendants of:

(i) King Harry, Jack Wilson, Susannah mother of Frank Jock Jnr, Michael “Mundoon” Wilson, George James, Eliza Breckenridge, Jack Breckenridge, Frank Jock Jnr, Ada Jock, Gibson Robinson, Grace Bond; and

(b) persons adopted or incorporated into the families of those persons (and the biological descendants of any such adopted or incorporated persons) and who identify as and are accepted as  Bandjalang  People in accordance with Bandjalang  traditional laws and customs.

Nature and extent of native title rights and interests

3.            Subject to paragraphs 4 to 9 inclusive the nature and extent of the native title rights and interests held by the Bandjalang People in the Consent Determination Area identified in Schedule One, are the nonexclusive rights set out below:

(a) the right to hunt, fish and gather the traditional natural resources of the Consent Determination Area for non-commercial personal, domestic and communal use;

(b) the right to take and use waters on or in the Consent Determination Area;

(c) the right to access and camp on the Consent Determination Area;

(d) the right to do the following activities on the land:

(i) conduct ceremonies;

(ii) teach the physical, cultural and spiritual attributes of places and areas of importance on or in the land and waters; and

(iii) to have access to, maintain and protect from physical harm, sites in the Consent Determination Area which are of significance to the Bandjalang  People under their traditional laws and customs.

AND

NSD 6107 of 1998

THE COURT DETERMINES THAT:

Existence of Native Title

1.            Native title exists in relation to each of the areas of land and waters described in Schedule One, to the extent that each falls within the external boundaries of the claim area as described in Attachment B to the Further Amended Claimant Application in these proceedings (which is reproduced as Schedule Three to this Consent Determination) ("External Boundaries") (“Consent Determination Area”). Each of the areas described in Schedule One is to be taken to include any creek occurring within its boundaries.

Native title holders

2.            Native title is held by the “Bandjalang People” who are Aboriginal persons who are:

(a) the biological descendants of:

(i) King Harry, Jack Wilson, Susannah mother of Frank Jock Jnr, Michael “Mundoon” Wilson, George James, Eliza Breckenridge, Jack Breckenridge, Frank Jock Jnr, Ada Jock, Gibson Robinson, Grace Bond; and

(b) Persons adopted or incorporated into the families of those persons (and the biological descendants of any such adopted or incorporated persons) and who identify as and are accepted as Bandjalang People in accordance with Bandjalang  traditional laws and customs.

Nature and extent of native title rights and interests

3.            Subject to paragraphs 4 to 7 the nature and extent of the native title rights and interests held by the Bandjalang People in the Consent Determination Area identified in Schedule One, are the nonexclusive rights set out below:

(a) the right to hunt, fish and gather the traditional natural resources of the Consent Determination Area for non-commercial personal, domestic and communal use;

(b) the right to take and use waters on or in the Consent Determination Area;

(c) the right to access and camp on the Consent Determination Area;

(d) the right to do the following activities on the land:

(i) conduct ceremonies;

(ii) teach the physical, cultural and spiritual attributes of places and areas of importance on or in the land and waters; and

(iii) to have access to, maintain and protect from physical harm, sites in the Consent Determination Area which are of significance to the Bandjalang People under their traditional laws and customs.

Click on maps to enlarge

Australian Prime Minister Abbott and Immigration Minister Morrison left with red faces

By 5 December 2013 asylum seeker boats had been arriving at the rate of one boat every four days during the first 78 days of the Abbott Government’s term in office.

If the failure of the Coalition’s Stop The Boats election promise was not embarrassment enough for the Prime Minister and Immigration Minister, this media report on the same day would have left them in little doubt that their gung-ho Operation Sovereign Borders was fast becoming  a joke:

A boat carrying about 25 asylum seekers seekers has made it to Christmas Island without being detected.

Christmas Island's shire councillor Gordon Thomson says a group of about 25 asylum seekers have been living on a remote beach on the south-eastern side of the island since their boat sank on Monday.

Mr Thomson says the group was only detected when some of the asylum seekers were spotted walking along a main road into town earlier today.

"This morning eight or nine people walked up onto one of our main roads from Dolly Beach - the eight or nine people are probably Rohingya," he told the ABC.

"There are another 15 or 16 people still on Dolly Beach who are part of that group, so the total number is about 25.

"Their boat has sunk and they have been living on Dolly Beach since Monday.

"We're told that when offered water and food, they weren't thirsty and they weren't that hungry, so they seem to have survived quite well since Monday.

"They've obviously decided to have a look around on day four."

Mr Thomson says the asylum seekers found on the road have been taken into immigration detention.

"There was a mad scramble [about] 11:30am ... the police and the customs and they went up to pick people up," he said.

"I assume that somebody has driven along the road and has seen the group of people walking along the road and called the cops.

"No one is injured, no one has been lost - that's the information at the top of the road.

"We're yet to hear the details from the group that's still on the beach, but the group that has been taken into detention gave that information to police and that's all the information the police have been able to give me."

A search is underway for the rest of the group...

Just one of the many reasons why Metgasgo Limited's share price is still in the doldrums

This is the Metgasco Limited Price History Chart at close of business on 5 December 2013:

This is The Woop Woop March coming to the Australian Parliament House on 3 December 2013: 

The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star announce the protesters arrival:

Ballina Shire Advocate on 4 December 2013 telling the world why they were there:

A PAIR of Glenugie land- owners rode horses to Parliament House in Canberra yesterday to protest Metgasco coal seam gas operations near their property.

Joined by 10 others over a 74-day journey from Grafton, Colaria owners Mick and Donna Franklin hit out at CSG exploration on neighbouring properties......

Mr Franklin said he did not have Metgasco tenements over his land, but he was worried about the impacts exploration on a property next door might have.

One of his greatest concerns was that CSG operations might impact his property's spring water supply.

"I own my land, and I don't owe anything to anyone - I simply want to be able to live on my land without anyone coming on and trying to drill on it," he said. "We came all the way down to Canberra to show the politicians we did not want CSG to impact on our land and water."

While this was ABC News covering the beginning of the protest ride: 

Anti coal seam gas protesters take to horse back to deliver message to Canberra

Jenna Cairney retires as Editor of The Daily Examiner

Jenna taking a break from preparing for 

the removal van on 27 November 2013

North Coast Voices wishes retiring The Daily Examiner Editor, Jenna Cairney, all the best as she professionally advances to deputy editor of the respected national masthead The Land established in 1911 and widely read by four generations of Australian farming families.

Her interest in and enthusiasm for the Clarence Valley was always appreciated.

I’m sure valley residents look forward to incoming editor, APN News & Media Northern Rivers chief sub-editor and Woolgoolga resident David Moase, sharing that same interest and enthusiasm.

Jenna on Page 7 of The Daily Examiner, 7 December 2013:

It's been a grand ride

THE first five things I thought on arriving in the Valley were:

The Pacific Hwy sucks.

Is this Grafton? Ah no, it's South Grafton. Now how the Hell do I get to Grafton?

The internet on my phone is so, so slow.

Now, that's a river.

Yamba = paradise.

I wonder what will go through my mind as I drive out over the bendy bridge on Wednesday.

You see, this is my final editorial for The Daily Examiner.

I'm off to work as deputy editor for The Land, based in Richmond, west of Sydney.

I guess one of the first things I'll think about will be Grafton Jail. The community response over its closing was something I'd never witnessed. I've never been so proud to stand side by side with my fellow residents and fight for a cause. That experience still gives me goosebumps and it will live with me forever.

A jail was probably one of the last things I ever thought I'd think about.

I'll think about how, as I toddled down my path like a kid on her first day of school, a neighbour pounced: "You're the new editor of The Examiner - I read your editorial today ..." then gave me a critique of my writing and The DEX.

"Wow, they certainly read this paper," I thought.

And I wasn't wrong.

Every word, every slip-up and, of course, every time we got it right, there was a visitor, a phone call or an email.

So, I'll think about how much one region cares about its daily paper and about how privileged I was to sit in the driver's seat.

I'll think of the people I've met and, in particular, the impressive pool of talented and passionate people who work at The Daily Examiner.

Despite massive changes, in the face of big breaking news and even in the everyday humdrum, they've (more often that not) had a smile on their face, a spring in their step but, most of all, fire in their belly.

Because of that team we've been able to achieve some amazing feats - APN Newspaper of the year and the finals of PANPA. But most importantly, we have continued to be the voice of the Valley and to stand up for things that matter.

Now it's time to warmly welcome the new editor, David Moase, whom you will meet on Monday and who brings bucketloads of experience and talent.

Having worked with David in his capacity as chief sub editor of Northern New South Wales, I can attest to his professionalism and quality of his work. He's a worthy leader for such a dedicated team.

Lastly, as I head over that bendy bridge come Wednesday arvy, I'll think:

Please let me find my way back here one day. The Clarence Valley: God's Country.