While North Coast Voices blog was on holidays the Northern Rivers once again showed its heart......

Letter to the Editor in The Northern Star on 27 December 2014 at Page 17:

Drought relief

On Saturday December 6, 567 Christmas hampers plus boxes of toys and gifts left the Eltham Hall and headed out to drought-stricken farming families with everything having been donated by the caring community of the Northern Rivers. Once again the response was amazing, not only the food; toys; gifts; laundry and toiletry products; but the boxes in which they were packed courtesy of Amcor; the freight as usual by Tamex whose local agent is Greg from Lismore Tenterfield Transport; the forklift and truck supplied by Mills Transport and driven by Dave their transport manager. The boxes were all loaded onto pallets once again by the wonderful Clunes RFS.

Thanks must also go to those who made cash donations ranging from $20 to over $1000 into the drought account that enabled us to buy what was needed. Thanks also to the churches who donated, particularly the Uniting Church of Mullumbimby that donated 40 boxes of goodies; the Bangalow Anglican Op Shop and the Seventh Day Adventist Op Shop which both donated $500. Global Care from Ballina once again showed they really care!

Thank you to the wonderful children from Wollongbar and Modanville Public Schools whose teachers encouraged them to collect for the farmers. All the local Lions Clubs who generously donated cakes and cash, particularly Kingscliff, Byron Bay and the Bangalow Lions who facilitate the Drought Fund. Even the district governor and regional secretary who drove up from Port Macquarie with hundreds of cakes and puddings!

It is impossible to thank everyone, but you know who you are and you can rest assured that your kindness is already making a huge difference out there in the dry and dusty outback.

The appreciation is already being shown and one dear old farmer spoke to me of having his credit card rejected on $27 of groceries; he only had $11 left in the bank, so you can imagine how overwhelmed he was to receive his hamper!

Thank you everyone for making this appeal such a success, all the wonderful volunteers, particularly Karen Hagley who has been helping with this project for years; those who picked up and delivered (including my husband John) and helped to sort and pack. It was a lovely to meet you all and work with such great people.

Happy Christmas to you all.

ANNE THOMPSON

Organiser North Coast Drought Appeal

A most telling blog description

This is an Islamaphobe father of six Australian blogger writing about himself:

Bernard Gaynor is a conservative Catholic who writes what normal men dare not speak out loud.

Before you start to cry copious tears for Community Housing Limited on the NSW North Coast......

Mainstream media on the NSW North Coast reported that Community Housing Limited had lost its NSW Land & Environment Court bid for rates exemption on its 1,368 properties in this state.

On its website the company asserts it is a registered charity. However, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission lists it as a public benevolent institution and the court decided that the company failed to prove it was a charity in its presented arguments.

In its Concise Annual Report 2014 Community Housing Limited stated:

At 30 June 2014 CHL had a portfolio of 4,309 properties under rental management in Australia across six States including Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania. Internationally in Timor Leste, Chile, and India….

Results for year

Total revenue and other income of the Economic Entity is $70,842,035 (2013: $88,406,634).

Total Members Funds are $315,033,844 (2013: $303,983,086). Net surplus for the year amounted to $11,050,758 (2013:$39,630,760)….

In 2014 the company had a surplus of over $11.1 million, total rental income of over $36.6 million and paid no income tax.

In Australia its combined grant and incentive income in 2014 was over $17.7 million.

In the Coffs Harbour area the company appears to have taken possession of 180 Coffs Harbour public housing properties (a mix of one & two bedroom units) in 2011, with the state government contributing a one-off payment of around $1.5 million and the company making a contribution of around $1 million to required property upgrades.

In the Clarence Valley it has fourteen housing properties (a mix of units, townhouses and houses) in Grafton funded by federal, state and local government in the form of land contribution, discounted land sale, capital grants and National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) as well as a loan taken out by the housing company.

These appear to be typical profiles of how this company funds its affordable housing expansion.

So the bottom line in all this is that a comfortably cashed-up international housing company (which already gets considerable assistance from all three tiers of Australian government) wanted more and didn’t get it.

Forgive me, if I cannot see why it shouldn’t pay its council rates, particularly in regional New South Wales where net surpluses running into many millions are rarely found in in local government coffers.

The ongoing Tony Abbott entitlement saga

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has an annual base salary of $507,338 per annum and a wide range of parliamentary entitlements.

In the second half of 2014 the Australian Department of Finance released the latest available list of paid entitlements.

On first glance, just looking at one 4-day period immediately raises suspicion about a claim for travel allowance by the Prime Minister.

Perth Now reported on 30 March 2014 that Abbott was in that city for party political purposes:

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott will fly his Cabinet to Perth this week in an attempt to rally last minute support for the Liberals in the upcoming Senate election.

With just one week to go before the re-run senate poll, Mr Abbott has decided to unleash his federal ministers on Perth as part of a week-long assault to muster support for the Liberals.

The move comes amid growing fears within the Liberal camp that they could lose a crucial third senate position in Saturday’s election – a result which would make it even more difficult for Mr Abbott to pass laws in the federal parliament.

Informed sources said yesterday Mr Abbott’s decision to fly his Cabinet to Perth was a strategic move to remind voters that there were already five West Australian ministers in the federal Parliament and that Liberal senators would be part of an already strong contingent of government representatives in Canberra.

While in Perth, Mr Abbott will also attempt to swell the coffers of the Liberal Party by being the headline act of a party fundraiser tomorrow night – charging $5000 a table to attend.

“Western Australia is at the heart of my Government. We have five Ministers from WA, three in the Cabinet, which means WA has an incredibly strong voice around the decision-making table and that will be on display when Cabinet meets in Perth on Tuesday,” Mr Abbott told The Sunday Times yesterday.

“If Western Australia wants a strong team and a better deal, there’s only one way to vote and that is to vote for the Liberal candidates who will have a strong voice within the Government…. [my red bolding]

On 31 March he squeezed in a visit to Pearce RAAF base in Perth and an appearance at a WA Telethon awards event, ahead of his headline appearance at the Liberal Party fundraiser on 1 April and the supposed official Cabinet meeting with his ministers on 2 April.

The Australian Dept. of Finance reported that between 30 March and 2 April 2014 it gave a travel allowance refund to Tony Abbott of over $2,000 for this particular visit to Perth:

Associated VIP flight costs totalled $17,470 to fly him and advisors/staff from Canberra to Perth via Sydney & Melbourne, plus a further $11,550 to fly both he and his entourage back to Canberra on 3 April.

Abbott has a long history of alleged abuse of parliamentary entitlements, including this instance as Opposition Leader and this example as Prime Minister of a manipulation of entitlement criteria.

Given that Tony Abbott tends to go into full electioneering mode ahead of any formal election campaign, I’m sure political tragics around the nation will be closely watching his expense claims this year.