First in series Clarence Valley Council "roundtables" to discuss a special rates variation is to be held in Iluka on Thursday, 1 June 2017

Clarence Valley Council, media release, 30 May 2017:

Rates roundtables kick off on Thursday

THE first of a series of “roundtables” where people can discuss a possible application by the Clarence Valley Council for a special rates variation is to be held in Iluka on Thursday (June 1).

Council is considering making an application for an 8% rate rise each year for three years (cumulative impact of 25.9%) but is keen to consult with the community to see if there are other proposals that would help it meet the NSW Government’s Fit for the Future financial benchmarks. If adopted, the rate increase would apply only to a portion of people’s total rates notice.

The first of the roundtables is to be held at the Iluka Library from 5:30-7:30pm on Thursday.

Further roundtables will be held at the Maclean Council Chambers from 5.30-7.30pm on Friday, the New School of Arts Neighbourhood House South Grafton from 4-6pm on Saturday and the Treelands Drive Community Centre Yamba from 11am-1pm on Sunday (June 4).

To help council with staffing arrangements, RSVPs are required. For Iluka, RSVPs will be required by 3pm Thursday. All other RSVPs will need to be submitted by 3pm Friday. Contact Karlie on 6643 0200 to register.

People with questions about a possible special rates variation or who cannot make a written submission can call 6643 0230.

Release ends.

As utility bills get harder and harder to manage for those on low incomes, this comes as a slap in the face

In roughly five to six weeks time electricity prices are expected to rise for many people in Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.

Households are expected to pay up to $300-$400 more a year, with the rise in wholesale electricity prices making up est. 45 per cent of a domestic supply bill.

As low-income renters, pensioners and the unemployed struggle this winter with the choice of trying to stay warm without heating or face an impossibly large electricity bill, they might like to remember that all this was very avoidable.

First Prime Minister Abbott and then Prime Minister Turnbull (along with all their MPs and senators) had the chance to keep energy costs lower - but blinded by ideology they refused to do so.

This was The Sydney Morning Herald reporting the Turnbull Government's failure on 8 December 2016:

The Turnbull government has been sitting on advice that an emissions intensity scheme - the carbon policy it put on the table only to rule out just 36 hours later - would save households and businesses up to $15 billion in electricity bills over a decade.

While Malcolm Turnbull has rejected this sort of scheme by claiming it would push up prices, analysis in an Australian Electricity Market Commission report handed to the government months ago finds it would actually cost consumers far less than other approaches, including doing nothing.

It finds that would still be the case even if the government boosted its climate target to a 50 per cent cut in emissions by 2030.

Depending on the level of electricity use and the target adopted, modelling by Danny Price of Frontier Economics found costs would be between $3.4 billion and $15 billion lower over the decade to 2030.  Costs would be $11.2 billion lower over this time assuming average electricity use and the existing climate target.

Just one more thing that is fake about Donald Trump

It’s not just his 'orange' tan or his self-reported degree of personal wealth which is fake - it seems Donald J. Trump’s Twitter numbers are not what they seem either.

At least 12.9 million fake followers last week and 14.7 million followers without a pulse this week. 

Wonder how long it actually took the White House 'communications' team to amass that many proofs of his social inadequacy? Creating an extra 1.8 million little Twitter bots to boost that king-sized ego must have his minions' thumbs working frantically.

twitteraudit.com:

Each audit takes a sample of up to 5000 (or more, if you subscribe to Pro) Twitter followers for a user and calculates a score for each follower. This score is based on number of tweets, date of the last tweet, and ratio of followers to friends. We use these scores to determine whether any given user is real or fake. Of course, this scoring method is not perfect but it is a good way to tell if someone with lots of followers is likely to have increased their follower count by inorganic, fraudulent, or dishonest means.

TwitterAudit is not affiliated with Twitter in any way.

Liberal National Party Senator for Queensland, Ian Macdonald, acting badly in Senate Estimates

This is what happens when a government senator with an inflated sense of his own importance and few manners is chair during a Senate Estimates hearing........

The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 2017:

      3:26pm

Senator Macdonald tried to order Greens senator Nick McKim to leave the committee, which he doesn't have the power to do.

"I will not be leaving," Senator McKim says.

"You can't make me leave, mate. I'm not going. What are you going to do?...You are a tyrant and a dictator."

​Senator Macdonald said he would then refuse to recognise Senator McKim for the rest of the hearing which means he won't let him ask any questions. This is the political equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and singing "la la la la la la" until the other person just goes away.

       3:31pm

Senator Macdonald threatens to evict Senator Wong and Senator Murray.

Again - he can't do this.

He takes some advice and offers the muttered, cross "sorry" a thwarted toddler sometimes offers: "I've been advised by the clerk that I do not have the power to evict anyone or prevent them from asking questions."

Senator Ian Macdonald trying to kick @NickMcKim out of #estimates is amazing, but not as amazing as his realisation that he can't. #auspol pic.twitter.com/p1weKP6ANQ

— David Sharaz (@DavidSharaz) May 25, 2017