The Clarence Valley has been waiting for the promised upgrade to Grafton Base Hospital for over a decade now.
The NSW Government had told us on more than one occasion that the money was there and that work was starting soon - then returned to ignoring the health needs of Valley residents.
It took Labor's Janelle Saffin and the 2007 federal election to see another health funding pledge of $18 million. Read more »
Rumours have never completely died down that former Prime Minister, John Winston Howard's grandfather and father were probably members of a It was obvious that the Budget Reply by the Leader of the Opposition, Brendan Nelson, was going to be something else when, before proceedings formally began, the cameras sprang the Coalition acknowledging a rent-a-crowd in had positioned in the public gallery.
Nelson's speech was different to the Federal Treasurer's 13 April budget speech on many levels.
The first was that, unlike Wayne Swan's speech, Nelson's monologue was heard out in polite silence by those on the other side. Read more »
Did anyone else notice that during last night's budget reply the politician who was fond of sporting a large, flashy diamond earring had a dig at the Prime Minister's "expensive suits"?
Talk about foolish!
There will blood all over the Liberal Party brand if it goes ahead with the rumoured threat to use Coalition Senate numbers to block any legislation needed to create a means test for the $5,000 'bab Read more »
So ran the banner above yesterday's editorial penned by David Bancroft in Grafton's The Daily Examiner (Clarence Valley locals will remember David as a former staffer for then NSW Labor Minister for Local Government, Harry Woods).
SOME disturbing signs of social engineering are starting to appear from the new Rudd Government. Read more »
If it wasn't enough that Brendan Nelson was declared leader of the federal parliamentary Liberal Party with a bloody knife visibly sticking out from between his shoulder blades which appeared to encourage the party to indulge in a fresh Read more »
In marrying 30-year old Henry Hager, Jenna Bush, the daughter of US President George Bush, didn't do things in half measures. Read more »
It seems the Victorian Liberal Party is objecting to a website highly critical of Ted Baillieu, which allegedly happens to be the brainchild of certain headquarters staff.
The site Ted Baillieu Must Go: because he stands for nothing...falls for everything can now only be viewed by invitation. Read more »
With less than half the projected 'pilgrim numbers now likely to turn up, the Iemma Government's decision to go all the way with il papa and Cardinal Pell is likely to see New South Wales further in debt after the Catholic Church World Youth Day held in Sydney over 5 days of official events in July. The only question seems to be; will the debt be larger than the reported $24 million that Toronto, Canada was left holding after it hosted this event in 2002. Read more »
Comparison displayed at Machine Gun Keyboard.
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News from the home of prohibition, the USA, confirms the view that global warming doesn't rate too highly there. Read more »
'Jackboot Jenny' Macklin is goosestepping across the welfare arena again. Read more »
Non-iodised salt is bad for you. So is refined sugar. Ditto caffeine, processed meat, dairy fats and all those trans-thingummyjigs. Nicotine of course will almost always kill you.It's not healthy to drink water during a meal, it's unhealthy to drink water at the end of a meal.Food dyes, MSG and food cooked over charcoal or in a microwave are harmful. No wait, well maybe. Fresh air good. Sunlight dangerous.Exercise every single day to live longer. You don't have to exercise each day to live longer. Read more »
Little Morrie Iemma was shouting it from the rooftops yesterday."The Government's plans to become carbon neutral include reducing green house gas emissions from building energy use to year 2000 levels by 2020."Yeah right - take another twelve years to get government administrative operations and buildings to go carbon neutral. Read more »
Neither Our Kev or Little Morrie have had their history hats on over this last month or so as they both push the privatisation of NSW power industry assets, in the face of widespread ge Read more »
When Prime Minister Kevin Rudd openly supported the Iemma-Costa proposal to sell-off NSW electricity retailers he ran the risk of tarring all his MPs with this unpopular brush, because let's face it - Australia is wall to wall Labor governments right now.It was always going to be a hard ask for federal MPs to retain that just married feeling with their local electorates once the 2008 budget is handed down later this month. Read more »
Tim Lambert posted this week trying to set the record straight Read more »
The NSW North Coast's Southern Cross University will host the Second Regional Forum on Climate Change and Coastal Communities in July 2008. Organiser Associate Professor Graham Jones said that while Read more »
With the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption replete with investigative files prima facie linking political donations with favourable actions taken by the NSW Government, one has to wonder whether last weekend's decision by an intransigent Morris Iemma and a 'tired and emotional' Michael Costa to defy Labor Party policy and the electorate, by forging ahead with plans to privatise state-owned power assets, indicates that some big business mates are already preparing to carve up those assets. Read more »
Enough is enough. Read more »
Contemptuous of Labor Party policy, ignoring public opinion, along with his attack dog Costa reported to have threatened ministerial staffers with the sack if they voted against power industry privatisation at this weekend's state conference, defying the 702-strong conference vote against his policy and saying he will privatise anyway - Morris Iemma is showing himself to be less and less a Labor Premier of New South Wales and more and more an arrogant dictator supported by big business and the multinationals. Read more »
Two days ago US President George Bush announced increased food aid to assist with a global food shortage, partly caused by increased dedication of land to biofuel crops world-wide and in America $5 billion annually in domestic subsidies for bio-fuel production. THE PRESIDENT: In recent weeks, many have expressed concern about the sig Read more »
Furry musing:Bernard Salt, a self-styled demographer, says that in a few years about 30% of all Australians will live alone and that many will have companion animals instead of kids. He calls these households fur families.I like it. Read more »
So now the Prime Minister has backed away from his fulsome support of Morris Iemma's daft idea to privatise NSW power supplies. Rudders, you should never have backed this nag in the first place. It was wrong to open your mouth (for the sake of a media moment) and put this state's essential services further at risk by supporting privatisation. Trying to straddle the electric fence now, by telling Iemma he should Read more »
Little Morrie Iemma must be a constant shame to his mother.His constant ducks and drakes approach to the truth would worry any parent.It certainly worries NSW voters if the latest Newspoll survey, showing a 56% dissatisfaction rate for the Premier, is any indication.Here is his latest. Read more »
With the latest news on America's treatment of Guantanamo detainees, prisoner abuse and politcal interference, it is time that the Rudd Government addressed the fact that much of the advice it receives on both domestic and international anti-terrorism measures is fruit from a poisoned tree. The Prime Minister's failure to either rise above the politics of fear or rid the public service of the principal supporters of such fear will result in retention of legislation which breaches international law and erases the Read more »
It seems forever since I stood with hundreds of others on a NSW North Coast beach and spelt out the message "NO WAR!", before a crusading Howard Government launched Australia into the war against Iraq. Despite claims to the contrary, the Rudd Government is not completely withdrawing Australian defence forces from that country, so the nation is still exposed to the vagaries and ramifications of this continuing conflict. &nb Read more »
One possible scenario envisioned by Labor ministers supporting corporate spying on email content. Read more »
Morris Iemma turned Sydney CBD into a concrete gulag for the 2007 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, lost his sense of humour when The Chaser team showed that all that expensive and intrusive so-called conference security meant nothing, went against party policy to push for the unpopular privatisation of state electricity supplies, rolled back planning laws protecting home-owners from being swamped by rapacious developers, ignored holes in the political donations policy until predictable scandal surfaced Read more »
No matter how swift is John Howard's patter or how quickly his ghostwriter types those autobiographical pages, history is inexorably writing a thread the former PM will never escape from. The Sydney Morning Herald. Read more »
Answer: When you are a university vice-chancellor.Well, that's what Professor Ian O'Connor of Queensland's Griffith University must think. Read more »
Each day we hear that the cost of food is getting out of control and it is beginning to develop into a bigger problem than global warning.It is time to reintroduce price fixing to stop the greed of our large supermarkets and also the greed of our banks. Read more »
In The Sydney Morning Herald this week. "In that way it was, as Rudd said, a uniquely Australian exercise in egalitarian conviviality, with captains of industry, media moguls, politicians, generals, film stars, doctors, teachers, journalists, prostitutes, public servants, scientists and Read more »
Corporal Athol Goodwin Kirkland34th Battalion Australian Infantry A.I.F.Aged 23 years and 2 months Read more »
Shadow Treasury spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull doesn't know where to turn now that inflation has risen to over 4 per cent. Mr. Read more »
Fair go, Kev. Read more »
In February this year I posted I just know that the 2020 Summit will bomb - Rudd's invited Tim Costello! It's not considered good form to say I told you so. But if anyone deserved to have it said to him today it's our own PM. The Australian has just published the inevitable Read more »
Few second thoughts and a distinct after-glow for Professor Joshua Gans, as he briefly summarises his impressions of The Big Weekend and participation in Rudd's 2020 summit.But then Joshua appears to be a fully-employed (probably tenured), professional male under 50 years of age and, so hasn't lived through as many societal and political cycles as most on the NSW North (Graying) Coast. Read more »
Now that Australia is in the post-2020 phase of a hopefully dying media cycle, here are one or two media moments I would prefer not to see. An obviously overweight and out of condition Kevin Rudd announcing a 'healthy living' tax on meat pies or exhorting us all to run up the office firestairs to keep trim. Rudd continuing to talk up a distracting and disruptive republic debate, while there i Read more »
This morning News.com.au referred to the Australia 2020 summit initial report as being 85 pages long.The copy I downloaded last night was 38 pages long in a 40 page PDF format. Read more »
During the 2007 federal election Telstra actively campaigned against the telecommunications policy and business decisions of the Howard Government. Is this part of Labor's reward to Telstra for services rendered? Read more »
So quickly after the final session closed yesterday was the Australia 2020 summit initial report (with pictures) posted on its website that one has to wonder if some of the pages were typed in anticipation of workshop outcomes. The 40-page initial report covering the official 10 topics is here. &nb Read more »
ABC News reported on Friday. The National Aboriginal Alliance is taking its concerns about the Northern Territory intervention to the United Nations. A delegation leaves today for the annual UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. Read more »
It seems that Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett is one hapless individual. Everytime he turns around he puts a very large foot in something. This time he is backing a government program which is badged Caring for our Country. In designing Caring for our Read more »
This year's Anzac Day march in Ballina in northern NSW will be something different. It will see an 89-year old man 'march' naked. Read more »
Poster found at Club Troppo.
Granny Herald told us yesterday that federal and state governments had failed to reach an agreement over the problem of disposable plastic bags. No national ban or levy, indeed no solution at all, has been decided on. Read more »
Despite the fact that Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research has been running its so-called scientific whale research in the Antarctic at a financial loss for some time, has found it difficult to sell on the whale meat from its annual kill and in recent years has taken to reducing the domestic wholesale price, Japan's whalers are now considering raising the price of this meat. Read more »
An American look at global food shortages. Just how vulnerable are First World countries?
North Coast Voices - April 16, 2008 - 4:44am
How Far is the US From Food Shortages and Food Riots? by Monica Davis ( davis4000_2000 [at] yahoo.com ) Saturday Apr 12th, 2008 2:37 PM Even the United States is not immune from the potential for food shortages, food riots and food insecurity. Read more » Barack hits back at 'elitist' jibe, but doesn't miss a beat in money raising efforts
North Coast Voices - April 15, 2008 - 10:30am
How dumb is Liberal Frontbencher Christopher Pyne?
North Coast Voices - April 15, 2008 - 2:07am
Answer: As dumb as proverbial dog sh*t!Today's Age reports that Pyne, the Liberal Party Federal Member for Sturt (SA), holds the view that the electoral system should be changed so that if a member of the House of Representatives retired, his [sic] party could choose a replacement to see out the term. Read more » Rudd Government disappoints over personal privacy and the workplace
North Coast Voices - April 14, 2008 - 1:33pm
Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard and the Federal Attorney-General may have announced the Rudd Government's intention to allow business to secretly snoop on employees e-mails, but it is easy to see Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy's puritanical hand in all this as well. Even if this holier-than-thou senator has nothing up on his website or that of his department at the moment. Read more » Q. When is a media release not a good idea? A. When you are the Federal Shadow Minister for Business Development
North Coast Voices - April 14, 2008 - 1:16am
On 2nd April Nationals MP for Cowper and very vague Shadow Minister for Business Development, Luke Hartsuyker, had a brilliant idea and sent out a media release on the evils of the Rudd Government. The local freebie newspaper Clarence Valley Review picked up on the media release a week later under the front page headline Hartsuyker blames Rudd for unemployment rise. Read more » Save those Casino cows!
North Coast Voices - April 13, 2008 - 4:21am
Brendan may have lost his shine when he ditched that earring, but did Malcolm ever sparkle in the first place?
North Coast Voices - April 13, 2008 - 2:20am
The Liberal Party ship hasn't stopped yawing since the federal election last year and often appears perilously close to floundering on one political reef or another. Brendan Nelson's poor opinion poll showing and unfortunate way with words once more has God's own party canvassing a change of leadership. Read more » Senator Fielding goosestepping us all towards a political and social straightjacket
North Coast Voices - April 12, 2008 - 1:52am
At the 24 November 2007 federal election the Family First Party ran 129 House of Representatives and 23 Senate candidates, according to Senator Steven Fielding's website. According to the Australian Electoral Commission website, Fielding was the only Family First candidate actually elected. One would think that this might indicate to both parliament and government that the majority of the national electorate had rather conv Read more » Hillsong make monkeys out of bunnies
North Coast Voices - April 11, 2008 - 9:38pm
Hillsong 1 defeated Rabbitohs nilSydney rugby league club South Sydney, the Rabbitohs, have been made to look like absolute dills by playing follow the leader and responding to a tune harped by the bible-bashing Hillsong mob. Read more » "Government doesn't listen to us blackfellas anymore"
North Coast Voices - April 11, 2008 - 9:42am
In a recent conversation I was told: "Government doesn't listen to us blackfellas anymore." Four and a half months after Labor won federal government, it is unfortunate but not exactly surprising that this feeling still exists here on the NSW North Coast. Labor MPs Janelle Saffin and Justine Elliott and Nationals MP Luke Hartsuyker would do well to consider that it takes more than bi-partisan token gestures to bridge th Read more » A waterfront opportunity Labor may find too hard to resist
North Coast Voices - April 11, 2008 - 1:47am
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Federal Labor are said to be considering eventually revoking those 'conclusive certificates' the former Howard Government slapped on documents covering the Australian waterfront dispute and mass sackings by Patricks Stevedores. Won't that set the cat among the pigeons ten years down the track! Perhaps we will be able to find out the truth of the rumour that John Howard 'engineered' this dispute and used $150 million of Read more » The global warming fencesitter's dilemma
North Coast Voices - April 10, 2008 - 4:16am
Art of the New South Wales North Coast
North Coast Voices - April 9, 2008 - 8:41pm
Clarion call for NSW North Coast women
North Coast Voices - April 9, 2008 - 3:57am
According to UNICEF the United Nations Children's Fund. "Nearly 10 million children under age five die every year of largely preventable diseases," said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF. Read more » Wouldn't be dead for quids in 2008
North Coast Voices - April 8, 2008 - 9:12am
Just when you think life has shown you pretty much everything - a pregnant man, mice with human body par |
