North Coast Voices

Who kicked the NSW North Coast Nats anthill in 2010?

North Coast Voices - September 3, 2010 - 6:22am


The NSW North Coast Nats have been in a quiet frenzy since a minority government became the new political reality.
The idea of Rob Oakeshott (who resigned from the National Party in 2002) in the quartet holding balance of power has them swarming out of the nest like so many irritated and agitated green ants.
To anyone who'll listen they are suggesting that if Oakeshott supports a Labor federal government he would be betraying a predominately National's electorate.
Eh? Come again fellas? A National Party electorate?
The region covered by the Lyne electorate is fiercely independent and hasn't supported the Nats at federal level since a September 2008 by-election. Read more »

Bolt's lack of research exposed yet again

North Coast Voices - September 3, 2010 - 1:15am


If the rest of the Australian mainstream media and blogosphere made as many factual errors as journalist Andrew Bolt there would barely be a handful of people left in this country who were using the Internet to read news and current affairs.

Crikey's Pure Poison outed Bolt for his latest blunder in The Herald-Sun on 31 August 2010 set out here:
Read more »

Chr*st on a bike!

North Coast Voices - September 2, 2010 - 7:01pm


Just when it felt safe to get back in the water, along comes this from the abacus of Antony Green over at Australia Votes 2010:

Senate Results - South Australia

Elected Candidates Read more »

Australian Labor Party redeems itself in historic agreement with The Greens in Federal Parliament [Transcript]

North Coast Voices - September 2, 2010 - 1:16am


The Australian Labor Party entered into an historic agreement with The Greens on 1 September 2010.

This agreement comes into effect when federal government is formed after the results of the 21 August 2010 general election are declared.

It resets the national agenda in relation to climate change, constitutional recognition of Australia's first peoples, situating local government within the constitution, parliamentary reform and political donations among other matters.

As the goodwill this agreement represents does not appear entirely dependent on Labor forming a minority government, it also potentially creates a formidable force the Coalition and Tony Abbott may have to deal with as a political reality for the next three years at least.
Read more »

Australian electors disenfranchised by AEC failure to handle ballot papers correctly

North Coast Voices - September 1, 2010 - 1:15am


Given the general malaise which afflicted the national psyche over the last two months, it comes as no surprise that at least 2,977 early votes cast for the Division of Boothby (South Australia) and 452 early votes cast for the Division of Flynn (Queensland) will not be counted in the 21 August 2010 Australian Federal Election, because the handling of these ballots breached the Commonwealth Electoral Act and the Australian Electoral Commission has instigated urgent examinations into the circumstances which led to the exclusion of these votes. The examinations will establish the facts surrounding the incidents and report findings to the Electoral Commissioner.

ABC News reporting on the Boothby count:
Read more »

The journey of a modern day Marco Polo

North Coast Voices - August 31, 2010 - 3:30am


Toothbrush and toothpaste packed ... check ... yes!

Righto, preparation for the journey to the New England area was complete.

Day 1 ... left the flood plains of the mighty Clarence behind and headed west.

First stop ... Glen Innes where the early European civic fathers (and, perhaps mothers, but I doubt they had much say in things at the time) had the foresight to plan for an urban centre with good wide streets. Read more »

Mad or Dishonest - which is worse?

North Coast Voices - August 31, 2010 - 1:05am


A Google search delivers about 64,900 results in 0.23 seconds for the search term senator fielding mad?
While tony abbott dishonest? throws up around 22,500 results in 0.21 seconds.
This snippet came from a young fella living a few streets away from me. Thanks, Greg.
Not all the entires accuse these pollies of being either mad or dishonest, but an uncomfortably high number actually do make these claims. Read more »

The NSW North Coast Nationals - better late than never?

North Coast Voices - August 29, 2010 - 8:28am


Reduced to being the cow's rump of the Coalition partnership in 2007 and on 21 August 2010 further whittled down by voters to a mere handful of hair on the Liberal Party tail (with only seven seats held nationally outside of Queensland), have the Nationals have begun their fightback with this NSW North Coast recruitment drive in the Coastal Views on 25 August: Read more »

What NSW Northern Rivers social priorities are in 2010 for local community services

North Coast Voices - August 28, 2010 - 1:15am


From Northern Rivers Social Priorities 2010 Report:

In early 2010 Northern Rivers Social Development Council (NRSDC) conducted a survey amongst the regions’ community service providers to gauge their views on social priorities. The results from the survey will be used to inform NRSDC in its advocacy role. It will also stand as a resource for other community services to gain an insight into the key social issues faced by the Northern Rivers community and community service system.

Since 2001, initially the Northern Rivers Interagency and now NRSDC have conducted research, consultations and surveys with service providers. The aim has been to identify common social priorities across the region, flag new issues as they arise and monitor the state of those priorities.
Read more »

Abbott and the height of pollie hypocrisy

North Coast Voices - August 28, 2010 - 1:05am


Politics makes outright whores of so many, but never have I seen someone take to that role with as much gusto as the Hon. Tony Abbott MP.
From his Australians for Honest Politics Trust (and maybe two other associated 'slush' funds) created to bring down a politically inconvenient former protégée to this apology made years too late and run in the online meeja by the likes of the Boorowa News last Wednesday: Read more »

AEC running vote tally now 71 all on morning of 26 August 2010

North Coast Voices - August 26, 2010 - 5:37am



Click on image to enlarge

From the AEC Virtual Tally Room as of 4am on Thursday 26 August 2010:
Currently 79.78% of the primary vote has been counted.
The two party preferred count is 76.87% complete.
At this stage the Coalition is thought to have 71 seats, Labor 71 seats, Independents 4 seats and 3 seats are still considered doubtful.
Read more »

Will you help these humpback whales in August 2010?

North Coast Voices - August 26, 2010 - 1:10am


Arne Fleisher's photograph of Humpback Whale from Greenland.com

A copy of the International Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society email set out below was sent to me yesterday.

These whales may be in distant waters to their Southern Ocean cousins, but their plight still deserves equal consideration by all of us here in the Northern Rivers and across the rest of Australia:

Please protest and help us stop Greenland's humpback hunt. Read more »

Provisional voters reminded to provide their evidence of identity to AEC by Friday 27 August 2010 to make their vote count

North Coast Voices - August 25, 2010 - 1:15am


From Australian Electoral Commission media release 24 August 2010:

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is reminding all voters who cast a provisional vote on election day Saturday 21 August and didn't provide evidence of identity on the day, that they have until Friday 27 August to fulfil this requirement.

Electoral Commissioner, Ed Killesteyn said that voters may have cast a provisional vote on election day because their name or address could not be found on the list of voters or it appeared their name had already been marked off.

"The AEC must receive evidence of identity from provisional voters by 5pm on Friday 27 August 2010 or their vote cannot be counted," said Mr Killesteyn. Read more »

The Greens - winning and grinning in 2010

North Coast Voices - August 24, 2010 - 1:05am

Whatever the outcome of the peculiar and slightly distasteful political ménage à quatre - formed by Labor, Libs, Greens and Independents - presently trying to resolve itself into a workable federal government, it seems the Australian Greens prove the saying that winners are grinners. Read more »

Official tally as third day of 2010 Australian Federal Election vote count begins

North Coast Voices - August 23, 2010 - 7:59am


Click on image to enlarge

After a Sunday spent recounting those ballot papers originally counted on election night, the Australian Electoral Commission's Virtual Tally Room records:

Read more »

Currently 78.13% of the primary vote has been counted.

As Tony 'People Person' Abbott tries to be first in forming minority government.....

North Coast Voices - August 23, 2010 - 1:15am


He is one Australian politician who is definitely eliciting passion out there in cyberspace:
Read more »

Can't say it often enough.....

North Coast Voices - August 22, 2010 - 9:56am


Twitter #ausvotes top tweet early this morning:
Read more »

2010 Election Campaign Day 25 - Abbott & Co finally upset Teh Christians

North Coast Voices - August 10, 2010 - 1:05am


Knew it was only a matter of time before the Oz Opposition led by the very Catholic Tony Abbott upset the other side of the Christian coin during this federal election campaign.
Here is The Australian Christian Lobby hitting back over at Christian Today Australia:
"The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) described as incomprehensible Joe Hockey's announcement that the Coalition would do away with ISP level filtering of the internet. Read more »

Now I've heard it all! Transcript of Tony Abbott's official election campaign launch 8 August 2010

North Coast Voices - August 9, 2010 - 1:15am


When an official Federal Coalition election campaign launch includes the following lines delivered by its Brave Leader then one knows the rhetoric can only go downhill from there:

So today, my fellow Liberals and Nationals, we face a historic challenge. Not since 1975 has there been such a time in Australian politics. Our task is nothing less than to save Australia from the worst government in its history.
Read more »

All is revealed: Grafton's Red Herring is a closet socialist

North Coast Voices - August 8, 2010 - 2:15am

A correspondent in the letters column of The Daily Examiner deserves an award for outing a serial pest who makes far too many appearances on the paper's letters page.

The serial pest, known in some circles as Red Herring, should be given his marching orders by the paper's editor - in the courts such a person is deemed to be a vexatious litigant and, like scamsters associated with horse racing, is warned off and not allowed to expose themselves and their false and fraudulent activities. Read more »

They are passionate about their politics in regional Australia [Part Two]

North Coast Voices - August 6, 2010 - 1:15am


From The Daily Examiner letters to the editor on 2 August 2010:

Roll on, poll

LIKE many other Australians, August 21, can't come soon enough for mine; not only because watching the election campaign play out is like following a perverse, B-grade comedy of errors, but also because we will finally see an end to Fred Perring's daily banal bleatings on the minutiae of the subject.

As if vague interpretation of Julia Gillard's body language and last week's bizarre comparison of Gillard to an ageing bovine weren't enough, his inane commentary plunged to all-new depths of absurdity in his letter of Thursday, July 29 in which he draws the reader's attention to the 'seeds' of Marxist socialism somehow lodged in Ms Gillard's DNA (I remain unsure whether this is a mixed metaphor or an actual scientific claim). Read more »

With some justification Janelle Saffin beats her own drum in the Page electorate

North Coast Voices - August 5, 2010 - 1:15am


Federal Labor MP Janelle Saffin is known locally as one politician who has managed to attract money to the NSW North Coast and, she has recently sent out a campaign leaflet which outlines funding she has secured for the Page electorate over the last three years totalling almost $783 million - for everything from health and community infrastructure/services to roads and flood mitigation. That is in addition to the cash payments received by individuals/families and the school building program that came into the region courtesy of the Federal Government's GFC economic stimulus policy.

Here is a breakdown by area:

Alstonville/Woollongbar - $91 million

Ballina - $532.3 million Read more »

2010 Election campaign Day 20 - Remember it was the Libs & Nats who wanted to steal Northern Rivers water!

North Coast Voices - August 5, 2010 - 1:05am


Everyone living on the NSW North Coast can remember the Howard Government's intention to dam and divert coastal rivers in order to supply water to the big mines, power companies and irrigators in south-east Queensland and north-west New South Wales.
The 2007 federal election stopped this raid cold in its tracks.
Howard may be gone, but most of those greedy b#stards still remain on the 21st August 2010 ballot paper and some even continue to refer to massive water theft as visionary or call for the Clarence River to be dammed and diverted.

Some history: Read more »

Not impressed with Abbott's aged care promises

North Coast Voices - August 4, 2010 - 1:16am


The policy has also come under fire from the Australian Medical Association (AMA).
AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce says while incentives to provide more aged care beds are a welcome move, they should not come at the cost of GP services.
"Not only is there no new funding for the provision of medical care to older Australians, the Coalition has committed to cut the $98.4 million promised by Labor in the May Budget to provide incentive payments for GPs to provide services in aged care homes," he said in a statement.
"This is a missed opportunity for the Coalition that has been compounded by taking away the only new funding that was available to improve access to medical care for older Australians, at a time of their life when their medical care needs are very high."
[ABC News 2 August 2010]
Read more »

Intoduction to Journalism 101 or What not to do as a regional journalist

North Coast Voices - August 3, 2010 - 1:05am

There are over 100 million Facebook accounts around the world and anyone who has an account can in theory read everyone of these pages.
These particular Facebook snapshots was passed on to me with the comment that it was not a good look for any jounalist working on a regional paper with a circulation of less than 9,000 covering a population of around 150,000.

Read more »

In fact - not a good look when working in any relatively small community where you may already have a higher profile than the fella next door because you work in teh meeja.

Essential Report: yet another tight opinion poll for the main contenders in 2010 Australian federal election

North Coast Voices - August 2, 2010 - 5:07pm

From the Essential Report (2 August 2010) survey conducted online from 27th July to 1st August 2010:

Q. The Federal Election will be held on 21 August – to which party will you probably give your first preference in the House of Representatives? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward?

Q. If don’t know – Well which party are you currently leaning to for the House of Representatives?

Read more »

The Liberals descend to what looks suspiciously like defamtion...

North Coast Voices - August 2, 2010 - 1:16am


Journalist Andrew Bolt and former Howard Government foreign minister, Alexander Downer plumb the depths with this comment by Downer repeated by The Bolter:

"I don't use the c-word, but I do use the f-word pretty freely, and I can tell you that Kevin Rudd is a f****** awful person."

Original 1 August 2010 article here.

Mayne gets down and dirty in Senate seat fight

North Coast Voices - August 1, 2010 - 1:06am


Senate hopeful Stephen Mayne was emailing this about last Tuesday:

"The gaming watchdog will investigate the presence of two teens on the gaming floor of an Altona North hotel part-owned by Liberal Senator Julia McGauran, after a complaint by rival Senate candidate Stephen Mayne.

Mr Mayne, an independent, said that two 15-year old girls in the gaming area at The Millers Inn last week. Senator McGauran is a part-owner of the pub, at which punters lost more than $12 million last financial year.

A spokesman for anti-gambling independent Senator Nick Xenophon, cited as a witness, said the girls were on the gaming floor for 10 minutes. Senator McGauran said it was 2.5 minutes."

Details of all NSW North Coast candidates in the 2010 Federal Election

North Coast Voices - July 31, 2010 - 8:47am


NSW North Coast Federal Electorates - the candidates, their details and positions on ballot papers.

RICHMOND

1 van LIESHOUT, Joan Liberal Local Councillor

Phone (work): 07 5599 2385
Email: joan.vanlieshout@nsw.liberal.org.au Read more »

Classic Abbott or How to tie yourself in knots on the campaign trail

North Coast Voices - July 31, 2010 - 1:05am


Part of a 26th July 2010 7.30 Report interview over at Aunty ABC on the subject of Australia's immigration policy:

KERRY O'BRIEN: Now let's talk about immigration, which you've put further on the map in this campaign at the weekend and where you've been accused of being tricky. Isn't it true that the peak immigration figure of 300,000 in 2008, the calendar year 2008, the first year of the Rudd Government, that you've described as unsustainable, was actually achieved under the immigration policy of the Howard Government? Read more »

What's going on at the Herald? This pair have already had their 15 minutes of fame

North Coast Voices - July 30, 2010 - 11:18am


A sure sign that it's a slow news day is The Sydney Morning Herald's decision to give two codgers whose names resemble those of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition another run in today's paper.

Honestly, they add nothing new to the Herald's election coverage, so why were they given another appearance?

C'mon, Granny Herald, readers deserve better than having to sit down to a second serving of tripe. Read more »

Keeping track of all those election campaign leaflets in 2010

North Coast Voices - July 30, 2010 - 1:15am


Citizens Electoral Council leaflet understood to have been authorized

Read more »

by R. Barwick on behalf of Craig Isherwood

At last! Somewhere to go to check out those 2010 federal election campaign leaflets.
You can even upload images of those examples that are beginning to litter your own letterbox.

Go Gillie!

North Coast Voices - July 30, 2010 - 1:08am

I'm more than a tad tired of all that nonsense about Oz Prime Minister Julia Gillard being an unmarried, childless and godless sheila, so I was glad when Crikey's Bernard Keane took a scalpel to the mainstream media: Read more »

Political Bad Taste Awards July 2010

North Coast Voices - July 29, 2010 - 1:15am


And the Winner is.......

Click on images to enlarge Read more »

2010 Election Campaign Day 13 - the things you overhear

North Coast Voices - July 29, 2010 - 1:05am


Overheard some of the gentle gender at a local coffee shop:

"Tony Abbott loves strong women ? Yeah, when they're wearing leather, stiletto boots and carrying a whip!"

"I don't know - perhaps he is likeable. I like watching his bald spot grow bigger and bigger each day. It's sort of like watching Pinocchio's nose."

A conversation between two older women overheard on the local bus:

"Tony Abbott is just a lair.... He's a sneaky b@stard."

"The man hates women." Read more »

Yet another Nationals candidate who lives outside the electorate

North Coast Voices - July 28, 2010 - 1:15am


In 2007 Nationals candidate Chris Gulaptis did not live in (and therefore could not vote in) the Page electorate he was contesting.

In 2010 it seems the party has not learned from past mistakes - Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan also does not live in (and therefore cannot vote in) the Page electorate he is contesting.

Interestingly both have blamed redistribution for this state of affairs - on shaky ground there.

Who's letter writer Simon Kinny - it pays to read between the lines

North Coast Voices - July 26, 2010 - 2:30am


Simon Kinny of Lismore had a letter to the editor in Saturday's Daily Examiner.

Funnily enough, Kinny forgot to mention that he's Dr Simon Kinny and he just happens to be the Nationals' Page Electorate Council Chairman and features on National Kevin Hogan's web page

Kinny can be contacted at St Vincents Hospital in Lismore at Suite 11, Level 3, St. Vincent's Specialist Medical Centre,
20 Dalley, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia
Ph: (61 2) 66 21 4177
Fax: (61 2) 66 21 4186

Kinny can also be contacted via his email address at ski66335@bigpond.net.au Read more »

Australia 2010: When the welcome mat is never put out for you

North Coast Voices - July 26, 2010 - 1:15am


SANE Australia has released the findings of a recent survey in Research Bulletin 12 Social inclusion and mental illness - hopefully in time to assist with mental health policy responses from the major parties contesting the Australian Federal Election on 21 August 2010: Read more »

150 wankers will save Oz? G'arn!

North Coast Voices - July 24, 2010 - 6:41am


"And so today I announce that if we are re-elected, I will develop a dedicated process – a Citizens' Assembly – to examine over 12 months the evidence on climate change, the case for action and the possible consequences of introducing a market-based approach to limiting and reducing carbon emissions." {'Moving foward together on climate change' speech on 23rd July 2010}
That rumbling sound followed by a slight tilt to the floor which you experienced after Prime Minister Gillard finished her climate change policy speech was caused by thousands of Aussies running towards The Green's camp. Read more »

Branding foreheads for crimes & misdemeanours plus mistaken identity

North Coast Voices - July 24, 2010 - 1:15am


This exchange in The Sydney Morning Herald letters column on 20 July 2010 was emailed to me this week:

List of never-to-be forgiven wrongs

There are three things I can never forgive:
1. The Greens voting with the Coalition against the emissions trading scheme.
2. The Labor Party giving in to the mining giants.
3. Mick Keelty and the Australian Federal Police letting Scott Rush get on that plane (''Rush writes as his last-ditch appeal is lodged'', July 17-18).

Kay Rocavert Drummoyne

I move, as an addendum to Kay Rocavert's crimes and misdemeanours motion (Letters, July 19), that the name Steve Fielding be indelibly marked in reverse print on the foreheads of all Labor Party machine personnel.

Col Shephard Yamba Read more »

Mayne announces run for the Senate

North Coast Voices - July 23, 2010 - 6:53am


Yet another Aussie Steve wants to enter federal politics. Why am I not surprised?

Read more »

A chunk of Stephen Mayne's announcement emailed out in the early hours of this morning:

2010 Election Campaign Day 5 - an abundance of focus group speake

North Coast Voices - July 21, 2010 - 1:06am

FOWARD! ACTION! PROTECT! VALUES! TRUST! TOGETHER!


He said......She said......They said........


Cartoon from FotoSearch Read more »

MailScanner and University of Southampton say "Please do not complain to us. It will do no good."

North Coast Voices - July 20, 2010 - 1:15am


Out of the blue last week MailScanner, a software project run by the University of Southampton, started to identify all emails I send as possible spam and, those containing links to North Coast Voices or Google searches as possible fraud.

Read more »

There are five seasons on the Clarence Coast as Maccas is about to find out

North Coast Voices - July 20, 2010 - 1:05am


Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Clarence Coast knows that somewhere between Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter comes Hunt the Developer Season.
Maud up the Street couldn't wait to tell me - she's just spotted her first Boycott Maccas t-shirt parading past the site where McDonald's Australia is busy preparing the lot for its new eat-in and drive though hamburger joint in Yamba.

Nationals Hartsuyker overreaches and gets a caning from one P & C

North Coast Voices - July 19, 2010 - 1:15am


The Nationals Luke Hartsuyker (incumbent in the marginal seat of Cowper on the NSW North Coast) has been relentless in his pursuit of column inches in the local print media as he prepares to defend his seat at this year's federal election.

Recently he turned his eye to schools with this press release on 11 July 2010; Government must address broken promises at North Coast schools and apologise to students, parents and teachers. Read more »

2010 Election Campaign Day 1: And they're off!

North Coast Voices - July 17, 2010 - 11:33am


If ABC News is correct Oz Prime Minister Julia Gillard is presently in the car on her way to meet with the Governor-General and once she exits Yarralumla the 'official' campaign period of the 2010 federal election will be underway, with formal writs to be issued later.
Media conference at noon today. Read more »

"Expose the cow" - it isn't only their fearless leader who acts like a misogynist!

North Coast Voices - July 17, 2010 - 1:15am


Leader of the Coalition Opposition Tony Abbott is well known for snarling "That's bullsh*t" at Nicola Roxon when he thought the microphones wouldn't pick up his temper tantrum and this week NSW Opposition Leader BarryO'Farrell was caught using a derogatory term for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, but it seems they are not alone in expressing a very masculine distain.

Electioneering behind a password protected Facebook account the Nationals candidate for the Labor-held seat of Page, Kevin Hogan, obviously allows insulting and sexist terms free rein when he thinks he is hidden from the view of average NSW North Coast voters.
Read more »

How the betting is running for NSW North Coast electorates in July 2010

North Coast Voices - July 17, 2010 - 1:05am


The bets are starting to be laid down on individual seats in the Australian federal election and Page on the NSW North Coast featured in Possum's probability calculations based on where the money was going last week.
Page was calculated on a two party preferred basis at 52.36%, with a win implied probability according to Sportingbet at 53% and Sportsbet at 49% - combining all comes in with an overall implied probability of a Labor win at 51% for Janelle Saffin.
It seemed that local money mebbe riding almost neck and neck as the horses approach the barrier. Read more »

On the media, readers and political misconceptions

North Coast Voices - July 16, 2010 - 1:15am


One perspective.........



From the pen of xkcd


Yet another........... Read more »

The concept of a dysfunctional life and the national e-health database

North Coast Voices - July 15, 2010 - 1:15am


Ever since medical doctors such as John D'Arcy first began to appear on television screens, be heard on radio and be quoted in the print commenting on social, economic and political aspects of Australian life it became apparent that medicalisation of the media and everyday life was well underway in Australia.

All behaviour commonly thought of as unacceptable (and even some behaviours previously falling within 'normal' ranges) quickly became defined as some form of deviance, psychopathology or physical illness. Nevermore so than when applied to those without a large measure of social or political power ie., children and the poor, which had previously only suffered under moral labels such as "lazy" and "bad".
Read more »

Clarence Valley Council: when does a précis turn into an attempt to censor and distort?

North Coast Voices - July 14, 2010 - 1:20am


In response to "So What": the face of not-so-good governance on the NSW North Coast.

The Clarence Valley community is entitled to be concerned in regard to the process adopted by the Clarence Valley Council to reduce public budget submissions to a précis form, then respond to the précis.

It is not unreasonable for our elected council representatives to be pressed for time, so one can understand the beneficial logic behind such process. Unfortunately it has not taken long for Council's unelected bureaucrats to exploit the foibles of this process.
Read more »

Garrett needs to intervene on the NSW North Coast

North Coast Voices - July 13, 2010 - 1:10am


Forests NSW is once more in the news - this time over allegations that it is improperly harvesting trees within endangered ecological communities in Doubleduke State Forest. Including areas containing koala, sugar glider and giant barred frog habitat.

Doubleduke, Grange, Yabbra; the list of forest habitat under threat from mismanagement by the very agency designed to protect old growth and threatened species in these working forests is growing.

Federal Minister for Environment Protection Peter Garrett, along with his department, needs to intervene on the NSW North Coast.
Read more »

Whither now, Fortress Australia?

North Coast Voices - July 12, 2010 - 1:15am


Apart from the indigenous peoples of Australia, all those living here in 2010 could be considered the descendants of migrants or migrants themselves.

From those whose forebears were either convicts forced to migrate by the Crown or Irish and Scots landless poor who were among our earliest economic migrants, right though to World War II refugees and others seeking a better life in the years since that tumultuous era.

Read more »

Catch the Fire Ministries: Is this the beginning of the end for Australia?

North Coast Voices - July 11, 2010 - 1:15am

Catch the Fire Ministries - oh so predictable on 6 July 2010:

As you all know by now I tell people, 'what they need to hear and not what they like to hear.' Let's give credit where it is due. Unlike Kevin Rudd, at least PM Gillard has been honest in telling the people that she DOES NOT BELIEVE IN GOD. However, is this the beginning of the end for Australia ?? This will depend on how you vote at the next election which could be anytime between now and November 2010...... Read more »

A couple of words on that blankety blank internet filter in response to Gillard & Conroy

North Coast Voices - July 11, 2010 - 1:05am

Tiny Silly Mouse Animated AvatarsSometimes a tweet or two will say it all......


From David L. Morris: @JuliaGillard "Conroy will get the filter into shape"? We recognise that shape. So does the ACL. It is a crucifix. #openinternet via web

From Kristen Obaid: Senator Conroy: "I'm not into opting in to child porn." -- Neither are we, you obtuse ignorant excuse for a Communications Minister. via web Retweeted by 51 others

North Coast Voices looking for enthusiastic blogger interested in arts & entertainment

North Coast Voices - July 10, 2010 - 1:20am

North Coast Voices is looking for a person living on the NSW North Coast who is interested in arts & entertainment and, who would enjoy blogging about our local artists/musicians/events etc., with an eye to a little gentle promotion of the Northern Rivers region.

This offer is open to those living in the following shires:
Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Clarence Valley, Richmond, Tweed and Kyogle.

There is no wage, expenses or compensation attached to this offer - it would be done just for the love of blogging.

All our current contributors are enthusiastic amateurs so inexperience is not a bar to acceptance.

Contact NCV Admin at northcoastvoices at gmail dot com to apply to join the team.
Please use a legitimate return email address so that you can be reached easily to discuss details.

Walcha to Bingara via Manilla and Barraba

North Coast Voices - September 3, 2010 - 3:00am


The travelling party was given a tip for a top place to dine in Walcha on Wednesday night - the Apsley Arms Hotel. After studying the menu at great length it looked odds-on that the restaurant in the hotel would be serving us up with one of its specialities, the mixed grill. Read more »

Uralla, Walcha and their hinterlands

North Coast Voices - September 2, 2010 - 3:00am


First stop today was Uralla. The town centre's streetscape is highlighted by the New England Highway that runs north-south through the town's business district.

A panoramic view of Uralla can be had from a lookout on Mt Mutton which is to the west of the township.

If one spends any length of time in this small township then one simply has to check out the grave of C19th bushranger Fred Ward alias "Captain Thunderbolt". Read more »

It's a slow news week so let's hunt bogans

North Coast Voices - September 2, 2010 - 1:15am


It is obviously a slow news week at The Daily Examiner in Grafton on the NSW North Coast.
On Page 4 last Monday it ran a story about the dreaded bogan, inserted what looks like a staged photograph and happily added to the stereotyping with a list:

SOMEWHERE, sometime during our lives we have all encountered someone we would say is a "bogan".
Those flannelette shirt-wearing, double-plugger rubber thong-sporting, stubbies shorts/tracky dacks-clad types with their mullet hairdos and trucker caps. Read more »

Day 11 and the vote count continues......

North Coast Voices - August 31, 2010 - 3:06am

It's 72 all, it's 72-73 in the Coalition's favour, it's 71-73 with one still in doubt, he's up she's down - everyday brings a reassessment of the possible election result.

Read more »

Here is the official Australian Election Commission tally at the beginning of Day 11 of the ballot count:

Rambo of the North: Take a bow Senator H.

North Coast Voices - August 30, 2010 - 9:32am


Opposition Leader Tony Abbott likes to tell the world that the Labor Party is ill-disciplined and in disarray.

However, it would seem that it is the Coalition which is showing the more damaging cracks in its veneer, as the both sides of the political divide try to woo the four independent MPs who will decide who forms the minority government flowing from the August 2010 Australian Federal Election results.

ABC radio news reports this morning state that NSW North Coast Independent MP Rob Oakeshott is complaining of Rambo-style telephone calls received. In particular one call from a Liberal Party member of parliament who introduced himself as "The Devil".
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Jaysus, that fork-tongued sssnake is at it again!

North Coast Voices - August 30, 2010 - 1:05am


Not content with telling pork pies on his own behalf - now Libs Leader Tony Abbott is inventing words for Nats Leader Warren Truss and getting called on it when interviewed on Aunty's Insiders:

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BARRIE CASSIDY: What has Warren Truss said over the last three days that you regard as meritorious?
TONY ABBOTT: Well Warren has said that he understands their position, the three rural independents, and he's happy to work with them.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not - climate change

North Coast Voices - August 29, 2010 - 1:15am


Connie Meskimen is recorded for posterity as someone who just doesn't understand how the natural world works - as she worries about the effect an extra hour of sunshine (coming her way due to daylight saving time) will have on the US climate.
Hat tip to KHayhoe for uploading the letter to Twitpic.
Read more »

Main players get impatient for final tally in 2010 Australian Federal Election

North Coast Voices - August 28, 2010 - 7:39am


Virtual Tally Room at 6pm on 27 August 2010
Click on image to enlarge

The Denison electorate in Tasmania is one of those polling anomalies where the bulk of first preference votes clearly got to one candidate (in the this case Labor) but following preferences are expected to flow in large numbers to a second candidate (in this case an Independent). Read more »

Northern Rivers Regional Food Celebration, Lismore 21-23 October 2010

North Coast Voices - August 28, 2010 - 1:10am


The Northern Rivers Regional Food Celebration
celebrating the authenticity of local producers and the biodiversity of northern NSW

Read more »

Oh noes - they've been haiku'd!

North Coast Voices - August 27, 2010 - 1:30am


I recently received a book called ONE HUNDRED GREAT BOOKS IN HAIKU by David Bader.

The premise of the book is that there are great works of literary art but no one has the time to read them, or alternatively that the modern attention span is so short it is too great a chore to read them.

So he condensed the novels into haiku.

A haiku is a three line poem containing seventeen syllables developed in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Japan. Read more »

In the middle of the federal election campaign all pollies got a pay rise

North Coast Voices - August 27, 2010 - 1:05am


At the same time Oz pollies were inflicting an atrocious election campaign on a helpless national electorate they were quietly anticipating a backdated pay rise:
Remuneration Tribunal Statement - 2010 Review of Remuneration for Holders of Public Office pdf.gif (72kb) RTF (528kb) Read more »

That's not democracy!

North Coast Voices - August 26, 2010 - 4:58am


Now let me get this straight. Four independent candidates I never had the remotest opportunity to cast a vote for and who never presented policy or promises to the people in the national federal election campaign (except in their own electorates), now want to dictate who will form government and the way in which the Australian Parliament will operate from now on.
Fark me dead! Someone's having a lend of themselves.
That's not democracy - that's oligarchy.
And that's not on as far as I'm concerned. Read more »

Media wrap & latest vote tally on Wednesday morning, 25 August 2010

North Coast Voices - August 25, 2010 - 6:25am


AEC Virtual Tally Room
Click on image to enlarge

Across Australia 14,088,260 electors enrolled to vote.
Currently 78.76% of the primary vote has been counted representing 11,000,292 electors.
The two party preferred count is 75.85% complete.
A total of 1,935,933 declation votes were issued, including postal, prepoll and absentee ballots.
619,905 informal votes were recorded.
Read more »

First Dog articulates our common fear.....

North Coast Voices - August 25, 2010 - 1:05am


First Dog on the Moon reminds us that it will all inevitably happen again -AAAARRRRGGGHHH!

A bit about First Dog

Click on cartoon to enlarge

ejW428l2pnA

Hogan no hero in Page

North Coast Voices - August 24, 2010 - 1:06am

The Northern Star 23 August 2010:

KEVIN HOGAN'S eyes were red-rimmed and his movements terse as he watched results pour in from across the Page electorate.

The people had spoken and it took Mr Hogan and his Page Nationals colleagues less than two hours to work out what they had said: "We want Janelle Saffin." Read more »

Sunday's voter haiku

North Coast Voices - August 22, 2010 - 11:18am


Pox on both your houses

No to promises, a call for policy

Greens emergent

52xgtsTmhvw

Fowl business on the campaign trail

North Coast Voices - August 10, 2010 - 1:20am


On the weekend I cleaned out the chook pen and as usual I lined the nesting boxes with all our old newspapers.

The hens were unusually quiet for two days afterwards, but this morning they were in fine form with loud cackling, squawking and general hubbub.

The chooks it seems had developed a new conspiracy theory. If you don’t have hens you might not know that all fowls are major players in developing most conspiracy theories since they nearly always think the sky is falling.

They were all talking at once and at high volume so I could only make out some parts of the general conversation. Read more »

Abbott & stripping the young of their dignity

North Coast Voices - August 9, 2010 - 1:06am


It's always easy to look at teh yoof of today and think that their dress and behaviour leaves them with little dignity to loose - until you cast your mind back to your own green days and recall the depth of feeling hidden beneath that mess of hair and suede shoes.
So 'Phoney Tony' Abbott's latest talk of visionary ideas about breaking "the youth welfare subculture" by supposedly supplying yoof with jobs in exchange for their voluntarily giving up welfare sounds a bit suss from a man who only months ago wanted to ship young people holus bolus across a continent to barren mining camps run by his free market mates. Read more »

Juxtaposition - who said it was a lost art?

North Coast Voices - August 8, 2010 - 2:30am

The Tweed Daily News website provided a wonderful example of how not to advertise a product in its reporting.

Tweed Daily News, along with other APN publications, is conducting a competition for its readers with 26 BlackBerry Smart Phones to be won. The phones have a recommended retail price $649. Read more »

A few coping strategies in the event Tony Abbott becomes prime minister

North Coast Voices - August 8, 2010 - 1:15am

For your consideration. A few coping strategies in the event Tony Abbott becomes Australia's next prime minister on 21 August and you find yourself in the unhappy position of not being a White, Anglo-Saxon Christian Male with a profession or independent income:

Read more »

1. Unilaterally declare civil war
2. Buy advanced survival gear and head for the hills until 2013
3. Empty your bank account and bribe your way onto the first small boat heading to New Zealand

Abbott and his Amazing Technicolour PPL Coat

North Coast Voices - August 6, 2010 - 1:18am

First the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced that, if elected to government on 21 August, he would introduce a paid parental leave scheme which was very different from the Gillard Government scheme which commences next January.

His scheme would provide mothers with 26 weeks paid parental leave, at full replacement wage (up to a maximum salary of $150,000 per annum) or the Federal Minimum Wage, whichever is greater and, include superannuation contributions.
All of this to be paid by a 1.7 per cent levy on business with annual taxable incomes in excess of $5million. Read more »

2010 Election Campaign Day 21 - Kev comes out fighting for his team this week

North Coast Voices - August 6, 2010 - 1:05am

Former Oz PM KEVIN RUDD speaking in a 4th August 2010 ABC Late Night Live radio interview comes out fighting for his Labor team: Read more »

Have you seen Chloe the Staffy?

North Coast Voices - August 5, 2010 - 1:12am


In The Daily Examiner yesterday.


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LAST Thursday night there were a series of loud explosions somewhere in the Grafton area.
I vaguely remember hearing something but didn't pay too much attention.
On Saturday night while our family was away it happened again.
Apparently though, it went on for sometime and rumour was that it continued until around 1am.

2010 Election Campaign Day 18 - @rsehole alert!

North Coast Voices - August 3, 2010 - 1:04am


"PERTH Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey has suggested Julia Gillard's atheism could cost her votes. But he says Tony Abbott's "strong Christian faith" could benefit him.
The provocative comments triggered heated debate on Perth talkback radio yesterday as a string of callers objected to the apparent leap into partisan politics.

The archbishop told The Australian he had not meant to imply people should not vote for the Prime Minister - a self-professed atheist - and was simply "sounding a caution" about the rise of secularism in politics." {Perth Now 30th July 2010}

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If my animals could vote in 2010?

North Coast Voices - August 2, 2010 - 1:20am



If my animals could vote in 2010?

The dogs Blair and Tom would definitely be voting for Julia Gillard. She's a fine alpha bitch who got rid of the top dog and obviously knows were all the bones are buried.

The bathroom cat Venus would vote for Tony Abbott. He, like cats, knows that the world is divided into masters and slaves and how quickly he assured the big miners that his government would not tax them shows he respects the masters. Read more »

Nats Kevin Hogan sets the record straight

North Coast Voices - August 2, 2010 - 1:15am

 

Nationals candidate for Page Kevin Hogan appears to think that the Australian Rudd-Gillard Government has not delivered worthwhile funding to the NSW North Coast.

"Despite being one of the highest spending governments in our history, Labor hasn't managed to fund the projects that would have really improved our lives here on the North Coast."  he states.

 

Read more »

Silly me! How could I be so wrong?

2010 Election Campaign Day ?- Abbott's photocopier cranks up

North Coast Voices - August 1, 2010 - 1:04pm


First he decides to reduce immigration to a level it's already predicted to fall to under Gillard Government policy.
Then he announces that he may extend welfare quarantining to people receiving Centrelink unemployment benefits when this is already policy found in current legislation introduced by the Federal Labor Government.
What next I wonder?

Are whaling nations slaughtering cetacean friends?

North Coast Voices - August 1, 2010 - 1:10am


Young Humpack Whale in waters off the Clarence Coast July 2010 Photograph in the Clarence Valley Review

It is known that Japan's whaling fleet kills lactating female whales and their young in the Southern Ocean, but is this slaughter doing even more damage to cetacean social bonds? Read more »

2010 Election Campaign Day 16 - Political advertising

North Coast Voices - August 1, 2010 - 1:05am


Can you find any legible authorisation on this official National Party campaign pic gracing candidate Kevin Hogan's Facebook page?

Nup, didn't think so.

Betting odds for political candidates on the NSW North Coast - then and now

North Coast Voices - July 31, 2010 - 1:15am

Whether you believe that where the money goes indicates voter intentions or not, it is interesting to note that betting on Day 14 of the 2010 federal election campaign on 30 July 2010 was going Labor's way on the NSW North Coast in much the same way as it was going Labor's way on Day 39 of the 2007 federal election campaign on 21 November 2007.

Even in Cowper and Lyne (which did not fall to Labor in 2007) recent betting is running along the lines of the final result in the last federal election. #


THEN:

Sportingbet at 3.23pm 21 November 2007 (from North Coast Voices archives).

PAGE
Janelle Saffin (ALP) $1.53
Chris Gulaptis (NATS) $2.35

RICHMOND
Justine Elliot (ALP) $1.80
Sue Page (NATS) $6.00

COWPER Read more »

2010 Election Campaign Day 15 - And it wouldn't be fun without Ned the Bear

North Coast Voices - July 31, 2010 - 1:04am


He's cranky. He's orange. He's a cartoon bear.

Er, Ned the Bear? Where are you mate? Come on out 'n' play! I've gotta honey sanger and a beer.......

Yamba cousins selected for Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October

North Coast Voices - July 30, 2010 - 2:15am



Cousins Cameron Pilley and Donna Urquhart have been selected in the Australian squash team that will compete at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Read more »

NASA turns poet

North Coast Voices - July 30, 2010 - 1:10am

 

Rumbles without sound

Auroras rain down
Magnetic fields shake
Beware the spacequake

Vortices swirl
plasma a'twirl
Richter predicts
a magnitude six

This month NASA decided to explain spacequakes

with information, graphs and 

a little poetry. 


And this is the man that thinks everyone on welfare is a bludger?

North Coast Voices - July 29, 2010 - 1:14am

Read more »

The Liberal Party's Tony Abbott has long thought that the average Australian receiving welfare payments is either someone who can't handle money or who is a bit of a bludger on the state (which is part of the reason he is so keen to transform Centrelink cash transfers into digital food stamps and force young people away from family in search of jobs

Nationals Kevin Hogan - Haunted by the Ghost of Election Past

North Coast Voices - July 26, 2010 - 1:18am


I really shouldn't laugh, but the sight of former Nationals candidate Chris Gulaptis' photo posted on Sportingbet Decider in 2010 instead of current Nationals candidate, Kevin Hogan, was unexpected to say the least.

2010 Election Campaign Day 10 - Into the Twilight Zone

North Coast Voices - July 26, 2010 - 1:05am


It all started on the second day of the Federal Election campaign. I woke to find the world bathed in a strange half light and eerie music playing tinnily in my ear.

Then those emails started:

"Caller Lorraine says Julia Gillard was featured in the Launceston weekend paper doing a Nazi salute and that this is not the first time she has done this". {Quote from Crikey news email on 19th July 2010}

"She's a secret NAZI. When she thinks nobody will notice she heils." {Chain email 18th July 2010}

Read more »

Abbott's credibility gap widens?

North Coast Voices - July 25, 2010 - 1:15am


ABC News online 19 July 2010:

On Saturday, as the election was being called, Mr Abbott moved to neutralise that scare, promising that WorkChoices was "dead, buried and cremated" and to make sure a Coalition government would keep Labor's law, The Fair Work Act, in place for its first term in office.
"The Coalition won't change the Fair Work Act, at least for the duration of the next parliament, at least for the three-year life of the next parliament," he said.
On Saturday Mr Abbott told Melbourne radio 3AW he will put the death of WorkChoices in writing if it will help.
"Give me a bit of paper, I'll sign it here. Dead, buried, cremated," he said. Read more »

2010 Election Campaign Day 9 - Lock up your babies!

North Coast Voices - July 25, 2010 - 1:05am



Beware! Rampant baby snatching underway across the nation as I write.
These are some of the Oz pollies to look out for........... Read more »

Northern Rivers xenophobia

North Coast Voices - July 23, 2010 - 1:15am


For years an inaccurate and nastily xenophobic email has been circulating around the world and, adapted for Australia, it has turned up in Inboxes on the NSW North Coast from time to time.

Here is one version posted on a blog in May 2020 as If you cross the US border...

Now that the Australian federal election campaign has begun, the editor of the Tweed Daily News should exercise some care, because that same piece of arrant nonsense is turning up within that newspaper's pages.

From the Tweed Daily News letters to the editor published on 19 July 2010:
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The Daily Examiner editor raps Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan over the knuckles

North Coast Voices - July 22, 2010 - 1:15am


On 19 July The Daily Examiner reported on a comment, containing personal abuse of sitting Labor MP Janelle Saffin, which could be found on Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan's Facebook page for the past month:


The Daily Examiner on 19 July 2010 Click on image to enlarge Read more »

Hartsuyker not doing so well in online comments

North Coast Voices - July 22, 2010 - 1:05am


In the heart of the Cowper federal electorate The Coffs Coast Advocate frequently runs stories quoting sitting member the Nats Luke Hartsuyker.
However, Luke doesn't always impress the locals.........

Posted by vallaben from Valla Beach, New South Wales

16 July 2010 8:45 a.m. Suggest removal » Post reply » Read more »

Bread and Circus: Australian media tries to run the election campaign agenda

North Coast Voices - July 21, 2010 - 1:15am


Letter from Loughnane to Bitar
Click to enlarge

The Gillard Government's re-election team appear intent on starving Tony Abbott of oxygen in the federal election campaign now underway in Australia.
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Monckton gets legal letter from university threatening to sue and then calls up flying monkeys

North Coast Voices - July 21, 2010 - 1:05am


Read more »

Viscount Monckton is not amused and this is the commentary which had him so hot under that ermine collar: Abraham presentation.

What’s the price of a recreational fishing licence in NSW?

North Coast Voices - July 19, 2010 - 4:10am


A man appeared in Maclean local court last week seeking an annulment of his conviction for not holding a valid fishing licence.

Earlier this year the man was convicted in absentia and required to pay a fine and professional costs totalling approximately $3000.

Last week the man told the court that he did not attend the court on the day of his conviction because he suffered an illness that caused him confusion about the date on which he was due to appear and answer the charge of fishing without a licence.

The State, represented by a local solicitor, told the court it was opposed to the granting of an annulment. Read more »

2010 Election Campaign Day 3 - Case of the battling Facebooks

North Coast Voices - July 19, 2010 - 1:06am


Not hard to guess which is the legit Julia Gillard Facebook site out of 691 results....













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WorkChoices dead says Nats Kevin Hogan. Oh yeah?

North Coast Voices - July 18, 2010 - 1:15am


This is what Leader of the Opposition and aspirant to the office of Australian prime minister,Tony Abbott, said in his Address in Reply to the 2010 Budget:

We'll seek to take the unfair dismissal monkey off the back of small businesses which are more like families than institutions.

We'll make Labor's transitional employment agreements less transitional and Labor's individual flexibility agreements more flexible. We have faith in Australian workers who are not as easily pushed around and exploited as the ACTU's dishonest ad campaign is already making out.

If elected, we will be faithful to the liberal conservative tradition...... Read more »

Boozing away...

North Coast Voices - July 18, 2010 - 1:05am

Did you know that 1.8 million Aussies (11% of the adult population) account for 51% of all alcohol consumed in this country?

That's a hellva lot of booze over a lifetime!

Proven attempt to ordain a woman - excommunication. Proven child abuse - er, non farlo di nuovo

North Coast Voices - July 17, 2010 - 1:18am


Sometimes one has to wonder which century the Catholic Church thinks it is living in when media reports such as this are published: Read more »

True face of 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill

North Coast Voices - July 17, 2010 - 1:10am


Read more »

People may suffer financially from British Petroleum's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - now in its 60th day with the damaged well only temporarily capped - but the true face of this environmental disaster is found in images of the affected wildlife.....

The Silver Bodgie & The Lover versus The Versace-Clad Clock Collector

North Coast Voices - July 16, 2010 - 1:18am


One has to hand it to the Australian Labor Party - it certainly knows how to destabilise its own political agenda in an election year.

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First it ditched many of the policies which saw it garner strong electorate support in 2007, then it changed leaders in a somewhat spectacular fashion.

Where I decide to go fishing and almost miss Barry O'Farrell making a right twit of himself...

North Coast Voices - July 16, 2010 - 1:05am

Looked at the sky early yesterday morning and decided it mightn't be a bad day to wet a line.
Imagine my surprise on returning to shore to discover it wasn't only the fish that had been taking the bait - NSW Lib leader Barry O'Farrell had also been swiftly reeled in by the Twitterverse.
Read more »

Yamba's drunk golf buggy driver has his day in court

North Coast Voices - July 13, 2010 - 9:57pm


A Yamba man’s adventure in his golf buggy whilst intoxicated on a Friday night last month had its sequel in the Maclean Local Court on Tuesday, July 13. Read more »

Julia has a big...........WTF?!

North Coast Voices - July 13, 2010 - 1:05am

Like some other political tragics that I know (and quite a few pollies' staffers that I don't) - as we inexorably creep ever nearer to a federal election I have created a small handful of Google Alerts to keep abreast of the debate.
Imagine my surprise when (instead of news of the doings in Canberra) down the digital highway comes a post about the new Australian Prime Minister's genitalia.
More than a little taken aback I did a quick Google and found that I was not alone:
"Who in God's name is searching for pictures of 'julia gillard's tits', 'julia gillard upskirt', 'dirty pictures of juilia (sic) gillard' and 'julia gillard porn' in general? Seriously! Read more »

Australian Federal Election 2010: Jeremy gives us all something to mull over before we vote

North Coast Voices - July 12, 2010 - 1:05am


From "Isn't a vote for the Greens a wasted vote?" over at An Onymous Lefty on the 5th July:
"Several of my friends are Labor voters, despite disagreeing with 90% of what the party actually does in office. "Why waste my vote by voting for the Greens?" they ask. "They'll never be in power!"
For progressive ALP voters there's a very simple answer to this question: because voting Greens will make the ALP a more compassionate, humanitarian party. Read more »

Has Stephen Conroy just guaranteed that Labor will lose seats to The Greens in 2010?

North Coast Voices - July 10, 2010 - 1:30am


Sometimes it's hard to believe just how far the ALP will go in order to lose seats in this year's election unless you track Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's chatter about plans to censor the internet.

Having slipped this scheme under the radar in 2007 he is now afraid to introduce it into law before the election in case votes walk, but intends to run yet another rigged investigation and then erect the Great Firewall by 2012 secure in the knowledge that he won't have to face the voters himself for another six years as a senator.
Read more »

Cultural dimension to glimpsing infinity

North Coast Voices - July 10, 2010 - 1:15am

Looking unnervingly like Dr. Who's crack in the universe, this composite picture of nearly 14 billion year-old remnant light from that big bang thought to have created us all. Produced by the Planck telescope.


Click on image to enlarge

Read more »