One of many contacts on the central coast confirms early this February that Dick Person, formerly NSW Government administrator at the sacked Port Macquarie Hastings Council, has completed his report into Gosford Council.

This is the council that willingly gave away control of the old Pacific Highway at Piles Creek after the devastating untimely death of a family of 2 adults and 3 children in a washed out section of road.

NSW Govt to take back Old Pacific Hwy ABC Sat Dec 6, 2008 9:01am AEDT

The Sydney based coroner was scathing of lack of local government rigour:

Culvert tragedy: coroner blames council - National - smh.com.au 18 Sep 2008

Similarly this quote from the SMH:

"An "incompetent and ineffective" NSW council is entirely to blame for a highway collapse that killed five family members, including three children, a coroner has ruled.

In damning findings, deputy NSW coroner Paul MacMahon said Gosford City Council had failed to provide the most basic road maintenance, and that neglect had cost five lives.

Adam Holt, his partner Roslyn Bragg, 29, their young daughters Jasmine, 3, and Madison, 2, and Ms Bragg's nephew Travis, 9, died when a culvert collapsed and swallowed part of the Old Pacific Highway at Somersby, north of Sydney, in June last year."

And then we have this follow up:

Council risks second road collapse - National - smh.com.au 22 Sept 2008

and this

Pipes corroded before road collapse: inquest ABC Tue Jul 1, 2008 12:45pm AEST An inquest into the deaths of five people in a road collapse on the New South Wales central coast has heard Gosford Council failed to keep adequate records of repairs needed to the roads.

and this

Documents reveal collapsed highway section needed repairs ABC Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:04pm AEST

There are a legion of hostile residents and ratepayers in Gosford LGA or so it seems:

Mayor defends 'most complained about' council ABC Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:37pm AEDT

Yet the Person Inquiry was haphazard at best. Many did not know how to make public submissions. Indeed there wasn't any public advertisement calling for these. Did Dick Person access this torrent of information?

Another contact says there has been a report of alleged corruption sent to ICAC regarding deliberately deleting the content of resident complaints from the council's own information database. Of cooking the information flow. Who would have thunk it?

Picture: The inquest heard the Gosford City Council were 'aware of structural problems'. (ABC TV)

Another contact says there are two (not one) KPMG reports one of which allegedly calls for directors at Gosford to be sacked. Did Dick Person see this particular KPMG report? Does it exist?

Yet another contact says there are two reports by a state government and Gosford council retained consultancy called Internal Audit Bureau into alleged incapacity of Gosford to properly do land use planning and assessment in relation to water licensing. Are these the kind of skills also involved in landscape engineering, say for road safety? Did Dick Person access that as yet IAB confidential report?

Suffice to say our submission to Dick Person was sent direct via his email address at Port Macquarie Hastings not via Gosford Council.

We look forward to Dick Person's findings and the State Government response not least for the memory of those 3 dead children and their hapless parents. Will they get justice?

Posted by editor at 7:32 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 2 March 2009 8:05 PM EADT

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6 points of Mandatory Continuing Legal Education. How could I resist, especially with some one else paying.

Actually it sounds like the legal version of accountancy, or maybe weeding, but no it was a very enjoyable hob nobbing with the partner from Turnbull Hill, and the Clayton Utz senior associate or probably partner. As the google graphic shows today, online data bases actually have their lighter moments (a Dr Seus theme shown here but not likely to endure):

We discovered that moi can still mix it with these guys after all those years of activist grovel: The police prosecutor dude from up Grafton way who knew about some of the real bad guys in Underbelly 2 back in the day. The union lawyer taller than Nick Seddon (the formidable contracts lecturer at ANU law school, again back in the day - last usage we promise).

And the cream was our lecturer, hippie zen style Colin Fong complete with nifty ringtail possum hair style. This intrepid guy knows his precedent data bases. Subscription or free source? Even does a bit of open university social capital in Western Sydney. This guy was too cool for law, and yet here he was out of the big firms giving back to the grassroots, well in my case at least.

So there I was 10 minutes late, pumped up by cycling in sub tropical rain, clammy wet shorts and shirt hanging out, clasping change of clothes and bag , sheepishly walking into a room of sharp female lawyers. The backbone of the legal service industry in fact. Talk about gender imbalance. (Which reminds of an old girlfriend now "acting solicitor general of NSW" I notice on one of those mid life nostalgic web surfs - but that's another story: That's what you get for 20 years of public servant grovel - quite an achievement to be sure. Still pondering how one could work for 'them' or something as ephemeral as a mortgage.)

Then one by one the other guys arrived. 5 in succession for the next 2 hours or more. All late and not a blink of shame. Disorganised? I commented to the refugee from CCH reference service:

"What does this say about the blokes?"

"I'm saying nothing" came the very knowing reply.

Perhaps this recent MCLE experience also explains the vivid dream last night turbo charged by fresh air and hard yakka: Attending moot court arriving late, empty room then surrounded by raucous students and referred to as son of the surgeon general - go figure.

Back in reality Colin The Cool got me to ask for consent for the sufficiently anonymous photograph angle above and write this report "in the next week?". Yes, except the schedule got a little misplaced. There's that bloke thing again. So now here it is full of Hawkesbury fresh air to kick it along. I told him I would need to spice it up with some newsy angles like:

• how judges control which cases get an official report (a PR factor of bias in there?), no doubt of interest to the right wing baiters of plaintiff lawyers and so called activist/undemocratic judges as per USA experience. Reports involving sleeping judges, or perverse outcomes get censored as "unreported"? Combine this with our direct knowledge of the assiduous Media Monitors account with the NSW Judiciary and you know this 3rd arm of the executive care about their PR. On the other hand the monitoring helps prevent breaches of sub judice;
• Good online research by the Big Media and journalists generally should help better deal with the Right to Know agenda explained here recently: Suffocating in a state of secrecy | The Australian 14 Feb 2009;
• how some companies hide their presence in law reports via use of an agent's name (tsk tsk Coca Cola Amatil, Land & Environment Court, just look for David Kettle Consulting Land & Enviornment Court of New South Wales);
• saucy law reports covering Errol Flynn's sex life, "its all there" apparently;
• topical legislation this month to give more property rights to same sex couples etc. Must be the same legislation front page of the Sunday Telegraph yesterday about property claims for mistresses. A big topic at News Corporation it seems;
• that someone can make alot of money doing a progressive update of Family Law precedents because a comprehensive guide doesn't really exist.

One exercise task involved finding the technically accurate name of the recent federal government Stimulus Package: "Which one?" was my smart *rse question, no. 1 or no. 2? Funny that I was the only one cued into current affairs who actually noticed the ambiguity. " It doesn't matter" - which was true for the exercise involved - came the unintentionally profound response from Mr Cool. He meant package no. 1 but indeed neither according to orthodox economic analysis will make a jot of difference to the sad sorry synchronous global economic downturn. Thrift people, thrift. Get with the programme.

Other useful tips we noted in addition to the text book "A practical guide to legal research" Milne, Tucker Lawbook 2008, and loose leaf study notes explaining "Boolean" and "proximity operators":

• Pandora held by the National Library keeps a record of old websites:
• Google can't search some data bases like phone numbers, you have to go to the online White Pages/Yellow Pages, then search
• There is an "invisible web" of other data for those who know how
• Austlii is a critical tool not least "advanced search" of discrete data bases, "Noteup" for referencing by other reported cases, along with Comlaw and legislation.gov.nsw.au for status of legislation, and then parlimentary websites for status of bills.
• Austlii are fibbing (lawyers fib?) when they claim they reproduce the CLR's (Commonwealth Law Reports to you common folk) which carry the High Court of Australia historical case reports. They are similar but not the same because they do not carry the case summaries apparently as per the old CLRs. Also in this modern age the court publishes their own reports in what's knows as "media neutral" form, that is undiluted by any publishing house. Gone are the days when a judge could say "I can't hear you" for quoting the unauthorised case report using say the ALJR instead of the CLR publishing house. It's all online direct from the HCA and other courts.
• If you are in the money there are subscription legal data bases Lexis Nexis, CCH and Thompson, Law Book online (phew).
• As well as industry journals like Lawyers Weekly which may be free. Similarly The Australian carries google searchable legal industry articles every Friday in their press. As does the Australian Financial Review which is overpriced both online and press.

And Cool also took us back to the first "bulletin board" case of the delightfully named Justice Ipp in 1994 in Western Australia, which was about the internet before it was called the internet: It was only because librarians get together and hobnob that it was indexed under internet and is accessible to online precedent searches today:

That WA case Rindos v Hardwick has resonance today and has influenced thinking world wide: Take this 1994 article extracted onto the web here:

This article is reprinted with permission from the June 13, 1994 issue
of The Nation [USA] magazine. (c) 1994 The Nation Company, Inc.....

Individuals, however, are still responsible for their own words
communicated through cyberspace. The first trial for libel by
e-mail--held in Australia--concluded with a substantial fine being
imposed on the offending e-mailer. In that case, an anthropologist
fired by the University of Western Australia sued another
anthropologist, claiming he had been defamed in a computer bulletin
board message. The case went to the West Australian Supreme Court,
which ruled in April that libel in cyberspace is actionable. David
Rindos, who has a doctorate from Cornell University, was dismissed
last June because of insufficient productivity. A supporter of Rindos
posted news of the firing on the DIALx science anthropology
international computer bulletin board; many colleagues e-mailed their
support for him, but Gil Hardwick, an anthropologist working in the
field in Western Australia, posted a message criticizing Rindos.
According to Justice David Ipp, it declared that Rindos's career was
based not on academic achievement "but on his ability to berate and
bully all and sundry." The message also contained "allegations of
pedophilia," in the words of Rindos's lawyer, and falsely implied that
sexual misconduct had some bearing on his firing by the university. 

Twenty-three thousand people around the world have access to the
bulletin board on which Mr. Hardwick's message appeared, and most of
them are professional anthropologists and anthropology students. "The
defamation caused serious harm to Dr. Rindos's personal and
professional reputation," Justice Ipp declared. "The publication of
these remarks will make it more difficult for him to obtain
appropriate employment.... The damages award must compensate him for
all these matters and vindicate his reputation to the public."

Although it's easier to win a libel case in Australia than in the
United States, the same circumstances here would produce the same
result, according to Martin Garbus, an attorney and a libel law
authority. The Internet is not a free space when it comes to libel; it
is subject to the same libel law as any publication.

In the Australian case, the libelous message had been posted on a
bulletin board available to thousands; but even individual email
messages can cause legal problems. The day is not too distant when an
e-mailer will find himself or herself in court, perhaps in an
employment discrimination suit, for a statement uttered only in a
single e-mail message. E-mail messages, like other written
communications, are discoverable in legal proceedings, according to
William Parker, director of the office of academic computing at the
University of California, Irvine--they can be subpoenaed and presented
as evidence in court. And that's only the beginning: It turns out that
your old e-mail is not necessarily gone just because you deleted it.
At my campus of the University of California, and probably at most
universities as well as private corporations, backup copies of most
e-mail messages are retained on tape as part of the nightly backup of
the main computer. Ollie North was unable to destroy evidence of the
Iran/contra cover-up because the White House maintained a backup copy
of the e-mail system on which he had plotted his crimes. Erasing his
hard drive and shredding his paper copies didn't help. Most e-mailers
are as vulnerable today as North was. Parker's advice: "You should not
say anything via e-mail that you would not say publicly."

Which takes us to our next MCLE outing in mid March - Media Law and Defamation. Can't wait.

Posted by editor at 5:26 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 2 March 2009 7:32 AM EADT

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What's wrong with this image below? The highlighted extracts on the flagship editorial opinion piece are transposed. Never seen that before. That looks like excessive staff cuts and undue pressure to moi:

Posted by editor at 5:14 AM EADT

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Mood:  quizzical

Vote grab sinks Sydney road plan | The Daily Telegraph24 Feb 2009 ... A $9 BILLION roads plan to solve Sydney's transport and congestion

might take a look at this story above from their own sister newspaper via The Australian, in the Wall Street Journal.

Call me a stupid greenie, commercial lawyer, evolutionary ecology graduate, and otherwise grovelling gardner, delivery van driver, bottle shop attendant, and reader analyst, but the synchronised global recession looks alot like there is no economic case any more for super containers to Port Botany (or Port Phillip in Melbourne for that matter).

No doubt the army of sub-contractors and tradies out there need a $9 billion meal ticket. Trouble is, a glorified truck tunnel to Port Botany as a cover for every mega road project wet dream of the Roads  Minister is probably a white elephant.

And how did we get all this congestion in the first place? More mega roads rather than sophisticated public transport? Do you think? We can't even get an integrated ticket organised. 

Far better if that army of job hungry workers were set to work on real sustainability projects - like wave power energy for instance. Geo thermal. Solar photo voltaic and water heater power on every northerly facing roof.

Or urban friendly bike paths. Or water tanks. Or ..... the list is endless really.

Posted by editor at 1:49 PM EADT

Updated: Monday, 2 March 2009 12:00 PM EADT

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Mood:  incredulous

 Picture: A chubby Yvette Andrews in red next to then conservative independent Mayor of Marrickville Morris Hanna, with a local chess expert at right. Pathetic political chess for real has been going on at the ARC for years

Not a word it seems of reportage in the big or little media at the forced removal of ARC community centre general manager Yvette Andrews, ALP aparatchik and colleague and co-author of Meredith Burgman. Though we missed the latest NSW Stateline where Australia's biggest community centre might be discussed. Maybe. 

GM Andrews who never faced a competitive job selection process for over 15 months for her $60K job, as appointed by political mates on the board. What a scandal.

The ARC itself is in the heart of federal MP Anthony Albanese's seat and Minister Carmel Tebutt's state electorate but they won't touch this with a barge pole. And now the scandal has climaxed with Andrews departure in mystery amongst allegations of violence and powermongering. The community are left guessing what is going on with our community centre run by a closed shop there.

There have been unconfirmed reports that Marrickville Council in the last 6 weeks specifically declined to nominate anyone to participate on the Board under Andrews. Then we heard of 3 and then 4 members of the Board resigning in the last month as well. Now a recent special meeting appears to have finished the execution of the Andrews tenure: One of at least 4 different sources we have there emailed us as follows:

Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 10:13 PM

Subject: ARC

Nothing much happening at ARC. John Reynolds is in charge.. Geoff Hague is back on the board. Yvette Andrews is gone. There are three vacancies on the board. Apparently nothing controversial happened at the SGM. Don Mamouney got support for a new five year plan. A new GM is to be sought through advertising. Hardly a trace of Andrews, her husband or Burgmann remain. A new chance for some transparency and good governance. Best wishes. 

SAM wrote of the special general meeting to be held last Wednesday here:

Saturday, 7 February 2009

Curious case of imploding Board at Addison Rd Community Centre as 3 resign, special meeting 25 Feb 

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Email traffic at Addison Rd 'community' Centre: A sorry tale of power, land, secrets, violence?

Monday, 20 October 2008 Questions with notice for Addison Rd Community Centre AGM 5 Nov 08
Mood:  chatty
Topic: local news

Tuesday, 8 July 2008 Burgmann's mate in job sinecure at closed shop Addison Rd Centre
Mood:  sharp
Topic: nsw govt

Thursday, 3 April 2008 Addison Road Community Centre board minutes leak out, suggesting more ructions?
Mood: quizzical
Topic: local news

Friday, 14 March 2008 How could ex MP Burgmann have supported Joh style Part 3A repeal of green laws in NSW Planning Act?
Mood: down
Topic: nsw govt

Thursday, 13 March 2008 The trouble with Meredith Burgmann, career lefty, disaster tourist, feminist
Mood: down
Topic: nsw govt

Monday, 10 March 2008 Albanese's asbestos shame in the heart of
Grayndler
Mood: incredulous

Saturday, 16 February 2008 How to get a $65K pa community sector wage without any open job selection process?
Mood: sharp
Topic: local news

Saturday, 9 February 2008 Addison Rd Centre General Manager 'Job Vacancy' closing date 1st April 2008
Mood: a-ok
Topic: local news

Monday, 14 January 2008

Local ALP shuts down website of 'biggest community centre in Australia'?
Mood:  chatty

26 December 2008

Marrickville ALP apparatchiks consolidate grip on 'largest community centre' in Australia?

 

 Wednesday, 28 November 2007 Same ol', same ol' for the Addison Rd Centre Annual General Meeting
Mood: sad

...................................

 

It may be we are witnessing a metaphorical choo choo train just going round and round in circles: There is no lasting progress in governance at the ARC, in our view, until there is a total reform of transparency in the centre. That is:

- minutes of Board Meetings should be public (board meetings probably should be held in public too);  

- there should be a regular centre newsletter for tenants and the public alike;

- the centre greatly suffers from lack of a social central meeting place for tenants and visitors, that could be provided by a kiosk or cafe. This could be run on a non profit basis as per all tenancies. Currently every group and the public are balkanised and lack synergy.

Posted by editor at 12:04 PM EADT

Updated: Sunday, 1 March 2009 1:22 PM EADT

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Mood:  not sure

Author’s general introductory note

This is not a well packaged story. It’s a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies  in Big Politics and Big Media. 

For actual transcripts and/or video feeds go to the programme web sites quoted including Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don’t really give you the image content value.

Media backgrounders 

* Most of big press and political coverage a bit hollow this week due to gravity of the Victorian bushfire tragedy, with funerals to roll out constantly for a week or more. 

* high awareness of bushfire risk in the Hills district and north west of Sydney region, builds on Richmond as potential threat for megafire in future implied by Stateline interview with John Connor  quoting NSW Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre report of 2007. Range of quality, and not, bushfire coverage here: [extract of email] 

Bushfires spark ACT hazard reduction debate 

News Video | Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:47:00 +1100 | Duration 2m 4s

.............................

search out http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/ NSW edition, video is still up on main page, still to be archived by them:

24 Feb 2008 re Canberra Residents reflect on 2003 firestorm

'Weston Creek built next to highly flammable fine forest ....', didn't tell the public days ahead despite level of threat, volunteers ready but not deployed early, new broom through fire bureaucracy after that, insurance industry as 'the black hat'.

..............................

[Rudd says Fran Bailey in a marginal seat, Liberal, is doing "an extraordinary job" as per Insiders show recently to quote Barry Cassidy. She will have alot of influence - and huge responsibility for failure to protect her towns????? suddenly interested in prescribed burning:

Vic MP delivers impassioned plea to Parliament

Federal Liberal MP, Fran Bailey, pleads for resolve to heed lessons from 'black Saturday' bushfires on fuel loads and concrete shelters in an emotional speech to Parliament.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2499185.htm

"ALEXANDRA KIRK: Much has been said about not allowing history to be repeated.

FRAN BAILEY: But you know people have said that before following other disasters. Back in 1988 I had discovered that the Victorian Education Department had a plan to build 72 of these, what I call a community and school safe shelter. Only one has ever been built. We've got to do better than that.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: That's struck a chord with Kevin Rudd.

KEVIN RUDD: We are, I think all of us in this place, not just struggling with the dimensions of what's happened personally and emotionally; but also struggling with the burden of history that you present us with.

And the burden of history is this: there have been many inquiries before about many fires. I hate to think how many of those recommendations have not been acted on. Sighs…. So what do we now do to make it different?

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The Prime Minister's lent one of his staff to work with Fran Bailey on all that she asks.

She's also pleaded with the Federal Government to attach conditions to the millions of federal dollars that go to state and local governments for roads. To do something about a problem first identified more than 150 years ago.

FRAN BAILEY: I'm going to suggest here today that we tie that funding to fuel reduction programs; because unless we do something, nothing will be done. And this is something colleagues, I hope that we can have a unanimous agreement on.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Kevin Rudd says he's considering her every wish. Fran Bailey's also urging him to find innovative ways to help businesses that have been destroyed, such as trout farming.

Eighty per cent of the nation's trout is produced in her electorate; and she wants locals paid to replace fences instead of volunteers doing the work.

..............................

Ongoing bushfire threat:

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2499192.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2499197.htm

.................................

[.........more of the black hat stereotype media coverage here. Arsonists and real estate predators, but the candidacy is still open to smear any hapless greenie ....]

PM - Friday, 20 February , 2009  18:30:00

Fire bargain hunters labelled vultures

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2497307.htm

....................

Talkback as we write on abc 702 a good half an hour re media  role and then talkback implying the big media are the "black hat" for exploitative coverage.

.......................

Leading scientists discuss latest climate change data

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 23/02/2009

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2499388.htm

"JOHN BRUMBY, VICTORIAN PREMIER (archive footage, '7.30 Report', Feb. 9): There's clear evidence now that the climate is becoming more extreme. You know, those people who doubted that - we had temperatures of 48 degrees."

.................................

 Notable malice of opinion writer Hills News/Fairfax owned, 24 Feb 09 re alleged “silence ofgreenies” regarding the Victorian bushfires and “stance against controlled burning”. An outright defamation given the firestorm monstered up on state forest/plantation/farmland and hardly on national park. Answered in  his own flagship SMH for instance. Similarly here on SAM 30 hours after the tragedy and constantly thereafter. Pathetic politicking over a desperate tragedy really. And dishonest given the decades of destruction of wet forest types by the logging industry.

Ironic that rival Hills Shire Times runs front pager of Cumberland State Forest (run by the loggers as a demonstration forest in North Sydney) showing quite a lot of ground litter with father and son pic. 

*  8 weeks of flooding in North Queensland sending remote communities to despair. Covered by AM-WT-PM late last week. Otherwise not much of a look in rest of Australia.  

* Turnbull targeted for ancient logging record in Today’s Sunday Telegraph with double pager and separate front end news article. MT might care to consider that the greens do a good line redemption. That everyone is a lot greener now? That the transparent ALP attempt with their secret dosier to split the Green Party and Coalition in the Senate on the ETS/greenhouse model, is hypocrisy of the highest order: The ALP have Michael O’Conner of the logger union on their national executive and supported destruction of more rainforest and mature forest  for decades. Classic forest in Tasmania, East Gippsland. All of world heritage quality as well. Fact is these major parties are as ugly as eachother on forest destruction. Turnbull’s past sins pale in comparison, as wicked as they are. 

* As the big press lose their business model they are running a lot more flesh stories. And These are primarily female flesh, especially News Corp press, including Dame Murdoch’s The Australian. When she dies, now at 100, surely that paper will too?.  

* In the same vein over at Fairfax – has too many light, derivative stories posing as news, more suitable in a medical or other expert journal short piece. 

10 Meet the Press:  8- 8-30 am

* Press round up re insurance issues in bushfires (SunHerald, family/defacto laws change

* Gillard as deputy PM is talent re swinging unemployment.

Wayne Swan joke piece on rhinoceros mispronunciation.

CPSU public servants union advert ran here as on Ch9 (?)

* Panel is Annabel Crabb/Fairfax [who should be doing Ramsey’s space, as political colour writer].

* JG won’t admit companies on danger list, must have one, dissembling with formula of words.

* JG can’t say what they will do about excessive executive pay. Lewis very pointed “what will you do”, JG refers to G20 process [very lame]. Agrees major public concern.

* boilerplate in support of Joel Fitzgibbon.

2^nd adbreak out take – “toxic bore” comment by Abbott of PM Rudd, amusing cartoon Howard was too.

* Senator Fielding – swinging vote on what?

Alcohol advertising, tax on one particular product not effective. Keeps using the term “it’s crazy”. Good argument about industry wide focus.

* On Fair Work Bill - admits close to unionist Joe Debruin (conservative Shoppies union?). There it is again more subdued “it’s crazy”.

Fade out is blurred to avoid revealing friendly chats off screen, lip readers?

Meet The Press - Watch Political Video Online - Channel TEN.

Riley Diary 7, from 8.30am

Focus on Chris Pyne versus Tony Abbott, mince versus macho, poodle versus Doberman.

Various references to Toxic Bore, versus Toxic Assets.

Q & A at end suggesting restrained approach is correct

Notes Chris Pyne is effective. Also shores up Turnbull’s home seat vote in the alternative (read gay) crowd. Notes Green Party 4 times tried to control executive pay rates and ALP and Coalition voted against.

http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend

Scheduling avoids clash with Riley Diary.

* Adbreak has CPSU on job protection in the public union sector.

Followed by Radio Rentals no credit check adverts. Such irony given both relate to the global financial crisis.

* Hockey as Shadow Treasurer. Infighting angle gibe re Abbott v Pyne. Apology resolves it.

* Stimilus argument – distinguishes increased retail result with Britain where same increase over dec qtr 07 to dec q 08 without cash splash.

* Hopes it’s 100m than marathon, if latter we will be out of funds.

* No one has monopoly of wisdom regarding stimulus effectiveness, as per advert in Wall Street Journal advert of 100 economists to Obama – it won’t work argued.

* Defence minister issue [beat up, given endless budgetry largesse, squealing at cut backs in a recession.]. Oakes refers to General Fumble running Defence, minister being disobeyed. Generals lose their job? Hockey says minister should be working with senior staff o

Today Sunday copying the blonde woman and mild mannered home body model of Sunrise 7.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/oakes

Insiders 2: 9- 10am

* Leads with Bonds job losses, reruns for all 2009. JG and Swan presser. No one’s job is safe comment by Minister Carr. Turnbull grab about govt fumbles.

Panel is Fran Kelly abc RN, Akerman News Corp.

* Sunday press -

FK - CPSU adverts lead Canberra Times Sunday press.

PA – insurance bushfire story, question of equity argued [turns on how unprecedented the megafire, how foreseeable]. BC intervenes re bonus for those who insured. Like self funded retirees.  Mal Farr colleague at News Corp – charity didn’t turn on insurance policy. PA agrees. PA refers to Teague royal commission.  [In other words it’s a subliminal  blame game angle over who took proper preparations just like  clearing and controlled burning.] Complete with ugly smile of Akerman.

Farr about Kim Carr and jobs.

* Talent is Lindsay Tanner  as Finance Minister. [Cassidy keeping his ALP Melbourne mate in seat of Melbourne in front of the audience? Too cynical! Maybe not as Cassidy refers to Australian Democrats in 2004 CEO pay rates bill, when Greens have the running for long time, suggests anti Green bias of BC.] Q re 25K per month at 5K per week will make Bonds look like a good week? One could almost hear the sharp intake of breath as the question answered itself.

-  CEO pay rates, don’t want governments mandating pay rates. Sounds weak. Not ruling out binding vote option of shareholders. [Sol Trujiho bails out $30M richer front page of The Australian this week looks shocking.]  BC picks up the thread on Telstra ex CEO without mentioning his pay rate.

- happy to pay pensioners. Refers to Harmer Report.

* Mike Bowers every person segment of some kind. Bowers needs the work post Fairfax.

* Pacific Brands/Bonds – no more incentives. Farr agrees. PA says lack of monitoring of govt grants. Got to be tied.

Farr notes in the USA 500K jobs per week are being lost. Phew.

PA raises huge immigration quota. ‘Not’ looked at yet [wrong JG tried to hose down, just not viable policy]. BC says targeting skill shortages. PA says what, podiatrists. FK – can’t stop completely.

FK re pay rates Pac Brands CEO not so high relatively, but Board rise at same time needs transparency.

* Defence minister issue: Grab – lively debate about Defence costs out of control and running their minister, Angus Huston as CDF accused of tricky nuancing. FK says bad luck about publicity. Akerman similar. Good value discussion here. FK offsets Akerman both in fair form too.

* Footage of sludgy PM Rudd confirming his “toxic bore” status. People like it still – 730K voters changed sides. PA amusingly refers to Stokholm Syndrome, [or perhaps ‘Copenhagen Syndrome’]

* Qld election – due to fall, 5 terms. Opening there for Springborg.  Pauline in the clear on money motive as a candidate “bum rap”.

* Talking pictures – Wong images as tough, Rowe brilliant again, etc etc

* Sky footage of Tom Switzer The Australian opinion editor.

*  FK predicts Ridout/AIG will provide cover for the govt to delay ETS via their Govt Bill.  Farr – missed it. PA lack of judgment shows by reference to SAS unhappy and what happened in Bangladesh. Said in a flippant way but as BC points out “a very nasty situation” – trust Akerman to exploit mass fatalities for a cheap political point. Nothing changes at News Corp.

* Another clumsy out take this week? No, smooth.

Home page is http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/

Inside Business – 2 at 10am

Recession porn continues regarding shares, equities etc. Overseas had 2 x 50% reductions in market, here only one 50%.

Expert says share markets 4 or 5 years to recover.

Refer http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/

Posted by editor at 10:32 AM EADT

Updated: Sunday, 1 March 2009 10:43 AM EADT

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Introduction

This is not a well packaged story. It?s a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies in Big Politics and Big Media.

For actual transcripts and/or video feeds go to the programme web sites quoted including Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don?t really give you the image content value.

Media backgrounders

National day of mourning for bushfire victims.

10 Meet the Press: 8- 8-30 am

Wayne Swan as treasurer, Hartcher and Schubert on the panel. Boilerplate.

Brumby, as Vic Premier, at one point very contemplative. A Saul moment in his life.

Meet The Press - Watch Political Video Online - Channel TEN.

Riley Diary 7, from 8.30am

Very amusing theme about shadows in the Liberal Party re Costello intentions.

http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend

9 Sunday newshour Laurie Oakes interview 8.40 am

MIA

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/oakes

Insiders 2: 9- 10am

Panel is K Middleton, Meglo and chubby Blair.

Feature interview is new shadow treasurer Joe Hockey. Go on a diet Joe.

Vox pop in WA re J Bishop stepping down.

Home page is http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/

Inside Business ? 2 at 10am

Refer http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/

Posted by editor at 10:18 AM EADT

Updated: Sunday, 22 February 2009 10:27 AM EADT

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Australian politics and maybe even business are noticing the vacuum for broad media coverage of diverse subjects in the wake of an unprecedented megafire mass fatality in Victoria.

We have made a mental note of various items that look to be what the West Wing tv series refers to as Taking out the Trash - negative stories power players prefer don't have too much coverage. Not a cover up as such but a deliberate playing down via juxtaposition with a much bigger problem:

* NT Minister Marion Scrygmour (forgive the spelling) has chucked in the towel up there.

* PM Rudd officially admitted the delay in Sorry Day annual reportage meant to be on "the first day of parliament" which didn't happen. But no worries Kev, $42 billion stimulus and a global recession sort of explains the distraction which applies to our Black brothers and sisters as much as anyone.

* Today we have Brendan Nelson and Julie Bishop, the former bailing, and latter shifting sideways perhaps to have a sisterly natter with Hils (US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, for whom pioneering blogger Matt Drudge held a symbiotic relationship). To our eye Julie Bishop not only resigned in a classy presentation but actually manifested relief from the shackle of recession style economics grind. Horses for courses has resonance provided it can be done with dignity.

No doubt we will gather more of a list for the 'taking out the trash' decisions in the backplay of this horror fire tragedy. To illustrate the media effect - 50 people die in a spectacular plane crash in a suburb in the USA - one story on the nightly news and gone. Potentially a story for every airport here. Compare with days of skillful, maybe lucky, landing on the Hudson river which got days of coverage. At the risk of grim cliche the megafire through Victoria killing 200-300 is sucking the oxygen out of other news stories and expert pollies and their media minders are working off that reality.

Not so much cynical as realistic. They might even allow a bit restructuring without needless shallow gotcha or undue humiliation. And if have been under done unlike the 90ies these less newsworthy events are still searchable via google - that great cyber archive in the ether for when things settle back to a semblance of normality.

Except in the age of climate change that's a semblance only of a changed reality with mega fire every 5 to 10 years now. God have mercy.

Posted by editor at 9:39 AM EADT

Updated: Tuesday, 17 February 2009 11:18 AM EADT

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Picture: 1995 info sheet in the Telegraph in a time when Big Media were in denial over the role of arson in bushfire criminality. Hence the juxtaposition of Red Head advert. In January 1994 Rod Knight of The Wilderness Society Sydney Office named arson as the main cause of the blazes across the state but was howled down by loggers and Big Media. This writer took up the reins at TWS from then for 2 years. Knight has been vindicated over the role of arson ever since, with no apology to date.

Yesterday avowed climate change denier Piers Akerman condescended to provide advice from his tabloid bullypit to Royal Commissioner Teague.

Perhaps he assumes the retired respected judge moonlights from the broadsheets in his media consumption down there in Victoria. Our old man may he rest in peace - a good mate of Justice Bernard Bonjiorno - used to scan all the press, trash or otherwise and maybe that's where we got our habit too, so maybe Akerman is right. Our dear old dad helped take instructions on the case against a power company back in 1983 Ash Wednesday fires near Warrnambool as a then partner of Madden & Co solicitors.

This is what Judge Bonjiorno decided back in 2000 regarding Akerman soulmate and climate skeptic Andrew Bolt at sister paper Herald Sun also very prominent offering advice on bushfire causation:

18.19 JUDGE AWARDS MAGISTRATE $246,500 AGAINST HERALD SUN

Victoria's Deputy Chief Magistrate Jelena Popovic has won libel damages of $246,500 and costs. Ms Popovic sued the Herald Sun, Melbourne, over an article written by Andrew Bolt and published on 13 December 2000. Bolt claimed she had hugged two drug traffickers and bullied a police prosecutor. A jury had found the article was untrue, unfair and inaccurate and had defamed the magistrate. In making the damages award in the Victorian Supreme Court, Judge Bernard Bongiorno criticised Bolt and the Herald Sun for attempting to put a favourable "spin" on the damages claim before it was decided and for comments Bolt made outside the court following the jury's verdict. The Herald Sun will appeal the Supreme Court's decision (Australian, 7 June 2002, p.3)

in Australian Newspaper History Group Newsletter July 2002 [pdf]

And so we think we might offer some lines of inquiry too. First we would refer to our previous articles here outlining the 50 year history of the loggers rationalising and covering up their key role in destroying fire resistant forest types: The programme to log rainforests, which then gave way to destruction of wet old growth forests. Now most of these landscapes in their tenure are miserable skinny dry sclerophyll forests that are immensely flammable.

Turbo charge that with a succession of 45 degree days and hot north wind, and climate driven drought, and you have not only bushfire and wildfire, but also megafire. 4 Corners last night was very eloquent in describing that megafire scenario if not all the ingredients. We know in 1994 weather was blamed by the inquiries as the main causation too. There were some other clues on 4 Corners- a reference to remnant "wet forest" types in Victoria by one observer so appealing to local residents. We can be sure Royal Commissoner Teague did watch that. And almost certainly Media Watch afterwards. That's the A1 ABC audience demographic unlike the ranting of Piers Akerman at the Daily Telegraph (with honourable exceptions like Laurie Oakes, Clair Harvey too).

If only that wet forest type was 90% of the forest estate and not now less than 10% thanks to the logging industry. Thanks to the dominance of financially conflicted foresters in our public forests.

Media Watch picked up the generally very good but also at times flawed media industry effort this last week: And refugee from the Sydney Daily Telegraph - now with the broadsheet Sydney Morning Herald - Miranda Devine was singled out for "hatemongering" based on ignorance. A theme we mentioned yesterday via Lord of the Flies allusion.

How long before the legal representatives of victims and their families, Big Media, Royal Commission and ALP governments, and greenies themselves, in South East Australia consider the land tenure history of forest conversion to dry sclerophyll. A history since mechanisation over the last 50 years in nearby state forests as the source of the firestorm? Of the systematic liquidation of rainforest and wet old growth forest intrinsically fire resistant? Of a firestorm, aka red steer, or more accurately red "tsunami", out of landscape wide dry sclerophyll. Converted by logging from wet Old Growth and rainforest contrary to all the protests of greens everywhere. Who constantly bang on about destruction of mature forests as bringing on dangerous climate change and extreme weather events.

No wonder the National Association of Forest Industries are calling for a bushfire summit. Their whole method of operation is under severe scrutiny now. As it must be. The path of the fires and the land tenures do not lie.

How long before the 'timber' industry - actually mainly mining forests for woodchips - is revealed as the main culprits of firestorms in modern day forests, as per the statistics out of the NSW 1994 bushfires? When 200-300 people are killed as now in Victoria one can be sure that all policy stones will be upturned and considered and that's why we make our submissions here with 15 years of policy experience on forests including zoology degree from ANU, and law degree from there too.

Posted by editor at 7:24 AM EADT

Updated: Tuesday, 17 February 2009 8:39 AM EADT

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Picture: Skinny dry sclerophyll regrowth as pictured here burns intensely. How much of this was once wet old growth and semi rainforest - and therefore fire resistant - until the logging industry started in with intensified mechanisation of chainsaw and bulldozer up to 50 years ago? Less than 10pc of wet forest types remain due to logging policies.

Very revealing to see select big media bigots parade their falsehoods in the wake of an unprecedented bushfire tragedy.

Andrew Bolt has been frothing with this most recent column determined to create a wedge between the G/greens and respected veteran Barry Cassidy of the ABC:

One nasty redneck dissembler is here in the string:

But that letter said the exact opposite as copied and posted here on SAM elsewhere (at the end of the article). That's an evil and cynical attempt at dis-information.

Indeed Bolt's articles have a comment string that read like Young Liberal brown shirts holding a branch meeting and frothing and lacing up steel cap boots. Honest debate is not really the purpose. It's adolescent testosterone filled rambling. Ironic since Bolt once referred to lefties as "kindymedia". Seems he runs a kindy of sorts too. Or is that Lord of the Flies?

What is most galling, and probably evil, is that the advocates and allies of the logging industry, especially from ex forester bushfire experts, is the dishonesty over how we got to this situation: A 50 year systemic process of conversion of wet old growth semi rainforest types into dry sclerophyll eucalypt in the name if not reality of logging for timber, and since the 1970ies especially virtual mining for export woodchips. A situation most likely irreparable by any natural means in terms of wet forest type.

Today we have a landscape wide drying out not in just one or a few areas, but across whole landscapes and regions. This is a bushfire scenario (mechanism via diagrams explaining how here) decades in the making with or without constant fuel reduction via prescribed burning. Indeed in hot dry windy weather this dry sclerophyll bushfire becomes wildfire in the crowns. Now with climate induced rainfall reductions and drought (as per the CSIRO report of July 2008 reference) we are experiencing dry sclerophyll wildfire as megafire.

06 Jul 2008 Droughts to be more severe and occur more often in the future

which leads to this:

An assessment of the impact of climate change on the nature and frequency of exceptional climatic events

which leads to this a 30 odd page pdf file:

An assessment of the impact of climate change on the nature and frequency of exceptional climatic events PDF [2.5mb]

The reduced rainfall works in two ways. The fuel is not only dry and therefore more flammable, but there is more of it because the forest floor doesn't reduce by natural decay (eg fungi, moss, lichens and native critter foragers). Water limits all processes of life just like a composter at home in the garden.

It would be a whole lot easier to read such as Piers Akerman, Miranda Devine and Andrew Bolt who are ideological and bigoted if there was more honesty about their allies in the logging industry region wide determination to liquidate wet old growth and rainforest areas over decades. Particularly since mid 20C mechanisation of chainsaw and D9 bulldozer and high volume export woodchipping (now at 8 million tonnes a year) from native forest.

Akerman in particular today repeats this hoary old chestnut today at page 10 of the Sydney Daily Telegraph (offline):

"Every basic firefighter is taught the "fire triangle" - its three components are fuel, oxygen and heat source. / No-one can do much about the oxygen factor, it's almost everywhere, [sic] fire sources roughly fall into two categories - deliberate or accidental - which leaves fuel. / Demonstrably, it is the only factor over which a level of control can be exercised through controlled reduction."

Trouble is like expert Rob Incoll today in the Sun Herald this is wrong, via the same limited equation. The fourth factor as explained in our headline is moisture, including humidity. We submitted a comment but suspect it won't get in:

"You say as a forester:

"A fire needs fuel, heat and oxygen to burn./ Fuel is the only factor that can be altered. "

No. Fire also needs absence of moisture. And low humidity helps alot too. You left that out, and I suggest it's for this reason. Your industry as with illegal logging [of rainforest] at Dingo Creek, and smashing of semi rainforest at Goolengook, have been transforming the wet old growth forest types to dry sclerophyll [for 50 years]. That's the brutal truth. Time to be honest.

So now how to deal with the spilt milk? Fuel load can be managed in various ways. One I'm interested in is the Walmsley/Earth Sanctuary high concentration of native critters behind feral proof fences. That might be of interest to the inner ring of Kinglake West or similar. My understanding the firestorm came from middle ring farmland, and outer ring State Forest. True?

Now that our forest estate is down to less than 10% of the wet forest type (as per a 1993 scientific paper by then Dr now Prof Tony Norton of ANU Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies) the loggers are responsible for creating a landscape wide problem. The loggers' spilt milk, but now our society's/governments' and G/greens problem. Thanks for nothing, rednecks.

The loggers and their friends do have a point about attention to fuel reduction in buffer zones especially close to homes. Too bad their land use policies in the loggers' own state forests and plantations didn't change the outcome in Victoria. Or on farms with their long grass. At least as we understand it that's the land tenure where these fires got the firestorm run up like a lethal Geof Thompson bouncer.

Even better to not create the problem in the first place. Yet the last wet old growth forest types are still being logged in Australia every day including in East Gippsland Victoria. In preparation for the next megafire. Thanks for nothing rednecks.

Posted by editor at 8:31 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 16 February 2009 10:55 AM EADT

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