Hello and welcome to the blog...and after a week where the usually damper and cooler Mt Gambier has been one of the driest parts of the state, even the country, eg, it was 22C and fine here but was raining at Alice Springs, Ularu (Ayers Rock), etc...this is not particularly unusual because moisture from tropical weather systems across Northern Australia tends to push down into northern South Australia...but I digress..
Feedback: I enjoy going back through occasional posts because quite frankly I don't remember fair chunks of it...not withdrawing anything,, I remember the general stuff of course, but it comes and it goes and fortunately it's not just me...I've heard various discussions about how people who do daily programs in whatever media forum, can begin to 'scan think' (I don't know the correct term) and it is very prevalent with the instant media overload generation where people are not retaining information because they are trying to constantly take in new info, and/or are relying on 'Google search' to remember for them.
Yes, on occasion I am embarassed about the language in my own posts and that language still happens occasionally...but I'm tryin', still always tryin', and it would be fair...(ly obvious-Ed)...to suggest that the blog is a barometer of my mood...but the fundamental reason I continue to hang myself out like laundry for public scrutiny, is that I...(and other parents-Ed)...and yes, some other parents, but me most particularly and specifically...(fair enough-Ed)...because we have been presented as the problem when it comes to the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...
When is a lie not a lie?...apparently when it's a 'debatable truth', which is Liberal code for what Tony Abbott unequivocally promised the day before the September 2013 Federal election but now chooses to ignore, and the 2 most obvious examples of the 'debatable truth' are the 2013 promises to not touch the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Old Age Pension...but first...
If Forgetting Was A Sin: it could be known as the Sin of Dinos...(ah, the Sin of Dinos-Ed)...yes, the extraordinary testimony of Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos in the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing about Australian Water Holdings, Labor Minister Eddie Obeid and family, etc, etc...it takes a bit to get me scoffing with disbelief these days but Mr Sinodinos had me there in moments...now many will have already heard this...(it's old news mate-Ed)...indeed, but for those who haven't, I swear that I haven't made this up...it just gets funnier and funnier every time I hear it...Interweb Search it...the details are excruciating.
Mr Sinodinos. a senior Liberal powerbroker, was starting in 2008 a Director and then Chairperson of AWH receiving $200,000 per annum for approx 40hrs work pa...(good work if you can get it-Ed)...and was concurrently the Treasurer then President of the NSW Liberal Party, but claimed in the ICAC to have been entirely unawares of the near on $80,000* that AWH donated to the Liberals in that period...(so on the Board of the donator, senior office holder with the receiver, and he has no recollection?-Ed)...no he said he never knew in the first instance, not that he'd forgotten...(fair enough-Ed)...no, it was everything else he couldn't recall...(ah-Ed)... (*I've seen this reported as $190K but $80k features elsewhere more often).
Mr Sinodinos contradicted various high ranking witnesses who made claims of warning him about 'worrisome issues' with the management of AWH, and in other instances said he couldn't recall these critical conversations, etc...it's not entirely unbelievable that he might forget some things, but it's the broad nature of the various denials/disclaimers coupled with Mr Sinodinos's reputation as the go-to man who always knew what was where with whom and when, eg, as Chief of Staff for former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard.
It's a complete shmozzle, an intricate web of pay-offs, kick-backs, and consultancies, and it has led Mr Sinodinos to stand down as Assistant Treasurer but not actually resign...(and apparently he's up again when ICAC looks at former NSW Minister Hartcher in the near future-Ed)...super...and today current NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell was a guest of the ICAC re a bottle of Grange Hermitage...(I wash my paint brushes in it don't you know-Ed)...that he was allegedly given re AWH...but he can't remember anything about a "59 Grange"...and he kept saying '59 Grange' and 'that vintage' and all about moving house, etc...it was very odd...
Specific to the title was the Fracking Information session conducted by the South East Local Government Assoc at Penola last night which I couldn't attend, no car, but there was bits of it on the ABC Local Radio this morning...and yes thankyou, I know how I bang on about the bloody ABC, blah, blah, blah but particularly in Regional areas they play an undeniably vital role...(I wasn't gunna say nuthin'-Ed)...I also maintain that that is a great responsibility to be exercised with extreme diligence.
And I absolutely agree with Anne Daw's comments that short term financial gain does not out-way long term consequences, that we must look to the future...she described salt water replacing ground water at some sites near the ocean where water was extracted for drilling, etc...there was a lot of detail about the 'naturally present' contaminants mobilised by Fracking, eg, benzene, methane, uranium, etc,
Neil Gibbens (?) of Beach Energy...(boooo-Ed)...steady on...stated that they were well away from surface Aquifers and didn't use much water (1 megalitre per well?) and using lined evaporation pits and it's all covered by strict government regulations...and something about hoping to drill a deeper water well to find a deeper aquifer that will help use less 'surface aquifer' on the project...
And again with the justification that there's an opportunity to supply NSW and international markets and that it's no different to conventional gas extraction, nothing
new...and that the Penola 'Fracking' is not CSG extraction which is much shallower, etc, etc...sorry but it went on a bit and it's all the same ol' ground...I make no apologies for what I believe to be the truth re the Penola Fracking project...it is happening and it is happening right now and it's going to be a massive disaster in the South East Aquifers, plural.
Also locally, Liberal Member Troy Bell will be meeting (have met by now) with Tourism Minister Leon Bignell at some
stage today about tapping into the millions of tourist dollars coming down the Great Ocean Rd but not as far as Mt Gambier, and some lights at Penola Rd/Wireless Rd, and probably some other stuff...so good luck with that...
Some very quick bits from previous posts...South East couple charged with persistent exploitation produce child pornography, beastiality (and incest?) have been denied bail...Oceanlinx reckon it'll be another year before their Wave Energy unit is moved from the shallows off Carrickalinga Beach...and Energy Australia have pulled their Wind Turbine (29 turbines) plans for near Robertstown, with Mary Morris stating it was clearly the wrong site, way too near Waterloo...result...
Sorry, but I'm going to grind to a halt here because it's real late, went to Council meeting, etc...and yes that means I have a very cheap car again...(yay-Ed)...yay...
Tomorrow: The Council stuff and and more Federal Politics
More about the Tony Abbottathon that we've all been subjected to of late.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my very tired blog...cheers and laters...
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