Stairway to hell

If you go down in the woods today, you're bound to get a big surprise.

If you go down in the woods today, near Clifton Beach, you're bound to be bloody angry.

Northern Beaches Warrior reports that more vegetation clearing has occurred by the Argentea developer. They are and interfering in a protected mangrove waterway. And for what reason, you may ask?
Well, the original Development Approval (or DA, as Council refers to it as, Drunk and Assisted maybe) was taken out for Argentea, requested four 4 meter wide boardwalks.

Photo: 4m swathe cut through riparian corridor of Delaney’s Creek, running parallel to the creek.

However, the then Cairns City Council, gave permission for only two.

The first has already been constructed just up from the exclusive gated-community. The original bridge that the developer constructed over Delaney’s Creek was chopped into two pieces, by persons unknown, as an act of protest. However, it was rebuilt.

Now, a wide swathe of vegetation has been cut through the riparian zone of Delaney’s Creek, running parallel to the creek.


PHOTO: They even display a sign these days, showing that they have permission for the destruction of this marine environment.


These pictures show yet another section that is being cleared for yet another bridge.


This one is less than 100m from the first bridge. Apparently, the silvertail holiday makers who may be staying in the exclusive resort complex, now designated as being at Palm Cove (and not Clifton Beach), cannot walk, or waddle, depending on how many lattes, cocktails and fatty al la carte meals they have consumed, any great distance to get to the beach.

Photo: Vegetation is cleared to creek edge to allow for second bridge to cross Delaney’s Creek for beach access, less than 100m from the first bridge.

So at the developer’s request, Council agreed to make it easy for these fat cats and destroy a riparian corridor, a melaleucca wetland, a mangrove creek environment, and an erosion-prone area, which is essentially the coastal dune, so that these poor darlings don’t exhaust themselves too much.


Photo: 4 m swathe for boardwalk continues till it meets the Sea Temple at Palm Cove (in the background of the photo).

Take a walk down to the Clifton Beach beachfront today and see for yourself. The damage the Council’s GM for the Destruction of the Environment has sanctioned.

Unfortunately, it seems that only Mother Nature will be able to stop this insanity, and there is nothing surer in this world, that she will do exactly that. It is just a question of when?

Photo:
Crossroads for boardwalks - one way across creek to beach, one way to Sea Temple and Palm Cove, one way towards Clifton Beach, and one way to the rest of the Argentea complex.

What a disgrace. How can anyone be allowed to develop and excavate right on the beach front sand dune and surrounding vegetation?

Beach-edge bushland and corridors like this, form a vital purpose to protect erosion and the foreshore. From Foley Road, to False Cape, and now the beach at Clifton and Palm Cove are allowed to be ripped apart and ruined, right in front of us all.

Think first

Got this on the signature on an email today...

"Think B4U Print
1 ream of paper (500 sheets) = 6% of a tree and 5.4kg CO2 in the atmosphere
3 sheets of A4 paper = 1 litre of water"

Don't you love email.

When Criminals Rule: The missing opium mountain

CairnsBlog columnist Syd Walker wonders who is trying to drug who over the missing Afghani opium.


Remember the saga about Iraq's missing WMDs?

They were ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that the American, British, Australian Governments and others, told us were in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. They presented ‘an immediate threat’. Fear of WMDs was the key rationale for attacking and invading Iraq in 2003.

But when we got there…ooops, they didn't exist! A mystery!

Now the same nutters want to attack Iran, again because of the threat of WMDs. That is even though, last year, an irate US ‘intelligence community’, in an unprecedented act of independence from the American Administration, went public stating that Iran has no current nuclear weapons program – whatever Bush, Cheney, the Israelis (and Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers and TV channels) may say.

Further East is Afghanistan. It has many mysteries too. For instance, just where is Ossama Bin Laden? Where is his video production department located?

Australians, along with our ‘allies’, invaded this mountainous nation back in late 2001. Our Governments explained that we were out to get Bin Laden and his evil gang. But seven years on, Ossama is supposedly still at large. Despite numerous reports of his demise, he still releases occasional videos, often nicely in sync with US/Israeli war plans. Perhaps he’ll show up just before the forthcoming US election, just like he did in 2004?

Innocents in Australia - which if one is to take their words at face value, means almost everyone in both major political parties, the mainstream media and the pundits they regularly employ - imagine that in some way our troops’ ‘involvement’ in Afghanistan is not only about Bin Laden.

It is also, they believe, partly about reducing opium production in the country. If so, the policy hasn’t worked out. Had that been our real goal, we should have left well alone.

Here’s a reality check. By 2001, after a sticks and carrots approach by the UN (and the US State Department), the Taliban Government had really got a grip on Afghanistan’s opium production. Doubtless the methods they used were sometimes brutal. But the Taliban had general support from the world's governments to get rid of the poppy fields. They were proving highly effective in cracking down on local drug lords.

Here’s a graph that shows what happened.

By 2000, opium production in Afghanistan began to drop. In 2001 it plummeted. At that rate, the Taliban might have wiped it out entirely the following year. But they never got the chance...

Afghanistan's Government was toppled in late 2001 – by Australian troops, among others. Within 12 months, the country's opium production was nearly ‘back to normal’. In recent years it has grown to unprecedented heights.

Which brings me to the latest mystery about Afghanistan and the west’s remarkable policies in the post 9-11 Terror Wars. Apparently, there’s a missing mountain of Afghani opium.

The BBC explains...

• "For the past three years [Afghanistan’s opium] production has been running at almost twice the level of global demand. The numbers just don't add up.”

Even more puzzling, the same article explains that the street price of heroin in the west remains high. The Beeb’s article then considers a couple of what it calls ‘credible theories’ about this mystery. If the BBC itself had any credibility left, these theories might be persuasive. As it is, we should probably keep an open mind…

The BBC article now includes an update. The British Serious Organised Crime Agency got in touch. They are busy at work in Afghanistan. SOCA said “Whilst the cultivation and production of opium in Afghanistan is in decline, intelligence suggests there is considerable stockpiling of narcotics by Afghan criminal networks in order to control prices in the growing markets in Russia, China and within the local region.”

In decline? Really? Does SOCA bother to talk to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime? Does it know about the graph that you just saw?

The Beeb further reports:

“Nato's top operations commander is calling for more aggressive tactics against the opium trade in Afghanistan…troops should focus on "high-end" targets like drug dealers and laboratories. Some Nato ministers, however, are concerned that any crackdown would prompt a violent backlash against allied troops.”

The Ministers may well be right. Indeed, “our man in Kabul” President Hamid Karzai could have serious concerns about such a policy

Who wants to risk their own brother being banged up?

Meanwhile, what is the Australian Government doing about controlling the world’s illicit heroin supply?

When we supported UN negotiations with the Taliban Government, up to 2001, our official policy was faring quite well. Now, thanks to willfully-ignorant support for the polices of the USA and its controllers, it’s a shambles.

Australia could well be in for a flood of cheap heroin sometime soon. Does Kevin Rudd care?
Or would he prefer to blame Iran, Putin, Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas, the Taliban – anyone as long as they’re not the real culprits?

I guess so. When it comes to support for crazy neocon polices, it’s much easier for an Australian Prime Minister to be a conformist.


Critics aren't welcome.

Mr Murdoch makes sure of that.

On yer Bike!

Cairns Bike week starts Sunday!

From October 12th to 18th, anyone can join in celebrating the humble bicycle and promoting a sustainable bike-friendly Cairns.

Sunday 12 Oct, 9am-1pm
RE-CYCLE FUN DAY
- Esplanade Skate Park
- Bike rides for adults & kids, stalls & displays, prizes for best decorated bikes
- try out a penny farthing or cargo tricycle
- Lucky Draw prizes donated by local bike/sport shops
- bike maintenance checks
- free sausage sizzle and more

Wed 15 Oct, 6.30-8.30am
NATIONAL RIDE TO WORK DAY
- meet at Cairns Regional Council lawns, Spence Street.
- Mayor Val Schier will cycle in from her Machans Beach home.
- Free breakfast, free T-shirts
- bike maintenance checks
- lots of Lucky Draw prizes donated by local bike/sport shops.
- Arrive by cycle 'train' (led by volunteers, leaving from points all over Cairns and as far away as Gordonvale)

Sat 18 Oct, 7pm
FREE MOVIE
- The Esplanade, Fogarty Park (near lagoon)
- "The Triplets of Belleville" (PG)
- Nominated for two Academy Awards, this is a French animation about a boy who becomes a Tour de France champion until a bizarre kidnapping and an even more eccentric pedal-powered rescue by his grandma with the help of the frog-eating cabaret triplets and a flatulent dog. It is stunning, hilarious, and just a little twisted.


You can also enter the Bike Week raffle and win a 'chopper' dragster bicycle (remember those you 50's and 60's babies?) donated by the Scooter Shed. The raffle will be drawn at the movie night.

Cairns Bike Week is organised by the Cairns Bicycle User Group and Cairns Regional Council with the support of End Credits Film Club, and many local bike and sport shops.

For more info you can email CBUG or call Lenore 0437 541 751

Kiwis vote: 2008

Kiwis go to the polls in a month's time to boot out Helen Clark.

Google have put this handy tool together, for Kiwis wanting to follow 2008 election news.

My former Parliamentary mate, and partner in crime (it was a minor one) David Farrar of KiwiBlog, has launched his Blogmobile, to travel the country and provide national independent news for the next four weeks, in what will be a gripping election race.

May the best man, or woman, win.

Minister's final response

As the walls and roof come tumbling down on the historic Cairns Yacht Club, John Mickel, the irresponsible Minister responsible for this environmental vandalism, finally responds.

11,000 Cairns and Queensland residents asked the Queensland Government to keep their favourite waterfront watering hole.

Here's the Minister's official response.

Circusmouse has a cold

Our favourite Friday macabre cartoonist, CairnsBlog's Circusmouse, is throwing a sickie today. It's yet another great Australian (and Kiwi) tradition.

Hopefully he'll be back tomorrow. You can send messages of love and support, and cash cheques, to CairnsBlog.

Foley Road makes it to TV

Last evening, Channel 7 TV covered our Foley Road sediment disaster story, that we've been pushing for the last two months.

This is the first 'mainstream' media to report of this unfolding mess, and hold land owner Phil Hartwig to account.

Yesterday morning, Cairns Regional Council's town planner Peter Tabulo and Mayor Val Schier were on ABC Far North's radio. The new Pat Morrish, Fiona Sewell, interviewed these two influential players, with one of the softest line of questioning I've ever heard on ABC. Now I like Fiona, and she's a great temp replacement for Pat, but on this occasion, she let these guys off the hook. Tabulo is a skilled operator and handles the media well. He's a better politician that the elected ones.

On the other hand, Val talked in soft touchy feely sentences and platitudes that didn't invigorate or make me feel she was there for a total change in the way Council will to do business with developers. Lack of controls by developers and policing is a massive subject on the local agenda presently. Just weeks ago we've had the Federal Environment Minister intervene in what can only be described as one of Queensland's worst and most poorly managed Council-approved developments. The False Cape debacle should have sent shock waves right through the core of Council's planning department. But you read Peter Tabulo's response for my call to investigate Foley Road the other day, and you'll see that Council are confused about their role and ability to take this role bestowed with great seriousness.

When False Cape was raised on ABC Far North, both Schier and Tabulo were not put on the spot to give specific answers about what is happening across the harbour at East Trinity. Not one bit of work has actually started to prepare and protect the vastly exposed land on the False Cape site. The Wet Season has already sent a few early warning sign, as Terry Spackman and myself witnessed at Palm Cove's Foley Road 6 days ago.

The story on Channel 7, by contrast to ABC, explained the serious problem that I've documented, and also included the video I filmed of Terry Spackman, who is now referred to as an "environmentalist". Last week he was an "activist", after sitting on some old roof all morning. I'm just pleased to be part of a unique Odd Couple.

If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favour and watch the video we shot last Saturday morning. It's direct and sends a powerful message for Council to act. Compare it to the first video I filmed four weeks prior, then ask you why Council staff couldn't see any problem when they 'visited' the area on Monday.

There is also a groundswell forming to lobby Council to not spend a cent of ratepayer's money to fix up the False Cape problem. We want the developer who created this mess, John Ewens, to undertake and put up the money, or lose the land.

As a footnote, it looks as if the False Cape contractor CEC, will have to come up with $80 million dollars by the end of the month if they are to remain solvent. Not very likely.

My new friends

It's a worrying change when most of your friends, and some who'd like to be, preface conversation with me by "This is off the record, OK?"

So, yesterday afternoon, I had a Latte on the house, at Council staff cafe, with two delightful guests, one armed with a digital recorder. It felt like sitting with my parole officer.

I'm not really a Latte kinda guy, nevertheless, a free coffee is a free coffee. Plus, readers will know that I'm aiming to get my rate increase back in free lunches. Coffee by Councillors and Council staff that want to leak so hot juicy gossip, is also factored towards this target. I've only got another $268 to go. That's quite a few ham sandwiches.

Yesterday's 'off the record' chat, was interesting, to say the least. It was, as folk might expect, about my revelations on CairnsBlog over the last week, about emails I published that had originated from Cairns Regional Council.

You'd have to be stupid not to realise that such 'leaks' are very damaging for Council's image and their PR machine. This is the worst nightmare, not only that such emails are written, but they get made public so quickly. These folk will have learn't a good hard lesson this week, and even if messages are deleted from a email system, they in fact never really are. Oh, the joy of the internet.

No doubt Mayor Val got a de-brief as I left the building, however I doubt that I'm that influential around the corridors, but with around 1,700 regulars (about 1,000 a day) who visit my cyber home, it's good to see some in Council acknowledge that this Blog is part of the local democratic debate. A scan of my daily statistics machine, shows there are a number of regular log-ins from Council IP addresses.

However, it is nice to establish better access to some of the key folk at Spence Street, and this may provide my readers with more balance, fair reporting, and nice stories about Sno Bonneau. Nah, only joking!

After all, they say you should keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Pop quiz No. 464

Who said the following?

• "Many will be surprised and delighted by the rich natural heritage that is right before our eyes in the World Heritage listed rainforests here in our own backyards. "

Come on, you'll never guess it. There's a chocolate fish in it for the first correct answer.

Ok, I'll give you a clue. She's be around for longer than a smelly mother in-law. She talks in sentences that mean nothing to the common person. She loves the new "$6 million Yacht Club". Damm, that gave it away!

I just knew all you folk would like to know about the Desley Boyle date on this evening. It seems Desley knows all about Moths. You know, those pesky things that hang around bright things to make themselves look good? A perfect match, if you ask me.

But what got me was the quote, when she said that 'many people will be surprised and delighted by the rich natural heritage that is right before our eyes'. Hey Desley, most Cairns backyards look out on concrete, courtesy of your Labor Government!

One CairnsBlog lurker told me that it's only a matter of time before she turns our neighbouring rainforests into her version of what things should look like, concrete!

So this evening, Tourism Minister, Saviour of the Cairns Waterfront, Defender of Democracy and Demolition, the Sometimes Right Honorable Desley Boyle MP, will launch a new book called Mothology: Discover the Magic – Moths and Moth Art from the World Heritage listed Wet Tropics of Queensland Australia.

Desley has been told to avoid using the term "heritage listed" by her advisers in light of her total disregard for built heritage over the last 4 years.

The book was put together by Kuranda's Buck Richardson, where some of the largest moths in the world have been found over the last century.

If you miss the free nibbles and cheap bubbly at the Shangri-La Hotel tonight at 5pm, it will all happen again at the Kuranda Amphitheatre 4pm on Sunday.

Yet another high-density approved

You would have thought, there'd be a flicker of hope after we elected, even by a small majority, a greener more environmental astute Council.

At least that's what we were sold.

Now we have yet another preliminary approval granted by Cairns Regional Council for 112 units, three storey high, to be built at Giffin Road, White Rock. This is a in Res 2 zoned area. Presently, there's a nursery on the site.

This follows the 300 units approved at Woree on the old Drive-in movie site that Glen Crop has halted; the eyesore of 150 units on the highway at Clifton Beach; 190 at CEC's Manunda Boulevarde project, and the 240 units recently completed 'Shitty Waters' behind the BP servo also at Woree.

This is not 'sustainably living', as our Mayor was so keen to promote. Mayor Val said this week that her worst moment in the last six months was voting in favour of approvals that couldn't be changed. Well, maybe if enough voted another way, and led by example, a different outcome could be realised?

Didn't take her long to be swayed by the "we better approve this or we'll get sued" line.

This new development is on land right across the highway from the Mt Sheridan shopping centre, that new owners Mirvac, are about to pump $65M worth of renovations.

Record any videos on line

This is a cute and helpful add on.

Download the new player from Real.com, then you'll notice a 'Download this' icon appear at the top of any video you watch online.

Simply click this, save it anywhere on your puter, and you've got it for future viewing or burning to a CD.

The advantage is that viewing videos on line uses your download usage every time you watch it, so if it's a video you want to watch again, you may as well grab a copy for yourself.

Cattalini just thunk

As much as I applaud what Yorkeys grandfather Barry Neall of his Residents Against Crime and the Post's Just Think campaigns are all about, you really need to wonder how effective they are.

When none other than Taipans captain Martin Cattalini gets nabbed in the wee hours of last Saturday morning, blowing more than twice the legal alcohol limit, you gotta wonder why he put his hand up for such a campaign in the first place.

The 'he's only human' line doesn't cut it this time. You see, Cattalini was caught in the back streets of Portsmith, which means he was sneaking home the back way. Therefore, he knew what he was doing.

34-year-old Catalini was kicked from the team for one game. That's right, one game! He will also see a judge next week.

“I wish to make a public apology to the community, our sponsors, members, my club and fellow players for my behaviour at the weekend,” he told the Cairns Post.

Ironically, Captian Cattalini is part of Cairns Post’s Just Think campaign, that promotes, among other things, watching your drinking and it's consequences.

“I in no way condone drink- driving and fully accept my punishment,” Cattalini said. He says he is grateful police nabbed him drink-driving when they did. Well, this is a bit rich, as he grabbed for some tiny bit of credibility.

Tiapans manager Dennis Keeffe needs to fire this guy and cost him his cushy job that pays extremely well. This is a clear breach of his code of conduct. Rashad Tucker was booted last year for what many believed was a sexual mis-conducted complaint.

I reckon the only guy with any class about him, is Nathan Jarwai, however he's gone to the US to play in the NBA.

Drain shame

Molly is a dirty woman. Well, not like that, but lately she's been doing some genuine muck-raking.

Molly is a CairnsBlog informant. Last seen active in the depths of the March local body election, she's again donned her long black coat, sunnies and rubber gloves.

"Take a stroll along Fearnley Creek drain, starting from Juniors Football Club," Molly says.

"This ditch is the drain overflow. Heavy equipment was moved in a while ago to clear vegetation. Left behind you can see the rusty remains of shopping trolleys that have been there for months," she says.

Found in the near empty drain bed are stubby and bottles, tins, cans, shoes, thongs, plastic bottles and bags, spray cans, pieces of wood, broken glass, a bike tyre, and other general rubbish, most are still there after Council work.

This mess does not go out with the tide and needs regular upkeep as most of the time it remains empty of water.

A bicycle path runs alongside this eyesore and you will see that in one spot there is a ‘step’ where a section of the concrete has subsided.

On to the bridge across Fearnley Creek drain proper; corners of thick metal used to patch broken concrete stick up or are dinted down beneath the spikes of the wire fencing.

The visible contents of Fearnley Creek itself are a large piece of bubble wrap and a number of shopping carts, about eight, that have also been there for some considerable time and have not gone out with the tide. Low tide reveals more garbage.

At the end of the bridge there used to be a railing to stop cyclists and pedestrians dropping off the bridge and into the road. This was vandalised some time back and a useless piece of council orange hazard netting has been put up. Not good enough.

Children walk and ride to Parramatta school along here. Mothers with pushers and toddlers use this access to the school daily.

Not only is this unsightly, it is environmental abuse and a danger to cyclists and the many little feet that use the area. It seems that our Council has been by again, some time back and added patches of hot pink here and there, but have never returned.

Catch Molly's new feature short film, 'Fearnley Fuckup', she was chief script writer and editor, out now in all good Blogs. And drains.

Spot the difference

Cairns Post, Wednesday 8th October 2008

CairnsBlog, Tuesday September 30 2008

• CEC's new temp Chair
  Rob Borbidge resigned as CEC Chairman. Tony Hartnell is their temp replacement, and it doesn't look like a planned succession. Maybe that's why CEC has been going up?!

Get over it Meredith

Following a number of appalling emails originating from senior officials at Cairns Regional Council that I published over recent days, all staff have been warned to wake up their ideas.

Council's new Manager of Corporate Communications, Kerie Hull, a former ABC journalist, has sent out a strong warning to all staff, to watch how they communicate with residents.

"Recent incidences have highlighted the need to remind staff about email protocols," she said in a message yesterday. "Email is both convenient and dangerous in that it is an immediate communication device for better and worse."

The stern warning follows exposes on CairnsBlog about Councillor Alan Blake's email reply to a resident, and Council employee Meredith Wilsch, who, as Community Relations Engagement Co-ordinator', demanded people stop sending her emails.

"Sometimes we should let the emotion settle prior to response," Kerie Hull explained to all staff. "It is often difficult not to take some issues personally but we must remind ourselves that we are here to serve the residents of this community which means accepting feedback and facilitating action where possible."

Meredith Wilsch was told to simply 'get over it, and delete it', instead of respond to the writer. Rob Reilly, Council's Senior Revenue and Collections officer, and Brett Grosser, general manager for Corporate Services were also called in for questioning, following their internal emails that I published yesterday. They have caused great embarrassment for the Council, at a time when relationships with the former Douglas Shire residents are extremely tender.

"It was not the right thing to say," Kerie Hull said. "There is a policy, and we expect everyone to follow that."

A recent team briefing informed Council staff that protocols and email etitquite must be adhered to. Kerie Hull issued the following rules for all staff to follow. That includes you too Councillor Blake. Oh, and Robbie Pyne, we all know about your behaviour on email.

• EMAIL ETIQUETTE
  Email is an essential tool in our work, and the capacity to use email to communicate with the public carries with it certain responsibilities. Council's Internet and Email Usage Admin Instruction (No. xxx) provides guidelines for the efficient, cost effective and authorised use of internet and email services.
  Staff should also note the following email etiquette tips to ensure good email usage:-
  
• Emails sent from Council are official documents, and your email may form part of a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act. Email should be treated with the same significance as the signed letter.
• Use good judgement and think carefully about your email contents, especially if the matter is considered sensitive.
• Transmission of material that might bring council into disrepute is prohibited. Sensitive or confidential information can easily be disclosed via email. Never send or keep email that you would be worried about seeing on the news, quoted, printed or forwarded to others.
• Be very careful when forwarding emails. You should not forward someone else's email, without prior permission of the original sender. This is particularly important if the email deals with sensitive or confidential matters.
• E-mail doesn't have the visual or auditory cues of spoken or face-to-face conversation, so it's easy to be misunderstood or to offend someone. Be polite, professional and careful about what you write, especially about others. Keep the message polite and don't write in upper case as this is considered as 'shouting'.
• Use sensible subject lines, and keep your messages concise and to the point.
• Always include a signature block at the bottom of email messages.
• Don't expect an instant response – email is not a substitute for a phone conversation. If you need to resolve a matter quickly, call or speak face-to-face with the other person.

Military Bloat, ONLP & Jim Turnour

CairnsBlog contributor, Syd Walker doesn't see much to cheer about after the first year of a Rudd-led Labour government.


In its first year, the Rudd Government has been the kind of disappointment I expected.

There are bright sides to the picture. The demise of Howard and his mean-spirited club was certainly a breathe of fresh air. Canberra’s environmental policy is now more progressive – although not in any fundamental way. Appalling abuse of the human rights of would-be immigrants has subsided. Some of the more hard-nosed brutality of an incipient police state has receded, for now at least – although as far as I’m aware, all the 20+ anti-Terrorism laws passed by the Australian Parliament earlier in the decade remains in force.

But in too many respects, as expected, it’s been business as usual.

I’ll focus here on just one policy area here: ‘Defense’.

First, a disclaimer.

I use terms such as ‘Defense Budget’ and ‘Defense Minister' under protest. In more honest times, ‘War’ was the word. But War has morphed into Defense, a term more palatable for the post-modern masses. We are yet, as Orwell suggested, to see the war machine run by a ‘Ministry of Peace’. But we’re heading that way. Real peace itself, of course, remains an elusive dream – mainly because of incessant war-mongering by ‘allies’ in the ‘free world’.

Anyway, back to ‘Defense’… Did anyone notice, shortly before the world's money markets dived, that Mr Rudd gave an extremely generous funding guarantee to ONE specially favoured area of expenditure?

If not, allow me to remind you. Less than a month ago, the Prime Minister guaranteed that Australia’s Defence Budget will rise by at least 3% a year – inflation-compensated - for the next decade.

That comes on top of very large increases in military expenditure during the Howard years. In effect, Rudd pledged that this one privileged sector of the Federal budget will swell by a third - in real terms – over the next ten years. At minimum.

At a time when everyone (or almost everyone) blithely assumed that Australia’s economy would continue to follow the trend of recent decades and grow by at least a few percent a year, only penny-pinching peaceniks like me seemed to think this is a lousy idea. There was no real public debate at the time.

Almost all the ‘expert commentators’ I heard speaking about it on the media thought the expenditure guarantee was a great idea. Sensible! Essential! Prudent! Glowing adjectives came thick and fast. The Federal Opposition wholeheartedly agreed, but said Government should do more. Long-term bloating of Australia’s military is a bipartisan affair.

But what if the economy goes into deep recession – something that no longer seems far fetched? What then? Will this guarantee be withdrawn? Or is intended that agreement on growing the militarily is now beyond reconsideration or rational debate?

In other words, is Australia’s military bloat an Official News Limited Policy (ONLP)?

If so, then like the presence of American bases on Australian soil and this nation’s extreme one-eyed bias towards Israel, no ‘mainstream’ Australian politicians will ever dare raise a murmur of protest. If it’s ONLP, it becomes another ‘elephant in the living room’, joining all the others. What a crowded living room!

I fear our Military Bloat may indeed be ONLP.

Note, incidentally, that this same ‘Labor’ Government has yet to come up with long-term policies for pensioners. They must await the outcome of a lengthy review. How about major new investments in environmentally-friendly new infrastructure? That also awaits lengthy policy consideration.

So how, one wonders, was possible for the Rudd Government to set firm policy on ‘Defense’ so early on?

Perhaps Local MP Jim Turnour can tell us?

Why is it, Jim, that Far North Queensland taxpayers – along with the rest of Australia – MUST spend more, more and more again on the military, every ten years for the next ten years, come hell or high water?

Please explain how this reflects ‘Labor Principles’? How does it benefit ‘working families’?

And by the way, Jim, does the Government’s willingness to guarantee military growth mean that Australian Governments – starting from this one – aim to be involved in yet more futile, bloody and invasive escapades overseas, in places where we clearly aren’t welcome? How many extra debacles like Iraq and Afghanistan does 3% per annum growth buy?

Can you level with your constituents about that, Jim? Or do you need to ask these questions? If so, how about asking them in Parliament on our behalf?

It’s my personal theory that if Jim Turnour MP ever did ask questions like that, someone might listen.

I notice today that only one person currently follows Mr Turnour’s speeches, courtesy of the excellent website OpenAustralia.org. That’s me! Yet a few weeks ago, I clearly recall there were two of us.

A 50% reduction in two weeks is quite a trend!

It’s a trend I’d like to see emulated in global expenditure on weaponry, surveillance, black ops and military control.

Who knows, we might then find the resources required to feed the hungry, care for the sick and needy -and save our planet's groaning environment?

Their heads are stuck in a sediment trap

I nearly choked on my cornflakes (with appologies to KB).

It appears that the Cairns Regional Council sent a few officers to have a look yesterday at the Foley Road developement.

Chief town planner Peter Tabulo says his officer's claim that they found 'no evidence of any erosion, sedimentation or siltation of creeks or waterways.'

Now, just in case you missed that, I'll repeat what Council officers said. They found no evidence of any erosion, sedimentation or siltation of creeks or waterways.

Right. Peter Tabulo, you also couldn't see the sediment for the trees at False Cape for three years, so it's hardly surprising that your staff are wearing mud-coloured glasses when they get within 100 meters of a development that they approved.

He's also called into question the video we filmed, and the dates of them. Well, the CairnsBlog film department has no elaborate special effects department. Tabulo said the creek was not flowing and looked as if it had not flowed significantly recently. Well, it was on the weekend. Here's the first lot of videos, and four weeks later, almost to the day, we filmed this. Notice the difference?

"No creeks in the vicinity of Argentea have water in any case, besides the frontal dune area where there is a reasonably large body of salt water not unlike Palm Cove's Creek, which occasionally rises on spring tide inundation," Peter Tabulo said late yesterday.

He doesn't seem to think there was a big enough problem to take action and that the site managers (read Phil Hartwig and his big FO bulldozer) "managed the run-off effectively over the weekend."

Tabulo has also questioned the footage and when it was taken. "The creek was not flowing and looked as if it had not flowed significantly recently," Tabulo said.

Can someone please pop in a street map of the region into Council today, as it's reasonably obvious that they were looking up a different creek without a paddle.

"The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has not raised any concerns," Peter Tabulo went on to say. Well, they haven't got out from behind their desks, have.

Steve Ryan of CAFNEC (Cairns and Far North Environment Centre) is surprised by the answers.

The latest film footage was taken around 11:30am on Saturday 4th October. The creek is called Sweet Creek and if you look carefully, clearly it runs through and below Phil Hartwig's property, you can see and hear it flowing.

Terry Spackman, who has been reporting on dodgy developments for ten years, says you will never get a Council officer to admit there is a problem with Erosion Sediment Control on any development. "I have tried for years," he says.

"Going back to the days when I was a member of Water Watch, that was run by the Department of Natural Resources, we realised that sediment run-off from property developments, was a serious problem," Terry Spackman says. "A group of us set up Sediment Watch. Among our group was Mike Frankcombe, who was president of the International Erosion an Sediment Control Professionals Association.

Frankcombe is now director of IECA (Australasia), chair Australasian CPESC Committee.

"Although it is a volunteer-based group, there were others that had relevant professional qualifications and expertise," Terry says. "We and DNR people, met with Council's Bryan Smyth, and agreed to a format for reporting sedimentation problems."

"Exact location, time, date, weather conditions, photographs, water samples, and readings from a brand new state-of-the-art turbitity meter, was undertaken," Spackman says. "We submitted report after report, in exactly the format requested, and I have submitted reports that must run into three figures in numbers since."

Terry says that not one of those reports led to a fine or prosecution.

For Cairns Regional Council staff to admit that there is a problem with sediment run-off, is for them to admit that they have not been doing there job in the first place.

If Council officers made sure the Contractors Stormwater Management plan was put in place, and work was carried out in compliance with FNQ ROC, there would be no sediment problem.

As for Peter Tabulo's comments, it's worth remembering that in a reply to Steven Nowakowski's enquiries, he said, the contractor at False Cape had left the site in an 'acceptable condition from an Erosion Sediment Control perspective' and we all know about False Cape, don't we?

Anyone who has seen the photos and video footage taken at False Cape can see what a mess it is to this day. In fact it's far worse than the photos and videos show. Independent ESC experts, RNA, who did a report on False Cape, believe it's a mess and have recommended work to "fix it up."

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garret called a halt to it because it's a threat to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. However Peter Tabulo thinks it's acceptable, it seems.

"You can throw as much evidence as you like, from now until kingdom come, but you will never have them admit there is a sedimentation problem at a development in their area, like Foley Road," says Terry Spackman.

The big question is why?

Councillor calls for formal report of Foley Road

Following my three reports and a number of video filmed over the last month at the Foley Road, Palm Cove development site, Councillor Julia Leu has now ordered an urgent report.

"This morning I received an email about sediment plume at Palm Cove and possible connection to Foley Road," Councillor Julia Leu told CairnsBlog.

"At 7.54am yesterday, I requested a full report about this situation from Council staff as a matter of urgency."

I have to record that a big part of the problem in this development, like False Cape, is the Council officials themselves. They are not policing developments and ensuring controls are being adhered to. This Foley Road mess has been going on for months. The drive from Council's plush planning offices in Spence Street is a mere 20 minutes to Palm Cove. Why don't they get off their arses, put some waist-high fishing waterproof trousers on, and march on up Hartwig's hill.

The debacle unfolding at the top of Foley Road, mirrors that of False Cape. It wasn't until the Federal Minister got involved that there was a resolution. However, to date the State Government haven't done a thing about False Cape, following the directive and intervention from the Federal Environment Minister.

Mark Buttrose, who led the campaign for the cessation of work at False Cape, believes that the Cairns Regional Council is still in denial. "This excavation at Foley Road is a major breach, it is on a huge scale and so potentially damaging," he says.

"I challenge the Council to produce the Erosion Sediment Control Plan for this development. Does it exist?" Mark Buttrose asks.

A strong advocate for proper hill slope protection, Buttrose says that every development must have a Erosion plan. "They need to produce this and satisfy the community why such standards are clearly not being upheld at this massive excavation [at Palm Cove]."

"This is False Cape all over again," he says. "Same thing, but now they don't have [Kevin] Byrne to hide behind."

Meanwhile, the Combined Beaches Community Association, who have been corresponding with the EPA for months over this development, have today written to State member for Cook, Jason O’Brien. They have requested a full investigation into the sediment run off into the creek system at Foley Road. O'Brien has been asked to get the EPA to investigate this development, maybe he might wake them up?

In a footnote to this story, a week ago a local Clifton resident was caught red-handed by the developer Phil Hartwig at the bottom of his property taking photos.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Hartwig bellowed. "I'm recording the mess on this land. Do you know the damage you're doing?"

The resident was told to mind his own business. "Don't you mind, I'll look after this. Why don't you leave," Phil Hartwig said in an aggressive tone.

I strongly encourage any concerned resident to go for a drive, and have a look. Foley Road is on the left hand side of the Captain Cook highway heading north. Park your car at the top, near the new sub-division on the right, and walk up the hill. You'll be shocked at the sight. Don't be to perturbed if Hartwig has his red and white plastic 'safety' tape across the road, as it's public road up to the newly constructed bridge culvert around the corner. There you will get a bird's eye view of the total devastation going on.

You would think, that in the wake of the False Cape decision to halt works for a year and stabilise the site before the wet season, Council would be all over rogue developers like Phil Hartwig. When are they going to take some action?

Another Council communications disaster

Hot on the heels of Councillor Alan Blake's rude email reply to a resident, and yesterday's revelation from Cairns Regional Council employee Meredith Wilsch, who is our 'Community Relations Engagement Co-ordinator'.

Wilsch told me she did not subscribe to my email mailing list and did not give consent to receive unsolicited messages.

Today I can reveal yet more stunning emails coming out of the hallowed halls of Council.

Rob Reilly, Council's Senior Revenue and Collections officer wrote in a 19 September email to a Port Douglas resident asking for an explanation about her 50% rate rise said:

• "I have supplied answers to your latest email below. It should be noted that the Revenue Statement and Annual Reports are listed on Council's website.
  
  Please note I have over 76,000 ratepayers that I deal with and I believe that I have given you and your issues sufficient coverage, therefore, I wish to advise that I will not be entering into any further correspondence regarding the issues below.
  You may refer any concerns regarding same direct to your elected member."

That's the way, push your rightful duties onto Councillor Julia Leu to deal with! Isn't that your job Mr Reilly?

However, it got a whole lot worse than this. Just three days prior, Brett Grosser, the general manager for Corporate Services at Council, got wind of emails going back and forth between upset and irate Port Douglas residents and Council's finance department. He sent an email to Cairns Regional Council CEO, Noel Briggs.

Look at the contempt the Cairns Regional Council are showing towards our northern residents. In this email excerpt, this is how rate payers are being talked to, in this internal leaked email:

• From: Brett Grosser
  Sent: Tuesday, 16 September 2008 4:50 PM
  To: Noel Briggs
  Cc: Rob Reilly
  Subject: RE: Rates
  
  Noel,
  
  I think we should simply stop communicating with her and block her email adress [sic] from the system.
  What are your thoughts?
  There is no way of satisfing [sic] her and any further dialogue will simply add more fuel to the fire.
  
  Regards
  Brett

Minutes after this message was sent to the original complainant, Rob Reilly realised what he had done in sending an internal email outside. He then sent out two 'recall notices' to the original recipient.

Now this was rather silly. You don't have to be an 8-year-old to realise that this is totally in-effective. Recalling emails sent in error is a system for internal LAN or WAN networks, not when you send an email to someone out there in cyber land.

A lobby group, formed in opposition to the Cairns/Douglas amalgamation called Friends of Douglas Shire, that was behind recent public meeting to protest what they call a 'takeover' of thier Shire instead a managed and respectful mutual working relationship.

"There have been a lot of incoming emails inquiring as to the rates situation," said co-ordinator Michael Gabour, who also hosts a morning show on Radio Port Douglas.

Friends of Douglas Shire believe that approximately 200 people have withheld all or part of their rates to Cairns Regional Council, as they have been frustrated with lack of adequate explanation for substantial rate hikes in July.

"We have had feedback that more people will be withholding their rate payment when the next rate bills are received in early 2009," Gabour says. "The Rates Tribunal has seemingly not provided any acceptable explanations to those that attended the Douglas Shire Council offices on the 10th September."

It's now obvious that this type of communication style is symptomatic of our Council management. There is a serious breakdown in the way communication is carried out by Cairns Regional Council with it's ratepayers.

The systemic and dismissive attitude by the Council towards the Douglas residents shows a culture of arrogance and one that is totally out of touch with their responsibilities to serve the people that pay their salary. These highly paid officials are public servants.

How many more examples do we need of an organisation out of control like this?

Another blog joins the FNQ stable

Another blog has joined the ever-growing stable of independent writers here in North Queensland.

As will all local blogs and interesting sites, you can find a full list on my favourite links on the right-hand side.

FNQ home claims to be another local Knobian (must be something in the water out here?).

"My passions are looking after my aquariums, learning about science, particularly evolutionary biology, snorkeling, and lazing in cafés," he or she says. "[My] blog will reflect these interests, but also veer off on tangents every now and again."

Whoever you are, welcome! Drop me an email and we'll do a Mocha on the nard.

Statistics, and dammed statistics

Wendy Richardson, coordinator of People Against Demolishing the Yacht Club responds to CairnsBlog commentor 'Quickie', believed to be Kevin Byrne's former executive assistant Dennis Quick, about the debate over how many locals signed the State petition to save the historic Cairns Yacht Club building.

• Perhaps instead of calculating the percentage that 11,000 signatures is of the total population of the Cairns Region (and by the way the majority of those signatures were collected in the Barron River, Cairns and Mulgrave electorates, which only number about 77,000 eligible adults) you might instead consider what percentage of the people who walked by the petition were pleased to find it and wanted to sign. Of course you weren't there, so you'll have to take our word for it, but we know it was a clear majority. A small number of people politely declined to sign or ignored it, and a very small number were vehemently opposed.
  
  I can also assure you that I have been contacted by pensioners and others who were distraught that they could not get to where petitions were, nor did they have a computer to access the internet. One 80 year old collected over 170 signatures herself. A ‘radical, minority group Gran’ in your mind I guess, but actually, no.
  
  I have also been contacted by quite a number of business people, including a major Cairns Developer who can’t understand why the building is not being incorporated into the Masterplan and a Real Estate Agent who admits he sells old Queenslanders to developers who then replace them with highrise, but who also says there ‘is a line in the sand, and demolishing the Yacht Club crosses that line significantly’.
  
  Many others are aghast at what is happening including three eminent architects, an engineer, a self-employed accountant, a medical specialist and a GP who have all either written or rung me. Not your average ‘minority group’ members I suggest.
  
  Now, about the heritage value ….. One of the most misleading statements put out by Desley Boyle, which it seems you have succumbed to, is the one about the building failing two heritage listings. Desley would like to have us all think that this meant it was of no heritage value, so let’s examine that.
  
  The first heritage application put forward by the National Trust, failed because of lack of information. That is now acknowledged by all involved.
  
  However, in 2003, the Cairns Historical Society and Dr Jan Wegner, lecturer in Local History and Heritage at JCU, assisted the National Trust to prepare the second application.... WHICH WAS ASSESSED BY THE TWELVE MEMBERS ON THE QLD HERITAGE COUNCIL AND FOUND TO MEET RELEVANT STATE CRITERIA. THE BUILDING WAS THEN OFFICIALLY LISTED BY THE QLD HERITAGE COUNCIL. THAT IS, THEY COMPLETELY ACKNOWLEDGED THAT IT WAS OF STATE SIGNIFICANCE IN THEIR LEARNED OPINIONS.
  
  If nobody had objected, the building would now have been automatically permanently listed and therefore protected.
  
  One month after their initial decision to list the building the State Heritage Council Chairman, Professor John Brannock told the Cairns Post “The demolition of the Cairns Yacht Club would be a terrible loss to the city and would reduce the social and cultural value of its waterfront irreparably.”
  In fact, Professor Brannock said there would have to be "quite serious factors" put up by the Cairns Port Authority - the only objector to heritage listing of the 85-year-old landmark (at that stage) - to make the council change its mind.
  
  What followed then were four other objections that were all based on the same two things raised by the Port Authority. The first was an assessment by a heritage Assessor Gordon Grimwade, who was employed by the Port Authority.
  
  Grimwade assured readers that the Yacht Club was of great heritage significance locally, quoting an earlier heritage assessment in 1994 which also said that. However, Grimwade felt the Yacht Club did not have state significance, though he gave no reason for that. (Bear in mind here, that a very ordinary house in Mooloolaba was recently State listed merely because it was used as a hostel since the 1930’s! Grimwade now serves on the Heritage Council which made that and many similar decisions. Clearly, the Cairns Yacht Club which has extensive early settlement and wartime history far surpasses that.)
  
  The Queensland Heritage Council then employed an expert independent assessor, Michael Kennedy, who visited Cairns for 4 days to assess the building and its heritage values. Kennedy not only found that the building DID FIT STATE HERITAGE CRITERIA but openly disagreed with Grimwade’s opinion that it didn’t.
  
  The second reason used for objecting to the Heritage listing was pointed out by Kennedy, no doubt because of its ‘circular’ nature.
  
  The Cairns Port Authority had claimed there ‘was no prospect of conserving the building on the site’. This was due to their determination to not allow the Cairns Yacht Club Inc, who had occupied the building since 1917, to stay. They also did not intend to seek heritage funding to restore the building, even if the Yacht Club moved out and it was turned into a heritage tourism site, despite that fact that abundant State Government money was available elsewhere for similar projects (e.g. The Chinese Temple in Atherton which attracted $1.3 million a few years earlier).
  The Heritage Council accepted that the Port Authority would not allow the building to stay (although many people wonder what other pressures were applied to them) and so did not heritage list it. However, the Port Authority would have had to preserve it if it had been listed.
  
  Get that Quickie? It can’t be heritage listed because it can’t stay on the site, but it could stay on the site if it was heritage listed! But it can’t be heritage listed because it can’t stay on the site.
  
  So there you have it – some of the questionable situation around the debacle of the failed heritage listings. A lot more can and may be said about this process – but let’s be clear about one thing – the twelve members of the Heritage Council agreed it should be listed and so did their independent assessor. The assessor who did not agree with state listing did say it was of considerable local heritage value at least. Guess you are more of an expert than them though, huh?
  
  And finally Quickie, you obviously think that the collective voices of; The National Trust, the Register of the National Estate, a majority of Cairns Regional Councillors, the entire State Opposition, three heritage assessors, the 92 year old former Commander of the Catalina Squadrons, Sir Richard Kingsland, eight Torres Strait Islander families who specially contacted us to see what they could do, leaders of local indigenous groups, Senators Ian McDonald, Barnaby Joyce, Scott Ludlum and Bob Brown, the Hon Sharman Stone, Shadow Federal Heritage Minister and the Hon Peter Garrett, the Federal Heritage Minister, who suggested we pursue State Heritage listing again, along with 11,000 citizens and others who’ve voted in polls and signed previous petitions, and who can all see merit in the building staying where it is, are just a bunch of twits to be discounted! Or a ‘voracious Minority group’, at least by your estimation.
  
  I rest my case …..
  
  Wendy

We told you so

Exactly one month ago, rooftop rebel and False Cape crusader - way smarter that the fictitious and silly Cairns 'Caped Crusader', Terry Spackman and I re-visited the appalling Foley Road development.

I called it our next False Cape, in honour of the environmental disaster that took the local Council and the Federal Government over four years to react. It took action and much pressure from public lobbyists like Save our Slopes, Mark Buttrose, Steven Nowakowski and Terry Spackman to name but three, for anyone to take the issue seriously. In the meantime, a huge amount of damaging sediment run-off has occurred at East Trinity from the False Cape site.

The folk from the Combined Beaches Residents Association, who have pursued the ill-conceived Glen Corp developments at Clifton Beach and Hedley's work at Paradise Palms golf course, alerted me to Phil Hartwig, a rouge developer who is excavating vast amounts of his land at the top of Foley Road, Palm Cove.

When Terry and I visited and filmed the site four weeks ago, it was dry. We predicted, come the wet season, this whole hillside will wash downstream.

Saturday morning, the rains came, and I got a 6am telephone call, and we were off with cameras in hand to capture the evidence. The drive to the once lovely neigbourhood of Palm Cove, is now scarred by what is happening at the top of Foley Road, on the Western side of the Captain Cook Highway. We really know Palm Cove as the community alongside the sea, but developers have a way of stealing names and stretching boundaries for marketing real estate.

When we posted the first lot of footage on CairnsBlog a month ago, only Councillor Paul Gregory and Robert Pyne responded. Gregory, whose Division one encompasses False Cape, knows all to well about poor development controls. He's probably the most experienced Councillor in regards to sediment controls. You would have expected Councillor Sno Bonneau, who used to look after this area, to be at the forefront of this development. But he's no where to be seen. You have to ask why and what part he played in representing the approval for Phil Hartwig.

It's important to note that Councillor Gregory is also chairman of Council's Works and Water committees, and is also the Local Government director of Terrain Natural Resource Management, although the website hasn't been updated. Terrain claims to support the Wet Tropics region to "develop local projects and solutions that make sense not only for our environment but also for our community and economy." Well, they need to be very aware of what this rogue developer Phil Hartwig is getting away with at Foley Road, Palm Cove.

Here's some footage that we filmed over the weekend, after a small amount of rain. The results are shocking.



According to the Cairns Plan, waterways are all protected and have to have minimum setbacks. These are called riparian corridors. The developer behind Foley Road, Phil Hartwig has clearly breached this.

Why aren't Council planning officials enforcing these controls?

If you went into a shop, took something off the shelf and walked out without paying for it, the store security and police would be onto you within minutes. Why is it when you deliberately breach local bylaws, with such devastating effects, no one says a thing? There has to be months and sometimes years of protests from the public before any action takes place.

The ongoing saga at Foley Road, comes just weeks after chief Council Planner, Peter Tabulo said that a majority of building sites failed to meet the minimum industry standard to ensure control on development sites. He and his department have held a series of forums with builders and developers on this very issue in the last eight weeks.

“The implementation and maintenance of these basic environmental protection measures ultimately promotes healthier waterways,” Tabulo says. “Healthy waterways lead to healthier estuaries and a healthier Marine Park which we all like to be able to enjoy whether it’s better fishing, diving or just cleaner beaches.”

Well, what we witnessed over the weekend at Foley Road is in direct contravention to this.

Such activities give us little confidence in our senior public servants to manage our environment and our civic affairs, when these developments go unchecked and un-policed.

A shocking footnote to this sorry saga, is that the Combined Beaches Community Association alerted Drew McLean, at the Federal Environment Ministry a year ago, with a number of letters, and have never had one reply.

Terry Spackman has asked Councillor Diane Forsyth to put forward a motion at the next Environment and Planning meeting to mandate Council officials to uphold and police the conditions of Development Approvals. Sounds bizarre that you'd even have to put up such a motion.

What are you doing about this Cairns Regional Council?

I don't wanna know, ok!

You would have thought that someone with a title of 'Community Relations Engagement Co-ordinator' would be all ears. Not this one!

When Cairns Regional Council employee, Meredith Wilsch, received an email from me last week about the battle to save the Yacht Club, she got rather upset.

"Mr Moore, I did not subscribe to your email mailing list and did not give my consent to receive unsolicited messages," telling me off like a naughty schoolboy, she said in a rather turt email last Wednesday morning.

Meredith's email address is on the Council's media distribution list, which I use for various community groups that want media distributed. However this community engagement officer only has selective hearing it seems.

"As your message does not contain a functional unsubscribe facility, as required under the Anti-Spam Act 2003, I hereby request that you remove my email address details from your emailing list," Madam Wilsch put me in my place.

How dare I try to inform her of some community concern?!

Meredith also helped co-ordinate Council’s new corporate image and logo re branding, a task that involved a deal of community input.

I'd like to remind Meredith Wilsch, and other Council employees, unlike a commercial private business, our Council is a public company. As employees of the Council, their salary is paid by the residents of Cairns. It's shareholders, being the ratepayers and residents, have a rightful duty to inform and educate it's staff about matters of concern to the community. They are here to serve, and to serve us all.

It's of great concern to me that such attitude still permeates through our Council, especially at this middle management level. With such preconceived ignorance so prevalent, it's no wonder Council officers ignore and rule without talking with their community.

Meredith Wilsch should be ashamed to call herself the Community Relations Engagement Co-ordinator, when she talks to people like this. She needs a lesson in 101 PR. This kind of dismissive communication is a product of the Byrne regime.

For the record, Meredith's telephone number is 4044 3120, or you can email her on M.Wilsch@cairns.qld.gov.au. Her mobile number is 0407 162 953. I just think that our Community Engagement officer should be contactable by anyone about any issue of community interest, don't you?

She's still on my email list.


UPDATE:

I should have mentioned, that this 'threat' tactic that an unwanted email received at Council is 'spam' is used by a few it seems.

Just a couple of weeks ago, another CRC ratepayer received a threat to stop sending 'spam' from Councillor Alan Blake.

"Remove this spam from my email address, Cr Blake told Ray Taylor. "Unwanted emails will be dealt with as per the Privacy Act," he wrote in a September 22nd reply. And we wonder how our Council staff get to behave in such an unprofessional manner?

Both Blake and Wilsch need to understand that spam is something completely different. They both refused to engage and discuss issues with the public. This is a fundamental breakdown in our democratic system.

By gosh, Val has a lot to reform.

Thoughts of what could have been

Peter Zabski attended last weekend's rally at ANZAC Park to save the Cairns Yacht Club building. He shares with us his thoughts on the debacle and that of the callous local and State politicians.

• Today I am sitting in the Cairns Yacht Club Building overlooking the low tide across the inlet. I look over the building and think, what if the building had a voice? What would it say?
  
  "I’ve been here longer than any one of you who live here. I’ve seen so many of you come and go, some have stayed. I’ve seen the city change so much, and especially noticed the very tall structures all around, pressing in on me.
  
  I still remember how difficult it was for the craftsmen and builders who put me together from the finest rainforest timbers. In 1920 when I was very young, my metal was surely tested! Thanks to my deep anchoring supports, I survived nature’s fury. In 2000 I weathered Cyclone Stephen sustaining only superficial damage.
  
  I’m hearing decisions are being made to remove me; I’m told I only have 5 weeks left before I’ll be stripped. I don’t know what I’ve done that I should be treated this way! I’ve always kept my doors open to you all. I cannot come to terms that I won’t be with you much longer.
  
  Now is a good time to say my goodbyes. Thank you to all who built me – I was an eye-catcher back then! To the club members who in five months resurrected me in February 1920 when I didn’t think I’d pull through – I’m eternally grateful – thank you so much.
  
  Thank you to all the patrons when I was the Cairns Aquatic Club – they were the best times of my life!
  
  I’m leaving you all with a broken heart, because I’ve really loved what joy you’ve given me and all the fun we’ve had. Nothing can replace that. And to those job it is to take me down, please be careful. Goodbye all."

NB: This was sent to the Cairns Post over a week ago, however it has not been published. I think it’s worth sharing with everyone.

Homer votes for Barack Obama

CairnsBlog cartoon by Circusmouse

Terry before a magistrate

Yacht Club demolition protester Terry Spackman served a night in jail for his beliefs. This morning he will go before a magistrate.

A large contingent of police turned up yesterday morning, followed by the Fire Service with two large appliances. The dilemma was heightened as Workplace Safety regulations does not allow workers to access a roof that has no barrier.

After Terry refused to sign the bail conditions that would prevent him from returning to the building, he was locked in the Sheridan Street watch house overnight.

Terry had earlier scaled the building around 6am with a supply of food, chair, phone, and water. He voluntarily decided to come down at 1pm, was arrested and taken into custody for breaching the security fence that surrounds the historic Yacht Club.

Spackman will appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court No 1 at 9.30am this morning. If he pleads guilty, he will make a statement once released outside the courtroom.

Yesterday, Anton’s Demolition had been planning to bring cranes on the site and remove sections of the roof, however were completely prevented from doing so by Terry’s actions.

A frustrated and nervous Cairns Ports Safety and Emergency Manager, David Good looks on as Terry Spackman disrupts work to demolish the Yacht Club building on the Cairns waterfront.

The Cairns Port Authority have now employed private security guards to watch over the building 24 hours a day, no doubt at considerable expense.

Due to Terry's efforts spreading the word about this significant Cairns building, has now spread across the country. If anyone would still like to get involved in this direct action campaign, you can contact Bryan on 4052 1563 or 0403 049 566.

The saving and protecting of this historic building is an easy thing for any government to do. It would be a win for the community and a win for listening to the will of the people.

The Labor government has lost substantial support over this needless heritage destruction. They have lost connection with the people by their negligence over destruction of the Cairns Yacht Club.

This issue is now a defining moment for all Cairns Labor politicians and that of the Cairns Regional Council.

Local Councillor Alan Blake, watching over the old club house from his luxury apartment suite, has also failed to enter the debate publicly.

It's a shocking and sad reality that when elected politicians cannot engage and represent their community, they are unfit to serve. They simply don't deserve the respect or the salary that we bestow upon them.

Protesters on Yacht Club roof

Following yesterday's Police altercation stopping citizens breaching the fence of the historic Yacht Club, around 6:30am this morning protesters breached the security fence surrounding the Yacht Club.

Terry Spackman has now unveiled the Australian flag and a Eureka flag on the roof of the Yacht Club. Terry is now staying on the roof this morning to stop demolition work from proceeding.

He is conducting a sit in protest of the Heritage destruction of a community significant building. He is representing the 11,000 people that signed the petition to retain the building where it is for all the Cairns community.

He aims to stop demolition work for as long as possible.

"The Bligh Labor Government have forgotten the people," Terry said from the roof this morning. "They are only representing property interests."

"The boundary of the land here is also in dispute according to the government," Terry Spackman says. "They claim that they don't know the true boundary of the Yacht Club, so therefore how could this land be redeveloped or sold?"

"This is reason to stop this work and tell the people the truth," says Terry Spackman.

35 police stop action

"This is so very easy for the Government to do," Bryan Law told a packed media gathering yesterday afternoon.

In what could only be described as the largest police presence at a single event in recent Cairns history, yesterday afternoon around 35 police turned up to stop protesters entering the Cairns Yacht Club site, under orders from the Cairns Port Authority and the State Labor Government.

The Queensland Police Service even had officers stationed in a boat in the harbour, just in case there was a breach from the seaward entry.

Just days after we learn that the Police are underfunded and have insufficient staff to look after our streets, with horrific violence on the cover of the Cairns Post every other day, they seemed to find a massive line up of boys and girls in blue to encircle the entire Cairns Yacht Club building Tuesday afternoon.

Legendary community campaigner Bryan Law, and a number of local supporters gathered at the site in an attempt to scale the perimeter fence to stop demolition work.

"We are here to hold this Labor government to account for the utter destruction they are undertaking right before our eyes," he told a packed media circus. Even the Cairns Post turned out, surprising when there was a crocodile attack just a few hundred kilometers away at the same time.

A vote of those gathered was undertaken, as a precursor to next year's State election. "This is to show the Premier what the people of Cairns will do at the ballot box next year."

Byran Law, dressed as conservative local Judge Peter White, took his cutters to the fence and was warned to cease, otherwise he would be arrested under the Breach of Peace detention. He ignored their caution, and was subsequently placed in the back of a paddy wagon and delivered to the Sheridan Street Police Station. However, minutes later was released, without charge or conditions.

It's obvious the Government doesn't want more attention given to this biting community issue. The Cairns Port Authority have also given their weight to ensure as little action is given to the protesters as possible. However, they appear to have failed in this so far. Premier Bligh is however remaining silent on the issue and will not comment publicly anymore.

Another local campaigner, Sharon, also attempted to scale the fence as was cautioned and removed by Police.

Over 20 media outlets around the region and throughout the State took an active interest in the protest action.

"I don’t think we could have asked for a better media return on our efforts today. They really can’t resist direct action, Bryan said.

However, this is not the end of it. Further direct action will be undertaken at the site during the rest of the week, however, unlike yesterday's protest, there will not be advance notice to Police. The aim will be to stop demolition work.

One of Cairns' leading city architects, Mark Buttrose was also present and show his support for the protest action. Buttrose is a veteran of his work to stop development on False Cape. He says that the city's heritage should be saved and integrated into modern development. "Our history is being destroyed, and yet it's very easy to incorporate this into the City Port plan," he said. Buttrose is understood to be in discussions with officials in the Premier's department to demand a total rethink of the Port Authority's plans to redevelop the Trinity Inlet waterfront.

This is not the attention that local MPs want. It is not the attention that the Premier wants. However, after nearly 5 years, the Labor State Government, supported by the former Byrne-led Council, and even the regional tourism body, failed to support the retention of this historically significant building.

Cairns Regional Councillor Diane Forsyth is off to Brisbane today and will try to seek a meeting with Anna Bligh. "I will sit outside her office and ask to be heard," she said. "I'm also asking again for our CEO to demand a formal response from Bligh to Council's request for a meeting."

Dianne Forsyth also acknowledged that Mayor Val Schier should make a public statement about what is going on. Val is the primary spokesperson for our community, she supported two motions to engage in talks with the Cairns Ports and the Premier. The Mayor of our city and region, needs to speak up and be heard.

"We have not lost yet. The next week or two will tell another chapter in this long story to save this beloved part of Cairns' history," Bryan Law said.