Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders. Warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenhouse gases — produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and forests.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide were at a record high in 2011 and were likely to take a similar jump in 2012, scientists reported in early December 2012 — the latest indication that efforts to limit such emissions are failing.

Over all, global emissions jumped 3 percent in 2011 and are expected to jump another 2.6 percent in 2012, researchers reported.

The new figures show that emissions are falling, slowly, in some of the most advanced countries, including the United States. That apparently reflects a combination of economic weakness, the transfer of some manufacturing to developing countries and conscious efforts to limit emissions, like the renewable power targets that many American states have set. The boom in the natural gas supply from hydraulic fracturing is also a factor, since natural gas is supplanting coal at many power stations, leading to lower emissions.

But the decline of emissions in the developed countries is more than matched by continued growth in developing countries like China and India, the new figures show. Coal, the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is growing fastest, with coal-related emissions leaping more than 5 percent in 2011, compared with the previous year.

read more: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html

Of course, my exposé of the Sydney North Shore was a broad brush artistic depiction... I for example did not include in this leafy paradisio, the things that could make tourist squirm... The Funnel Web Spiders, the Ticks, the Mozzies, the Leeches, the bluebottles, the occasional flotsam and jetsam....

So talking of things that float, something came up to our general attention:

THIS WEEK, the Liberal Party showed its true colours, as South Australia’s Liberal Senate ticket was announced, with Cory Bernardi again in the number one position.

I know many of you will be thinking this is a bad thing, however I disagree.

I think that it is vitally important that the public be made aware of the kind of policy ideas and the opinions and attitudes that will take you to the top in the modern day Liberal Party.

Bernardi spent a lot of time in the U.S. studying the workings of the Tea Party; you may remember them as the right-wing lunatics the Republican party can’t distance themselves enough from these days. These were the party faction that was so far to the right that even Dick Cheney needed binoculars to see them.

It all went south for the Tea Party after their darling, Sarah Palin, ran a television campaign that showed various democrats in gun sights and a social media campaign showing the same. The apparent result of that being the gunning down of 17 people in a Tuscon shopping centre car park in 2011. Of the 17 people gunned down, six were killed, the assassin’s target, then Democrat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head but not killed. Giffords was one of those in the campaign pictured in the cross-hairs of a gun sight.

It makes you think of the chaff bag comments in a different light…

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/to-the-extreme-with-hard-cory-bernardi/

As soon as the Liberals (conservatives) get their mitts onto anything that has artistic or architectural value, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will do something nasty to it...  We all know about Newman cutting funding for the premier literary award in Queensland, we know of the pedestrianism infiltration New South Wales since Barry O'Feral took over. Remember that the Sydney Opera House was the vision of Labor... Now Look at this in the Northern Territory now in the hands of Liberals vandals:

--------------------------------

A major benefactor to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) says he is considering asking for his donated artworks to be returned in the wake of funding and job cuts at the facility.

A former chairman of the gallery, Colin McDonald, QC, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in artworks.

Mr McDonald says he is horrified by the news.

"To close down the library and lose the librarian and photographer, and not have the curator, reduces the living arts and scientific institution to a storage shed," he said.

He says he gave his art on the condition it would be looked after properly and displayed for generations of people to enjoy.

"Benefactors like myself have to be considering, well, if those implied conditions are being destroyed, we have to think about asking for our donations back," he said.

Former Northern Territory Administrator Tom Pauling says the Territory Government risks "killing" the Indigenous art culture of the Territory by cutting funding to MAGNT.

The Government is planning to save at least $190,000 in the next financial year by cutting services and bringing in a private security contractor.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-13/magnt-job-and-funds-cuts-reaction/4425870

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For those who don't know, this art gallery is also a museum that apart many things is also the repository of references to the art of Arnhem Land going back 50,000 years... Having a "private contractor" taking charge of this gem, will only encourage pilfering, will not save a cent and destroy a museum culture that has been vibrant for many years. I guess that in the end the job has a good change go to a "friend" of the Liberals, who may have accountancy diploma but zero understanding of art... I could be wrong...

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Meanwhile Barry O'Feral, under whatever pretext he's got left after shooters in National Parks — with the blessings of Fred Nile, usually rabid about gambling but now salivating at a new casino in Sydney, as long as it's James Packer's — is about to demolish sumpthin' to rebuild sumpthin' else... This is the developer's dream in which buildings are still good, I mean great, but someone does not like the paint job so they demolish the whole thing...

Of course one cannot forget that, while Tony Abbott is the great King Muck of the "upper" North Shore, most of the Lower North Shore, North Sydney is in the hand of vassal Teddy Bear — or Humpty Dumpty. I mean Joe Hockey, Liberal (conservative)... 

THE Coalition has challenged Labor to try to reinstate Peter Slipper as speaker if it believes he has been hard done by.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey today rejected government claims of an alleged “LNP conspiracy” to bring down Mr Slipper and the government, saying he had no prior knowledge of James Ashby's sexual harassment allegations against Mr Slipper, which were yesterday dismissed by the Federal Court as an abuse of process.

“If the Labor Party believe that Peter Slipper is such a man of integrity and honesty, then they should put him up for speaker again,” Mr Hockey said

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/coalition-denies-labor-claims-of-a-conspiracy-over-peter-slipper/story-fndckad0-1226536036424

The mantra as polished by the muckalition, uttered by Abbott and now by Joe...: reinstate Slipper as Speaker or shut up... very clever...

But it won't stop the stench of the involvement of the muckalition into the Slipper affair... Something will crack... They have gone too far...

In what should be an embarrassing fact for Mr Hockey, 2012-13 will see real government spending fall 4.4 per cent, the biggest cut ever recorded. This cut will see the government spending to GDP ratio fall to 23.8 per cent, having previously been ramped up to successfully counter the shock from the global financial crisis. This level of spending is 0.4 per cent of GDP below the average government spending level of the Howard government. In today's dollar terms, the 0.4 per cent of GDP amounts to around $6 billion.

All of this suggests that the current government and the Labor Party more generally are low taxing and the only side of politics willing to cut spending when required.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4427680.html?WT.svl=theDrum

AUSTRALIANS are the wealthiest they have been in five years despite worries about the global economy and cost of living pressures at home.

Figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show household wealth climbed 18.4 per cent in the past year to $69,422 per person.

Labour shortage as gas boom lifts wealth

CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said the data showed Australians were still pouring money into savings accounts, aggressively paying down their debts and had benefited from a stronger sharemarket in recent months.

Sydney second most expensive city in the world

He said people remained spooked by reports of global financial uncertainty and were holding back, but their conservatism was not warranted.

“Consumers may not be feeling wealthy because of the doom and gloom but we are heading back to towards record levels,” he said.

"The global financial crisis caused the biggest ever drop in wealth for Australian households. However, wealth levels have continued to repair over the past couple of years."

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/australians-the-wealthiest-in-five-years-abs-figures-reveal/story-e6frfmd9-1226541272380#ixzz2FaB7TRuW

Read stories from top...

Emergency crews are still at the scene of a horrific accident which has killed two people and injured six others, after a petrol tanker crashed and exploded at Mona Vale on Sydney's northern beaches

Witnesses say there were multiple explosions after the tanker, carrying 18,000 litres of fuel, rolled on its side, burst into flames, collided with several cars on Mona Vale Road at about 3:40pm (AEST).

Police say the fuel tanker caught alight as a result of the multi-vehicle collision, and the fire spread to several cars.

Six people were injured in the crash and subsequent explosions and fire, including the truck's driver.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-01/two-dead-in-fuel-tanker-crash-in-sydney27s-north/4991974

Gus: I usually would not report on such matter but the location of the accident is telling... First I hope the injured are safe and that the family of the dead are looked after. Of all the road on the North Shore, Mona Vale Road is a twisting and turning pretty two-lane highway — sometimes with three lanes, with one lane allocated for overtaking uphill when the gradient is quite steep... From Terry Hills, the road is set in the middle of the "bush", going through troughs and hills with beautiful vantage points overseeing the ocean afar...  This is one of the roads to Palm Beach... Where the recent bushfire nearly took out the lighthouse (read article above and see also http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/27156#comment-28397...

Read article at top..

As secessionist moves go, subdividing Mosman might not appear to hold a candle to the annual threat of Western Australia breaking away from the rest of the continent.

Actually forget the "Volvos", Mosman might be the place in Australia where there are more 4WD SUV Merc and Lexus or Toyotas, driven by mums on the way to exclusive private schools like SCEGGS and others...

The nation's oldest department store appears to have been flooded since September's federal election by exuberant Liberal voters happy to celebrate the victory with a new suit, dress or bottle of perfume.

David Jones is one of the few discretionary retailers to have swollen cash registers in the wake of the election, in the midst of continued gloom elsewhere in the sector.
Chief executive Paul Zahra said first-quarter sales were up 2.1 per cent to $424.2 million, and September had been a good month for the business.
This was thanks to certainty flowing from the change of government, a higher sharemarket and household budgets in better shape.

''September was a stand-out, so you can draw the conclusion it was driven by the election,'' he said. ''But as most people know, 78 per cent of our stores, excluding CBD locations, sit in Coalition seats, so that's got to be favourable to the company.''

Investors have pounced on the company's shares, which closed 6.6 per cent higher at $2.90.
Mr Zahra said its range of Australian fashion designers was experiencing double-digit sales growth, while fashion and beauty as a whole had all been stronger in the September quarter.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/djs-all-smiles-as-poll-suits-its-clientele-20131101-2ws1f.html#ixzz2jT2eR1be

To be frank here, very little has changed in the Aussie economic status except that the Libs (CONservatives) after years of demanding belt tightening have now decided on largess for the banks and floggings of the ordinary people by executing a nifty arbitrary save-money-by-sacking-people... Thus the folks of the liberal tendencies are now spending the money they always had or the money they will get, on credit.... Ordinary people will dance in the streets once Abbott and his bunch of gnomes are out of the picture. Read story at top...

Retail billionaire and founder of furniture and bedding store Harvey Norman, Gerry Harvey, has called on the new Abbott government to quickly eliminate the ‘‘100-foot-high’’ tower of red tape constricting business growth in Australia as consumers still refuse to open their wallets at his shops.

The executive chairman of Harvey Norman also said he was at a loss to explain why higher consumer confidence in the wake of the federal election had not translated into improving sales, while he called on an end to the ‘'nanny state'’ and for a return to old fashioned values of people taking responsibility for their actions.

‘‘People have to look after themselves,’’ Mr Harvey said. ‘‘When I grew up there was a self-care thing, you had to learn by your mistakes you didn’t have everyone around the place looking after me and changing my nappy every time I peed myself, so you have to look after yourself, take responsibility for your actions and things like that.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/gerry-harvey-launches-red-tape-crusade-20131104-2wwsj.html#ixzz2jfbS0x8y

Sounds good... but taking responsibility for oneself is one thing and buying furniture is another... Besides, 70 years ago, the "lawyer industry" and "litigation of sorts" were only the privilege of the super rich gentlemen... Now councils can be sued for someone peeing in their pants in a park because of lack of bushes — and be fined thousands of dollars....

Welcome!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my web page.  We, who live in Mackellar, live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, which is often referred to as “God’s own Country”.

With its vast beaches and coastline spanning from Dee Why to Palm Beach and the rich bushland and national parks that run from Frenchs Forest, Davidson and Belrose down to the ocean it is no wonder it’s considered an environmental marvel.

As you local member I believe that it is vital that I am active and engage with you and our community to ensure that we preserve our natural environment and our lifestyle for future generations as well as fighting for essential services that we rightly deserve.

I know that as we continue to work together in our community with a common purpose we can preserve our uniquely Australian way of life.

http://www.bronwyn.com.au/main.html

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As Bronwyn, one of the other members of parliament from that fair weather wafty north shore (no global warming there),  urges us to protect (her) GOD'S OWN COUNTRY, BUT according to "No-Surprise-Tony", let's go and chop a few trees in the protected forest of Tasmania since no-one lives there... The hypocrisy of the Liberals (CONservatives) is unfathomable and bathed in godly double-speak...

Meanwhile, Madam Speaker Lady (Dame?) Bronny, already past retirement age is still pissing on the democratic processes from the chair, while running a political protection racket.

Read article at top...

Unless the inner-city leftists can get the Western Sydney types back on side, Tony Abbott will be left free to push measures that benefit his North Shore constituents to the detriment of others, writes Nigel Bowen.

Post budget, entire episodes of Q&A have passed without a single question from the audience about same-sex unions and the newspapers are full of hard-luck stories rather than think pieces about transphobia.

Could it be the Left is on the verge of re-engaging with bread-and-butter distributional issues?

There are not a lot of parallels between my life and Tony Abbott's but as luck would have it we were both raised in the upper middle class milieu of Sydney's North Shore.

Before proceeding further I should point out that Abbott's current neighbourhood and my former one, while Liberal Party heartland, is neither monolithically conservative nor affluent. The area is neither devoid of low to middle income earners nor people with left-of-centre views - the likes of Tim Freedman, Peter Garrett and Mike Carlton, for example, are all past or current residents.

That noted, I believe it's fair to say Abbott is, to an extent yet to be fully appreciated, a product of his environment and that his first budget faithfully reflects what might be labelled the North Shore worldview.

In brief, such a Weltanschauung can be boiled down to the following fundamentals: the ALP are incompetent socialists who will invariably blow up the economy whenever they gain control of the Treasury benches; public servants are bludgers; unions are a dangerous scourge; the average worker is indolent at best and dishonest at worst and welfare recipients are scroungers who should pull themselves up by the bootstraps.

Of course, such an outlook is hardly confined to Sydney's North Shore. Both throughout Australia and in many other countries, it's the default position of those who are well-positioned enough to opt out of the public system themselves and resent having to shell out to provide health and education services, as well as welfare and old-age pensions for the improvident lower orders.

While displaying a Google-like ingenuity at using negatively geared property, family trusts and self-managed super funds to minimise his or her tax, your North Shorian (both actual and honorary) remains all too painfully aware they are getting a bad deal. And he or she is not accustomed to being on the losing side of a transaction.

The point of this piece isn't to debate the merits or otherwise of this Ayn Randesque mindset - North Shorians vote for their economic interests, as would be expected. The interesting issue is that in the last seven federal elections enough non-North Shorians - many of them unionists, public servants, low to middle income employees and welfare recipients - have voted for the Coalition to give it an impressive five wins/one draw/one loss record.

Both Abbott and I grew up in simpler times when it was assumed that Westies (both actual and honorary) would support Labor. Indeed, the notion they'd embrace the Liberal Party seemed to make as much sense as Penrith Panthers fans burning their club jerseys and opting to barrack for the Manly Sea Eagles or embrace rugby union.

To make sense of this political development we need to introduce a third grouping into the equation, many of them the upwardly mobile offspring of Westies or the downwardly mobile ones of North Shorians.

As is frequently observed, Inner City Types, while lacking the demographic heft of the Westies or the economic muscle of the North Shorians, are disproportionately represented among the ranks of progressive activists, ALP and Green politicians, public servants, academics, artists and, ahem, journalists.

As is also frequently observed, for the last three decades Inner City Types have had little interest in the meat and potato distributional issues of politics, preferring to devote their time and energy to causes that either have a direct bearing on people like them (i.e. seeking to ensure that well-educated, middle to upper-middle class women have the same career opportunities as well-educated, middle to upper middle class men) or relate to appealingly exotic oppressed groups (i.e. Indigenous Australians, East Timorese, Tibetans, Palestinians, boatpeople, transsexuals).

That the Westies - increasing numbers of whom were dealing with mortgage stress, job insecurity and four hour commutes to work - failed to show the appropriate concern for those experiencing Third World Problems, or saw them as competitors for scarce resources, was taken by Inner City Types as proof of their irredeemably reactionary boganism.

Of course, while the Left has been otherwise engaged the Right has been busily reversing many of the hard-won progressive victories achieved from the time of the Great Depression until the overturning of the post-war Keynesian settlement at the beginning of the 1980s.

The Coalition has now started in on undermining the social wage, which was meant to be the pay-off to non-North Shorians for the painful neo-liberal restructuring of the economy under Hawke-Keating, and which was largely maintained by the populist Howard.

If the Coalition wins a second term - and post-war history suggests a conservative federal government can expect at least three terms and possibly up to nine - deregulating the industrial relations system will undoubtedly be next on the agenda.

In much the same way Inner City Types are given to gazing wistfully at the Nordic social democracies, North Shorians admire the US, a nation where the wealth creator is venerated.

Unless the Inner City Types can rethink their political priorities and get the Westies on side, Abbott, long dismissed as "some kind of old-fashioned DLP pseudo-socialist" by observers ranging from Peter Costello to Mark Latham, looks set to Americanise Australia in a way that benefits his own North Shore constituents while imposing significant hardship on those less well located.

Nigel Bowen is a freelance journalist who writes about politics and pop culture among other topics. View his full profile here.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-30/bowen-abbott-free-to-push-his-north-shore-politics/5488208

See story at top...

Travel times on one of Sydney's worst commuter road journeys will be slashed and the Baird government will consider a new vehicle tunnel beneath Military Road under plans set to be announced in Tuesday's state budget.

The measures affecting Pittwater, Spit and Military roads could provide relief to long-suffering motorists and potentially increase public transport use.

It is understood the government will reveal plans for an above-ground ''rapid bus transit'' system between Mona Vale and central Sydney.

Bus services between Spit Junction and Wynyard can vary from the timetable by up to 20 minutes and morning peak traffic can crawl along the Manly-Military-Spit roads arterial at an infuriating 18km/h.

It is also understood the government will fund a feasibility study into building a vehicle tunnel that would allow commuters to avoid the bumper-to-bumper grind.

Premier Mike Baird signalled on Wednesday that measures to relieve the thickened traffic artery, which passes through his electorate of Manly, were overdue.

''[The northern suburbs] have been ignored for too long … I'm happy to argue with anyone and everyone that we need these funds in our community. They will make a big difference,” he told the Mosman Daily.

Bus rapid transit systems feature frequent services and exclusive roadway or priority over other modes of transport.

A Transport for NSW pre-feasibility study in 2012 examined five options between Mona Vale and the city. They included a two-lane bus tunnel from Spit Junction to the Warringah freeway, establishing 24-hour bus lanes and widening the Spit Bridge to six lanes.

Bus lanes could flow along the kerb or down the median. Depending on the option chosen, on-street parking could be removed and roadways widened.

They appeared to be three normal northern beaches mates who liked to ski together and party hard.

But police believe the trio of 23-year-old school friends are behind the spread of one of the most potent and potentially deadly batches of ecstasy pills the state has seen.

A warning was issued in August after police detected a batch of blue pills stamped with a Batman logo and spiked with the deadly 25c-NBOMe, a synthetic LSD-like substance linked to the deaths of several young people, including north shore teenager Henry Kwan.

It's a project that has riled the normally sedate residents of Manly and could soon see them marching in the streets.

The thought of losing their downtown car park – a long-time target of developers – and gaining a 740-space car park underneath Manly Oval at a cost of $35 million has locals in a lather and split Manly Council along party lines.

Virtually all of Manly's precinct committees are opposing the project, which is part of council's Manly 2015 plan. It's being championed by Manly's Liberal mayor Jean Hay as a way to rejuvenate the area because it would enable the 1970s above-ground car park in the the centre of Manly to be sold for as much as $16 million.

The main objection is the financial risk that the project entails, North Harbour Precinct chairman Terry le Roux says. The project would involve council taking $35 million in borrowings over the next 50 years.

Experts say it will make losses for at least the first 12 years because the demand will not be there, raising questions about why there is such haste. The current car park, which makes a profit, has 400 spaces.

And while the capital expenditure has received sign-off from the Department of Local Government, it was on lukewarm terms.

"While primary concerns have been addressed, I note the complexity and risks associated with the project, the department's director-general, Ross Woodward, wrote last month.

While the capital expenditure criteria of his department had been "broadly met", Mr Woodward said there remained issues, notably questions about the viability of the project, including the assumptions of future growth and the price that could be achieved for the sale of the old car park.

Mr Woodward also queried whether the council could achieve long-term financing at 5 per cent and whether it had sufficiently budgeted for unforeseen events.

The project is being supported by Manly Rugby Club president David Begg, whose club uses the oval as its home ground. However he said while he was generally in favour, there were many views within the club. He wanted to be sure the benefits would outweigh the disruption that the club will face while construction takes place.

Mr Begg is also well connected in the Liberal Party. He is close friends with Cr Hay and Premier Mike Baird who are patrons of the club.

As his website boasts, "he's been a key member of the NSW Liberal Party since 1989". He served on the NSW Liberal Party's State Executive and in July his lobbying firm, Premier State, disclosed a $100,000 donation to the Liberals' state office, seven months after it was made.

But Mr Begg firmly rejects any suggestion that his support is linked to his day job as principal of Premier State lobbyists whose clients include the Mounties, which own Manly Bowling Club.

The Sydneysiders on the North Shore are depressed... Business is slack, shops are deserted and going broke, street malls are empty, the summer weather so far has been crap... On top of this, most of the North Shore is the electorate of Tony Abbott. This by itself would be depressing... and more depressing still — for many of the North Shore Siders Tony is Jesus of Nazareth, walking on water and coming to save Australia from its Labor sins...(repeated from top article)

But then again, since Tony took over the economical insanity of this country, the North Shore depression of the Swan years are remembered fondly as a Sunday picnic compared to the present social gulags and economic disaster that Tony Abbott has imposed on this country. They still would vote for him though. Their delusion is strong and their fortunes still doubling nicely in Luxembourg or/and The Bahamas. But the local mood is still relying on beach-goers buying beach towels with Manly motifs. This proving once and for all that "money does not buy happiness"...

Meanwhile, in the washing machine of soapy politics:

But add a bit more biodegradable detergent and some entertaining tid bits can fluoresce.

For example, had I not persevered to the spin cycle, I would never have known that in 2013 the Australian Electoral Commission conducted a compliance review of The Waringah Club — Tony Abbott’s local fundraising organisation, akin to Joe Hockey’s North Sydney operation, with its tables of mates, including AWH.

Read more: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/tony-abbotts-warringah-club-doesnt-add-up,7186

Doctors at Royal North Shore Hospital have passed a motion of no confidence in the hospital board over a planned sale of 8 per cent of the site they say will jeopardise treatment for years to come. 

They are furious at the board and Health Minister Jillian Skinner for what they say is a "short-sighted" decision to sell or lease the southern part of the hospital campus for $97 million, as well as for claiming the decision was supported by medical staff.

But the chair of the Northern Sydney Local Health District Board appears to be backing away from the decision, telling Fairfax Media that the board had "no responsibility" for the sale, and a recent decision to open expressions of interest was "entirely the decision of government". 

The chair of the hospital's Medical Staff Council, Adam Rehak, said the money from the sale would only cover between one month and six week's worth of running costs, while the loss of about 8 per cent of the hospital grounds would have long-term impacts, and was "short-sighted and irresponsible". 

"The NSW government seems to be willing to compromise the long-term future of the hospital in order to get a couple of ... services paid for in the short-term," he said. "We are talking about what will happen in 25 or 30 years' time, when there are significant changes in technology and we need to adapt".

Staff had provided the government with suggestions to generate between $10 million and $12 million annually by leasing out parts of the existing buildings to the private sector, he said.

Royal North Shore is a major referral hospital for trauma, spinal injuries and burns across NSW, serving about one in six people.In opposition, Ms Skinner was a fierce opponent of Labor plans to sell-off part of the site. 

Labor health spokesman Walt Secord said the land should not be sold when it was already at a premium.

"When the hospital expands in the future due to population growth, it will cost more to expand the hospital facilities," he said.

Tensions have been building after officials claimed doctors had signed off on the land sale during consultations for a site master plan. 

Dr Rehak said the plan had made no mention of land sell-offs and had only identified the southern section, known as zone eight, as having the potential for "commercial opportunities".

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/royal-north-shore-land-sale-doctors-vote-no-confidence-in-health-district-plans-20141223-12cp3u.html

Interesting to see how pollies — Liberals (CONservatives) and Labor — do major back flips on their intentions in regard to stuff. I have witnessed the same rolly-polly rigmarole on the development of Barangaroo, when everyone was making promises to stop the project (or consult with the population which was against it) in order to get elected... Consultation and promises went out the window two days after the elections and the project has been going at a speed of knots, despite a few incident and the toxicity of the land on which it is built. And of course, Bazza added a casino, without any consultation with the populace since he thought it was a good idea for Mr James Packer to fleece punters, here and from China...

Liberal MPs and opposition strategists say Prime Minister Tony Abbott's toxic standing in the electorate could directly cost the Coalition up to six or seven seats at the NSW March state election.

Amid a horror start to the political year – typified by his widely ridiculed decision to award Prince Philip a knighthood – Mr Abbott has been kept conspicuously off the campaign trail in Queensland at the insistence of Premier Campbell Newman.

According to a poll released on Wednesday night, Mr Newman is on track to lose his own seat, with federal issues like the uproar over knighting a British Royal thought to be a negative factor in his republican-leaning Brisbane electorate of Ashgrove.

ReachTEL polling, commissioned by Seven News, puts Labor's Kate Jones ahead of Mr Newman at 46.5 per cent to 42 per cent of the primary vote.

A NSW Liberal Party figure said it would be harder than in Queensland to "inoculate" the state campaign of Premier Mike Baird as NSW is Mr Abbott's home state and Mr Baird's Manly electorate sits within the Prime Minister's federal seat of Warringah.

Another Liberal said there would be no way to avoid Mr Abbott's involvement but Mr Baird, who is flying high in the polls and is expected to win back government, was determined to run a campaign focused only on state issues.

"But it's going to have an impact," said a senior source in relation to what people are calling "the Abbott factor".

A state government MP said he was not aware of a single colleague who has invited Mr Abbott or Treasurer Joe Hockey to any campaign events.

"Normally the federal secretariat would be being deluged with dozens of requests for them to attend events and fundraisers," the MP said.

"If Mike loses a single seat it is likely to be blamed on Tony."

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/abbott-factor-expected-to-cost-coalition-seats...

The toxic Tony syndrome is actually like the flu. It's has infected most Liberal (CONservative) members of parliament as well as some conservative voters... This sorry disease makes those affected desperately zealot and aggressively bullying while being unable to understand sciences. It is infiltrating your brain with delusional dreams as it lures you with the sound of cash register, but the cash register is empty... It can make you desperate to argue against any social equity and give you an urgent need to pee on the proletariat. We understand. Read story from top (note: it was written 2 years ago before the infection spread nationwide)...

"She may have died of hypothermia. It is believed she was sleeping rough."

Detective Inspector Frank Gilroy of Kuring Gai Local Area Command said the 50-year-old woman had been homeless, spending time in a nearby squat.

She was seen walking in the Berowra Valley Regional Park on Friday. On Friday night and early Saturday morning the temperature in Sydney fell to 7 degrees.

Her body was found the next day close to popular fishing ponds and rifle range, near the start of the Great Northern Walk to Newcastle.

Katherine McKernan, chief executive of Homelessness NSW, said authorities were aware of rough sleepers in the Hornsby bush as well as a swelling group along the Hawkesbury River. 

"There's a large demand on crisis services and they are full," Ms McKernan said. "There's nowhere for people to be taken in."

A growing number of those turned away were older women, she said. 

"Women are finding themselves, later in life, in poverty. We are finding that there are more homeless women as a result."

More than 28,000 people were homeless in NSW on the latest census night in 2011. In February, the latest Sydney survey found there were 365 people were on the streets. 

The writer and political commentator Bob Ellis says he may have only weeks to live.

“The news is very bad and I may have months to live but it is more like weeks,” he posted on his personal blog on Sunday.

Ellis, writing his blog Table Talk from Mona Vale hospital on Sydney’s northern beaches, said on Friday he was awaiting tests on his liver function, “which look ominous”. He warned that the blog “may cease altogether” within weeks.

He had aggressive liver cancer, he told Fairfax Media. “I’m angry because I’m doing my best writing now.”

Ellis characteristically did not miss the opportunity to take a potshot at Tony Abbott, writing on the blog: 

“I commend Mona Vale hospital, a very fine place to be. Abbott is reducing it, and replacing it with something nearer his home in Forestville.”

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/20/bob-ellis-may-have-weeks-to-live

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Ms Bishop would come under increasing pressure to make sure she did not stand for re-election to Parliament, her critics in the party said. This would present an opportunity to put a strong candidate into the plum Liberal seat of Mackellar, on Sydney's northern beaches.

Another described the mood in the NSW Liberal Party in the wake of the disaster as "ABB: anyone but Bronwyn".

Mr Smith and Mr Southcott, both experienced parliamentarians with frontbench experience, have become the early standouts in a "Melbourne Cup field" of possibilities now jostling for the plum $341,000-a-year post of Speaker.

Their enthusiasm has been stoked by an open commitment from Prime Minister Tony Abbott to eschew any "captain's picks" in favour of selecting the next Speaker through an open race in the Liberal party room. A meeting is scheduled for next Monday, when Parliament resumes in Canberra.

In February, after narrowly surviving a leadership spill, PM Tony Abbott asked for six more months to bring good government. Michael Galvin says the results are in and they don't look good.

Six months ago, Abbott barely survived a party vote for his own job. At the time, he pleaded for more time – for another six months or so – when he promised that there would be no more stuff-ups, that he could turn the polls around, and that good government, or at least better government, would henceforth be the order of the day.

“Good government starts today”, he said bellicosely, before later clarifying that good government apparently "starts every day".

Well, whatever, the six months of Abbott’s own self-declared “probation” are now up and we have just witnessed a stuff-up of gold star proportions. It is difficult to see how any reasonably intelligent member of his Government would not conclude that the man is not up to the job. He just doesn’t have the character, the temperament, or the competence for the job of PM — that is now all too abundantly evident.

There are so many aspects of the Choppergate fiasco worthy of comment that it is difficult to know where to begin. Here are just some.

read more: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-probation-a-progress-report,8015

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Abbott is no longer the prime minister since being replaced by Malcolm Turnbull last September. Now as Tony Abbott is trying hard to make life difficult for Malcolm Turnbull, Tony's seat of Warringah is becoming unsettled for him. The largest proportion of voters wants him to go to more rotten pastures. He still hangs on like a bad smell, may be "doing the right thing" by waiting for the next election to quit, rather than have another expensive by-election. Meanwhile, the centre is rising: 

A migrant woman has decided to take on the “David and Goliath battle” against former prime minister Tony Abbott for his blue ribbon Sydney seat of Warringah, standing for the political party of South Australian senator, Nick Xenophon.

UK-born Marie Rowland, who has Sri Lankan and British heritage and lived in New Zealand before arriving in Australia, announced her candidacy for the Nick Xenophon Team on Sunday.

“I’m sure it’s perfectly evident, I’m no triathlete but I’m planning to give Tony Abbott a run for his money,” Rowland told reporters. “It’s a blue ribbon seat and I’m going to give it a red hot go.”

Xenophon acknowledged that it would take a “political miracle” to win the seat, currently held by Abbott with a 13% margin.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/10/migrant-marie-rowland-ready-for-david-and-goliath-battle-for-tony-abbotts-seat

Tony Abbott lasted less than two years in the PMship, from 18 September 2013 to 15 September 2015. He was woeful. He was the pits. He was deceitful. He was dishonest. Possibly worse than Billy McMahon who lasted from 10 March 1971 to 5 December 1972. Billy was simply out of his depth.

Read from top.

Mr Abbott had previously said he wanted to take time off from politics to spend more time with his family.

But in a statement, he confirmed he would recontest the seat, saying his colleagues had encouraged him to stay in politics after leaving the prime ministership last year.

"I have been heartened by the support and encouragement I've received to continue to serve the country as a member of Parliament," he said.

"Should I be renominated and elected, I am looking forward to working with Premier Mike Baird to ensure that the Warringah Peninsula gets better transport links to the rest of Sydney."

Former employment minister Eric Abetz was quick to defend the move, denying Mr Abbott was like Mr Rudd, who returned to the prime ministership three years after he lost the leadership to Julia Gillard, only to lose the ensuing federal election to Mr Abbott..

"Tony Abbott is absolutely no Kevin Rudd," Senator Abetz told AM.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-24/former-prime-minister-tony-abbott-to-recontest-warringah/7110786

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Support? Yes... from a few right wing religious ignoramus demagogues who think Tony wears or is Ants Pants... The red budgie kid has recognised he is basically UNEMPLOYABLE in the private sector. He never had a job to speak of outside politicking. Who would want to employ him, I may ask? The kid has ADHD, lies at the drop of hat and will fucup before midday. Tony Abbott sure is no Kevin Rudd, Mr Abetz. Tony Abbott is the nasty little bully brat that makes Kevin Rudd look like a saint. See story from top...

See also:

according to some CONservatives, tony abbott had not done enough damage to australia yet and he should be welcome to do more...

Why is The Guardian and the ABC paying any cred to someone like Tom Switzer?... And by default to an idiot like Tony Abbott?...

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Sneered at, patronised, and condemned, Abbott battles on. And that's a good thing

Tom Switzer

All politicians in the deepest valley harbour a belief that, since politics is such a volatile and unpredictable profession, they can always return to the highest mountain. After all, history is littered with examples of great political comebacks: Menzies, Churchill, de Gaulle, Nixon, Wilson, Howard, Rudd and, of course, Turnbull.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/25/sneered-at-patronised-and-condemned-abbott-battles-on-and-thats-a-good-thing

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Tom Switzer (born 1971 in Dallas, Texas, USA[1]) is an Australian conservative columnist and foreign policy analyst. He is editor of American Review[2] and a research associate at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney where he teaches American politics and history. He is also the host of Between the Lines on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Switzer

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By all account, the public at large had lost confidence in Tony Abbott for good reasons. He is a loose cannon who is prepared to send you and me as fodder for his illusions of grandeur. What Tom Switzer glorifies in Abbott is basically crap, dirt, shit and rubbish. Abbott is not a Menzies, a Churchill, a de Gaulle, a Nixon, a Wilson, a Howard, a Rudd and certainly not a Turnbull. All of these were and are clever enough despite their failings. Tony Abbott is not clever. He is a dumb as they come in the village, except he is as devious as the snake that enticed Eve and Adam to eat the apple. When he was minister for Health, he made promises like he always did and does — but never delivered. He did the same to get elected in 2013. He lies. He bullies. He fucups. He twists what he says to mean the opposite. 

Tony Abbott does not have one ounce of human capital to deliver in another political life... Should he come back in the fold, he would create more shit. We don't need that.

The possibility of pulling off an unlikely victory at the election is too remote for Labor to contemplate realistically. But they will be encouraged by the sight of Tony Abbott on the backbench, writes Mungo MacCallum.

There was great jubilation last week at the news that Tony Abbott would nominate again for Warringah, with a view to remaining in Parliament more or less forever.

But, unfortunately for the Coalition, almost all the rejoicing was coming from the Labor Party.

True, it was more about wistful dreaming than about confidence; while the ALP's polling is not as abysmal as that of its leader, it remains pretty bad.

The possibility of pulling off an unlikely victory at the election is too remote to contemplate realistically.

But while there is Abbott, there is hope.

And there is now no real doubt that there will be Abbott, perched securely on the back bench (an honourable position, as he rightly avers) to divide and disrupt the government, and most particularly its leader.

Clearly he will bolt in the preselection - he may even be unopposed.

And such is the nature of the insular peninsula of Sydney's northern beaches. That blind loyalty, not to mention unwavering conservatism, will ensure that he will retain the seat for however long he wants it.

Some others may be in danger - but they may not.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-02/maccallum-abbott-will-disrupt-turnbull's-leadership/7132432

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Jones' enthusiastic backing for Mr Calcraft will be unwelcome news for Mrs Bishop, with a growing field of candidates expected to have assembled by the close of nominations at 5pm on Friday.

In the past, Mr Jones has been a vocal supporter of Mrs Bishop, including during the mid-90s when there was a push to install her as leader of the Liberal Party over John Hewson.

Mrs Bishop was the first guest on Jones' short-lived Channel Ten chat show in 1994. he introduced her as a "future prime minister of Australia".

Jones is hugely influential in Liberal circles on the northern beaches. He wrote a similarly-forceful letter to preselectors in Warrringah in 1994 when a 36-year-old Tony Abbott surprised moderate elements of the Liberal Party to gain preselection.

Still angered by Mrs Bishop's decision to support Malcolm Turnbull in September against Mr Abbott, she is also in the sights of the hard right.

As revealed by Fairfax Media on Monday, Walter Villatora, Mr Abbott's campaign manager in Warringah and president of his federal electorate conference, will also contest Mackellar.

Mr Villatora has provided preselectors letters of recommendation from NSW Premier Mike Baird and Mr Abbott.

In the Saturday Paper, the Gadfly, aka Richard Ackland tells us the story of the North Shore...

Bronwyn Bishop has a headstart in her quest to remain the Liberal Party candidate for Mackellar after four of her own staff members were granted a vote in the crucial preselection run-off for the blue ribbon seat.

The presence of almost her entire electorate office on the preselectors list has angered some local Liberals hoping for generational change.

Among the confirmed preselectors are Cromer branch president Parry Skene, who works as Mrs Bishop's community engagement officer and Robyn Young, who works a day a week in the Mackellar office.

THE NSW State Government has reportedly given the green light to build the $3 billion northern beaches tunnel that bypasses the Spit Bridge bottleneck.

Outgoing Health Minister and member for North Shore Jillian Skinner announced the long awaited road infrastructure in her final newsletter before she resigned.

The newsletter claims a feasibility study has “proved its worth” and plans for the tunnel will be released within months.

“I’ve seen them and I can tell you they surpass even my wildest expectations with three lanes proposed each way including a dedicated bus lane,” the newsletter said.

Red more:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/manly-daily/north-shore-mp-an...

read also:

The tunnel reportedly connects the Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation to the Warringah Freeway. It will bypass 21 traffic lights and is expected to only take five minutes.

UPDATE: NSW Premier Mike Baird has confirmed the Spit Bridge bypass tunnel will be built, in response to questions about the new NRMA report on transport options for Sydney's north-east.

Speaking on 2GB this afternoon, Mr Baird said the looming construction of the second Harbour Tunnel makes the project feasible.

"We certainly will (build the tunnel) ... that would be connecting through to the western Harbour Tunnel and that's what makes the project work ... it can be considered as part of that project," he said

"It's on the list as part of the Sydney motorway network ... it's my job to move these projects forward."

A spokesman for the Premier later confirmed the announcement was in line with pledges made before the State Election in March. 

But it's the man behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge who serves as the inspiration for the NRMA’s new report, Getting the Northern Beaches Moving.

Dr John Bradfield designed and oversaw the construction of the iconic structure but also called for the establishment of a rail line that would today relieve the traffic congestion plaguing the Lower North Shore and Northern Beaches.

Read more:

http://www.mynrma.com.au/get-involved/advocacy/news/channelling-sydneys-past-to-build-the-future.htm

Quite fascinating that the news of the tunnel which was also mentioned on the ABC (because it had been mentioned in the Murdoch media) has been concentrated in the Murdoch press... and the Manly Daily which is owned by Mr Mudoch... Mr Murdoch (and his media) was the main supporter of Tony Abbott in 2013... Tony Abbott is a smelly double dealing little rat...

Read from top... and read:

Doctor and Teal rep for Northern Beaches, Sophie Scamps, has called on Northern Beaches Hospital boss to resign if the hospital can’t get its act together to address the youth suicide and mental health epidemic on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. What’s the scam?

The scam is the public/private hospital was privatised in the takeover by Brookfield (now bidding for Origin Energy) of Healthscope and, now controlled by a Cayman Islands entity, is notoriously elusive when it comes to transparency matters. Even meeting with the local MP it seems.

Scamps had called for a meeting with NBH chief executive Andrew Newton to press him on commitments to deliver mental health beds but Newton stood her up. He later said there were urgent personal matters. Nonetheless, as Scamps says, “More than 12 months after receiving $7.5 million for four youth mental health beds, the management of Northern Beaches Hospital still won’t even commit to a timeline for implementing the beds!