Two thirds of the old Beaudesert unrepresented, again.

Logan, Queensland, Australia, and the people of Division 11, Division 10 and Division 4 are left unrepresented by their councillors, something that many residents, particularly in 11 and 4, claim is a common occurrence with representatives missing meetings to avoid declaring conflicts of interest, and to pursue personal career opportunities.

The recent meeting where the issue of Pay rises for councillors was discussed, was held not long after another meeting which was attended by the three aforementioned councillors but in a strange twist they claimed their absence was a protest about concocting a plan to secure the pay rise by stealth, according to the news reported locally in a quote from Cr Ban. The twist is that previously she had in the media accused the rest of the councillors of attempting to reject the pay rise to stop the non chairing councillors from keeping in step with the recommendations from the independent tribunal. Confused? well so am I,

As far as being a spokesperson for salary, and considering the rise would see the city’s 13 elected representatives each pocket an extra $3050 to $5170 a year, and that the base pay without car, unlimited fuel allowance, phone , laptop, telecom services paid, office staff, and facilities, and probably other allowances is already around the $100,000 mark with the amalgamation loading, you'd think someone preparing to dump their division to pursue another elected position against a vow not to do so, and someone who previously continued to take a salary from the ratepayers while campaigning and failing to secure a federal seat before would think twice before looking so greedy and making a last ditch grab for more money before the next federal elections are called.

The real problem is that despite the very weak excuse of "a protest" for not attending, the excuse was made after, and to the press i believe, leaving the say of the people of those three divisions unsaid, and it's not the first time in some cases. The people of those divisions deserve better, they pay their rates and a councillor does very very well on the remuneration they receive for the little work they do ( apparently you can do the job . . . and. . . run a campaign for a federal seat without either suffering ).

Residents being unrepresented by a councillor at meetings should be a sackable offence.

The joke is, that it seems the councillors really want the pay rise, they really do, but they are trying to appear as if they don't support it now that it has come to light that if the base rate is handed down by the independent tribunal, council cannot pay less than that rate and if they vote for tat rise it has to for all, worse, failing to vote is a vote for the rise because it reduces the number against, just as abstaining in the meeting would be recorded as for.

The charade will probably be a TV stunt for the federal campaign, there isn't any other reasonable explanation because a real protest would have been to go to the meeting , have your say, represent the people like you're supposed to , and vote against if that's the view of the ratepayers.

The unfortunate thing for the old Beaudesert Shire area, it means that only one out of three councillors attended that meeting, and gave representation of the views of the ratepayers, the other two thirds of our area were unrepresented again.

Israel, marching toward genocide in Palestine ?

It seems that Israel is happy to hide behind "The Holocaust" and claim victim status in its continued aggression with Palestine which appears to be about simply killing off Palestinians and taking their land, or Genocide.

Israel is careful to ensure it controls public information about its activities , especially its military conquests and the prisoners it has captured and who dies during air strikes and tank sorties telling the world that the majority of the deaths are terrorists, refusing to front the world media to justify the thousands of women and children killed in their homes.

Recently the targets of the Israel war machine, funded to the tune of unlimited $$ millions by the USA have changed and it is actively seeking to raid individual residences and arrest and deport foreigners who have seen the real war and are helping the Palestinians to protest peacefully and attempt to get the world media to see what is actually happening rather then continue to publish the sanitised version that sits so well with Israel still portrayed as the victim.

I'm so curious as to how so many high density buildings can be indiscriminately bombed in air strikes killing hundreds of collateral to target a single "enemy of Israel" when the war machine is now capable of finding individuals who have overstayed their visa, conduct midnight raids to arrest them and remove all their electronic communication and data storage devices before they are deported from the country.

The world is slowly becoming uncomfortable with the continued military attacks on a desperate and diminishing population of very very poor people who have been sanctioned to the point of barely being able to get food and recently loosing the only real supply source for the things we take for granted such as household items and car parts which were all smuggled into Palestine through tunnels.

Israel seems scared that foreigners have become aware of the situation and have joined Israelis who also condemn their own governments policy to eradicate Palestine and that they may get real footage of real events out to the world media which contradicts the version the Israel government allows the rest of us to see.

Closing the door on Bloggers right to anonymous comments.

As Politicians get younger, they seem to be also getting very thin skinned.
The new breed of political wanna-be is starting straight out of high school or University without any real work history or life experience, they seem obsessive about having a certain look or dressing for the part and being good looking and they want all the older seasoned politicians to simply step aside and gift them a seat without having to put in any of the hard yards at all and they cannot tolerate any criticism at all. They seem to lack the life experience that tells one that not everyone is going to fawn over you and agree with your every word and that does not make them your enemy to be attacked when you have risen to a level of power in the political sphere where you can use it to retaliate against them.

Many people will tell stories of how a particular politician harassed them or besmirched them in the press or even had others physically accost them or their property and even go as far as having the police come to their door and threaten or even arrest them; all hearsay of course but when recounted by the actual community members affected appear to be for no other reason than to silence them.

Blogs have been an avenue where people can openly discuss issues, have an opinion in either support or disdain for public figures and their deeds and freely with the use of an anonymous or nickname without fear of being retaliated against by an elected representative.

You see the thing is these young bloods of our political world have worked out that you get paid very well for very little work as a politician, you also double (at least) that in allowances (cars, office, budget etc) and again with the very generous superannuation and travel available so that two terms can set one up for life. However it goes even further than that as after public life there are contacts and boards where one can once again do very little and be remunerated well, and all that is just for the honest politician, the crooked ones can really do well.

Recently there has been a development where South Australia has become one of the few states in the world to censor the Internet by creating a law which was pushed through last year as part of a raft of amendments to the Electoral Act and supported by the Liberal Party, also requires media organisations to keep a person's real name and full address on file for six months, and they face fines of $5000 if they do not hand over this information to the Electoral Commissioner.

The law will affect anyone posting a comment on an election story in Newspapers, or online editions including editorial types and it also appears to apply to election comment made on all types of Blogs and the social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Under current federal legislation, it preserves the right of internet users to blog under a pseudonym but there is reason to think that the future will be different as the younger representatives begin to get preselection for the major parties and being forced to the ballot box as we are will get voted in and follow the changes that have been put in place by the SA Attorney General.

What is crazy funny is that the Attorney general thinks his draconian laws do not impinge on free speech or invoke retribution and yet believes that he will be singled out for attacks in the press and web based editorial sites for instigating these changes.

Personally, I use a pseudonym because I do know that certain elected people will attack me, no doubt about that, they've already tried and even though in a perfect world i agree that every comment should be made by a real person who has the courage of their convictions to say their bit and put their correct name to it; but it is certainly not an ideal world and people with power can be corrupt and use that power to silence individuals, it's happening right here in Queensland, Australia, right now.

Further, consider the whistleblower, where for example a party member knew that a colleague had a conflict of interest and did not declare it and in fact profited form that non declaration but couldn't give that information to anyone in the party but could make it public under a nickname, well that could no longer happen because they would be identified.

Unfortunately to preserve democracy you have to accept its failings as well as it's advantages, freedom of speech is being diminished by this law, no doubt about.

Judge, Jury, Executioner and a Merry Christmas.

The negotiating skill of the police have been found wanting again on Christmas day when a man was shot and killed in a home at close range.

It's a sad time for many people, Christmas, those who have recently lost loved ones, those who have no one at all and those who due to separation won't be enjoying a nice quiet family day like many of us will and it's sad to think that it could escalate to the point of the police having to intervene and result in them ending a persons life needlessly.

I don't know the intimate circumstances and I'm not blaming anyone, I mean imagine being the person, a police officer, who has just shot and killed another human being, how are they going to enjoy their Christmas while their mind considers all the variables and the questions and doubt go through their minds along with the guilt in some cases, all normal feelings.

A good Friend of mine was crying on Christmas eve, one of the nicest blokes you'd ever meet, a real tough bloke too and a seriously hard worker who gave everything to his kids, yet he cried like a girl because he found out that the money he'd sent the soon to be ex wife for the special gifts for his kids had been used to take them away for the holidays, and perhaps forever since he was supposed to pick them up for his days last weekend and have them home for Christmas day and found a for sale sign outside the house and it empty and deserted.

He's had no word, can't make contact and even her relatives are denying any knowledge of the move except that she has recently moved a new bloke into the home.

Now my mate has a great supporting family and good friends but he's as wounded as if he'd been stabbed by this, and as he was taken by surprise, very distressed. He has contacted the police who say they can't do anything because it was a mutually agreed separation and there has been no government or court settlement she can effectively do as she pleases, also she has taken out an AVO citing that she is scared of him so if he physically tries to find her and his kids he can and will be arrested for stalking and breaching an order.

Back on topic, Christmas is like a magnifying glass when things are good and equally when they are bad, and it's so sad to see what should be some of the best memories of any child's life be the most tragic memories, when a father gets shot in a home by police.

I just don't think our police are well enough trained in negotiating and counselling agitated people and calming them in a tense situation, I'm sure if they were both they and those they are attending to may have a better result.


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Logan overlords reign down rules to make us pay

It seems the Logan councillors have bowed to the (what I call a hate campaign against growers ) market garden fear campaign and are set to create policy that will make growing some surplus vege and putting them out front with an honour box, an illegal activity if your block of land is too small.

in seasons past, and any gardener will tell you this, conditions vary in some small way so that one particular pest may become so prevalent compared to other years and one particular crop may out perform your expectations based on usual growth and yield for that crop, and I have had it happen once with tomatoes which grew so well the leaves were almost twice the usual size and the fruit so abundant that it was at least 4 times the usual amount to harvest and off a dozed or so plants i had so many beautiful tomatoes that my family and friends were sick of my constant gifting and I just couldn't find anyone else to give them to so i approached the local fruiterer who on seeing mine was happy to give me a store credit in return for a box or two a week while they were producing. That will now be illegal if my land is too small.

Now I know people got pretty upset when one particular lot were buying up local blocks, usually 5 acres or more and wholesale clearing them and covering them with plastic igloos, but that's not the issue of this discourse, rather we are simply talking about any vege patch on any block which will be smaller (it's yet to become law) than about 2 acres where the grower may sell off some surplus and therefore come under the term "market garden"

It seems well known that the driver of this issue is the preselected candidate for Wright for the LNP and current councillor , who has in my opinion tried any and every way of creating policy or law against local growers in a constant campaign that can only be described as a "Hate campaign" in my opinion.

It is odd that someone who seems to have an obvious dislike for growers would seek to represent people in an area that is even more rural than the one in which she is now, and one which which is predominantly growers.

I have heard that there has been an astonishing back flip done recently where the candidate now claims that there are only some grower problems in Greenbank and that all other growers are now, amazingly , lovely; what a coincidence!

The real problem lies with the rest of the "Bogan Overlords" or councillors who have agreed with this idea and are likely to shove it through on the strength of a fear campaign about sprays and pesticides.

Ehough on that because the Overlords have barely begun with their attack on our land use rights they also intend to shove through a policy on heavy vehicle parking that would make any feudal rules proud, it seems that once again two acres and under, you are going to pay Logan for the privilege, Yes, pay them money for something you have always been able to do.

Once again i don't understand why our representatives want to extinguish our rights to continue the use of our land that we've always had. actually yes I do understand it, and it's about money and land values and demand.

You see we're something a little special, we have rights the rest of them don't and our lots are in demand for anyone who wants to park up their truck between jobs or overnight, and those with small minds want to see us brought down to the same level as those in the old more suburban logan.

Those small minded councillors with their small minded committee ( and I'll add that even the truck drivers on that committee seemed to agree with the council position because they personally will not be affected by the new regulations and since it's not in their backyard, are happy to see others charged a fee and an ongoing annual charge to continue doing what they have always done, and for the main reason they probably chose NOT to live in logan in the first place.

It really galls me to still hear this stupid inane retort from logan that they didn't ask for this and that it was forced upon them because it's utter rubbish , yes they have continually asked to have their boundary moved south into Beaudesert several times, and because of the previous rules, before the unscrupulous Beattie changed a few words at a time at midnight meetings to remove our right to decide our own destiny by referendum which allowed us to veto it at the ballot box, we were able to thwart their attempts to take over our area, on our terms unlike now.

Logan has put it's nose into our business and thinks we do not see that these two issues, with some reservations to lots under 2 acres is just the thin end of the wedge and a precursor of things to come where as the urban footprint grows so will the regulations until we are either forced out by necessity , rated out or harassed by council so that remaining becomes untenable.

It's a sham we do not have one councillor who is prepared to actually represent the general public, instead of ruling like primmadonna's or in my opinion "overlords"

I say do not pay, do not bow to their idiocy, do not scrape to those would be masters, and do not vote for this crop of bludgers again.


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Are lawyers just the lowest scum on this earth ?

Recently a man was caught by police, arrested and charged by police of several counts of sexual assault against women at or near train stations, he is alleged to have grabbed them inappropriately but on at least one occasion he is alleged to have dragged a victim into bushes and went further until he gave up because of how hard the victim fought back.

I Can't say too much more in detail, except that a number of complainants are involved, the evidence and witnesses seem numerous and irrefutable, there is little doubt the police have their man.

What I find offencive is how his defence lawyers are trying to "get him off" with a cock and bull arguement which is pushing the limits of believability and completely ignoring the victims by making a claim that the man is a Sudanese Asylum seeker and he only performed these acts because of the trauma suffered by him back in his country after seeing some very horrific things.

I'm bot going to dispute that this man may have suffered trauma, but my question is how does that make you start putting your hands under women's clothing , absolutely without their consent?

This is a lawyer who will take a fortune for this case and who in complete disregard for the man's victim will attempt to trivialise their suffering at his hands and say . "too bad, the attacker has suffered more so it's all ok"

Any lawyer who can make this case is in my opinion scum and nothing better, I guess he is happy to let his own wife or daughter come into contact with a person who is essentially a sexual predator without a worry, right?

I'm sorry but we have to as a society say that we cannot keep empowering criminals who freely make the choice to offend by letting the lawyers use the past or events from the past to negate responsibility for actions.

the worse thing is it is never going to happen because the majority of our elected representatives are lawyers also.


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Who has access to your property? do you know ?

Ever looked out your window because a flicker of movement caught your eye?

It is common enough on bigger places where there is space for birds, small roo's or wallaby's or even the neighbours pets , not a problem at all until you look out and it's a person you don't know appearing to be sneaking around, then you feel like going back in time to before Little Johnny in a state of paranoia changed the law and took the majority of our guns, and pull one out and see the uninvited bugger on his way.

It seems the council has decide that animal control people, and others can access your property on the most flimsiest of grounds, "reasonable suspicion that there may be an unregistered animal hidden on your property" or something similar.

This is someone who does not have to have a police check to hold the job, who can come into contact with your children and does not have to have a blue card and who may not really be there for legitimate purposes for all we know.

It would not be hard for any criminal organisation to have their people employed by council to access properties under the guise of looking for dogs but actually caseing your place when you're out and reporting back to those who may rob you.

All too far fetched? of course it is, never going to happen, council will only employ the best of people, . . . . . . . . . .won't they ?

I think it's time for razor wire on the fence, just in case.

Heavy Vehicle Parking - Bogan's sham consultation.

I'm not surprised at the outcome from those council officers preparing for policy on heavy Vehicle Parking across the new areas forced to be a part of Logan by a dictatorial State government with an act of parliament to ensure there was no opposition.

At meetings in both Jimboomba and Logan Village there was a clear message sent to Logan that any and all intrusion into the lifestyle and business of the old North Beaudesert Shire was at the least unwelcome, unneeded and an overbearing assertion of Logan authority for the sake of it and nothing else, the people had their say but has it been heard, the answer is no.

During and since those meetings there were some who made a lot of noise about how they were there to make it "right " for truck owners notably the old jimboomba Chamber of commerce which is now named after Logan.

The community consultation has been poorly responded to really, and why would you bother anyway, it's not like your opinion would matter one iota in Logan Council which in my opinion seems to just find ways to charge the residents more and more as if your pockets are bottomless and money grows on trees.

The Council put together a working group to assist with making policy and it seems that even with all the big noting from some of those on that group, they have achieved nothing except to follow the council line that truck owners should pay a fee to park on their own land and that restrictions should apply as to where and how big a property you must have before you can park a truck there at all.

The sham has worked, for council that is, they will be able to make the claim that they have done everything possible to allow community to have a say in the development of this policy and that it is a result of all the available resources and opinions that have been put together to make it fair and reasonable.

I don't agree with that , I don't believe that any of those on the working group speak for me, I reject the very idea that my rights need to be removed so that council can get more money for nothing and I'm seriously thinking of looking for a pan body to park here to make my protest and perhaps even test the council's resolve on any future fee.

If I were a working truck driver I'd be contemplating a blockade of council about now or a black ban on the delivery of anything and everything to council.

I don't think this is the end of this.

Why won't the west take a stand on Israel's war practices.

Here is a press item which reveals how Israel refutes any belief that they are capable of wrongdoing in their war against the country they adjoin, Palestine, when the vote was clearly in favour of investigation.

ISRAEL has rejected a UN resolution that calls on it and the Palestinians to probe suspected war crimes committed during the Gaza war at the turn of the year.
"Israel rejects the resolution of the UN General Assembly, which is completely detached from realities on the ground that Israel must face," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The statement said that during the 22-day war, which killed some 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, the Israeli military "demonstrated higher military and moral standards than each and every one of this resolution's instigators."
Yesterday, the 192-member assembly overwhelmingly approved an Arab-sponsored resolution that endorsed a UN report accusing both Israel and Palestinians of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the war.
The vote was 114 in favour and 18 against, with 44 abstentions.
Israel, which had strenuously opposed the non-binding resolution and the UN report that it endorsed, voted against it as did its staunchest ally, the United States, along with Australia and a few European countries.
A majority of European Union countries, including Britain, France, Spain and Sweden, abstained after failing to secure amendments to the text, including one that would have dropped references to possible Security Council action if the report's findings are not implemented. Russia also abstained.
The move capped a two-day debate on the 575-page UN-commissioned report by a panel led by respected former international prosecutor Richard Goldstone.
The report recommended that its findings be transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague if Israel and the Hamas rulers of Gaza fail to conduct credible investigations into the war.
From the outset, Israel rejected the report as biased.

The real question is why the west refuses to accept their responsibility to say "no More" to what is effectively an American State in the Middle East which is supported by the US in both financial and military ways?

In the question we also have the answer, the USA.

The "war" or at least what the Israelis call a war or allow them to respond to stone throwing by children with machine guns and tanks, and to respond to a single suicide bomber with air strikes and gunships and when the casualty count is so one sided as to have 100 to 1 dead in favour of Israel and even those figures may not be accurate because at every attack communications and power are the first things the Israeli military machine knocks out so the world cannot see the utter carnage and the futility of any Palestinian defence along with the numbers of innocents who suffer death and injury.

The west, or at least the representatives on the UN should hang their heads in shame for their cowardly abstaining from the vote.

Koala habitat , decreasing by government decree.

The State Government has released its new planning laws which they claim will save Koala populations in South East Queensland including spending $15 million to buy new or rehabilitate existing habitats, compulsory acquisition powers for koala habitats outside the urban footprint, land swaps and banning dogs in new developments.

All sounds good doesn't it, except when you consider that the average developed house lot is around a quarter of a million dollars these days, so the $15million will only buy 60 lots or about 20 acres worth of development potential land.

The minister, Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones, seems to be a State version of Garrett in that they are only yes men to their respective governments and those who fund them, which in Queensland seems to be the developers.

Is Kate Jones so uneducated on environmental issues that she actually believes that this amount of money to buy back land for Habitat will save the Koala population? Or does she just follow the party line unerringly and mindlessly hoping the voters will believe the spin she speaks with the release.

With the likes of Garrett, Wong and now Kate Jones leading the Labor Federal and State governments charge on environmental issues we have nothing to fear about the future in my opinion, because there won't be much environment left to worry about.

Winning the battle against Fire Ants ? I don't think so !

Recently I have been made aware of the situation with the department that is supposed to be all about the eradication of Fire Ants, a particularly aggressive ant that both stings and bites, simultaneously, and continually, repetitively.

The ants are very fast moving, and have the swarm instinct so when attacked most people and animals sustain heavy bites/stings to the affected area, and I'm talking hundreds of bites and stings, before the ants can be removed from the affected area.

What i have just been made aware of is that every new housing estate, no matter how far from any of the current fire ant areas, is instantly declared an area and added to the zone for control and monitoring, and that means inspections and a paper trail of how any materials are removed from site.

The thing is that i could make the claim that i personally am winning the battle against fire ants the same way the department is, without even bothering to kill one ant, and how is that possible? simple just keep increasing the area covered under fire ant investigation and there for the area with the ants becomes a smaller percentage, pure and simple mathematics.

That's not quite what the department is doing, because they are obviously killing off much of the fire ant population with their baits of toxic corn and are controlling the spread by monitoring the areas affected as well.

However, since they were granted power over the average citizen with the ability to fine people for non compliance with their own made up rules which almost no one knows about, they have been reluctant to relinquish that power and by increasing the areas under investigation they continue to need more staff keeping the department as one of the biggest in existence.

I'm not advocating stopping of the program to eradicate this ferocious pest, which was allowed to be imported here by a failure of the very department that now has power to fine ordinary people for far lesser failures to comply, and the department now even admits the ants may have been here longer than first thought, well DUH.

Will the ants ever be eradicated? i don't think so, all the new megalomaniac heads of department will never let that happen, in case they actually have to go get a job.

Government relaxes rules on foreigners who want to buy property here.

The claim from the minister is that it will have little effect on first home buyers because it is still very dificult for foreigners to by existing homes without the approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board. it has only been made easier to purchase new homes without the Boards approval.

Really ?

If supply and demand was the driver of the last property boom and that in real terms means that the increase in population is creating a situation where people cannot find homes to satisfy their housing needs, then why has there been a push to introduce further immigration and attract them to the growth areas.

This is not a racist issue, it more about further widening of the affordability gap for our children who will want to one day buy their own home and not be forced by government policy to fund the lavish retirement lifestyle of some foreign investors.

There is even talk of bringing tourists here for real estate shopping tours, and it's quite probable that is already occurring.

I wonder how much of this country will be sold off a lot at a time to foreigners?
We will have to foot the bill for infrastructure like the Traveston's Crossing Dam which will supply water in the future to a few major developments in the area, and like the Wyarralong Dam which will service a 200 square kilometer industrial precinctto the west of Beaudesert and stretching 27 kilometers along the Logan River.

And that's without increases to roads carrying capacity which are in an appalling state of repair and totally inadequite for the needs of the present users.

What we should be looking toward is a Sustainable Population, but to be honest I think we may have missed that boat.