Speaker Mike Reyonalds has said of the travelling Parliament sittings that it is "democracy in action" he has urged Cairns residents to head to the Convention Centre and "witness democracy first hand". There will be a special evening Question Time tonight (Wednesday 29th) where if previous Question Time is anything to go by we can witness first hand a super hypo Lawerence Springborg who has being firing off a question every millisecond which he has put down to the "unusual placement of Premier Bligh and himself across a table from each other changing the atmosphere".
There has been a lot of criticism about the cost incurred in bring the Parliament to the people, while personally I'm a little bit excited that for once the South East has come to us, they are in our play ground! I can see the other side of this argument, not everyone is that interested however it is great to see so many groups protesting out the front about various causes and it certainly saves them the airfare to Brisvegas.
What are your thoughts; a waste of money? Or money well spent?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
What Happened to Heritage?
It was only a couple of weeks ago, that I even though not wanting to see the Yacht Club move from its present site believed the promises spoken by our local members Desley Boyle and Steve Wettenhall regarding relocating and preserving the 100 year old Cairns Yacht Club building.
"We recognised that funding may be an issue, so the Member for Barron River Steve Wettenhall and I recently announced that $150,000 is available towards the relocation of the building. This means that demolition can be avoided and the old building can be saved, " so said Desley Boyle.
I was there yesterday when I fully felt the complete betrayal of that broken promise.
Standing as a past president of JCU Cairns with current president Billy Colles and Incoming 2009 president Justin Ganzer we watched in horror as a bobcat went as freely throughout the site as does party boy Corey Delany trashing his parents house www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFBMaOiB4_A absolutely no respect was given to the building.
The argument I understand “that the additions at the edges have been found to have wet rot and termite damage” interesting point, however I would guess that a 100 year old building would be largely constructed of hardwood, now correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think hardwood is termites choice of food, in fact I’m not sure they can even get through it. Furthermore the bobcat seemed to have a bit of difficulty ripping the kitchen floor up, it wasn’t the easy papier-mâché work of a termite ridden wood. I for one would love to see the pest inspection report.
What I have learnt in throughout this journey to save the Yacht Club is that Cairns still has some people with courage and conviction ready to stand up against those who try to bully us or worse ignore us. That picture was best summed up by the actions of Wendy Davie yesterday.
When the big truck with the roof trusses started to leave the site, Wendy Davie stepped forward and stood in its path. Wendy was staunch in her determination and refused to leave when directed by Police. So effectively that Police arrested her and charged her with 'contravening a Police direction'. Wendy stayed in the watch-house till 3.30pm, and will re-appear at Court No 1 at 9.30am Friday. The arresting police officer was brusque to brutal with Wendy.
There have been many others who have been defiant in this fight see http://www.cairnsblog.net/ .
"We recognised that funding may be an issue, so the Member for Barron River Steve Wettenhall and I recently announced that $150,000 is available towards the relocation of the building. This means that demolition can be avoided and the old building can be saved, " so said Desley Boyle.
I was there yesterday when I fully felt the complete betrayal of that broken promise.
Standing as a past president of JCU Cairns with current president Billy Colles and Incoming 2009 president Justin Ganzer we watched in horror as a bobcat went as freely throughout the site as does party boy Corey Delany trashing his parents house www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFBMaOiB4_A absolutely no respect was given to the building.
The argument I understand “that the additions at the edges have been found to have wet rot and termite damage” interesting point, however I would guess that a 100 year old building would be largely constructed of hardwood, now correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think hardwood is termites choice of food, in fact I’m not sure they can even get through it. Furthermore the bobcat seemed to have a bit of difficulty ripping the kitchen floor up, it wasn’t the easy papier-mâché work of a termite ridden wood. I for one would love to see the pest inspection report.
What I have learnt in throughout this journey to save the Yacht Club is that Cairns still has some people with courage and conviction ready to stand up against those who try to bully us or worse ignore us. That picture was best summed up by the actions of Wendy Davie yesterday.
When the big truck with the roof trusses started to leave the site, Wendy Davie stepped forward and stood in its path. Wendy was staunch in her determination and refused to leave when directed by Police. So effectively that Police arrested her and charged her with 'contravening a Police direction'. Wendy stayed in the watch-house till 3.30pm, and will re-appear at Court No 1 at 9.30am Friday. The arresting police officer was brusque to brutal with Wendy.
There have been many others who have been defiant in this fight see http://www.cairnsblog.net/ .
But Wendy stands out to me as here is someone who would not normally do something like this, someone who has supported Hon. Desely Boyle MP, Hon Steve Wettenhall MP, Cr Val Schier, Cr Kirsten Lisenia, Cr Di Forsyth and indeed the Union movement, in court yesterday supporting her were two of the FNQ Union Organisers, Supporters of saving the Yacht Club and apologies from Cr Forsyth, again I will ask where was everyone else?
Editors note - Hon. Desely Boyle MP while not at this mornings court proceedings did provide a lovely personal reference attesting to Wendy Davie's good character.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Where is everyone?
While the antics of Councillor Di Forsyth http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Zz-8oK63o has everyone talking, it has prompted me into speaking out about what is going on in Cairns. Cr Forsyth is not the only memeber of Council who ran on a platform of heritage preservation, yet she is the only one who stood up (or climb up as the case was) to be counted on the issue.
Which begs the question, where is the rest of the council on the important issues?
Here we are six months in, we have heard from Councillor Julia Leu http://www.julialeu.org/ who stood up for her division over amalgamation. we heard from Councillor Rob Pyne http://www.cairnsdiv3.org/ on his opporsition to the council rate rises. So we know we have three Councillors that are willing to stand up and be counted.
Where does that leave Councillors Gregory, Lanskey, Lesina, Blake, Cooper, Cochrane, Bonneau and lets not forget our leader Mayor Schier. I would love to hear your stances on any of the issues you campaigned on.
Which begs the question, where is the rest of the council on the important issues?
Here we are six months in, we have heard from Councillor Julia Leu http://www.julialeu.org/ who stood up for her division over amalgamation. we heard from Councillor Rob Pyne http://www.cairnsdiv3.org/ on his opporsition to the council rate rises. So we know we have three Councillors that are willing to stand up and be counted.
Where does that leave Councillors Gregory, Lanskey, Lesina, Blake, Cooper, Cochrane, Bonneau and lets not forget our leader Mayor Schier. I would love to hear your stances on any of the issues you campaigned on.
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