Tour de France

I have to admit to being a bike racer at one time, when I was much younger—almost 60 years ago! That ambition got cut short by by entering the military at an age where they were paranoid about their responsibility to parents and we had to give up any attempt to actually ride a bicycle on any road even within the camp's limits. And they hadn't even got to showing The Great Escape on the big silver screen by then! Not till eight years later.

Every year since we have been here in Oz we have enjoyed the Tour on SBS, and I have to say that this is one of the main reasons that SBS was set up.

While SBS has one of the best commentary teams available, with Mike Tomalaris and Phil Liggett leading off, the time that the race is live here is a bit daunting. The usual start time is between 10 pm and 10.30 and the finish, depending on stage length and difficulty around 1.30 to 2.30 am.

You can always wait for the next afternoon at 6 pm to watch a 30-minute condensed highlights on SBS, and I recommend that you do that rather then start trying to be awake between 10 and 2 each night for three weeks.

One of the pre-race appetisers for you to get involved with TdF is this report from The Guardian—

No big names nor even a champion but what matters most is no drugs
With the Tour deprived of its big names, it is ready to make a fresh start in the heartlands of France

William Fotheringham, July 5, 2008 2:11 AM

The current value of an overall Tour de France win or podium placing is easily stated. Neither last year's winner, Alberto Contador of Spain, nor the rider who placed third overall, Levi Leipheimer of the United States, will be among the 180 cyclists who will ride out of Brest this morning bound for Paris and no one seems unduly bothered. It was announced in February and it is accepted as a matter of course. But for a major sports event voluntarily to deprive itself of its winner is a big step.

Neither Contador, who last month won the Giro d'Italia, nor Leipheimer has failed a drug test although questions remain to be answered over the Spaniard's alleged - and hotly denied - involvement in the Operation Puerto blood-doping scandal. Their team, Astana, were refused entry by the organisers because last year, under different management, they had a wave of positive drug tests culminating in Alexandr Vinokourov's ban for blood doping.

The team are now run by Johan Bruyneel, who masterminded Lance Armstrong's seven Tour wins, and not unreasonably Armstrong feels their exclusion is because he and Bruyneel are no longer flavour of the month of July. If he is right, the Tour has turned its back rapidly on its biggest global star, just as it hopes rapidly to forget last year's farcical final 10 days.

Lest we forget, in that time Vinokourov and Astana went home, the maillot jaune and likely winner Michael Rasmussen was sent home, German television bailed out following a positive test to Michael Sinkewitz and the Cofidis team removed themselves after Christian Moreni's positive. Now, there are high hopes for the anti-doping approach taken by teams such as Columbia and David Millar's Slipstream, plus more detailed screening of the riders through the "blood passport" programme, but it is early days yet.

The Tour has been relooké, as the Franglais has it, in other ways as well as doing without its winner. For the first time since the 1967 Tour infamous for Tom Simpson's death, the opening stage is not a time-trial prologue but a long road race through France's cycling heartland, Brittany. The race has a new logo, heart shaped and containing the words Le Tour toujours—"the Tour forever"—which has a distinctly defensive ring to it.

The new motto has another sense in this peninsula, where every village seems to boast either a road race of its own or a local hero who has raced the Tour. Foremost among them is the five-times winner Bernard Hinault, whose home town of Calorguen is visited on Monday.

The first week has been sexed up as well as the first weekend. Tuesday's time-trial and the brace of hilly stages at the end of the week—the mark of the new organiser, Christian Prudhomme—will guarantee that there is no succession of bunch sprints before the mountains.

As in 2006 and 2007 there will be no dominant figure to target, with the only Tour winner in the field the Spaniard Oscar Pereiro, who was upgraded after Floyd Landis's positive for testosterone in 2006. This will be what the French call an interim Tour, in every sense, with the race and the entire sport looking for new heroes as well as hoping to rediscover some sense of moral equilibrium.

The Australian Cadel Evans, by virtue of his second place last year, by a mere 23sec, will start as favourite, although the shy former mountain-biker has never been one to draw attention to himself. Besides Pereiro, there are two major Tour winners in the field, the Russian Denis Menchov and the Italian Damiano Cunego, author of a stunning Giro win in 2004. The shortlist also includes the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, winner of last month's Dauphiné Libéré, and, possibly Mark Cavendish's Luxembourgois team-mate Kim Kirchen, one of the strongest men of the start of the season. "Cycling needs to regain its credibility and get rid of suspicion," said Prudhomme yesterday. "If everything goes well—and it will go well—we will feel much better, as lovers of cycling."

In L'Equipe's pre-Tour interview with him published yesterday he did not suggest what will happen if there is anything to compare with last year's doubts, the daily interrogation of Rasmussen as race leader and his eventual exclusion.That is not because it is impossible but because the consequences are unthinkable.

It was Britain's own doping pentito, David Millar, who said that the 2007 race would not be a good one to win. Contador—who will do a little media work this July amid his preparations for the Beijing Olympics—would no doubt concur. But the same could be said of this year's race. Whoever wins, the doubts will remain for the present.

If nothing else the scenery of France is brilliant, and your new Tv set will do wonders for you. Even my 15-year-old set makes me think of going over to watch personally soon.

Special meeting of LCC for Budget

This is the meeting that we have all been waiting for.

This announcement of yesterday afternoon (Friday) is the meeting for the so-called handing down of the budget. You'll notice the comment at the end of the notice. That is because the councillors all know, at least since Friday, what the budget says and this is their chance to read it through carefully (they will all have copies) to see that there are no mistakes in the document itself.

We will find that they have read it through so carefully that on Monday at 10.30 am the meeting will be quite short. The reading-out of each main item of business will take longer than all of the debate and voting time following. If it does not go like that it means that some councillors have got the pip and want to grandstand for the press again. I wonder if the clique will react?

You'll notice that the Operational Plan is the first item to be passed.

I have to point out here, again, that the Operational Plan is supposed to be in place before the serious discussions on the budget starts. It has to be complete and ready so that councillors and officers can then enter into discussions about how they will fund the Operational Plan.

The reality is that it should have been placed before the public, people like us, weeks, if not a couple of months, ago!

You have to be thankful that they decided to have it passed first on Monday, just to stay within the law—

4 July 2008
NOTICE OF SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

You are hereby notified that the 247th Special Meeting of the Logan City Council will be held commencing at 10.30am on Monday, 7 July 2008 in the Council Chambers, City Administration Centre, 150 Wembley Road, Logan Central.

PURPOSE OF MEETING
To consider the following:-
1. The Logan City Council Operational Plan for 2008/2009, incorporating Business Unit Performance Plans (copy attached)
2. The Logan City Council 2008/2009 Revenue Policy
3. The report on the Financial Operations and Estimated Financial position for the 2007/2008 Financial Year.
4. The Logan City Council Budget for 2008/2009 incorporating:
(a) Borrowing Policy
(b) Reserve Fund Strategies
(c) Accounting Policy Statement
(d) Statement of Income and Expenses - Original Budget 2008/2009
(e) Balance Sheet 2008/2009
(f) Statement of Cash Flow 2008/2009
(g) Statement of Changes in Equity 2008/2009
(h) Statement of Forward Projections 2009/2010
(i) Statement of Forward Projections 2010/2011
(j) Statement of Forward Projections 2011/2012
(k) Statement of Forward Projections 2012/2013
(l) Revenue Statement 2008/2009
(m) Overall Plan - Special Rate for Safety Cameras Station Road Precinct - 2008/2009
(n) Overall Plan - Special Rate for Safety Cameras Springwood Town Centre Precinct - 2008/2009
(o) Register of Regulatory Fees and Schedule of Commercial and Other Charges (copy attached)

Councillors are reminded that the information contained in reports remains confidential until such time as it has been made public by resolution of the Council.

The last item of the Budget itself is the Regulatory Fees and Schedule of Commercial and Other Charges which is second only in importance to the whole budget process. These are the fees that you'll pay for, such as, water, waste disposal and those other tack-on things that are beyond the pale in some cases because they are really way beyond what are realistic charges, and that is contrary to the Local Government Act 1993.

We all need to look carefully at them and get our heads together to decide which are outside the law and protest.

Some of the media just gets it wrong

There are times when I wonder what news media are trying to tell us. I'm not making any suggestions about the recent election in Gippsland but here us what Crikey said today&mdash

What a shock result in Gippsland! A deeply rural electorate, one that repeatedly re-elected the profoundly thick Peter McGauran, has returned a Nationals candidate yet again.

What did Rex Mossop used to say? "I don’t want to sound incredulous but I can’t believe it." Incidentally, Malcolm Mackerras called an easy Nats win in Crikey back in April.

And I've been fielding so many comments recently about how every one else wasted their vote! It looks like it is an Australian-wide trend.

In NY Times today

I am very wary of burdening you with too much stuff that you may already be finding for yourself. But there are three items that I want to see that you can access without delay.

The first is the case of the Chinese national who got himself into the hands of the US by getting out of the hands of the Chinese. On arrival in Afghanistan he was locked up and then shipped off to Guantánamo Bay. His appeal in Evidence Faulted in Detainee Case shows you what happened thereafter. You have to wonder what the Americans are up to with the way they treat "friends".

Then there is this case about a Canadian national. He stopped off at Kennedy Airport to change planes and found himself in Syria. Court Dismisses Rendition Suit shows you that there are some things that are hardly real, let alone fair. Just do not go to the US if a name like yours could be on the US terrorist watch list!

This is a help-yourself story. Bag Helps Laptop Pass Air Security says that there is a laptop bag that is going to be offered for sale soon, and it will get you through the X-ray check no worries.

Winding up the establishment II

I posted an item from Lesley Noah in Winding up the establishment.

Some of you may wonder what happened. I have just recieved the following—

A quick note to let you know that I am still alive and kicking and have not been locked up yet (in either a mental asylum or jail). A huge thank you to all the kind people who took the time to ring/email/sms kind words of support to me prior to my hearing at the Federal Magistrates Court yesterday.

In case you are interested in these public interest proceedings, I have attached some further Affidavits for your information and included below, a letter of complaint to the court from one of the best bush lawyers in Australia. I am fortunate that because my case involves arguments which relate to the Constitution, that I have unexpectedly received advice and support from some self acting litigants who are well known and feared by the Commonwealth. Mr Clampett has more knowledge of the law and more balls than any lawyer I have yet to meet, so I am very lucky to have his support with my court appearance.

The proceedings of yesterday will provide me with much food for thought and amusement for many years to come. Alas, I don’t have time to share the details with you now, suffice to say that the Registrar hearing the case got cold feet and was quick to adjourn the case and refer the matter to the Fe'ral Court Judge who heard my case originally during the election. The next hearing is now scheduled for:

9.30 am Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Federal Magistrate Burnett
Commonweath Law Courts (6th floor I think)
119 North Quay
Brisbane

If you happen to have some spare time tomorrow and are able to put in an appearance in the public gallery I would be exceedingly grateful. The more people present, the more justice the people will receive. At present the Court (who are in league with the Australian Government Solicitor and Australian Electoral Commission) are so bias and hell bent on bending the rules and breaking the law to suit their own clandestine agendas, that I would not be surprised if they have a noose and hang man's post organised for tomorrow's hearing.

Thanks again for your interest and support.

Kind regards

Lesley Noah

Concerned Citizen of the Commonwealth

16 Deloraine Drive
Springwood
Brisbane QLD 4127
Tel: 07-3299 5259
Mob: 0422-155999
Email: laz831@bigpond.net.au

Rather than give you all of her other material—I'm sure that she will oblige if you ask—I'll titillate your taste buds with just this one supporting(?) document—

From: Leonard Clampett [mailto:Freedomtoo@optusnet.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 30 June 2008 5:42 PM
To: john.mathieson@fmc.gov.au; customer.service@fmc.gov.au; qldreg@fedcourt.gov.au; vicreg@fedcourt.gov.au; waregistry@fedcourt.gov.au; sareg@fedcourt.gov.au; tasreg@fedcourt.gov.au; ntreg@fedcourt.gov.au; actman@fedcourt.gov.au; nswdr@fedcourt.gov.au; michael.wall@fedcourt.gov.au; graham.ramsey@fedcourt.gov.au; murray.belcher@fedcourt.gov.au

Subject: Abuse by court orderly.

Mr JOHN MATHIESON

Chief Executive Officer

Fe’ral Magistrates Court

Lionel Bowen Building

97-99 Goulburn St

Sydney NSW 2000

john.mathieson@fmc.gov.au

Dear JOHN MATHIESON,

Today, Monday the 30th of June 2008, at 09:50 hours in the Harry Gibbs Commonwealth Law Courts Building Level 6, 119 North Quay, Brisbane, QLD 4000 outside court 8, I was abused by a public servant named Mr. Bevan when he said to me "Shut your mouth". This was witnessed by a number of persons who are quite willing to attest to the facts.

I asked this person what he said and he claimed not to have told me to "Shut your mouth" however he was overheard by others. He is not only unfit to be a public servant, that is a servant of the public, but is also a liar who immediately claimed not to have said what was clearly heard. He claimed he was not a public servant but an employee of the Fe’ral Magistrates Court. Clearly he does not know his position and is confused about his duties.

Mr. Bevan refused to give me his name after he abused me and attempted to walk away. It was only that a person came out of the Registry at the other end of the reception area and called out "Mr. Bevan" that I gained access to this public servants name.

I do not take kindly to being abused by a public servant. I demand a written apology from "Mr. Bevan" within 7 days from today. It does seem that we have reached a point where public servants believe that they are above the law and can do whatever they like with impunity. This is not the case and the general public is becoming more and more angry with the general tone of all politicians, bureaucrats and servants of the public in general. This includes members of the judiciary who seem to believe they can do whatever they like as well.

The time has come for a clean-up and it should start now.

You remain our humble servant,

Leonard Clampett©

Authorised Representative for

LEONARD CLAMPETT Corporate Artifice/Artificial legal entity

I'm not laughing, just grinning broadly. He really has got a point!

You'll like it or lump it

Yesterday's NY Times carried this article Solution, or Mess? A Milk Jug for a Green Earth that talks more about the coming changes in retailing than about milk or its container. You'd have to think that the same sort of thing is going to happen here—

A simple change to the design of the gallon milk jug, adopted by Wal-Mart and Costco, seems made for the times. The jugs are cheaper to ship and better for the environment, the milk is fresher when it arrives in stores, and it costs less.

What’s not to like? Plenty, as it turns out.

The jugs have no real spout, and their unorthodox shape makes consumers feel like novices at the simple task of pouring a glass of milk.

“I hate it,” said Lisa DeHoff, a cafe owner shopping in a Sam’s Club here.

“It spills everywhere,” said Amy Wise, a homemaker.

And so it goes on. The packaging people seem to be having the last word—

“This is a key strategy as a path forward,” said Anne Johnson, the director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a project of the nonprofit group GreenBlue. “Re-examining, ‘What are the materials we are using? How are we using them? And where do they go ultimately?’ ”

Wal-Mart Stores is already moving down this path. But if the milk jug is any indication, some of the changes will take getting used to on the part of consumers. Many spill milk when first using the new jugs.

“When we brought in the new milk, we were asking for feedback,” said Heather Mayo, vice president for merchandising at Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart. “And they’re saying, ‘Why’s it in a square jug? Why’s it different? I want the same milk. What happened to my old milk?’ ”

Mary Tilton tried to educate the public a few days ago as she stood at a Sam’s Club in North Canton, about 50 miles south of Cleveland, luring shoppers with chocolate chip cookies and milk as she showed them how to pour from the new jugs.

“Just tilt it slowly and pour slowly,” Ms. Tilton said to passing customers as she talked about the jugs’ environmental benefits and cost savings. Instead of picking up the jug, as most people tend to do, she kept it on a table and gently tipped it toward a cup.

Them's the breaks, as any American would say. BTW, for those of you who are wondering a US gallon is almost 3.8 litres.

Some NY Times stories to chew on

In Occupation Plan for Iraq Faulted in Army History tells us that the US Army has produced a document that will be in our news on Tuesday (released in the US on Monday night). It tells the sad tale of how the army screwed up—

The unclassified study, the second volume in a continuing history of the Iraq conflict, is as noteworthy for who prepared it as for what it says. In essence, the study is an attempt by the Army to tell the story of one of the most contentious periods in its history to military experts—and to itself.

It adds to a growing body of literature about the problems the United States encountered in Iraq, not all of which has been embraced by Army leaders.

Just like the grunts on the ground, the generals in the green zone were not really up to the job.

For those of you who are not sure a Lt. General is the second most senior officer in the USA and, while there is a lot of them, they largely run all of the parts of the army as the most senior officer in the field.

You have to admire the US military, though, in getting such a report into the open within five years of the time they are discussing.

There is another little story Diploma Mill Concerns Extend Beyond Fraud that deals with the bogus universities that put diplomas and other work-related credentials into the hands of people who just pay for them. No effort otherwise needed.

Every employer needs to be aware of this scam so that they can protect themselves and their business.

The next story I want to draw your attention to is Political Freelancers Use Web to Join the Attack dealing with the use of the range of Internet sites to push their views about political candidates—

So it was with the Parsley video, which was the work of a 64-year-old film director, Robert Greenwald, and his small band of 20-something assistants. Once best known for films like “Xanadu” (with Olivia Newton-John) and the television movie “The Burning Bed” (with Farrah Fawcett), Mr. Greenwald shows how technology has dispersed the power to shape campaign narratives, potentially upending the way American presidential campaigns are fought.

that shows the sort of people doing the videos. It will be happening more here too because we have already seen some of it.

For women readers this is instructive—

NINE years ago, Laura Udall noticed that her young daughter Rachel suffered back pain from lugging her books back and forth to school. Ms. Udall, a former saleswoman at AT&T, decided to develop and market a backpack light enough for children to wear safely.

from Would You Hire Your Husband? and you men do not need the advice!

For anyone promoting women's working issues, it is well worth the read.

People weighed down by burgeoning emails need to look at I Freed Myself From E-Mail’s Grip. Fancy deciding to use the telephone more!

Why is the US going broke? This More Waste, Fraud and Abuse will give you some clues.

Winding up the establishment

Lesley Noah has been bugging the Australian Electoral Commissioner for a few months now. Since before the elections earlier this year.

She has a number of peeves about the way the commissioner went about his duties.

I'll let Lesley tell you the story herself. As usual I have made small changes to her words for sense and flow. You'll see my usual square brackets ([ and ]) where I have made more than punctuation changes—

I am busy preparing my arguments for my court case on Monday against the Commonwealth and Australian Government Solicitor. I am not sure if I mentioned to you, or you read in the Courier Mail in November 2007, about the fight I had with the Electoral Commissioner during the federal election?

I took him to court for rejecting my candidacy nomination and the state, who made sure I lost my case so as not to disrupt the election, then ordered me to pay $3500 costs to the respondent for my public interest case. I was peeved with the costs order and have been dragging my heals with paying this because, technically, I won my case and it was one of public interest, so I should never have had any costs awarded against me.

That was my punishment for daring to questions the legitimacy of some of AEC's decisions and nearly disrupting the election. Since the case was closed I have been arguing with AGS and Federal Magistrates Court about how I can pay my debt to the state without breaching §115 of Constitution and §22 of the Currency Act. I don't know if you are aware but one should only be paying their debts to the state in legal tender—which is gold and silver coins. Unfortunately, these are no longer in circulation and cannot be acquired from the Reserve Bank (I have tried).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the Australian Government Solicitor and Australian Electoral Commission have taken the matter back to court by starting proceedings against me for an Enforcement Hearing on Monday, without serving me with any of the documents they filed with the court. They are after me for some more costs by way of punishment for daring to question the legitimacy of their dubious actions. Underhand bxstards, aren't they?

I have managed to knock up a defence in the last few days which should throw a few curly ones at them. []I have a strong suspicion that the Registrar who will be hearing the case has been got at by the Australian Government Solicitor and AEC, so I am [] not expecting to receive any justice or sympathy from the court. Ho hum.

It would really help keep the buggers accountable if there were some citizens in the public gallery taking note.

The problem is that it is such short notice [that] I haven't been able to find anyone except [] and my son to attend Court with me. The hearing is at 9.30 am on Monday, 30 June 2008 in Court Room 8, Level 6, Harry Gibbs Commonwealth Law Courts Buildings, 119 North Quay, Brisbane. Do you know anyone—perhaps others who are interested in the development of constitutional law—who might happen to be available on Monday morning?

I will be setting off from Springwood at 8.30 am if anyone requires a lift.

I am already booked with a client tomorrow, so if anyone else is available, do go. It might be a hoot in more ways than one.

Where are the civil rights solicitors? Any of you brave enough to turn up?

Park Ridge MPA Structure Plan

Many people will have seen the documents for the Park Ridge Structure Plan. There are three options on the page that I have linked to the title. There is a Submission Form at the bottom of that page and you should use the form and, maybe, attach additional comments.

This structure plan is important. It will give the city council a good guide to what people around Park Ridge think. If we fail to comment we will be demonstrating to the planners that we don't really care at all about what they do. That will fulfil their greatest wish, so do something to frustrate them.

The closing date is Monday 30 June and you will need to get your submission in the post by Sunday if possible, but Monday is still Ok. Yes, I know that they say they want to receive the submissions by close of business on that day, but they don't understand the law.

When you post something the law of torts says that the postmark on the envelope is the day that the addressee received it. This law has been around since the start of Royal Mail in the UK, almost, and it involved a big law suit, for the day, when a London company gave a contract to another party because a letter from Yorkshire was delayed for about three weeks. The plaintiff won because the Law Lords of the day said that the only way that mail could work was that the postmark be considered the date that it was in the recipient's hands.

You could just drop the response in to a customer service centre or email to the Council.

In any case, they will get enough responses on Monday that many of them will be around for a couple of days or more before anyone reads them.

The Landmark Ruling Enshrines Right to Own Guns from the NY Times puts a more logical report about the Supreme Court decision that is currently filling our media. You'll notice the operative words right at the end of the very first paragraph—at home for self-defence.

I was listening to the DWTV News tonight and when the economics reporter was saying that the current theory for the constant rises in the price of petrol are caused by the falling value of the US dollar that makes it imperative that the big money people hedge their fortunes on something that is inflation-proof&mdasdh;or even better—returning big gains relative to even stable currencies like the Euro. It is a good theory.

I almost forgot the council decided to outfit a number of townships with naming signs. You can see an example of the standard sign in a number of places, but a convenient one is just by the traffic lights as you leave Grand Plaza Drive while you're waiting to come south to Jimboomba. It says Regents Park. The sign is a sheet of stainless steel with the letters cut out and a dark background making them look black. Jimboomba is on the list, as is Logan Village.

Just a note to any councillor reading this. That sign needs the shrubs pruning and the tall weeds cutting or it will soon have disappeared.

There's a lot of talk about the rates skyrocketing. Even Cr Able, during the Tuesday meeting, was at pains to say that the cost of water will be almost unaffordable. But I have a couple of reasons why many of us in the south-west will not feel too much pain. You're free to disagree.

Let me deal with water first. Everyone on rural residential, most of us really, have big tanks. We have had good rainfalls recently and only the really profligate will run out of rain-water soon. The second reason is that I have seen tentative figures for the supply charge for water. It is very much less than we were being charged by BSC. About $100 savings.

The other reason is that I was looking at property valuations. Many of the Rural Residential properties have only, I say only with care, gone up by 20 to 25% in the last valuation in November 2007. Meanwhile many city valuations went up by over 100% and those properties will be hit by the rates to be set by council.

It is only logical that if you own a property thats valuation went up much less than average there will be a much less than average increase in the rates for that property—whatever that increase might be.

Let us say that the rates increase will be 9% this coming year. That means that some bright spark in Finance has done an averaging sum on their spreadsheet and the answer says an average increase of 9%. Some will be charged more than that increase because their values went up by a very large amount, some of us will be much less than 9% because our values didn't go up much.

It is entirely possible that our rates, when you discount the roads levy and the lower cost of access to water, will go down a little. I'm betting that our rates, and yours if you're a low value-increase property-owner, will be less than 2% higher than last year's.

School children at ordinary council meeting on Tuesday

Some of you will remember that in my post of 28 May Planning and Development I was writing about the situation that Michelle Reginato found herself in with her application to redevelop her home block on Stoney Camp Road. That she, and a cooperative set of councillors, had only just managed to prevent a somewhat incorrect response about the application going forward, and delaying it, from the Ordinary Meeting (OM) of council the next week.

The agenda item was delayed for the next series of meetings, in two weeks time, to be confirmed at the following OM, which was Tuesday, yesterday.

If you've been reading today's Jimboomba Times you will have seen an article on page 6 about town planning Assessors struggling with heavy workload you will have seen the PR from council about their problems. You'd think that they might put development applications under some careful scrutiny because of this workload, do something to help the workers cope and to filter out obvious mistakes in P&D committee briefing papers.

But this doesn't seem to have happened.

Yesterday Michelle turned up with her husband hoping to get a copy of the Agenda item before the meeting started because neither of them, or me, was able to be at the previous week's meeting. Michelle was telling me that the legitimate concerns of the officer doing the application four weeks before had all been addressed by their amended submission a week later.

When we were able to get copies of the business papers for the meeting (about 15 minutes before it) Michelle was aghast to find that their application was up for consideration again but without any changes at all!

What to do.

Well, she scuttled around. I'm not sure who she talked to, but when the time came the item was pulled from the Report by Cr Dalley and it will go back to the officers. It may be that the item was going to be removed anyway, but I can also believe that the decision was only made at the very last minute.

However, that is twelve weeks delay for the people investing in the property.

People who put up planning and development applications have been poorly served by a whole range of circumstances. Yes, there is a shortage of staff. Yes, there are loads of applications, there is loads of work. But the problems seem to stem, not so much from the lack of staff now, but the way that the higher levels of government did not plan ahead. By telling all of the councils to redo their town plans at about the same time they introduced a difficulty in getting enough staff because the people were in demand all over Queensland.

Inserting the Office of Urban Managements' decisions into the process made it even more difficult.

Then, by allowing people to make applications under the old rules, up to a certain date, they created a deluge of applications to be considered under the old planning instruments—Yes, I know. People have always had this right under law and I do not want you to write and tell me so—it just makes things worse, that's what I'm trying to say.

That also meant that any existing council had two sets of town planning instruments for applications. Not too bad really, most of the staff had skills oriented to the old plans and just had to pick up the new stuff. However, introduce amalgamation to some of the councils and you have bedlam! Especially if you're dealing with three council's merging, such as at Logan and Caloundra.

There's also the way that staff were apportioned between councils. In the case of GCCC I believe that not one staff person was transferred to Logan.

You'll remember that I mentioned that the council was going to look at the circumstances surrounding the felling of mature trees in Cusack Lane and at 1466 Waterford—Tamborine Road, Logan Village. Those matters will be referred to council's lawyers for their action.

The situation at the Greenbank Community Centre seems to have been resolved in favour of the committee for the moment. Keep your ear to the ground.

I was astonished to read that the Governance and Finance committee decided on the outfitting of people with the following kinds of vehicles—for mayor and CEO up to $80,000 each, Deputy CEOs up to $70k, Councillors up to $60k, Managers up to $50k, Level 6/7+ staff up to $40k, other staff up to $35k and the purchased vehicles are to achieve 10 litres per 100 km fuel economy or better (and you'd be pressing to find an $80k vehicle that could achieve that!) with a 2-year/45,000 km life before trading in.

I guess, without having gone to the committee meeting, that you buy the staff pool cars for about $25k or so, and then everybody's car value escalates upward from there. I wonder why they couldn't have decided on purchasing cars that were about $15,000, each, lower in price and you'd still have a decent escalating ladder of increasing values and save the council a ship-load of dollars, make it much more likely that they would largely achieve the stated economy and they would still be within warranty in many instances. Come to that, why didn't they specify that every vehicle had to have a 3-year warranty too? I didn't see that in the background papers.

Council agreed to getting a report along these lnes—

PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to update Council on the topical issue of plastic shopping bags and seek Council's endorsement of a project to investigate the benefits and cost of adopting a Council Policy banning the use of plastic bags within Council and replacing them with biodegradable bags.

The Environmental Management manager will generate a cost-benefit analysis report for replacing plastic bags within Logan City Council.

Councillors, during the debate at the Ordinary meeting, went through the gyrations of debating the merits of poker machines again. We've all heard the words before, any number of times. You'd have thought that it was a kiddies playground out in front of the public gallery that consisted, for the morning, of about 70 year-7 school children. Even though I had to hiss at two kids sitting next to me, who were kicking each other in turns, I would have willingly sent them out to kick some of the councillors!

The councillors set an unparalleled example of pettiness for those kids who were still able to understand what was going on.

I fault the mayor for not ensuring that the processes of the meeting were adequately explained in a way that the children could understand. And again, the mayor, for not making sure that the decorum of the councillors was kept strictly in rein—or the children told, about a quarter-way through, that the rest was going to be just more of the same.

It was an entirely thoughtless exercise that bought no credit on the council as a whole. The children would have benefitted from an early adjournment and a free go at some cake and soda. Why adults cannot speak to children in a language that they can understand, modify their attitude and approach to suit the inquiring minds and the attention-span of the same children, and go out of their way with egos in check while the children are present, is something I cannot understand.

I guess that the councillors, mayor and all, will duly get a raft of individual letters from those children saying how wonderful they thought the experience was, how instructional it was and how keen some of them are to be councillors themselves one day. I'm sure that such instructed words will justify the whole thing in the minds of each and every councillor and council officer there. Such a shame really.

It was almost too boring for me too. But I have you, dear reader to serve. And some of you are considerably more demanding!