Hervey Bay Gossip

I said yesterday that it would only take a week for the proposed merger between the Liberals and the National Parties to be off and I was wrong - it only lasted a day.

The master plan that was to deliver control of Queensland back to the conservative parties couldn’t survive more than one single day! Oh what hope of they got of ever being able to run the state if the electorate should hand them the reins of power?

Oh well now we can sit back and watch the two hapless leaders play the blame game in the hope that they will be able to retain their positions. That could be a little hard to do because the leaders had the deal all sewn up and their deputies were going to be left out in the cold.

If there is one thing more dreadful to confront than a woman scorned it’s a deputy leader of the Liberals or the Nationals who just got shafted.

The Queensland Liberals and Nationals are causing a stir once again. The decision to merge must be a very good idea because it seems to have upset everyone except the Labor party.

Most Queensland Nats at the federal level are beating their chests and declaring that they will never give up their allegiance to the National Party (tell them that they’ll lose their seat at the next election if they don’t and I bet they’ll change their minds).

John Howard is showing his true feelings about the National Party - he’s never forgiven Joh for what he did years ago and our very own Federal member has adopted a rather sensible wait and see attitude.

Why is that sensible? Don’t forget, we’re talking about the Queensland Libs and Nationals here and they can’t agree on anything - give it a week and all talks of a merger will be off.

Oh … and spare a thought for the candidates for those two parties here in Hervey Bay. I wonder how they are feeling right now?

Perhaps the two parties might spend their time more wisely coming up with some policies that people will find attractive. They might also spend some time learning how to become a serious opposition. At the moment they’re facing a Health Minister who couldn’t run a chook raffle and still not able to score any political points.

Yesterday saw your Gossip crew taking another round trip from Hervey Bay to Brisbane for a specialist’s appointment.

So we can tell you that road conditions were generally good with the only real delay just north of Tiaro where traffic is reduced to one lane during daylight. Work was in progress in other places but there were no delays on the highway.

A side trip into Maroochydore was an entirely different matter though as roadworks between the Bruce Highway and the Motorway reduced traffic to a stuttering crawl.

Fortunately that will be the last trip to Brisbane for a while because the news from the specialist was very good. That means we’ll have more time to spend here in Hervey Bay enjoying scenes like this:

The RIRDC Rural Women’s Award was instigated in 2000 with the objective of increasing women’s capacity to contribute to agriculture and rural Australia, by providing them with the support and resources to further develop their skills and abilities.

Now in its seventh year, the Award is playing a pivotal role in the future sustainability of rural Australia, encouraging rural women and their increased contribution to rural industries. The 2006 Award was won by a Queenslander, Martha Shepherd from the Sunshine Coast.

Martha Shepherd established Galeru – a value added rural enterprise which produces a range of gourmet products from native rainforest fruits – some eight years ago with partner David Haviland.

The fruits come from the 3,000 plus native trees that Martha and David planted on their small farm in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. The trees were purpose grown as a high value niche crop, with the farm developed to be an environmentally sustainable and commercially competitive enterprise.

Martha’s 35 years experience in the food industry, predominantly in the United States, has laid a strong foundation for her venture into a value-added rural enterprise.

Martha’s proposal is to develop a viable value chain management model, through which smaller producers can collaborate with regional processors to produce the quality and quantity of product necessary to ensure both economic and environmental viability for their businesses.

Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon. Julie Bishop MP and the RIRDC Rurall Women’s Award 2006 Winner Martha Shepherd (QLD)

The Bureau of Statistics has released the results of a survey that show the number of people working from home for at least some of their time each week in Australia has increased.

In some industries overseas telecommuting has become very popular but we are yet to see it really take off here.

It’s difficult to put a figure on the number of people who work from home, or run a business from home, here in Hervey Bay although in the street where we live there are at least three households that also double as a home office.

While it may be many peoples’ dream existence there are definitely some negative aspects to working from home. Those negative aspects don’t always become obvious at first.

After a considerable amount of hard work those who have been aiming at bringing the Bendigo Bank to Hervey Bay have been successful.

The Hervey Bay branch of the Bendigo Bank will open its doors at Shop 9, 55 Main Street Pialba on June 15.

An end to nuisance calls moved a step closer today with the introduction of legislation to create a $33 million national Do Not Call Register, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, said today.

The Do Not Call Register Bill 2006 and the Do Not Call Register (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2006 provide a framework to establish a Register that would allow individuals to opt-out from receiving unsolicited telemarketing calls.

The Bill requires the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to establish and oversee a Do Not Call Register and prohibits telemarketers from calling a number which has been included on the Register.

ACMA will be able to tender out the operation of the Register, and it is expected a tender process will begin following the passage of the legislation.

“This is an important step towards giving those who dislike the intrusion and disruption caused by unsolicited telemarketing calls, peace of mind,” Senator Coonan said.

“This legislation will create a Register that is workable and enforceable but one that balances the legitimate needs of the telemarketing industry in Australia with the desire for consumers to have some peace and privacy.

“The telemarketing industry will also benefit through the introduction of nationally consistent standards covering issues such as permitted calling hours. And the Register will mean that telemarketers can better target their calls by removing from their contact lists details of consumers who do not want to receive their calls.”

Before announcing the creation of a Register the Government consulted widely. Following the release of a discussion paper last year, nearly 500 submissions were received.

“In creating a Register we need to ensure there is an appropriate balance between the rights of an individual to privacy and the needs for businesses to promote their products and services,” Senator Coonan said.

“In light of this and following further consultation, the Government has decided not to include small businesses on the Register.

“Businesses contact each other for a multitude of reasons in the course of day to day operations, and the Government was concerned not to potentially expose organisations to fines and penalties for ordinary business-to-business contact.”

Individuals will not be charged to put their number on the Register. The Australian Government will contribute more than $17 million towards the cost of establishing the Register, with the telemarketing industry contributing $15.9 million over four years.

Exemptions will be provided for certain types of telemarketing calls such as calls from charities, registered political parties, independent Members of Parliament and candidates, religious organisations, educational institutions (where the call is made to a student or alumni) and government bodies.

“The exemptions are important to allow these organisations, who carry out activities in the public interest, to be able to continue to provide services to the community,” Senator Coonan said.

ACMA will be responsible for the enforcement of the legislation and a range of penalties will be available depending on the nature of the breach. ACMA will be able to issue formal warnings or infringement notices or commence court proceedings. The Courts will be able to impose fines ranging from $1,100 to $1.1 million.

Here is a little bit of news for the geeks who wander through here every couple of days

If you are in any way involved in placing images on websites then this will be of great interest to you.

Microsoft has announced the release of a new image format that will be supported in its upcoming Vista operating system. It will also be supported in XP.

Windows Media Photo is said to allow great compression of file sizes while maintaining a clear image. Microsoft suggests that their new format will replace the Jpeg - the current Internet standard.

You can read the full story here

The Department of Primary Industries says that there is no sign of drough-breaking rain in the near future but there are reasonable probabilities of winter rainfall.

So the dry continues and the Gold Coast City Council continues to act in a rather un-Australian manner. It seems that its residents could teach the Council a thing or two about being a good neighbour.

The Queensland Parliament late last night passed new laws to restrict advertising by so-called claims harvesters, Attorney-General Linda Lavarch announced.

Claims harvesters are non-lawyers who offer free advice about personal injury claims but only want to sell people’s case histories on to lawyers.

Advertising by claims harvesters tells people they can get tens of thousands of dollars for injuries at work, shopping centres, sporting events or schools.

The cost of the fees charged by claims harvesters are passed on to the injured person, to be paid out of any compensation they get.

“I am not prepared to let these ambulance chasers get a toehold in Queensland,” Mrs Lavarch said.

“The Beattie Government has led the way in changing the US-style sue-for-anything mentality that has contributed to spiralling insurance costs.

“This includes passing the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 to prevent lawyers advertising personal injury services on radio and television.

“However, claims harvesters avoid the law because they are not lawyers.”

Mrs Lavarch said the Personal Injuries Proceedings (Legal Advertising) and Another Act Amendment Act 2006 would mean claims harvesters would face the same advertising bans as lawyers.