Hervey Bay Gossip

Six Japanese tourists have been injured when their tour bus rolled on Dilli Village Road around 3 pm today. There are currently no reports as to the extent of their injuries

Reports of a bus crash this afternoon on Fraser Island are beginning to appear.

It’s understood that the bus rolled on a dirt road at the southern end of the island. Initial reports suggest that two people have been critically injured.

Even the indepenents voted with the Government

Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney had crossed the line and deserved his censure in State Parliament today, Premier Peter Beattie said.

Independent Members of Parliament joined with Labor Members to censure Mr Seeney noting his misuse of parliamentary privilege and lack of commitment to upholding the high standards expected of his office.

“Mr Seeney now has another black mark on his record,” Mr Beattie said.

“The public expect high standards from Members of the Queensland Parliament.

“Everytime a member fails to meet those standards it reflects badly on everyone.

“Mr Seeney failed and failed badly.

“He used parliamentary privilege to try and dump a bucket on people unable to defend themselves.

“It was wrong, it was offensive, and if a member of the public made similar allegations outside Parliament they would quickly find themselves before the Courts.

“Mr Seeney claimed entries in the Register of Pecuniary Interests of several current and former members were ‘minimalist’ and inferred there was something suspicious about this.

“He offered no evidence, no facts, nothing at all to back up his unfounded allegations.

“The Liberals didn’t have the guts to criticise Mr Seeney for his poor behaviour but the five Independent Members of Parliament all voted to censure him.

“He crossed the line and his behaviour was inappropriate.

“Mr Seeney needs to lift his game. He promised to change when he was elected as the Leader of the Opposition yet his behaviour over the last couple of days shows he still hasn’t climbed out of the gutter.”

If you are then just be a little cautious

There are several interesting offers going around the Bay at the moment so if you are approached by someone offering to build a website for your small business just be sure to get several quotes.

Yesterday one friend of our showed us a quote he had received. It was breathtaking! The quote included two figures for doing the same job once - they used plenty of language that really was just spin and cow dung and then they wanted to charge him $140.00 a year to register his domain name.

An hour later we had the domain name registered for him for two years for $29.95.

There are three main web design businesses here in Hervey Bay and at least four smaller ones including us so be sure to get a number of quotes and make sure that every promise is guaranteed in writing and every technical term they use is fully explained.

And even then go away and thing about it before you sign on the dotted line.

It seems to be almost out

The fire over on Fraser Island was discussed here last week and you can see that discussion here in Hervey Bay to Fraser Island

As mentioned in that discussion the original report that the Gossip had that they fire was not being fought is incorrect. There has been a small team of men fighting that fire all along and our thanks should go to them for the sterling effort they have put in.

It’s just a shame that the autorities couldn’t have found more than 10 men to assign to the task.

My experience here in Hervey Bay

One of our daughters rang last night and announced that she wanted to buy a new car but where she works it’s a bit hard to get to a dealer. So she wondered if I would do the rounds and pick up some brochures for her.

Well what father could turn down a request like that so off I toddled early this morning to make enquries.

I told every sales person I spoke to that I was doing making enquiries on behalf of my daughter who had $18,000 to spend on a new car and she would be buying it around Christmas time because that would be when she would be here in Hervey Bay.

I also told them that she was a tall girl - about as tall as I was - so ease of access and comfort for a tall person was important.

The most helpful sales person I spoke to was at Jack Casey Motors - he showed me three different models and encouraged me to sit in all three just to check to see if they really were comfortable for a tall person.

He then gave me prices and brochures on all three and pointed out that one of the base prices was a little above the limit my daughter wanted to spend.

The least helpful sales person … well no names no pack drill but suffice to say that he wasn’t really interested in letting me sit in any of the cars - he rubbished the opposition and gave me a sucker price if I wanted to buy before the end of the week.

It was an interesting experience and comparing sales techniques was a bit of an eye-opener.

 Jack Casey - you’ve got a gem there in your trainee. Sales people like him make the buying experience a pleasant one.

It’s weakening rapidly

The latest report from Fiji is that winds at the centre of the Tropical Cyclone Yani are weakening rapidly and are expected to drop below gale force sometime today.

Domestic violence is simply not on if you’re a real man

Minister for Women Margaret Keech has invited Queensland men to publicly show their opposition to violence against women by wearing a white ribbon tomorrow.

Mrs Keech said November 25 was recognised by the United Nations as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, or White Ribbon Day.

“As domestic violence primarily affects women, it is crucial for men to take a stand against this injustice,” she said.

“Most men treat women and girls with the utmost respect and this is an opportunity for them to make a statement that violence against women is unacceptable.”

Mrs Keech said the number of reported incidents of domestic violence highlighted the magnitude of the issue in Queensland.

“In 2004/2005, Queensland police were called out to more than 41,000 domestic violence-related incidents,” she said.

“Domestic violence is one of our most concerning social problems and we all have a role to play in changing the behaviour of perpetrators.

“Violence in the home is not acceptable. That message has to be acknowledged - and heeded - by women and men.

“I encourage everyone to buy and wear a white ribbon as a personal pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.”

Harvey Norman and The Body Shop have agreed to distribute White Ribbons throughout Australia. White Ribbons have been available from Harvey Norman from 11 November. The Body Shop will sell the ribbons from today until Sunday. White Ribbons retail for $2 each.

Tropical Cyclones do visit Hervey Bay so spend this weekend preparing

Currently Tropical Cyclone Yani is located south of Fiji and is heading in a generally southerly direction so there is a good chance Yani wont reach Australia. While Yani may not reach us there is always the danger in storm season that at least one will arrive on our doorstep here in Hervey Bay so we need to be prepared.

To help us be prepared Hervey Bay City Council is encouraging residents to clean up this weekend.

Council will be allowing residents to dispose of up to two cubic metres (in any one load) of rubbish at any of its Landfill and Transfer Station sites during normal operating hours on Saturday and Sunday free of charge.

This special storm season clean up is only available for the disposal of household and residential materials.

Hey fellas can somebody please put that fire out?

The smoke is getting rather thick and unpleasant over here and it’s been burning for over a week now.