Media Comments
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (Mercury) [NOTE: Not all published]
08 May 2011: HCC investigates MONA tram service 03 May
While I concur that our trams should be back on the agenda given the amount spent restoring them and the fact they are a potential tourist activity in the city, however I am concerned that we may be suffering a divided and be conquered syndrome. HCC should first and foremost be advocating for the proposed Northern Suburbs Light Rail project from the waterfront to MONA and beyond; perhaps making a financial commitment to support development of an iconic new terminus at Mawson Place. If focus is lost from the goal of getting the light rail by pursuing the idea of competing tram, I fear that neither will eventuate. We need the fast and efficient light rail on that route for commuters to cut down on road congestion as well as a sleek cutting edge technology train for the equally cutting edge MONA attraction without being slowed by a tram on the tracks.
24/11/10 State Revenue raising - out of State plates
Given all the belt tightening and search for extra revenue sources to pay for the basics in our communities, I challenge all those that have been driving on Tasmanian roads and accessing Tasmanian services while keeping their interstate license plates to obey the law as well as contribute to that which you use and REGISTER YOUR VEHICLES IN TASMANIA. You have been here long enough, please quit sending the money needed here to the richer mainland states. Might be a good idea for police, parking officers, etc to start keeping a register. I'd guess there are hundreds of thousands of dollars statewide lost in this way. Maybe we need a 'dob in a cheat' day?
22/07/10 Bicycling and parking facilities
Re K Markham's letters on 15 Jul and 22 Jul. First he bemoans the "masses" of cyclists and the "wire cage full of bicycles" and then when cyclists respond en masse he tries to change tack by saying that cycling is not popular as the cage is "almost empty" -- you just can't have it both ways! And then you proceed to demonise cyclists because we use the legally required lights on our bikes. What do you have against cycling Kelvin? If you don't want to do it, then don't, if you want the roads completely to yourself, move to Royal George for heaven's sake.
26/03/10 12 y.o. girl prostituted
What is particularly disturbing to me about the man and woman prostituting a 12 y.o. girl is that they were able to find 100, yes ONE HUNDRED men in Tasmania willing to partake in this sick and demented abuse. There truly is a moral morass in our community.
25/03/10 (Term Limits for Local Councils)
Fewer local government councillors might very well be in the cards and a good cost saving idea, but to ensure more regularly refreshed Councils then term limits should be imposed. One idea might be that you can serve two terms before being ineligible to run again for two years. This gives the opportunity to get some new faces and ideas into council and also serves to mix up the blocks of councillors that get elected together every two years and helps clear out "career" councillors in favour of renewed community representation.
30 Nov 09
Well, it's official, Australian's are indeed over-achievers. We took over
the crown for being the most obese people, then a few years later the
laudable medal for being the biggest per capita polluters on the planet,
and now having the world's largest homes. Surely these are statistics of
which we can truly be proud. Wouldn't want to get caught navel gazing so
we had best ensure we break the next record now -- the highest number of
denialists per capita that humans are the cause of climate change.
31/08/09
Is this pot or kettle? When MacKillop won a competitive $50,000 Community
Water Grant in 2006, the Government of the day required us to use a
portion of the grant to erect a sign at the front of the school
advertising their support with no notice the signs could be removed. So
to hear the Federal Liberal Opposition now saying such signage is
political advertising for the Labor Party smacks of hypocrisy. Consistent
rules pollies!
28/08/09
The Sullivan's Cove Waterfront Authority has just approved the wind
turbines for the Marine Board Building with some compromise made on
overall height and other safeguards, such as requiring removal if
non-functional for over six months. So, in spite of the HCC, we will
begin to witness the first steps towards a truly distributed renewable
urban-based electricity grid.
The arguments I have heard from Aldermen against it are the visual impact,
but that reminds me of the old arguments touted against that unsightly
"new" technology called electric streetlights. Those opponents would
scarcely comprehend the arguments today for more of them to make the
streets safer.
Now if we can just get the Princes Wharf Shed redevelopment to be energy
neutral by designing in renewable energy technologies now - there are
great solar panels available that look like roofing and those little vents
we all have on our sheds could surely be used to model wind turbines for
along the top, which would keep the shed theme.
06/08/09 HCC Aldermen fight wind turbines
Hmmm, now who are the anti-development types? Here we have some amazing possibilities to incorporate energy-producing technologies into our building designs (including solar awnings, wind power, etc) and within the urban environment and instead we hear how terrible they would be. My guess these are the same types that protested against that new fangled technology called “electricity” when their whale oil lamps were more than sufficient. Looking forward to the new jobs being created in the green economy is what we need, not this backward looking luddite attitude.
29/07/09
So, the incredibly progressive Hobart City Council has struck
again...claiming they are protecting the natural attractiveness of the CBD
by voting down the ANZ Building wind turbines. If, however, you look at
the voting records you will see these same aldermen three months ago
pushed through a massive carpark right up to the footpath on Bathurst
Street that involves knocking down half a city block of historic and
human-scale buildings against the wishes of 61 out of 62 submissions on
the project. Voters have a serious choice to make in the October local
government elections if these are the sorts of decisions being made by the
current Council.
28/07/09 Collegiate plans to demolish "old cottage"
Just like the Menzies Centre that built their concrete monolith around "an old cottage" and then ripped it down for some reason, now we hear that St. Michael's Collegiate wants to rip down "an old cottage", this is just another death by a thousand cuts to Hobart's history. And I do not mean the narrow definitions provided by whether it is a "heritage-listed" building or not. We all know that the heritage folks do the best they can with limited resources and there is no way that they could adequately assess and protect the vast majority of buildings in Hobart that need consideration for their historic and streetscape contributions to making Hobart the place it is.
I am amazed that one of the most well-off exclusive schools in Tasmania cannot find it in their coffers to restore and maintain this building, including the various additions over the years that give a reading to the history of Hobart. There are clever ways to incorporate "old" buildings into development that enhance a place. Surely a playground that incorporates such a cottage with a veranda and other elements of a home would provide students with a sense of connection to the place with life long memories created that are unique and special rather than a cut and paste playground setting that exists anywhere. This incorporation would also engage different aged students to connect with the history that has created the place in which they live and go to school.
11/06/09 (HCC Petrol Perks)
What great news indeed that sense prevailed in the Hobart City Council decision to remove the infamous petrol perk, which will save ratepayers up to $13,000 per year or even better could be re-directed to additional support for our local community service organisations during this time of economic hardship.
31/03/09 Carpark at Bathurst and Argyle Streets
Aside from sustainable transport concerns around another massive carpark
in the city, I object to this particular parking ramp proposal that would
result in the loss of yet another historic corner in our city to a
"building" that has no human scale to it and towers like a shrine to metal
and concrete. If developers want to do something to help the city, how
about building the first tram terminal on a renewed Elizabeth Street tram
route rather than yet another massive blight in our city centre that does
nothing to contribute to the needed revitalisation of Hobart as a place to
live, work, and visit. Or perhaps use their expertise to initiate the
revitalisation of the city hole that is the Melville Street car park into
a new transit hub with social housing, children’s play area, public open
space and park areas in the mix. There are plenty of holes in this city
that need filling with creative, innovative, people friendly developments
rather than destroying more of the smaller and historic buildings for
concrete edifices to community-destroying cars. Many cities have already
shown the way forward right here in Australia – do not cater to the car,
rather make its use unnecessary and unattractive.
12/03/09 Odd Juxtaposition
While I applaud the sustainability initiatives championed by Michelle
O'Byrne in her clowning picture, I cannot help but compare that to her
other duties to protect endangered species, especially from another
Minister in her own Government. For Llewellyn to write off a species
because it is "inconvenient" to protect their habitat is the height of
farcical. How many millions have gone into protecting the orange-bellied
parrot on the West Coast -- also a migratory species to the mainland where
massive developments were kept at bay to protect their habitat there. How
many breeding pairs of these parrots are there? Surely we should write
them off as well as their breeding pairs are well less than a 1,000. At
what point do we write the Devils off? It is this very attitude that has
condemned so many of the world's species on the altar of economic
short-termism. Surely not logging a couple of coupes is not going to
bankrupt Forestry Tasmania, oh yeah it already loses money. Unless
Minister Llewellyn is upset he was not there to club to death the last
dodo or great auk...?
24/02/09 Bicycle commuting
referring to an article in The Age
http://www.theage.com.au/national/melbourne-to-get-more-bike-lanes-20090222-8epv.html
Bicycling for commuting to work and play is on an up swing not only in
Tasmania but also in Victoria where VicRoads is investigating reducing the
speed limit in the Melbourne CBD to 40 km/h, to improve safety for
cyclists and pedestrians AND mandating for the first time construction of
bicycle lanes into the state's $2 billion road-building program. It is
with fervent hope that our Tasmanian leaders at local and state government
level can continue the implementation of effective bike transport
strategies. Any highway upgrades in built up areas should be mandated to
have proper bike lanes, including over bridges and not allowing car
parking in the lane as on the Taroona section of the Channel Highway.
Safer cycling options will be good for personal health as much as reducing
our individual impacts on the planet.
09/01/09
$11,000 for Lennon to take one trip to New Zealand? Didn't he realise
that for that he could have given Hobart City Council's ex-aldermen free
petrol for an entire year under their unique perk among Tasmanian
councils, the "Free Petrol for Life" scheme! Imagine the places they
could have gone right here in Tassie! Given the pay rise aldermen just
received, surely it is time to vote this perk away...and will I now get
another abusive phone call Marti?
02/01/09
A truly fantastic Taste this year, but with all things some tweaking
suggested. If the tables are to stay in the area between the sheds (and
they are great) they should all have umbrellas over them. Also the stage
on the wharf apron would be better placed at an end facing down the apron
so more patrons can watch and dance without having to stand blocking
movement. Do we need the screening material on the fencing, especially
the blue as it makes it look a bit daggy. How about some banners on poles
advertising the valet bike parking, performing acts, etc as Hobart is so
great at doing in other parts of the city -- improve the festive look a
bit.
Finally, I agree with Alderman Burnet calling for fiscal responsibility
around the Taste. Most people would be quite happy to pay a small amount
or even gold coin donation to help offset the cost of the event. This is
done at most events nowadays and I am sure that our visitors attending the
Taste would love the opportunity to help directly support such a great
community-focused event. I would much prefer to see a small user cost
than to see anything at the Taste scaled-back to meet a lower budget.
Onward and upward to yet another Australian premiere event in Hobart!
Bring on the Wooden Boat Festival -- Love this Place (especially our
unique waterfront area)!
29/12/08
Re Michael Scott's letter 26 Dec 08
Greens politicizing local government? Sounds a nice argument against the
Greens yet again, but it really is about honesty in political affiliation.
If a councillor is a member of a political party (and I do not mean that
they just vote that way), doesn't it seem reasonable for them to make that
clear to their constituents? There are a number of non-Green Hobart
aldermen that are members of political parties, but they do not advertise
that fact and with others it is even more unclear. For example, Marti
Zucco was handing out Liberal fliers at the first Hobart City Council
Hospital Forum as people were leaving the Town Hall, is he a Liberal party
member? I see no problems with people and parties working together to
address common issues with disparate viewpoints leading to better results
for everyone. So, perhaps it is the adversarial nature of the political
climate that needs changing to one of cooperation and mutual respect for
the expertise and opinions each bring to the table.
And business experience alone qualifies one for local government? We live
in a society not a business. I would hope that we would have
representatives from all sectors of our community to shape how our cities,
towns, rural areas, etc develop and operate. We have seen enough of late
how things can turn out when businesses alone control society, think
global financial crisis and Gunns puppet strings. I for one say give me
leadership that has members of the larger community to provide different
viewpoints and priorities, including business of course. It is only with
such diversity in leadership/respresentation that Hobart, for example, is
now seeing the benefits such as bike lanes, solar hotwater rebates and
other moves towards creating a more sustainable community.
03/12/08
Hobart City Council Aldermen concerned about petrol prices? It is good to
hear the concern for Hobart ratepayers still paying ex-Aldermen their free
petrol for life perk, amounting to over $11,000 last year alone. Now that
Aldermen are approved for remuneration of over $27,000 a year, I hope the
concern extends to finally doing away with the Petrol Perks that of all
Tasmanian Councils, only Hobart provides.
18/11/08
Regarding the article "Builders fear energy moves" in the Mercury over the
weekend, it is interesting to note that the stated vision of the Master
Builders' Association of Tasmania is "MBA Tasmania is committed to
achieving world best practice for the Australian Building and Construction
Industry." [http://www.mbatas.org.au/asp/content.asp?articleID=510]. I
guess the question is world's best practice in marketing spin or actual
building activities?? We need to catch up to the rest of the world, not
continue to lag and make excuses for it.
18/11/08
What fortuitous timing to think big! With the Commonwealth windfall
coming to our local governments to undertake infrastructure projects with
money to be spent by September 2009, the opportunity is there to undertake
significant portions of the Greater Hobart Bikeways plan. We can have it
quickly and at no significant cost to local government. Both Clarence and
Hobart could use their allotments towards finally providing vital bike and
pedestrian lanes onto the Tasman Bridge!
05/10/08 Solar Industry Support Needed
Thank you to the Mercury for the articles on solar power installations in
Tasmania and the lack of trained installers to do the work. There is
certainly a need for our training organisations to address this need and
not only for residential and commercial sites making this move towards
sustainability. In fact, with the National Solar Schools Program (NSSP)
underway to pay for the installation of a grid-connected photovoltaic
system on EVERY school in Tasmania, the demand for installations will
double almost overnight. Not only has the State Government put out a
request for tenders in August 2008 to complete installations on public
schools in their vast numbers, but the Catholic Education office is
encouraging their 25 systemic schools and the remaining 12 Catholic
schools to sign up for the program as well as part of their recognition of
the importance of sustainable living and education. I also know of a
number of independent schools that have also registered for the program.
So, let us hope that our training organisations with support from the
government are able to quickly get a registered program up and running to
fill in this missing piece of the puzzle. This would allow Tasmania to
take full advantage of these federal monies to jump start a new industry
in Tasmania akin to the introduction of electricity and the vast workforce
that now employs. The federal monies will be spent on making our schools
more sustainable as well as creating important parts of the emerging
distributed energy production grid. Such commitment to the solar power
industry and other renewable energy options such as wind, tidal and
geothermal will help build resilience in our communities and help lower
our imports of dirty brown coal power from Victoria over Basslink and all
that means for Tasmanians' carbon footprint.
MacKillop College has already taken the first step through installation of
the first and only grid-connected photovoltaic system on a Tasmanian
school partially paid for through the previous Federal Government's
Photovoltaic Rebate Program and we have been approved to double the size
of our system with monies outlined above. Most, if not all, Tasmanian
schools will partake in this program and require installation works.
Local Governments have already realised the benefits of supporting
sustainability in our schools. Clarence City Council, in conjunction with
MacKillop College and Sustainable Living Tasmania, supports the Clarence
Sustainable Schools Initiative launched in July 2008 around supporting
local schools to make the best use of the NSSP funds. Other councils have
also expressed an interest in similar efforts.
Aurora Energy is gearing up their workforce to support this vast roll-out
in the grid-connection activity, but we once again fall short on
registered installers to complete the works.
I for one would prefer to employ local tradespeople trained into this new
industry rather than bringing in temporary workers from the mainland, thus
Tasmania missing out on the jobs and the benefits that flow from local
workers in our communities. The skills learned from these school
installations will flow back into the community through experienced
tradespeople to service the growing residential and commercial demand.
Sounds like a win-win to me.
01/10/08
The rhetoric is thick from Rudd, Wong, and now Garnaut on the critical
nature of climate change and that Australia will be one of the hardest hit
developed countries and yet we have these pitifully low emissions
reductions targets. Will our children forgive us our short-term thinking?
They as the coming Carbon Neutral Generation will bemoan our slow
reaction time that will saddle them with costly mitigation efforts and
devastated environments. Imagine explaining to your grandchildren what
happened to the Great Barrier Reef among other lost wonders because you
"needed" the latest plasma TV shipped in from Taiwan! Insatiable is not
sustainable.
28/08/08
In response to Tom Davidson (Letters, 28 Aug 08). A quick Internet
search will show plenty of support for my assertion that daytime headlight
use lowers accident rates. In fact the NRMA website states "It is
estimated that...daylight running lights [DRLs] could prevent a quarter of
all fatal daytime collisions and more than a quarter of fatal daytime
pedestrian accidents. ...studies have shown that DRLs reduce daytime
accidents by making vehicles more conspicuous to other road users. The
greatest benefits are with more severe accidents, including head-on and
intersection crashes, and collisions with pedestrians and cyclists."
Further, a study by Avis Rent A Car showed a 64% reduction in car damages,
and a 69% decrease in repair costs for cars running headlights during day
time.
Also from NRMA, other important benefits of DRLs reported in the studies are:
-
Improved driver reaction times and estimation of speed and distance.
-
DRLs make vehicles appear closer, which makes drivers less likely to launch into hazardous manoeuvres.
-
The positive effects produced by DRLs do not dissipate over time.
Regarding the tail light issue, the third brake tail light that only comes
on when you brake and the change in intensity of the light from the other
tail lights has been found sufficient to alert following drivers to a
braking event.
Regarding energy use, when you run your car the engine is always
recharging the battery so there is no net additional energy use if you
have your headlights, radio, interior lights, etc turned on. And even if
it did use a bit more energy, the reduction in accidents and deaths would
be more than worth it.
Sensible Solutions.
27/08/08
As a ratepayer, I was very pleased to receive the latest Hobart City
Council Capitol City News and to see that the HCC was awarded the
Australian Business Gold AND Excellence Awards. As General Manager Brent
Armstrong is retiring soon, it is fitting that he be recognised for
leading his staff to this achievement and should be proud to be leaving on
such a high note! Congratulations HCC!
21/08/08
Simple solutions sometimes worth a go
Tasmania has taken up expensive engineering solutions from Sweden to
improve road safety with split lanes and wire barriers, but no mention
made of the laws for "always-on" headlights. This has been proven to
lower accidents as we are visual creatures and notice lights even in
daylight. In fact, company car fleets around the world are mandated to
drive with headlights on as this lowers accident rates, thereby reducing
repair bills and insurance premiums. How about an Ad blitz on this cheap
and easy road safety initiative and maybe we could get our State
Government to pick this up and make it law. This safety initiative is
really no different than wearing seatbelts and much easier to police.
Note it is an urban myth that having your headlights uses more petrol as
your battery is being recharged all the time when your engine is running
whether you have headlights on or not.
21/07/08
Something about Piers Ackerman's latest diatribe suggesting we sit back
and do nothing on climate change reminded me of a Paul Lennon election
night speech wherein he asked for the media to leave his family out of
politics in one breath and in the next announced how great it was to have
another granddaughter. Can't have it both ways. Ackerman starts himself
up denying climate change is an issue, then finishes saying Rudd's
government should be focusing on "adapting to climate change that we
cannot avoid." Well, which are you Piers, delusional skeptic or societal
fatalist?
08/07/08
I note that the Tasmanian Industrial Commission has recommended to the
Minister for local government an councillor allowance increase to over
$27,000 for the larger councils. Does this mean that we might finally see
the Hobart City Council ex-aldermen petrol perk of 80 litres of petrol per
month free for the rest of their lives finally voted out? This perk cost
HCC rate payers $13,000 two years ago and nearly $10,000 last year.
01/07/08
I trust that everyone has taken a cold hard look at the super tides we've
been having for the past few days. Have you noted how existing jetties
and shorelines were nearly inundated in most cases and under water in
others. Now imagine if we had a storm along with that pushing these
waters higher. With climate change we won't have to imagine these or
remember back, these high water levels will be a fact everyday with all
the damage that will cause. We need to do everything we can to stem this
tide -- lower emissions, use non greenhouse gas producing energy sources,
consume less. We should thank Mother Nature for this preview of what may
come.
12/05/08
As an American immigrant to Tasmania in the 1990s and now a contributing
citizen, I am very proud of my native countrymen and women that have been
visiting off the USS Tarrawa and the way in which they have comported
themselves during this visit. I am, however, dismayed at my adoptive
state's media focus on the money these visitors bring in. While it may be
true that the ship's visit is a boon to the economy, where is the
welcoming attitude for its own sake that I remember so fondly from the
mid-1990s when my Antarctic research vessel first brought me to these
shores?
To the crew of the USS Tarrawa, I say thank you for your behaved visit and
we hope you go home with good feelings about Tasmania and the amazing
people that choose to call it home. We enjoyed meeting you as people and
not walking wallets and as your President might say, "ya'll come back now
ya hear" -- Safe sailing!
09/05/08
Let us just hope that this attack by Parkinson is not a prelude to the
State Government planning to do away with local councils, just seems to be
a bit of the modus operandi of this government. You know, start the smear
campaign early and focus on the divide and conquer strategy while further
consolidating power into the hands of the few.
Parkinson and others must recognise that local government in Tasmania is
not only a legitimate tier of government, but one that is much more
responsive to the electorate. Talk to nearly any councillor of any
political persuasion and this is easily verified. To denigrate our
serving councillors in this way is further evidence of the hubris of this
existing government and a very sad reflection on the state of democracy in
the minds of some of our elected officials. I just want to know, who out
there actually votes for people like this who want to take away your local
interface to our governing structure? A whim indeed!
24/04/08
The Tasmanian Industrial Commission is charged with determining the
remuneration of councillors statewide. It is still critical that a
balance be gained in providing remuneration that will not impede members
of the community from standing for office nor cost them out of their own
pockets other than time (which is an opportunity cost freely chosen) while
assuring that remuneration is not so high as to attract candidates solely
interested in financial gain.
Local councils are a legitimate tier of government and any implication
that because most councillors nominated with community service in mind
that this somehow precludes them being a legitimate tier of government in
the eye of the electorate is not supported. Therefore, a formula to
determine remuneration levels must be clearly in line with other tiers of
government, specifically that of state parliamentarians on a FTE basis.
Finally, provision should be made whereby it is clearly stated that
councils are not allowed to provide allowances or perks with a monetary
value that represents a direct cost to a council once a councillor loses
their seat. For example, the infamous Hobart City Council “petrol perk”
providing 80 litres of free petrol every month for the rest of a person’s
life once they have served two terms. I see no value gained by the
community from this sort of direct payment to a person that is no longer
doing a job. I surely would not expect an employer for whom I worked in
the past to continue to pay me once I have ceased employment with them.
With nearly $13,000 spent on this "petrol perk" in 05/06 and $10,000 in
06/07, I can see how many community organisations providing service that
only receive in the hundreds of dollars per year could benefit from these
monies being re-directed.
21/04/08
As the colder, darker mornings approach, it is appropriate to thank those
that begin their work days much earlier than most who also act as eyes of
the community. Our newspaper delivers, our rubbish collectors, taxi
drivers, etc that help to ensure all is well in the wee hours. Thank you
to them and their community spirit with a willingness to call in when
things are not quite right.
15/04/08
It is time for Tasmania to match in the marine area what has been
protected terrestrially, not to mention the fact that even if Tasmania was
to declare ALL the recommended areas in the Bruny Bioregion as MPAs, we
would still be behind the states of NSW and Victoria in terms of the
proportion of our marine environment protected. Such protection as
“control” areas will, of course, enable resource managers to make
scientifically sound judgements on allowed resource extraction to ensure
that we are spending the “income” from our marine resource rather than
depleting our capital to the detriment of future generations. One need
look no further than the news stories yesterday regarding fish species
that are no longer even recreationally viable in Tasmania waters. Some
opponents have stated that to designate MPAs based on the value they
provide as control areas in research programs should not be a reason for
such designation. I believe this is wrong from a scientific perspective,
all good research requires comparison to baselines often gained from
control areas. And good science leads to good management decisions.
Other opponents argue that MPAs are not the silver bullet to resource
management issues. I agree with this, but I see the role of the MPAs as
an essential complementary strategy to the existing management efforts
under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act. Through a
multi-pronged approach, including MPA establishment, we gain the broader
scale approach that opponents are calling for. It is critical that we
provide for ecosystem resilience so our children and theirs can continue
to enjoy the enviable lifestyle of our generation with respect to food
production, recreational fishing and other activities such as kayaking,
diving and snorkelling opportunities, and the idea of protecting
potentials for the future. This resilience is particularly critical with
the expected impacts from global climate change on sea levels, sea
temperatures, and ocean circulation patterns as well as important in
helping our ecosystems resist increased pressures from invasive species
and diseases and provide areas from which colonisation to other areas can
originate.
Some argue that the MPAs are only protecting small areas of the coast and
are not contributing to resilience in the face of climate change and
invasive species incursions, yet they then deride the proposed MPAs as
being too large. They cannot have the argument both ways. They also
present an either/or scenario, as if we can only have “a few MPAs” OR
stock rebuilding and ecosystem protection on a broader scale. The scale
of varying levels of protection in the proposed MPAs addresses this last
point and the fact that we can simultaneously pursue BOTH MPAs and stock
rebuilding efforts seems to take the wind out of their sails as it were.
We need to manage our resources through a combination of efforts that are
complementary and not believe such efforts are mutually exclusive.
Further, they argue that MPAs cannot mitigate the effects of nutrient and
sediment run-off from terrestrial sources. Well, of course they cannot do
that, such mitigation must be accomplished through comprehensive
management of these terrestrial sources at their source or addressed
somewhere in the movement of these nutrients and sediments from source to
sea. MPAs cannot be expected to mitigate these sorts of threats to our
near coastal areas.
25/01/08
Obviously there are some good points to this proposal and some bad. One good point might be the stylistic interpretation of the original cottage within the new structure; an embracing of what came before. The cantilevered portion, however, is barely above fascadism. At least in fascadism, the attempt is made to deceive the eye into believing the original structure is still intact. In this design on the Macquarie Street side, the overarching mass of the building will not look like an embrace, but like a big boot about to squash something in its path. Hobart is not supposed to have a heavy feel, but rather one that is human scale and embracing of historical elements. Multistory can be human scale, but not in this way.
14/01/08
With regards to the exploration of geothermal energy options in Australia,
I applaud the sourcing of power from any alternatives to coal and
petroleum in our increasingly carbon constrained world. It is important,
however, to correct some common fallacies espoused by the proponents of
this "new" technology regarding other alternative energy sources and base
load power.
It is simply untrue to say that wind energy cannot provide baseload power
into the electrical grid. In fact, Dr. Diesendorf identifies in his book
"Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy" that actual site
measurements over 30 years in the UK show that variations in thousands of
wind turbines spread out over different sites and wind regions are
smoothed, thus providing a reliable baseload.
Microgeneration was also not even mentioned as an alternative, wherein we
all contribute to the national grid with whatever small-scale generating
capacity we have in abundance. Hobart, for example, as the second driest
capital city in the country has an abundance of solar energy going to
waste, whether for heating water or for electricity production. Yet,
governments here have not taken the steps to require even solar hot water
be fitted to all new buildings as happens around the world, even in small
towns in China and cities all over Europe.
We need to move beyond the idea that we should be reliant on one source of
energy. A distributed model based on different energy sources in
different geographical areas feeding into the national grid will make our
electrical system more resilient and democratic. Therefore, it should not
be necessary for one alternative energy source proponent to talk down the
contribution of other sources. They are all crucial to the mix and should
be supported by industry and the government.
13/04/07 Solarindustrialisation
We had visionaries for hydroindustrialisation, how about a commitment to solarindustrialization. With dam levels down, gas supplies interrupted, why not a massive deployment of solar panels on all government buildings and incentives for the private sector to install them as well. We could once again become a renewable energy island and not on the slow slide to dirty coal power.
13/10/06
The piece on the questionable Picasso painting is a timely warning to potential investors in paintings considering the availability at auctions and private collection sales of much Australiana. Please beware and have them independently verified and provenance checked before at best contributing to cultural vandalism by supporting fakes and at worst losing your money as well!!! There was a spate of "colonial" paintings dumped on the Hobart market a few years back, so beware...
05/10/06
Paying off the ex-Governor, fighting protection for Recherche Bay then claiming it was all your effort, denying Walker Corp's Canal Estate was still on the books, saying the DFO would be fairly assessed, and now the KPMG audit staying hidden away days after his State of the State speech calling for transparency... I guess we should've known what to expect from Lennon when he set the tone for his time as Premier in his victory speech by asking for his family to be left out of politics followed in the same breath telling us pridefully about his new grandchild...hypocrisy from the get go...please spare us anymore!!!!!
15/09/06
I am writing in regard to the proposed development of a Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) centre on Hobart airport land. As a trained urban and regional planner as well as someone who has experienced first-hand the negative impacts of these types of developments in the USA, I have serious misgivings about this project and the impacts it will have on current shopping precincts in the greater Hobart metropolitan area that serve as character-defining aspects of the Tasmanian community.
It is a proven and demonstrable fact that such developments on the outskirts of established urban areas or town centres cause a significant weakening at best of the viability of these existing areas and at worst a complete decimation of traditional centres. One need look no further than the well-documented WalMart fiascos that continue to take place all over the USA where town centres are now populated with empty or struggling shops and the local communities have been gutted.
If this State Government was concerned about providing additional shopping amenities, then it should more seriously consider encouraging and supporting continued refurbishment of existing centres. Glenorchy, Kingborough, and Clarence Councils have been doing a great job for the past few years to create LOCAL centres to help foster community at that level. As an additional benefit, these refurbishments have been an important contributor to discouraging excess private transport use by the average southern Tasmanian.
My other concern deals with the fact that the sheer size of the development and the associated parking spaces required will make nothing but a sea of asphalt with the attendant encouragement of driving further distances to shop. This leads to more pollution and upping the southern Tasmanian community's contribution to greenhouse gasses and the implications that has for global climate change.
The idea that employment will be increased is a bit of a furphy also beyond the initial construction phase. The shops and stores that will close in surrounding retail areas will negate any expected employment increase. And need I even go into the additional encouragement of a consumer lifestyle that has created one of the most environmentally unsustainable cultures on the planet. Data shows that per capita, Australians are already among the top polluters on the planet due to excess consumption and energy use.
In summary, the size and location of this DFO is not in keeping with the goals of a sustainable living community in southern Tasmania. If the participant stores really see an economic case to establishing in the Hobart area, there are plenty of areas in the Hobart CBD with its well-established public transport system that could accommodate a more Hobart-sized development if one is in fact even really needed.
18/07/06
Mr. Howard can see the need to reduce, re-use, and recycle WATER, but then is blind to the need to reduce ENERGY use and encourage the use of renewable energies. Pardon my cynicism, but if your mining mates owned all the solar and wind technologies, you can bet the Renewable Energy credit scheme would see a rise from the pitiful 3% nationally to something akin to 90%!
03/04/06
Perhaps Sue Neales needs a little more time to research in depth her implication that committed unionists would never vote Green! Well, Sue, check the policies of the Parties, they were printed in your paper only a few weeks ago and I, as a union rep, voted Green as did many others in my workplace -- a Catholic school at that! Turning long cherished stereotypes on their heads, eh?!
23/09/05
My how the pot is calling the kettle black in Canberra of late. Listen to Mr. Howard claim that Mr. Beazley is picking up "anything" American. Look at all the changes to Australian society during this government's tenure and you will see who is picking up "all things American"!!! Look only at the undermining of the public health system to the more recent IR Law changes. Methinks the lady doth protest too much, Mr. Howard. Why try to be an economic powerhouse filled with extreme rich and forgotten poor like the USA...think on what kind of a country you want to call your own! I should know, I am an American emigre to these fine shores!
09/03/05
Kudos to the Hobart traffic planners for their installation of a roundabout at Patrick/Hill Streets, just please tell me there will be a tree to match the other Hill Street roundabouts! The symmetry and balance will be wonderful.
Now, not that I want to dismantle the one-way system in Hobart, but the Barrack/Bathurst intersection clogging would be easily dealt with by making Molle Street two way again for it's whole length. Molle Street is currently underutilised and would serve to take the load coming from West Hobart that currently must merge with the CBD bypassers coming up Bathurst to Barrack. And if you say it is too steep, need I mention many other two way streets steeper and longer such as Mellifont or Lynton?!
Please consider this as the Bathurst/Barrack situation is becoming intolerable and is only encouraging drivers to pass through the CBD increasing the load there. Even a light or a roundabout will not address the central issue of too much traffic routed through there.
25/02/05
Delay Delay Delay, allows more old-growth hectares to be logged. Once not wilderness or old-growth classified, we can have more and more plantations to support this non-chlorine non-core promise pulp mill. Good strategy Lennon Gunnsverment. Quick another road, too!
16/02/05
A Bill of Rights, a great idea. Yes, found in many other countries, but how many have the balancing Bill of Responsibilities? A society functions best in balance, if you can expect to have, expect to give.
22/07/04 Not Literary
It is a fortunate thing that Mr. Downer so praised Michael Moore by referring to him as the Ugly American. If he had read the book, he would realize the Ugly American was the only good guy in the whole story. Once again this government can't quite get its facts straight to mean what they say and say what they mean...
09/03/04
Setting aside whether some of the new developments should even be built at all, why are there not statewide or local council regulations requiring energy neutrality at least. Why are we still accepting second-class development codes in the area of energy efficiency?
A few facts come to mind that fit like parts of an equation: Hobart is the second driest capital city in the nation (and I would guess that means more hours of sunshine?); Aurora Energy subsidises installation of active solar systems for hot water and electricity; money is pouring in to new developments and huge profits being made by developers; and that Tasmania is looking for new industries to nurture and support. Why not solar and wind energy production on every new building in Hobart? In fact, once the resistance to this idea is past and more people see it as easy to use as standard appliances, why not include it in all refurbishments of government buildings as a beginning and in the older established suburbs as well. We wouldn't ever have to consider new dams or fear dry spells if we used hydroelectric in the winter and solar in the summer.
The Mercury has touched on the subject many times, presenting articles about energy efficiency in home designs and even more recently making the style of developments a focus (gated and the like), why has this not stimulated some innovative and compulsory design elements for energy neutrality.
Take Tolman's Hill for example, there are restrictions on colour and position of homes on their lots, but not a requirement that they at least be energy neutral. There has been a huge amount of money invested on Tolman's Hill and yet no concerted effort to take advantage of some of the best solar and wind energy potential in Hobart. Not to mention the rooftops of the new apartment developments in the Cove as well as the roof of the Federation Concert Hall. All of these could be putting electricity back in to the grid.
Want to provide an incentive instead of making it compulsory? Give a discount on Stamp Duty fees to add to what Aurora will provide and the systems might be almost free. And given that they pay for themselves in 5-8 years, seems a pretty good deal to me.
If the council can tell someone what colour to paint their homes, surely it has the power to say if you want to build that, you have to include an active solar system. Come on Hobart, if it can be done profitably in a struggling family home in Sandfly, surely it can be done by cashed up developers reaping windfalls in this real estate market...
24/07/03
Now that we are the darling of the real estate market, might we also begin to see trendy new names applied to our favourite inner suburbs? SoHo, WeHo, and NoHo all sound ever so international, but then what of BaPo, SaBa, LeVa, MoSt, or NeTo? All doable, but should we draw the line at the River as EaSh, RoBa, MoBa, GeBa, and RoHi just don't really roll off the tongue, not to mention leaving all the single word suburbs out in the cold... Well, going with the flow, I am happy to be living in WeHo, dining out in NoHo, and enjoying the stunning mountain views in SoHo!
TASMANIA TIMES ARTICLES & COMMENTS [most recent at the top]
Bottled Water at UTAS. ABC Online 10.03.11 12:01 am
As the UTAS Sustainability Manager, I applaud the efforts of Alderman Harvey and welcome his challenge especially given the fact that UTAS has been working steadily for over a year to minimise the quantity of commercial bottled water sold at UTAS.
In fact, early in 2010, we installed filtered water bottle filling stations at our three main campuses (Sandy Bay, Newnham, and Cradle Coast) similar to those mentioned by Alderman Harvey and commenters on his media release. If you observe these stations, you will note the great numbers of people using them to re-fill their drink bottles so we see them as an unqualified success.
Also in early 2010, we instituted sustainable events guidelines for those using our facilities. We encourage those holding meetings and conferences to provide carafes of water (rather than bottles). I understand there are also student-led initiatives underway that may indeed lead to bottled water-free sections of UTAS.
Rest assured that UTAS is well aware of the issue of bottled water and the fact that there are more regulations concerning the quality of our tap water than those for bottled water. We understand that it makes little sense to use our precious fossil fuels to make the bottles and then transport them long distances when we have great water to the tap at our facilities provided in a highly energy efficient manner.
The idea is to minimise use through education and provision of infrastructure and processes to facilitate moving away from bottled water use whenever and wherever practical.
Peak Oil will hit Tassie too. Chris Harries 24.02.11
Want a quick response to Peak Oil and a way to draw out our supplies for a very long time for use in important, even critical areas such as medicines, remove the subsidies to this industry and apply them to other areas of the economy.
Facts (from an investment analyst website):
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The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) chief economist has said phasing out billions of dollars of fossil fuel subsidies “would trigger vast savings in energy consumption… and change the energy game quickly and substantially.” He added that fossil fuel subsidies are “the appendicitis of the global energy system which need to be removed for a healthy, sustainable development future.”
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The IEA calculated that in 2008, 37 large developing countries spent about $557 billion in energy subsidies.
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An Environmental Law Institute study estimated $72 billion in tax breaks to U.S. fossil fuel companies from 2002-2008.
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An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study found direct subsidies that artificially lower the cost of fossil fuels amounted to $312 billion globally in 2009.
I wonder what Australia’s subsidy rate amounts to?
Now, let’s use that to put rail in where it makes sense, both for freight and high speed passenger and intra-city routes (focus on electric of course); move those subsidies to a mix of renewables both proven (wind, large scale thermal) and being researched (wave, tidal, geothermal); food security; stabilising populations and working out how a non-viral growth pattern economy can work, among other things.
As for nuclear—this again is a FINITE resource that will NOT be worth investing the billions into building power plants and dealing with the waste (for whatever period of time the new reactors waste products decay over). Australia has a wealth of other opportunities for power production, leave the nuclear to the countries that have no choices with current technologies to by them (and the world) time to mature new technologies. We must think globally while pursuing local solutions.
#24 Power that will keep our civilisation supplied for millions of years producing minuscule amounts of waste that will decay to background levels within 300 years ‘not worth investing the billions’? Sorry Corey Peterson, but I beg to differ.
Posted by Mark Duffett on 28/02/11 at 10:28 AM
#25 Re #24; Mark Duffett, there is only so much uranium on the planet, therefore it to is a finite resource and will not last for millions of years. Peak Uranium at current use levels has already been calculated (peak may occur sometime around 2035), not counting increased demand from new super-expensive plants that won’t have the fuel to last their expected lifespans.
Posted by Corey Peterson on 28/02/11 at 12:52 PM
Democratic Double Dipping
Corey Peterson. 05.04.10 1:07 am
For the following reasons, I have concerns about the stated intentions of two incoming MPs (Elise Archer and Mark Shelton) to continue their elected positions in two levels of government simultaneously:
I believe it is unethical to serve on two levels of government at the same time, especially when local government merely exists at the whim of the State Government. While it would not be a very politically savvy move, the State Government can at any time make changes to local government. This would be akin to being both an employee and serving on the Board of an organisation at the same time; most if not all constitutions forbid this.
Related to #1, representation issues arise from one person serving two levels of government in that the electors are only getting one voice/perspective instead of two with no chance of opposing views in any State versus Local Government issues.
Irrespective of whether the person is a Minister or not, in Opposition or not, they are supposed to be serving full-time to stay abreast of the issues for State Government. Local government is based on a minimum of 16-20 hours/week, which is what the 2009 remuneration rises last year were based on (for example HCC Aldermen went from under $12,000 to over $27,000 per year). Doing both would surely not be effectively sustainable over time.
What happens when there are conflicting meeting times or other required attendance, one or the other will suffer and Id wager it will almost always be their local government role thus disadvantaging local ratepayers.
Similarly, no one can serve as both State and Federal MPs simultaneously even if they thought they could do both.
Local government in Tasmania is often seen as a training ground for aspiring leaders and by not vacating the position once moved up and out, the double-dippers are denying others the opportunity to serve their communities and get this valuable experience.
In our current context, no single party has enough MPs at this point to effectively maintain a government replete with engaged backbenchers ready to take on a ministry if needed, etc this has been discussed at length in all media forums. So, why would any party allow democratic double-dipping?
The Greens have an explicit policy that disallows serving on two levels of government at the same time. In my conversations with Elise Archer, I understand the Liberals have no such policy, but she assured me that if elected she would resign from Hobart City Council (and concerningly now has back flipped on this according to her brief Mercury bio the other day) as she agreed with my points as noted above. What is Labor policy on this?
For those elected that are concerned about costing their rate payers for a by-election, I would humbly (and with self-confessed tongue-in-cheek naivety) argue that perhaps they should have factored that into their decision to run for State Government and made it clear to ratepayers what impact this would have for a by-election.
The incoming Local Government Minister should seriously consider changing the law to disallow elected representatives serving at two levels of government simultaneously with resignation from their local role effective on the first day of sitting in the new Parliament.
Good response in the comments! Go to: http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/article/democratic-double-dipping/
New Hobart City Council Margot Giblin 10.11.09 5:28 am
Corey's comments to the article: Best wishes to the new Council, may your heads be clear and your hearts true. Everyone has something to contribute and good ideas can come from anywhere. Have the courage to recognise and embrace these contributions and ideas for what they are and not who proposes them. Please be willing to step out of old ways of thinking, take heed of experts, including Council officers and employees as they truly have the expertise required for the challenges ahead. The very prosperity and liveability of our city is in your hands for another two years.
My top priorities wish list:
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A pedestrian/cyclist stoplight at the Collins/Molle intersection along with footpath “bulbs” as my days counting crossings there over the past few months has more than highlighted the inherent danger of this area for all users, from pedestrians and cyclists to cars and motorcycles. It really is an accident just waiting to happen given the situations I witnessed.
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I’d also like to see trams travelling from Salamanca to North Hobart as a matter of priority for public transport reasons, as a very good tourist drawcard and it would enliven the whole Elizabeth Street strip for our small businesses. After all, these businesses in all of their neighbourhood areas are the lifeblood of community and our local economy.
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Enhancing safety of inner suburb residential areas by improving lighting and fixing footpaths.
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Pushing Southern Water to begin fixing the antiquated distribution system in these same inner suburb areas – Bathurst Street alone has had 2 major and 3 minor leaks in the last three months. I imagine this is related to ground swelling from the extremely wet winter which has led to the cracking footpaths as well.
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More support for community gardens and food-bearing street trees when possible.
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Continued and enhanced movement towards the integrated transport plans, including the bikeway system. Park and rides, dedicated bus lanes and services during peak periods, etc.
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Ensuring that development does not occur in our riparian zones, but rather they be improved for people and animal corridors – habitat for both really, paths, picnic areas, etc.
Ahhh, the list could go on and I hope that at least some of these match the lists that all Aldermen themselves have.
Again, thank you to each of you for being willing to stand up and serve the people of Hobart as well as recognising the entity that is “the City” as something that also needs representation and protection as it will continue long after we are all gone. Make your mark thoughtfully.
Cheers,
Corey Peterson
Posted by Corey on 11/11/09 at 08:09 AM
Council: will there be another clean-out? Dr Kevin Bonham 20.10.09 5:20 am
Re #16 (Peter Brownscombe)...I fought hard to have the petrol perks for Hobart City Council aldermen removed. That took two years and lots of sending it back to committee and in the end the majority of incumbents in this election voted to keep the perk of 80 litres of petrol free per month for the rest of their lives for themselves and to do away with it for anyone now elected. I think that was incredibly self-serving of them while basking in the glory of “doing something” about the inglorious perk. As for saying what we would do with the remuneration at this point requires being quite careful due to the Ivan Dean amendment to campaign laws (can’t promise donations of any kind or whatever as it could look like we are trying to buy votes). I am sure though that something will happen on this front.
I was disappointed Peter that you chose not to speak or otherwise identify yourself at the CHCA as I would’ve liked to have met you. Sometime in the future then.
Re #17, Hi Damon, we had to go stand in the Mercury foyer and ask to get some coverage for our work with the postbox asking people first to enrol to vote and now to return their ballots; it took a while to encourage that coverage. At least you, Sexton, and Zucco have been getting some coverage by the Mercury during the election period. I do agree that letters to the editor have been strangely absent this election compared to the 2007 one…not through lack of all of us trying I am sure.
Cheers and good luck to all the candidates that have worked hard in their campaigns…
Corey Peterson HCC Candidate (Greens) 21/10/09 at 09:35 PM
Another Pedestrian Accident Waiting To Happen
Corey Peterson Greens Candidate for Hobart City Council
29.09.09 9:59 am
The intersection of Collins and Molle Streets remains a dangerous location for pedestrians, cyclists, and cars alike.
Hobart City Council Greens Candidate Corey Peterson wants a safer crossing arrangement than a few “kerbing bulbs” currently proposed.
Peterson says, “the confluence of pedestrians, cyclists and cars into this currently uncontrolled intersection is an accident waiting to happen. Here you have a busier and busier Hobart Rivulet track used for non-car access to the city, a very large surface carpark catering to commuters using it at the same times as well as a couple of businesses operating out of the adjoining building and they are all forced to cross a 60 km per hour three lane thoroughfare without benefit of any safety features.”
Peterson continues, “I have been monitoring this intersection over the past few months and have counted over 160 people and dozens of cyclists crossing this road from 8-9 a.m. and another 180 from 4-5:30, which is also the peak period for commuter traffic on Molle Street. I watched as people with prams, travel bags, children on bikes all dodged traffic as they crossed the road.”
“It took a lot of effort by Sandy Bay residents and city workers to get pedestrian lights on Sandy Bay Road, Regent Street, and Bathurst Street near the 50 and Better Centre with fewer hourly crossings, so I would expect swifter action on this unsafe intersection. Safer solutions could include slowing the speed limit on Molle Street as well as pedestrian lights with the kerb bulbing or an under road crossing,” Peterson added.
“As we are encouraging more people to commute to work on their own two legs or to cycle, we need to ensure that we do not then dump them from Council-supplied tracks into unsafe areas just short of the city centre. Addressing this crossing issue ties in neatly with Council’s Sustainable Transport initiatives, especially considering the pedestrian getting hit yesterday just down Collins Street.”
As a candidate, Peterson believes that one of the Council’s main duties of care is to the safety of residents and providing safe street crossings is critical, especially in areas of such obvious heavy use from competing transport modes and businesses.
Heritage through art 13.07.09 4:41 am
I would also argue that protecting our built heritage necessarily involves that heritage in context. The historic and human scale streetscapes of this city are the very thing that consciously or not make Hobart so appealing to residents and visitors alike. We need to get beyond the developers excuse that if something is not on the heritage register then demolition should be allowed.
For no apparent reason the latest example is that of the stone cottage that until weeks ago stood proudly cupped in the wings of the new Menzies Centre and in fact was used as an office by the builders of this new edifice. Now it is gone—why was that necessary?
Why is it necessary that whole portions of our city blocks are being turned over to developers to demolish and build 30+ meter high and 50m wide carparks right up to the edge of the footpath, ESPECIALLY when there are holes in this city that are crying out for sensitive developments that if needs be could have parking included in a mixed development of retail/commercial/residential. Carparks do NOT give an authentic city feel, people and people friendly buildings give the authentic city feel—places where people live in higher densities. If carparks and shops were all that make a city, then the newest cities of DFO, Eastlands, and Northgate should have their own councils.
My point here is to encourage people to have a look at what they have with respect to not only heritage and history, but the scale of the city that provides the very distinctions that differentiate HOBART from the suburban centres. This is everyone’s chance to help secure a future where Hobart is not gobbled up by car parking and inappropriate developments—view and comment on the Draft Planning Scheme for your capitol! It is available for download from the HCC website with information forums scheduled all around the city in the next two months and final comments due in Sept.
I plead with each and everyone one of you to take this opportunity to empower your Council for years to come so that it can protect that which makes Hobart special.
Corey Peterson
(yes, planning to run for Hobart City Council in Oct 09)
Posted by Corey on 13/07/09 at 08:32 PM
HCC: Wish list 12.11.07 1:04 am (Article by Margot Giblin)
One item on my wish list would include covered bicycle “parking” areas around the city with “service station” options located there as well. This might include an on-demand compressor for filling tyres, fresh potable water for filling water bottles, etc. This in conjunction with accommodating bicycles on buses and better bike lanes/safer movement would encourage biking in the greater Hobart area.
As for Toby’s comment on the Federation Concert Hall, why hasn’t the developer been held to account on the poor choice of materials used. This insulation issue came to the fore as the cladding was installed and then promptly buckled. The architect I think it was came back with the comment that it was designed to do that—pigs eye I say. It looks shabby and is not a good look for people coming thru that gateway into the city and our lovely waterfront area.
And good on Jeff for paying attention to TasTimes and following up on material presented here.
Cheers,
Corey Peterson
Posted by Corey on 15/11/07 at 09:17 AM
Vote! by Margot Giblin 26.10.07
Corey Peterson: Why oh why can’t the newspapers put this on the FRONT page for at least one day if not the whole week in some form or another?!
Margot makes it painfully obvious why people should care and make the effort to vote and yet it is possible we will set to return a lower percentage of ballots this year than 2005…
This despite the increasingly sophisticated campaigning by candidates, the obvious and critical issues of a internally uncooperative group of aldermen, and an elector poll on this pulp mill that has inspired street marches and rallies. My guess is that we (candidates and the general public) have been saturated by the pseudo-cum-actual Federal election campaigning overlapping with ours and drowning out the focus on local issues.
So, before Tuesday comes and goes, I want to thank Kevin and Margot for making the effort to bring local issues to the fore in this forum. Keep up the great work in participating in TasTimes and here’s to readership increasing over time….
Cheers,
Corey Peterson (self-authorised)
HCC ... and Family 22.10.07 12:57 am
I guess this is my chance as a candidate for Hobart City Council to put forward my definition of family as well. I also am family-oriented, having a godchild here in Tasmania and a dozen nieces and nephews in the USA, some of whom have come and lived with me and my partner for months at a time to attend school here as our own little foreign exchange program.
I find Donnelly’s views saddening, while those of Briscoe heartening, Force’s enlightening, Smith’s reality-based, and Ruzicka’s politically wary stance puzzling as she need fear no one upsetting her applecart taking her to another term as alderman. What a sad world it would be if the only people that mattered or were supported by society fit Donnelly’s narrow interpretation of what makes a family. Talk about setting up an exclusive “Handmaid’s Tale” version of what a society should be.
Donnelly says “I accept different views but wouldn’t like to see hard working families pushed over by the selfish values of same sex parenting. Yes, it is selfish, because it doesn’t lead to anything.” What does that mean? What “doesn’t lead to anything”? Love, caring, nurturing, accepting, supporting are not words that are only applicable to “hard working families”. What idle ramblings from someone obviously out of touch with the larger and inclusive community. Donnelly and those that think like him are the ones that hold our community back from achieving an inclusive and vibrantly diverse society.
To imply that same-sex attracted persons in long-term relationships that want to bring up children are being selfish is ludicrous. Does he say the same about the young women that this Federal Government has been paying to have children with no support networks and no long term societal structures to enable these children to meet their potentials? I’d go on, but there has been plenty of reporting on that issue.
I guess that puts into context Donnelly’s out of touch comments to me and Jeff Briscoe last Wednesday night that the only reason Hobart has boomed of late is because of ratepayers and how much they pay. No, Peter, it wouldn’t have anything to do with the world and Australian economies booming making “inexpensive” Hobart an attractive place for business and migrants to invest. Or maybe the lifestyle of Hobart compared to mainland cities. Or with the gay law reform changes in the late 1990s making Tasmania a more attractive and inclusive place, or or or. Ratepayers have been paying for a very long time, even during the negative growth period of the late 1990s, does he give them credit for that decline. Donnelly, I say you are a bit out of touch.
In relation to same sex parenting Briscoe said, ‘I couldn’t care less what age or what gender parents are as long as they are there for the right reasons – that is, as long as they are there and caring for their children’. I couldn’t agree more and I will not take some fence-sitter position. These are real people that are hurt and marginalised by the negative portrayal put forth by people such as Donnelly, with many suffering mental illness and even committing suicide (especially in rural and regional areas of this state). My hope would be, like the arch-conservative USA Vice President Dick Cheney who holds (held?) similar views, you Peter Donnelly are blessed with a same-sex attracted child or grandchild to open your eyes to your shared humanity with the rest of us. Your position on a pedestal of a perfect life that all should mimic might just bring you down to join the rest of us loving, supporting, sharing, including, and just plain being there for each other. Life can be hard enough without making it more so for each other.
Corey Peterson (self-authorised)
Hobart City Council candidate (Greens)
Posted by Corey Peterson on 22/10/07 at 08:52 PM
Excerpt from Comments section on the "Family" question:
Kevin, the fairies in the bottom of my garden are my allies. However, they are not on the electoral roll, so it was not surprising that I failed in my tilt at Council in the last election. What is surprising, is that you are so fussed about what I wrote about the mayoral candidates ....
Posted by Margaretta Pos on 26/10/07 at 09:09 PM
#17 Margaretta, the fairies might easily have gotten you elected had you informed them of their rights to enrol as residents of Hobart regardless of their citizenry. Don’t feel bad if you weren’t aware ;) (although I am sure you are). In fact, I had to inform the Lord Mayor himself last month at the Markets when I was doing the Council and TEC’s jobs by informing and providing forms to some of the thousands of Hobart residents that are disenfranchised due to lack of information. Rob tried to tell me I was wrong and mis-informing people until I showed him the relevant form and the section of the Local Government Act.
Bill Harvey and I also spent time at the Uni letting people know as best we could. People were quite surprised, but excited to know they could participate in their local governance decisions.
So, in two years time, get those fairies to enrol and run again :)!
Cheers,
Corey Peterson (self-authorised)
At the Council of Hobart Progress Associations' "Meet the Candidates" forum. 7.30pm Wednesday 17 October
Margot Giblin writes: Corey Peterson, also standing for the Greens, introduced himself as being a serious contender for a seat on Council and as ‘a gay man’. Not alone in thinking of Kylie Scott’s earlier unanswered concerns in TT put that one on hold as Peterson filled in other details of his background and views.
An immigrant from the United States he holds Green party policies at the core of his beliefs but is ‘also pro development’. He sees the hole left by the Myer fire as an opportunity to build something which could happily compete with a DFO. He felt it would only be a matter of time before one is pushed through.
In relation to the present make up of Council Peterson advocated some of the longer standing members taking a break to ensure some fresh blood.
Pru Bonham declared her authorization of Eva Ruzicka’s election material.
She talked of having been obsessed with increasing ferry transport in her time on Council.
She had ‘failed dismally’ and was interested in Peterson’s view on ferry transport. He was supportive in principle but because of the open nature of the harbour, suggested the need for back up bus services.
Peterson came across as personable and confident with a variety of concerns.
From Dr. Kevin Bonhamon 19/10/07 at 09:17 PM
Peterson was in my view the best speaker of the night and clearly so, though not by an enormous margin. Not only was he a confident and energetic speaker, but he also drew on his diverse background and knowledge to give the impression that he could walk into Council and know what he was doing from day one. (TBC)
From Helen Rothwell on 19/10/07
Corey Peterson was also excellent in his originality of ideas and his energetic approach to issues that concern residents.
HCC: Questions for candidates
16.10.07 12:35 am
Are You a Member of a Political Party? Note: Greens Party candidates were asked whether all candidates should declare their political affiliations.
Corey Peterson: I think it’s incredibly important. If you’re not a member of a party you should also state that and whether you’ve run for a political party at any time. Otherwise it would be easy to let your membership lapse and then truthfully say you didn’t belong to a party.
In the comments section: Well, some interesting and telling statements from the candidates. I was most surprised by Rod Force saying that he sent money to Family First as he is supportive of families. That implies that all other political parties are not supportive of families, which would be a bizarre extension of the Orwellian double-speak to hide true beliefs. As people make up the parties and these people come from families do you truly believe that any party is anti-family? Not so I say.
This has been debated at length in the national media as well as locally through the intervention of the non-voting Exclusive Brethren in the political sphere to meet their own ends. One need look no further than Family First’s voting record to show that they do NOT put the family first in many instances and are a front for a non-inclusive view of the society that they want to create.
My vision of the world is more encompassing of the definition of family. Yes families are a stabilising force in our society and I put forward that a more inclusive definition of the family unit would add to the stability of our society and provide for supportive policies to be put forward to address the needs of many of the disenfranchised in our community. The biological family unit can be as dysfunctional as it can be wonderful and to make sweeping generalisations about “family” and who is pro-family is dangerous and exclusive.
As for Mr. Briscoe, I agree that is not a sufficient answer to the question and I call for a bit of political history disclosure from our candidates. We are told that Mr. Briscoe once belonged to the Greens, was a member of another grouping before running as a Liberal. People’s political persuasions evolve over time and it might be better for Mr. Briscoe to walk us through his political transformation and what prompted the changes.
I for one have never been a member of the Liberal/Family First/One Nation/Tasmania First parties nor have I financially supported them. I support some Labor platforms as I have been a Union representative at my College and I am running as a Green. A multi-party system is worth defending as everyone can be represented in the decision being made. I grew up in a two-party system where there is no real difference between the parties, leading to voter apathy and dis-engagement with the political process by the citizenry leaving lobbyists and entrenched interests calling the shots. It is not pretty.
Corey Peterson
Hobart City Council candidate (Greens)
Posted by Corey on 15/10/07 at 10:17 AM
Meeting the people (West Hobart Neighbourhood Watch meeting)
12.10.07 7:33 am
Corey Peterson introduced himself as not being Tasmanian born, having decided to stay on at the end of an Antarctic research trip. One of his concerns is transport, supporting much of what had been said already – with the addition of dedicated bike lanes to further reduce congestion. He supports sustainability in the city, saying that tanks and solar panels need to be put in place now with Council taking a lead both in its own buildings and in regulating new developments to see that site specific solutions are sought. Peterson also referred to his commitment to affordable housing and the protection of streetscapes with encouragement of native and fruit bearing plants. He would like to see the selling and planting of weed species banned and envisages Council taking a pro-active advisory role as well as being a regulator in this area.
Some questions for new candidates
08.10.07 12:48 am
What is your view of a limit to the number of consecutive terms of office to be held by Hobart City Council aldermen?
Corey Peterson: 2x4 year maximum then a 4 year break before coming back. Deputy and Mayor might have to be different.
HCC: who can vote ...
19.09.07 8:14 pm
Corey Peterson
Please note that the Local Government Act of Tasmania explicitly allows residents of Hobart that are not citizens to enrol to vote in Local Government elections. This fact has not been well-publicised, in fact I had to inform the Lord Mayor himself last weekend at the Salamanca Markets. He was surprised that he was not aware, can you then imagine how the average resident (student or migrant) might be unaware of this right. There are potentially thousands of Hobartians, particularly at the University and new migrants, that qualify to vote in local government elections where decisions are often made that affect these residents’ lives.
Hobart Council’s coup de grâce
13.09.07 8:49 am
Swift destruction
CONGRATULATIONS TO the Tasmanian Conservation Trust on the $26,000 grant to help the endangered Swift parrot. Shame it came a little late to educate the Hobart City Council as they allowed nearly a dozen eucalypts used by foraging Swift parrots (identified by a Tasmanian park ranger) to be cut down a few months ago at Harrington/Melville St corner to make way for a three-storey building. Where else in the world could you have witnessed a threatened species in the middle of a city?