Price of power. Returning but not earning
Farmers electric sting
THE NSW Farmers Association spoke out this week at the NSW upper house inquiry into the state’s electricity price hikes.
“Electricity prices have hit the hip pockets of all consumers across NSW. Regional users have particularly felt the pain of price rises, paying up to 20-25 per cent more for the same electricity use as urban users,” said association president Derek Schoen.
He said the lack of competition in retail markets is contributing to spiralling electricity prices.
“We had a dairy farmer near Dubbo who recently renegotiated her electricity contract. Her contract price jumped from $50,000 per annum to just over $90,000 per annum – the difference could have paid for an additional employee on the farm,” he said.
Return, return, return, but don’t earn
DON’T even start me on the Return and Earn scheme...
Three trips on one day this week, tried both machines, no go, all full up, let’s get back home and out of the 40-degree heat.
So, while I honoured my pledge to Return, there was no Earn, just a personal cost in fuel for me, my cost in time and also the resultant particulate pollution cost to the environment.
This scheme needs to be given to a coalition of Not-for-profit organisations with the priority of getting this shambles sorted.
Priority number two would be to redirect all the tens of millions of dollars gathered from these machines into community organisations and social projects – put it back where it originated from.
Why is that such a difficult concept to grasp, that community money should go to community instead of the very corporate fat cats who resisted a container deposit scheme for three decades, then had it awarded to them the moment it was brought in?
Beaut new ute for Fishing Classic
IMAGINE what the Inland Waterways guys could do with just a smidgeon of a fraction of the cash from the Return and Earn scheme.
Not to be deterred, the hardworking volunteer committee is spending plenty of time chasing sponsors and lining up prizes, all so they get to work for free all Easter weekend at this year’s Lake Burrendong Fishing Classic.
Local motor dealership principle Greg Brimble and a few other like-minded dealerships around town have jumped on board – Greg talked Ironman into kitting a vehicle out with all the off-road gear.
“I’m a keen fisherman myself, I look at the good that Inland Waterways is doing for the community and our river and I think the Classic is a really good community event. It’s something that I enjoy and participate in and a good way of securing the future of our waterways and fishing stocks for ourselves and our kids,” Greg said.
Jobs for lamb
FOR my money, our local federal MP Mark Coulton should be pushed into Barnaby Joyce’s job as leader of the federal Nationals and take over the role as Australia’s deputy prime minister, but the problem is the Nats have shown that by picking Barnaby Joyce in the first place, they don’t have much in the way of common sense.
Joyce’s supporters claim he’s a great voice for rural Australia but, from where I sit, he’s a voice for corporate Agribusiness, not for the run-of-the-mill man on the land who’ve seen things get ever tougher each year.
Mark Coulton this week announced the Coalition’s Tailored Assistance Employment Grants [TAEG] programme which aims to provide training for 200 young Indigenous people to work in the sheep meat processing sector.
Mr Coulton said the Federal Government funding to provide employment opportunities for Indigenous job seekers will address the workforce demands in a local business.
“The meat processing industry is expanding and there is a demand for meat processing jobs,” Mr Coulton said.
He said Fletcher International has demonstrated a connection and relationship with the Indigenous community and other key stakeholders including Jobactive and accredited training providers.
“Fletchers have identified a service delivery model of recruitment, job placement and mentoring,” Mr Coulton said.
“The project will target job seekers from highly disadvantaged backgrounds who require more support to address multiple employment barriers. Payments will be made on the achievement of outcomes,” he said.
I can attest to the real-world outcomes being delivered by Fletchers International on a daily basis when it comes to giving people a hand-up into fulltime employment.
I’m normally a sceptic when it comes to government programs, especially when it’s federal money being handed out by a distant bureaucracy, but in this case it can’t come soon enough.
Rocky river
THE city is going through a spate of rock-throwing incidents at the moment.
One of the latest victims is Cindy Riley who said: “It was just really disappointing as I was kayaking the river for the first time – it doesn’t flow fast so it was perfect, and then you get rocks thrown at you and a mouthful of cheek.”
If you see these kids throwing rocks, even if you’re in your car, try and pull over safely and take a pic so you can send that to the police.
Juvenile crime is a difficult area because often the kids are too young to be charged and often times when you hear the history of their home life you’d think they’d be better off locked up than not.
Anyway, it’s the digital age so start snapping pics and sending them to the cops.
Send your news tips to john.ryan@panscott.com.au or 0429 452 245 txt is best
Additional reporting by Dubbo Photo News staff. Note: John Ryan is also a councillor on Dubbo Regional Council. He writes here in his capacity as a journalist.