The New England independents

Back in April 2012 I reported the possibility that Richard Torbay might run for New England as a National Party candidate. Then Richard said in part:

Asked how strongly he was considering a move to federal politics, Mr Torbay said: “Well, I have made no secret of my disappointment about the trashing of the independent brand.

“There’s no doubt it’s been damaged by a hung Parliament, and that’s been very disappointing from my perspective.

“We’ve seen that reflected in a number of State polls, where Victoria now doesn’t have any more independents in their Parliament; there were three lost at the last NSW election; and at the recent Queensland election we saw three independents go.

“So, there’s no doubt there’s been massive brand damage, and that’s what I think has caused these approaches to occur.”

Richard was endorsed as National Party candidate for New England, but was then forced to withdraw, something I reported on in Thank you Richard Torbay.  Richard's decision to run, the reasons he gave, marked the end of the rise of the New England independents movement. As Richard noted, the rise of the independent had come to an end. But it was only in New England that there was anything approaching an independent political movement. 

Given events that had occurred, I thought that I might tell a little of the story of the New England independents. This had begun  with a post on my history blog, Introducing the story of the New England Independents.

My story on Richard's resignation attracted a few tart local comments. In this series, I simply want to place the independents in an historical context.

Nathan Tinkler's contribution

New England mining magnate Nathan Tinkler has been back in court over his debts.

Musing, whatever Mr Tinkler's commercial mistakes may be, I don't think anyone can doubt his contribution to New England soccer and rugby league.

Without him, both the Jets and Knights  might have gone to the big insolvency bin in the sky. That's not a bad achievement.

Hunter economy to grow by $28 billion

Hat tip to Craig Wilson ‏@mediahunter for this one.

A report by Deloitte Access Economics, Prospects and challenges for the Hunter Region – a strategic economic study, prepared for Regional Development Australia Hunter (RDA Hunter), forecasts growth in the Hunter Valley economy of almost 75% by 2036, up $28 billion. The Hunter claims to be Australia's largest regional economy, producing 80% of NSW’s electricity with 40% of the state’s coal resources. The press release summarising the report can be found here.

In parallel news, the Newcastle Herald reports that the Hunter rental market is tightening, with the proportion of properties available to lease contracting from 2.6 per cent to 2.3 per cent in just one month. Coal prices may be down just at present, but along the coal chain that runs from the Lower Hunter up into the Liverpool Plains, the growth of the industry has placed great strain on local rental accommodation.

In somewhat related news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released an analysis of RDA plans across Australia. It's not very useful. Australia is such a varied country that this type of summary tends not to tell us much. Still, you may find it useful.  

Metgasco suspends Northern Rivers coal seam gas development

The Northern Star (Lismore) carried a report today  of a press conference held in Metgasco's Casino office by managing director Peter Henderson to explain why the company was immediately suspending caol seam gas operations in the Northern Rivers. Fifteen Casino based employees will lose their jobs as a consequence.

According to Metgasco's Henderson, the uncertain regulatory environment aws the key cause.

Mr Henderson said the primary reason for the immediate suspension was the NSW Government's residential 2km CSG-free buffer zone announced three weeks ago, which remained unclear in its definition of a residential area.

He also blamed the previous 18-month statewide moratorium on the industry and what he said were increasingly lengthy delays in approvals for continued exploration.

"We don't think we'll have sensible stable policy in place until the end of the year after the Federal election, and to go through spending shareholders' funds on that basis would be just wasteful," Mr Henderson said.

Coal seam gas exploration and development has generated considerable community opposition in both the Northern Rivers and on the Liverpool Plains on the other side of the Tablelands. You will get a fair feel of some of the opposing views from the Green blog, North Coast Voices.

New England referee to officiate at the 2013 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers in Jordan

I didn't intend to run another soccer story so quickly, but after its past turmoil NNSW Football is finally getting its act together. 

Originally from Lismore but now living in Newcastle, Northern NSW referee Tanya de Boer has been appointed to officiate at the 2013 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers in Jordan.

Tanya received her FIFA badge as an Assistant Referee at the end of 2011. This allows her to run lines on International games

Last year, she was appointed to officiate at the 2012 AFF Women’s Championships held in September, her first appointment since gaining the badge.

“It’s good. You put in the hard work for it, but there are also many others who are also working hard, so it’s never taken for granted when you are invited to tournaments.”

“Each tournament gives you another opportunity to learn, improve and demonstrate your ability, in order to secure invitations to future tournaments. You also get to meet some great people from other countries and visit regions you may never have had the chance to see,” said de Boer.

Tanya is among a number of Australian referees to officiate at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers which commence on June 5 and conclude on June 9.

“There are 4 groups for the Asian cup qualifiers. I’ve been selected to go to the Group A qualifiers in Jordan in June. Kate Jac (Referee) and Sarah Ho (Assistant Referee) have been selected to go to the Group B qualifiers in Bangladesh at the end of May. With Allyson Flynn (Assistant Referee) at a tournament in Algarve, Portugal, and Peta McCallum attending her first FIFA seminar in Bangkok, all the Australian Women FIFA Referees and Assistants are doing really well. Jacqui Hurford (Referee) is currently returning from injury,”

“With refereeing you go out there as a team and are supportive of the achievements of the others. If an Australian referee or assistant referee does well, it reflects positively on the whole Australian officials team. The idea is that you want Australia to have a high reputation for the quality of officials so that the women coming through are given greater opportunities to represent on the international circuit.”

Tanya comes from Lismore. In 2008, she became the first female to receive the Football Far North Coast Referee of the Year Award. Tanya now lives in Newcastle refereeing NBN State League and Westfield W-League fixtures. 

When it comes to advice, Tanya says “It only takes a short course to get you started. Where you want to take it is up to you. If you’re doing it for pocket money, that’s ok, almost all referees start off that way. However, if you want to take it further there are people, support and avenues to get you to a competitive level if that’s where you want to go, but you have to be prepared to work for it.”

Northern NSW Football (and the rest of us) would like to congratulate Tanya for her ongoing success and wishes her all the best during her second International appointment.

Football - Northern NSW State Cup kicks off

I see from the Northern NSW Football Facebook page that the Northern NSW State Cup has kicked off.

Football (soccer) is the only sport in which we are actually recognised as a state in our own right. The State Cup is a state-wide competition open to all men’s NNSWF Premier Competition Clubs and Senior Zone Member Clubs.

Due to travel distances and time restraints the competition is divided into two pools, the Northern Pool and Southern Pool, to determine Final Series participants.

The Northern Pool will comprise of club teams from Mid North Coast Football, North Coast Football, Northern Inland Football and Football Far North Coast. From these club teams, the last remaining four will participate in the Finals Series representing the Northern Pool.

The Southern Pool will be split into two further sub-pools, the first comprising of NBN State League and New FM 1st Division club teams and the second comprising of club teams from Newcastle Football, Macquarie Football and Hunter Valley Football. From each of these two sub-pools, the last remaining two club teams will participate in the Finals Series representing the Southern Pool.

The following key dates have been allocated by NNSWF for State Cup Fixtures:

SOUTHERN POOL

NBN/New FM Club Teams

Round 1   Saturday 9th / Sunday 10th March 17 teams (drawn from the hat)                               

Round 2   Wednesday 3rd April 8 winners, plus club team with bye from Round 1

Round 3   Wednesday 1st May 4 winners, plus club team with bye from Round 2

Round 4   Wednesday 29th May 2 winners, plus club team with bye from Round 3

Newcastle, Macquarie and Hunter Valley Club Teams

Round 1 Saturday 16th / Sunday 17th March 38 teams (drawn from the hat)

Saturday 23rd / Sunday 24th March

Round 2 Wednesday 3rd April 19 winners, plus club team with bye, from Round 1

Round 3 Wednesday 1st May 10 winners, plus club team with bye, from Round 2

Round 4 Wednesday 29th May 5 winners, plus club team with bye, from Round 3

Round 5 Wednesday 19th June 3 winners, plus club team with bye, from Round 4

NORTHERN POOL

Round 1 Saturday 16th / Sunday 17th February 26 teams (drawn from the hat)

Round 2 Saturday 16th March 13 winners, from Round 1

Round 3 Saturday 27th / Sunday 28th April        6 winners, plus club team with bye, from Round 2

FINALS SERIES

Quarter Finals Saturday 13th July 4 winners from both Southern and Northern Pools

Semi Finals     Sunday 14th July Quarter Final winners

Final               Sunday 14th July* Semi Final winners

University of New England student numbers jump

  In today's UNE staff e-newsletter, Vice Chancellor Jim Barber reported on UNE enrolments at the close of UNE Trimester 1 enrolments.

The VV noted that at the close of enrolments, UNE had more than 700 additional students enrolled than at the same time last year. That’s a 4.5 per cent increase in enrolments.

Even better, the number of new applicants wishing to study at UNE rose 13.8 per cent, more than triple the national average growth in university applications of just 4.2 per cent in 2012.

Enrolments were up almost across the board - Arts, Education, Law, Nursing and Science Courses still remained popular with commencing students, with significant growth in other disciplines.

The biggest increases in undergraduate enrolments this year were in  the Bachelor of Ecology, Diploma of The Sciences, Diploma of Town Planning, Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Sciences, Bachelor of Pharmacy, Bachelor or Organisational Leadership, Bachelor of Agriculture and Bachelor of Education (combined).
In postgraduate studies there was significant growth in enrolments in the Graduate Certificate of Agriculture, Graduate Certificate in eLearning, Graduate Diploma in Applied Anatomy by Dissection, Master of Agriculture and Graduate Diploma of Applied Anatomy.

Remembering UNE's photographers - Bill Webster, John Fields

  Both the University of New England and New England in general have gained from UNE's official photographers. I was reminded of this with the death of John Fields. John died at his home in Guyra on 4 February, 2013.

In this post I want to record a little of two of those men, Bill Webster and John himself. This a shot of Bill.

Bill was appointed to the University of New England as photographer in July 1959. He stayed in Armidale for the rest of his life, dying in September 1989. During his time as UNE photographer, he took shots of all UNE activities, including some archaeological digs that I was on.

We all know slices of people. In Bill's case, I knew him through his work. He was a familiar figure, one I liked, but not one that I knew well. I had no idea, for example, of his fascination with astronomy. 

This fascination was not unusual in Armidale. Several Armidale people had high-powered telescopes, including the mathematician Wes Taylor. Bill had his own observatory. Upon his death, Bill bequeathed this to the University of New England. In March 1990, the Webster Observatory was dismantled and re-installed at the Kirby Observatory  outside Armidale.

The photo from the UNE and Northern Tablelands Astronomical Society shows the Webster.

John Fields's life is recorded in poet Michael Sharkey's obituary, Photographer used his gift to travel, in the Sydney Morning Herald.

In 1987, John arrived in Armidale to became Photographer-in-Charge at the Media Resources Unit of the University of New England. For five years prior to his retirement in January 1998, he was the Liaison Officer with the University’s Publicity Unit.

I met John and wife Patricia after their arrival in Armidale. At the annual Drummond memorial dinners he was always there, taking photographs. New Zealand friend Peter Ireland wrote of John:  John was a lovely man. Gentle, modest, generous and with a quiet but devastating sense of humour. He was a remarkable human being and great company.

That fits with my own impression, quiet, gentle, but very good company.

I said earlier that we only see slices of people. I had no idea of the variety of John's life, nor his achievements. 

John James Fields was born on January 18, 1938, in Rockport, Massachusetts, son of Ludwig Fields and his wife, Sara Mae (nee McDonald). He seems to have been an adventurous boy according to John Turner, excited by guns, hunting and the sea. He joined the US Navy on his seventeenth birthday, serving in the Pacific and the Far East. It was there that he acquired his love of photography.

After leaving the navy, John studied photography and worked as a freelance photographer. In 1965 he became a photographer at Massachusetts General Hospital, working under English cell biologist Dr Stanley Bullivant.  When Bullivant transferred to the University of Auckland in 1966, John followed.

The New Zealand period was a remarkable one. I had no idea of it, although I do understand some of the milieu that John was involved in because I visited New Zealand each year to see family, backpacking and travelling widely. I will only sketch the New Zealand experience. You will get a better feel for it if you go to this page on Photoforum and then follow some of the links through.   

New Zealand was a strange mix at the time John arrived, It was still a very small and in many ways conservative society. It was also localised; each major centre had its own approach, its own elite;  yet it was also a society strongly affected by new trends. I covered one aspect of this in a 2012 post,  "Things were a lot looser then" - the New Zealand hippie movement.

In 1966, John married Australian-born Patricia Hazelton (known professionally as the singer Kerry Bryant). The couple quickly became part of the New Zealand cultural scene, with John's spare photos of the natural scene and the built environment becoming nationally recognised.

looking at the various photos on-line, I chose this one because of its composition and because it captures so well that one aspect of New Zealand that I referred to earlier. I don't know whether the Allen in the photo was a hippy, but the photo really resonates.

John's impact in New Zealand was remarkable.  In 1971, his work set a New Zealand record when his photographs were the first to sell for the then extraordinary sum of $100 each. Today, his works are held in many galleries and still referred to because of their quality, because of the way they captured New Zealand life.

In 1976, frustrated by lack of official support for photography, the Fields moved with his family to Sydney to work at the Australian Museum and then in 1987 to Armidale. There he continued to do as he had done before, photograph and educate.

Michael Sharkey records that part of the New England's appeal for John was its beauty, up close and in its vistas. He photographed the spectacular electrical storms of the region as well as the bird and plant life of its lagoons and open country. Images of lightning strikes, of tranquil waters and of snowbound natural features are among his enduring legacy.

As in New Zealand, he encouraged and actively supported fellow artists and craft workers, teaching photography at Armidale TAFE, attending exhibitions and recording events, mentoring young photographers. He was also active in community activities.

In 2008, a major exhibition of John's work, Forty Years Ago Today: selected vintage photographs was mounted in Wellington. John attended the opening. It seems a fitting tribute.

New England Business News - February 2013 1

A brief round-up this evening of some of the economic and business news affecting New England.

One of the problems of not having our own state is that the statistical data required for proper analysis is either not available or available only at considerable effort. Over on the Conversation, they have been running a series on the future of Tasmania. New England is a damn sight bigger, but we lack visibility as well as statistics.

Back in November 2012, I made brief reference to the financial troubles faced by Nathan Tinkler. Somehow and somewhat to my surprise, he has continued to survive, buying time here and there. Now (here and here), he has settled a few more matters, including the debt to the Australian Tax Office on the Newcastle Knights Rugby League team; a tax debt on the Newcastle Jets is still subject to action.

The Knights have just begun a visit to Tamworth: The Northern Daily Leader reported yesterday: " The start of four days of “footy fever” rolled into Tamworth late yesterday when the blue and red cavalry arrived ahead of their pre-season National Rugby League match between the Newcastle Knights and the Cronulla Sharks". No doubt the Jets are hoping for a similar tax reprieve, as will be the Northern NSW State Football Federation.

Mr Tinkler's financial survival depends heavily upon Whitehaven Coal. His shares in that company were worth  $1.1 billion last April, dropped to $539 million in November (ouch!) and are now worth $630 million. Even with moderate gearing, and Mr Tinkler's gearing was more than moderate, that size decline in market values will create real pain.

Still Mr Tinkler did have some apparent good news during the week, with Federal Environment Minister Tony Bourke giving environmental approval Mr Burke has given the green light to Whitehaven's Maules Creek mine and the nearby Boggabri extension in the Leard Forest (both on the Liverpool Plains), as well as the AGL Gloucester coal seam gas development. I say apparent, because if Mr Bourke is to be believed the conditions imposed are so onerous that none may proceed. Whitehaven's press release on the matter can be found here.

I have written before about the environmental wars that have been raging across New England. The politics of all this are remarkably complex, too complex for a short economic round-up since it plays out at local, state and national levels. For the moment, I just note that the continuing disputes mean some suppression of mining investment below the levels that might otherwise have occurred.

On another matter, in a Financial Review story, Fonterra Board member Ralph Norris has bluntly told dairy farmers concerned about the impact on their viability of the supermarket milk wars to get over it. I can't give you the link because its behind the pay wall.

New Zealand based Fonterra is the world's largest exporter of dairy products. You have too much tied up in domestic white milk sales, dairy farmers were told. In response, Australian Diary Farmer's president Noel Campbell commented that dairy farmers in Queensland, Western Australia and Northern NSW have higher costs of production which makes them less competitive exporters. They also lack processing infrastructure to convert drinking milk into milk powders. He might have added, too, they they have been less active in moving into the higher value end of the market.

The still independent Norco cooperative dominates the Northern New England industry from its headquarters in Lismore. In the South, the Huinter Valley's traditional Oak brand is now owned by Pamalat.  In writing, I have spotted a gap in my historical knowledge because I don't know the story of Dairy Farmer's acquisition of Oak and the subsequent on-sale.

In another economics story with political overtones, the Armidale Express reports that Armidale's largest industrial estate cannot access the new National Broadband Network without paying hefty connection fees. Armidale may be a test roll out site, but the estate falls outside the connection rules laid down by the Federal Government. New England Federal MP was not impressed. I quote:      

NBN advocate and Member for New England Tony Windsor said he had spoken to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and NBN Co about the issue.

“I reiterated to the minister that most industrial estates in regional communities would be found on the outskirts of town and that they should be recognised as economic drivers for the community, thereby supporting the case to include them in the fibre  out footprint,” he said.

The problem in this case appears to be that the those involved will actually be disadvantaged by the changes, expected to rely on inadequate wireless connections in place of their existing connections. If my interpretation is correct, that would appear to be very silly.

Finally, Irish billionaire Dennis O'Brien's coup against the exiting Board and management of APN News & Media has been successful. I wonder what that means for APN's papers.

As I said. A brief report. 

Postscript

Before leaving this post behind, I wanted to make a brief response to some comments from Scott. In doing so, my intent is to spell out questions in my own mind, to clarify my own thinking.

The genesis of the discussion lay in my brief comment above on the NBN roll-out. This drew from this story in the Armidale Express. The crux of the story is that businesses in the Acacia Park industrial estate have been told that they cannot have NBN connection unless they pay a $225,000 connection fee. Acacia Park businesses claim to contribute 12% of the local economy. Two of the twenty or so businesses are locally headquartered if small international operations.

Now this story pulled me up. I had thought that one key argument for the NBN lay in the way it opened new economic development opportunities for county businesses. Now I find that those businesses have to pay for connection; the Federally mandated roll-out guidelines centre on residential customers. Let me be blunt here. In local terms, the primary effect of improved communications has been the delivery of an increased proportion of local markets to external suppliers. One part of this has been the closure of local service facilities. If country areas are to benefit in a longer term sense, that benefit will come if and only if local businesses can use the communications technology to grow their own activities. That is why the story surprised me, for it said that another cost impediment had been created for country businesses.

I was surprised for another reason too. I would have thought in business terms, it made sense to connect potential higher traffic areas to the NBN because that improved base load operations.

The Acacia park businesses complained about another issue too, the way they might be forced to wireless technology. Here Scott wrote:

I don't believe wireless NBN connections will be inadequate. While maybe not as good as the fiber NBN, it will still be streets ahead of anything available now. The decisions as to what areas get fiber access is based on common sense economic calculations to deliver value for money both in the construction and the ongoing service.

Now this is what worried me as well. Leaving aside the economic rationality of current NBN guidelines, if the the practical effect is to force businesses onto a less efficient delivery system, those businesses will suffer.  There are two very different issues here: one is cost, the second reliability. An internet based business really relies on reliability.

Let me illustrate by example. Just at the moment, I'm working off site. Our business systems are based on a cloud environment. Over the last week, problems with service delivery have been acute. On one day, more than seventy per cent of staff lost the ability to work productively. Our IT people don't actually know what the problem is yet. They have been working with suppliers to find a longer term solution while working on a shorter term fix.

Now think of the Acacia Park businesses. To grow international operations, even to service local customers, they need reliability. If they move to a cloud environment, if they base their phone systems on the internet, if they want to offer national or global 24/7 service support, they must have a reliable system that has the delivery capacities they need. They also have to have a scalable service, one that can manage data spikes and high traffic volumes and that can grow with them.

Can wireless manage this? My impression is not, although I stand to be corrected. My own connection at the moment is ADSL plus wireless. Down times are frequent.

Now some would say that if country businesses want fibre they should pay for it. My problem is that this defeats a central purpose of the exercise.      

In my discussion, there are two very different issues. One is technical, factual: what are the performance capacities of different systems? The second is economic: what do those capacities and associated costs mean in terms of economic and business development? I don't know. Maybe you can help?

Postscript 2

IT News had a very interesting article, NBN Co fudges numbers to expand rollout, dealing with problems in the NBN roll-out, including what appears to be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Around New England's Universities - February 2013

Just a round up this morning of recent news from New England's universities. On 16 January, the University of Newcastle released 8,096 Main Round Offers to prospective undergraduate students.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Andrew Parfitt, said to date the University had made a total of 8,410 offers to students to commence studies next month, an increase of 65 on 2012.

“There were more than 19,200 applications from students across Australia with at least one preference for an undergraduate degree at Newcastle, indicating a high degree of interest in our programs.

“Our first preferences are up by two per cent on last year and 79 per cent of the University’s 2013 offers were to students from the Hunter, Central Coast and Mid North Coast regions."

Professor Parfitt noted that the Joint Medical Program (Bachelor of Medicine) continued to attract most preferences with just over 3,000 people applied for 170 places (110 at Newcastle and 60 at the University of New England). The University of New England issued a parallel release, also focused on the competitive nature of the program.

The following day, the NSW Minister for the Central Coast, Chris Hartcher welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to bring a new University of Newcastle presence to the Gosford CBD. This formed part of the University's continued push into the NSW Central Coast.

A month later, Southern Cross University announced the opening of the second stage building on its Gold Coast campus. The competitive dynamics in all this are interesting. Newcastle is pushing into the Central Coast and also up the North Coast. SCU is pushing into the Gold Coast and down the North Coast. Meantime, the University of New England, blocked to some degree from its traditional feeder areas by the other two, has pushed well south past the traditional New England border into Parramatta. Apart from sponsoring the Parramatta Eels Rugby League team, in February last year UNE acquired the lease on two iconic buildings in Church Street to act as a base for its campus of the future.

Staying in Newcastle, the Medical School has continued its good work with the announcement of a potential break through that might lead to better treatments for asthma. In the meantime,  NU's Dr Marguerite Johnson, a lecturer in classics, titivated locals with a Valentine's Day presentation on love and lust in the ancient world.  The University of New England, too, has been maintaining an interest in the classics. On 7 March, Dr Beth Thompson will speak about a 4000 year-old cemetery cut into the eastern cliffs which border the Nile Valley c. 250 kms south of Cairo. The title of her lecture is ‘The Old Kingdom Tombs at Tehna in Upper Egypt.’ Dr Thompson has been studying Egyptology for 30 years at Macquarie University, and combines this with longstanding formal training in Art.

This will be the first lecture in this year's Aspects of Antiquity series; this series has now been running for twenty years. As a sometimes historian, its nice to see both Newcastle and UNE preserving the interest in the ancient world.

Staying with community outreach, Newcastle has launched the ‘Science in the Pub’ series, where the community can meet scientists and learn about new technologies and ground-breaking research. Sounds interesting.

All the universities have recently had Orientation Week activities. At Southern Cross, activities varied across the three campuses, Coffs Harbour, Lismore and Tweed.

Have you watched the BBC History Cold Case series? SBS has been running it. One of the key members of the Cold Case team, Dr Xanthe Mallett, has joined the staff at UNE. A biological anthropologist, Dr Mallett is lecturing in UNE's criminology degree program.

I have run out of time today and have barely scratched the surface of recent news. This includes the resignation of Richard Torbay as UNE's chancellor. I will try to do better in bringing you updates from our universities in future!.