Under the plan, which is expected to be approved by Parliament and take effect late this year, fishing and oil and gas exploration would be restricted in nearly one-third of Australia’s territorial waters.
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The Nationals have set the stage for a showdown with the two federal independent MPs who helped prop up the federal government at the last national election.
NSW independent MP representing the Northern Tablelands, Richard Torbay, is seeking pre-selection for the New England seat now held by independent Tony Windsor.
Nationals Leader Warren Truss welcomed the decision of the NSW state MP, saying he is making a stand in the interests of his “local community and his country”.
“That’s what The Nationals are all about,” Mr Truss said in a statement on Friday.
Mr Windsor responded with a brief statement but thanked the media for its interest in the matter.
“I am not making any public comment and am focused on the opportunities that exist in the current parliament,” Mr Windsor said.
Earlier this week, the Nationals opened nominations for the NSW federal seat of Lyne, held by independent Rob Oakeshott.
Former Nationals candidate Dr David Gillespie is favoured to win preselection, having already campaigned in the seat this year with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Both Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott have faced fierce criticism from the coalition over their siding with Labor leader Julia Gillard after the 2010 election to form minority government.
NSW deputy premier and Nationals leader Andrew Stoner said residents of regional NSW had had enough of “divisive” MPs.
“Richard has an important role ahead to restore good government to New England and to Australia – The Nationals team will be right alongside him,” he said in a statement.
Mr Torbay will join the Nationals once the preselection is announced but could continue to sit as an independent in the state parliament until writs are issued for the federal election.
But NSW Opposition leader John Robertson said Mr Torbay had to explain how he could still represent his state seat as an independent.
“He’s going to run as a National Party candidate, and pretend he’s sitting here still as an independent,” Mr Robertson told reporters in Sydney.
“They voted for an independent to represent them in the parliament, and now in fact what they’ve got is a National Party member.”
Senior NSW minister and Nationals MP Duncan Gay said Mr Torbay should be welcomed to sit in the NSW Nationals party room if he is preselected for New England.
Premier Barry O’Farrell said Mr Torbay had been one of the state’s best parliamentary speakers when he held the post under the former Labor government.
“I’ll be sorry to see Richard Torbay leave the parliament,” he told reporters.
By Colin Brinsden, AAPUpdated June 15, 2012, 3:36 pm
The Nationals have set the stage for a showdown with the two federal independent MPs who helped prop up the federal government at the last national election.
NSW independent MP representing the Northern Tablelands, Richard Torbay, is seeking pre-selection for the New England seat now held by independent Tony Windsor.
Nationals Leader Warren Truss welcomed the decision of the NSW state MP, saying he is making a stand in the interests of his “local community and his country”.
“That’s what The Nationals are all about,” Mr Truss said in a statement on Friday.
Mr Windsor responded with a brief statement but thanked the media for its interest in the matter.
“I am not making any public comment and am focused on the opportunities that exist in the current parliament,” Mr Windsor said.
Earlier this week, the Nationals opened nominations for the NSW federal seat of Lyne, held by independent Rob Oakeshott.
Former Nationals candidate Dr David Gillespie is favoured to win preselection, having already campaigned in the seat this year with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Both Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott have faced fierce criticism from the coalition over their siding with Labor leader Julia Gillard after the 2010 election to form minority government.
NSW deputy premier and Nationals leader Andrew Stoner said residents of regional NSW had had enough of “divisive” MPs.
“Richard has an important role ahead to restore good government to New England and to Australia – The Nationals team will be right alongside him,” he said in a statement.
Mr Torbay will join the Nationals once the preselection is announced but could continue to sit as an independent in the state parliament until writs are issued for the federal election.
But NSW Opposition leader John Robertson said Mr Torbay had to explain how he could still represent his state seat as an independent.
“He’s going to run as a National Party candidate, and pretend he’s sitting here still as an independent,” Mr Robertson told reporters in Sydney.
“They voted for an independent to represent them in the parliament, and now in fact what they’ve got is a National Party member.”
Senior NSW minister and Nationals MP Duncan Gay said Mr Torbay should be welcomed to sit in the NSW Nationals party room if he is preselected for New England.
Premier Barry O’Farrell said Mr Torbay had been one of the state’s best parliamentary speakers when he held the post under the former Labor government.
“I’ll be sorry to see Richard Torbay leave the parliament,” he told reporters.
The severe weather events we are seeing are happenig globally. These are not natural cycles, they are indications of advancing Global Warming. Scientists such as Dr James Hansen and others have been releasing reports on Severe Weather events around the globe.
Flood warnings for UK as storm builds over Atlantic
Met Office issues severe weather warning – high speed winds and heavy rains to batter England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Monsoon in summer: more rain is on its way, the Met Office has warned. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
Parts of the UK are braced for more flooding as another unseasonable Atlantic storm brought pounding rain and strong winds.
Overnight up to 60mm of rain – the average for the whole of a typical June – was expected to make life miserable in some parts of the country. Winds of up to 50mph were expected to batter the south-west of England.
The Environment Agency took the precaution of visiting 150 camping and caravan sites in south-west England to make sure owners had warned visitors of the storm. It also mobilised teams to check on flood defences, clear any river blockages and monitor river levels.
EA flood incident manager Katherine Evans said: “We would urge people to remain vigilant and prepare for flooding.”
The Met Office issued a severe weather warming for an area of mainland Britain from the tip of Cornwall to the north-west of England, expecting up to 40mm of rain to fall widely. It said it was possible up to 60mm could be seen in some parts of south-west England, as well as Wales and Northern Ireland.
The rain is expected to linger through Friday in northern England and southern Scotland. Elsewhere there may be bright spells but also the risk of more heavy showers.
Road experts said motorists should think carefully before undertaking journeys in the poor weather. Frank Saunders, chief forecaster at the Met Office, said: “The unsettled theme we have seen so far this month is set to continue with more wet and windy weather to come.”
Simon Sheldon-Wilson, director of traffic management at the Highways Agency, said: “We advise drivers to plan ahead before setting out. Allow extra time if conditions are poor or delay the journey if conditions are really severe.”
Two flood warnings – signalling that flooding was expected – in Buckinghamshire and Sussex — remained in place following the deluges earlier this week. The mop-up continued in mid and west Wales following the severe flooding in some places last weekend.
Tourism chiefs in Wales were keen to stress that the country was open for business. However hotels and attractions in many parts of western Britain were reporting that visitors were staying away, put off by the dreadful weather.
The Govt. is trying to improve a rail system designed around the early 1930’s to convey passengers into the city CBD. More lines and a second harbour crossing are badly needed. It would be an unwelcome impost to force passengers to change trains. Much decentralisation has already taken place, the Govt. should be looking at reducing the need for passengers to commute directly into the Sydney CBD. All lines run directly into the city to arrive and depart in the AM and PM peak periods.This is an insurmountable problem.
“Transport for NSW is undertaking the most fundamental re-write of the rail timetable in a decade to ensure we get the most out of the current network for customers” … Gladys Berejiklian. Photo: Janie Barrett
MORE commuters would have to change trains to get to the city centre under a planned overhaul of Sydney’s train system that will attempt to make trains run more frequently and reliably.
The overhaul would mean commuters from a clutch of stations in Sydney’s west and north-west would lose direct services to the city, but they would be promised better and more regular services on the express line when they change trains.
The principles behind the planned redesign, which remain controversial inside the transport bureaucracy, are expected to be laid out in the coming weeks.
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They promise an easier to understand timetable and simpler and faster train movements.
But they contradict a long-standing feature of Sydney’s train system that enables commuters on any station to get a direct service to the core of the city. Presently, only commuters on the Carlingford line cannot take a direct train to the city in the morning peak.
The redesign will aim to reduce the number of train lines feeding into the western line, which runs from the Blue Mountains through Penrith, Blacktown, Parramatta and the inner west.
The idea is that by merging fewer train lines into the western line it will be able to accommodate an increased number of trains in the morning peak.
Under one scenario seen by the Herald, trains on the Richmond line would no longer continue through the city, but turn south at Granville and head to Campbelltown. This would mean commuters on these trains would need to change at either Blacktown or Seven Hills for services to the city.
From Blacktown or Seven Hills, they would be able to transfer to express city services running every three minutes. The western line does not reliably operate services every three minutes.
Another feature of the plan is that trains that run to the city from Epping via Strathfield, picking up passengers at stations such as Eastwood, Denistone, and the apartment-heavy area around Rhodes, would terminate at Central.
Commuters on these trains with jobs in the inner city would have to transfer for Wynyard and Town Hall.
Multiple sources have told the Herald running this plan would require RailCorp to use more trains. RailCorp would have to retain old non-airconditioned train sets even as it receives more new Waratah trains over the next three years. It had planned to retire the older trains.
The Herald put its understanding of the rail plan to the office of the Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian. She said: “Transport for NSW is undertaking the most fundamental rewrite of the rail timetable in a decade to ensure we get the most out of the current network for customers.
“There is a lot of work to do and plans have not been finalised. The new timetable will be implemented late next year to improve service reliability and increase capacity,” she said.
The plan being worked on would also affect commuters at smaller stations west of Parramatta. Commuters from stations such as St Marys, Rooty Hill, Toongabbie and Wentworthville would have to transfer at larger stations such as Blacktown and Parramatta to make it to the city.
The Herald this month revealed the government is preparing to commit to a second rail crossing of Sydney Harbour as its next major train project after the North West Rail Link is finished about 2019.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) announced in a new report that in 2011 global renewable energy investment reached a record $257 billion; a 17 percent increase from 2010, and a 600% increase over the past seven years.The solar energy sector saw the largest amount of investment, up from 2010 by 52% to an impressive $147 billion, more than half the total investment in the renewable energy market. This increase was due to an explosion in the number of installations of rooftop panels in the Italy and Germany, along with large-scale concentrated solar…
The once staid International Energy Agency continues its string of blunt, must-read reports laying bare the reality of our climate and energy system.While so many “experts” and politicians make hand-waving pronouncements about how the primary solution to climate change is more R&D or how cheap natural gas is the answer to our problems, the IEA is one of the few international bodies with a comprehensive energy and economic model that cuts through the BS.As their new report, Energy Technology Perspectives 2012, makes clear, new natural…Read more…
18 million people are desperate for food in Africa’s drought-struck Sahel, but urgent appeals for help are being met with deafening silence by governments worldwide. Senegalese musician Baaba Maal has started a petition to get the US, Japan, France and Germany to pledge their fair share of aid. Let’s join him — sign the urgent petition below and sound the massive alarm needed to shake these leaders into action:
My name is Baaba Maal, and I’m a Senegalese musician writing with a personal plea for help. I live in Africa’s drought-struck Sahel region where 18 million people are on the brink of disaster, including 1 million children at risk of starvation. But our urgent appeals for help are being met with deafening silence. Only a targeted and overwhelming demand for action can stop this catastrophe from turning deadly.
The UN says millions of lives could be destroyed unless $1.5 billion in aid is channeled in immediately, but governments have pledged less than half the required sum. The countries who can make all the difference are the US, Japan, France and Germany, but they’re stalling — that’s why I started a petition on Avaaz’s Community Petitions website to appeal to the world for help.
In days, world leaders will gather in Brussels to discuss the Sahel — if they decide right there and then to pledge their fair share, we can avert disaster. Sign this urgent petition now — Avaaz, Africans Act 4 Africa, and Oxfam will deliver it in a coordinated stunt when we reach 1 million signatures:
Terrible drought, political unrest, and sky high food prices have wreaked havoc on an area the size of the US, stretching from Senegal in the west all the way to Sudan in the east. People here are doing everything they can to survive, but the crisis has hit so hard that it’s difficult to stay hopeful. I’ve seen women and children trying to grow food in patches of land that are bone dry. They know that people are talking about what is happening in the Sahel, but they don’t know if aid will ever arrive.
The UN has only received 43 percent of the $1.5 billion needed — it’s a shortfall of gargantuan proportions. But this gap must be filled, and can be filled by the world’s richest countries, if there’s political will. We don’t have much time to avert mass suffering, and I’m determined to speak on behalf of the people here until they get the help they need.
The world has turned a blind eye to crises like this before, but this time we can make the difference between life and death by forcing our governments to respond. Sign this urgent petition now:
Avaaz members have come together time and time again to respond to natural disasters, saving thousands of lives by ensuring that crucial aid was delivered to Burma, Haiti, Somalia and Pakistan. We have the power to force our leaders to stop idling away in the face of a crisis we can prevent. Let’s stand together now to demand that the world respond to the pleas of the millions living in the vast Sahel region.
We’re entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.
Avaaz.org is a 14-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making. (“Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 19 countries on 6 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz’s biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
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