Shaggy Dog Comments...
Echo sports editor Rudi Maxwell was in Sydney last week and hoped to see her hero, former test cricketer Mark Waugh in action for the NSW Blues. Only problem was on Friday, when she joined a handful of others at the Sydney Cricket Ground hoping to watch him bat, it was raining. But while waiting for the covers to be lifted, she had a brilliant idea. Instead of turning the rivers inland, how about turning the Sheffield Shield (yes we know it’s now named after a milk brand, but we refuse to abandon a century of tradition) games inland instead. That way everyone’s a winner – the crowds will be bigger, country people will get to see first class cricket. And if it rains, even better.
Depending on how strongly you believe in Urban Myths, you’ve hopefully finished building your ark by now. Why? Don’t tell me you don’t know a friend who knows a friend who knows the people who found a 1940s copy of The Northern Star under the lino while renovating a house in Lismore. It contained a prediction by legendary long-range weather forecaster Inigo Jones that following a big drought in 2002, floods would come in late November. The story spread like wildfire – we heard it at the opening of the Coraki art show. Even Mrs Shaggy offered us a hot scoop because she knew a friend who new the builder who found it. We said beaut, but never did get the name. And a search through the Star at Lismore library offered no luck either. Since then, it’s emerged that the same story is doing the rounds of optimistic drought-ravaged towns across Australia. Still, the whopper flood is due tomorrow, November 22, so if you’re reading a soggy Echo…
The NSW Parliament is known as the Bear Pit – a reference to its ferocity. And question time last Thursday was no exception. Just in case you thought loutish behaviour was confined the WTO protestors outside, the House was just as unruly as Labor and Coalition MPs bagged each other for dodgy dealings. While Labor Minister Eddie Obeid “inadvertently” made 154 “mistakes” on his Parliamentary register of pecuniary interests, Opposition leader John Brogden was copping flack for taking a $120,000 consultancy fee from PriceWaterhouseCoopers Legal when he was shadow planning minister. Apparently the deal was a “verbal agreement” (if only we could get someone to say “yeah, we’ll pay you that much money”…) Speaker John Murray had all MPs on their third warning – the parliamentary equivalent of a yellow card – and had already thrown out two Coalition MPs when Lismore lad Thomas George called across the House to Labor neighbour Harry Woods. It was more than the Speaker, who seems to rule on the Coalition the same way Bill Harrigan treats Gordon Tallis, could stand. Poor old Thomas was sent off for the first time in three years in Parliament. When Coffs Harbour MP Andrew Fraser received the same treatment, he tried to appeal to the gallery, calling out “who wants me to stay?” The visiting schoolkids (no doubt to see how NOT to behave in the playground) put their hands up. For his trouble Mr Fraser copped a two sitting days suspension. Meanwhile Labor backbenchers were allowed to get away with carrying on like a Greek chorus, calling out “what did you get the money for?” Shaggy wanted to call out “for the pitch condition and weather report”, but we get thrown out of enough places as it is.
Correction
Pay careful attention, because this still obviously confuses us too. Last week, in our page three story on Lismore Council’s court battle over an adult shop in the CBD, we named Paul Muldoon as Council’s general manager. This is incorrect. We meant to say Paul O’Sullivan is general manager. Paul Muldoon is the general manager of Rous Water. Now the confusing bit is that Paul O’S used to be GM of Rous, and Paul M used to be Lismore Council’s GM. They’ve since swapped jobs. Apologies to both.
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