Ansons Road development back on agenda

The controversial Ansons Road development project is back on the Agenda.

Dundowran and Craignish residents who protested against the proposed development last year thought the issue was dead in the water. Not so, says Tanya Sanders who has organised a public meeting next Saturday, April 5, 4pm at the Dundowran Hall on Dundowran Road.

Tanya said the previous proposal was never submitted for decision but the developer, Braith Vidler, was asked to provide Council with more information. She said Mr Vidler took 12 months to provide that information for council and now residents have until April 16 to lodge objections.

The original plan included 600 sq metre housing blocks, town houses, shops, a tavern and sporting facilities on a site with no sewerage connection and one access road. Land adjacent to the proposed development in Ansons Road and Sempfs Road is zoned Garden Residential, minimum 2000 sq metre blocks, which cannot be subdivided because there is no sewerage connection. The land proposed for development is currently zoned Emerging Community.

Tanya said Mr Vidler had submitted three alternative proposals for sewerage. The first was a piped connection to the Nikenbah Treatment Plant, the second to provide a large trap on site to collect sewerage and pump it daily into trucks for transport to the treatment plant, the third was to set aside an area of planted land and install a much larger system, similar to the systems now used in the area by individual householders.

Residents worried by the proposal were urged to attend the meeting. Tanya said it was probably the last opportunity the community would have to discuss the issues and lodge objections.

For more information Tanya can be contacted on 0401 356 878

Why wasn't it in the story?

Among all the Wide Bay Water PR puff pieces, in Saturday's Chronicle (March 29) I was fascinated to read a little gem of a letter which elicited a curt response from the paper's editor.

The letter was written by Gavin Cantlon, an experienced journalist, complaining about the front page story (FCC March 26) headlined "$10,000 gun haul: no conviction". In Summary Mr Cantlon's complaint was that the court story failed to give the day of the hearing, contained only the name of the defendant, it did not name the defendant's solicitor, the prosecutor, the judge, or report the judges sentencing comments. 

Mr Cantlon said "there must have been good and valid reasons why no conviction was made but these were not reported. The story just sits there implying again that the court system is soft. I find this bad journalism." 

The editor's comment was amusing. Most of the information the story should have contained was packed into the editor's response. If the information was known why was it left out of the story in the first place? One is left wondering where she did her journalism training, especially when she asserts "the names of prosecutors and lawyers are not always integral parts of court reporting".  Really?

Footpath access difficult to navigate

I received the following email written by a disgruntled driver and pedestrian who makes a valid argument for some council controls on footpath access for everyone. It is hard enough for the majority of us to get through the maze but it must be a nightmare for the vision impaired or the wheelchair bound. 

I am happy to publish any comments on this issue from our newly elected councillors. 

Email:

I was wondering has anything ever come up about cafe seating along the esplanade at Torquay? It is now so crowded on weekends you have to navigate your way through the maze of chairs and tables. If you pull a car up you have to watch no one is taken out by the passenger door opening. In NSW the same problem saw the councils start charging local store owners space fees and they had to move tables back for clear walk through. It's out of control. I think shop owners believe they own the space out front of their stores.

Nicki  

The hard work begins

The polls have been declared. The inaugural Fraser Coast Regional Council elect will soon be sworn in. Then the hard work begins.

Setting up the new council structure in such a way that it works more efficiently than the old four is the first task, but the job involves much more than that. 

Those elected need to improve what we already have, secure new opportunities by getting out there and putting our region on the map. Look at what the old Bundaberg Council achieved for Bundaberg. Many operations that were once based here were enticed to set up in Bundaberg, why? Because the council was pro-active in offering incentives not on offer here. 

The new council needs to be a driving force for nurturing industries that provide jobs, yet maintain a careful balance between sustainable development and environmental issues. The past mindset of development for development's sake is no longer acceptable to a more informed and environmentally aware electorate. Mindlessly allowing every subdivision application without the developer providing proof of need, ie low housing stocks, and an environmental impact study, must not continue. Passing councillor decision making powers over to unelected council officers must also stop. Councillors are paid to make those decisions by the people who elected them. 

The nuts and bolts work of building a unified community, sharing of resources and improved transportation are only the beginning. Youth also needs to have a voice in building a future that encourages them to stay in the region. 

The new council needs to look at the reports commissioned by the old Hervey Bay City Council into the operation of Wide Bay Water Corporation and bring it back in house. Doing this would make significant savings by eliminating service duplication. One of those reports, the AEC Group Financial Review of Wide Bay Water Corporation, under the heading Potential Service Duplication the report concluded: "The potential savings from the review and subsequent elimination of service duplication could equate to an annual ongoing saving of between $75 and $150 per ratepayer based on savings of between $2 and $4 million." 

I congratulate those who were elected and commiserate with those who did not make it this time around. Ratepayers will be watching and those councillors who don't perform will no doubt answer for that at the next election. The ball is in your court.  Let us hope you can show real leadership and deliver a council that surprises even a tired cynic like me. 

Who will own Centro?

Our friends at Hervey Bay Gossip have uncovered a story published in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday that Bankers are pushing Centro Properties Group to speed up the sell-off of its shopping centres in order to bring down its mounting debts. Is Hervey Bay Centro up for sale? Full story

The Kingmaker spoke: Long live King Mick

Our newly elected mayor has been promoted thanks to the Chronicle. No longer is he merely mayor Mick, he is now King Mick and dressed in full royal regalia. Saturday's (March 22) front page featured the mayor, sceptre in hand, on top of a cliff with the heads of the top ten candidates scrambling behind.  The caption read: "King of the newly united Fraser Coast mountain overlooking his near-certain court of councillors".

Hubris gone mad? 

Although counting of about 10,000 postal and pre-poll votes begins today, the line-up is unlikely to change. The people have spoken.  A couple of the councillors who look like being returned had achieved little for their community in the past and are now set to enjoy an even more lucrative ride. Hopefully the majority of those elected are hard working and will ensure ratepayer's best interests are fairly represented. 

The results to date may look fairly even-handed with four former Hervey Bay councillors, four former Maryborough councillors, and one former councillor from Woocoo and Tiaro respectively. However, this outcome, should it remain unchanged when the poll is declared, would leave Hervey Bay residents under represented, on a per capita basis, and rural/regional voters over represented.  

It appears that Hervey Bay residents went to the polls and fairly distributed their votes to include representatives from Maryborough, Tiaro and Woocoo. Unfortunately that fairness was not repeated by voters in the rest of the region who feared a Hervey Bay takeover of their area. We can only hope that the majority councillors, aware of this imbalance, do not band together as a parochial block, and use their numbers to vote against improvements/benefits for Hervey Bay ratepayers. The mayor's casting vote, if such a scenario ever eventuated, would make no difference. 

There was good news however from the Chronicle editor who has now graciously given councillors permission to use the Internet, but only as long as "they know the difference" between fair and unfair debate. How fair was that?

Email Letter

Self Interest -v- the common good

I believe any objective review of our Representative form of Democracy, would have to admit it has been eroded over time. As a direct result, many people have lost faith in their ability to influence the direction of their lives.

Successive federal and state governments have introduced laws that restrict the ability of the ordinary Australian to participate. Very few people have the money or resources to stand for any level of government. Unless backed by a political party, church organisation or business group.

There are a number of ways we could endeavour to restore faith in our political system. Some of these are as follows; cap the money spent by or on behalf of any candidate, do away with blanket voting for the Senate by removing the LINE on the ballot paper.  The voter would then have to mark every box. Scrap compulsory voting and introduce fixed terms, thus removing opportunistic snap elections. Giving the electorate the time to truly assess a government's performance. Most importantly, insist on equal electronic media coverage and limit lead times prior to an election.

Better still, we could move to a Direct Democracy system. With a population of little more than 20 million, it would be easy to introduce a system similar to California or Switzerland. We could hold referendums quarterly, with the added ability for citizen initiated referendums, if 10% of the population so desired.

There are probably many other options, which would enable the people to have a greater say in how our country is run. But I believe something must be done, no one could deny the increasing loss of the citizens rights and privileges over the last 20 or 30 years. Those we choose to elect no longer listen to us, they now tell us what is good for us! Sad to say they often have gotten it wrong.

John A Neve

email address supplied

Email Letter

Fluoride: The alternative view

The Queensland Government's current TV push for the acceptance of fluoride in our water claims that there is no credible evidence that it is harmful. May I quote Dr Mercola  (mercola.com)

newsletter of November 22, 2007: "If you still believe the myth that fluoride is good for your teeth, think again. There are a vast number of scientific studies confirming the opposite - that fluoride is a toxin that is extremely detrimental to your body, your brain, and even to your teeth. One of the most active research areas today is fluoride's ability to damage your brain. Recent human studies from China have confirmed that elevated exposure leads to reduced IQ in children."

Fluoridating drinking water for dental health is a swindle of massive proportions. An award winning journalist Christopher Bryson details in his book, The Fluoride Deception fluoridating water began n the mid 1940's as a solution to fluoride pollution generated by the Atomic Bomb Program, and the aluminium industry. Starting off with a simple truth that a natural form of fluotide is part of the composition of your teeth, they were able to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. That drinking toxic chemical fluoride compounds - the waste materials from these fluoride polluting industries - was good for children's teeth.

Start with a grain of truth, and end up with a lie the size of the Sahara. Premier Bligh, please remove the lies being fed to us and refer to "the extremely toxic chemical Hydrofluorosilicic Acid" and not just fluoride (The Atomic Bomb/Fluoride cover up was obtained under the United State's FOI act. Details at fluoridealert.org/WN-414.htm

Noel Gomersall

Unit 2, 43 Milton Street

Maryborough, 4650

Three candidates close

A race has developed between three of the candidates in the Fraser Coast Regional Council election as counting continued today.

The front runners remain ahead but with only ten of 32 booths counted, Anne Nioa with 8,881 votes, Gerard O'Connell on 8,800, Trevor McDonald, just below the leaders on 8,675, could close the gap. The three are vying for the ninth and tenth spots.

There has been no change to the list of clear leaders, with Belinda McNeven, Debbie Hawes, Linda Harris, Les MucKan, Julie Arthur, Barb Hovard, David Dalgleish and Sue Brooks well ahead.

Keep abreast of the results as they are posted by going to either the Electoral Commission Queensland's virtual tally room, or the Local Government Association of Queensland's tally room.

Election coverage: possible three codes breached

The Chronicle's local government election coverage could have broken three codes including that of its owner Australian Provincial Newspapers (APN).

APN's Code of Conduct which covers all employees says in summary "All directors and employees are required to abide by laws and regulations, to respect confidentiality and the proper handling of information and to act with the highest standards of honesty, integrity, objectivity and ethics in all dealings with each other, the group, customers, suppliers and the community." Well worth a thorough read.  

APN's web site does not include an avenue to lodge complaints but if readers and local shareholders felt aggrieved, they could write to the APN Board of Directors; and/or the chief executive, Brendan Hopkins at: APN News and Media Limited, Level 4, 100 William Street Sydney, NSW, 2011; and/or APN Regional Publications chief executive, Mark Jamieson at Level 3, 33 Park Road, Milton, Qld, 4064.  

The second code involved the Advertising Code of Practice, which the Chronicle supports as a member of the Australian Publishers' Bureau, paragraphs three and four.  Under the code, the Chronicle agrees it will only publish advertisements which: "3. Are truthful and not misleading or deceptive. 4. Are clearly distinguishable as advertisements."  

Nowhere in the APN owned Chronicle, Observer or Maryborough Herald's published advertising for the Thursday March 13 lift out, Meet the Candidates feature, were readers alerted to the fact that the lift out was an advertising feature and not all candidates were covered.  Again, the front page lead in Thursday's paper was "Who will get your vote? Meet the Candidates, Free guide inside today", failed to mention the guide was paid advertising. Readers had to get to the liftout itself before discovering it was an advertising feature. Apart from the lift out, all were possible breaches.  

If you were unhappy with this situation you can lodge a complaint with the Australian Publishers' Bureau and/or the Advertising Standards Bureau. and complete the on-line form; or fax your complaint to (02) 6262 9833; or email, administration@adstandards.com.au. All complaints must be in writing and include your postal address. 

The third code is that of the Australian Journalists' Code of Ethics in which respect for truth and the public's right to know are overriding journalistic principles. The first code states:  "They shall report and interpret the news with scrupulous honesty by striving to disclose all essential facts and by not suppressing relevant, available facts or by distorting by wrong and improper emphasis."  

If you believe the standard of the Chronicle's coverage of the election breached the code you can lodge a complaint by addressing it to the AJA Judiciary Committee at Level 4, 16 Peel Street, South Brisbane, Qld, 4101. Unfortunately only breaches of the Code made by Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) Journalist members can be enforced. If the Chronicle's editor is not a member then your complaint may be wasted. 

Another organisation handling media complaints is the Australian Press Council  The Press Council's principles state: "The freedom of the press is important more because of the obligation it entails towards the people than because of the rights it gives to the press. Freedom of the press carries with it an equivalent responsibility to the public. Liberty does not mean licence. Thus, in dealing with complaints, the Council will give first and dominant consideration to what it perceives to be in the public interest."

Press Council complaints can be made my completing an on-line form or by email to: complaints@presscouncil.org.au and mailing a copy of the relevant newspaper. Written complaints can be sent to the Executive Secretary, The Australian Press Council, Suite 10.02, 117 York Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.

Councillor result: Early leaders

The count has started for the Fraser Coast Regional Council's ten new councillors. 

So far, according to the Local Government Association of Queensland's tally room, with 13.61 per cent of the vote counted by 2.14 pm today,  former Maryborough mayor Barb Hovard and Woocoo Shire councillor Debbie Hawes have taken the early lead.

The result is too early to call but at this point in the count, the ten leaders are: Belinda McNeven, Debbie Hawes, Gerard O'Connell, Linda Harris, Les MucKan, Julie Arthur, Barb Hovard, David Dalgleish, Anne Nioa and Sue Brooks. All former councillors.

Tomorrow's count should give a clearer indication with several candidates so close to the leaders it is anyone's call.

A sobering result

The result of Saturday's mayoral race is a sobering one. With 43 per cent of the vote Mick Kruger was elected on Saturday as the first mayor of the Fraser Coast Regional Council.

The result also showed that 57 per cent of the region's voters wanted someone else. A fact I hope Mr Kruger reflects on during the next four years. Those voters still have to be convinced that he deserved the job. Preferential voting could have delivered a different result.  

Given there were a number of quality mayoral candidates in Saturday's election line-up, and Mr Kruger's less than mayoral performance at Hervey Bay's Meet the Candidates on Thursday night, it was hard to believe the Chronicle's Friday editorial could claim there were no star performers and we should settle for the "default position" of a "pair of steady hands".  Mr Kruger's of course.

Hopefully the donkey vote was not as large as feared and the results of the Councillor's poll will deliver ten independently-minded, unaligned people who will make decisions in the best interest of ratepayers and the community.

For better or worse?

I have long been an advocate of council amalgamations, with one proviso, that being, amalgamation had demonstrable benefits for the people. Sad to say the events of the last few months, have caused me to doubt myself. 

Due to our state government, council amalgamation has become a hodgepodge of a system, some regional councils have wards/divisions, some don't. Both federal and state governments have electorates/wards/divisions, so why not local government?

As a result of the March 15, election we now have a mayor who has less than 50% of the electorates support! Is this democracy? Again, both federal and state elections use the preferential voting method, why should local government be any different?

Rather than uniting the people of our region, I believe this election has widened the gap between the urban and rural sectors. Based on discussions with a widely diverse group of people, I believe many voted on a strictly parochial basis, fear of being left our causing people to vote for their own.

The comments attributed to voters in a local paper are cause for concern; "I've voted already, but I can't remember who I voted for now." "No, I'm planning on just ticking the boxes as I go down the list, I'm not really interested." "No idea, I'll find out on the day and hope I pick the right ones." The Spartans, Tolpuddle Martyrs and the miners at Eureka, would be amazed at how we have allowed our rights, freedoms and democracy to be eroded. Unless we all take more interest in what all three levels of government is doing, DEMOCRACY will become a thing of legend. Even now, how many people could really describe what it is?

John A Neve

Mayoral candidate chosen

Fraser Coast residents have been given the tip by the Chronicle editor about who they should favour for mayor at tomorrow's historic council election. (P8 March 15)

No surprises there. Mick is her man.

My advice to voters is to take a good hard look at all mayoral candidates. Think carefully, because such a ringing endorsement may come with some strings attached. Nothing is for nothing.  I believe the separation of powers should also apply to the fourth estate.

If the region is to break away from the old ways of doing things, we need a mayor who is independent, honest and owes no favours to anybody or any organisation. 

Choose carefully tomorrow.

Who do we need?

Cr Sue Brooks is again in trouble with the Chronicle's editorial (page 8, March 12) taking her to task over alleged conflict of interest, and a further editorial comment following her Letter to the Editor in today's (March 13) edition on the same subject.

Her crime? Voting against a motion to give council staff the power to make the decisions on a proposed planning application to extend the Bay Central (sic) complex. 

According to the editor's comment, four sitting councillors felt Cr Brooks had a conflict of interest in slowing down the application process because her partner owns a business in the complex. 

It is drawing a very long bow to claim her vote against handing over councillor's decision-making responsibilities on such an important planning issue, was a conflict of interest. If the four councillors were happy to devolve their responsibilities to unelected council officers then it begs the question: do we need them? Those councillors who do not want to take on the responsibility of decision making should do us all a favour and withdraw.

The last word belongs to the Chronicle cartoon Quick Draw (Page 8 March 12). The koala is holding what looks like a Rubik's Cube with a tag saying "The latest puzzle for people who live in glass houses." The koala says "I'm surprised that some councillors have started promoting this new "Conflict of Interest" puzzle - I wonder what's in it for them."  

Candidates pay, Public duped, Chronicle cleans up

Those having difficulty deciding who they will vote for in Saturday's historic Fraser Coast Regional Council election will be disappointed by the publication of "A Look at your Candidates" feature in Thursday's (March 13) Chronicle.  

Instead of being helped by the expected reasoned, researched assessment of what each candidate stood for, readers found it was nothing more than a paid Advertising Feature funded by the candidates themselves.  

Many of the candidates who paid, felt they had no choice. It was a case of pay up or no publicity. At this critical point in the election campaign, candidates desperate to have their voice heard, were forced by Chronicle policy to pay an outrageous price for the privilege. The candidates missing from the feature, apart from a photo on the cover, either refused to come to the party or could not afford the price. 

The members of the public who wanted to fairly assess all the candidates were also duped into buying this edition. Nowhere in the pre-publicity blurb published in the APN owned Chronicle, Observer or Maryborough Herald did it mention the feature was a paid advertorial.

In such a diverse region it is difficult for candidates, even some with experience, to build a public profile without fair and equal access to the daily news pages to voice their points of view. To starve some candidates of oxygen, unless they pay, and give free access to others is nothing short of a scandal. 

Cr Sue Brooks (click comments under "Bringing up the rear: The also rans" story) said she paid $583.33 for the smallest size advertisement but prices ranged up to $2048.65. The bigger the paid advertisement, the bigger the editorial.

Surely the generated extra sales of a newspaper genuinely interested in fostering democracy would have covered the cost of printing a free and thorough in-depth look at all the candidates.

Bringing up the rear: The also rans

Anyone reading Wednesday's (March 12) Observer could be forgiven for wondering what 11 of the council hopefuls had done to deserve being named as the also rans.

On page 14 the Observer ran a half page promotion for its sister paper the Chronicle in which, 21 of the 34 mayoral and councillor candidates had their photographs and names boxed and published in large, bold print. Unfortunately the size of the area allocated to the 21 lucky candidates meant the Observer ran out of space.  

Fortunately the 11 left did not miss out altogether. In the one remaining box, under the heading "Also running for Mayor" in extremely small print, appeared  the names of Bob Chambers and John Neve.  The remaining nine were listed in the same box underneath the Mayoral candidates but did not rate a heading. "For Council: Russell Felton, Brendon Banks, Roger Currie, Bob Campbell, Darren Dickson, Les MucKan, Walter Philippi, Ernie Paussa, Barbara Hovard, Troy Sullivan, Allen Hunter." 

Not so even-handed reporting?  Or just another case of sloppy editing?

It was enough to make me want to vote for them. 

Popular Hervey Bay candidate targeted

Popular Hervey Bay councillor Sue Brooks is in the Chronicle's firing line over alleged accusations made by three unnamed councillors. 

Under the headline "Brooks hits back at accusations" Ms Brooks defended herself against an accusation that she did not declare a conflict of interest at the council's last development services meeting. Apparently a brouhaha erupted after the meeting because "Ms Brooks rejected a motion put forward by senior officers in regard to the Bay Central (sic) development."  

Ms Brook's partner runs a business at Centro and in her defence she said the decision was not about the actual extension or application but the process that would be used to decide the application. She acknowledged there would have been a conflict of interest if the decision was about the actual shopping centre.  Fair enough, However the story did not end there.

To further legitimise the story, the Chronicle included mayoral candidate Paul Hefferan and his behaviour when he was a councillor. He left the Council Chamber if issues came up for debate over development at Pialba, as he should. At the time he owned two shops in Main Street.   

This was an unnecessary adjunct to a story in which Ms Brooks had clearly set out her position on what constituted a conflict of interest. That position was no different from that of Mr Hefferan.

If the accusations were legitimate then why weren't the three councillors allegedly making them interviewed or named in the story?  Had that happened the story would have had legs. 

Once again the Chronicle has used the rather tawdry journalistic device of cobbling together rumour/gossip/innuendo. Then in order to legitimise it enough to use in a story, the rumour/gossip/innuendo is upgraded to accusations and the subject of the accusations is asked to answer them. The story can then be written from the angle of the subject defending against these accusations, which leads the reader to suspect there must be something in it. The subject loses credibility in the eyes of the public, whatever their response. 

I can only conclude that Councillor Brooks is not on the rumoured list of preferred candidates.

Press Freedom on Fraser Coast healthy

Press Freedom on the Fraser Coast has blossomed since the closure of Strewth. In addition to the Bring Back Strewth and Strewth Reloaded sites the region hosts two older sites, one at Maryborough and one at Hervey Bay.

The Maryborough site Perspectives and the Hervey Bay Gossip sites and worth a look. 

This healthy state of affairs brings, by my reckoning, the total of alternative news sources to five. If any reader knows of others please contact the Free Clarion and I will include links to their sites.

Strewth spawns two new sites

The Chronicle crowed a little too early after the demise of popular blog site Strewth.  The region's brief fling with press freedom spawned two sons of Strewth which appeared overnight on the internet.

Blog sites Bring back Strewth and Strewth Reloaded have received a record number of hits from people who either missed Strewth when it was taken down or were alerted to its presence by the Chronicle's outrageous attack. 

The Chronicle's histrionics have backfired. That level of publicity could never be bought and the community has responded with gusto. 

Nancy should be applauded for being so unintentionally public spirited.

Email Responses

Received: 10/03/2008

You've done a nice job of this site. I sympathise with your rationale for creating it totally. When I left school I was pretty keen on journalism, but baulked at the prospect of joining the ****** rag. All this online journalism has led me to believe that maybe if we all pulled together, we could get a real paper on the road....maybe

Dirk

____________________________

Unlike Craig. I'm more interested in the issues and personalities involved in the council elections next week: in the standard of candidates rather than the standard of writing. 

As a newcomer to Hervey Bay I find it very difficult to sort through the self-aggrandising claims of the candidates. People like me need some information. For current councillors, how about letting us in on who has taken what stance when matters have come before their various councils. For the rest, a glimpse of their previous political history would be helpful.

We don't want defamatory statements, just a perspective on unknown quantities. Some of us don't get out much and find it difficult to attend "Meet the Candidate" functions.

Let us know what they are not telling us, please

New Bay-ite

(email address withheld)

____________________________

Received: 10/03/2008

What next? A journalist who can actually write and knows one end of a grammar rule book from the other! 

Do you mean I shall be able to read news articles pertinent to my region without the appalling spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors with which The Chronicle and The Observer are peppered? (At least The Independent does appear to have a sub-editor.) 

Well, Bec T, if you can keep up the standard of writing as well as keep me informed on what is happening within our new regional council, you've just won yourself a reader. 

Like you, I wasn't aware that there was a "Strewth" site until its closure caused the Chronicle so much angst. If John Howard and Kevin Rudd can use up-to-date technological resources to reach potential voters, why can't our candidates for local government? 

Please keep us posted.

Craig

 (email address withheld)

Strewth! Blog closure causes hullabaloo

The Fraser Coast's only daily newspaper has clearly got its knickers in a twist over the recently closed down blog Strewth, if Saturday's (March 8) edition is any indication.

The Chronicle dedicated its entire front page, pages 4 and 5, the editorial and the editor's Inside Story column to the demonisation of Strewth, those who published it and those who provided contributions. What amounted to three and a half good news pages were wasted on nothing more than a defunct blog site.

 
This kind of coverage certainly piqued my curiosity but like most members of the public I was not aware Strewth existed before it closed down. Of course it is a fact that mainstream media organisations and some journalists feel threatened by Internet blogs. Hence the hysteria of the Chronicle's response.

Contributing to a blog site is not a crime and council candidates have a right to use all avenues of communication to reach the electorate without being taken to task by a daily newspaper with a vested interest in controlling the news fed to its readers.

Whether or not Strewth was defamatory as the Chronicle alleged, I cannot comment. I know from experience that defamation is nasty, especially for the victim who is left feeling powerless and defenceless. However, Saturday's paper also appeared to overstep the defamation mark with its excessive response and inflammatory language.

 
A sense of perspective was what was needed and what readers had a right to expect after paying their $1.20. Chronicle readers deserved better than pages of the histrionics of "lies and salacious innuendo", especially when the paper was not without sin and had at times indulged in some injudicious "Gutter Politics" of its own.

Please spare us the hypocrisy.