Posts filed under 'Canberra Stories'
I thought I was dreaming this morning when I heard on the radio that Chief Turnip Jon Stanhope intends on removing bicycles from Northbourne Avenue and moving them back to their rightful place on off-road cycle paths. He even, apparently, wants to move the buses our of the already over-congested left lane of Northbourne Avenue.
It was the (lack of sane) planning of the Stanhope government which gave us on-road cycle lanes on busy roads, many of which are 80km/h zones. Northbourne doesn’t fit in to the 80km/h category, but it fits an even more dangerous category for combining cars and bicycles, it’s a super-busy road with buses which have to stop in the bicycle lanes constantly.
I’m pleased to see this policy backflip. It’s good news for cyclists and motorists alike, but it must surely put the fragile partnership between ACT Labor and the ACT Greens under further strain. The Greens have already been shafted by Labor on many occasions, and now it looks like one of the Greens key policies is the exact opposite of Labor’s policy.
The Greens believe in having more bicycles on the road and less cars on the road. Labor apparently believes in the opposite now. How they’ll work this one out when the Greens are in favour of making it difficult to even own a car in the suburbs, let alone use one on a main road, is beyond me.
With any luck, now that Labor has adopted the sensible policy of removing bicycles from our roads and placing them back on the cycle paths, the Labor/Greens partnership is dead, and we won’t have to have any more pandering to the peculiar ideas of the enviro-socialists.
Samuel
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:26am
Update Thursday afternoon: Apparently I didn’t make it clear enough at the other end of this post. It’s over. All wrapped up around midnight…that’s when they all left. End Update
Police are currently surrounding the unit of a “Simon” not far from my place in Reid. A police negotiator named Carly is attempting to coax him out of the property.
Police were monitoring the property from an unmarked van for about half an hour before they decided to move in. It seems that Simon is wanted in connection with an incident this afternoon. So far, he has refused to leave the property, yelling “go away” at one point.
More as it develops.
Update 11:55pm: I can’t see it from here, but after some hiding in his cupboard (which Carly could see through the window) it sounds like Simon has been convinced to come out, much to the relief of his sister who was waiting outside. According to Carly’s announcements, whomever else was involved in Simon’s incident this afternoon, is OK. This seemed to help convince Simon that it was safe to come out and that the police would not hurt him.
It’s over, after about half an hour of standoff between Simon and the police. The armed police and surveillance vans are packing up. A good outcome. End Update
Samuel
April 14th, 2010 at 11:45pm
This year’s first radio ratings have been released and are as follows:
1st: FM 104.7 20.2% (up from 18.3%)
2nd: 666 ABC Canberra 18.5% (up from 16.1%)
3rd: Mix 106.3 16.9% (down from 18.0%)
4th: JJJ 8.0% (down from 13.5%)
5th: ABC Classic FM 7.6% up from 7.4%
6th: 2CA 6.8% (up from 4.1%)
7th: Combined unlisted 6.6% (up from 5.4%)
8th: 2CC 6.3% (no change)
9th: ABC Radio National 6.0% (down from 7.5%)
10th: ABC NewsRadio 3.1% (down from 3.4%)
I don’t really have time to do any analysis of this at this very moment, however I intend on doing so this evening. Stay tuned!
Samuel
April 8th, 2010 at 12:06pm
The first radio ratings for the year for Canberra have been released to radio stations, with the public release expected tomorrow.
Jock’s Journal have received some figures which I’m unable to confirm at this stage. They have published the following figures:
FM 104.7: 20.2% (up from 18.3%)
666 ABC Canberra: 18.5% (up from 16.1%)
Mix 106.3: 16.9% (down from 18%)
JJJ: 8% (down from 13.5%)
ABC Classic FM: 7.6% (up from 7.4%)
2CA: 6.8% (up from 4.1%)
2CC: 6.3% (no change)
This doesn’t cover every station in the market, so I can only be sure that the top four are indeed the top four. It’s also interesting to note that with the exception of 2CC, most of the stations have jumped back to their approximate ratings share in last year’s first survey.
I’ll publish a more comprehensive summary tomorrow when the official figures are released.
Samuel
April 7th, 2010 at 07:03pm
In the middle of last month, the ACT Government introduced some new road rules which, for the most part, seem to be designed to make it harder to find a spot to park.
The changes to the rules surrounding parking in parking bays are enough to do your head in, especially the bit which tries to differentiate a carpark from a driveway:
This rule also applies in car parks which have internal access driveways that have the appearance of a street or road. If there is no street or road sign, the area is considered to be part of the car park and, as such, parking is allowed in parking bays only.
I’m sorry, but how would you legally define “internal access driveways that have the appearance of a street or road”? Does the driveway have to be a certain length, meaning that I have to get out my tape measure before parking there, and that I could find myself dealing with the even more complicated world of working out what constitutes a “length of road”?
For the purpose of this rule, a “length of road” is considered to be any part of the road between two neighbouring intersections or between an intersection and the end of the length of road.
Ummm, right. A circular reference in a definition. A “length of road” is everything between an intersection and the end of the thing which we haven’t defined yet. Uh huh, I see…good luck to the poor sod that the government send to court to try and defend that one when it gets challenged.
I’m also amused by the fact that it seems that anything I paint on to the surface of the road can be considered a “traffic island”. I would imagine that there is a law against me painting the road, but that doesn’t appear to invalidate whatever I paint, for as long as it remains painted.
A motorist may not stop or park a vehicle on an area that has stripes or chevrons (coloured markings) painted on the ground, or surrounded by a line or lines (whether or not broken). This only applies if the stripes or chevrons are in any colour that contrasts with the road or car park surface. Part of the surround may be kerb or structure.
Of course it is nice to know that if I take up horse riding, I can be immune to the traffic island rules as long as I don’t give the horse a motor. But seriously, who writes this drivel? How much do they get paid? And how do I get in on the act?
Samuel
April 3rd, 2010 at 07:41am
It might surprise a lot of people to know that Mix 106.3 are a relay station for Triple M Sydney’s Monday night NRL coverage. In fact, looking at their website, you’d never know that they did such a thing. Even right now as they’re broadcasting the match, their “Now Playing” ticker simply says “Canberra – Feel Good!”.
They promote the coverage on-air, but why oh why is there no mention of it on their website? Considering that 2CC and the ABC are the home of NRL coverage in Canberra, you’d think that they’d want to publicise the fact that they hold the rights to Monday night football, especially seeing as 2CC aren’t allowed to broadcast Monday night Raiders matches and Mix are able to, as they showed last week.
Odd, but that’s Canberra radio I suppose. Promoting yourself doesn’t seem to be particularly high on the agenda of any Canberra station.
Samuel
March 29th, 2010 at 08:23pm
Remember the ACT Government’s “No Waste by 2010” strategy aimed at, as the name implies, ensuring that Canberra stops producing waste by this year? Well if ever you needed proof that the chances of reducing waste with this government were between Buckley’s and none, here it is.
This flyer arrived in my post box today:
The fact that it talks about waste collection isn’t the point (although it does show that we’re still producing waste)…the point is that it is advising me about a change to rubbish collection dates over Easter and reminds me that I should put my bins out on a different day.
The problem? I live in an apartment complex with communal bins. I don’t have to “put the bins out” as the big Rubbish Truck Monster comes in and roars at the communal bins every now and then. This flyer would have gone out to every suburb which has rubbish and/or recycling collected on Fridays. Reid and Braddon are both on this list and both have a large number of apartment complexes with communal bins, which means that in these two suburbs alone, many hundreds of these flyers have been printed and distributed unnecessarily at taxpayer’s expense…this is what we call government waste.
In fact, according to the ACT Government’s waste collection calendar, the following suburbs have their rubbish and/or recycling collected on Fridays and it would therefore be reasonable to assume, have received this flyer:
Acton
Ainslie
Barton
Braddon
Campbell
City
Deakin
Dickson
Downer
Duntroon
Forrest
Garran
Griffith
Hackett
Harman
Hughes
Isaacs
Kingston
Lyneham
Narrabundah
Oaks Estate
O’Connor
O’Malley
Phillip
Pialligo
Red Hill
Reid
Swinger Hill
Turner
Yarralumla
Watson
That’s 31 suburbs. If hundreds, maybe a thousand or so residences have received this notice in Braddon and Reid, imagine how many thousands of these flyers have been printed unnecessarily across those 31 suburbs. And as if that isn’t enough…these aren’t simple paper flyers; these are nice shiny glossy slightly heavy flyers. Waste by volume and waste per item.
No Waste by 2010? No Chief Turnip Stanhope, it’s More Waste by 2010, and it’s us that are paying for it.
Samuel
March 27th, 2010 at 06:35pm
Canberra’s annual road toll has sadly doubled overnight, and the worst part is that the four deaths appear to have been as a result of a driver failing to obey an instruction from police to pull over.
Both ACT Police and NSW Police issued statements at about 2:10 this morning. The NSW Police statement is on their website however I’ll quote the ACT Police statement as it is more detailed. Sadly it (as usual) is not on their website yet.
Quadruple fatality, Narrabundah
ACT Policing is investigating the circumstances surrounding a fatal traffic collision at Narrabundah this evening that has resulted in the death of three adults and an infant.
Initial investigations indicate that about 10pm (March 20), ACT Policing were advised that NSW Police were involved in a pursuit which has originated in Queanbeyan, NSW. The vehicle being pursued on Canberra Avenue by the officers was involved in a collision with another vehicle at the intersection of Canberra Avenue and the Monaro Highway exit ramp at Narrabundah, ACT. The offending vehicle collided with the second vehicle which was turning right onto Canberra Avenue, off the Monaro Hwy down ramp. The three occupants of the second vehicle, a male in his 30s, female also in her 30s and a male infant, died in the collision. The collision occurred after the pursuit was reportedly terminated by NSW Police.
The male driver and female passenger in the offending vehicle were transported to The Canberra Hospital, the male aged in his 20s, later died in hospital. The female remains in a critical condition.
Officers from ACT Policing’s Collision Investigation and Reconstruction Team are investigating the fatal traffic collision on behalf of the ACT Coroner, while ACT Policing and NSW Police are conducting a joint internal review of the circumstances surrounding the collision. The incident is considered a Critical Incident for both ACT Policing and NSW Police.
Tonight’s crash brings the 2010 ACT road toll to eight.
The intersection will remain closed for several hours while the scene reconstruction takes place.
Anyone with information which may be able to assist police with their investigation is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers website on www.act.crimestoppers.com.au.
It’s interesting that the ACT press release says that NSW Police had pulled out of the pursuit, but doesn’t mention what ACT Police were doing at the time. I would assume that, as is normal procedure, NSW Police terminated the pursuit at the border and allowed ACT Police to take over. The NSW press release suggests that the pursuit was still in progress at the time of the crash:
The pursuit continued along Canberra Avenue into the ACT and at the intersection of Canberra Avenue and the Monaro Highway exit ramp at Narrabundah, the vehicle collided with a Mazda 3.
I’m sure that this will all be cleared up soon. Right now though, I’m just deeply saddened that an innocent family appears to have been killed by a driver who failed to comply with an instruction from police to pull over. The circumstances are tragic, and I have a heap of sympathy for the poor family involved and the police as well. I just hope that this doesn’t result in one of those stupid knee-jerk “let’s ban police pursuits” reactions that we keep seeing in New South Wales.
Samuel
March 21st, 2010 at 05:51am
Barack Obama’s Indonesia/Australia trip has been delayed by three days so that he can take longer to fail to negotiate the passage of his health care reform agenda. In Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ trademark blundering style, the media were given the run-around, initially told that the President had no intention of changing the date, before announcing it on Twitter instead.
This pushes Obama’s Canberra visit back from Tuesday the 23rd of March until (presumably…Gibbs hasn’t released an updated itinerary yet) Friday the 26th.
The president was expected to leave Thursday for the six-day tour that included Guam and Australia. He has pushed it back until next Sunday.
The White House made the announcement on Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ Twitter.
[..]
On Wednesday, Gibbs hinted that the president wasn’t planning on delaying his travel to negotiate the sticking points among House Democrats in accepting the Senate health insurance reform bill.
“If we have any changes in the schedule, we’ll certainly let you know, but the president believes it is an extremely important trip with — it’s an important region of the world and these are important partners,” he said.
Gibbs added that “if it takes a couple of days extra” to get the bill passed, the president would be fine with missing the March 18 deadline he set for lawmakers “even if he’s already gone.”
This makes me wonder what we’re going to do with our own politicians. Parliament finishes its current session on Thursday the 18th and we were going to have a special session on Monday the 22nd, presumably to justify the cost of keeping them all here over the weekend so that they could be addressed by Obama on the Tuesday. Surely we won’t keep them here for a whole week of nothing, so I suppose this means that we’re sending them back home on Thursday the 18th and flying them back for the visit on Friday the 26th.
If that’s the case, then so be it. As much as I may dislike the man, I won’t begrudge him his visit…it does after all present me with an opportunity to protest against him. Seriously though, I understand the need for foreign leaders to visit, but given the cost to their country as well as our country, I do have to wonder why we can’t replace many of these visits with teleconferences…and that’s for all world leaders, not just the ones I dislike.
Anyway, as strange as it may sound coming from me, I am actually looking forward to Obama’s visit. I will be very interested to see how our domestic politicians react to his visit when it happens as, pleasantries aside, their reactions and comments will say a lot about their own policy agendas. Tony Abbott’s reaction will be particularly interesting as I’m hoping that Obama will be asked for his views on Abbott’s parental leave policy…being a massive tax increase on business and a redistributionist policy that Mao could be proud of, it should get Obama’s full support…one can only hope that such a thing would bring Abbott to his senses, even if it’s too late to regain any credibility on that issue.
That to one side (as it’s a topic which needs it’s own blog post), I do hope that Obama visits Canberra on the Friday as this will give me the opportunity to watch his plane leave in the afternoon. I didn’t see Air Force One when George W. Bush visited and seeing it in person would actually be the highlight of the trip for me. I’ll probably protest and be glad to see Obama leave…but I’ll be happy that I’ll have seen the plane. The trip is worth it if I can see the plane.
Samuel
March 13th, 2010 at 02:34am
Update: I’m being told by somebody else now that 2CA are not covering the AFL. I can’t think of a good reason for either party to lie to me, so I’m more than a tad confused by the whole thing. I’ll update this again if and when more details come to hand. End Update
I can’t remember if I wrote anything about 3AW dropping Rex Hunt from their AFL commentary team. I remember writing that I would not be listening to 3AW if they went ahead with it, but I can’t find any proof that I ever wrote anything after they announced that they would actually be dropping Rex.
At the same time, 3AW and Triple M swapped commentators. Rex will be calling football for Triple M on Saturday afternoons, and Brian Taylor will be going to 3AW (eep, they can keep him). Taylor will be joined by Tim Lane, further cementing my decision to steer clear of 3AW this year.
I was pleased to see Rex sign with Triple M…but I’m even more pleased to see him sign with Crocmedia who, along with 3AW, have the commercial radio relay rights for the AFL. Crocmedia, who will be basing their operation in the studios of 3BA Ballarat, have signed both Rex Hunt and Sandy Roberts.
One of things which disappointed me when Seven regained the TV rights was that they didn’t bring Sandy Roberts back to the commentary box despite Sandy being their prominent sport presenter on Seven News Melbourne and presenter of various highlights programs. This sense of frustration has been increased of late due to the fact that I have enjoyed Sandy’s commentary on the overnight AFL replays on 7Two.
Needless to say, I was therefore absolutely delighted when I found out that Sandy Roberts had signed with Crocmedia along with Rex Hunt. Sandy will call Friday night and Saturday afternoon matches, while Rex will lead the commentary on Sunday afternoons.
Alas, I’m informed that Crocmedia will not be able to stream their coverage online, however they do have a growing network of relay stations which will be taking their coverage. The great news for those of us here in Canberra is that 1053 2CA will be taking the Crocmedia coverage, although I’m not sure at this stage which matches they will be covering. I’m hopeful that they will cover it as much as they did back when they relayed 3AW a few years ago…Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. I’ll let you know when I find out more.
(A side note to Capital Radio management: this information was not obtained at the Ray Hadley OB on Friday, which can be confirmed by a quick look back through my Facebook status updates. You will see that I first learned of this mid-last week. I won’t reveal how I came by this information though.)
Image courtesy of Crocmedia
Samuel
March 1st, 2010 at 03:00pm
Not in a million years would I have ever guessed that The Canberra Times, noble kitty litter liner that it is, could contain deliberate lies and misrepresentations, but it’s true, it does.
The CT has sadly gained money from me today so that I could see the extent of their utter misrepresentation of Lord Monckton’s lecture at the National Press Club yesterday. To set the record straight is going to take me more than the few minutes that I can spare right now, so I’ll do it tonight instead.
I suppose I could write a letter to the editor as well, but I don’t really see the point as:
1. Most of the people who read today’s article will not read tomorrow’s letters about it
2. I do not intend on further propping up the bottom line of The Fyshwick Guardian, err, The Canberra Little Red Broadsheet by buying a copy of their squalid rag tomorrow just to check if they publish my letter.
More to follow tonight when I have enough time to actually sit down and write details.
Samuel
February 4th, 2010 at 03:14pm
Lord Monckton appeared on 666 ABC Canberra’s breakfast show with Ross Solly after 8:30 this morning and I thought Lord Monckton ran rings around Ross. Ross was mostly fair in the interview but it was pretty clear who had a better grasp of the facts. I did feel sorry for Ross a couple times when he struggled to get words in at points where I thought Lord Monckton’s answers were already sufficient, but that was balanced by my annoyance at Ross’ obsession with who Lord Monckton is meeting, which I feel cost the audience some participation time.
The interview is up on the new 666 ABC Canberra website or can be downloaded directly by clicking here. I’m not going to embed the audio in this page as I intend on being fair to the ABC.
I didn’t hear it yesterday as I was engrossed in work at the time, but Lord Monckton apparently appeared on 2CC’s Mike Welsh Drive Show. If and when that audio appears on their website (and when I notice it, considering that I’ll be out for much of the afternoon) I’ll post a link to that interview as well.
Samuel
February 3rd, 2010 at 12:14pm
I thought I mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but it looks like I only posted the link on Facebook.
Lord Christopher Monckton is in Canberra today and will be appearing at the National Press Club between 3pm and 5pm, courtesy of the New South Wales Farmers Federation, presenting a lecture entitled “Why a Royal Commission must urgently review climate change science”.
Update: Sorry, it’s sold out. End update
The cost is $20 per head and afternoon tea and light refreshments will be available. I honestly don’t know if there are any spots left, however if there are any left, I expect that they will go quickly. The people to call in order to book are the New South Wales Farmers Federation on 1300 794 000. I’ll give them a call myself after 9am to check if there are any spots left, and update this post accordingly.
I’ll be there, and I’m still trying to arrange a short interview with Lord Monckton. Somewhere along the line there was a communication breakdown regarding this, so I’m making a last ditch effort to arrange this today. Hopefully I can get this off the ground because I would love to interview Lord Monckton; I have some questions to which I would very much like to hear his answers and, above all else, would like to make short audio interviews a more regular feature of this blog…having Lord Monckton as the first would be an honour and a privilege. Update: Not locked in, but a window of opportunity has been provided. Many thanks to the organisers for their prompt reply this morning. End update
Anyhoo, more details about today’s lecture can be found here, and if you’re attending then I look forward to seeing you. Feel free to come up for a chat.
Samuel
February 3rd, 2010 at 06:11am
As expected from 2XL’s early announcement of their plans, 2CC have now confirmed that they are dropping Steve Liebmann’s show on January 18 in favour of Ray Hadley from 9am to 11am and Alan Jones Highlights from 11am until Midday.
According to 2CC’s Program Director Peter Davidson, this is in response to a large number of listeners asking “Why can’t we hear him [Ray Hadley] on weekdays?” when he can be heard on the weekend. Mr. Davidson also referred to Alan Jones’ return to 2CC as a homecoming of the “king of breakfast radio of the last 20 years or so”, referring to the old Alan Jones Highlights show which aired between 8:30am and 9:00am on weekdays in the early days of 2CC’s life as a talk station.
The station is expecting a lot of feedback today. I’m just glad that it’s not me that’s dealing with the correspondence.
Update: I’ll clarify that last line. I’m glad it’s not me dealing with the correspondence due to the volume…not the content. I’d love it if people flooded me with positive feedback, but I’d probably hate replying to it all because I wouldn’t want to use a form reply.
Anyway, 2CC’s press release follows:
January 7, 2010
EMBARGO – FOR RELEASE 8AM MONDAY JANUARY 11, 2010
RAY HADLEY & ALAN JONES JOIN 1206 2CC
1206 2CC announced this morning to it’s listeners that two of Australia’s most popular broadcasters will join the weekday lineup from Monday January 18.
Ray Hadley’s top rating Sydney morning show will be broadcast in Canberra on 1206 2CC.
Already familiar to Canberran’s through the Continuous Call in NRL season, Ray Hadley presents a morning show that is entertaining and informative. He often puts politicians on the spot to answer the questions his listeners want to know.
The Ray Hadley Morning Show will be broadcast on 1206 2CC Monday to Friday between 9am and 11am.
Alan Jones returns to the 2CC line up with a daily one hour highlights program of his highly successful Sydney breakfast show.
Alan Jones is one of Australia’s most popular and successful broadcasters. With the mind and capacity to make complex issues understandable, Alan Jones sets the agenda with the day’s newsmakers.
The Best Of Alan Jones will be broadcast on 1206 2CC Monday to Friday 11am till midday.
For further information contact:
Peter Davidson
Program Director
Talking Canberra 1206 2CC
Phone: (02) 6241 1911
End Update
Samuel
January 11th, 2010 at 07:53am
2XL may have just the cat out of the bag on the big 2CC announcement on Monday morning. From 2XL’s website:
2CC and 2GN‘s websites are both promoting the “big announcement” on Monday at 7:45am and don’t show any sign of Hadley or Jones, and 2XL’s site doesn’t contain any more details (Update: See update below). 2GN does at least say that there will be “two big additions”.
It’s obvious what they’re doing with Hadley. That will be 9am to midday. It couldn’t possibly be anything else. Alan Jones on the other hand is interesting. Many moons ago 2CC took Alan Jones’ 2UE breakfast show between 8:30am and 9am but that doesn’t seem like a sensible use of funds to me. I would say that it’s more likely that we will either see a relay of the “Alan Jones Highlights” show between 5am and 5:30am, or the nightly “Alan Jones and Ray Hadley Highlights” show (assuming that said show returns to 2GB’s lineup once they get the summer holidays out of their system).
Update: OK, I might be wrong about how they’re handling Hadley’s show, and also Alan Jones. 2XL, according to their on-air schedule, are taking Ray Hadley from 9am to 11am, and Alan Jones from 11am to midday. The Jones show will probably be a highlights show from that morning…it wouldn’t make much sense to replay a particular hour.
I’m not sure that 2CC will follow this model though. 2XL and 2GN are music stations outside of 9am-midday, whereas 2CC is 24/7 talk and could easily get away with running the full three hours of Hadley and putting the Jones highlights show elsewhere (dump an hour of Webster, please!).
End Update
If it is the evening highlights show, then this will also lend credence to the theory that Macquarie, when they take over 3MP in Melbourne, will relay evening highlights to Melbourne. It will also lend credence to what I have heard today and will share with you later this evening…nothing ground breaking, as it’s already been the subject of heavy speculation, but important for 3MP all the same.
Incidentally, 2GB’s website has not added any of the Capital Radio Network stations to the list on Ray Hadley’s page as yet.
The 2CC press release
I promised 2CC that I would run their existing press release. Originally I was going to do this tomorrow night as a teaser for Monday’s announcement…but I can’t see any point in waiting any more. As such, here’s the press release (original available by clicking here).
January 6, 2010
EMBARGO – FOR RELEASE FRIDAY JANUARY 8, 2010
WHAT IS THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT AT 2CC?
Canberra’s commercial talk back station 1206 2CC has been telling listeners to tune in this Monday morning for a ‘big announcement’.
2CC has been quietly expanding its operations with the recent launch of Hot Country 97.5FM.
It’s expected that 2CC will announce extra additions to its 2010 lineup.
For the full details you will have to tune into 1206 2CC this Monday morning at 7.45 when breakfast host Mark Parton reveals all the details.
For further information contact:
Peter Davidson
Program Director
Talking Canberra 1206 2CC
Phone: (02) 6241 1911
Samuel
January 9th, 2010 at 07:40pm
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