I wasn't sure if I was going to write this, but here goes.
Yesterday, Greyhound Racing NSW locked their staff out of the Greyhounds as Pets Wyee facility and made the entire facility redundant. The staff there, while they worked for a disgusting organisation, demonstrated real care for each and every single dog that came through their doors, and my wife and I are lucky to have adopted our beautiful Waffle and Tim Tam from them.
GRNSW yesterday released a statement where CEO Robert Macauley spoke about the collapsing wagering post-COVID. The statement also mentioned that all rehoming and welfare activities are "fully funded".
Fully funded I guess after quietly making around 60 redundancies across the Wyee facility and GAP head office.
The Wyee shelter is to be outsourced to a private company which will now handle GRNSW's export business sending discarded Hounds to the USA in the hopes of a better life. There are more strict criteria on what dogs can be sent to the US - off the top of my head I believe they need to be under five years old and have no medical conditions.
After the Baird-era attempt to ban Greyhound Racing in NSW, the industry talked big about wanting to clean up its act. It seems when the going gets tough, they've opted to act in bad faith towards dedicated, hard working staff, and reduce their capability as an organisation to deal with the abandoned, abused dogs which are the EXPECTATION, NOT THE EXCEPTION.
Greyhound Racing needs to end in NSW. The industry has demonstrated that it can't be trusted to the right thing by their animals.
Ray Hadley also did a bit on this today. While I wouldn't normally recommend a sane person to listen to him, he's fired up about what's happened at GAP.
“We will not be intimidated, especially when we are trying to stop a genocide,” he told the house.
“Any time police officers resort to the use of force against non-violent protesters, they violate these principles and undermine the consent and respect necessary for the police to do their job.”
Sydney council reverses ban on same-sex parenting books after fiery meeting
Good.
"Hate is not a family value." Hmmm… I like that. Neither is bigotry.
Also note that the Maritime Union of Australia came out and supported rescinding the book ban. And thanks go to them. Perhaps a reminder for everyone to join a union.
So the RTA's own modelling showed the Rozelle Interchange would be a traffic disaster—but generating more toll road trips for Transurban was more important.
"The [NSW Roads and Traffic Authority] finalised the first business case for the WestConnex tunnel project in June 2013, with the help of road designers from around the world.
"[Paul Forward, a former CEO of the RTA] said the initial concept did not include the Rozelle Interchange.
...
"In 2014, an expert review group was formed to assess these plans.
"Mr Forward said it was at this point that TfNSW bureaucrats began to question the connectivity provided by the design.
"The RTA's former director of traffic Chris Ford told the inquiry that 15 alternative designs were modelled.
"Mr Ford said the modelling found that another motorway leading to the Anzac Bridge would cause congestion.
"'The issues that we see today were very clearly established in the modelling in 2014,' he said.
"In November 2015, after Mr Forward and Mr Ford were dismissed, TfNSW updated the WestConnex business case to include the tunnel to the Anzac Bridge, despite the congestion concerns raised by the modelling.
"In 2016, Transport for NSW updated the business case a second time ... creating a tunnel linking the Iron Cove Bridge to the Anzac Bridge."
...
"In 2018, the NSW government sold its 51 per cent stake in the Sydney Motorway Corporation, the body responsible for operating WestConnex, to Transurban for $9 billion.
"Mr Forward said the final design would generate a larger number of toll trips than previous options."
It’s nice having a government that looks for smarter solutions to a problem. Want to use the dam for flood protection? Lower the storage and make water another way when we need it. Cheaper, quicker, and better than raising the wall. #nswpol
NSW ALP/LNP extinction coalition quick to put in anti-protest laws serving the fossil fuel industry, not so quick to protect koalas. Koalas need to up their lobbying and donation game
Looking suspicious:
Police killing of a person for the crime of being sunsmart, and going out to buy an energy drink, and running from someone who grabbed him by the elbow from behind.
We really need a commission of inquiry into Police use of firearms, non-lethal weapons, interpersonal rapport-building and negotiating skills, and martial arts -
compared with international benchmarks.
Every single week for the last 21 weeks upon #Gadigal land, there have been thousands upon thousands (sometimes easily tens of thousands) of people gathering in support of a #ceasefire in #Gaza and calling upon the Australian #Albanese government to stop supporting #Israel in its #genocide.
Every Sunday in Hyde Park at 1.30pm,* we've listened to #Aboriginal speakers, #Palestinian speakers, #Jewish speakers, politicians of various stripes (though neither of the major parties, of course, as they both remain complicit in support of the government responsible for most of the slaughter), elders who lived through the #Naqba, teenagers organising #StudentStrike4Palestine, community leaders, poets, faith leaders and more, with perhaps 75% of the speakers being women, and almost all being people of colour (most of the exceptions being MPs).
*Except when #NSWpolice has dictated otherwise, giving priority to (much smaller and only) occasional pro-Israel rallies and forcing a shift to Saturday a couple of times, under threat of #PoliceViolence.
Then we've marched (or rolled) with flags, banners, signs, drums and (loud!) voices: Arab, Aboriginal, African, Anglo, Asian and more; from those too old to walk (in wheelchairs) to those too young to walk (in strollers).
"Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet has called for negative gearing reforms to be put back on the table as part of a wider debate about how tax reform could address housing affordability."
...
“The society today is very different than it was 100 years ago, and the tax system that’s in place today is still reminiscent of that,” he said. “It should be changed in such a way that drives opportunity, and things like negative gearing should be looked at. It could drive supply.
“I’m not advocating one way or another [on negative gearing]. But I’m saying it’s good government to go looking at this issue holistically. Should put everything on the table."
See, here's why I think the Parramatta light rail should be extended from Sydney Olympic Park to Strathfield.
It's not just that it would allow it to connect directly to many of the train lines serving the western and northern suburbs, including the T1, T2, T3, and T9. Or intercity trains to the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, and Newcastle.
It's not just that Strathfield is a major bus hub with many services across the western suburbs.
It's not just that DFO Homebush (between Strathfield and Olympic Park) is a busy shopping centre that generates a lot of traffic.
No, the big reason I say it's a good idea is because these photos were taken on the 526 bus, between Strathfield and Olympic Park, on a Sunday afternoon.
Anyone in NSW who hasn't seen the latest #friendlyjordies video on YT should probably check it out.
If you didn't see the original "Coronation" video he's talking about, documenting the strong links between a senior #NSWCoalition politician and organised crime, and which led to his house being firebombed, and which he's now taken down, under ongoing threats to the lives of anyone connected to making the video, it's been put on Internet Archive and now re-uploaded to YT a few dozen times.