29 October 2008

South Coast Register is awarded for journalism: the South Coast Register was last Friday named best tri-weekly newspaper for journalism at the 2008 Country Press Association annual conference. The Register also picked up the award for best commercial supplement for its 2007 Shoalhaven Unlimited publication.

In awarding the Register the EC Sommerlad Award for Journalism in the tri-weekly category, the judges made special mention of the paper’s coverage of local government, political donations and development issues.

“The Register is always lively and this year took on the long established local mayor and some of the council over allegations on land development and political donations. The Local Government Minister even went as far as to advise the electorate not to vote for the mayor at the local government elections ... the council directed its extensive advertising away from the Register into a smaller publication.”

Judges praised the paper’s decision to stick with the big stories despite the withdrawal of council advertising.

From the South Coast Register. Read more...

Sea pool policy makes no sense: “I was amazed at the article in the South Coast Register on October 22 stating that it was too risky to open the Huskisson and Ulladulla sea pools 24 hours a day. Shoalhaven has hundreds of kilometres of unfenced coastline, yet these two pools, which are far safer than most of the coastline, remain closed at times when the public wants to use them. I tried to visit the Huskisson pool on New Year’s Day 2007, but it was closed at the height of the tourist season. At Cronulla, where I live, there are rock pools and a shark-proof enclosure, all of which are unfenced and available for us to use whenever we want to.” From a Letter to the Editor, South Coast Register. Read more...

A new face or just a mask? “What has changed? Attending Shoalhaven City Council’s meeting was like deja vu. The scenario: developer pushes design criteria beyond the allowed policies, development control plans and local environment plan. Staff tries to negotiate; council employs independent consultant (at ratepayers’ expense). Consultant supports council staff concerns. Developer requests full council decision. Approval given!” From a Letter to the Editor, South Coast Register. Read more...

1 October 2008

Faith not the temple issue: “An interesting analogy arises from Councillor Kearney’s claim that Mayor Green is opposed to the Shaolin Temple development on Comberton Grange because of his religious views (SCR, September 24) and the response of the Jezereel Consortium to then Mayor Watson’s now notorious ‘good Jew’ comment in May this year....The magnitude of the proposed Shaolin development and the nature of the site (‘land of ecological sensitivity’) have long called for more responsible consideration by councillors than ex-Mayor Watson’s and ex-Tourism Minister Matt Brown’s unquestioning boosting of Shaolin over the past few years.” From a Letter to the Editor, South Coast Register. Read more...

8 October 2008

Grand plan or a pie in the sky? I wish the ‘prominent business people’ spruiking for the Shaolin Temple development on Comberton Grange – “the largest development ever to come to the Shoalhaven, outside of HMAS Albatross” (SCR October 1) – would (or could?) provide both their source for the job creation and economic benefit figures quoted and the data on which such figures are based. Pie-in-the-sky numbers and Comberton Grange development proposals have been floating about for quite a while.....In 2002, Tourism NSW advised Shoalhaven City Council, in response to the Environment and Planning Report on Comberton Grange, that: “the attractiveness of the area to visitors depends on maintaining its ‘naturalness’ qualities. This is the quality that the South Coast has at present but the North Coast has lost. If you take that away the area will lose its competitive advantage in the domestic and international holiday market”. As tourist park manager, Ms Lyn Field, is reported as saying in relation to visitor numbers, [the South Coast] “is seen as a place where you can get back to nature”. From a Letter to the Editor, South Coast Register. Read more...

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