New South Wales Election Polling Day 26 March 2011

New South Wales Electoral Commission

Victor P Taffa

Legislative Assembly Candidates for District Newcastle

NSW State General Election 2011 – Saturday 26 March 2011

Draw Status: Drawn on 10/03/2011

 

Candidate Ballot Name			Party Affiliation or Independent
MCKAY Jodi			Labor
SUTTON John			The Greens
TATE John			Independent
HOLT Noel
ALCORN Zane			Socialist Alliance
OWEN Tim			Liberal
CAINE Milton			Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)
NOBLE Rod			Independent

Victor P Taffa Candidate For Newcastle 26 March 2011

Victor P Taffa

Editor Victor P Taffa will contest the New South Wales Seat of Newcastle at the 26 March 2011 Elections.

The use and abuse of the Health System for Political Purposes is NOT the way in which to attempt to legitimise the dumping of Former MP Bryce Gaudry and the installation of the current MP.

The current Member for Newcastle was parachuted in from the Media and according to many Novocastrians stands NO chance of re-endorsement if the Local Labor Branches determine Pre-selection.

Once again a former great Political Party that stood for something will simply highjack democracy and most likely simply install the current MP as the Labor Candidate for Newcastle in 2011.

The New South Wales Police was NOT invented to STOP people from standing for Parliament as was the New South Wales Department of Health.

The Labor Party has spent the whole of 2010 harassing Editor Victor P Taffa although this harassment stretches back a lot longer than that because of support for Railway and Tramway expansion.

Other excuses such as “The Royal family doesn’t want you in Parliament” are again a load of claptrap in the same way that some people assert that Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott would “Embarrass us if he ever met the Queen.”

What should be noted is that Former New South Wales Premier Carr kicked the NSW Governor out of Government House in 1999 as a payback for the actions of Former NSW Governor Sir Philip Game in sacking then NSW Premier Jack Lang.

Shame on the Labor Party and the good and decent people of New South Wales will pass judgement on 26 March 2011 and Editor Victor P Taffa will publish The Southern Thunderer long into the future and contest the Seat of Newcastle in 2011.

Retail Giant David Jones should also NOT be forced out of Newcastle caused by the actions of the Labor Party and Developer GPT.

Victor P Taffa

The announcement by the GPT Group on 23 August 2010 to “exit Newcastle” is a scandalous joke given the amount of buildings that was purchased and left to rot as the Group attempted to railroad the NSW Government into cutting the Newcastle Railway Line into the CBD. If the GPT Group were not doing this why didn’t the GPT Group proceed with redevelopment?

What does GPT intend to do with all the properties that it has purchased and who will they sell them to?

Along with this announcement is that David Jones due to Occupational Health and Safety Concerns will close the Store in January 2011.

The NSW Government announced after this that the Railway Line would not be cut. This move is an attempt to retain the seat at the 26 March 2011 State Election.

 

While the GPT Group could be totally to blame for their lack of progress in rejuvenating the large number of properties that they purchased the blame should be sheeted home to the NSW Government over the last four years when the NSW Labor Party shafted sitting MP Bryce Gaudry. Bryce Gaudry should not feel totally left out as the same thing happened to Kevin Rudd MP, Morris Iemma MP and Nathan Rees MP.

If the NSW Government is not to blame for GPT’s announcement then why is the Glendale Interchange put off to the never never?

If the Occupational Health and Safety Issue are to be used then why does the NSW Government continue to put off on installing lifts at nearby Cardiff Railway Station?

When the Rozelle Metro was being contemplated not only were there no plans for escalators at the Rozelle Metro Station but the plan intended to bulldoze Woolworths Town Hall Store. Woolworth’s had to put on hold a major store renovation while this ill conceived plan that had NO train Driver’s or Guard’s was considered and eventually dumped.

The Rozelle Metro also has meant that the Balmain Leagues Club was forced to close and move and the building on Victoria Road now has a lease sign on it.

The NSW Government was not concerned that Sydney would have lost a major retailer in Woolworth’s Town Hall and it is obvious that the NSW Government is unconcerned or at the very least indifferent to the closure of David Jones Newcastle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media Spokesperson for David Jones Helen Carless told me that “We have plans to update and refurbish the store if only GPT would let us continue. Our Lease was already extended and this announcement by GPT is a major blow as we do not want to close the store.”

While GPT are pulling out of Newcastle how on earth do they expect to offload all of their properties BEFORE David Jones has to close in January 2011?

Having viewed the backgrounds of the Director’s of GPT on their website all of these people are involved in Private Industry. Why would they leave buildings to rot then “Pull Out” and expect to sell at a maximum return?

Many people in Big Business and many Politicians see Railway Lines as unproductive, unattractive loss making means of transport.

What people have forgotten is that Towns and Cities large and small were built on the back of the Railway. David Jones Elizabeth Street Sydney Store opened in 1927 to co-inside with the opening of the new City underground Railway at St. James in 1926.

The Railway into Newcastle CBD is the lifeline into Newcastle and David Jones is a major Retail Artery for Newcastle.

For the best part of 16 years New South Wales has stagnated under NSW Labor and as it stands now Newcastle is symbolic of that stagnation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the record Editor Victor P Taffa has been a Manager, Share Holder and regular shopper with Woolworth’s and always opposed the closure of Woolworth’s Town Hall. Coming from a retail background stores such as Woolworth’s Town Hall are now far and few in between in the Sydney CBD compared with many decades ago.

Again for the record Editor Victor P Taffa has been an employee of David Jones Market Street Sydney Food Hall during the first major renovation in the 1980’s and is still an account holder. As with Sydney, Newcastle must maintain a retailer like David Jones.

Editor Victor P Taffa similarly supports Heavy Rail Expansion on a major scale.

Victor P Taffa

The proponents of Fix Our City seem to ignore the chaos that will reign supreme should the Newcastle Railway Line be cut back to Wickham or Broadmeadow.

 

 

 

During the recent line closure for trackwork in June 2010 it is painfully obvious to say the least that chaos in Newcastle is alleviated with the railway line. Chaos will occur as replacement bus services will simply be unable to handle any level of increased patronage.

Worse still pensioners, disabled, beach goers, tourists, Hunter Valley residents and many others will be disenfranchised and will not come to Newcastle should any part of the Newcastle Railway line close.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following photos taken by concerned Newcastle residents demonstrate how out of touch the anti-rail lobby really is.

Another Hunter Valley resident sent letters to Editor Victor P Taffa for publication as The Newcastle Herald would not publish these letters. Other Newcastle residents are expressing the same view about the biased coverage by The Newcastle Herald on the Railway issue.

 

G’day Victor,

Photo No. 3 is outside Broadmeadow rail station as people board the bus, many people are already on the bus or left on the previous bus – this is around midday. It took 20 minutes to travel by train from Fassifern to Broadmeadow and 25 minutes from Broadmeadow to Civic by bus. (Normally about 6 minutes on the train).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo No 20 is looking North along Stewart Avenue, the next street is Hunter Street. It is just after 4pm 24/6/10. The traffic was held up for about a minute by the traffic lights at Honeysuckle Drive. In that time it backed up to King street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo No 23 is taken from Hunter Street/Stewart Avenue corner. There have been no trains for a week, but the blockages are worse than ever. The RTA had a traffic count done during the trackwork outage and another following. Naturally everyone is very interested in the results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Regards, 

George.

 

Wednesday 21^st January 2009

Dear Editor,

Ray Cross in today’s Herald observes the obvious point that a group of people have been fixated on closing Newcastle rail services these last several decades. The Herald reported in November 15^th 2008 that engineer Ian Pedersen has been ‘Delving into ways to solve problems caused by the rail line since the 1980s.’There must be a wonderful prize awaiting these people that far exceeds the disruption that would result from removing the rail. For those who wonder why we have a rail line into Newcastle, the answer to this question will be revealed when the trains come into Newcastle Station on Australia Day, next Monday morning.

George Paris.

Rathmines

 

Monday 28th June 2010

Dear Editor,

The above photograph of Stewart Avenue just after 4.00 pm last Thursday (24^th June) seems to be at odds with Mike King’s observations in today’s Herald that the traffic eased when the rail was closed to install more permanent sleepers last week.  In fact I wonder how the rail would affect Honeysuckle Drive, as there are no rail lines across it and it is regulated by road traffic lights. What I did see was that as Honeysuckle Drive traffic commenced, vehicles banked up almost immediately throughout Stewart Avenue as far as King Street, as the photo shows.  As mentioned in the Herald today also, this should all be made plain for all to see, by the report of traffic flows during the track work by Better Transport Futures, if the public is permitted to see the report.

George Paris.

Rathmines

Victor P Taffa

20 years ago at 10.27 am on Thursday, 28 December, 1989, the City of Newcastle was devastated by an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale.

The earthquake is regarded as one of Australia’s worst natural disasters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The earthquake claimed 13 lives including:

• 9 people at the Newcastle Workers Club
• 3 people in Beaumont Street Hamilton
• 1 person died of shock

160 people were hospitalised while 50,000 buildings were damaged including approximately 40,000 homes and 300 buildings were demolished. Damage to buildings and facilities occurred within a 9,000 sq. km region An area of 200,000 Sq Km felt the quakes effect while there were reports of movement up to 800 Km from Newcastle. 300,000 people were affected and 1,000 were left homeless. The cost of damage was estimated at $4 Billion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally I felt the earthquake while working in Sydney.

At the time I was employed at Igloo Deli as an Assistant Manager at Macquarie Centre, North Ryde. The store was located in the third floor of the centre.

When the quake struck I was in the kitchen area at the sink cleaning some utensils.

At the time of the quake I felt the floor shake. I thought it odd and kept on working.

Only when I heard about the quake striking Newcastle did I realise that what I felt was the quake itself.

The Lower Hunter Save Our Rail branch

Meets on a monthly basis at the Newcastle Leagues Club.

The Newcastle Leagues Club is located at

17 National Park Street, Newcastle West New South Wales.

The meetings commence at 5.30 pm and are generally

Held in the second floor function room.

Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month.

Please call Joan Dawson, Branch President

On (02) 4928 1339 or 0408 618 198

Everyone is very welcome to attend.