As far as I’m aware, the current situation of having interest rates (currently at 7.25%) higher than the leader of the Federal opposition’s approval rating (currently 7%) is a first for this country.

With the Liberal party  holding a virtual autopsy of their election route and the party as Christopher Pyne described it “perilously close to the edge of the waterfall”, it seems there are testing times ahead for both mortgage holders and the Liberal party.

While the Liberal party is looking to their party members rather than caucus to determine their leadership, financial analysts are hinting interest rates may hit 8% before the end of the year.

With interest rates already at a 12 year high for mortgage holders and the Liberal party in opposition in every state and territory as well as Federally, it looks like it’ll be a squeeze for both in the near future.

Above: Chelsea and Tahlia Blom with their new pets Snow White and Angel. 

The family who were the victims of a sickening and cowardly attack on their pet budgerigars have been comforted by the donation of replacement birds and an outpouring of community outrage at the callous attack.

“There are nice people out there regardless of the fact that you’ve got these sick people who can do something like this”.

“This lovely lady rang and it had nothing to do with her yet she was so apologetic that it had happened.”

“It’s so nice that she’s willing to do this to cheer my children” said Mrs. Blom.

Anyone with information about the attack is urged to call  Wodonga police on  (02) 6049 2600.

To those who have been following it, the ICAC inquiry into the cataclysmic allegations of corruption that have ignited the Wolongong shire council is nothing short of a soap opera.

It has all the elements of a great TV drama, sex scandals, corruption, double dealings, bribery, even the infamous “last supper“ and today high drama with convicted fraudster Gerald Carrol being slapped around the head by the husband of one of his alleged victims.

If ever there was a real life “Dirty Sexy Money” in local government here in Australia this is it.

At the heart of the scandal is a tale as old as time, local government logrolling for the avarice of developers, repaid in pork.

Local government has become infamous for back room dealings, junkets and nepotistic relationships with developers, community interests often playing a distant second fiddle to the seemingly insatiable greed of developers.

We’ve certainly seen our share of questionable dealings between council and developers locally, safety, noise and access concerns about the recently completed freeway could well indicate that proponents of the “external” option were in fact right, the community (and the federal transport minister) were ignored and the freeway was built through the middle of town anyway.

Wodonga may be set to get it’s “white elephant” thanks to the new aquatics and leisure centre development proposed for the White Box rise housing estate.

Last time I was there, the current Wodonga swim centre was really quite good, certainly better than it’s equivalent in Albury, the Wodonga cinema on the other hand….well there isn’t one is there?

As the AWOC has reported, Wodonga Mayor Rodney Wangman has already made it abundantly clear he won’t tolerate any opposition to his plan to stack Wodonga council with pro development appointees following the local government elections in November.

Council junkets cost the community, not just in dollars and cents, but more importantly in opportunity.

We lost our opportunity for a decent freeway when Patricia Gould overturned Federal Transport Minister John Anderson’s approved external bypass proposal.

Wodonga council keeps stringing us along that there is going to be a cinema complex built there in the foreseeable future meanwhile they spend $2.5 million on a rockpile Wodonga doesn’t need.

The opportunity to build worthwhile, community boosting projects is lost as the council greedily dip their noses into the pork barrel and approve these burdensome lemons which will be a ball and chain for future generations.

Our community deserves better.

Already the knives are out, NSW Premier Morris Iemma, fresh from taking an axe to Wollongong council (sparing State MP Noreen Hay after she was cleared by the ICAC) has moved to change the rules that apply to political contributions made by developers.

The ICAC inquiry and it’s ensuing bloodletting continues.

Will the trickle on effect reverberate all the way down to the border? Only time will tell.

This Saturday 8th March sees the opening of Wodonga’s annual Carnivale in Woodland Grove.
Carnivale is an event which began as Wodonga’s contribution to the 2006 Commonwealth Games, hosting the Jamaican themed Jonkunuu Carnivale and has since become an annual event.

The theme for this year is “Wild” inspired by the classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.

The festivities will kick off at 4pm in conjunction with the Wodonga Markets, also in Woodland Grove, audiences can expect to be treated to the usual musical and visual feast they have come to expect from Carnivale.

On the other side of the river, Albury’s Botanic Gardens will play host to the annual BaRFF (Border and Regional Film Festival) .

The event is an opportunity for local film-makers to show off their works on an open air screen.

A taste of what’s on offer can be found here, bookings can be made on 02 60238111

Admission for all events is free.

Internationally renowned Milawa winery Brown Brothers has welcomed a third generation vintner from Tianjin province, the first Chinese  vigneron to be a part of the Brown Brothers team.

The European style of wine has been making a steady increase throughout the Asian marketplace and Brown Brothers hopes that Cynthia Guo’s three month stay will assist the vineyard to attune to the Asian palette with some of its vintages.

Drier red wines seem to be the preferred style of western wines, Brown Brothers currently export to China, Malaysia and Japan.

The winery has played host to numerous visiting winemakers, mostly from Europe, the first visiting Chinese winemaker is seen as a sign of the times.   

It’s been a day of sickening acts of animal cruelty with two separate incidents shocking the border.

Firstly a family in Wodonga is grieving the loss of their two pet budgerigars callously killed during the night on the front porch of the familiy’s home.

Wodonga Senior Constable Ross Draper has said “Someone has strangled them, they’ve had their neck broken and been stuffed into the food and water tray”.

Police are speculating as to the motivation for the seemingly random act of senseless violence.

The attack follows another seemingly unmotivated attack on an aviary in Lavington in December in which cockatiels, quails and a Guinea pig were savagely killed.

Police are also hunting a person responsible for another vicious attack which has required sixteen sheep to be put down as a result of gunshot injuries in Lavington today. 

Neighbours reported hearing dogs barking at or around ten PM on Saturday night, no gunshots were heard however.

Anyone with information on any of these callous acts is urged to call Wodonga police on (02) 6049 2600 or Albury police on (02) 6023 9299.

Callers can remain anonymous.

It’s a sad reflection on human nature that every year hundreds of local dogs find themselves lost, abandoned or abused.

The Albury Wodonga dog and cat rescue service is a not for profit organisation which aims to find homes for some of the animals which find themselves fallen on hard times.

The Border Tail is a quarterly online newsletter available in PDF format full of news, events and information for local dog owners.

The Dog’s Breakfast is a social group which meets on the second Sunday of each month at Oddie’s Creek Park (next to Nouriel Park) from 10am.

The event is in the form of a sausage sizzle (byo everything) followed by an optional dog walk along the river, a gold coin donation benefits the Albury dog rescue and the local RSPCA.

The Dog’s Breakfast to be held on the 11th May will incorporate a visit from renowned photographic artist Jules Boag who will taking pictures for an upcoming art project.

Jules’ work the Hunting Lodge is one of 75 pieces shortlisted for the Visa National Photographic Portrait prize of 2007. Her work is on display at Old Parliament house until the end of March.

For those who might have room for another dog on a temporary basis, the AWDCR is always looking for people to foster suitable dogs for a weekend or longer.
Interested people can contact the rescue centre on 0438 596 723 or 0402 862 613

The renaming of Mt. Niggerhead is set to occur in an official ceremony attended by Indigenous elders and local community members.

The new name of the controversially named landmark is being kept a closely guarded secret however, a source I spoke to within the relevant government department hinted at it’s traditional name being hot favourite.

The re-naming, which extends to several other geographical features which bear the same name is reported to be taking place in early April.

Wodonga Mayor Rodney Wangman has pulled legal muscle to help quash an on-line article which claimed he was going to use a “slab” of stooge candidates to stack  all seven seats on the Wodonga city council with members who are pro development.

The Wodonga Online Times article, which has since been pulled, reported that a source close to Wangman had revealed the Mayor’s plan to use preferences from unsuccessful candidates to minimise informal voting and maximise the vote to a pre-determined number of candidates.

The source (who will not be named) regarded the tactic as “a deliberate attempt to distort the democratic process”.

The AWOC can reveal that legal action was threatened and an individual from the WOT was served with legal papers demanding the article be withdrawn.

The AWOC however, will not be backing down from this story however as the public has an absolute right to know the kinds of tactics which are being used by Wangman to ensure his dominance of the council and keep this information out of the public domain.

It’s curious that the legal counsel Wangman sought didn’t inform him that in order to claim a legal case for defamation, the plaintiff must;

1. prove that the allegations are false (which in this case they are most certainly factually accurate).

2. that the plaintiff must be able to demonstrate that some form of financial disadvantage was incurred as a result of said statements.

Clearly Wangman is using legal threats to bully into silence anyone who wants to blow the whistle on this back room deal.

It sounds perilously close to bullying to me.