Blacktown is once again in the South West of Sydney

According to the SMH, Blacktown is not in Western Sydney, but in South Western Sydney!!!

Thieves steal $100,000 worth of cashew nuts by Arjun Ramachandran
December 29, 2008 - 6:27AM

Police are looking for $100,000 worth of cashew nuts stolen from a business in Sydney's south-west yesterday.

An alarm alerted police to the theft at the business at Forge Street, Blacktown, about 5.30am yesterday.

When officers arrived they found the back roller door open and a number of pallets of nuts missing from inside.

Anyone with information is asked to phone Blacktown police on 9671 9199 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Rhodes, in Sydney's South West

According to The SMH Rhodes is now in Sydney's South West. For those who don't know where it really is, I suggest you look on a map. It is on the southern shore of the Paramatta River. But it is actually just as far North as North Sydney. I just wish the editors at the SMH would use a map.

Explosions have destroyed two ATMs at banks in Sydney's south-west overnight.

Police are appealing for assistance after the explosions, which occurred at a shopping centre in Chester Hill and in Rhodes.

Witnesses reported seeing a dark-colour Audi sedan leaving both areas, police said.

The first explosion occurred at around 12.20am at a shopping centre on Leicester Street, Chester Hill and although the ATM was destroyed, no cash was taken, police say.

Police were alerted by alarms.

The second occurred at 1.05am in Rider Boulevard, Rhodes. That machine was also destroyed and an amount of cash taken.

Anyone who witnessed either explosion, or suspicious activity in the respective areas, is urged to contact detectives via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

The Daily Telegraph describes Rhodes correctly as more being in the Inner West.

Inappropriate Images for News Article

Over the weekend, News.COM.AU published this Story about fraud within the First Home Buyers grant in Victoria. The included an image showing a NSW real estate companies advertising sign. I saw this as quite inappropriate. I made a comment on the comments page for the story some time Saturday morning. Sometime later the image was changed, but my comment was not acknowledged or published.

Have a look at the two versions of the story online, and then read the content below.

• First home buyers fake contracts
• Dates changes to get extra grant money
• Some agents encourage them to do it

HOUSE buyers are allegedly faking contracts to illegally claim the boosted first-home grant.

Some dodgy real estate agents and mortgage brokers are encouraging the fraud, suggesting buyers change the date of existing contracts to fall after October 14 so they qualify for the latest lucrative federal government grants. Forward-dating contracts could net first-home buyers $14,000 instead of $7000 under the old grant system.

A Herald Sun investigation has also discovered:
• SOME financiers are reporting a 25 per cent surge in Victorian mortgage sales since the Government doubled the grant a month ago.
Related Coverage
• Trawling mortgagee sales for bargainsNEWS.com.au, 16 Apr 2008
• Home loan advertising blitz attackedNEWS.com.au, 20 Oct 2008
• Buyers beware as housing market stallsNEWS.com.au, 27 Oct 2008
• Home buyers unmoved by BudgetNEWS.com.au, 19 May 2008
• How did we get here?NEWS.com.au, 30 Sep 2008

INQUIRY rates on new and established homes jumped 80 per cent in the week after the new grant was announced. HOUSE sales in some areas of country Victoria have leapt 300 per cent on the back of first-home buyers in rural areas being eligible for state and federal grants totalling $29,000 on new homes. MORE than 1300 wrongly claimed first-home grants, worth almost $11 million, have been detected since the scheme began in 2000.

RORTERS have been fined $411,000 in the past year alone and ineligible applicants forced to pay back $3.7 million in the same period. AMONG frauds detected by the State Revenue Office inspectors were greedy investors and owners of multiple properties.

ALMOST 300,000 Victorians have received $2.9 billion in first-home grants since 2000. The new grants, coupled with low interest rates and falling prices, are luring potential first-home buyers. But the influx of new money has sparked fears prices could spiral out of reach of ordinary Australians.

While industry figures remain cautious, early data shows sales rose in October on the back of the grant boost. Australian Finance Group, which controls about 10 per cent of the national mortgage market, said a surge in first-home buyers saw Victorian mortgage sales soar by 25.1 per cent in October. With house sales drying up as the global financial crisis hit home, developers had slowed building new homes.

Nick Collishaw, head of Mirvac, said some of its projects had been put on hold for three to six months. But a fortnight ago it sold 36 homes, mostly to first-home buyers, compared with 15 the week before. The grant increase has sparked a sales boom in regional Victoria. Villawood boss Rory Costelloe said sales at the company's Bendigo estates had skyrocketed 300 per cent.

At least Sydney papers get the country right

I have been looking at news of a balloon crash in the USA. Unfortunately ITN from the UK have made some mistakes with their coverage, stating that the crash happened in Mexico. It actually happened in the state of New Mexico, USA. And New Mexico is on the border with Mexico, but that border is really short. Bad reporting there.

St Mary's in the South West

Another grand case of extending the South West. This time News.Com.Au have worked out that St Mary's is South West.

Blacktown South-West

The SMH has outdone themselves today, with a graphic describing 'Blacktown South-West'. I have no idea if this refers to South West Blacktown or what...

Eastlakes - in Sydney's South East

From the Sydney Morning Herald, a man has been 'Charged with possessing replica pistols'. The problem is that Eastlakes is actually due south of the Sydney CBD. It would often be thought of as being in Sydney's Eastern suburbs, but I think South-East is a bit of a stretch.

A man has been arrested and charged with the possession of replica pistols in the south eastern Sydney suburb of Eastlakes.

Police say the 29 year-old Eastlakes man was stopped about 10.30 yesterday morning on Florence Street by officers investigating a series of armed robberies around Sydney last month.

Warriewood in Sydney's North

From the Sydney Morning Herald on September 2, 2008. This is not as blatant as others, but Warriewood is on the coast to the North-East of Sydney. Darkes Forest thankfully is South, Campbelltown is South West and Toongabbie is West.

Landcare Australia's chief executive, Brian Scarsbrick, appealed to Sydneysiders to help protect habitats. "This study is an alarming call to arms for anyone interested in preserving our wildlife to volunteer for their urban land care group." The study, conducted by the Department of Environment and Climate Change, included Warriewood in the north, Toongabbie in the west, Campbelltown in the south-west and Darkes Forest to the south.

Parramatta, in Sydney's south-west.

From the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday September 5, 2008, comes the following Gem.

A train guard narrowly escaped injury last night after a group of youths peppered a carriage with paintball pellets at Parramatta, in Sydney's south-west.

Police say about four male youths armed with paintball rifles and ammunition splattered the inside of a train carriage about 9.40pm on their way from Town Hall station to Parramatta, where they disembarked.

One of the youths then fired another paintball at the train as it left the station, only narrowly missing a male guard on board. He was spattered with paint, police said.

The group were later tracked down and detained at Blacktown station, where police seized a quantity of paintball rifles and paintball pellets.

Police arrested one 14-year-old male but later released him pending further inquiries.

Investigations were continuing

Test

Test