Hey Scotty,

Not sure if I will be able to make Saturday as work most Saturday nights, Cheers,

Happy Birthday Dude, all the best, hope all your dreams and wishes come true 

im turning 38 luckily this year and im having a celebration at the historic holmesville tavern from 6:30 till later this saturday there will be entertainment in the fire heated undercover beer garden and they can serve you dinner out there if you buy it from the restaurent inside if anyones hard up for a reason to not sit in front of the telly with your boots and gloves on making ten ninety eight noises like i am right now thinking how it used to be when both my arms worked!!! its in george street holmesville and they need numbers for staff soon if lots of yers are comin i think the numbers 0249532905 so if you are your precense can be a present or a nice new large red ducati collared shirt

The Results:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/1000-motorcyclists-in-ctp-protest-20100831-14bne.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/31/2998825.htm?section=justin

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/1000-motorcyclists-join-ctp-protest-20100831-14bne.html
 
Meeting with Michael Daley, NSW Minister for Finance
1:10pm to 1:35pm, Tuesday 31st August

Present:  Minister Daley, his adviser, Rob Colligan and Simon Disney

*   Rob opened by expressing extreme dissatisfaction at the lines of communication between MCC and Government concerning the CTP issue.
*   He said the legislation is flawed and less than transparent with regard to how premiums are calculated
*   The Minister responded by saying he agreed with MCC and saw only one way for the numbers of motorcycles on our roads to go... and that would be UP.
*   Rob said we want a Ministerial Advisory Council run by motorcyclists
*   The Minister said he would explore this further at a subsequent meeting and offered MCC a permanent spot on the Motor Accidents Council
*   The Minister said that he would arrange a meeting with the MAA and attend in person if possible and send a staffer along together with an independent actuary to discuss the issues raised by MCC.
*   Rob said that issues we would discuss are a new type of recreational registration for trail bikes, a single seat registration category and a new LAMS category.
*   The Minister agreed that the MAA should assist with investigating these changes.
*   MCC also wants consistent ministerial staff liaison so that we don't have to keep explaining our issues over and over again to new staffers as they come and go.... Preferably at Chief of Staff level.  Minister agreed to this request.
*   MCC also discussed the unfairness of tolling for motorcycles and stressed the importance of continuing use of bus lanes by motorcycles so that motorcyclists can continue to share the road with professional (ie: safer) bus drivers.
*   Also discussed the effectiveness of the MCC at communicating safety messages to the riding fraternity and agreed to explore how MCC can play a greater role in working with government to improve motorcycle accident and injury rates.  
*   Rob pointed out that riders despise being told how "dangerous" and "risky" our form of transport is, particularly when it is bureaucrats and politicians doing the telling. This was noted by the Minister.

Discussions will continue, but I would like to think that this was a very good outcome for the work we put in.

I will keep you all updated as more comes in.

Warmest regards,

Rob Colligan
Chairman
Motorcycle Council of NSW
0401227731

A good outcome in that the MCC NSW has been given useful access to the system and may now be able to get genuine action to flow from this event. Interesting that all the "official speak" by for example the police minister was about the quantity and vulnerability of accidents motorcyclists have, and nobody official understood that the costs of green slips are about the harm motorcyclists do to others and is nothing about what others do to motorcyclists or we do to ourselves! This sort of totally incorrect view will be part of the problem, thus getting to a viable answer may just be a matter of time and methodically cranking the "keep it real" handle.

Yesterday more than 1,000 riders protested outside NSW Parliament and made their voices heard against the outrageous increase in motorcycle CTP insurance.

Here is the Channel Seven News story on the rally. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u48sDy7cAqU

In a bid to divert attention, after the rally the Keneally Labor Government announced that the Motor Accidents Authority (MAA) would review motorcycle green slip pricing.

The last time the MAA did a review CTP green slips went up by 85 per cent!

I met many of you yesterday, spoke at the rally and got the message loud and clear that it is action you are after, not more reports or reviews.

After Premier Keneally failed to attend the rally, I asked her about Motorbike CTP hikes in NSW Parliament. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRP9IfEyg9w

I will continue to fight for action from the Keneally Labor Government and encourage you all to continue to spread the word about the Rider Rip Off website http://www.riderripoff.com.au/ - we now have more than 5,000 signatures but we need to keep on building momentum on this important issue.

Regards

Andrew Stoner MP
Shadow Minister for Roads

First coverage of tomorrow's Rally at Parliament House.....     
 
get that click rate happening folks.....
 
forward to your friends.....
 
http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/motorcycle-ctp-protest-20100830-1468l.html

Here is an extract of the text, but do view it per the link above to score the hits (and see the pics!):

Motorcycle CTP protest
Stephen Ottley
August 30, 2010 - 3:49PM

Motorcycle riders are expected to be out in force on Sydney streets at noon tomorrow to protest state insurance laws.

Hundreds are anticipated to flock to Parliament House at MacQuarie Street to express there outrage over huge compulsory third party (CTP) insurance hikes.

According to Rob Colligan, Chairman of the Motorcycle Council of New South Wales, some riders have been slugged with 105 per cent CTP increases since new regulations came into force on July 1 this year.

Under the new scheme motorcycles are split into five categories based on engine capacity, instead of the previous three categories. Colligan will lead the protest rally tomorrow pushing for an radical change to the CTP insurance scheme, claiming it is outdated and rorts both car drivers and bike riders.

"What we're calling for is a complete overhaul of the CTP system," Colligan says. "We've got the most complex system in Australia and the most expensive. It's a disgusting system."

He claims the insurance companies have been charging too much and making big profits off the back of the current scheme.

"They say 50 per cent of rider's premiums went down," Colligan says. "Well I'm one of them, it went down $6. And that's the problem the decreases are far outweighed by the increases.

"The more we looked into it the more we realised we are paying too much, about 25 per cent across the board."
Colligan, who represents more than 40,000 riders through the MCC of NSW, believes splitting bikes into categories based on the type of bike would be a better solution.

One of the biggest problems are part-time riders that predominantly use their bikes only on weekends in state forest. Colligan believes a new category for recreational riders would help, as would a category specifically for scooters.

Fellow rider Daynon Adam has also been hit with a bigger CTP bill and backs Colligan's call for a new scheme.
"Mine is about $700, which is ridiculous for a weekend toy," Adam says. "It used to be $500 [before the change].

"A lot of people are not going to buy them because that's too much money for something to go riding once a month."

Colligan is also heavily critical of the under-fire Labour Government, saying he hasn't received any offers to meet to discuss the issue and no minister accepted an invitation to speak tomorrow at the protest.

"I've had a lot of buck-passing from the government," Colligan says.

 "It's a sad indictment on the leadership of this state."

Instead, Shadow Minister for Roads Andrew Stoner will speak along with Colligan at the noon rally.

i hope a lot of us can join me for the next club breakfast to help me celebrate my birthday from the day before i know i hope to come home to watch the moto GP in my home cinema its nowhere as big as my mate who's company did up my house's, cinema inside his house its a 52 seat cinema Ive not seen it yet but hope to once I'm walking which wont be long before i am

cheers my dog mates

was a great ride with a soft get off and one booking all before broke .good feed at denman,rian,hail &sun , good company ,looking foward to the next ride

had the lot ,good weather ,rain, hail ,great lunch and get off and great company
 

  Sorry Doggies was going to make this one, even when i only finished work at 4am but the Ducati gods decided different, my 1098s wouldn't start  Me thinking that a weekend between rides would be OK and didn't worry about plugging my trickle charging in found out that was my down fall.... 1098s like heaps of power so wont stuff that up again will plug and play from now on   
  Hope you all have a top ride and heaps of smart Ducati riders turned up... See ya all next ride....

Well I have merged topics plus added another note on general despatch as the below was meant to go out to everyone as an announcebut somehow didn't. So I tried the Newsletter broadcast which seemed to work properly now that we have cleaned out all the dud email addresses accumulated by people changing ISP or moving away etc. Here's the extra info:

It is a 176km ride going (gone by 10 past 9, OK!) via Sandy Ck Rd, Wollombi and a stop at Broke for refreshments, then Golden Hwy to Jerrys Plains and the back road into Denman with a run round that cool circuit that is Rosemount Winery on the way in. Do join us, it is a nice pub and meal at Denman watching the passing parade / goings on.