Quote of the Week

Tony Abbott has obviously learnt nothing from last year's travel rort scandals. He and his Team Australia bombard us with brainwashing messages like the age of entitlement is over, budget emergency and that the country can't afford leaners. He then attends at private function in Melbourne and  arranges a quick "work" visit and press conference to conveniently justify claiming entitlements rather than paying his own way. It's a shameful, brazen abuse of his position and a contemptible waste of hard-earned taxpayers' money. 

[Glen op den Brouw of Liverpool in a letter to the editor, The Sydney Morning Herald 28 August 2014]

The ugly face of Abbott's Team Australia

Letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner on 26 August 2014:

Aussie Islamists

Given the unhappy world situation at this time and the present exposure of the unholy and bestial practices that Australian Islamists, amongst others, are pursuing in Arabia, a whole rethink of where we stand in world affairs is overdue.

At this stage the United States of Australasia, incorporating our Christian neighbours, is worthy of serious consideration.

Thomas Macindoe

Yamba

The Great Coastal Emu Hunt 6-7 September 2014 Clarence Valley & Bungawlbin

Abbott Government's latest list of 'metadata' about you it wants stored in order to spy on your Internet & mobile phone activity

According to the Australian Parliamentary Library on 24 October 2012 there were 29.28 million active mobile services (voice and data)in Australia, 10.54 million fixed-line telephone services, 3.8 million home VoIP users, 10.9 million Internet service subscribers. With 57 per cent of people using three communication technologies (fixed-line telephone, mobile phone and Internet), 26 per cent using four communication technologies (fixed-line telephone, mobile phone, Internet and VoIP) and 21 per cent of people (aged 14 and over) accessing the Internet via a mobile phone.

With the exception of fixed-line services, it is probable that numbers in all these communication categories will have increased by now.

The Abbott Government intends to create legislation requiring internet and telephone providers to store all subscribers' metadata for a period of up to two years in order that certain government agencies can access this information without a warrant.

Warrentless searches of subscribers' metadata have apparently been surreptitiously occurring for years, as indicated in The Canberra Times on 20 August 2014:

The federal government has been left red-faced following revelations that law-enforcement agencies have been accessing Australians' web browsing histories without a warrant.

Access to phone and internet data held by telecommunications companies has been the subject of much debate recently, as the government seeks to extend the power of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies to fight terrorism and crime. It has proposed telcos retain customers' metadata for up to two years for investigation.

However, spy agency ASIO and federal police have given assurances that data on what websites Australians visit - know as web history - could only be obtained with warrants.

Now a paper published by the parliamentary library on Monday has revealed an industry practice of providing website addresses (URLs) to law enforcement without warrants.

Telstra confirmed on Tuesday evening it had provided URLs to agencies without a warrant "in rare cases". It did not name the agencies or how many times it provided information.

IT News on 26 August 2014 reports the latest list of ‘metadata’ the Abbott Government has told the telecommunications industry it wants stored by Internet/phone service providers in order to conduct warrantless mass surveillance of the populace:

* names, addresses, birthdates, financial and billing information of internet and phone account holders;

* traffic data such as numbers called and texted, as well as times and dates of communications; 
* when and where online communications services start and end; 
* a user’s IP address; 
* type and location of communication equipment; and
* upload and download volumes, among others.

One rather suspects that with this definition of retained metadata the Federal Government and its agencies can do a lot more than keep alert to any alleged domestic terrorist threat.
There is room for 'function creep' to become established. 

Previously in an August 2012 submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security the Human Rights Law Centre expressed concern that:

Everyone’s communication data is kept, not just those suspected of a crime. Large repositories of private data tempt ‘fishing expeditions’ – trawling though private data in search of suspicion, not on the basis of it. A nation of citizens thus becomes a nation of suspects.25

On 27 August 2014 The Canberra Times published the confidential data retention industry consultation document.

Australian Federal Government Data Retention Consultation August 2014

UPDATE

The 2010 version of consultation concerning the proposed data retention policy also clearly outlines an intention to monitor the daily habits and social networks of ever Australian resident via their Internet and telephone use.

Joe 'my middle name is entitlement' Hockey and the public purse

This is the federal treasurer who in his first federal budget was determined to turn the divide between the rich and poor in Australia into a yawning chasm…..

Media reports put Joe Hockey's current parliamentary income at $365,868 - a base salary of $195,130 plus an 87.5% loading for his position of Treasurer. 

According to the Remuneration Tribunal Determination 2014/16: Members of Parliament –Travelling Allowance from 31 August 2014 Hockey will also receive $91 a night for staying in his own house in Canberra and $271 when he stays in commercial accommodation. 

If his wife happens to be staying in their house at the same time, Hockey receives an additional $10 from taxpayers.

Excerpts from article in The Daily Telegraph on 17 August 2014:

* The Hockey family’s astute purchase of the property in one of Canberra’s premier suburbs is a well-known story in political circles. The home is worth an estimated $1.5 million according to local real estate agents. But the Hockey clan picked up the property for a song, purchasing it for just $320,000 in 1997.

In his recently published biograph Not Your Average Joe, a former Liberal MP Ross Cameron boasts that Mr Hockey struck a golden deal, spotting the house when driving in Canberra.

“The house was a piece of Hockey mercantile genius,’’ Mr Cameron said.

Biographer Madonna King writes that the seller, who according to ACT lands title records was called Robert Hamilton wanted “no part in lawyers or agents.’

“So Joe, the lawyer, called his father, the real estate agent, who took the owner out for a beer,’’ Ms King writes.

“The Hockey’s scored the house for land value. Joe’s father didn’t mention he was a real estate agent, buying the property on behalf of his lawyer son.’’

When it was purchased in 1997, Mr Hockey was listed on sales documents as owning 5 per cent, his wife Melissa Babbage 61 per cent and his father Richard Hockey 34 per cent….

The double dipping of MPs who claim travel allowance to stay in properties owned by themselves or their wives and in some cases reduce their tax by negatively gearing property is well-known in Canberra. In 2007, it was revealed Malcolm Turnbull, then regarded as Australia’s richest MP, rented a house from his wife Lucy when in Canberra. It was reported Mr Turnbull paid $10,000 a year to his wife under the arrangement and claimed another $10 a night when she stayed in Canberra. In response, Mr Turnbull said the story was a “beat up.”

*The Treasurer has legitimately claimed $108,000 in travel allowance for 368 nights over the last four years including many nights for parliamentary sitting weeks where he has stayed at the Canberra house.

The Daily Mail 14 August 2014:

Mr Hockey and his millionaire banker wife Melissa Babbage, own four properties between them, including a five-bedroom harbourside family home in Hunters Hill, one of Sydney's wealthiest harbourside suburbs, believed to be worth more than $5 million, which they bought for $3.5 million in 2004.

Their $10 million property portfolio also includes a 200 hectare cattle farm in Queensland and a beautiful six-bedroom coastal retreat with 180-degree views of the beach in Stanwell Park, an hour south of Sydney. Mr Hockey's statement of registrable interests, made in 2010, also lists him as joint owner of a property in the prestigious Canberra suburb of Forrest.

RECAP: The score now stands at ICAC 14 Liberal Party of Australia 0

*Updated as NSW Independent Commission against Corruption Operation Spicer continues*

Arthur Sinodinos Federal Liberal Senator for NSW and Assistant Treasurer in the Abbott Government  - not fulfilling assistant treasurer duties for the duration of the ICAC Operation Credo and Operation Spicer investigations, after allegations concerning the corporation Australia Water Holdings of which he was a director were made during Operation Credo  .

Barry O’Farrell NSW Liberal MP for Ku-ring-gai  – resigned as Premier and Minister for Western Sydney effective 17 April 2014 and moved to the back bench when it was proven that he had not told the truth when giving evidence at a NSW Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Operation Credo hearing in relation to an undeclared $3,000 gift from the then CEO of Australian Water Holdings.

Mike Gallacher NSW Liberal MLC – resigned as Minister for Police and Emergency Services on 2 May 2014 after being named as one of the subjects of ICAC’s Operation Spicer investigation, suspended from the Liberal Party and moved to the cross bench.

Chris Hartcher NSW Liberal MP for Terrigal – resigned as Minister for Resources and Energy, Special Minister of State, Minister for the Central Coast on 9 December 2013, suspended from the  Liberal Party and moved to the cross bench.

Marie Ficarra NSW Liberal MLC – resigned as parliamentary secretary on 17 April 2014 after it was alleged she solicited an unlawful political donation, suspended from the Liberal Party and moved to the cross bench..

Darren Webber - NSW Liberal MP for Wyong and Member, Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety - suspended from the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW) after corruption allegations, moved to the cross bench and not re-contesting his seat at the 2015 state election.

Christopher Spence - NSW MP for The Entrance, suspended from the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW) after corruption allegations, moved to the cross bench and not re-contesting his seat at the 2015 state election.

Andrew Cornwell – resigned as NSW Liberal MP for Charlestown after admitting in evidence that he had received unlawful political donations and paid his tax bill with some of that money.

Tim Owen – resigned as NSW Liberal MP for Newcastle on 12 August 2014 after admitting he had not told the truth concerning unlawful political donations when giving evidence at an ICAC Operation Spicer hearing and had met with another ICAC witness allegedly to convince that witness not to tell the truth.

Garry Edwards - NSW Liberal MP for Swansea on 14 August 2014 announced he had moved to the cross bench, after allegations during evidence that he had received an unlawful political donation.

Jeff McCloy - Newcastle Mayor, resigned his mayoral position due to admissions that he had made to ICAC that he had made unlawful political donations to the NSW Liberal Party.

Ian McNamara - chief of staff to Opposition Leader John Robertson  called as witness in Operation Spicer investigation and has stood aside while ICAC hearings continue.

Bart Bassett - Liberal MP for Londonderry, on 27 August 2014 it was reported by ABC News that he had moved to the cross bench after ICAC commissioner Megan Latham announced that new evidence had emerged to widen the inquiry's scope to examine whether Nathan Tinkler's firm Buildev tried to influence Mr Bassett.

Craig Bauman - NSW Liberal MP for Port Stephens and former Port Stephens mayor who announced he was stepping aside and moving to the cross bench after giving evidence during Operation Spicer hearing on 12 September 2014

The score now stands at: ICAC 14 Liberal Party of Australia 0

See Operation Credo and Operation Spicer hearing transcripts here.

Do your bit for bees

Have you seen any of the Australian bee species in your garden? 

Have bees been disappearing from your yard over the last ten years? 

Time to look into making your garden bee friendly.

“Plant a variety of species native to the area,” advises Heard. Gum trees are great for larger backyards. Palm and grass trees are more suitable for smaller gardens. Most flowering native shrubs, including grevillea, tea tree, and bottlebrush, are an excellent source of food for bees. • In terms of introduced plants, try lavender, thyme and salvias. A broad variety provides a steadier supply of nectar throughout the seasons. • Avoid pesticides and seeds that have been coated with systemic insecticides such as neonicotinoids. • Experiment with companion gardening, partnering high-nectar flowers with vegetables that need pollination. • Provide refreshments. Malfroy recommends “a shallow tray with a bit of timber or leaves floating in it, or a pond with some aquatic plants. Something the bees can sit on while they’re drinking”. • Let areas of your garden go wild. Dead stems, tree hollows and undisturbed soil provide nesting places for native bees. See more at: http://www.greenlifestylemag.com.au/features/2794/bees-backyard#sthash.H4sGFwpe.dpuf

From aussiebee.com.au

For this introductory guide we have chosen ten major groups of Australian native bees. The states and territories of Australia in which these bees have been found are shown in the following Location Table. Click on the name of each bee in the table to read a brief account of its nest and behaviour.

(More detailed information about these fascinating species can be found in Native Bees of the Sydney Region: A Field Guide and in Aussie Bee bulletin. And visit the Aussie Bee Photo Gallery for more photographs of our colourful native bees!)

Tony Dum-Dum strikes again

Yet another commentator exposes Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s kindergarten-level understanding of demographics, economics and the national tax system……

Microbusiness 22 August 2014:

Tony Abbott has spoken-out against Treasury Secretary, Martin Parkinson’s, claim last night that the Government had failed to sell the case for tax reform, noting instead the following:

“I’ve been saying on many occasions that tax reform starts with scrapping the carbon tax and scrapping the mining tax. It certainly doesn’t end there and that’s why we’ve got a white paper on tax that we will be publishing towards the end of next year.”

No, Prime Minister. Tax reform involves broadening the tax base and replacing inefficient taxes with more efficient ones. The scrapping of the carbon and mining taxes do neither and will push the tax burden further onto Australia’s diminishing pool of workers – hardly a sensible approach given the ageing of the population (not to mention adverse impacts on the environment).