HOLIDAY COAST not TRADE COAST: protesting a plan to industrialise the Clarence River Estuary

Contributed by Clarence Valley resident

The Daily Examiner, 25 June 2016, page 5:

A "POP UP" protest at tomorrow's Yamba Markets could be the start of early and concerted opposition to a proposed mega port for the Clarence River estuary.

The Greens candidate for Page, Kudra Falla-Ricketts, said the successful fight against CSG companies coming into the Clarence Valley showed the value or organising protests early and not allowing the proposals to gain momentum.

"If the proposed redevelopment were ever to proceed it would irreversibly damage the character, economy and environment of the Lower Clarence," Ms Falla-Ricketts said.

"I have been meeting with residents there and their concerns are very real and heartfelt.

"It reminds me of the anguish that the threat of industrial gasfields generated in this region."

Australia Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd and Deakin Capital Pty Ltd are currently lobbying government to allow the construction of a large industrial port in the Clarence River estuary.

The latest version of this proposal has increased the size of port infrastructure so that is covers an estimated 36 sq km of the Clarence River estuary.

That's more than 27% of the entire estuary covered with container, liquid and bulk terminals and at least 14 associated shipping berths - operating 24 hours a day year-round.

"Industrialisation of the Clarence river on this scale would do untold damage to the tourism and fishing industries of the region, damage the riverine and marine environment and potentially open the door to coal and coal seam gas exports and even live cattle exports," Ms Falla-Ricketts said.

"The commercial fishing industry is worth at least $92m annually, and generates over 400 jobs. Tourism is one of the Lower Clarence's greatest economic asset generating $280m annually.

She said the pop-up protest would begin at the markets from 9am.

Ms.Falla-Ricketts also told North Coast Voices:

“Add to this the destruction of the relaxed lifestyle for residents of Yamba, Iluka and beyond and you have an industrialisation proposal that is immensely destructive of our region’s more sustainable industries.

Instead of investing in yesterday’s fossil fuel economy, we should be proud of region’s assets and support our existing sustainable  industries and lifestyles.

The threat of livestock export out of Yamba would also horrify many people and it is also a threat to family farming. The Chinese agricultural companies prefer to buy farms rather than farm produce so this port could also initiate a foreign land grab in the region.

This is another destructive corporate thought bubble that threatens our region. At a time when we should be investing in renewable energy, sustainable fishing, tourism and farming, we are being threatened with this major industrialisation project.

Communities of the lower Clarence and throughout the Page electorate can make their opposition to this proposal clear on July 2 by voting 1 Green then preferencing which ever other candidates can give an assurance they will oppose this destructive plan.”

Des Euen warned off Yamba by an online supporter

Not that Des Euen needed any hint that many Yamba and Iluka residents would be against the industrialisation of the Clarence River estuary…..

Facebook, 23 June 2016

Mr. Euen is rather sensitive about the few comments on the Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd Facebook page.

He recently removed comments from two Clarence Valley residents (at least one of whom attended the “summit” he organised at Casino on 2 June 2016) but left his accusations of selfishness against individuals living in the region which would be most affected by this highhanded attempt to make his fortune at the expense of so many ordinary people.

Australian Federal Election 2016: the Nationals funding bandwagon rolls on along NSW North Coast

National MPs and candidates on the NSW North Coast are rolling out the funding promises with a vengeance now the old 2013 Debt & Deficit Disaster campaign slogan has been hidden under the bed.

Sitting MP Kevin Hogan in the Page electorate:

$1.8 million for a boardwalk along Maclean's Riverside Precinct

$200,000 on CCTV coverage of Grafton and South Grafton business districts

$5,300 for the purchase and installation of two reverse cycle air conditioners in Casino's Community Men's Shed 

$1 million for rebuilding the Woolgoolga Surf Life-Saving Club

New mobile phone towers at Ramornie, Nammoona, Yorklea and Kyogle

$2 million to replace wooden bridges in Kyogle

$500,000 towards an ampitheatre at Casino

Federal candidate for Richmond Matthew Fraser:

$1 million for a second story on Kingscliff's Salt Surf Life Saving Club

Sitting MP Luke Hartsuyker in The Cowper electorate:

$12,000 for Capacity Building for Sustainable and Biological Farming in the Bellingen/Coffs Harbour region

$45,400 Local Blueberry Industry Market Segmentation Research to improve targeting of behaviour change tools for Best Practice

$12,000 in grants for Coffs Harbour community radio station CHYFM

$27,695 training grant for Macksville business Mid Coast Trucks

$4,700 Reap Coffs Harbour

$4,460 Pregnancy Care Coffs Harbour
$1,619 Coffs and Woolgoolga Mental Health and Wellbeing Support Group
$3,950 Sanctuary Australia Foundation

$2,250 Special Needs Support Group
$4,004The Friends of the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden
$2,500 Swimming North Coast – Coffs Harbour  

$2,800 Boambee East Community Centre

$3,333 South Coffs Community Garden  

Somewhere in all this is Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s $25 million promise to the Northern Rivers and Mid-North Coast - rather vaguely called the Coalition jobs package for NSW North Coast and aimed at new, creative and innovative local businesses in the Page, Cowper and Lyne electorates. 

Of course all these businesses, from Taree and Port Macquarie up to Lismore and Ballina, will be competing with each other for a slice of this relatively small amount of money.

* My apologies to North Coast Nationals MPs and candidates if I omitted any funding pledges which have been made to date, but that's the sort of thing that will sometimes occur when election campaign press releases aren't sent out to social media.

Saffin promises Labor will establish a headspace centre in the Clarence Valley

Shadow Minister For Families And Payments, Shadow Minister For Disability Reform & Member for Jagajaga Jenny Macklin and Labor Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin (pictured above), joint media release, 14 June 2016:

LABOR WILL ESTABLISH A HEADSPACE CENTRE IN THE CLARENCE VALLEY

Shadow Minister for Families and Payments, Jenny Macklin and Labor candidate for Page, Janelle Saffin today announced that a Shorten Labor Government will provide funding for the development of a Headspace Centre in the Clarence Valley which will provide assistance to young people experiencing mental health issues.

“There is a clear gap in mental health services in the Clarence Valley, and this $1.8 million in funding will address that gap by ensuring local young people can access the help they need,” Ms Saffin said.

“Establishing a Headspace Centre will give young people in Grafton and the Clarence Valley the same support as people in Coffs Harbour and Lismore.”

Ms Saffin said the Clarence Valley community had been rocked by the death of 11 young people from suicide in just 12 months.

“There are a number of factors behind the high levels of youth suicide and mental health problems on the North Coast. These include high levels of unemployment, cuts to other youth services, and substance abuse.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to this reality and pretend it’s not happening. Ignoring the mental health needs of young people is effectively casting them adrift.

“That’s why I am so passionate about this issue, and so determined to make sure all young people in the Northern Rivers and North Coast have access to services such as Headspace.

“I have fought for the Headspace service for our region, and secured the Lismore Headspace. I have since argued that the Clarence Valley needs one as well, and if I am elected I will deliver it.”

Shadow Minister for Families and Payments, Jenny Macklin, said regionally delivered and funded services were vital to preventing mental illness and building stronger, more resilient communities.

____________________________________

And Nationals MP for Page for the last three years, Kevin Hogan scrambles to catch up……

The Daily Examiner, 15 June 2016, page 6:

Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan said an array of extra mental health services were about to be provided in the Clarence Valley due to extra resourcing.

"Mental health is a very serious issue, every suicide in our community a tragedy," he said.

"Following a community meeting in December last year I organised a Consultation Workshop on May 23. This brought together local agencies to decide how the extra resources should be allocated in the Valley.

"There will be an outreach of Headspace from Coffs operating in the Clarence before the end of the year. There will also be more resources allocated at the acute care level.

"Many good mental health services exist in the Clarence Valley. It was identified that many people were not aware of the current services."

Labor's plan to rescue the National Broadband Network and scale up rollout of fibre-to-the-premises

For everyone tired of the debacle that is the Abbott-Turnbull Government’s National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout, there may be some hope……..

http://www.100positivepolicies.org.au/

Labor Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, media release, 13 June 2016:

An incoming Shorten Labor Government will direct NBN Co. to prioritise the rollout of Fibre-to-the-Premises NBN to homes and businesses across the electorate of Page. 

In the entire electorate of Page, not a single existing home or business will get Malcolm Turnbull’s second rate Fibre-to-the-Node network by 2016 as initially promised. Not one…

Janelle Saffin said that there was a lot of dissatisfaction in the region about Turnbull’s flawed NBN.

“Stephen and I spoke to Keda Ley and her family today to find out why the NBN matters so much to them,” Ms Saffin said.

“She is a mum of three who works and studies from home and she needs a strong, reliable Internet connection to make this happen.

“There are families just like the Ley family across the region; in the 21st century they need first-rate Internet services.

“Of course it isn’t just households who stand to benefit from Labor’s plan. Small business owners can’t compete if they are constantly being held back by an inferior broadband connection. 

“The NBN build has not even started in Grafton, Lismore, Alstonville, Casino, Evans Head, Woolgoolga and Yamba. These areas deserve better and Labor will deliver for them......

Turnbull abandons the Nationals to save his own skin?

"After losing millions of admirers in the last six months in disappointment at the disappearance of Turnbull the progressive reformer, Turnbull the Coalition leader is now trying to win as many as possible back, vote by vote, seat by seat." 

ABC News, 12 June 2016:

With three weeks to go until the federal election, the two major parties are locking in preference deals to boost their chances in crucial regional and inner-city seats.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced the Liberal Party will preference the Greens last, or behind Labor, in every Lower House seat and in return, Labor has confirmed it will direct its preferences to the Liberal Party over the Nationals in the seats of Murray, O'Connor and Durack.

The deal will help the Liberal candidates fend off an attack from the Nationals in those three seats while also giving a boost to Labor's chances in the seats of Batman, Grayndler and Sydney.

"This is a decision I've made in the national interest," Mr Turnbull said.

Nationals candidates Damien Drum (Murray VIC), Lisa Cole (Durack WA) and John Hassell (O’Connor WA) must be really impressed with Malcolm’s interpretation of “the national interest”.

Anyone else would think his decision to abandon the Nats and try to scupper the Greens was all about the Liberal’s fear of; (a) losing the majority they held in the House of Representatives after September 2013 and (b) finding the Greens with a larger presence in either the lower house or the Senate after 2 July 2016.

A re-elected Turnbull Government will cost Australian taxpayers millions in legal fees

It seems the Abbott-Turnbull Government is incapable of learning from past mistakes……..

The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 August 2014:

Australia risks getting swept up in a wave of litigation by foreign corporations wishing to sue over unfavourable domestic laws, experts warn, after the government rejected a bill to ban controversial trade agreements.

A Senate committee on Wednesday rejected the bill to ban ISDS clauses from future treaties, put forward by Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson.

The clauses allow a foreign company to sue a government if it believes its laws have harmed its profit.

The rejection of the bill follows a warning by High Court Chief Justice Robert French that the provisions have the potential to challenge the power-base of the High Court and create uncertainty among litigants.

It also comes as the government negotiates one of the biggest trade deals in Australian history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes ISDS clauses.

ISDS clauses were originally put in place to safeguard the interests of companies operating in countries that lacked rule of law. However, health organisations and environmental groups argue they pose a threat to regulation that protects a country's citizens' best interests.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the number of ISDS cases internationally has doubled in the past 10 years to 568, with claimants from the EU and United States accounting for 75 per cent of cases. 

The disputes are filed through international arbitration courts that have been criticised for their lack of transparency, and there is no right to appeal.

Professor Thomas Faunce, at the Australian National University College of Law, has described the provisions as an "affront to the rule of law".

"You have these foreign stakeholders influencing - quite openly - the policy of our society," he says. "It is a complete re-organisation of sovereignty in our country."

On 27 June 2011 Philip Morris Asia began legal proceedings challenging the tobacco plain packaging legislation under the 1993 Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Hong Kong for the Promotion and Protection of Investments(Hong Kong Agreement). 

It took the Australian Government four years and an unknown number of dollars before the case was thrown out because of lack of jurisdiction.

A year after the Philip Morris matter began the WTO Dispute Settlement Body began establishing dispute settlement panels at the requests of Ukraine (on 28 September 2012), Honduras (on 25 September 2013), Indonesia (on 26 March 2014), Dominican Republic (on 25 April 2014) and Cuba (on 25 April 2014) in relation to Australia's tobacco plain packaging measure. The five complainants are arguing that the measure is inconsistent with Australia's WTO obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 according to the Attorney General’s Department.

The Department’s website further states:

To date, a record number of WTO members (in excess of 40) have joined those disputes as third parties.

On 5 May 2014, the WTO Director-General appointed Mr Alexander Erwin (Chair, South Africa), Professor François Dessemontet (Member, Switzerland) and Dame Billie Miller (Member, Barbados) as panelists to hear the disputes. All five disputes will be heard together, pursuant to a harmonised timetable.

In response to Australia's request, the panel issued preliminary rulings on 19 August 2014 regarding the scope of the complainants' claims. These rulings were published on 27 October 2014.

The chair of the panel informed the Dispute Settlement Body on 10 October 2014 that the panel expects to issue its final report to the parties in the second half of 2016…..

Two challenges to the tobacco plain packaging legislation were heard by the High Court of Australia between 17–19 April 2012: British American Tobacco Australasia Limited and Ors v. Commonwealth of Australia and J T International SA v. Commonwealth of Australia.

On 15 August 2012, the High Court handed down orders for these matters, and found that the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 is not contrary to s 51(xxxi) of the Constitution.

On 5 October 2012 the court handed down its reasons for the decision. By a 6:1 majority (Heydon J in dissent) the court held that there had been no acquisition of property that would have required provision of 'just terms' under s51(xxxi) of the Constitution….

After all that voter’s wake up to this in Week 5 of the federal election campaign…….

The Guardian, 8 June 2016:

The Turnbull government is considering adding a controversial provision to the Japan-Australia free-trade agreement that would allow foreign corporations to sue the Australian government.

It has been negotiating with Japan’s government about the plan but no conclusion has been reached.

The provision is called an “investor state dispute settlement” (ISDS).

ISDS provisions allow foreign corporations to sue the Australian government in an international tribunal if they think the government has introduced or changed laws that significantly hurt their interests.

The tobacco giant Philip Morris used an ISDS provision in the Hong Kong-Australia investment treaty, signed in 1993, in its failed attempt to sue the Australian government over the introduction of plain-packaging laws by the former prime minister Julia Gillard in 2012.

If such a provision is added to the Japan-Australia agreement, it means all four of the major trade deals signed by the Abbott-Turnbull governments will include the same provision – the deals with Japan, China, South Korea and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes Pacific rim countries including the US.

A spokesman for the trade minister, Steve Ciobo, confirmed negotiations had begun.

“Japan and Australia have commenced the review – nothing has yet been agreed,” the spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also confirmed that Australian and Japanese officials have met to discuss the ISDS provision, with no decision taken.

The negotiations have been triggered by a relatively unknown clause in the Japan-Australia agreement, which was signed by the Abbott government in 2014.

The clause states that if Australia’s government signs any future trade deal with another country that includes an ISDS provision then the Japan-Australia deal would be subject to an automatic review “with a view to establishing” an ISDS provision in it.

The trigger for such a review was the China-Australia free-trade agreement, which came into force on 20 December 2015, because it included an ISDS provision…..

Australian Federal Election 2016: Lock The Gate Northern Rivers enters the fray

Coal Seam Gas is still a sensitive issue for communities in the NSW Northern Rivers region due to recent statements by Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Josh Frydenberg and policy documents produced by NSW Baird Government. 

Lock the Gate Northern Rivers supporters are speaking up via email:

Labor Candidate Janelle Saffin: public sector infrastructure investment declined by 50 per cent under Abbott-Turnbull Government and investment in the Pacific Highway upgrade was cut by $351 million

Shadow Minister For Infrastructure And Transport, Shadow Minister For Cities and MP Grayndler Anthony Albanese & Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, joint media release 12 June 2016:

COALITION HAS LET DOWN PAGE

The Abbott-Turnbull Government has short-changed the people of Page with more than $11 million in cuts to financial assistance grants used by local councils to maintain roads.

The Government also cut investment in the Pacific Highway duplication by in the 2016 Budget, following on from a cut of $130 million in the 2015 Budget.

Only a Shorten Labor Government can be trusted to invest in the infrastructure needed in northern NSW to boost economic productivity and improve road safety, and to ensure councils have the resources they need to maintain local roads.

We stand on our record.

Between 2007 and 2013, the former Labor Federal Government invested $7.9 billion on the Pacific Highway duplication.

That investment dwarfed the $1.3 billion invested by the former Howard Coalition Government over 12 years.

Labor also promised, built and opened the Alstonville Bypass, which was completed in 2011.

The bypass has reduced the level of traffic moving through Alstonville by 50 per cent and eliminated a major bottleneck between Ballina and Lismore.

The Liberal-National Government has talked a lot about infrastructure investment but cut funding.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that between the September quarters of 2013 and 2015, public sector infrastructure investment declined by 50 per cent.

To conceal its failures, the Government has re-announced road projects developed and funded under budgets of the former Labor Government to pretend they were new. 

A Shorten Labor Government will get nation building back on track.

What all conservative pollies, candidates and mainstream commentators are beginning to look like in the last stretch of this long federal election campaign

One can’t switch on the television or open a digital device without seeing a conservative taking head with the single underlying message “let me keep my lucrative job”, “give me that lucrative job” or "I want that lucrative job to go to my mate".

The blame for this personal cynical take on the current political struggle lies solely at the feet of Team Turnbull, for deciding to call a double dissolution of federal parliament in 2016 with the longest election campaign held in my voting lifetime.

It doesn’t matter if I like the individual talking heads or hate them – entering Week 7 of the eight week campaign they are all beginning to look like this:

Although it's not just voters who are becoming a bit tetchy.

Here's an ABC video clip of Country Liberal Party MP Natasha Griggs, who voluntarily entered this political marathon and was wearing a campaign T-shirt at the time, objecting physically to being filmed at the Palmerston Night Market......

Tough tatties Ms. Griggs, you and your Abbott-Turnbull Government cronies are the reason many of us are praying that we just survive the nonsense until 2 July.

Labor calls out Team Turnbull on its Pacific Highway Magical Infrastructure Re-announcement Tour

Shadow Minister For Infrastructure And Transport Anthony Albanese, Member For Richmond Justine Elliot and Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, Joint Media Release, 11 June 2016:

LABOR WILL GET BACK TO WORK ON PACIFIC HIGHWAY

A Shorten Labor Government will end the Coalition’s go-slow approach to the Pacific Highway duplication and get this project back on track to improve productivity and

road safety in northern NSW.

In the 2016 Budget, the Turnbull Government cut $351 million from the Pacific Highway duplication project.

To conceal its cuts, the Government has continually re-announced parts of the Pacific Highway upgrade that were designed and funded by the former Labor

Federal Government.

It is bad enough that Malcolm Turnbull has cut funding for this critical project. But by pretending otherwise with his ongoing Magical Infrastructure Re-announcement

Tour, Mr Turnbull is treating the people of coastal NSW like fools.

Labor can be trusted to deliver on the Pacific Highway.

Between 2007 and 2013 the former Labor Federal Government invested $7.9 billion on the highway, delivering important projects including the Banora Point upgrade,

the Kempsey, Ballina and Bulahdelah bypasses and the Sapphire to Arrawarra, Frederickton to Eungai and Tintenbar to Ewingsdale sections.

Labor’s investment dwarfed the $1.3 billion invested by the former Howard Coalition Government over 12 years. Labor delivered six times the investment in half the time.

Finishing the Pacific Highway will boost the economic productivity of the entire northern NSW region by taking trucks off the road and easing traffic congestion.

But during its period in office, the Coalition has not started a single new project on the highway.

It has also slashed financial assistance grants that local councils use to maintain local roads by $11.3 million over the next three years in the seat of Page and $4.4

million in the seat of Richmond.

And it has failed to progress the proposed High Speed Rail link between Brisbane and Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra, a visionary project that would turbo charge

economic growth in Northern NSW, with stations planned for Casino and Grafton.

A Shorten Labor Government will create a High Speed Rail Authority to advance planning for the project and begin to acquire the corridor before it is built out by

urban sprawl.

The Greens candidate in Page, Kudra Falla-Ricketts

Kudra Falla-Ricketts is rather an unknown quantity in this federal election, but she's young and passionate so rates a mention before polling day on 2 July.

Born and raised in the Northern Rivers and having spent a substantial part of her life living in the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, Kudra understands the region and the real significance of climate change and sea level rise very well.  She has participated directly in many campaigns through her involvement with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Girls Against Gas, Amnesty international, Northern Rivers Young Greens and various other environmental and human rights organisations. Read more here

UPDATE

It is disappointing to note than Ms. Falla-Ricketts has hidden her contact details from electors in Page - with the exception of a party email address which she either does not monitor or which includes correspondence to which she will not respond.

Ms, Falla-Ricketts has made contact and I hope to have a statement from her on local issues in the near future.

Australian Federal Election 2016: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations unite in The Redfern Statement

Media Release 9 June 2016, The Redfern Statement 2016:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations unite

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations unite The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) has united with other community leaders in Redfern this morning to call on political leaders to tackle inequality and disadvantage facing Australia’s First People as a federal election priority.

Dr Jackie Huggins, Co-Chair of National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples read from the Redfern Statement (the Statement), calling for an immediate restoration of the $534 million funding cut from the Indigenous Affairs Portfolio, to be invested into meaningful engagement, health, justice, preventing violence, early childhood and disability.

“The over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system is a national crisis. Both major parties are compelled to act - we cannot turn a blind eye” said Wayne Muir, CoChair of NATSILS.

“The Redfern Statement articulates a plan to properly address the crisis state of access to justice, which includes a call to immediately reversing planned funding cuts to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services due to come into effect in 2017 and committing to the development of an evidenced-based long term funding model so ATSILS can address unmet legal needs” Among its justice asks, the Statement calls for the next government to commit to implementing wrap-around service delivery models that seek to address and prevent the issues that underlie the legal problems facing women, children and families.

“It’s not enough that family law gets the leftovers after you’ve dealt with state and territory criminal law matters. We need a minimum of $25million per annum that is segregated and protected for a stand-alone family law practice in each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service across the country”. The Redfern Statement has been developed by national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak and representative bodies including:

National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, NATSILS, First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN), National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (NACCHO), National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS), Secretariat for National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), The Healing Foundation, and The National Health Leadership Forum (NHLF). The Statement also has the overarching support of The Change the Record Coalition, Close the Gap Steering Committee, and Family Matters campaigns. The Statement also has been endorsed by Reconciliation Australia and over 55 mainstream organisations, including the Australian Medical Association and Law Council.

Full transcript of The Redfern Statement 2016 here.

Politicians, candidates and advisers behaving badly in 2016

Unsurprisingly all the politicians and candidates caught behaving badly by the mainstream media are either members of the Liberal Party of Australia, the Liberal National Party or the Country Liberals..........

The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 2016:

A Coalition candidate has quit after it emerged he owns a Frankston brothel called Paradise Playmates.

Taiwan-born massage therapist John Min-Chiang Hsu resigned as the Liberal Party candidate for the Victorian seat of Calwell after his ties to the brothel were revealed on Saturday.

The Victorian Liberal Party said in a statement it had come to its attention that Mr Hsu had "not fully declared his business interests prior to applying for endorsement as required".

"Mr Hsu has resigned, with immediate effect, as an endorsed candidate of the Liberal Party and has resigned as a member of the party," the statement said.

"Given the AEC's nomination deadlines the Liberal Party will not be running an endorsed candidate in the division of Calwell."

According to company documents, Mr Hsu also owns a company called Beautiful Life Natural Therapies, which runs three Melbourne massage establishments: CBD Massage, Five Star Massage and Sabaydee Thai Massage Day Spa.

It's believed at least Sabaydee offers sexual services because it appears on a review website for sex work.

News.com.au, 11 June 2016:

The Northern Territory's chief minister was "horrified" to learn his sports minister had sent sexually explicit videos to a female constituent.

Nathan Barrett resigned from the Country Liberals cabinet on Saturday after admitting he sent two videos of himself masturbating to a woman, which she told News Corp Australia were unsolicited.

Chief Minister Adam Giles said he was sorry to see Mr Barrett quit his portfolios of assistant treasurer, sport and recreation and young territorians, "but quite frankly he had to go, there was no other choice"……

The scandal-plagued government faces an election in less than three months, and Mr Giles said it was up to the party to decide whether Mr Barrett would remain preselected for the seat of Blain, in the Country Liberals heartland of Palmerston.

Mr Giles would not comment on allegations that Mr Barrett offered the woman a job if he became treasurer after the August 27 poll.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 2016:

Some of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's closest advisers have been drawn into a heated shouting match with a local Greens protester during a campaign stop on the Sunshine Coast.

Senior Turnbull confidantes Senator James McGrath and principal private secretary Sally Cray asked, respectively, who paid for the activist's unemployment benefits and how she would fund hospitals when challenged on the Adani coal mine and healthcare cuts.

"Don't want to answer the hard questions!" the protester yelled out as the Prime Minister walked ahead.

"The Adani coal mine…If it was a country, it would be the seventh highest polluter in the world. What are you going to do about that, Mr Turnbull?"

Senator McGrath, a veteran strategist and former state director of the LNP, responded, asking her "what are you going to do about jobs?".

What about the Nambour hospital, she asked, which she said was suffering from $419 million funding cuts over a decade?

"How are you going to fund it?" Ms Cray, usually in the background, weighed in.

"Who pays for your dole?" Senator McGrath fired at the protester, who had not mentioned her employment situation, when she mentioned tax breaks for coal mines.

"What sort of ridiculous question is that? How do you know where I'm from? How rude are you? I'm not on the dole, mate," she responded.

The Australian, 11 June 2016:

Tasmania’s Mining Minister, Adam Brooks, has been stood aside over a perceived conflict of interest related to his ongoing use of a former company email address.

Mr Brooks has continued to use his company email despite being required to begin divestment of his mining industry business interests since becoming a minister.

On Thursday night in budget estimates hearings, on three occasions, he denied ongoing use of the Maintenance System Solutions email account, only to later correct the public record and concede he had retained it “for personal use”.

Premier Will Hodgman announced yesterday that, after discussing the issue with Mr Brooks, the minister had agreed he should be temporarily stood aside pending an audit of his use of the MSS email account by the Crown Solicitor.....

“The perception of a conflict of interest has now arisen.

“It’s important that question be independently assessed and audited.”

That process may take some weeks.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 2016:

Jermyn – the candidate who made headlines on May 28 when his attempt to ambush Bill Shorten at a campaign event backfired spectacularly – was at the helm of the project as CEO of Mooter partner company Hot Shot Media.

The competition would be powered by ImageSocial, Hot Shot's nascent whiz-bang photo-sharing platform.

In a presentation to US investors in April 2012, Jermyn predicted huge success: up to 40 million participants and 441 million photographs from across the US, Britain and Australia alone. And revenue of $24 million.

"Shutterbug Millionaire is not an epic reality TV competition yet but we're going to make it feel like one," his presentation confidently declared.

The project secured $15 million in funding from American venture capital firm La Jolla Cove Investors.

Then Jermyn got Australian-born celebrity photographer Russell James and Victoria's Secret model Erin Heatherton on board as judges.

In June 2012, the company started spending big on advertising. Billboards went up across Los Angeles, Chicago and New York – including an 80-foot monster marquee on Broadway. Company documents suggest the marketing campaign cost close to $2 million.

A few weeks later Jermyn made his biggest announcement yet: British billionaire Richard Branson would be Shutterbug's "ambassador".

"I encourage everyone to capture cherished moments and powerful perspectives and share them through this opportunity," Sir Richard said at the time.

In another statement to the ASX, Jermyn gushed: "It is inspiring to have someone of Sir Richard's calibre and universal recognition join us."

But then something went horribly wrong. Shutterbug Millionaire missed its launch date and Mooter went quiet until January 2013, when the company suddenly announced a trading halt. A few days later it went into voluntary administration.

Perth Now, 12 June 2016:

FRESH from being dumped by the Australian Defence Force, Canning MP Andrew Hastie has been exposed breaching parliamentary rules by failing to declare an $870,000 house he bought in March.

The former SAS soldier-turned Liberal MP’s failure to declare the property on his Register of Interests on time means he could be found guilty of “serious contempt” of Parliament.

It comes days after the revelation he was booted out of the Army Reserve for defying a Defence request to remove photographs of him in military uniform from election campaign material.

The three bedroom, two bathroom house in question is Mr Hastie and his wife Ruth’s first home.

It is described as “simply stunning” with “glorious ocean views” but is still yet to be declared in the latest registration of member’s interests.

Any changes to an MP’s interests, including gifts or property purchases, must be reported within 28 days according to parliamentary rules.

Despite buying the 616sqm property on March 27, Mr Hastie failed to declare the purchase within the four-week requirement or prior to the double dissolution on May 9…….

However, the House was dissolved on May 9, meaning Mr Hastie still breached the rules and went 52 days without trying to declare the property. The former troop commander said he took full responsibility for the delay.

“Due to an oversight, an update to my Register of Interests was not submitted on time,” he said. “I did write to the Clerk of the House of Representatives to advise him of this change in May.”

If Mr Hastie is reported to the Committee of Privileges and Members’ Interests and is found to have knowingly not reported, he could be found guilty of “serious contempt” of the House of Representatives.

He moved his family from a Department of Defence house in Shenton Park last August to a rental home in Dudley Park, Mandurah, to contest the Canning by-election prompted by Don Randall’s death.

Mr Hastie also came under fire then for enrolling to vote in the Canning electorate prior to living there for at least a month, contravening the Australian Electoral Commission’s rules.

This appears to be the house in question: