One of Scott Morrison's election campaign team bragging about how they came to 'own' voters during 2019

Banning, blocking, sanitising, hiding negative comments, using deliberately misleading labels or memes were tools used by Morrison's digital campaign team to convince fool Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users into believing that Scott Morrison was the man to support at the 2019 Australian federal election.

ABC News, 8 November 2019:

Appearing before a Sunday afternoon session at the Australian Libertarian Society's annual Friedman Conference, Guerin spent 18 minutes humblebragging about the tradecraft TG used to ambush its opponents and influence the voting public....

It shows Guerin giving a blow-by-blow account of how TG won what he called "the battle of the thumbs".

He also boasted about weaponising "boomer memes", deploying a strategy called "water dripping on a stone", and unlocking "arousal emotions" to maximise the impact of the Liberals' social media posts.

And he talks about how social media feeds for another political client were sanitised to downplay criticism and negativity in order to give the impression of broad, enthusiastic support.

The video is more than just a recap of a successful political marketing campaign, it's a guided tour of the dark arts of contemporary information warfare.

Topham and Guerin came up through the ranks of the Young Nationals, the youth wing of New Zealand's conservative National Party, and worked on the fringes of political campaigns both in New Zealand and Britain before launching their own firm in 2016.....

Through their connections — including with Crosby Textor, the Liberal Party's go-to political advisory firm — TG ended up doing some work for state Liberals in elections in South Australia in 2018 and New South Wales earlier this year.

The big break came when the Liberals hired TG to take a leading role in the digital campaign ahead of the May poll, working in the election engine room alongside the party's federal director, Andrew Hirst, and his team.

A Liberal Party spokesperson declined to say if the party was still using TG's services but noted Topham Guerin "did an outstanding job for the party during the recent election campaign".

But six months on from the election, the Liberals are still paying for Facebook ads to sell Scott Morrison, posting attacks on Labor, and two of the page's administrators are identified as being New Zealand-based....

The Liberal team, he [Guerin] said, had out-gunned their opponents in both volume and engagement, concentrating their efforts in marginal seats.

"That's how you win an election that no-one thinks you're going to win," he told the mainly centre-right-leaning audience.

And achieving mastery of Facebook — which has become the key platform in digital campaign strategy — is at the core of the TG playbook.

When the average Facebook user spends just 1.7 seconds on each post, the challenge is to get them to "stop long enough on our content, to process it, to react with it, to interact with it and then share it with their friends".

"This is the single most important point: the best social media strategy is water dripping on a stone. You've got to be pushing the same consistent message day-in, day-out," he said.

In Australia, the main anti-Labor "dripping water" message was, according to Guerin, that "Bill Shorten is the bill Australia can't afford".

That was expressed in ads and posts designed to stir up concerns about property taxes (changes to negative gearing), retirement tax (scrapping franking credits), car taxes (electric vehicle subsidies) and resurrecting the death tax bogey.

On the flip side the "I'm standing with Scott" mantra was hammered home....

It wasn't enough that the Morrison Government gamed the rules and began an unofficial election campaign months before 11 April 2019 at taxpayers' expense - the fiddle appears to have continued right up to polling day

On the morning of Thursday 11 April 2019 Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison visited the Australian Governor-General in order to formally dissolve Parliament at 8:30am and call a federal election. 

Once that was done a reasonable person would suppose the Prime Minister, along with every other MP and senator, would be obliged to use party and personal campaign funds until after polling day on 18 May. 

That may possibly have been the original intent when the rules were first drafted but over the years that has morphed into a loose obligation to use party and personal funds only after the official political party campaign launch.

These same rules also allow government ministers to campaign right up to polling day on other people's money by listing the expense claim as "Official Business", as well as getting free VIP jet travel around the country.

In 2019 Scott Morrison launched the Liberal Party campaign just 6 days out from polling day - playing the national electorate for fools

So instead of using Liberal Part funds from 11 April 2019 onwards, Scott Morrison spent $11,540 of taxpayers' money crisscrossing the country and staying overnight to give his stump speeches as well as glad handing voters and the party faithful. 

He also spent $1,786.40 on travel by Com Car at taxpayers' expense during the official federal election campaign. Morrison even made a Com Car claim on polling day.

These claims were on top of the est. $1,961.79 charge to taxpayers for fuel for his own car in the period which included the 38 day election campaign. 

That is a total of $15,389.19 charged to the taxpayer during the official federal election campaign. 

If he was an ethical politician he would immediately pay back that money back. 

See Scott Morrison's expense claims here.

The Deputy-Prime Minister & MP for Riverina Michael McCormack was even more of a drain on taxpayer wallets.

He spent $9,544 on overnight stays for his stump speeches and glad handing courtesy of the taxpayer and, a further $1,769.09 for campaigning in his own electorate.

Then there the $4,900 to travel to and from his own electorate on Day 14 of the official election campaign.

Taxpayer generosity apparently also extended to $4,373.52 in Com Car expenses so that he could campaign in comfort.

Then of course there was the est. $2,659.50 charge to taxpayers for fuel for his own car in the period which included the 38 day election campaign. 

That is a total of $23, 246.11 charged to the taxpayer during the federal election campaign. 

See Michael McCormack's expense claims here.

Readers can find other MP/Senator expense claims at https://www.ipea.gov.au/pwe.

However, if you want a quick summary.....

The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 September 2019:

Taxpayers copped millions of dollars in bills for flights, charters, hotels and luxury cars as politicians and their staff jetted around the country campaigning in the federal election. 
 
Ministers also kept charging taxpayers for travel right up to polling day, despite a convention that most expenses after the official campaign launches should be paid by the political party...... 

The records reveal that despite the government being in caretaker mode, cabinet ministers still claimed almost $550,000 in travel allowance, air fares and luxury car transport during the campaign period - for themselves alone. 

Shadow cabinet ministers claimed about $385,000 in similar expenses. Ministers usually travel with multiple staff such as media and policy advisers, meaning the true cost of those trips is likely to be many times higher. 

A detailed breakdown of staff campaign costs is not available. But across April, May and June, cabinet ministers' staff racked up nearly $5 million in travel expenses, and shadow ministers' staff had travel bills of about $1.6 million during that period....

National Party ministers spent more than most, with the outgoing Mr Scullion racking up more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses during the campaign, including $80,000 in charter flights. He declined to comment. 

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud billed taxpayers more than $65,000 for travel during the campaign period, including $46,000 in charter flights around regional Queensland....

The profligacy was not limited to the major parties, with Katter's Australian Party leader Bob Katter spending $60,000 on travel during the campaign, including $50,000 on charter flights. 

Former senator Fraser Anning, the far-right Queenslander who lost his seat, spent $11,250 on flights alone during the campaign, including trips to Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.

Read the full article here.

Tweets of the Week

I really cannot get to grips with people suggesting that hearing of same sex relationships in school will influence children to 'become' gay.

I've been studying camelid medicine in somewhat intense detail lately and despite being ~quite~ impressionable, I have not become a llama

— Ami Vet (@ami_vet) May 31, 2019

So who is to blame for the new Morrison Government?

As of 4:09pm on Thursday 6 June 2019 an est. 6,613,352 Australian citizens had voted for the Liberal-Nationals Coalition at the 18 May 2019 federal election, by either directly giving their first preference to one or the other of these two political parties or placing them high on the range of second preference choices printed on ballot papers.

So let’s get one thing clear, it is not the fault of any one state or territory that the hard right Morrison Coalition Government was returned to power. It is not the fault of Labor or the Greens.

Full responsibility for the election result lies with those est. 6,613,352 people and, they know who they are.

They are the voters now personally responsible for any and all actions of the Morrison Government, from the date government ministers were sworn-in post-election to the day the 2022 federal election is held.

To all those individuals I say this:

If the national economy tanks in the next three years – it’s your fault;

If wages fall even further behind the cost of living for low and middle income households – it’s your fault;

If there is no significant increase in the Newstart allowance meaning that young and older job seekers continue to starve in an economy which has limited job vacancies – it’s your fault;

If the national debt increases even further to cope with reckless government spending and dubious overgenerous government tenders – it’s your fault;

If the annual budget blows out into significant deficit because so many greedy people are joining the franking credit rort – it’s your fault;

If Liberal and National parliamentarians become even more profligate while on the public purse – it’s your fault;

If there are more budget funding cuts to essential services, including health, public education, welfare, domestic violence, legal assistance – it’s your fault;

If more people suicide because of the federal government's flawed and punitive debt recovery system – it’s your fault;

If there is an increase in the privatisation of government services with a corresponding decrease in adequate service delivery – it’s your fault;

If the cost of child care continues to make life economically difficult for women wanting to participate in the workforce – it’s your fault;

If women pushed onto the ParentsNext scheme continue to be punished by the Morrison Government by the withholding of money to feed their babies and small children – it’s your fault; 

If young first home buyers continue to be squeezed out of the housing market by investors and property speculators – it’s your fault; 

If there is an increase in discrimination against vulnerable groups, including the LBGTI community – it’s your fault;

If human rights abuses continue in immigration detention centres – it’s your fault; 

If the frail elderly don't have access to timely free urgent dental care – it’s your fault;

If the National Disability Insurance Scheme continues to fall short of its legislated responsibilities and administrative goals, leaving the needs of clients unmet – it’s your fault;

If the poor continue to have limited access to and no real equity in the benefits derived from a modern democratic society – it’s your fault;

If the discriminatory cashless welfare card is extended to more areas across the country and/or to wider categories of welfare recipients – it’s your fault;

If blatant water rorts and water thefts continue and more towns/cities run low or are completely out of drinking water over the next three years – it’s your fault;

If environmental degradation of the river systems in the Murray-Darling Basin is not halted – it’s your fault;

If a federal government data breach compromises your privacy or the privacy of a friend or family member – it’s your fault;

If the number of citizens arrested and tried for calmly speaking truth to power begins to rise – it’s your fault;

If the Morrison Government loses China’s goodwill as our largest trading partner in order to curry favour with US President Donald Trump – it’s your fault; and

If climate change hammers this nation into the ground over the next three years – it’s your fault.

There are no excuses, there is no magical do over. The est. 6,613,352 Australian citizens who either voted directly or indirectly for the Liberal-Nationals Coalition chose the political path we are now on.

These people alone are to blame for whatever flawed or corrupt actions the Morrison Government takes and the consequences of that government's neglect or indifference during its current term in office.

I reiterate. Each of you brought the second Morrison Government into existence. You own that fact. So don't even try to deflect the blame onto others.

Kevin Hogan still pretending he went to the May 2019 federal election as an Independent now surfaces as the Nationals MP he always was

MP for Page Kevin Hogan while remaining a member of the parliamentary National Party of Australia, while still the Party's Whip in the House of Representatives and the Liberal-Nationals Coaltion Government's Deputy Speaker, attempted for over 8 months to pass himself off as an Independent sitting on the cross benches.

During those 8 months Hogan routinely voted with his government.

He used this political deceit in order to hold on to his chance for re-election on 18 May 2019, when he like many other government MPs and Senators thought it was likely that they would lose government.

Of course ahead of the federal election being declared he still sought and received National Party preselection as its candidate in the seat of Page.

The Murdoch media assisted this deceit by referring to him as sitting on the cross benches.

Now that the Coalition has been returned to government at the recent election and is preparing to sit on the right hand benches of the 46th Parliament, Hogan has finally abandoned his pretence and announced that voilà! he is a National Party MP once more and will sit once more on the government benches.

Government benches which in fact he was mostly found on even when pretending to be a cross bencher.

The flim flam man Scott Morrison knew when he dissolved the Australian Parliament that he wouldn't be giving anyone a new tax cut this financial year

In June 2018 the Australian Parliament passed the first year of this 2018-19 Budget item:

Step 1: immediate tax relief for low and middle income earners

The first step will deliver tax relief to low and middle income earners to help with cost of living pressures.

The low and middle income tax offset will provide tax relief of up to $530 to low and middle income earners for the 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 income years. 

The offset will assist over 10 million Australians and around 4.4 million people will receive the full $530 benefit for 2018-19. The benefit is in addition to the existing low income tax offset, and will be available on assessment after a taxpayer lodges their tax return.

With regard to this tax relief Australian Taxation Office stated:

A new low and middle income tax offset applies for 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21 and 2021–22 income years.

Australian resident individuals (and certain trustees) whose income does not exceed $125,333 are entitled to the new low and middle income tax offset. Entitlement to the new offset is in addition to the existing low income tax offset, and is available on assessment after you lodge your income tax return.

If your income:

·         does not exceed $37,000 you are entitled to $200

·         exceeds $37,000 but does not exceed $48,000, you are entitled to $200 plus 3% of the amount of the income that exceeds $37,000

·         exceeds $48,000 but not $90,000, you are entitled to $530

·         exceeds $90,000 you are entitled to $530 less 1.5% of the amount of the income that exceeds $90,000.

It would appear that Morrison then changed the details of this tax offset* and the wording in the 2019-20 Budget papers reads:

Immediate tax relief for low- and middle‑income earners of up to $1,080 for singles or up to $2,160 for dual income families to ease the cost of living.

While remaining silent on the fact that this change no longer specified that this new offset amount would be legislated by 30 June - letting the media and voters assume that he was still intending to deliver the second tax offset by end of June 2019.

On April 8 (three days before Morrison called the election) The New Daily reported that: The Australian Tax Office has warned the government it will not deliver planned $1080 tax cuts from July 1, unless they can be rushed through Parliament before the end of the financial year.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison via @iborgward  

As a politician who obviously believes no lie is too big or too small to utter to secure his political leadership, the statements above are another instance to add to the list.

When Scott Morrison appeared to promise workers on up to $125,00 per annum to be delivered by 30 June 2019 as a tax offset he knew that the timetable for any federal election is a set one. 

This means that no later than 110 days after the election writs are issued they have to be returned.

Only after that can the 46th Australian Parliament begin its deliberations and legislate election promises.

In the 2019 federal general election the writs were issued on 11 April 2019. This was Morrison's personal choice as he called on the Governor-General the day before.

That means writs have to be returned by 20 July 2019.

At the 2013 federal election the writs were returned in 100 days and at 2016 federal election writs were returned in 84 days.

Morrison is now saying that the 2019 writs will probably not be returned until around 28-30 June 2019.

There is no way that during the election campaign when he was repeating his promise of an immediate cash tax offset that he had not calculated that the election writs wouldn't be returned in under 74-76 days.

The seventy-fourth day is Friday 28 June 2019. There is no way that the Australian Parliament can convene before the start of the next financial year.

Those who expected to see a $1,080 to $2,160 reduction in their tax liability anytime soon may well be waiting a full twelve months until 30 June 2020 to see the promised tax offset land.

Meanwhile Morrison and Frydenberg with an 'Ooops! Sooo sorry' probably see this move as cleverly saving money at workers' expense in order to help their government's fiscal bottom line in the face of a slowing economy.

Morrison's new 'promise' as of 21 May 2019 is that he will deliver the promised tax offset sometime in the 2019-20 fiscal year. 

All of which confirms his lack of political integrity.

Note

* A tax offset reduces the amount of tax payable on an individual's annual income. It doesn't necessarily result in an Australian Taxation Office cash refund.

A NSW Northern Rivers perspective on the 18 May 2019 Australian federal election results

A political and social perspective in thirteen tweets........

Yes, this is the #Australia #trump or #brexit moment. But not in the way talked about in this piece.

This is about the manipulation of our electoral system by wealthy and powerful individuals to achieve a specific multi-billion dollar outcome.

This is not a conspiracy theory. https://t.co/DoANEoxeV9

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

The entire #UAP campaign was about grabbing 4% of the vote and directing it to the LNP. It worked spectacularly well in Queensland.

These will turn out to be highly disengaged voters, the undecideds from a week out. Excluded from polls (explaining how the polls were so wrong)

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

If Clive spent $50 or even $80 million, don’t you think he spent some of that on analytics.

On targeting messages to the most receptive.

He was never trying to win seats, just keep #Labor out.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

Clive’s pay-off is a Government and a group of very grateful Parliamentarians already keen to do his bidding.

So his #Galilee Basin mine isn’t rendered worthless. So a new #coal fired power station is built in North Qld.

It’s worth Billions to him.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

Why did it work?

The LNP played its part. The Presidential style campaign was designed to focus everything on Bill Shorten.

Labor was vulnerable. Bill Shorten, even after My Mum and Hawkie, never became likeable Bill.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

Like the #trump campaign, it was proceeded by years of tearing down the most likely challenger.#Hilary was damaged goods in the same way as #Shorten

Nothing like a sham Royal Commission to make your opponent appear shifty.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

#Trumps win was based on suppressing the vote in key states in a voluntary voting system.

Here, it was capturing the vote of the people that didn’t want to be there in our compulsory system.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

As to the links to #brexit

I’m assuming a man throwing $millions to influence an election is going to hire people with some experience in this endeavour.

I’m sure this mining magnate & former Liberal Party Treasurer has got the right connections.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

And yes, like #brexit and #trump our largely supine media simply watched the shells and forgot all about the peas.

The show was everything.

And the chorus from the Murdoch stable was deafening.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

It’s #GameOfMates writ large.

The same dynamic that drives the destruction of the #MurrayDarling and rewards the Nationals in NSW and Qld is working for the coal barons in North Qld.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

It’s a system that preys on the disengaged. To get them to vote against their interests.

It relies on the belief that they’re all bastards...and then seeks to tell them who their true enemies are.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

The point of this rant, however is not about how we was robbed.

As Bill Shorten put it, we didn’t get enough votes. Simple.

The question is, how do we reach the disengaged?

How do we leave ourselves less vulnerable to this attack in the future?

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

Because ranting about stuff on twitter does didly squat.

— Keith Williams (@Captainturtle) May 20, 2019

Dystopia 2019

Australian Federal Election Results 2019 at 
https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/HouseDefault-24310.htm.

Where to follow the Australian federal election vote count on Saturday 18 May 2019

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Virtual Tally Room House of Representatives - from 6pm with progressive ballot tally all night

Australia Votes: ABC Election Night Live website - from 6:00pm

ABC News live stream online or televised on Channel 24 

ABC News on Twitter

ABC Radio National - from 6pm

You Ask, We Answer ABC online - from 6pm onwards

Has U.S. citizen and media mogul Rupert Murdoch overplayed his hand in this Australian federal election cycle?

“It sounds unreal to say that News Corp is not a media organisation. It sounds outré to say that it is instead a political propaganda entity of a kind perhaps not seen since the 19th century, one that has climbed to its pedestal through regulatory capture, governmental favours and menace, and is now applying its energies to the promotion of white nationalism, even as white nationalists commit scores of murders.”  [Journalist Richard Cooke wiring in The Monthly, May 2019], 

It is your judgement that counts because the right and responsibility to elect the next Australian Government rests with you, the Australian voter, not with an elderly authoritarian U.S. billionaire who rarely visits this country.

Australian society is not as tolerant of Murdoch's sense of entitlement as it once may have been......

Who are you really voting for? #auspol #Elections2019 pic.twitter.com/Swe5ple9v9

— 💧🐟 Lotta Cheek (@lottacheek) May 11, 2019

March 2018 to March 2019 year-to-year data shows News Corp's principal mastheads are losing readership over the 7 day circulation period, according to Roy Morgan.

By its own admission News Corp has been lobbying local government to keep its community papers afloat in South Australia.

First global assessment of the ecological health of the world's "wild" rivers has found only about one third of the longest rivers are still free-flowing

As the Queensland flood waters finally make it down the Dimantina and Georgina rivers and Cooper's Creek and spread out over the Eyre Basin and into Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, it is well to remember three things.

The first is that; The Lake Eyre Basin is one of the largest and most pristine desert river systems on the planet, supporting 60,000 people and a wealth of wildlife.

The second is the fact that the Morrison Government has a stated policy to dam and divert more water from Australia's river systems if it is re-elected. 

The third is that water sustainability into the future is dependent on wild rivers running free.

ABC Radio,“RN”, 9 May 2019:

The first global assessment of the ecological health of the world's "wild" rivers has found only about one third of the longest rivers are still free-flowing.

The report warns the disruption is harming ecosystems, with 3,700 new large dams either under construction, or planned.

Listen to interview with Dr. Gunter Gill here https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podcast/2019/05/bst_20190509_0635.mp3

Nature, 8 May 2019:

Gill,Gunter et al, (2019) Mapping the world’s free-flowing rivers

ABSTRACT

Free-flowing rivers (FFRs) support diverse, complex and dynamic ecosystems globally, providing important societal and economic services. Infrastructure development threatens the ecosystem processes, biodiversity and services that these rivers support. Here we assess the connectivity status of 12 million kilometres of rivers globally and identify those that remain free-flowing in their entire length. Only 37 per cent of rivers longer than 1,000 kilometres remain free-flowing over their entire length and 23 per cent flow uninterrupted to the ocean. Very long FFRs are largely restricted to remote regions of the Arctic and of the Amazon and Congo basins. In densely populated areas only few very long rivers remain free-flowing, such as the Irrawaddy and Salween. Dams and reservoirs and their up- and downstream propagation of fragmentation and flow regulation are the leading contributors to the loss of river connectivity. By applying a new method to quantify riverine connectivity and map FFRs, we provide a foundation for concerted global and national strategies to maintain or restore them.

Australia cannot afford a third term Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government

The continuous prevarication and callous disregard for any policy which might provide a sustainable future for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren makes the Liberal and National political parties a danger to us all.........

The Guardian, 9 May 2019:

Scott Morrison’s office has declined to say what legislation he was referring to when he said he had “been taking action” on a landmark UN report about the extinction of a million different species.

On Monday, the UN released a comprehensive, multi-year report that revealed human society was under threat from the unprecedented extinction of the Earth’s animals and plants. The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, said the report “scared him”, during a debate on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Morrison responded to the report saying: “We already introduced and passed legislation through the Senate actually dealing with that very issue in the last week of the parliament. We’ve been taking action on that.”

However, no legislation regarding animal conservation or the environment passed in the last week of parliament.

When asked what the legislation was, the prime minister’s office did not reply. The office of the environment minister, Melissa Price, also did not respond when asked what legislation Morrison was referring to.

The only legislation regarding animals that passed within the last few months is the Industrial Chemicals Bill 2017, which set new regulations on testing cosmetics on animals.

However, it was passed by both houses on 18 February – not in the last week of parliament, which was in April.

Neither the prime minister nor the environment minister responded to clarify if this was the bill Morrison was referring to, or whether he made an error.

Tim Beshara, the federal policy director of the Wilderness Society, said Morrison appeared to have “alluded to a bill that doesn’t exist”.

 “The last bill to pass the Senate from the environment portfolio was about changing the board structure of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in 2018,” he said.

“It looks like the prime minister of Australia is so desperate to move the debate off the environment as an issue that he has alluded to a bill that doesn’t exist so that journalists would stop asking questions about it.”…..

On Wednesday, Morrison also railed against the expansion of environmental regulations, calling them “green tape”.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald the expansion of “green tape” – like native vegetation laws – was delaying projects like mining and “costs jobs”.

“[Labor] want to hypercharge an environment protection authority which will basically interfere and seek to slow down and prevent projects all around the country,” he said.

Beshara said the timing of this with the mass extinction report showed “excellent comedic timing”.

“What he is calling ‘green tape’, most Australians would call basic environmental protections,” he said. “I don’t expect the prime minister to know their numbats from their bandicoots, but I do expect them to know what bills their government has passed, and to respond to a globally significant UN report like this with the seriousness it deserves.”

The Guardian, 9 May 2019:

Most clearing of Australian habitat relied on by threatened species is concentrated in just 12 federal electorates, nine of which are held by the Coalition, an analysis has found.

University of Queensland scientists found more than 90% of the threatened species habitat lost since the turn of the century has been in six electorates in Queensland, two each in NSW and Western Australia and one in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Most of the land-clearing in Queensland has been to create pasture.

The study, commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, was released following a United Nations global assessment that found biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate, with one million species at risk of extinction. The report warns the decline in native life could have implications for human populations across the globe.

Threatened species habitat loss, by federal electorates

Showing the percentage of habitat loss used by threatened species

Source: ACF

The research found the greatest loss of threatened species habitat had been in the agriculture minister David Littleproud’s electorate of Maranoa, in southern Queensland. Nearly two million hectares, or 43%, has been cleared since 2000, when the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act was introduced. Among the 85 threatened species affected are the koala, the greater bilby, the black-throated finch and the long-nosed potoroo.

Maranoa is followed on the list by Kennedy, home to the maverick independent Bob Katter, the Liberal Rick Wilson’s Western Australian seat of O’Connor and Capricornia, a marginal electorate held by the LNP’s Michelle Landry.

The environment minister Melissa Price’s vast electorate of Durack, which covers nearly two-thirds of Western Australia, is seventh, with more than 300,000 hectares lost.

Other seats on the list are Flynn, Parkes, Leichhardt, Lingiari, Farrer, Dawson and Lyons.

James Watson, the director of the university’s centre for biodiversity and conservation science, said Australia was sleep-walking through a worsening extinction crisis.

“These results show the laws we have to protect our wonderful natural heritage are not working and that is a significant failure of government,” he said.

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s nature policy analyst, James Trezise, said the next Australian government must invest in the recovery of threatened species and introduce strong environment laws overseen by an independent national regulator if it was serious about reversing the decline in native wildlife…..

Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinction in the world over the past 200 years. It is considered one of 17 “megadiverse” countries, which share just 10% of global land but 70% of biological diversity. A green group study found funding to the national environment budget has been reduced by a third since the Coalition was elected.

Habitat loss on the NSW North Coast

Richmond electorate held by Labor MP Justine Elliot - 710 ha loss
Page electorate held by Nats MP Kevin Hogan - 16,725 ha loss
Cowper electorate held by Nats MP Luke Hartsuyker until April 2019 - 5,159 ha loss
Lyne electorate held by Nats MP David Gillespie - 6,181 ha loss