Australia is an upside down society with skewed values

Australia is an upside down society with skewed values if something like this can occur……

ABC News, 20 February 2017:

The coal industry's multi-million-dollar advertising and lobbying campaign in the run-up to the last federal election was bankrolled by money deducted from state mining royalty payments and meant to fund research into "clean coal".

The mining industry spent $2.5 million pushing the case for lower-emissions, coal-fired power plants in the run-up to last year's election — a cause the Federal Government has since taken up with gusto.

The source of the funds was a voluntary levy on coal companies, originally intended to fund research into "clean coal" technologies, which coal producers could deduct from state mining royalties.

Instead, some of the money raised paid for phone polling, literature and TV ads that declared "coal — it's an amazing thing".

The funds were channelled through the Australian Coal Association Low Emissions Technology Limited (ACALET), formerly owned by the Australian Coal Association and now part of the Minerals Council for Australia.

Queensland Government documents list "the COAL21 levy payable to Australian Coal Association Low Emissions Technologies Ltd (ACALET)" as an eligible deduction against royalty payments in the state…..

Coal21 was launched more than a decade ago, with the aim of creating a $1 billion fund for research into "clean coal" technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), but only a fraction of the money was raised or spent.

With a lack of research projects to finance, the levy was suspended in 2012. In 2013, the coal lobby changed the mandate of Coal21 to downplay research and allow its funds to be used for "coal promotion"…….

In the wake of the coal industry campaign, the Federal Government has embraced the push for lower-emissions, coal-fired power stations and is intending to use considerable public money to fund the technology.

It wants the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), established to fund zero or very low carbon emissions technology, to be able to fund coal projects.

That will require changing the CEFC's current mandate which prohibits funding technology that reduces emissions by less than 50 per cent and excludes funding of coal carbon capture and storage.

The office of the Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg has been contacted for comment.

So how much money did political parties raise in the eight months leading up to the 2015 state election in NSW?

During the eight months leading up to the NSW state election on 28 March 2015, the main political parties were in fund raising mode as set out in the mandatory disclosure of political donations for that period:

Australian Labor Party NSW raised $1,043,516.58

NSW Country Labor raised $31,700

National Party of Australia NSW raised $170,902.18

The Greens raised $129,414.08

Christian Democratic Party raised $92,417.29

Shooters & Fishers Party NSW raised $42,645

Liberal Party of Australia NSW raised an amount that was not totalled in its disclosure of political donations. However as listed donations ran to 44 full pages (compared to Labor’s 15 pages) and, most of these were for sums $1,000 and over, I would suggest that this party raised the largest amount of all the political parties.

In the Clarence electorate the sitting Nationals MP raised zero dollars, as did the Nationals MP for Lismore, the outgoing Nationals MP for Ballina and the Nationals MP for Tweed – so it appears any money being spent on NSW North Coast campaigning is coming straight from head office in Sydney.

Interested political tragics can go to adp.elections.nsw.gov.au for the disclosures of all the registered political parties in New South Wales.

Australian Federal Election 2013: Kevin Hogan's KISS

Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan with his keep-it-simple-stupid approach to voters in the Page electorate.

This from a man who is falling in line behind Tony Abbott’s plan to remove a benefit paid to an estimated 10,000 people in the Page electorate worth hundreds of dollars a year for each one of these local folk.

As well as removing the Schoolkids Bonus which is an annual payment of $410 for each dependent primary school child and $820 for each dependent high school child of a parent or carer who gets Family Tax Benefit Part A – affecting thousands of families in the Page electorate.

* Image found at  @Captainturtle

The Daily Examiner newspaper creates sensible rule for public political debate in its letters section

In an election year letters to the editor tend to become quite partisan and pointed as the formal campaign period approaches.

Here on the NSW North Coast members of political parties more often than not have been allowed to push their party’s line without their affiliations being identified.

The most notable recent example were letters to the editor from a member of The Greens and the current Secretary of the National Party’s Yamba Branch.

The thrust of both these letters followed party lines, with the former addressing single parent welfare payments and the latter commenting on public debt by way of an anonymous online IOU Australia “debt clock” of dubious repute which Whois states is registered to Masina Pty Ltd/Winning Post Productions.

Now I'm sure there are card carrying Liberal and Labor party members also writing letters in support of their respective party campaign platforms, however I as yet cannot identify them - and this lack of transparency is the point. 

Ordinary voters should have all available information in order to decide just how much weight they give to published opinion in an election year, when letters to the editor are often seen as a dirt cheap form of political advertising in support of local candidates.

The Daily Examiner has recognized this issue and on 11 July 2013 published this note:

Ed's note

With the election looming and things become quite well, political, The Daily Examiner asks anyone who is a member of a political party to declare their affiliations in their letters in the interests of being fair to readers. 
Anyone found not complying will not be published again until after the election.

This editorial position deserves a bouquet and hopefully other North Coast newspapers will follow suit. 

Is Campbell Newman Tony Abbott's illegitimate half-brother?

Newman in the full flight of a political lie during the
Queenland state general election campaign of February-March 2012.
The similarities with Abbott are uncanny.

The Port Paper: a NSW North Coast National Party saga continues

Screen snapshot 2 December 2011

The Port Paper was until the end of August 2011 allegedly one of the NSW Nationals political propaganda and campaign broadsheets masquerading as a print and online community newspaper.

Once found out it ceased publication and has idled online ever since under a new address; http://portpaper.publishpath.com/.

Its parent company Australian News & Media Pty Ltd is under external administration, although an associated entity Australian Corporate & Marketing Services Pty Ltd appears to be operating.

What is interesting about the new registrant Whois Privacy Protection Service Inc (which now hosts a skeleton presence of The Port Paper on the Internet) is its history of being found to be a party to acts in bad faith.

As evidenced by Carnie Wilson v. Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc. a/k/a Whois Agent Claim Number: FA0502000417186, Asahi Breweries Ltd. v. Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc., Demand Domains, Inc.Case No. D2009-1481, Jacuzzi UK Group PLC v. WHOIS Privacy Protection Service Inc. Case No. D2004-0254, Fluke Corporation v. Whois Agent and Whois Privacy Protection Services Inc. [2004] GENDND 1061.

Whois Privacy Protection Service Inc. is also listed as owning a male m@sturbation website.

It would appear that The Port Paper and the North Coast Nationals have finally found their natural home.

Clarence By-election: Independent candidate failed Political Advertising 101

A how-to-vote advertisement placed in a local paper by an independent candidate contesting the Clarence By-election suggests the candidate who secured the donkey vote position on the ballot paper is a bit of a donkey himself.

The candidate's ad shows no signs of authorisation, which is a dead-set requirement. The Electoral Commission of NSW's advice to candidates isn't all that difficult to read and comprehend.

The Commission's website clearly states "once the Writs have been issued all electoral material (advertisements, how-to-vote cards, handbills, pamphlets, posters or notices) must include details of the name and full address of the person authorising the printing of the material, and the name of the printer and the full address at which it was printed.

If the electoral material is to be distributed on election day, it must also clearly identify the person, political party, organisation or group on whose behalf the material is to be distributed.
It is acceptable for electoral material not originally including this information to be amended by writing, stamping or overtyping the necessary details.
It is also necessary for any electoral material displayed on electronic billboards, digital road signs and the like to contain visible, legible characters indicating the name and address of the person who has authorised the display."

 

Source: The ad is in The Clarence Valley Review, 9/11/11