State of Play 2023: Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme in entering the final tranche of public hearings

 

Public hearings in the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme have been underway since 31 October 2022.

Currently Hearing Block 3 is coming to an end and the final round of public hearings, Hearing Block 4, is due to commence on 20 February 2023.

This week evidence has been heard from a number of significant political & public service 'operatives': 

former Senior Media Adviser, Office of the Minister of Human Services (Aug 2016-Nov 2017), Rachelle Miller; 

former Agency Spokesperson, Department of Human Services (2000?-May 2019) & current Agency Spokesperson, Services Australia, Hank Jongen; 

Liberal MP for Aston & former Minister for Human Services (8.2.2016 to 20.12.2017), Alan Tudge; and, 

former Liberal MP for Pearce & former Minister for Social Services (21.9.2015 to 20.12.2017), Christian Porter.

However, before addressing their sworn testimony, a review of last week's hearings may be in order from journalist Rick Morton.

The Saturday Paper, 28 January 2023:

Evidence heard during one of the most incendiary weeks at the robo-debt royal commission has revealed the extraordinary lengths two federal government departments went to in order to cover up a multibillion-dollar crime that spanned years.

By early 2017, two years after the Centrelink debt fabrication scheme had begun, there were two external agencies with prying eyes threatening to expose the legal fiction on which the entire program rested.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman was investigating, and damning decisions were also coming back in greater numbers from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Both the Department of Social Services and the Department of Human Services adopted a “pattern of behaviour” that would deliberately mislead the ombudsman, ignore directions from the AAT and conspire to keep the government’s dodgy decisions in-house by refusing to ever challenge them past a first-round loss with the tribunal.

It was this latter strategy – according to Emeritus Professor Terry Carney, who sat on the AAT and a predecessor tribunal for decades until the former Coalition government suddenly ended his tenure in 2017 – that was the main reason robo-debt was “able to operate for so long and at such costs to applicants”.

His evidence and the other evidence given this week is the clearest account yet of the extraordinary efforts the government and its departments went to in the name of continuing a scheme that they knew was unlawful and was raising fake debts. Tens of thousands more people were dragged into the mess while this was known.

“Had there been a public ventilation of what the AAT was ruling, there wouldn’t have been an instant change to, or abandonment of, the scheme,” Carney told the hearing on Tuesday.

“But it would have been a lot quicker than the three or more years that nearly half a million people had to suffer the raising of unlawful debts against them.”

The fact the Commonwealth never appealed against a single decision was “unprecedented”, Carney said. This was even more startling a strategy when it became clear lawyers and appeal branch managers in the Department of Human Services (DHS) knew what was going on and did nothing to change course.

"Everybody needs to understand how many thousands of people were affected so badly by a system that was put in by a government department."

Under Commonwealth model litigant obligations and separate responsibilities enshrined in social security law, the federal government is required to have “due regard” to AAT decisions and should act to contest them where it involves a significant matter of law or policy or where different decisions create “inconsistencies” in the application of policy.

Former DHS appeals branch manager Elizabeth Bundy, a qualified lawyer, told the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme on Tuesday that she probably didn’t read one of Professor Carney’s adverse tribunal decisions that was explicitly sent to her for monitoring “because it was very long and legalistic”.

Emails between Bundy and a lawyer in her team, Damien Brazel, sent in late March 2017, show they understood the significance of the Carney decision because it involved the use of income averaging from the “manual” pilot stage of robo-debt, a domain they say they believed was not an issue.

“We need to escalate this ASAP,” Bundy wrote to Brazel on March 24, suggesting they should inform DHS deputy secretary Malisa Golightly.

The following day, a Saturday, at 8.35pm, Darren Zogopoulos, a manager in DHS, emailed about a “third set aside … decision” with a note of alarm.

“This one is very interesting,” he wrote. “I would be concerned of [sic] legal services didn’t contest this. If they don’t, it will open up Pandora’s Box.”

Not only did they not contest this or any other decision, however, but DHS lawyers met some of the decisions with institutional arrogance……

It is helpful to go through this time line in detail.

The sequence of events begins around January 11, 2017, when DSS officials – including former director of payment integrity and debt strategy Robert Hurman – became aware of the ombudsman’s investigation.

From this date, the fuse of bureaucratic panic was lit.

Within hours, Hurman had been sent the only written advice his department had ever sought about the legality of the scheme: the 2014 advice written by Simon Jordan and second-counselled by senior lawyer Anne Pulford, which was unequivocal in its statement that the fundamental basis of robo-debt was illegal.

What to do?

Greggery laid out the department’s blueprint for deception.

“I suggest to you there was a common understanding within DSS – from the time the ombudsman’s investigation was received – to go on the front foot and defend the scheme as being both lawful and accurate in raising debts,” he said to Hurman.

“There was a pattern of behaviour from the start by people within DSS, of which you were a part, and it was designed to establish the lawfulness of the scheme in the representations that it made to the ombudsman, irrespective of the true position.”

Hurman responded that they “were trying to show it in a positive light”, a description that rankled the senior counsel.

“Yes,” Greggery said, “but it’s a bit hard to put a positive light on something that you understood was being conducted unlawfully according to the advice that had been given in 2014.”

Hurman and colleagues commissioned a new set of legal advice from Pulford, the same lawyer who co-authored the 2014 advice, only this time the answer to ostensibly the same proposition was that income averaging could be used to raise a debt.

This “2017 advice” wasn’t delivered until later in January. Six days before it arrived, on January 18, DSS officials attended a walkthrough with DHS leadership about the robo-debt scheme. About the same time then ministers Alan Tudge and Christian Porter were making public statements asserting the lawfulness of the program.

Although Hurman was on leave for this January 18 walkthrough, he authored an email that stated DSS staff were “comfortable that the current process is lawful and clear”.

Greggery asked how this could have been so. The walkthrough happened after the 2014 advice had been recirculated, noting the scheme was unlawful, and before the new Pulford advice had been received.

“So how could you be satisfied, or how could you represent that senior department staff were comfortable that the current process was both lawful and clear,” Greggery pressed, “in circumstances where you had been given contrary advice?”

Initially, Hurman had believed the original advice should be withheld. After a tense back and forth between the policy and legal teams, a decision was made to send both to the ombudsman.

However, on February 23, Greggery said, Hurman learnt that only the 2017 advice had gone to the ombudsman. The legal opinion acknowledging the scheme was likely unlawful was not sent. Former branch manager Russell de Burgh, Hurman’s boss, accepts that the 2017 advice was the only document the department ever had that could be construed as suggesting the scheme was even remotely lawful…….

Read the full article here.

From Berejiklian in 2018 through to Perrottet in 2023 - the many promises made by the NSW Coalition Government to fund redevelopment of Grafton Base Hospital

 

THE IDENTIFIED NEED

The Daily Examiner, 31 July 2018, p.1:

Grafton Base Hospital will offer inpatient mental health services when a $263.8million redevelopment is funded.

For the first time the Northern NSW Local Health District has made the hospital its number one priority in its Asset Strategic Plan for 2018/19.

The Daily Examiner, 20 October 2018, p.4:

In July the Northern NSW Local Health District made a rebuild of the hospital its top priority for the coming year at a cost of $263.8million.

It’s report on the priority listing noted the hospital was close to capacity with inpatient beds, emergency, renal dialysis and chemotherapy infrastructure expected to reach capacity by 2022 and infrastructure for ambulatory care services was to reach capacity in 2020.

It also noted the construction of Australia’s largest jail, due for completion south of Grafton at the end of 2020, would also place stresses on the region’s health services.

The Daily Examiner, 22 November 2018, p.5:

Clarence Valley Council has also thrown its support behind the redevelopment of the Grafton Base Hospital.

It will write to the premier, deputy premier, minister for health, and member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis expressing its support for the $263.8m redevelopment.

THE HALF-PROMISES BEGIN

The Daily Examiner, 8 December 2018, p.22:

More hospital funding remains in his sights with the potential $268 million rebuild of the tired piece of infrastructure.

The Daily Examiner, 19 December 2018, p. 9:

Mr Gulaptis said he was continuing to pressure the government to allocate the $268 million funding for the hospital…..

THE REPETITIVE PROMISES

Clarence Valley Independent, 13 March 2019:

Gulaptis promise of $263m Grafton Hospital overhaul

The Daily Examiner, 21 June 2019, p.3: 

The $263 million commitment to the Grafton Base Hospital redevelopment was made in the final weeks of the campaign in March and is just one of many major infrastructure promises outlined in the 2019-20 Budget Papers. However, there there was no specific line item in the 2019-20 Budget and Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis was quick to point out it would take time.”

The Daily Mercury, 31 July 2020:

HEALTH NEEDS CONTINUE UNMET

North Coast Voices, 21 February 2021:

PUBLIC HOSPITAL ELECTIVE SURGERY MEDIAN WAITING TIMES IN NORTH-EAST NSW......

Grafton Base Hospital:

Hip replacement - the median wait was 6 days in 2011-12 and blew out to 77 days by 2017-18 and latest figures for 2019-20 stand at 67 days.

Total knee replacement - the median wait was 10 days in 2011-12 and blew out to 145 days by 2017-18 and latest figures for 2019-20 stand at 135 days.

Shoulder joint replacement - the wait was 8 days in 2016-17 and blew out to 11 days by 2017-18 and latest figures for 2019-20 stand at less than 5 days.

Ophthalmology - the median wait was 285 days in 2011-12 and latest figures for 2019-20 stand at 326 days, the highest median waiting time in the last nine financial years.

Between July and September 2020 a total of 652 unspecified elective surgery procedures were performed.

Clarence Valley Independent, 10 August 2022: 

The Clarence Valley Independent hit the streets last week and asked members of the public to share their thoughts after the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) revealed Grafton Base Hospital (GBH) had no on-site obstetrician, or available locums to cover shortages, and subsequently, expectant and birthing mothers were being referred to Lismore Base Hospital and Coffs Harbour Health Campus.

The NNSWLHD released a second statement two days later, announcing staff had altered their rosters to ensure previously advised gaps in specialist obstetrician cover were filled.....

THE PROMISES CONTINUE AND SO DO THE PROBLEMS

NSW Nationals, media release, 25 January 2023:

Regional Health and Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor, Nationals’ Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis, and Nationals’ candidate for Clarence Richie Williamson have announced a major step forward in the $264 million Grafton Base Hospital redevelopment.

ABC News, 25 January 2023:

After her knee replacement surgery was cancelled twice last year, Yamba woman Rosalind Walsh could not bear to think it might happen again.

The 72-year-old was scheduled this week for orthopaedic work at Grafton Base Hospital in northern New South Wales, but was called on the day by hospital management asking her to stay home.

"They just said, 'We don't have a bed'," Ms Walsh said.

"They said, 'We can't do the surgery, but you're still booked in'."

Anaesthetist & former Grafton Medical Staff Council chair Allan Tyson said there were real repercussions for people who missed out.

"It is common," he said.

"We have to say, 'Sorry, you have to go home because the surgery can't be done'.

"It's not just elective surgery, if you can't walk."

Dr Tyson said the Grafton hospital was operating well beyond its capacity.

"We've got 18 patients in a ward today that is funded for eight patients," he said.

"Last week our fly-in surgeon missed out on three or four joint surgeries that we should have done, but didn't have the bed space.

"In the end, it's our patients that miss out."

For Rosalind Walsh, however, a long wait outside the hospital was worth it.

The ABC understands hospital management was able to redirect patients from the emergency department, resulting in a spare bed so Ms Walsh could have her knee surgery & recover in hospital.

Paid doctors with nowhere to work

Northern NSW Local Health District chief executive Wayne Jones said surgeons, including those flying in to regional hospitals to help reduce elective surgery waitlists, were at times unable to operate.

"As chief executive it hurts to the bone to pay money I'm not getting a return on," he said.

"The reality is at times you can't avoid that.

"There is [an] unprecedented bed block that we're experiencing."

Mr Jones said administrators were planning as much as they could.

"It is worth noting that we're seeing a real decline in those overdue waits, over the last four or five months, as we're starting to develop more models of care," he said.

"We're doing surgery in our smaller facilities, we're freeing up beds & facilities in places like Grafton, so we are getting through more."

NSW Regional Health Minister Bronnie Taylor visited the hospital this week to commit to a new $274-million new hospital in Grafton — a similar pledge to a 2019 state election promise…...

Climate Change & Putin's aggression see the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight in January 2023

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a media organization, publishing a free-access website and a bimonthly magazine. It began as an emergency action, created by scientists who saw an immediate need for a public reckoning in the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Since 1947 it has published the Doomsday Clock, which to date has been updated a total of 24 times. “The closer the clocks’ hands move toward midnight, the closer humanity supposedly moves toward self-inflicted destruction. As well as assessing risks from nuclear war, the scientists incorporate dangers from climate change, bioweapons and more.” [Time Magazine, 24 January 2023]

Science and Security Board, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2023 Doomsday Clock Statement, 24 January 2023:

A time of unprecedented danger: It is 90 seconds to midnight

This year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward, largely (though not exclusively) because of the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine. The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been.

The war in Ukraine may enter a second horrifying year, with both sides convinced they can win. Ukraine’s sovereignty and broader European security arrangements that have largely held since the end of World War II are at stake. Also, Russia’s war on Ukraine has raised profound questions about how states interact, eroding norms of international conduct that underpin successful responses to a variety of global risks.

And worst of all, Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict—by accident, intention, or miscalculation—is a terrible risk. The possibility that the conflict could spin out of anyone’s control remains high.

Russia’s recent actions contravene decades of commitments by Moscow. In 1994, Russia joined the United States and United Kingdom in Budapest, Hungary, to solemnly declare that it would "respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine" and "refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine..." These assurances were made explicitly on the understanding that Ukraine would relinquish nuclear weapons on its soil and sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—both of which Ukraine did.

Russia has also brought its war to the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor sites, violating international protocols and risking widespread release of radioactive materials. Efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency to secure these plants so far have been rebuffed.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty between Russia and the United States, New START, stands in jeopardy. Unless the two parties resume negotiations and find a basis for further reductions, the treaty will expire in February 2026. This would eliminate mutual inspections, deepen mistrust, spur a nuclear arms race, and heighten the possibility of a nuclear exchange.

As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in August, the world has entered “a time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.”

The war’s effects are not limited to an increase in nuclear danger; they also undermine global efforts to combat climate change. Countries dependent on Russian oil and gas have sought to diversify their supplies and suppliers, leading to expanded investment in natural gas exactly when such investment should have been shrinking.

In the context of a hot war and against the backdrop of nuclear threats, Russia’s false accusations that Ukraine planned to use radiological dispersal devices, chemical weapons, and biological weapons take on new meaning as well. The continuing stream of disinformation about bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine raises concerns that Russia itself may be thinking of deploying such weapons, which many experts believe it continues to develop.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the risk of nuclear weapons use, raised the specter of biological and chemical weapons use, hamstrung the world’s response to climate change, and hampered international efforts to deal with other global concerns. The invasion and annexation of Ukrainian territory have also violated international norms in ways that may embolden others to take actions that challenge previous understandings and threaten stability.

There is no clear pathway for forging a just peace that discourages future aggression under the shadow of nuclear weapons. But at a minimum, the United States must keep the door open to principled engagement with Moscow that reduces the dangerous increase in nuclear risk the war has fostered. One element of risk reduction could involve sustained, high-level US military-to-military contacts with Russia to reduce the likelihood of miscalculation. The US government, its NATO allies, and Ukraine have a multitude of channels for dialogue; they all should be explored. Finding a path to serious peace negotiations could go a long way toward reducing the risk of escalation. In this time of unprecedented global danger, concerted action is required, and every second counts.

Countervailing dynamics: Addressing climate change during the invasion of Ukraine

Addressing climate change requires faith in institutions of multilateral governance. The geopolitical fissure opened by the invasion of Ukraine has weakened the global will to cooperate while undermining confidence in the durability, or even the feasibility, of broad-based multilateral collaboration.

With Russia second only to the United States in global production of both natural gas and oil, the invasion of Ukraine sparked a rush to establish independence from Russian energy supplies, particularly in the European Union. From the standpoint of climate change, this has contributed to two countervailing dynamics.

First, the elevated energy prices have spurred investment in renewables and motivated countries to implement policies that support renewables development. With this rise in deployment, the International Energy Agency now projects that wind and solar energy combined will approach 20 percent of global power generation five years from now, with China installing nearly half of the new renewable power capacity.

At the same time, however, high natural gas prices have driven a quest to develop new gas supplies, spurring investment in natural gas production and export infrastructure in the United States, the EU, Africa, and elsewhere, largely financed by major oil and gas transnationals and investment firms. This private capital continues to flow into developing new fossil fuel resources, even while public finance is facing pressure to pull out. All G7 countries have pledged to end public financing of international fossil fuel projects this year, and the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, a group of eight countries, has formally committed to end new concessions, licensing or leasing rounds for oil and gas production and exploration, and to set a timeline for ending production that is consistent with their Paris agreement pledges.

Notwithstanding these two processes, both of which should in principle reduce demand for Russian gas, Russia was on course in 2022 to earn as much as the previous year from oil and gas exports, largely owing to continued European demand.

As a consequence, global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, after having rebounded from the COVID economic decline to an all-time high in 2021, continued to rise in 2022 and hit another record high. A decline in Chinese emissions was overshadowed by a rise in the United States, India, and elsewhere…. 

National Bird Week "Great Aussie Bird Count" 2022 results

 

 Over seven days in October 2022 - from Monday 17th to  Sunday 23rd - a total of 17,419 people participated in the annual Great Aussie Bird Count under the auspices by Birdlife Australia. Between them submitting 124,430 online check lists.

Despite record rains and flooding across much of Australia during National Bird Week the number of individual birds counted reached 3,913,281 across 620 species.

INDIVIDUAL BIRD COUNT BY STATE & TERRITORY

NSW : 1,222, 597 

Vic: 944,536

Qld: 789,156

SA: 382,586

WA: 289,740

Tas: 128,885

ACT: 80,898

NT: 72,915

External territories: 1,967.

Top 10 Birds Australia-wide : 1. Rainbow Lorikeet, 2. Noisy Miner, 3. Australian Magpie, 4. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, 5. Galah, 6. House Sparrow, 7. Welcome Swallow, 8. Silver Gull, 9. Red Wattlebird, 10. Australian White Ibis.

Top 3 Birds by State or Territory: Qld Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Miner, Torresian Crow; NSW Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Miner, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo; ACT Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Australian Magpie, Galah; Vic Rainbow Lorikeet, Australian Magpie, Noisy Miner; Tas House Sparrow, Common Blackbird, Common Starling; SA Rainbow Lorikeet, New Holland Honeyeater, Noisy Miner; WA Rainbow Lorikeet, New Holland Honeyeater, Galah; External Territories Red Junglefowl, White Tern, Great Frigatebird.

 

Widespread flooding in first half of 2022 sees latest land valuations expected to fall in worst hit areas of the Northern Rivers region

Due to Northern Rivers flooding in February-March and June 2022, property owners in flood affected locations in Lismore City local government area such as North, South and central Lismore experienced decreases in demand for their lots. As did property owners in flood affected Ocean Shores and Golden Beach in Byron Shire. 

"Lismore saw a 23.9% decrease [in commercial land demand] after the 2022 floods significantly impacted the area, with the entire CBD being inundated....Lismore [industrial land] decreased slightly (5.2%) as a two-tier market emerged with premiums being paid for flood free industrial land.....Strong demand continued in Lismore (23.7%) for productive farmlands to the northwest which were not as severely affected by the 2022 floods."

Valuer General of New South Wales, Valuation NSW, Media Release, 19 January 2023:

New land values published for the North Coast region

The NSW Valuer General has published land values for the North Coast region. The land values reflect the value of land only, as at 1 July 2022.

Land value is the value of the land only. It does not include the value of a home or other structure. Property sales are the most important factor valuers consider when determining land values. [my yellow highlighting]

The new land values will be used by Revenue NSW to calculate land tax for the 2023 land tax year. Registered land tax clients will receive their land tax assessment from Revenue NSW from January 2023. More information on land tax can be found at revenue.nsw.gov.au.

Councils receive new land values for rating at least every three years. Land values are one factor used by councils to calculate rates. All councils have been issued with the 1 July 2022 land values.

Landholders will receive a Notice of Valuation showing their land value before it is used by council for rating. Notices will be issued from January 2023. This gives landholders time to consider their land value.

The latest land values for all properties in NSW are available on the Valuer General NSW website, along with information on trends, medians and typical land values for each local government area.

Please visit www.valuergeneral.nsw.gov.au for more information on land values and the NSW valuation system.

North Coast Region local government areas

Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey, Kyogle, Lismore, MidCoast, Nambucca, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Richmond Valley and Tweed.

General overview

The total land value for the North Coast NSW region increased by 35.9% between 1 July 2021 and 1 July 2022 from $116 billion to $158 billion.

Residential land values increased 36.8% overall. Demand for rural villages, hinterland and beachside locations continue as sea and tree changers relocate to work remotely. This trend was particularly evident in Coffs Harbour (46.7%), Port Macquarie (38%) and Clarence Valley (46.5%). Lismore (31.5%) saw increased demand in flood free areas including Goonellabah, Lismore Heights and Richmond Hill while flood affected locations such as North, South and central Lismore experienced decreases. Byron (18.2%) varied as decreases in flood affected Ocean Shores and Golden Beach offset increases at Brunswick Heads, Suffolk Park and elevated Pacific Vista Drive, Byron Bay.

Commercial land values increased 24.1% overall. Relative affordability contributed to Bellingen (56.7%) and Clarence Valley (40%) experiencing the strongest increases. In Ballina (14.9%), the flood impacted CBD experienced moderate to slight increases while Lennox Head and Wollongbar increased strongly due to tight supply. Byron (25.2%) increases highlight continued strength in the Byron tourism sector and investor demand. Lismore saw a 23.9% decrease after the 2022 floods significantly impacted the area, with the entire CBD being inundated.

Industrial land values increased by 29.6% overall. Clarence Valley (122.5%) saw heightened demand for a limited supply of affordable fringe industrial land around Grafton and Yamba. Similar supply issues led very strong increases in Kempsey (56.4%), especially South Kempsey precinct, and drove values in affordable fringe locations of Woolgoolga and Macksville which contributed to very strong increases in Coffs Harbour (41.5%) and Nambucca (37.7%). Lismore decreased slightly (5.2%) as a two-tier market emerged with premiums being paid for flood free industrial land.

Rural land values increased 37.4%. Strong commodity prices drove demand for quality agricultural land with reliable water and resulted in increases regionwide, with Port Macquarie-Hastings (54.5%) leading the trend. Relative affordability drove demand in several local government areas including Nambucca (51.4%) and Kempsey (40.3%). Across Byron (26.1%), values remained steady in flood impacted localities including Main Arm and Mullumbimby while purchasers underpinned strong demand for rural homes and hobby farms in areas like Myocum and Bangalow. Strong demand continued in Lismore (23.7%) for productive farmlands to the northwest which were not as severely affected by the 2022 floods.

~~~Ends~~~ 

Tweet of the Week

The days of being swamped with politicians talking about COVID already seem like a long time ago. But the virus continues to run rampant, making a lot of Australians sick and killing many, even if we don't seem to be talking about it publicly as much. #abc730 pic.twitter.com/f2hyVb9QXt

— abc730 (@abc730) January 23, 2023

Cartoons of the Week

 

Jon Kudelka

Peter Broelman