Saturday 28 March 2015
Being a female politician in Australia....
It helps to have a sense of humour.
This is The Greens' Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Labels:
Australian society
In which Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop suffers silently
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey tries the patience of his colleague, Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, when in the middle of what was supposed to be a tribute to the late Malcolm Fraser he alluded to the current razor gang within the party which has so enthusiastically reduced her department's foreign aid budget.
ABC Vine 23 March 2015:
Of course, he was the great initiator—and we will be forever thankful—of the Expenditure Review Committee. That committee has endured, much to the chagrin of my colleagues. But it has endured and it is one of his many lasting legacies.
Labels:
Abbott Government,
Hockeynomics
Friday 27 March 2015
Will Far North Coast voters significantly change the composition of the NSW Legislative Assembly tomorrow?
The NSW Legislative Assembly as of 27 March 2015:
Graphic from The Australian
All members of the Assembly by name (alphabetical order) here.
What is at stake for the NSW North Coast tomorrow?
The ability to protect our:
1. farm land from industrialisation by the gas industry;
2. rivers and water supplies from being depleted and/or contaminated by the mining industry;
3. local economies from the effects of Points 1 & 2;
4. state-owned native forests and remnant forest in private hands from clear fell logging or over clearing due to the current state government's ongoing dismantling of environmental protections;
5. communities and local councils from increases in electricity costs flowing from the proposed removal of high-voltage transmission lines from public ownership for the next 4 generations of North Coast families;
6. older people from loss of affordable services to assist them to live at home in their communities due to the current state government's intention to sell Home Services of NSW to an as yet unidentified multinational company combined with the federal government's increased cost to clients of federal home care services including Meals-On-Wheels;
7. TAFE colleges from further teaching cuts so that young people are able to train across a wide range of trades and professions;
8. local legal aid services from further funding cuts through state imposed efficiency and other ‘savings’;
9. regional state government agencies from closure or downsizing so that job losses don’t become entrenched;
10. our local governments from eventually being turned into one large super council reaching from the NSW-Qld border down into the Great Southern Lakes region; and
11. families, villages, towns, and farming communities from local state MPs who have stopped fighting on our behalf or never even began to effectively represent their electorates in the NSW Parliament.
Labels:
NSW North Coast,
NSW State Election 2015
Is NSW Premier Baird trying to hide the Chinese connection in his electricity network privatisation plans?
A Chinese
government-owned energy company that is a potential buyer of NSW electricity
assets, State Grid Corp, was the subject of a "major" state audit
last year which uncovered allegations of corruption amounting to more than $1
billion.
As Premier
Mike Baird on Wednesday was asked more questions about the company and its
dealings with the NSW government it has emerged that State Grid Corp's
president, Liu Zhenya, was named as a key focus of the probe.
Mr Baird's
office confirmed that a State Grid Corp executive, Shu Yinbiao, was one of
those present at a business roundtable addressed by Mr Baird during his trip to
China in September, not its president Mr Liu as previously advised……
However, the
Wall Street Journal said in June the audit, which also involved another
state-owned electricity company, China Southern Power Grid Company, focused on
contracts for a west-to-east electricity transmission system.
The newspaper
said China's national audit agency alleged that "more than $1 billion was misappropriated
in less than four months [during 2013] in the construction and running of
portions of a major electricity grid system".
Asked if Mr
Baird knew about the revelations before his China visit, his office said it had
"no further comment".
Fairfax Media
can reveal that State Grid Corp's attendance at a roundtable addressed by Mr
Baird was omitted from an official report on his trade trip to China last year.
Mr Baird on
Wednesday repeatedly refused to detail meetings held during the trip to China
last September, which aimed to drum up interest in NSW infrastructure projects.
The Coalition
government's plan to partially lease the electricity "poles and
wires" and spend the proceeds on infrastructure is the centrepiece of its
re-election campaign…..
Under Mr
Baird's reforms to political lobbying, ministers are required to publish
details of external meetings.
But on
Wednesday Mr Baird said the rules did not apply to trips abroad, saying
"there's a different process for international trips, that's well
established".
A spokesman
for Mr Baird later said the Department of Premier and Cabinet had been advised
that details of ministers' meetings on official overseas missions "should
not be disclosed through the ministerial diary process as there is appropriate
disclosure of such meetings through mission reports".
However the
mission report from Mr Baird's China trip does not mention a meeting with State
Grid Corp.
Asked later
on Wednesday why the meeting was omitted, Mr Baird said he had complied with disclosure
obligations for overseas trips.
At the news
conference he declined to say who else was at the September roundtable meeting.
"I am
not going to go into individual meetings. As Treasurer and Premier I met with
hundreds if not thousands [of potential investors]. My job is to encourage
investment into NSW," he said…..
Labels:
electricity,
Mike Baird,
NSW Premier,
NSW State Election 2015
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