A contributor on the unofficial version of Trump TV issued an on air call to "kill the globalists" at CNN https://t.co/BlCMwh4jjs pic.twitter.com/i0wyIh0H0O— Media Matters (@mmfa) April 24, 2017
Wednesday 10 May 2017
Trump supporter's call to "kill the globalists" at CNN
Tuesday 9 May 2017
Meet the new 'welfare bashers' on the block
North Coast Voices readers who follow Twitter may have noticed the account @creatingparity which is pushing the idea of a national Cashless Debit Card (CDC) for welfare recipients which will severely restrict an individual's choice in how they bank and spend any fortnightly/periodic payment or lump sum – only allowing access to an inadequate amount of cash in hand for bus, rail, taxi fares and purchases from stores/businesses which don't accept debit cards outright or only accept cards if their own minimum purchase price is reached.
Creating Parity
On 4 May 2017 Whois listed Neil Pope as the registrant contact person of creatingparity.org.au. Mr. Pope is Technology Manager at the Minderoo Foundation.
Minderoo Foundation Pty Ltd (formerly known as the Australian Children's Trust Pty Ltd) is a 15 year-old WA-based corporation purporting to benefit "The general Australian public" which is run by The Trustee for The Minderoo Foundation Trust (service address swells@minderoo.com.au) with the following people at the helm:
Andrew Forrest BA Chairman (billionaire architect of the cashless debit card aka "Healthy Welfare Card" proposal)
Nicola Forrest BA Chief Executive Officer
Grace Forrest BA Director
Herbert Elliott AC MBE Director
Tony Grist BCOM, FINSIA, AICD Director
The Honourable Malcolm McCusker AC CVO QC (millionaire former Governor of Western Australia)
Tonya McCusker Alternate Director
Allan Myers AO QC Director
According to the foundation In the 2015 financial year the Minderoo Foundation contributed over AU$28 million across its philanthropic focus areas.
In 2016 financial year it declared Total Comprehensive Income of $15.353 million and spent a total of $19,356,519 on projects and partnerships with Arts, Culture & Community, Forrest Research Foundation, GenerationOne, Thrive by Five and Walk Free.
Minderoo is Forrest's go to name when forming corporations and at last count he had at least fourteen active corporations and business names registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission which included that word.
So why is this self-styled philanthropic organisation on Twitter indulging in the favourite far-right pastime of 'welfare bashing':
The CDC tackles the problem that current welfare policies are a systemic enabler of illicit drug use, alcohol abuse and free-range gambling.
@creatingparity also promotes www.cashlessdebitcard.org.au - a website created by the Minderoo Foundation as a propaganda vehicle for introduction of the cashless debit card.
So who is silvertail grazier and mining billionaire John Andrew Henry Forrest and why is he insisting that his grand plan to control the banking options and spending practices of literally millions of Australian citizens is one that the nation needs to have imposed on it by the federal government – and why is it this aim needs to be helped along by a privately funded, misleading advertising campaign?
Well, Wikipedia has a highly sanitized version of his life at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Forrest and the unauthorised biography Twiggy: The High-Stakes Life of Andrew Forrest apparently expands on his exploits – including allegedly using complex dealings with a charity he founded and controlled to reduce his tax liabilities.
However, the bottom line is that Non-Executive Chair of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd and principal shareholder Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest is an extremely rich, privately educated, professed Christian with pronounced paternalistic tendencies and a strong sense of entitlement, who apparently believes the poor and vulnerable are a class of moral degenerates incapable of functioning without lifelong, punitive governmental control.
And his bully boy mission in life is to make sure that control is imposed.
Monday 8 May 2017
A chilling set of statistics the Turnbull Government tries hard to pretend it can't see
Sadly what these figures tell us is that the unequal status of women and their daughters in Australian society persists and there is still not enough political will (especially amongst members of the Liberal and National parties) to seriously address the issues.
Proof of this can be found in first the Abbott Government and now the Turnbull Government failing to adequately fund existing programs and new initiatives.
The Daily Telegraph, 29 April 2017:
RISING divorce rates, skyrocketing rents and the gender pay gap have combined to create a new homeless epidemic in which women in their 50s and 60s are the victims.
Social workers warn Australia is facing a generational “tsunami” of this older demographic in coming years as a lack of super, casual jobs and high-priced housing take their toll.
Charities are reporting increases of up to 44 per cent in the number of older women seeking homelessness services in the past five years and government stats are showing half a million women will fall into housing stress over the next two decades.
Those same organisations say the increasing number of older women arriving at Sydney’s homeless shelters have led “traditional” lives, been housewives or worked part time, but with the death of a partner or divorce, are shocked and bewildered to find themselves virtually on the streets.
Apart from later life divorces and sky-high rents, the predicted explosion in the population aged over 65, domestic violence, a lack of super and increased casual jobs have also been blamed for driving the phenomenon.
And along with the growth in lone-person households comes loneliness.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies research shows 26 per cent of people living alone report feeling lonely often, compared with 16 per cent of people living with others.
“They may have once owned a house, but lost it through relationship breakdown, domestic violence, business failure or sheer bad luck.”
Western Sydney Women co-founder and women’s business advocate Annabelle Daniel says there has been a “massive increase” in homelessness among older women.
“We’re talking about a generation who have been mums and housewives and may have had a divorce and now they have nothing. Or they have left a domestic violence situation, and now have nowhere to go.”……
The society’s NSW president Denis Walsh said: “We are hearing more and more stories from women over 50 who, after many years of loyal service, are made redundant and can no longer afford to pay high private rentals.”
Ageing and women’s advocate and former MP Susan Ryan says many of these women would not be eligible for public housing in NSW, yet faced “catastrophic” circumstances.
Years ago, more women retired with a house, Ms Ryan says, but that’s become less common, forcing them into expensive rental markets, where the average rental for a one-bedroom apartment outside the Sydney CBD is now $447 a week.
“The shocking aspect of this new face of poverty is that most of the women involved have not experienced long-term serious illness and have worked most of their lives, often in good, middle level jobs,” she said……
Destroy the Joint, Counting Dead Women, 29 April 2017
All but one of these deaths were allegedly by the hands of men either belonging to the same family group as the women or thought to be known by the women.
Although this is six less deaths than recorded by Destroy the Joint in mid-April 2016, there are still too many women being brutally killed and too many being badly injured.
ABC
News, 12
August 2015:
Brain Injury Australia executive officer Nick Rushworth
said it was "a matter of current public attention that one woman is killed
every week by her partner or ex-partner".
He said he now wanted to draw attention to those women
who had to live with chronic brain injury.
"Three women are hospitalised each and every week in
this country with a traumatic brain injury — the result of an assault by her
partner or ex-partner," he said.
Just
over 20,000 people (20,111) were hospitalised in Australia in 2013–14 as a
result of an assault, of which 31% (6,293) were women and girls. The overall
rate of assault injury among women and girls was 56 cases per 100,000 population,
compared with 121 for men. Rates of assault among women and girls were higher
in age groups from about 15–19 to 50–54 years and the age group with
the highest rate of assault was 30–34 years (113 cases per 100,000 population).
More
than three-quarters (76%, or 4,788) of records of cases of assault against
women and girls contained information about the relationship of the perpetrator
to the victim. Where specific information about the perpetrator was available,
‘spouse or domestic partner’ was the most commonly reported perpetrator of
assault among women and girls (59%, or 2,843 cases). ‘Parents’ (195 cases) and
‘other family members’ (726 cases) accounted for nearly half of the remaining
cases where the type of perpetrator was specified.
Over
half (59%, or 3,685) of all women and girls hospitalised due to assault were
victims of an Assault by bodily force. A further quarter of all
hospitalised assault cases against women and girls involved a blunt (17%, or
1,048 cases) or sharp object (9%, or 551 cases).
Open
wounds (22%, or 1,400 cases), fractures (22%, or 1,375) and superficial
injuries (19%, or 1,194) accounted for almost two-thirds of the types of
assault injuries sustained by women and girls. For assaults by bodily force and
involving sharp and blunt objects, the majority of injuries were to the head
and neck area (63%, or 3,328).
Rental housing affordability in regional Australia, 2017
Anglicare Australia’s latest Rental Affordability Snapshot, April 2017, does not offer good news for individuals, couples and families in regional areas who cannot afford to purchase their own home:
Single income households
Single people in regional areas are still hard hit by housing unaffordability. Regional areas generally have fewer services and higher unemployment rates, raising the dilemma of “if you can afford to live there, there are no jobs and if there are jobs, you can’t afford to live there!”
Of the 13,739 regional properties analysed on the collection weekend, there were fewer than five properties that would be suitable for a single person on Youth Allowance (#9 or #10) (n=2 & 3). For those on Newstart, the appropriate properties ranged from 0.1% for singles on Newstart (#8) (n=18), increasing to 1.7% (n=235) for a single parent on Newstart (#5). Singles on the Disability Support Pension (#7) could access 3.49% (n=542) of properties surveyed. An age pensioner (#6) could access 5.0% (n=687) of properties surveyed, however, many of these properties were share houses so there are questions about how successful an application by an age pensioner for this property type would be.
Singles living on the Parenting Payment with one child (#4) could access 7.2% of rentals (n=986), while those on the same payment with two children (#2) could access 5.5% (n=751).
Singles living on the minimum wage might apply for 1,207 properties (8.8%) if on their own (#13) or 2,534 properties (18.4%) if they have two children (#12).
Double income households
A couple living in regional area with two children on the minimum wage (#11) might access 46.7% of all rentals (n=6,422). However, the same family living on Newstart (#1) might only access 8.2% (n=1,133).
An Age Pension couple (#3) could afford 16.7% (n=2,295) of the 13,739 properties.
Couple households living with two children on minimum wage and parenting payment (#14) might access 28.1% of the rentals (n=3,854).
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