Tuesday 9 October 2018
"North Coast Voices" Turns 11 Today!
On Tuesday 9 October 2007 North Coast Voices published its first blog post titled "A genuine Howard hugger".
Eleven years and over 10,102 posts later it is another Tuesday and this blog is still publishing.
For that, heartfelt thanks are due to all our readers.
Labels:
anniversary,
blogs
Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert follows unofficial Liberal Party guideline: Don't get caught but if you do pay it back
Image: The Sydney Morning Herald 2017 |
This time
over the excessive costs associated with his taxpayer-funded 4G home Internet
connection.
He has been
charging taxpayers more than a $1,000 a month for Internet access since 2016 and
by 2018 the cost had risen to over $2,000 a month.
The reasons being
given by Robert for why he didn’t avail himself of cheaper alternatives don’t really
stand close scrutiny.
Given this
Liberal MP’s history (see below) one immediately wonders if a third party individual/
corporation signed his contact with the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and
this increased the cost to taxpayers or whether Robert has a pecuniary interest
in that particular ISP.
Prime
Minister Scott Morrison has
requested that these expense claims be investigated by Special Minister for
State Alex Hawke who himself is under
a cloud when it comes to parliamentary expense claims.
Once his
parliamentary expenses drew media attention Robert was quick to commit to
paying back Internet charges reimbursed by the Dept. of Finance. At a quick estimate that would be somewhere in the vicinity of $25,000, although reportedly he puts the estimate as a little over $20,000.
Parliamentary expense claims are not the only issue for the Member for Fadden.
On 6 October 2018 The West Australian reported that:
Parliamentary expense claims are not the only issue for the Member for Fadden.
On 6 October 2018 The West Australian reported that:
A company run by a Federal minister who charged taxpayers $2000 a month for internet access lodged documents removing him as its director only after the matter was queried by The Weekend West.
Until late yesterday ASIC records showed Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert was a director of an alternative health franchise business, despite Mr Robert telling Parliament a month ago he quit the board of Cryo Australia when he returned to the ministry.
In February
2016 Stuart Robert was sent to the backbench in disgrace after just three years
as a federal government minister.
It is barely six weeks since he returned to the ministry on the back of Scott Morrison’s politically bloody ascendancy and it appears that there has been no lesson learned.
It is barely six weeks since he returned to the ministry on the back of Scott Morrison’s politically bloody ascendancy and it appears that there has been no lesson learned.
A Brief History
10 FEBRUARY
2016 In
which then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott gives the nod for then
Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert to help smooth the way for a big
Liberal Party donor and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull inherits a problem
12 FEBRUARY
2016 Minister
for Human Services & Minister for Veterans' Affairs showing his contempt
for the Australian electorate
14 FEBRUARY
2016 Liberal
MP Stuart Robert's resignation as Australian Minister for Human Services raises
more questions than it answers
21 FEBRUARY
2016 The
Liberal Member for Fadden - drowning not waving
20 MAY 2016 Federal
MP Stuart Robert channelled $70,000 from his Liberal Nationals Party campaign
fund to three local government candidates
27 SEPTEMBER
2017 Australian
Politics in 2017: Financial Fog Unlimited #2
Monday 8 October 2018
Whitehaven Coal’s Vickery mine extension community consultation has farmers up in arms
Whitehaven Coal Vickery Forest coal mining operation, 2018 |
Maules Creek section of coal mining operation, 2018 |
Whitehaven Coal Limited is seeking
planning permission to extend its existing mining infrastructure footprint approx. 22kms north of Gunnedah in
north-west NSW, by adding a coal processing hub with an on site coal
handling and preparation plant (CHPP), train load-out facility and rail spur
line to service its open cut mines at Tarrawonga, Rocglen and Werris Creek.
Quite
naturally local rural communities are concerned…….
The
Northern Daily Leader,
5 October 2018:
The Greens have
condemned NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts and called his decision to
ignore the plea of drought-stricken farmers “the height of arrogance”.
The spraying follows
comments Mr Roberts made to The Leader yesterday, where he referred
to the 4000-page Vickery coal mine extension report as a
“relatively short document”, as he knocked back the request of farmers for
more time to read the submission.
Farmers say they are struggling to find time to read and understand the
massive document, let alone write a response to it, when they are hand
feeding cattle.
Greens resource
spokesman Jeremy Buckingham wrote to Mr Roberts in September, seeking to extend
the public consultation time from 42 days to 90 days, however is yet to receive
a response.
“Minister Anthony
Roberts has displayed the height of arrogance in ignoring local farmers and
communities and failing to give them a fair chance of responding to a 4000-page
document on Vickery coal mine,” Mr Buckingham said.
“Minister Roberts has
failed to acknowledge that many local folks are flat out keeping their
livestock and farms alive in drought conditions.
“Local farmers and
community members have asked for an reasonable extension of time to read
thousands of pages of documents and make a considered response, but the
Minister won’t listen.
“What does the NSW
Government have to hide on this Vickery coal mine proposal?”...
Labels:
Berejiklian Government,
Bogabri,
coal,
consultation,
farming,
Gunnedah,
mining,
sustainable food,
water wars
Sunday 7 October 2018
Scott Morrison presents his political agenda as prayer
Even in
public prayer Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison is
an overbearing specimen - at 1:09 mins into this video he interrupted Planetshakers' minister Russell Evans & took back the microphone in order to keep centre stage and complete what was obviously on his political agenda for the day - the re-election of himself and his government at the forthcoming federal election.
Saturday 6 October 2018
Quote of the Week
“Among
those things, he said, was a "fair go for those who have a go in this
country".
"I
think that's what fairness means in this country. It's not about everybody
getting the same thing," he said.
"If
you put in, you get to take out. And you get to keep more."
[Australian Prime Minister &
Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison
explaining why only affluent people matter in his version of Australian society,
9News,
6 September 2018]
Friday 5 October 2018
Yet another Morrison Australia Day argument shot down
This is part of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's weak argument for not changing the
current date of the national holiday known as Australia Day, which has been something of a movable feast since inception.
Newcastle
Herald, 4
October 2018:
"You don't pretend
your birthday was on a different day," Prime Minister Scott Morrison
passionately reasoned with Sam Armytage on Sunrise last week.
9News, 25 September 2018:
"You can't pretend
your birthday isn't your birthday," he said.
"We have a lot more
to be proud about than not being proud about. It's a great day to celebrate
Australia.
"Australia Day is
Australia Day."
It was inevitable that he would be called out on this assertion.
In Qld, Queens Birthday
is now in October, used to be in June, but it's actually in April. Alex
McDonnel Oct 3
And what does he think
those born on 29th Feb do each year?
Morrison is a bit like
me. My mouth works before my brain. But then I am not pretending to be prime
minister like he is. Dude69 Oct 2
BACKGROUND
The
Northern Star,
4 October 2018:
BYRON Shire Council's
decision to change the date of their Australia Day event from January 26 to the
evening before in 2019 has been praised by the National Congress of Australia's
First Peoples (Congress).
The decision led to
considerable criticism by some, and the Prime Minister Scott Morrison stripped
council of its right to hold citizenship ceremonies altogether.
But the congress thanked
Byron Shire Council "for its sensitivity toward the feelings by many
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens who are uncomfortable about the
celebration of Australia Day on 26 January each year”.
The congress is the peak
representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and
members include almost 9000 individuals and 180 organisations from around the
country.
In a letter to council
dated September 25 CEO Gary Oliver said the move was "an important
milestone”.
"It is the local
government level that is showing the most leadership on this issue and we urge
you to hold firm despite the considerable criticism of your decision on this
matter.
"For many
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australia Day represents
oppression and dispossession.....
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