Those old hoax emails are doing the rounds again

A case of what goes around, comes around……..

A hoax email tailored for local scenes:

***

Subject: CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS/THIS IS NOT A JOKE PLEASE READ

CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE LEAVING THE CHECK-OUT

I bought a bunch of stuff, over £150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of £40. I told her I didn't request a cash back & to delete it. She said I'd have to take the £40 because she couldn't delete it. I told Her to call a supervisor. Supervisor came & said I'd have to take it.. I said NO! Taking the £40 would be a cash advance against my Credit card & I wasn't paying interest on a cash advance!!!!! If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order. So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order & re-scan everything! The second time I looked at the electronic pad before I signed & a cash-back of £20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier & she deleted it. The total came out right. The cashier agreed that the Electronic Pad must be defective.

Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered me the £40 at the beginning. Can you imagine how many people went through before me & at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed?

Just to alert everyone. My co worker went to Milford , Sainsburys last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn't give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her. My co worker didn't look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt showed that she asked for £20 cash back. SHE DID NOT ASK FOR CASH BACK!

My co-worker called Sainsburys who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank and her niece told her this. This is a new scam going on. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in the queue.

Please, please, please check your receipts right away when using credit or debit cards!

This is NOT limited to Sainsburys; they are one of the largest retailers so they have the most incidents.

I am adding to this. My husband and I were in Sainsburys and paying with credit card when my husband went to sign the credit card signer he just happen to notice there was a £20 cash back added. He told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash back and she said this machine has been messing up and she canceled it. We really didn't think anything of it until we read this email.

I wonder how many "seniors" have been, or will be, "stung" by this one????

To make matters worse ...THIS SCAM CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION!!!

BEFORE LEAVING THE CHECK-OUT........CHECK YOUR RECEIPT!!!!!

THIS COULD HAPPEN ANYWHERE. CHECK YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE LEAVING THE STAND. I'VE SEEN PEOPLE DO JUST THAT. NOW I'LL START! PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS, KIDS, LOVED ONES.

***

Subject: SOME GOOD ADVICE

CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE LEAVING THE CHECK-OUTA New Zealander bought a heap of stuff the other day while holidaying in Australia (over $450), and when he glanced at his receipt as the cashier was handing him the bags, he saw cash out of $20.  
He told her he didn't request any cash and to delete it. She said he'd have to take the $20 because she couldn't delete it. He told her to call a supervisor. The supervisor came and said he'd have to take it.. he said  “NO Bloody way!”
Because taking the $20 would be a “cash advance” against his credit card and he wasn't paying interest on a cash advance!!!!!
If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order. So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order and re-scan everything! The second time he looked at the electronic pad before he pinned in his number and again cash-back of $20 popped up.
At that point he told the cashier and she deleted it. The total then came out right.  The cashier said that the Electronic Pad must be defective. Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered him any cash after either of the transactions. 
Can you imagine how many people went through before him and by the end of her shift how much money she pocketed?
His wife went into a “Coles Warehouse” last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn't give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for the receipt and the cashier seemed annoyed but gave it to her. 
She didn't look at her receipt until later that night when back at their hotel. The receipt showed that she had asked for $20 cash. SHE DID NOT ASK FOR ANY CASH, NOR WAS SHE GIVEN IT!
So she called “Coles” who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money.  
When back in NZ they then spoke with a friend who works for one of the banks; they told them that this was a “new scam” that was bound to come to NZ, especially around Christmas time.  
The cashier will key in that you asked for cash and then hand it to one of her friends when they next come through the check-out queue.
This is NOT limited to Coles; they are just one of the largest retailers so they have the most incidents.
I wonder how many "seniors" have been, or will be, "stung" by this one????

To make matters worse ... THIS SCAM CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION!!!
IT COULD HAPPEN ANYWHERE. CHECK YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE LEAVING THE CHECK-OUT........CHECK YOUR RECEIPT!!!!!.  
I've since seen people do just that….. SO NOW I'LL START!

PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS, KIDS, LOVED ONES let’s not get ripped off.

State of Play: budget honesty and policy costings in September 2011

This is what the Australian Gillard Government intends to implement:

Main features of the Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill 2011

1. The Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill 2011 (PSA Bill) would, if enacted, amend the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 , which governs the Parliamentary Departments, and other Acts to establish the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) and the position of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (the Officer), and the purpose, functions and governance of the PBO.

2. Specifically, the PSA Bill would:

· Establish the PBO as a fourth Parliamentary Department, establish the Officer as an independent officer of the Parliament, and provide for the employment of PBO staff and the governance framework of the PBO;

· Establish the mandate of the PBO to inform the Parliament by providing independent and non-partisan analysis of the budget cycle, fiscal policy and the financial implications of proposals;

· Establish the functions of the PBO to respond to requests for policy costings and other requests relating to the budget, from Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, with responses able to be undertaken in a confidential manner upon request outside of the caretaker period, and in a manner consistent with the Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 (the Charter) during the caretaker period;

· Enable the Officer to enter into arrangements to access information from Australian Government agencies, consistent with other legislative requirements ;

· Establish the duties and authority of the Presiding Officers in regards to the PBO, including overseeing the operation and administration of the PBO; and

· Establish the duties and authority of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) in relation to the PBO, including enabling the JCPAA to consider the operations and work plan of the PBO.

3. The Bill would also amend several other Acts to enable the establishment of the PBO, namely:

· The Charter would be amended to extend the caretaker period in a manner consistent with the definition in the Guidelines on Caretaker Conventions to when a Government is sworn in following an election, clarify access to the election costing functions, minimise the duplication of policy costings, and update references within the Act;

· The Freedom of Information Act 1982 would be amended to include the PBO and the Officer as an exempt agency; and

· The Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973 and the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976 would be amended to ensure that the Acts encompasses the position of the Officer.

4. The PSA Bill forms an important element of broader parliamentary reforms, which will enhance the credibility and transparency of the Commonwealth's already strong fiscal and budgetary frameworks. These changes have been developed in collaboration with the relevant Ministers and their Departments, and with the Presiding Officers.

Financial Impact Statement

5. The proposed amendments have no further impact to the underlying cash balance as funding of $24.9 million was allocated over 4 years to establish the PBO in the 2011-12 Budget.

This is what the Coalition under Tony Abbott asserts that it wants to see, as set out in Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey's two private members bills:

The Parliamentary Budget Office Bill 2011 seeks to establish a PBO that will be:

· a new body, accountable to the Parliament rather than the Executive, much like the Auditor-General or Commonwealth Ombudsman;

· independent, to enhance the transparency and accountability of the budget process, and help deliver better policy and financial outcomes for Australian taxpayers;

· well resourced, to ensure it is effective;

· tasked with providing objective and impartial advice and analysis across the parliament on the Commonwealth budget and budget cycle, including the impact of major policy announcements; and

· headed by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who will be appointed by the presiding officers of the parliament on the advice of a committee of senior government officials, with an office of highly trained staff, whose calibre will reflect the Office's status as an independent body.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

Clause 32(4) of the Bill stipulates that:

"The appropriation of funds for the PBO in a non-election year must not be less than 3.5% of the departmental appropriation for the Department of the Treasury."

Charter of Budget Honesty Amendment Bill 2011

OUTLINE

The Charter of Budget Honesty Act (1998) was intended to produce better fiscal outcomes through institutional arrangements to improve the formulation and reporting of fiscal policy.

A key element of the Charter were arrangements for more equal access to Treasury and Finance costings of election commitments by the Government and Opposition.

One shortcoming of these arrangements for the Opposition is that they require the agreement of the Prime Minister for Opposition costings to be submitted to the Departments of the Treasury and Finance.

They also require the public release of the costing of a policy which has been submitted.

These arrangements create an environment where costings are not confidential and cannot be challenged or reviewed prior to being made public.

The Coalition has introduced the Parliamentary Budget Office Bill 2011 which seeks to establish an independent statutory authority which will provide objective and impartial advice and analysis on:

· The Commonwealth Budget and budget cycle;

· Medium and long-term budget projections;

· The costs of policy proposals; and

· Other matters as requested by Members and Senators.

The policy costing function of the PBO will differ from that in the Charter of Budget Honesty. Requests by non government MPs or Senators for policies to be costed will not require the agreement of the Prime Minister. Further, the costings will be confidential as they will not be able to be released to the public without the express approval of the relevant MP or Senator.

The costings provision in the PBO will supersede and make redundant the comparable provision in the Charter of Budget Honesty.

The Charter of Budget Honesty Amendment Bill 2011 removes the redundant provisions from the Charter of Budget Honesty.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

This Bill will have no financial impact.

While this is what the House of Representatives 12 September 2011 debate reveals concerning the Coalition's bills:

·         Should Joe Hockey's bills fail to pass and the government's poor imitation of a costing service pass this place, the coalition will not submit its policy costings to either the Treasury or the PBO prior to the election.

··         The MP or senator requesting  a costing will control the timing of the release of the policy costing  and No longer will requests for policy costings and the costings themselves be published as soon as they are received and prepared by the departments of Treasury and Finance. This provision applies at all times, even during an federal election campaign, and the electorate may never be told of the costings advice received because it must provide for policies not to be released at all if that is the decision of the relevant parliamentarian.

·         The Parliamentary Budget Officer cannot publish anything in relation to a request to provide advice made by an individual Member or Senator without the consent of the Member or Senator.

·         The Prime Minister can withdraw his/her own formal request for costings advice but the Leader of the Opposition cannot withdraw his/her own request once it has been submitted.

·         The Coalition's Budget Office would in practice be overseen in many of its functions by the Minister for Finance and not by Parliament.

·         The Attorney‑General can forbid the Budget Office to publish certain information or disclose this information to Parliament, particularly if the federal government of the day wished to keep sensitive information from a state government.

It would appear that under any future Abbott Government voters are to be kept in the dark about all problems concerning the cost implications of existing policy and/or election campaign promises.

Jaysus wept buckets - it's the other climate theory!

The basic argument which appears to be put forward here (by journalist Anne Jolis writing in The Wall Street Journal) is what has been called ‘The Other Climate Theory’ ie., solar winds affect cloud formation and clouds initiate temperature increases and therefore are a cause of global warming, which is ergo beyond human control.
“The theory has now moved from the corners of climate skepticism to the center of the physical-science universe: the European Organization for Nuclear Research, also known as CERN. At the Franco-Swiss home of the world's most powerful particle accelerator, scientists have been shooting simulated cosmic rays into a cloud chamber to isolate and measure their contribution to cloud formation. CERN's researchers reported last month that in the conditions they've observed so far, these rays appear to be enhancing the formation rates of pre-cloud seeds by up to a factor of 10. Current climate models do not consider any impact of cosmic rays on clouds.”
The article attracted over 1,000 comments and gave rise to this video, that in its turn further distorts CERN’s ongoing research which does not draw a link between clouds and climate change:




http://online.wsj.com/video/the-other-climate-theory/DDA61D17-339F-4F0F-95E3-325026562A7F.html

I have to wonder why reputable scientists bother to publish rebuttals such as this when the Murdoch meeja just writes what it wants to believe.

Australian companies in U.S. 'whistleblower' litigation

1. According to U.S. ABC News on 6 September 2011 Alphapharm P/L, an Australian subsidiary of multinational Mylan Inc, is accused of defrauding the American Government:

Three generic drugmakers are being accused in a whistleblower lawsuit of scheming to overcharge the government by tens of millions of dollars for medicines.

The U.S. Attorney's office on Tuesday joined in the lawsuit, brought by Chicago pharmacist Bernard Lisitza.

His attorneys alleged in a 162-page complaint unsealed Tuesday afternoon that Par Pharmaceuticals Companies Inc. of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., and two foreign generic drugmakers overcharged the Medicaid program by getting pharmacies to dispense different, more-expensive, dosage forms than what was prescribed.

Attorneys Michael Behn and Linda Wyetzner said the three companies got pharmacies to illegally switch from generic versions of Prozac and Zantac to Par's more costly products so it could charge Medicaid more.

The other defendants are sister companies, Alphapharm PTY Ltd. of Australia and Canada's Genpharm ULC, both accused of helping to run the scheme and manufacture or procure the medicines.

The lawsuits are listed as UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ex rel. BERNARD LISITZA, States ex rel. BERNARD LISITZA, and BERNARD LISITZA, individually v. PAR PHARMACEUTICALS, et al - Northern District of Illinois, 06 C 6131.

The San Francisco Chronicle on 6 September reported that; The U.S. didn't join the suit against the Mylan units.

Mr. Lisitza has a history of successfully bringing whistle blower suits against drug companies.

If this entry below is correct then a Bernard Lisitza of Illinois appears to have a less well-known background:

Bernard Lisitza, Northbrook and Itasca Prescription Pharmacy, Northbrook – pharmacist license

(051-025359) of Lisitza indefinitely suspended for a minimum of nine months, and Itasca Prescription

Pharmacy license (054-003249) and controlled substance license revoked, due to a felony conviction in federal

court for purchasing and trading a prescription drug; purchasing drugs that did not have intact safety seals,

manufacturers’ boxes and packaging inserts with the intent of reselling the drugs to the public; and, filling

prescriptions for patients in nursing homes by placing in blister packages misbranded drugs that were

manufactured in Mexico and not approved for distribution in the United States.

2. OC Weekly on 9 September 2011 reported that the U.S. arm of the Australian company manufacturing NADS is in the firing line in Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2011-00497156, in what appears to be a counter suit to Sue Ismiel and Daughters US Inc v. Robert Spetner et al which accuses the defendant of mail tampering:

This is SI&D response to the lawsuit alleging that it fired a company executive when he encouraged SI&D to issue a U.S. recall notice for a known defective product, Nad’s Body Hair Removal Strips:

"In response to legal action initiated by SI&D (US) Inc against its former president, Robert Spetner, due to his wrongfully having seized control of the Company's mail, Mr. Spetner has filed a cross-complaint in which he groundlessly and falsely alleges that he was terminated because he had engaged in "whistle blowing" and presented other meritless claims against the Company. SI&D categorically denies these allegations and will defend them vigorously. In point of fact, the Company appropriately terminated him due to poor performance and serious misconduct that directly benefitted him at the expense of the Company and it is our intention to pursue further legal action against Mr. Spetner in this regard.

The substantive issues raised in Mr. Spetner's complaint are riddled with factual errors and outright misrepresentations that stand in stark contrast to our 14-year record of conducting an ethical and successful business in the United States that is founded on providing our customers and retail partners with great products and excellent service. Contrary to the tenor of Mr Spetner's complaint, we are proud to endorse the quality and efficacy of our award-winning range of Nad's depiliatory products that are available at leading retailers throughout the US, Great Britain and Australia/New Zealand.

As this matter is currently the subject of litigation, we have been advised by counsel to limit further public comment on this matter pending its legal resolution."

Coincidentally the ACCC published an Australian recall notice for Batch 10642 of Nad's Brazilian and Bikini Wax on 3 August 2011.

Godwin Alert!

Sinclair Davidson over at Catallaxy Files headed his short post on government as threat to free speech and media self-regulation with this little pictorial gem. Thereby demonstrating Godwin's Law lives on.

Stosur defeated American tennis cheat to win US Open

Australia's Sam Stosur kept a cool head to defeat America Serena Williams 6-2 6-3 in the final of the US tennis open. After Stosur comprehensively won the first set Williams showed what a sad example she is of the Ugly American when she displayed exceptionally poor sportsmanship.
Williams screamed, "COME ON!" before a point was over - that's a dead-set breach of the rules. And if that wasn't enough, Williams then turned and emptied her bile on the umpire.
Clearly, Williams was being outplayed so she resorted to the tactics of a cheat and did her best to break Stosur's game.
Williams continued to heap cr*p on the umpire, bad-mouthing her with remarks, "Don't even look at me," ...  "You're very unattractive inside. Who would do such a thing? Don't even look at me. Don't look my way. You're punishing me for expressing my emotion."
Well played Sam Stosur!

Religious people are nicer than the rest of us?

Simon Smart’s opening sentence in his The Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece of 9 September 2011, God's truth, believers are nicer,  anticipates reader reaction:

I'm getting ready to duck, but don't shoot the messenger. The results are in: religious people are nicer.

He goes on to say about the book American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides Us:

Their most conspicuously controversial finding is that religious people make better citizens and neighbours.

It isn’t until the thirteenth paragraph that Smart (a director of the Centre for Public Christianity) admits that religious belief itself is not what is driving this so-called ‘niceness’ and, he entirely neglects other pertinent  aspects of the book.

This is what David Campbell (co-author of the book) said on the subject on 16 December 2010:

One is, we have a lot of evidence in our book that religious Americans are happier and, for the most part, better citizens and neighbors than their more secular counterparts. And what do we mean by better citizens and neighbors? Well, they’re more likely to volunteer. They’re more likely to give money to charity. They’re more likely to help out in informal ways their neighbors and those around them.

I want to emphasize that that’s not just religious people giving to religious charities or volunteering for religious groups. The secular volunteering and the secular giving of folks who are religious is actually higher than folks who are secular. And so that’s the part of this chapter that gets religious people all excited. Oh, great, there we go; we’re better than everybody.

But it turns out the story’s not quite that simple because the explanation for why we find those high levels of giving and volunteering and just general good citizenship and good neighborliness among religious folks is not what you might expect. It’s not what they believe. We can find no evidence, in tracing 25 different religious beliefs, no evidence that any one of them explains this relationship between religious — religious folks who give a lot.

Instead, it’s their congregation or, more specifically, it’s the friends they have at church. So it’s not just having a lot of friends. Anybody who has a lot of friends is actually more likely to do these good citizenship sort of things. It’s whether or not they have a lot of friends within their religious congregation, which suggests that perhaps what’s going on could be replicated in secular organizations, although the sort of secular group that would replicate what a congregation does is pretty rare. We’ve actually not found many examples of it, but it’s useful fodder for discussion.

Which one can see changes the emphasis somewhat as it denies a strong correlation between actual religious belief and volunteering/giving/good citizenship.

John Green, during that same Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, observed:

The religion that Campbell and Putnam describe seems to be very good at making people happy, but it doesn’t seem to be particularly good at making for a more just and equitable society. It may very well be that the sociability that surrounds religion has real limitations and what it may really be creating is a private-regarding society rather than a public-regarding society. From that point of view, both people on the progressive side who advocate social justice and people on the more traditional side who advocate morality may be on the outs because both of those approaches to religion in public life demand public justice of one kind or another.

This highlights another area neglected by Simons – the close relationship between those stating religious belief (particularly Evangelical Christian belief) and the U.S. Republican Party as demonstrated in this Putnam and Campbell graph, when read in conjunction with other statistics in their book:

While the strong emphasis on perceived religious values within American politics and the decline in religious belief since 1973 are similarly ignored.

Even though it would appear that the politicization of religion is possibly causing a significant number of Americans to deny any religious belief because of this general association with conservative right-wing politics and, this would suggest that ‘niceness’ is not always associated with professed Christianity.

The fact that religion plays a disproportionate part in the American political culture is perhaps borne out by  Mark Chaves’ paper (later a book) The Decline of American Religion,  which also notes a growth in the number of people who state they have no religious belief and either slow growth or no growth in the number who state they hold religious beliefs.

He also observes that; Involvement in religious congregations, which mainly means attendance at worship services, is softening.

In the original newspaper article under discussion here, Smart attempts to draw a correlation between his ‘nicer’ Americans and Australians professing a religion. He cites a 2004 report by the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Research and Philanthropy in Australia, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics as supporting this position.

However the 2004 study  clearly states:

International research indicates that people who are religious are more likely to give and to give more than those who are not. However, this effect does not necessarily hold when giving to religion is excluded.

In fact it shows that, when one excludes the amount of money given by Australian churchgoers to their own religion, the mean total and frequency of donations across the board markedly decline. While a higher frequency of church attendance also indicates that a person is less likely to give to secular charities/community groups.

When it comes to volunteering there is also little to choose between believers and non-believers, with the exception that believers who volunteer in the secular sector tend to do so for more hours..

So are people holding religious beliefs generous, more altruistic and more involved in civic life as Simon says? Perhaps they might possibly be towards each other and within their relatively closed church communties. However, while probably more visible to researchers, what they are not is generally much better people than those found in the wider population.

Bills mounting, mayhem in the henhouse? No worries mate!

Arnold had been over on the bush blocks with the other cows for the last part of the winter so I have not seen him much.

Which meant that today was a real treat; he and I were out in front of the barn together.

He was munching a billet of hay and I was chewing on a filched straw, as we began discussing what had been going on while he was away.

The track in to the house had been resurfaced, through rain and vehicle traffic had badly cut-up those parts of the track that we did not have the money to tackle.

Then Tom, the most useless cattle dog ever born, had to go to the vet. I should explain to readers that Tom was a town dog who terrorized his owners so much they gave him away. He adjusted well to farm life but the only things he herds are kangaroos.

The neighbours think he is great since he moves all kangaroos hopping about their properties onto our place. This is one habit I have not been able to change so far.

During one of these roo musters he ran onto a piece of wood and staked himself. This resulted in a large and gaping wound under one of his front legs. More of the hard earned cash gone.

Then the chooks had their own Arab Spring; the two top roosters (brothers) would attack the younger roosters and terrorize the hens so much that egg production was falling. One of them even tried to attack me.

I was getting ready to give them the chop when they decided that they would both attack Harold the young Issa brown rooster, a quieter rooster I have never known.

Something in Harold must have snapped - the fight was monumental. When the feathers, dust and blood finally settled one of the brothers lay dead and the other was at the bottom of the pecking order.

It was poetic justice at its best. The hens are happy now, I’m happy egg numbers are up and Harold has reverted to his normal well-behaved self. Except when the surviving brother (now named Gaddafi) tries to pick on someone.

After Arnold and I had finished the hay and our talk I felt much better about life in general. So I thought how can I share the knowledge?

Answer - I’m going to have a T-shirt printed, with “Talk To A Cow” on the front and on the back “NULLUS ANXIETAS MATEUM”.

That should get the message out there.

Drawing from wordinfo

A very practical gate to plate

In 2010 the Lower Clarence Community Garden Group received $50,000 from the Northern Rivers Food Links project and Village Showcase to establish a community garden in Yamba; facilitate a whole of community approach to participation in the garden; provide assistance and potentially financial support to aspirant community garden groups in the Lower Clarence area; support training groups by making the garden available as a training resource; and the delivery of workshops for the community.

The garden this group started in Wattle Park is coming along splendidly.

Fair Work Australia? Still going strong!

Ever since conservatives smelt blood in the Canberra air they have been racheting up complaints about Fair Work Australia (FWA), with a bring back WorkChoices subtext.

Well as far as I’m concerned the bl@@dy thing isn’t broken and an Abbott-led Coalition can’t be trusted anywhere near industrial relations policy.

Why do I think Fair Work Australia is getting a bad rap?

See this FWA press release on 7th September 2011 for starters……

“The operators of a Gold Coast shooting range have been fined a total of $30,000 for asking employees to sign an Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA) removing their penalty rates.

Australian Shooting Academy Pty Ltd, which operates a public indoor shooting range at Centro Surfers Paradise shopping centre, has been penalised $25,000.

Company director and part-owner Michael Joseph Murphy, who manages the shooting range, has been fined a further $5000.

Australian Shooting Academy was also ordered to pay compensation of $7146 to one worker.

The fines and compensation order, imposed in the Federal Court in Brisbane, are the result of a prosecution by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

They were imposed by Justice John Logan after Mr Murphy admitted he was involved in Australian Shooting Academy breaching workplace laws in 2010 when asking six employees to sign an IFA.

The IFA removed their entitlement to Modern Award penalty rates for overtime, weekend and public holiday work. Five of the six employees ultimately signed the IFA.

However, the adverse action, coercion, undue pressure and duress provisions of workplace laws were breached when one of the employees signed only after he was threatened that there would be no work for him if he did not sign.

Further, the adverse action provisions of workplace laws were breached when the one employee who refused to sign the IFA was subsequently given no further work. This worker was the subject of the Court’s compensation order.

It is the first time the Fair Work Ombudsman has taken legal action over alleged contraventions relating to IFAs.

It is unlawful for employers to force employees to agree to an IFA and it is unlawful to make an IFA a condition of employment.”

And this one on the same day…..

“The Fair Work Ombudsman is prosecuting the owner-operator of a Sydney truck company, alleging he was involved in sham contracting activity and underpaying a worker more than $13,000.

Facing court is Sydney man John Mineeff, who owned and operated Fairfield-based company Villtruck Pty Ltd, before it went into liquidation last year. Villtruck was involved in purchasing, repairing and selling second-hand trucks.

It is alleged Mr Mineeff was centrally involved in his company breaching the sham contracting provisions of workplace laws in relation to an employee who performed panel beating and vehicle detailing duties.

It is alleged the employee, aged in his 30s, was dismissed in early 2009 and immediately re-hired as an independent contractor.

However, it is alleged the employee’s correct classification was as an employee because he continued to perform substantially the same duties at his employer’s direction.

Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson says under the sham contracting provisions of workplace laws, it is unlawful to dismiss an employee in order to engage them as an independent contractor to perform the same duties. “It is also unlawful to misrepresent an employment relationship as an independent contracting arrangement,” Mr Wilson said.

Mr Mineeff was allegedly also involved in underpaying the employee $13,592 in annual leave entitlements and breaching workplace laws relating to keeping employment records and issuing pay slips.

Fair Work inspectors investigated after the employee lodged a complaint.

The Fair Work Ombudsman cannot prosecute Villtruck because the company is in liquidation.

Mr Mineeff was allegedly involved in multiple breaches of workplace laws. He faces maximum penalties ranging from $1100 to $6600 per breach.”

And yet again…..

Court fines couple over underpayment of security officers

2 Sep 2011

The operators of a NSW security company have been fined for their involvement in failing to back-pay 22 underpaid workers.

WA’s Rottnest workers get $24,000 back-pay

31 Aug 2011

The Fair Work Ombudsman has recovered more than $24,000 back-pay for workers on Rottnest Island as part of an education and compliance campaign.

Almost $55,000 back-pay for regional Tasmanian workers

26 Aug 2011

A number of workers in regional Tasmania have been back-paid a total of $54,700 following intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Deniliquin sales assistant back-paid $6400

22 Aug 2011

A sales assistant at Deniliquin in regional NSW has been back-paid a total of $6400 following intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Let Teh Rabbit, Erica Abetz, Poodle Pyne, Don Argus and the rest of the Serfdom Rules1 mob decide policy? We’d hafta have a death wish!

1 Voices from Working Australia: Findings from the ACTU Working Australia Census 2011

Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

An I cans spellz and knows grammar musing: In a local newspaper this gem appeared recently - the girls appeared to be rifling through teachers' draws looking for money. Draws? Ooopps! Repeats afta meez. D*R*A*W*E*R*S . A noun not a verb. An item of furniture usually found in a desk or cupboard, not an action. Around my house draws is also slang for an item of clothing the two-legged people first pull on in the morning, so at first reading I wondered if the school teacher was Miss Moneypants. (Big thanks to Rex the German Shepherd's Dad for this tip)

A snail mail musing: My little canine friend Veronica Lake tells me that many of the good folk living in Cox Street, Yamba, are about to revolt. They are insensed that a letter sent by post to Clarence Valley Council remains unanswered after two months and an email reminder (that the road surface at the eastern and western ends of their street is breaking up) received a cursory response. #COUNCIL FAIL

A false claims & poor punctuation musing: Hear that the Pacific Hotel at Yamba is beginning to get phone calls about its advert in the Coastal Views community newspaper on 5 August 2011. With so many absurdly false advertising claims attached - and the phantom apostrophe distracting the eye - the entire piece is an exercise in how not to attract patrons to a pub.

A reminder that the love/loyalty goes both ways musing: July 2011: A man has died while trying to rescue his dog from water at Lake Cathie on the New South Wales mid-north coast. The dog got caught in a rip as it frolicked off the beach, south of Port Macquarie yesterday afternoon. His 42-year-old owner, from Bellbird in the Hunter region, plunged into the sea when he realised his pet was in trouble but soon got into difficulty himself. A surfer managed to drag the man to shore and attempts were made to revive him but he was declared dead at the scene. It is understood the dog survived.

An Underdogs Rule musing: Loukanikos the doughty Greek canine shows the world how it's done - try your best to shout your protest but don't bite if you can help it. See him in action at YouTube. He even has a dedicated Facebook site.

Local meat co-op brings home the gravy

A win for local meat co-op

Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin said she is very pleased that her lobbying on behalf of the Northern Co-operative Meat Company has paid off.
The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig has come up with a $25.8 million package to support the meat processing industry with the implementation of the new Australian Export Meat Inspection System (AEMIS).
“I have been lobbying the Minister this year on behalf of the Northern Co-operative Meat Company Ltd and the meat industry in general, calling for a funding package to cover the extra market access costs, such as additional meat inspectors.
 “The General Manager of Northern Co-operative Meat Company, Garry Burridge, who is also head of Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC), has done a great job in his advocacy.  He put up the strong industry arguments.
“I was able to champion his just cause for the local workers and all involved in the meat processing industry.
“The minister has agreed with me that the meat processing industry needs extra support to change over to the new meat inspection system which starts in October.
“The package accepted by the AMIC is for $25.8 million in rebates for the industry. 
“Persistence had paid off.  I knew it was hard to lobby on this, particularly when a scheme had been agreed to that would cut out at a certain point.
“I’ll be speaking on this in Parliament when the legislative instruments for the new certification system, along with the new fee structure, are introduced.
 “Minister Ludwig once he’d made the decision was keen to tell me. 
“I have now invited the Minister to come to the electorate again and visit the meatworks,” Ms Saffin said.
[Janelle Saffin MP for Page Media Release 5 September 2011]

U.S. Embassy in Canberra brings forth a LOL

The do you know the truth or do you read Telegraph gets the thumbs up:

Reference ID 09CANBERRA335
Origin U.S. Embassy Canberra, Australia
Cable time Fri, 3 Apr 2009 00:41 UTC
Classification CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN

“The Murdoch-owned tabloid, "The Daily Telegraph", Sydney's largest selling newspaper…often an accurate gauge of what Labor's core working-class voters are thinking.”

Haven’t laughed so hard in weeks.