Is much of the media coverage of Prime Minister Abbott during the October 2013 bushfires accurate, misleading or downright false?

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was apparently ‘discovered’ almost by accident as he anonymously went about fighting NSW bushfires over the last six days:

Pictures circulating on social media show Mr Abbott riding in the fire truck and giving the thumbs up to onlookers before he posed for photos with fellow volunteers.

However, it appears that it was not just an onlooker or ordinary volunteer who snapped Abbott – it appears to have been the former Senior Studio Director at Skynews whose efforts were first tweeted via a Canberra-based political reporter at Sky News.

Here is one of the three tweeted pictures – all apparently originating in Sky News on 20 October 2013:

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust

Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited Network was not content with republishing these images allegedly snapped at around 8am on 20 October – it also used additional images in some of its reporting. Unfortunately those images can only be described as false reporting.

According to The Australian on 21 October 2013:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/bushfires/tony-abbott-puts-himself-in-line-of-fire/story-fngw0i02-1226743492769

According to Newzzly post two weeks and six days before that, this image actually belonged to the period covering the fire on Barrenjoey headland:

http://www.newzzly.com/en_au/n/milder-conditions-help-fire-fight/142252

This was The Daily Telegraph on 16 October 2013:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/tony-abbott-always-set-to-come-out-fighting-fires-that-is/story-fni0cx12-1226740600883

And this is what a peek at The Daily Telegraph’s 16 October photograph properties revealed:

I am now wondering if any of the Abbott as fire fighter images, being published in mainstream and social media reports on NSW bushfires this month, are in fact genuine.

UPDATE

Found on Twitter:

Lucy J Evans is a young woman who has been active on Facebook since January-February 2012.

On 19 October 2013 The Hawkesbury Gazette published this photograph (photographer unknown) of Tony Abbott at Bilpin on its Facebook page:

US Government-funded Australia Pacific LNG & Queensland Curtis projects at heart of American lawsuit to protect the Great Barrier Reef

For Immediate Release, October 7, 2013 Contact:  Sarah Uhlemann, Center for Biological Diversity, + 1 (206) 327-2344 Teri Shore, Turtle Island Restoration Network, + 1 (707) 934-7081 Doug Norlen, Pacific Environment, + 1 (202) 465-1650 Lawsuit Challenges Second, Massive U.S.-Funded Fossil Fuel Project in Australia's Great Barrier Reef $5 Billion in U.S. Funding Threatens Endangered Sea Turtles, Dugongs SAN FRANCISCO— Conservation groups amended an existing lawsuit today to challenge U.S. funding for a second fossil fuel production and transport facility located inside Australia’s Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The U.S. Export-Import Bank has now committed nearly $5 billion in loans to support construction and operation of the two massive liquefied natural gas facilities. Located next to each other on Curtis Island near Gladstone in Queensland, the projects threaten sea turtles, dugongs and many other rare and protected marine species, as well as the world-famous Great Barrier Reef itself. “The U.S. federal government shouldn’t be subsidizing the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These liquefied natural gas projects will be deadly to wildlife and will only serve to export our deeply unhealthy fossil fuel addiction.” The Export-Import Bank, a U.S. federal agency that funds international projects to promote U.S. exports, provided a $3 billion loan in May 2012 for the Australia Pacific LNG project, and in December 2012, the bank loaned an additional $1.8 billion for the Queensland Curtis LNG project. Both are located on mostly undeveloped Curtis Island, near sea turtle nesting beaches, a national park and a community of families that live there year-round. The Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network and Pacific Environment sued over the Australia Pacific project last December. Today’s filing amends that lawsuit to include the Queensland Curtis project. "When I flew over Curtis Island recently I was shocked to see the devastation of the marine habitat and sediment plumes discoloring the coastal waters for miles," said Teri Shore, program director for Turtle Island Restoration Network. "I met concerned residents who are heartbroken over the number of dead sea turtles, dolphins and dugongs washing up on shore like never before due to the disruption and pollution from these massive fossil fuel projects." Sea turtles, dugongs and their habitat in the Great Barrier Reef are threatened by both direct and indirect impacts of industrialization, such as dredging, vessel strikes, fuel and oil spills and water pollution. Ship strikes alone killed 45 turtles in Gladstone Harbor in the two years after LNG-project construction began, compared with an average of two a year in the past decade. “Ex-Im Bank has a long history of committing billions of dollars in public financing to environmentally destructive projects abroad,” said Doug Norlen, policy director with Pacific Environment. “But funding two devastating fossil fuel projects in a world heritage area? It’s a new low.” The two U.S.-funded projects will include drilling 16,000 coal-seam gas wells in interior Queensland using controversial “fracking” techniques, digging nearly 500 miles of gas pipelines, and constructing two separate natural gas processing facilities and export terminals. To provide access to sites, the projects require dredging a new shipping lane in the adjacent harbor and destruction of sensitive seagrass beds. Increased tanker traffic will eventually ship the fuel across the Great Barrier Reef to ports in Asia and around the world. The Great Barrier Reef was given World Heritage status to preserve its remarkable natural beauty, coral reefs, and rare dugong and sea turtle habitat. The two liquid natural gas plants will be located within this World Heritage Area’s boundaries. UNESCO, the international body charged with overseeing implementation of the World Heritage Convention, expressed “extreme concern” over the projects’ impacts on the reef. In 2013 UNESCO threatened to add the reef to the “In Danger” list, a designation made when activities of a host country or outside entities threaten a world heritage area. The lawsuit, originally filed in December 2012 in the Northern District of California and amended today, asserts violations of the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, which implements American obligations under the World Heritage Convention. The case raises the unresolved legal issue of whether the Endangered Species Act applies to U.S. agency actions taken outside of U.S. borders. ###

District Court For The Northern District Of California: First Amended Complaint For Declaratory And Injunctive Relief can be read here.

This is what Metgasco and other coal seam gas miners want to turn the Northern Rivers into....

http://youtu.be/1AeWYwBreEY

If you don’t’ want this to happen – at the next round of elections vote out those local government councillors and state or federal MPs who support (or fail to genuinely oppose) the coal seam gas industry.

Roxon on Rudd

Excerpts from Ten housekeeping tips for a future Labor government by former Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon.

I must say that Kevin always treated me appropriately and respectfully. Although I was frustrated beyond belief by his disorganization and lack of strategy, I was never personally a victim of his vicious tongue or temper. I did, however, see how terribly he treated some brilliant staff and public servants. Good people were burnt through like wildfire. Loosing senior people like chiefs of staff and deputies or contemptuously ignoring their advice left the government weaker.

On the “keep yourself nice” front, some of the worst behavior was very overt - brazenly sending up your own materials on TV or ostentatiously packing up your office as cameras just ”happen” to be in obscure halls of the parliament to capture the moment. If Labor MPs follow a few basic tips on decent behaviour, and pull others into line when they don’t, then we need never see such shameful behavior again....

In my opinion, and it is only my opinion, for the good of the federal parliamentary Labor party and the movement as a whole, Kevin Rudd should leave the Parliament. 

Live on the NSW North Coast and wondering what types of bushfire disaster relief are available?

​NSW – North Coast Bushfires – from 9 October 2013

Australian Government Reference Number 586
Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements

The joint Commonwealth and State/Territory Government NDRRA can provide a range of financial assistance to the natural disaster declared areas in each state.

Funding available includes:

      ·    Personal Hardship and Distress Assistance

      ·    Restoration of Essential Public Assets

      ·    Counter Disaster Operations

      ·    Concessional Loans for Small Business

      ·    Concessional Loans for Primary Producers

      ·    Freight Subsidies for Primary Producers

      ·    Concessional Loans for Voluntary Not-for-profit Bodies

      ·    Grants for Voluntary Not-for-profit Bodies

In the affected Local Government Areas of:

      · Clarence Valley

      · Coffs Harbour

Information on disaster assistance.

Information about Australian Government Disaster Assist.

Details for other regions covered by Eastern NSW Bushfires assistance can be found here.

On 18 October 2013 as bushfires raged up and down the NSW east coast, the Abbott Government performed this act of bastardry

The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (the AGDRP) provides an immediate, one-off payment to Australians adversely affected by a major disaster. [ComLaw October 2013]

Those who have lived through natural disasters before will note that the Abbott Government is no longer paying relief if the October 2013 bushfires in New South Wales have forced an individual or family out of their house for 24 hours or more, or if access to return home has been cut off or if they are stranded at home and unable to leave.

The Schedule 2 clause covering these circumstances in a bushfire major disaster formerly allowed payments if:

(iv)  the person is unable to gain access to his or her principal place of residence for at least 24 hours because:

(A)  access to the place of residence is cut off  or

(B)  the person is unable to leave a place affected by the disaster;

(v)  the person is stranded in his or her principal place of residence for at least 24 hours, or

(b)  as a result of the disaster, the person’s principal place of residence was without a particular utility service for a continuous period of 48 hours;

This is the new criteria template as set out in Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) Determination 2013 (No. 5):

I, Michael Keenan, Minister for Justice, make this determination under subsection 106lL (2) of the Social Security Act 1991.

Dated   18th October 2013

Michael Keenan

Minister for Justice

1              Name of determination

        This determination is the Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) Determination 2013 (No. 5).

2              Commencement

                This determination commences on the day after it is registered.

3              Definitions

         (1)   In this determination:

Act means the Social Security Act 1991.

destroyed, for a place of residence, includes a residence damaged to the extent that it must be demolished.

immediate family member, of a person, means:

                (a)    the person’s partner; or

                (b)    the person’s natural child, adoptive child or stepchild; or

                (c)    the person’s natural parent, adoptive parent or step-parent; or

                (d)    the person’s legal guardian; or

                (e)    the person’s brother, sister, stepbrother or stepsister.

Note   This term is used in a different sense to that used in the Act.

major damage, for a residence, means:

                (a)    damage to at least a quarter of the interior of the residence; or

                (b)    that the residence is structurally unsound; or 

             (c)    damage to the residence that exposes at least a quarter of the interior of the residence to the elements; or

               (d)    sewage contamination of the interior of the residence, or of the water supply to the residence.

seriously injured, for a person, means:

                (a)    the person has sustained an injury; and

                (b)    because of the injury:

                          (i)    the person was admitted to hospital; or

                         (ii)    under normal circumstances, the person would have been admitted to hospital.

  4            Person adversely affected by a major disaster

              For subsection 1061L (2) of the Act, a person is adversely affected by a major disaster mentioned in Schedule 1 if the person is affected in a way mentioned in Schedule 2.

Note   Subsection 36 (1) of the Social Security Act 1991 allows the Minister to determine, in writing, that an event is a major disaster if the event is a disaster that has such a significant impact on individuals that a government response is required.

Schedule 1  Major disaster

Only the bushfires in New South Wales which commenced on 9 October 2013 and continued in October 2013 which as at 18 October 2013 covered the affected Local Government Areas of Blue Mountains, Lithgow, Muswellbrook, Port-Macquarie Hastings, Port Stevens, Wyong, Wingecarribee.

                Schedule 2  Circumstances in which person adversely affected

A person is adversely affected by a major disaster mentioned in Schedule 1 if:

 (a)    as a direct result of the disaster:

          (i)  the person is seriously injured; or

          (ii)  the person is an immediate family member of an Australian who is killed; or

          (iii)  the person’s principal place of residence has been destroyed
or has sustained major damage; or

 (b)    the person is the principal carer of a child to whom paragraph (a) applies.

Today's Spot the Difference

1. Jason Chatfield's Ginger Meggs at gocomics

2. Ginger Meggs at today's Daily Examiner (and, presumably, at other APN productions)

Is APN getting a discount rate for its Ginger? It should be!

Australian Electoral Commission issues a gentle reminder to come clean

All political parties need to list every donation, dot every i and cross every t - because ordinary voters are watching and they are not happy.....

Political party and associated entity disclosure returns due 20 October 2013

Updated: 17 October 2013

The AEC today reminded all registered political parties and associated entities that annual disclosure returns for the 2012-13 financial year must be lodged by 20 October 2013.

More than 50 political parties and 100 associated entities have yet to lodge their disclosure returns.

Annual disclosure returns must be lodged within 16 weeks after the end of the financial year.

Registered political parties and associated entities are required to disclose total receipts, total payments, total debts and details of receipts and debts greater than the disclosure threshold for the financial year.

Section 315 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 provides for penalties for failure to lodge returns within the required timeframe.

Political parties and their associated entities can prepare and lodge their returns online via the eReturns portal.

Lodging returns online is quick, secure, environmentally friendly, and allows for the importing/exporting of files, which eliminates transcription errors.

Annual disclosure returns are made available for public inspection on the AEC’s website on the first working day in February every year. 2012-13 financial year disclosure returns will be made public on Monday 3 February 2014.

To assist political parties and associated entities with completing their return online, the eReturns Political Party Quick Reference Guide and eReturns Associated Entity Quick Reference Guide are available.

National media contact:

Phil Diak | Director Media
AEC, Canberra
02 6271 4415
0413 452 539 media@aec.gov.au

Quote of the Week - from north of the Rio Tweed

The Courier Mail on the subject of the Newman LNP Government, 15 October 2013:

Queenslanders should be concerned about a brazen gang, emboldened by a pack mentality and flexing power without concern for others. We might also be concerned about the bikies.

Metgasco CEO Henderson's 4.3 million bonus share allocation was a step too far

After threatening to quit if he didn’t get his own way, Metgasco Limited’s 18t^h largest shareholder, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Henderson, has now been forced to reject the proposed 4.3 million bonus shares allocation in his favour in the face of a determined shareholder revolt.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20131018/pdf/42k3mww7gwrygm.pdf

'Letter from a Terrorist' sent to APN News and Media Chairman Peter Cosgrove

According to Independent Australia posting on 14 October 2013, this letter set out below was sent over a fortnight ago.

Given the relentless cost cutting that APN News and Media has undertaken in recent years, I am inclined to believe that part of this 27 year-old former journalist's complaint concerned with hours being routinely worked by staff on regional newspapers and lack of work-life balance.

This is supported by a comment under the post from another former APN employee living in the Northern Rivers region; I can testify my workplace at an APN regional newspaper was full of weary, broken down people who did a tremendous job under an uncontrollable workload that got heavier with each absence or resignation. The ones my age were counting the days to retirement. The young often returned to the office ashen-faced after being sent to a gruesome car accident or similar. Everyone’s dreams wilted.

While another remarked; Entirely validating – I want to buy former fellow employee #133,332 a beer, if he’d email me.

As for the allegations concerning company spying, I leave that for readers to evaluate.

Letter From A Journalist To APN News & Media's Board Chairman

APN Whistleblower Policy here.

Civics 101: How to micro manage a government into open revolt

First that Coalition power couple Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin sought to micro manage contact between government ministers, MPs and the media.

Then they decided to personally vet prospective staff of ministers and MPs.

Now these same ministers and MPs will even have their private leisure time constrained, unless they receive a permission slip for that family holiday from the Prime Minister's office.

The Herald Sun 16 October 2013:

The Prime Minister's chief-of-staff Peta Credlin emailed all Coalition MPs on Monday demanding they get approval at least four weeks before all overseas study trips, sponsored travel and private holidays.

But the move has triggered dissent in government ranks, with disgruntled MPs claiming their private lives are being invaded and the PM's office was indulging in a "power grab".

"It's one thing to ask ministers and parliamentary secretaries to seek permission but for backbenchers this is just ridiculous," one Coalition MP said.

"These people are adults, they can make their own decisions. More experienced hands will just laugh this Stalinist move off.".....

"This is the nanny state gone mad in the leader's office," the MP said.

UPDATE

ABC AM 18 October 2013:

After six years of hard work in opposition they say they're now expected to take on more responsibility, much more work, many more hours with far more scrutiny and pressure - all without a pay rise.
"It's an appalling way to treat people" one very senior Coalition source says. "Ministers get an automatic pay jump so they're alright. But financially cutting the throats of the staff they rely on is petty and stupid."...
one long-time Coalition staffer warns morale around Government ranks is "abysmal", and "resentment is festering". He predicts a bonanza for reporters because quote "the joint will leak like a sieve".

Abbott Government: Mandate? What Mandate?

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has challenged new Labor leader Bill Shorten to heed the verdict of voters by not opposing legislation to repeal the carbon tax.

Someone needs to remind Prime Minister Abbott that the combined first preference vote of all four political parties (Liberal, Liberal-National, Nationals, Country Liberals NT) which form the current Coalition Government only came to 42.85 per cent of all ballots cast at the 7 September 2013 federal election.

That leaves the bulk of the remaining 57.15 per cent of voters at that election with government policy aspirations which are highly likely to run counter to Abbott’s aspirations.

Any talk of a mandate is accepting myth as fact.

* Image from The Australian

Attorney-General George Brandis and his bravura performance as Pot-Kettle-Black

Australian Attorney-General George Brandis in opposition and government on the subject of members of parliament and honest/ethical conduct.

In Hansard 17 August 2011:

Finally, it was only yesterday, when this matter was brought to light, that the member for Dobell sought to amend his register of a member's interests by lodging with the Register of Members' Interests for the House of Representatives a letter that identified the payment of a sum of money in May 2011 by the Australian Labor Party's New South Wales branch, in settlement of a legal matter to which I was a party. Why was that amendment made only after its disclosure was revealed?

On ABC The Drum 29 August 2011:

Senator Brandis has pursed the ALP backbencher Thomson with a vigour that is disturbing on a number of levels.

Firstly, there are the telephone calls to ministers and police commissioners. Senator Brandis called New South Wales Attorney-General Greg Smith, a fellow Liberal, in early August. Smith says that Brandis was alerting him to a forthcoming media story which would reveal Brandis had asked the New South Wales DPP to look at the Thomson matter.

Then a couple of weeks later Brandis was on the phone again, this time to speak with New South Wales Police Minister Michael Gallacher to again alert him to the fact that Brandis would be sending a brief to the Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione. Gallacher himself alerted Scipione to look out for the Brandis brief.

Then there was Brandis's call to Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus last week. Brandis apparently wanted to clarify whether the AFP would be investigating the matter.

On Channel 7 Sunrise:

"Shadow Attorney-General George Brandis has provided information to police in relation to a number of matters concerning a federal Labor MP," police said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This correspondence has now been referred for internal assessment to determine whether a criminal offence has occurred."

In Hansard 5 February 2013:

Meanwhile, in the coming week there are the fraud charges against the other man upon whose vote the Gillard government depends, Mr Peter Slipper.

In The Sydney Morning Herald 23 September 2013:

he regarded the wedding as a chance to ''foster collaboration'' over Mr Smith's work covering the then prime minister and the Craig Thomson scandal

In the Herald Sun 30 September 2013:

Yesterday, Senator Brandis said he would repay the money to avoid any uncertainty about the circumstances of Mr Smith’s wedding in December 2011.

But he said he still considered he was within parliamentary entitlements to make them.

“I considered that those costs were within parliamentary entitlements, since they were incurred in the course of attendance at a function primarily for work-related purposes. I remain of that view,” he said in a letter written today to the Finance Department.

George Brandis’ July-December 2011 Parliamentarian’s Expenditure Record covering the period in which he travelled to and from the private Smith wedding at taxpayers’ expense:

                                

Domestic Travel 4 Dec 11 Brisbane Sydney 5 Dec 11 Sydney Brisbane $1,191.06

Com Car Brisbane 4 Dec 11 $82.83 Brisbane 5 Dec 11 $44.23

Hire Car Sydney 4 Dec to 5 Dec 11 $143.40

TOTAL $1,461.52

News.com.au 8 April 2013:

Mr Slipper, who stood down from the role of Speaker of the House of Representatives amid controversy last year, faces charges relating to three occasions in which he allegedly dishonestly used Cabcharge dockets to visit Canberra wineries in hire cars in 2010, amounting to $1194 in charges to the taxpayer.

It would appear that the more a member of parliament or senator owes the Department of Finance, the less likely he or she will be held accountable at law.

While the Attorney-General’s attitude seems to be that it is fraud when someone considered a political enemy makes a dubious claim for expenses over and above his/her parliamentary salary or fails to accurately record financial details, but it is perfectly alright when he or a member of his party does so. Additionally, Brandis appears to believe he is entitled to use his expense claims to hide the cost of actively pursuing such a perceived enemy.

The rules relating to parliamentarians' travel allowances/entitlements can be found here.

Federal Parliamentary allowances are clear cut

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner 10 October 2013:

Fred Perring (DEX, October 2013) quotes Malcolm Turnbull on the alleged vagueness of rules concerning travelling allowances available to federal parliamentarians.

I don't think the rules are in any way ambiguous, as is seen by Clause 3.12 of the Remuneration Tribunal's August 2012 determination:

"Travelling allowance shall be payable to a senator or member for each overnight stay in a place other than his or her home base when that stay is occasioned primarily by:

(a) sittings of the House of Parliament or direct travel to or from such sittings; or

(b) meetings of or the formal business of parliamentary committees of which he or she is a member or direct travel to or from such meetings; or

(c) attendance at functions representing a Minister or a Presiding Officer on official business as a Minister or Presiding Officer, or direct travel to or from such functions, provided the Minister or Presiding Officer nominates the function in advance in a written request to the senator or member to represent him or her; or

(d) meetings in Canberra of his or her parliamentary political party, of its executive or of its committees (see clause 1.5.2) or direct travel to or from such meetings; or

(e) meetings of his or her parliamentary political party executive (see clause 1.5.2) outside Canberra or direct travel to or from such meetings; or

(f) meetings, other than in Canberra, of a parliamentary political party, or of its executive, or of its committees, attendance at the national and state conferences of a political party, of which he or she is a member (see clause 1.5.2), and meetings outside the electorate on electorate business up to a maximum of ten overnight stays per annum in total, and direct travel to or from such meetings or conferences; or

(g) attendance at official government, parliamentary or vice-regal functions; or

(h) meetings of a non-statutory body which a senator or member has been nominated to attend by resolution of either House, where the senator or member performs duties principally as a representative or alternate representative, of the Parliament; or

(i) attendance at properly constituted meetings of a Government advisory committee or task force provided that the senator or member is a member of the committee or task force."

The Department Of Finance defines official business for the purpose of plane, train, hire car/taxi travel entitlement as attendance at: "properly constituted meetings of a Government advisory committee or task force provided that the Senator or Member is a member of the committee or task force; and functions representing a Minister or a Presiding Officer on official business as a Minister or Presiding Officer, provided that the Minister or Presiding Officer nominates the function in advance in a written request to the Senator or Member to represent him or her."

It is plain to see that there is no leeway for expenses associated with high-profile weddings, off-the-record meetings with journalists, birthday parties, winter holidays or ironman events.

Sincerely,

Judith M. Melville