Thursday 30 August 2018
NSW North Coast candidates begin to line up for March 2019 state election
CLARENCE GREENS, Media Release, 19 August 2018:
Clarence Greens announce State
candidate
The Clarence Greens have
endorsed Dr Greg Clancy – a Greens councillor on Clarence Valley Council – as
the Greens candidate for Clarence in next year’s State election.
His announcement as candidate
follows a preselection ballot of Greens members from across the electorate
contested by Greg and Will Elrick of Woombah.
Dr Clancy stated that he
was very humbled to be selected and thanked the membership for placing their
trust in him.
‘I look forward to
working on the campaign with Will and the other members of the Greens to raise
the important issues,’ he said.
‘There are many issues
that should be the focus of the campaign,’ he said.
‘These include
supporting public services such as TAFE, hospitals and national park management
and retaining staff in the valley to deliver regional services. I am also keen
to promote the need for a new high school in the lower Clarence.
‘Of course, protecting
the environment is a key concern, as so much of our local economy relies on a
healthy environment,’ he said.
‘There needs to be
better oversight of native forest management, improved funding for national
parks, improved incentives for sustainable agriculture and a reversal of the
weakened land clearing laws. I will be continuing to oppose gas mining and the
proposed cobalt, antimony and gold mines in our catchments. A key statewide
issue is action to ban single-use plastics.’
‘I am looking forward to
promoting the four pillars of the Greens at the local level. They are
ecological sustainability, peace and non-violence, grassroots democracy and
social justice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
Daily Examiner,
10 May 2018:
TRENT Gilbert has been endorsed as the Country Labor candidate for
Clarence in the 2019 state election and will once again run against sitting
member National's MP, Chris Gulaptis.
Mr Gilbert stood for
Labor in the 2015 election and gained an impressive 22.2% swing.
"I took it up to
Chris Gulaptis in 2015 and will use that experience to campaign hard again,” Mr
Gilbert said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meet Alan Carr, Your
Nationals Candidate for Lismore
A qualified carpenter, a
university graduate with degrees in communications and economics, and now a
local macadamia grower, Austin will use his broad experience to advocate for
everyone.
Austin was raised and
educated in Northern NSW so understands the unique nature of our community and
is committed to protecting our way of life.
As the father of
three young kids, Austin knows the importance of good local schools, keeping
crime under control and how important it is for our kids to have the
opportunity to realise their dreams at home.
As a farmer, Austin
is committed to practical environmentalism — real action to make our local
environment more livable and sustainable.
As someone who hasn’t
been a long time member of a political party, a political or union staff
member, he brings a new approach to politics and a fresh face ready for
our future.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Echo
News, 13 June
2018:
HIGH profile public
interest lawyer Sue Higginson is set to be announced today as the NSW Greens
candidate for the seat of Lismore.
The announcement sets
the stage for a compelling state election contest next year with two
heavyweight contenders, in the form of Labor veteran Janelle Saffin and now Ms
Higginson - to pit themselves against Nationals newcomer Austin Curtin.
A well known figure in
Lismore, Ms Higginson was the solicitor for the Northern Rivers branch of the
Environmental Defender's Office for several years and was instrumental in
setting its local office up in 2006.
She is also a dry land
rice farmer on the Richmond flood plain who raised her family in the region,
and has garnered respect across the political divide for her principled legal
work.
From 2012 she commuted
to Sydney to take up the chief solicitor role with the EDO before becoming the
organisation's CEO in 2015, until stepping down last November to become a
member of the Greens, and seek pre-selection for the seat of Lismore.
Speaking to The Northern
Star this morning, Ms Higginson said going into politics was a "very
natural” progression after years of working to protect for the interests of
regional communities via law reform.
She said a
Parliamentarian's role was twofold - to be an advocate for the community, and
to make new laws for the state - and said she was an "expert” on the
complexities of the latter.
"I'm no stranger to
Macquarie St,” she said.
"I've spent many
long hours advising members of Parliament across the board.
"I feel that I am
absolutely the most qualified candidate for Lismore.”
She has also lived in
the Lismore region since her teens and has a grass roots activist past, having
participated in anti-logging protests in the early 1990s before going on to
become lawyer.
On the seat of Lismore,
she said: "I strongly believe it’s time for a change here”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Labels:
federal election
Wednesday 29 August 2018
When you don't like the results when you Google yourself - threaten retribution
This was the US President Donald Trump on Tuesday 28 August 2018.....
Google responded to these accusations on the same day.....
Labels:
Donald Trump,
Google,
Internet
“Shit Life Syndrome” is sending Britons and Americans to an early grave…..
With Scott Morrison as the new prime minister, the Abbott-Turnbull era persistent attacks on the social fabric of the nation are bound to continue. Thus ensuring that Australians follow down the same path as Britain and America?
The
Guardian, 18
August 2018:
Britain
and America are in the midst of a barely reported public health crisis. They
are experiencing not merely a slowdown
in life expectancy, which in many other rich countries is continuing
to lengthen, but the start of an alarming increase in death rates across
all our populations, men and women alike. We are needlessly allowing our people
to die early.
In
Britain, life expectancy, which increased steadily for a century, slowed
dramatically between 2010 and 2016. The rate of increase dropped by 90% for
women and 76% for men, to 82.8 years and 79.1 years respectively. Now, death
rates among older people have so much increased over the last two years – with
expectations that this will continue – that two major insurance companies,
Aviva and Legal
and General, are releasing hundreds of millions of pounds they had been
holding as reserves to pay annuities to pay to shareholders instead. Society,
once again, affecting the citadels of high finance.
Trends
in the US are more serious and foretell what is likely to happen in Britain
without an urgent change in course. Death rates of people in
midlife (between 25 and 64) are increasing across the racial and ethnic
divide. It has long been known that the mortality rates of midlife American
black and Hispanic people have been worse than the non-Hispanic white
population, but last week the British Medical Journal
published an important study re-examining
the trends for all racial groups between 1999 and 2016.
The
malaises that have plagued the black population are extending to the
non-Hispanic, midlife white population. As the report states: “All cause
mortality increased… among non-Hispanic whites.” Why? “Drug overdoses were the
leading cause of increased mortality in midlife, but mortality also increased
for alcohol-related conditions, suicides and organ diseases involving multiple
body systems” (notably liver, heart diseases and cancers).
US
doctors coined a phrase for this condition: “shit-life syndrome”. Poor
working-age Americans of all races are locked in a cycle of poverty and
neglect, amid wider affluence. They are ill educated and ill trained. The jobs
available are drudge work paying the minimum wage, with minimal or no job
security. They are trapped in poor neighbourhoods where the prospect of owning
a home is a distant dream. There is little social housing, scant income support
and contingent access to healthcare.
Finding meaning in life is close to
impossible; the struggle to survive commands all intellectual and emotional
resources. Yet turn on the TV or visit a middle-class shopping mall and a very
different and unattainable world presents itself. Knowing that you are
valueless, you resort to drugs, antidepressants and booze. You eat junk food
and watch your ill-treated body balloon. It is not just poverty, but growing
relative poverty in an era of rising inequality, with all its psychological
side-effects,
that is the killer.
Shit-life
syndrome captures the truth that the bald medical statistics have economic and
social roots. Patients so depressed they are prescribed or seek opioids – or
resort to alcohol – are suffering not so much from their demons but from the
circumstances of their lives. They have a lot to be depressed about. They, and
tens of millions like them teetering on the edge of the same condition,
constitute Donald Trump’s electoral base, easily tempted by rhetoric that pins
the blame on dark foreigners, while castigating countries such as Finland or
Denmark, where the trends are so much better, as communist. In Britain, they
were heavily represented among the swing voters who delivered Brexit.
Read the full
article here.
NOTE: The last time the United States saw a prolonged life expectancy decrease due to natural causes was during the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1917-1919 when life expectancy fell by twelve years.
Labels:
access & equity,
economics,
health,
inequality,
life expectancy,
society
Tuesday 28 August 2018
Australia's water evaporation levels are running at record rates in 2018
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
22 August 2018:
Australia's evaporation
levels are running at record rates, especially across eastern states,
increasing the misery for drought-hit
farmers and raising bushfire risks as the mercury starts to climb.
While rainfall
deficiencies have drawn much attention, stronger-than-usual winds, abnormally
sunny days and low humidity have combined to push up evaporation levels, Bureau
of Meteorology data shows.
Across the nation,
evaporation last month averaged 145.21 millimetres, well above the 128.6 mm
typical for July, and the most on record for data going back to 1975, said Karl
Braganza, head of climate monitoring at the bureau.
The national tally beat
the previous record in 2002. On a regional level, the evaporation rate was the
highest on record for Victoria, and also smashed previous records for eastern
Australia as a whole.
July
pan evaporation for Eastern Australia
1975-2018
If you live in a NSW rural/regional area or an outer metropolitan suburb with thick tree cover.....
Now is the time to make or update your bushfire survival plan.
Because the fires have come early this year and intermittant rainfall is unlikely to ease the threat for long.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/rainfall/ |
Crikey.com.au, 16 August 2018:
NSW has declared its
earliest total fire ban on record, with hundreds of South Coast residents
forced to flee their homes amidst a massive blaze.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that fire crews
battled at least 83 fires across the state, following stronger-than-expected
winds, creating fire bans that beat the previous record by two weeks.
Compounding problems was the fact that, according to The Daily Telegraph ($), two huge water bombers were
not in action because they had not yet arrived from the US ahead of Australia’s
summer season.
Australian
Government Bureau of Meteorology
New South Wales
Fire Weather Warning for the Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney Region and Illawarra/Shoalhaven fire areas.
Issued at 10:37 am EST on Wednesday 15 August 2018.
Weather Situation
New South Wales
Fire Weather Warning for the Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney Region and Illawarra/Shoalhaven fire areas.
Issued at 10:37 am EST on Wednesday 15 August 2018.
Weather Situation
Warm,
dry and windy conditions over southeast NSW today ahead of a cold front,
which will pass to the south of the state overnight.
For the rest of Wednesday 15 August:
Severe Fire Danger is forecast for the following fire areas:
Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney Region and Illawarra/Shoalhaven
The NSW Rural Fire Service advises you to:
- Action your Bushfire Survival Plan now.
- Monitor the fire and weather situation through your local radio station,
www.rfs.nsw.gov.au and www.bom.gov.au.
- Call 000 (Triple Zero) in an emergency.
The Rural Fire Service advises that if you are in an area of Severe Fire Danger:
- If you plan to leave finalise your options and leave early on the day
- Only stay if your home is well prepared and you can actively defend it
- Prepare for the emotional, mental and physical impact of defending your
property - if in doubt, leave.
For information on preparing for bushfires go to www.rfs.nsw.gov.au.
No further warnings will be issued for this event, but the situation will
continue to be monitored and further warnings issued if necessary.
which will pass to the south of the state overnight.
For the rest of Wednesday 15 August:
Severe Fire Danger is forecast for the following fire areas:
Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney Region and Illawarra/Shoalhaven
The NSW Rural Fire Service advises you to:
- Action your Bushfire Survival Plan now.
- Monitor the fire and weather situation through your local radio station,
www.rfs.nsw.gov.au and www.bom.gov.au.
- Call 000 (Triple Zero) in an emergency.
The Rural Fire Service advises that if you are in an area of Severe Fire Danger:
- If you plan to leave finalise your options and leave early on the day
- Only stay if your home is well prepared and you can actively defend it
- Prepare for the emotional, mental and physical impact of defending your
property - if in doubt, leave.
For information on preparing for bushfires go to www.rfs.nsw.gov.au.
No further warnings will be issued for this event, but the situation will
continue to be monitored and further warnings issued if necessary.
For
up-to-date information for your local area see NSW Rural Fire Service’s Fire Danger
Ratings and Total Fire Bans and Fires Near Me.
The words being uttered by many firefighters “what the hell is going on, it’s winter” footage of the #SaltAshFire as it moved towards the Tanilba Bay Golf Club on Saturday night by Dungog Rural Fire Brigade #NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/Kqw4CETANM— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) August 20, 2018
Watch&Act: Old Glen Innes Rd Fire Buccarumbi (Clarence Valley) Strengthening winds across the fireground has seen fire activity increase. The fire is moving east towards Old Glen Innes Road. #NSWRFS https://t.co/3eIK7kkUj9 pic.twitter.com/tGL7QIN09i— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) August 21, 2018
Monday 27 August 2018
Financial Services Royal Commission delivers its Round 5 report
The royal commission that Liberal MP for Cook and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, along with the rest of his government, fought so hard to prevent delivers another damning report.....
Financial
Review, 24
August 2018:
NAB and Commonwealth
Bank have been lashed in a 200-pagedocument published by the Hayne royal commission that details thousands of
breaches of the law including the Corporations Act, the Superannuation Industry
Supervision (SIS) Act and the ASIC Act – some of which carry criminal
penalties.
Counsel assisting the
Hayne royal commission Michael Hodge QC has said it is open to the Commissioner
to make these findings against the banks in a blockbuster closing statement
published just before 7pm on Friday evening.
The two banks are not
alone, with open findings also delivered against AMP
for breaches of the Corporations Act and the SIS Act, against IOOF for
breaches of the ASIC Act and the SIS Act, against Suncorp for breaches of the
Corporations Act, the ASIC Act and the SIS Act, and against ANZ for breaches of
the Corporations Act.
Open findings of law
breaches have also been delivered in relation to case studies that were not
heard in public with Westpac and AON Hewitt sized up for breaches of
the Corporations Act.
NAB and Commonwealth
Bank have been singled out, however, for repeated and systemic
breaches of laws which included NAB's inability to notify ASIC of breaches of
licence conditions under Sections 912D of the Corporations Act and CBA's
13,000-fold breach of the SIS Act.
NAB came in for a
spectacular serve from counsel assisting the Hayne royal commission, who
described the bank's negotiations with ASIC over the fees for no service
scandal as "ethically unsound" as it tried to substitute services it
promised to provide with services it did provide.
Mr Hodge also said the
bank was engaged in unconscionable conduct over the charging of fees and its
attempts to weasel out of repayments despite knowing the "fee should never
have been charged to members and was not adequately disclosed".
NAB
chief customer offer Andrew Hagger was singled out for his dealings
with the regulator over the fees for no service scandal which counsel assisting
said revealed "disrespect for the role of the regulator and a disregard
for the gravity of the events".
Counsel assisting
submitted that "no reasonable person would believe that NAB's
communications with ASIC" over the matter that would see NAB on the hook
for almost $90 millin in refunds were "open and transparent" -
despite the bank's attempts to characterise its actions as just that.
In addition, the systems
and controls the bank had to monitor the provision of advice were
either not adequate, non-existent or ineffective according to
the savage take-down……
Much of the bank's
offending related to its inability to move more than 13,000 super fund members
to low-fee MySuper accounts after January 1, 2014 - leaving them in higher-fee
paying accounts instead. The bank's communications with members about the issue
was described as misleading by counsel assisting, with the bank's witness
accepting the description during the hearings.
CBA's platform operator
Aventeos also was the subject of open findings for the charging of dead
customers for financial advice, a practice counsel assisting said was in breach
of Section 52 of the SIS Act.
The lengthy document
will add even more fuel to the fire that has singed the for profit super sector
following revelations they have charged customers more than $1 billion in fees
they have never provided, including to dead
customers, and then lied to regulators about it.
The prospect of criminal
charges was first raised by Commissioner Hayne himself when he asked NAB's
superannuation trustee Nicole Smith "Did you think yourself taking the
money to which there as no entitlement raised a question of criminal
law?"
Diversified financial
services company AMP - which was excoriated
for its dealings with the regulator in the second round of hearings
- was exposed for an arrangement that saw its superannuation trustee
contracting out services it was meant to undertake to other arms of the
business.
During the hearings it
was revealed the arrangement, which oversaw $100 billion in retirement savings
spread over the accounts of 2.5 million members, meant AMP's trustee was unable
to lookout for its members by stopping AMP from gouging account holders or
looking for another service provider….
Read the full
article here.
Labels:
banks and bankers,
royal commission
Luke Hartsuyker? Luke Hartsuyker? Think I recall that name
Luke Hartsuyker Image: Greater Springfield Daily Record |
NSW National Party MP for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker is retiring at the next federal election.
He has been a
member of the federal parliament since 2001 and is a clear example of a man
rising to the level of his own political incompetence.
Hartsuyker has briefly
held one ministerial and three assistant ministerial positions since entering parliament – the last ending in March this year:
Assistant
Minister for Employment from 18.9.13 to 21.9.15 (2 years).
Minister
for Vocational Education and Skills from 21.9.15 to 18.2.16 (less than 5
months).
Assistant
Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister from 19.7.16 to 20.12.17 (17 months).
Assistant
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment from 20.12.17 to 5.3.18 (less than 3
months).
Hartsuyker
was Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the House of Representatives from 18.9.13
to 18.2.16 (approximately 2 years & 4 months).
By the time the next federal election rolls
around Luke Hartsuyker will have been in the Australian Parliament for 17
years, yet the best his party could say of him when he announced his intention
to resign was to list as his achievements work
largely done by other politicians.
I am sure
there are parts of the Cowper electorate where his name barely registers with
local residents and one has to suspect it won't take too many years before the only way he is remembered is as an obscure name on weathered building dedication plaques.
Sunday 26 August 2018
Waiting for home care in Australia in 2018
There are now 108,000 older Australians on the
waiting list for Home Care Packages.
On this list
are individuals who have:
*
not yet been approved for home care;
*
been previously assessed and approved, but who have not yet been assigned a
home care package; or
* are receiving care at an interim level
awaiting assignment of a home care package at their approved level.
Waiting time
is calculated from the date of a home care package approval and this is not a
an ideal situation, given package approval times range from est. 27 to 98 days
and the time taken to approve high level home care packages is now than twelve
months - with actual delivery dates occurring at least 12 months later on average.
Labor’s Shadow
Minister for Ageing and Mental Health issued a statement which pointed out that
“With
the waiting list growing by almost 4,000 older Australians in just three
months, the 3,500 new home care packages a year committed in the Budget won’t
come close to keeping pace with demand”.
With more
than half the applications for permanent entry into residential aged care taking
more than 3 and up to 8 months to be met, this is not going to be a go-to first
option in any solution for this lengthy home care waiting list - even if enough older people could be persuaded to give up the last of their independnce and autonomy.
By June 2017
New South Wales had the largest number of persons on the home care waiting
lis at 30,685.
Given the
high number of residents over 60 years of age in regional areas like the the
Northern Rivers, this waiting list gives pause for thought.
Then there is
this side effect of the waiting list and home care start dates identified by Leading
Age Care Services Australia (LAGSA):
Consumers with unmet
needs and unspent funds
LASA has undertaken an extensive review of the
disparity that exists in the current release of HCP assignments, noting that
there are substantial numbers of consumers on HCPs with either unmet needs or unspent
funds . This bimodal distribution of home care package assignments reflects a
mismatch between consumer package assignment and a consumer’s current care
needs. The mismatch appears to be a function of the extended lapse of time that
exists between approval assessments and package assignments. Until this dynamic
is sufficiently addressed by Government, LASA expects that providers will be
faced with a unique set challenges in 2018 when providing care to HCP
consumers. This is likely to increase the need for regular care plan reviews in
the context of unmet needs and unspent funds. This dynamic could be considered
more closely within the context of developing a single assessment workforce.
Thus far Australian Minister for Aged Care and Liberal MP for Hasluck Ken
Wyatt is offering no insight into federal government thinking on this
issue.
Sources:
The American Resistance has many faces and this is just one of them……(23)
Image: C-Span US television network |
Text
of open letter to US President Donald J.
Trump by William H. McRaven, a
retired Navy admiral, who was commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations
Command from 2011 to 2014. He oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that
killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Published in The Washington Post on 16 August
2018:
Dear
Mr. President:
Former CIA Director John
Brennan, whose security clearance you revoked Wednesday, is one of the finest
public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this
country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and
character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him.
Therefore, I would
consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I
can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your
presidency.
Like most Americans, I
had hoped that when you became president, you would rise to the occasion and
become the leader this great nation needs.
A good leader tries to
embody the best qualities of his or her organization. A good leader sets the
example for others to follow. A good leader always puts the welfare of others
before himself or herself.
Your leadership,
however, has shown little of these qualities. Through your actions, you have
embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage
and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.
If you think for a
moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism,
you are sadly mistaken. The criticism will continue until you become the leader
we prayed you would be.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Saturday 25 August 2018
Who do we blame as matters go from bad to worse over the next eight months in Australia?
The country is being crippled by the effects of drought and basic food prices will soon begin to rise, while at the same time wages growth remains stagnant. Cost cutting by successive Coalition federal governments is impacting service delivery on everything from health and welfare through to national broadband connectivity.
The federal government is still a policy-free zone with regard to energy and climate change due to toxic infighting between members of the Liberal Party of Australia which, along with its coalition partner the National Party, has an ideological inability to drag itself into the 21st century to face the consequences of ongoing land degradation and water insecurity.
Australia now has a new prime minister, but this situation is unlikely to change as the hard right remains holding the reins of government.
The next federal election is still over eight months away.
So who do we blame for the situation the country finds itself in between now and the election?
Take your pick.......
According to News.com.au this is the list of federal parliamentary members of the Liberal Party of Australia who voted to bring on the leadership
spill of 24 August 2018:
1.
Andrew Hastie
2. Tony
Pasin
3.
Craig Kelly
4.
Michael Sukkar
5.
Kevin Andrews
6. Tony
Abbott
7. Ian
Goodenough
8.
Nicolle Flint
9.
Peter Dutton
10.
Jason Wood
11.
Ross Vasta
12.
Luke Howarth
13.
Rick Wilson
14. Ted
O’Brien
15. Zed
Seselja
16 Greg
Hunt
17
Steven Ciobo
18
Angus Taylor
19 Alan
Tudge
20.
Michael Keenan
21
Andrew Wallace
22
Scott Buchholz
23 Jim
Molan
24
Slade Brockman
25 Dean
Smith
26 Jane
Hume
27
Mitch Fifield
28.
John McVeigh
29.
David Fawcett
30.
Amanda Stoker
31.
Jonathon Duniam
32.
David Bushby
33.
James Paterson
34 Eric
Abetz
35.
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells
36.
James McGrath
37.
Mathias Cormann
38.
Michaelia Cash
39.
Karen Andrews
40. Andrew Laming
41 Ben Morton
42. Sussan Ley
43. Warren Entsch
Sadly the Joke of the Decade was on the Australian people
"I will not
lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as
I am." [Liberal
Party leader Malcolm Bligh Turnbull,
October 2009]
Labels:
#TurnbullFAIL,
climate change
Tweet of the Week
So far what grade do you give Donald Trump as president. retweet everyone.......— Trump Administration Supporter (@Robfortrump2020) August 15, 2018
Labels:
Donald Trump
Friday 24 August 2018
Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan tries to straddle the Coalition fence by becoming a Faux Independent after the new Morrison Government is sworn-in
The political situation in Australia thus far this week..............
Thinking to hedge his bets in a toxic political environment and remain in the federal parliament beyond the forthcoming federal election, Kevin Hogan sent out this media release on 23 August 2018:You can't get any more blunt than @murpharoo's assessment of #libspill -— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) August 22, 2018
"The Government is killing itself in plain view ... It doesn't matter who wins because they're stuffed" pic.twitter.com/1HazIUyd06
STATEMENT FROM KEVIN
HOGAN
This constant rotation
of Prime Ministers by both the Labor Party and the Liberal party, I cannot
condone.
I am announcing
today, that if there is another leadership spill for the position of Prime
Minister prior to the next federal election, I will remove myself from the
government benches and sit on the cross benches.
I have made this
decision because my community is fed up. What we have been seeing in
Canberra with leadership changes over the last 10 years, is letting our
great country down.
This is not about Peter
Dutton, Malcolm Turnbull or Kevin Hogan, it is about the Office of Prime
Minister.
I remain 100 per cent
committed to delivering for my community. I remain committed to the National
Party.
If this occurs, I will
still attend National Party meetings if invited. I will not attend Coalition
Party Room meetings.
I will support the
Government in No Confidence Motions and Supply. Any other legislation I
will take on a case by case basis.
The model I intend
to follow is similar to what the Western Australian National, Tony Crook did.
Hogan has been in the federal parliament and a member of the Abbott & Turnbull Coalition governments for almost five years and in that time has never voted against Liberal-Nationals party policy.
What Hogan is doing with this media release is taking a hollow stance.
He fully intends to support the new Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Nationals Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.
An arrogant new prime minister with a history since 2013 of human rights abuses as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, of welfare recipient bashing as Minister for Social Services, of relentless cost cutting as Treasurer and as a strong supporter of propping up the rich at the expense of low income families.
Federal Labor promises to pursue return of dodgy grant to Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Excerpt from email sent out over Labor Senator Kristine Keneally's signature on 17 August 2017:
On April 29 Mr Turnbull announced the largest donation of taxpayers money to a private foundation in Australian history.
That's why we're calling on Mr Turnbull to return the reef money. Here's what we know so far:
- There was no tender process for the donation and the foundation never applied for the money.
- The Prime Minister was present at the meeting with the foundation and he personally told the chair, Dr John Schubert about the donation. It appears no public servants were present.
- Before receiving the donation the budget for the foundation was only $9 million and it only employed six full time staff.
- The negotiations for the contract that governs the half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money only began after the money had been announced and committed by the government.
- The foundation has acknowledged the biggest threats to the reef include climate change and land clearing, yet the foundation has made clear none of its work goes to act against climate change or land clearing.
- All the probity checks and balances which ordinarily apply to expenditure by government agencies will not apply to spending decisions made by the foundation.
Effectively, half a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money has been given away without process, probity or policy justification.
The future of the reef should not be determined behind closed doors by Mr Turnbull’s mates......
The future of the reef should not be determined behind closed doors by Mr Turnbull’s mates......
Labor will continue to pursue this through the Senate Inquiry process and all other avenues available to the opposition.
Australian Attorney-General releases a draft bill which will allow the gaoling of Australian citizens for 10 years if they refuse to reveal passwords or encryption codes
According to Crikey.com.au on 15 August 2018:
In addition to its
village idiot approach to undermining end-to-end encryption in new surveillance
laws, the government is also seeking a blunt-force trauma approach: it wants to
jail people for a decade if they refuse to give up the password to their
devices.
Under the draft Assistance
and Access Bill 2018 unveiled yesterday, the government is giving
police, spy agencies and regulators like the ATO the power to demand that tech
companies help them plant malware on computers and phones to help it defeat
end-to-end encryption.
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