Coalition admits it will be clawing back over $9.4 billion from low income households to fund its 2013 election promises

On 28 August 2013 the Federal Coalition issued a joint media release unaccompanied by any supporting documentation.

This confirmed that any Abbott-led federal government intends to save $3.7 billion by removing the Low Income Superannuation Government Contribution, $1.1 billion by abolishing the Income Support Bonus, $4.6 billion by abolishing the School Kids Bonus and $1.6 billion by deferring the scheduled Superannuation Guarantee increase.

Which means that it will be predominately those Australians who can least afford it who are expected to subsidize over 29.74% of the Liberal-Nationals Coalition’s identified ‘savings’ over the current forward estimates period.

Australian Liberal-Nationals Coalition 28 August 2013 media release re election policies/promises costings

Clarence Valley property theft/robbery crime rate across last decade - a matter of averages

On 21 August 2013 The Daily Examiner trumpeted; The Clarence Valley has returned some of the worst crime statistics in regional NSW following a 10-year review into offending trends across the state…..In nearly every category, crimes in Clarence were declining at a far slower rate than in the rest of the state.

Here is the actual Clarence Valley major property/theft crime profile between 2000-2012, published in August 2013 by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics:

Break And Enter Dwelling  -38.6% (12 year rate per 100,000 head of population falling but above overall state 12 year rate)

Motor Vehicle Theft  5.8% (now over the state 12 year rate per 100,000 head of population)

Stealing From Dwelling  -45% (12 year rate per 100,000 head of population falling but above overall average state 12 year rate)

Stealing From Person – less than 20 incidents per year over the last 3 years

Stealing From A Motor Vehicle  -3.13% (12 year rate per 100,000 head of population falling but above overall average state 12 year rate)

Stealing From A Retail Store  -7.8% (12 year rate per 100,000 head of population falling and less than 1% above overall average state 12 year rate)

Robbery - less than 20 incidents per year over the last 3 years

Comparing Clarence Valley property offense rates with the rest of regional New South Wales and the North Coast one finds that; falls in rates of this offence in the Murrumbidgee, Northern, Far West and Murray SD ranged between 11.5 and 32.8 per cent and the Northern SD experienced a 15.8 per cent increase in the rate of motor vehicle theft.

All recent NSW crime statistics releases here.

About that $1 billion that Abbott states was never cut from federal health funding

On 7 October 2003 the current Federal Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott became Minister for Health and Aging in the Howard Government – a position he held until December 2007.

These are the facts about the Australian Health Care Agreements 2003-2008 :

Each of the predecessor Agreements provided indexation formulae to account for growth and ageing of the population. The 1998–2003 Agreements also recognised that there was further "utilisation drift", that is increases in utilisation were occurring in the hospital sector over and above that which can be explained by population growth and ageing. This utilisation drift was in part the result of new technologies that allowed for treatments for conditions for which there was previously no hospital treatment. Utilisation also increased because of shifts in treatment from general practitioners' rooms and other ambulatory settings to same day hospital admission.

The 1998–2003 Agreements provided an escalation factor of 2.1% per annum over and above the growth caused by the increase in the rate of population for key elements of the grant. The 2003–08 Agreements reduced the utilisation drift factor to 1.7% and narrowed the applicable components of the grant, saving the Commonwealth Government about $1 billion from that provided for in the Forward Estimates. This reduction in growth provision was vociferously opposed by States and also by clinicians who were experiencing significant financial pressures on hospitals as a result of State Government funding constraints

In a 26 October 2007 radio interview with Mike Carlton, Tony Abbott admitted that there had been “a forward estimates adjustment” and agreed that “the share of federal government [health] funding has gone down from 45 per cent to 41 per cent since 1996”.

Stop the NSW O'Farrell Government selling your rights to developers!

Better Planning Network email 14 August 2013:

Dear NSW Resident

Within the next 2 to 6 weeks, the NSW Government will introduce its new planning legislation to Parliament, legislation driven by powerful developer lobbies whose primary focus is profit-making. If it is adopted, the outcomes of this legislation for ordinary residents and communities will be dire. In particular, the legislation will:    

·  Remove our right to have a say on up to 80% of developments. This means that you won’t have the right to comment if your neighbour wants to build a new 2-storey house next door and you will have no right of say if someone wants to build up to 20 terrace houses in your street or even put up a block of flats nearby.    
· Use the planning system to drive economic growth and fast track development at the cost of our quality of life, environment and heritage.  Economic considerations are an important component of our quality of life, but they are not the only component. The new planning system is about ‘development at any cost’ and drastically reduces the need for decision-makers to consider the social, environmental and heritage impacts of new development.    
· Increase the risk of corruption associated with planning and development decision-making.  The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has warned that the new system will carry serious corruption risks.

In exchange for all this, the NSW Government says that we will be able to have a say in the planning controls that guide development in neighbourhoods. However, the Minister will have broad discretion to amend these planning controls without community consultation.  And developers will be able to apply to exceed these controls as well.

Act now to stop this legislation from being introduced to Parliament. Sign our petition To the Premier of NSW - the Hon. Barry O’Farrell, MP: Withdraw the NSW Government’s Planning Bills! 

Yesterday (13/08/13), the SMH reported that Mr Sam Haddad, Director General of Planning and Infrastructure, had admitted that:

"...a proposed overhaul of planning laws has ''gone further than the government intended'', reducing the community's ability to fight bad decisions" and that “department staff may have unintentionally spread ''inaccurate or misleading information'' about the changes, touted as the biggest overhaul of the state's planning system in more than 30 years."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/top-official-admits-errors-over-draft-planning-laws-20130812-2rsht.html#ixzz2bsrz6oBe and also at http:///www.thefifthestate.com.au/archives/53324/ .

This admission by the State’s top planning official is simply unacceptable and the Government’s legislation must be withdrawn immediately, re-drafted and re-exhibited, with accurate information provided on its effect on communities, our environment and heritage.

Please help keep our Government honest and sign our petition To the Premier of NSW - the Hon. Barry O’Farrell, MP: Withdraw the NSW Government’s Planning Bills! 

Most importantly, spread the word by asking your neighbours, family, friends and community networks to sign our petition as well.

It’s not too late to make our voice heard. Together, we are stronger.

Thank you for taking action!

Sent on behalf of the Better Planning Network

		http://betterplanningnetwork.good.do/
		betterplanningnetwork@gmail.com
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(The Better Planning Network is an independent, non politically-aligned affiliation of over 420 community groups across NSW, striving to achieve a fair and balanced planning system that delivers responsible and sustainable development)