Australian Federal Election 2016: a rabble of rorters

So Liberal MPs politically profile their constituents on the back of the taxpayer dollar and, that money is paid on to a company which sends these dollars to the political arm of the Liberal Party of Australia.

And they wonder why their polling is so very ordinary?

The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 2016:

You don't know it, but you might be one of the Liberal Party's largest donors. 

A company Liberal MPs direct taxpayer funds towards to keep tabs on voter behaviour is becoming a major source of income for the party, raising questions about whether taxpayers are indirectly footing the bill for donations.

Fairfax Media can reveal nearly all Liberal MPs pay a company, Parakeelia Pty Ltd, $2500 a year to use "Feedback" software, money understood to come from their taxpayer-funded office allowances.

Parakeelia is registered to the same inner-Canberra office building as the Liberals. The company's directors include the Liberal Party's federal director, Tony Nutt, and president, Richard Alston. It is registered with authorities as being associated with the party.

Last financial year, Parakeelia transferred $500,000 to the federal Liberal division, making it the party's second-biggest single source of funds. The year before it came in fourth with $400,000; before that $200,000.

But the Liberals would not say how much of the company's revenue began as taxpayer funding.

Some party figures question whether the party is profiting from public funding.

"What are the costs to them from running the software?," asked one former Liberal MP. "You'd have to say minimal. Our contributions per MP are very small, so we never really could know if they were turning a buck or not."

The last time this information was disclosed, a decade ago, half of Parakeelia's revenues came from MP offices. The balance was mostly money from the Liberal Party machine.

The software logs information about an MP's constituents. Every time a voter calls an office, or writes a letter to the local paper, electorate staff make a note about any information gleaned about their political views. Staff also proactively research community groups and businesses and add it to the files……

Parakeelia Pty Ltd declared to the Australian Electoral Commission that it directly gave the federal Liberal Party an estimated $550,392 - for an election campaign which gave us Tony Abbott as prime minister. 

The same associated entity will directly hand the federal Liberals at least $269,176 to try and keep Malcolm Turnbull in office.

Australian Federal Election 2016: recalling better times in the Page electorate

The public hospital system in the NSW Northern Rivers region has been attempting to deal with state and federal health funding cuts by Coalition governments for years now (including est.$730 million over ten years from the Northern NSW Local Hospital District) and the strain is beginning to show.

So it’s only natural that a good many regional voters look back fondly on the hard work then Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin put in to securing health funding between 2007 to 2013.

This effort on the electorate’s behalf included:

$4 million for a community health centre in Yamba

$20 million for the upgrade of Grafton Base Hospital and 114,000 for new equipment for the Emergency Department

$487,000 to refurbish 10 student nurse accommodation rooms at Grafton Base Hospital

Federal grant to establish the Grafton Super Clinic

$60.25 million to redevelop Lismore Base Hospital, including new emergency department, an express community care clinic and a new renal dialysis unit

$7 million on top of the $8 million already committed for Lismore Base Hospital radiology services

Magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI) services for Lismore Base Hospital and North Coast radiology’s Clarence Valley Imaging in Grafton

$15 million to fast track the Lismore Integrated Cancer Centre

$2.7 million for a second linear accelerator at the Lismore Base Hospital Integrated Cancer Centre, providing cancer treatment for an extra 30 patients a day

$7 million for Lismore GP Super Clinic

$2.6 million for Our House Cancer Patient Accommodation in Lismore for cancer patients and families -150 construction jobs 

$2.53 million to St Vincent’s Private Hospital Lismore for two new operation theatres, $884,414for state-of-the-art teaching centre and $157,000 to purchase equipment to develop aUrological Centre of Excellence 

$7.9 million to establish the University of Western Sydney's new Rural Clinical School in Lismore and Bathurst

$407,000 to expand McKid Medical Private General Practice in Kyogle under the Primary Care Infrastructure Grants Program and $295,455 to upgrade the Urbenville Medical Centre

$9.22 million to North Coast Medicare Local to establish its headquarters in Ballina and for operational funding

$1.45 million investment in dental funding for the Northern Rivers, announced this year as part of the Commonwealth Dental Health Program

Five new GP registrars to train in Lismore, Goonellabah, Ballina and Alstonville and four specialist doctors in Lismore area

$1.6million to Interrelate to boost mental health services in Ballina and Kyogle shires and the Richmond Valley

$640,000 to Local HACC services Home and Community Care Program funding

$1.45 million investment in dental funding for the Northern Rivers announced in 2013  as part of the Commonwealth Dental Health Program

Five new GP registrars to train in Lismore, Goonellabah, Ballina and Alstonville and four specialist doctors in Lismore area

$1.6million to Interrelate to boost mental health services in Ballina and Kyogle shires and the Richmond Valley

$700,000 to Clarence Valley Council under the Healthy Communities Initiative to combat obesity

A total of $522,000 to Bulgarr Ngaru Aboriginal Medical Service to expand its health service with new premises and practice manager

$1.9 million for local crisis intervention services.

A list of funding for a range of services within the Page electorate between August 2010 and September 2013:

Janelle Saffin Federal Labor MP for Page - Achievements since 2010 by clarencegirl

Ms. Saffin is standing as Labor's candidate in Page on 2 July 2016.

Looooong federal election campaign appears to underwhelm many voters

Essential Report, 7 June 2016:

Dendrophobic Clarence Valley Council?

Clarence Forum, 4 June 2016:

Before White Settlement of the Clarence, a Red Bean Tree stood near the corner of what is now Breimba and Dovedale streets in Grafton.

That Tree is all that remained of the original rain forest in that area.

First Nations People used the tree for making shields.

The tree was listed by the NSW Office of Environment Heritage (OEH).

In July of 2013, Council lopped the tree without permission.
OEH wrote to Council’s Troy Anderson (Director Works, the same Director in charge of the destruction of Maclean’s Historical Trees) and issued a penalty notice in January 2014.

In May of this year, Clarence Valley Council killed this heritage tree and totally removed it.

All that remained for today’s photographs is mud.

OEH has written to Scott Greensill and ordered that the remains of the trunk of the tree be stored as part of a legal exhibit for a future Court Case.

Why does Council continue to behave in such an insensitive and arrogant manner?

Respect is Not optional.