The LNP jury's still out on Mal Brough

Mal Brough was the Liberal National Party's Queensland sweetheart in the lead-up to the September 2013 federal election and had his preselection locked in by 29 July 2012.....

But in January 2016 with the next federal election less than ten months away it's another story altogether.....

Change your company name, sling the Liberal Party a few thousand, switch tax havens, and you're off and running to receive government contracts valued in the billions

Watching multinational corporations harvest Australia is oddly fascinating. 

Take this example........

Since swimming into public view during the Howard Government years when it made political donations to the Queensland & Victorian divisions of the Liberal Party of Australia totaling $10,000 (2000-01), multinational corporation Accenture Plc (formerly Anderson Consulting) has won government contracts valued at an est.$2.27 billion to date.

Accenture Plc listed on the New York Stock Exchange around 2001 and as a prime contractor in September 2006 quit its £175M UK National Health Service contracts because of cost-overruns and delays in its delivery of the IT programme. Repays just £63M to drop these contracts.

Sometime between 2002 and 2007 two staffers of two former Liberal ministers in the Howard Government appear to found employment with Accenture.

Accenture switched tax havens in 2009 – going from being based in Bermuda to being headquartered in Ireland. None of its principal executives are believed to be based in Ireland, living instead in the USA or Europe.

Also in 2009 it was reported that Accenture's Australian Taxation Office (ATO) contracts were worth an est. $580 million.

According to its own website Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 305,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014.

This was an increase of 5 percent in both U.S. dollars and local currency compared with the previous fiscal year and, gross margin (gross profit as a percentage of net revenues) for 2013-14  was 32.3 percent.

In 2013-14 the Asia Pacific region (including Australia) produced net revenues for this multinational corporation of $3.89 billion.

In Australia according to the 2013-14 Report of Entity Tax Information ACCENTURE AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD had:

Total Income: $1.40 billion

Taxable Income: $170.42 million

Tax Paid: $50.50 million.

So an est. 3.60% of its total Australian income went in taxation in 2013-14 or an est. 29.63% of what it calculated was its local taxable income.

With no apparent sense of irony in November 2013 Accenture made a submission to the National Commission of Audit which concluded with this in the document’s executive summary:

In order to maintain a vibrant level of economic growth to provide rising living standards for its citizens, Australia must restrain the growth of public sector expenditure within the limits of its capacity to fund it.

Citizens want growing public services, but will not tolerate a growth in taxation above the rate of economic growth.

The gap between aspirations and willingness to pay has been recently filled by large and unsustainable levels of borrowing which has left a record level of Commonwealth debt.

In order to deal with this problem in the short term, adjustments to expenditure and revenue will be essential.

In the medium term, however, the government will need to adjust its forms of service delivery in order to maintain and enhance them without cost over runs.

This can be achieved by changing the style of management, the uses of technology and the structure of the public sector to mirror the efficiencies that are widespread in the private sector.

On July 7 2014 Fortune magazine listed Accenture Plc as one of the Top American corporate tax avoiders.

In November 2015 the ATO confirmed Ramez Katf, managing director of products for Accenture A/NZ will take over as ATO Chief Information Officer (IT) in 2016.

In 2015-16 the ATO commences a short-term arrangement with Accenture to use their Philippines Delivery Centre to increase its IT capability in application development for new policy implementation.

Japanese whalers active again in Antarctic waters

Snapshot, Google Earth image of Antarctica, 14 December 2015

Sea Shepherd Australia, Monday 18 January 2016:

Sea Shepherd’s Flagship, the Steve Irwin, has departed Fremantle, Western Australia for the Southern Ocean. The ship’s departure marks the official commencement of the organization’s 12th Southern Ocean Defense Campaign, Operation Icefish 2015-16.

Led by returning Captain, Siddharth Chakravarty, Sea Shepherd will once again defend the pristine waters of Antarctica from poachers, with the aim to shutdown illegal activities in what is the world’s last great wilderness.

Sea Shepherd will employ direct-action techniques to fill a law enforcement void that continues to be exploited by the Japanese whale poaching fleet and the two remaining illegal toothfish vessels, Viking and Kunlun (Taishan), which continue to threaten the survival of the fragile and wild Antarctic ecosystem.

“The Steve Irwin will be the only proactive enforcement presence in Antarctica once again this year. The shadowlands of Antarctica are under threat and we are the only form of protection to the marine wildlife in these unregulated regions. Other than offering direct and immediate protection to the oceans, we intend to investigate and document the illegalities and work with law-enforcement agencies, once again, to aid and close out existing investigations worldwide,” said Captain Chakravarty.

As Captain Chakravarty and the crew of the Steve Irwin depart for the Southern Ocean, Sea Shepherd has called on the governments who are responsible for upholding the laws that protect the Southern Ocean to intervene against these poaching operations.

“Sea Shepherd should not be left to defend Antarctica alone,” said Captain Alex Cornelissen, CEO of Sea Shepherd Global. “For the last 13 years our ships and crews have shone an international spotlight on both the illegal whaling and more recently on the illegal toothfish operations. Now it’s time for governments to step-up and take serious action to address the issue of poaching in the Southern Ocean.”

Managing Director of Sea Shepherd Australia, Jeff Hansen, said, “Sea Shepherd needs reinforcements. 76.9% of Australians want the Australian government to send a vessel to oppose the Japanese whale poaching fleet. Australia has been commended for taking Japan to the ICJ, but now the government needs to take responsibility for enforcement by sending a ship to oppose the whale poachers.”

Antarctic Minke whale

Up to 333 minke whales will be killed by Japanese whalers hunting in the Southern Ocean in 2016. The whaling fleet set sail for Antarctica on 1 December 2015.

Excerpt from Joint statement on whaling and safety at sea released on 12 January 2016 by the Governments of Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States:

Our Governments remain resolutely opposed to commercial whaling, in particular in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary established by the International Whaling Commission. We do not believe that Japan has sufficiently demonstrated that it has given due regard to the guidance found in the 2014 International Court of Justice judgment on ensuring that lethal research whaling is consistent with the obligations under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. On December 7, 2015, our Governments joined 29 other nations to protest Japan’s decision. We urged Japan to respect the International Whaling Commission’s procedures and the advice of its Expert Review Panel and Scientific Committee. The science is clear: all information necessary for management and conservation of whales can be obtained through non-lethal methods.

We note that the final NEWREP-A research plan, circulated to the Scientific Committee members on November 27, 2015, has not proceeded through the International Whaling Commission’s processes, set out in Resolution 2014-5, which requests that proponents allow the IWC to consider the Scientific Committee’s review of special permit proposals prior to their commencement.

Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States are committed to improving the conservation status of whales worldwide, maintaining the International Whaling Commission's global moratorium on commercial whaling, and implementing meaningful reform of the International Whaling Commission.

Clarence Valley Council in residents & ratepayers' bad books

It's a local government election year in the Clarence Valley (unless the NSW Boundaries Commission decides otherwise) and locals are getting restless as Saturday 10 September is marked in red on many a fridge calendar.

A vague suspicion is developing that a whole lot of payback may be going down at polling booths across the valley on that date.

Clarence Valley Independent, 14 January 2016:

Forum campaigns against CVC's 'secrecy'
Story By: Geoff Helisma

Convenor of The Clarence Forum lodges a petition with Clarence Valley Council last week. It asks the council to reveal where and how it spends its $580,000 advertising budget. Pic: Judy Myers

Online Facebook group, The Clarence Forum, has lodged a 147-signature petition demanding Clarence Valley Council (CVC) to 'Stop The Secrecy, Tell Us The Truth [and] Tell us the amounts paid to The Independent, DEX, 2GF and related radio from CVC's advertising budget".
The group started the online petition in July 2015, following an operational decision by the council to withdraw its weekly block advertising from this newspaper, as part of the its review of services to meet the requirements of the state government's Fit for the Future initiative.
The council's advertising budget for 2015/16 is $580,000 – the council's statutory financial reports show advertising costs for 2013/14 were $512,000, $520,000 in 2012/13 and $466,000 in 2011/12.
The Clarence Forum's convenor, John Hagger, said he had been unsuccessful in gaining a breakdown of where or how the council spends its advertising budget.
Mr Hagger made a written request to CVC for the information in June 2015.
A council officer responded to the request on June 11, 2015, stating, in part, that work had "started to compile the information but it will take some time to complete … I would envisage having a formal response to you by the end of next week".
Subsequent to this, Mr Hagger was advised on the telephone by the council's corporate director, Ashley Lindsay, that the information would not be released.
In a letter accompanying the petition, which has been sent to the general manager, each of the councillors and Local Government Minister Paul Toole, Mr Hagger writes: "No reason has Ever been given for the refusal to release the report and the information it contains."
Mr Lindsay is on annual leave until February 1.
Mr Hagger said that it was "incumbent on the council to reveal the expenditure details in line with the public interest test outlined in the NSW GIPA Act"……

Read the rest of the article here.

ABC News, 14 January 2016:

There are concerns of an asbestos risk at a new Clarence Valley Council depot in South Grafton.

It was a former sewage treatment plant and a dump for fill where, for decades, the Clarence Valley Council workers took broken water mains made of asbestos-bonded concrete.

With the council planning to build its new depot on the land, there are concerns about whether the asbestos poses a public health risk.

Asbestos was a wonder-product at the time much of the Clarence Valley's water mains network was installed.

As with the vast majority of local government areas, public assets in many cases are riddled with it.

Over the past three decades, as pipes have ruptured and been replaced, some ended up in landfill at the site of the former Sewage Treatment Plant in Tyson Street in South Grafton.

The council has earmarked that site, which is adjacent to the South Grafton High School, for the $13.5 million depot for works and civil engineering staff.

The convenor of the online group Clarence Forum, John Hagger, said the asbestos poses a public health risk.

"[It's not safe], no," Mr Hagger said.

"According to Safecover NSW, council has advised that it's friable, that's the most dangerous form."

The Director of Works and Civil, Troy Anderson, said the council is developing a remediation plan along with a development application to construct a depot, and that as suspicious material is uncovered it will be disposed of securely.

Letter to the Editor, Clarence ValleyIndependent, January 2016:

Iluka 162-lot massive subdivision

Ed,
There are many questions about this subdivision.
Is it really honest for the Council to say they have already doubled the statutory exhibition period of 14 days (D/E 5/1/16) when the council rooms at both Maclean and Grafton were closed until the 3rd January, effectively reducing the length of time to read over 400 pages in 11 days. Why was the DA not available on the council website or even in Iluka?
Thanks to community pressure the DA is now available at the Iluka Library which is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thanks to even more community pressure and media attention the submission date to comment has been extended to 4pm on the 12th February. Still not enough time to read, research and prepare a submission or even comment on the DA. We must have informed community scrutiny and enough time to do it.
Many people in Iluka are questioning the timing of the DA release on Christmas eve and the fact that large signs on the Iluka Road advertised this development on Christmas eve 2013. The signs were subsequently removed. How is this possible or even legal before a DA has even been approved?
Journalist Tim Howard’s story states The Stevens Group acknowledges some environmental issues within this site. Quite an understatement by the developer considering it is not just ‘opposite a golf course’ but adjacent to one of the last remnants of littoral rain forest in NSW and also a corridor between two national parks.
Large numbers of bird watchers, scientists and photographers frequent Iluka in the off season for the very reason that Iluka is unique and still home to more than 200 species of birds alone. Do we really want to spoil this quiet, beautiful, unique place by increasing the population by up to 500 along with god knows how many more cars, cats and dogs.
If the community do want an increase in population this is the perfect opportunity for a developer to have a state of the art, sustainable, environmentally friendly development with stringent safeguards for native flora and fauna and larger house sites. The site has been identified as an environmentally sensitive area being in or within 100 metres of an area identified as a wetland of international significance or world heritage area – after all it is this environment we have now that is so attractive to visitors.
Any resident wishing to comment directly to the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel can do so on line as well as a submission to Clarence Valley Council. Exercise your right and have a go.

Annie Dorrian

Iluka

Note: Clarence Valley Council has extended the submission deadline until 4pm 12 February 2016.

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner, 7 January 2016:

Fair’s fair

Senior Clarence Valley Council officer, Mr Des Schroeder, is reported (5 Jan) as saying that the exhibition period for the proposed 162 lot development at Iluka has been doubled from 14 days to 28 days, but that Council has to "be fair" to the community and the developer when considering a further extension.

Reacting to a reported 400 page document, available at two places in 28 days spread over the Christmas period can in no way be considered fair to the community.  

Council would know that many who have valid concerns and interest in this proposal will not even be aware of it prior to the closing date for submissions on 22 January, let alone make a considered submission.

If Council does have a genuine concern for its residents and their views, it will extend the submission period to a reasonable time - at least another 30 days, but preferably more - and make copies available to all interested persons who request one.

Council ought to justify its action in releasing such a proposal on Christmas Eve.  It makes one wonder how Council weighs up "fairness" for its community.

Peter Morgan

Brooms Head

The Daily Examiner, 5 January 2016:

A DECADE-long project to develop a 162-lot residential subdivision in Iluka could be approved early this year.

The owners of a 19ha parcel of land in Hickey St, the Birrigan Gargle Aboriginal Land Council, and Central Coast developers, the Stevens Group, have submitted a development application for the project, which went on public exhibition on Christmas Eve.

The project is to establish the subdivision opposite the Iluka Golf Course. The development will include 10 streets and three parks designed to retain natural vegetation as well as items of indigenous culture.

The report from the Stevens Group acknowledges some environmental issues with the site.

Between 1958 and 1978 sand mining in the region resulted in minor contamination of the site. The report also mention traces of asbestos and a rubber tyre dump. It proposes to dispose of these contaminants in line with the State guidelines for removing hazardous waste.

One Iluka resident, Tony Belton, has questioned the timing of the exhibition of the DA.

He said it was not good for the Clarence Valley Council to advertise the most significant development in Iluka in decades the day before Christmas.

"People are on holidays and celebrating with their family and friends this festive period," he said.

"This very large 162-lot subdivision needs careful consideration and comment from the community."

Mr Belton called the exhibition period to be extended beyond its January 22 closing date for submissions.

"Surely this submission period needs to be extended by at least another 30 days so any one interested has time to read this 400-page development application and be given a chance to comment on it if they wish," he said......

The Daily Examiner, 31 December 2015:

IF YOU want to take a seat at Iluka's first market of the year, you might have to bring your own.

All four table and chair sets under the shelter and barbecue area at Ken Leeson Oval were unbolted and removed by the council on Christmas Eve.

Iluka Woombah Rotary Club president Graeme Lynn said council staff phoned him about youths misbehaving at the undercover area the day before the community-funded infrastructure was removed, as two of the table/chair sets were funded by the Rotary club. The other two were supplied by the Iluka Fishing Club.

Mr Lynn said he was told it would only be a temporary removal, to which he replied it was the worst time of year to take them out.

This Sunday's market is expected to be the biggest yet.

"They're always full and now there's nothing there, just a big blank space," he said.

"They picked the worst time of the year to do this - the whole town is at capacity and residents and tourists have got nowhere around here to sit. Parents like sitting there to watch their kids on the skate park too."

Troy Anderson, the council's director for works and civil, said constant vandalism at the shelter meant council staff had to service the area over and above normal levels, and something had to give.

He said the timing was considered and noted the markets were only one day.

"It's a catch-22 situation, because there's no good time to take them out at all," Mr Anderson said.

"The removal has two purposes; firstly it is a trial to see whether it will have an impact on ongoing anti-social behaviour, and the second part is maintenance."

If the tables were re-installed at all, Mr Anderson said it would likely happen after school resumed......

Comment sent to North Coast Voices concerning the long proposed Yamba By-pass, 7 October 2015:

Seems the only component of it that's left on the drawing board (or it that the 'chopping block'?) is from Golding Street through to the existing eastern component that serves the business park, with West Yamba the excuse for its construction. With a modicum of common sense all funds would be directed to the intersections along Yamba Road at Treelands Drive, Carrs Drive and Shores Drive.

The departure of the ever-ready overly gung ho pro develop deputy gen manager  ....seems to have allowed a bit of logic to break through.

The Daily Examiner, 6 October 2015:

RISING anger over what he describes as a 50% rate hike has prompted a Clarence Valley businessman to lobby for an investigation into the Clarence Valley Council.

Former Maclean Chamber of Commerce president John Riggall has in recent days been distributing leaflets around the region calling for the probe.

The leaflet is headlined Stop the 50% increase of CVC rates.

Mr Riggall wants residents to contact the NSW Local Government Minister Paul Toole asking him to order an independent investigation into the council's operations…..

Mr Riggall's leaflet contains a list of figures of financial issues from that council has experienced in recent years, issues he claims have damaged confidence in the council.

They include:

 A $1 million cost overrun for the Townsend depot.

 $190,000 consultants' fees for McLachlan Park over three years.

 $450,000 staff salary figures left off a report to a council meeting.

 $10 million clerical error in the figures for the Grafton depot rationalisation project……

Global warming and King Coal? Oh yes, we knew alright!

From Page 4 of The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal on 17 July 1912:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/100645214

Seventy-nine thousand women in Australia will not be amused by Malcolm Bligh Turnbull's latest version of the paid parental leave scheme

Women falling pregnant or due to give birth after 30 June 2016 are not going to be amused when they realize exactly how much harder their lives might become under the Federal Coalition Government.

Especially when they realize that Prime Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull was a successful barrister who inherited an est. $2 million in the same year his first child was born and, would have little to no understanding of the predicament in which he is placing many low-income families.

Set out below are excerpts from a recent analysis of Turnbull's latest version of the paid parental leave scheme.

University of Sydney Business School,  Women and Work Research Group, January 2016, Prof. Marian Baird & Dr. Andreea Constantin, Analysis Of The Impact Of The Government’s Myefo Cuts To Paid Parental Leave, excerpts:

The current paid parental leave (PPL) scheme commenced operation in January 2011, after the Productivity Commission recommended a system that combined government and employer leave. In making their recommendations, the Productivity Commission highlighted the importance of new parents attaining 26 weeks or more post-natal paid leave - a period considered important for health and welfare reasons for both a baby and new mother.

The current PPL system provides 18 weeks government pay at the minimum wage, to be used in combination with any leave in employment agreements or policies. It was specifically designed to enable more women to reach 26 weeks or more of paid parental leave by adding their employer paid leave on top of the 18 weeks of government provided pay.

Under the proposed cuts to this system announced in the Mid-year Economic and Financial Outlook (MYEFO), a new parent’s access to government provided PPL support would be cut where the new parent has also secured any employer provided leave, thus reducing the overall period of paid time at home that parents can access.

Approximately 160,000 families accessed PPL last year, and approximately 50 per cent of women receive some employer PPL. As 99% of those who currently access paid parental leave are women, we can then expect approximately 79,000 women would be adversely affected by this proposed cut.

Further, the analysis of impacts on different workers outlined below shows that, among others, we can expect that nurses, teachers, ambulance service workers and retail workers will be hit hard by the proposed changes. Under the government’s proposed cuts, the families modelled in the below scenarios would be left with just 7 – 13 weeks of living costs covered by the Government system. That’s less than half of the 26 weeks experts recommend.

The financial loss suffered by these families would range from $3,942 to $10,512. Given this modelling and based on what we know about how women in Australia use paid parental leave, we expect the changes will:

* prevent more women from spending critical time at home with their newborn baby;

* lead to financial duress;

* reduce the number of women able to afford to stay at home for 26 weeks and thus adversely impact on the health and welfare outcomes of new babies and mothers; and

* increase demand for childcare for the very young, in a system that is already struggling to keep up with demand.

As a result of the cuts to their income which will occur if these changes to the Paid Parental Leave system are introduced, we can also anticipate negative flow on impacts for new families and the communities in which they live.

Under the proposed changes announced - unexpectedly and without consultation - in the Mid-year Economic and Financial Outlook (MYEFO), for eligible workers whose children are born or adopted on or after 1 July 2016, the number of weeks of PPL entitlements paid under the Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave model will be cut where a parent also receives employer provided paid leave.

The number of weeks of any paid leave provided by the employer will be deducted from the Government’s 18 weeks.

The main difference between this new proposed cut, and the cut previously proposed by Treasurer Joe Hockey and former Prime Minister Abbott, is that this new proposed cut is calculated on the basis of weeks of government paid parental leave (capped to 18 weeks of income), rather than the dollar amount of income received (capped to the equivalent of 18 weeks income at the national minimum wage).

Under the government’s proposed changes to the PPL model, the eligibility rule for a break in work will also be changed - from 8 to 12 weeks, allowing some women who are currently ineligible for paid parental leave because they have breaks in work longer than 8 weeks, to access the government parental leave pay, for example jockeys. The proposed changes will also affect income assessed for Family Tax Benefits, potentially further reducing the family income. According to MYEFO, the Government plans to save $105 million over 4 years in Family Tax Benefits, or just over $26 million per year. Thus somewhere between 4,000 to 6,000 families are likely to have their benefits reduced.

The first Scenario models the expected impact of the government’s proposed changes on the situation of a retail worker. She works as a cashier for Woolworths and is expecting her first child.

The second Scenario models the impact of the government’s changes on a part-time teacher who works 3 days a week.

The third Scenario models the impact of the government’s proposed changes on a mother working full-time as an ambulance service worker in Queensland. She lives with her partner, their 5 year old daughter and their newborn baby.

The fourth Scenario models the impact of the government’s proposed cuts on a mother who works part-time (3 eight-hour shifts a week) as a nurse. She lives with her partner and their newborn in Victoria.

Conclusion

The Federal Government’s proposed changes will result in fewer weeks of paid parental leave for women who receive some PPL from their employer. The more weeks of paid parental leave a new mother receives from their employer, the less they will receive from the government.

The outcome is regressive and the analysis shows it will have a negative impact on lower paid women. Women who are in normal, but low paid jobs or part-time work with slight benefits from employers will lose government financial support, and therefore their ability to afford to spend time with their newborns in these critical first months will be compromised.

These scenarios show that the loss to women in these critical jobs ranges from 6 weeks to 16 weeks of income and amounts to a range of $3,942 and $10,512. This represents a significant loss of resources to the primary carer and their family during this key time when they will already be financially under-pressure.

A reduction in available paid parental leave can be expected to increase the costs and time pressures on women, and this in turn may be expected to force more women to return to work earlier than desired and to seek childcare for their babies in a system that is already failing to meet demand amongst infants.

As a result of the cuts to their income which will occur if these changes to the Paid Parental Leave model are introduced, we can also anticipate negative flow on impacts for new families and the communities in which they live.

Doogan Report recommends the Federal Coalition Government compensate nine Save the Children Australia workers for expulsion from its Nauru detention centre in 2014

On 26 June 2015 Adj. Prof. Christopher M. Doogan submitted a report, Review Of Recommendation Nine From The Moss Review, to the Abbott Government  which stated at pages 22 and 23:

Given the Moss Report was submitted to the Abbott Government on 6 February 2014, the subsequent Doogan Report was conducted and concluded in a relatively timely fashion.

However, public knowledge of the text this report did not surface until almost seven months later on Friday 17 January 2016 when it was released by government with no ministerial comment.

In effect, those nine Save the Children Australia workers were forced to wait the better part of fifteen months for final vindication.

Even then mainstream media reported that neither Save The Children Australia nor the nine expelled workers have received an apology from either the Abbott or Turnbull federal governments and, none presumably have received any form of compensation.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton and former immigration minister Treasurer Scott Morrison are acting churlishly by not following Recommendation 61 of the Doogan Report.

But what can one expect from a federal government heavily infested with right-wing ideologues, more intent on ensuring the continuation of their own lucrative parliamentary positions rather than in governing the nation effectively and fairly.

More signs Turnbull's political honeymoon is over?

Roy Morgan Research, 13 January 2016:

Roy Morgan Research’s Business Confidence declined by a further 4.2 points in December (down 3.5% to 114.5), following on from the November decline of 0.6 points (down 0.5%). The combined drop of 4.8 points (down 4.0%) over the last two months is a likely indication that the initial burst of confidence following Malcolm Turnbull becoming Prime Minister is beginning to “cool off”, although it still  remains  11.6% above the level prior to his appointment.

These December figures are the results of 1,001 interviews with a cross section of businesses across Australia.

The level of Business Confidence in December is still positive for the economy but the last two months have seen a decline which now puts it below the five-year average (116.9) and is a sign that confidence is very fragile.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence finished the year on 115.4 (12-13th December), up marginally on the November average of 115.0; but early signs for January (9th and 10th) show that this has also slipped back to 114.1. With both surveys showing signs of weakening, it appears that the initial improvement in outlook among both consumers and businesses following the leadership change is being overtaken by adverse world and local economic events.

Five year graph from December 2010 to December 2015

The Australian, 13 January 2016:

A factional brawl within the Liberal Party risks engulfing Malcolm Turnbull in the lead-up to this year’s election, as his emboldened moderate faction prepares to challenge key supporters of Tony Abbott for preselection.

Right-aligned senator Con­cetta Fierravanti-Wells and Craig Kelly, MP for the Sydney seat of Hughes, are almost certain to face challenges from the moderate faction of the party, while fellow ­Abbott supporter and conser­vative rising star Angus Taylor is also at “serious risk” of losing his seat if moderate convert Russell Matheson launches a challenge.

The factional posturing is also expected to see challenges against Bronwyn Bishop in Mackellar, Philip Ruddock in Berowra and Ann Sudmalis in Gilmore, while veteran senator Bill Heffernan is under pressure to retire and make way for the party’s country vice-president, Hollie Hughes.

With at least half a dozen sitting members facing preselection challenges when nominations open next week, Liberal sources have told The Australian the Prime Minister may need to intervene to prevent a factional blow-up in his home state of NSW…..

The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 January 2016:

Last week, factional battles erupted inside the party as the powerful moderate camp, inspired by the ascension of Mr Turnbull, have moved to unseat conservative MPs.

Angus Taylor, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Bronwyn Bishop, John Alexander and Craig Kelly have all been mentioned as vulnerable incumbents.

One senior NSW Liberal said the situation is "threatening to put to the Game of Thrones' Red Wedding scene in the shade".

Senator Abetz said that this culture cost them the 2010 election, in which the Coalition fell only two seats short of forming government.

The Australian, 18 January 2016:

Forget the weekend storm in a teacup about Malcolm Turnbull attending the Mardi Gras as the Prime Minister, not just the local MP. The event really causing agitation on the Right side of Liberal ranks involves Lucy Turnbull.

She’s planning to have an in-depth conversation “on leadership, cities, communities and social innovation” with the impressively credentialed Melody Barnes, director of the White House domestic policy council and assistant to President Barack Obama between 2009 and 2012 and, earlier, chief counsel to senator Edward M Kennedy, as well as a director of legislative affairs for the US Equal Opportunity Commission. Barnes’s political affiliations have caused some eyebrows to rise. But what’s sparked simmering anger in conservative circles is the host for the event, the decidedly Labor-leaning think-tank Per Capita, founded by dotcom multi-millionaire and former Victorian Labor MP Evan Thornley from a blueprint drawn up by sometime Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan speechwriter Dennis Glover.

So what's happening with the Fair Work Commission's penalty rate review?

By December 2015 the Fair Work Commission’s penalty rates review had generated five days of transcripts and received a large number of submissions from employer groups, unions representing employees and one federal Labor MP, Melissa Price.

This last hearing date in the penalty rates case is scheduled for 15 April 2016.

There will be a good many households in rural and regional Australia where those with paid employment receive penalty rates for working long and/or unsociable hours.

As the two industry groups being targeted are significant employers outside metropolitan areas, perhaps those living in the NSW Northern Rivers region should all be closely watching the Commission at work and the degree to which its final determinations align with the data to which it has access.

The Fair Work Commission in its Changing work patterns report has this to say in December 2015:

5 Conclusion

This report presented data on changes in the labour market, types of work arrangements and preferences, and how people spend their time outside of work.

The analysis showed that the Australian labour market has changed over the last 25 years.

Although the participation rate for males has fallen over time, it has increased for females, while the decline in male full-time employment has been offset by an increase in part-time employment.

Further, employment in the services industries has increased, along with the proportion of Professionals and Community and personal services workers.

Data from the ABS showed that most employed persons worked Monday to Friday, and five days was the most common number of days worked in all jobs per week, with almost one in three employees usually working weekends.

Focusing on the nature of weekend work, data from the HILDA survey also showed that around one in three employed persons usually worked weekends.

Employed persons who usually worked weekends were more likely to have their working days vary and work a rotating shift or irregular schedule.

They were also more likely to work part-time hours, be employed on a casual basis, prefer to work more hours and be currently enrolled in a course of study for a trade certificate, diploma, degree or other education qualification.

Around one in three employed persons who usually worked weekends were employed in Retail trade or Accommodation and food services.

Employed persons in these industries were more likely to prefer working more hours, taking into account how it would affect income. Data on activities outside of work showed that the total number of minutes per day spent on free time activities decreased between 1997 and 2006 and that almost half of those surveyed never attend religious services.

According to the Fair Work Commission as at June 2014 nationally there were 13,212 accommodation businesses, 35,457 cafes and restaurants, 3,583 catering services, 6,067 pubs, taverns and bars, 2,908 hospitality clubs and 24,035 takeaway food services.

The Fair Work Commission also produced an Industry profile— Accommodation and food services in December 2015:

Data for June to November 2015 show that the industry accounted for: over $80 billion of sales and 2.6 per cent of value added to the economy; 7 per cent of employment, almost 6 per cent of actual hours worked per week in all jobs and over 4 per cent of wages;  around 4 per cent of all businesses and 17 per cent of all award-reliant employees; around 1 per cent of investment;  around 16 per cent of total underemployment; and around $6.6 billion in company gross operating profit……

Over half of enterprises in Accommodation and food services used shift work arrangements compared with less than one quarter across all industries. The most common shift work arrangements among enterprises in Accommodation and food services were evening and night shifts, short shifts of four hours or less, afternoon shifts and eight-hour shifts.

When the data is broken down: (i) 10.7 per cent of these businesses open on one or both days on a weekend; and (ii) 44.5 per cent of all businesses supplying accommodation and food services are found in rural and regional Australia.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) business profitability tables show that; in the September Quarter 2012 seasonally adjusted total accommodation & food service industry profit-before-tax was $966 million ($1.2 billion in December Quarter 2012), in the same quarter in 2013 it was $844 million ($744 million in December 2013), in September Quarter 2014 it was $1.1 billion ($1.1 billion in December Quarter 2014 ) and, by September Quarter 2015 total profit was still holding at $1.1 billion.

The Fair Work Commission states as at June 2014 there were 130,000 businesses in the retail trade. The highest individual sector percentage of these was clothing retailers at 8.4 per cent, super markets/grocery stores at 7.3 per cent, other specialized food retailing at 4.2 per cent and, electrical/electronic/gas appliance retailing at 3.6 per cent.

The Fair Work Commission published an Industry profile— Retail trade in December 2015:

The highest proportion of enterprises in Retail trade operated seven days a week, followed by weekdays and Saturday, while across all industries, the highest proportion of enterprises operated weekdays only…..

A lower proportion of enterprises in Retail trade used shift work arrangements compared with all industries. The most common shift work arrangements used in both enterprises in Retail trade and across all industries were set rosters and eight-hour shifts.

When it comes to retail businesses: (i) 39.9 per cent operate on one or both days on a weekend; and (ii) 43.6 per cent of are located in rural and regional Australia.

According to the latest available ABS statistical data relating to business profitability; in the September Quarter 2012 seasonally adjusted total retail industry profit-before-tax was $3.2 billion, in the same quarter in 2013 it was $3.3 billion, in September Quarter 2014 it was $3.8 billion and, by September Quarter 2015 these profits had risen to $3.8 billion. 

Australian Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull's NBN Broadband: Noely tells it like it is

Excerpt from My Broadband v Reality, Punters don’t know any better and that is just the way PM Turnbull likes it, 14 January 2016…….

For those of you who think the NBN has nothing to do with you, think about these scenarios:

How will you feel in years to come when your investment property is not valued as highly as similar properties in the neighbourhood just because punters finally wised up to the fact that they need to rent/buy a property that had fast, stable internet access and sadly due to circumstances beyond your control, you got the Thunderbox version of the NBN instead of the Indoor Throne like the other homes - there goes the extra for your pension?

How will you feel watching your child wait in emergency at the rural hospital for the specialist in the closest capital city to look at the scans and advise the local doctors what to do? Waiting, waiting, waiting... Not because the specialist is not around, but because the scans have failed to send over the line a few times because the weather is really bad? I have been in this scenario and don’t wish it upon any parent, ever!

How will you feel watching your oldest child stress over their final assignment drafts they are trying to email their teacher, that has to be received by said teacher by that particular date or they will lose points on the assignment, but, gee, the net is playing silly buggers and email with attachment (ie the assignment) keeps stalling? It’s only your child’s future at stake?

Your second child has just turned two and you really want to get back into the workforce (and your mortgage needs it), of course jobs are scarce, so you decide, well, Government is offering initiatives to set up home-based business, I’ll do that. Just a bit of a bugger that you didn’t realise you would need decent internet speeds & bandwidth to even access those fancy Government sites telling you of incentives; communicating with your clients online; doing your BAS & tax, the list goes on... Of course when you hit up your provider for better access, they tell you that it will either cost you a squillion – which makes your home business untenable – or sorry lady, just bad luck you live in an area that hasn’t been upgraded, yet, and well, ummm sorry, we don’t have you on our future plan at the moment either, maybe in a few years we can help you?

There are many scenarios like the above, they are real life results of the NBN being decimated. Next time you hear someone say something along the lines of “Who cares about internet access, just so a few youngsters can stream movies”, tell them NO and give them a REAL life scenario to ponder.